So, You Wanna Go Back to Egypt?

Does the Bible really weigh in on political theory? You bet it does! It’s all about “freedom.” Let’s face it; freedom is a word that’s really cheap, misunderstood, overused. It doesn’t really grip people the way it ought to. But when you think about it, “freedom” is a theme that runs all through the biblical text. And by the way, it’s not really what we think of today, in terms of the great conservative-liberal debate. When the Bible talks about freedom, conservatives might want to embrace that, but to be honest, it’s more on the level of what we’d call “classical liberalism.” That’s what emphasized – all through history – real individual freedom. Classical liberalism is all about the freedom of the individual, not to be governed in the minute details of our lives, by the state. Not to be ruled over by some “mastermind,” whether a king or monarch, or some oligarchy of all-wise, all-knowing autocrats.

Let’s go back to ancient Egypt, where the Hebrews are said to have been enslaved, and desperately looking for freedom. The freedom of course comes at the hands of their great deliverer, Moses. But isn’t it odd, that after they leave Egypt – after the great Exodus through the Red Sea – they end up wandering for forty years and saying to each other, “Were there no graves in Egypt that we had to come out here to die?” “We were better off in Egypt.” Isn’t that a little bit odd?

The first thing we need to understand is that Egypt isn’t necessarily the horrible, tyrannical society we imagine, from the Charlton Heston film. There was a great bureaucracy in ancient Egypt, which was well-oiled and worked smoothly. Even those who were supposedly enslaved had their needs taken care of. It’s been argued in fact that the Israelites weren’t so much “slaves” as they were “day laborers.” The Hebrew itself calls them “avadim” – which means “workers,” not necessarily “slaves.” As long as the Hebrew “workers” did what they were expected to do, their needs were taken care of. They were provided for. They had food to eat and shelter. 

Now, they’re supposed to jettison all that “security” and trade it for a barren desert, not knowing whether they'll ever eat anything other than “manna.” Freedom is a terrifying thing, and people will readily surrender it for whatever looks like “security.” Back in Egypt, if famine came, you got a “government handout” from the grain silos – a system put in place (says the Bible) by the great patriarch Joseph. But to be a “classical liberal,” you have to tell the government essentially to “shove it”! “I’ll take care of myself, even if comes to gathering manna in the desert.” That’s where we’re at in Europe and America today. Are we willing to jettison some of those government handouts – even face the “desert” for some time – to save succeeding generations from the curse of unsustainable debt that will surely sink us all? That’s “classical liberalism.” Or … do we wanna go back to Egypt? 
P.S. In honor of Mayor Bloomberg's new "ban" on the "freedom" to choose what kind of soft drink to consume, let's all go out and purchase an enormous sugary Coke or Mt. Dew (well beyond the new 16 oz. limit) in solidarity with the "patriots" of NYC! Stand up for classical liberalism!