One of the most well-known and incredible narratives in the Bible is the story of the exodus of God’s people from Egypt. Israel’s escape from tyranny and slavery is emotionally moving and foundational to the Jewish and Christian faiths. The story is so powerful that it has been told countless times in various formats and has even been adapted to the Hollywood screen several times. While we remember the 10 plagues and the 10 commandments, we rarely discuss the 10 rebellions of Israel in the wilderness. In Numbers 14, God tells Moses “But truly, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD, none of the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice, shall see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me shall see it.” (Numbers 14:21-23) The story of the exodus is spectacular and encouraging, but the failure of the majority of that same group of people to make it to the land that God promised them is a discouraging catastrophe.
What is truly shocking is to see how many times Israel appealed to their former life in Egypt as a better alternative to their journey in the wilderness. At least 7 times, they cite being in Egypt (even dying there!) as superior to their current conditions (Exodus 14:10-121, 16:2-32, 17:2-33, Numbers 11:4-54, 14:1-45, 20:3-56, 21:4-57). It is hard to understand how they could so quickly become nostalgic about their past condition as suffering slaves. How could they so quickly forget the burdens they bore or their terrible taskmasters?
The scary truth of this is, the modern Christian is in just as much danger of longing for the past and falling short of the promised land. The writer of Hebrews uses the illustration of Israel’s rebellion to warn Hebrew Christians that they stood in the same peril as their ancestors if they abandoned Jesus. He encourages these Christians to stay faithful to Jesus when he says, “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.” (Hebrews 4:11). Paul used the exodus narrative to warn Christians of the dangers of going back to our past lives and abandoning Jesus (1 Corinthians 10:1-12). The Christian who longs for his past life will be destroyed as the Israelites who “…were overthrown in the wilderness” (1 Corinthians 10:5).
It may seem strange to us that a people who had lived under the conditions of slavery for over 400 years would long for that life. What was it that caused these people to have nostalgia for Egypt and fail to enter Canaan and inherit “a land that flows with milk and honey” (Numbers 14:8)? The simple answer given by the writer of Hebrews is “…they were unable to enter because of unbelief.” (Hebrews 3:19). The people had multiple occasions after leaving Egypt where they doubted that God would take them to a better place. What they knew in Egypt trumped what God said would happen for them in Canaan. At the heart of this phenomenon is a doubt that says, “The sacrifice you’re making won’t be worth it - there is no land of milk and honey ahead.” Unfortunately, the past life we remember can seem superior to the future promises of God that we haven’t realized as we wonder in the present wilderness of this world. In this moment of doubt, past, present and future combine to paralyze us, and we stop long enough to hear Egypt call us back. It is imperative that we form a proper view of past, present, and future so that we do not answer.
The Past Is Not as Good as You Remember
There is a common experience where we tend to remember the past as better than it actually was. This is a cognitive bias known as rosy retrospection. There may be many reasons why we develop this bias - some have suggested that painful memories tend to be easier to dispose of, and we tend to cling to those memories that were pleasurable or positive experiences8. We hear a lot of people long for the “good ole days,” yet they often later concede that they wouldn’t want to go back to a life having to hand wash laundry, pick and shell peas, then go home to a house without air conditioning. Upon further reflection, the good ole days weren’t so good after all!
We can also develop a rosy retrospection in our spiritual lives. For example, the recovering alcoholic may remember the fun parties with friends, singing, laughing, and having a good time, but they tend to not dwell on the DUI, the time they woke up passed out on the floor, or the 100th fight with a spouse that led to a divorce. We have likely all experienced a trip down memory lane where Egypt called to us, and we are tempted to want the pleasures or experiences of our past life. I think this is a temptation for every Christian who has “crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24). This can be a great temptation, and we should not discount the power and appeal of the “fleeting pleasures of sin” (Hebrews 11:25). However, like Moses, we must learn to reject the pleasures of Egypt and continue our mission into the wilderness to serve God. When we probe our memories about Egypt, there may be a moment of rosy remembering, but we must also drag up the buried memories of the pain that were associated with our past in the world. Only by offering ourselves a balanced view of the past can we clearly see it’s not where we should return.
The Present Is Not as Bad as It Seems
The experience of nostalgia for the past also tends to heighten when we are going through discomfort in the present. Think about it: how many times during the recent pandemic did you long for “how things used to be?” When we are going through hardships, they can seem to be overwhelming with no promise of ending. It is in these moments that Egypt looks the best. As Liebermann says, “Our general tendency to recall positive memories over negative ones is especially pronounced when we feel discomfort in the present.”9 When looking at the narrative, the people of Israel often longed for Egypt when their present situation seemed dire (no water, no food, Pharoah pursing, etc.) However, in every situation where they complained, God provided for them a solution. It is the case that they often complained about their present situation before asking God to help - we are often no different.
One passage that has always struck me is Numbers 11 where the people protest to Moses that they had "fish… in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.” Free fish and melons - those foods sound like delicacies when you’re feasting on manna daily. But imagine exchanging your freedom for fish and melons! They had forgotten the cost of the “free” fish and melons was years of bitter slavery. This happened because they had grown weary of the daily task of picking up the truly free bread from heaven. The Christian life can seem monotonous and stale, but it’s a life that is truly free. What can be difficult is realizing that to be free from Pharoah’s tyranny, we have to walk in the desert a while.
The gospel message in one of “repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:21). The word repent is from the Greek μετανοέω (metanoeo) meaning “to think differently,” or “to change one’s mind.” Christians are those who choose to bear their cross by putting their old lives to death, and then follow Jesus into the wilderness of suffering in order to receive a promise of greater things ahead. It is a life of discipleship. It is a life of sacrifice. It is a life of suffering. It is not easy. This is the part of the gospel where many turn away. We must not be like the multitudes who walked away from Jesus because His teachings were hard (John 6:60-67). Jesus had told them that He was the bread of life, and that He would be their food from now on. They couldn’t understand it, and many could not bear it, some wanted fish and melons. He was calling them to sacrifice, and few remained.
Christians have changed our minds about the pleasures of Egypt, we have left it behind and have been emancipated by the blood of Jesus. However, we are liberated to become servants, not to rule ourselves. Paul said, “But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness” (Romans 6:17-18). When the people leave Egypt, they travel to the mountain of God to receive the law that will govern them. They were freed so they could become servants of God. This is not a pleasure-filled life, but it is a blessed life.
The Future is Better Than You Can Imagine
Unfortunately, only two men over the age of 20 made it into the land God had promised them. The rest fell in the wilderness and never saw or experienced the land that flowed with milk and honey. The final straw was when they believed the report of the 10 spies who said they could not overthrow the fortified cities or the people in the land (Numbers 13:27-ff). They could not imagine God bringing Jericho’s walls crashing down or making the sun stand still as Israel routed the enemy. Their life in Egypt seemed far superior to this wilderness or the prospect of dying in Canaan. They lost hope in a future that was better than the present or past.
When a Chirstian turns back to the world, there is always a part of them that loses sight of the “glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18.) Hope for the glory of God allows us to endure present sufferings, and to deny Egypt’s call to return. As Paul said, “Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:2-5). Faith that is absent of hope cannot endure the trials of the wilderness. The milk and honey of Canaan has to be an ever-present thought on our minds that preserves us to the end.
Moses was able to leave Egypt because “He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward” (Hebrews 11:26).
I’m not sure what you think heaven will be like. I have often wondered about the future home of God’s people - and I’m sure my imaginations haven’t come close. We have some small glimpses in the scripture, and they all agree that the future reward of God far outweighs any earthly thing we may cling to. In Matthew 13, Jesus tells the parable of a merchant man who sold all he had to purchase the pearl of great price. One of the primary points of the parable is to show us that the kingdom of God is superior to any other thing we could hope to achieve or acquire. In it, Jesus stresses the importance of seeking God’s kingdom beyond all else. Once we really comprehend the value of that treasure, anything Egypt offers us will seem trifling in comparison. When Egypt calls, we can simply ignore her voice.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.” (Matthew 13:45-46)
When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the LORD. They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?” But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”
Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.
Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept that night. And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! Why is the LORD bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”
And the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had perished when our brothers perished before the LORD! Why have you brought the assembly of the LORD into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle? And why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.”
From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.”
No, You Were Not Happier Way Back When. Here's Why | Psychology Today
Why We Romanticize the Past - The New York Times (nytimes.com)