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The story of the Jews’ Exodus from Egypt is definitely an exciting one. I mean you couldn’t write a script that was more exciting.

• A baby is found in a basket adrift in the Egyptian Nile and is adopted into the pharaoh’s household.
• Moses rediscovers his roots and finds slavery to suck
• God sends down 10 plagues against Egypt
• Moses leads his enslaved Israelite brethren from bondage
• Moses parts the Red Sea to allow them to escape.

It doesn’t stop there, but that the action part. They continue to wander for 40 years in the wilderness and, under the leadership of Joshua, conquer the land of Canaan to enter their promised land It has dramatic triumphs, but what does it mean to me today? What relevance does the story of the Exodus have for me in my daily life?

So lets drill into the back story details.  The Exodus takes place around 1445 B.C. The Israelites are captives in Egypt and the time of Joseph, the Jew who became Prime Minister in Egypt are long forgotten. The Israelites are now slaves to Egypt and the ruling Pharaoh fears the strength of their numbers. They are now an estimated two million in number. Moses, who had been raised in Pharaoh’s court, is now living as a shepherd in the desert.

God instructs Moses, “Speak now in the ears of the people, and let every man borrow of his neighbor, and every woman of her neighbor, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold.” (Exodus 11:2) God opened the hearts of the Egyptians, and they gave their belongings to the Israelites. God was providing His people with wealth to take with them to the Promised Land. Then the Lord told Moses that He would take the first born of every Egyptian and the first born of all the Egyptians animals. If the Israelites obeyed God’s instructions and sacrificed a lamb, prepared a special meal and marked their doorposts with the blood of the lamb, their firstborn would be spared; the angel of death would pass over their houses. Sure enough the first borns were killed and the Jews were soon out of there.

They assembled in groups to eat the roasted paschal lamb and the unleavened bread. After the sun rose on the 15th day of Hebrew month of Nissan, the Jewish nation rose together to leave the land of Egypt. The Egptians actaully told them to leave and gave them so stuff to enable them to leave.

After 3 days, Pharaoh started to regret that he had permitted the Israelites to leave. He mobilized his army in hot pursuit of his former slaves. He reached them near the banks of the Red Sea.

Moses led the Israelites onwards until they came to the very borders of the Red Sea.  Next God spoke to Moshe:

Lift up your rod, stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it; and the children shall go into the midst of the sea on dry ground.

So Moshe did as God ordered. Then a strong east wind blew all night, and the waters of the Red Sea divided. The Jews marched along a dry path through the Red Sea until they reached the opposite side in safety.

The Egyptians continued their pursuit, but the waters of the Red Sea closed over them and drowned Pharaoh’s army. Then you are on to the 40 years thing.

So what is the importance is how I started this out. Well, it’s the metaphor that if you trust and believe in God good, miraculous and awe inspiring things can and do happen.

THe 10 commandments are the most important rules that God set forth in the Bible and are central to Christianity and Judaism.

They were given directly by God to the people of Israel at Mount Sinai after He had delivered them from slavery in Egypt:

“And God spoke all these words, saying: ‘I am the LORD your God…

1. ‘You shall have no other gods before Me.’
2. ‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image–any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.’
3. ‘You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.’
4. ‘Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.’
5. ‘Honor your father and your mother.’
6. ‘You shall not murder.’
7. ‘You shall not commit adultery.’
8. ‘You shall not steal.’
9. ‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.’
10. ‘You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.’

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From the ever knowledgeable Wikipedia

A sarcophagus is a stone container for a coffin or body. The word comes from Greek “sarx” meaning “flesh”, and “phagein” meaning “to eat”, so sarcophagus means “eater of flesh”. The 5th century BC Greek historian Herodotus noted that early sarcophagi (the plural) were carved from a special kind of rock that consumed the flesh of the corpse inside. In particular, coffins made of a limestone from Assus in the Troad known as lapis Assius had the property of consuming the bodies placed within them, and therefore was also called sarkophagos lithos (flesh-eating stone). All coffins made of limestone have this property to a greater or lesser degree, and the name eventually came to be applied to stone coffins in general.

This doesn’t work for you? How about the patent?

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a portable tomb containing: mummified tissue with DNA of a deceased in expectation of future resurrection, an epitaph, various memorabilia, and a label; all memorializing the dead.

2. Description of Prior Art

The conceptual prototype of a tomb is the Egyptian pyramid. A pyramid is a large above ground historical structure which contains: mummified remains of a deceased in a sarcophagus; epitaphs identifying and memorializing the dead; memorabilia (objects of value) pertaining to the life history of the deceased; and objects and information pertaining to the continuation of life in some form. Pyramids are singular, large, and immobile. The present invention corrects all these features.

Throughout recorded history, humans have established graves or mausoleums to entomb remains of a deceased. The tomb is marked with an epitaph on a tombstone identifying the deceased. In most cultures grave markers and tombstones are used to memorialize the deceased. Usually relics from the deceased’s life are entombed. Implicitly such practice reflects a belief in an afterlife or resurrection of the dead. The permanence of tombs and grave markers addresses and comforts the family by permanence of the structure symbolizing an everlasting life. It confirms feeling for the continuity of life. In Christian liturgy the “dead shall rise from the grave, and the sea shall give up its dead” confirms the idea of physical resurrection from remains.

Corpses are bulky. Disposition of the dead by burial is customary presumably in the interest of sanitation. Burial sites are immobile. Increasing cost of preservation, decreasing availability of burial land, and population mobility exert new pressures on burial practice. Systematic reduction of burial mass has evolved. More on the patent

Christians definitely like them some Sarcophagus – especially with the Resurrection

What is the current and future state of religion in Egypt? This powerpoint presentation provides 1 view on the status of region, the beliefs of the past, for the future and the opportunities. From pyramids to today.