Beneath The Surface, An Editorial Comment -- By: Henry Boynton Smith

Journal: Bible and Spade (Second Run)
Volume: BSPADE 28:3 (Summer 2015)
Article: Beneath The Surface, An Editorial Comment
Author: Henry Boynton Smith


Beneath The Surface, An Editorial Comment

Henry B. Smith, Jr.

Out of Egypt I called My Son (Matthew 2:15)

The subject of Egyptian history and its relation to the Bible remains one of the greatest areas of excitement and interest in the Christian community. The correlation between events recorded in the Bible and Egypt draws an immense amount of archaeological and apologetic interest. The Bible indicates that many important biblical characters spent time in Egypt: Abraham (Gn 12:10–13:1), Jacob (Gn 46–50), Joseph (Gn 39–50), Moses (Ex 2–12), Joshua (Nm 14:26–30), Jeremiah (Jer 43:6–8), and even Jesus (Mt 2:14–21). Of course, major biblical events took place there, such as the Sojourn of the Israelites and the Exodus. Most Christians familiar with Egypt also know that these accounts are considered by most Old Testament scholars, archaeologists and skeptics to be fictitious. Finkelstein and Silberman typify this attitude: “Virtually every modern archaeologist, with few exceptions, agrees that the way the Bible describes the Exodus is not the way it happened, if it happened at all.”1

Those of us who take the biblical record seriously understand what is at stake. While the historicity and accuracy of the Bible is important at every point, these events in Egypt form the backbone of the Old Testament. They are the center and heart of Israelite religious and existential life. Numerous references to their time in Egypt are found throughout the Old Testament, such as: “I am the LORD your God who brought out of the land of Egypt” (Ex 20:2; Lv 19:36; Nm 15:41; 2 Sm 7:6; Ps 74:12–13; 77:19–20; 81:10; 114:1; 135:8; 136:10, 15, 16; Jgs 6:8–10; Hos 12:9; 1 Kgs 8:9<...

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