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).
Jer 1:4 Now the word of יהוה came to me,
saying,
Jer 1:5 “Before I
formed you in the belly I knew you, and before you came out of the womb I did
set you apart – I appointed you a prophet to nations.”
Jer 1:6 And said
I, “Ah, Master יהוה! See, I do not
know how to speak, for I am a youth.”
Jer 1:7 And יהוה said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’
but go to all to whom I send you, and speak whatever I command you.
Jer 1:8 “Do not
fear their faces, for I am with you to deliver you,” declares יהוה.
Jer 1:9 Then יהוה put forth His hand and touched my mouth,
and יהוה said to me, “See, I have put My words in
your mouth.
Jer 1:10 “See, I
have this day set you over the nations and over the reigns, to root out and to
pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”
Yirmeyahu witnessed the destruction of Yerushalaim and the exile of his
people to Babylon. He urged repentance and warned of the coming judgement and
at the same time, he held out the promise of restoration and return.
Our Torah portion begins
where YHVH is angry with Moshe for being a reluctant prophet.
Exo 4:14 And the displeasure of יהוה burned against
Mosheh, and He said, “Is not Aharon the Lĕwite your brother? I know that he
speaks well. And see, he is also coming out to meet you. And when he sees you,
he shall be glad in his heart. (Dev 18:15 – maybe Moshe was to represent both
role of priest and ruler)
Exo 4:15 “And you
shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And I am with your mouth and
with his mouth, and I shall teach you what to do.
Exo 4:16 “And he
shall speak for you to the people. And it shall be that he shall be a mouth for
you, and you shall be an elohim1 for him. Footnote: 1Or mighty
one, which is proof that elohim is but a title, indicating order or
authority – it is not a proper name.
Exo 4:17 “And take
this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.”
Exo 4:18 Then
Mosheh went and returned to Yithro his father-in-law, and said to him, “Please
let me go and return to my brothers who are in Mitsrayim to see whether they
are still alive.” And Yithro said to Mosheh, “Go in peace.”
Exo 4:19 And יהוה said to Mosheh in Miḏyan,
“Go, return to Mitsrayim, for all the men are dead who sought your life.”
Mat 2:13 And when they had left, see, a
messenger of יהוה appeared to Yosěph in a dream, saying,
“Arise, take the Child and His mother, and flee to Mitsrayim, and remain there
until I bring you word, for Herodes is about to seek the Child to destroy
Him.”
Mat 2:14 And rising up, he took the Child and
His mother by night and departed for Mitsrayim,
Mat 2:15 and remained there until the death
of Herodes, to fill what was spoken by יהוה through
the prophet, saying, “Out of Mitsrayim I have called My Son.” Exo_4:22-23,
Hos_11:1, Rev_21:7.
Exo 4:20 So Mosheh
took his wife and his sons and set them on a(the) donkey, and he returned to
the land of Mitsrayim. And Mosheh took the rod of Elohim in his hand. (see also Ex 18:1-7)
“the donkey” (ha chamor) – the
sages believe this was Messiah’s donkey.
Some sages believed that Messiah would come on a donkey to bring deliverance to
Yisrael.
Zec 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Tsiyon!
Shout, O daughter of Yerushalayim! See, your Sovereign is coming to you, He is
righteous and endowed with deliverance, humble and riding on a donkey, a colt,
the foal of a donkey1. Footnote: 1Mt. 21:5, John 12:15.
Deliverance and
righteousness travel with great humility – on the donkey
Exo 4:21 And יהוה said to Mosheh, “As you go back to
Mitsrayim, see that you do all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in
your hand. But I am going to harden his heart, so that he does not let the
people go.
Exo 4:22 “And you
shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus said יהוה, “Yisra’ĕl is
My son, My first-born,
Exo 4:23 so I say
to you, let My son go to serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, see, I am
killing your son, your first-born.” ’ ”
This is the first time Yisrael is referred to as a
nation, not only a nation amongst nations, but the nation referred to as YHVH’s
first born son.
Exo 4:24 And it
came to be on the way, in the lodging place, that יהוה met him and
sought to kill him.
Exo 4:25 And
Tsipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and threw it
at Mosheh’s feet, and said, “You are indeed a bridegroom of blood to me!”
Exo 4:26 So He let
him go. Then she said, “You are a bridegroom of blood,” because of the
circumcision.
It is possible that on this occasion Tsipporah also left
Moshe. We see that Tsipporah is only mentioned again after this event in Shemot
chapter 18.
Num 12:3 And the man Mosheh was very humble,
more than all men who were on the face of the earth.
Exo 18:2 And Yithro, Mosheh’s father-in-law, took
Tsipporah, the wife of Mosheh – after he had sent her back, (or after her
dismissal – Heb ‘’shiach’’) See also Jasher chap 79
There is much
uncertainty and speculation about these events. It seems however that many of
the pagan tribes followed the custom of circumcision just before marriage or in
the teen years of a young man. This influence could have come from the event of
Ishmael’s circumcision. Some say that the Midianites were descendants of
Ishmael.
It is also possible that
YHVH became very angry because Yisrael had so assimilated into Egypt that they
no longer performed circumcisions on their male infants, or if they did they performed
them according to Egyptian customs.
Exo 4:27 And יהוה said to Aharon, “Go to meet Mosheh in the
wilderness.” And he went and met him on the mountain of Elohim, and kissed him.
. (Mount Sinai is where spiritual leaders meet to discuss the liberation of
YHVH’s people- Ex 19:1 – three- month journey) see also Gal 1:17 Paul spent
three years at mount Sinai after his conversion.
Exo 4:28 Mosheh
then told Aharon all the words of יהוה who had sent
him, and all the signs which He had commanded him.
Exo 4:29 And
Mosheh went with Aharon and gathered together all the elders of the children of
Yisra’ĕl.
Exo 4:30 And
Aharon spoke all the words which יהוה had spoken to
Mosheh. Then he did the signs before the eyes of the people.
Exo 4:31 And the
people believed. And they heard that יהוה had visited
the children of Yisra’ĕl and that He had looked on their affliction, and they
bowed their heads and did obeisance.
Exo 5:1 And afterwards Mosheh and Aharon went in and
said to Pharaoh, “Thus said יהוה Elohim of
Yisra’ĕl, ‘Let My people go, so that they keep a festival to Me in the
wilderness.’ ”
Exo 5:2 And
Pharaoh said, “Who is יהוה, that I should
obey His voice to let Yisra’ĕl go? I do not know יהוה, nor am I
going to let Yisra’ĕl go.”
Exo 5:3 And they
said, “The Elohim of the Heḇrews has met with us. Please, let us go three days’
journey into the wilderness and slaughter to יהוה our Elohim,
lest He fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.”
The Yisraelites may not have been exaggerating when they
feared the consequences of not obeying the command of Moshe to go out into the
wilderness for three days. At this time in the history of the nation of Yisrael
they had so assimilated into the Egyptian society that they had forsaken the
ancient paths of their faith. Some sages believe that by the time Yisrael was
to leave Mitsrayim they had fallen to the 49th level of assimilation
into pagan society. They say there were just one step away from complete
assimilation and complete loss of their identity as descendants of Yakov. Today
there remains a great danger of assimilation into the anti Torah, ‘’anti-
Semitic’’ culture of the modern world.
Exo 5:4 But the
sovereign of Mitsrayim said to them, “Mosheh and Aharon, why do you take the
people from their work? Get back to your burdens.”
Exo 5:5 And
Pharaoh said, “See, the people of the land are many now, and you make them
cease from their burdens!”
Exo 5:6 And the
same day Pharaoh commanded the slave-drivers of the people and their foremen,
saying,
Exo 5:7 “You are
no longer to give the people straw to make bricks as before. Let them go and
gather straw for themselves.
Exo 5:8 “And lay
on them the required amount of bricks which they made before, do not diminish
it. For they are idle, that is why they cry out, saying, ‘Let us go and
slaughter to our Elohim.’
Exo 5:9 “Let more
work be laid on the men, so that they labour in it, and not pay attention to
words of falsehood.”
Exo 5:10 And the
slave-drivers of the people and their foremen went out and spoke to the people,
saying, “Thus said Pharaoh, ‘I do not give you straw.
Exo 5:11 ‘Go, take
straw for yourselves, wherever you find it, for your work shall not be
diminished.’ ”
Exo 5:12 And the
people were scattered in all the land of Mitsrayim – to gather stubble for
straw.
Exo 5:13 And the
slave-drivers were hurrying them on, saying, “Complete your work, your daily
amount, as when there was straw.”
Exo 5:14 Also the
foremen of the children of Yisra’ĕl, whom Pharaoh’s slave-drivers had set over
them, were beaten and were asked, “Why have you not completed your task in
making bricks both yesterday and today, as before?”
Exo 5:15 And the
foremen of the children of Yisra’ĕl came and cried out to Pharaoh, saying, “Why
do you treat your servants this way?
Exo 5:16 “There is
no straw given to your servants, and they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ And see,
your servants are beaten, but your own people are at fault.”
Exo 5:17 But he
said, “You are idle! You are idle! That is why you say, ‘Let us go and
slaughter to יהוה.’
Exo 5:18 “So now
go, work. And straw is not given to you, but deliver the amount of bricks.”
Exo 5:19 And the
foremen of the children of Yisra’ĕl saw that they were in trouble after it was
said, “You are not to diminish your daily amount of bricks.”
Exo 5:20 And when
they came out from Pharaoh, they met Mosheh and Aharon who stood there to meet
them.
Exo 5:21 And they
said to them, “Let יהוה look on you
and judge, because you have made us loathsome in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the
eyes of his servants, to give a sword in their hand to kill us.”
Exo 5:22 And
Mosheh returned to יהוה and said, “יהוה, why have You done evil to this people?
Why did You send me?
Exo 5:23 “For ever
since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your Name, he has done evil to this people.
And You have not delivered Your people at all.”
Exo 6:1 And יהוה said to
Mosheh, “Now see what I do to Pharaoh, for with a strong hand he is going to
let them go, and with a strong hand he is going to drive them out of his land.”
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.
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