Israel's bondage

This quote is about Israel and their bondage to the Egyptians.

“The fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham required that Israel should become numerous. To accomplish this, the little family, numbering only 70 persons ( Genesis 46:26–27 ), needed sufficient time and a peaceful place in which to grow. Egypt was that place. . . .

. . . Palestine was a battleground for warring nations that moved back and forth in their conquests between the Nile and the Euphrates. Israel would have found no peace there. They required stable conditions for their eventual growth and development. . . .

Their bondage certainly was not all on the negative side. It too served a good purpose. The cruelty of the taskmasters, the hatred that existed between the Hebrews and the Egyptians, and the length of their trying servitude fused Jacob’s children into a united people. . . .

The hatred they felt toward the Egyptians prevented intermarriage between the Hebrews and their neighbors. To reap the benefits of the Abrahamic promises, Israel had to remain a pure race, and the Lord used this means to achieve it. . . .

Yes, Egypt had her role in the Lord’s mighty drama, and she played it well.

At the end of 430 years, the Lord now decreed that the time had arrived for Israel to occupy her own land and there become that ‘peculiar people’ who would await the coming of their Messiah.” (Petersen, Moses, pp. 27–30.)

So Israel's bondage and trial helped unite them and grow stronger together as a people, so they could then leave altogether, and would WANT to leave Egypt.

How often do we get in a trial and it unites us as a family, or ward family or community? I sometimes forget this powerful aspect of trials in my life. And we always have a common enemy among us, not Egypt, but Satan.

Just something for you to stew on...