February 14 Bible Reading

Today’s Old Testament chronological reading is in Genesis 47 and 48.

The Psalms/ Proverbs reading is in Psalm 45.

No New Testament reading today.

Today’s notes, and Hebrew root words.

And when that year was ended, they came to him the second year, and said to him: We will not hide from my lord, how that our money is all spent; and the herds of cattle are my lord’s; there is nothing left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands. 19 Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be bondmen to Pharaoh; and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, and that the land be not desolate. 20 So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine was sore upon them; and the land became Pharaoh’s. 21 And as for the people, he removed them city by city [he moved them into the cities], from one end of the border of Egypt even to the other end. Gen 47:18-21

BONDMEN. Strong’s H5650 עבד ebed, a concrete object meaning, “slave, servant;“ from Strong’s H5647 עבד abad, “to work, to serve.”

ayin ע = the eye, thus watch, know, shade
bet ב = the house, thus house, household, family, in, within
dalet ד = the door, thus enter, move, hang

The story: Watching and knowing (ayin) what is needed by the family and household (bet), thus going in and out of the door (dalet) to provide for it. According to the Ancient Hebrew Lexicon, our English word “obey” comes from abad, to serve as a bondsman.

It struck me today that the Egyptians, who had been free men under their own rulers, voluntarily sold themselves into slavery to Pharaoh for bread, so that the famine would not consume them. And when they sold themselves, they entered into a 20% tax upon all their income from that time forward, the historical precedent for “the king’s fifth.” As there is nothing new under the sun, we can see the same push today to sell ourselves to the government in exchange for the “free” provision of bread, under socialism/ communism. However, what is preventing it here in the United States, is that our country is so vast and its institutions so strong, that it has proven difficult to create an economic crisis of like proportion. This is why those who wish to install socialism/ communism try to create economic crises under various guises. History is their teacher, and ours.