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Palestine. conquered by Arab
forces in A.D. 640, enjoyed a brief
period of quasi-independence and
freedom from foreign domination
temporarily during the time of the
medieval Crusades, but afterward
was con trolled by various Moslem
powers right up until the twentieth
century.
The Jcwish-Egyptian relationship
during this
twenty-five-century
period of foreign domination varied
from amicable to strained. Sorne
Jews lived in ao autonomous mili–
tary community at El ephantine,
Egypt, in the fourth century B.C.,
and they were an intluential and
controversia! segment of the ci ty of
Alexandria during the later Helle-
Mediterranean Sea
nistic periods. In the
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-~~iit~,~~~~~l
time of rule of the Fati-
m id ca liphs of Egypt
(tenth to twelfth cen-
r------------,-----
turies A.D.). the two
peoples experienced
somewhat happier rela–
tions. When the Jews in
the Middle Ages were
being pcrsccuted in Eu–
ro pe (primarily in
Spain), it was Egypt,
North Africa and the
Middle East to which
they tled. This resulted
in a measure of reli–
gious tolerance. cooper–
ation, and coexistence.
One footnote to this
history is the NewTesta–
ment comment that shortly afler the
birth ofJesus His parents were told Lo
flee for their lives from Herod, the
ldumean king ofJudea. lt was Egypt
that provided the place of safety
(Matt. 2: 13-15). fulfilling anOId Tcs–
tament prophecy ("out of Egypt
1
called my son"-Hosea
11: 1).
Throughout the Bible there were
situations in which God sanctioned
Israel's having contact with Egypt,
such as in the days of the patriarch
J oseph and in the time of Jcsus
(Matt. 2: 13). But God also had very
stcrn words against alliances with
Egypt at other times, such as in the
time of Jeremiah. as recounted in
Ezekiel 17:15.
How can we reconcile this seem–
ing paradox? How can God be fa-
The
PLAIN TRUTH
March
1978
vorably disposed t o Egyptian –
lsraelite relations at one time a nd
opposed the next?
The answer may be dcduced from
J eremiah 42:14-16 and Ezekie1
17:15. In these two accounts. God
specifically chastises Israel for plac–
ing their
trust
in Egypt and not in
Him.
God explicitly told the J ews of
Jeremia.h's day not to put their trust
in Egypt for deliverance from
Nebuchadnezzar's armics. But they
defied God and sought an alliance
anyway. God further instructed
Israel not to send ambassadors to
Egypt to procure "horses and much
people"-in other words. in–
struments of war- which again in–
dicated a dependence upon Egypt.
THE NORTHERN
expanse of
the Ptolemaic Empire 301-
30 B.
C.
The Ptolemaic Em–
pire was one ot the suc–
cessive toreign powers
that dominated the area ot
Judea from the fa// of Ju–
dah in 586 B.
C.
until the
present. Although greatly
reduced in numbers af-
ter the destruction ot Jerusa–
lem in
A.
O. 70, some
Jewish towns survived to
the present day. 11/us-
tration shows an eighth–
century B.C. battle.
not God, for national security.
The Bible prophesies that there
will be another future glorious
golden age of peace between Israel
and Egypt and their neighbors (lsa.
19:24-25: " In that day Israel will be
the third with Egypt and Assyria. a
blessing in the midst of the earth,
whom the Lord of hosts has blessed,
saying, 'B iessed be Egypt my
people. and Assyria the work of my
hands, and Israel my heritage.' ").
But for such a positive state of af–
fairs to occur at this time in human
history. God would somehow have
to be invited into the relationship.
It
remains to be seen
in
which direc–
tion the present remarkable new
Egyptian- lsraeli rapprochement is
headed.
- Herb Storck
9