Bless YHVH the blessed One; Blessed is YHVH, the blessed One for all eternity, you have selected us from among all the peoples, and have given us your Torah.
מה תצעק אלי – ‘’why will you shout out to Me’’ צָעַק - to shout, to cry out; to complain, to protest; to rebuke, to reprimand, to
censure.
It is possible that Moshe’ ‘’cry’’ for
help was far more serious than just a ‘’cry’’ YHVH asks Moshe ‘’why’’ in Hebrew
‘’ma’’ are you ‘’crying’’ out to Me.
Israel was ‘’trapped’’ the army of Pharoah was closing in on them and they had nowhere to run. Perhaps even in Moshe’ voice there is a sound of desperation, maybe even despair. This was a time for action not words, a time to ask YHVH ‘’where do we go from here?’’
Exo 14:15 And יהוה said to Mosheh, “Why do you cry to Me? (מה תצעק אלי) Speak to the children of Yisra’ěl, and let them go forward.
We read of a similar situation in the last days - 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 Elohim[b] 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 12:12 “Because of this rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has little time.” Rev 12:13 And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. (possible reference to Israel and Messiah)Rev 12:14 And the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, to fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, Dan_7:25, Dan_12:7 from the presence of the serpent. Rev 12:15 And out of his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river after the woman, to cause her to be swept away by the river. Rev 12:16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth. 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.
Exo 14:16 “And you, lift up your
rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and let the children
of Yisra’ěl go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.
Exo 14:17 “And I, see I am
strengthening the hearts of the Mitsrites, and they shall follow them. And I am
to be esteemed through Pharaoh and over all his army, his chariots, and his
horsemen.
Exo 14:18 “And the Mitsrites shall
know that I am יהוה, when I am esteemed
through Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”
Exo 14:19 And the Messenger
of Elohim, who went before the camp of Yisra’ěl, moved and went behind them.
And the column of cloud went from before them and stood behind them,
Exo 14:20 and came between the
camp of the Mitsrites and the camp of Yisra’ěl. And it was the cloud and the
darkness, and it gave light by night, and the one did not come near the other
all the night.
Exo 14:21 And Mosheh stretched out
his hand over the sea. And יהוה
caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the
sea into dry land, and the waters were divided.
Exo 14:22 And the children of Yisra’ěl
went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, and the waters were a wall to
them on their right and on their left.
Exo 14:23 And the Mitsrites
pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, all the horses of
Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.
Exo 14:24 And it came to be, in
the morning watch,(Between 2am and 6am), that יהוה
looked down upon the army of the Mitsrites through the column of fire and
cloud, and He brought the army of the Mitsrites into confusion.
Exo 14:25 And He took off their
chariot wheels, so that they drove them with difficulty. And the Mitsrites
said, “Let us flee from the face of Yisra’ěl, for יהוה
fights for them against the Mitsrites.”
Exo 14:26 Then יהוה said to Mosheh, “Stretch out your hand
over the sea, and let the waters come back upon the Mitsrites, on their
chariots, and on their horsemen.”
Exo 14:27 And Mosheh stretched out
his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its usual flow, at the break of
day, with the Mitsrites fleeing into it. Thus יהוה
overthrew the Mitsrites in the midst of the sea,
Exo 14:28 and the waters returned
and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that
came into the sea after them, and not even one was left of them.
Exo 14:29 And the children of
Yisra’ěl walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a
wall to them on their right and on their left.
Exo 14:30 Thus יהוה saved Yisra’ěl that day out of the hand of
the Mitsrites, and Yisra’ěl saw the Mitsrites dead on the seashore.
Exo 14:31 And Yisra’ěl saw the great work which יהוה had done in Mitsrayim, and the people feared יהוה, and believed יהוה and His servant Mosheh.
The Song of Moshe – an ecstatic response
of great joy and relief for a great deliverance.
Exo 15:1 Then Mosheh and the
children of Yisra’ěl sang this song to יהוה, and spoke, saying, “I
sing to יהוה, for He is highly exalted! The horse and
its rider He has thrown into the sea!
Exo 15:2 “Yah is my strength and
song, and He has become my deliverance.[]a He is my Ěl, and I praise Him – Elohim
of my father, and I exalt Him. Footnote: aSee Psa_118:14 and Isa_12:2.
Exo 15:3 “יהוה is a
man of battle, יהוה is His Name.
Exo 15:4 “He has cast Pharaoh’s
chariots and his army into the sea, and his chosen officers are drowned in the
Sea of Reeds.
Exo 15:5 “The depths covered them,
they went down to the bottom like a stone.
Exo 15:6 “Your right hand, O יהוה, has become great in power. Your right hand, O יהוה, has crushed the enemy.
Exo 15:7 “And in the greatness of
Your excellence You pulled down those who rose up against You. You sent forth
Your wrath, it consumed them like stubble.
Exo 15:8 “And with the wind of
Your nostrils the waters were heaped up, the floods stood like a wall, the
depths became stiff in the heart of the sea.
Exo 15:9 “The enemy said, ‘I
pursue, I overtake, I divide the spoil, my being is satisfied on them. I draw
out my sword, my hand destroys them.’
Exo 15:10 “You did blow with Your
wind, the sea covered them, they sank like lead in the mighty waters.
Exo 15:11 “Who is like You, O יהוה, among the mighty ones? Who is like You, great in
set-apartness, awesome in praises, working wonders?
Exo 15:12 “You stretched out Your
right hand, the earth swallowed them.
Exo 15:13 “In Your
loving-commitment You led the people whom You have redeemed, in Your strength
You guided them to Your set-apart dwelling.
Exo 15:14 “Peoples heard, they
trembled, anguish gripped the inhabitants of Philistia.
Exo 15:15 “Then the chiefs of Eḏom
were troubled, the mighty men of Mo’aḇ, trembling grips them, all the
inhabitants of Kena‛an melted.
Exo 15:16 “Fear and dread fell on
them, by the greatness of Your arm they are as silent as a stone, until Your
people pass over, O יהוה, until the people, whom You have bought,
pass over.
Exo 15:17 “You bring them in and
plant them in the mountain of Your inheritance, in the place, O יהוה, which You have made for Your own dwelling, the set-apart
place, O יהוה, which Your hands have prepared.
Exo 15:18 “יהוה reigns forever and ever.”
Exo 15:19 For the horses of Pharaoh went with his chariots and his horsemen into the sea, and יהוה brought back the waters of the sea upon them. And the children of Yisra’ěl went on dry ground in the midst of the sea.
Exo 15:20 And Miryam the
prophetess, the sister of Aharon, took the timbrel in her hand. And all the
women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.
Exo 15:21 And Miryam answered them, “Sing to יהוה, for He is highly exalted! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea!”
Midrash: - Moshe and all of Yisrael sing
this song. Afterwards Miriam and the women took timbrels and sing the same
song. Was this appropriate?
Also, we find two songs of Moshe in the Torah – the song in Shemot 15 after their great deliverance from Pharoah and then finally before the Israelites enter into the promised land in Devarim 32. These songs may well be repeated again in the last days – once after our deliverance from the anti messiah and then finally just before Yahshua’s second coming - Rev 15:3 And they sing the song of Mosheh the servant of Elohim, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvellous are Your works, יהוה Ěl Shaddai! Righteous and true are Your ways, O Sovereign of the set-apart ones!
Bitter Water Made Sweet
Exo 15:22 And Mosheh brought
Yisra’ěl from the Sea of Reeds, and they went out into the Wilderness of Shur.
And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water.
Exo 15:23 And they came to Marah,
and they were unable to drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. So the
name of it was called Marah.
Exo 15:24 And the people grumbled
against Mosheh, saying, “What are we to drink?”
Exo 15:25 Then he cried out to יהוה, and יהוה showed him a tree. And when he threw it
into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There He made a law (Heb ‘’chok’’)and
a right-ruling for them, and there He tried them. Or tested him נסהו
שׁםH8033 שׂםH7760 לו חקH2706 ומשׁפטH4941 ושׁםH8033 נסהו
Midrash: YHVH commands a ‘’statute’’ – to lead My people out of bondage, you will have to lay down your life for them.
Exo 15:26 And He said, “If you diligently obey the voice of יהוה your Elohim and do what is right in His eyes, and shall listen to His commands and shall guard all His laws, I shall bring on you none of the diseases I brought on the Mitsrites, for I am יהוה who heals you.”
It appears that the bitter waters of Marah had something to do with healing of their minds and bodies. It is possible that all the years of assimilation with a pagan culture and its food required a kind of detoxification of their minds and bodies. Maybe this is a law of staying healthy – frequent detoxification. It also appears from vs 26 that all diseases can be traced when a person or people fail to live according to YHVH’s Torah.
Exo 15:27 And they came to Ělim,
where there were twelve fountains of water and seventy palm trees. And they
camped there by the waters.
Bread from Heaven
Exo 16:1 And they set out from
Ělim, and all the congregation of the children of Yisra’ěl came to the
Wilderness of Sin,(Heb ‘’thorn’’) which is between Ělim and Sinai,(Heb
‘’thorny’’) on the fifteenth day of the second new moon after their
going out of the land of Mitsrayim. (Num 9:6-13- Pesach sheni)
Exo 16:2 And all the congregation
of the children of Yisra’ěl grumbled against Mosheh and Aharon in the
wilderness.
Exo 16:3 And the children of Yisra’ěl said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of יהוה in the land of Mitsrayim, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to satisfaction! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to put all this assembly to death with hunger.”
Midrash:
It is very difficult for modern day
believers to identify with the trails and tribulations of these Israelite
desert wonderers. Yet this Torah portion compels us to ask the uncomfortable questions
of how this will apply to an end time generation of Messianic believers. After
all Paul warns us in 1 Cor 10. Warning Against Idolatry
1Co
10:1 For I
do not wish you to be ignorant, brothers, that all our fathers were under the
cloud, and all passed through the sea, 1Co 10:2 and all were
immersed into Mosheh in the cloud and in the sea,
1Co
10:3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 1Co 10:4 and all
drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that
followed, and the Rock was Messiah. 1Co 10:5 However, with most of
them Elohim was not well pleased, for they were laid low in the
wilderness. 1Co 10:6 And these became examples for us, so that we should
not lust after evil, as those indeed lusted. 1Co 10:7 And do not become
idolaters as some of them, as it has been written, “The people sat down to
eat and to drink, and stood up to play.” Exo_32:6.
1Co
10:8 Neither should we commit whoring, as some of them did, and in one
day twenty-three thousand fell,
1Co
10:9 neither let us try Messiah, as some of them also tried, and were
destroyed by serpents,
1Co
10:10 neither grumble, as some of them also grumbled, and were destroyed
by the destroyer.
1Co
10:11 And all these came upon them as examples, and they were written as
a warning to us, on whom the ends of the ages have come, 1Co 10:12
so that he who thinks he stands, let him take heed lest he fall.
1Co
10:13 No trial has overtaken you except such as is common to man, and
Elohim is trustworthy, who shall not allow you to be tried beyond what you are
able, but with the trial shall also make the way of escape, enabling you to
bear it. 1Co 10:14 Therefore, my beloved ones, flee from idolatry.
1Co 10:15 I speak as to wise men, judge for yourselves what I say.
None of
us know what the future will unfold for us. One thing we must know and that
without His help and direct intervention we will not survive the last days.
Jer_42:17 And so it shall be with all
the men who set their faces to go to Mitsrayim to sojourn there: they shall die
by the sword, by scarcity of food, and by pestilence, and not one of them shall
survive or escape from the evil I am bringing upon them.’
Eze 12:16 “But I shall let a few of their men escape from the sword, from scarcity of food, and from pestilence, so that they recount all their abominations among the nations wherever they go. And they shall know that I am יהוה.”
Amo 5:18 Woe to you who are longing for the day of יהוה! What does the day of יהוה mean to you? It is darkness, and not light, Amo 5:19 as when a man flees from a lion, and a bear shall meet him; or entered his house, rested his hand on the wall, and a serpent shall bite him. Amo 5:20 Is not the day of יהוה darkness, and not light? Is it not very dark, with no brightness in it? Amo 5:21 “I have hated, I have despised your festivals, and I am not pleased with your assemblies.
Why does
YHVH allow us to go through such trails and testings?
Deu
8:2 “And you shall remember that יהוה your Elohim led you all the way these forty
years in the wilderness, to humble you, prove you, to know what is in your
heart, whether you guard His commands or not.
Deu 8:3 “And He humbled you, and let you suffer hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, to make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word that comes from the mouth of יהוה.
1Pe 4:1 Therefore, since Messiah suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,a Footnote: a Rom_6:2-22, 1Pe_2:25.
Heb 5:8 though being a Son, He learned obedience by what He suffered.
Deu
4:30 “In your distress, when all these words shall come upon you in the
latter days, then you shall return to יהוה your Elohim and shall obey
His voice.
Deu 4:31 “For יהוה your Elohim is a compassionate Ěl, He does not forsake you, nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.
The Torah is the road map of end time events. Things are going to be more severe than anyone of us could ever have thought or imagined.
Blessed are you YHVH, 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 – Amein.