Why would some enslave others? The short answer is fear, and fear is expressed in some different ways. One driving cause, is the constant effort to bolster the illusion, that you are better than others, smarter, prettier, more important. Another expression, is in hatred, which leads to violent actions, which cross a wide spectrum; from derogatory speech (did you hear the one about) to physical attacks; even as far as murder. One that is not quickly thought of; is that for you to be enslaved, you must believe that you are inferior and are afraid you wouldn’t be able to succeed on your own, and as odd as it sounds you participate (go along to get along) in your oppression.
In Exodus we can how the sons of Israel; over time; were enslaved. It starts with forgetting who they were, by not passing on the truth from the older generation to the next, (and Joseph died, and all his brothers, and all that generation) (notice that it was not just the leaders responsibility, but all that generation didn’t pass on the truth). Since the sons of Israel didn’t count their worth in God’s eyes; as important, there wasn’t much hope, that the next generation of kings would treat the Israelite people with respect.
We see that the economy was in good shape and most were doing well, but the king and his people weren’t satisfied with prosperity for all, and began to fear that the people might realize; that the citizen’s work and effort, is the reason for the prosperity of the nation. So the people in power set out to take the Israelite’s wealth by making it harder and harder to just make a living, much less be prosperous. When the Israelites; were still able to get some gain, those in power went from being just afraid, to dread, and feared that they could lose their power over them. So; there were more rounds; of more constraining rules put on the Israelites, but even that didn’t stop them.
Next those in power set out to destroy the sons of Israel, by trying to get the Israelites to kill their own sons (toxic masculinity), but some feared God, and wouldn’t destroy the sons . When the people in power, could no longer hide their hatred, they began to murder the sons (notice that the rest of the non-Israelite people didn’t even try to object to this evil).
You will do well to realize, that all this didn’t take very long, to get from just trying to live in a society, to being the focus of death dealing hatred. We can’t hope that it will not come to our door. Is it worth teaching the next generation, that they are not bound; by how the world values them, rather they should embrace that, they are the children of God.
With the constant increasing level of violence, in our world, the time to do; is quickly slipping away.
“While it is yet called Today”
composed 12/31/2020
Tablet 