A Pharaoh arose who knew not Joseph

 
My friend OvadYah lives in Karnei Shomron in Israel.  I visited him in 2009 and toured much of what is referred to as the West Bank.  While I was there, OvadYah pointed out numerous times how the weekly Torah reading (Parshah) that Jews read and study often parallel world events.  The Jews have been following a set reading schedule that starts at Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) each year with the very first portion in Genesis.  This schedule is designed so that the entire Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) can be read each year.

In 2009 I heard of one striking example of how the Torah reading paralleled world events from Bill Cloud, a Hebraic Restoration teacher.  He noted that the Torah reading for the week of the Presidential Inauguration for President-elect Obama was Exodus 1:1 – 6:2.  There is an excellent commentary by Rabbi Ariel on this Torah portion at his website http://www.koshertorah.com/PDF/shemot2013.pdf .

As a short summary, this portion of scripture focuses on the arrival of a new Pharaoh over ancient Egypt who knew not Joseph.  This new Pharaoh either didn’t understand Joseph’s role in Egypt’s history or he did respect Joseph’s historical contribution to Egypt.  Pharaoh was concerned about God’s people, the Hebrews, being too powerful in Egypt and taking over ruler ship.  The first thing Pharaoh did was set up task masters to make things harder for them by taxing them.  Eventually he enslaved the Hebrews (which would likely have meant disarming them).  Next he tried to increase their mortality rate by killing babies born to the Hebrew women.

Those with eyes to see will notice that the parallels are striking to what we are seeing happening in our country.  Taxes are increasing.  We are surrendering our freedoms willingly for the sake of peace and security.  We serve our government task masters by paying more taxes to the ever expanding federal government.  Gun control is being aggressively pushed to disarm us since our rulers fear us Bible believing, gun toting folks.  And we are transitioning into Obamacare which will work to increase death rates with death panels and government funded abortions.  Just as King Solomon observed thousands of years ago, there is nothing new under the sun.  When evil grows it uses different personages but with the same old techniques and approaches. 

So what lies ahead for us?  If we continue to follow the Biblical narrative we can see where we as a country are headed.  Our country will be experience plagues (judgments) sent by God.  Our freedoms will continue to erode the more government takes over and we will become more enslaved.  Our country will transition into a place that doesn’t even resemble the place we grew up in.  I already hear my friends and neighbors expressing fear for what is happening and wondering where they can go to maintain their freedoms as the choice is very limited. 

As I stated in my very first blog, we don’t need a George Washington to fix our country.  We need a Moses to lead us out as we follow God in the Second Exodus of His people back to Greater Israel.  I believe that is where this is all headed.  That is the reason that I started this blog.  Everyone seems to be asleep as to what is going on.  Again, the Sleeper must awaken!  I pray that the words of this blog will stir the slumber and help folks see with the eyes and hear with their ears what God is doing.

The prophets of old were clear in the scriptures.  God will establish His people in His land for His Glory!  Are you among God’s people?  Jewish teaching is that only about 20 % of the Hebrews left ancient Egypt with Moses.  The other 80 % chose to stay where they were accustomed to living even under what became harsh circumstances.  The choice is coming soon and the decision is yours.  Choose wisely!  God is watching and waiting for signs that we are awake!