Page 26 - Advanced Biblical Backgrounds Student Textbook

destroys the evil empire, judges it for its wickedness, and establishes His kingdom where He will reign
from Jerusalem. Then God beings down the new heavens and the new earth. In them is a New
Jerusalem.

Jesus’ own work can be seen as a second exodus. Through His blood He conquered sin and death to set
the captives free. He is taking them to a new land He promises. One in which He will reign on the throne
of David forever. This is why Jesus, and later John use the terminology of passing form death to life (John
5:24 and 1 John 3:14).

11. The famous monument of Pharaoh Merneptah (ca. 1224–
1216 B.C.), son of Ramses II. It is often called the “Israel stele”
because the next-to-bottom line of its inscription contains the
only mention of the name Israel in all ancient Egyptian writing
thus far discovered: “Israel is desolate, her seed is not.”

Jeremiah’s Prophecy
Of the later prophets, Jeremiah had most to do with Egypt. Late in his
life he was taken by force to Egypt, where he apparently lived out the
rest of his life (see Jer. 43:5–7). Earlier in his ministry, Jeremiah had
insisted that the kingdom of Judah should bow to the yoke of
Babylonia and not align itself with Egypt. This anti-Egypt, pro-
Babylonia position did not find adherents among the leaders of Judah.
The results, of course, were disastrous for Jerusalem and the
surrounding country.

When Jeremiah was forcibly kidnapped to Egypt by Jews who had
assassinated Nebuchadnezzar’s governor, Gedaliah, it appeared that
Egypt would again be a place of safety. But Jeremiah made it clear to
his Jewish captors that it would not be so. In chapter 44 he addressed all Jews living in Egypt,
prophesying that, rather than a shelter from troubles, Egypt would be for them a place of punishment.
The Jews in Egypt would be so thoroughly destroyed, he said, that only a “small number” would return
to the land of Judah (Jer. 44:28). Finally, Jeremiah prophesied, the scourge of the sword would be so
great that the pharaoh himself would fall to it (see Jer. 44:30). This prophecy was fulfilled in
525 B.C. when the Persians under Cambyses overran Egypt.
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Flight of the Holy Family
When Jesus and his parents fled from Bethlehem to Egypt it is estimated that up to one million Jews
lived in the city of Alexandria at the time. Tradition tells us that while a large population of Jews lived in
that city, Joseph and Mary probably avoided populated areas and lived somewhere in isolation. While
not in the Bible, tradition tells us that Joseph led his family into the delta about midway between the
modern cities of Port Said and Suez. It is said that they did not stay in one place for very long and lived

47 https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1980/09/biblical-egypt-land-of-refuge-land-of-
bondage?lang=eng

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