When I wrote The Pharaoh’s Daughter, my first book set in Egypt, I thought there was a pyramid around every corner. Not so! Something similar happens with folks all around the world. The first landmark I think of when I imagine Paris is the Eiffel Tower, but France is filled with so much more than that single landmark! If you live …
Do You Have the Heart of A Sojourner?
During my quiet time a couple of weeks ago, I came across a startling verse in Exodus about sojourners. “You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt” Exodus 23:9 ESV The heart of a sojourner. The phrase stopped me in my tracks. NIV says, “the heart …
Dating Joseph In the Faiyum
Though I’ve never actually SEEN Joseph, son of Jacob, after hearing his description from the Bible’s Book of Genesis, I would have gladly dated him. In the Faiyum. In the desert. In the rain forest. (I sound like a Dr. Seuss book.) Okay wait! When I titled this post Dating Joseph In the Faiyum, I really meant dating–as in placing him on …
Five Ways Joseph Foreshadows Christ
Only six more days until Christmas 2022. Is your shopping done? Are you hosting family this year or traveling? Have you ever considered all the ways Jacob’s favorite son, Joseph, was a foreshadowing of God’s Only Begotten? Of course, Christ is the one and only Incarnate Son–fully God and fully man–but Joseph’s birth was also miraculous. Though not a virgin …
Celebrating One God at Christmas
Ho-ho-how do we ignore the commercialism associated with Christmas and focus on the ho-ho-holy God who invaded earth in a lowly manger? Perhaps it would help to remember that our struggle is neither new to our generation nor unique to our culture. When Joseph was released from prison and elevated to the second-highest ruler in Egypt, he also faced unique challenging …
An Egyptian Rapunzel: Were Both Joseph & Asenath Held Captive?
Fact or Fiction: Joseph’s wife Asenath was held captive in a tower before she married Joseph? Well, I counted it as sort of both. An ancient Jewish novel, written sometime between 200 B.C. and 200 A.D., tells the story of Joseph and Asenath. It was reworked a few centuries later as ancient Christian fiction! Fascinating, huh, to think that “biblical …