The Father, the Son and Pharaoh’s Heb Sed Festival
The Father, the Son and Pharaoh’s Heb Sed Festival
As we continue to go through the plaques of Egypt in the upcoming weekly Torah Portions, I would like to share some thoughts on how I believe the Tenth Plague of YHWH going thru the streets to smite the firstborns of Egypt can be connected to the work of Yeshua. As I have been sharing, there is a specific reason to why the Creator chose this specific plague to be carried out in the way He constructed it. It is directly linked to the ancient Egyptian Heb Sed Festival.
This essentially was a festival Pharaoh participated in once he was on the throne for 30 years. It was to show how just and righteous the king was and was a show of his reign over the people. The festival was formulated around sacrifices to multiple gods in multiple temples throughout the land and Pharaoh paraded thru the streets in an attempt to justify his honor. This festival was held every three years by most with some evidence of it being held every two years by others.
Remember in Ancient Egypt, the society was founded on the principal of righteousness and justice or ma’at. Meaning all citizens, including Pharaoh, believed that in order to reach living in the afterlife, they had to maintain order in there every day life. This order is linked to carrying out acts of righteousness, including taking care of the stranger, the poor, the needy, the widows and treating slaves with dignity and equity. By maintaining this order in everyday life, they contributed to the Cosmos remaining in Order.
In Exodus, we read that a Pharaoh rose up who “did not know Joseph”. This means that he was not loyal to Joseph and his descendants. Israel is enslaved and is treated with contempt and cruelty, the very opposite of the foundational principle of Ma’at in which Pharaoh was to lead with example.
Now we reach the 10th Plague and YHWH has been in a Cosmic war defeating the Egyptian ideologies attached to their pagan gods. This last one is directly against Pharaoh himself. YHWH “goes thru all the streets” of Egypt smiting the firstborn demonstrating His Honor and His Righteousness as the One True God. Not to mention the righteous act He performed for the Children of Israel. An act that would have been understood by all Egyptians by its connection to Pharaohs Heb Sed festival. Now it is unclear if during this year, if Pharaoh would have been holding a Heb Sed festival, but the connection and context is clear to why YHWH chose to perform this particular plague as the final defeat right before the slaves are set free and are created into a Nation.
So is there some connection to the work of Yeshua and this Egyptian Festival? I believe that there is.
All four Gospels record in some form that Yeshua carried his cross and was “led to Golgotha” to be crucified. Yeshua, essentially was paraded thru the streets. While most view this as a shameful act, which make no mistake it was, what if we looked at from the lens of the Tenth Plague and YHWH’s righteous act of setting the slaves free? He did in fact set us all free from being slaves to sin! This small minute detail of carrying the cross thru the streets can in my opinion be looked at in a different light. Yeshua is the soon to be crowned King of Israel and all the world upon His return and His work of setting all slaves free is complete.
One last interesting element is that you will not find one king in history anywhere the formulated a nation out of a population of slaves.
Except One.
YHWH.
And He does it twice.
First One with the slaves of Egypt.
Second One with the Slaves of the World.
I don’t know about you, but I am grateful and humbled to be a slave now to Him.
(image found on Bibleinfo.com)
