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In the prophetic vision referred to as “The Covenant between the Parts,” Abraham was informed that his descendants would be enslaved by a foreign nation but would ultimately depart triumphantly, with great wealth. As long as Joseph was alive, the Egyptians treated the Israelites well. After his death, they forgot what he had done for them, and proceeded to enslave them, a situation which lasted about 120 years. The Israelites retained their faith that God would redeem them from Egypt and bring them to the good Land which He had promised their ancestors. This belief enabled them to preserve their identity as they continued to be fruitful and multiply, becoming a large nation.
Since the mission of the Jewish people is to lead the redemption of the world from its tyranny and troubles, the Jews first needed to suffer every type of evil humanity is capable of. This is why the Israelites were enslaved to the Egyptian Empire which was the most powerful, pagan society then in existence.
The Egyptians philosophy valued only the material, believing that as long as the body exists, the person lives. Thus, to ensure themselves a dignified eternal existence, they had their bodies mummified and placed in ornate tombs in massive pyramids. The Egyptians’ pagan worldview believed in the powers exhibited in nature. Yet while nature can possess power, beauty, and wisdom, it lacks justice and morality. The strong devour the weak and powerful people control weaker ones, enslaving them. Rather than striving for greater morality, paganism glorifies the natural order, including its abuse of power. This led the Egyptians to depravity. Their moral failings ranged from ingratitude toward Joseph by enslaving his descendants, to drowning innocent Jewish baby boys.
Thus, the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt was more than their freedom from physical enslavement. It was also an exodus from a pagan culture that had “enslaved” morality. Monotheism, in contrast, fosters the free expression of humane values. God struck the Egyptian deities with signs and wonders during the Exodus to teach us that the spiritual can rule over the natural to shape the world in accordance with divine ideals. Despite their physical redemption, if the Israelites were still enslaved spiritually and culturally, they would have remained in Egypt, ruling over their former owners, as other nations have done in similar circumstances. However, the Israelites were also freed from the Egyptian pagan ideology, revealing the value of faith and freedom to the world. Therefore, they did not harm the Egyptians’ freedom.
Moreover, God actually commanded the Jews that if an Egyptian wished to convert to Judaism, he should be accepted: “You shall not abhor an Egyptian, for you were a stranger in his land” (Deuteronomy 23:8). Jews are commanded to remember the positives that existed even when they were slaves in Egypt. They must not behave like the ungrateful Egyptians who enslaved Joseph’s descendants, acting as if they had forgotten how Joseph saved their people from famine and the empire from collapse.
As a result of their terrible enslavement, Jews learned the horrific moral depths to which people can sink, even using violence to enslave human beings for financial gain. This experience forced them realize how essential it is to cling to faith in God, the Torah and mitzvot, which liberates us from pagan worldviews that lead to moral degeneracy. For this reason, when the Torah prohibits causing pain to the stranger or the weak, it refers to our experience in Egypt: “When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not wrong him. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt; I the Lord am your God” (Leviticus 19:33-34), and “You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the feelings of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 23:9).
