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Sunday, January 31 2010
The land of Israel experienced famines in ancient times. One of the most well-known, and most purposeful, was the famine that resulted in the Israelites eventually going to live in nearby Egypt (unknown to them at first, one of their own was not only already there, but was actually the Prime Minister of Egypt - see The Israelite Patriarchs - Joseph).
"42:1 Now when Jacob saw that there was corn [i.e. grain - see Corn] in Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons, Why do ye look one upon another? 42:2 And he said, Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt: get you down thither, and buy for us from thence; that we may live, and not die." (Genesis 42:1-2 KJV)
"For except we had lingered, surely now we had returned this second time"
So off they went on their journey that took a matter of a few weeks at the most.
"42:3 And Joseph's ten brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt. 42:4 But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he said, Lest peradventure mischief befall him. 42:5 And the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came: for the famine was in the land of Canaan." (Genesis 42:3-5 KJV)
The sons of Israel returned home, again in a matter of just a few weeks at the most. When the food that they brought from Egypt ran out, they returned again, albeit despite Jacob's reluctance to send his sons there. Notice Reuben's statement, "except we had lingered, surely now we had returned this second time" in verse 10. In terms of the time required, it was a short journey.
"43:1 And the famine was sore in the land. 43:2 And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the corn which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said unto them, Go again, buy us a little food.43:3 And Judah spake unto him, saying, The man did solemnly protest unto us, saying, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you. 43:4 If thou wilt send our brother with us, we will go down and buy thee food: 43:5 But if thou wilt not send him, we will not go down: for the man said unto us, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you.
43:6 And Israel said, Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me, as to tell the man whether ye had yet a brother?
43:7 And they said, The man asked us straitly of our state, and of our kindred, saying, Is your father yet alive? have ye another brother? and we told him according to the tenor of these words: could we certainly know that he would say, Bring your brother down?
43:8 And Judah said unto Israel his father, Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go; that we may live, and not die, both we, and thou, and also our little ones. 43:9 I will be surety for him; of my hand shalt thou require him: if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever: 43:10 For except we had lingered, surely now we had returned this second time." (Genesis 43:1-10 KJV)
Jacob himself later made the short trip down to Egypt "in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him."
"46:4 I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes. 46:5 And Jacob rose up from Beersheba: and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him." (Genesis 46:4-5 KJV)
Fact Finder: As shown in the verses quoted above, a journey between Egypt and the land of Israel required little time. Why did it later take the Exodus Israelites forty years to make the same journey?
See A Journey Without A Destination
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This Day In History, January 31
1606: Guy Fawkes was executed for his involvement in the "Gunpowder Plot" - an attempt by English Roman Catholics to blow up the British Houses of Parliament and assassinate King James I (for whom the King James Bible was named). Fawkes was hanged, drawn, and quartered.
1620: Virginia colonist business operators requested more "orphaned apprentices" from the Virginia Company in England.
1788: Charles Edward Stuart (popularly known as "Bonnie Prince Charlie" and the "Young Pretender") died in Rome at age 67. He was the leader of the Jacobite rebellion against the English (1745-46).
1839: The Lord Durham's Report was published in London in response to the 1837 rebellions in Upper and Lower Canada (Ontario and Quebec). To prevent another "revolution in the colonies," Durham recommended a local government "of and by Canadians."
1905: The first U.S. automobile to exceed 100 miles per hour, by Arthur MacDonald at Daytona Beach, Florida. Louis Rigolly in Belgium was the first ever over 100, in July of the previous year.
1915: During the First World War, Germany used poison gas on the Russians at Bolimov. On the same day, Germany announced that it was beginning a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare in the Atlantic Ocean.
1918: In the Soviet Union, January 31 under the Julian calendar system was the last day of its use. The next day was designated February 14 under the Gregorian calendar - the dates in between were simply skipped.
1928: "Scotch Tape" first went on sale.
1929: Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Soviet Union after losing a struggle for leadership of the country with Joseph Stalin.
1930: Britain, the U.S., France, Italy and Japan began the London Naval Conference. The purpose was to halt the arms race and prevent war. World War Two followed nine years later.
1943: The Battle of Stalingrad ended with the Russians victorious over Hitler's invasion army.
1950: U.S. President Harry Truman announced that he had ordered the development of hydrogen bombs that would greatly surpass the weapons of mass destruction power of the U.S. atomic bombs that he used to incinerate Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan in 1945. Russia followed with development of their own "H Bomb," beginning the arms race.
1953: 2,000 people were drowned when hurricane-force winds flooded the Netherlands.
1958: In response to the Russian launching of the world's first earth-orbiting satellite, Sputnik 1 in October of the previous year, the U.S. launched its first satellite, Explorer 1.
1958: U.S. space scientist James van Allen discovered the solar system's radiation belt that is now named after him - the Van Allen Belts.
1968: During the Tet offensive in Vietnam, a captured Vietcong agent was killed with a shot in the head on a Saigon street by the chief of South Vietnam's police, General Nguyen Ngoc Loan. The summary execution caused international outrage after it was seen around the world in newspapers and TV news.
