"Un-Bull-Leaving Israelites"

I recently finished reading Catholic theologian Scott Hahn's book, Lord, Have Mercy. I want to provide an excerpt from pages 125-126 under the subhead "Un-Bull-Leaving Israelites," in which he touches on some Christian typology in the Old Testament history of Israel:

And it wasn't only their bellies that were groaning after their departure from Egypt. They also built a golden image of Apis, a bull calf, the Egyptian god of virility, and they conducted an orgy there in the desert (Ex 32:1-6).

Israel was its own worst enemy, but certainly not its only one. On the way to their occupation of the promised land, the Israelites had to conquer seven mighty nations that opposed their advance.

All of this, according to the fathers of the Church, is like the situation of humanity. We are born slaves. That is why Israel's servile stint with Egypt is a typological picture of the soul in original sin. It's also why Israel being led through the Red Sea is a symbol of baptism (see 1 Cor 10:1-4). God has set us free, through baptism, from the slavery of original sin, but we still suffer its aftereffects in lingering concupiscence. So it is only with difficulty that we give up sinful habits. Moreover, our corrupt nature continues to hanker after the sensual pleasures that accompany a life of slavery to sin. If we are to break free of the land of our exile, we must put to death such longings -- our concupiscence. We must sacrifice, in our lives, the created things that sinners tend to make into idols.

We need to discipline ourselves to resist temptation. We need to train ourselves to make war against the world, the concpuiscent flesh, and the devil. The fathers of the Church pointed out that, like the Israelites, we, too, must conquer seven "nations" before we ourselves can lay claim to the promised land of heaven. The pagan nations represent the traditional seven deadly sins: pride, anger, gluttony, lust, laziness, envy, and greed.