“⁸Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. ⁹And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; ¹⁰come let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.”

– Exodus 1:8-10 (NKJV)

“Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph (a) [i.e. that blessed grace season of genuine friendship between our Christlike Joseph and the ruler he redeemed, bringing true life and power to two great nations, has come to an end. Only now the resurrection life of Joseph will rise up in countless more children – for from death always comes life – to be worthy opponents in the face of the arising of this hardened enemy who does not share in the fruit of the previous season]. And he said to his people (b) [And it is precisely at this fateful moment – as soon as the “us” versus “them” rhetoric emerges – that Egypt will become the instrument of death, the pagan enemy nation hostile to God, a symbol of “the world” under the sway of the evil one, that it was always destined to represent throughout the Scriptures; that blessed season of grace under Joseph and his Pharaoh, almost all but forgotten], “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we (c) [There is something within the heart of sinful man that can almost instantly discern – albeit subconsciously – that any true fruitfulness (“more “) and might (“mightier “) upon a person or a people is come of God, and feels instantly threatened, not only by the reality of the insurmountableness of the fact, but by the demand for repentance and change it makes upon the life of the one beholding it; for at that very moment the person confronted is put before the choice of “life” and “death” posited by his Maker, to either surrender and join Him in His pursuits or hold fast to self-seeking and pride and effectively make himself an enemy of the Most High God]; come, let us deal shrewdly (d) [having then chosen “death” and “self-seeking”, “the wisdom of the world” and “every evil thing” (James 3:14-16) inevitably follows and one is soon equipped – having now become an enemy of God – by the enemy of God: satan and his kingdom, the kingdom of darkness, to learn shrewd tactics and cunning akin to satan himself as already revealed since the first: “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made . . . ” (Gen 3:1)] with them, lest they multiply (e) [the threat of the inevitable exponential fruitfulness and expansion and colonisation of the Kingdom of God over all territories really already subconsciously discerned and known in the hearts of all men created in His image], and it happen, in the event of war  (f) [the new king speaks here strangely prophetically for, having now pitted himself against God, he has already chosen sides and joined the pre-existing war between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness which inevitably plays itself out through humanity in the world throughout the ages; a war that – little does he know – has already been won since before the foundations of the world were laid in Jesus Christ and is simply being proven again and again and again for His Name’s sake], that they also join our enemies (g) [now become all the redeemed people of God from all nations] and fight against us (h) [the threat of the inevitable might and consequent victory of the Kingdom of God also really already subconsciously discerned and known in the hearts of all men created in His image], and so go up out of the land (i) [the enemy tactics of seeking to oppress and control within a territory here already also firmly established, and the cry of Moses “let my people go” already whispered on the wind . . . ].”(j)

(j) And so Dear Reader the first formal large-scale enemy-driven plot against the children of Israel commences. The veritable initiation that every true child passes through proving his legitimacy at the hand of the defensiveness of the enemy and beautifully doubling up as a sanctification tool in the Hand of our Beloved Lord 😊.