Torah reading Bo (בוא): Exodus 10:1–13:16

“For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?”

Luke 14:28 NASB

Readings

• Exodus 10:1–13:16
• Jeremiah 46:13–28
• Romans 9:14–29 
• Luke 22:7–23 
• 1Corinthians 5

Studies

The following are notes and recordings of studies by Hallel Fellowship teachers on passages in this week’s readings.

Faith and familiarity: Why God’s people often struggle to trust God (Exodus 10–13)

Daniel January 20, 2024

The stubborn disbelief of Israel despite witnessing God’s power worked by Moshe (Moses) and Yeshua (Jesus) is a persistent, perplexing pattern across time and the Scriptures. Despite the miracles, generations of God’s people who witnessed the miracles remained resistant, while surrounding pagan cultures sometimes displayed more humility and open-mindedness to belief. This study of Torah reading בֹּא Bo (“come,” Exodus 10:1–13:16) explores the paradoxical nature of Israel’s stubbornness, acknowledging its role in preserving Scriptures but cautioning against using stubbornness as an excuse to ignore God’s will.

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Humanity invented slavery, but God brings freedom (Exodus 13; 1Corinthians 5; Colossians 2)

Jeff January 28, 2023

What does the Passover, an event that happened over 3,500 years ago, have to do with our current lives? Why should we concern ourselves with studying about God’s judgment on Mitzraim (Egypt)? In the Torah reading Bo, we see in the Torah section בוא Bo (“come,” Exodus 10:1–13:16) a battle of wills between Heaven and the king of Mitzraim (pharaoh). Heaven was not just picking a fight with the people of Mitzraim. Heaven was not punching down, so to speak. Heaven was trying to free not just Israel from bondage but also the entire world.

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Leggo my ego: Egypt’s plagues show us how God tries to save the world from itself (Exodus 10–13)

Jeff January 8, 2022

Pride can lead us to overlook danger signs in our behavior or the things we have invested ourselves in. Pride can prevent us from turning back — repenting — from a foolhardy pursuit. One of the key lessons in the Torah section בוא Bo (“come,” Exodus 10:1–13:16) is that humility — like that lived out by the Pharaoh of ancient Egypt who entrusted ancient Egypt to the God of Yosef (Joseph) — opens one’s eyes to help, particularly help from Heaven. Conversely, the malicious arrogance of the Pharaoh who didn’t know the God of Yosef and Moshe (Moses) led to the…

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Cost of freedom: Why plagues are necessary at the Exodus and Day of the LORD

Jeff January 23, 2021

Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. 1Corinthians 10:11 NASB The gavel falls, and the sentence is prison. The citizen turned felon doesn’t want to go, but the behavior is so heinous that the public is at risk. So, a peaceful society must take the extraordinary step of using violence — taking hold of the prisoner, putting on shackles, even lifting the perpetrator off the ground at times. Peace can return when the violent one is safely secured. Now, imagine the challenge…

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Bread of Heaven, bread of vengeance, bread of mercy (Exodus 10:1–13:16)

Daniel February 1, 2020

When God says, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay” (Deut. 32:35; Rom. 12:19; Heb. 10:30), He means it. We can take matters into our own hands and enact a form of justice on those who commit evil against us and our people, but we can only right the wrong done to us. Our acts of justice don’t vindicate God and bring Him honor and glory. We see the intersection of vengeance and mercy in the 10th plague on Egypt, memorialized in the annual remembrances of Passover and Unleavened Bread, two key lessons in the Torah reading בוא Bo (“come,” Exodus 10:1-13:16). They…

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Judgment that doesn’t have to come: Lessons from Egypt’s plagues (Exodus 10:1–13:16)

Jeff February 4, 2017

The cost of freedom for enslaved Yisra’el was the death of the firstborn of Mitzraim, and the cost of our freedom from slavery to the deathward lifestyle away from the Creator is the death of the LORD’s Firstborn. The last three plagues, including the coming of the Destroyer for the firstborn of Mitzraim, and the first Pesakh are the focus of Torah reading בוא Bo (“come,” Exodus 10:1-13:16).

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Exodus 10:1–13:16: Make me unleavened

Daniel January 16, 2016

When we observe the commandments of God, we are like the flatbread: nothing added, nothing taken out. In this discussion on the Torah reading Bo (“come,” Exodus 10:1-13:16), we learn are not to add to God’s commandments and we are not to treat any traditions we keep on the same level as God’s commandments. Matzot gives you life but it also give you some affliction and difficulty. God’s mitzvot are the same, they give us life but they also bring some difficulty to life.

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Exodus 10–11

Exodus 12

Passover & Unleavened Bread preview

Israel leaves Egypt for good at the first Passover

The exile of the Israelites in the land of Egypt comes to a climatic end with the 10th plague — the death of the firstborn — and the first Passover, or Pesakh in Hebrew.

Instructions about Pesakh (Passover)

As the 10th plague was set to begin against the first-born children and livestock of Mitsraim (Egypt), God told Moshe (Moses) the month with Pesakh (Passover) and the Exodus would be the beginning of Yisra’el’s year (Ex. 12:2). God told Moses of the particular rituals that are to happen during this first month, called Aviv (Ex. 12:3–11). This was relayed to them at the beginning of the month, a couple of weeks before the final plague. There are particular housekeeping rituals that had to be done in advance as well. A particular goat or lamb had to be chosen, leavened items were to be removed from the home, etc. Moses gave all these instructions to the elders of Israel to help them prepare.

Symbols of Passover: Original, Messianic, today and on the Day of the LORD

The “Law of liberty” mentioned by the Apostle Ya’akob (James 1:25; 2:12) is connected to entering into God’s “rest” (Hebrews 3-4) and “walking in liberty” (Psa. 119:45). And the symbols of Pesakh (Passover) show how God planned for this to work originally, at the time of Yeshua Mashiakh (Jesus Christ), today and at the future Day of the LORD.

Of Lamb and Goats: God’s salvation memorialized in Passover Lamb Selection Day and Day of Atonement

Lamb Selection Day is closely connected with Yom haKippurim (Day of Atonement). Both occur on the 10th day of their respective months: first month for Lamb selection day and seventh month of Yom Kippur. And the words of the herald for the Mashiakh (Messiah), Yokhanan the Immerser (John the Baptist), that Yeshua was “the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world” (Jn. 1:29) further connects these two memorials of God’s salvation plan.

Journey to the 10 — First day of Feast of Unleavened Bread and the meaning of ‘leaven’

Today is the 15th day of the first month of God’s year (Exodus 12). We are continuing our “Journey To the 10” which is the retelling of the journey from Egypt to Sinai. This discussion explores the meaning of leaven that God wants believers to remove from their lives.

Acts 12 — the leavened leaders of the ‘lump’ of Israel try to bump off Petros

It’s no coincidence God frees Petros (Peter) from jail during Passover/Unleavened Bread, which even at that time was understood to be a removing of “sourness” from one’s life. In Acts 12, the “leaven” of Herod and of the leaders was shown to be “spoiling” Israel.

Feast of Unleavened Bread — Purge out malice and wickedness

The apostle Paul uses the object lesson of purging leaven out of the home for the Feast of Unleavened Bread in one of his most shocking statements on discipline for immorality in the congregation in Corinth — purge out “malice” and “wickedness.”

Other teachings on Lamb Selection Day, Firstfruits, Passover and Unleavened Bread

Exodus 13

God delivers Israel from Mitzraim (Egypt) through the Red Sea

On the 15th day of the first month, the first day of what God established as Khag Matzot (Feast of Unleavened Bread), Israel left Mitzraim (Egypt). We’ll explore why the Bible talks more about the Matzot than Pesakh (Passover). Pesakh commemorates God’s breaking the chains of Mitzraim that held Yisra’el there, and Matzot, God’s breaking the power of Mitzraim via the sea.