Well the
movie Exodus had lot of my friends asking question about the happenings of the time, well here is my way of narrating the events.
Exodus is
the recording of the events which describes the deliverance of Israelites who
were then slaves in Egypt by God through Moses, understanding the Exodus
without knowing the events that led to the Israelites becoming slaves would be
incomplete so here it goes.
Prequel to Moses and Exodus, Life of Joseph
Abraham said to be
the "Father of Faith" had only one son Isaac. Isaac had Esau and
Jacob. Esau was ungodly and fell out of the grace of God. Jacob who actually
deceived his brother into getting the birthright and the blessings of Esau,
repents later and makes peace with Esau and dwells in the region of Israel.
Jacob had twelve sons and his eleventh son was Joseph. Jacob liked Joseph more
and he was his favorite and the jealousy of this brothers.
There are some
interesting events that happens here, Joseph was a dreamer, well not just the
dream that you and I have but dreams that reveals the future. Those very dreams
lead to his brothers plotting to kill him. The dreams are , in the first dreams
he sees that eleven bundles of grains bow down to his grain and he interprets
the dream and says to his brothers that one day all his brothers would bow down
to him. If this wasn't enough his second dream kindled even more anger to his
brothers. In his second famous dream sees the sun(dad) , moon(mom) and eleven
stars(brothers) bow down to him. Now after Joseph tells this dream even his
father gets a little upset, his brothers so angry start to plot his murder.
Jacob loved Joseph
more than his other sons and gifts him the famous twelve colored robe. In those
days wearing a colored dress was those of the rich and you could say a twelve
colored dress could take you to royalty. One fine day Joseph's dad calls him and
asks him to get his brothers who were herding cattle in the wild. As Joseph
approaches his brothers wearing the famous robe, the brothers decide to kill
him. Reuben who was the eldest didn't want Joseph to die and suggested that
they throw him in an abandoned well to let him die and thought he could come
back later secretly and rescue him. So they beat him and throw him into an
abandoned well. The brothers then go off to work and Reuben too. Then the other
brothers not including Reuben say that it would be bad the blood of their own
brother would fall on their hands if Joseph dies and they sell him off to the
traders who were on the way to Egypt. The brothers then dip Joseph's robe in animal blood and take it to their
father and say that they found the dress in the wild and fear that he was
killed by an animal.
So now Joseph who
lived the life of almost a prince is now a slave and is on the way to Egypt. In
Egypt he gets sold of to Potiphar who was a captain of the palace guard. Joseph
was wise and blessed by God and what ever was given to him was blessed. Hence
he was grew to govern the entire house of Potiphar. Potiphar 's wife fancied
Joseph and tried to seduce him and one day tried to force him but Joseph flees
her room leaving his garment behind. The wife then tells her husband that
Joseph forced himself on her and shows the garment as proof. Potiphar gets
Joseph put in jail.
Even in jail the
Lord was with Joseph and the warden seeing that all that Joseph does is right,
puts him in charge of all the prisoners. One day the Pharaoh's baker and wine
bearer are also put in jail as the offended the King. Both the Baker and the
wine bearer have a dream the same night and start lamenting what might happen
to them as none could interpret the dream.
Joseph
seeing them very troubled asks them and the wine bearer tells his dream to
Joseph, and said, In my dream, a vine
was before me and in the vine were three branches: and
it blossoms bearing grapes and Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand and I took the
grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh’s
hand. Joseph tells the baker that, in three days you will be reinstated and you
will once again be the wine bearer to the Pharaoh. And when you go back please
remember me for I am innocent and plead my case with the King.
Seeing
Joseph had interpreted the wine bearers dream well, the baker tell his dream.
He says, In my dream there were three baskets of white
bread on my head full of kinds of baked food for
Pharaoh and the birds of the air eat them out of the basket . Hearing this
Joseph tell the baker that in three days he will be beheaded and bird will feed
of this flesh.
In three
days there was a feast for the birthday of the Pharaoh and he reinstates the
wine bearer and beheads the baker just as Joseph said but the wine bearer
forgets about Joseph and never pleads his case to the king.
Then one
day Pharaoh has a dream and , in his dream he sees as he stood by the river
Nile, out comes seven healthy cows and they feed on the lush pastures, then
seven lean and bony cows come out of Nile and eat up the fat and health cows.
The pharaoh wakes up worried and then goes to sleep and has another dream , now
he sees seven good and healthy ears of grain then he sees poor and unhealthy
ears of grain, the unhealthy ones swallow up the good ones.
The next
morning Pharaoh is greatly troubled and calls all the wise men in his kingdom
and asks them to find the meaning of this dream. But none could interpret it,
the wine bearer who stood next to the king remembers about Joseph and tell the
king how he and baker were put in jail earlier by the king and the dream he and
baker had and the interpretation of the dreams by Joseph came about. Hearing
this the king asks for Joseph to be brought before him.
Joseph is
then all cleaned up to be brought before the king, the poor guy was in jail for
two years now. The king asks Joseph that he heard that he can interpret dreams,
Joseph says its not he, but God who reveals the answer. The Pharaoh narrates
his dream to Joseph and Joseph says both the dreams are one and the same and
says the next seven years, Egypt will have a period of plenty with rich harvest
and abundance of cattle but after seven years will come such a severe famine
and drought that all the glory of Egypt will be consumed by it. The dream came
twice because this is by God and its going to happen very soon. Joseph then
says to the Pharaoh to appoint wise men and during the period of plenty,
collect one-fifth of the harvest every year and store it. Then in the period of
famine the stored grains can be distributed thus saving Egypt from obsolesce.
The
king saw that Joseph was wise and God was with him. He makes him the Governor
of all of Egypt second only to him. He also names him Zaphenath-paneah. Joseph manages the whole country and starts to store the grains
during the next seven years. After seven years the famine starts to ravage
across Egypt and all of the modern middle east just as he said.
Joseph's
father Jacob and his brothers who lived in the region of Israel were also hit
by the famine and come to hear that there is grain available in Egypt. Jacob
instructs his sons to take some gold and buy grains for them so that they may
survive the famine. The brothers reach
Egypt and are brought before their very own brother Joseph whom they sold off
as a slave and bow down to him. This is where the first dream of Joseph of
eleven grain stalk bowing to him is fulfilled. The brothers don't recognize him
as he is known now as Zaphenath-paneah.
(Some
events happen here which I am skipping)
Joseph
reveals himself to his brothers and ask them to bring their father and all of
their family to Egypt so that they may escape the famine. Joseph then brings
his family before the Pharaoh and pleads him to let them settle in the region
of Goshen which he agrees. Jacob was named Israel by God and his descendants
were called Israelites. Thus the Israelites settle down in the land of Egypt
and escape the famine, thus God in order to save his children had put Joseph
through a great ordeal but it not only saved the house of Jacob but all of
Egypt.
After
the Pharaoh dies there comes a new Pharaoh who doesn't know the good deeds of
Joseph. Israelites had then multiplied and the king feared their strength. He
enslaves them and burdens them with heavy labour and made them build cities Pithom and Raamses. Now the people call upon god and God sends Moses
to free them, and takes them out of Egypt back to the region of Israel called
the promised Land, and all the events are in Exodus so now you have the
background on Exodus. In my next post ill cover the life of Mosus and the
Exodus.
