Passover - The Human Trafficking Story
Scripture:
- Proverbs 31:8-9 NLT Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. Ensure justice for those being crushed. Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless. and see if they get justice.
Passover- do you realize what an immense victory over human trafficking Passover celebrates? Unfortunately, like the importance of celebrating Passover, many Christians have also been misled to believe a multitude of common myths about human trafficking. Yes, many Christians have been blinded to the existence of human trafficking taking place in their hometowns and neighbourhoods. This post examines human trafficking in the Passover Story, as well as many of the half-truths traffickers, want people to believe.
Passover - How the Family of a Trafficked Man Got Busted Out of Egypt
Many people traditionally start the reading of the Passover Story with the birth of Moses - the man whom God was to send to rescue His people from human trafficking, but the human trafficking story of Passover starts many generations before that with Joseph.
If you are unfamiliar with the story of Joseph, he was the son of Jacob and Rachel. Since Joseph was born to Jacob in his old age, Jacob doted on Joseph and gave him a coat of many colours. This caused jealousy among Joseph's brothers.
What caused even more ill feelings between himself and his brothers were the dreams he excitedly related to them. Why? His dreams seemed to indicate that his older brothers and even his mother and father would one day bow down to him.
One day his brothers' jealousy became too great and they plotted to kill him. One of his brothers hoping to secretly rescue him later proposed that they throw him in a pit. Then another brother seeing an approaching caravan proposed they sell him and tear up his clothes so it would look as though he had been attacked by wild animals. So Joseph, like many people being trafficked today was sold by people he knew - his very own bros!
One common human trafficking myth is that of stranger danger and people being kidnapped and sold. However, statistics show that many people are sold by people they know!
Human Trafficking Myth: People Are Sold By People They Do Not Know
Many people who are trafficked today are sold by their family members or other people they feel they can trust. They are blindsided by the unkindness shown to them when it happens.
Joseph, like many people who are trafficked today, was sold by his family members.
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| Joseph's Brothers Sell Him Into Captivity by Konstantin Flavitsky 1855- digitally enhanced |
Why do people sell their family members?
There are many reasons people might be sold by their families into human trafficking today. Sometimes people are sold due to ignorance - a family is deceived into believing that their child is going to have a better education or quality of life with people who seem to have an outstanding public reputation. Sometimes people sell family members because of greed - money or drugs matter more to them than their spouse or child. Still others, as in the case of Joseph, are sold into human trafficking by family members because of jealousy or hate. Whatever the reason for the person being sold, it does not matter if a person is male or female, young or old. Anyone can be sold. Being sold by someone you thought you could trust can make it almost impossible for that person to ever trust anyone again.
Human Trafficking Myth Number Two - People Are Always Trafficked for Sex
Just as Joseph was sold by his brothers into slavery, many people today are sold into physical labour, and then they are pressured into sex slavery. Many people are sold to work long hours in many different types of legitimate industries in North America. Some common industries that people have been rescued from in North America include farming, cleaning, factories, and restaurants. In the story of Joseph, we see that when Joseph refused to have sex with his owner's wife, she lied and his owner had him thrown into prison. Sometimes people are sold directly as sex slaves. In today's society, one of the most horrific parts of people sold in the sex industry is that they are sold multiple times - first during the actual rape and then repeatedly when videos of the attack are sold.
Human Trafficking Myth Number Three- People Who Do Not Escape Want to Be Trafficked
Many people think that people who are trafficked are held by physical chains, but the majority of people who are trafficked are held by either strong psychological bonds or the lack of means to provide the necessities of life for themselves. We see in the story of Joseph that after he is released from prison, the Pharoh gives him his daughter as a wife and Joseph has two children with her. While it seems an ideal and happy life going from imprisoned slave to son-in-law of the Pharoh, Joseph still is in effect a prisoner. In Joseph's old age, he asks that his bones be returned to his land if his family ever gets out of Egypt. This is finally accomplished when God uses Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.
Some things captors will use to enslave others and make people do as they wish include: threatening to harm a person's pets, friends, neighbours or relatives; feigning love and concern; threatening to have their freedom taken away by having them committed to a psychiatric facility; drugging them so they get hooked on drugs; or even using hypnosis.
In the story of Joseph, we also see how Joseph's entire family comes to live in Egypt due to the lack of food. This too happens today. Whole families can become enslaved to be able to eat. This enslavement of the Hebrew people started with one young boy sold into slavery by his brothers and expanded to generations of enslaved Hebrews.
The Hebrews were subjected to cruel back-breaking labour under Egyptian rule and fear caused their captors to make a decree that all the Hebrew baby boys were to be killed. However, Moses- one baby boy was successfully hidden by his mother in a basket in the Nile and found by the Pharoh's daughter who raised him as her child.
The story of how God used Moses to lead the Hebrew people out of Egypt has been the subject of many movies over the years, but few movies pay little attention to the importance of the continual prayers of the people who were crying out for years to God to be released from captivity.
If you, or someone you know, are in a situation that seems impossible to escape, do not give up hope. Keep crying out to God to send help. Keep praying. Never give up hoping to regain your freedom. God is listening. He cares.
Sources:
- File:Konstantin Flavitsky 001.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
- Myths and Facts About Human Trafficking | The Administration for Children and Families (hhs.gov)
About This Author
Sister Su is grateful to God for keeping her alive. She is a Trent/Queen's Concurrent Education graduate with over 20 years of teaching experience. She writes on several blogs, has a YouTube channel and is most easily reached through Twitter @Sister_Su See her link tree for more details:@Sister_Su | Linktree
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