Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-07-03
BY REV. HUGH T. STEVENSON.
ISRAEL ENSLAVED IN
EGYPT.-Exodus Lila.
Golden TeXt-Jehovah will not
cast off His people.-Ps. xciv.14.

When the liberty bell sounded forth
America s Declaration of independence
new nation was born and a new era
in the worlds history was begun. 1t
was cast to proclaim liberty through
out all the land and to the inhabitants
thereof" according to the Scripture
engraved upon it at that time. 1t may
we'll suggest that our national indie
pendence was not born in Philadel-
phia or in Mecklenburg, but in Bethle-
hem when Christ was born to make
men free. The germs of our national
freedom and Government can be
found in the Old Testament Scriptures
in Gods dealings with the Jewish peo-
pie. The hand of the God of Provi-
dence, that unites in America the
races and religions of all mankind, has
forged the links in the history Of the
world that unite ours through the
motherland to that OF Rome, Greece,
Egypt and Israel.
In our studies last quarter we noted
how Jehovah was preparing to make
of the children of Jacob a great ma
ton. Famine forced them into Egypt,
where Joseph had providentia!ly be
come the deliverer of the world from
the perilS of starvation. This emf
nent statesman outwardly appeared to
be in all things an Egyptian, but he
proved that in his heart he was an
Israelite by making his descendants
promise him upon his death bed that
when they left Egypt they would
carry his bones back with them. He
expected that God would fulfill His
promise concerning the Holy Land
and give it to the Israelites to rule.
When the nation left the land they
carried with them the bones of Jo-
seph. and today they will show you
at Shechem, under the shadow of
Mount Ebal, his tomb in the section
OF land bought by his father.
Entering Egypt under the protec-
ton Of Joseph and the patronage of
the pharaoh, the wandering shep-
herds with their f1ocks settled in the
most fertile section of the land. where
their fiocks and wealth increased with
great rapidity. They lived in a part
of the country where they could ex-
pand without becoming infected with
the perils of the Egyptians. These
hardy men had been tempered by the
fires of aff1iction and the stern. free
life of the desert to such an extent
that they kept themselves separate
and independent people within the
land. Their prosperity and power be-
came the source of their oppression.
1Hc NEucI oppACSSoA.
The cruel oppressor OF Israel was
a new Pharaoh. who had overthrown
the Hyksos dynasty, has been identl-
fled by the historians as Rameses H.
He had no debts to pay Joseph and
was not Influenced by the acts of that
great executive He faced the posi-
bilities Of O. conflict with the Hittites
upon the eastern border. The Israel
ties were Orientals and his cabinet
feared that they would naturally be
found upon the other side, which
shows that their fears were prompted
by race and class prejudice, jealousy
and hate. 1t was true that the Israel
ties were living apart from them and
were united to one another by O. COM
mon language, faith and blood. We
have had similar views in our own
land concerning people of foreign
birth, whose loyalty to the principles
of freedom and democracy were tested
during the World War. so that we
have had to change our conception of
their Americanism. We misjudge peo-
pie when we do not enter into sympa-
thetic understanding of their Strug-
giles and ideals. George III misjudged
| the colonies, just as Rameses did Is
rael.
The necessity of building fortiflca-
tons and preparing for the public de-
Tense was an excuse for RameSeS to
draft the Israelites into an army of
laborers, who constructed, under task
masters, his store cities and frontier
forts. Their wisdom was of the
| world, which proposed to treat them
wisely by placing severe burdens upon
them, expecting that they would be
| crushed by the severe tasks and poor
pay. They adopted a peonage which
was nothing more than slavery, that
was used extensively to build the
great buildings of the ancients, their
| highways and Notifications. Israel
| ties endured their trials because they
| had the assurance of Gods help. The
| difference in the motives of the set
tiers of South America and North
America has been cited by a president
! of one of the great republics Of South
America as an explanation for the diff
| ference between the two hemfspheres.
He Is reported to have said that the
South was settled by men seeking
gold, while the North was settled by
men seeking God. The rule Of gold
| will prove in the modern days to be
| a. hard taskmaster while the golden
| rule will remove friction through the
| introduction Of the spirit of love, kind.
ness and brotherhood, which promotes
peace and prosperity.
Bondage served to unite the ma
| ton, which may have become alb
| sorbed by its prosperity into the life
| of Egypt. 1t did for the nation what