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Shemot/Exodus 10:1-13:16, Jeremiah 46:13-28, John 19:31-42
Shemot/Exodus 10:1-13:16, Jeremiah 46:13-28, John 19:31-42
Torah Portion Shemot/Exodus 10:1-13:16
Torah Portion Shemot/Exodus 10:1-13:16
Exodus 10:1 “Then Adonai said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, because I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, so that I might show these My signs in their midst,”
1. What 2 words are most interesting when we read this verse in Hebrew? #1
a. Interestingly we have 2 words that have had tons of teachings and discussion about what they mean presented here. Go and Hardened. What is also interesting is the original Hebrew words do not actually mean what is translated at all. The word for Go is בוא bwʾ enter, come (to); bring, lead in, gather in; be brought. The word for hardened is כבד kbd weigh heavily upon; be heavy and actually does not mean hardened at all. In fact this word is used 113 times in the Tanach and this is the only place it is translated as Hardened.
b. If we replace the word in verse 10:1 with their actual meanings does it read differently? “Come to Pharaoh, because I have weighed heavily upon his heart and the heart of his servants, so that I might show these My signs in their midst”
Go to Pharaoh. The Hebrew says not “Go to Pharaoh” but “Come [with Me] to Pharaoh”—I will go with you (Bekhor Shor). The new weekly portion begins with this plague because at this point Pharaoh has begun to fear God. Formerly he was frightened only when a plague struck; from now on he is frightened when a plague is announced (Abarbanel). I have hardened his heart. Since Pharaoh had said, “I will let you go; you need stay no longer” (9:28), Moses assumed there would not have to be any more plagues (Abarbanel).
Michael Carasik, ed., Exodus: Introduction and Commentary, trans. Michael Carasik, First edition, The Commentators’ Bible (Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication Society, 2005), 65.
2. How does this information shared by HaShem, compare to what Pharaoh said in verse 27 of the previous chapter? Exodus 9:27–28 “So Pharaoh sent, called for Moses and Aaron and said to them, “I have sinned this time. Adonai is righteous, while I and my people are wicked. Pray to Adonai—there has been enough of God’s thunders and hail! I will let you go. You don’t have to stay any longer.””
Exodus 10:12 “Then Adonai said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, so they may come up onto Egypt and eat every plant in the land—everything the hail has left.””
3. How are locusts a more severe plague than hail raining down?
a. Locusts that are in growth phase of maturation must eat their full body weight in plant matter a day to grow. This means a litterall metric ton of Locusts will eat a metric ton of vegetation.
Exodus 10:14 “The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and rested on the entire territory of Egypt. So dense—there was nothing like it before them, nor will there ever be again.”
4. Is there a contradiction with this verse and what occurred during the prophet Yoel’s time? Joel 1:4 “What the locust left, the swarming locust has eaten, and what the swarming locust left, the canker-worm has eaten, and what the canker-worm left, the caterpillar has eaten.” Joel 2:2 “A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, as blackness spreads over the mountains. A great and mighty people— from antiquity there was never anything like it, nor after it ever again from generation to generation.” #2
a. The plague of Mitsrayim was a single spieces of Locusts and the plague of Yoel was multiple spieces of insects.
b. Conversly it could mean this nothing like this again in Mitsrayim, though in other lands there was.
c. How can this affect our understanding of promises and prophicies? Intellectual not emotional answer
RASHI Nor will there ever be so many again. Yet we learn that the locust plague of Joel’s time, of which it was said, “Nothing like it has ever happened” (Joel 2:2), was worse than this one. For Joel’s consisted of several kinds of insects, “the cutter … the locust … the grub … the hopper” (Joel 1:4), and Moses’ only of the one kind. But there never had been and would never again be “so many” of this one kind.
NAHMANIDES Nor will there ever be so many again. The text informs us of this prophetically. I find Rashi’s comment here difficult. For we know from Ps. 78:46, “He gave their crops over to grubs,” and Ps. 105:34, “grasshoppers without number,” that more than one kind of insect was involved here too. Rashi might reply that what the text really says is “there were no such locusts” (OJPS); that although there were more total locusts in this plague than in Joel’s, there were more of the other kinds in Joel’s plague than in Moses’. But all that is nonsense. What the text is saying is that there never had been so many, or ever would be again, in all the land of Egypt. It may be that the constant moisture provided by the Nile is what prevents the locusts from being a major problem there, for locusts generally come during years of drought: “the watercourses are dried up” (Joel 1:20). Rabbenu Hananel says in his Torah commentary: “From the time Moses prayed for the removal of the locusts until today, not a single locust has caused loss anywhere in Egypt, and if locusts fall upon the land of Israel and happen to get to Egypt, they do not eat any of the produce of that land, up to the present time. They say that this is already known to all. Look at the frogs, of whom it says that they shall remain ‘only in the Nile’ (8:5), as indeed they do. But of the locusts it says, ‘not a single locust remained in all the territory of Egypt’ (v. 19). ‘Sing praises to Him; speak of all His wondrous acts’ (Ps. 105:2).” In my opinion, the straightforward sense is that, since plagues of locusts come several times per generation, and since this particular one came on the wind as they ordinarily do, the text had to emphasize that this one was much greater than the natural plagues of locusts that occur. Its unusual size would make clear that this was a divinely sent plague. The one in Joel’s time, too, was divinely sent.
Michael Carasik, ed., Exodus: Introduction and Commentary, trans. Michael Carasik, First edition, The Commentators’ Bible (Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication Society, 2005), 68.
Exodus 12:3 “Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month, each man is to take a lamb for his family one lamb for the household.”
5. Why is the modern day tradition of Pesach to not eat lamb among our Jewish communities?
a. The commandment is to eat lamb that was sacrificed.
b. We have not alter or temple to sacrifice appropriately and so we cannot do so.
c. As well we do not want to give an impression that the lamb was sacrificed and so we abstain.
d. Lastly it serves as a reminder that all Yisrael is not in their homeland but are still sojourners and we have no temple to offer sacrifice to HaShem.
Exodus 12:51 “It was on that very day that Adonai brought Bnei-Yisrael out of the land of Egypt as armies.”
6. What is the implications of the word armies or divisions in this verse?
a. The depature from Mitsrayim was completed as an orderly and organied event.
b. it was not a mad dash for the border.
c. HaShem is a God of order not chaos. He forces chaos in become orderly.
Haftarah Portion Jeremiah 46:13-28
Haftarah Portion Jeremiah 46:13-28
Jeremiah 46:17 “They cried there: ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise! He let the opportune time pass.’”
7. What opportune time did Pharaoh of Mitsrayim let pass?
a. War against the Assiryans, allied with surrounding nations.
b. Pharaoh had committed to battle and then did not show up and they where defeated.
c. this would have liberated Nothern Kingdom from Assiryans.
Jeremiah 46:28 “Fear not, Jacob My servant” —it is a declaration of Adonai— “for I am with you. I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you, but I will not make a full end of you. I will discipline you with justice, but will not utterly destroy you.””
8. This verse appears in similar wording several times in Jeremiah. The word for nations here is goyim and means pagans or gentiles. The words full end is actually the word ka-la and means complete destruction. What is the implication of this verse and which of the goyim does it apply to?
Basorah Portion John 19:31-42
Basorah Portion John 19:31-42
John 19:31 “It was the Day of Preparation, and the next day was a festival Shabbat. So that the bodies should not remain on the execution stake during Shabbat, the Judean leaders asked Pilate to have the legs broken and to have the bodies taken away.”
9. What does festival Shabbat indicate about when Yeshua died?#3
a. either the day before or possibly the day before the Shabbat before Pesach.
Preparation Day. The day before a Shabbat or festival when food is cooked and other preparations made, since no work is to be done on the holyday itself. This particular Preparation Day was also the first day of Pesach (see 18:28). But may one cook for Shabbat on a festival day? Yes; the halakhah requires an ˓eruv tavshilin, which is a special agreement allowing cooking for Shabbat to be done on the festival day, provided it was commenced before the festival began. The Judeans did not want the bodies to remain on the stake after nightfall (when the Shabbat, or any next day, begins), because of Deuteronomy 21:22–23 (see Ga 3:13&N). An especially important Shabbat, or, possibly: “Shabbat HaGadol” (the “Great Sabbath”); since the Greek text reads, “great was the day of that Shabbat.” But what is today called Shabbat HaGadol is the Shabbat immediately preceding Passover week, not the one that falls during its seven days, as is the case here; and I am unaware that the terminology was different in Yeshua’s day. Obviously the Shabbat of Pesach week, when millions of Jews were in Jerusalem on pilgrimage, would be an important one. The modern synagogue ritual for this Shabbat calls for reading Ezekiel 37:1–14, the vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, as the haftarah (the concluding Scripture reading, from the Prophets); the passage links Pesach with Messianic times by speaking of a future redemption for Israel just as Passover itself celebrates a past one.
David H. Stern, Jewish New Testament Commentary : A Companion Volume to the Jewish New Testament, electronic ed. (Clarksville: Jewish New Testament Publications, 1996), Jn 19:31.
John 19:34 “But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.”
10. Based on this verse what is indicated that Yeshua’s ultimate cause of death was? Why is this important? #4
Blood and water flowed out. Apart from whatever symbolism may suggest itself, such as of immersion or communion, the p˒shat, the simple sense of the text, is that Yeshua, who had been a living man, was now dead. According to medical opinion, the “blood and water” are signs that the final cause of death was massive heart failure. Thus refuted are teachings, already current among heretical groups when Yochanan wrote, that Yeshua had not been a flesh-and-blood human being (see 1 Yn 4:2&N). This false doctrine (docetism) is echoed by modern cults that speak of a “Christ-figure” who only faked being human. At the same time this report disproves the “swoon theory,” probably equally ancient, that Yeshua did not die but only lost consciousness and was later revived by his talmidim, who then invented the “resurrection myth.”
David H. Stern, Jewish New Testament Commentary : A Companion Volume to the Jewish New Testament, electronic ed. (Clarksville: Jewish New Testament Publications, 1996), Jn 19:34.
a. massive heart failure
b. 1 John 4:2 “You know the Ruach Elohim by this—every spirit that acknowledges that Messiah Yeshua has come in human flesh is from God,”