Crystal Writes A Blog

Another Brick in the Wall of Oppression

Ancient Brick Wall Ruins from Flickr User “Institute for the Study of the Ancient World” CC License = Attribution
Click the image to open a new tab and visit this user’s photo stream. There are some fascinating images there.

So, I was thinking maybe ApologetiX had a video that had something to do with the slaves in Egypt, but I haven’t found it yet. Oh, but I will have plenty to share as we move along in our studies. I just have to remember when I get to the right subject matter. One we will not get to is their parody of Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in the Wall which is done as “God Will Kick in the Wall.” I didn’t share it since it’s about Jericho, but the title seemed fitting anyway since today’s reading from Exodus 1:1 through Exodus 1:17 covers just that subject.

We are now into Parashah (Portion) 13, titled “Sh’mot” in Hebrew and meaning Names. It begins with the names of sons of Israel who came with him to Egypt. It then goes on to talk of the death of Joseph, his brothers, and all those of their generation. Their descendants were fruitful, multiplied and grew strong and filled the land. And eventually, a new pharaoh came into power that new nothing of Joseph and his family and became fearful of their power and numbers. He was certain that if they continued to enlarge, they would join with Egypt’s enemies and fight against them.

To keep them from multiplying, Pharaoh decided to keep them busy. He assigned them strong taskmasters and harder and harder jobs. When that didn’t work as he planned, he did all he could to make their job harder on them. But the more the Egyptians oppressed the people, the more they grew and expanded.

Now, I have to stop here for a moment to bring up a relevant point about current news. This whole thing of A & E suspending Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson because he honestly answered a question in an interview is both frustrating and expected. It’s expected because in the last days, good will be called evil, and evil will be called good. It’s frustrating because it doesn’t make logical sense that someone asks a question, says he or she wants an honest answer, but then makes a mountain out of it because the answer does not agree with his or her personal views. Political Correctness should be called Political Appeasement because it cannot be correct without honesty, and it cannot promote honesty if every person doesn’t get the same right to freedom of speech and opinion. It’s not like Phil beat up and fired a camera man because he disagreed with his lifestyle choices, right? Oh, and Cracker Barrel taking away the merchandise when they had their own issues back in the early 90s of refusing to hire homosexuals (far more than just speaking an opinion here) because they didn’t represent families? Come on. Anyway, as far as relevance goes, I am hoping that this will actually do more to expand and grow the message of the Bible and of truth-believing people, and I’m praying that God will use it to bless the Robertson family and show that those with God are more than those that are against Him.

Now, back to the reading. The last paragraph says that in a last-ditch effort to stop the growth of the Hebrew people, Pharaoh begins to demand that the Hebrew midwives kill all boys born to the Hebrew women. But because the midwives were God-fearing, they obeyed God instead of Pharaoh and let the boys live also. May we also defy the law of the land when it says to disobey our Creator and Savior. And each time we endure hardship, like the Jews having a harder time building bricks, maybe we are just putting another golden brick into the walls of our mansions. (Note: I’m not sure about the interpretations of mansions in Heaven, but it is nice to think about as a comfort anyway.) May all my readers keep God first and keep their hopes and dreams alive until God makes them come true both in this life and in eternity!

December 21, 2013 Posted by Crystal A Murray (aka CrystalWriter) | Bible Study, Nonfiction, Torah Commentary | Adonai, Almighty, Bible, Bible Gateway, Bible reading, Bible study, blessing, Children of Israel, Complete Jewish Bible, Cracker Barrel, Creator, crystalwriter, Duck Dynasty, Egypt, Exodus, God, growth, Holy Bible, Lord, names, Old Covenant, Old Testament, oppression, Parashah, Pharaoh, Phil Robertson, Portions, Scripture, The Complete Jewish Bible, Torah, Torah commentary, Torah Portions, Torah Reading, Word, Word of God, Word of the Lord, www.biblegateway.com, Yahveh, Yahweh | Leave a comment