Exodus 1:1-6:1 | Isaiah 27:6-28:13; 29:22-23 (Ashkenazim)| Jeremiah 1:1-2:3 (Sepharadim)| Matthew 5:17-26
This week's edition of The Set Table contains:
Questions and Commentary on Shabbat Shemot
Chayyei Yeshua - A Devotional Commentary on the Besora Reading
Looking Ahead
Questions & Commentary on Parashat Shemot
1. Why did Pharaoh decree that all
the Jewish baby boys be put to death by drowning?
Why did Moses' parents risk their lives to save their son when
so many other parents did not? Was their anything unique about Moses
and his birth? How does Moses' birth parallel Messiah Yeshua's birth?
Rabbi
Jason Sobel
On the level of
peshat (contextual interpretation), Pharaoh was frightened by the
fact that the Jewish people had become too numerous and might militarily
turn against the Egyptians (Exodus 1:10). The darshan offers an explanation:
AND
PHARAOH CHARGED ALL HIS PEOPLE (1:22). Because his astrologers told
him, ‘The mother of Israel's savior is already pregnant with him,
but we do not know whether he is an Israelite or an Egyptian.' Then
Pharaoh assembled all the Egyptians before him and said: ‘Lend me
your children for nine months that I may cast them in the river . .
.' But they would not agree, saying: ‘An Egyptian son would not
redeem them; he must be a Hebrew . . .' Why did they decree that they
should cast them into the river? Because the astrologers foresaw that
Israel's savior would be smitten by means of water, and they thought
that he would be drowned in the water; but, as we know, it was only
on account of the well of water (of Meribah) that the decree of death
was pronounced upon him, as it is said: Because you believed not Torah.
Exodus
Rabba 1:18
Thus,
according to the Sages, the reason Pharaoh tried to drown all newborn
males was due to the counsel of his astrologers [wise men] who foresaw
that Israel's redeemer's downfall would occur by the means of water.
They, however, inaccurately interpreted when and through which body
of water Moses' downfall would occur.
In Jewish tradition
the birth of Moses was unique in many ways. First, there was the
miraculous conception of Moses whom Yocheved bore at the old age of
one hundred and thirty (according to Rashi). This was followed by Miriam's
prophetic announcement that her brother was going to be the redeemer
of Israel. Her prophecy was later confirmed by a miraculous sign at
his birth which we read about in b. Sota 12a:
‘My
mother will bear a son who will be the savior of Israel'. When Moses
was born, the whole house was filled with light; and her father arose
and kissed her upon her head, saying ‘My daughter, your prophecy has
been fulfilled'; but when they cast him into the river, her father
said: ‘What, now, has become of your prophecy!' That is what is
written: And his sister stood afar off to know what would be done to
him - what would be the fate of her prophecy.
The same divine light
that filled his parent's home also was made manifest to Pharaoh's
daughter. According to the Talmud, when she opened Moses' basket she
saw that "the Shechina (divine presence) was with him" (b.
Sota 12b). Both Moses' parents and Pharaoh's daughter
willingly defy the king's decree and rescue Moses for they saw that
God was with him in a special way.
Though the above description
of the birth of Moses comes from much later than the descriptions we
have of Messiah Yeshua's birth, there are a number of interesting
parallels. Both of their birth accounts involve a miraculous conception,
astrologers who announce the birth of Israel's redeemer, a cruel gentile
king who tries to take their life and in the process slaughters innocent
Jewish baby boys, a prophetic word spoken to their parents about their
son's divine mission, and both were raised as children in Egypt. As
R. Levi states, "As it was with the first redeemer so will be it be
with the last redeemer" (Numbers Rabba 11:3). Those of us who
follow Messiah Yeshua confess that he is indeed the last and ultimate
redeemer.
2. How do we understand
The LORD's answer to Moses' question,
"what is your name" (Exodus 3:13)? How does this relate to Yeshua's
answer to his doubters in John 8?
Nick
Amic
In the episode of
Moses' encounter with God in the desert, Moses is given the highest
of all tasks-to act as God's agent of deliverance for and founder
of the Jewish nation. Moses asks a most puzzling question in response:
"What is your name?" (Exodus 3:13). Further, it appears from a subsequent
inquiry that Moses anticipates two groups who will ask this question-the
"elders" (cf. 3:16, 18) who will listen to Moses, and doubting scoffers
(4:1). Moses' initial question can be understood as having two dimensions:
the believing elders ask, "Which ‘name/attribute' is God acting
through"; while the scoffers ask, "Which ‘god' sent you, because
it surely isn't the LORD!?"
God's answer to
Moses has been the subject of discussion and debate for the past few
millennia. The earliest interpretations in Talmud and Midrash understand
Eheyeh asher Eheyeh in two basic categories: as a promise (b.
Berachot 9b) and as a divine name (e.g. b. Shevuot
35a). This corresponds to the two levels on which Moses asks for clarification:
to the scoffers God responds Eheyeh asher Eheyeh-"I AM that
I AM", or "the One that is self-existent and above all"; and to
the elders God responds Eheyeh-the first person conjugation of YHVH,
God's name of compassion. Martin Buber, the 20th century Jewish philosopher,
points out that God's response is couched between two verses of promise
(Exodus 3:12 and 4:12, which both contain the word Eheyeh) indicating
that God will be with Moses in his daunting journey (Moses: The Revelation
And The Covenant, 51-52). Why does God need to remind Moses twice?
The Talmud answers that, "The Holy One said to Moses, ‘I am with
you in this servitude, and I shall be with you in the servitude of the
(other) kingdoms'" (b. Berachot 9a). This hints that God
has a double mission initiated through Moses, and completed in the future.
Like Moses, Yeshua
encountered a similar scenario, a daunting task of deliverance ripe
with unbelievers. When Yeshua is confronted by scoffers questioning
his authority, John quotes Yeshua's response, "I tell you the truth
. . . I AM" (8:58). Yeshua responds to his doubters by citing his
pre-existence, making use of the name of God's self-existence-I
AM (cf. John 1). The most significant aspect of this connection is that
Yeshua, as the second Moses, culminates God's process of deliverance
initiated in the exodus. The essence of God's response to Moses'
inquiry of God's name implies a "double" salvation in which each
instance God is personally involved-first through his agent Moses
and last in the person of Yeshua.. This doubling of God's name is
found later in a different occasion of God's deliverance: the sin
of the golden calf. Here God's attribute of mercy through the name
of the LORD is doubled again: "The LORD, the LORD, compassionate and
gracious God" (Exodus 34:6-7). The commentators ask why God's name
is doubled here. They respond that the doubling of God's name is to
show that God is the same both before an individual sins and after an
individual sins. May all Israel know God's compassion on a personal
and national level through Yeshua's deliverance.
Matthew 5:17-26 - The Language
of Blessing
Nathan Joiner
I sometimes wonder
what Yeshua thinks regarding how his words are passed down throughout
the generations; through different times and cultures; though translations,
and interpretations; through different paradigms and worldviews. They
always seem to stand the test of time. There is something unique and
poignant in Yeshua's sermon on the mount in Matthew.
We might be able to
gain some insights by looking at verse 20, "For I tell you that unless
your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers
of the Torah, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven"
What does he mean for our righteousness to surpass that of the Torah
teachers and Pharisees? Traditionally this has been interpreted to mean
that Yeshua is calling his followers to a new code of righteousness,
one that is "both quantitatively and qualitatively distinct from that
of the Torah" (NLT study bible). The listeners are no longer to follow
the commandments of the Torah, but only heed the "heart of the Torah."
But can these two be separated? Yeshua says in verse 17, "do
not think that I have come to abolish the Torah or Prophets; I have
come to fulfill them." The Greek for "fulfill," Plerosai,
can mean to make full or to fill up. If we read the text this way, Yeshua
is saying that he didn't come to abolish or abrogate the Torah, but
to fill it up. Rather then asking us to reject the Pharisees for another
means of righteousness, which would only be incomplete, Yeshua is asking
us to live according to the fullness of the Torah. In other words, we
need to be living as Torah observant Jews, yet within the deeper values
that Yeshua brought forth from the Torah.
Yeshua is speaking
in the context of observant Jews, telling them that they cannot just
follow the traditions alone. He is calling them to fulfill the commandments
even more than tradition mandates. In the following verses Yeshua calls
them to an ever-deeper understanding of what it means to murder. He
says "You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do
not Murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment' but
I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject
to judgment." This isn't license to go kill people as
long as we aren't angry. Yeshua is taking a commandment and filling
it up. He's expounding on it and revealing an understanding that goes
beyond the surface.
Yeshua is revealing
to them the deeper understanding and motivation, which must accompany
their traditions. In Matthew 23 Yeshua criticized the Pharisees
for their hypocrisy while tithing spices. "You give a tenth of your
spices-mint, dill, cumin. But you neglect the more weighty matters
of the Torah: justice, mercy, and faithfulness." Yeshua doesn't
then tell the Pharisees to quite tithing spices and just follow the
moral commands. Instead he says, "You should have practiced
the latter [tithing] without neglecting the former [Justice mercy and
faithfulness.]"
By extension, we can
do our very best to live in obedience to the covenant, without neglecting
the more weighty matters of the Torah. We are to be to be filled full
with God's commands through the very heart of our beloved Messiah.
NEXT WEEK'S READINGS
- PARASHAT VA'ERA
Exodus 6:2-9:35
Ezekiel 28:25-29:21
Matthew 6:1-18
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