Author: James

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About the Jews…

About the Jews

Prepared for First Baptist Church
Benton, Arkansas

 

A Little Background

A common Jewish saying goes, “Where there are two Jews, there are three opinions.” Many Jews have engaged in discussions, arguments, points of law and various ideas throughout the centuries. Some have learned to argue so well that they are able to argue points they do not hold as if they held those perspectives.

Jewish history is responsible for this. The Jews often either segregated themselves or were segregated due to their distinct cultures, dress, food, etc., The Jewish social commonality was the study of the Talmud. The Talmud consists of commentaries on the commentaries on the Torah. Rabbis long ago wrote commentaries on the Torah. Rabbis of later centuries viewed those commentaries as from the Spirit of God, and they wrote commentaries on the commentaries. The result was a massive set of hallowed commentaries that included regulations for Jewish life.

The rabbis who wrote those regulations often disagreed with each other. One rabbi would write one regulation, and another would disagree with it and would write another. Still other rabbis would expand on the regulations already written, both for and against. Yet veneration of these rabbis dictated that no one openly challenge their authority. The Jews thus learned to exist with great conflicts as if they were part of life.

When Jews trained in the Talmud studied law in any country, they nearly always excelled. Almost any law code was far simpler than the Talmud, and learning Gentile law codes was very easy. The same was true for medicine. Learning medicine was far easier than the Talmud, and Jewish doctors could easily become very great.

 

What do Jews Believe?

A common question asked by Gentiles is, “What do Jews believe regarding … ?” This question sounds reasonable, but it is based on an erroneous assumption: that Jews hold a common belief. The saying above, “Where there are two Jews, there are three opinions” automatically eliminates the possibility of a common belief among Jews.

There are five main religious forms of Judaism: Hassidic Orthodox, Orthodox, Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist. Yet, these do not express what individual members of these groups believe. Many who belong to an Orthodox synagogue do not believe what the rabbi believes; membership does not require a commonality of faith. It only requires a commonality in public practices. (Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism don’t even require that.)

Membership has benefits, and most who join do so for the sake of the benefits. (This is the same in religious organizations throughout the world. Most who join churches have little knowledge of or interest in the true faith of those churches. They are only required to say and do certain things, and are accepted into the membership. Few give weight to what they say.)

 

Hassidic Orthodox Jews

Hassidic Orthodox Jews are the most religious in the various forms of Judaism. They are the group often seen davening (moving their upper bodies forward and back as if in mourning) at the Western (‘Wailing’) Wall. They follow certain rabbis (teachers) who are or were considered the greatest examples of men closest to God. Their dress code is very strict as are their food requirements. They cannot eat foods prepared by folks who do not follow the strictest rabbinic commands. Some would be driven to starve before they would touch traifah (any unclean food, though literally referring to animals found torn, like road-kill). They would not shake hands with a Goy (Gentile) lest they become unnecessarily unclean; yet they are usually most affectionate toward their family and friends and very willing to help fellow Jews in need. Peter (in the Bible) maintained the same standards regarding Gentiles until a voice told him to not call anyone unclean whom God has cleansed (the text indicating that most indeed are unclean). Uncleanness has nothing to do with cleanliness—personal hygiene; it has to do with Yehovah’s standards of propriety for anyone to come into Yehovah’s congregation during an event that Yehovah commanded. The rabbis added many commands to the Biblical commands regarding cleanness/uncleanness. Hassidic Orthodox Jews (Hassidim) live according to the rabbinic additions as well as to ones found in the Torah (the first five books of the Bible).

Commands that Hassidim observe include the Sabbath (starting on Friday as the sun sets and ending on Saturday as the sun sets). They do no work, driving, business or switching on a light on the Sabbath. (If the light will be necessary, it is turned on before sunset.) They do no cooking on the Sabbath. (Hot meals are prepared before the Sabbath and are placed in warmed ovens so that the Sabbath meal can be served hot.) They do no walking beyond a prescribed distance on the Sabbath.

All these practices have nothing to do with faith in the existence of God. Some Hassidim fervently believe in God (whom they call HaShem meaning the Name), and others do not. Tradition and community are the most powerful forces.

Hassidim honor the Torah (the first five books of the Bible), the prophets and the writings (in other words, the entire ‘Old Testament’). They honor the rabbinic commentaries on the Torah as much as the Torah. They honor the rabbinic commentaries on the commentaries on the Torah as much as or more than the Torah believing that the rabbis were given infallible abilities to explain the Torah. (The same belief is commonly found in fundamental ‘Conservative’ Christianity; writers of commentaries are honored as if they wrote from the Spirit of God in their explanations.) The difference is that Christian Conservatives do this by practice but not by direct acknowledged policy, which is more or less what you get with Talmudists.)

Every aspect of everyday life is regulated for the Hassidim. Most are quite content with this. Such regulation brings a great sense of peace, purpose and the feeling of closeness to God even if it avoids questions that must be asked if one will understand the Bible. They think their rabbis understand Biblical texts in the deepest ways, and they rely on them for their own standing before God. They understand that God is like their rabbis in both dress and perspectives.

 

Orthodox Jews

After the Hassidic Orthodox Jews come the Orthodox Jews. They don’t maintain the same level of strictness and study as the Hassidic Orthodox Jews, but they hold a very religious practice. Hassidic Jewish males wear broad-rimmed, fur-bound black hats while Orthodox Jews will wear a kippah (meaning cap, and in Yiddish is called a yarmulke pronounced yamikah) or a black hat. Hassidic Jews wear a ‘prayer shawl’ at all times they are dressed, while Orthodox Jews do not necessarily do this all the time. Orthodox Jews are very strict regarding foods, maintaining rabbinic kashrut (kosher laws). But some will freely shake the hands of others and are not known for being so strict regarding touching Gentiles or becoming unclean. They are definitely stricter in their lifestyles than their Christian counterparts who claim to be part of a form of orthodox Christianity.

Orthodox Jews will not drive on the Sabbath (unless they are cheaters; and there are always some cheaters who put the rules aside when they are not being seen), and will not work or do business on it.

Hassidic Orthodox Jewish and Orthodox Jewish women are the greatest advocates of the maintenance of the religion. Religious Jewish women scorn Jews who are not religious. They are often very kind to Gentile women interested in their faith, showing them the Orthodox life and discussing all issues with them. Most Orthodox and Hassidic Orthodox women can be very kind to those who inquire, and they will show open contempt for Jews who violate strict regulations and live a pagan lifestyle. Jewish men seem to be the heads of the homes, but in reality Jewish women hold the societies together by maintaining the highest standards. The men respond by doing the same. (This is also true in strict Islamic cultures.)

 

Reform Judaism

Also known as the Judaism of Reform, this is not ‘Reformed Judaism;’ Reformed Judaism does not exist. The Judaism of Reform came about because of Jewish history and practice by which Jews were always outside of Gentile society. Some Jews aspired to be accepted among the Gentiles and to not be ostracized due to religion, clothing and foods. The founders determined to make some reforms in Judaism in order to bring peace between Jews and Gentiles. This was accomplished through compromise (on the part of the Jews). Reform Judaism at first looked little different from Orthodox Judaism except for men not consistently wearing a kippah and special clothing, but over time more and more parts of Judaism were shed in order to conform to Gentile society. Reform Judaism finally became viewed as the faith or faithlessness of Gentilized Jews. The only belief a Reform Jew could not hold was in Jesus. Reform Jews could be Buddhist, Moslem, Hindu, Shinto, whatever, as long as belief in Jesus was not part of it.

Reform Judaism was not very popular at first, seen as being held by destructive radicals. It later became more popular and soon became much like attending a liberal church. The order of service includes repetition and readings with little ‘audience’ participation. (Hassidic Orthodox and Orthodox services are much longer and include much more participation, and focus on texts and their meanings and applications.) Shorter Reform services center around the rabbi’s usually very liberal sermons that discuss social issues. Orthodox and Hassidic Orthodox Jews often do not view Reform rabbis as true rabbis. Reform Jews always view Orthodox and Hassidic Orthodox rabbis as rabbis indeed.

 

Conservative Judaism

Conservative Judaism was born out of Reform Judaism, though a person attending would not necessarily conclude that. Some in the Reform movement saw Reform Judaism with its liberal teachings, acceptance of homosexuality and lesbianism, etc. as a way to deplete the Jewish world of Jews by turning them into Goyim (Gentiles). They did not desire to become Orthodox, but they did want a maintenance of some traditions, certainly during services. Thus, the Conservative movement was born. The services allow for men and women to sit together (not done in Orthodox and Hassidic Orthodox services), but kippahs are worn.

One main feature of Conservative Judaism is its worship of the Sabbath Queen. The Sabbath is viewed as a woman, and her arrival is honored as if she is royalty or deity. Songs are sung in her honor.

Conservative Judaism has a perfect counterpart in Conservative Christianity. They are both called Conservative because the idea is to conserve some trappings and traditions while not being so strict. Orthodox means straight doctrine, implying strict codes of right and wrong with strong, clear lines of behaviour that must not be passed. Conservatism is far more ‘accepting’ (and thus, far more liberal), focusing on a few well-chosen issues (like abortion among Christians) rather than on strict faith and practice. The same is true in Conservative Christianity. It isn’t orthodox (straight-doctrined), though its adherents are convinced it is. Conservative Christianity is famous for only taking some texts literally while viewing others as symbolic or allegorical according to personal preferences (not according to a standard that the Author gives for determining which is which). The accent in both Conservative Judaism and Conservative Christianity is in how things look; neither group accents deeply studying texts beyond lip service.

Curiously, forms of Christianity that are called Orthodox (like the Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, etc.) are very liberal (that is, loose in their interpretations) in many places. They are not orthodox (straight-doctrined) in those areas. The same is true in both Orthodox and Hassidic Orthodox Judaism. They are both very liberal in areas where their rabbis did not desire to be strict. One example is the text in Exodus that blatantly states when the Jews are to start each year: in the spring. Even the most Orthodox Jews (along with the most liberal of Jews who still claim Judaism) celebrate the start of the year (Rosh HaShanah) in the fall, a full six months away from the time given in the command.

 

The Rest

Most of the Jews do not fall under any of the above categories of Judaism. Most have no established belief in a god. Only a few have been attracted to modern Christianity. Jews who become Christians either go for Charismatic forms where they can maintain being Jewish or they go for the most liberal forms of Christianity such as Unitarianism. This is often necessary to be accepted by their Gentile neighbours who put up religious fronts in order to make it in society. They are like so many politicians who find being part of some church imperative to be elected, choosing ones with the least spiritual demands.

Jews who attend Conservative churches are often treated differently than their Gentile counterparts, either being elevated to an impossibly high status or being told that they must reject their ‘Jewishness’ and join the (Gentile) church, conforming to it and its standards in order to be accepted by God.

 

Politics

Jews are generally politically liberal. That is probably due to their history. When historical conservative governments arose, Jews usually did not fare well and were often targeted for being different. Some Jews are politically very conservative. Jews will usually maintain two sets of opposing views without feeling any conflict. Even the most Orthodox Jews will have no problem voting for a liberal politician if that politician is strong toward Israel and toward those things that will benefit (or do less damage to) the Orthodox Jewish community. Yet the most liberal Jews will support the most conservative candidates who voice a strong view for or against what those Jews support or are against. One of the most liberal and famous Jewish lawyers in the United States is very conservative on certain issues, as he has openly acknowledged. No person can understand the Jews without knowing that the same Jewish person will take opposing views on almost the same issues, and will stand up strongly for both.

The Jews are like everyone else, except more so.

If a Jew invents a political system, a religion or a mixture, many Gentiles will go after it as if it is a revelation from God. Karl Marx was Jewish, and to this day the largest population on earth (the various races of the Chinese) still espouse his religion/political system called Communism. A close examination of Karl Marx’s instruction on Communism will show that it is almost entirely stolen from the Biblical book of Acts with one exception: Mr. Marx determined to leave God out of it. Saints in Acts held all things in common and benefited each other just as Mr. Marx suggested man (in general) would naturally do. His system instead became a means of authoritarian corruption and slavery. But whenever a Jewish person proposes a system like this, many go after it. How effective would a Jewish person be who proposed taking the Word of God literally?

Mainly Jewish folks invented the Hollywood movie industry, and the whole world went after it. That industry has been beneficial in some ways and highly destructive in others. The world still goes after it. Even violent anti-Semites watch television.

Jewish names loom much greater in proportion to their population in the life-saving medical fields, with Jews discovering numerous vaccines and medical techniques.

Jews were blamed for the Black Plague because they didn’t tend to be so affected by it. The plague was exacerbated by Gentile superstitious stupidity. Jewish communities were affected less, and this is perhaps attributable to different cultural practices. Some outspoken Gentiles claimed that Jews were poisoning their wells, causing the Plague. Violence against the Jews became widespread, and the Jews were driven out of Europe. Think what could have been done had folks with sense considered the situation.

So-called ‘Christians’ have blamed Jews for ‘killing Christ.’ (Some who claim to be Christians currently do this.) The Bible places responsibility for His death on Jews, Gentiles, Yehovah and Yeshua in various texts. Those who blame the Jews do so with often violent results. Yet the Bible states that the Jews are responsible for Salvation (as I later quote).

 

Jewish Patriotism

Some have accused the Jews of having no patriotic loyalty. Rumors of Jews being international and even causing wars have been spread by lying books like Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The majority of Jews have been poor, not wealthy. As of a few years ago, no Jewish person was the president of any bank in the United States. Some Jews have done well, but so have some Gentiles. Jews have been loyal to any country where they have lived if that country has treated them well. (Most have not treated them well for long.) They have worked hard, and often had their wealth stolen (consider European history). Yet, in any country where they have been able to live and do well, they have aided that country with their means and blood. Traitors can be from any race; Jews have rarely been traitors.

A number of Jews supported the Revolutionary War with funding. The United States has acknowledged this benefit on its paper money, employing Jewish symbols:

Obviously, if a country turns against the Jews, the Jews must either leave or die. This has often occurred in Jewish history. Jews tend to stay too long and be too loyal even when this is foolish.

As for Jewish internationalism, because Jews live in most all countries of the world and share a cultural commonality, they are able to expedite trade and benefits. Many non-Jews have prospered through this trade.

 

The Torah

Wherever Jews go, the Torah goes with them. Wherever Jews go, the Bible goes with them. (That includes the ‘New Testament’.) That doesn’t mean that Jews in general believe the Bible. Most Jews do not believe in the Biblical God. Most are agnostic (agnosos indicating ignorance); they don’t know. Most who do believe in a god or gods do not believe in a Biblically described God (the same being true of most who claim to be Christian). Jews are found in most world religions. Yet where the Jews go, the Torah also goes; the Truth of the Word of God also follows.

Friends of Jews are friends of the Bible. Those who ignore Jews or who stand against them ignore the Bible or stand against it. This is a most curious phenomenon. Jews represent the Bible whether they want to or not.

 

What About When the Jews Do Wrong?

I am sometimes asked, “What about when the Jews do wrong? Are you saying that I must be for them in order to be right with God?” The Jews did wrong under Moses’ administration. Moses killed some of them to save all of them. Moses was never against the Jews. He was against individuals who violated the Torah and whose violation was about to bring the very destructive wrath of Yehovah upon Israel. That isn’t the same as standing against the Jews.

Jews belong to Yehovah. Standing against them is standing against Yehovah’s property. It is up to Yehovah to deal with them or to use whomever He will to deal with them. Anyone who presumes to speak for God by dealing with the Jews will find Yehovah’s fury set against him. If a Jewish person does wrong and you are in the position and have the responsibility to deal with him, do so. But do not stand against the Jews; it has everlasting consequences.

 

Does God Favor the Jews over the Gentiles?

If the Jews do wrong, Yehovah deals with them harder for the same offenses. (The Bible states that this is the case.) They have Truth because He gave them Truth. They are held responsible for what they have been given. If they don’t know, it isn’t because they don’t have access. Even if a Jewish person were on a desert island in a prison cell, and were given only food, water and clothing, the Jewish person would not be isolated from Yehovah’s Spirit. Abraham heard from Yehovah, and he had no Bible. John was in prison on Patmos. He was temporarily removed from there, taken into the heavens and into the future to view things to come. No Jewish person is isolated from God, nor can be. If he or she desires to know, Yehovah will make sure he or she knows. (The same is true for any Gentile who desires to know.)

Yehovah owns the Jews. (He does not claim ownership over other races.) He has vowed to benefit them if they will obey His Torah (in other words, do their responsibilities). He has also vowed to bless those who bless Avraham, and He transferred that blessing to Isaac and then to Jacob.

Yehovah favours the Jews in some ways and violently goes after them in others as He would not do with pagan races. This favour has to do with a group, not with individuals. Most Jewish individuals find Yehovah’s attention anything but a privilege. As was said in Fiddler on the Roof, “Why can’t you choose someone else?”

Some are jealous of the Jews. They are jealous for the blessings—blessings that Jews have not enjoyed since the time of the promise, but they are not jealous for the guaranteed cursings that Jews have abundantly obtained for disobedience to the Torah.

 

Salvation is of the Jews

Anyone who believes the Bible believes that Salvation is of the Jews. Instead of being jealous of the Jews, those who have any interest and belief in the Bible need to present to the Jews the very Salvation that Jews have given to all who believe. They need to drive the Jews to jealousy. Romans 11 states this. Any form of Christianity that does not have this as its primary and central goal does not truly believe in the resurrection of the dead. For Messiah will return with those who have died in faith only after Israel (including every living Israeli) has finally been made entirely righteous in faith.

Yeshua says (which is explicit in a similar way), “Ye will not see me again until ye say, ‘Blessed is He Who comes with the Name Yehovah.’” He was saying what the corporate Body of the Jews have yet to state. Of course that leaves out any kind of manipulation or mechanism of ‘faith’ on the part of Christians to make (or cause) Yeshua to come back.

 

How Can One Understand the Jews?

Read the Bible. It perfectly and completely describes the Jews. Jews who are far more gracious than nearly any American you will meet are described in the Bible; Jews who are more wicked and violent than most criminals are also described.

Yehovah has given Jews the responsibility to rightly portray Him to the world. Jews are best equipped for their assignments just as Saints from all races will be equipped for their different assignments.

Before I went to Israel, I experienced the local culture of some Jews in the United States. I was shocked to find a very different culture in Israel, a culture that I could not reconcile with my experiences. Jews are not standard. They reflect cultures in which they live; yet they hold a different culture no matter where they live. I found that I could understand Jewish cultures best by studying the Bible and the character of Yehovah! No one in possession of a Bible knows Yehovah if that person does not understand the Jews since understanding the Jews and Yehovah go hand in hand as one reads the Bible. Anyone who hates the Jews is bitter against Yehovah, not to mention a bitter enemy OF Yehovah.

 

Didn’t God Turn to the Gentiles Because the Jews Refused to Obey?

Yehovah is divorced. The Bible directly states this. Yehovah was married to Jerusalem; He is now divorced from her. He will remarry her again. Yehovah has not ‘let Israel be’ since the divorce; He has been keeping an eye on her. Anyone who touches the Israelis touches the pupil of His eye. (That is rather sensitive.) Yehovah has not cast away His people whom He foreknew.

He foreknew the Israelis before He chose them. He would be a failure if He chose wrong. He has sense. Yehovah has not turned to the Gentiles and away from Israel.

Look at what the Gentiles have done in the way of Biblical scholarship in the last 1800 years. Look at what they haven’t done. How many understand the purpose of the red heifer? How many understand the vital types of the sacrifices in the Torah? How many understand the details of the Tribulation as described throughout the book of John? How many can rightly and fully explain Matthew 5-7? How many know what the Ark of the Testimony pictures? Given 1800 years, what have the Gentiles done? Have they made a pure Christianity with a definite and right standard according to what the Bible describes in all details?

The Gentiles have done no better, and have done far worse than the Jews. At least in the days of Yeshua (Jesus) a number of folks were declared righteous, and they knew that one could successfully and consistently refuse to sin by the power of God.

God hasn’t turned to the Gentiles. He has been silent. Yehovah is silent when He is angry.

As one person stated, “It reminds me of what people say about psychics – – why don’t they always win at horse racing? What has occurred to me about the Jews and Yehovah is that He knows the end from the beginning and doesn’t place bets on any losing horses since He knows how the race turns out.”

 

Replacement Theology

Popular in Gentilized (and unfortunately in so-called ‘Messianic Jewish’) theology is the view that the Gentiles have replaced Israel (or, in the case of Messianic Judaism, the view that modern Jews have replaced Israel). This violent theology is pervasive even among many who claim to be friends of Israel.

When pastors, preachers and teachers steal texts that are specifically for Israel for their own theological applications, they are practicing Replacement Theology. Not only is this stealing and dishonest, it totally blinds hearers to Truth and teaches an illegitimate faith (and thus an illegitimate salvation).

Replacement Theology is an attempt to annihilate the Jews. Folks who use it may not have that in mind, but they are as guilty as those who think that all Jews are stingy while claiming that they are not racist. Reading the Bible is not for the mindless; it is designed for children (who take things literally) and for thinkers who are willing to consider Truth. Yehovah also designed the Bible so that those who love a lie could erroneously use it.

Yehovah entrusted His Word to the Jews first, and He will entrust His Word to the Jews finally. They will teach Gentiles His Word during the entire Millennium while He reigns. The Jews will teach His Word literally.

Yeshua told the mostly unbelieving Jews that they are the light of the world and the salt of the earth. He never said that to any other group. (He never said that to any individuals.) Jews have been chosen by a ‘right wise’ God to be the light of the world (a light to the Gentiles) and to be the salt of the earth (bringing real flavor to life). They have already been given these abilities. All who fear the God of Avraham, Isaac and Jacob have a responsibility toward the Jews just as the Jews have a responsibility toward the Gentiles. If one group does not presently fulfill its responsibilities, does that release the other from responsibility?

http://www.sschotsprings.com/about_the_jews.html

This paper updated with edits on March 22, 2006

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Exodus 27: The Altar and the Courtyard

The Altar and the Courtyard

 

 

Background and printed text: Exodus 27

 

Exodus 27:1 And thou shalt make the altar trees of acacia 5 forearms length and 5 forearms breadth. The altar shall be a revolution. And 3 forearms is his standing. 2And thou shalt make his horns upon four of his corners. His horns shall be from him! And thou shalt observe him: copper.

 

3And thou shalt make his searers to his fat, and his shovels, and his sprinkling-basins, and his forks, and his seizers. Thou shalt make copper to all his utensils.

 

4And thou shalt make to him a grate, doing of a copper net. And thou shalt make upon the net four sunk-impressions of copper upon four of his edges. 5And thou shalt give her under, as a chariot of the altar from beneath. And she shall be the net unto half of the altar.

 

6And thou shalt give members to the altar—members of trees of acacia. And thou shalt observe them: copper. 7And he shall be brought with his members into the sunk-impressions. And they shall be the members upon two of the sides of the altar when carrying him.

 

8Emptied, thou shalt make him slates. Established: they shall make just-as He showed thee in the mountain!

 

9And thou shalt make a courtyard of the Abode to a corner southward, rightward. Slings are to the courtyard: twisted byssus—100 via a forearm, length, to a corner of the one. 10And his standings are 20. And their lords are 20: copper. Hooks of the standings and their attachments are silver. 11And established to the north corner via length of slings 100 length and his standing 20 and their lords 20: copper. Hooks of the standing and their attachments are silver.

 

12 And the breadth of the courtyard is to the corner of the sea. 50 slings: a forearm; their standings are 10, and their lords are 10. 13And the breadth of the courtyard to a corner eastward sunriseward is 50 forearm. 14And slings are 15: a forearm to the shoulder. Their standings are 3 and their lords are 3. 15And 15 are slings to the second shoulder. Their standings are 3 and their lords are 3.

 

16And to the gate of the courtyard is a camouflage 20 forearm blue and purple and earthworm crimson and byssus of the groping of a stranger, doing of variegation. Their standings are 4 and their lords are 4. 17All standings of the courtyard around: silver is from their attachments! Their hooks are silver and their lords are copper.

 

18Length of the courtyard is 100 via a forearm and breadth is 50 via 50 and height is 5 forearms byssus of the groping of a stranger.

 

And their lords are copper 19to every utensil of the Abode via all his service and all his nails! And every nail of the courtyard is copper.

 

20And thou: Thou shalt command the children of Israel. And they shall take unto thee pure beaten olive oil for a light-emanator to make-ascend a lamp of continuance. 21Aharon and his sons shall arrange him to the faces of Yehovah from evening unto morning in the Tent of Appointment from outside to the veil that is upon the Testimonies, a statute of Hider to their generations from with children of Israel!

 

 

 

I. The Copper-Clad Altar (verses 1-2)

 

Yehovah commanded Moshe to make an acacia tree altar, 5 by 5 forearms. The altar will be a revolution. It is 3 forearms tall.

 

Horns made from the altar itself will be upon four of his corners.

 

When Moshe looks at the altar, it will be copper.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    What are the dimensions of the altar in feet?

 

2.    Why would an altar that has fire in it be made of acacia?

 

3.    What does acacia typify?

 

4.    If the above is true, what would acacia have to do with the altar?

 

5.    What does “The altar shall be a revolution” mean?

 

6.    What is a standing?

 

7.    What does the number 3 typify?

 

8.    What does the number 5 typify?

 

9.    What does “3 forearms is his standing” typify?

 

10. What is a horn, and what does it typify?

 

11. Why must the horns be on the four corners?

 

12. What does “His horns shall be from him” mean, and why?

 

13. The text states, “And thou shalt observe him: copper.” What does this mean and signify?

 

 

 

II. Copper Utensils (verse 3)

 

The altar’s utensils (items for handling the sacrifices and other parts of the altar) include:

 

  • Searers
  • Shovels
  • Sprinkling-basins
  • Forks
  • Seizers

All the utensils must be made of copper.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    What is a searer?

 

2.    Why will shovels be necessary?

 

3.    What is a sprinkling-basin?

 

4.    For what will a fork be used?

 

5.    What is a seizer?

 

6.    What does a searer typify?

 

7.    What does a shovel typify?

 

8.    What does a sprinkling-basin typify?

 

9.    What does a fork of this kind typify?

 

10. What does a seizer typify?

 

11. Why must all the utensils be made of copper?

 

 

 

III. Copper Net Grate (verses 4-5)

 

Moshe must make a grate to the altar; it must be a copper net (a copper screen).

 

This copper net must have four copper sunk-impressions upon four of his edges.

 

He must give the copper net grate under the dug-out-extenguisher of the altar, underneath. This will be the net unto the half-way-point of the altar.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    What is a grate?

 

2.    What do the grate and net typify?

 

3.    What do sunk-impressions typify?

 

4.    Why must they be on four of his edges?

 

5.    What is this chariot?

 

6.    Identify the object of the pronoun she in, “And she shall be the net unto half of the altar”:

 

7.    Why is this net only unto half of the altar?

 

 

 

IV. Acacia Members to the Altar (verses 6-7)

 

Moshe must give members to the altar made of acacia trees. When observing them, they will be copper.

 

Both Moshe and his members must be brought into the sunk-impressions of the altar. They will be the members upon two of the sides of the altar when carrying the altar.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    Why must these members be given to the altar?

 

2.    What does acacia typify?

 

3.    What must be done if they are to be observed copper?

 

4.    What does the copper covering of the acacia wood typify?

 

5.    Again, what are these members that must be given to the altar?

 

6.    What are these sunk-impressions?

 

7.    Who is he in, “And he shall be brought with his members into the sunk-impressions”?

 

8.    Explain what will occur in, “And they shall be the members upon two of the sides of the altar when carrying him”:

 

 

 

V. Slates (verse 8)

 

Moshe must make slates for the altar. They shall be made exactly as Yehovah showed Moshe in the mountain!

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    What are slates?

 

2.    How many slates must he make?

 

3.    Why must the altar be emptied before making these slates?

 

4.    The text then states, “Established: they shall make just-as He showed thee in the mountain!” How were they made in the mountain?

 

5.    Who are they in, “Established: they shall make just-as He showed thee in the mountain”?

 

6.    What shall they make?

 

 

 

VI. The Courtyard (verses 9-11)

 

Moshe must construct the courtyard of the Abode to a corner southward, rightward.

 

The courtyard will have slings made of byssus of the groping of a stranger. The length will be 100 via a forearm (cubit), to the corner of one.

 

There are 20 standings that support the byssus slings. The lords are twenty, and are made of copper. The hooks of the standings and the attachments of the standings are silver.

 

This is also established to the north corner; the length of the slings is 100 via the forearm. There are also 20 standings and twenty lords of copper. The hooks of the standing and their attachments are silver!

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    What will be the purpose of the courtyard of the Abode?

 

2.    What does the courtyard typify?

 

3.    Why must the courtyard of the Abode be specifically to a corner southward, rightward?

 

4.    What are these slings?

 

5.    Of what will these slings be made?

 

6.    Explain again about the groping of a stranger.

 

7.    How many groups will there be?

 

8.    What are these standings?

 

9.    In previous texts, the lords were always double the cuttings. In this text, the lords are the same number as the standings. Why?

 

10. What are these hooks?

 

11. Why are the hooks made of silver?

 

12. What are these attachments, and what do they typify?

 

13. What does “And established to the north corner” tell readers?

 

14. What does “via length of slings” tell readers?

 

15. What does “100 length” mean?

 

16. What does “his standing 20 and their lords 20: copper” mean?

 

17. Why does the text repeat, “Hooks of the standing and their attachments are silver”?

 

 

 

VII. The Breadth of the Courtyard (verses 12-15)

 

The breadth of the courtyard to the corner of the sea and to the corner of the slings is 50 forearm(s). There are 10 standings, and there are 10 lords.

 

The breadth of the courtyard to the corner eastward—sunriseward—is 50 forearm(s). There are 10 standings, and there are 10 lords.

 

The slings are 15 forearm(s) to the shoulder. Their standings are 3 and their lords are 3.

 

The slings to the second shoulder are 15; their standings are 3 and their lords are 3.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    What is a breadth?

 

2.    What sea is this?

 

3.    What does “50 slings: a forearm” tell the reader?

 

4.    Whose standings are 10?

 

5.    Why are both eastward and sunriseward used to show direction when they are the same?

 

6.    What is this shoulder, and what does it typify?

 

7.    What does “slings are 15: a forearm to the shoulder” mean?

 

8.    If the above is true, what does “Their standings are 3 and their lords are 3” tell the reader?

 

9.    Explain the type(s) behind “And 15 are slings to the second shoulder”:

 

10. Thus, explain “Their standings are 3 and their lords are 3”:

 

 

 

VIII. The Camouflage (verses 16-17)

 

There is a camouflage to the gate of the courtyard; it is 20 forearm(s), and is blue and purple and earthworm crimson and byssus of the groping of a stranger. It is the doing of variegation!

 

Their standings are 4 and their lords are 4. All standings of the courtyard around: silver is from their attachments!

 

Their hooks are silver and their lords are copper!

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    Why does the gate of the courtyard need a camouflage?

 

2.    Identify this gate:

 

3.    Explain the “20 forearm”:

 

4.    Next, explain “a camouflage 20 forearm blue and purple and earthworm crimson and byssus of the groping of a stranger, doing of variegation”:

 

5.    Explain “Their standings are 4 and their lords are 4”:

 

6.    Why does the text so emphasize that silver is from the attachments of all the standings of the courtyard?

 

7.    The text again states, “Their hooks are silver and their lords are copper.” Why?

 

 

 

IX. Length of the Courtyard (verse 18)

 

The courtyard’s length is 100 via a forearm. The breadth is 50 by 50, and the height is 5 forearms, made of byssus of the groping of a stranger.

 

 

Questions

 

1.    What does the courtyard’s length being 100 via a forearm tell the reader?

 

2.    Explain this strange wording, “and breadth is 50 via 50”:

 

3.    What does “and breadth is 50 via 50” typify?

 

4.    The next part describes the height: “and height is 5 forearms byssus of the groping of a stranger.” What do the height and the rest of the statement typify?

 

5.    This text section mentions length, breadth and height. There is another dimension not mentioned here. What is that, and what do these dimensions signify?

 

 

 

X. Copper (verses 18-19)

 

Their lords are copper to every utensil of the Abode by means of all his service and all his nails! Every nail of the courtyard is copper!

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    Why are the lords of every utensil of the Abode and all the abode’s nails copper?

 

2.    Of what are all the utensils of the Abode made?

 

3.    What does “every utensil of the Abode via all his service” mean?

 

4.    Who is his in, “and all his nails”?

 

5.    What are these nails, and what do they typify?

 

 

 

XI. The Lamp of Continuance (verses 20-21)

 

Moshe must command the children of Israel. They will take unto Moshe pure cut olive oil for a light emanator to make-ascend a lamp of continuance.

 

Aharon and his sons must arrange the light emanator to the faces of Yehovah from evening unto morning in the Tent of Appointment. That light emanator is located just outside of the veil that is upon the Testimonies. This is a statute of Hider to their generations; this is from with the children of Israel!

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    Why did Yehovah make such a direct command to Moshe, saying, “And thou: Thou shalt command the children of Israel”?

 

2.    The text continues, “And they shall take unto thee pure cut olive oil…” Why must this olive oil be taken specifically unto Moshe?

 

3.    What is beaten olive oil?

 

4.    What does this type of oil typify?

 

5.    Explain pure as it is used here:

 

6.    What is a light emanator?

 

7.    What is a lamp of continuance?

 

8.    Why would a lamp of continuance necessarily ascend?

 

9.    What does this lamp of continuance typify?

 

10. If the above answer is correct, why does it need to be supplied with olive oil?

 

11. Why must Aharon and his sons arrange this Menorah (this light emanator)?

 

12. Why must Aharon and his sons arrange the Menorah to the faces of Yehovah?

 

13. What was the appearance of this Menorah?

 

14. Why must Aharon and his sons arrange the Menorah from evening unto morning?

 

15. Why must this arrangement be done in the Tent of Appointment? Why couldn’t they carry it out and arrange it in the courtyard?

 

16. Why must this arrangement be done specifically “from outside to the veil that is upon the Testimonies”?

 

17. Is the veil upon the Testimonies?

 

18. What is a statute?

 

19. What is Hider?

 

20. What is a statute of Hider?

 

21. To whom does their refer in, “to their generations”?

 

22. What does “from with children of Israel” mean, and why is it placed here in this text?

 

 

 

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Exodus 14 The Chase and the Baptism QA

The Chase and the Baptism

Questions with Proposed Answers

 

Background and Printed Text: Exodus chapter 14

 

1And Yehovah spoke unto Draw [Moshe] to say, 2 “Speak unto the children of Israel. And they have sat. And they have camped to the faces of Mouth-Of-The-Holes between Tower and between the Sea to the faces of North-Lord. Ye shall camp directly-in-front of him upon the Sea. 3And Pharaoh shall say to the children of Israel, ‘They are confused in the land! The desert shut upon them!’ 4And I will grip the heart of Pharaoh. And he will chase after them. And I have been demonstrated-important via Pharaoh and via all his army. And Egyptians shall know that I am Yehovah!” And they did so.

 

5And he told to the king of Egypt that the people fled. And the heart of Pharaoh and his slaves flipped-over unto the people. And they said, “What is this we did? For we sent Israel from our slavery!”

 

6And he harnessed his chariot. And he took his people with him. 7And he took 600 chosen chariot and every chariot of Egypt, and their third over all of him. 8And Yehovah gripped the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And he chased after the children of Israel. And the children of Israel are exiting via an elevated hand. 9And Egyptians chased after them.

 

And every horse, chariot of Pharaoh and his horsemen and his army reached them camping upon the Sea, upon Mouth-Of-The-Holes to the faces of North-Lord.

 

10And Pharaoh approached. And the children of Israel lifted their eyes. And behold, Egypt is journeying after them. And they feared very much! And the children of Israel screamed unto Yehovah. 11And they said unto Draw [Moshe], “Is without—there are no tombs in Egypt—thou hast taken us to die in the desert??  What is this thou hast done to us to make-us-exit from Egypt? 12Isn’t this the speech that we spoke unto thee in Egypt to say, ‘Cease from us, and we have served Egypt’? For better to us to serve Egypt than our death in the desert!”

 

13And Draw [Moshe] said unto the people, “Fear ye not! Position yourselves! And see-ye the Salvation of Yehovah that He will do for you today. For what ye have seen with Egypt today, ye will not redouble to see them again unto Hider!  14Yehovah will war for you. And ye: ye shall hush!”

 

15And Yehovah said unto Draw [Moshe], “What? Wilt thou scream unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel! And they have journeyed!  16And thou, elevate thy rod and stretch thine hand upon the sea. And split him. And the children of Israel have come into the midst of the Sea via the dry! 17And I: behold, I am gripping the heart of Egypt. And they have come after them! And I have been demonstrated-important via Pharaoh and via all his army, via his chariot and via his horsemen! 18And Egyptians shall know that I am Yehovah via my being demonstrated-important via Pharaoh, via his chariot and via his horsemen!”

 

19And Messenger of the Elohim who walks to the faces of the camp of Israel journeyed. And He walked from after them. And the pillar of the cloud journeyed from their faces. And He stood from after them. 20And He came between the camp of Egypt and between the camp of Israel. And He was the cloud and the darkness, and He lit the night. And this did not come-near unto this all the night.

 

21And Draw [Moshe] stretched his hand upon the Sea. And Yehovah walked the Sea via a strong wind of the east all the night. And He put the Sea to drought. And the waters split. 22And the children of Israel came into the midst of the Sea via the dry. And the waters are a wall to them from their right and from their left.

 

23And Egyptians chased them. And every horse of Pharaoh, his chariot and his horsemen came after them unto the midst of the Sea. 24And it was in the guarding of the morning. And Yehovah overlooked unto the camp of Egypt in the Pillar of fire and cloud. And He hummed the camp of Egypt. 25And He removed the wheel of his charioteers. And He guided him via heaviness. And Egypt said, “I will flee from the faces of Israel! For Yehovah is warring for them in Egypt!”

 

26And Yehovah said unto Draw [Moshe], “Stretch thine hand upon the Sea. And the waters have returned upon Egypt, upon his chariot and upon his horsemen.” 27And Draw [Moshe] stretched his hand upon the Sea. And the Sea returned to his vigour to the turnings of the morning. And Egyptians are fleeing to meet him! And Yehovah shook-off Egypt in the midst of the Sea. 28And the waters returned. And they covered the chariot and the horsemen to all the army of Pharaoh coming after them in the Sea. None remained in them unto one!

 

29And the children of Israel walked via the dry in the midst of the Sea. And the waters are a wall to them from their right and from their left. 30And Yehovah saved Israel from the hand of Egypt in that day.

 

And Israel saw Egypt dead upon the lip of the Sea. 31And Israel saw the Big Hand that Yehovah made in Egypt. And they—the people—feared Yehovah. And they believed in Yehovah and in Draw [Moshe] His slave.

 

 

 

I. Camping and Confusion (verses 1-4)

 

Yehovah spoke directions unto Moshe to give to the children of Israel. The Israelis have sat and camped in front of Mouth of the Holes which is located between Tower and the Sea; it is also in front of North Lord.

 

Yehovah told the Israelis to camp upon the Sea. This will give Pharaoh the impression that the Israelis are confused. Pharaoh will say to the children of Israel, “They are confused in the land! The desert shut upon them!” In the meantime, Yehovah will grip the heart of Pharaoh, and he will chase after the Israelis. Yehovah stated, “And I have been demonstrated-important via Pharaoh and via all his army. And Egyptians shall know that I am Yehovah!”

 

The Israelis did what they were told.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    What did Yehovah tell Moshe to command the children of Israel? He told Moshe to command the Israelis to sit! They had left Egypt, and they now felt free. They had come to the Sea, and it was time to rest and to camp.

 

2.    Why would a place be called Mouth of the Holes? Parts of this land have many caves! Since a mouth is an opening, this place must be an opening to an area where there are many holes—some being straight down, but others being sideways in rock hills.

 

3.    Why would a place be named Tower? This is either named after a hill that looks like a tower, or it is where a tower was built at one time, I propose.

 

4.    What Sea is this? This is what is commonly called the Red Sea: the sea that is below the present-day land of Israel and part of Egypt. It is part of the oceans, so it is salt water rather than fresh water. (See a Bible map and find the Red Sea.) A better name for this sea is the Ending Sea since this is where Israel will end to its south; that is what I propose the Hebrew name (Yam Suf) means.

 

5.    Why would a location be named North Lord? Discovering why places and persons are named certain ways can be difficult and even impossible at times. I can guess that whoever named it prayed to a god who the namer thought ruled the north.

 

6.    The next statement says, “Ye shall camp directly-in-front of him upon the Sea.” Who is him? I propose that this refers to the location called Mouth-Of-The-Holes.

 

7.    The text then states, “And Pharaoh shall say to the children of Israel, ‘They are confused in the land!’” Will Pharaoh directly speak to the Israelis? He won’t get that close! He will speak to the Israelis in his mind; he won’t speak to them directly or out loud.

 

8.    What will Pharaoh mean by, “They are confused in the land”? Pharaoh will think that they traveled to the Red Sea, and became confused trying to leave Egypt. He will figure that they went the wrong way, and dead-ended at the Red Sea. If they had known the right way, they would have easily continued on land. Pharaoh will be wrong, of course.

 

9.    What does Pharaoh mean by, “The desert shut upon them”? This means that the Israelis became trapped by the desert (and by the water) so that the Israelis were unable to leave the desert.

 

10. Was Pharaoh right? Were the Israelis confused in the land, and did the desert shut upon them? No! Pharaoh was quite wrong. Yehovah had the whole thing planned.

 

11. For what purpose will Yehovah grip the heart of Pharaoh? Since the heart is the mind, Yehovah will grip Pharaoh’s mind. He will do this in order to help Pharaoh become resolved (that is, become determined without being undecided) so that Pharaoh will do what he thinks is the only right decision. Thus, Yehovah will help Pharaoh make up his mind!

 

12. What will Pharaoh decide to do? He will decide to chase after the Israelis!

 

13. What will be the result of Pharaoh’s chasing after the Israelis, according to the next part of the text? The result will be that Yehovah will be demonstrated as important by means of Pharaoh and all Pharaoh’s army! Yehovah will be shown as the most important being! Also, the Egyptians will know that this God is Yehovah!

 

14. The next statement is, “And they did so.” Who are they, and what did they do? They are the Israelis, and they did what Moshe said: they sat (down to camp) where Moshe said.

 

 

 

II. Heart Flip (verse 5)

 

Someone told the king of Egypt that the people of Israel fled. This caused an immediate reaction in Pharaoh and his slaves: their heart (mind) ‘flipped over’ unto the people of Israel. They said, “What is this we did? For we sent Israel from our slavery!”

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    Who told the king of Egypt that the people fled? I only know of two choices: one of the slaves of Pharaoh, or Yehovah. I cannot tell what the answer is. I am thinking that it was Yehovah, since Pharaoh was in deep grief over the death of his son, and I don’t know who would break in on Pharaoh to tell him this.

 

2.    What does “the heart of Pharaoh and his slaves flipped-over unto the people” mean? Pharaoh and his slaves have one heart in this text, referring to one mind. Pharaoh and his slaves suddenly turned from their grief and all the problems from all the deaths; their thoughts were on the people of Israel, and what a disaster their leaving would be to the Egyptian economy and standing in the world.

 

3.    Why did they say, “What is this we did? For we sent Israel from our slavery”? They realized that they released the very means of their country being rich! Now, they would all have to work very hard just to live even poor lives! (I do not assume that the Israelis were their only slaves, but they were the largest group of slaves; the Bible doesn’t mention other groups.) Releasing all those slaves without making sure that there will be replacements was now viewed as very foolish!

 

 

 

III. The Chase (verses 6-9)

 

Pharaoh harnessed his chariot. He took his people with him including 600 chosen chariot(s) and every chariot of Egypt! He took their third (of what?) over all of Egypt!

 

Yehovah gripped the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Pharaoh chased after the children of Israel! In the meantime, the children of Israel are exiting via an elevated hand! The Egyptians chased after them.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    Who harnessed Pharaoh’s chariot?? I asked this because Pharaoh had so many slaves; certainly, one of his slaves would have harnessed the chariot for Pharaoh. However, this text indicates that he did it himself. If that is the case, that shows how much of a hurry he felt; it also shows that Pharaoh was physically strong and well-suited to chariot warfare.

 

2.    Who are his people that he took with him? They are the Egyptians. Yet, Pharaoh himself led this recovery mission!

 

3.    Why does the text state that he took 600 chosen chariot instead of 600 chosen chariots? When numbers are very large in Hebrew, the items being counted are often described in the singular form, as if there is just one.

 

4.    What is the distinction between chosen chariots and every chariot of Egypt? The chosen chariots are battle-ready with charioteers who are likewise battle-trained and battle-ready, and who have distinguished themselves through tests and challenges on their chariots. Every chariot of Egypt indicates that Pharaoh ordered all other chariots in the land to participate in this chase. (I assume that these were battle chariots, and that Pharaoh was able to get orders to them right away, since it would take months to contact all the private chariot owners to go into this chase.)

 

5.    What was so important about bringing all the chariots into this chase? In those days, chariots were very frightening to those being chased by them and doing battle with them. They were like small tanks. Charioteers could bring their chariots very close to those they were chasing and attacking, and could run over them while using swords against those on foot. Thus, Pharaoh knew that the chariots would terrify the Israelis, and would likely cause them to return back to Egypt without a fight.

 

6.    The last part of the statement is, “…and their third over all of him.” Identify their, the third, and him: I propose that him refers to the chariot (of Egypt). Regarding the third, a lexicographer (a person who writes a lexicon—which is like a dictionary, but is different since it explains more about the words and their relationships to each other) suggested that this might refer to a shield carrier. If this is the case, and I am thinking he is right, each chariot had the charioteer—the person who drove the chariot—and another person who handled the shield and did other functions from the chariot. That would mean that there would be two persons on each chariot handling swords. The reason why this person would be called their third instead of their second is because the chariot itself was considered their first.

 

7.    Why does the text again state, “And Yehovah gripped the heart of Pharaoh”? This shows how important it is for the reader of the text to note that Yehovah was firming Pharaoh’s mind to do this. Pharaoh had just lost his firstborn son, and everyone had suffered deaths because of Yehovah’s slaughter in Egypt. All in Egypt greatly feared what Yehovah the Gods of the Israelis could do. Pharaoh had every reason to fear going after Israel, but he wanted so much to go after Israel. Yehovah aided Pharaoh to do what he desired to do by gripping Pharaoh’s mind—by holding on tightly to it so that Pharaoh would think steadily and pursue without becoming scared.

 

8.    What does “And the children of Israel are exiting via an elevated hand” mean? Anyone who does anything in the Bible with an elevated hand is declaring that he is feeling very strong and very able.

 

Raised fist

 

       Thus, the Israelis exited from Egypt feeling very strong and very self-confident.

 

9.    The text again states, “And Egyptians chased after them.” Why say this so often? This alerts the reader to be warned. This will terrify the Israelis more than anything they have experienced since they came into Egypt. What the Israelis fear will become an excuse to revolt against Moshe.

 

 

 

IV. The Army Approaches (verse 9)

 

Every horse of Pharaoh, every chariot of Pharaoh and Pharaoh’s horsemen reached the Israelis camping upon the Sea, camping at a location called Mouth of the Holes, which was located directly in front of a place called North-Lord.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    How long was this chase from the time that the Egyptians decided to go after the Israelis, and how long had Israel been gone from Egyptian slavery? This chase was many miles. It would have taken at least a day, since horses can only be run so long before they will be harmed. I cannot tell from the text; it may have been two days or more.

 

       As for the length of time the Israelis had now been out of Egyptian slavery, I propose that they had already been gone about three days, though it may have been two days. They left at midnight or just after that time, and they traveled at least one day; the distances give me the impression of several days—enough for them to get used to the cloud by day and the fire by night.

 

2.    The Israelis were camping upon the Sea. Did they think that they were safe from Egypt at this point? They did! They didn’t think that the Egyptian army would come after them.

 

3.    How did they know which way the Israelis went? Besides having excellent trackers, they were easily able to follow the footprints and the animal droppings right to where the Israelis were!

 

 

 

V. Terror (verses 10-12)

 

Pharaoh approached the Israelis. The children of Israel lifted their eyes. They saw that Egypt is journeying after them! The Israelis greatly feared. They then screamed unto Yehovah. They then said unto Moshe, “Is without—there are no tombs in Egypt—thou hast taken us to die in the desert??”

 

They then directly blamed Moshe: “What is this thou hast done to us to make-us-exit from Egypt? Isn’t this the speech that we spoke unto thee in Egypt to say, ‘Cease from us, and we have served Egypt’?”

 

The Israelis then told Moshe, “For better to us to serve Egypt than our death in the wilderness!”

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    Why did the Israelis fear so much when they lifted their eyes and saw Egypt journeying after them? When an army is approaching very rapidly with chariots and horses, it appears to be an attack! The Israelis knew that the Egyptians had all lost firstborn family members. They therefore must have concluded that the Egyptian army was coming to take vengeance for the deaths in Egypt, and would slaughter the Israelis!

 

2.    The text states that the Israelis screamed unto Yehovah! Did they have faith in Yehovah? If they did, their faith was very temporary. (Temporary faith is described in the Bible, like in Luke 8:13.)

 

3.    What did they scream when they screamed unto Yehovah? The text doesn’t say what they said, but they were very angry. Great fear often produces great anger.

 

4.    The Israelis next spoke to Moshe. Look at the wording: “Is without—there are no tombs in Egypt—thou hast taken us to die in the desert??” What does this wording indicate? The sentences are broken!  They are unable to complete sentences, they are so angry!

 

5.    Of what were the Israelis accusing Moshe when they said, “Is without—there are no tombs in Egypt—thou hast taken us to die in the desert?” The Israelis were being sarcastic with Moshe—saying something that they knew wasn’t true about Moshe as if he had no sense. They were accusing him of taking them into the desert to die there because Moshe stupidly thought that there were no tombs in Egypt. In other words, they were accusing Moshe of trying to kill them in the desert!

 

6.    The Israelis next question Moshe, “What is this thou hast done to us to make-us-exit from Egypt?” What were they saying? They were furious! They were now responding as if Moshe had interfered with their good lives in Egypt, and he, Moshe, had managed to just ruin their lives by forcing them to leave Egypt.

 

7.    They next stated, “Isn’t this the speech that we spoke unto thee in Egypt to say, ‘Cease from us, and we have served Egypt’?” Did they say this, and didn’t they have the right to choose where they would live and whom they would serve? They may have said this at the beginning when they were furious with the increased terrible assignments they were given as slaves.

 

       As for their having the right to choose where they would live and whom they would serve, most humans think that this is the case. It just isn’t true. The Creator has all the rights regarding these things, and the created beings have responsibilities instead of rights!

 

       The Israelis belong to Yehovah (like it or not!). If they refuse to serve Him, they certainly will serve others, and they will be destroyed. If they serve Yehovah, He will benefit them; if they fear Him and hearken to Him, He will give them everlasting lives.

 

8.    They angrily stated, “For better to us to serve Egypt than our death in the desert!” Was this true? It seemed true, since they only gave those two choices. They never gave the third choice: serve Yehovah in the desert, and live!

 

9.    The Israelis show much more bitterness toward Moshe in verse 12 than toward the Egyptians. Why is this, and how characteristic is this? When folks fear a person or a group, and someone comes who can rescue those folks, if that rescuer does anything that those folks don’t expect, they become very angry at the rescuer, and they even sometimes defend the abusing person or group! They don’t fear the rescuer; they fear the abuser(s). The Israelis didn’t fear Moshe or Yehovah, but they feared the Egyptians.

 

 

 

VI. Moshe’s Faith-filled Reply (verses 13-14)

 

Moshe responded to the people, “Fear ye not!” He also told them, “Position yourselves!” They will then see “the Salvation of Yehovah that He will do for you today.” What will be the result? “For what ye have seen with Egypt today, ye will not redouble to see them again unto Hider!”

 

Moshe told them what would occur: “Yehovah will war for you.” He then strongly spoke to the Israelis: “And ye: ye shall hush!”

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    Moshe’s response to the violent anger wasn’t accusation. Instead, he commanded them, “Fear ye not!” wouldn’t this have increased their anger at him? It didn’t. Yehovah was also participating to make certain that the Israelis didn’t overthrow Yehovah’s plans!

 

2.    Moshe commanded, “Position yourselves!” What was he telling them to do? He was telling them to take a firm stand where they were, and to not make any moves, including moves to try to flee.

 

3.    Moshe then said, “And see-ye the Salvation of Yehovah that He will do for you today.” What salvation was Yehovah about to do? Yehovah is about to save the Israelis from the entire Egyptian army. The Israelis only need to watch this process; they won’t be able to participate in it or help it along.

 

4.    What did Moshe mean by, “For what ye have seen with Egypt today, ye will not redouble to see them again unto Hider”? They are today seeing the entire Egyptian army (complete with chariots and charioteers) coming at them at full speed. To redouble is to do again, to repeat. The Israelis will never again see the soldiers of the Egyptian army coming at them like this again to Hider. The expression, to Hider, is both a time (referring to either the beginning of what is revealed in Scriptures or the ending of what is revealed in Scriptures) and a description of Yehovah Who hides himself (so that humans can live by faith; if He were always visible, faith in Him would be impossible). If the Egyptians will not see those soldiers again to Hider, they will never see them again.

 

5.    The text states, “Yehovah will war for you.” Is Yehovah against war? He obviously isn’t against war if He participates in it!

 

6.    If Yehovah will war for the Israelis, how much must they do to show their faith in Him? They must do nothing; that isn’t to show faith! It is to be obedient.

 

7.    Moshe added, “And ye: ye shall hush!” Why did he command that? When the Israelis start complaining, they generally sin soon afterward! They just needed to ‘shut up’ and see what Yehovah will do!

 

8.    Yehovah didn’t tell Moshe that He would fight for Israel. Was Moshe being presumptive? How is this different from a Christian claiming what God will do for him today? Moshe was a prophet. He spoke the speeches of Yehovah. He wasn’t being presumptive. He also knew that Yehovah had to fight for Israel, since Yehovah’s reputation was ‘on the line!’

 

       In modern Christianity, some claim to know what God will do for them, and they declare these things. They are being presumptive, and they are often blaspheming the God of the Bible. They will be judged for these things.

 

 

 

VII. The Order to Travel (verses 15-18)

 

Moshe must have then screamed unto Yehovah with some frustration; for, Yehovah said to Moshe, “What? Wilt thou scream unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel! And they have journeyed!”

 

Yehovah now had instructions for Moshe: “And thou, elevate thy rod and stretch thine hand upon the sea. And split him. And the children of Israel have come into the midst of the Sea via the dry!”

 

In the meantime, Yehovah will be active in this way: “And I: behold, I am gripping the heart of Egypt. And they have come after them! And I have been demonstrated-important via Pharaoh and via all his army, via his chariot and via his horsemen! And Egyptians shall know that I am Yehovah via my being demonstrated-important via Pharaoh, via his chariot and via his horsemen!”

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    Why did Yehovah say to Moshe, “What? Wilt thou scream unto me?” What took place that is unrecorded? Moshe began to scream to Yehovah because the Israelis were about to rebel! (This isn’t recorded.) Yehovah commanded Moshe to speak unto the children of Israel instead of screaming to Him!

 

2.    What was Moshe commanded to speak to the Israelis? He was commanded to tell them to prepare to  journey!

 

3.    What was unreasonable about telling the Israelis to prepare to journey? The Israelis had a major body of water in front of them and the Egyptian army behind them. They couldn’t go anywhere!

 

4.    Yehovah now told Moshe to elevate his rod and stretch his hand upon the sea; He also told him to split the sea. What must have been going through Moshe’s mind at this time? There wasn’t enough time to split the sea before the Egyptian army would catch up with the Israelis! Yet, Moshe had seen many miracles of Yehovah; Moshe knew that Yehovah could do this and make it work.

 

5.    Yehovah continued, “And the children of Israel have come into the midst of the Sea via the dry!” What is the dry? This refers to the seabed that will be dried. (Moshe didn’t know how it would be dried so quickly.)

 

6.    Yehovah said (verse 16), “And thou, elevate thy rod and stretch thine hand upon the sea. And split him. And the children of Israel have come into the midst of the Sea via the dry!” The description of the events sounds like Moshe will lift his rod, stretch out his hand, split the sea, and immediately the Israelis will come into the midst of the sea on the dry. Is this what happened? No, it isn’t!

 

7.    Why did Yehovah make the Israelis wait all night instead of causing the events to immediately occur with the Sea splitting and the sand immediately becoming dry? Yehovah gave the Egyptian soldiers the opportunity to think these things through, and He gave them all night. They could see that supernatural cloud pillar, and they didn’t even try to pass through it. Yehovah also gave the Israelis the opportunity to see that He, Yehovah, kept the Egyptians from touching them all night. Yehovah gave them opportunity to believe in Him.

 

8.    Since the bottom of the sea is sand, won’t this be very difficult for the Israelis to cross (since sinking in sand is very tiring)? If the sand’s surface is dry, but if there is just the right amount of moisture underneath the surface, the sand is hard—almost like concrete! That is why it is easier to walk in the sand that is very near to the part being washed with waves than it is to walk in the sand further back.

 

9.    Yehovah stated, “And I: behold, I am gripping the heart of Egypt. And they have come after them!” Yehovah knew that this would result in all their deaths. Why didn’t Yehovah do something else so that all the Egyptian soldiers would live? What does this tell the reader about Yehovah when it comes to death? Yehovah is the One Who set up death! Had it not been for Him instituting death, humans would never have died. Once man sinned, Yehovah started death.

 

       Now, since these soldiers were going after Yehovah’s property, and since they had already seen Yehovah’s power to slaughter all the firstborn of man and animals in Egypt, they were just running to their own deaths. Yehovah had no interest in saving their lives at this point since they were determined to stop Yehovah from gaining Yehovah’s property! This tells the reader that saving lives sometimes necessitates the deaths of those attempting to take lives and kidnap folks! This also tells readers that Yehovah is the God of death as well as life. This explains His presence in the Lake of Fire and Burning Sulfur; His wrath is what makes the fire!

 

10. How will Yehovah be demonstrated as important via (by means of) Pharaoh, his army, his chariot and his horsemen? Yehovah will totally destroy the entire army. Their deaths will pay to show just how important Yehovah is! (Later, Yeshua’s death will show just how important He is! His death will save the lives of millions!)

 

11. Why did Yehovah view as so important that the Egyptians know that He is Yehovah? This is so important for the Tribulation, which will occur many, many centuries later. The Egyptians will help the Israelis at that time! They will remember these events (believing that they occurred), and they will be seeing the very same strong hand of Yehovah, but over the whole world, during the Tribulation. They won’t want to be on the wrong side, at that time!

 

       The Egyptian soldiers about which we are reading came to know that He is Yehovah, but they still died. Yehovah will make sure that all humans will know that He is Yehovah, including all the damned in the Lake of Fire and Burning Sulfur! They must come to know this because they were created in the image of Yehovah.

 

 

 

VIII. The Angel and the Pillar (verses 19-20)

 

Messenger of the Elohim (of the Gods) walks directly in front of the camp of Israel. He journeyed, and He walked “from after them”—that is, behind them.

 

The pillar of the cloud also journeyed from in front of them, and He stood behind them. He came between the Egyptian camp and the Israeli camp. He was the cloud and the darkness; yet He lit the night! This (referring to the camp of the Egyptians) did not come near unto this (referring to the camp of the Israelis) all the night!

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    Who is Messenger of the Elohim? This is God Himself in the form of a messenger (angel). It is the very Being Who will later be born as a child: Yeshua. The Bible describes Him as if He is a totally separate being from Yehovah the Father so that careful readers will see that Yehovah can divide Himself in a way that He can be everywhere at the same time, while being a Being in one place—again, at the same time! That way, He can deliver messages and do other things while Yehovah is still invisible and everywhere.

 

       Since Elohim means Gods (plural), and since Elohim is the Creator, and since the Bible later describes Yeshua (Salvation) as the Creator, Elohim is all the Gods there are, and this title describes Yehovah as the Gods. Thus, Yeshua and Yehovah are truly One, and yet the Bible views them as separated beings so that careful readers can understand the division of labour between them. (One remains everywhere at the same time, and One comes to be born and to be a sacrifice for sin, as well as the King Redeemer at a later time.)

 

2.    Why is Messenger of the Elohim described with, “who walks to the faces of the camp”? This description was important for the historical events, but it is far more important for future events: events during the Tribulation. He will walk ‘to the faces of’ (in front of) the camp at that time, and will therefore be a guard to the camp.

 

3.    Where did Messenger of the Elohim go? He went from the faces of the camp (in the forward position) to “after them,” and thus behind them. That way, He guarded the rear of the group.

 

4.    The text next describes, “And the pillar of the cloud journeyed from their faces.” Exactly what is this pillar, and did it journey separately from Messenger of the Elohim? That pillar is the physical form of the Spirit of Yehovah! The Spirit of Yehovah is Yehovah Himself, but in a form that again is separable from Yehovah in order to be sent and sendable. The careful reader will see this, and will again realize that Yehovah easily divides Himself so the will do separate and vital works at the same time.

 

       The pillar journeyed at the same time that Messenger of the Elohim journeyed.

 

5.    How did Moshe know all this to write all these details? Moshe is a prophet. He wrote as Yehovah described to Him what to write.

 

6.    Why did the pillar stand after (behind) them (the Israelis)? The pillar, who is Yehovah (the Spirit), will be a guard and a wall for the Israelis.

 

7.    Did the Egyptians see this pillar and its movements? Yes!

 

8.    The next statement is, “And He was the cloud and the darkness, and He lit the night.” How could He be both darkness and light the night? He was darkness to the Egyptian camp: a very dark wall. He light the night for the Israelis; thus, the Israelis saw a well-lit wall of light between the Egyptians and them. Thus, He was a one-way darkness, one-way wall of light.

 

9.    The last statement is, “And this did not come-near unto this all the night.” What does that mean? The first this refers to the camp of Egyptians, since they were pursuing the Israelis. The second this refers to the Israeli camp. The Egyptians didn’t come to the Israelis all the night.

 

10. Why didn’t the Egyptians just walk through the cloud wall, and take the Israelis? That cloud wall was very frightening on the Egyptian side. Walking into it would have produced great terror (since Yehovah would have made sure that it did). The Egyptians stayed away from that cloud wall. They didn’t know what it was, and they weren’t about to walk into it.

 

11. Will this cloud ever show up on Earth again? Yes! He, Yehovah the Spirit, will do the very same functions during the Tribulation. Yehovah did all things that He did before  as examples of what He will do in the future unless a text states otherwise!

 

 

 

IX. Moshe Splits the Sea (verses 21-22)

 

Moshe stretched his hand upon the Sea as he was told. Yehovah “walked the Sea,” moving it from in front of the Israelis until it was gone from that location. He used a strong wind from the east all night to do this: to put the Sea “to drought”—that is, to a totally dry seabed. The waters were split by this means.

 

The children of Israel came into the middle of the Sea by means of walking on this dry section. The waters are a wall to them from their right and from their left.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    Verse 21 states, “And Draw [Moshe] stretched his hand upon the Sea.” Did Moshe do this again (since a text above already states the same thing)? No; he did it only once. The Bible often repeats an event to give more details of that event. This is also true in this case.

 

2.    What does “And Yehovah walked the Sea” mean? It is as if a person were walking a dog: talking the dog from one place to another. Yehovah caused the sea to move from the location in front of Israel to locations away from the camp of Israel. The Sea, at first, had waves that were in front of the Israelis. Yehovah walked the waves away from the Israelis, and He moved the waters away using a strong wind from the east. Eventually, the sand where the Sea had been became visible.

 

3.    If the wind was strong enough to “walk the Sea,” wouldn’t it have been like a hurricane, and wouldn’t it have blown sand, Israelis, sheep and animals around? Yehovah gathered the waters in a way that didn’t require a wind strong enough to blow the waters into a wall. Winds of more than 200 miles per hour would have been necessary to do that if He had done it that way, but He didn’t. He walked the water, and He heaped the water in a way such that the water didn’t try to go back. In the meantime, the wind was what dried the seabed.

 

4.    What does “And He put the Sea to drought” mean? This means that Yehovah dried the Sea area, making it into a drought area (an area without water).

 

5.    What does “And the children of Israel came into the midst of the Sea via the dry” mean? The Israelis went right into the middle of the Sea, and now the seabed is dry in the middle!

 

6.    What did the Israelis see when they went into the middle of the Sea? They saw the waters stacked into walls on their right and on their left!

 

7.    How did the waters stack up without flowing down? Another text describes them as being congealed—like gelatin (like Jell-o):

 

       Exodus 15:8 And Waters were piled via the wind of Thy noses. Distillings were positioned like a heap. Depths congealed in the heart of the Sea!

 

       Yehovah commanded the waters to stack, and they did!

 

8.    If the Israelis had walked up to the walls of water, would they have seen fish in the water, and could they have pushed their fists into the water? Would the water have felt like water, or would it have felt like Jell-o? The Israelis would have seen fish in the water if the water’s side was flat (like glass). If it wasn’t flat, but very uneven, they might not have seen fish very clearly. They certainly could have pushed their fists into the water, and their fists would have come out wet. I don’t know if the water would have felt like Jell-o or not, but their fists would not have broken what Yehovah did.

 

 

 

X. The Bravery of the Egyptians (verses 23-25)

 

The Egyptians chased them! Every horse, chariot and all the horsemen of Pharaoh came after them unto the middle of the Sea! This occurred during the morning guard. All were up early.

 

Yehovah “overlooked” (looked over) unto the camp of Egypt in the Pillar of fire and cloud. He “hummed” the camp of Egypt. He then removed the wheel of his charioteers! Yehovah guided Pharaoh via heaviness.

 

Egypt (the army) now spoke as one person: “I will flee from the faces of Israel! For Yehovah is warring for them in Egypt!”

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    Why did the Egyptians chase them? Couldn’t they see the walls of water, and wasn’t the cloud still standing between? Yehovah removed the cloud from between so that the Egyptians had a clear view of the Israelis escaping. This event happened quite early in the morning; the sun wasn’t yet risen. I don’t think that the Egyptians saw the walls of water, but instead they saw the Israelis—their only focus.

 

2.    How big was this area into which the Egyptian army, all the horses and all the chariots came? It must have been very big, indeed! It must have been the size of quite a few football fields, and perhaps a number of square miles. The Egyptian army didn’t come close to the Israelis.

 

3.    Did the Egyptians realize that they were running into the Sea? They knew that the Sea was there last night. They knew that the Israelis were escaping on dry land. The Egyptians just didn’t think.

 

4.    What is the guarding of the morning? There are normally three sections of an entire 24-hour day for a guard to keep watch. Each guard normally serves for 8 hours. The morning watch starts at some time in the night—perhaps at midnight or at 11 p.m., and goes for 8 hours, going into the morning. This watch is the guarding of the morning.

 

5.    Where was Yehovah located during this event when Egypt began chasing the Israelis again? He was located in the Pillar of fire and cloud! Yehovah had moved the Pillar up into the air over the camps of the Egyptians and Israelis. Thus, He had a ‘bird’s eye’ view.

 

6.    What does overlooked mean in this text? It means to look out and over something. It is as if Yehovah were in a room with a window, the window having a window sill; He looked out of the window and over the window sill in order to see the camps. Of course, there was no room and no window or sill; Yehovah looked out of the Pillar-cloud/fire.

 

7.    The next statement is this: “And He hummed the camp of Egypt.” What does this mean? To hum something in the Bible is either to cause it to go into a commotion or to buzz it (which would also set it into a commotion). When folks begin speaking all at once, they form a hum. It generally shows confusion or great surprise. Yehovah caused the camp of Egypt that was in motion trying to catch up to the Israelis to become very confused and concerned. The next statement explains why.

 

8.    Explain what took place when Yehovah removed the wheel of Pharaoh’s charioteers: Each chariot has two wheels. Yehovah caused at least one of those two wheels on each chariot to fall off. Once the wheel came off, the chariot’s body fell into the sand, and the other wheel did no good. The horse could not pull the chariot, and those inside the chariot were either thrown out or were in a non-moving chariot that was greatly tilted. If Yehovah removed both wheels at the same time, the chariot would just fall and stop; the horse couldn’t pull it.

 

9.    What does “He guided him via heaviness” mean, and who are he and him? I propose that he refers to Yehovah. I also propose that him refers to Egypt. If these are both right, Yehovah guided Egypt by means of heaviness—the heaviness of un-wheeled chariots and the importance (since heaviness means importance) of Yehovah! Yehovah guided Egypt by means of Yehovah’s importance, trapping the entire Egyptian army in the Sea!

 

10. The text states, “And Egypt said…” How can Egypt speak as if it is one person? Any group can speak as one person! If the members of that group work together to communicate with one voice, or if members of a group express themselves and feel the same way, the group speaks as if it is one person.

 

11. What caused Egypt to flee from the faces of Israel (instead of from the faces of Yehovah)? Egypt knew that Yehovah is warring for the Israelis, and He is doing it in Egypt! Thus, Egypt (the entire group) realized that its only chance to live was to get away from Israel. (Of course, Egypt realized this too late.)

 

12. Was Yehovah warring for the Israelis? Yes, He was! He will do this again a number of times in the future!

 

13. If the Egyptians had shouted out to Yehovah to save them, would Yehovah have saved them? If they had truly humbled themselves before Yehovah, and if they had vowed to leave the Israelis in peace, and if they had not waited until their destruction was already occurring, Yehovah would have saved them. Once the destruction begins, however, and Yehovah’s wrath is already being sent, that isn’t the time to try to turn the events around. What happened in Nineveh many years later shows that Yehovah can stop His wrath if an entire people will turn from sinning. Waiting until the very last moment, however, won’t change Yehovah’s mind; anyone will call out for help as the person (or group) is being destroyed!

 

 

 

XI. Egypt Fails a Swim Lesson (verses 26-28)

 

Yehovah next said unto Moshe, “Stretch thine hand upon the Sea. And the waters have returned upon Egypt, upon his chariot and upon his horsemen.” Moshe did this; he stretched his hand upon the Sea. The Sea now returned to its vigour—its great strength. This occurred “to the turnings of the morning”—just as the sun was rising. The Egyptians are fleeing to meet the morning! Thus, Yehovah shook off Egypt in the middle of the Sea!

 

The waters returned, and they covered the chariot, the horsemen, and indeed all the army of Pharaoh coming after them in the Sea. None remained in Pharaoh’s groups—not even one person!

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    What was Yehovah commanding Moshe to do when He told Moshe to “Stretch thine hand upon the Sea; and the waters have returned upon Egypt, upon his chariot and upon his horsemen”? He was commanding Moshe to slaughter Egypt—that is, the part of Egypt that was there with the military of Egypt.

 

2.    What does “the Sea returned to his vigour” mean? This means that the Sea returned to its full strength and activities (and thus, the congealed walls of water fell).

 

3.    What are the turnings of the morning? They are the changes that occur as the sun rises, and darkness gives way to bright day.

 

4.    Did the Egyptians see the waters coming at them? The events took place while the sun was rising over the horizon. The brightness could easily have blinded the Egyptians to what was occurring on their right and on their left, since they were looking at the Israeli camp fleeing eastward. The sun rises in the east; the Israelis were fleeing toward the east; the water walls collapsed from the north and south, and thus from the left and right of the Egyptians. I don’t know that they saw what was occurring until it hit them with full force.

 

5.    The next statement is, “And Egyptians are fleeing to meet him!” Who is him that they are fleeing to meet? Verse 25 above stated that Egypt said, “I will flee from the faces of Israel.” So, the Egyptians weren’t any longer going toward Israel. Since the morning is toward Israel, they aren’t fleeing to meet the morning. I propose that they were fleeing to meet the Sea, hoping to be able to stand as the Sea returned to where they were located.

 

6.    What picture is being described by the wording, “And Yehovah shook-off Egypt in the midst of the Sea”? This reminds me of another text:

 

       Acts 28:3 And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out of the heat and fastened on his hand. 4And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, “No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet vengeance doesn’t permit to live!” 5And he shook off the beast into the fire. And he felt no harm.

 

       It is as if Egypt were a snake, and had taken hold on Yehovah’s hand. Only, such a snake would have no power to harm Yehovah. Yehovah just shook off the Egyptian snake in the midst of the Sea; this snake couldn’t swim!

 

7.    The text states, “And the waters returned.” What form was this return? This return was in the form of a tsunami—a huge, rapidly moving wave and wall of water; only, there were two tsunamis—two walls of rapidly moving water coming at each other!

 

8.    How did the waters cover the chariot, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh? The waters were moving very fast, and the waves were very tall. The waters picked up and tumbled everything in their paths, forcing everything down to the bottom. Thus, they covered the entire army.

 

9.    How many Egyptians remained alive after this event? “None remained in them unto one!” There wasn’t a single survivor among the Egyptian soldiers. Pharaoh also died. (Psalm 136:15 says so.)

 

 

 

XII. Israeli Baptism (verses 29-30)

 

The Children of Israel walked by means of the dry Seabed in the middle of the Sea. The waters are a wall to them from their right and from the left!

 

Yehovah saved Israel from the ‘hand’ of Egypt in that day.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    Did any Israelis get wet in this event? No; they walked “via the dry”—no water touched them.

 

2.    How tall were these walls of water that were to their right and left? They must have been several stories high!

 

3.    Could all the Israelis see these walls of water? I suspect that they could see them, though they were quite far from the Israelis who were in the very middle of the group of Israelis. The camp of Israel was spread out along the seashore for quite a distance (perhaps several miles), since they wanted to be as far from the Egyptian army as possible. The cloud between the camps must have been a very long wall the night before; otherwise the Egyptians would have walked around it (Him). It (He, the Pillar) didn’t interfere with the Israeli views of the walls of water. Since these things occurred as the sun was just rising, however, the darkness might have kept both the Israelis and the Egyptians from clearly seeing these water walls.

 

4.    What is the hand of Egypt (from which Yehovah saved the Israelis)? View Egypt as if it is one being. Its hand is what it can send forth to grasp someone or something, or to harm or kill someone or something. Its power is especially recognized in its hand, just like the power of a person is so often in the person’s hand. Thus, the hand is a picture of the power of a person or a group; it is the view of a very young child toward an adult. The adult’s hand is what the child watches, since that hand can do so many things to and for the child.

 

5.    Will Yehovah save Israel from the hands of other groups? He will indeed many times in the future.

 

 

 

XIII. Dead Egyptians, Fear and Belief (verses 30-31)

 

Israel saw Egypt dead upon the ‘lip’ (shore) of the Sea. Israel also saw the Big Hand that Yehovah made in Egypt! The Israelis—the people of Israel—feared Yehovah. They even believed in Yehovah and in Moshe, Yehovah’s slave!

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    If the Egyptians drowned in the middle of the Sea, how did their bodies manage to come to the lip of the Sea, and what is a lip of a sea? The lip of a sea is the seashore that is being watered (by the waves) just like the human lip is watered (by saliva).

 

       Yehovah made sure that the bodies of all of the Egyptians floated to the shore so that the Israelis could see them.

 

2.    Why was the Israelis seeing the Egyptian bodies on the shore so important? If the Israelis didn’t see the bodies of all of the Egyptian soldiers, the Israelis would think that many survived, and that they would make another attack on the Israelis. By seeing them all dead, the Israelis knew that Egypt was no longer capable of coming after them.

 

3.    What Big Hand did Yehovah make in Egypt? Yehovah used great force against the Egyptians, finally totally defeating and killing the entire Egyptian army. Since the hand represents power, Yehovah made very big power to use against Egypt and for Israel. He made it, because it wasn’t natural. What Yehovah did could not have naturally occurred.

 

       To a very young child, the bigger the hand, the more powerful it is.

 

4.    Why did the people fear Yehovah? What Yehovah did was very scary! Splitting the Sea and drowning an entire army is very scary! What else can Yehovah do???

 

5.    Is fearing Yehovah good? It is very good. No one can possibly have Salvation without fearing Yehovah! Such fear is the beginning of wisdom!

 

6.    The text states that they believed in Yehovah. Since they also feared Him, were they born of God (that is, did they now have the everlasting Salvation of God, and the resulting everlasting life)? Just because they both feared Yehovah and believed in Yehovah doesn’t mean that they had everlasting life. The Bible teaches about temporary faith (that is, temporarily believing in Yehovah). Such faith is very real, but it doesn’t last. Only lasting faith will do for everlasting life.

 

7.    Was their believing in Moshe useful? It was useful for the time being! Again, if such believing is temporary, it won’t last, and it won’t result in any permanent good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Exodus 14 The Chase and the Baptism

  The Chase and the Baptism

 

Background and Printed Text: Exodus chapter 14

 

1And Yehovah spoke unto Draw [Moshe] to say, 2 “Speak unto the children of Israel. And they have sat. And they have camped to the faces of Mouth-Of-The-Holes between Tower and between the Sea to the faces of North-Lord. Ye shall camp directly-in-front of him upon the Sea. 3And Pharaoh shall say to the children of Israel, ‘They are confused in the land! The desert shut upon them!’ 4And I will grip the heart of Pharaoh. And he will chase after them. And I have been demonstrated-important via Pharaoh and via all his army. And Egyptians shall know that I am Yehovah!” And they did so.

 

5And he told to the king of Egypt that the people fled. And the heart of Pharaoh and his slaves flipped-over unto the people. And they said, “What is this we did? For we sent Israel from our slavery!”

 

6And he harnessed his chariot. And he took his people with him. 7And he took 600 chosen chariot and every chariot of Egypt, and their third over all of him. 8And Yehovah gripped the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And he chased after the children of Israel. And the children of Israel are exiting via an elevated hand. 9And Egyptians chased after them.

 

And every horse, chariot of Pharaoh and his horsemen and his army reached them camping upon the Sea, upon Mouth-Of-The-Holes to the faces of North-Lord.

 

10And Pharaoh approached. And the children of Israel lifted their eyes. And behold, Egypt is journeying after them. And they feared very much! And the children of Israel screamed unto Yehovah. 11And they said unto Draw [Moshe], “Is without—there are no tombs in Egypt—thou hast taken us to die in the desert??  What is this thou hast done to us to make-us-exit from Egypt? 12Isn’t this the speech that we spoke unto thee in Egypt to say, ‘Cease from us, and we have served Egypt’? For better to us to serve Egypt than our death in the desert!”

 

13And Draw [Moshe] said unto the people, “Fear ye not! Position yourselves! And see-ye the Salvation of Yehovah that He will do for you today. For what ye have seen with Egypt today, ye will not redouble to see them again unto Hider!  14Yehovah will war for you. And ye: ye shall hush!”

 

15And Yehovah said unto Draw [Moshe], “What? Wilt thou scream unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel! And they have journeyed!  16And thou, elevate thy rod and stretch thine hand upon the sea. And split him. And the children of Israel have come into the midst of the Sea via the dry! 17And I: behold, I am gripping the heart of Egypt. And they have come after them! And I have been demonstrated-important via Pharaoh and via all his army, via his chariot and via his horsemen! 18And Egyptians shall know that I am Yehovah via my being demonstrated-important via Pharaoh, via his chariot and via his horsemen!”

 

19And Messenger of the Elohim who walks to the faces of the camp of Israel journeyed. And He walked from after them. And the pillar of the cloud journeyed from their faces. And He stood from after them. 20And He came between the camp of Egypt and between the camp of Israel. And He was the cloud and the darkness, and He lit the night. And this did not come-near unto this all the night.

 

21And Draw [Moshe] stretched his hand upon the Sea. And Yehovah walked the Sea via a strong wind of the east all the night. And He put the Sea to drought. And the waters split. 22And the children of Israel came into the midst of the Sea via the dry. And the waters are a wall to them from their right and from their left.

 

23And Egyptians chased them. And every horse of Pharaoh, his chariot and his horsemen came after them unto the midst of the Sea. 24And it was in the guarding of the morning. And Yehovah overlooked unto the camp of Egypt in the Pillar of fire and cloud. And He hummed the camp of Egypt. 25And He removed the wheel of his charioteers. And He guided him via heaviness. And Egypt said, “I will flee from the faces of Israel! For Yehovah is warring for them in Egypt!”

 

26And Yehovah said unto Draw [Moshe], “Stretch thine hand upon the Sea. And the waters have returned upon Egypt, upon his chariot and upon his horsemen.” 27And Draw [Moshe] stretched his hand upon the Sea. And the Sea returned to his vigour to the turnings of the morning. And Egyptians are fleeing to meet him! And Yehovah shook-off Egypt in the midst of the Sea. 28And the waters returned. And they covered the chariot and the horsemen to all the army of Pharaoh coming after them in the Sea. None remained in them unto one!

 

29And the children of Israel walked via the dry in the midst of the Sea. And the waters are a wall to them from their right and from their left. 30And Yehovah saved Israel from the hand of Egypt in that day.

 

And Israel saw Egypt dead upon the lip of the Sea. 31And Israel saw the Big Hand that Yehovah made in Egypt. And they—the people—feared Yehovah. And they believed in Yehovah and in Draw [Moshe] His slave.

 

 

 

I. Camping and Confusion (verses 1-4)

 

Yehovah spoke directions unto Moshe to give to the children of Israel. The Israelis have sat and camped in front of Mouth of the Holes which is located between Tower and the Sea; it is also in front of North Lord.

 

Yehovah told the Israelis to camp upon the Sea. This will give Pharaoh the impression that the Israelis are confused. Pharaoh will say to the children of Israel, “They are confused in the land! The desert shut upon them!” In the meantime, Yehovah will grip the heart of Pharaoh, and he will chase after the Israelis. Yehovah stated, “And I have been demonstrated-important via Pharaoh and via all his army. And Egyptians shall know that I am Yehovah!”

 

The Israelis did what they were told.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     What did Yehovah tell Moshe to command the children of Israel?

 

2.     Why would a place be called Mouth of the Holes?

 

3.     Why would a place be named Tower?

 

4.     What Sea is this?

 

5.     Why would a location be named North Lord?

 

6.     The next statement says, “Ye shall camp directly-in-front of him upon the Sea.” Who is him?

 

7.     The text then states, “And Pharaoh shall say to the children of Israel, ‘They are confused in the land!’” Will Pharaoh directly speak to the Israelis?

 

8.     What will Pharaoh mean by, “They are confused in the land”?

 

9.     What does Pharaoh mean by, “The desert shut upon them”?

 

10.  Was Pharaoh right? Were the Israelis confused in the land, and did the desert shut upon them?

 

11.  For what purpose will Yehovah grip the heart of Pharaoh?

 

12.  What will Pharaoh decide to do?

 

13.  What will be the result of Pharaoh’s chasing after the Israelis, according to the next part of the text?

 

14.  The next statement is, “And they did so.” Who are they, and what did they do?

 

 

 

II. Heart Flip (verse 5)

 

Someone told the king of Egypt that the people of Israel fled. This caused an immediate reaction in Pharaoh and his slaves: their heart (mind) ‘flipped over’ unto the people of Israel. They said, “What is this we did? For we sent Israel from our slavery!”

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     Who told the king of Egypt that the people fled?

 

2.     What does “the heart of Pharaoh and his slaves flipped-over unto the people” mean?

 

3.     Why did they say, “What is this we did? For we sent Israel from our slavery”?

 

 

 

III. The Chase (verses 6-9)

 

Pharaoh harnessed his chariot. He took his people with him including 600 chosen chariot(s) and every chariot of Egypt! He took their third (of what?) over all of Egypt!

 

Yehovah gripped the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Pharaoh chased after the children of Israel! In the meantime, the children of Israel are exiting via an elevated hand! The Egyptians chased after them.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     Who harnessed Pharaoh’s chariot??

 

2.     Who are his people that he took with him?

 

3.     Why does the text state that he took 600 chosen chariot instead of 600 chosen chariots?

 

4.     What is the distinction between chosen chariots and every chariot of Egypt?

 

5.     What was so important about bringing all the chariots into this chase?

 

6.     The last part of the statement is, “…and their third over all of him.” Identify their, the third, and him:

 

7.     Why does the text again state, “And Yehovah gripped the heart of Pharaoh”?

 

8.     What does “And the children of Israel are exiting via an elevated hand” mean?

 

9.     The text again states, “And Egyptians chased after them.” Why say this so often?

 

 

 

IV. The Army Approaches (verse 9)

 

Every horse of Pharaoh, every chariot of Pharaoh and Pharaoh’s horsemen reached the Israelis camping upon the Sea, camping at a location called Mouth of the Holes, which was located directly in front of a place called North-Lord.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     How long was this chase from the time that the Egyptians decided to go after the Israelis, and how long had Israel been gone from Egyptian slavery?

 

2.     The Israelis were camping upon the Sea. Did they think that they were safe from Egypt at this point?

 

3.     How did they know which way the Israelis went?

 

 

 

V. Terror (verses 10-12)

 

Pharaoh approached the Israelis. The children of Israel lifted their eyes. They saw that Egypt is journeying after them! The Israelis greatly feared. They then screamed unto Yehovah. They then said unto Moshe, “Is without—there are no tombs in Egypt—thou hast taken us to die in the desert??”

 

They then directly blamed Moshe: “What is this thou hast done to us to make-us-exit from Egypt? Isn’t this the speech that we spoke unto thee in Egypt to say, ‘Cease from us, and we have served Egypt’?”

 

The Israelis then told Moshe, “For better to us to serve Egypt than our death in the wilderness!”

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     Why did the Israelis fear so much when they lifted their eyes and saw Egypt journeying after them?

 

2.     The text states that the Israelis screamed unto Yehovah! Did they have faith in Yehovah?

 

3.     What did they scream when they screamed unto Yehovah?

 

4.     The Israelis next spoke to Moshe. Look at the wording: “Is without—there are no tombs in Egypt—thou hast taken us to die in the desert??” What does this wording indicate?

 

5.     Of what were the Israelis accusing Moshe when they said, “Is without—there are no tombs in Egypt—thou hast taken us to die in the desert?”

 

6.     The Israelis next question Moshe, “What is this thou hast done to us to make-us-exit from Egypt?” What were they saying?

 

7.     They next stated, “Isn’t this the speech that we spoke unto thee in Egypt to say, ‘Cease from us, and we have served Egypt’?” Did they say this, and didn’t they have the right to choose where they would live and whom they would serve?

 

8.     They angrily stated, “For better to us to serve Egypt than our death in the desert!” Was this true?

 

9.     The Israelis show much more bitterness toward Moshe in verse 12 than toward the Egyptians. Why is this, and how characteristic is this?

 

 

 

VI. Moshe’s Faith-filled Reply (verses 13-14)

 

Moshe responded to the people, “Fear ye not!” He also told them, “Position yourselves!” They will then see “the Salvation of Yehovah that He will do for you today.” What will be the result? “For what ye have seen with Egypt today, ye will not redouble to see them again unto Hider!”

 

Moshe told them what would occur: “Yehovah will war for you.” He then strongly spoke to the Israelis: “And ye: ye shall hush!”

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     Moshe’s response to the violent anger wasn’t accusation. Instead, he commanded them, “Fear ye not!” wouldn’t this have increased their anger at him?

 

2.     Moshe commanded, “Position yourselves!” What was he telling them to do?

 

3.     Moshe then said, “And see-ye the Salvation of Yehovah that He will do for you today.” What salvation was Yehovah about to do?

 

4.     What did Moshe mean by, “For what ye have seen with Egypt today, ye will not redouble to see them again unto Hider”?

 

5.     The text states, “Yehovah will war for you.” Is Yehovah against war?

 

6.     If Yehovah will war for the Israelis, how much must they do to show their faith in Him?

 

7.     Moshe added, “And ye: ye shall hush!” Why did he command that?

 

8.     Yehovah didn’t tell Moshe that He would fight for Israel. Was Moshe being presumptive? How is this different from a Christian claiming what God will do for him today?

 

 

 

VII. The Order to Travel (verses 15-18)

 

Moshe must have then screamed unto Yehovah with some frustration; for, Yehovah said to Moshe, “What? Wilt thou scream unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel! And they have journeyed!”

 

Yehovah now had instructions for Moshe: “And thou, elevate thy rod and stretch thine hand upon the sea. And split him. And the children of Israel have come into the midst of the Sea via the dry!”

 

In the meantime, Yehovah will be active in this way: “And I: behold, I am gripping the heart of Egypt. And they have come after them! And I have been demonstrated-important via Pharaoh and via all his army, via his chariot and via his horsemen! And Egyptians shall know that I am Yehovah via my being demonstrated-important via Pharaoh, via his chariot and via his horsemen!”

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     Why did Yehovah say to Moshe, “What? Wilt thou scream unto me?” What took place that is unrecorded?

 

2.     What was Moshe commanded to speak to the Israelis?

 

3.     What was unreasonable about telling the Israelis to prepare to journey?

 

4.     Yehovah now told Moshe to elevate his rod and stretch his hand upon the sea; He also told him to split the sea. What must have been going through Moshe’s mind at this time?

 

5.     Yehovah continued, “And the children of Israel have come into the midst of the Sea via the dry!” What is the dry?

 

6.     Yehovah said (verse 16), “And thou, elevate thy rod and stretch thine hand upon the sea. And split him. And the children of Israel have come into the midst of the Sea via the dry!” The description of the events sounds like Moshe will lift his rod, stretch out his hand, split the sea, and immediately the Israelis will come into the midst of the sea on the dry. Is this what happened?

 

7.     Why did Yehovah make the Israelis wait all night instead of causing the events to immediately occur with the Sea splitting and the sand immediately becoming dry?

 

8.     Since the bottom of the sea is sand, won’t this be very difficult for the Israelis to cross (since sinking in sand is very tiring)?

 

9.     Yehovah stated, “And I: behold, I am gripping the heart of Egypt. And they have come after them!” Yehovah knew that this would result in all their deaths. Why didn’t Yehovah do something else so that all the Egyptian soldiers would live? What does this tell the reader about Yehovah when it comes to death?

 

10.  How will Yehovah be demonstrated as important via (by means of) Pharaoh, his army, his chariot and his horsemen?

 

11.  Why did Yehovah view as so important that the Egyptians know that He is Yehovah?

 

 

 

VIII. The Angel and the Pillar (verses 19-20)

 

Messenger of the Elohim (of the Gods) walks directly in front of the camp of Israel. He journeyed, and He walked “from after them”—that is, behind them.

 

The pillar of the cloud also journeyed from in front of them, and He stood behind them. He came between the Egyptian camp and the Israeli camp. He was the cloud and the darkness; yet He lit the night! This (referring to the camp of the Egyptians) did not come near unto this (referring to the camp of the Israelis) all the night!

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     Who is Messenger of the Elohim?

 

2.     Why is Messenger of the Elohim described with, “who walks to the faces of the camp”?

 

3.     Where did Messenger of the Elohim go?

 

4.     The text next describes, “And the pillar of the cloud journeyed from their faces.” Exactly what is this pillar, and did it journey separately from Messenger of the Elohim?

 

5.     How did Moshe know all this to write all these details?

 

6.     Why did the pillar stand after (behind) them (the Israelis)?

 

7.     Did the Egyptians see this pillar and its movements?

 

8.     The next statement is, “And He was the cloud and the darkness, and He lit the night.” How could He be both darkness and light the night?

 

9.     The last statement is, “And this did not come-near unto this all the night.” What does that mean?

 

10.  Why didn’t the Egyptians just walk through the cloud wall, and take the Israelis?

 

11.  Will this cloud ever show up on Earth again?

 

 

 

IX. Moshe Splits the Sea (verses 21-22)

 

Moshe stretched his hand upon the Sea as he was told. Yehovah “walked the Sea,” moving it from in front of the Israelis until it was gone from that location. He used a strong wind from the east all night to do this: to put the Sea “to drought”—that is, to a totally dry seabed. The waters were split by this means.

 

The children of Israel came into the middle of the Sea by means of walking on this dry section. The waters are a wall to them from their right and from their left.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     Verse 21 states, “And Draw [Moshe] stretched his hand upon the Sea.” Did Moshe do this again (since a text above already states the same thing)?

 

2.     What does “And Yehovah walked the Sea” mean?

 

3.     If the wind was strong enough to “walk the Sea,” wouldn’t it have been like a hurricane, and wouldn’t it have blown sand, Israelis, sheep and animals around?

 

4.     What does “And He put the Sea to drought” mean?

 

5.     What does “And the children of Israel came into the midst of the Sea via the dry” mean?

 

7.     How did the waters stack up without flowing down?

 

8.     If the Israelis had walked up to the walls of water, would they have seen fish in the water, and could they have pushed their fists into the water? Would the water have felt like water, or would it have felt like Jell-o?

 

 

 

X. The Bravery of the Egyptians (verses 23-25)

 

The Egyptians chased them! Every horse, chariot and all the horsemen of Pharaoh came after them unto the middle of the Sea! This occurred during the morning guard. All were up early.

 

Yehovah “overlooked” (looked over) unto the camp of Egypt in the Pillar of fire and cloud. He “hummed” the camp of Egypt. He then removed the wheel of his charioteers! Yehovah guided Pharaoh via heaviness.

 

Egypt (the army) now spoke as one person: “I will flee from the faces of Israel! For Yehovah is warring for them in Egypt!”

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     Why did the Egyptians chase them? Couldn’t they see the walls of water, and wasn’t the cloud still standing between?

 

2.     How big was this area into which the Egyptian army, all the horses and all the chariots came?

 

3.     Did the Egyptians realize that they were running into the Sea?

 

4.     What is the guarding of the morning?

 

5.     Where was Yehovah located during this event when Egypt began chasing the Israelis again?

 

6.     What does overlooked mean in this text?

 

7.     The next statement is this: “And He hummed the camp of Egypt.” What does this mean?

 

8.     Explain what took place when Yehovah removed the wheel of Pharaoh’s charioteers:

 

9.     What does “He guided him via heaviness” mean, and who are he and him?

 

10.  The text states, “And Egypt said…” How can Egypt speak as if it is one person?

 

11.  What caused Egypt to flee from the faces of Israel (instead of from the faces of Yehovah)?

 

12.  Was Yehovah warring for the Israelis?

 

13.  If the Egyptians had shouted out to Yehovah to save them, would Yehovah have saved them?

 

 

 

XI. Egypt Fails a Swim Lesson (verses 26-28)

 

Yehovah next said unto Moshe, “Stretch thine hand upon the Sea. And the waters have returned upon Egypt, upon his chariot and upon his horsemen.” Moshe did this; he stretched his hand upon the Sea. The Sea now returned to its vigour—its great strength. This occurred “to the turnings of the morning”—just as the sun was rising. The Egyptians are fleeing to meet the morning! Thus, Yehovah shook off Egypt in the middle of the Sea!

 

The waters returned, and they covered the chariot, the horsemen, and indeed all the army of Pharaoh coming after them in the Sea. None remained in Pharaoh’s groups—not even one person!

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     What was Yehovah commanding Moshe to do when He told Moshe to “Stretch thine hand upon the Sea; and the waters have returned upon Egypt, upon his chariot and upon his horsemen”?

 

2.     What does “the Sea returned to his vigour” mean?

 

3.     What are the turnings of the morning?

 

4.     Did the Egyptians see the waters coming at them?

 

5.     The next statement is, “And Egyptians are fleeing to meet him!” Who is him that they are fleeing to meet?

 

6.     What picture is being described by the wording, “And Yehovah shook-off Egypt in the midst of the Sea”?

 

7.     The text states, “And the waters returned.” What form was this return?

 

8.     How did the waters cover the chariot, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh?

 

9.     How many Egyptians remained alive after this event?

 

 

 

XII. Israeli Baptism (verses 29-30)

 

The Children of Israel walked by means of the dry Seabed in the middle of the Sea. The waters are a wall to them from their right and from the left!

 

Yehovah saved Israel from the ‘hand’ of Egypt in that day.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     Did any Israelis get wet in this event?

 

2.     How tall were these walls of water that were to their right and left?

 

3.     Could all the Israelis see these walls of water?

 

4.     What is the hand of Egypt (from which Yehovah saved the Israelis)?

 

5.     Will Yehovah save Israel from the hands of other groups?

 

 

 

XIII. Dead Egyptians, Fear and Belief (verses 30-31)

 

Israel saw Egypt dead upon the ‘lip’ (shore) of the Sea. Israel also saw the Big Hand that Yehovah made in Egypt! The Israelis—the people of Israel—feared Yehovah. They even believed in Yehovah and in Moshe, Yehovah’s slave!

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     If the Egyptians drowned in the middle of the Sea, how did their bodies manage to come to the lip of the Sea, and what is a lip of a sea?

 

2.     Why was the Israelis seeing the Egyptian bodies on the shore so important?

 

3.     What Big Hand did Yehovah make in Egypt?

 

4.     Why did the people fear Yehovah?

 

5.     Is fearing Yehovah good?

 

6.     The text states that they believed in Yehovah. Since they also feared Him, were they born of God (that is, did they now have the everlasting Salvation of God, and the resulting everlasting life)?

 

7.     Was their believing in Moshe useful?

 

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Exodus 13 Sanctification and Light

Sanctification and Light

Background and Printed Text: Exodus chapter 13

 

1And Yehovah spoke unto Draw [Moshe] to say,  2 “Sanctify to me every firstborn bursting-through every womb in the children of Israel—in adam and in animal. He is to Me!”

 

3And Draw [Moshe] said unto the people, “Remember this day that ye exited from Egypt from the house of slaves. For Yehovah made you exit from this via grip of hand. And vinegar shall not be eaten.

 

4 “Today ye are exiting in the Month of the Spring. 5And he shall be. For Yehovah will bring thee unto the land of the Canaani and the Khiti and the Emori and the Khivi and the Yevoosi that He swore to thy fathers to give to thee, a land oozing milk and honey. And thou shalt serve this service in this month. 6Thou shalt eat Matzahs seven days. And a solemnity is to Yehovah in Day Seven. 7He shall eat Matzahs with seven of the days. And vinegar shall not be seen to thee. And leavening shall not be seen to thee in all thy border.

 

8 “And thou shalt tell to thy son in that day to say, ‘Yehovah did to me when I came from Egypt on-account-of this!’  9And he shall be to thee for a sign upon thine hand and for a remembrance between thine eyes so that the Teaching of Yehovah shall be in thy mouth. For Yehovah made thee exit from Egypt via a gripping hand!  10And thou shalt guard this statute to her appointment from days days-ward!

 

11 “And he shall be. For Yehovah shall bring thee unto the land of the Canaani just as He swore to thee and to thy fathers. And He shall give her to thee. 12And thou shalt cause- every burster-through of womb -to-cross-over to Yehovah, and every burster-through of fetus of beast that will be to thee. The males are to Yehovah! 13And thou shalt redeem every burster-through of an ass via a lamb. And if thou wilt not redeem, and thou shalt neck him! And thou shalt redeem every firstborn of Adam in thy sons.

 

14 “And he shall be. For thy son shall ask thee tomorrow to say, ‘What is this?’ And thou shalt say unto him, ‘Yehovah exited us from Egypt from the house of slaves via grip of hand. 15And he was. For Pharaoh hardened to send us. And Yehovah killed every firstborn in the Land of Egypt from the firstborn of adam and unto the firstborn of beast. I am therefore sacrificing every burster-through of the womb to Yehovah, the males. And I will redeem every firstborn of my sons! 16And he shall be for a sign upon thy hand and for frontlets between thine eyes. For Yehovah exited us from Egypt via grip of hand!’”

 

17And he was in Pharaoh’s sending the People. And Elohim did not lead them the way of the land of the Palestinians. For he is near. For Elohim said, “Lest the People will be grieved in their seeing war, and they shall return to Egypt.” 18And Elohim circled the People the way of the desert of the Ending Sea.

 

And the children of Israel ascended fives from the land of Egypt. 19And Draw [Moshe] took the bones of Yosef with him. For making-swear, he made- the children of Israel -swear, saying, “Visiting, Elohim shall visit you. And ye shall ascend my bones with you from this.”

 

20And they journeyed from Succot. And they camped in Aytam at the edge of the desert. 21And Yehovah is walking to their faces daily in a cloud pillar to lead them the way, and night in a fire pillar to enlighten to them to walk daily and night. 22The cloud pillar will not yield daily, and the pillar of the fire, night, to the faces of the People.

 

 

 

I. Sanctification (verses 1-2)

 

The Israelis had just come out of Egypt. The firstborn of the Egyptians had just been killed. Yehovah now told Moshe, “Sanctify to me every firstborn bursting-through every womb in the children of Israel—in adam and in animal. He is to Me!”

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     What does sanctify mean?

 

2.     Why did Yehovah only command that the firstborn must be sanctified to Him? Doesn’t He care about the rest of the Israelis?

 

3.     What does “bursting through every womb” mean?

 

4.     What does adam mean (“in adam”)?

 

5.     What, besides humans, did Yehovah command the Israelis to sanctify to Him?

 

6.     Did these animals include dogs and cats?

 

7.     What did Yehovah desire to do with the firstborn?

 

 

 

II. Remembering and Vinegar (verse 3)

 

Moshe commanded the people of Israel to “Remember this day that ye exited from Egypt from the house of slaves.” He explained how this happened: “For Yehovah made you exit from this via grip of hand.” Moshe then added one warning: “And vinegar shall not be eaten.”

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     What was so important about the people of Israel remembering that they went out from Egypt and from the house of slaves on this day?

 

2.     What does “Yehovah made you exit from this via grip of hand” mean?

 

3.     What is wrong with eating vinegar?

 

 

 

III. Land Takeover and Matzahs (verses 4-7)

 

Moshe told the Israelis what they were about to do, and he reminded them when this occurred: “Today ye are going out in the Month of the Spring.” He declared, “And he shall be.”

 

Where were they going? “For Yehovah will bring thee unto the land of the Canaani and the Khiti and the Emori and the Khivi and the Yevoosi that He swore to thy fathers to give to thee…” Moshe switched from the plural form (ye) to the singular (thee).

 

What was that land like? It is “a land oozing milk and honey.”

 

What were the people’s orders? “And thou shalt serve this service in this month. Thou shalt eat Matzos seven days. And a solemnity is to Yehovah in Day Seven.”

 

Moshe then stated, “He shall eat Matzahs with seven of the days.”

 

Moshe continued, prophesying as the Spirit of Yehovah taught him what to say, “And vinegar shall not be seen to thee. And leavening shall not be seen to thee in all thy border.”

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     What is the Month of Spring? Do we have that month?

 

2.     The text states that Yehovah will bring thee unto the land of… and it mentions five persons from five races. Who is thee, and who are these five races?

 

3.     The text states that Yehovah will bring Israel unto the land belonging to these other folks in order to give that land to Israel. How will this be accomplished if the land belongs to others?

 

4.     What is a land that oozes milk and honey, and what does that mean?

 

5.     In what month must he serve this service?

 

6.     When will Israel serve this service in the way that Yehovah has commanded it?

 

7.     Why must Israel eat Matzahs seven days, and what are Matzahs?

 

8.     What is a solemnity?

 

9.     Why is the solemnity to Yehovah instead of being to Israel?

 

10.  Verse 6 states, “Thou shalt eat Matzahs seven days. Verse 7 states, “He shall eat Matzahs with seven of the days.” Who is He, and why is it worded, “with seven of the days”?

 

11.  Why must vinegar not be seen to Israel?

 

12.  Why must leavening not be seen to Israel in all Israel’s border?

 

 

 

IV. Sign, Memorial, Telling (verses 8-10)

 

Moshe continued speaking as if he were only speaking to one person. This one person now had to know what to say to one son: “And thou shalt tell to thy son in that day to say, ‘Yehovah did to me when I came from Egypt on-account-of this!’”

 

This event had to become a sign upon this single individual’s hand and for a remembrance between his eyes in order for the Teaching (Torah) of Yehovah to be in his mouth. Why? “For Yehovah made thee exit from Egypt via a gripping hand!”

 

How long must this person guard this statute? “And thou shalt guard this statute to her appointment from days days-ward!”

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     Verse 8 states, “And thou shalt tell to thy son in that day…” Yehovah is referring to what day?

 

2.     Yehovah commands Israel to explain to Israel’s son, “Yehovah did to me when I came from Egypt on-account-of this!” Saying, “Yehovah did to me” is very personal. Why did Yehovah command this to be worded this way?

 

3.     This text states, “Yehovah did to me when I came from Egypt on-account-of this!” Yehovah is referring to what when He says, “on account of this”?

 

4.     Verse 9 states, “And he shall be to thee for a sign…” To whom does he refer?

 

5.     What is a sign in the Bible?

 

6.     Why is the remembrance between the eyes?

 

7.     If the sign is located on the hand of Israel and if the remembrance is between the eyes of Israel, what will occur in the mouth of Israel?

 

8.     How did Yehovah take Israel out of Egypt?

 

9.     What does “to her appointment” mean?

 

10.  What is a statute?

 

11.  What does “days days-ward” mean?

 

 

 

V. Firstborn Commandments (verses 11-13)

 

Moshe again prophesied, “And he shall be.” He continued, “For Yehovah shall bring thee unto the land of the Canaani just as He swore to thee and to thy fathers. And He shall give her to thee.”

 

Yehovah (through Moshe) commanded this singular individual to remember this event by doing the following: “And thou shalt cause- every burster-through of womb -to-cross-over to Yehovah.” A burster-through of womb is the first child to open the womb. That child had to be given to Yehovah. That wasn’t the only living being that must be given; Moshe continued, “and every burster-through of fetus of beast that will be to thee.” These all crossed over to Yehovah, becoming Yehovah’s property! He then became more specific: “The males are to Yehovah!”

 

Not every animal is kosher, however—that is, not every animal can be sacrificed. Thus, Yehovah commanded, “And thou shalt redeem every burster-through of an ass via a lamb.” But what if the person didn’t want to lose a lamb over an ass? “And if thou wilt not redeem, and thou shalt neck him!”—that is, break the animal’s neck!

 

What if the person didn’t want the child about to be born? “And thou shalt redeem every firstborn of Adam in thy sons.”

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     Why will Yehovah bring Israel unto the land of the Canaani if the land belongs to the Canaani people?

 

2.     Who is her in, “And He shall give her to thee”?

 

3.     Does He permanently give the land to the people of Israel?

 

4.     Identify thee and thy fathers in, “just as He swore to thee and to thy fathers”:

 

5.     Where (in the text) did Yehovah swear to give this land?

 

6.     What is a “burster-through of womb”?

 

7.     If the burster through must “cross over” to Yehovah, what is it doing?

 

8.     Why must the bursting through fetuses of beasts also become Yehovah’s property?

 

9.     Why did Yehovah specify only the males? Didn’t He want the females?

 

10.  What must the Israelis do to every baby ass that bursts through the womb?

 

11.  The next statement says, “And if thou wilt not redeem, and thou shalt neck him!” What does that mean?

 

12.  Why must the ass be put to death if it will not be redeemed?

 

13.  If no one wants to redeem a human male baby that is the first from his mother’s womb, is his neck broken?

 

 

 

VI. “What is this?” (verses 14-16)

 

Moshe again stated, “And he shall be.” This event is certain to occur. He then assured this people of Israel, “For thy son shall ask thee tomorrow to say, ‘What is this?’” Yehovah through Moshe then gives the answer that this people must give:

 

“And thou shalt say unto him, ‘Yehovah exited us from Egypt from the house of slaves via grip of hand. And he was. For Pharaoh hardened to send us. And Yehovah killed every firstborn in the Land of Egypt from the firstborn of adam and unto the firstborn of beast. I am therefore sacrificing every burster-through of the womb to Yehovah, the males. And I will redeem every firstborn of my sons! And he shall be for a sign upon thy hand and for frontlets between thine eyes. For Yehovah exited us from Egypt via grip of hand!’”

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     Who is he in, “And he shall be”?

 

2.     Whose son is in mind in this text?

 

3.     Won’t any daughter of Israel ask the question?

 

4.     Yehovah said that this son will ask tomorrow. Why didn’t Yehovah say that this son will ask many years from now?

 

5.     What does the son mean by, “What is this?”

 

6.     The answer, “Yehovah exited us from Egypt from the house of slaves,” implies that the answers are more than one (“us”) and that the answers were there. Why did Yehovah command the Israelis to answer the question this way?

 

7.     Verse 15 states, “And he was.” Who was?

 

8.     Yehovah stated, “I am therefore sacrificing every burster-through of the womb to Yehovah, the males.” Why is He sacrificing every burster-through of the womb?

 

9.     Has Yehovah redeemed every firstborn of His sons yet, to this day?

 

10.  Verse 16 again returns to the singular: thy hand: “And he shall be for a sign upon thy hand and for frontlets between thine eyes.” Whose hand is in mind?

 

11.  What does the hand of Israel do?

 

12.  What are frontlets? What does this word mean in Hebrew?

 

13.  Why must this teaching be upon the hand and between the eyes, again?

 

 

 

VII. Avoidance (verses 17-18)

 

The next event took place during the time that Pharaoh was sending the People of Israel out of Egypt. Elohim didn’t lead them to go by the way of the Palestinians, though that land was near. Elohim said, “Lest the People will be grieved in their seeing war, and they shall return to Egypt.” Elohim instead circled this people via the way of the desert of the Ending Sea (what is today called the Red Sea).

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     Who actually sent the Israelis from Egypt?

 

2.     Why didn’t Elohim lead the Israelis the way of the land of the Palestinians? Who are the Palestinians?

 

3.     The text states, “And Elohim circled the People the way of the desert of the Ending Sea.” Which way was this?

 

 

 

VIII. Yosef’s Bones (verses 18-19)

 

The Israelis (the children of Israel) ascended toward the sea in groups of fives as they exited from Egypt.

 

Moshe took Joseph’s bones with him, since Joseph had caused the Israelis to vow that they would ascend his bones with them when they exited from Egypt. Joseph had said, “Visiting, Elohim shall visit you. And ye shall ascend my bones with you from this.”

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     The text states, “And the children of Israel ascended fives from the land of Egypt.” What did this look like?

 

2.     Why did the Israelis line up in such an orderly fashion?

 

3.     Why did Moshe take the bones of Yoseph (Joseph)?

 

4.     If a person’s body had been blown up by a bomb, and thus dispersed all over the place, what soil would make up the person’s body in the resurrection?

 

 

 

IX. Light and Leading (verses 20-22)

 

The Israelis journeyed from the location called Succot (Camouflages). They camped in the region known as Aytam that was located where the desert ended (or began, depending on the direction in which one is walking).

 

Yehovah was “walking to their faces”—that is, He was in front of them every day they walked. Yehovah was located in a cloud pillar during daytime so that they knew which way to walk. The cloud pillar became a fire pillar as it became evening and night so that they had light, and they wouldn’t stumble. It was always to the faces of the People of Israel both day and night without disappearing.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.     Where is Succot?

 

2.     Where is Aytam?

 

3.     What does “Yehovah is walking to their faces” mean?

 

4.     Could they see Yehovah?

 

5.     What does “The cloud pillar will not yield daily, and the pillar of the fire, night, to the faces of the People” mean?

 

6.     Was the fire pillar comforting at night?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted on

Exodus 13 Sanctification and Light QA

Sanctification and Light

With Questions and Proposed Answers

 

 

Background and Printed Text: Exodus chapter 13

 

1And Yehovah spoke unto Draw [Moshe] to say,  2 “Sanctify to me every firstborn bursting-through every womb in the children of Israel—in adam and in animal. He is to Me!”

 

3And Draw [Moshe] said unto the people, “Remember this day that ye exited from Egypt from the house of slaves. For Yehovah made you exit from this via grip of hand. And vinegar shall not be eaten.

 

4 “Today ye are exiting in the Month of the Spring. 5And he shall be. For Yehovah will bring thee unto the land of the Canaani and the Khiti and the Emori and the Khivi and the Yevoosi that He swore to thy fathers to give to thee, a land oozing milk and honey. And thou shalt serve this service in this month. 6Thou shalt eat Matzahs seven days. And a solemnity is to Yehovah in Day Seven. 7He shall eat Matzahs with seven of the days. And vinegar shall not be seen to thee. And leavening shall not be seen to thee in all thy border.

 

8 “And thou shalt tell to thy son in that day to say, ‘Yehovah did to me when I came from Egypt on-account-of this!’  9And he shall be to thee for a sign upon thine hand and for a remembrance between thine eyes so that the Teaching of Yehovah shall be in thy mouth. For Yehovah made thee exit from Egypt via a gripping hand!  10And thou shalt guard this statute to her appointment from days days-ward!

 

11 “And he shall be. For Yehovah shall bring thee unto the land of the Canaani just as He swore to thee and to thy fathers. And He shall give her to thee. 12And thou shalt cause- every burster-through of womb -to-cross-over to Yehovah, and every burster-through of fetus of beast that will be to thee. The males are to Yehovah! 13And thou shalt redeem every burster-through of an ass via a lamb. And if thou wilt not redeem, and thou shalt neck him! And thou shalt redeem every firstborn of Adam in thy sons.

 

14 “And he shall be. For thy son shall ask thee tomorrow to say, ‘What is this?’ And thou shalt say unto him, ‘Yehovah exited us from Egypt from the house of slaves via grip of hand. 15And he was. For Pharaoh hardened to send us. And Yehovah killed every firstborn in the Land of Egypt from the firstborn of adam and unto the firstborn of beast. I am therefore sacrificing every burster-through of the womb to Yehovah, the males. And I will redeem every firstborn of my sons! 16And he shall be for a sign upon thy hand and for frontlets between thine eyes. For Yehovah exited us from Egypt via grip of hand!’”

 

17And he was in Pharaoh’s sending the People. And Elohim did not lead them the way of the land of the Palestinians. For he is near. For Elohim said, “Lest the People will be grieved in their seeing war, and they shall return to Egypt.” 18And Elohim circled the People the way of the desert of the Ending Sea.

 

And the children of Israel ascended fives from the land of Egypt. 19And Draw [Moshe] took the bones of Yosef with him. For making-swear, he made- the children of Israel -swear, saying, “Visiting, Elohim shall visit you. And ye shall ascend my bones with you from this.”

 

20And they journeyed from Succot. And they camped in Aytam at the edge of the desert. 21And Yehovah is walking to their faces daily in a cloud pillar to lead them the way, and night in a fire pillar to enlighten to them to walk daily and night. 22The cloud pillar will not yield daily, and the pillar of the fire, night, to the faces of the People.

 

 

 

I. Sanctification (verses 1-2)

 

The Israelis had just come out of Egypt. The firstborn of the Egyptians had just been killed. Yehovah now told Moshe, “Sanctify to me every firstborn bursting-through every womb in the children of Israel—in adam and in animal. He is to Me!”

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    What does sanctify mean? It means to cause something or someone to become owned. Anything or anyone not owned is unsanctified. Since holy and sanctified mean exactly the same thing, anything or anyone not owned is not holy.

 

       Since being owned doesn’t tell who the owner is, being holy doesn’t mean that the person or object is owned by the Gods of Israel; thus, holiness in the Bible doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with Yehovah. This is why texts tell who the owner is.

 

2.    Why did Yehovah only command that the firstborn must be sanctified to Him? Doesn’t He care about the rest of the Israelis? Sanctification isn’t a matter of caring or not caring; Yehovah owns all the Israelis. His command was given so that every firstborn of the Israelis will be His direct slaves on earth; they won’t be private citizens of Israel. (He will then do an exchange—read further down.) Yehovah gave a very important picture, since the baby Yeshua who will be born many centuries from this time will be a firstborn child; He will certainly belong to Yehovah.

 

3.    What does “bursting through every womb” mean? When a woman births her first child, that child breaks through the womb. The rest of the children that she births are not described as breaking through or bursting through.

 

4.    What does adam mean (“in adam”)? The word adam, when not referring to the first person among humans, refers to the human race—all humans who are alive at the time being described.

 

5.    What, besides humans, did Yehovah command the Israelis to sanctify to Him? He commanded that every firstborn of the animals of the Israelis also be sanctified to Him.

 

6.    Did these animals include dogs and cats? The text states, “in animal,” and a dog and a cat are animals. I could not exclude them.

 

7.    What did Yehovah desire to do with the firstborn? The reader must read on to see!

 

 

 

II. Remembering and Vinegar (verse 3)

 

Moshe commanded the people of Israel to “Remember this day that ye went out from Egypt from the house of slaves.” He explained how this happened: “For Yehovah made you exit from this via grip of hand.” Moshe then added one warning: “And vinegar shall not be eaten.”

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    What was so important about the people of Israel remembering that they exited from Egypt and from the house of slaves on this day? The wording is more like this: “Remember this day”—that is, don’t ever forget the very day ye Israelis exited from Egypt. The reason why that is so important is because it will happen again in the distant future! Everything they can learn about what occurred in the past will help them in the future when they go through it again. If they don’t forget, the future event will make much sense to them. If they do forget, they won’t know what is occurring, and they will put themselves and others into needless danger.

 

2.    What does “Yehovah made you exit from this via grip of hand” mean? This describes Yehovah taking hold of the Israelis, and tightly holding their hand (as if they all have one hand) as He took them out from Egypt.

 

3.    What is wrong with eating vinegar? Nothing is wrong with eating vinegar except during this period of time. Vinegar is a type—that is, it is a real object that pictures something else that is also real, and much more important! Vinegar pictures cruelty and violence. Thus, eating/drinking vinegar pictures intentionally taking cruelty and violence into oneself. Yehovah commanded the Israelis to not do this. Yeshua later drank vinegar on the cross in order to take away the cruelty and violence for all Israel.

 

 

 

III. Land Takeover and Matzahs (verses 4-7)

 

Moshe told the Israelis what they were about to do, and he reminded them when this occurred: “Today ye are going out in the Month of the Spring.” He declared, “And he shall be.”

 

Where were they going? “For Yehovah will bring thee unto the land of the Canaani and the Khiti and the Emori and the Khivi and the Yevoosi that He swore to thy fathers to give to thee…” Moshe switched from the plural form (ye) to the singular (thee).

 

What was that land like? It is “a land oozing milk and honey.”

 

What were the people’s orders? “And thou shalt serve this service in this month. Thou shalt eat Matzos seven days. And a solemnity is to Yehovah in Day Seven.”

 

Moshe then stated, “He shall eat Matzahs with seven of the days.”

 

Moshe continued, prophesying as the Spirit of Yehovah taught him what to say, “And vinegar shall not be seen to thee. And leavening shall not be seen to thee in all thy border.”

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    What is the Month of Spring? Do we have that month? We don’t have a month called Spring. The spring of the year comes around March and April, but Yehovah assigned the month Aviv in the Jewish calendar to be the Month of Spring. In 2011, Passover will be April 19; that will be the 14th day of the month Aviv. Therefore, the month Aviv starts on April 5 in 2011. You can look on the internet to see when it begins for each year. See the following website to determine when Passover is, and then back up 14 days to find the beginning of spring according to Yehovah’s reckoning:

 

       http://www.when-is.com/passover-2012.asp

 

 2.   The text states that Yehovah will bring thee unto the land of… and it mentions five persons from five races. Who is thee, and who are these five races? Thee refers to Israel (as if Israel is one person). The five races mentioned here are:

 

  • Canaani—the Canaanites who came from the first person named Canaan, who is a direct son of Kham (Ham), the son of Noah. The Canaanites were the main and strongest group in the land named after them: Canaan, which later became the Land of Israel. Yehovah sought to destroy the Canaanites because they became so evil, violent and sexually perverted. They had everything they needed, so that they had time on their hands. Human populations that become self-sufficient with time tend to experiment in perversion for entertainment. Yehovah gives them time and warnings, and then He either destroys them or sends them into slavery from a violent and strong group that doesn’t practice perversion like that.
  • Khiti—the Hittites—where like the Canaanites in perversion; they just weren’t as militarily strong as the Canaanites. They came from the original person named Heth, who was a son of the original Canaanite.
  • Emori—the Amorites were from the original person named Emor, who was also a son of the original Canaanite.
  • Khivi—the Hivites came from the original person named Khiv (I propose), who was a direct son of Canaan, the original Canaanite.
  • Yevoosi—the Jebusites came from Canaan in the same manner as all of the above. They all became equally perverted, evil and violent, doing human sacrifices.

3.    The text states that Yehovah will bring Israel unto the land belonging to these other folks in order to give that land to Israel. How will this be accomplished if the land belongs to others? Yehovah will command the Israelis to commit genocide on all those races and on two others in that land. He will command them to do the genocide slowly enough to be able to take over their homes and their villages and their fields and their crops, making sure to do the genocide at a slow-enough rate so that they can secure their property without the land going wild. Genocide, which is considered one of the worst crimes that humans can do against other humans is what Yehovah will command the Israelis to do against these vile races.

 

       Yehovah will give these races centuries of time to turn, and much warning. Yet, they won’t turn, and therefore Yehovah will command their utter destruction.

 

4.    What is a land that oozes milk and honey, and what does that mean? Cows eat grass and make milk. Goats and sheep do the same thing. Camels also do the same thing as well as asses and horses. A land that oozes milk has a continuous supply of milk from animals that give milk and that live off of that land. Desert lands do not ooze milk. They are normally very poor for grazing. Grasslands, on the other hand, are excellent for grazing. Forest lands have to be cut in order for plenty of milk production to occur, since trees shade the land and keep the grasses from growing as well as they could without the trees.

 

       A land that oozes honey is a land that has regular and abundant flower production so that the bees have a continuous supply of flowers to attend. The Land of Israel contains every climate in the world except permafrost. There are snow-capped mountains, and there are tropical rainforests. There are deserts of the sand dune variety and of the rock variety. All parts of Israel experience the four seasons. The bees in Israel can continue to work throughout the year in parts of the land.

 

5.    In what month must he serve this service? It is the Month Aviv.

 

6.    When will Israel serve this service in the way that Yehovah has commanded it? Israel will do this during the Tribulation. Israel will know the Truth, by then, and will understand this. Israel will believe.

 

7.    Why must Israel eat Matzahs seven days, and what are Matzahs? Matzahs are like crackers or tortillas that are made only with flour that has been mixed with water, and then baked until it holds together (or until it is crisp).

 

       They must be eaten for seven days because of what they picture. Consider how a matzah is made. Wheat berries are ground into flour. They are thus separated into very small pieces, since flour is very finely ground. They do not cling together. When water is added, the flour becomes a dough that can be kneaded; it holds together very well, but it isn’t ready. When it is heated (after it has been rolled with a rolling pin or formed by hand), it forms a single bread that holds together very well.

 

       Now, imagine that each single grain of flour is a person, and that groups of persons are brought together by water—that is, by the waters of life. They are then formed into groups—into lumps of dough, and shaped. They are then heated as if through fire and through trouble; they form an entirely righteous group that is without sin (since leaven, which typifies sin, isn’t present). When the Israelis eat matzahs, they are picturing living from food from these groups. Israel will see these groups at first as evil; yet Israel will live because of these very groups. This will occur during the Tribulation.

 

       They must eat matzahs seven days because seven days are all the days in any year. No year has more than seven days; they are the following days in our language:

 

  • Sunday
  • Monday
  • Tuesday
  • Wednesday
  • Thursday
  • Friday
  • Saturday

       In Hebrew, they are the following days:

 

  • Day First
  • Day Second
  • Day Third
  • Day Revolution (as if four parts)
  • Day Fifth
  • Day Sixth
  • Day Ceasing

       If the Israelis eat matzahs for seven days, they can eat matzahs and be without sin continually.

 

8.    What is a solemnity? It is a serious occasion (even if it is of great joy). It is used for remembering an event. In Yehovah’s case, it is often for a future event that must be remembered until it occurs. He usually designed a historical event to give a small example of the much larger and far more important future event.

 

9.    Why is the solemnity to Yehovah instead of being to Israel? Yehovah will be doing the action on that day; Israel won’t.

 

10. Verse 6 states, “Thou shalt eat Matzahs seven days. Verse 7 states, “He shall eat Matzahs with seven of the days.” Who is He, and why is it worded, “with seven of the days”? I propose that Yehovah will eat Matzahs, showing that He will be on earth and participating with Israelis at this time. I also propose that it is worded “with” seven of the days because He will be with Israel as a person during those seven days.

 

11. Why must vinegar not be seen to Israel? Since vinegar typifies cruelty and violence, Israel must not participate in cruelty or violence both in actions and in the food that typifies them. Yehovah is so serious about no vinegar, that He will kill any Israeli who even has any vinegar at this time.

 

12. Why must leavening not be seen to Israel in all Israel’s border? Since leaven typifies sin, and since there must not be sin in any Israeli and in anyone else in Israel’s border, Yehovah commanded that all leaven must be removed from all of Israel. This text will be fulfilled during the Tribulation. Anyone within Israel’s border who still has sin will be slaughtered.

 

 

 

IV. Sign, Memorial, Telling (verses 8-10)

 

Moshe continued speaking as if he were only speaking to one person. This one person now had to know what to say to one son: “And thou shalt tell to thy son in that day to say, ‘Yehovah did to me when I came from Egypt on-account-of this!’”

 

This event had to become a sign upon this single individual’s hand and for a remembrance between his eyes in order for the Teaching (Torah) of Yehovah to be in his mouth. Why? “For Yehovah made thee exit from Egypt via a gripping hand!”

 

How long must this person guard this statute? “And thou shalt guard this statute to her appointment from days days-ward!”

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    Verse 8 states, “And thou shalt tell to thy son in that day…” Yehovah is referring to what day? Since it is to “thy son,” and since thy refers to Israel, this refers to a son of Israel. That is Israel in a future generation—in a generation when Israel will be ready to obey.

 

       The Bible often uses the expression, that day. When it does, it usually means the Day of Yehovah—that is, the period of time when Yehovah is now directly taking rule of Jerusalem. That starts with the Tribulation, and it continues into the Millennium. That entire period is called the Day of Yehovah, since the Bible uses the word day to mean a period of an evening and a morning, or, a lengthy period of time identified by a person or an event. Thus, the day of wrath is a period of time when great anger will be shown; the day of visitation is a period of time when Yehovah will visit some group (like Israel) to take action concerning that group.

 

       In this case, that day refers to the Day of Yehovah; these events will occur during the Tribulation. Israel will tell Israel’s son these things; thus, every Israeli who has a child will explain to that child about what is occurring and what occurred in history.

 

2.    Yehovah commands Israel to explain to Israel’s son, “Yehovah did to me when I came from Egypt on-account-of this!” Saying, “Yehovah did to me” is very personal. Why did Yehovah command this to be worded this way? Every Israeli will feel and be very attached to all of Israel in that Day. Though this event will occur thousands of years later from the original Skip-Over event, the Israelis participating in this event will feel as if they were right there in the original Skip-Over. Thus, they will speak of it very personally.

 

3.    This text states, “Yehovah did to me when I came from Egypt on-account-of this!” Yehovah is referring to what when He says, “on account of this”? I propose that this refers to bringing Israel unto the land of the Canaani and the Khiti and the Emori and the Khivi and the Yevoosi that He swore to Israel’s fathers to give to Israel: a land oozing milk and honey. If I am correct, this will be when Israel finally permanently inherits the Land of Israel.

 

4.    Verse 9 states, “And he shall be to thee for a sign…” To whom does he refer? I propose that he refers to the work—the action of having no vinegar and no leavening in all the border.

 

5.    What is a sign in the Bible? It is something that is either very unusual or that is totally miraculous, and that also indicates something very specific. A sign must show something that is definite; it must refer to something certain. Thus, if Yehovah will provide a sign that shows that He will do a great miracle, the sign must point to that miracle, and not to anything else.

 

       In this case, having no leavening or vinegar in all the borders of Israel is a sign so that all of Israel will remember the Teaching (Torah) of Yehovah, and all of Israel will speak that Teaching. The sign will be upon Israel’s hand—it will be in all of Israel’s works (since the hand has been given to do work). The idea that every Israeli and every guest will have absolutely no leaven and no vinegar in all the land of Israel during this one period of time is a miraculous idea!

 

6.    Why is the remembrance between the eyes? That is where the brain is located in the human body. In the body of Israel—that is, in the group of Israel, the eyes are what see for the group; the prophets and prophetesses are the seers. The group thinks and remembers between the eyes just as a person thinks and remembers between the eyes.

 

7.    If the sign is located on the hand of Israel and if the remembrance is between the eyes of Israel, what will occur in the mouth of Israel? The Teaching (Torah) of Yehovah will be in the mouth of Israel! The order is this:

 

  • Sign upon the hand: work; doing what is right
  • Remembrance between eyes; thinking
  • Teaching of Yehovah in the mouth; speaking the Truth—what Yehovah Teachings

       Thus, Israel will speak exactly what is right.

 

8.    How did Yehovah take Israel out of Egypt? He did it by gripping the hand of Israel and pulling Israel out of Egypt!

 

9.    What does “to her appointment” mean? This means to the time when the time has been set for these things to be accomplished. The appointment is the time arranged for doing something.

 

       In this case, the text states, “thou shalt guard this statute to her appointment.” That means that this statute includes an appointment—a time when the statute will be carried out exactly as described.

 

10. What is a statute? It is like a rule that has been engraved in stone! It is something that is fixed in the way it must be done and when it must be done. In this case, the statute refers to the rule that Israel must get rid of all leaven and all vinegar in all Israel’s border during this time of the year.

 

11. What does “days days-ward” mean? This means from the days specified—that is from the days of the Skip-Over and Unleavened Bread to the future days of the same events and time: every year at this time. Always, these things must be done with leaven and vinegar removed at this time.

 

       The Israelis will also live according to this; they will no longer have violence, cruelty or sin as part of what they do.

 

 

 

V. Firstborn Commandments (verses 11-13)

 

Moshe again prophesied, “And he shall be.” He continued, “For Yehovah shall bring thee unto the land of the Canaani just as He swore to thee and to thy fathers. And He shall give her to thee.”

 

Yehovah (through Moshe) commanded this singular individual to remember this event by doing the following: “And thou shalt cause- every burster-through of womb -to-cross-over to Yehovah.” A burster-through of womb is the first child to open the womb. That child had to be given to Yehovah. That wasn’t the only living being that must be given; Moshe continued, “and every burster-through of fetus of beast that will be to thee.” These all crossed over to Yehovah, becoming Yehovah’s property! He then became more specific: “The males are to Yehovah!”

 

Not every animal is kosher, however—that is, not every animal can be sacrificed. Thus, Yehovah commanded, “And thou shalt redeem every burster-through of an ass via a lamb.” But what if the person didn’t want to lose a lamb over an ass? “And if thou wilt not redeem, and thou shalt neck him!”—that is, break the animal’s neck!

 

What if the person didn’t want the child about to be born? “And thou shalt redeem every firstborn of Adam in thy sons.”

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    Why will Yehovah bring Israel unto the land of the Canaani if the land belongs to the Canaani people? Yehovah will throw the Canaani people out of the land because this people has sinned so greatly against Yehovah. He will therefore replace the Canaani people with the people of Israel. If the people of Israel sin against Yehovah, He will throw them off that land, too. Only when a people is willing to live on that land without sinning will that people be permitted to stay. The Israelis will be willing many centuries from now; in the meantime, they will not be willing, and will sin just like the Canaani people sinned.

 

2.    Who is her in, “And He shall give her to thee”? Her refers to the land.

 

3.    Does He permanently give the land to the people of Israel? He doesn’t permanently give her to the people of Israel until the people of Israel is ready to live righteously on her!

 

4.    Identify thee and thy fathers in, “just as He swore to thee and to thy fathers”: Thee is Israel. Thy fathers are Avraham and Isaac.

 

5.    Where (in the text) did Yehovah swear to give this land? This is found in Genesis 17, as in verse 8.

 

6.    What is a “burster-through of womb”? It is a baby that is the first one out of its mother’s womb. This refers to the firstborn to a female, but in a different way than saying firstborn. It is the first little one out of one particular womb. All other little ones from that same womb are not bursting through, but are just coming out.

 

7.    If the burster through must “cross over” to Yehovah, what is it doing? It is going through a change of ownership, becoming Yehovah’s property. The text states that ‘thou’ shalt cause every burster through of womb to cross over to Yehovah. Israel is responsible to do this.

 

8.    Why must the bursting through fetuses of beasts also become Yehovah’s property? Yehovah claims them to be His property, as well as humans. This includes the males.

 

9.    Why did Yehovah specify only the males? Didn’t He want the females? This is a type, like so many other things. If all the males that burst through the wombs in Israel belong to Yehovah, they will include the Messiah (Yeshua) Himself when He will later be born to a virgin. While He has ownership over all the Israelis, He is taking the womb-opening males for special purposes.

 

10. What must the Israelis do to every baby ass that bursts through the womb? Since an ass in an unclean animal (like a horse and a camel), it must be redeemed—that is, it must be freed from its held state by the price of a clean animal—a lamb. Thus, a lamb is given to Yehovah instead of the ass. That shows one that is clean being offered in the place of one that is unclean. (Animals that are clean are animals that the Israelis may freely eat. Yehovah describes what is required for an animal to be clean. See if you can find a text describing what makes an animal clean.)

 

11. The next statement says, “And if thou wilt not redeem, and thou shalt neck him!” What does that mean? It means to break his neck—to kill the ass in that way. If the animal will not be redeemed, it must be put to death.

 

12. Why must the ass be put to death if it will not be redeemed? Humans, like asses, are unclean! This is a warning regarding humans: any human that won’t be redeemed by the Lamb of God will be put to death. Breaking the ass’s neck is therefore a simple way to teach children that the first one coming out of the womb among the males belongs to Yehovah, and must be redeemed, or it must be killed.

 

13. If no one wants to redeem a human male baby that is the first from his mother’s womb, is his neck broken? No; the text states, “thou shalt redeem every firstborn of Adam in thy sons.” Thus, the baby must be redeemed with a lamb.

 

 

 

VI. “What is this?” (verses 14-16)

 

Moshe again stated, “And he shall be.” This event is certain to occur. He then assured this people of Israel, “For thy son shall ask thee tomorrow to say, ‘What is this?’” Yehovah through Moshe then gives the answer that this people must give:

 

“And thou shalt say unto him, ‘Yehovah exited us from Egypt from the house of slaves via grip of hand. And he was. For Pharaoh hardened to send us. And Yehovah killed every firstborn in the Land of Egypt from the firstborn of adam and unto the firstborn of beast. I am therefore sacrificing every burster-through of the womb to Yehovah, the males. And I will redeem every firstborn of my sons! And he shall be for a sign upon thy hand and for frontlets between thine eyes. For Yehovah exited us from Egypt via grip of hand!’”

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    Who is he in, “And he shall be”? He is the event that will take place in the future. The event will include this son asking, “What is this?”

 

2.    Whose son is in mind in this text? This is the son of Israel—the son of the people of Israel. Every son born to any Israeli is a son of Israel!

 

3.    Won’t any daughter of Israel ask the question? Yes, daughters will also ask—perhaps will even ask more questions. The way that the Hebrew language is designed, if the reference is to a non-specific son, it can just as easily refer to a non-specific daughter in many texts. (Some daughters don’t need to ask some questions, instead observing what is occurring and figuring things out!) Yehovah is not ignoring Israel’s daughter; He is focusing on Israel’s son who will ask the question.

 

4.    Yehovah said that this son will ask tomorrow. Why didn’t Yehovah say that this son will ask many years from now? Tomorrow includes the day after today, two weeks after today, two hundred years after today, and 20,000 years after today.

 

5.    What does the son mean by, “What is this?” He is asking about sacrificing every male burster-through of the womb. Since this involves males, and he is a male, the son will become curious about this practice and what it means.

 

6.    The answer, “Yehovah exited us from Egypt from the house of slaves,” implies that the answers are more than one (“us”) and that the answers were there. Why did Yehovah command the Israelis to answer the question this way? The answerer must identify himself/herself as part of the Israeli group: us. Also, no matter how much later the answerer is born, he/she is still part of the group of Israelis that Yehovah exited from Egypt and part of the slaves that had been there in Egypt! We don’t usually think this way; we feel separated from what our ancestors endured. Yehovah doesn’t see it this way, however; we are very much part of what our ancestors did and experienced! This is even true of folks from other races who joined themselves to Israel many centuries from the time of the events in Egypt.

 

7.    Verse 15 states, “And he was.” Who was? The event of the killing of the firstborn in Egypt took place (the next statement explains why: “For Pharaoh hardened to send us”).

 

8.    Yehovah stated, “I am therefore sacrificing every burster-through of the womb to Yehovah, the males.” Why is He sacrificing every burster-through of the womb? The text explains, “Yehovah killed every firstborn in the Land of Egypt from the firstborn of adam and unto the firstborn of beast.” That is why He is sacrificing every burster-through of the womb. He will redeem every firstborn of His sons, however, just as He did in the original event.

 

9.    Has Yehovah redeemed every firstborn of His sons yet, to this day? He hasn’t yet; this is a future event. If a son is redeemed, that son will be born of God. Most Israelis (sons or not) who die die unredeemed at this time. When this text will be fulfilled, there will be no exceptions; every son will be redeemed.

 

10. Verse 16 again returns to the singular: thy hand: “And he shall be for a sign upon thy hand and for frontlets between thine eyes.” Whose hand is in mind? It is the hand of Israel as a group, as if Israel is one being with a hand.

 

11. What does the hand of Israel do? The hand of any creature does works—does actions for that creature. Everything that the Israelis do Israel is doing. That is true of any group. If one part of the group does something, the entire group is doing that very thing.

 

12. What are frontlets? What does this word mean in Hebrew? The word  ,`p7y¨Dy, totephot has the following acceptations: bands, phylacteries, frontlets, marks. These do not really explain the word. It is supposedly from an unused root indicating binding, winding around. vuy, tavah means to spin, and ;y, top means children, little children, little ones, especially referring to toddlers. Put together, the two words indicate the spinning of a toddler (feminine). Thus, if he will be a sign upon the hand (indicating one’s works) and the spinning of toddlers between the eyes (watching and rearing toddlers in motion), the adult will both practice and playfully (yet firmly) instruct little ones while watching them (I propose).

 

13. Why must this teaching be upon the hand and between the eyes, again? The text explains, “For Yehovah exited us from Egypt via grip of hand!”

 

 

 

VII. Avoidance (verses 17-18)

 

The next event took place during the time that Pharaoh was sending the People of Israel out of Egypt. Elohim didn’t lead them to go by the way of the Palestinians, though that land was near. Elohim said, “Lest the People will be grieved in their seeing war, and they shall return to Egypt.” Elohim instead circled this people via the way of the desert of the Ending Sea (what is today called the Red Sea).

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    Who actually sent the Israelis from Egypt? Pharaoh actually sent them, as Yehovah said he would do!

 

2.    Why didn’t Elohim lead the Israelis the way of the land of the Palestinians? Who are the Palestinians? The Palestinians came from the original Egyptian ancestor. The Palestinians became a seafaring people—a people that specialized in going by ship to many places. This people later settled in cities by the seaside along the Mediterranean. The Palestinians will become permanent enemies of the Israelis, as they are to this very day. They are also called the Philistines; I will call them the Palestinians.

 

       Yehovah didn’t lead the Israelis the way of the land of the Palestinians because Yehovah said, “Lest the People will be grieved in their seeing war, and they shall return to Egypt.” Yehovah knew that the Israelis were not ready to fight in wars, yet. The Palestinians would have easily defeated them since the Israelis had no confidence. Thus, Yehovah took them away from the Palestinians in order for them to fight less strong peoples until the Israelis gain confidence.

 

3.    The text states, “And Elohim circled the People the way of the desert of the Ending Sea.” Which way was this? Yehovah took them east and south. Look at the following map to get an idea:

 

Route of Exodus

 

Copyright Access Foundation; Zaine Ridling, Ph.D., Editor

 

       While this map shows a number of routes, just follow the route from Goshen to the larger body of water called Yam Suph (Ending Sea). The area is a desert, with very little rainfall in any year.

 

 

 

VIII. Yosef’s Bones (verses 18-19)

 

The Israelis (the children of Israel) ascended toward the sea in groups of fives as they exited from Egypt.

 

Moshe took Joseph’s bones with him, since Joseph had caused the Israelis to vow that they would ascend his bones with them when they exited from Egypt. Joseph had said, “Visiting, Elohim shall visit you. And ye shall ascend my bones with you from this.”

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    The text states, “And the children of Israel ascended fives from the land of Egypt.” What did this look like? I thought about this. If the Israelis lined up like this, it would have taken years to cross the Ending Sea:

 

Five Only

 

       If, instead, the Israelis were lined up like this (below), and there were miles of the groups of five next to each other, crossing would have taken hours instead of years:

 

 

 

Five Multiples

 

       This line-up would have permitted the Israelis to take their cattle between the sections, like this:

 

Five Multiples Cattle

 

2.    Why did the Israelis line up in such an orderly fashion? I suspect that the Egyptians used to line them up like this as they marched them to the places where they did their slave labours. It seems that the Israelis were used to being set in order like this (set in array is another way of saying this).

 

3.    Why did Moshe take the bones of Yoseph (Joseph)? The text explains, “For making-swear, he made- the children of Israel -swear, saying, ‘Visiting, Elohim shall visit you. And ye shall ascend my bones with you from this.’” Joseph made the Israelis vow that they would take his bones with them when they left Egypt to return to the Land of Canaan (the future Land of Israel). Joseph didn’t desire to be buried in Egypt; he desired to be buried in the Land of Israel so that he will be resurrected from Israel in the resurrection, and so that his body will be composed of Israeli soil in the resurrection. (Wherever a person is resurrected, that person’s physical body will be made of the soil in that area.)

 

4.    If a person’s body had been blown up by a bomb, and thus dispersed all over the place, what soil would make up the person’s body in the resurrection? No matter how great the explosion, the person who will be resurrected will be made of soil from the area where the person’s body was exploded. If a person dies on another planet, the person will be made of soil from that planet. If the person dies in outer space, the person’s body will be made from space dust! If the person’s body sinks to the lowest of the oceans, the person’s body will be made of the soil found on the bottom of the ocean. I cannot say that these soils will change how the person will look; the person will look exactly right no matter what.

 

 

 

IX. Light and Leading (verses 20-22)

 

The Israelis journeyed from the location called Succot (Camouflages). They camped in the region known as Aytam that was located where the desert ended (or began, depending on the direction in which one is walking).

 

Yehovah was “walking to their faces”—that is, He was in front of them every day they walked. Yehovah was located in a cloud pillar during daytime so that they knew which way to walk. The cloud pillar became a fire pillar as it became evening and night so that they had light, and they wouldn’t stumble. It was always to the faces of the People of Israel both day and night without disappearing.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    Where is Succot? Look at the map above, and look under the red, blue and green lines by Raamses.

 

2.    Where is Aytam? It is located at the edge of the desert. The map doesn’t show it. Some of these locations have temporarily disappeared from maps since the areas change.

 

3.    What does “Yehovah is walking to their faces” mean? This means that He is walking straight in front of them—right where they are looking.

 

4.    Could they see Yehovah? He was in a cloud pillar—a cloud that starts at the land and goes up like the pillar of a very tall building. They could easily see the cloud. The same cloud pillar became a fire pillar at night—not a pillar of fire that was dangerous with heat, but rather was really pretty with light (and, I propose, would give some heat during cold nights). This way, the Israelis could walk during the day and during the night; they could easily see where they were going.

 

5.    What does “The cloud pillar will not yield daily, and the pillar of the fire, night, to the faces of the People” mean? This means that the pillar (of cloud and of fire) won’t go away at any time; it remained visible 24 hours a day. That way, the people of Israel always had confidence that Yehovah was still there.

 

6.    Was the fire pillar comforting at night? It was! The motion of fire and the light of fire is very comforting. Think of a campfire, and how it mesmerizes some who watch its motion and feel its heat. This giant night light was very comforting, and would put children and adults quickly to sleep when it came time to stop. The animals also found it very comforting.