Hebrew Word Study – Egypt  – Mitsrayim    מצאים  Mem Sade Resh Yod Mem 

Hebrew Word Study – Egypt  – Mitsrayim    מצאים  Mem Sade Resh Yod Mem 

Exodus 6:7: “And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.”

I read something in the Talmud today in Pesachim 116b: “In every generation, one must look upon himself as if he personally escaped from Egypt.”  As I read Jewish literature from a Christian perspective, I viewed this as saying that we, the church, believers in Jesus Christ must look at ourselves as if we escape Egypt. That is to say that even though our ancestors were not the ones who escaped from the slavery of Egypt, the Exodus story still is applicable to us as believers in Jesus Christ if we look at Egypt metaphorically. 

Now when I look at a word metaphorically in the Bible all I need to do is look at the word in Hebrew and it will reveal to me what the metaphorical picture is.  The word for Egypt in Hebrew is Mitsrayim.  

Mitsrayim comes from the root word meitzar which has the idea of being limited.  Its Semitic root is the word tsar which means to be narrow and tsarah which means suffering. In other words, our Egypt is when we are in a position where our resources are limited and narrow. That could describe entrapment or even enslavement. We are enslaved by the enemy and but for the miracle of salvation through Jesus Christ we have no hope of escape.  This enslavement by the enemy has us enslaved by our sins which creates despair and sorrow resulting in suffering. 

I remember as a child every Saturday night we would listen to a radio broadcast over Christian radio called Unshackled.  It originated during the early thirties and forties when radio drama was king.  Families would gather around the radio like they do today around television and listen to various comedies and dramas.  The Pacific Garden Mission at this time started to dramatize real-life stories of people whose lives were enslaved by sin, which often involved alcohol, drugs, crime, and other sins which destroyed their lives and enslaved them until they were – unshackled. The program still airs today and you can stream it off the internet under “Unshackled.”

Growing up in Chicago, where Pacific Garden Mission was located, my father helped establish a rescue mission on Halstead and Madison Ave (now torn down to make way for Urban Renewal).  Bible Rescue Mission was located not far from the old Pacific Garden Mission and the two worked closely together. As a result, I not only heard the stories of the many lives that were changed by Jesus but actually met many of those who told their stories.  

In fact, many of these people actually came to our home as they were being rehabilitated and I used to marvel that these people just a few months earlier were no different than the homeless laying on the streets and sidewalks, propped up against abandoned buildings. These were people who overcame their addictions, were reunited with their families and found gainful employment. Yet, to listen to their life’s story before they were “unshackled” was even for a small child like myself absolutely amazing.  Amazing that God could create such a change in one’s life 

I would go with my father to the mission every week where my father would preach in the service, I would play the piano as a man named Frank would try to lead the singing. The room was filled because you had to sit through the preaching if you were to get supper after the service. 

Frank would try hymn after hymn but usually ended up singing a solo as most of the men were either too drunk or too sick to sing.  At one point Frank would ask for someone to suggest a favorite hymn and there was always at least one person who would suggest the Old Rugged Cross. Many recognized this old hymn from somewhere in their childhood, perhaps their mother sang it to them before they went to bed at night.  But it was one song that everyone tried to sing.  It was something to hear those broken, off-key, cracked, alcohol-wrecked voices as they tried to sing the Old Rugged Cross. 

I hear them singing it today. If I am going through my own escape from Egypt, I can’t help but be taken back to that little rescue mission.  As I think of those broken lives and how God changed them and took them out of the enslavement of Mitsrayim I know He will bring me out as well. As He will with you.

Just a little side note. To this day I have never even tasted an alcoholic beverage and never will. Not because of any religious reason. You see, one day after a service at the mission one old boy who himself had been released from the slavery of Mitsrayim came up to me while I was still at the piano.  I was probably twelve years old.  This guy still bore the marks of his slavery in Mitsrayim, an alcoholic addict.  He came up to me in ratty clothes, matted hair, pocked marked face, red nose, and all the other physical manifestations of his years as an alcoholic.  He approached me and said: “Kid, look at me.”  I looked at him and he asked: “Am I pretty?”  I said “No.”  He turned away as he said: “That’s what whiskey will do to you.”  

I’ve had many great teachers in my life, but this one old, beaten-down escapee from Mitsrayim whose life was unshackled, taught me one of my greatest lessons. 

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