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Egypt: Part 2 

What happened to Egypt? 

Genesis 13.10 

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • October 6, In the year of our Lord Christ, 2019 

Prelude: 

  1. [All photos and video are mine, unless otherwise stated] 
  2. Concerning the Sphinx: 
    1. Between the front legs/paws you will see what looks like a plaque. 
    2. That is known as the Dream Stela.

      “In Tuthmosis IV’s ‘Dream Stele’, he tells us that, while out on a hunting trip, he fell asleep in the shadow of the Sphinx (or apparently, the shadow of the Sphinx’s head, for the monument was apparently buried in sand at the time). In the young prince’s sleep, Re-Harakhte, the sun god embodied in the Sphinx, came to him in a dream and promised that if he would clear away the sand that engulfed the monument, Tuthmosis would become king of Egypt.”

      https://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/tuthmosis4.htm
    3. Here is part of what the Dream Stela says:

      “Now the statue of the very great Khepri [the Great Sphinx] rested in this place, great of fame, sacred of respect, the shade of Ra resting on him. Memphis and every city on its two sides came to him, their arms in adoration to his face, bearing great offerings for his Ka. One of these days it happened that prince Thutmose came travelling at the time of midday. He rested in the shadow of this great god. [Sleep and] dream [took possession of him] at the moment the sun was at zenith. Then he found the majesty of this noble god speaking from his own mouth like a father speaks to his son, and saying: ‘Look at me, observe me, my son Thutmose. I am your father Horemakhet-Khepri-Ra-Atum. I shall give to you the kingship [upon the land before the living]….[Behold, my condition is like one in illness], all [my limbs being ruined]. The sand of the desert, upon which I used to be, (now) confronts me; and it is in order to cause that you do what is in my heart that I have waited.’”
    4. Tuhtmose IV reigned from 1401–1390 bc. 
      1. That was after the Exodus of Israel out of Egypt. 
      2. Did the plagues so devastate Egypt’s vegetation (mid-1440s bc), 
        1. that the sand had already started covering what Tuthmosis have dug up? 
        2. The devastation from the plagues would have been so severe 
          1. that for decades or for centuries 
          2. Israel would have spent time recovering, rebuilding, and replanting, 
            1. that taking care of monuments like the Sphinx 
            2. would have been at the bottom of their list of priorities. 

Persuasion: 

  1. God Used Egypt to Make the Nation of Israel 
    1. Genesis 46.3–4

      3 So He said, “I am God, the God of your father; do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there. 4 I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph will put his hand on your eyes.”

      – Genesis 46.3–4
      1. Every nation on earth exists for God’s purposes. 
      2. They may not know that, but it is still true. 
        1. Ten generations after the Flood, 
        2. God promised a man 
          1. that in him God would bless all the families of the earth. 
          2. Along with that God promised that man, Abraham, 
            1. that his descendants would inherit the Land of Canaan. 
            2. This was necessary that the world might see the promised blessing develop. 
      3. However, the Land of Canaan was not ready for Abraham’s descendants. 
        1. The people living there were growing in sin, but 
        2. they had not reached that point when God would exterminate them. 
          1. As Abraham’s family started to grow, 
          2. they needed a place where they could grow as a nation. 
            1. That place was the land of Egypt. 
            2. So God moved them down there during the lifetime of Abraham’s great-grandson, Joseph. 
              1. The family numbered 70, but 
              2. in four hundred years later they were over 3.5 million. 
      4. My point is that God chose Egypt 
        1. as the place where Abraham’s family would grow into a nation. 
        2. God could have taken them to other nations, but 
          1. for the time Egypt was the right place. 
          2. As you can see in the story of Joseph, 
            1. Egypt was friendly to the family of Israel. 
            2. However, that would change as someone failed 
              1. to instruction a future Pharaoh in their own history. 
    2. Israel grew in the land of Rameses. 
      1. Genesis 47.11

        11 And Joseph situated his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

        – Genesis 47.11
        1. This has led people to believe that Rameses, 
          1. in particular Rameses II or the Great, was the Pharaoh, or 
          2. that later during the Exodus, Rameses is the Pharaoh. 
        2. Rameses is the name given to that area later. 
          1. It would be like saying that a certain tribe of Indians 
            1. were in Grants Pass, and another in Rogue River, and another in Medford, and another in Klamath Falls. 
          2. They were there in those locations but those locations did not have those names back then. 
      2. Anyway, Pharaoh so favored Joseph and his family 
        1. that he gave them the best place to live in Egypt. 
        2. There is no evidence of which I am aware 
          1. that the Egyptians moved the children of Israel out of that area 
          2. after making them slaves. 
            1. that although slaves, Israel had it good in Egypt. 
  2. How Much Did the Plagues Ruin Egypt? 
    1. The video you see right now is not about what the plagues did. 
      1. It just gives me an opportunity to show a video. 
      2. Try to picture it with greenery and other buildings. 
    2. Think of what the Bible says about some of the plagues:

      Exo 9.25
      And the hail struck throughout the whole land of Egypt, all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail struck every herb of the field and broke every tree of the field.

      Exo 10.5
      And they shall cover the face of the earth, so that no one will be able to see the earth; and they shall eat the residue of what is left, which remains to you from the hail, and they shall eat every tree which grows up for you out of the field.

      Exo 10.7
      Then Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed?”

      Exo 10.15
      For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they ate every herb of the land and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left. So there remained nothing green on the trees or on the plants of the field throughout all the land of Egypt.

      Psa 105.35
      And ate up all the vegetation in their land,
      And devoured the fruit of their ground.
    3. Remember what I showed you last week from 
      1. the Bible and 
      2. from science, paleontology, archaeology, and so on, 
        1. that Egypt used to be a greener place, 
        2. including the Sahara. 
    4. However, when it was time for God to move Israel out of Egypt, 
      1. Pharaoh resisted and 
      2. God persuaded him to let Israel go by the ten plagues that God put on Egypt and the Egyptians. 
        1. Have you thought about what that must have done to Egypt? 
        2. It would have taken a long time to recover. 
          1. However, consider what Pharaoh’s advisers said to him 
          2. in a passage I just read from Exodus 10. 
    5. They urged him to let Israel go after they had experienced 8 plagues: 
      1. The waters became blood 
      2. Frogs 
      3. Lice 
      4. Flies 
      5. Death of all livestock 
      6. Boils 
      7. Fiery Hail 
      8. Locusts 
        1. Lack of water, 
        2. death of all livestock, and 
        3. the decimation of their crops at different times of the year from the fiery hail and the locusts 
          1. would have been enormous. 
          2. What would that have done to Egypt’s economy? 
            1. We do not know how long the waters stayed as blood, but 
            2. that first plague alone would have been disastrous to Egypt. 
              1. Then you top it off with the destruction of their 
              2. crops and livestock, in other words, their food! 
                1. No wonder Pharaoh’s servants told him that Egypt was destroyed. 
    6. If you go to Egypt today, 
      1. you will find things growing, but 
      2. much of it man has planted, such as farms. 
        1. The question is, 
        2. If man abandoned the land of Egypt, would any plants grow? 
  3. The Lord Decimated Egypt Again 
    1. Isaiah 11 shows Egypt would suffer later, and 
      1. as the slides that I have been showing you confirm, 
      2. Egypt got hit even harder than the plagues later:

        15 The LORD will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt;
        With His mighty wind He will shake His fist over the River,
        And strike it in the seven streams,
        And make men cross over dryshod.
        16 There will be a highway for the remnant of His people
        Who will be left from Assyria,
        As it was for Israel
        In the day that he came up from the land of Egypt.

        – Isaiah 11.15–16
    2. Isaiah 19 
      1. 19.1a • Against Egypt

        1 The burden against Egypt.
        1. Egypt suffered when they experienced the plagues. 
        2. However, although Pharaoh had asked who Jehovah God is, and 
          1. received more than an adequate answer with the plagues, 
          2. he and succeeding Pharaohs and Egyptians did not learn. 
      2. 19.1b–e • When the Lord Enters Egypt

        Behold, the LORD rides on a swift cloud,
        And will come into Egypt;
        The idols of Egypt will totter at His presence,
        And the heart of Egypt will melt in its midst.
        1. Coming in clouds or on clouds often pictures the Lord in judgment: 
          1. Joel 2.1–2 
          2. Zephaniah 1.15 
          3. The Second Coming of Jesus Christ, 
            1. which is a time of judgment, 
            2. the time of the great and final Judgment Day, 
              1. the New Testament pictures with clouds: 
      3. 19.2–4 • Civil War

        2 “I will set Egyptians against Egyptians;
        Everyone will fight against his brother,
        And everyone against his neighbor,
        City against city, kingdom against kingdom.
        3 The spirit of Egypt will fail in its midst;
        I will destroy their counsel,
        And they will consult the idols and the charmers,
        The mediums and the sorcerers.
        4 And the Egyptians I will give
        Into the hand of a cruel master,
        And a fierce king will rule over them,”
        Says the Lord, the LORD of hosts.
        1. Verse 2 shows that in addition to foreign powers fighting Egypt, 
          1. they would fight themselves. 
          2. Sounds like us politically today, except our political parties are not killing one another yet. 
        2. Concerning verse 4, Homer Hailey says:

          “We know from history that Piankhi, a Nubian prince, raided Egypt in about 728 b.c.; his successor, Shabako, also invaded that land, successfully uniting Ethiopia and Egypt nuder Nubian rule (715–664 b.c.). Thereafter Psammetichus I, a prince of Said in the Delta, arose to gain control of all Egypt.”

          – Homer Hailey, A Commentary on Isaiah, page 161
        3. Other foreign powers also ruled over Egypt: 
          1. Ashurbanipal of Assyria 
          2. Nebuchadnezzar 
          3. Cambyses of Persia 
          4. Alexander the Great 
          5. Rome 
      4. 19.5–10 • Economy Will Collapse

        5 The waters will fail from the sea,
        And the river will be wasted and dried up.
        6 The rivers will turn foul;
        The brooks of defense will be emptied and dried up;
        The reeds and rushes will wither.
        7 The papyrus reeds by the River, by the mouth of the River,
        And everything sown by the River,
        Will wither, be driven away, and be no more.
        8 The fishermen also will mourn;
        All those will lament who cast hooks into the River,
        And they will languish who spread nets on the waters.
        9 Moreover those who work in fine flax
        And those who weave fine fabric will be ashamed;
        10 And its foundations will be broken.
        All who make wages will be troubled of soul.
        1. As brother Don Patton put it: “The Lord shut off their water.” 
        2. They could still get water later, but 
          1. what Egypt suffered with their land and their water, 
          2. they will probably never fully recover from it. 
        3. Remember all the photos and video I have shown you thus far 
          1. on how the land of Egypt looks today. 
          2. It is just as this passage says. 
      5. 19.11–15 • Rulers Confounded

        11 Surely the princes of Zoan are fools;
        Pharaoh’s wise counselors give foolish counsel.
        How do you say to Pharaoh, “I am the son of the wise,
        The son of ancient kings?”
        12 Where are they?
        Where are your wise men?
        Let them tell you now,
        And let them know what the LORD of hosts has purposed against Egypt.
        13 The princes of Zoan have become fools;
        The princes of Noph are deceived;
        They have also deluded Egypt,
        Those who are the mainstay of its tribes.
        14 The LORD has mingled a perverse spirit in her midst;
        And they have caused Egypt to err in all her work,
        As a drunken man staggers in his vomit.
        15 Neither will there be any work for Egypt,
        Which the head or tail,
        Palm branch or bulrush, may do.
      6. 19.16–17 • Egypt Afraid

        16 In that day Egypt will be like women, and will be afraid and fear because of the waving of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which He waves over it. 17 And the land of Judah will be a terror to Egypt; everyone who makes mention of it will be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the LORD of hosts which He has determined against it.
      7. 19.18–25 • Egypt Will Turn to God

        18 In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear by the LORD of hosts; one will be called the City of Destruction. 19 In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD at its border. 20 And it will be for a sign and for a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the LORD because of the oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Mighty One, and He will deliver them. 21 Then the LORD will be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day, and will make sacrifice and offering; yes, they will make a vow to the LORD and perform it. 22 And the LORD will strike Egypt, He will strike and heal it; they will return to the LORD, and He will be entreated by them and heal them. 23 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian will come into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians will serve with the Assyrians. 24 In that day Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria—a blessing in the midst of the land, 25 whom the LORD of hosts shall bless, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.”

        20.1 In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and took it, 2 at the same time the LORD spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and remove the sackcloth from your body, and take your sandals off your feet.” And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. 3 Then the LORD said, “Just as My servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder against Egypt and Ethiopia, 4 so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians as prisoners and the Ethiopians as captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. 5 Then they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation and Egypt their glory. 6 And the inhabitant of this territory will say in that day, “Surely such is our expectation, wherever we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria; and how shall we escape?’”
        1. Christians now live in Egypt. 
        2. “Christians,” and I use that to include anyone who believes in Jesus as the Son of God, are now 25% of Egypt. 
        3. Some of the people in Acts 2 on Pentecost were from Egypt. 
        4. Alexandria especially has been known for turning to God: 
          1. Remember the Septuagint. 
            1. Many of the Old Testament quotes in the New Testament, 
            2. come from the Septuagint! 
              1. Egypt produced a volume of the Bible 
              2. that the New Testament used! 
          2. We saw many “churches,” in Egypt. 

Exhortation: 

  1. Acts 2 lists people who went to Jerusalem for the day of Pentecost, including:

    10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes…

    – Acts 2.10
  2. They heard Peter declare 
    1. that Jesus is the Lord and Christ. 
    2. They wanted to know what to do to be saved:

      38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

      – Acts 2.38
  3. Do not let your life end like Egypt’s. 
    1. Let your life be like those from Egypt 
    2. who repented of their sins and 
      1. were baptized in the name of Jesus 
        1. for the forgiveness of their sins and 
        2. to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 
      2. Are you ready?