Exodus 13:17–17:16 | Judges 4:4–5:31 | John 6:30–51

This week's edition of The Set Table contains:

Questions and Commentary on Shabbat Beshallach
Chayyei Yeshua - A Devotional Commentary on the Besora Reading
Looking Ahead

Questions & Commentary on Shabbat Beshallach

1. What does this week's parasha teach us about how Jewish people should demonstrate our faith in God?

Haim Ben-Haim

Beshallach is a momentous parasha. Over a few chapters of Exodus, we see the people of Israel journey out of Egypt, through the Red Sea and into the desert. In many ways, this parasha shares with the formative first moves of the people of Israel as a people. The heads of the tribes came down to Egypt as a large family and through the hand of the Lord, were formed through hardships into a people. The people watched as the Lord showed his greatness in dealing with Pharaoh and the Egyptians. 

In Exodus 14:8, we read, "And the children of Israel were going out with a high hand." Rashi literally interprets this to be "with high and outstanding reach." They had seen victory over the Egyptians, they had left Egypt in faith that the Lord was guiding them, and yet their faith had not been really tested. As they reached the Red Sea with the Egyptians closing in they cried to Moses who then calls upon the Lord for relief.  

The Almighty responds with a reprimand of Moses and the people. "Why do you cry out to me? Speak to the children of Israel that they should travel" (14:15). The Lord tells them: what are you waiting for, you need to move forward. Do not be concerned by the reality that seems impossible, but move forward in hope.

In natural terms this seemed like an impossible situation, but the Lord was providing the way through forward movement of the people. Yaakov teaches along the same lines of the of the sages. "Thus, faith by itself, unaccompanied by actions, is dead" (Yaakov 2:17). We read of Yeshua beckoning Kefa to also get out of the boat and come to him. Shaul in 1 Corinthians 10 speaks of all the people passing through the sea and being immersed by the sea. This fits the Midrashic explanation of  Exodus 14:22 understanding that the people entered into the Red Sea before the waters parted. They needed to get wet and even be immersed as both a sign of faithfulness and of purification. This was a collective experience in forming the People of Israel; they went through the Mikveh of the Red Sea, washing away the spiritual defilement of Egypt. 

In these days we are living, it is not enough for us to cry out for help from the Almighty, we need to step-in, showing our faith by way of our actions of faithfulness. Keeping the mitzvot of the Torah is a real expression of our obedience to the Lord.  

This Shabbat is Tu B'Shvat, the New Year for the Trees. Here in Eretz Yisrael we are beginning to already see the budding of the Almond trees. It is a reminder to us as we look out at the nature, that a sign of life in nature is growth and fruitfulness. A sign of progress and movement. "They are like trees planted by streams-they bear their fruit in season,  their leaves never wither, everything they do succeeds" (Psalm 2:3). May this be our prayer in the coming year that we be found to be fruitful trees who bear the fruit in season. Let us not grow satisfied with the state of our communities and movement but instead move forward. As we enter into greater participation with our people, the Jewish People, let us not be fearful of the waves that will surely hit us. We will not be on the water by ourselves, the Mashiach who beckons us to move forward in faith, has made a way for us.  

2. Why does God lead the children of Israel to the sea, rather than guiding them down the well-worn highway? 

Monique Brumbach

Parashat Beshallach is unique in that it begins by telling us what God did NOT do. "God did not guide them to the highway that goes through the land of the Philistines, because it was close by-God thought that the people, upon seeing war, might change their minds and return to Egypt. Rather, God led the people by a roundabout route, through the desert by the Sea of Suf" (Exodus 13:17-18). Rather than guiding the Jewish people quickly down the well-traveled highway to Gaza, God chose the less obvious route, leading to an eventual entry to the Land (forty years later) over the banks of the Jordan River. The text says that the children of Israel departed Egypt "fully armed," and yet God led them away from battle. Why is this? It seems that before the people even began their journey out of Egypt, God already knew they lacked fortitude for the challenges ahead. 

Much has been said about the generation of Jewish people that participated in the exodus from Egypt. Ibn Ezra discusses at length the "slave mentality" that left a generation of liberated slaves psychologically incapable of facing direct combat with their enemies. It is this generation that later believes the bad report of the ten spies and is prohibited from entering the Land as a result of their lack of faith in God's promises. Later in this very parasha, these former slaves doubt God's ability to meet their most basic needs-for protection from violence, water, and food-despite repeated miracles demonstrating God's power.  Maimonides argues that God chose an indirect route in order to toughen the people and prepare them to enter the Land. In his Guide for the Perplexed, he says, "Ease destroys bravery while trouble and concern about food create strength. This strength that the Israelites gained was the ultimate good that came out of their wanderings in the wilderness" (3:24). This would make sense but for the fact that this generation of Jews never had the opportunity to exercise their supposed bravery. It was their children (who did not witness the miracles of Beshallach) who entered and conquered the Land.   

It seems that God chose this route in order to demonstrate something fundamental about the way he works through the Jewish people and through history. It is not human ingenuity or warfare that produces redemption. Indeed, the people of Israel are given their freedom without the need to lift a single sword. It is God who turns the seabed into dry ground, who turns bitter water sweet, who rains manna and quail from heaven, and who routs the Amalekites' attempt at blood sport. God admits that this choice has a didactic purpose when he explains to Moses that, "I will win glory for myself . . . and the Egyptians will realize at last that I am the Lord" (14:4). 

It often strikes the reader as a shame that the generation that witnessed awe-inspiring plagues and miracles struggled so vocally with their ability to rely on God for basic provisions. The Torah reminds us through their example that, regardless of our current position, we remain dependent on God for our every need. Even those who are unburdened by a "slave mentality" are ultimately unable to accomplish anything of significance without God's direct intervention. God is working out his plan to redeem all creation through the trials and challenges faced by the Jewish people. By continually redeeming us, God tells the nations of the world that he is the Lord. Our highest calling as a people is not to toughen our own hides but to place our trust in God. Paradoxically, it is through our uniquely vulnerable exercise of faith that God demonstrates his might.

John 6:30-51 - Our True Sustenance

Scott Nassau

After Yeshua transformed five loaves of bread and two fish into food for over five thousand people around the time of Passover (the number was likely much higher considering the count only included men, not women and children) the crowds of people began to seek Yeshua in Kefar Nachum (Capernaum), after he and his disciples had crossed over to the other side of the lake during the evening (John 6:1-25). The crowds came to Yeshua, asking him, "Rabbi, when did you get here?" (6:25). Yeshua recognized the reason for their quest and said, "you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate the bread and were filled" (6:26). He encouraged the crowds of people to seek eternal food instead of the physical food, which fails to satiate the human appetite more than a few hours (6:27). The crowds asked Yeshua what they could do to receive this eternal food and what type of sign Yeshua could perform to make them believe (6:28-30). Yeshua's reminder that it was God and not Moses who provided manna in the desert for our ancestors powerfully speaks of our Messiah's identity (6:32-35).

While the crowds recognized that Yeshua offered them something that they desperately wanted, they did not comprehend the full extent of his message. They did not simply want a sign; they longed for physical food to quench their physical longing (6:26). They wanted some external thing, but Yeshua did not offer them physical food; he offered them himself (6:35). Since they did not comprehend Yeshua's true nature, they were willing to settle for a far inferior gift than the one Yeshua offered. God offered manna to our forefathers, but that manna did not keep them from dying in the desert; Yeshua offers food that does not result in death but eternal life (6:48-52).  

Even though it is easy to criticize the crowds for their immature request, we are often guilty of the same foolish requests from God. The crowds viewed Yeshua as their own personal jukebox. They make their request, and they thought Yeshua was required to sing their song. They had an immediate physical craving and they wanted Yeshua to satiate their hunger.  

Often we approach our Messiah in the same way. We have an immediate need, whether it is physical, economic, emotional or vocational, and we expect Yeshua to meet our need. Yeshua does not simply want to meet our need; he offers himself. He not only gives us bread, he becomes our bread. We approach God as our cosmic ATM. We use him to meet our needs, but we remove the personal aspect from our relationship. Martin Buber writes about these different types of relationships in his book I and Thou. Typically, we interact with others as things, or an "it," which we can use to accomplish our own desires. This type of a relationship is inferior to the relationship that Yeshua wants to have with his people. He offers himself, not for us to use to accomplish our own desires but to have a personal dynamic relationship. When we approach God as our cosmic ATM, we fail to enter into the vibrant relationship with Messiah. When Yeshua claims to be the "Bread of Life" he invites us to enter move from an "I and it" relationship with him into an "I and Thou" relationship.

NEXT WEEK'S READINGS - YITRO

Exodus 18:1–20:23
Isaiah 6:1–7:6; 9:5–6
John 6:52–71