“The Egyptians worked the people of Israel without mercy.”
EXODUS 1:13

Prejudice and Power Exod 1:8-22

Prejudice is ugly, contagious, and often rooted in fear. Our sinful nature finds it far too easy to look with disdain upon those who are different. Whether it’s based on ethnicity or ability, prejudice is wrong.

In the years following Joseph’s death, the Israelites in Egypt had multiplied and prospered to a point where a new pharaoh felt threatened by them. His reaction was to enslave God’s people, forcing them to do “crushing labor” and working them without mercy (1:11-13).

Yet the Israelites continued to thrive in spite of the persecution. So Pharaoh initiated a sinister plot to have all of the Hebrew baby boys slaughtered. Pharaoh’s fear drove him to treat people as if their lives were nothing more than a threat to him—they were disposable.

The Eugenics Movement (around AD 1850–1950) held similar views. It condoned using people with disabilities as test subjects in Nazi Germany. Even the US Supreme Court upheld the sterilization of those with disabilities in 1927. We may shake our heads and ask, “Who could do such things?” But history is like a mirror, revealing our potential to react in fear and show prejudice toward people who are different—especially those with disabilities.

Today, unemployment among the disabled is as high as 80 percent in some countries. While most world religions speak of love, mercy, and benevolent service, many of them fail to apply these virtues to people with disabilities.

Just as Hebrew lives were saved in Egypt by caring midwives (1:17), lives of disabled people were also saved in Nazi Germany when brave Christians resisted the Nazi regime. After World War II, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) designed to set standards of civil societies and open a dialogue on the true meaning of human rights.

Prejudice has no place in the Christian life. Proverbs 31:8 is our personal declaration: “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves; ensure justice for those being crushed.” If you look for ways to live this out in your community, you will find them.