Everyone went to Egypt during famine. Abraham went. Isaac almost went (God stopped him). Jacob’s family went—and 400 years later, their descendants couldn’t leave.

Why?

Because Egypt worked. The Nile flooded predictably every year, which meant predictable harvests, which meant Egypt could store grain, tax populations, and control labor with brutal efficiency. Egypt was the ancient world’s insurance policy—and also its most effective trap.

In this episode of You’ve Heard It Said, we unpack how Egypt turned water into power and people into subjects. We’ll trace the pattern of God’s people going to Egypt across Genesis, examine Joseph’s controversial agrarian reforms in Genesis 47, and see how the economic machine Joseph built to save Egypt became the system that enslaved his own descendants.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why the Nile made Egypt different from every other ancient civilization

• The Abraham/Isaac/Jacob cycle: famine, Egypt, wealth, entanglement

• Joseph’s reforms and the creation of Pharaoh’s totalitarian state

• Why Egypt was seductive precisely because it worked

• How the system that saved Israel eventually enslaved them

Egypt wasn’t just oppressive. It was efficient, stable, reliable. And that’s what made it so dangerous.

You’ve Heard It Said: where faith meets history, and the stories we thought we knew come alive.

Follow the show and/or read the written version on Substack (you'll get the reading plan if you do!): 👉 https://youvehearditsaid.short.gy/spotify

You've seen Egypt in Sunday school flannelgraphs. You've seen it in The Prince of Egypt. You've heard it reduced to "the bad guys" in the Exodus story.

But what if almost everything you think you know about Egypt is wrong?

In this episode of You've Heard It Said, we confront the Egypt in your head—the one built by centuries of art, film, and oversimplified retellings. Because if we don't understand what Egypt actually was, we can't fully grasp what God did when He brought Israel out.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why Egypt was a main character in Israel's story, not just a villain
• What ancient Egypt was actually like—and why it was both magnificent and terrifying
• How misunderstanding Egypt means misunderstanding the Exodus
• Why the plagues were a direct confrontation with Egypt's gods
• What it means that the God of enslaved people defeated the greatest empire of the ancient world

This is the foundation for everything that comes next. Welcome to Egypt.

You've Heard It Said: where faith meets history, and the stories we thought we knew come alive.

Follow the show and/or read the written version on Substack (you'll get the reading plan if you do!):👉 https://youvehearditsaid.short.gy/spotify

The Old Testament often feels confusing, outdated, or easy to sidestep, but Jesus never treated it that way.
So why does it still matter?

In this introductory episode of You’ve Heard It Said, we explore why the Old Testament is foundational to Christian faith—and how reading it in its ancient, cultural, and historical context can radically change how we understand Scripture.

In this episode, we explore:
• Why Jesus insisted the Law and the Prophets still matter• How the Sermon on the Mount reframes the purpose of Old Testament law• What the laws of Israel reveal about God’s care for women, widows, and the vulnerable• How legalism missed the heart of the law• Why the Bible wasn’t written into our modern context—and why that matters

And then, we put that lens into practice with one story that changed everything for me:
• Rebekah at the well (Genesis 24)• Eliezer’s test and the theme of hesed (loyal love)• What ancient wells like the Pool of Gibeon reveal about the true cost of Rebekah’s obedience• Why her story is about willingness, not impressiveness

You’ve Heard It Said: where faith meets history, and the stories we thought we knew come alive.

Subscribe to the show and/or read the written version on Substack:
👉 https://youvehearditsaid.substack.com/