The Trial of the Egyptian Pharaoh

By Phineas Nyabera

This joyous book came out of my love for teaching. It is the product of teaching and lecturing in schools, universities, and prestigious conferences. The trial of the Egyptian Pharaoh was a case of human rights violations. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, his officials, and the Egyptian people forced the Israel people into slavery and treated them with extreme cruelty. They forced the Israelites to do hard labor and they mercilessly oppressed them and heavily exploited them. The Israelites cried to God and God agreed with them. God appeared to Moses in the burning bush and sent him to Pharaoh to tell him to let the Israelites leave Egypt, the land of slavery, and go to Canaan, the promised land flowing with milk and honey. God gave Moses two miraculous signs and wonders to perform before Pharaoh and his officials. God hoped that the two miraculous signs will convince Pharaoh and he will let the Israelite leave Egypt and go to Canaan. In his famous call to Pharaoh, God ordered, "Let my people go." Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh in Egypt and told him everything that God wanted him to do. Let the people go. But the Pharaoh, king of Egypt, refused to let the Israelites go out of Egypt. He refused to let God's people go out of Egypt, the land of slavery. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, adamantly asked Moses, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go." Then Moses left Pharaoh alone but God sent him back again. Moses and Aaron threw Moses's staff on the ground in front of Pharaoh and his official. Then Moses's staff turned into a great snake. Pharaoh watched the great snake crawl in front of him. Then Pharaoh summoned his wise men, and his sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians, and ordered them to do what Moses and Aaron did in front of him and his officials. The wise men, the sorcerers, and the great magicians of Egypt threw their staffs in front of Pharaoh and his official, but their staffs turned into small snakes and Moses's great snake swallowed them all. However, those miraculous signs and wonders did not deter or stop Pharaoh from his stubbornness. He refused to let God's people go out of Egypt and God decided to take this case to a higher level. The case of the Israel people, as plaintiffs, vs. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, as the defendant, was indeed a unique case. There has been no case before and since then where God himself presided over the case like he did before Pharaoh and his officials, God was the judge in this case. And God chose Moses and Aaron to prosecute Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and his officials for violating the Israel people's human rights when they forced them into slavery and treated them with extreme cruelty. Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites go out of Egypt. He disobeyed God's order to "let my people go." God performed a lot of miracles and wonders throughout this unique case. But Pharaoh refused to obey those miraculous signs and wonders. Then God decided to inflict Pharaoh, his officials, and the Egyptian people with deadly plagues. God sent ten deadly plagues that devastated the whole land of Egypt. God sent (1) the plague of blood, (2) the plague of frogs, (3) the plague of gnats, (4) the plague of flies, (5) the plague on livestock, (6) the plague of boils, (7) the plague of hail, (8) the plague of locusts, (9) the plague of darkness, and (10) the plague on the firstborn. The plague on the firstborn was the last straw for Pharaoh, king of Egypt. There was great crying, wailing, yelling, and mourning in the whole land of Egypt. God sent the angel of death to Egypt and killed all firstborn sons of the Egyptian people, including Pharaoh's firstborn son. Finally, Pharaoh woke and hurriedly summoned Moses and Aaron and said to them, "Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go worship the Lord as you have requested. Take your flocks and herds as you have said and go. And also bless me." So, Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. God opened u

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 3, 2020
• ISBN: 9781645157045

Book preview

Chapter 1

Introduction

Introduction

Many people have read with great interest the things that have happened among us and things that were fulfilled by eyewitnesses who came before us and handed them to us so that we may also read, learn, and understand what our ancestors did during their time here on planet Earth.

Therefore it seemed to be very important for me to write an orderly account of the trial of the Egyptian pharaoh, The People of Israel, Plaintiffs vs. Pharaoh, king of Egypt, Defendant, for us to hand it over to the future generations so that they may also read, learn, and understand things that have been fulfilled before their time here on Earth.

The Israelites had lived in Egypt very peacefully for a long time. But after the death of Joseph, a new king came to power in Egypt. The Pharaoh did not know Joseph and did not understand the history of the Israel people in Egypt. He resented the presence of the Israelites in Egypt and treated them with extreme cruelty. Pharaoh and his officials placed the Israelites in slavery in Egypt with forced hard labor. The Israelites were extremely oppressed, repressed, exploited, and forced to live a miserable life in Egypt.

The Israelites cried to God for help and God agreed with them and came down to rescue them from slavery in Egypt.

Pharaoh, king of Egypt, did not want to let the Israelites go out of Egypt. But God, the almighty, forced him to let the Israelites go out of Egypt, the land of slavery.

Moses, the servant of the Lord, led the Israelites as they crossed the Red Sea into the Sinai Desert and wandered in the wilderness for forty years before they entered into Canaan, the promised land.

Moses did not cross the Jordan River into Canaan. He died on Mount Nebo, at the age of 120 years old. The Lord allowed Moses to view Canaan, the promised land, from the top of Mount Nebo before he died, as the Lord commanded.

This book proceeds in the following format.

Chapter one is the road map. It is your GPS and you must follow it very closely and not lose your utmost concentration.

Chapter two explains the background of the creation of Adam and Eve, the first human beings to walk on earth. Human lines grew from Adam and Eve to Noah to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

The Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob changed Jacob’s name to Israel. Jacob wrestles with God…then the man said your name will no longer be Jacob but Israel because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome (Genesis 32:22–31).

Jacob had twelve sons and then became the Israelites. The Israel people therefore are the descendants of Israel (Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham).

Chapter three explores why and how Jacob and his sons moved to Egypt from Canaan. Jacob and his eleven sons, the Israelites, left Canaan and went to live in Egypt because of the severe famine in the land of Canaan. Joseph was already in Egypt.

Chapter four tells us how the Israel people became slaves in Egypt. After the death of Joseph, son of Jacob, a new king came to power in Egypt. The new pharaoh, king of Egypt, placed the Israelites in slavery in Egypt and the Israelites lived under severe miserable conditions under pharaoh, and his officials.

Chapter five, the trial of Pharaoh. The Israelites were slaves in Egypt and lived a very miserable life under Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and his officials. The Israelites cried to the Lord God for help and God came down to rescue them from slavery in Egypt.

The Lord God found Pharaoh, king of Egypt, guilty and ordered him to let the Israelites go out of Egypt. God ordered Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and said to him, Let my people go.

Chapter six, the Exodus. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt released the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Moses, the servant of the Lord, led the Israelites out of Egypt and the Lord God traveled with them all the time.

The Israelites left Egypt and crossed the Red Sea into the Sinai desert. There on Mount Sinai, God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, the laws to guide the Israelites. The Israelites under the guidance of Moses, the servant of the Lord, wandered in the wilderness for forty years before the Lord could allow them to cross the Jordan River and enter Canaan, the promised land.

Moses was forbidden to cross the Jordan River and enter into Canaan, the promised land. He died on Mount Nebo, at the age of 120. The Lord showed him Canaan, the promised land from the top of Mount Nebo before he died.

Chapter seven, the Israelites enter into Canaan, the promised land, the land flowing with milk and honey.

After forty years of wandering in the wilderness, the Lord allowed the Israelites to cross the Jordan and enter into Canaan, the promised land.

Joshua, the son of Nun, succeeded Moses and he led the Israelites across the Jordan River into Canaan, the promised land. Joshua and the Israelites fought the inhabitants of Canaan and conquered the land of Canaan. The Israelites inherited the land of Canaan and Joshua, the servant of the Lord, divided the land of Canaan among the Nine and a half tribes of Israel. The two and a half tribes of Israel had already been assigned the Land east of the Jordan river by Moses as Commanded by the Lord.

Chapter eight is a review and conclusion of this book.

Chapter 2

The Origin of the Hebrews and the Israel People.

Origin of the Israel People

The Bible is a sacred book of Christians or a book of the Jews. The Bible tells us God created the earth and the heaven. Genesis 1:1–31 tells us that from the beginning God created heavens and the earth. The earth was very empty and formless, and there was darkness over the earth, and the spirit of God continued hovering over the waters on earth. God then created light, he created day and night, and created everything that we see on earth and the heavens. The Bible tells us how God created man, Let us make man in our image, in our likeness and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the bids of the air, over livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground (Genesis 1:26–31).

God created Adam and Eve and put them in charge of his garden in the land of Eden. Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel, and then had another son called Seth.

The Bible gives us a complete background of how the generation on earth grew and expanded from Adam and Eve. Genesis 5:1–32 gives a complete list of Adam’s line. The count covers all the generations from Adam to Noah.

And after Noah was five hundred years old, he had three sons called Shem, Ham, and Japheth (Genesis 6:1–22). God saw that men had become sinful and full of wickedness and God wanted to wipe everything he had created from the face of the earth with the flood.

Noah was a righteous man in the eyes of God. Genesis 7 explains how God saved man through Noah. God flooded the earth with water for many days but saved Noah and his family who floated on floods with Noah’s ark for a hundred and fifty days. Everything on Earth perished during the floods except Noah, and his family, and everything that was in Noah’s ark. Genesis 8 explains that God remembered Noah and everything that was in Noah’s ark and so he sent winds over the Earth and wiped the floods from the face of the Earth.

After the water had receded and the land was dry, God asked Noah to come out of the ark and dwell on the land. Noah and everything that was in the ark came out and began a new life on earth. Then Noah built an altar for God. Noah took clean animals and clean birds, and sacrificed burnt offerings on the altar for the Lord. Genesis 9, God’s covenant with Noah, says God blessed Noah and his sons and told them to be fruitful and increase their generations on Earth. The table of nations gives us the account of Noah’s three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth and their sons (Genesis 10:1–32). The Tower of Babel says the whole world had only one language and the men decided to build a city with a tower tall enough to reach the heavens (Genesis 11:1–8). But God came down and confused their language and scattered them over the face of the earth. They stopped to build the city because they could not understand each other. That is why it was called the Babel.

From Shem to Abram (Genesis 11:10–32)

Genesis 11:10–32 gives us a complete account of Shem the son of Noah. It covers the generations of Shem to Abram, the son of Terah.

The Call of Abram (Genesis 12:1–8)

God appeared to Abram and told him to leave his country and his people and move to the land that the Lord had set up for him. And God said to Abram, I will make you into a great nation. And I will bless you. I will make your name great and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you, I will curse them, and all the people on Earth will be blessed through you.

Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Harran. He took his wife, Sarai, and his nephew called Lot, and their possessions and left Harran to the land of Canaan. Abram surveyed the land of Canaan and the Canaanites were living in the land at that time. The Lord said to Abram, I will give you this land. From there Abram traveled to the hills in the east of Bethel and pitched his tent between Bethel on the west and Ai on the East. And there, he built an altar for the Lord. Abram then left and went to Negev.

Abram Went to Egypt (Genesis 12:1)

In the land where Abram had settled, there was a famine and the famine was very severe, so Abram decided to move to Egypt. Before Abram entered the land of Egypt, he told his wife, Sarai, I know how beautiful you are and I know that Egyptian people love a beautiful woman. Abram told his wife that when the Egyptians ask who you are, you tell them that you are my sister and that will spare my life and your life. And indeed, Abram was correct. When they were in Egypt, Pharaoh’s men praised Sarai to the Egyptian Pharaoh and the Egyptian Pharaoh took Sarai to be his wife. The Egyptian Pharaoh treated Abram very well with full respect. Abram became rich in Egypt and he acquired sheep, cattle, camels, donkeys, and many servants.

However, God inflicted very severe punishment to the Egyptian Pharaoh for taking Sarai to be his wife. God inflicted very serious diseases on the Egyptian Pharaoh, who summoned Abram to his office and asked him why he did not tell him that Sarai was his wife. The Egyptian Pharaoh said to Abram, You told me that Sarai was your sister and I took her to be my wife. But now take Sarai, your wife, and leave Egypt and go back where you came from. The Egyptian Pharaoh gave orders to his men and sent Abram away from Egypt.

Abram took everything he had acquired in Egypt and went back to Negev. From Negev, Abram moved to a place between Bethel and Ai where he had built an altar for the Lord. Abram and his nephew had become very wealthy so they decided to separate themselves and acquire more land. Abram lived in the land of Canaan and Lot moved to the cities of the plains near Sodom then Abram moved to live in Hebron where he built an altar for the Lord.

Lot got in a lot of troubles because a war broke between the kings of Shinar, Ellasar Elam, Golim, and the kings of Sodom, Gomorrah and Bela. Abram and his man joined the war and rescued Lot, his nephew.

God’s Covenant with Abram (Genesis 15)

The word of God came to Abram in a vision. He said, Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, you have a very great reward. Abram told God that he was childless and therefore his servant will have to inherit his wealth. But the Lord told Abram that his servant will not inherit his wealth but a son from his body will inherit his wealth. And God showed Abram the stars in the heaven and told Abram that his offspring shall be like countless stars in heaven.

God then reminded Abram and said to him, I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land, to take possession of it.

Abram made sacrifices to the Lord and the Lord said to Abram, Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a good age. In the fourth generation, your descendants will come back here for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure. God made a covenant with Abram and said, To your descendants I give this land from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perrizzites Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.

Hagar and Ishmael (Genesis 16)

Abram and Sarai, his wife, left Egypt with their maid servant called Hagar.

Sarai gave Hagar, their maid servant, to Abram, her husband, to sleep with her so that they could have a baby through her because they had no child of their own. Abram slept with Hagar, their Egyptian maidservant, and she became pregnant. However after Hagar became pregnant, the relationship between her and Sarai went sour, so Hagar ran away. The angel of the Lord appeared to her in the desert and told her to go back and submit herself to Sarai. And the angel of the Lord told her that he will increase her descendants and her descendants will be countless.

The angel of the Lord also said to her you are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael for the Lord has heard of your misery. He will be a wild donkey of a man, his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hang against him and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.

Hagar bore a son to Abram and named him Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years and old when his son Ishmael was born.

The Covenant of Circumcisions (Genesis 17:1–27)

The Lord appeared to Abram and said, I am God almighty, walk before me and be blameless. I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers. Abram was ninety-nine years old when the Lord appeared to him during the covenant of the circumcision. And God said to Abram, As for me, this is my covenant with you. You will be the father of many nations. No longer will you be called Abram, your name will be Abraham for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you fruitful. I will make nations of you and kings will come from you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for generation to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you. I will be their God.

God said to Abraham, You must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations after you. The covenant is to keep every male among you circumcised. You and your descendants are to undergo circumcision and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. For the generations to come, every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner. Those who are not your offspring whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant and any uncircumcised male who has not been circumcised in the flesh will be cut off from his people: he has broken my covenant.

God changed Abraham’s name. He told Abraham, You no longer call her Sarai, her name will be Sarah. And God said to Abraham that he will bless her and she will bore a son for him and she will be the mother of many nations and king of peoples will come from her. Abraham himself was surprised and questioned himself. How can an old man, a hundred years old, with a woman ninety years old have a baby? Abraham said to God, "If only Ishmael might live under your blessing, and God assured Abraham that Sarah will bear a son and he will call him Isaac. God told Abraham that he will establish an everlasting covenant with Isaac and his descendants after