Blessed are You YHVH our Elohim - Creator of the universe, whose blessings have come to rest upon us through the Messiah, Yahshua who is The Tree of Life and who establishes the everlasting fruit of Your Torah in this age and in the age to come and through which all the families of the earth will be blessed forever and ever.
Please, YHVH, our Elohim, sweeten the words of Your Torah in
our hearts and in the hearts of Your people, the family of Israel. May we and
our offspring and the offspring of Your people, the house of Jacob – know Your
Name and study Your Torah, for the sake of Your Torah- empowering us to
sincerely love one another and to love You above all. Please uncover our eyes
and open our hearts that we may carefully examine and understand the marvels
and mysteries of Your Torah- Amein.
כי בפעם
הזאת –‘’for this time I will send
all my plagues upon thy heart..."
This is possibly one of the most terrifying realities in the
scriptures, as it pertains not only to this age but to the age to come.
Exodus 9:14 "For this time I will send the full
force of all my plagues against you and against your officials and your people,
so you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth."
‘’This time you have gone too far. Not even repentance is
going to save you now, because you have gone past the point of no return; your
cup is full and now you will face the full consequences of your rebellion. May YHVH
have mercy on your souls.’’
In Revelation 16, the judgment is universal. The
entire planet becomes "Egypt," the Antichrist acts as the ultimate
Pharaoh, and there is no physical Goshen left to hide in—salvation is entirely
an internal, spiritual sealing by the Messiah.
The most frightening reality of Exodus 9:14 is that the
warning shifts from a localized national judgment into a universal declaration
of absolute sovereignty that excludes no one—neither Egyptian nor
Israelite—with a free pass based purely on heritage, to continue doing as they
pleased – the sages remind us that only 20% (maybe less) made it out of Goshen.
While the text is explicitly spoken to Pharaoh, the
theological and practical weight of this specific warning echoes profoundly
through both camps for this age and for the age to come.
It signifies a turning point where the plagues would become
uniquely personal with no exceptions.
The Ultimatum: For the first time, YHVH provides a
final way of escape. In Exodus 9:20, Pharaoh's servants are warned to bring
their livestock and servants indoors.
The Separation: This divides Egypt into those who
"feared the judgment of YHVH" and those who ignored it, introducing
the theological concept of divine mercy coexisting with judgment.
Pharaoh’s First Admission of Guilt
The severity of the hail is what finally breaks Pharaoh’s
pride, if only temporarily. In Exodus 9:27, Pharaoh makes a profound
theological confession: "I have sinned this time; YHVH is in the right,
and I and my people are in the wrong." This is the first time the word
Tzedek (righteous/right) is used to describe YHVH’s judgments in Egypt,
establishing YHVH as the ultimate moral authority for all people from all
nations, for all times.
·
The End-Times Parallel: In Revelation 16:21 (the
Seventh Bowl judgments), one of the final plagues featuring huge
hailstones, about one hundred pounds (a talent) each, dropping out of heaven onto humanity. The severe weight emphasizes
that while the Egyptian hail ruined crops, the End-Times hail is designed to
crush the infrastructure of global rebellion, entirely.
·
The End-Times Parallel: Revelation explicitly notes that the final generation reacts exactly
like Pharaoh. Revelation 16:21
states that despite the crushing weight of the 100-pound hailstones, "men
blasphemed YHVH because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was
exceedingly great." The
hail acts as a spiritual diagnostic tool, proving that the hearts of YHVH's
enemies are permanently hardened beyond repair.
·
It is also significant to note that the
Rev 16:21 annihilation takes place after the first resurrection.
·
Perhaps the most frightening conclusions
of these events recorded in both this Torah portion and their end time fulfilment
in the book of Rev 16 – the seven bowls of wrath - no one gets
to repent unless YHVH has granted them an escape from this horrific mass
killing event.
The Command to Mobilize: Right
as the apocalyptic systems begin to implode, a heavenly voice in Revelation
18:4 cries out: “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in
her sins or receive any of her plagues.” Rameses is the physical
manifestation of that command. You cannot wait out the final wrath while
remaining woven into Egypt's infrastructure.
The Wilderness Refuge: Just
as the gathering at Rameses was the mandatory transition point before entering
the safety of the Sinai desert, Revelation prophecy predicts a sudden, highly
organized flight. In Revelation 12:6, the
woman (representing the faithful remnant of Israel) explicitly flees into
the wilderness to a place prepared for her by YHVH, where she is
supernaturally nourished and protected from the ultimate wrath of the dragon.
The Ultimate Reality: Rameses is Not a Fort, it’s a Highway - Rameses was never meant to be a
permanent stronghold. It was a place to pack your bags, lace your sandals, and look toward
the wilderness.
The last four plagues and Rev 16 and the last four plagues in Egypt -
repentance is no longer possible – this is possibly the most terrifying truth
of all – based on YHVH’s foreknowledge He already knows now as He knew then
who would have hardened their hearts beyond repentance and committed the unforgivable
sin – the blasphemy against the Set Apart Spirit:
Mat 12:31 “Because of this I say to you, all sin
and blasphemy shall be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit shall
not be forgiven men.
Mat 12:32 “And whoever speaks a word against the
Son of Aḏam, it shall be
forgiven him, but whoever speaks against the Set-apart Spirit, it shall not be
forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.
The Fourth Bowl (Severe Heat): Rev 16:8
The Fifth Bowl (Darkness and Sores) Rev 16:11
The Seventh Bowl (100-pound Hailstones): Rev 16:21
The Seventh Plague: Hail
Exo 9:13 And יהוה
said to Mosheh, “Rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh, and say to
him, ‘Thus said יהוה Elohim of the Hebrews, “Let My people go,
so that they serve Me,
Exo 9:14 for at this time I am sending all
My plagues unto your heart, and on your servants and on your people, so that
you know that there is no one like Me in all the earth.
The English word ‘’plague’’ does not adequately describe the impact of the Hebrew word מַגֵּפָה (maggephah, Strong's 4046 maggephah a feminine noun), which means "to strike," "to smite," "to stumble," or "to deal a fatal final blow."
or
"For by now I could have stretched out My hand and
struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been totally
wiped off the face of the earth’’
YHVH is displaying His patience, longsuffering and mercy – one last time.
Rom
5:8 But Elohim proves His own love for us, in that while we were still
sinners, Messiah died for us.
Rom
5:9 Much more then, having now been declared right by His blood, we shall
be saved from wrath through Him.
His
blood does not take away our sin His blood atones for our sin – only YHVH can
take away and remove our sin as far as the east is away from the west
In the ancient world, if you wanted to build a road
through rough terrain or a siege ramp against a city wall, you would pile dirt,
rocks, and debris on top of each other to elevate the path. This is a ‘’salal’’—a
raised highway.
In Exodus 9:17, this root is put into the Hitpael
grammatical structure. The Hitpael form indicates a reflexive
action—something the subject is doing actively to or for himself.
YHVH is using an engineering metaphor to describe
Pharaoh’s stubborn psychological state. He is telling Pharaoh:
"You are turning yourself into a high, rigid
earthen barrier obstructing My people from leaving. You are piling up your own
pride, block by block, like a fortified wall standing squarely in My way.
In and of ourselves, we are powerless to set ourselves free from these prisons.
Exo 9:20 Those among the servants of Pharaoh who feared the word of יהוה made their servants and livestock flee to the houses.
Exo 9:21 But those who did not set their heart on
the word of יהוה left their servants and livestock in the
field.
Exo 9:22 Then יהוה
said to Mosheh, “Stretch out your hand toward the heavens, and let there be
hail in all the land of Mitsrayim – on man, and on beast, and on every plant of
the field, throughout the land of Mitsrayim.”
Exo 9:23 Then Mosheh stretched out his rod toward
the heavens. And יהוה sent thunder and hail, and fire came down
to the earth. And יהוה rained hail on the land of
Mitsrayim.
Exo 9:24 Thus there came to be hail, and fire
flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very heavy, such as had not been
in all the land of Mitsrayim since it became a nation.
Exo 9:25 And the hail struck in all the land of
Mitsrayim all that was in the field, both man and beast. And the hail struck
every plant of the field and broke every tree of the field.
Exo 9:26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the
children of Yisra’ěl were, there was no hail.
Exo 9:27 Pharaoh then sent and called for Mosheh
and for Aharon, and said to them, “I have sinned this time. יהוה
is righteous, and my people and I are wrong.
Exo 9:28 “Pray to יהוה,
for there has been enough of the thunder and hail of Elohim. And I am letting
you go, so that you stay no longer.”
Exo 9:29 And Mosheh said to him, “As soon as I go
out of the city, let me spread out my hands to יהוה,
let the thunder cease and the hail be no more, so that you know that the earth
belongs to יהוה.
Exo 9:30 “But as for you and your servants, I know
that you do not yet fear before יהוה Elohim.”
Exo 9:31 And the flax and the barley were struck,
for the barley was in the head and the flax was in bud.
Exo 9:32 But the wheat and the spelt were not
struck, for they were late crops.
Exo 9:33 And Mosheh went out of the city from
Pharaoh and spread out his hands to יהוה, and the thunder and
the hail ceased, and the rain was not poured on the earth.
Exo 9:34 And Pharaoh saw that the rain, and the
hail, and the thunder had ceased, yet he sinned again and he hardened his
heart, he and his servants.
Exo 9:35 And the heart of Pharaoh was strengthened,
and he did not let the children of Yisra’ěl go, as יהוה
had said through Mosheh.
While YHVH alone possesses ultimate, absolute foreknowledge,
the Set Apart Spirit granted the apostles supernatural discernment of
spirits (1 Corinthians 12:10).
This allowed them to recognize when a person’s conscience had been completely
"seared" (1 Timothy 4:2) and
had crossed into the unpardonable territory of blasphemy against the Set Apart
Spirit.
This boundary is explicitly demonstrated in three powerful
New Testament examples:
1. Paul’s Contrast: The Ignorantly Weak vs. The Malicious
Blasphemer
In 2 Timothy 4, Paul
provides a striking, back-to-back contrast that proves he knew exactly when to
withhold prayer for forgiveness:
- For
the weak who deserted him: "At my first defense, no one came
to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against
them" (2 Timothy 4:16). Here, he actively prays for their
pardon.
- For
the hardened rebel: Just two verses earlier, he writes of a specific
man: "Alexander the coppersmith did me a great deal of harm. The
Lord will repay him according to his deeds" (2 Timothy 4:14).
Paul completely refrains from praying for Alexander's repentance. Instead,
he hands him over to the absolute, unmitigated judgment of YHVH.
2. Handing Blasphemers Over to Satan
Paul possessed the spiritual foresight to know when a
person's trajectory inside the Kehelah had turned permanently cancerous. In 1 Timothy 1:20, he
names two individuals:
- The
Verdict: "Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I
have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme." (speak
against the truth)
- The
Meaning: Rather than continuing to intercede for them in prayer, Paul
legally removes them from the protective covering of the Kehelah. He
forces them out into the dark domain of Satan because their constant,
willful rejection of truth had morphed into active blasphemy. (speaking
against the truth)
3. The Explicit Command: "Do Not Pray for That
Sin"
While Paul models this behavior, the Apostle John explicitly
writes the structural law for it in 1John 5:16 . He splits
sin into two terrifying categories:
- Sin
that does not lead to death: If a brother commits this, you should
pray for them, and YHVH will give them life.
- Sin
that leads to death: John flatly states, "I am not saying that
he should pray about that."
This "sin that leads to death" is widely
understood by scholars to be the exact same sin Yahshua called the blasphemy
against the Set Apart Spirit. It is the conscious, continuous apostasy where a
person continues to call the truth a lie and hardens their heart into a
"Pharaoh state." John explicitly tells the early Kehalah: Do not
waste your prayers on them; they have crossed the point of no return.
The Sovereignty of Discernment
Paul didn’t look at people with human prejudice; he looked
at them through the lens of the Spirit. When a person reaches the stage of
Revelation 16—where they look at the power of YHVH and choose to curse it
rather than bend to it—prayer ceases to be an option. At that threshold, the
time for intercession ends, and the time for the execution of the legal verdict
begins.
We know that the truth is confirmed by two or three
witnesses - but maybe YHVH doesnt need a witness and maybe Yahshua came to tell
the world that YHVH doesnt need a witness - John the baptist was a witness to
Messiah and Moses and Elijah will be the last two end time witnesses -
YHVH, by nature of being the absolute, self-existent
Creator, does not need human or cosmic validation to be who He is.
Yet, the way Yahshua frames this concept in the Good News of John reveals
exactly why witnesses are used—not for YHVH's sake, but entirely for ours.
The interplay between YHVH’s self-sufficiency and the role
of His witnesses unfolds across three distinct layers:
1. Yahshua Explicitly Confirms: "YHVH Needs No Human
Witness"
In the Good News of John, Yahshua addresses this exact
point. When the religious leaders challenge Him to produce human legal backing
for His claims, Yahshua responds by elevating YHVH far above human legal
systems:
“If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true
[valid under your law]. There is another who testifies in my favour, and I know
that his testimony about me is true... Not that I accept human testimony...”
— John 5:31–34
Yahshua goes on to say that while John the Baptist was a
burning and shining lamp who bore witness to the truth, “I have testimony
weightier than that of John” (John 5:36). The absolute witness to Yahshua
is the Father Himself through the Set Apart Spirit and the supernatural works
being done. YHVH is the ultimate reality; He does not require a creature to
verify Himself.
Joh 5:30 “Of Myself I am unable to do any matter.
As I hear, I judge, and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own
desire, but the desire of the Father who sent Me.
Joh 5:31 “If I bear witness of Myself, My witness
is not true.
Joh 5:32 “There is another who bears witness of Me,
and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true.
Joh 5:33 “You have sent to Yoḥanan, and he bore witness to
the truth.
Joh 5:34 “But I do not receive witness from man,
but I say this in order that you might be saved.
Joh 5:35 “He was the burning and shining lamp, and
for a while you wished to rejoice in his light.
Joh 5:36 “But I have a greater witness than that of
Yoḥanan, for the works
that the Father gave Me to accomplish, the works that I do, bear witness of Me,
that the Father has sent Me.
Joh 5:37 “And the Father who sent Me, He bore
witness of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His
form.b Footnote: bSee Jhn_1:18.
Joh 5:38 “And you do not have His Word staying in
you, because you do not believe Him whom He sent.
Joh 5:39 “You search the Scriptures, because you
think you possess everlasting life in them. And these are the ones that bear
witness of Me.
Joh 5:40 “But you do not desire to come to Me in
order to possess life.
Joh 5:41 “I do not receive esteem from men,
Joh 5:42 but I know you, that you do not have the
love of Elohim in you.
Joh 5:43 “I have come in My Father’s Name and you
do not receive Me, if another comes in his own name, him you would
receive.
Joh 5:44 “How are you able to believe, when you are
receiving esteem from one another, and the esteem that is from the only Elohim
you do not seek?
Joh 5:45 “Do not think that I shall accuse you to
the Father. There is one who accuses you: Mosheh, in whom you have set your
expectation.
Joh 5:46 “For if you believed Mosheh, you would
have believed Me, since he wrote about Me.
Joh 5:47 “But if you do not believe his writings,c
how shall you believe My words?” Footnote: c Luk_16:31.
The very name YHVH (Yahweh) means "He causes to
be" or "The Self-Existent One."
- The
Contrast: Under the Torah, humans must have two or three
witnesses because human hearts are deceitful, perspective is limited, and
human authority can be corrupted.
- The
Reality: YHVH is Truth Himself. He cannot lie, and He sees all things
perfectly. Therefore, when YHVH makes an oath, because there is no one
greater to witness or swear by, He swears by Himself (Hebrews 6:13). He is His own witness.
3. Why YHVH Uses Witnesses (John, Moses, Elijah)
If YHVH doesn't need witnesses, why does the Bible place
such massive emphasis on them—from John the Baptist all the way to the Two
End-Time Witnesses (widely understood to represent the offices/spirits of
Moses and Elijah)?
YHVH employs the "two or three witnesses" rule as
an act of condescension and mercy for human benefit:
- To
Meet Us on Our Terms: YHVH binds Himself to the legal rules He gave
humanity so that when judgment falls, no one can accuse Him of being
unjust. He builds a legal case that is airtight even by human standards.
- The
Final End-Time Verdict: The two end-time witnesses of Revelation 11
(operating in the power of Moses, who turned water to blood, and Elijah,
who shut the heavens from rain) are sent to a world that has rejected the
Good News. They do not exist to prove YHVH's existence to YHVH; they exist
to legally seal the guilt of the unrepentant world.
When the world kills these final two witnesses in Revelation
11, humanity is essentially voting to execute the Truth. Because the required
legal testimony has been delivered and rejected, the legal restraint is broken,
paving the way for the rapid-fire, unmitigated Bowls of Wrath in
Revelation 16.
I believe this is the message of this week’s Torah
Portion.
Heb 10:31 It is fearsome to fall into the hands of
the living Elohim.
Heb 10:32 But remember the former days, when, after
you were enlightened, you endured a great struggle with sufferings.
Heb 10:33 On the one hand you were exposed to
reproaches and pressures, and on the other hand you became sharers with those
who were so treated,
Heb 10:34 for you sympathised with me in my chains,
and you accepted with joy the seizure of your possessions, knowing that you
have a better and a lasting possession for yourselves in the heavens.
Heb 10:35 Do not, then, lose your boldness, which
has great reward.
Heb 10:36 For you have need of endurance, so that
when you have done the desire of Elohim, you receive the promise:
Heb 10:37 “For yet a little while – He who is
coming shall come and shall not delay.”
Heb 10:38 “But the righteous shall live by
belief, but if anyone draws back, my being has no pleasure in him.” Hab_2:3-4.
Heb 10:39 But we are not of those who draw back to
destruction, but of belief to the preservation of life.