When the going get’s tough, the tough are going to get going. True statement, I think. Perseverers are going to persevere. They’ll find a way. While they may not know exactly the path towards relief, they’re going to pick a path and figure it out as they go. The question becomes them, which path you gonna start down?

Reading in Isaiah this morning and this “woe” caught my eye.

Woe to the rebellious children!
This is the LORD’s declaration.
They carry out a plan, but not Mine;
they make an alliance,
but against My will,
piling sin on top of sin.
Without asking my advice
they set out to go down to Egypt
in order to seek shelter.

(Isaiah 30:1-2a CSB)

“So you wanna go back to Egypt?” is more than just a cute ’80’s song by Keith Green. It is too often the propensity of a people’s heart who are on pilgrimage to a promised land and, in the “in between space” from deliverance to final delight, find it hard at times. Like, really hard.

Egypt is commonly recognized as a type of the world. A picture of the system from which we were saved, and yet an alluring alternative when storms are encountered. She seems to provide the resources we think we need if we’re gonna make it. She makes promises we’d like to believe could come true. Offers ease when things just don’t seem easy. Again and again, the children of Israel, even after they left the wilderness and entered the promised land — like centuries after — found themselves looking to Egypt for relief when things got out of control. And the LORD declares, “Woe!” (And, I would think, “Whoa!”)

And not just because they picked what’s behind Door Number 2 when they should have picked what was behind Door Number 1. But because Egypt, while perhaps seeming to provide relief and reward for a season, just wasn’t gonna give God’s people what God’s people needed. Cue the prophet again . . .

Egypt’s help is completely worthless;
therefore, I call her:
Rahab Who Just Sits.

(Isaiah 30:7 CSB)

Rahab Who Just Sits. That’s what I’m chewing on this morning. Egypt, the world, is completely worthless, cause she’s a Rahab Who Just Sits.

First occurrence of Rahab in the bible is in Joshua 2:1 where the spies sent by Joshua to scout out the land before “Operation Occupy” come to the house of a prostitute whose name is Rahab. So, Egypt is likened to a harlot. The world is seen as a seductress. And this is what I also read this morning about a Rahab in Proverbs:

For a prostitute is a deep pit,
and a wayward woman is a narrow well;
indeed, she sets an ambush like a robber
and increases the number of unfaithful people.

(Proverbs 23:27-28 CSB)

So you wanna go go back to Egypt? It’s an ambush. It’s a trap. It’s the path of unfaithfulness.

Praise God that Jesus’ saves those from Egypt. The gospel is able to rescue even Rahabs through faith (check out Joshua 6 and Heb. 11:31 and James 2:25). And not just rescue, but redeem and re-life, so much so that a Rahab the prostitute can become Rahab the mother of Boaz, whose son was Obed, who fathered Jesse, who fathered David, who provided the lineage from which Messiah would come (Mt. 1:5). Rahab can be redeemed. But Rahab redeemed is no longer a Rahab of the world.

If we turn to Egypt, if when the going gets tough we’re tempted to find refuge in the world, then we’ve been deceived to think we’re gonna find something from a Rahab who has nothing of any eternal substance to give — she just sits. While she might look good, might boast of possessing the resources we think we need, she’s but an impotent lump. We need to beware of the temptation to make an alliance with Egypt, to turn to her for what only God can do — and delights to do — when we’re walking the wilderness.

Only by God’s grace. Only for God’s glory.