2697.—The Children of Israel in Egypt.
1. Did God send the children of Israel into Egypt? 2. How many kept His commandments and were His children when they came out of Egypt? Please explain to the simple. 1. Yes, God sent His children into Egypt. This you will learn by reading Gen. 15:13; Ps. 105:17-24; Genesis 45 and 46. While none of the Scriptures directly say that God sent His children into Egypt, yet they all very clearly show that His providence directed Israel in going. There was a twofold purpose that the Lord had in this. First, that His own people might be preserved from famine, and tried, and secondly, that Egypt might have before them constantly the representatives of the truth of God. 2. We do not know how many kept God’s commandments when they came out of Egypt. There are some that did, we know, like Moses and Joshua, and Caleb, and Aaron, and others. How many rebellious there were, we know not. This knowledge the Lord has reserved to Himself. We read in the first chapter of Deuteronomy of the two who left Egypt that went into the promised land; but that does not mean that others were not obedient when they left, nor does it include those who were under twenty years old. This is something which we will have to leave with God.