Parashat 16 - “Beshalach” “When he set free or when he cast out”
Shemot/Exodus13:17 –
17:16
יז וַיְהִי,
בְּשַׁלַּח פַּרְעֹה אֶת-הָעָם, וְלֹא-נָחָם אֱלֹהִים דֶּרֶךְ אֶרֶץ
פְּלִשְׁתִּים, כִּי קָרוֹב הוּא: כִּי אָמַר אֱלֹהִים, פֶּן-יִנָּחֵם
הָעָם בִּרְאֹתָם מִלְחָמָה--וְשָׁבוּ מִצְרָיְמָה.
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17 And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had
let the people go, that YHVH led them not by the way of the land of the
Philistines, although that was near; for YHVH said: 'Lest peradventure the
people regret when they see war, and they return to Egypt.'
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“Better to
die in the wilderness where true worship can be expressed than to be enslaved
in paganism”
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.
The further Egypt and idolatry are behind us, the more
freely we are enabled to receive and follow YHVH’s guidance.
Isa 30:20 Though יהוה gave you bread
of adversity and water of affliction, your Teacher1 shall no longer
be hidden. But your eyes shall see your Teacher1, Footnote: 1Or teachers. See
also Joel 2:23.
Isa 30:21 and your
ears hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the Way, walk in it,” whenever
you turn to the right, or whenever you turn to the left.
The further Egypt and idolatry are behind us, the more
freely we are enabled to receive and follow YHVH’s guidance.
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,
“Pi Ha chariot” “Pi” means “mouth” “ha chariot” can either mean freedom or
bondage – lit. a hole.
Pro 10:19 When words are many, Transgression is not
absent, But he who restrains his lips is wise.
See 14:13,14 – Israel
was commanded to be silent while YHVH destroyed Yisrael’s enemies
….between Miḡdol
and the sea, opposite Baʽal Tsephon – camp before it by the sea.
“Migdol” means “tower” it can also infer a stronghold. “Baal
Tsephon” could refer to a hidden or mysterious foreign deity - Demonic
strongholds will confront those who have chosen to leave Egypt behind them.
Deliverance from these strongholds are possibly linked to the words of our
mouths.
Pro 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the
tongue, And those loving it eat its fruit.
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.
Exo 14:7 And he
took six hundred choice chariots, and all the chariots of Mitsrayim with
officers over all of them.
When we are at our most vulnerable the enemy will try to
destroy us but YHVH will miraculously deliver us – see Rev 12 – there is
protection in the “wilderness”
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.
Exo 14:9 And the
Mitsrites pursued them, and all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his
horsemen and his army, and overtook them camping by the sea beside Pi Haḥiroth,
before Baʽal Tsephon.
Exo 14:10 And when
Pharaoh drew near, the children of Yisra’ĕl lifted their eyes and saw the
Mitsrites coming up after them. And they were greatly afraid, so the children
of Yisra’ĕl cried out to יהוה.
Exo 14:11 And they
said to Mosheh, “Did you take us away to die in the wilderness because there
are no graves in Mitsrayim? What is this you have done to us, to bring us up
out of Mitsrayim?
Exo 14:12 “Is this
not the word that we spoke to you in Mitsrayim, saying, ‘Leave us alone and let
us serve the Mitsrites?’ For it would have been better for us to serve the
Mitsrites than to die in the wilderness.”
We must keep the faith even in times of severe testing,
the rewards are great and YHVH is honoured.
Exo 14:13 And
Mosheh said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the
deliverance of יהוה, which He does
for you today. For the Mitsrites whom you see today, you are never, never to
see again.
Exo 14:14 “יהוה does fight for
you, and you keep still.” See Josh 6
Exo 14:15 And יהוה said to Mosheh, “Why do you cry to Me?
Speak to the children of Yisra’ĕl, and let them go forward.
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’ĕl go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.
Exo 14:17 “And I,
see I am hardening 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’ĕl, 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’ĕl. 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’ĕl 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.
“Mikvah” baptism became a symbol of crossing from life to
death.
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, 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’ĕl, 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’ĕl 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’ĕl that day out of the hand of
the Mitsrites, and Yisra’ĕl saw the Mitsrites dead on the seashore.
Exo 14:31 And
Yisra’ĕl saw the great work which יהוה had done in
Mitsrayim, and the people feared יהוה, and believed יהוה and His servant Mosheh.
Exo 15:1 Then Mosheh and the children of Yisra’ĕl 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!
This song is called the “song of the sea” – “shirat ha
yam”
Vv 1-10 describe YHVH’s great victory over the Egyptian
foe.
Vv 11-13 describe
that no deity is comparable to YHVH.
Vv 14-16 describe how the exodus impacted other nations.
Vv 17-18 are prophetic and describe YHVH’s continuing
reign.
Exo 15:2 “Yah is
my strength and song, and He has become my deliverance. He is my Ěl, and I
praise Him – Elohim of my father, and I exalt Him.
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
kindness 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 Kenaʽan
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.”
“Kotvei Shilachim” – writings of the “sent ones” the
Apostles – Midrash.
From chapters 1 to 7 in
the book of Romans the word “ruach” is used only 5 times. In chapters 9 to 16
the word “ruach” is used 8 times. However in chapter 8 of the book of Romans
the word “ruach” is used 21 times – The obvious theme of Romans chapter 8 is
the indwelling presence of the “Ruach” and how it enables us to walk in all the
righteousness of the Torah.
Rom 8:4 so that the righteousness of the Torah should
be completed in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the
Spirit.
When the Yisraelites
left Mitsrayim and went through the mikvah of Moshe through the Red sea, they
were guided by the cloud and by the fire – the two symbolic elements of the
mikvah in the Ruach Ha Kodesh.
Mat 3:10 “And the axe is already laid to the root of
the trees. Every tree, then, which does not bear good fruit is cut down and
thrown into the fire.
Mat 3:11 “I indeed immerse you in water unto
repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I
am not worthy to bear. He shall immerse you in the Set-apart Spirit and fire.
Mat 3:12 “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He
shall thoroughly cleanse His threshing-floor, and gather His wheat into the
storehouse, but the chaff He shall burn with unquenchable fire.”
We see that for Shaul,
the life one who is justified by faith is a life lived in and by the Ruach Ha
Kodesh.
“1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Messiah
Yeshua.
Paul is
taking his thought back to 7:1-6, not to 7:25, for 7:7-25 is a clarification of
7:1-6. Having made the clarification (lest any should think the Torah to be
evil since it causes sin to have its power), Paul reiterates the general truth
of 7:1-6, i.e., that since a death has occurred (the death of the believer in
union with Yeshua), the condemnation of the Torah against sin is assuaged(alleviated)
and can never again claim rightful authority over the child of YHVH.
Paul has
already shown conclusively that mankind carries the penalty of sin inherited
from Adam (chapter 5), that as sinners mankind does not seek for YHVH (3:10ff),
and that in man’s weakness to overcome sin, he stands condemned by the
righteous Torah (5:16). This state of condemnation in which mankind exists can
be overcome only through the just payment of sin by a substitute, illustrated
time and time again by the sacrificial victim within the Temple, and fulfilled
by the One to whom the sacrifices pointed, Yeshua our Messiah. Paul’s perspective
is that only the person who is in union with Yeshua, who is “in” Him, having
thus undergone death and resurrection in union with Him—only this person stands
as uncondemned in the eyes of Heaven.
Modern
Judaisms (by this I mean those of so-called “rabbinic Judaism” following the
destruction of the Temple and foundational for the growth of what today is
generally referred to as “orthodox Judaism”) have, on the one hand, much to say
about sin, yet in another sense, consider it almost in a peripheral way.
. . .
the concept of sin in and of itself is never fully developed or clarified in
Judaism. . . . concern with sin itself occupies an insignificant place in
Jewish thought. . . . Sin is viewed as a correlate(associate) of mitzva; it is
treated not as a separate independent entity but rather as a shadow-essence or
even, at times, a reverse image of mitzva.
. . . In every
case, that is to say, it [sin] is conceived as the negation of something else,
and not as an independent entity in its own right”
Jer 17:9 “The heart is crooked above all, and
desperately sick – who shall know it?
This is true of both Jew
and gentile. Manmade religion has dulled the senses from coming face to face
with the absolute bankrupt condition of our souls – blessed are the poor in
spirit …….
Paul, Pharisee
of Pharisees, disciple of Gamiliel, Hebrew of Hebrews, zealous for his
ancestral traditions—this Paul had come to understand and agree with YHVH’s
assessment of sin. He had come to appreciate firsthand that he stood as a condemned
sinner before the throne room of YHVH, and that his only hope was the mercies
that YHVH might extend to him on the basis of Messiah’s death and resurrection.
This he had come to understand, not from some body of Scripture owned by the
“Christian church” (i.e., the New Testament, which, of course, did not exist at
the time of his coming to faith in Yeshua) but from the pages of his own
Scripture’s—from the Tanach.
Coupled with this is Paul’s strong assertion that
the Torah is “spiritual” (7:14) and we see a consistent theme which Paul now
desires to stress, namely, that when the Torah is seen through the eyes of
faith, it is because the Spirit has opened the eyes and has illumined the text,
and has thus opened the Torah to the believer as the pattern for life it was
intended to be (cf. 7:10).
One might rightfully ask how a believer could, at
the same time, be both a “prisoner of the law of sin” (7:23) and “free from the
law of sin and death” (8:2). The answer is twofold: First, the “prison” of
which Paul speaks is the sin nature, which, apart from full glorification in
immortality, will always be a foe with which to reckon. Thus, though our
efforts may be valiant and our victories over sin sure, we know that the
struggle will always be ongoing until “this mortal puts on immortality.”
Secondly, the freedom consists in the fact that the
regenerate soul actually is able to wage war against the sin nature and to gain
victories over it. While dead in trespasses and sins, the unregenerate is
powerless to affect honest strides toward righteousness, the death of the old
man and the presence of the new man indicate a foretaste of the inevitable
freedom awaiting us in the world to come. Our freedom now is to fight against
the sin that remains within us. And the very fact that we both want to fight
and are able to engage the battle means that eventually we will be completely
free. Our freedom is thus an “already/not yet” entity, real in the present, but
full in eternity.
The Torah was weak, not in and of itself, but
because it could not, on its own strength, bring to life those dead in sin. (Of
course, the Torah was never intended to initiate life in the sinful soul. The
Torah only benefits those who are already endowed with life.)
It was
thus through the life-giving Spirit, in connection with the work of Yeshua,
that the sinner is made new and given both the will and ability to live life in
accordance with the Torah. (This points back to 2:13, “for not the hearers of
the law [are] righteous before YHVH, but the doers of the law shall be declared
righteous”). Thus, since the “requirements” of the Torah are actually
accomplished in the life of the believer, this is proof of a position of
righteousness before YHVH.
But how
do those who are “in Yeshua Messiah” fulfill the righteous requirement of the
Torah when, obviously, no one is able to obey the Torah fully and continually?
Once again Cranfield has said it well:
They fulfill it in the sense that they do have a
real faith in YHVH (which is the law’s basic demand), in the sense that their
lives are definitely turned in the direction of obedience, that they do
sincerely desire to obey and are earnestly striving to advance ever nearer to
perfection. But, so long as they remain in this present life, their faith is
always in some measure mixed with unbelief, their obedience is always imperfect
and incomplete. And this means of course that there can never be any question
of their being able to make their new obedience a claim on YHVH. Grace was
indeed given, in order that the law(torah) might be fulfilled . . .
who do not walk according to the
flesh, but according to the Spirit – These words can
easily be misconstrued if not carefully studied. Some might, from a surface
reading, understand them to mean that the Torah is fulfilled in us when we walk
according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh. But the grammar is
against this. Had Paul intended such a meaning, he would have used some such
words as “when” or “if”—some aspect of conditionality. But of course there is no
hint of this. Rather, the phrase is given to more fully define how the Torah is
fulfilled in those for whom sin has been condemned. The Torah is fulfilled in
the manner in which we “walk,” a term obviously chosen by Paul to convey the
manner in which life’s choices are made—the outworking of halachah. We may paraphrase the sentence
this way: YHVH’s purpose in sending His Son and condemning sin was that the
requirement of the Torah might be fulfilled by our walking not according to the
flesh but according to the Spirit.” Thus, these words serve to clarify what is
meant by the word fulfill. Note well that the direction in which the Spirit
leads us is the direction of Torah-submissiveness—to obedience of YHVH’s
revealed will. Thus, the Torah is fulfilled in us the more we decide for the
Spirit and against the flesh. What is more, this living according to the Spirit
(which results in living out the requirement of the Torah) is a life of freedom
and liberty, for in the hands of the Spirit, the Torah is the Royal Torah of
Liberty (James 1:25; 2:12).
Vs 4-14 do not describe the difference between carnal believers and
spiritual believers BUT between believers and non believers - Hegg
Thus, since the Spirit leads always
in accordance with YHVH’s righteous ways, the Torah is lived out in the lives
of those who, walking according to the Spirit, set their minds upon the things
which the Spirit designs and desires.
This is not to say that the task of
following the Spirit is an easy one! Chapter seven should not be lost sight of
here—there is a struggle, a war, as it were, going on and the believer is
engaged in it. But it is the desire of the believer (“I joyfully concur with
the Torah of YHVH in the inner man,” 7:22) to live as YHVH’S commands, and it
is the work of the Spirit to lead the believer in this obedience. Waging war
against the flesh, the believer is assured of victory through the indwelling
Spirit.