Bar’chu
et YHVH ha-m’vorach, Baruch YHVH ha-m’vorach l’O’lam va-ed!
Baruch
ata YHVH, Eloheinu melech ha-olam asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim, v’na-tan
lanu eht Torah-to. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”
(Bless YHVH the blessed One; Blessed is YHVH, the
blessed One for all eternity. Blessed are you, YHVH, our Elohim, King of the
Universe, you have selected us from among all the peoples, and have given us
your Torah.)
The Torah portion before us today contains the face to
face encounter of Moshe with the Esteem of YHVH in the form of a burning bush.
Here YHVH gives Moshe the most profound explanation of the meaning of His name
– אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה ‘’ehyiye asher ehyiye’’ literary translated ‘’I will be who I
shall be’’ the implication is that -nothing in heaven or on earth happens without
YHVH allowing it or willing it to happen. YHVH controls the ‘’agenda’’ for ALL
matters pertaining to life or death.
Isa
45:6 so that they know from the rising of the sun to its setting that
there is none but Me. I am יהוה, and there is none else, Isa
45:7 forming light and creating darkness, making peace and creating evil.
I, יהוה, do all these.’
He – YHVH will become whatever He needs to become to deliver us from
bondage and restore us to Himself. This profound revelation of YHVH would not
only impact Moshe, but the entire nation of Yisrael from this point on
throughout all her existence. In fact, the Set Apartness of His Name would
remain the central focus of all truth and worship for all eternity.
Exo 3:1 And Mosheh
was shepherding the flock of Yithro (Excellent, His Excellence, His Remnant)
his father-in-law, the priest of Miḏyan. And he led the
flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to Ḥorĕḇ, the mountain of
Elohim.
Whenever YHVH wants to bring deliverance to his people He
raises a shepherd – our fathers Avraham, Yitchak and Yakov were all shepherds.
The Messiah is and will always be the chief shepherd.
Joh 10:14 “I am the good shepherd.1 And I
know Mine, and Mine know Me, Footnote: 1Ezek. 34:11-12, Heb. 13:20,
1 Peter 2:25, 1 Peter 5:4. Joh 10:15
even as the Father knows Me, and I know the Father. And I lay down My
life for the sheep.
Joh 10:16 “And other sheep I have which are not of this
fold – I have to bring them as well, and they shall hear My voice, and there
shall be one flock, one shepherd.1 Footnote: 1Ezek.
34:23, Ezek. 37:24.
Exo 3:2 And
the Messenger of יהוה appeared to
him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. And he looked and saw the bush
burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Exo 3:3 And Mosheh said, “Let me turn aside now, and
see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.” Exo 3:4 And יהוה saw that he
turned aside to see, and Elohim called to him from the midst of the bush and
said, “Mosheh! Mosheh!” And he said, “Here I am.”
This burning bush represents the first miracle of the
Exodus journey. According to the law of first appearances it lays a foundation
for all miracles. Miracles were not meant to entertain but to bring us out of
bondage. The fire and light of this first miracle will not cease until the
mission of our return to the land has been accomplished.
Miracles were always meant to release us from oppression
and show us the way back home. That is why genuine miracles are so set apart.
Exo 3:5 And He
said, “Do not come near here. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place on
which you are standing is set-apart ground.”
‘’Sandals’’ is a symbol of our ‘’walk’’ in Hebrew
‘’halacha’’ Moshe’s ‘’halachah’’ was not perfect as is the case with all
mankind. There is only One whose ‘’halacha’’ was perfect- Yahshua.
Exo 3:6 And He
said, “I am the Elohim of your father, the Elohim of Aḇraham,
the Elohim of Yitsḥaq, and the Elohim of Yaʽaqoḇ.” And
Mosheh hid his face, for he was afraid to look at Elohim. Exo 3:7 And יהוה said, “I have
indeed seen the oppression of My people who are in Mitsrayim, and have heard
their cry because of their slave-drivers, for I know their sorrows.
‘’Cries of distress’’ came from those who were
overwhelmed by their harsh circumstances. However there was a very small
remnant whose cries of distress were the result of them being separated from
the promises and land of YHVH.
Eze 9:3 And the esteem of the Elohim of
Yisra’ěl went up from the keruḇ, where it had been, to the threshold of the
House. And He called to the man clothed with linen, who had the writer’s
ink-horn at his side, Eze 9:4 and יהוה said to
him, “Pass on into the midst of the city, into the midst of Yerushalayim, and
you shall put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and cry over all the
abominations that are done within it.” Eze 9:5 And to the others He
said in my hearing, “Pass on into the city after him and strike, do not let
your eye pardon nor spare. Eze 9:6 “Kill to destruction old, young men,
maidens and children and women, but do not come near anyone upon whom is the
mark, and begin at My set-apart place.” So they began with the elders who were
in front of the House. Eze 9:7 And He said to them, “Defile the
House, and fill the courts with the slain. Go out!” And they went out and
struck in the city. Eze 9:8 And as they were striking them it came
to be that I alone was left. And I fell on my face and cried out, and said,
“Ah, Master יהוה! Are You destroying all the remnant of
Yisra’ěl in pouring out Your wrath on Yerushalayim?” Eze 9:9 And He
said to me, “The crookedness of the house of Yisra’ěl and Yehuḏah is
exceedingly great, and the land is filled with bloodshed, and the city filled
with that which is warped. For they say, ‘יהוה has
forsaken the land, and יהוה is not seeing!’ Eze 9:10 “But
as for Me, My eye shall not pardon, nor would I spare, I shall recompense their
deeds on their own head.” Eze 9:11 And see, the man clothed with
linen, who had the ink-horn at his side, reported back and said, “I have done
as You commanded me.”
Exo 3:8 “And I
have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Mitsrites, and to bring
them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk
and honey, to the place of the Kenaʽanites
and the Ḥittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Ḥiwwites
and the Yeḇusites.
Deu 7:1 “When יהוה your
Elohim brings you into the land which you go to possess, He shall also clear
away many nations before you: the Ḥittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites
and the Kena‛anites and the Perizzites and the Ḥiwwites and the Yeḇusites,
seven nations greater and mightier than you.
Deu 7:2 “And when יהוה your
Elohim gives them over to you, you shall strike them and put them under the
ban, completely. Make no covenant with them, and show them no favour.
Deu 7:3 “And do not intermarry with them –
you do not give your daughter to his son, and you do not take his daughter for
your son,
Deu 7:4 for he turns your sons away from
following Me, to serve other mighty ones. Then the displeasure of יהוה shall
burn against you and promptly destroy you.
Deu 7:5 “But this is what you do to them:
Break down their slaughter-places, and smash their pillars, and cut down their
Ashěrim, and burn their carved images with fire.
Deu 7:6 “For you are a set-apart people to יהוה your
Elohim. יהוה your
Elohim has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a treasured possession above
all the peoples on the face of the earth.
Deu 7:7 “יהוה did not
set His love on you nor choose you because you were more numerous than any
other people, for you were the least of all peoples,
Deu 7:8 but because of יהוה loving
you, and because of Him guarding the oath which He swore to your fathers, יהוה has
brought you out with a strong hand, and ransomed you from the house of bondage,
from the hand of Pharaoh sovereign of Mitsrayim.
Exo 3:9 “And now,
see, the cry of the children of Yisra’ĕl has come to Me, and I have also seen
the oppression with which the Mitsrites oppress them.
Exo 3:10 “And now,
come, I am sending you to Pharaoh, to bring My people, the children of
Yisra’ĕl, out of Mitsrayim.”
Exo 3:11 And
Mosheh said to Elohim, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should
bring the children of Yisra’ĕl out of Mitsrayim?”
Exo 3:12 And He
said, “Because I am with you. And this is to you the sign that I have sent you:
When you have brought the people out of Mitsrayim, you are to serve Elohim on
this mountain.”
This Pharoah could be compared to an end time
‘’anti-messiah’’ who will oppress an end time remnant.
Rev 12:10 And I heard a loud voice saying in
the heaven, “Now have come the deliverance and the power and the reign of our
Elohimb and the authority of His Messiah, for the accuser of our brothers, who
accused them before our Elohim day and night, has been thrown down. Footnote:
bSee Rev_11:15.
Rev 12:11 “And they overcame him because of
the Blood of the Lamb, and because of the Word of their witness, and they did
not love their lives to the death.
Rev 12:17 And the dragon was enraged with the
woman, and he went to fight with the remnant of her seed, those guarding the
commands of Elohim and possessing the witness of יהושע
Messiah.
The sign YHVH gave Moshe that would convince Moshe that
it was YHVH speaking to him, would be the giving of the Torah on “this
mountain” The Messiah will proclaim the same Torah from Yerushalyim.
Isa 2:2 And it
shall be in the latter days that the mountain of the House of יהוה is
established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills.
And all nations shall flow to it.
Isa 2:3 And many
peoples shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of יהוה, to the
House of the Elohim of Ya‛aqoḇ, and let Him teach us His ways, and let us walk
in His paths, for out of Tsiyon comes forth the Torah, and the Word of יהוה from
Yerushalayim.”
That’s why until this day Jerusalem is a place of
continuous battles.
Exo 3:13 And
Mosheh said to Elohim, “See, when I come to the children of Yisra’ĕl and say to
them, ‘The Elohim of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me,
‘What is His Name?’ what shall I say to them?”
Exo 3:14 And
Elohim said to Mosheh, “I am that which I am.”1 And He said, “Thus
you shall say to the children of Yisra’ĕl, ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”
Footnote: 1The Heḇrew text reads: ’eyeh ’asher ’eyeh, the word ’eyeh being
derived from hayah which means to be, to exist.
’Ehyeh is
the first person form of hayah, "to be", and owing to the
peculiarities of Hebrew grammar means "I am", "I was", and
"I will be"
Exo 3:15 And
Elohim said further to Mosheh, “Thus you are to say to the children of
Yisra’ĕl, ‘יהוה Elohim of your
fathers, the Elohim of Aḇraham, the Elohim of Yitsḥaq,
and the Elohim of Yaʽaqoḇ, has sent me to you. This is My Name forever, and this
is My remembrance to all generations.’ Exo 3:16
“Go, and you shall gather the elders of Yisra’ĕl together, and say to
them, ‘יהוה Elohim of your fathers, the Elohim of Aḇraham,
of Yitsḥaq, and of Yaʽaqoḇ, appeared
to me, saying, “I have indeed visited you and seen what is done to you in
Mitsrayim; Exo 3:17 and I say: I am
bringing you up out of the affliction of Mitsrayim to the land of the Kenaʽanite
and the Ḥittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Ḥiwwite
and the Yeḇusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’ Exo
3:18 “And they shall listen to your
voice. And you shall come, you and the elders of Yisra’ĕl, to the sovereign of
Mitsrayim, and you shall say to him, ‘יהוה Elohim of the Heḇrews
has met with us. And now, please, let us go three days’ journey into the
wilderness to slaughter to יהוה our Elohim.’
The ‘’messianic remnant’’ have been on ‘’three day
journey’’ waiting for the return of their Messiah.
Exo 3:19 “But I
know that the sovereign of Mitsrayim is not going to let you go, not even by a
strong hand.
Exo 3:20 “And I
shall stretch out My hand and smite Mitsrayim with all My wonders which I shall
do in its midst. And after that he shall let you go.
Exo 3:21 “And I
shall give this people favour in the eyes of the Mitsrites. And it shall be,
that when you go, you shall not go empty-handed.
Exo 3:22 “But
every woman shall ask from her neighbour and from the stranger in her house,
objects of silver, and objects of gold, and garments. And you shall put them on
your sons and on your daughters, and shall plunder the Mitsrites.”
Exo 4:1 And Mosheh answered and said, “And if they do
not believe me, nor listen to my voice, and say, ‘יהוה has not
appeared to you?’ ”
Exo 4:2 And יהוה said to him, “What is that in your hand?”
And he said, “A rod.”
Exo 4:3 And He
said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a
serpent. And Mosheh fled from it.
Exo 4:4 And יהוה said to Mosheh, “Reach out your hand and
take it by the tail” – so he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became
a rod in his hand –
Exo 4:5 so that they
believe that יהוה Elohim of
their fathers, the Elohim of Aḇraham, the Elohim of Yitsḥaq,
and the Elohim of Yaʽaqoḇ, has appeared to you.”
The rod of Moshe would show the people a way out of
bondage. If they failed to give heed to Moshe’s guidance they would be
destroyed.
Exo 4:6 And יהוה said to him again, “Now put your hand in
your bosom.” And he put his hand in his bosom, and when he took it out, and
see, his hand was leprous, like snow.
Exo 4:7 And He
said, “Put your hand in your bosom again.” So he put his hand in his bosom
again, and drew it out of his bosom, and see, it was restored like his other
flesh.
Exo 4:8 “And it
shall be, if they do not believe you, nor listen to the voice of the first
sign, they shall believe the voice of the latter sign.
This is the first time leprosy or tzraat is mentioned in
the Torah – remember the law of first appearances. Once again this disease is
coupled to the consequences of being in bondage in a foreign land.
The only disease discussed in the Torah that includes
laws pertaining to its manifestation and cure is tzara'at. This renders tzara'at
the archetypical, all-inclusive disease.
The sage go on to say that Tzaraat, is
derived from a lack of humility, from the failure to yield one's own will to
the will of one's Creator.
Each 3-letter root in the
Hebrew language has six possible permutations. In all the Hebrew language there
are only seven 3-letter roots whose six permutations all have meaning.
The Six
Permutations of Tzara (Rabbi Ginsberg) - Let us now explore the cycle of images
created by the root of tzara'at--tzara (tzadik, reish, ayin):
Root
|
Word
|
Meaning
|
tzadik, reish, ayin
|
tzara
|
BDB 6883 n/f tzra- at or leprosy verb/Aramaic means
to throw yourself down and prostrate yourself. 1 Peter 5:6
|
tzadik, ayin, reish
|
tza'ar
|
BDB 6819 – to feel deep sorrow - to be despised, to
feel useless and insignificant.
|
reish, ayin, tzadik
|
ra'atz
|
BDB 7492 – to be shattered – Shemot 15:6
|
reish, tzadik, ayin
|
ratza
|
BDB 7527 – To bore or to pierce -to inflict stripes
(by whipping with a strap) Yes 53:5
|
ayin, tzadik, reish
|
atzar
|
BDB 6206-to halt or rule to prevent anarchic
expansion –
|
ayin, reish, tzadik
|
aratz
|
BDB 6206 – to tremble or be terrified. Fear caused
by an oppressing power – see Dev 7:21
|
When a tzadik suffers, this should not at all
interfere with his faith in YHVH. The suffering even enhances his faith, as he
is happy with the knowledge that all that happens to him comes from YHVH and is
for his ultimate good. This is the origin of his ultimate healing
According to the Talmud, prior to his
revelation, the Mashiach is a leper who sits at the gateway of Rome
(Western civilization). When this leper is healed, he will transform to the
revealed Mashiach.
The quintessential
cure for this frustration and disease is the manifestation of the Mashiach,
who will bring redemption to the entire world.
This all has a
profound application on us today as believers in Moshiach. One of the most
significant evidences that we are in Messiah is that we would have experienced
the pain of isolation due to our “infections.” We need to understand that as
long as our attitudes and behaviour defile others we ourselves are defiled and
need “cleansing and separation.” End quote.
Exo 4:9 “And it shall be, if they do not believe even these two signs, or listen
to your voice, that you shall take water from the river and pour it on the dry
land. And the water which you take from the river shall become blood on the dry
land.”
Exo 4:10 And Mosheh said to יהוה, “O יהוה, I am not a
man of words, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant, for I
am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” Exo 4:11
And יהוה said to
him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or
blind? Is it not I, יהוה? Exo 4:12
“And now, go, and I shall be with your mouth and teach you what to say.”
Exo 4:13 But he said, “O יהוה, please send
by the hand of him whom You would send.”
Baruch atah
YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-‘Olam, asher natan lanu Toraht-emet, v’chay-yeh o’lam
nata-b’tochenu. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”
(Blessed are
you Yahweh, our Elohim, King of the Universe, you have given us your Torah of
truth, and have planted everlasting life within our midst. Blessed are you,
YHVH giver of the Torah – Ameyn.)