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The Eternal Quest for Freedom
Recently I visited Egypt and walked among
the colossal monuments of kings and queens of an ancient superpower. Even now, thousands
of years after these long-dead monarchs, the might and grandeur of the ancient Egyptian
empire is evident.
Although Egypt has changed in many ways, it is sobering to realize that human nature
and the human condition haven't changed that much. I saw much evidence that even
there, in a land of ancient abundance and plenty, bloodshed and oppression were all
too common.
Most students of the Bible quickly associate ancient Egypt with the suffering of
the Israelite slaves at the hand of a cruel pharaoh. Their suffering was indeed harsh.
According to the biblical account: ". . . Taskmasters were appointed over them to
oppress them with forced labour . . . until the Egyptians came to loathe them. They
ground down their Israelite slaves, and made life bitter for them with their harsh
demands . . . In every kind of labour they made ruthless use of them" (Exodus 1:11,13-14, Revised English Bible).
With a huge captive workforce, prospects looked bright for the Egyptians but never
so dark as for their Hebrew slaves. As if their brutal forced labor were not enough,
the Egyptian monarch instituted a policy of infanticide, commanding his minions to
throw newborn male babies into the Nile. No one knows how many innocent infants met
their deaths in the swirling, muddy waters of the Nile, nor how many Hebrew slaves
perished under the clubs and whips of their captors.
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