Shemot
Names
“God’s Promises Require
Faithful Deliverers”
Exodus 1:1-6:1
Isaiah 27:6-28:13; 29:22-23 (A);
Jeremiah 1:2-3 (S)
excerpted from TorahScope, Volume III
We begin our Torah reading this week, by turning to the second book of the Pentateuch. The English title Exodus is derived from the Septuagint label of Exodos, which thematically communicates the overall message of Ancient Israel’s deliverance from, and transference out of, Egypt. The traditional Hebrew title, taken from Exodus 1:1, is Shemot, as this text begins with a listing of the Twelve Tribes of Israel which constituted the fledgling nation. However, beyond simply naming the descendant tribes of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the theme of the entire Book of Exodus, is a sure record of how God fulfilled His promise to Abram, to deliver his progeny from a foreign land by judging the oppressive nation of Egypt, after a long period of exile from the Promised Land:
“When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. Now terror and great darkness fell on him. He said to Abram, ‘Know for sure that your offspring will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years. I will also judge that nation, whom they will serve. Afterward they will come out with great wealth; but you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full’” (Genesis 15:12-16, WMB).
Abraham’s God was bound by His promises to restore His people, to the territory He promised them. But, as is generally the case in His intervention in the affairs of humanity, He typically uses chosen individuals to accomplish His will. In our Torah reading for Shemot, the life of Moses and his initial interactions with the Almighty are described, as he was uniquely chosen to be the Lord’s instrument for leading Ancient Israel from the clutches of slavery to the Egyptian Pharaoh. Despite the magnitude of Moses’ unique accomplishments, on the Lord’s behalf, in His ongoing plan of salvation history—something which is seemingly beyond duplication—the Torah student should always recognize how God is constantly, throughout history, surveying humanity for those people who can be used for His Divine purposes. As the Psalmist observed,
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance. The LORD looks from heaven. He sees all the sons of men. From the place of his habitation he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth, he who fashions all of their hearts; and he considers all of their works. There is no king saved by the multitude of an army. A mighty man is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a vain thing for safety, neither does he deliver any by his great power. Behold, the LORD’s eye is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his loving kindness, to deliver their soul from death, to keep them alive in famine. Our soul has waited for the LORD. He is our help and our shield. For our heart rejoices in him, because we have trusted in his holy name. Let your loving kindness be on us, LORD, since we have hoped in you” (Psalm 33:12-22, WMB).
With this in mind, God’s pattern of choosing faithful men and women, to fulfill His promises, should inspire each of us as His children to faithfully and fearfully seek Him—knowing that in whatever capacity, large or small, He who fashions the heart has prepared good works (Ephesians 2:10) for each of us, which can serve as integral aspects of His plan for the ages. How humbling is it to know that the Creator God can use anyone He chooses? As recorded this week in Shemot, the testimony of Moses reveals a mere man who recognized that it was not him (Numbers 12:3), but rather the Holy One through him, achieving a great deliverance for His people.
As the parashah opens, naming the twelve tribal leaders, some significant time has passed since the death of Joseph—and because his influential works had been forgotten, coupled with the emergence of a blessed and fruitful Israel—the new Egyptian regime felt threatened by some of their own subjects. This led the reigning Pharaoh to impose harsher labor requirements on the Israelites, in order to keep them at bay, completing many of his construction projects:
“Now these are the names of the sons of Israel, who came into Egypt (every man and his household came with Jacob): Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. All the souls who came out of Jacob’s body were seventy souls, and Joseph was in Egypt already. Joseph died, as did all his brothers, and all that generation. The children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them. Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who didn’t know Joseph. He said to his people, ‘Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we. Come, let’s deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it happen that when any war breaks out, they also join themselves to our enemies and fight against us, and escape out of the land.’ Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. They built storage cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out. They started to dread the children of Israel. The Egyptians ruthlessly made the children of Israel serve, and they made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and in brick, and in all kinds of service in the field, all their service, in which they ruthlessly made them serve” (Exodus 1:1-14, WMB).
Since the elders of Israel knew of the promises made by the Lord to Abraham regarding the period of oppression, which would come to a timely conclusion—rumors about the birth of a “deliverer” must have surfaced, to compel Pharaoh to put to death all of the newborn male children:
“The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah, and he said, ‘When you perform the duty of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birth stool, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.’ But the midwives feared God, and didn’t do what the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the baby boys alive. The king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said to them, ‘Why have you done this thing and saved the boys alive?’ The midwives said to Pharaoh, ‘Because the Hebrew women aren’t like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.’ God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied, and grew very mighty. Because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, ‘You shall cast every son who is born into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive’” (Exodus 1:15-22, WMB).
This wicked decree by the king of Egypt, obviously foreshadowed what would occur centuries later, when Herod the Great ordered a similar execution of infant males prior to the birth of Yeshua the Messiah (Matthew 2:16).
Here in Shemot, it is noted how the Hebrew midwives feared God, and hence by faith, disobeyed the edict and saved the lives of many children, including a son of Levi in Moses. Significant details about the birth, rescue, adoption, naming, and eventual altercation which led to Moses’ escape to avoid death, are recorded as our Torah portion continues:
“A man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi as his wife. The woman conceived and bore a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. When she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus basket for him, and coated it with tar and with pitch. She put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank. His sister stood far off, to see what would be done to him. Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe at the river. Her maidens walked along by the riverside. She saw the basket among the reeds, and sent her servant to get it. She opened it, and saw the child, and behold, the baby cried. She had compassion on him, and said, ‘This is one of the Hebrews’ children.’ Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Should I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?’ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Go.’ The young woman went and called the child’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Take this child away, and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.’ The woman took the child, and nursed it. The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, and said, ‘Because I drew him out of the water.’ In those days, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his brothers and saw their burdens. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brothers. He looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no one, he killed the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand. He went out the second day, and behold, two men of the Hebrews were fighting with each other. He said to him who did the wrong, ‘Why do you strike your fellow?’ He said, ‘Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you plan to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian?’ Moses was afraid, and said, ‘Surely this thing is known.’ Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and lived in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well” (Exodus 2:1-15, WMB).
This unusual upbringing for Moses, likely created some conflicts in his heart, regardless of how much or how little Moses realized that he was a Hebrew, up until he slew the Egyptian. According to the author of Hebrews, by faith in the Holy One of Israel, it was in Moses’ heart to choose ill-treatment with the people of God, rather than partake in the passing pleasures of sin, as he reached a point where he refused to continue to be recognized as an Egyptian:
“By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to share ill treatment with God’s people than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a time, considering the reproach of the Messiah greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he looked to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:24-27, WMB).
With this amplification of what was transpiring in the heart of Moses, one discovers the choice which every child of God must contend with on a moment-by-moment basis. By his example of faith in the Almighty—above the physical influences of riches, power, fame, and all of the attendant devices which vie for carnal consumption—God found a heart which was focused on Him, rather than personal gratification, when the time was right for His plan to take shape. When Moses left Egypt, he was drawn into a rather nomadic and isolated lifestyle, which lasted for some forty years in the Midian region, where he married a wife, had children, and became a shepherd:
“Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock. The shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. When they came to Reuel, their father, he said, ‘How is it that you have returned so early today?’ They said, ‘An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and moreover he drew water for us, and watered the flock.’ He said to his daughters, ‘Where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread.’ Moses was content to dwell with the man. He gave Moses Zipporah, his daughter. She bore a son, and he named him Gershom, for he said, ‘I have lived as a foreigner in a foreign land.’ In the course of those many days, the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the children of Israel, and God understood” (Exodus 2:16-25, WMB).
As noted in due time, the cries of the Ancient Israelites for deliverance were finally heard. Because God remembered His promises and covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses’ previous forty years growing up in Egypt, and even murdering an Egyptian, coupled with forty years shepherding flocks—would now all be used to commission him for the deliverance task at hand. We might be reminded of how, “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans (8:28, WMB).
At God’s appointed time, He revealed Himself to Moses in a very dramatic way. The experience of the burning bush, Moses standing on holy ground, and the amount of direct communication the Lord had with Moses—must have been quite incredible to consider. As is seen, Moses never considered himself a useful tool for the Lord’s work, and hence what was witnessed, was a back and forth discussion, that Moses was totally incapable of doing anything in his own strength apart from God’s leading:
“Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to God’s mountain, to Horeb. The LORD’s angel appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the middle of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. Moses said, ‘I will go now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.’ When the LORD saw that he came over to see, God called to him out of the middle of the bush, and said, ‘Moses! Moses!’ He said, ‘Here I am.’ He said, ‘Don’t come close. Take off your sandals, for the place you are standing on is holy ground.’ Moreover he said, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look at God. The LORD said, ‘I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me. Moreover I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.’ Moses said to God, ‘Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?’ He said, ‘Certainly I will be with you. This will be the token to you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain’” (Exodus 3:1-12, WMB).
Just the magnitude of the task described, was overwhelming to Moses, as he proceeded to question God. So, God took some time to fill in some of the details. God affirmed how He was ehyeh asher ehyeh, “I AM WHO I AM,” as He had every means to accomplish His will for the Israelites. The Lord then gave Moses some specifics about how the deliverance of His people was going to take place:
“Moses said to God, ‘Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and tell them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you,” and they ask me, “What is his name?” what should I tell them?’ God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM,’ and he said, ‘You shall tell the children of Israel this: “I AM has sent me to you.”’ God said moreover to Moses, ‘You shall tell the children of Israel this, “The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.” This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations. Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and tell them, “The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, ‘I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt. I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey.’” They will listen to your voice. You shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you shall tell him, “The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD, our God.” I know that the king of Egypt won’t give you permission to go, no, not by a mighty hand. I will reach out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders which I will do among them, and after that he will let you go. I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and it will happen that when you go, you shall not go empty-handed. But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, and of her who visits her house, jewels of silver, jewels of gold, and clothing. You shall put them on your sons, and on your daughters. You shall plunder the Egyptians’” (Exodus 3:13-22, WMB).
Needless to say, after hearing some of the things which were to occur, Moses continued to doubt that he could possibly convince the Israelites that he had been chosen to be their human leader, and deliver them from their bondage in Egypt. So once again, the Lord mercifully filled in some of the gaps, by giving him three signs which would persuade the people that Moses had indeed been, not only in the presence of the Holy One, but chosen for this special assignment:
“Moses answered, ‘But, behold, they will not believe me, nor listen to my voice; for they will say, “The LORD has not appeared to you.”’ The LORD said to him, ‘What is that in your hand?’ He said, ‘A rod.’ He said, ‘Throw it on the ground.’ He threw it on the ground, and it became a snake; and Moses ran away from it. The LORD said to Moses, ‘Stretch out your hand, and take it by the tail.’ He stretched out his hand, and took hold of it, and it became a rod in his hand. ‘This is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.’ The LORD said furthermore to him, ‘Now put your hand inside your cloak.’ He put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, as white as snow. He said, ‘Put your hand inside your cloak again.’ He put his hand inside his cloak again, and when he took it out of his cloak, behold, it had turned again as his other flesh. ‘It will happen, if they will not believe you or listen to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. It will happen, if they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, that you shall take of the water of the river, and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take out of the river will become blood on the dry land.’ Moses said to the LORD, ‘O Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before now, nor since you have spoken to your servant; for I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.’ The LORD said to him, ‘Who made man’s mouth? Or who makes one mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Isn’t it I, the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you shall speak.’ Moses said, ‘Oh, Lord, please send someone else.’ The LORD’s anger burned against Moses, and he said, ‘What about Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Also, behold, he is coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. You shall speak to him, and put the words in his mouth. I will be with your mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do. He will be your spokesman to the people. It will happen that he will be to you a mouth, and you will be to him as God. You shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.’ Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, ‘Please let me go and return to my brothers who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive.’ Jethro said to Moses, ‘Go in peace.’ The LORD said to Moses in Midian, ‘Go, return into Egypt; for all the men who sought your life are dead’” (Exodus 4:1-19, WMB).
However, despite watching the staff turn back and forth from being a serpent, to his hand turning white with leprosy—the inarticulate Moses was still concerned about how he was even going to communicate what he had seen and heard to the Israelites. The Lord resolved this apprehension, with the mention that Moses’ older brother Aaron would be commissioned to work with him, as his speaker. At this point, the objections are overcome, and Moses went to his father-in-law Jethro, receiving his blessing, and then obeyed the command of the Lord to go back to Egypt.
On the way to Egypt with his wife Zipporah and two sons, Moses received an appropriate rebuke from his wife, because he had not followed the basic instruction from God to circumcise his two sons. In this revealing aside, the wisdom of a wife is highlighted, because Zipporah was most concerned about her two sons not having the sign of the covenant made with Abraham. In a dramatic fashion, she actually circumcised her sons while on the trip to Egypt, and cast the foreskins at the feet of Moses with the railing declaration that Moses was a bridegroom of blood, because the rite had not been performed. Husbands need to be very thankful for the wives they have been given by God, perhaps knowing how they as men can have significant limitations, and that their wives are leaders of the family along with them:
“Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. Moses took God’s rod in his hand. The LORD said to Moses, ‘When you go back into Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your hand, but I will harden his heart and he will not let the people go. You shall tell Pharaoh, “The LORD says, Israel is my son, my firstborn, and I have said to you, ‘Let my son go, that he may serve me;’ and you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your firstborn son.”’ On the way at a lodging place, the LORD met Moses and wanted to kill him. Then Zipporah took a flint, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet; and she said, ‘Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me.’ So he let him alone. Then she said, ‘You are a bridegroom of blood,’ because of the circumcision. The LORD said to Aaron, ‘Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.’ He went, and met him on God’s mountain, and kissed him. Moses told Aaron all the LORD’s words with which he had sent him, and all the signs with which he had instructed him. Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. Aaron spoke all the words which the LORD had spoken to Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people. The people believed, and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel, and that he had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped” (Exodus 4:20-31, WMB).
While Moses and Zipporah were having their revealing encounter, the Lord spoke to Aaron, telling him to go into the wilderness to greet his brother. After Moses described to Aaron what he had been called to do by the Lord, the two of them assembled the elders of Israel, with Aaron now as his designated speaker. When the elders heard the words and saw the signs Moses performed, they believed that perhaps the Lord had heard their cries, and that the time of their deliverance was soon at hand. The choice of someone who had been away for forty years after growing up in Pharaoh’s palaces, and fleeing after murdering an Egyptian, was overcome—as they all worshipped the Lord, believing that this was His will for the deliverance of Israel.
The difficult part began as Moses and Aaron approached the Egyptian Pharaoh, with the demand of the Lord God they represented, to let His people go into the wilderness to celebrate a feast to Him. But a quick release was not granted. Instead, the request to a Pharaoh who believed he was a god, and who did not know or acknowledge the God of the Hebrews, was to send the Israelites back to their hard labor. In fact, because Pharaoh believed that the Israelites might have started to stir up a revolution of sorts, he made their daily work even tougher, by not supplying straw for their quota of bricks to be produced. Consequently, the troubles for Moses and Aaron, now burdened with the Israelites starting to complain about this great plan of deliverance going awry, were just commencing:
“Afterward Moses and Aaron came, and said to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says, “Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.”’ Pharaoh said, ‘Who is the LORD, that I should listen to his voice to let Israel go? I don’t know the LORD, and moreover I will not let Israel go.’ They said, ‘The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the LORD, our God, lest he fall on us with pestilence, or with the sword.’ The king of Egypt said to them, ‘Why do you, Moses and Aaron, take the people from their work? Get back to your burdens!’ Pharaoh said, ‘Behold, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens.’ The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their officers, saying, ‘You shall no longer give the people straw to make brick, as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. You shall require from them the number of the bricks which they made before. You shall not diminish anything of it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, saying, “Let’s go and sacrifice to our God.” Let heavier work be laid on the men, that they may labor in it. Don’t let them pay any attention to lying words.’ The taskmasters of the people went out with their officers, and they spoke to the people, saying, ‘This is what Pharaoh says: “I will not give you straw. Go yourselves, get straw where you can find it, for nothing of your work shall be diminished.”’ So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. The taskmasters were urgent saying, ‘Fulfill your work quota daily, as when there was straw!’ The officers of the children of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and were asked, ‘Why haven’t you fulfilled your quota both yesterday and today, in making brick as before?’ Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, saying, ‘Why do you deal this way with your servants? No straw is given to your servants, and they tell us, “Make brick!” and behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people.’ But Pharaoh said, ‘You are idle! You are idle! Therefore you say, “Let’s go and sacrifice to the LORD.” Go therefore now, and work; for no straw shall be given to you; yet you shall deliver the same number of bricks!’ The officers of the children of Israel saw that they were in trouble when it was said, ‘You shall not diminish anything from your daily quota of bricks!’ They met Moses and Aaron, who stood along the way, as they came out from Pharaoh. They said to them, ‘May the LORD look at you and judge, because you have made us a stench to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us!’ Moses returned to the LORD, and said, ‘Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Why is it that you have sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people. You have not rescued your people at all!’” (Exodus 5:1-23, WMB).
The great lesson which is going to be taught in the coming weeks as the Book of Exodus continues, is that freedom from the bondage of slavery—and/or by extension being freed or delivered from the bondage of sin—never comes without a struggle. Whether on a physical plane or a spiritual plane, the Lord will use the challenges, trials, tests, discouragements, and triumphs of life to mold people for His specific use and tasks in the world. In the coming weeks this will become more and more evident, and for the purposes of God today, hopefully used in the lives of contemporary Messianic Believers, to persevere through all of the challenges of life.
Finally, our Torah reading concludes with a promise from the Lord to Moses, that the Pharaoh would eventually let His people go:
“The LORD said to Moses, ‘Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh, for by a strong hand he shall let them go, and by a strong hand he shall drive them out of his land’” (Exodus 6:1, WMB).
It was not going to be a pleasant exercise for Pharaoh and the Egyptians, as the ten plagues or judgments upon them were going to decimate and humiliate this great, Ancient Near Eastern power. But was this not what was promised centuries earlier to Abram by the Lord? Hopefully, by reading and meditating upon this week’s Torah portion, there will be some spiritual benefits to those today, who are turning to the Torah to learn about their spiritual inheritance. These are instructions written for the admonitions of Messiah followers, as they learn to handle the circumstances of human life:
“Now all these things happened to them by way of example, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands be careful that he doesn’t fall. No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:11-13, WMB).
The Torah has been recorded and preserved by His grace, in order that those reading it today—who are closer to the culmination of the ages—will decisively grow in their walks with Yeshua the Messiah. After all, God is faithful to fulfill His promises to His people. The question is whether each of us will have the faith required to walk into His promises, and their resultant blessings. May we each take our personal responsibility to be faithful servants to heart, and by His grace continue to advance His Kingdom!
