PARASHA: VaYERA (and I appeared) EXODUS 6:2-9:35,

SHABBAT SHALOM: THIS WEEK'S PARASHA: "VaERA"


EXODUS 6:2-9:35..................EZEKIEL 28:25-29:21....................ROMANS 9:14-33

We see in this Parasha that God speaks to Moshe after the first visit to Pharaoh, which ended up in discouragement, "No Moe, it isn't going to be THAT easy" Pharaoh has to see the LORD in action, with HIS special message to the King of Egypt; "No Pharaoh, you are not God, I AM God, and I will prove it!" You are holding MY people captive, and it is no longer going to be that way, you had better look for help elsewhere, because I am taking them home!" more or less, that was the message conveyed to Pharaoh Amenhemet III

Vs 3; "I appeared to Abraham, Yitzchak, and Ya'akov by the name of God Almighty"

in other words, our patriarchs knew God as "Adonai-El Shaddai" The God who is Master and all sufficient , and all powerful, but...as YHVH he was not known, so where does the most sacred name of God (YHVH) come from? what is the meaning behind the Tetragrammaton YHVH, for this, we must go back to Chap. 3:14, in which God says;

"I AM THAT I AM, thus you shall say unto B'nei Israel I AM has sent me" In the Torah, YHVH is used, "Yod" "Hey" "Vav" "Hey". Now in today's bibles we see the name "Jehovah" used, the translators inserted the vowels Y e H o V a H and changed the "Y" to a latin "J" but that wasn't the way it was pronounced in the days of Moshe, the "J" did not even exist. YHVH comes from the word HAVAYAH, which means "the essence of existence" or "to exist" and we see in this word, the letters Y H V H (the vowels were not written) then we have the words "Hayah" = the past "Hoha"= the present "YiYah" = the future, and again we see the letters YHVH in those words, (the "O" has the letter "vav")

so, when we put all of this together, we get an awesome message from our creator,

"Ehye asher Ehye ki ani Havayah b'hayah, b'hoha, b'yiyah" (I AM that I AM because I exist, in the past, in the present, and in the future" the same God we serve, is unchanging, He is love, compassion, our Redeemer, judge, creator, Father, etc.

But, as tradition is, we follow honor and we do not say the "most sacred name" when we see YHVH, because the original pronunciation is lost, we know the first part at least "Yah" because some prophets had "Yah" in their names ; "EliYAHoo (Elijah) "YirimYAHoo" (Jeremiah) "MatitYAHoo" (Matthew) "YAH'a'kov" (Jacob) . When we see YHVH written in the Torah, we say "Adonai" out of respect and honor, however, the Torah says to "Call upon the NAME of YHVH, so, even if someone had a good idea of how to pronounce the sacred name, it wouldn't be wrong.

We see the "I wills" in vs 6 and 7, promises by YHVH to his people,;

1. I WILL bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians

2. I WILL rid you out of their bondage

3. I WILL redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments

4. I WILL take you to me as a people.

God did just that, through Moshe, so Moshe is a "Messiah figure" in the Exodus. God brought the plagues to Egypt, directed against their pagan gods, took them out, crossed the Siani peninsula and crossed over into what is now Saudi Arabia, through the parting of the Red Sea. How do we see this from this side of Calvary?
1. Messiah Yeshua took us from HaSatan, we are no longer his property

2. Messiah Yeshua rid us from the bondage of sin.

3. Messiah Yeshua stretched out "his arms" on Calvary and received judgment for our sins.

4. Messiah Yeshua took us as "His People" we are now members of the "Commonwealth of Israel" we are part of that nation by being grafted in to the olive tree.
We are all adopted sons and daughters of YHVH through our personal relationship with Yeshua/Jesus.

We also see something interesting in the ancient Hebrew "picture" letters, the ancient letters Y H V H ustrate "behold the arm/hand behold the nail" a perfect picture of Calvary, the letters YAH illustrate "behold His Holy Arm" which is what scripture says "and the LORD made bare his Holy Arm" revealing HIS essence in the flesh, as Yeshua

All was made possible when "He stretched forth is Holy Arms on Calvary" Baruch HaShem!
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EZEKIEL 28:25-29:21

What a promise! God is bringing back his people from all four corners of the earth, to Eretz Israel, and they are indeed coming home, HOWEVER, they do not live in safety, not yet, with threats from Isis, Al Qaeda, Hamaz, etc, BUT in the Millenial Kingdom this will be a reality, and we will be part of it,

Egypt will have its destiny too, Egypt will be judged, its people scattered, however, they will also return, and Egypt will be a very humble nation during the millennium, We can say this about Egypt, It opened its borders to received Joseph and his brethren, and was home for Israel for a few hundred years before the time of slavery. Egypt also welcomed Mary and Joseph and Yeshua (when he was a babe) the Egyptians also made very beautiful jewelry, (a lot of it without the idols) So, keep the nation of Egypt in prayer, that many will receive Messiah Yeshua.
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ROMANS 9:14-33

God will have mercy on who he will have mercy on, some have been selected as "vessels of honor and others to "dishonor" but you ask, "is this fair?" We have to remember that we all have the will to chose to follow Adonai or not to follow, to reject or accept Yeshua's free gift of salvation (Yeshuah) and GOD KNOWS ahead of time what we will chose, so, taking that into consideration, he KNOWS who he will have mercy on and those who are reserved for JUDGMENT in hell fire.

Righteousness is through FAITH, and through FAITH only, that includes those of ALL NATIONS, including those of ISRAEL, and those of Israel, whose descendents were scattered unto the nations, it is the same for ALL, ONE STANDARD for ALL, the BLOOD STANDARD,
The commandments of the Torah are also GOOD and PERFECT, but do not produce saving righteousness, but obedience to the same come AS A RESULT OF our salvation experience through Messiah Yeshua by FAITH.

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