Tag: Exodus 02

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Appointments With God Discussions Passover Torah Unleavened Bread

Crying out to the God Who hears: Lamenting injustice and hoping in divine resolution (Exodus 3–4)

Crying out to the God Who hears: Lamenting injustice and hoping in divine resolution (Exodus 3-4). Adobe Firefly AI-generated image of an old woman crying out in anguish.

The three signs Elohim gave Moshe (Moses) at the burning bush in Exodus 4 to show the elders of Israel revealed God knew intimately the horrors they endured during centuries of bondage in Mitzraim (Egypt).

First, the staff becoming a snake and back again symbolized how the “tribe” of Israel had been made contemptible in Egypt but was being restored, finally though the Red Sea crossing. Second, the leprous hand showed God saw their affliction as if they were stillborn infants, to which Moshe’s sister, Miriam, was compared. Third, turning a jug of water into blood red revealed that God witnessed their babies’ murders by Egypt into the Nile, which be expanded to grand scale in the first plague.

This study explores that through these signs addressing their specific traumas, God demonstrated to the elders that He heard, remembered, saw and knew His “first-born,” and God would gain justice for their sufferings in Egypt. This is a key lesson of Pesach (Passover) and Matzot (Unleavened Bread).

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Discussions Torah

Those who try to erase history may end up repeating it (Exodus 1–5)

What we fear, we want to eradicate. In the Torah reading שמות Shemot (“names,” Exodus 1:1–6:1), we read how one particular Pharaoh feared the Israelite’s because they refused to assimilate into Egypt. King Herod feared losing his earthy throne to a more rightful Davidic heir so he slaughtered all the young boys in Bethlehem to consolidate his power. This is how all despots deal with real or imagined threats to their control. 

Scripture shows us again and again that the rightful heir inevitably prevails, God makes sure of that, but those around them suffer difficulty and persecution and God takes care of them, too. 

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Discussions Shabbat Torah

God humbled a superpower to free His people from slavery (Exodus 1–5)

God humbled a superpower to free His people from slavery (Exodus 1-5)

It’s cold comfort while we’re suffering to understand that learning how to endure it will make us stronger (James 1:2–4). And it can seem cruel to watch such a struggle from the outside, thinking someone with power should step up and stop it.

That heart cry for deliverance is the focus of the Torah reading שמות Shemot (“names,” Exodus 1:1–6:1). Amid the passage’s exploration of the key question of why the Kingdom of Heaven that spoke the Earth into existence seems to be unable or unwilling to stop the oppression of one of its superpowers — Mitzraim (Egypt) — there’s the subtle hit of Heaven’s coming knockout blow to that bully.

The Holy One blessed about three-score and 10 Israeli immigrants, lifting Mitzraim above its neighbors during a punishing famine while multiplying Israel’s numbers at a rate that was frightening to a pharaoh who thought he was in control of his own destiny. Just think what Heaven will do for those who cry out for relief.

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Discussions Torah

Moshe foreshadows Mashiakh the Deliverer (Exodus 1:1–6:1)

"The Finding of Moses" by Nicolas Poussin
Nicolas Poussin, "The Finding of Moses," Oil on canvas, National Gallery, London, Web Gallery of Art , Public domain (U.S.), 1651.

We don’t know for sure which pharaoh helped raise Moshe or which pharaoh Moses confronted to free the ancient Israelis from slavery. What we can see from Torah reading Shemot (Exodus 1:1-6:1) is Heaven’s pattern for the Mashiakh Who delivers all from the bondage of living apart from the Creator.

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Discussions Torah

Moses’ first 80 years (Exodus 1–3)

The first 80 years of Moses’ life are summarized in Exodus 1-3. It starts with his birth in Egypt and the end of chapter 3 tells us about his call to return to Egypt. The rest of the book focuses on the last 40 years of his life.