Contemplative Bible Reading

Exodus 1:8 (New Living Translation)

8 Eventually, a new king came to power in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph or what he had done.

And now we come to the (hi)story where God uses Moses and others to bring the descendants of Jacob out of Egypt. This begins with a small statement about the new king in Egypt. This king knew nothing about Joseph.

How is that possible? The following verses show that the new king knew about the people of Israel, i.e., the descendants of Jacob, who were living in Egypt. These children of Jacob were numerous, strong, and accomplished. The new king saw a group that could rival him and the ethnic Egyptians who ruled the land.

Yet, this king didn’t know about how Joseph was a ruler during the great famine that brought this Israel into Egypt. Okay, it was about 400 years earlier. Four centuries is a long time (America is only about 2 1/2 centuries old). The official records, however, would have this information.

This king (called Pharaoh later in Exodus) was ignorant of the history. Later we see that Pharaoh was ignorant of his own words as he constantly promised one thing after another to Moses and then disobeyed his own words. Sometimes we refer to such as just another lying politician.

God works in mysterious ways. Here we see a ruler who has forgotten history—a key history at a key moment in time. The historians of the land failed to show the king what they certainly knew. Everything hinged on a simple oversight. God works in mysterious ways.

Why did so-and-so do this-or-that last year? Couldn’t they see? Couldn’t they understand? How could they overlook something? God works in mysterious ways. I believe God still does this things like causing someone to forget something on some occasions.