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\(^7\) Egypt’s help is worthless and empty; therefore I have called her “Rahab who sits still.”

There seems to me to be a symbolism or significance in the role of Egypt in the biblical narrative. At first it is the land where Joseph goes from being a slave, to a prisoner to a ruler and saves the nation, his family and others from starving in the famine. Then it becomes the oppressor of Israel subjecting them to generations of slavey, even killing the firstborn. By the time of Isaiah it is a fickle, powerful neighbour. Trusting in help from Egypt is seen as losing trust in the Lord. Then in the New Testament Egypt is the sanctuary for the Lord Jesus when Herod mirrors the ancient pharaoh in ordering the killing of newborn boys in order to kill the coming king. Maybe there’s some foreshadowing of how Jesus came to redeem fallen men in how at the beginning of Jesus’ life Egypt was again used for a good purpose like in Joseph’s time.