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GLEANINGS FROM THE WORD Experiencing an extraordinary God in ordinary life Issue #349 December 11, 2001 New Gems From Old Ground
Fear for their lives caused the family to flee from their homeland. They lived a life on the run, moving frequently from place to place along the river and sometimes they wondered if it would ever be safe to go home. The muddy waters of the Nile stretched up and down the valley as far as the boy could see. The river was busy, a blur of activity and a kaleidoscope of colour. Darting up and down the river were numerous bright green and blue small boats with large triangular white sails. Large barges plied their trade up along the Nile. Some were luxury vessels for royalty; others belonged to merchants and carried trade goods. Periodically one of the barges carrying exotic loads would stop at to the village. The barge would take on or off load cargo to the many traders whose caravans of donkeys and camels that worked the overland routes. On those days the shoreline would be alive with people. People were anxious to see what had come; gold, silver, ivory, and precious stones for the jewellers; leopards and apes destined for Cairo and Rome; and for market, figs and dried fish, baskets and tools, fine fabrics, exotic artwork and slaves from the interior of Africa. The father was a skilled craftsman, a carpenter, but the local people didn’t trust foreigners and hesitated to hire them. On slow days he would show up at the river’s edge early and wait for the barges to arrive. A few hours work as a longshoreman was often available to those who arrived first. The work was hard, but paid well and a man had to feed his family somehow. While his father worked that day, the boy and his mother waited nearby. His mother seldom left the boy out of her sight because she knew the king in her homeland wanted her son dead. The king had many ties to Egypt and his spies could be anywhere. The boy walked along the banks of the river not sharing his mothers concern. He was too busy admiring the trail of his footprints in the mud and the feel of the wet mud squishing between his toes. The same river mud was used by his ancestors to make bricks for the buildings and roadways of Pharaoh. As he walked along the muddy beach, he thought of his ancestors held in slavery there for so many years. For almost 400 years they stayed in bondage before their God would send them Moses. He could almost hear their songs as they laboured and their cries to their God for deliverance. He could hear the curse of the slave-masters and feel the pain of the beatings and the bite of the whip. The boy wept at their agonies and rejoiced at their prayer. His people were still in bondage, although not to the son’s of Pharaoh. They were in bondage to sin. They had made their faith into a system of laws and rules that none could keep and forgotten about love. This was no ordinary child; he was the one who came to deliver the world. This was Jesus, who redeemed His people through his own death in less than 30 years. Jesus of the Nile. Most of us picture Jesus as the baby in the manger surrounded by shepherds, as the passionate teacher or the worker of miracles in the days before his crucifixion and resurrection. We forget about those lost days of childhood in Egypt. Matthew’s Gospel describes it this way "When they [the Magi] had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him. So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son." (Matthew 2:13-15 NIV) Did Jesus ever walk the shores of the Nile? No one knows for sure. We know he went to Egypt with his parents for a while, but no one knows exactly where in Egypt he went or for how long. The Nile was the center of Egyptian life so it seems to be a likely place for a wandering Hebrew carpenter and his family to go. We also know that the family returned to Israel and settled in Nazareth sometime after the death of King Herod in 4 BC. The exact date of the family’s return is also a mystery. The next chronological event we have in Scripture is when Jesus is twelve and the family goes off to the temple (Luke 3:12-51). The Word sometimes becomes stale and overly familiar in our eyes. We think we have heard all the Bible stories and know them well. There is profit in rereading those familiar stories. Did you ever wonder what it was like for Jesus and his parents to flee to Egypt? Did you know Daniel was an old man when thrown into the lion’s den or that Noah did not take the animals two by two? Perhaps it’s time to revisit some of those familiar passages with fresh eyes. Read a different translation or a Bible that doesn’t have your pencil marks and highlighter all over the passage. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you new truths as you mine for new gems in old, familiar ground. Until next time, may Holy Spirit give you fresh eyes to see as you read His Word. May you find new gems in old ground. God bless. Kevin To share your thoughts on this issue of Gleanings, or to share prayer concerns email us at corbin_writer@hotmail.com. At Gleanings, we have a dedicated team of prayer warriors and all prayer concerns are kept strictly confidential. If you enjoyed this issue of Gleanings From The Word, email it, in its entirety, to a friend. For information on use of Gleanings in your church newsletter or other situations please visit the permissions page on our website
© 2001 K.F. "Kevin" Corbin All Rights Reserved SUBSCRIBE TO GLEANINGS FOR FREE
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