Parasha "Shemot" (names) EX 1:1-6:1

PARASHA: "SHEMOT" (names)

EXODUS 1:1-6:1....................ISAIAH 27:6-28:13.....................ACTS 7:17-29

Shabbat shalom, today we start "Shemot" or in Greek, "Exodus" the Israelites have been in Egypt, enjoying life, dealing in agriculture (farmers) and cattle (ranchers) and perhaps even businessmen. Joseph brought them to Egypt, in good graces with then friendly Pharaoh, probably Senuset, Joseph dies at 110 years old, many years pass, maybe a hundred or so, then comes along a new Pharaoh, probably "Ahmose" and gets an attitude towards the Israelites,

1:8 "Now there arose a new king over Egypt that knew not Joseph" when the Torah says "knew not" not only did he not know him personally, he probably didn't regard how Joseph saved Egypt as a big deal, since it was "ancient history" He had "phobias" about how Israel might rise up against Egypt, How he got that idea is beyond me, but he put them to work as slaves, the years of the easy life ended, For many years, many hundreds of years, they worked as slaves, probably a few pharaohs came and went, but Adonai knows what is going on, and this was prophesied to Abraham, this was "history" in the eyes of G-d even before it happened, as YHVH lives outside of time, he is in the dimension called "infinity" and looks at the dimension called "time" where we live.

Moshe is G-d's man, even before he is born, He is born a Levite, in the midst of little baby boys being thrown into the Nile by the pharaoh of the 12th dynasty, Senuset III, But life seems to "get back at you" what "goes around, comes around" the Egyptian soldiers threw the baby boys into the Nile as "crocodile food" a few hundred years later, the Egyptian soldiers where thrown into the Red Sea by G-d himself for "shark food". Yep, it all came back on them.

We can divide Moshe's life into three parts, first 40 years, palace life, royal family, general of the Egyptian army, prince of Egypt (Sar Mitzraim) second 40 years, desert life, shepherd of sheep, quite a demotion, but it is all in G-d's hands, in HIS perfect plan, he is in training for a nobler mission, third 40 years, leader of Israel, a humble prophet, the writer of the first 5 books of the Torah.

Moshe is put in a basket and Miriam, his sister places him near the palace steps which lead down into the Nile, the princess probably goes swimming every day, and she sees the baby in the basket, knows her father's edict, but ignores it, takes the baby and names him "Moshe" this name is both Egyptian and Hebrew, similar, the Egyptian "Mose" (mo-say) means "son of" of "taken from" so, (perhaps) the princess gives him more of an Egyptian name, it could have been "Hapimose" meaning "Taken from the Nile, honoring the god Hapi" there are other Egyptian names, "Thutmose" (son of the god "Tut") "Ramose" or Rameses, (son of the god RA) or maybe "Hapimose" (son of the river god Hapi)

Once Moshe gets out of there, he is just known as "Moshe" or in English "Moses" After 40 years laboring as a shepherd, God meets him at the "burning bush" and introduces himself to him as , in English I AM THAT I AM.

In the Hebrew, 3:14, EHYEH ASHER EHYEH, this comes from the Hebrew word "VAHAYAH" which means "state of being or existence. We get "the past" (hayah) the present (hohah) and the future (yiyah) from these words, we get the tetragramaton YHVH

Which is English has been translated into YeHoVaH, we see variations of the name like

"Yah" (MatitYAHo) Matthew EliYAHo (Elijah)

This is the beginning of Moshe's "new life" as the one who YHVH choses to bring Israel out of Egypt with the "strong hand" of YAH (which means in the ancient Hebrew "behold the hand)

4:20 "And Moses took his wife and sons and set them upon an ass and he returned to the land of Egypt; and Moses took the rod of God in his hand" In this verse, we might see a similarity, an illustration, a reminder of when Messiah Yeshua "went down into Egypt" also, on an ass, with Yosef and Miriam leading the way, in this case, Moses leads the way back to Egypt, to be a "Messiah type" that leads the people "out" of Egypt. and Yeshua, leads us "out" of sin, through his death. Moshe has the "staff" of leadership, when Yeshua went down into Egypt, as a young child, "Yosef" had the staff and lead the way, just as "Yosef Ben Jacob" lead the way for his father and brethren to go "down into Egypt" to saved from starvation, That Yosef was also a "Messiah type" who saved the then known world from physical starvation, while "Yeshua Ben David, Ben Adonai" saved the world from Spiritual perdition.
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ISAIAH 27:6-28:13

a look into the future of Israel, into the Millenium kingdom, Yeshua will gather all of Israel from all corners of the earth and will bring them back to the land, there will be peace, at last, what a time to be living, we can be part of this, if we have trusted Yeshua as Messiah and LORD, we will be a real part and will play important roles in the Millenium Kingdom

For the time being, many descendants of Abraham are being called, some still reject Yeshua as Messiah, others accept, even though his name is throughout the Torah, plain words "Yeshuah" and even encoded in the Hebrew script. He is there. for all the open minded.
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ACTS 7:17-29

This is a retelling of the story of Moshe by Stephen, the first martyr, This angered the religious leaders, because Stephen dared tell them that they were going against God's Holy Spirit, We can note that when he was stoned, Yeshua "Stood" to receive him, what an honor that was.

Shabbat Shalom.............Rabbi Ben Avraham