Bible Studies

Building Tombs

by Jemima Mwafuga
07/06/17
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Imagine having 20 years or more of your life building a royal tomb? If someone came and told you they were taking pride in the fact that they are professional tomb builders and that it has been in their family for generations I hardly expect any excitement but stupefaction.

There’s a reason why the tomb of Jesus was and still is empty. Jesus is alive today and He ascended. Eph 4 vs 8 In great contrast, there are no treasures to be found there like those in the tombs of Egypt because He bestows on us His heavenly gifts.

I experienced some form of job oppression for years. The pay was good but I was tire, burnt out and unsatisfied. What with unrealistic expectations and unreasonable demands, high staff turn over became a trend in the organisation I worked for. The working system was such that one worked to the bone yet the rewards and bonuses went to the top; much like a modern day version of building pyramids. I recall the unrealistic appraisal that was in place; a predetermined appraisal system.

Office politics was the circus of the business day. If you played your cards well and polished enough apples then you were lucky to get the annual bonus that year. Long hours and work overload were characteristic of the working conditions then. So what made people stay? Why hold on?

Bills to pay, reputation to maintain and being the pride and joy of one’s peers, acquiring plots of land, finish off the car loan payment etc. Though unspoken it was obvious many bankers were and still are slaves to the image they portray. Smart, meticulously dressed and respectable yet dying, fragmented and unsatisfied within. This describes most of the career people today.

Feeling lost and not knowing what to do as years roll by somewhat makes career people settle for less. Less than who they were intended to be originally. Less than their ideal “when I grow up I want to be..”. Less than living in their true authenticity. Just existing and breathing.

What the Jews experienced at the time of Moses’ royal adoption was worse. Working without employee benefits such as owning their own homes, freedom of worship, a day of rest to recuperate from the week’s toil all these they didn’t have for over 400 years. They did not have the benefit of education either.

Having officers that are hard to please, short changing the input materials and expected to have the same production output. Exodus 5 vs 6-17 Further beguiled by worshipping foreign gods and with fleshpots of food and bread. Exodus 16 vs 3 Instead of the Jews burning with anger to leave they endured hard toil of building these royal tombs we see today.

The slaves built bricks made of limestone and granite. Each brick weighed an average of 2.5 tons to 6 tons. Around 2.3 million of these heavy bricks were needed to build a standard pyramid 756 feet long each side, 481 feet high. This in a sense required 4000 slave workers to build that pyramid over  20 years with nothing save sleds and ropes and whiplashes.

In a day 500 bricks needed to be placed upon one another to achieve the 20 year turn around time. After the 20 years were over the reigning Pharaoh upon his death would be buried inthe very same pyramids along with the wealth others created for him, including his wife and the slaves. Supposedly to go with him to the after life.

Have you been feeling tired and burnt out in your career? Do you sense you are fragmented and lost in the pyramid race? Are you tired of repetitive dead works?

Come to the divine rest in pastures green where the Good Shepherd leads us. John 10 vs 11, Psalm 23. Unlike the yoke of oppression that most suffer today, take on the yoke of Christ. It is after all easy and His burden is light.