Parashat 16 - “Beshalach” “When he set free or when he cast out”

Shemot/Exodus13:17 – 17:16

Blessing for the Torah:

Baruch atah YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-O’lam, asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim,

v’natan lanu eht Torah-to. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”

(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.

Blessed are you, YHVH, giver of the Torah. Ameyn.)

Torah Readings:

1. 13:17 – 14:8
2. 14:9 – 14:14 (Ashkenazim); 14:9-25 (Sefardim)
3. 14:15-25 (A); 14:26 – 15:26 (S)
4. 14:26 – 15:26 (A); 15:27 – 16:10 (S)
5. 15:27 – 16:10 (A); 16:11-29 (S)
6. 16:11-36 (A); 16:30-36 (S)
7. 17:1-13
8. Maftir: 17:14-16 

Haftarah: Judges 4:4 – 5:31 (A); 5:1-31 (S)

General Overview:

 In this week's reading, Beshalach, Pharaoh pursues the Israelites into the desert. The Red Sea splits, the Israelites cross the sea while the Mitsrites’/Egyptian army is drowned. Moshe and the Yisraelites sing a special song thanking YHVH for this miracle. The Yisraelites complain about a lack of food and drink. YHVH sends Manna and quail for them to eat, and miraculously produces water from a rock. Amalek attacks the Israelites and is soundly defeated.

Aliyah Rishon 13:17-14:8

Exo 13:17  And it came to be, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that Elohim did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, though that was nearer, for Elohim said, “Lest the people regret when they see fighting, and return to Mitsrayim.”

When the time comes for us to return to the land we are not going to just pack our bags and walk out of Mitsrayim/Egypt or this present world system.

As believers we don’t like to admit that we are in bondage to anything, but if we honestly consider our present position in this world, we realize that we need to be set free from the hold that this world has over each one of us, whether we admit it or not.

Once again herein lays a very important truth for us to understand this Torah portion as well as end time events. Note that Pharoah had a legal right over the people of his country. YHVH was not going to steal His people. Pharoah eventually set them free because they had become too much trouble for him. It was Pharoahs stubborn foolishness that got him killed and he no longer had any right of ownership over the people of YHVH.

We need to relook at our eschatological understanding of the end times in the light of these truths. We are not going to return to the land of Israel until the Pharoah of this present world system also “sets us free” or “Be shalach”

NOTE WHO IS LEADING THEM! YHVH LEADS THEM OUT OF MITSRAYIM.

The Midrash Rabba states that “The tribe of Ephraim had erred and departed from Egypt 30 years before the destined time, with the result that three hundred thousand of them were slain by the Philistines... and their bones lay in heaps on the road... YHVH therefore said: If Israel behold the bones of the sons of Ephraim strewn in the road, they will return to Egypt...”

 “Lest the people regret when they see fighting, and return to Mitsrayim.”  The Hebrew word for regret comes from a root word meaning to have compassion. This verb appears in the text as a “niphal” verb and therefore conveys a passive meaning. In other words the people would feel sorry or have feelings of compassion when they saw war. Why? I believe it is possible if they took the short route they would have seen the bodies of the Ephramites strewn across the desert and would have felt very sorry for them.

The moral behind this is that when a people fight the enemy in their own strength according to their own wisdom they are bound to come to grief. Perhaps the Father wants to save a remnant by protecting them from witnessing the destruction that comes upon a people who seek to do warfare in their own strength and power.

Exo 13:18  So Elohim led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Sea of Reeds. And the children of Yisra’ĕl went up armed from the land of Mitsrayim. (“The Red Sea is called “Yam Suf” in Hebrew. It means “the Reed Sea”. The name “Red Sea” is probably a result of a translation error. In the first English translations it was written as “Reed Sea”, but it seems as though those who used that English translation of the Bible when making a new translation, mistook the word “reed” for “red”. The Reed Sea is not red at all. When one is there, everything looks quite blue, just like all the other seas on the earth. The Reed Sea is the name of the whole sea, including the inlets of Suez and Aqabah”).

Maybe their “arms” were not carnal weapons of warfare, but the promises of YHVH and His Torah.

“armed” 2571 “Chamushim” this is the only place this word is used in the Tenach and its meaning is uncertain.

Chamushim can mean "armed"... Another interpretation: one in five (chamesh) among the children of Israel came out of Egypt; four-fifths died during the three days of darkness [because they did not want to leave Egypt].(Rashi)

Rabbi Joshua interpreted it thus: fivefold they came out of Egypt, for five times their number in converts were gathered into the people of Israel upon their departure from Egypt. (Midrash Tanchuma)

Midrash Rabbah – “This is comparable to a king who had a son to whom he wished to bequeath an inheritance, but he argued: "If I give it to him now that he is small, he will not know how to take care of it. I will therefore wait until my son studies the writings and comprehends the value [of the property], then I will bequeath it unto him." This is what YHVH said: I shall first give them the Torah, and then bring them into the Land.”

Exo 13:19  And Mosheh took the bones of Yosĕph with him, for he certainly made the children of Yisra’ĕl swear, saying, “Elohim shall certainly visit you, and you shall bring my bones from here with you.”

The Hebrew word for "bone" (etzem) also means "essence." This verse can therefore be understood to mean that Moshe took Yosef's very essence with him, and this served as inspirational guidance for them as they crossed the desert. Yosef represents so much of who the Messiah is and so in these last days we too can expect a Messianic essence in all our preparation in returning to the land.

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.  (Shaul/Paul quotes the midrash rabba)

      Exo 13:20  And they departed from Sukkoth and camped in Ětham at the edge of the wilderness.

Note they leave out detail recorded in Bemidbar/Numbers chapter 33.  Num 33:5 Then the children of Yisra’ĕl departed from Ra’meses and camped at Sukkoth.

I believe that the Torah wants us to focus more on the events that took place at the various locations. They carry a certain prophetic significance for an end time generation that will follow a similar pattern of redemption and return.  Later on in Bamidbar/Numbers 33 we will consider more detail of the 42 places or stages of the wilderness journey.

 Ramases – “child of the sun” .  We will leave Mitsrayim because we no longer desire to submit ourselves to any form of sun worship what so ever .

First stop – Sukkot/Succoth. (Should remind us of our annual camp at Chapmans Peak – or wherever the readers of this Blog were camping)

1. Sukkot or temporary shelters – Tells us that for 42 months(Book of Revelation) we are going to be pilgrims and sojourners in the truest sense of the word wandering through the wilderness waiting for our Messiah to return and establish his kingdom on earth and in Yerushalyaim -  looking for a city  with foundations, whose builder and maker is Elohim. - Heb 11:10 
2. The second stop was “Etham” which means contemplation or plowshare.

Luk 9:62  But יהושע said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the reign of Elohim.

Exo 13:21  And יהוה went before them by day in a column of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a column of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night.

Exo 13:22  The column of cloud did not cease by day, nor the column of fire by night, before the people.

Note once again Who it is who is leading them. It is the presence of YHVH. Moshe was their leader because he more than any other person was willing to lay down his life and obey YHVH no matter what the consequences.

This should once again remind us of our Messiah who only did what he was told by YHVH.

Yochanan/Joh 8:28  So יהושע said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Aḏam, then you shall know that I am He, and that I do none at all of Myself, but as My Father taught Me, these words I speak.

Joh 8:29  “And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do what pleases Him.”

This Hebrew expression “lift up” means that when we lift up something towards heaven we are acknowledging this lifted up gift HAS COME FROM THE FATHER AND CREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH. In the case of Yahshua it also meant that the “lifting up” or impaling on an execution stake would also be the will of YHVH.

Exo 14:1  And יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying,

Exo 14:2  “Speak to the children of Yisra’ĕl, that they turn and camp before Pi Haḥiroth, between Miḡdol and the sea, opposite Ba’al Tsephon – camp before it by the sea. (“Al hayam” means ‘on the sea’)

‘Pi Hachiroth’ -  or mouth of freedom or freedom valley. This is possibly where the slaves were brought to be set free. For the Hebrews freedom only comes when we take on our shoulders the yoke of Torah. YHVH Himself will open up the Reed Sea or do anything else for our freedom if this is what is required.

Now, the evil inclination is called the ‘tzephoni’ - the hidden one, like it says (Yoel 2,20): “And the hidden one (northerner) I will distance from you”, because it is concealed and hidden in the chambers of a person’s heart, as Chazal have said. This is what the posuk (verse) is saying “between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal Tzephon - in a place of idol worship, and before the concealed evil inclination. In front of it you shall be, and you will subdue your inclination. And therefore “opposite this”, in return for this, “you shall rest on the sea”, you shall rest on dry land within the sea –

It is here before the great deliverance of the sea that opens up for bnei Yisrael  (children of Yisrael) that YHVH wants to deal with our evil inclination in a decisive manner. It was because bnei Yisrael failed to be convinced of YHVH’s ability to deliver them that they were so easily controlled by their evil inclination.

Exo 14:3  “For Pharaoh shall say of the children of Yisra’ĕl, ‘They are entangled in the land, the wilderness has closed them in.’

Exo 14:4  “And I shall harden the heart of Pharaoh, and he shall pursue them. But I am to be esteemed through Pharaoh and over all his army, and the Mitsrites shall know that I am יהוה.” And they did so.

Exo 14:5  And it was reported to the sovereign of Mitsrayim that the people had fled, and the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people. And they said, “Why have we done this, that we have let Yisra’ĕl go from serving us?”

Exo 14:6  So he made his chariot ready and took his people with him. (Why is Pharoah still alive - was he not a firstborn??? And why is he preparing his own chariot, this is not what kings did)

Exo 14:7  And he took six hundred choice chariots, and all the chariots of Mitsrayim with officers over all of them.

Exo 14:8  And יהוה hardened the heart of Pharaoh sovereign of Mitsrayim, and he pursued the children of Yisra’ĕl, but the children of Yisra’ĕl went out defiantly.

When we are ultimately set free, we too will not take the shortcut back to the land. Before we possess our inheritance we will be tested and our obedience to the detail of this Torah instruction may greatly assist us in possessing our inheritance.

We will not take another 40 years through a wilderness, but maybe the 42 months spoken of in the book of Revelation.

Rev 12:1  And a great sign was seen in the heaven: a woman clad with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. (12 tribes Israel – Gen 37:9 Yosef’s dreams)

Rev 12:6  And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by Elohim, to be nourished there one thousand two hundred and sixty days. (42 months)

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, 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.

The miracle of the earth opening its mouth can be compared to the Reed sea opening up for the Israelites to cross over.