I live with a math teacher. She sees and talks about patterns all the time. And her students are learning about patterns regardless of what grade they are in. She also loves to sew (though she doesn’t have lots of time to sew these days). So, we have lots of envelopes stuffed with pattern pieces.

The Bible is also full of patterns. Part of our difficulty in understanding the Scriptures is we fail to recognize patterns that are interwoven from Genesis to Revelation. Recurring images, themes, and motifs are meant to carry with them a wealth of information. This is especially true in the Old Testament. And one of the major patterns centers on Egypt and Exodus.

This past Sunday, we looked at Genesis 12. Our focus was on the first half of the chapter and God’s promise of blessing to Abram and through him to the families of the earth. We only made passing references to the second half. There, we read about Abram and Sarai’s excursion in Egypt. But this historical event is part of a pattern that is expanded upon later on in the Biblical narrative.

Let me lay out the pattern thus:

*A famine occurs in the promised land (12:10)

*This leads God’s people to go down to Egypt to sojourn there (12:10)

*While in Egypt, a crisis arises involving the Pharaoh and at least part of the people of God “enslaved”.  In this case, Sarai is taken into Pharaoh’s house to be part of his harem (12:15)

*God afflicts Pharaoh and his house with great plagues (12:17)

*Pharaoh lets God’s people go (12:20) and they depart with great wealth (12:16)

Sound familiar? It is basically the same pattern that we find in the later chapters of Genesis and the early chapters of Exodus. It sets up the recurring idea of Egypt as that which is opposed to God and His people. There is God working on behalf of His people to secure their freedom. And there is the expected victory of God over His enemies.

So, when we read the Scriptures and Egypt is mentioned, especially in the Psalms and the Prophets, it is meant to bring these thoughts to mind. Egypt is not the place of deliverance but of slavery. Oftentimes, when they ran into trouble, the Israelites would consider turning to Egypt for support and they are always told that is a bad idea (though they rarely listen). But the prophets also speak of a future where this pattern is broken.  Consider Isaiah 19:19-24:

In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord at its border. It will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry to the Lord because of oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and deliver them. And the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day and worship with sacrifice and offering, and they will make vows to the Lord and perform them. And the Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing, and they will return to the Lord, and he will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them. In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians. In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.

Saints, look for the patterns in the Scriptures. They are everywhere and they are often the way God communicates His message of grace to us. Especially when He makes a change in the pattern. What patterns do you see?