{"id":"01KFXVBEW3ECQ4E6S9G0EF9W9P","cid":"bafkreihzha556zhxw7cxuxjt4f3u2rqhg4srvytcm4vyfbgwtjteoofeae","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":495,"extracted_at":"2026-01-26T19:09:09.716Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KFXVA454RTKCJEQJMP0QKNKY","start_line":468,"text":" 331\tJACOB BEFORE PHARAOM\n\n\n 332\t.\n\n\n 333\t57\n 334\tthe household of his father, seventy in number, came out of Palestine, and when the aged patriarch stood in Pharaoh’s presence, and when the whole family settled down in the rich land of Goshen, the cause was as plain as noonday—Joseph had been above reproach, and the father was honored for his sake. One of the strongest impulses towards a spotless character and a blameless life should be, in every young person’s mind, the certainty that such a life will bring honor upon every one in the whole family.\n 335\t\n 336\tJacob and his sons and all the family remained as a permanent part of the Egyptian population. More than that, they founded in their new home a separate people. Perhaps Joseph had a view to the necessity of keeping the family entirely apart from the Egyptians for all time to come when he told his brothers to tell to Pharaoh their real character—that they were shepherds. Now the Egyptians had once been conquered by a shepherd race, and they despised the\n 337\t4\n\n\n 338\t58\n 339\t\n 340\tshepherd class ever afterwards. There was therefore no danger of the Egyptians ever intermarrying with the descendants of Jacob. The Israelites grew strong from century to century, developing with great rapidity, preserving their faith and ancestral memories and attachments, and never acquiring the least sympathy with the corrupt faith of the people among whom they lived.\n 341\t\n 342\tDid the Israelites gain anything by remaining in Egypt? Would it not have been just as well if they had gone back to Palestine after the famine was over, or have developed into a nation there? Not at all. God had a purpose in their remaining in Egypt. They were to be a chosen people. They were to be the teacher of all nations. They were to be a nation which should possess the truth of God for universal distribution. They were to be the people out of whom should come the Messiah for the salvation of the world. Now for this purpose the Israelites were not only to be kept separate from all nations,\n\n\n 343\t59\n 344\t\n 345\tso as to preserve their own pure faith, but should learn lessons of perpetual value from the greatest, the most learned, the most advanced nation of the world.\n 346\t\n 347\tThis is just what Egypt was. The Egyptian civilization was far beyond that of any other people. The great Israelitish deliverer, Moses, was “learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.” He was a direct descendant of Jacob, and at the same time he knew all that Egypt could give him. He was therefore able to lead, to teach, and to establish, as God’s best instrument, the legislation for the Jewish people, and through them for the whole later world.\n 348\t\n 349\tBut it is the peculiarity of the good disciple that he can often improve upon the lessons of an earlier day. While the Israelites learned much in Egypt, they improved upon some of their lessons. For example, they learned in Egypt the art of writing, but only its very elements. The square letters of the Hebrew alphabet they acquired there, but these were little\n","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KFXVAZJBSCY0QBF166AE8K0J","peer_label":"JACOB BEFORE PHARAOM","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFXT0KM64XT6K8W52TDEE0YS","peer_label":"More Classics","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"}],"ver":1,"created_at":"2026-01-26T19:09:10.009Z","ts":"2026-01-26T19:09:10.009Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}