It would have been better to be an Israelite than an Egyptian. That said, it didn’t seem easy for Israel in Exodus. The taskmasters made them gather their own straw to make the same amount of bricks. Blood on their doorposts wasn’t normal. They were trapped by the water, with Pharaoh’s army pinning them in. There was nothing about being an Israelite that didn’t require faith.
But what a story for those with faith. The Lord was making a name for Himself in raising up Pharaoh (Exodus 9:16), “for this purpose I raised you up, to show my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.” And in so doing was making the archetypal story of deliverance.
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the LORD.” (Exodus 10:1–2 ESV)
Being delivered doesn’t always feel delightful. But the alternative is destruction.
The Exodus is one-of-a-kind. We are not Israel. But Yahweh, the LORD, is our Lord. Paul quotes the Exodus story for our benefit in Romans 9 (verses 15 and 17), and states explicitly in Romans 15:
For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (Romans 15:4 ESV)
There are hard parts about being a Christian in this state in these days, but He is giving us stories to tell to our sons and grandsons of His great power. As G. K. Chesterton wrote,
“The one perfectly divine thing, the one glimpse of God’s paradise given on earth, is to fight a losing battle – and not lose it.”
So we enjoy the Lord’s Table set in the presence of God’s enemies (Psalm 23:5), and we taste His delivering power by faith.