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1 Corinthians 10:2 All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. The Children of Israel could have left Egypt, traveled directly northeastward and be in Canaan in less than a few weeks. Instead, Hashem had them make a small detour crossing the Red Sea by the Gulf of Aqaba. Were the reasons given for this detour (Exodus 13:17-18) the only real purposes? The Israelites had just spent several generations in Egypt. They needed to be cleansed from idolatry and Egyptian culture. They needed to be reborn into Hashem’s people, and into the culture of the Kingdom of Hashem. This is where the idea of ‘born-again’ came from: from two tractates written by Jewish sages that say that total immersion into water (baptism) is like being born again. We go into a water and stop breathing which is like being in a grave where we do not have breath anymore, and we come out resurrected a new person. The sages mention the ‘born-again’ idea mostly in regards to converts to Judaism (Yevamot 47b and 48b). They immerse in order to emerge a born-again new creature in God. This is what God had in mind in this nation-wide immersion through the Red-Sea (1 Corinthians 10:2). When Yeshua told Nicodemus that he needed to be reborn, the modern-day ‘born-again’ Christian movement did not exist, so Yeshua was using the term according to its Talmudic value, and this is why Nicodemus answered the Master accordingly. What Nicodemus said in essence was “Why do I need to convert when I am already Jewish?” To which Yeshua basically answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:5-6). In other words, the Master reiterated John the Immerser’s message that biological descent into God’s family was not enough, but repentance into a new creature for Hashem was also needed (Matthew 3:9). The Israelites crossing the Red Sea were already Israelites, but they needed to also be baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea (1 Corinthians 10:2). Yeshua continued answering Nicodemus with, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8). Just like the wind cannot be seen and is only perceived though its effects, so we are. The virtues of the new life that we now live, its positive influences on others, and its reflection of Hashem, are the only testimony given to others of our rebirth. As we claim to have been reborn, as we claim to have been immersed unto Yeshua, let the effects of our rebirth be felt by others. May we live and walk in the newness of life that He has given us to be God’s children, and as the healing reflection of His spirit on our poor world.
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Luke 1:54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy. Through Moses, Hashem instituted that His people should remember the Passover, the great Exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land. In those days the Creator of the universe revealed Himself to His people in the form of a burning, but non-consuming bush; this was His He chose to show His people His great love, care, and power to redeem. At that time Hashem wrought great miracles, miracles we still talk about today, miracles which are even documented with evidence from land and sea. One of those great miracles was that as God redeemed His people, a great multitude of Gentiles cast their lot with Moses and Israel, following them to find refuge from tyrannical, doomed, and destroyed Egypt, and in the God of Israel. During His last Seder, the Master enjoined His disciples to also remember Him at the time of the Passover. For in His days the 'Consuming Fire' (Deuteronomy 4:24), also revealed Himself to His people in a 'non-consuming' manner in order to show them His great love, care, and power to redeem them not only from Rome, but from the ‘world’, from the ungodliness that is in them since the Fall. At that time Hashem wrought great miracles, miracles we still talk about today and are even documented with evidence from land and sea. One of those great miracles was that as God renewed His covenant with His people, a great multitude of Gentiles cast their lot with Yeshua and the disciples, following them to find refuge from tyrannical, doomed, and destroyed Rome, and in the God of Israel. Since the time when Rome expulsed Israel from the country God had given them, Israel sought refuge in those nations that came to know the Messiah of Israel. These nations, for the most important part oppressed them. But even before the days of the Master the prophet Jeremiah uttered the following words, "Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares Adonai, when it shall no longer be said, 'As Adonai lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,' but 'As Adonai lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.' For I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers (Jeremiah 16:14-15). This will be the second great Exodus, one Yeshua initiated 2,000 years ago. In those days the Creator of the universe will reveal Himself to His people through His Mashiach in order to show them His great love, care and power to redeem them from the nations that will surround them in an attempt to annihilate them. In those days, Hashem will valiantly perform again great miracles, miracles that will be documented and spoken about forever and ever over land and sea. One of those great miracles will be that as God redeems His people, a great multitude of Gentiles will also be redeemed joining Israel in finding refuge in the great Kingdom of God to come. May it be soon Abba, even in our days! Romans 11:26-27
“The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will banish ungodliness from Jacob and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins." Moses arrives in Goshen and tells Israel of God’s promises. He tells them that Hashem remembered the promises He made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and that intending to make good on them, He now calls on them to be their God and His people. The Israelites understand the message. Israel, who presently belongs to Pharaoh, the God of the world, is now being vied by another lover who says to her, "You are being abused, I will deliver you. You shall be mine now and I will take care of you”. Was Israel ready for the fight between two ‘bucks’ vying for the same female? As far they were concerned, they could be jumping from the frying pan into the fire! The text then tells us that because of their broken spirit and the harsh slavery, the Children of Israel were not enthused at the message (Exodus 6:6-9). I like how the Hebrew text puts it. It speaks of Israel’s spiritual condition using the term, ‘ketser ruach’. The expression is an idiom for ‘despondency’. The literal meaning is ‘shortness of breath or of spirit’. They were spiritually exhausted. Their cruel bondage stole from them all strength for faith (Genesis 6:9). Hashem was going to have to do all the hard work! How much like today. As it happened with Moses, who is also called in Judaism the ‘First Redeemer’ (thus making allusion to Messiah the Second Redeemer), we are watching the fulfillment of the promises God made to the patriarchs and the prophets concerning Israel. We have seen Him resurrect the country where Messiah is supposed to make His landing at the time they will all see Him (Zechariah 14). Just as in the times of the Exodus, Hashem today, spiritually and physically redeems Israel His people. Someone once told me, “If I were Jewish, I’d take the first plane out of exile, I’d be exited; why are they not?” Same problem as with Moses! After 2,000 years of persecution first by the Romans, then the Catholics and the Spanish inquisition, followed by Luther’s Protestants, the Germans, Tsarist and Communist Russia, and now the Muslims who imported anti-Semitism from Europe, the Jewish people again seem spiritually exhausted on the 'Chosen People' idea. They seem to complain with Reb Tevieh (Fiddler on the Roof) “Why, why? I know, I know, because we are the ‘Chosen People … but sometimes couldn’t You chose somebody else?” Nevertheless God again saves His people with a great and mighty hand. It is funny though. There are some who teach that because of their sins God forsook His people of old and replaced them with another: the Church. First, this doesn't add up with God's mathematics of covenant faithfulness, but also, He says that He only remembers the wickedness of fathers for three or four generations. As far I know, Hashem changes not and his covenantal promises are irrevocable (Malachi 3:6; Romans 11:29). The question is: Is our History of disobedience worse than their? And then, why would He forgive their sins but not ours? He either forgives or He doesn’t. If He forgives yours, He also forgave mine. But if he doesn’t forgive our unbelief, neither will He forgive yours! If He replaced us because of our sins, then he is also apt to replace you because of yours! The Hebrew word ‘chesed’ translated as 'grace' means ‘covenant-keeping’. Our God is a gracious God. Unlike mankind, He keeps His covenant and His promises in spite of us. He keeps them for me, and He keeps them for you! Hebrews 11: 23-27
By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Messiah greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people … (Exodus 2:11). We are not born 'there'. We get 'there' by starting where we are. In essence, like Moses we are all born in exile and we 'grow up' to that divinely ordained place we are meant to occupy, to that perfect destiny Hashem created for us to gravitate to. To get 'there' is the compounding result of many of life's decisions, and sad to say, the reason why many don't get 'there' is because of wrong decisions. It is in old age or on our death bed that that realization suddenly strikes. Moses followed the exact pattern the Father imposed on all the patriarchs. Abraham went through it as well as Isaac, and I like to compare Jacob's 'School of Laban' to the proverbial 'School of hard knocks'. They, and we, all have to experience a time of spiritual, if not physical Diaspora, exiled from the perfect will of God in our lives. It could be Hashem's way to help us appreciate the "Promised Land' of His perfect will when it comes! It takes us a long time before we find that perfect place. We first have to travel in diverse endeavors, programs, ideologies, congregations, groups, and fellowships. Most of the time, we don't 'grow up' and get 'there' until our forties or fifties; Moses got there in his eighties (Proverbs 4:18). In this age and in this world, we are all in Diaspora from the Kingdom of God. We have been away from our spiritual home since Adam and Eve. We get glimpses of 'home', when we study Torah and/or fellowship with one another. We get a glimpse of it when we pray, praise, and exalt the Father of us all (Psalms 22:3). One day as the Children of Israel did, we will all have 'grown up'. At that time, we will enter the Promised Land of the Kingdom of God. Come to think of it, every Friday night as we welcome the Sabbath, we experience a little bit of the Kingdom of God on earth, a foreshadow of the World to Come. After the Sabbath, we all spend the week in 'Diaspora', but oh wonder of wonders, it always comes back, and when it does, what a joy! Revelations 2:17
To the one who conquers … I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.' The Book of Exodus in Hebrew is called ‘Shemot’, meaning ‘names’. It is the Book of ‘Names’. “Names’ is the first principal word that appears in the book’s narrative and Judaism names the Books of the Bible using the book's first main noun or verb. The names of the different people involved in the scenarios of the book appear little by little, but what we discover most in the Book of Shemot is the Names of God. God Himself introduces His Names first to Moses when he asks, If I come to the people of Israel … and they ask me, 'What is his name' (Exodus 3:13) ‘and to Pharaoh when he challenged Moses’ divine message with, "Who is Adonai, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go (Exodus 5:2)?” Hashem answered Moses’ question by showing His great power to conquer in order to save, and Pharaoh's by showing His great power to conquer in order to destroy. In our Western philosophically Greek culture, we look at names as a sound bite by which we call people. Sad to say, this is also the way we look at the Name of God: an identifying sound bite to which He should answer when called upon. In the Semitic world of the Bible, Names refer to what you are, to what you where created to be. Names describe who you are, the reason and circumstance of your birth; your qualities and/or properties. By knowing your name people know something very important about you. In Exodus, the Father and Creator introduces Himself by many names, not as sound bite we are supposed to use to make sure we are addressing the right person, but as a memorial of what He is in what he does. Yeshua said that the Name of the Father should be hallowed, sanctified (Matthew 6:9), which means set aside for specials times and uses. Yeshua said these things quoting parts of an ancient Jewish prayer referring to the practice of only pronouncing the Sacred Name in the precincts of the Temple and during times of devoted prayer; never in common discussion. Yeshua followed that practice, and also taught His disciples to follow His example of simply calling Hashem: "Avinu' or, 'Our Father' (Matthew 6:9), Western believers have twisted that Jewish application or respect toward protecting God’s name into the idea of a rabbinic conspiracy to hide it for themselves. This idea born from anti-Semitism still lingers. Today each of us has a name given to us by our parents. In this world where truth is hidden under the fiction of a physical veil, this name may or may not have anything to do with us. In the World to Come, Yeshua has promised us a new name revealing to the world our properties, our qualities, in a sense who we really are (Revelations 2:17). Come to think of it, it may a scary thought for some of us! At that time, we will be fully known even as we have been fully known (1 Corinthians 13:12). May it be soon Abba, even in our days! Hebrews 11:24-26
By faith Moses, … considered the reproach of Messiah greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. One of the concerns with the Children of Israel appointing a king over themselves was that he may cause the people to return to Egypt (Deuteronomy 17:16). Because Egypt's agriculture did not depend on rain falls but on the yearly over flowing of the Nile, the country was rich and comfortable. That is why every conqueror wanted Egypt, including, Rome whose economy heavily relied on Egyptian goods. From the Exodus, Egypt had been a snare for the Children of Israel. The journey from Goshen to the Promised Land by way of the Mediterranean Sea is actually very short, but God took them in a way they could not return to Egypt even if they wanted to (Exodus 13:17-18). Time and again when the children of Israel grew dissatisfied, they wanted toreturn to Egypt. When they hungered they thought about the food of Egypt (Numbers 11:5); when they were scared to conquer the giants in the Land of Canaan, they wanted a leader to take them back (Numbers 14:4). But from the beginning The Mighty El-Shaddai forbade it. Some interpret this command as a forbiddance to make the journey from Israel to Egypt, but God Himself sent Yeshua and His family there to find protection from Herod. The idea of returning to 'Egypt' was much deeper than that. Several times when faced with wars and conquest, to God's great displeasure, Israel looked to Egypt instead of Him for strength and protection, trusting horses and chariots that they could see instead of the God they couldn't see; Israel may be facing the same lesson today (Isaiah 31:1-3; Jeremiah 42:15-16). Returning to Egypt has to do with trusting the world for survival instead of God. It also has to do with being dissatisfied, greedy, and desiring more than what the Father has wisely given us. It has to do with despising the prospects of the Promised Land for temporal personal comforts. 'Egypt' provided for the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. It was the 'world', so it has to do with 'love of the world' which is not of the Father (1 John 2:15-16). In the movie 'The Matrix', a man quits the mission on the Nebuchadnezzar and returns to the Matrix just because of food, even though he knows it is not even real; that is returning to Egypt. So when God says that Israel should not return to Egypt, he says, "just because you presently feel a little bit uncomfortable and you want to 'stuff your face' with better food, don’t return to the ways of the world". May we take sample from Moses who considered the reproach of Messiah greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. May we not look on a world with failing morals and economies for support and strength, neither compromise in order to benefit from their strong armies who can't protect us if God has not decreed it. It is our God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills who will fight for us (Psalms 50:10; Nehemiah 4:20)! Revelations 14:1
Then I looked, and behold, on Mount Zion stood the Lamb, and with him 144,000 who had His name and His Father's name written on their foreheads. Moses gives a stern warning to the Children of Israel concerning the alternative spiritual influences they will find in Canaan. Remember, not only this generation of Israelites hadn't seen Pharaoh, the plagues, and the crossing of the Red Sea, but they lived in God's hands of provision and protection. That's all they knew. As home-schoolers, my wife and I taught our kids in a spiritually controlled environment. When they grew older and went into the world by themselves, they were faced with unfamiliar elements and had to make choices as to where they stood about things. It was tough for them and they made some mistake. So we sent the last one part-time to High-School while he was still with us. He could then be faced with some of these unfamiliar issues while at home when we could coach him through some of that. It was the same for the children of Israel. As they would enter the land, not only they would be faced with alternative spiritual forces, but the Father would also withdraw some of His provision and protection. No more manna, protective cloud at night, or column of fire during the day. Also, no more free water from the Rock. It is graduation time; they will now have to depend on their army for protection, on their agricultural skills for survival, and on hard work for water and irrigation. My youngest just graduated and turned eighteen; we are putting him through some of that reality, and he doesn't like it too much. Some Jewish sages speculate that that was really the reason why the first generation of children of Israel in the desert didn't want to go in the Land in the first place. Moses says, You must destroy all the places where the nations you are dispossessing served their gods … Break down their altars …. Exterminate their name from that place But you are not to treat Adonai your God this way (Deuteronomy 12:2-4)." It is from this command that is derived the prohibition to erase God's Name, therefore the 'fence' not to write or pronounce it in a common manner. Whereas we need to treat the place where His name is written, and even books which display the Sacred Name with honor and respect, there is also another place. In his vision on the Isle of Patmos John reports seeing, 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads (Revelations 14:1). As believers, His Name is sealed on our foreheads, and in our hearts, it is therefore incumbent upon us to treat all those with His Name on their foreheads and hearts with utter honor respect lest we deface the place where His Name is written. May we not be found guilty of hypocrisy by showing honor to temporal books and buildings while defacing His Name in our brother or sister's eternal soul! Maybe that is why Yeshua said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37-39)." Revelations 11:15
“The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever”. As Moses arrived at Mt Horeb with the people of God, his Father-in-law Jethro pays him a visit. Jethro by the way is not really his name. Jethro is a title defining a societal rank. His name was Reuel (Exodus 2:18). With Reuel’s visit, we realize the greater purpose for the Exodus program. Reuel was a descendant of Abraham through his third wife Keturah (Genesis 25: 1-2). It is recorded that Abraham gave that side of his descendance what is today called Saudi Arabia to settle in. It seems that they did not continue in the faith of Abraham but adopted the paganism of the area, thus we find Jethro, a descendant of Abraham as a pagan priest of Median. Jethro witnessed the life of Moses as a seeker. Like Abraham in Ur, Moses was not satisfied with he had learned in Egypt (Hebrews 11:8-16; 24-28). Moses was not going to put up with the magic tricks of the Egyptian priests. He wanted the real thing. He searched for God with all his heart; that’s why he found Him (Jeremiah 29:13). Jethro also was a seeker. He probably knew about the God of Israel but thought He was dead, or maybe asleep. Whichever the case, this God, this Creator of Heaven and earth was on the verge of doing something that would meet all His seekers for generations and generations even until today. He was about to make such a grand entrance on the scene of World History that it would not be forgotten for generations, not even until today. As Jethro received knowledge of all God had done to Egypt in order to free His people, he returned to the faith of his ancestor Abraham. He said, Blessed be the LORD, who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh, who hath delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods: for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them. And Jethro, Moses' father in law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses' father in law before God (Exodus 18:6:12). A greater Exodus is coming, a time is coming when people will not say anymore, “blessed be the Lord who delivered His people from Egypt”, but rather, “Blessed be the Lord who brought back His people from all the nations where He scattered them”. This will have the same effect as the first Exodus. Like Jethro, the whole world will then know that God is the Lord of all the earth. In the greatness of His presence, in the acknowledgment of His greatness, our puny will our petty earthly concern seem; our like nothing will all the earthly objects of adoration of the earth will seem. May it be soon Abba, even in our days! Matthew 24:24
For false Messiahs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. As time and again Pharaoh hardened his heart against God, the worried Israelite must have wondered how come he could not see the light, change, and repent. God knew that in this event He was making His grand entrance on the scene of World History. Until today God is marveled at through their remembrance. The narrative of a king or nation standing against Israel trying to destroy it was going to be repeated several times in History. It even has its place today. Egypt therefore needed to be a test-case for God’s children of all generations to remember and use as a precedent. I am reminded of Herod Antipas who lived a double life. While in Jerusalem he acted as an observant Jew in order to please Israel, but when he was in his palace of Caesarea he would live a totally ungodly Roman lifestyle. Only the believers, the true followers of God from the Nazarene Sect, the disciples of Yeshua knew the difference, so to top it all, Herod Antipas is also guilty of initiating a persecution against the followers of Yeshua. In the end He is recorded as having been eaten by worms for not giving glory to God (Acts 12). Such is the fate of the hypocrite who pretends to be godly in order to attract people to himself, when he is actually a fake and a farce. He is soon revealed as he does not give glory to God but takes it to himself. As the world gets darker and darker, we see many nations, even those who profess to believe in the God of Yeshua, becoming spiritually darker and darker. These nations will give rise to the one who, while professing and promising messianic expectancies of peace and plenty, will be in direct challenge to God, changing times and seasons and taking glory to himself (Daniel 7:25; 2 Thessalonians 2:4). In those days only those who know their God will know the difference (Daniel 11:32). For this reason, this Pharaoh-like/Herod Antipas-like king will also try to exterminate them. Like Pharaoh who thought he was God and could challenge Him, like Herod Antipas who thought he could deceive the people and who did not give glory to God but took it for himself (Acts 12:23), one will rise to deceive the people. Many will be deceived in those days (Matthew 24:5,11, 24) except for those who know their God (Daniel 11:32), except for the true followers of God, those from the Nazarene sect, the disciples of Yeshua. We will recognize him as he will not give glory to God but take it to himself. May we in those days remember the mighty victory of the God Hosts against Egypt. Luke 1:54
He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy. Through Moses God instituted that His people should remember the Passover, the great Exodus from Egypt to the Promised Land. In those days the Creator of the universe revealed Himself to His people in the form of a burning but non-consuming bush to show them His great love, care and power to redeem them from their Egyptian oppressor. At that time God wrought great miracles, miracles we still talk about today and are even documented with evidence from land and sea. One of those great miracles was that as God redeemed His people, a great multitude of Gentile eventually followed them and found refuge from tyrannical doomed and destroyed Egypt in the God of Israel. During His last Seder, the Master enjoined His disciples to also remember Him at the time of the Passover. For in those His days the Creator of the universe revealed Himself to His people to show them His great love, care and power to redeem them not only from Rome, but from the ‘world’, from the ungodliness that is in them since the Fall.. At that time God wrought great miracles, miracles we still talk about today and are even documented with evidence from land and sea. One of those great miracles was that as God redeemed His people, a great multitude of Gentile eventually followed them and found refuge from tyrannical doomed and eventually destroyed Rome in the God of Israel. Since the time when Rome expulsed Israel from the country God had given them, Israel sought refuge in those nations that came to the Messiah of Israel. These nations for the most important part oppressed them. But even before the days of the Master the prophet Jeremiah uttered the following words, "Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when it shall no longer be said, 'As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,' but 'As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.' For I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers (Jeremiah 16:14-15). This will be the third Passover. In those days the Creator of the universe will reveal Himself to His people in the form of to show them His great love, care and power to redeem them from the nations that will surround them in an attempt to annihilate them. In those days, God will perform again great miracles, miracles that will be documented and spoken about forever and ever over land and sea. One of those great miracles will be that as God redeems His people, a great multitude of Gentile will also be redeemed joining Israel in finding refuge n the great Kingdom of God to come. May it be soon Abba, even in our days! |
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