The Hebrew Children Plundered

Thus they plundered the Egyptians. Exodus 12: 36b

Indeed, the word, they, refers to the Hebrew people of God.  I have personally referred to the words quoted above as explosive, because they simply explode with mind-boggling thoughts. For their entire slave-lives in Egypt, these children of God were being plundered in many sad and deeply troubling ways. If a basic understanding and meaning of to plunder, means to take from others what is theirs, by force, without asking, through bullying and more, then the children of God were certainly being plundered, I’m sure you’ll agree. Let’s ponder these with all the Spirit’s offered mind and wisdom.

Weren’t they being plundered physically? These Israelites were skilled workers, able to build bricks, second to none, for the Egyptians who were famous for their architecture. And even when the Israelites were deprived of the straw with which to work, they were extremely resourceful and sourced straw to make bricks of the same high quality and no less quantity. Here is the point. Their skill, energies, expertise and human strength, to name a few, were being stolen from them, plundered by the Egyptians, without shame.

May the Holy Spirit, help us not to live dumb, defeated and dead to this fact about ourselves as children of Father God. Are we, individually or as a Church community, being physically plundered? One way we are plundered, comes through enemy spirits, in whatever form or fashion, which come to weary us down through troubles, sickness and the unrelenting cares of this world, sapping and draining our spiritual energies.

Father! Please have mercy and help us! Amen!

Weren’t they being plundered financially? These children of God, were worthy of their hire, but as slaves, they were exploited to the point where they were not given any pay, any remuneration for the work they did and produced, of such high quality and quantity. I mean, their products had to be super good, to impress Pharaoh. They were plundered, in that, in reality, what was theirs by right, was taken from them daily, before their helpless, hopeless faces.

May the Holy Spirit, help us not to live dejected, lackadaisical and subdued lives, ignorant of this fact about ourselves as children of Father God. Are we individually or as a Church body, being financially plundered? One way our riches are plundered, comes through wicked spirits, in whatever form or fashion, which come to trample over us, subduing us into crippling worry, while the riches - the power of a sound mind, healthy spirit and vibrant body - given to us by our heavenly Father, are being pillaged.  

Father! Please have mercy and help us! Amen!

Weren’t they being plundered emotionally? We know this definitely, because they suffered beatings on a regular basis and any attempts to try and get better conditions, met with more beatings and harsher, tougher conditions. Their emotional state was alarmingly frail and all they received was more and more exploitation. We listen to God speak to Moses about them. And the LORD said: I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. Exodus 3: 7. O yes! There is emotional plundering, even though it may not be as obvious as some other forms.

May the Holy Spirit, help us not to live resigned, helpless, and despondent lives about this truth concerning ourselves, as children of Father God. Are we individually or as a Church community, being emotionally plundered? One way we are plundered, comes through conniving spirits, in daring, brazen manner at day or night, reaping all that we have received at the hands of our Father. We have been given the gift of peace for example and before we can begin to settle, up comes anxiety and scrapes every ounce of peace from our hearts, now palpitating with excruciating waves of anxiety, which stricken the heart.

Father! Please have mercy and help us! Amen!

We all are being made aware of how, like the Israelites, we too can know such plunder. Nevertheless, there is one more area of plunder, a most critical one at that, which must be brought to us, before we return to our main query. We will look upon this tomorrow.