Bible.com Keep The Feast, day 18

Exodus 1-6 §

God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.

Exodus 2:25

God knew the affliction of the Israelites.

We often talk about the Exodus as a metaphor for deliverance from sin. Something I think we don’t explore as often is the metaphor of the Israelites' bondage in Egypt as sin.

0. The people of Israel go into Egypt willingly, for their own good — God prepares the way.
1. They prosper.
2. History is forgotten, and the Egyptians hold the people of Israel and force them to act against their will.

The people of Israel could not have simply left. Despite their numbers being so great that the Egyptians feared them, they could not have taken over. They were human, and the great loss of life, the destruction, and the fear that would go with it were too great a challenge for the people to overcome. They did not want to be in the situation any longer, no matter how good it had been for them at the first. They could not save themselves.

Likewise, we cannot simply walk away from our sin. Even when we are in a position of power, even when we are at our very strongest, we are no match for our own sin. Our fears, our desires, our comfort with the status quo bind us into sin just as the Israelites were bound into Egypt. We need Jesus.