Blessing for the Torah Reading:
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.)
It would serve the nations well to consider their
status before YHVH.
Isa 40:17
All nations before Him are as a non-entity, and they are reckoned by Him
as less than a speck, and emptiness.
The only value the nations will have is
given them on the grounds of how they honour and bless YHVH’s covenant- people
–Yisrael.
YHVH has chosen Yisrael from all the
nations to reveal Himself and His Covenant to all the nations of the world. He
chose the Yahudim to be guardians of His Word/Covenant. Note He did not or will
not choose the Christian church for this purpose.
Rom 3:1 What then is the advantage of the Yehuḏite, or what is the
value of the circumcision?
Rom 3:2 Much
in every way! Because firstly indeed, that they were entrusted with the Words
of Elohim.1 Footnote: 1See 2:20.
There are many in the world today you have heard
the call to come out from among the nations and return to Tzion.
Our Torah portion begins:
Exo 3:1 And Mosheh was shepherding the flock of
Yithro his father-in-law, the priest of Miḏyan.
And he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to Ḥorĕḇ, the mountain of
Elohim.
Mount Horeb is the same place as Mount Sinai – see
Shem/Ex 17:6 & 33:6. This was a long
way from Midian where his family lived.
Prophetically
speaking Mount Sinai would be the meeting place of YHVH’s choice – the giving
of the Torah – The perfect law of liberty. (Jakov 1:25)
Exo 3:2 And
the Messenger of יהוה appeared to
him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. And he looked and saw the bush
burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.
Exo 3:3 And Mosheh
said, “Let me turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush does not
burn.”
Exo 3:4 And יהוה saw that he turned aside to see, and
Elohim called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Mosheh! Mosheh!” And
he said, “Here I am.”
This “strange” phenomena reminds us of the nature of our
predicament in “Mitzrayim”. We are “burning” (suffering) but not being
consumed.
2Co 4:7 And we have this treasure in earthen vessels,
so that the excellence of the power might be of Elohim, and not of us –
2Co 4:8 being hard pressed on every side,1
but not crushed; being perplexed, but not in despair; Footnote: 1See
1:8.
2Co 4:9 being persecuted, but not forsaken; being
thrown down, but not destroyed;
2Co 4:10 always bearing about in the body the dying of
the Master יהושע, that the life of יהושע might also be manifested in our body.
2Co 4:11 For we,
the living, are always delivered to death for the sake of יהושע, that the life of יהושע might also be manifested in our mortal
flesh,
2Co 4:12 so that
death indeed is working in us, but the life in you.
2Co 4:13 But
having the same spirit of belief, according to what has been written, “I
believed, therefore I spoke,” we also believe, therefore we also speak,
2Co 4:14 knowing
that He who raised up the Master יהושע shall also
raise us up through יהושע, and shall
present us with you.
2Co 4:15 For all
this is for your sake, so that favour, having spread through the many, would
cause thanksgiving to overflow, unto the esteem of Elohim.
2Co 4:16 Therefore
we do not lose heart, but even if our outward man is perishing, the inward man
is being renewed day by day.
2Co 4:17 For this
slight momentary pressure, is working for us a far more exceeding and
everlasting weight of esteem.
2Co 4:18 We are
not looking on what is seen, but on what is not seen. For what is seen passes
away, but what is not seen is everlasting.1 Footnote: 1See
5:7, and Rom. 8:24, Heb. 11:1 & 13.
It is in the midst of this “strange phenomena” – the
burning bush that we can hear the voice and the call of YHVH.
1Pe 4:12 Beloved ones, do not be surprised at the
fiery trial that is coming upon you, to try you, as though some unusual matter
has befallen you,
1Pe 4:13 but as you share Messiah’s sufferings,1
rejoice, in order that you might rejoice exultingly at the revelation of His
esteem. Footnote: 1Rom. 8:17, 2 Cor. 1:5, Philip 3:10.
1Pe 4:14 If you are reproached for the Name of
Messiah, you are blessed, because the Spirit of esteem and of Elohim
rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is praised.
(According to them you are blaspheming Him but actually He is being praised)
1Pe 4:15 For do not let any of you suffer as a
murderer, or thief, or doer of evil, or as a meddler.
1Pe 4:16 But if one suffers being Messianic,
let him not be ashamed, but let him esteem Elohim in this matter.
1Pe 4:17 Because it is time for judgment to begin from
the House of Elohim. And if firstly from us, what is the end of those who do
not obey the Good News of Elohim?
1Pe 4:18 And if the righteous one is scarcely saved,
where shall the wicked and the sinner appear?
We need to note that Moshe was not looking for the “job” of bringing
Yisrael out of Mitzrayim .
HE WAS CHOSEN!
Yochanan/Joh
15:16 “You did not choose Me, but I
chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your
fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in My Name He might
give you.
Joh 6:44 “No one is able to come to Me unless the
Father who sent Me draws him. And I shall raise him up in the last day.
Joh 6:45 “It has been written in the prophets, ‘And
they shall all be taught by יהוה.’ Everyone,
then, who has heard from the Father, and learned, comes to Me.
Exo 3:5 And He
said, “Do not come near here. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place on
which you are standing is set-apart ground.”
Sandals speaks of “halachah” the way we walk the truth.
We all fall short of walking the way YHVH wants us to walk. That is why He will
deliver us from bondage of the nations and bring us to His Land and teach us to
walk in His ways.
Exo 3:6 And He
said, “I am the Elohim of your father, the Elohim of Aḇraham,
the Elohim of Yitsḥaq, and the Elohim of Yaʽaqoḇ.” And
Mosheh hid his face, for he was afraid to look at Elohim.
Exo 3:7 And יהוה said, “I have indeed seen the oppression
of My people who are in Mitsrayim, and have heard their cry because of their
slave-drivers, for I know their sorrows.
Exo 3:8 “And I
have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Mitsrites, and to bring
them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk
and honey, to the place of the Kenaʽanites
and the Ḥittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Ḥiwwites
and the Yeḇusites.
Exo 3:9 “And now,
see, the cry of the children of Yisra’ĕl has come to Me, and I have also seen
the oppression with which the Mitsrites oppress them.
Exo 3:10 “And now,
come, I am sending you to Pharaoh, to bring My people, the children of
Yisra’ĕl, out of Mitsrayim.”
Exo 3:11 And
Mosheh said to Elohim, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should
bring the children of Yisra’ĕl out of Mitsrayim?”
Exo 3:12 And He
said, “Because I am with you. And this is to you the sign that I have sent you:
When you have brought the people out of Mitsrayim, you are to serve Elohim on
this mountain.”
This same sign will be repeated in the Messianic age when
the set apart ones gather at Mount Tzion. The same message that came from Mount
Sinai will come from Mount Tzion.
It is interesting to note that the word “Tzion” is not
once mentioned in the Torah. The word “Tzion” spelled “tzadi, yud, vav
cholam,nun sophiet” when spelled with a “vav shurek” means “a sign a landmark”.
It’s almost like Mount Sinai was transferred to Yerushalyim.
It would be Mount Sinai and Mount Tzion that would “mark”
or “distinguish” YHVH’s people from other people and nations.
Isa 2:2 And it shall be in the latter days that the
mountain of the House of יהוה is established
on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills. And all
nations shall flow to it.
Isa 2:3 And many
peoples shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of יהוה, to the House of the Elohim of Yaʽaqoḇ, and
let Him teach1 us His ways1, and let us walk in His paths1,
for out of Tsiyon comes forth the Torah1, and the Word1
of יהוה from Yerushalayim.” Footnote: 1His
ways, His paths, the teaching and the Word of יהוה are used synonymously.
Exo 3:13 And Mosheh
said to Elohim, “See, when I come to the children of Yisra’ĕl and say to them,
‘The Elohim of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is
His Name?’ what shall I say to them?”
Exo 3:14 And
Elohim said to Mosheh, “I am that which I am.”1 And He said, “Thus
you shall say to the children of Yisra’ĕl, ‘I am has sent me to you.’ ”
Footnote: 1The Heḇrew text reads: ’eyeh ’asher ’eyeh, the word ’eyeh being
derived from hayah which means to be, to exist, but the Aramaic text here in v.
14 reads: ayah ashar ayah. This is not His Name, but it is an explanation that
leads up to the revelation of His Name in v. 15, namely: יהוה.
Exo 3:15 And
Elohim said further to Mosheh, “Thus you are to say to the children of
Yisra’ĕl, ‘יהוה Elohim of your
fathers, the Elohim of Aḇraham, the Elohim of Yitsḥaq,
and the Elohim of Yaʽaqoḇ, has sent me to you. This is My Name forever, and this
is My remembrance to all generations.’
There is a great deal of commentary and opinions on the
above two verses.
“Eyeh hasher eyeh” comes from the root “yaha” meaning “to
be” is in the imperfect tense and more accurately should read “ I will be who I
will be.” This could mean “ I will be who I need to be to get you out of
bondage and I will be who I need to be to keep you out of bondage in the
Promised Land”
“Hoveh” “ hey,vav,hey” means “ present, reality, actual
situation, present tense.
“Havah” “hey,vav,hey” can mean “destruction, calamity or
evil.”
“Havah” “hey, vav, hey” can also mean “to exist.”
In the last case when the verb “havah” is conjugated into
the third person masculine imperfect tense it acquires a signal “yud” and is
spelled “ yud, hey, vav, hey” the four letter name of Yahveh.
There is much speculation and uncertainty around the
exact pronunciation and meaning of His Name- it could possibly mean “He will
cause to exist”
One can also look at the symbolic meanings of the letters
of His Name.
Yud
symbolizes a hand. Hey symbolizes a
window or revelation. Vav represents
a staff or a nail.
Given His Name we could come to a conclusion that it
would be the revelation of a nail pierced hand that would bring us to the
revelation of YHVH.
OR
YHVH reveals Himself to us through loving acts of His
kindness – Hand - and discipline or guidance through His Staff – vav.
Exo 3:16 “Go, and
you shall gather the elders of Yisra’ĕl together, and say to them, ‘יהוה Elohim of your fathers, the Elohim of Aḇraham,
of Yitsḥaq, and of Yaʽaqoḇ,
appeared to me, saying, “I have indeed visited you and seen what is done to you
in Mitsrayim;
Exo 3:17 and I
say: I am bringing you up out of the affliction of Mitsrayim to the land of the
Kenaʽanite and the Ḥittite
and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Ḥiwwite
and the Yeḇusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’
Exo 3:18 “And they
shall listen to your voice. And you shall come, you and the elders of Yisra’ĕl,
to the sovereign of Mitsrayim, and you shall say to him, ‘יהוה Elohim of the Heḇrews
has met with us. And now, please, let us go three days’ journey into the
wilderness to slaughter to יהוה our Elohim.’
Exo 3:19 “But I
know that the sovereign of Mitsrayim is not going to let you go, not even by a
strong hand.
Exo 3:20 “And I
shall stretch out My hand and smite Mitsrayim with all My wonders which I shall
do in its midst. And after that he shall let you go.
Exo 3:21 “And I
shall give this people favour in the eyes of the Mitsrites. And it shall be,
that when you go, you shall not go empty-handed.
Exo 3:22 “But
every woman shall ask from her neighbour and from the stranger in her house,
objects of silver, and objects of gold, and garments. And you shall put them on
your sons and on your daughters, and shall plunder the Mitsrites.”
We can see the exodus out of Mitzrayim in two different
ways.
Firstly YHVH would reveal His powerful Hand with signs
and wonders destroying the power of the evil demonic powers of the Mitsrites or
secondly to destroy the strong demonic powers that were oppressing the
Yisraelites and keeping them in bondage. The Yisraetes were so assimilated into
Egyptian society that it would require great signs and wonders to release them
from the bondage of Mitzrayim. The sages tell us that eventually only a handful
of Yisraelites would leave Mitzrayim – and they did not leave empty handed.
What does this point prophetically to in the end times when Yisrael returns to
the land?
Exo 4:1 And Mosheh answered and said, “And if they do
not believe me, nor listen to my voice, and say, ‘יהוה has not
appeared to you?’ ”
Exo 4:2 And יהוה said to him, “What is that in your hand?”
And he said, “A rod.”
Exo 4:3 And He
said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a
serpent. And Mosheh fled from it.
Exo 4:4 And יהוה said to Mosheh, “Reach out your hand and
take it by the tail” – so he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became
a rod in his hand –
Exo 4:5 so that
they believe that יהוה Elohim of
their fathers, the Elohim of Aḇraham, the Elohim of Yitsḥaq,
and the Elohim of Yaʽaqoḇ, has appeared to you.”
Exo 4:6 And יהוה said to him again, “Now put your hand in
your bosom.” And he put his hand in his bosom, and when he took it out, and
see, his hand was leprous, like snow.
Exo 4:7 And He
said, “Put your hand in your bosom again.” So he put his hand in his bosom
again, and drew it out of his bosom, and see, it was restored like his other
flesh.
Exo 4:8 “And it
shall be, if they do not believe you, nor listen to the voice of the first
sign, they shall believe the voice of the latter sign.
Exo 4:9 “And it
shall be, if they do not believe even these two signs, or listen to your voice,
that you shall take water from the river and pour it on the dry land. And the
water which you take from the river shall become blood on the dry land.”
These signs all have powerful Messianic meanings.
The rod that turns into a snake guides us in the calling
of our lives to leave bondage and enter into YHVH’s kingdom. The journey often
seems dangerous and evil – the snake – but in fact it is YHVH’s way to lead us
out of bondage. The blood reminds us of the blood of the perfect Passover lamb
– Yahshua Ha Moshiach.
It is interesting that the gematria for Moshiach and
Serpent(nachash) are the same – 358.
Here we see how Messiah came to destroy or cancel out the
power of the wicked one.
The leprous (tzara’at) hand could have various meanings.
Thus
the Talmud (Sanhedrin 98b) describes Moshiach as a metzora, signifying
that the messianic age is a time in which evils that have infested the world
and mankind rise to the surface, so that they can be decisively overcome and
cured.
The only
disease discussed in the Torah that includes laws pertaining to its
manifestation and cure is tzara'at. This renders tzara'at the
archetypical, all-inclusive disease. (Lev 12-15)
The sages go on to say that Tzaraat, is
derived from a lack of humility, from the failure to yield one's own will to
the will of one's Creator.
The Sages also believe
that the one true evidence that the Messiah had come is that he would be the
one to heal “leprosy” or “tzara’at”.
Exo 4:10 And
Mosheh said to יהוה, “O יהוה, I am not a man of words, neither before
nor since You have spoken to Your servant, for I am slow of speech and slow of
tongue.”
Exo 4:11 And יהוה said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or
who makes dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, יהוה?
Exo 4:12 “And now,
go, and I shall be with your mouth and teach you what to say.”
Exo 4:13 But he
said, “O יהוה, please send by the hand of him whom You
would send.”
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, Yahweh giver of the Torah – Ameyn
Please
note these notes are under construction and are subject to correction and are
in no way a final authority on any subject.
