Mitsrayim [Egypt], is representative of Upper and Lower Egypt. The name comes from the word xevn (matsowr), which means siege works, rampart, hemming in, besiege, limit, fence in. Matsowr comes from the root xev , which means to bind, to confine, compress, shut in, enclose, besiege. The suffix ending “Yim”, makes it plural. Therefore Mitsrayim means multiple hemming in, confining, cramping, assaulting, besieging, fencing in. Now we begin to see the beginnings of what Mitsrayim is all about.

In Bereshiyth [Genesis] 10, we see the Table of Nations. This is the record of Noach and his sons, Shem, Cham and Yefeth. From these three sons, all the nations descend. From Cham, the son that committed trespass against his father Noach, descended Kush, Mitsrayim, Phut, and Kenaan. All of which dwelled in eastern and northern Africa, except Kenaan. Kenaan inhabited the area north of Mitsrayim, east of the Mediterranean Sea; occupying land east and west of the Yarden [Jordan] river, north to what is now Turkey. The land directly between Mitsrayim and Kenaan was inhabited by the Felishthiym [Philistines], descendants of Mitsrayim.

House of slavery

Let’s take a look at the Scriptures and see the picture that is painted of Mitsrayim. They reveal a personality profile. Shemoth [Exodus] 3:7-10, "and yhwh said, 'i have indeed seen the oppression of my people who are in mitsrayim, and i have heard their cry because of their slave drivers, for i know their sorrows. and i have come down to deliver them from the hand of mitsrayim, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to a place of the kenaaniy [canaanites] and the chittiy [hittites] and the amoriy [amorites] and the perizziy [perrizites] and the chiwwiy [hivvites] and the yebusiy [jebusites]. and now, see, the cry of the sons of yisrael has come to me, and i have also seen the oppression with which mitsrayim oppressed them. and now, come, am sending you to faraoh, to bring my people, the sons of yisrael, out of mitsrayim.' " Here we see that the people were slave drivers and oppressive to the people of YHWH.

Wayyiqra [Leviticus] 26:13, " 'i am yhwh, who brought you out of the land of mitsrayim, from being their slaves. and i have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk upright.' " This Scripture reveals the extent of the slavery. The people of YHWH were under a yoke and could not walk upright because of the weight of the yoke and the oppression.

HaDebariym [Deuteronomy] 4:20, " 'But YHWH has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of mitsrayim, to be his people, an inheritance, as it is today.' "

HaDebariym 5:6, " 'i am yhwh, who brought you out of the land of mitsrayim, out from the beyth abadiym [house of bondages].' " Also, HaDebariym 7:8. From these two HaDebariym verses, we see that Mitsrayim is like an iron furnace and a House of Bondages/Slavery. Miykah 6:4, " 'for i brought you up from the land of mitsrayim, and i ransomed you from the house of bondages.' "

Slavery

What is slavery? II Kefa [Peter] 2:19 tells us that a person is a slave to whatever has mastered him. Romans 6:16, " 'do you not know, that to whoever you present yourselves servants for obedience, you are the servants of the one you obey, whether it be to sin, or whether it be to righteousness, that you give ear?' " Yahuchanan [John] 8:34-35, "yahusha` said to them, 'amen i tell you, whoever sins is the servant of sin. and the servant abides not forever in the house, but the son forever abides. if he therefore, the son, will liberate you, truly you will be sons of freedom.' " Romans 7:14-25, " 'for we know that the thorah is spiritual ; but i am carnal, and sold unto sin. for what i work, i know not; and not that which i will, i do; but what i hate, that i do. and if the thing that i would not, i do, i witness of the thorah that it is good. but now it is not i who work this, but sin which dwells in me. for i know that in me, but that is in my flesh, good dwells not; because to will the good is easy to me, but to perform it i find not. for the good that i will to do, i do not; but the evil that i will not to do, that do i. and if the thing that i will not i do, it is not i who do it, but sin which dwells in me. i find then a law which accords with my mind, that wills to do good, because evil is near to me. for i rejoice in the thorah of the elohiym in the interior man; but i see another thorah in my members, which wars against the thorah of my mind, making me captive to the thorah of sin that is in my members. miserable son of man am i. who will deliver me from this body of death ? i give thanks to elohiym, by the hand of our master yahusha` hamashiyach.' " Galatians 4:3, " 'so also we, while we were children, were in slavery under the principles of the world.' " Just as Yisrael was mastered by Mitsrayim and the oppression caused them to cry out to YHWH for deliverance, so too have we, being mastered by the sin of the world, cried out from the oppression to be set free.

Oppressors

How did Mitsrayim treat Yisrael? How did the House of Slavery treat the Ibriym [Hebrews], the People of YHWH? Shemoth [Exodus] 1:11-14, tells us that they set slave masters over Yisrael, to afflict them with burdens; they made Yisrael serve with harshness; they made the lives of the Ibriym bitter with hard bondage. YeshaYahu [Isaiah] 10:24, explains that Mitsrayim had beat them with a rod.

Yisrael were the people of YHWH. There is an interesting difference between the people of YHWH and the people of Mitsrayim. Bereshiyth [Genesis] 43:32 states that Mitsrayim did not eat food with the Ibriym, for it was an abomination to them. Bereshiyth 46:34, says that shepherds were also an abomination to the Mistrayim. Shemoth 8:26, states that the sacrifices to YHWH, are an abomination to the Mitsrayim.

Spiritual View

Now lets look at all this, from a spiritual point of view. You have a people, chosen from all the nations, to be a set-apart nation to YHWH; to live righteously, to follow His Thorah. They are in slavery in the House of Bondage, slaves to sin. Because of the oppression, the bitterness of their lives, the yoke of slavery and the rod to their backs, they cried out for deliverance. These slave drivers, these people of sin, Mitsrayim, were at enmity with the people of YHWH. They could not break bread and fellowship with them, for eating with Ibriym is detestable. The shepherds, which represent the spiritual leadership of Yisrael, were detestable to these people of sin. Does not the world war against The Shepherd of YHWH? The sacrifices of YHWH are also detestable to this people of sin. They do not desire to please YHWH with a righteous sacrifice, but chose to sacrifice to elohiym [gods], that are but worthlessness. Mitsrayim, which is at odds with YHWH and His people, represents slavery to sin, the ways of the world.

We as Believers, were just like Yisrael. We were slaves to sin, crying out in the bitterness of our lives, to be delivered.

After YHWH sent Mosheh to deliver His people from Mitsrayim, He told them, Wayyiqra [Leviticus] 18:1-4, "and yhwh spoke to mosheh, saying, 'speak to the sons of yisrael, and say to them, "i am yhwh. do not do as they do in the land of mitsrayim, where you dwelled. and do not do in the land of kenaan, where i am bringing you, and do not walk in their laws. do my judgments and observe my thoroth [plural of thorah - teachings, laws], to walk in them. i am yhwh." ' "

We as Believers were in the world, we were in Mitsrayim, slaves to sin. Just as YHWH sent a deliverer to redeem them, we have been redeemed from our bitter lives of sin, by The Deliverer, Yahusha’ HaMashiyach [the Messiah]. No longer are we to do as we did in the world, but we are to do as YHWH commands, to follow His Thorah and walk in His ways. Romans 12:2, " 'and do not be conformed to this world; but be transformed, by the renewing of your mind; and discern what is the good and acceptable and perfect pleasure of yhwh.' "

Hated by the world

I Yahuchanan [John] 15:18-25, " 'and if the world hate you, know that, before you, it hated me. and if of the world you were, the world its own would have loved; but you are not of the world, for i have chosen you from the world; on which account the world hates you. remember the word which i spoke with you, that there is no servant who is greater than his master. if me they have persecuted, you also will they persecute; and if my word they had kept, yours also would they keep. but these all will they do to you on account of my name, because they know not him who sent me. if i had not come and spoken with them, they had not had sin; but now have they no pretext for their sins. he who hates me, my father also hates. and if the works i had not done before their eyes which no other man hath done, they had not had sin; but now they have seen and hated both me and my father; that the word may be fulfilled which is written in their thorah, they hated me undeservedly.' "

Yahuchanan [John] 17:14-19, " 'but now i come to you, and these i speak in the world, that they may have my joy completed in themselves. i have given them thy word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, as i am not of the world. not that you would take them out of the world do i pray, but that you would keep them from the evil; for they are not of the world, even as i am not of the world. father, set them apart through your truth; for your word is truth. as me you have sent into the world, i also have sent them into the world. and for their sakes i consecrate myself, that they also may be consecrated for the truth.' "

Yahusha` is the only person to go into Mitsrayim and not become enslaved. He is the one that YHWH sent to set us free from the slavery of the world – sin.

The Journey continues with the Pesach, the means for the deliverance, the redemption.