Exodus 6:2-9:35 – Ezekiel 28:25-29:21 – Luke 4:31-44

This week's edition of The Set Table contains:

Questions and Commentary on Va'era
Chayyei Yeshua - A Devotional Commentary on the Besora Reading
In Summary
Looking Ahead

Questions & Commentary on Parashat Va'era

1. Why was the first sign Moses performed turning the water of Egypt into blood? How is this sign connected with the first miracle that Yeshua performs in Yochannan 2?

Rabbi Jason Sobel

Our Sages offer many explanations as to why the first plague brought upon the Egyptians was dam (blood). The Nile River made Egypt a very fertile and prosperous nation. Since the Nile was the source of their sustenance, the Egyptians worshipped it as a deity. They personified the Nile as the god Hapi, to whom they offered sacrifices. The Egyptians also believed that Pharaoh, as god incarnate, was responsible for controlling and maintaining nature's harmony. Therefore, the Midrashist expounds,

Why were the ‘waters' first smitten, and with blood? Because Pharaoh and the Egyptians worshipped the Nile, and God said: ‘I will smite their god first and then his people,' just as the common saying goes: ‘I will smite the gods and their priests will tremble.' For so it says: The Lord will punish the host of the high heaven above; and after that, and the kings of the earth upon the earth below (Isaiah 24:21). And the fish that are in the river shall die (8:18).

All ten signs (and the first in particular) were meant to discredit the false gods of Egypt and Pharaoh's fallacious claim to govern creation. On the positive side, they were meant to convince all Egypt that the God of Israel really existed, that God had a special covenantal relationship with the children of Israel, and that God is the Creator and King of all.

Another reason for turning the Nile into blood was to punish the Egyptians who had shed the blood of defenseless Jewish children by throwing them into the river (Exodus 1:22). Thus, the blood of the slaughtered innocent babies cried out for justice from the depths of the Nile and bore witness against Egypt. Afflicting the Egyptians through this plague was particularly fitting for it follows the principal of mida keneged mida (measure for measure). Based on both explanations, we learn that that the ten signs that God brought upon Egypt where both punitive and redemptive. By punishing Egypt for their transgression, God gave them the opportunity to turn from their transgressions and be spared like Nineveh.

According to Deuteronomy 18:18, God would raise up a prophet like Moses from Israel to be their final redeemer. But what made Moses unique as a prophet? The Torah tells one key aspect was "all those miraculous signs and wonders the LORD sent him to do in Egypt" (Deuteronomy 34:11). It only makes sense that the first mosaic-like sign that Yeshua performed involved the transformation of water into wine at the wedding in Cana. Why did he specifically turn the water into wine and not blood? Wine is symbolic of the joy and redemption that Messiah King will bring about in Messianic age. As we read in the messianic promise contained in Genesis 49:9-12,

The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs [Shiloh] and the obedience of the nations is his. He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk.

Thus, Yeshua, as the prophet like Moses, publicly declared his messiahship by turning the water into wine and not blood because he did not come to bring death and judgment. Rather, he came that we might have abundant life.

2. What does it mean for God to promise to redeem Israel from bondage in Egypt "with an outstretched arm" (Exodus 6:6)?

Rabbi Jonathan Kaplan

At the beginning of this week's parasha, God reaffirms the divine promise to be Israel's God, redeem them from bondage, and bring them into the promised land. In this midst of this section, God commands Moses to tell the people of Israel:

I am the LORD. I will bring you out from the labors of the Egyptians. I will deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and great judgments. I will take you to be for me a people and I will be your God so that you shall know that I am the LORD your God who freed you from the labors of the Egyptians.

Exodus 6:6-7

These verses are central to the retelling of God's deliverance of us from Egypt every year during Passover. In fact they serve as the scriptural basis for the four cups of wine (plus the cup of Elijah) of which we partake during the seder (see b. Pesachim 99b et al). The meaning of these verses is both clear and obscure. For instance, what does God mean when he promises to redeem us "with an outstretched arm?" What does "an outstretched arm" signify? Though the phrase is oft repeated in the Torah when describing God's redemption of Israel from bondage in Egypt (cf. Deuteronomy 4:34; 5:15; 7:19; 9:29; 11:2; 26:8), there is little explication in the Bible and in later commentaries on what "an outstretched arm" is. There are hints of three ideas for the meaning of this phrase in various rabbinic and medieval commentaries.

The first suggestion is offered by Rashi. In his commentary to Deuteronomy 7:19, he quotes a tradition from Sifré Numbers (Shelach 115) which identifies the outstretched arm as "the sword of the destruction of the first born." In other words, God's outstretched arm signifies God's work of punishing the Egyptians through "great judgments" (Exodus 6:6) culminating in the last and worst plague, the death of the firstborn.

Ibn Ezra suggests another interpretation of the "outstretched arm" in his comments on Exodus 6:6; it is "outstretched from heaven to earth." His statement is subtle but important. Not only does the "outstretched arm" represent God's chastising judgment but also demonstrates God's condescension to enter Israel's life again by bridging the gap between heaven (the divine realm) and earth (the human realm). God also engages in such condescension in the Incarnation (John 1 et al).

A third interpretation of the "outstretched arm" comes to us from Nachmanides who states "the arm will be stretched out over them until he brings them out [of Egypt]." In other words, God's arm is also an arm which provides protection and shelter for Israel as she is brought out of bondage.

Thus when God promises to redeem Israel from bondage "with an outstretched arm," it is a promise of redemption worked through judgment against the Egyptians, God's presence in the midst of that redemption, and God's protection throughout that act of redemption.