To the west is Egypt, also a place of captivity, and also where you can (like Joseph) rise to high esteem in the service of Pharaoh. Egypt is hierarchical, conscious of tradition, and less welcoming to outsiders. Egypt tends to be more straitlaced and orderly compared to Babylon\u2019s chaotic revelry. Unlike wanton Babylon, Egypt is concerned about propriety, although sometimes hypocritically<\/a>. But Egypt can build things, from century-spanning building projects to a seven-year grain supply to sustain you when the rest of the world is starving. As a religious minority, you will never be entirely accepted in Egypt, but you can do well there for a long time, at least until things get out of hand<\/a>. As with Babylon, you can\u2019t stay in Egypt. At some point, Egypt too will try to kill you. Egypt is better as a distant ally than as a long-term home. Eventually your time in Egypt will run out and you will have to depart for Zion.<\/p>\n On this mental map, there are no neighbors to the north, only a distant threat: the kings of the north, Gog and Magog. You might ally with Babylon against Egypt, or with Egypt against Babylon, in order to buy yourself a little breathing room in a treacherous world, but there can be no alliance with Gog and Magog, always lurking over the horizon. Those carried off to the north never return, not because they\u2019re living under an ice cap somewhere, but because they assimilate to a wickedness that is utterly incompatible with Zion.<\/p>\n And the south? That is the way of the wilderness, where you flee when every other option is exhausted. To the south lie the desert, the sea, and perhaps a distant promised land. Even the south has its hazards, as eventually Zion will have to emerge from obscurity, but the south gets you out of the duality of Egypt and Babylon for a time, and puts you far from Gog and Magog.<\/p>\n We have not fled into the desert, physically or metaphorically, in nearly two centuries. I wouldn\u2019t mind if a moment like that comes again. I had a pretty good experience<\/a> on trek, after all. I\u2019ll hoist my child on my shoulders\u2014metaphorically, my youngest is a bit beyond the hoisting age\u2014and march off into the wilderness. But for now, our job is to serve honorably in Egypt or Babylon, like Joseph or Daniel, rather than fleeing into the desert like Lehi or Moses.<\/p>\n In some ways I\u2019m more at home in Egypt. But if you haven\u2019t noticed, Egypt has been having a real one lately. I mean, if you\u2019ve decided to help organize Pharaoh\u2019s granaries, great, that\u2019s important work. But could you maybe tell Pharaoh and his magicians to get a grip<\/em>? Because Egypt has gone from building pyramids to filling its own bakeries with frogs just to own the Babylonians, and it has the rest of us kind of freaked out about what it might do next.<\/p>\n I freely admit that Babylon has its issues. I don\u2019t enjoy living in Babylon. I disagree with some of its values. But having left Egypt, I\u2019m not going to start longing to return to its flesh pots<\/a>. I don\u2019t stand for Babylon, but if I have to choose, I\u2019ll stand with Babylon as long as I have to.<\/p>\n Not any longer than that, though. If I hear the creaking of handcart wheels rolling in the night\u2014metaphorically or otherwise\u2014I can have my five-gallon bucket packed within an hour.<\/p>\n
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