In the context of American slavery, this ancient sense of "down" converged with the concept of "down the river" (the Mississippi), where slaves' conditions were notoriously worse, a situation which lead to the idiom "sell down the river" in present-day English. Going "down" to Egypt is derived from the Bible the Old Testament recognizes the Nile Valley as lower than Jerusalem and the Promised Land thus, going to Egypt means going "down" while going away from Egypt is "up". In one interpretation of the song, "Israel" represents enslaved African Americans, while "Egypt" and "Pharaoh" represent the slavemaster. The lyrics of the song represent liberation of the ancient Jewish people from Egyptian slavery. The spiritual describes events in the Old Testament of the Bible, specifically Exodus 8:1: "And the LORD spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me", in which God commands Moses to demand the release of the Israelites from bondage in Egypt.
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