Out of Sight...

 

                                                                           

                                                    How the adventure started…                 

Life was interesting before Dustin discovered the small box that made him invisible. Life was more interesting after he had found the box on his way home from school. Dustin seemed like a normal 12-year-old boy. He had good parents as well as a younger and older sister. When he was 9, he rescued a baby bird, fed it and cared for it until it became a healthy happy adult crow who he named Skeech. After that, he discovered that he enjoyed making life easier for other people and animals. But of course, there was something unusual about Dustin.

Dustin had the ability to be invisible when he wanted to, and while he was able to have a lot of fun being invisible, he was also able to help a lot of people. Dustin also had to make some difficult decisions. Being able to become invisible meant that there were temptations he had to say no to, which is not always easy, but always worthwhile. A dishonest person would have wanted the box to get a lot of money or take something without paying for it. But Dustin thought that it was more fun to help people. He loved doing kind things and then watching the reactions of people. And because he could become invisible, he could enjoy watching the smiles and the surprised expressions of people he helped.

Now how Dustin was able to be invisible is an interesting story. One day he was walking on the sidewalk between school and his home on an autumn day.   

The wind was a little cool, but Dustin liked the fall colors, and he was thinking about when he would be able to go sledding, enjoy hot chocolate and build snowmen. Now Dustin was watching where he was putting his feet when his foot stepped on something, and an overcorrection caused his other foot to trip over the curb, and he fell over.

“This is so strange," Dustin thought. He was lying on his back, partly on the road and partly on the sidewalk. He was not really hurt except for a little skin off his knee and a bruise on his elbow. Lifting his head a little, he could see some people stopping across the street who had expressions of concern. “Are you okay? He sat up and waved at them. “I am okay. It is probably just a little bruise. After they exchanged looks and smiles, they walked off. Dustin could not help being curious and he looked near his feet. "There is nothing to trip on,” he said quietly.

He got on his knees and looked closely at the spot where he had tripped over whatever it was. There was nothing there! But he had tripped on something! What could it have been? He first looked around to make sure that no one was watching him. He did not want anyone to think he was crazy!. He slowly felt around the sidewalk where he had tripped when his hand felt a small box. It was amazing! He could feel a box but could not see anything. “What was going on!” Slowly he picked up the box.

Then he thought, "if someone sees me holding something and touching it when they cannot see it, they may think I am out it. I have to be careful." So Dustin picked up the box that he could not see. It was not very heavy, and it was about the size and shape of a smartphone.

It fitted into his pants pocket well enough. "It is so strange to have something in my pocket that I cannot see,” Dustin thought to himself. Of course, Dustin was very curious. What was the thing in his pocket? Why was it invisible? Where had it come from? What was it for? Well, Dustin waited till he got to his house, and then he went into his room. Then he took it out of his pocket and felt it. The oblong box had rounded corners, and he felt two little bumps on either end of the box. Were the bumps buttons? He pressed one bump, heard a click and suddenly the little box became visible.

 It looked like it was very old. The shiny black box had something written on it, but it was in a language that Dustin had never seen before. On either end of the box, were what looked like two buttons. The box appeared to have no seam, or screw holes, or openings at all. He pushed the button at the other end and suddenly, the box was invisible again. Dustin was very curious, so he pushed the button on the other end of the box, and it became visible again. "So if I push the button on this side, it will be visible, and if I push the button on the other side, it will become invisible.

"Who would make a box just so that it would be invisible?" It did not make sense to Dustin. Just then he smelled the aroma of cookies, and he knew that his grandmother was making some cookies in the kitchen. Putting the invisible box in his pocket, he went to the door and opened it.

There, coming out of her room, his little sister Grace looked at him and her mouth dropped open. "Why does she look so surprised," Dustin wondered to himself. But still thinking about the black box, and the cookies, he smiled at her and went to the kitchen. Grace, however, stayed where she was and continued to stare at his door. Walking noiselessly, he came into the kitchen and sat down on a chair near the counter where his grandmother's cookies were sitting fresh from the oven. His grandmother, assuming the noise she heard was someone coming in, looked up at Dustin but did not say anything. Just as Dustin was about to ask for a cookie and a Bible story which his grandmother was so good at telling, his grandmother flipped a switch on the radio and some choral music she loved so much came on. “This is strange," he thought. She always gives me cookies with milk and tells me a Bible story.

He was just about to say something when Grace came into the room. "Grandma, have you seen Dustin? I saw his door open, but he was not there. "No Dear, I have not seen Dustin.” "What sort of game are they playing," Dustin wondered. But before he could say anything his sister continued. "I went over and looked behind his door in his room, but he was not there. I thought he had opened it and stood behind it, as a sort of joke. I know he went into that room, but he was not there. Why would he go out the window?" "Oh Dear," his grandmother replied in her good-natured laugh," you know Dustin is full of surprises.

Now, why don’t you have a cookie and some milk while I tell you a story. "Can’t they see me?" Dustin wondered." When will she offer me a cookie?" Grace came and sat next to Dustin, and when her elbow barely touched his arm, she and Dustin accidentally shocked each other with static electricity. "Ouch," Grace," replied rubbing her arm. “Dustin began rubbing his arm too. "Do you need a cookie that bad," her grandmother chuckled. "I was shocked for no reason," Grace exclaimed. At this her grandmother examined her closely." What shocked you?" "I’m not sure. I just sat down here and got shocked. But…there is no one sitting here."

Then Dustin realized the truth. "They can't see me...I am invisible!" He felt the little box in his pocket and realized that the black box must have made him invisible too." So that is how Dustin came to get the little black box which made him invisible. Dustin had to be careful when using the black box. If he was planning to use it, he would go into his closet and push the button. He was very careful, so no one knew about his secret, although ever since he found the box, he noticed that Grace seemed a little suspicious. She would sometimes glance at him as if she suspected him, but she never said anything. Several times he had almost given himself away by standing behind someone and accidentally breathing on them.

One day at school, he decided to use the black box. He went into the restroom, and when he was sure that he was alone, he used the black box. Looking at his watch, which was also invisible to everyone else, he saw that lunch had started ten minutes earlier, so he noiselessly ran to the lunch line. Then he realized he could not get lunch without giving himself away.

He was about to slip back to the restroom when he saw someone sitting by themselves. He noticed that it was a first grader, and he noticed that the first grader was hungrily looking at the lunches of other kids. Then he noticed that the 1st graders’ clothes were old and shabby. He immediately felt bad for the first grader. Then Dustin remembered that he had some of his allowance on him. Hopefully the jingle of the coins along with the bills in his pocket had not made any noise. Dustin had a lunch ticket so he could spare some of his allowance. But how would he slip the first grader five dollars without being noticed?

Then Dustin thought of a plan. He went and stood next to the first grader who was looking in his direction. He took a button out of his other pocket and threw it where upon it landed on the other side of the 1* grader. The first grader almost jumped when he heard the sound.

As the small 1^st grader looked at what made the noise, he saw the spinning button that had not been there earlier. Quickly Dustin scrawled a note on a piece of paper which said, Happy lunch. While the 1st grader was still looking at the button, Dustin put the money and the note on the table and stepped away. Then he whistled. As soon as he did, the first grader looked in his direction to see who whistled and saw the money and the note. Seizing it, he glanced around wildly. Then after a few seconds he read the note after which he began grinning from ear to ear. Then he got a very confused and bewildered look on his face as he looked around for any would be benefactors. Not finding seeing anyone, he shrugged and then immediately he got up and ran to the lunch line.

Later after Dustin had turned the black box off and was eating his lunch, he glanced at the delighted first grader who was enjoying a delicious lunch of pizza, chocolate almond milk, an apple, trail mix and pudding. Dustin felt so happy to be able to help a hungry person without being caught that he hardly noticed how the cafeteria food tasted. Later that day Dustin came home and went into his room. He closed his curtains and changed out of his school clothes into play clothes.

He stepped out of his bedroom door and immediately smelled cookies baking and he knew that his grandmother had a plate of them out. As he neared the table, he heard his sister Grace having a discussion with his grandmother. "God can use you Grace to do great things for Him." Sitting down on the chair next to Grace, he got a little too close to her and shocked her like he had done sometime before. "Ouch!" Grace replied rubbing her arm. Then she stopped and looked curiously at Dustin. "Uh oh," Dustin thought. “I had better be careful. She suspects that there is something going on." Perhaps Dustin would like a cookie Grace," his grandmother replied to Grace's intent stare at Dustin. Grace looked at her grandmother and hesitantly handed Dustin a cookie." Anxious to get Graces mind off of her suspicions," he replied. "What sort of great things Grandma."

"Well God used many people in the Bible to do great things. Moses was a timid man who later in life did not want to be a leader, yet he was one of the finest leaders in the Bible because he trusted in God. Moses had faith and God used that. And there is also David. Now remember Grace that nobody expected David to amount to much, but David almost always asked God's will before he did something, and he is counted as Israel's greatest king. David had courage and God used that. There was Joseph who was sold as a slave yet became prime minister because he put his trust in God. Joseph had integrity and God used that to do great things. If you have a gift, use it for the Lord and he will lead you to do great things for him."

At that point with half a cookie in hand and his glass of milk half gone, he thought of his black box. How can God use that black box? How can he use me? How can I use it to help people and teach them about Jesus? Dustin was not quite sure until he remembered the first grader. "I can use the black box to help other people... and I will" Dustin remembered how wonderful he felt because he had been able to help someone, and he realized it was a key to happiness that few people discover. In that case I have a way to be happy that will be endless," Dustin thought as he smiled to himself. He realized that his sister and grandmother had been talking and he heard his grandmother say,

“Gifts like integrity, courage and faith are worth asking for, and in John 14:14 Jesus encourages us in asking for good things. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it! And when we make other people happy with our gifts, we make Jesus happy. What is your gift, Grace?”  “Well, Grandma, I am not sure.” What about you Dustin?” “Well Grandma, I think helping people might be my gift.” “I think so too. The Bible says, "And the King will say, 'I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it for me!"

That was the beginning of the adventures that Dustin would have with the small black box, and it is just the start of the adventures in this book.

bloom

 

An obelisk-shaped stela found at Serabit el-Khadim depicts three Asiatic soldiers 

equipped with axes, most probably duckbill-axes. They have distinctive haircuts mushroom-shaped coiffures and Semitic names. Moreover, there is evidence that in addition to such humble soldiers the high-ranking Egyptian functionaries who led such expeditions during the late 12th Dynasty were also of Asiatic descent. In the sanctuary of Serabit el-Khadim, a stela and an offering table of a 'royal deputy chief steward' with the Egyptian namne Imeny' were found. He was not ashamed to record his Asiatic descent nor to have himself depicted on one section of the lintel with an Asiatic beard. This indicates that people of Asiatic origin enjoyed royal confidence during this 

period. As we shall see, we also have evidence from Tell el-Dab'a of the presence of high 

Asiatic functionaries who were obviously in the service of the Egyptian crown. 

The Hyksos descendents of a patriarch

 

            Ecclesiastes 1:9 tells us that there is nothing new under the sun. This, of course is not a command to forbid a venture into historical discovery. While there is nothing new under the sun, there is an incalculable quantity in the realm of history that has been forgotten and lost. An example would be the secret ingredients of Greek fire, a highly flammable liquid which filled clay projectiles and were used mostly in naval warfare by the Byzantine Empire. This weapon when catapulted at an enemy was used for both offense and defense. For seven centuries it helped to stave off the doom of Constantinople, present day Istanbul. The formula for Greek fire is an example of ancient secrets lost to the ages.

            There are secrets lost to history and seemingly unimportant bits of information that we often glance over that may hold great significance but that are not comprehended as such. The other day my brother called and pointed out a verse I have read before but had not appreciated as an interesting link to the topic I have been researching for the last several years which would be ancient Egypt and the Bible. That verse was Numbers 13:16 which reads, “These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea, the son of Nun, Joshua.” In Joshua 24:15, it is Joshua who says at the end of verse 15, “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” I might have known Joshua’s real name at one point, but I certainly forgot it.

            Joshua was the assistant of Moses and then the leader of the Israelites as well as one of the 12 spies who spied out the land of Israel. That he would say what he said in Joshua 24:15 is inspiring since he was also a Hyksos descendent. When I first heard the word Hyksos, I assumed it was a derivative of some nebulous derogatory designation. My spellchecker almost always flags it as a misspelled word. The word Hyksos means rulers of foreign lands and they were also known as shepherd kings. How is this related to Egypt?

The country of Egypt in modernity (Misr, as it is known today) has frequently been occupied by different world and regional powers including the United Kingdom, France and various Arab governments. At present, it is ruled by the Military, which, to their credit, is very careful not to stifle tourism. In antiquity, Egypt was ruled by four distinct powers. It was ruled by Rome, Greece and Persia. The Greeks and the Egyptians seemed to have gotten on very well together and part of this was because the Persians, who ruled Egypt before the Greeks, were not especially kind, hence, in the eyes of the Egyptians, the Greeks who were awed by Egypt and its ancient culture, were seen as deliverers from the Persians.

I know, some of you must be thinking, “can’t this guy count?”  The fourth power to rule the land of the Pharaohs were the Hyksos rulers. Mysterious and enigmatic are good words to describe them. But how could Joshua be a Hyksos? The Hyksos not only ruled Egypt for more than one hundred years, but also sizable parts of Palestine. Their defeat at the hands of the 18^th dynasty is more than 3500 years removed from the present day. The 18^th dynasty includes some of the most famous rulers from ancient Egypt including Tutankhamun (whose tomb was discovered in 1922), Queen Nefertiti (whose famous bust is in the Berlin Museum), Queen Hatshepsut and the guy who is known as the Napoleon of ancient Egypt, Thutmose III.

There are historical and Biblical anchors linking the Hyksos to information that can be verified and trusted. Some ancient sources would include Josephus and a Greko-Roman Egyptian priest and historian named Manetho. Other ancient sources would be artifacts that are qualified sources when published in academic scholarly publications. This would include surviving tablets, statues and papyrus such as the Turn Cannon which mentions many Hyksos rulers.

What seems to distinguish the Hyksos from other ancient rulers would be a significant lack of available information, and if the Biblical record is not in the equation, almost all that can be said of the Hyksos is that they are mysterious and enigmatic. Josephus in his book, against Apion (in the latter part of his complete collected works), claims that these shepherds were their or his forefathers. Manetho describes the Hyksos as barbarous invaders who burned down Egyptian towns and razed temples. He also adds a bit of interesting information that I have not found in any modern history book. He mentions that the Hyksos eventually settled in Judea near Jerusalem, which is precisely where the descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh ended up.

When reading up on Manetho it is easy to see that he has no love for the Hyksos, and while he does describe them as invaders, modern archeology is strongly showing that the Hyksos were emigrants, and that they settled in Avaris which is in the northeastern part of the Nile delta. Avaris, or modern Tell el Daba, is within a ten-mile radius of the ruins of the Biblical town Pithom. Is this a coincidence?

An example of a source that is an anchor tethering this topic to archeology would be a statue which is discussed in a purely scholarly publication known as jstor. The statue, at the entrance of what was a tomb, is most unusual since most ancient statues in Egypt are of royalty. Well, this large, seated statue is a 1 ½ life size representation (almost 9 feet) of a dignitary who is not royalty or Egyptian.

This statue (or the fragments from which it was reassembled and which have curiously disappeared), was wearing a coat of colors, and is painted in the way Egyptians depicted asiatics, or people directly to the east adjacent to Egypt. There are Christian archeologists who have speculated that this statue represents Joseph and the details around this statue and its tomb, such as 11 other tombs in close proximity as well as architectural styles and pottery type, leave few other contenders as to who these people were except for the Israelites.

There is a lot of interesting archeological information regarding the Hyksos, such as finding the bones of various stock animals like donkeys, sheep and goats, but not one bone of a pig anywhere within archeological area of Avaris. I mentioned earlier that the Hyksos were conquered by the 18^th dynasty under the first Pharoah of that dynasty. Some of the more recent sources point out that the controversy between the 18^th dynasty and the Hyksos were due to the Hyksos having so much power and their being monotheists. One of the initial aggressors, a leader named Kamose, continued the warfare against the Hyksos because Amun, the chief god of the Egyptians commanded him to do so. The priests of Amun would probably have no objection to this course of action, and the scenario would be similarly repeated several hundred years later involving a Pharoah named Akhenaten.

Another historical source would be the biographical tomb painting of a soldier named Ahmose. (He is not to be confused with the 1^st King of the 18^th dynasty with the same name.) This Ahmose boasted of being part of the army that eventually defeated the Hyksos. This is connected to another interesting item mentioned by Manetho. He asserts that the Hyksos, in their sacred books, claim that they had been slaves. The soldier Ahmose killed a number of Hyksos in the eventual siege of Avaris and was given many slaves over the course of several years along with gold and other rewards. Likely, he was not the only Egyptian soldier rewarded in this manner for such actions. There are of course other ancient sources, but time is not a one-size fits all item.

What about the Biblical record? There is much in the Biblical record that is corroboratory in nature to what ancient sources have to show regarding the Hyksos. There are three questions that scholars and historians ask about the Hyksos. Who were they? Where did they come from? Where did they go?

I have not encountered any sources modern or ancient who have conclusively answered all three or even two of these questions. Josephus, and Manetho, biased as he is, comes the closest. The conquest and slavery of the Hyksos is far too similar to the Israelites to be dismissed. My scholarly research points strongly to Ephraim and Manasseh as being the ancestors of the Hyksos. What does the Bible say?

In Genesis 48:19, Jacob who is on his deathbed, is about to bless the two half Egyptian sons of Joseph. He places his hands in a crossed position on the heads of Ephraim and Manasseh (who would have been in their early to mid-twenties) which displeased Joseph, but Jacob prophesies that Ephraim would become greater than Manasseh. The Biblical record does not elaborate on this, but it does state Jacob saying of Ephraim, “but truly, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.”

 The archeological evidence points to the town of Avaris as being established in the late 12^th dynasty under Pharoah Amenemhet III, who some scholars believe is the Pharoah who elevated Joseph. The Hyksos seem to have had some control in the late 13^th dynasty, part of the 14^th and for much of the 15^th and 16^th dynasty. The 17^th dynasty morphed into the 18^th dynasty. The Turn Cannon in Turin Italy, while having a number of sections missing, mentions the names of about 40 Hyksos rulers though very little other than their names are known about many of them. The scarabs, or seals of different Hyksos kings have been found not just in Egypt, but in southern Palestine or present-day Israel and as far north as Syria. Many of these scarabs can been seen in museums such at the Metropolitan Museum in NYC.

The Biblical record and scholarly sources together help to answer the three questions about the Hyksos. Who were they? Where did they come from? Where did they go?

Who were they? They were the descendants of Joseph, albeit as reputable sources such as Nicolas Grimal point out, highly Egyptianized, which makes sense given their heritage. Where did they come from? In part, their heritage was from Caanan which makes sense since some of their names are not exactly Egyptian. Jacob-Har for instance was a Hyksos ruler. Where did they go? They, along with the children of Israel became slaves, and during the Exodus, many or most of them departed with the rest of the Israelites. Exodus 12:38 mentions a mixed multitude that went up with the Children of Israel and God allows a provision for the 3^rd generation of an Egyptian and Edomite to enter into the assembly of the children of Israel in Duet 23:8.

 There are 8 generations from Ephraim until Joshua, but he had many more descendants who were not the first-born sons. 1^st Chronicles 7:20-29 record the family of Ephraim including the fact that his daughter Sheerah built upper and lower Beth Huron which were two among many of the towns where they settled after the Exodus. These towns were not far from Jerusalem. It also lets us know that two of his sons were killed by the residents of Gath because his two sons, Ezer and Elead because they tried to take their cattle. There is sufficient evidence here that the sons and daughters of Ephraim did not spend all of their time in Egypt.

For a most of the duration of my studies over the last several years, I have thought that the Israelites were the Hyksos, but at the end of 2023, the research results and my background in Biblical studies forced me to realize that this created more questions than answers. In January of this year, I went to Egypt for further research, and taking along a book called Avaris, the Captital of the Hyksos, by Manfred Bietak, I tried to figure out who the Hyksos were. I went to museums in Cairo by day and I studied this book by night, praying that God would show me who the Hyksos were.

One evening after a long day of walking around, taking pictures and studying statues, as I was reading the book, Avaris, the Capital of the Hyksos, and I was thinking about the similarities between the Hyksos and Ephraim and Manasseh, it hit me that they were the same group of people. And my research since that time has only confirmed this. There are still road bumps to this idea, but I am still studying, and this supposition has resulted in answered far outnumbering questions. The implications of this research are massive. For instance, it has resulted in a confirmation of previous research outcomes such as specific identification of people in the books of Genesis and Exodus.

A historian and writer whom I have a lot of respect for, Terri Fivash, more than 20 years ago correctly conjectured that Amenemhet III was the Pharaoh who elevated Joseph from prison to be the prime minister of Egypt. I went from there and my research showing that the Hyksos were the descendants of Joseph and his Egyptian wife, have implications for who other people were.

The Hyksos, as being related to, but culturally removed from the Israelites, were a threat to the religion of Egypt (the worship of Amun and lesser gods) due to their power combined with their monotheism. After the Hyksos had been defeated, the conqueror, the 1^st Pharoah of the 18^th dynasty, Ahmose, or his son Amenhotep I may have been the Pharoah who knew not Joseph and prescribed slavery to discourage the Israelites from falling in with another nation to Egypt’s detriment, and it would have likely been Amenhotep I (the second pharaoh of the 18^th dynasty)  who commanded that the baby boys be thrown into the river.

It would have been the 3^rd Pharoah of the 18^th dynasty, Thutmose I who had only one legitimate child, a daughter who would be forced by the dictates of succession to marry a half-brother.

When she would marry her half-brother, the future Thutmose II, she would lose any power unless she had an heir. How could she get an heir without being married. She was stuck. But, one day, when she went down to the Nile River to bathe, there was a basket floating in the water in the rushes by the Nile River. In her rationale, the gods had sent her an heir, and she would be able to keep her power. Even though she would marry her step-brother, she would have an heir. She named her heir very carefully, the name of which, Moses, was similar to her father’s name Thutmose I.  This daughter of Pharoah was Hatshepsut and she would become one of the most famous female Pharaohs of ancient Egypt.

The only thing that could jeopardize her power was if her heir committed a grievous offense and while Egyptian history is mum on this, it is just what the Bible reveals. In Egypt, wherever you find a monument of Hatshepsut, more specifically her mortuary temple at Deir el-Bahari, near the valley of the Kings, much of the hieroglyphs and paintings are chiseled out. Her mummy in the Museum of Egyptian civilization shows a regal and very proud looking person. Her reign was not characterized by military achievements but by monuments, advances in society, and the overall quality of living. She reigned about 20 years.  

The Bible records that Moses fled when he was 40 after killing an Egyptian who was the aggressor. He would come back 40 years later to face the napoleon of ancient Egypt, Thutmose III who history tells us had never lost a battle from Egypt up to Syria. He had a perfect record and arguably, the military force of Egypt had never been so powerful. It makes sense that this ruler would be very proud and arrogant. It is also understandable that some Israelites despaired that their situation could ever be improved much as we are sometimes tempted to wonder if we can be delivered from the body of death which Paul spoke of.

The mummy of Thutmose III bears forensic indicators of someone who drowned and suffered multiple abrasions to his body. History tells us that his first-born son died under unrecorded circumstances. His second born son and heir Amenhotep II (whose 1^st born son also died early), in the room next to him, also in the Museum of Egyptian Civilization in Cairo, bears many curious scars all over his body. The scars look like many small boils like chicken pox scars only larger, rounded, more severe and indented. What kind of plague would cause something like this? Amenhotep II’s second son and heir would be Thutmose IV.

There are many implications and undiscovered gems yet to be searched out in connection with what I believe I have been given, which is a restoration of history previously lost to the ages. In John 3:27, John the Baptist says, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.” I cannot answer the question I often ask myself, which is why I have been privileged to discover what I have shared here and in other places like my blog. I do not have an answer except that God is good. What I have learned, by God’s grace, is not whether I have succeeded more than other historians. I am unequivocally convinced that what I have shared here is completely viable. The questions of who the Hyksos were, where they came from, and where they went have, I believe, been answered, and I am also firmly convinced that without God’s leading and guidance, I would have many less advantages over other historians who have pondered these three questions.

I think that the subject of the Hyksos will always be a source of fascination to me. But a source of greater fascination is plight of the Israelites and conquered Hyksos, who, to all human appearances, had no hope against the Napoleon of ancient Egypt, Pharoah Thutmose III.

Sometimes it is tempting, in our Christian lives, to give into the false idea that we will never reach the standard God has for us.

But, the Israelites were not commanded to look at the military might of the as-yet unconquered Thutmose III. They were not to look at his armies or vast resources. We are not commanded to look at all the enemy of souls can throw at us. We are not commanded to consider his many advantages. We are told to look to God and Christ and to make this warming vista our focus. Like the Israelites and conquered Hyksos of old, we are to look to Jesus, and say, as Joshua, a Hyksos descendent, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” This should be our prayer as well as what God alone can give us which would be grace and strength in Jesus to do so. Thank you for going with me on this trip into the realm of history. Blessings!