Bible Studies
Parshat Sh’mot
W)B wtybW $y) bq(y t) . hmyrcm ey)Bh l)r&y ynB twm$ hL)w
“And these are the names of the Children of Israel who were coming to Egypt; with Jacob, each man and his household came.” Exodus 1:1 (Stone)
Exodus starts with the word “and.” This connects it to the previous sentence, showing that it is one, continuous story. Those coming to Egypt at this point, then, were not those who went in with Jacob, they are, rather, the ones returning to Egypt after burying Jacob. Although some translations say that these were the ones who came into Egypt with Jacob, the Hebrew says they came bq(y t) (et Jacob). t) is a Hebrew verb which can have a multitude of meanings. It could mean “from” or “of.”
In Genesis 46:27 there are seventy people altogether. Now, in Exodus 1:5, there are seventy that are descendants of Jacob. Several people have been born between the time of Jacob’s arrival in Egypt, and his burial in Canaan.
“Come, let us outsmart it lest it become numerous and it may be that if a war will occur, it, too, may join our enemies, and wage war against us and go up from the land.” Exodus 1:10 (Stone)
It was dangerous for them to stay, because they might make war with Egypt. But then it was dangerous for them to go. So it would seem to the Egyptians that making them slaves was the only option.
“So they appointed taskmasters over it in order to afflict it with their burdens; it built storage cities for Pharaoh, Pithom and Raamses.” Exodus 1:11 (Stone)
Genesis 47:24 “At the ingathering of the harvests you will give a fifth to Pharaoh; the [other] four parts shall be yours—as seed for the field, and food for yourselves and for those in your household, and to feed your young ones.” (Stone)
Until Joseph, Pharaoh would have had no need for storage cities. So Pharaoh is forcing Israel to build storage cities to store the grain that they had gotten for him.
“The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of the first was Shifrah and the name of the second was Puah—” Exodus 1:15 (Stone)
Shifrah comes from the root rp$ (shaphar), meaning, “to polish,” or “to be beautiful.” Puah comes from a root-word that means “to glitter.” Sifrah and Puah only appear once in Scripture, and the root rp$ only appears once.
A song of the michtam by David. Protect me O God, for I have sought refuge in You. You have said to HASHEM, My Master are You. Your benefit to me is not Your obligation. But rather for the sake of the holy ones who in the earth are interred and for the mighty—that all my desires are fulfilled because of them. Multiply will their sorrows—those who after other gods rush; I will not pour their libations of blood; and I will not carry their names upon my lips. HASHEM is my allotted portion and my share; You guide my destiny. Allocations have fallen to me in pleasant places, even the inheritance is beautiful to me. I will bless HASHEM Who has advised me, also in the nights I am counseled by my intellect. I have set HASHEM before me always; because He is at my right hand I shall not falter. For this reason rejoice does y heart and elated is my soul; also my flesh rests in confidence: Because You will not abandon my soul to the grave, You will not allow Your devout one to witness destruction. You will make known to me the path of life, the fullness of joys in Your Presence, the delights othat are in Your right hand for eternity.
Psalm 16 (Schottenstien).
In verse 6, when it says, “the inheritance is beautiful to me,” the word “beautiful” is rp$. When read closely, it is clear that this cannot be about David. “…HASHEM is my allotted portion…” this is only true of the Levites (Leviticus 7:35). While it is true that David sometimes acted as a Priest or Levite, he had another portion. But it is possible that Shifrah and Puah were Levites. It is for the sake of the holy ones that they were blessed. Could it be that David is writing a psalm of thanksgiving from the perspective of the midwives?
“The boy grew up and she brought him to the daughter of Pharaoh and he was a son to her. She called his name Moses, as she said, ‘For I drew him from the water.’” Exodus 2:10 (Stone)
The root of Moses is h$m (mashah), which is the word used for “drew.” It only appears two other times in Scripture, and they are both in the context of the same psalm. Psalm 18:16, “He sent from on high and took me, He drew me out of deep waters.” (Schottenstien)
It is amazing how much Psalm 18 parallels the Exodus, and the giving of the Torah.
“It happened in those days that Moses grew up and went out to his brethren and observed their burdens; and he saw an Egyptian man striking a Hebrew man, of his brethren.” Exodus 2:11 (Stone)
This is such a beautiful picture of Messiah. He grew up and went out to see His People, to see their burdens, and He saw the nations attacking His People.
“Who appointed you as a dignitary, a ruler, and a judge over us?” Exodus 2:14a (Stone)
The short answer is “God.” But isn’t this always the reaction of the wicked when a judge comes? Knowing that they are guilty, they don’t attack the judgment, but rather the authority of the judge.
“Pharaoh heard about this matter and sought to kill Moses; so Moses fled from before Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian. He sat by a well.” Exodus 2:15 (Stone)
Moses, just like Jacob, met his wife at a well, delivering her from a dilemma, and allowing her to water her sheep, and return home sooner than usual. Both Moses and Jacob were, at the time, fleeing from someone close to them. Jacob fled from his brother, Moses from his adopted brother or grandfather.
“He said, ‘Do not come closer to here, remove your shoes from your feet, for the place upon which you stand is holy ground.’” Genesis 3:5 (Stone)
The word “shoes” is from the root-word l(n (na‘al), meaning “lock,” “shod,” or “fasten.” This word appears twice in Song of Songs 4:12, “As chaste as a garden locked, My sister, O bride; a spring locked up, a fountain sealed.” (Stone)
It also appears once in Ezekiel 16:10, “I clothed you in embroidered garments, I shod you in tachash leather, I bound you with linen, I covered you with silk,” (Stone)
This is a kind of being reserved for something, a covering, a sign of authority. Moses was commanded to take off this binding, this sign of reservation or authority, because he was in the very presence of God, and only under His authority. Moses was no longer reserved, or bound, because he was now put to the task that he was reserved for.
“Moses replied to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should take the Children of Israel out of Egypt?’” Exodus 3:11 (Stone)
Moses here makes an error that is common. He asked who he was, that he should bring Israel out of Egypt. That is not the point. The point is, Who Father is, that He should bring Israel out of Egypt. “And He said, ‘For I shall be with you—and this is your sign that I have sent you: When you take the people out of Egypt, you will serve God on this mountain.’” Exodus 3:12 (Stone)
It is not Moses that does the speaking, or the bringing out. It is Father. Tasks that Father gives often seem overwhelming because the instrument thinks, “In my weakness, how can I do this?” This is a strange mixture of pride and humility, pride that we should even think that Father would think us so important as to tell us to do something in our own power, and humility because we realize our weakness.
“HASHEM answered Moses, ‘I Shall Be As I Shall Be.’ And He said, ‘So shall you say to the Children of Israel, “I Shall Be has sent me to you.”’” Exodus 3:14 (Stone)
hyh) r$) hyh) (Ehyeh asher ehyeh). Some translate it hyh) “I will be” some “I will become” some “I am,” and some translate this phrase, “I am who I will be.” All of these are valid translations. hyh) come from the root-word hyh (hayah). Hayah is an existence word. It means “To be,” “become,” “exist,” “happen,” or “fall.” It is a word that speaks of an active existence, but does not have any accurate equivalent in virtually any other language. But this is the only way to describe Father. When He says “I Am Who I Am” He defines Himself by Himself, because there is simply nothing else to compare Him to. He exists only as He Himself can exist, because He is self-existent.
“God said further to Moses, ‘So shall you say to the Children of Israel, “HASHEM, the God of your forefathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has dispatched me to you. This is My Name forever, and this is My remembrance from generation to generation.”’” Exodus 3:15 (Stone)
HASHEM is the Hebrew word hwhy (YHWH). Some say that it is an abbreviation for the phrase “hwyw hwhw hyh r$)” (asher hayah v’hoveh v’yavoh) which translates “Who was and is and is to come.” It is the Name of the Father, and His remembrance. It is by this Name that we are to remember Him, because it is His remembrance. The name Judah, is only one letter different from this Name. Judah is hdwhy (yood, hey, vav, dalet, hey: Yahudah), meaning “praise.” The Name is hwhy (yood, hey, vav, hey: Yahuah). Dalet, the only difference between Judah and YHWH, is the letter that stands for “door.” In praise is the doorway to YHWH.
“HASHEM said further to him, ‘Bring your hand to your bosom,’ and he brought his hand to his bosom; then he removed it from his bosom and behold, his hand was leprous, like snow.” Exodus 4:6 (Stone)
It is interesting that Father never told Moses to take his hand out of his bosom. Moses simply did it.
“You shall say to Pharaoh, ‘So said HASHEM, My firstborn son is Israel. So I say to you, send out My son that he may serve Me—but you have refused to send him out; behold, I shall kill your firstborn son.’” Exodus 4:22-23 (Stone)
“And the Miltha became flesh and dwelt among us and we saw his glory, the glory as the Only-Begotten who is from the Father who is full of grace and truth.” John 1:14 (Younan)
According to Paul Younan, a leading Aramaic scholar, the word “Only-Begotten” is “‘Ekhadaya’ is a beautiful theological term employed by many Eastern theologians and poets. It literally means ‘The One.’” This word can also be translated “firstborn,” as Dr. George Lamsa translated it. )ydyxy (ekhadaya), which is from the root-word dxy (yakhad), in my humble opinion, appears to be the Aramaic equivalent of the Hebrew dx) (ekhad), which means “one,” “first,” or “only.” Now, the only-begotten is, of course, the firstborn, so which it is, exactly, doesn’t really matter.
The Enemy would not let the firstborn of the Father go, and He killed the firstborn of the Enemy. What is the firstborn of Satan? Sin.
There is one other place where it is clear that Israel is another name, or at least a symbol of Messiah. Hosea 11:1, “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and I called him, my son, out of Egypt.” (Lamsa) and Matt. 2:15, “That might be fulfilled the thing that was spoken from the LORD by the prophet which said that, ‘From Misrayin I have called my son.’” (Younan)
“It was on the way, in the lodging, that HASHEM encountered him and sought to kill him. So Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and touched it to his feet; and she said, ‘You caused my bridegroom’s bloodshed!’ So he released him; then she said, ‘A bridegroom’s bloodshed was because of circumcision.’” Exodus 4:24-26 (Stone)
Whose feet did Zipporah touch the foreskin to? Who caused her bridegroom’s bloodshed? Who released whom? What Zipporah said, literally translated is, “With husband-blood you to me.” The KJV has this, “Surely a bloody husband art thou to me.” The question is, does the blood belong to the bridegroom, or the bridegroom to the blood? “husband of blood” is an unlikely translation of this verse, though it is the one that the Christian versions seem to prefer. But then, the translation, “you caused my husband’s bloodshed” seems far-fetched, aswell.
The Peshitta reads, “Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off the foreskin of her son, and she fell down at the feet of the LORD and said, ‘I have a bloody husband.’ So the LORD let him go. Then she said, ‘You are a bloody husband, because of the circumcision.’” Exodus 4:25-26 (Lamsa)
Now, the Peshitta is a very interpretive translation of the Tanakh. However, this appears to be the best interpretation of this passage.
“HASHEM said to Aaron, ‘Go to meet Moses, to the Wilderness.’ So he went and encountered him at the mountain of God, and he kissed him.” Exodus 4:27 (Stone)
Why was Moses back at Mount Sinai after he had already been on his way to Egypt? Or is it that the story is told out of order? That doesn’t seem likely because if it were told out of order, Aaron probably would have performed the circumcision, rather than Zipporah.
“And the people believed, and they heard that HASHEM had remembered the Children of Israel and that He saw their affliction, and they bowed their heads and prostrated themselves.” Exodus 4:31 (Stone)
They believed, and then they heard. First they had to believe that Moses was sent, and then they could hear his word that Father had remembered them, and was going to deliver them.
“So they said, ‘The God of the Hebrews happened upon us. Let us now go for a three-day journey in the Wilderness and we shall bring offerings to HASHEM, our God, lest He strike us dead with the plague or the sword.’” Exodus 5:3 (Stone)
It is interesting that Father is called Elohim, because this is plural. In this case, when Moses and Aaron tell Pharaoh that hwhy is their Elohim, it would be as much as saying that they have one God, instead of many. hwhy is all of their gods. He is all they need, He is enough. Calling Him Elohim would be as much as saying that they didn’t need many gods, because they had one Elohim. It is also interesting the way that Moses bargains with Pharaoh. He says, “lest He strike us dead.” That is as much a threat to Pharaoh as it is pleading for Israel. Moses basically tells Pharaoh that he’s going to lose his workforce one way or another. Moses is telling Pharaoh that if he doesn’t let Israel go, Father is going to take Israel away from him in a much worse way.
“So the people spread out through the entire land of Egypt to gather gleanings for straw.” Exodus 5:12 (Stone)
The people were scattered through Egypt. This allowed them to plunder all of Egypt. If they had remained all gathered in Goshen, there would have been no one to plunder.
The Readings: Parshat Sh’mot, Exodus 1:1-6:1. Haftarat Sh’mot, Jeremiah 1:1-2:3. Tehillim Sh’mot, Psalm 99. B’rit Chadesha Sh’mot, John 8:54-59, I Corinthians 11.
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