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"And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is
called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified" (Rev. 11: 8).
Light is let in upon one of the great characteristics of Egypt by a word in the
fourteenth of Zechariah. Speaking of the days that follow Armageddon, the prophet says
that:
"Everyone that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall even go
up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the feast of
tabernacles" (Zech. 14: 16).
The nations which disobey are to be punished "even upon them shall be no rain" (17).
Egypt however is an exception. Egypt does not depend immediately upon rain, but upon
the overflow of the River Nile, and consequently the punishment reserved for Egypt is
"plague" (18, 19). Here is one of the allegorical features of Egypt. It does not depend
upon rain--in other words it is a picture of the world that does not consciously depend
upon God. We say "consciously" advisedly, for the "Nile" is not self sufficient, it must
ultimately be fed with rain from heaven, and the most godless depend moment upon
moment for life and breath and all things upon the God they deny. Typically, however,
Egypt stands for a world where there may be "gods many" but where there is no
confessed dependence upon God. So in famine, Abraham "went down into Egypt"
(Gen. 12: 10) and we feel sure that the words "went DOWN" have more than a mere
geographical intent. It was a downward movement spiritually, even though the test was
great.
Another feature of Egypt that is allegorical, in application, is the use and number of its
chariots and horses. In the law of Moses it is written for the guidance of Israel's kings:
"He shall multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the
end that he should multiply horses" (Deut. 17: 16).
Hezekiah was reminded by the representative of Assyria of this temptation to trust in
the horses and chariots of Egypt.
"How then . . . . . put thy trust on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?" (Isa. 36: 9).
In the thirty-first chapter the prophet pronounces "Woe to them that go down to
Egypt for help; and that stay on horses and trust in chariots, because they are many; and
in horsemen, because they are very strong, but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel,
neither seek the Lord . . . . . Now the Egyptians are men and not God; and their horses
are flesh and not spirit" (Isa. 31: 1, 3). The typical meaning of this emphasis upon
"horse and chariot" is once more independence of the Lord. "Flesh" not "spirit", mere
numbers and physical strength. The Psalmist said:
"Some trust in chariots and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the
Lord our God" (Psa. 20: 7).
On one occasion, a short article dealing with Psalm 20: 7 was sent direct to the
printer, without being first made readable by the typist. Being unaccustomed to our