Page 20 - Advanced Biblical Backgrounds Student Textbook

Study Section 3: Egyptian backgrounds to the Pentateuch
(Genesis 39-50, Exodus 1-12)

3.1 Connect.

The Egyptian culture and the exodus provide a tremendous wealth of information in helping
understand the way the readers of the Bible would have seen themselves, others, and how
they would have understood the books of the Bible. During the Patriarchal period, there are
major cultural differences between Canaan and Egypt. Perhaps above all, Egypt was an
25
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advanced civilization in comparison to the agrarian culture of Canaan. In Egypt, there was a
central government that exercised at “at least moderate control” over the stretch of land from the Nile
Valley from the Mediterranean to Asway, which is about 725 miles in total distance. Another
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important regional difference is that, whereas in Canaan the land was watered by soil and heavy dew, in
Egypt the soil had to be irrigated.

Egypt was remembered as a place of slavery. God remembered His people and brought them out of
their bondage to a good land, the land of Canaan. The story and significance of Egypt in Scripture does
not end with the exodus. In this section we will see how the Egyptian background shaped Jewish
conception and later would impact the church as well.

3.2 Objectives.

1. Students should be able to identify the location and government of Egypt in the Patriarchal
Period.

2. Students should be able to explain the government of Egypt and its connection to the Old
Testament.

3. Students should describe the Egyptian religion as it relates to biblical content.

4. Students should be able to explain the foundational social and economic culture of Egypt.

5. Students should be able to articulate the origin and ongoing concept of the exodus in Jewish thought.

1.3 Egyptian backgrounds to the Pentateuch.

The emphasis in the Bible consistently falls not on Egyptians as persons but on Egypt as a place.
Only rarely are individuals native to Egypt mentioned by name (see, for example, Gen. 41:50; 2
Kgs. 23:29; Jer. 44:30). Thus, when in later Christian scripture Egypt is used as a symbol of
spiritual bondage, we note that the writers use the place as a symbol understood by the Jews
and not a charge against the people. In the book of Revelation, for instance, Egypt is equated
with Sodom, and both are used as names or symbols for a wicked Jerusalem of the latter days (Rev.

25 Voss, Nelson's New Illustrated Bible Manners and Customs, 45.
26 Ibid.
27 Ibid.

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