Shemoth/Exodus
CHAPTER 10

1 And YHWH said to Moshe, "Come in [bo] to Pharaoh, because I have made his heart heavy, as well as the heart of his slaves, in order that I may perform these signs of Mine close to him,

   Made his heart heavy: After his response to the first five plagues, YHWH did not make repentance available to Pharaoh any longer. (See Romans 9:17-21) Five is not a magic number; the point is that we can push YHWH's patience too far. Sometimes once is too many times to be reticent to obey YHWH, and there is already a price to pay. It is wisest to respond the first time, even if we do not get it perfectly right that time. (Psalm 95:7-8) That is no excuse; we will learn to do better as we go. We must at all costs avoid walking down that road as our ancestors did 2,700 years ago. His slaves: Those Hebrews who stayed attached to Pharaoh when they should be moving to Goshen would now have their hearts hardened as well. They might have hesitated due to fear, nostalgia (having been born in Egypt), patriotism (thinking they were just as Egyptian as the rest), or emotional connections to particular Egyptians they knew well. There are many people like this today who remain loyal to their religious context rather than looking at what YHWH's word really says, without all of men's decorations. It is not easy; in fact it is often quite hard. You may not be able to retire in the way you expect. You may anger your family. But to borrow a military idiom, joining and learning to love people you do not even know is "the toughest job you will ever love"! Since the plague of flies (8:20-23), YHWH had made a distinction between Egypt and Goshen; the plagues no longer touched as they had at first. (Compare 9:25ff) Some of the plagues seem to have been cumulative; the Nile may still have been bloody, sending the frogs out onto the land, and then their carcasses stank. The Israelites had realized it was time to stop ensuring the wealth and longevity of Egypt, and time to start building their own "storehouses", but trying to do this while still among the Egyptians would be like trying to feed just one of the fish in a pond; it would not work. So Pharaoh's building projects had ground to a halt, and the Israelites have been streaming back into Goshen. YHWH is now turning up the heat. If the rest had not been unrepentant, YHWH would not need to take the plagues to the next level. It is not that their hearts were constantly inclined to evil, but they were counted as wicked simply because they failed to repent. The wheat and tares (false wheat that is indistinguishable until the harvest) can no longer remain together (Mat. 13:36ff), and the curse on Efrayim is that we are mixed among the nations, so the tares must again be gathered out of the Kingdom so the righteous can shine. The wicked are not just out on their own, but are also gathered into assemblies, as YHWH is calling out with the same message today: "Gather together as Israel, come out of Egypt, and celebrate My feasts!" If we look at the typical English translations, we could be misled by the expectation that angels will separate the wheat from the tares; but in both Greek and Hebrew, the same word simply means "messengers', so we should not spiritualize this away when the obvious physical meaning allows us to be those messengers ourselves. The first step in preparing to go Home is to gather in communities and learn how to live together and both love one another and love YHWH as a people rather than as individuals. Those who do leave and follow this call will find safety in some kind of Goshen again, whether small or large, and that day can be soon if we hear the message. Keeping His feasts is one of the keys to accomplishing this. The Exodus thus comes in stages: When Moshe first returned, there was already a functioning body of elders, though the people were still scattered. Now they have gathered to Goshen, and are preparing for the full departure. The purpose of judgment is to soften the heart. If one responds, He will have no reason to condemn. But Pharaoh refused to submit to the circumcising of his heart, so it became further concealed within the fat that kept growing over it.

2. "And so that you may recount in the ears of your son and your grandson what I have exerted Myself to do against Egypt, and My signs which I have brought about among them, and you may recognize that I am YHWH."

   Recount in the ears: impress it so deeply that it goes into his heart. He went to extremes so we would always have something convincing to tell our children during less dramatic times. We are supposed to learn from those who oppose YHWH as well as those who obey Him. The heritage and identity we pass on to them is that we are the people separated from Egypt--a word that means "the tight spots". This is not arrogance, but a solemn responsibility. This recounting is an integral part of the observance of the Feast of Unleavened Bread today.

3. So Moshe and Aharon went in to Pharaoh and told him, "Thus says YHWH, Elohim of the Hebrews: 'How long will you refuse to humble yourself before My face? Set my people free so that they may be My servants [instead]--

4. "'because if you refuse to release my people, watch Me bring [a swarm of] locusts into your territory tomorrow,

5. "'And they will cover the eye of the land, and no one will be able to see the ground. And they will eat whatever you have left that survived the 'hailstones', and they will devour every stalk that springs up from the field.

6. "'Then your houses and the houses of all your servants and the houses of all the Egyptians will be full [of them]--something neither your fathers nor your fathers' fathers have seen, from the day of their coming to exist on earth until this day." And he turned and departed from Pharaoh.

   The houses of his servants are distinguished from the houses of the Egyptians, again suggesting that the former are actually some of the Israelite slaves. Pharaoh thought that he himself and his fathers had descended from the sun-god Ra. So this was a direct insult to them--saying that the Elohim who was doing these things had been around longer than they and knew things they didn't. Neither...have seen: Hirsch says such swarms are normally only found in Asia. There was no precedent here; he could not just say it was a natural cycle.

7. And Pharaoh's servants said to him, "How long will this [man] be a noose to us? Let the men go so they can serve YHWH their Elohim. Don't you realize that Egypt is [already] a lost cause?"

   Pharaoh was probably raised on the mantra that no respectable Pharaoh would ever give in to anyone. Yet now even Pharaoh's servants, seeing that someone could show disrespect for Pharaoh with impunity, begin to presume to tell him what he should do.

8. So Moshe and Aharon were brought back to Pharaoh, and he told them, "Go and serve YHWH your Elohim [then]! Who in particular will be going?"

9. So Moshe said, "We will go, along with our young and our old, our sons as well as our daughters. We'll go with our flocks and our herds, because we have a joyful festival of YHWH!"

10. But he told them, "YHWH had better be with you if I let you go, along with your little ones! Pay attention, because Ra is before your face!

   YHWH had better be with you: i.e., "Just try to leave ME!" I.e., I am out of your league! Pharaoh considered himself to be a god--Ra incarnate. He probably stood up and brought his face very close to Moshe's for added effect. I.e., You are in Ra's presence! Until this point, Pharaoh was fairly civil; now he is full of venom. This empty threats he spat against the little ones of Israel would soon turn on him. The Hebrew word for "evil" is the same as the name of this Egyptian god, so it could read, "Watch out, because evil is before your face!" What Egypt sees as the very source of life is seen as wrongness in Hebrew. Your little ones: The battle is over the children. It would be of little benefit in the long run if the adults left Egypt, but the next generation was left under its influence. If they hold onto your children, they have won.

11. "You and the males go and serve [this] YHWH, because that's what you asked for!" And he expelled them from Pharaoh's presence."

12. Then YHWH said, "Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, so that they may spread across the land of Egypt, and eat every plant of the land--all that the 'hail' has left."

   Pharaoh had granted them a compromise; he seems to have given in a little. Why did they not accept his offer so they could at least go? It was a start; maybe they could take their wives next year, and their children the year after… Many would consider this to be wisdom, but Moshe responds with another plague, because YHWH does not want us to compromise with any but our brothers. While we try to have peace with one another, we must not bargain away any of His commandments. The United Nations would immediately issue a condemnation, saying Pharaoh had been more than reasonable! "But you stubborn Hebrews, the problem of the world, cannot be reasoned with!" Yet we cannot truly do YHWH's will if we have to cut deals; if we walk in the truth, He will care for the other details. None of Israel can be kept from this feast. If Egypt can hold onto our children, it will also hold us back, at least in part; our heartstrings will always be there. Communist leaders knew this principle, and Hitler knew that if he won the hearts of the youth, he could control their parents. Youth programs in churches operate the same way. That is why the Passover season is about teaching our children who they are and who YHWH is to THEM, so they will follow and be even more righteous than we have been, since now they can be born into the covenant without the pagan accoutrements we grew up with. This season is all about keeping our children. If they never go into bondage at all, that is the best deliverance!

13. So Moshe stretched out his staff, and YHWH caused an east wind [to blow] on the land all day and all that night. In the morning the east wind brought locusts,

   A staff extends the strength of one's hand. And the Hebrew word for staff also means "a tribe". When as individuals we were shown mercy because of Yahshua, we had some degree of spiritual power, but when connected with a people, it is increased exponentially. Seeing Messiah in his proper context, we can advance much more quickly toward accomplishing his intentions. We are no longer on the outside looking in; the Scripture is now about us, not just someone in a foreign land many centuries ago.

14. and the locusts spread across the whole land of Egypt, and settled over all the territory within Egypt's borders--very massive [ones]. There had never been such locusts as they, and afterward there will never be any [like them].

   Goshen is now no longer being counted as part of "the whole land of Egypt". The blessing that is always attached to those with a repentant heart has left along with them. Whatever is not Goshen will suffer more and more as we separate ourselves from it.

15. And they covered the eye of the land, and the land became dark. And they ate every plant of the land, and all of the fruit of the trees that the "hail" had left [remaining], and no greenness was left on the trees or the plants of the field in any of the land of Egypt.

   In Hebrew, this is ironic, because the word for locusts (arbeh) comes from the word rabbah (to increase), because when you see one, they are all there. But the thing that is called the increaser is actually decreasing Egypt's food, power, confidence, and hope. If we remain in an Egyptian context, what seems to be increase to us will actually decrease us; the less there will be to us as Hebrews, for we will become its slave. Instead, use what you own take care of those around you, so that it will not own you. Only if your increase is about "us" and not about yourself can it truly be beneficial.

16. And Pharaoh hurried to call Moshe and Aharon, and he said, "I have sinned against YHWH your Elohim and against you.

17. "And now, I beg you, take away my [punishment for] sin just this once, and pray to YHWH your Elohim so that He may just turn this death away from me!"

18. So he went out from Pharaoh, and pleaded with YHWH,

19. and YHWH turned it around to a very strong west wind, and it carried away the locusts, and blew them into the Sea of Reeds; not one locust remained within the borders of Egypt.

   Pharaoh ended up in the same place the locusts were sent, because their removal did not remove his stubbornness:

20. But YHWH hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he would not send away the descendants of Israel.

21. Then YHWH told Moshe, "Extend your hand to the skies, so that darkness may come over the land of Egypt--a darkness one can feel!"

   Pharaoh had reached the point that he was not given a warning this time. A darkness one can feel: This gives us a clue to what this plague represents. It is about feelings. (See more below.)

22. And Moshe stretched out his hand to the heavens, and darkness of gloom was throughout all the land of Egypt for three days.

   Notice that Aharon is no longer acting on Moshe's behalf. This is what YHWH wanted all along. It was never really Aharon's job; YHWH had another position in mind for him. Moshe may have been emboldened when even the magicians said they could no longer stand before him. It is sad that it took the recognition of evil men to make Moshe confident, but all of this is still new even for Moshe, and he, too, is a student learning to walk in his calling. Darkness of gloom: or "thick darkness", which Josephus says was "without the least light", He says their breathing was also "hindered by the thickness of the air, and they died miserably, and under a terror lest they should be swallowed up by the dark cloud." Immanuel Velikovsky believed the reason the darkness was so palpable was that the earth passed through the tail of a comet and thus there was actually fine dust throughout the atmosphere, completely obscuring one's view like a sandstorm or a blizzard. The LXX confirms this, saying, "darkness very black, even a storm".

23. Not a man of them saw his brother, nor did any rise up from his same place, for three days. Yet for all the sons of Israel, there was light in their dwellings.

   Saw: or "considered his brother". The darkness one can feel is selfishness. No one loved his neighbor anymore. Every one of them was feeling sorry for himself, since everything they had owned had been destroyed. His same place: really the word for "underneath", which is used colloquially for one's posterior, suggesting that no one got up from being seated. They also did not rise up to show honor to those more experienced, as Lev. 19:32 commands us. But this word for "underneath" is rooted in a word meaning "to depress", paralleling this gloom; a "darkness one can feel" might also include psychological depression. The locusts had brought one kind of darkness, but now the people were increasing their own darkness. They made their problems more powerful by feeding into them and giving them more honor than they deserve. Our emotions are meant to serve us, especially at this critical time in history when we do not have time to be overly emotional. We are commanded to be joyful, but that does not depend on one's circumstances. If the Torah were about how we feel, we would be in big trouble, for we rarely feel like following all of it. Remaining depressed is also a selfish thing--possibly one reason bottom-dwellers like catfish are not kosher. The more we talk about it, the more it spreads to others, making it darker for them as well, unless they can truly do something to end our suffering. Usually when a people experiences a national tragedy, they pull together against a common foe. But now YHWH took away their unity as well, as He had done at Bavel. Depression can destroy even Israel if we allow it to. The way to dispel it is to find someone to serve. Dwellings: Heb., moshav--a seated assembly, or a place where they met together and shared their "light" with one another: they were living in community, and that is the difference between the two trees in the garden: one brings isolation (having all necessary knowledge within oneself), and that was the very effect it had on the Egyptians, whose lifestyle was diametrically opposed to Israel's. The other is the tree of life--which results from connection to one another and becoming a true composite body.

24. And Pharaoh called out to Moshe and said, "Go, serve YHWH! Only leave your flocks and herds behind. Even your little ones may go with you."

25. But Moshe said, "You will give into our hands sacrifices and offerings as well, to prepare for YHWH our Elohim,

   Not only can he not hold onto what is theirs; he himself is required to contribute some of what is his own as well! He owes YHWH something too. If we try to hold onto something, we lose even more. (Mat. 10:39) This is a Torah principle, in which Moshe was walking before there was a Torah as such. When one sets a slave free, he is not permitted to send him out empty-handed, but must supply him liberally. (Deut. 15:12ff) This passage is even connected to remembering that we were slaves in Egypt.

26. "and our own livestock will go with us also. Not a hoof shall remain, because we will take them to serve YHWH our Elohim, and we will not know how we should serve Him until we arrive there."

   I.e., "We don't know what we're going to need. He might ask us for everything, so how can we leave anything behind?" Pharaoh did not yet get the point that it was not Moshe's choice what he could or could not take. What YHWH wants, YHWH gets. Holding back is not only not our right; it is robbery. If we have to know ahead of time what will be required of us, we are not ready to serve YHWH. If we can catch this attitude, we will be ready to go Home. If you are not ready to count yourself as a complete loss, this is not the life for you. Service to YHWH is an adventure, not a preplanned holiday! We will find out how to serve when it is time to serve. YHWH did not teach them about burnt offerings or sacrifices until after they had left Egypt (Yirmeyahu 7:22), and until we leave our "Egypt", we are unable to learn properly how to serve Him. Gathering in Goshen is not enough; we have to go to the wilderness, literally the "place of the Word" and draw even nearer, serving Him as His Word requires, not using grace as an excuse. He has purchased us, whether we acknowledge this or not, and since our ancestors dedicated us to His covenant, it is our obligation. They might even need to leave some of their own possessions behind in Egypt in order to carry the things the Egyptians had to give them, which YHWH wanted them to use in building the Tabernacle. But if we are loving one another, we will find that we have all we need.

27. But YHWH hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and he was not willing to send them away.

28. And Pharaoh told them, "Get away from me, and watch out for your own sake that you not take one more look at my face, because on the day you see my face, you will die."

29. So Moshe said, "Indeed, it will be as you say; I will never see your face again."

   See your face: or, be in your presence. This clears up the apparent contradiction of the fact that he will again see Pharaoh (12:31), because this is the last time Moshe recognized any authority in Pharaoh. The next time they saw one another, it was Pharaoh who would be in Moshe's presence!

...

CHAPTER 12

1. And YHWH spoke to Moshe and to Aharon in the land of Egypt, saying,

2. "This month shall be the chief of months for you. It will be the first of all the months of the year for you.

   The first command given to the corporate people of Israel was "change your calendar". Egypt was based on the sun; their calendar would be based on the moon in direct contrast. They no longer have anything to do with the sun. "There is nothing new under the sun" (Qoheleth/Ecclesiastes), but the moon is renewed twelve times a year! YHWH can thus still "do a new thing". (The terms "moon" and "renewing" are the same in Hebrew.) The moon is said to be "born again". Interestingly, Nakdimon (Nicodemus) visited Yahshua at night, when the moon is visible, and learned from this vivid picture of rebirth. For you: This was only for Israel, to set her apart further as a light to the world. The calendar stayed the same for the rest of creation, and indeed the civil calendar of Israel still begins in what is now the seventh month of the religious calendar. Yet the command was given while we were still in exile. He established even before removing us from captivity that we belong to Him, not to Pharaoh. So the fact that we are again in exile now does not mean we cannot keep His appointments on their proper days. But the Hebrew word for year really means "reduplication", so the last sentence could be read, [This renewal] will be the first of the renewals that will be repeated. Yeshayahu 27:12-13 and Yirmeyahu 23:7-8 tell us that the Exodus will indeed be repeated on an even grander scale.

3. "Speak to the congregation of Israel, saying, 'On the tenth of this month they shall select for themselves an animal from the flock for each ancestral house; [that is], one flock animal per household."

4. "Now if the household should be [too] small for a flock animal, he and the one living nearest his home may select it [together], according to the count of persons. You shall figure it according to how much each one's mouth can eat.

5. "You shall have a flock animal, a perfect one, a male a year old. You may take it from among either the sheep or the goats.

6. "And it will be your responsibility to watch over it through the fourteenth day of this month, and the whole congregation of Israel shall slaughter it between the evenings.

   Watch over it: guard it carefully and observe it, to be sure there were no defects. The children undoubtedly gave it a name, clean it well, and it would become like a pet, giving us another occasion to teach the children that we kill it not because we are angry at it. It becomes part of the household, because that is what YHWH is really asking for--that household. It comes to represent us. And this helps us get used to letting go of things we have seen as precious. Some of them are obvious: religious doctrines, selfish habits, etc. But there are things that are harder to put away: extrabiblical morals, your time, or your privacy, which disappears quickly when in the camp of Israel; everyone can hear that you snore! The whole congregation: One person literally kills each, but it is a corporate act, for the other households are there as witnesses, and this means they take full responsibility to be sure it is done properly. Whatever we offer from our house, all Israel participates in, just as all of Israel stones a witch, though the witness casts the first stone. If one house is faithful, it is as if all Israel had done it. And when one is willing to do the right thing, it motivates the rest of us to join in. Each family brings its own, but each is slaughtered for the sake of the whole community. How can we be a corporate witness if we are a house divided?

7. "And they shall take some of the blood, and put it on the two side doorposts, and on the upper doorpost.

8. "And they must eat the meat on this night, roasted with fire, and unleavened bread; they shall eat it with bitter herbs.

9. "You must not eat it any of it raw, [or even] cooked with any boiling in water at all, but rather roasted with fire, its head over its knees and its entrails.

10. "You must not let any of it remain until morning; anything left over until morning you shall burn up in the fire.

   If left until later, it could be profaned into a mere snack after having been set apart to a particular purpose. This same rule was later applied to the offerings at the sanctuary of which onlookers could partake. If Yahshua's sacrifice is taken out of its proper context, it is demeaned in the same way. Tomorrow is a new adventure altogether, so we must not remain stuck in yesterday, as full of YHWH's intervention as it may have been. We must let it go and invest in the path that lies ahead.

11. "And this is how you must eat it: with your belt tied, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in hand. Moreover, you must eat it in a hurry; it is YHWH's Passover.

   Your belt tied: literally, "your hips bound", since loose flowing robes would hinder quick movement if not secured tightly first. In a hurry: We could not get stuck having to leave before the meal was finished, so we could not take our time and enjoy it. We have to be ready to change, even if we are not told where we are going. All they knew was that they were going to the wilderness. (If He gave us too much detail, we would find a way to screw it up.) We never know which step will define the next 40 years for us, so we must prepare before the door closes. We cannot put things off until the next cycle, for there may not be one for us. Redemption comes when we bring it, as YHWH shows us how to carry out each step. Passover: literally, "skipping-over"; the reason for this will be seen in v. 13. The Passover is not the feast itself, but the sacrifice of this particular lamb, done in a particular way as specified here.

12. "And I will cross the land of Egypt that very night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from human to livestock, and I will execute judgments upon all the gods of Egypt. I am YHWH!"

   I will strike: YHWH had told Moshe to bring about the other plagues, but not this one. Yet for all of the other plagues Moshe or Aharon raised his staff; He did this one while every man in Israel had a staff in his hand, so none of them would be able to accuse Moshe of being the one who caused this horror. They all "participated".

13. "And the blood shall serve as a distinguishing mark for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will skip over you, and the plague will not come to be upon you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

14. "And this day will serve as a reminder for you; you must celebrate it as a festival unto YHWH throughout your generations. You must celebrate it perpetually as something prescribed.

15. You shall eat unleavened bread [for] seven days. From the first day [onward] you shall even cause there to cease to be yeast in your houses, because if anyone eats leaven, his soul will be cut off from Israel…"

   Note that we are not just commanded to not eat leaven, but to actually eat unleavened bread. This way we will not even be hungry for the leavened. Eating no bread at all is not an option, for bread is symbolic of community. (1 Cor. 10:17) Gen. 1:27 says Adam, before Chavvah was separated out from him, was created male and female. The root meanings of these words, though, are "marked (or striped) and pierced", which was true for Yahshua (Zkh. 12:10 ) and is particular true of matzah; thus, it is in many ways a picture of him. Finding leaven in one's home after the feast begins, as often takes place, is not a cause for being cut off, but having any in the house is forbidden because this removes any temptation to partake of leaven. This is a precedent built right into the Torah for the practice of building fences around commands that make it more difficult to accidentally disobey them. That there is no penalty for finding some left in the house, as there is for eating it, is still no excuse to make only a half-hearted search for it before the feast. Israel is the reason we keep Torah, and the leaven is a picture of the selfishness that will get us cut off from the neighbors we are to love as ourselves.

...

30. And Pharaoh got up at night--he and all his servants and all of Egypt--and there arose a great cry of distress in Egypt, because there was not a house in which there was not someone dying.

   Yaaqov 2:13 says judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no compassion.

31. And he called for Moshe and Aharon by night, and said, "Get up, and get out from among my people, both you and the descendants of Israel. And go serve YHWH, just as you said..."

...

39. Then they baked the dough that they had brought out from Egypt into unleavened cakes, since it was not leavened, because they had been thrust out of Egypt, and were not able to wait. They had also not prepared any provisions for their journey.

   Did they not prepare because they did not believe Moshe, or because they trusted YHWH to provide? He told them which things they would certainly need--a staff, sandals, and a belt. But they did not know what part of the wilderness they would be going to. In the same way, Yahshua told his disciples not to even take along a bag to put money in (Mark 6:8), because they would not learn as much about trusting YHWH if they had their own security in place. Thrust out: They did not leave until they were evicted, expelled, indeed divorced! It is shameful that they waited until this point to leave--until they were forced to do the right thing. This is one thing we need to fix when we are "fixing" to leave this time. We need to repair the way we left by leaving before things become so bad that we cannot stay. We were again bought by the seven years of plenty and the security there appears to be in Egypt, but the plagues have already begun, to we must again gather in our Goshen and eat quickly, because it is nearly time to move on once again.




Commentary on
Parashat Bo
"Fixin' to
Leave Egypt"