It has been inspiring to study the Bible story of the children of Israel’s exodus from Egypt, which is sometimes included in the weekly Bible Lesson published in the Christian Science Quarterly.

It occurred to me that all the different challenges they faced represent personal sense in different forms. For instance, Pharaoh could represent stubborn, oppressive human will; only under the immense duress of ten plagues did he release the Israelites. The lack of food and water the Israelites faced in the wilderness could represent the aggressive notion that we can lack sufficient spiritual understanding, intelligence, and inspiration to overcome a problem.

But through God we can overcome such errors. In the textbook of Christian Science, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy defines children of Israel as “the representatives of Soul, not corporeal sense; the offspring of Spirit, who, having wrestled with error, sin, and sense, are governed by divine Science; some of the ideas of God beheld as men, casting out error and healing the sick; Christ’s offspring” (p. 583).