The story of the Israelites' exodus from Egypt is a cornerstone of biblical history, filled with divine intervention, miraculous events, and the promise of a new life in the Promised Land. However, amidst this epic journey, a recurring theme emerges: the Israelites' longing to return to the very land of their enslavement. This article delves into the complex reasons behind this desire, exploring their rejection of God's leadership, promises, and freedom, despite witnessing His power and entering a covenant with Him.
The Initial Exodus and Subsequent Complaints
Moses, having witnessed the Israelites' suffering under Egyptian slavery, felt their pain and compassion. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey…. So now, go." It took a long time (possibly 20 years), but the Pharaoh of Egypt finally let the Israelites, who had been enslaved by the Egyptians for over 400 years, go.
They set out with Moses, trudging across the desert, dreaming of the freedom that was finally theirs. Their positive thoughts didn’t last long, though. After only a month and a half in the desert, they were already complaining to the point of wishing they were dead! If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! As the Israelites continued to move toward the Promised Land, they kept looking back to Egypt with longing, wishing they had never left.
The Israelites knew what Egypt had to offer them. They knew that if they went back to Egypt, they would once again be enslaved, but at least that was familiar, predictable, and even strangely comfortable in comparison to the unknown they were facing in the desert.
The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost-also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic." That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder.
Read also: Migration to Egypt
Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. But they said, “We will not come! Isn’t it enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? And now you also want to lord it over us! Moreover, you haven’t brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Do you want to treat these men like slaves?
Rejection of God's Leadership
After witnessing God’s power in the Exodus, and entering a covenant with God at Mt. Sinai, the children of Israel sent spies into the land of promise. When the spies reported their findings, “All the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, ‘Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in the wilderness!’... So they said to one another, ‘Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt’” (Num 14:1-4, NASB). This was not the first time the Israelites had suggested such drastic measures, but this was certainly the most unreasonable time for them to do so. The Lord responded, “How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst?” (Num 14:11).
Without the leadership of God, Israel would never have left Egyptian bondage. After receiving the law at Mt. Sinai these same people willingly affirmed, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!” (Exo 24:7). Yet, they were in such a hurry to reject God’s leadership that they said, “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt” (Num 14:4). They had a leader. God was their leader. They just didn’t like where He was leading them.
Rejection of God's Promise
When the Israelites said, “Let us... return to Egypt,” they were essentially saying, “We don’t care what God promised us, we don’t believe He can give it to us.” As a result of this lack of faith God declared, “Surely all the men who have... not listened to My voice, shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers” (Num 14:22-23). They heard the promise of God and saw His power to fulfill it, but they willingly rejected any hope of receiving that promise.
Rejection of Freedom
In the book of Exodus the Israelites were nothing more than slaves in Egypt. Their experience in Egypt was so horrible that the Bible consistently refers to “Egypt” as a picture of oppression, slavery, and captivity. By suggesting they return to Egypt, the Israelites were saying that they considered it better to give up their God-given freedom than to follow Jehovah into battle.
Read also: History of Israelites
Why Did The Israelites Want To Go Back To Egypt? - Jewish Teachings For All
Spiritual Lessons and Warnings
Many Christians over the years have indeed drawn upon the spiritual lessons found in Numbers. And rightly so. The New Testament directly tells us the book is full of examples and warnings for us. For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.” We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did-and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. We should not test Christ, as some of them did-and were killed by snakes. These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come.
So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.
As David Pawson puts it, “Numbers was written for the Jews in order that later generations might learn to fear God. And that is pretty much the way it is for us Christians. We too live between the ages, with redemption gained, but our final glorification not yet realised. But like the Israelites of old, we too keep craving for what we left behind. We keep pining for the good old days of our Before Christ experience. We may have left Egypt, but Egypt has not yet left us.
Read also: Biblical Account of Captivity
Here the poor human heart lets itself thoroughly out. Its tastes and its tendencies are made manifest. The people sigh after the land of Egypt, and cast back wistful looks after its fruits and its fleshpots. They do not say anything about the lash of the taskmaster, and the toil of the brick-kilns. There is total silence as to these things.
How often is this the case with us! When once the heart loses its freshness in the divine life - when heavenly things begin to lose their savour - when first love declines - when Christ ceases to be a satisfying and altogether precious portion for the soul - when the word of God and prayer lose their charm and become heavy, dull, and mechanical, then the eye wanders back toward the world, the heart follows the eye, and the feet follow the heart. We forget, at such moments, what the world was to us when we were in it and of it. We forget what toil and slavery, what misery and degradation, we found in the service of sin and of Satan, and think only of the gratification and ease, the freedom from those painful exercises, conflicts, and anxieties which attend upon the wilderness path of God’s people.
Given how God dealt with the disobedient, the rebellious, and the unfaithful back then, we really had better take heed, lest we also fall. We too are always tempted to want to go back to Egypt. Or as we read in Hebrews 10:35-36, “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. In sum, there are various themes which run through the book of Numbers. One is that of promise or rejection.
R. The land that had been promised to Abraham’s descendants was rejected by the vast majority of the Exodus generation. As Davies noted, “their behaviour was characterized by a blatant ingratitude and contempt for Yahweh’s purpose … a blatant repudiation of the beneficent acts of Yahweh in redeeming them from bondage.” In the wilderness the Israelites longed for their former status of safe enslavement rather than yearning for the fulfillment of God’s promise in the temporary uncertainty of their freedom.
God's Purposes for the Israelites in Egypt
In Genesis 15:13, the Lord tells Abraham, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years.” God knows everything that will happen, and He revealed part of the future to Abraham. Verses 14-16 read, “But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions. . .
First, one result of the Israelites’ leaving Egypt would be “great possessions.” Of course, in order to leave Egypt, they had to be there. God promised that their exit would mean great abundance for Israel. This was fulfilled in Exodus 12. When the Israelites left Egypt following the tenth plague, they were told to ask the Egyptians for items of value for their journey. “The people of Israel . . . asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. And the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked.
Second, the Lord wanted to wait before giving the Promised Land to Israel because “the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.” The Amorites worshiped other gods and participated in numerous other sins. God promised to remove them from the land where Israel would one day live. However, God had a certain time period in mind that included 400 years for Israel in Egypt. He is surely “slow to anger, and abounding in mercy” (Psalm 103:8). God certainly could have chosen a different way or a different time frame for placing the Israelites in their Promised Land, but He chose a particular way to bring glory to Himself. The 400-year sojourn in Egypt included many examples of God’s wisdom and might.
In addition to the excellent answer provided by Michael, it was God's way of setting up the stage for redemption of His people from slavery through the Ten Plagues culminating in Passover which is the foreshadowing of the coming Lamb of God. Without the suffering of slavery, they would not feel the need for a savior, a redeemer, the ultimate lamb. The Exodus story is the dramatization of our salvation played out in history. We can see it being referred to repeatedly throughout the Bible.
God had several distinct purposes for the Israelites’ enslavement in Egypt, for God causes all things to work together for good, to those who love him and are called according to his purpose (Rom 8:28). First, He was biding time for the fulfillment of the iniquity of the Amorites to be fulfilled (Gen 15:16). Third, they were subject to mankind’s unjust laws, in order to see the superior wisdom of God, when he handed down his Torah to them. Fourth, it was in their miraculous deliverance that God demonstrated to the entire world, the power and sovereignty of the one true God, and the fact his hand was upon them.
When Jacob's descendants went into Egypt they were simple sheepherders. Their level of sophistication as a society was tribal, and not much better than primitive.They were cooking on campfires outside of tents. When they came out they were ready to be a nation, with a government, laws, judges, towns, etc. They lived for 200 or 400 (depending on your view) in the most advanced, sophisticated civilization on earth up to that time. They lived in houses not tents. They were part of that culture and learned many new skills. The Egyptians had engineering, advanced (for their time) medical procedures (including surgery), bookkeeping and administrative practices, as well as all the unhealthy religious practices that caused problems for the Israelites later.
The thing is, God did not send the Israelites to Egypt for 400 years. The descendants of Abram were strangers not only in Egypt, but also in Canaan, which was promised to Abram, Genesis 17:8, Psalm 105:11-12. Canaan was also a place of affliction especially considering the mocking and persecuting of Isaac by Ishmael, Genesis 21:9.
Although they were strangers in a land that was not theirs, i.e., Canaan and Egypt, Genesis 15:13, they serve a nation, i.e., Egypt, that God will judge, Genesis 15:14. This can only mean the 215 years in Egypt. Four generations average 53 years in that time, which is reasonable. The 400 years are the years of affliction beginning at the mocking of Isaac by Ishmael. The 430 years are the years of sojourning beginning with Abraham's move to Canaan. Both end with the Exodus.
In addition to all the answers given, I believe one reason why the children of Israel had to be in slavery for 400 years was as a result of Abraham's mistake in Gen. 12 vs 10. God, knowing the end from the beginning, knew that Abraham would go contrary to God's promises of a child in Gen chapter 16, where he went in to Hagar and the result was Ishmael.
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