Exodus 18 Judging Relatives

Judging Relatives

Background and printed text: Exodus 18

Exodus 18:1 And His-Excess [Jethro], priest of Contention, Draw’s [Moshe’s] father-in-law heard all that Elohim did to Draw [Moshe] and to Israel his people: that Yehovah exited Israel from Egypt. ²And His-Excess [Jethro], Draw’s [Moshe’s] father-in-law took Zipporah [Ladybird], Draw’s [Moshe’s] woman (after her being sent [more than once]) ³and two of her sons, the name of which the first is Sojourner-There [Ger-Shom], for he said, “I was a sojourner in a foreign land!” ⁴And the name of the one is My-Mighty-One-Helped [Eli-Ezer], “Because-of the Gods of my father when helping me; and He rescued me from the sword of Pharaoh!”

⁵And His-Excess [Jethro], Draw’s [Moshe’s] father-in-law, came, and his sons and his woman, unto Draw [Moshe], unto the desert that he camped there, Mount of the Gods. ⁶And He said unto Draw [Moshe], “I, thy father-in-law His-Excess [Jethro], come unto thee! And thy woman and two of her sons are with her!” ⁷And Draw [Moshe] exited to meet his father-in-law. And he prostrated. And he kissed to him. And they asked a man to his neighbour for peace. And they came the tentward.

⁸And Draw [Moshe] scrolled to his father-in-law all that Yehovah did to Pharaoh and to Egypt concerning the firebrand of Israel, all the weariness that they found in the way. And Yehovah rescued them! ⁹And His-Excess [Jethro] focused upon all the good that Yehovah did to Israel—that He rescued him from the hand of Egypt. ¹⁰And His-Excess [Jethro] said, “Blessed is Yehovah Who rescued you from the hand of Egypt and from the hand of Pharaoh, Who rescued the people from under the hand of Egypt! ¹¹Now I knew that Yehovah is bigger than all the gods, for what they presumed upon them is in the speech!”

¹²And His-Excess [Jethro] father-in-law of Draw [Moshe] took an ascension and sacrifices to Elohim. And Oy!-Conception! [Aharon] came, and all elders of Israel, to eat bread with the father-in-law of Draw [Moshe] to the faces of the Elohim.

¹³And he was from the next day. And Draw [Moshe] sat to judge the people. And the people stood upon Draw [Moshe] from the morning unto the evening. ¹⁴And the father-in-law of Draw [Moshe] saw all that he, he did to the people. And he said, “What is this speech that thou art doing to the people? Make-known—art thou sitting thy lonesome, and all the people is positioned upon thee from morning unto evening?” ¹⁵And Draw [Moshe] said to his father-in-law, “For the people come unto me to research Elohim. ¹⁶For a speech will be to them; he came unto me. And I will judge between a man and between his neighbour. And I will make-known statutes of the Elohim and His teachings!”

¹⁷And the father-in-law of Draw [Moshe] said unto him, “The speech is not good that thou art doing. ¹⁸Foolishness! Thou wilt-become-a-fool—also thou, also this people that is thy people! For the speech is heavier than thee! Thou will not be able to do him thy lonesome!”

¹⁹ “Now, hearken via my voice. I will counsel thee. And Elohim was with thee. Be thou to the people a front to the Elohim. And thou, thou shalt bring the speeches unto the Elohim. ²⁰And thou shalt enlighten them with the statutes and with the teachings. And thou shalt make-known to them the way they shall walk via her and the doing that they shall do.”

²¹ “And thou, thou shalt choose men of an army from all the people, fearers of Elohim, men of Truth, haters of cuts. And thou shalt put princes of thousands, princes of hundreds, princes of fifties and princes of tens over them. ²²And they shall judge the people in every time. And he shall be, they shall bring unto thee every big speech. And they, they shall judge every little speech. And he shall-lighten/speed-up from upon thee. And they shall carry thee.”

²³ “If thou wilt do this speech, and Elohim will command thee, and thou wilt be able to stand. And also all this people will come upon his place via peace.”

²⁴And Draw [Moshe] hearkened to the voice of his father-in-law. And he did all that he said. ²⁵And Draw [Moshe] chose men of an army from all Israel. And he gave them heads upon the people: princes of thousands, princes of hundreds, princes of fifties and princes of tens. ²⁶And they judged the people at every time. They brought the hard speech unto Draw [Moshe]. And they, they judged every little speech.

²⁷And Draw [Moshe] sent his father-in-law. And he walked to him unto his land.

I. Moshe’s Family Travels (verses 1-4)

Jethro, priest of Midian, who was Moshe’s father-in-law, heard all that Elohim did to Moshe and to Israel, Moshe’s people. Yehovah exited Israel from Egypt!

Jethro, Moshe’s father-in-law, took his daughter Zipporah who was Moshe’s woman after she had been sent more than once. Accompanying her was two of her sons. The name of the first is Ger-Shom. Moshe had named him this because Moshe had said, “I was a sojourner in a foreign land!” The name of the other one is Eli-Ezer. Again, Moshe had said, “Because-of the Gods of my father when helping me; and He rescued me from the sword of Pharaoh!”

Questions

1. How did Jethro hear about all that Elohim did to Moshe and Israel?

2. Jethro was a priest of what religion?

3. What does excess mean (in the name Jethro, meaning his excess)?

4. Why would a girl child be named Ladybird?

5. Moshe’s woman wasn’t with Moshe, so Moshe’s father-in-law brought her to him. Why wasn’t she with Moshe?

6. Moshe named one child, Sojourner There, because he said, “I was a sojourner in a foreign land.” In what land was he a sojourner, and what is a sojourner?

7. Moshe also said, “Because-of the Gods of my father when helping me; and He rescued me from the sword of Pharaoh,” when he named the other son My Mighty One Helped. Did Moshe name the youth for his own experience?

II. Moshe’s Family Arrives (verses 5-7)

Moshe’s father-in-law Jethro came with Moshe’s sons and his woman (his wife). They came unto Moshe who was located in the desert where Moshe camped; it was called Mount of the Gods. Yet, before Jethro arrived, he announced, “I, thy father-in-law Jethro, come unto thee! And thy woman and two of her sons are with her!” Upon hearing this, Moshe exited to meet his father-in-law. Moshe prostrated. And he kissed him. They asked each other about their peace, and they came toward the tent.

Questions

1. Why would a location be called Mount of the Gods?

2. How dry is this desert?

3. Why did Jethro say, “I, thy father-in-law His-Excess [Jethro], come unto thee,” as if Moshe would not recognize him?

4. Jethro said, “Thy woman and two of hr sons are with her.” Were there other sons?

5. Moshe exited to meet his father-in-law. The text never says that he exited to meet his woman (his wife). Why?

6. Why did Moshe prostrate, and what does this mean?

7. What does “they asked a man to his neighbour for peace” mean?

8. Where did they go if they came “the tentward”?

III. Yehovah is the Greatest! (verses 8-11)

Moshe scrolled to his father-in-law everything that Yehovah did to Pharaoh and to Egypt concerning “the firebrand of Israel”—all the weariness that they found while they traveled. Yehovah rescued them! Jethro focused on all the good that Yehovah did to Israel, and that Yehovah rescued Israel from the hand of Egypt!

Jethro said, “Blessed is Yehovah Who rescued you from the hand of Egypt and from the hand of Pharaoh, Who rescued the people from under the hand of Egypt! Now I knew that Yehovah is bigger than all the gods, for in the speech is what they presumed upon them!”

Questions

1. What did Moshe do when he “scrolled to his father-in-law all that Yehovah did to Pharaoh and to Egypt”?

2. What is the firebrand of Israel? What does that mean?

3. What was this weariness that they found in the way?

4. From whom or from what did Yehovah rescue them?

5. Why did Jethro focus upon all the good that Yehovah did to Israel (instead of the terrible circumstances in which Israel found itself)?

6. Why did Jethro say that Yehovah is blessed? What does blessed mean?

7. What does “from under the hand of” mean in, “Who rescued the people from under the hand of Egypt”?

8. Jethro said, “Now I knew that Yehovah is bigger than all the gods.” What does this mean, and what does it imply about Jethro?

9. What does “what they presumed upon them is in the speech” mean?

10. Did the Egyptians become believers in Yehovah after this? Why or why not?

IV. Sacrifice and Food (verse 12)

Jethro, Moshe’s father-in-law, took an ascension and sacrifices to Elohim! Aharon came, and so did all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moshe’s father-in-law right in front of the Elohim!

Questions

1. What is an ascension?

2. Why did Jethro take an ascension to Elohim?

3. How could Jethro take an ascension to Elohim when Elohim wasn’t physically on earth in some location where it could be taken?

4. Did Jethro know what the ascension pictured?

5. How many sacrifices did Jethro take to Elohim?

6. Why did Jethro take sacrifices to Elohim, and why did he take more than one?

7. Where did Jethro get the sacrifices?

8. Why did Aharon and all elders of Israel also come?

9. Where were the faces of Yehovah?

V. Jethro Watches Moshe Work (verses 13-16)

What happened next was on the next day. Moshe sat to judge the people of Israel. And this people stood right there beside Moshe from the morning unto the evening.

Moshe’s father-in-law saw all that Moshe—Moshe himself—did to the people. And Jethro said, “What is this speech that thou art doing to the people?” Jethro continued, “Make-known—thou art sitting thy lonesome [all alone], and all the people is positioned upon thee from morning unto evening?” This was so unreasonable!

Moshe responded to his father-in-law, “For the people come unto me to research Elohim. For a speech will be to them; he came unto me.” He continued, “And I will judge between a man and between his neighbour. And I will make-known statutes of the Elohim and His teachings!”

Questions

1. The text states that Moshe sat to judge the people. What does this mean, and what was occurring?

2. The next statement is, “And the people stood upon Moshe from the morning unto the evening.” What does this mean?

3. The text then states, “the father-in-law of Moshe saw all that he, he did to the people.” Why is the pronoun, he doubled, and what did he do to the people?

4. Jethro said to Moshe, “What is this speech that thou art doing to the people?” What did Jethro mean by speech in this question?

5. Jethro then called Moshe to make known to him (to Jethro) what he was doing: “Art thou sitting thy lonesome, and all the people is positioned upon thee from morning unto evening?” What was Jethro communicating to Moshe?

6. What did Moshe mean by, “For the people come unto me to research Elohim”?

7. Can anyone research Elohim today?

8. What did Moshe mean by, “For a speech will be to them”?

9. Think about Moshe’s past. What is he now doing that connects with his past?

10. What is a statute?

VI. Moshe Will Become a Fool (verses 17-18)

Moshe’s father-in-law said to Moshe, “The speech is not good that thou art doing. Foolishness! Thou wilt-become-a-fool—also thou, also this people that is thy people! For the speech is heavier than thee! Thou will not be able to do him thy lonesome!”

Questions

1. What speech was Moshe doing that Jethro thought was not good?

2. What does fool and foolishness mean in the Bible?

3. Why was Jethro concerned that Moshe would become a fool by judging the Israelis all by himself?

4. What did Jethro mean by, “The speech is heavier than thee”?

5. What did Jethro mean by, “Thou will not be able to do him thy lonesome”?

6. Was Jethro right?

VII. Moshe, the Front and the Teacher (verses 19-20 )

Jethro advised Moshe: “Now, hearken into my voice. I will counsel thee. And Elohim was with thee.” Jethro then explained his idea: “Be thou to the people a front to the Elohim. And thou, thou shalt bring the speeches unto the Elohim. And thou shalt enlighten them with the statutes and with the teachings. And thou shalt make-known to them the way they shall walk in her and the doing that they shall do.”

Questions

1. What does “heaken via my voice” mean?

2. What does counsel mean in the Bible?

3. Jethro next said, “And Elohim was with thee.” Why did he use was instead of saying, “And Elohim will be with thee”?

4. What is Jethro telling Moshe to do when Jethro states, “Be thou to the people a front to the Elohim”?

5. What speeches will Moshe bring unto the Elohim?

6. How will Elohim respond to these speeches?

7. The Bible often refers to walking as it does in this statement: “And thou shalt make-known to them the way they shall walk…” What does walk mean when used this way?

8. Jethro stated, “And thou shalt make-known to them the way they shall walk via her.” Identify her:

9. What is the doing that they shall do?

VIII. Soldiers Qualified to Judge (verses 21-22)

Jethro continued, “And thou, thou shalt choose men of an army from all the people, fearers of Elohim, men of Truth, haters of cuts. And thou shalt put princes of thousands, princes of hundreds, princes of fifties and princes of tens over them. 22And they shall judge the people in every time. And he shall be, they shall bring unto thee every big speech. And they, they shall judge every little speech. And he shall-lighten/speed-up from upon thee. And they shall carry thee.”

Questions

1. Why did Jethro specify that Moshe should choose men of an army?

2. What is a fearer of Elohim?

3. Why must the men chosen be fearers of Elohim?

4. What is Truth?

5. What are men of Truth?

6. Why didn’t Jethro also include women?

7. What is a hater of cuts?

8. Are the princes of tens princes over just ten persons?

9. What does “they shall judge the people in every time” mean?

10. What is a big speech in, “they shall bring unto thee every big speech”?

11. Who is he in, “And he shall-lighten/speed-up from upon thee”?

12. Who are they in, “And they shall carry thee”?

13. How will they carry Moshe?

IX. Ability to Stand, and Peace (verse 23)

Jethro then explained why this would work: “If thou wilt do this speech, and Elohim will command thee, and thou wilt be able to stand. And also all this people will come upon his place via peace.”

Questions

1. What was Jethro saying when he declared, “If thou wilt do this speech, and Elohim will command thee”?

2. What did Jethro mean by, “thou wilt be able to stand”? What is the alternative?

3. Identify his place in, “all this people will come upon his place via peace”:

4. Why will the people come upon his place via peace? What does that mean?

X. Moshe Obeys a Pagan Priest (verses 24-26)

Moshe hearkened to the voice of his father-in-law, doing everything that he said. Moshe chose men who were part of Israel’s army from all Israel’s tribes. He gave them positions of being heads over the people of Israel. He made some princes of thousands, some princes of hundreds, some princes of fifties, and some princes of tens. They judged the people at every occasion. They only brought very difficult decisions to Moshe, judging every little ‘speech.’

Questions

1. Why did Moshe hearken to his father-in-law instead of first inquiring from Yehovah?

2. Should a person living by Biblical faith hearken to (that is, both listen to and do) a pagan priest of a false god?

3. What does “he gave them heads upon the people” mean?

4. How did Moshe know that these newly assigned princes were doing consistent and proper justice?

XI. Moshe Sends Jethro (verse 27)

It was time for Moshe’s father-in-law to leave, and Moshe sent him. He walked ‘to him’—that is, for himself—unto his land.

Questions

1. Why did Moshe send his father-in-law? Did he want to get rid of him?

2. What does “he walked to him unto his land” mean?

April 12, 2011July 5, 2017

Genesis 18b The Judge of the Whole Earth

The Judge of the Whole Earth

Background and Printed Text: Genesis 18

Genesis 18:16 And the men arose from there. And they peered upon the faces of Sodom (Scorch). And Avraham (Father-Of-A-Crowd) walked with them to send them.

¹⁷And Yehovah said, “Am I covering what I am doing from Avraham? ¹⁸And Avraham, becoming, shall become to a big and powerful race! And all the races of the land will be blessed via him! ¹⁹For I knew him in order that he will command his children and his house after him. And they will guard Yehovah’s way to do righteousness and justice in order that Yehovah has brought upon Avraham what He spoke concerning him.”

²⁰And Yehovah said, “The scream of Sodom and of Amorah (Gomorrah, meaning Her-Sheaf-Binding)! For she multiplied! And their sin! For she is very heavy!─ ²¹I will descend, na. And I have seen. According to her scream coming unto me, have they finished? And if not, I will know.”

²²And the men turned from there. And they walked Sodomward. And Avraham yet stood himself to the faces of Yehovah.

²³And Avraham approached. And he said, “Wilt thou even scrape-off a righteous-one with a culpable-one? ²⁴Perhaps there are fifty righteous-ones in the midst of the city. Wilt thou scrape-off, and wilt not forgive to the place for-the-sake-of fifty of the righteous-ones who are in her midst? ²⁵Profanation to Thee from doing according to this speech—to kill a righteous-one with a culpable-one, and as a righteous-one will be as a culpable-one—profanation to Thee! The Judge of all the land will not do justice??” ²⁶And Yehovah said, “If I will find in Sodom fifty righteous-ones in the midst of the city, and I will forgive to all the place for their sake.”

²⁷And Avraham answered. And he said, “Behold, na, I resolved to speak unto my Lords. And I am dust and ash. ²⁸Perhaps fifty of the righteous-ones will lack five. Wilt Thou slaughter via the five all the city?” And He said, “I will not slaughter if I will find there forty and five.” ²⁹And he gathered again to speak unto Him. And he said, “Perhaps they will find forty there.” And He said, “I will not do for the sake-of the forty.” ³⁰And he said, “Do not, na, heat to my Lords, and I have spoken. Perhaps they will find thirty there.” And He said, “I will not do if I will find thirty there.” ³¹And he said, “Behold, na, I resolved to speak unto my Lords. Perhaps they will find twenty there.” And He said, “I will not slaughter for-the-sake-of the twenty.” ³²And he said, “Do not heat to my Lords, and I will speak but the stroke. Perhaps they will find ten there.” And He said I will not slaughter for-the-sake-of the ten.”

³³And Yehovah went just-as He finished to speak unto Avraham. And Avraham sat to his place.

I. The Haunting Engagement (verse 16)

The visitors finished their meal and resting. They arose. They peered (looked at something very hard, as if it were very distant and very important) upon the faces of Sodom. The fields around Sodom were fertile; it was an agricultural community with a walled city for protection. Those men knew their assignment. Many would be dead in a very short time.

Avraham accompanied them to send them on their journey. He knew nothing about their mission.

Questions

1. Why didn’t the men tell the reasons for their journey?

2. Why did they look at the distant city and settlement of Sodom in that way?

II. The Facts about Avraham (verses 17-19)

Yehovah spoke, though there is no indication to whom He said this. He asked Himself a question: “Am I covering what I am doing from Avraham?”

Yehovah’s reasons for telling Avraham what He was about to do were these:

Avraham will become a big and powerful race.
All the races of the land will be blessed by means of him.
Yehovah knew him.
Avraham will command his children and his house after him, and they will guard Yehovah’s way to do righteousness and justice in order that Yehovah has brought upon Avraham what He spoke concerning him.

These things will set the right conditions for Yehovah to bring upon Avraham the Promises.

None of these things seems to have anything to do with Yehovah’s plan for Sodom. Yet every one of these things has everything to do with Yehovah informing this man.

Questions

1. Why did Yehovah say these things instead of just doing them?

2. What is a race?

3. How will all the races of the land be blessed by means of Avraham?

4. What is important about Yehovah knowing Avraham? Doesn’t He know everyone?

5. What will Avraham command his house and his children?

6. When will he do this?

7. What is Yehovah’s way?

8. What is righteousness?

9. What is justice?

10. What will Yehovah bring upon Avraham? What did He say He would bring?

11. What is required for Yehovah to bring that upon Avraham?

III. The Scream (verses 20-21)

The Bible mentioned two cities: Sodom and Gomorrah. It will mention five cities in a later text: Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim and Zoar.

Sodom and Gomorrah scream. The scream multiplies (gets louder). The sin of the inhabitants is very heavy (important; it weighs much).

Yehovah determines to descend in person. Have the inhabitants finished sinning, doing what she was screaming they were doing? Yehovah will find out.

Questions

1. What was Sodom screaming?

2. Why was Sodom screaming?

3. Can cities speak to Yehovah? Are they alive?

4. Did Sodom agree with what Sodom’s citizens were doing? Explain.

5. Was Gomorrah also screaming?

6. What multiplied?

7. What is the definition of sin in the Bible?

8. What sin is this? (Only one sin is mentioned.) (Hint: Somewhere in Ezekiel, a text speaks of this sin.)

9. Why did Yehovah need to descend to see? Can’t He see all things?

10. If they finished, what would they finish?

11. If you sin, does Yehovah know?

12. Does Yehovah know you?

IV. The Facts about Avraham (verses 22)

The men arrived from an unknown location, and ate. They then turned from the camp of Avraham. They went on their journey toward Sodom.

Avraham did not leave the one who stayed behind; he stood there directly in front of him.

Questions

1. Why did Avraham stand in front of the remaining man?

2. Was Avraham upset?

3. Did Avraham know who this is?

4. Why did the men turn from there?

5. Why did one stay? Did Avraham detain him?

V. ‘Scraping Off’ and Profanation (verses 23-26)

Avraham reasoned with his Guest about justice. He called Him “the Judge of all the land” in verse 25. Therefore, Avraham now knew the identity of his Guest.

He asked, “Wilt thou even scrape-off a righteous-one with a culpable-one?” Avraham desired to know what He would do if there were fifty righteous persons in the midst of the city.

Avraham discussed only two possibilities: scraping off, and forgiving the place.

He then spoke very strongly: “Profanation to Thee from doing according to this speech—to kill a righteous-one with a culpable-one, and as a righteous-one will be as a culpable-one—profanation to Thee!” I know of no other place in the Bible where one speaks so strongly to this God!

The word profanation is a form of the word profane, meaning secular. Anything that is secular isn’t spiritual—it doesn’t relate to things of God, but only to physical life on earth. For example, reading a good novel is secular. There is nothing wrong with that. On the other hand, there are secular activities that are wrong. Being cruel or mean to someone is also secular; it is therefore profane. Using language that is considered profanity (another form of the word profane) is also a secular activity.

Avraham recognized that Yehovah would be behaving secularly, profanely, if He killed a culpable (guilty) person with a righteous person, even if Yehovah became very angry with what was occurring in a city. The Judge of all the land must do justice, and that wouldn’t be justice.

Yehovah responded using Avraham’s number: “If I will find in Sodom fifty righteous-ones in the midst of the city, and I will forgive to all the place for their sake.” That didn’t satisfy Avraham, however, as the next sections will show.

Questions

1. What does scrape off mean? Is this a good description?

2. How can you tell whether a person is a righteous person or a culpable person?

3. What does forgive really mean (literally)?

4. How can one forgive a place?

5. What does righteous really mean (literally)?

6. Are fifty righteous persons normally in a city? Explain this well, and think about this before you answer.

7. Does Yehovah do anything that is secular/profane? Explain.

8. Does Yehovah always do justice?

9. What does judge really mean?

10. Should you judge? Think very carefully before you answer.

11. Was Avraham’s challenge of Yehovah’s justice (verses 23-25) right? Did Avraham have the right to do this, or did he sin by doing this?

12. Is it a sin to be angry with God?

13. Is bargaining with God wrong?

VI. The Minimum Number (verses 27-32)

Avraham resolved to speak to his Lords (plural). He had to ask more questions. Yet, he knew that he consisted of dust and ash!

What if only five less than fifty were present? Would Yehovah slaughter all the city because five were absent? Yehovah assured him that He will not do that.

Avraham continued with the countdown until he came to ten. Avraham went no lower.

Questions

1. Why is the word Lords plural? (It is used in that form throughout the Bible.)

2. What does resolved mean?

3. Why did Avraham call himself “dust and ash”? Is he?

4. Why did Avraham stop with ten instead of lowering the number to five?

5. What would Yehovah do if He found (say) eight righteous persons? Would He slaughter the eight with the culpable ones (the culprits)?

6. Avraham seemed to be concerned that Yehovah might anger with him for his continuing to speak (verse 30). Was there a danger of this?

7. Avraham never mentioned Lot in this entire discussion. Why?

8. Would you be considered among the righteous were the city in which you live to be targeted for Yehovah’s destruction?

VII. Finished (verse 33)

Yehovah left when he finished speaking. Avraham sat ‘to’ his place. This wasn’t the type of ‘goodbye’ a reader might expect.

Questions

1. Why did Avraham just sit there?

2. Was Avraham pleased that Yehovah had just visited him?

3. Would you be pleased if you had relatives in a city that you knew would be targeted by Yehovah to destroy it, and Yehovah had just visited you to let you know?

4. Did Avraham fear for his relatives?

5. Why didn’t Yehovah reassure Avraham that Lot would be safe?

April 12, 2011July 5, 2017

Genesis 18b The Judge of the Whole Earth QA

The Judge of the Whole Earth

With Questions and Proposed Answers

Background and Printed Text: Genesis 18

Genesis 18:16 And the men arose from there. And they peered upon the faces of Sodom (Scorch). And Avraham (Father-Of-A-Crowd) walked with them to send them.

²²And the men turned from there. And they walked Sodomward. And Avraham yet stood himself to the faces of Yehovah.

³³And Yehovah went just-as He finished to speak unto Avraham. And Avraham sat to his place.

I. The Haunting Engagement (verse 16)

Avraham accompanied them to send them on their journey. He knew nothing about their mission.

Questions

1. Why didn’t the men tell the reasons for their journey? They did and said what they were told to do and to say. They didn’t volunteer information. Avraham didn’t need to hear from them what they intended to do.

2. Why did they look at the distant city and settlement of Sodom in that way? They were about to walk there, and they were about to do a very terrible (frightening) act. They peered because the city was quite far away, though it was still visible from where they were located.

II. The Facts about Avraham (verses 17-19)

Yehovah spoke, though there is no indication to whom He said this. He asked Himself a question: “Am I covering what I am doing from Avraham?”

Yehovah’s reasons for telling Avraham what He was about to do were these:

Avraham will become a big and powerful race.
All the races of the land will be blessed by means of him.
Yehovah knew him.
Avraham will command his children and his house after him, and they will guard Yehovah’s way to do righteousness and justice in order that Yehovah has brought upon Avraham what He spoke concerning him.

These things will set the right conditions for Yehovah to bring upon Avraham the Promises.

None of these things seems to have anything to do with Yehovah’s plan for Sodom. Yet every one of these things has everything to do with Yehovah informing this man.

Questions

1. Why did Yehovah say these things instead of just doing them? Yehovah is telling readers of the Bible what He was thinking at that time. If the Bible didn’t show these things to readers, readers wouldn’t be able to get to know the mind (thinking) of Yehovah.

2. What is a race? A race is a large group of individuals who all have a common set of parents (one mother and one father). Every race starts with two: a male and a female. They form a family. Children of that family tend to stay close to each other, and soon they have enough family members to be a tribe. The tribe grows; women marry the men of the tribe, and the tribe still tends to stay more or less together. When the tribe has become very large, it is now considered a race.

3. How will all the races of the land be blessed by means of Avraham? Avraham’s offspring will do actions, will make inventions, and will participate in social and political functions that will benefit other races and will give them what they need to prosper in greater ways than they would have without Avraham’s offspring. Also, Avraham’s faith and behaviour will become a model for all races of the land. Besides these things, the Salvation of Yehovah from sin and unto righteous living will come through Avraham.

4. What is important about Yehovah knowing Avraham? Doesn’t He know everyone? Yehovah knows everyone in one way: He created the personality of every person. Yet, Yehovah knows those who are His—those who fear Him and belong to Him; this description doesn’t cover most humans. The word know in the Bible shows great intimacy. Yehovah is not on an intimate level with very many (since most don’t fear Him). Yehovah knew Avraham.

5. What will Avraham command his house and his children? He will command his house and his children to live according to the Teachings of Yehovah, to fear Yehovah, to do righteously, to refuse to sin, to look for the fulfilling of the Covenant that Yehovah made with Avraham, to do justice, to love Grace, and selflessly to walk with Yehovah.

6. When will he do this? He has been doing this throughout the centuries. Those who are the children of Avraham aren’t necessarily the ones who have Avraham as an ancestor; those who have the faith and practice of Avraham are the children of Avraham:

Galatians 3:6 Abraham believed God. And it was thought to him for righteousness. ⁷Know ye therefore that they who are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham!

Romans 9:6 They are not all Israel who are of Israel, ⁷neither are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham. But rather, “Thy seed shall be called in Isaac.” ⁸That is, They who are the children of the flesh—these are not the children of God, but rather, the children of the promise are counted for the seed!

Those who hearken to the faith and righteousness of Avraham are commanded by Avraham; they are the house and the children of Avraham.

7. What is Yehovah’s way? Yehovah’s way is to do righteousness and justice; it is to keep His Covenant; it is to love Grace; it is to save lives. Those who walk (that is, continuously live) in Yehovah’s way will do likewise. Those who guard Yehovah’s way will always be watching in order to do these things.

8. What is righteousness? It is the state of being and doing right—that is, doing what is right (moral) and appropriate (ethical) at all times. No one achieves righteousness by doing nothing (including by not sinning), but rather by doing something (including not sinning, and instead doing what is right) toward others.

A person who was formerly unrighteous can become among the righteous by justification—that is, by an act of another that takes an unrighteous person and pays for the unrighteousness debt of the person. Yet, it is now up to that person to live righteously and to demonstrate righteousness.

9. What is justice? It is rendering (that is figuring out and concluding) a right decision based upon facts (that is, based on the truth). That right decision can be to justify a person (to state that the person did right), to condemn a person (that is, to declare that the person did wrong), or to declare that the person wasn’t involved. No Biblical form of justice ever assumes that a person is “innocent until proven guilty;” that is a violation of justice. Instead, Biblical justice assumes nothing, and first hears the facts (truth) in every case.

Also, Biblical justice includes this: If a person testifies in any court session, if that person lies either to help get a guilty person from suffering the penalty for a crime, or to help convict an innocent person, once that testifier has been discovered to have been lying, whatever sentence that person was trying to help another avoid, or was trying to help get an innocent person convicted, the sentence of the other person will be carried out on him/her!

10. What will Yehovah bring upon Avraham? What did He say He would bring? Yehovah said a number of things that He will do concerning Avraham. For example, see Genesis 17 to see just part of Yehovah’s Covenant with Avraham!

11. What is required for Yehovah to bring that upon Avraham? Both Avraham’s house and Avraham’s children must guard Yehovah’s way to do righteousness and justice. This includes all the Israelis (since they are Avraham’s house through which the promises made to Avraham, and confirmed in Isaac and then in Jacob will be fulfilled). Until all Israel is in faith, Yehovah will not bring the blessings of the Covenant upon Avraham. Avraham must await this. This includes the resurrection from among the dead! Thus, all who have the faith of Avraham must have their very hope (expectation) in Israel’s restoration and faith!

III. The Scream (verses 20-21)

The Bible mentioned two cities: Sodom and Gomorrah. It will mention five cities in a later text: Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim and Zoar.

Sodom and Gomorrah scream. The scream multiplies (gets louder). The sin of the inhabitants is very heavy (important; it weighs much).

Yehovah determines to descend in person. Have the inhabitants finished sinning, doing what she was screaming they were doing? Yehovah will find out.

Questions

1. What was Sodom screaming? Sodom was screaming because of the sin going on in her. She desired that Yehovah quickly do something about this.

2. Why was Sodom screaming? She desired for the sin and violence occurring in her to stop. Locations hate it when humans living in them become violent, and innocent blood and bodies are put into their soil without retribution.

3. Can cities speak to Yehovah? Are they alive? Yes, they can and do speak to Yehovah. They are alive in terms of the following:

Cities can respond to events occurring inside of them
Cities can prosper or harm humans living in them, depending on whether those humans are doing good or bad in them
Cities can destroy all their inhabitants if the violence becomes bad enough and lasts long enough
Cities can sin and are therefore moral creatures (see Ezekiel 14:13)
Yehovah holds cities responsible for aiding violent humans by giving them food, water and shelter unless the cities turn from that aid
Cities are viewed as separate from the humans who occupy them in quite a few texts

Thus, they are alive if the Bible is Truth.

4. Did Sodom agree with what Sodom’s citizens were doing? Explain. Sodom didn’t agree! The citizens were not calling out to Yehovah; they didn’t believe in Yehovah! The cities did believe in Yehovah. Certainly, the citizens would not have requested Yehovah to judge them! The scream of Sodom brought Yehovah’s action to annihilate everyone in the cities!

5. Was Gomorrah also screaming? The land under both Sodom and Gomorrah was the same; they were sister cities, and therefore they both were shouting, but as one land.

6. What multiplied? The scream multiplied! It became louder and louder as the land screamed to Yehovah.

7. What is the definition of sin in the Bible? Sin is:

any transgression of Yehovah’s Teaching (1 John 3:4)
knowing to do good and refusing to do it (James 4:17)
doing any unrighteousness (1 John 5:17)
doing anything that is contrary to Scriptural faith (Romans 14:23)
a high look, a proud heart, the ‘light’ of a culpable person (Proverbs 21:4)
any violation that causes death that Yehovah has warned either to not do or to do.

(One can sin against a ruler or a king; that may or may not be sin against God.)

8. What sin is this? (Only one sin is mentioned.) (Hint: Somewhere in Ezekiel, a text speaks of this sin.) The text in Ezekiel is the following:

Ezekiel 16:49 Behold, this was the iniquity [true guilt of a sin] of thy sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters. And she didn’t strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. ⁵⁰And they were haughty! And they did abomination to my faces! therefore I took them away as I saw!

9. Why did Yehovah need to descend to see? Can’t He see all things? He can and does see all things! Yet, He takes very personally the destruction that He must do. He went there to personally see in order to show readers that He personally interacts with those made in His image when it comes to life-and-death issues.

10. If they finished, what would they finish? If they finished in this text, it would be finalizing their great sin! Yehovah sees and knows a point where those who do sin can no longer return from doing it. They have finished their evil and violent works; giving them more time will do no good, and will only give them more opportunity to increase sinning.

11. If you sin, does Yehovah know? He knows; He takes all sin and sinning very personally. (After all, He paid a terrible price for every sin that anyone does.)

12. Does Yehovah know you? If Yehovah knows a person in the Bible, it is because that person is His property by purchase. Anyone who has been purchased by Yehovah has been willing to receive the love of the Truth, and has received that love. Thus, the person has also received the Truth, has believed the Truth, and has been born from above. This is true of very few folks—not because it is hard, but because most have no interest in receiving the love of the Truth.

2 Thessalonians 2:10 They didn’t receive the love of the Truth that they might be saved.

IV. The Facts about Avraham (verses 22)

The men arrived from an unknown location, and ate. They then turned from the camp of Avraham. They went on their journey toward Sodom.

Avraham did not leave the one who stayed behind; he stood there directly in front of him.

Questions

1. Why did Avraham stand in front of the remaining man? Avraham understood what was about to occur from the conversation; Avraham had a close relative and his family living in Sodom. He had questions.

2. Was Avraham upset? He was very upset. Knowing that a close and loved relative is in danger of being killed is upsetting.

3. Did Avraham know who this is? He did! He knew that he was conversing with God. (He is about to call Him the Judge of all the land.)

4. Why did the men turn from there? They were on their way to do their slaughter errand; they were headed toward Sodom.

5. Why did one stay? Did Avraham detain him? Avraham did detain Him; Avraham had questions for Him. He, Yehovah, stayed, because Yehovah desired for the conversation to take place in order to teach readers Yehovah’s justice regarding slaughtering entire cities.

V. ‘Scraping Off’ and Profanation (verses 23-26)

Avraham reasoned with his Guest about justice. He called Him “the Judge of all the land” in verse 25. Therefore, Avraham now knew the identity of his Guest.

He asked, “Wilt thou even scrape-off a righteous-one with a culpable-one?” Avraham desired to know what He would do if there were fifty righteous persons in the midst of the city.

Avraham discussed only two possibilities: scraping off, and forgiving the place.

Questions

1. What does scrape off mean? Is this a good description? It is to remove by violence. In this case, it refers to rapidly removing all citizens from several cities as if they are scum on a dish. This is a very good description, since Yehovah will be sanitizing the locations by removing human scum!

2. How can you tell whether a person is a righteous person or a culpable person? A righteous person does righteousness; a culpable person (one who is guilty) will do acts that are wrong, and often will try to cover up his/her guilt if that guilt would make him/her look guilty.

3. What does forgive really mean (literally)? It literally means to carry—that is, to agree with the one who did wrong to carry the offense so that there is no longer a debt between them regarding that one issue. True forgiveness is an agreement.

4. How can one forgive a place? In this case, it is to agree to carry the place—that is, to continue to sustain it so that humans can live there. If Yehovah refuses to carry the place, He will destroy life from it.

5. What does righteous really mean (literally)? Righteous has to do with something being plumb, straight (like in a plumb line used in construction, a string with a weight on the end). The standard of righteousness comes from a supposed god or the One True God, for all righteousness goes back to some god (be it false or real).

Yehovah holds the standard of Biblical righteousness. The word justified is the same word. One who is justified is viewed as righteous. To justify is either to bring a guilty person (or group) into the state of being righteous, or it is to declare an innocent person (or group) as innocent, straight (before the god/God who holds the standard).

6. Are fifty righteous persons normally in a city? Explain this well, and think about this before you answer. This is very rare! While it may seem that cities with a larger population might have fifty righteous folks in them, that number is still very high!

There is a great difference between religious folks and righteous folks. Most who are religious are not righteous; those who are righteous are rarely religious.

Being religious has to do with advertising: making oneself look as if he/she has a continuous interest in God/god. Being righteous has to do with what one does and whom one serves. Religious folks draw attention to themselves; righteous folks serve others made in the image of God in order to give them opportunity to live.

Most cities of the world have few righteous folks in them; some have none.

7. Does Yehovah do anything that is secular/profane? Explain. Whatever is secular has nothing to do with ownership. The word profane means the same thing: unowned; for public use. Thus, public restrooms are profane restrooms; they are secular restrooms. They are for anyone to use. (While the city in which they are located owns them, they can be used freely by the public as long as they are not harmed.)

Yehovah doesn’t do secular/profane things; He always deals with persons, creatures, land, planets, stars, angels, etc. as His creation. Yet, those who rebel against Him are declaring that He doesn’t own them, and He often doesn’t interfere with them for a while until it is time to judge them. Humans who live as if Yehovah isn’t their creator and owner will either live secular lives (lives that show no ownership) or religious lives (lives that claim to be owned by some god, but not the true and Living God). Yehovah isn’t that way; He isn’t religious, and could not be. Thus, He never does what is secular or profane; He would have to deny Himself as the owner of all things in order to do that.

8. Does Yehovah always do justice? Yehovah always eventually does justice. If He immediately did justice, humans wouldn’t live long enough to even consider faith in Him. Thus, He waits. When He does act, however, He does justice.

9. What does judge really mean? Biblically, to judge is to render (that is, to give and carry out) a right decision based on all true facts.

10. Should you judge? Think very carefully before you answer. Every person with sense must judge! Anyone who doesn’t judge is either a fool, is incapable of judging because of a mental condition that lacks what is necessary to judge, or very gullible (that is, a sucker).

11. Was Avraham’s challenge of Yehovah’s justice (verses 23-25) right? Did Avraham have the right to do this, or did he sin by doing this? Avraham’s challenge was right, and he did have the right to do this. He did not sin by challenging Yehovah’s justice. That is the only good way to get to know His justice! Yehovah put this text in the Bible to show this very thing!

12. Is it a sin to be angry with God? It absolutely is not a sin as long as the person who is angry with God does what is right before Him, and makes peace with Him. (Those who stay bitter against God will reject their own Salvation.)

13. Is bargaining with God wrong? It absolutely is not wrong.

VI. The Minimum Number (verses 27-32)

Avraham resolved to speak to his Lords (plural). He had to ask more questions. Yet, he knew that he consisted of dust and ash!

What if only five less than fifty were present? Would Yehovah slaughter all the city because five were absent? Yehovah assured him that He will not do that.

Avraham continued with the countdown until he came to ten. Avraham went no lower.

Questions

1. Why is the word Lords plural? (It is used in that form throughout the Bible.) This title is plural to show the willingness to serve (slave for) the lords in all areas possible. Since a lord is a sir (or ma’am), and since this indicates higher rank, one who calls another lord is admitting that the person has higher rank, and must be served. If the person calls another my lords, that person is admitting that the higher rank is in all areas, and that the person must be served in all areas possible. (That never includes sinning against Yehovah who is the Highest Sirs.)

2. What does resolved mean? That means finally determined to do something after getting enough boldness to do it.

3. Why did Avraham call himself “dust and ash”? Is he? Every human is physically made of soil—that is, of the dust of the land. Since ash is the weakest substance known to man (a piece of ash can be torn with the greatest ease), ash shows weakness and the possibility of being blown away with the slightest breeze. All humans are as ashes before Yehovah; the breath of Yehovah can blow humans entirely off the earth.

4. Why did Avraham stop with ten instead of lowering the number to five? Avraham knew that ten was low enough; insisting on five righteous folks being in a city in order to save the entire city wasn’t reasonable to him. He knew that nine or less could be removed from a very evil and vile city, and that the city’s population then deserved to be destroyed while the nine or less were being rescued.

5. What would Yehovah do if He found (say) eight righteous persons? Would He slaughter the eight with the culpable ones (the culprits)? No; he would send to remove and rescue them, and then slaughter the rest.

6. Avraham seemed to be concerned that Yehovah might anger with him for his continuing to speak (verse 30). Was there a danger of this? There wasn’t danger, but Avraham didn’t desire to show disrespect toward the One before whom Avraham himself will later be judged. Avraham was being very bold; Yehovah desired this. This kind of boldness is for justice and not for evil.

7. Avraham never mentioned Lot in this entire discussion. Why? The issue wasn’t Lot himself, but rather Yehovah’s justice. Had Avraham mentioned Lot, the reader might have gotten the impression that Yehovah’s justice can be twisted by personal relationships. Yehovah’s justice is never perverted; it is always straight.

8. Would you be considered among the righteous were the city in which you live to be targeted for Yehovah’s destruction? (Each student must answer this question for himself/herself.)

VII. Finished (verse 33)

Yehovah left when he finished speaking. Avraham sat ‘to’ his place. This wasn’t the type of ‘goodbye’ a reader might expect.

Questions

1. Why did Avraham just sit there? There was nothing he could do. Yehovah will do what is right; nothing Avraham could have done would have been superior to what Yehovah will do.

2. Was Avraham pleased that Yehovah had just visited him? The text doesn’t indicate this; Avraham now knew of the great danger to Lot and his family. The visit to Avraham was about life and death; such a conversation isn’t ‘pleasing.’

3. Would you be pleased if you had relatives in a city that you knew would be targeted by Yehovah to destroy it, and Yehovah had just visited you to let you know? (The answer, of course, depends on whether the person loves these relatives.)

4. Did Avraham fear for his relatives? The text doesn’t state that he did, but he knew the characters of his relatives. Lot was righteous, but that said nothing about Lot’s wife or about Lot’s daughters (and sons-in-law).

5. Why didn’t Yehovah reassure Avraham that Lot would be safe? Lot will be harmed by the events about to occur—not Lot himself, but Lot will suffer a great loss.

April 8, 2011July 5, 2017

Exodus 17 Water and Hands of Faith

Water and Hands of Faith

Background and printed text: Exodus 17

Exodus 17:1 And all the Witness of the children of Israel journeyed from the Thorn Desert to their journeys according-to the mouth of Yehovah. And they camped in Spreads. And there is no water to ‘water’ the people. ²And the people fought with Draw [Moshe]. And they said, “Give-ye water to us! And we have drunk!” And Draw [Moshe] said to them, “What? Ye will fight with me? What? Will ye tempt Yehovah?” ³And the people thirsted there for water. And the people lodged upon Draw [Moshe]. And he said, “Why is this? Thou ‘ascended’ us from Egypt to kill me and my children and my cattle via thirst!”

⁴And Draw [Moshe] screamed unto Yehovah to say, “What shall I do to this people? A little further, and he will stone me!” ⁵And Yehovah said unto Draw [Moshe], “Cross-over to the faces of the people. And take from the elders of Israel with thee. And take thy rod via thy hand that thou smote the canal via him. And thou shalt walk! ⁶And behold, I am standing to thy faces there upon the rock in Dry. And thou shalt smite into the rock. And waters shall exit from him. And the people shall drink.” And Draw [Moshe] did, established, to the eyes of the elders of Israel.

⁷And he called the name of the place Temptation and Her-Fighter concerning the fight of the children of Israel and concerning their tempting Yehovah to say, “Is there a Yehovah via our approach, if there isn’t?”

⁸And Lick-Lapped-People [Amalek] came. And he warred with Israel in Spreads. ⁹And Draw [Moshe] said unto Yehovah-Is-Salvation [Joshua], “Choose men to us! And exit-thou. War via Lick-Lapped-People [Amalek] tomorrow. I am positioning upon the head of the hill. And the rod of the Gods is in my hand!” ¹⁰And Yehovah-Is-Salvation [Joshua] did just-as Draw [Moshe] said to him to war via Lick-Lapped-People [Amalek].

And Draw [Moshe], Oy!-Conception! [Aharon] and Cave [Hur] ascended the head of the hill. ¹¹And he was, just-as Draw [Moshe] will elevate his hand, and Israel will prevail! And just-as he will rest his hand, and Lick-Lapped-People [Amalek] will prevail!

¹²And the hands of Draw [Moshe] are heavy! And they took a stone. And they put under him. And he sat upon her. And Oy!-Conception! [Aharon] and Cave [Hur] supported via his hands, from this: one, and from this: one. And his hands were faith unto [until] the sun came! ¹³And Yehovah-Is-Salvation [Joshua] disabled Lick-Lapped-People [Amalek] and his people to the mouth of a sword.

¹⁴And Yehovah said unto Draw [Moshe], “Write this remembrance in a scroll, and put into ears of Yehovah-Is-Salvation [Joshua]. For blotting, I will blot the remembrance of Lick-Lapped-People [Amalek] from under the heavens!”

¹⁵And Draw [Moshe] built an altar. And he called his name, Yehovah My-Ensign. ¹⁶And he said, “For a hand is according-to an estimate of Yah! War is to Yehovah via Lick-Lapped-People [Amalek] from generation to generation!”

I. A Fight with Moshe (verses 1-3)

The group of the children of Israel (being one witness) journeyed from Thorn Desert to the rest of their journeys as Yehovah gave instruction. They camped in a place called Spreads. This place had no water to ‘water’ (give drink to) the people.

The people of Israel became angry and fought with Moshe. They said, “Give-ye water to us! And we have drunk!” Moshe responded, “What? Ye will fight with me?” Moshe couldn’t supply them with water, and fighting with him didn’t make sense. He also said, “What? Will ye tempt Yehovah?”

The people of Israel thirsted there for water. And the entire group lodged upon Moshe, coming closer to violence. The people said (as if one person), “Why is this? Thou ‘ascended’ us from Egypt to kill me and my children and my cattle via thirst!”

Questions

1. What does “according to the mouth of Yehovah” mean?

2. Why did Yehovah lead the Israelis to a place in which there was no water?

3. Why did the people fight with Moshe since Yehovah was the One Who led them to the place with no water?

4. What does tempting Yehovah involve, and what is wrong with this?

5. Verse 3 states, “And he said, ‘Why is this? Thou “ascended” us from Egypt to kill me and my children and my cattle via thirst!’” Who is he in, “And he said”?

6. Since the entire group spoke as one person, were the Israelis unselfishly demanding that Moshe and Aharon do something about the lack of water?

II. The Command to Smite the Rock (verses 4-6)

Moshe screamed unto Yehovah, saying, “What shall I do to this people? A little further, and he will stone me!”

Yehovah told Moshe what to do: “Cross-over to the faces of the people. And take from the elders of Israel with thee, and thy rod that thou smote the canal via him. Take via thy hand. And thou shalt walk! And behold, I am standing to thy faces there upon the rock in Dry. And thou shalt smite into the rock. And waters shall exit from him. And the people shall drink.”

Moshe did what Yehovah said to the eyes of the elders of Israel.

Questions

1. What did Moshe mean by, “What shall I do to this people?”

2. What does stoning involve?

3. Yehovah told Moshe to cross over “to the faces of” the people. If the Israelis are angry enough to stone him, how could he do this without them attacking him while he walked?

4. Why would the elders of Israel go along with Moshe?

5. Why was taking the rod so important, and why did Moshe have to take the rod via his hand, as if there were some other way to take the rod?

6. Why did Moshe have to walk?

7. Who is speaking and saying, “And behold, I am standing to thy faces there upon the rock in Dry”?

8. What is the benefit of smiting into the rock?

9. How can an ordinary rod break a rock?

10. How can enough water come out of a rock to water that many humans and their cattle?

11. The text continues, “And waters shall exit from him.” Who is him?

12. What is this rock?

13. If the answer to the previous question is true, what was this water?

14. What benefit will the people of Israel gain from drinking this water from this rock?

15. What did Moshe do to the eyes of the elders of Israel?

16. Why is Yehovah’s standing on that rock so important?

17. Did the Israelis understand the importance of these things?

18. Will the Israelis later understand these things?

III. Tempting Yehovah (verse 7)

Moshe called the name of that place Temptation and Her-Fighter because of the fight of the children of Israel, and because they tempted Yehovah by saying, “Is there a Yehovah via our approach, if there isn’t?”

Questions

1. Why did Moshe call the name of the place Temptation?

2. Why did Moshe call the name of the place Her-Fighter? Who is Her?

3. Why did Moshe name the place?

4. What were they asking when they said, “Is there a Yehovah via our approach, if there isn’t?”

IV. War with Amelek (verses 8-10)

A group called Amalek came to do battle with the Israelis. And Amalek warred with Israel in the place called Spreads. Moshe knew one of the Israelis whose name was Joshua (Yehovah is Salvation) and who was either a military fighter or was willing to become one. Moshe told him, “Choose men to us! And exit-thou. War via Lick-Lapped-People [Amalek] tomorrow. I am positioning upon the head of the hill. And the rod of the Gods is in my hand!” Joshua did exactly what Moshe said, and went to war with Amalek.

Questions

1. What does Lick-Lapped mean?

2. Why did Amalek war with Israel? Was Israel threatening Amalek?

3. What was Spreads?

4. Why did Moshe tell Joshua to choose men and to go to war?

5. Why didn’t Moshe go to war with Joshua?

6. Why did Moshe tell Joshua that the rod of the Gods is in his hand? Why was that important?

7. Again, why is it called the rod of the Gods (plural)?

8. What did Joshua do that was so significant (in verse 10)?

9. Should one always obey a spiritual leader?

V. Prevailing Hand (verses 10-11)

Moshe, Aharon, and another man named Hur ascended the head of the hill to watch the battle. Whenever Moshe will elevate his hand, Israel will be winning the war (will prevail), and whenever Moshe will rest his hand, Amalek will prevail!

Questions

1. Why did the three men ascend the head of the hill?

2. Who is Hur?

3. Did Moshe elevate only his hand?

4. What caused Israel to prevail (to be winning) when Moshe raised his hand?

5. Why did Moshe rest his hand if Amalek prevailed when he did this?

6. Was the rod magic?

7. What, then, or who, then, gave Israel success when Moshe’s hand was elevated?

VI. Hands are Faith (verses 12-13)

Moshe’s hands are heavy. Thus, the two men, Aharon and Hur, took a stone and put it under Moshe. Moshe sat on the stone. Aharon and Hur supported the rod by means of Moshe’s hands, one on one side and the other on the other side. Moshe’s hands were Faith until the setting of the sun!

Joshua disabled Amalek and his people “to the mouth of a sword.”

Questions

1. Why are the hands of Moshe heavy?

2. Who are they who took a stone?

3. How big was this stone?

4. What does “And Aharon and Hur supported via his hands, from this: one, and from this: one” mean?

5. According to the text, what gave Israel the power to prevail when Moshe’s hand was elevated?

6. How long were Moshe’s hands faith?

7. What does “to the mouth of the sword” mean?

8. What did Joshua do that disabled Amalek?

VII. Blotting the Remembrance of Amelek (verse 14)

Yehovah told Moshe, “Write this remembrance in a scroll, and put into ears of Joshua. For blotting, I will blot the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens!”

Questions

1. What remembrance did Yehovah tell Moshe to write?

2. Why does this need to be written in a scroll?

3. Why must it be “put into ears of Joshua”?

4. What will Yehovah do to Amalek?

5. Has Yehovah already done this?

6. When will Yehovah do this?

7. What does blot mean?

9. Why did Yehovah so hate Amalek, that He determined to do this blotting when there have been other races who were worse than Amalek toward the Israelis?

VIII. The Hand and Yah’s Estimation (verses 15-16)

Moshe built an altar, and he named the altar Yehovah My Ensign. He then stated, “For a hand is according-to an estimate of Yah!” Moshe added, “War is to Yehovah via Amalek from generation to generation!”

Questions

1. Why did Moshe build an altar at this time?

2. What is an ensign?

3. Why did Moshe name the altar Yehovah My Ensign? Is naming an altar Yehovah right to do?

4. What does Moshe mean by a hand in, “For a hand is according to an estimate of Yah”?

5. Who is Yah?

6. What does “War is to Yehovah via Amalek from generation to generation” mean?

April 8, 2011July 5, 2017

Exodus 17 Water and Hands of Faith QA

Water and Hands of Faith

With Questions and Proposed Answers

Background and printed text: Exodus 17

I. A Fight with Moshe (verses 1-3)

Questions

1. What does “according to the mouth of Yehovah” mean? This means according to whatever Yehovah told them to do. Yet, Moshe was a prophet. A true prophet is the mouth of Yehovah, speaking the speeches that Yehovah gives him/her to speak. Thus, Moshe was acting as the mouth of Yehovah.

2. Why did Yehovah lead the Israelis to a place in which there was no water? Yehovah later explains,

Deuteronomy 8:14 “And thy heart shall elevate. And thou shalt forget Yehovah thy Gods—thy Exiter from the land of Egypt, from the house of slaves, ¹⁵thy ‘Walker’ in the big and terrifying desert—burning serpent and scorpion and thirst—that there isn’t water, the Exiter of water to thee from the Rock of the flint, ¹⁶thy Feeder of män in the desert that thy fathers didn’t know in order to humble/answer thee and in order to test thee to thy doing-good during thy afterward!”

Thus, Yehovah led the Israelis to a place in which there wasn’t any water in order to both humble and answer Israel, and to test Israel so that Israel will do good during Israel’s ‘afterward’—that is, during the End Times (many centuries from now) when doing good will be the riskiest it has ever been in earth’s history.

3. Why did the people fight with Moshe since Yehovah was the One Who led them to the place with no water? They couldn’t see Yehovah, and they couldn’t ‘get at’ Yehovah. Therefore, they went after those most closely associated with Yehovah: Moshe and Aharon. This is normally what folks do!

4. What does tempting Yehovah involve, and what is wrong with this? Tempting Yehovah is doing something wrong before Yehovah that will push Yehovah to react in violent anger. In this case, the Israelis were about to attack Moshe and Aharon, and were speaking to them with great contempt. Since Yehovah placed them there, and since Yehovah would not permit the Israelis to attack them, they were tempting Yehovah to attack them in order to rescue Moshe and Aharon!

5. Verse 3 states, “And he said, ‘Why is this? Thou “ascended” us from Egypt to kill me and my children and my cattle via thirst!’” Who is he in, “And he said”? He refers to the people of Israel. The word people is singular, and refers to the entire group. (Peoples is plural.) Yehovah views the entire group of Israelis (the people of Israel) as one person.

6. Since the entire group spoke as one person, were the Israelis unselfishly demanding that Moshe and Aharon do something about the lack of water? The wording of what the people said answers this: “Thou ‘ascended’ us from Egypt to kill me and my children and my cattle via thirst!” They were thinking of themselves, and not of their Israeli brethren.

7. When the people stated, “Thou ‘ascended’ us from Egypt to kill me and my children and my cattle via thirst,” he (the people) did a great wrong that often ruins relationships. What did he do? The great wrong is claiming to know the motives of others. Not too long from now, you will likely see this happen. Someone will tell someone else why some person did something, and that person will be convinced that what he/she said is true. More often than not, the person will be wrong. This will cause some great problem or ruin of a relationship, and can easily lead to violence. When folks are ‘put on the defensive,’ some of them lash out and attack instead.

In the text, the accusation, “Thou ‘ascended’ us from Egypt to kill me and my children and my cattle via thirst,” is an example of claiming to know motives. We readers know that Moshe and Aharon didn’t ascend the Israelis from Egypt to harm them, but rather to save them; yet, that didn’t matter to the accusers of Moshe and Aharon. They had their reasons for saying what they said, and their actions nearly got Moshe and Aharon killed (except that Yehovah would have attacked the Israelis instead, had they tried).

Never claim to know the motives of others, especially if the motives you think are true are also bad motives. Instead, look at the behaviours and not the motives. Wrong behaviours are wrong, regardless of the motives; good behaviours are good, regardless of the motives!

II. The Command to Smite the Rock (verses 4-6)

Moshe screamed unto Yehovah, saying, “What shall I do to this people? A little further, and he will stone me!”

Moshe did what Yehovah said to the eyes of the elders of Israel.

Questions

1. What did Moshe mean by, “What shall I do to this people?” He didn’t intend any harm; we would say, “What shall I do for this people?” Moshe desired to benefit them and to allay (to calm down and make much less) their fears.

2. What does stoning involve? It involves picking up rocks and throwing them at a person who is in the middle of a circle of folks all doing the same rock throwing. (Eventually, hitting the head is the objective.) The idea is to kill the person by hitting him (usually in the head) enough times until he can’t recover. It normally showed outrage at the person for some violation.

3. Yehovah told Moshe to cross over “to the faces of” the people. If the Israelis are angry enough to stone him, how could he do this without them attacking him while he walked? Yehovah made certain that none of the Israelis interfered with Yehovah’s orders and plan.

4. Why would the elders of Israel go along with Moshe? They were also viewed as part of the trouble! They knew that Moshe had been right to this point.

5. Why was taking the rod so important, and why did Moshe have to take the rod via his hand, as if there were some other way to take the rod? The Hebrew word for rod is matteh, indicating an ‘incliner’ (something that makes one incline or bend toward a direction or view). It is also used as a word indicating a tribe (of Israel, for example). Yehovah will use the tribes of Israel to incline non-Israelis toward Yehovah and toward Truth as the tribes of Israel do what is right. The tribes will also demonstrate an inclination (a leaning) toward Yehovah and Truth.

Taking this via Moshe’s hand shows that Moshe had the power to direct that rod and to use that rod as Yehovah commanded. Taking anything by the hand is manipulation; this is always good when it is done for benefit and with beneficial results.

6. Why did Moshe have to walk? Moshe had to leave the camp of Israel in order to approach this rock. He could not approach it by standing still or staying where he was. He had to leave his location to go to the place where it was positioned.

7. Who is speaking and saying, “And behold, I am standing to thy faces there upon the rock in Dry”? Yehovah is saying this! He is the One standing to Moshe’s faces (right in front of him), and He is the One standing upon the rock which is located in the dry region (outside the camp, I propose).

8. What is the benefit of smiting into the rock? This will show a vital picture. That rock isn’t an ordinary rock; it is a very special rock. Smiting that rock with the rod of Yehovah will teach very important teachings about Yehovah and about His Messiah. (I will ask a question about this in a short time.)

9. How can an ordinary rod break a rock? It can’t—not without Yehovah causing it to have that kind of power.

10. How can enough water come out of a rock to water that many humans and their cattle? It can’t—not without Yehovah causing it to occur, or, not without that rock being a special rock that is unlike any other rock.

11. The text continues, “And waters shall exit from him.” Who is him? That refers to the rock.

12. What is this rock? The Bible much later explains,

1 Corinthians 10:1 “Now, I don’t desire you to be ignorant, brethren, that all our Fathers were under the cloud. And all passed through the sea. ²And all were baptized to Moshe in the cloud and in the sea. ³And all ate the same spiritual food. ⁴And all drank the same spiritual drink. For, they drank of a spiritual, following rock! And the rock was the Messiah! ⁵Yet, God wasn’t well pleased with most of them, for they were strewed in the desert!”

13. If the answer to the previous question is true, what was this water? It was the greatly sought waters of life! Yet, if those drinking the waters of life don’t have Biblical faith, the waters don’t give everlasting life.

Some explorers used to travel the world looking for the ‘fountain of youth.’ They didn’t know that those who drink from the waters of life and have Biblical faith have, or will obtain, everlasting life; everlasting youth will be what they obtain in the resurrection of life.

14. What benefit will the people of Israel gain from drinking this water from this rock? They will get the same benefits as anyone who has a good, clean, good-tasting source of water from which he/she drinks.

15. What did Moshe do to the eyes of the elders of Israel? He smote into the rock. Yehovah was standing on that rock.

16. Why is Yehovah’s standing on that rock so important? Because the rock is Messiah Yeshua Himself, this shows that Messiah Yeshua must be smitten directly in front of Yehovah in order for the Israelis to obtain the waters of life (or better, the waters of lives). Moshe did what all Israel did: he smote the Messiah!

17. Did the Israelis understand the importance of these things? No! They still haven’t understood the importance of these things! Almost no readers have really grasped what Yehovah was showing!

18. Will the Israelis later understand these things? Yes!

III. Tempting Yehovah (verse 7)

Questions

1. Why did Moshe call the name of the place Temptation? The Israelis tempted (strongly and dangerously tested) Yehovah!

2. Why did Moshe call the name of the place Her-Fighter? Who is Her? Her refers to the temptation (which is feminine in Hebrew). The Israelis became the temptation’s fighter, fighting for the temptation that they were doing as if it were a person. They were fighting for the right to tempt Yehovah (which is a good way to get killed).

3. Why did Moshe name the place? When very significant events occur in particular locations mentioned in the Bible, those locations are often named according to the events (even if the locations already have names).

4. What were they asking when they said, “Is there a Yehovah via our approach, if there isn’t?” They were asking whether Yehovah even existed in the location to which they were coming closer! Humans often associated gods with particular locations, and thus they often believed that gods of one location were not in another location. They were suspicious that Yehovah wasn’t located in the places to which they were going!

IV. War with Amelek (verses 8-10)

Questions

1. What does Lick-Lapped mean? The work Amalek can be divided into two words in Hebrew: Am, meaning people, and Lek or Lak, which I propose is from Lakak in Hebrew with the following meanings: to lap or lap up; to lick. Now, I propose that the original person who was given the name Amalek (from which the entire people of Amalek came) was given that name either at birth or shortly after birth. I can think of a reason for being named this way, although I don’t have any evidence of this without the Bible telling me. Suppose that the little newborn baby both licked milk and lapped it up with his tongue, just like a puppy would do. I could see his parents naming him from this, and placing it with the word people, hoping that he will become a great people. Thus, I propose that this is what occurred; again, I have absolutely no evidence except that the name has importance.

2. Why did Amalek war with Israel? Was Israel threatening Amalek? When one very large group came to the territory of another group, that group felt very threatened. Suppose that this very large group decides to stay there? Where will they get food except by taking food that the group already there has grown? Thus, Amalek felt very threatened by the Israelis. They didn’t ‘waste time’ asking the Israelis what they were doing there; they just attacked them. That way, if Amalek won, they would have both slaves and property, including much cattle! Amalek had much incentive (reasons that push a person to do something) to attack Israel!

3. What was Spreads? It was a location. (I can only guess why it was called Spreads. One guess would be that different persons had spreads—that is, fields—for growing crops. Another guess would be different ranges for cattle; those could be called spreads.)

4. Why did Moshe tell Joshua to choose men and to go to war? Joshua was a young military fighter. He somehow learned military techniques, like sword fighting, handling a shield, etc. Joshua was also an able commander of men; others were willing to be under his leadership.

5. Why didn’t Moshe go to war with Joshua? Moshe was quite old! He was over 80 years old! He would have been a concern for the young men who went to war.

6. Why did Moshe tell Joshua that the rod of the Gods is in his hand? Why was that important? That was the instrument by which most (if not all) the other miracles had been performed. That information gave Joshua confidence.

7. Again, why is it called the rod of the Gods (plural)? It is the rod of all the Gods there are! Yehovah is the God of the land, the God of the sea, the God of cities, the God of war, the God of protection, the God of judgment, etc.

8. What did Joshua do that was so significant (in verse 10)? He did just as Moshe commanded him—that is, just as Yehovah commanded him. He obeyed.

9. Should one always obey a spiritual leader? No! Many spiritual leaders have led followers to their deaths. Every head of a gang is a spiritual leader (like it or not), since he leads his followers to do moral and/or ethical works! If they rob someone, that is unethical, and it is immoral. If they murder someone, that is immoral. If they illegally buy and sell drugs, that is immoral. All things that are immoral and/or unethical are morally wrong and/or ethically wrong! Thus, a member of a gang follows the spiritual leader of the gang. There have been pastors of congregations who had led their followers to death, too. Only follow a spiritual leader if you know that the leader isn’t corrupt, isn’t arrogant, handles the Bible properly, doesn’t claim Israel’s position in Bible promises, fears Yehovah, etc. If you don’t know all these things, determine whether you will follow him in each individual case. (You certainly can ask for assistance regarding each case; ask someone who has sense and who isn’t under that leader, or who is independent of that leader.)

V. Prevailing Hand (verses 10-11)

Questions

1. Why did the three men ascend the head of the hill? They wanted to watch how the battle went!

2. Who is Hur? He is another wise and Yehovah-fearing man who believed Yehovah.

3. Did Moshe elevate only his hand? Yehovah had told Moshe to take the rod with him. I propose that he elevated his hand with the rod in it!

4. What caused Israel to prevail (to be winning) when Moshe raised his hand? I could say that Yehovah did this, but verse 12 will give another answer; we will cover this when we get to verse 12.

5. Why did Moshe rest his hand if Amalek prevailed when he did this? Moshe didn’t know that this would occur until he had done this several times! Yehovah hadn’t told Moshe that this would occur.

6. Was the rod magic? No! It wasn’t at all magic. Such magic is against Yehovah! Moshe’s hand also was not magic.

7. What, then, or who, then, gave Israel success when Moshe’s hand was elevated? This will be answered in the next verse. (See if you can figure it out.)

VI. Hands are Faith (verses 12-13)

Joshua disabled Amalek and his people “to the mouth of a sword.”

Questions

1. Why are the hands of Moshe heavy? The battle went on for quite a while. Moshe also held the rod in his hand (at least, this is my impression). Try raising your hand and keeping it straight up for quite a while!

2. Who are they who took a stone? Aharon and Hur took a stone.

3. How big was this stone? It was big enough that Moshe sat upon it! That stone must have weighed a lot!

4. What does “And Aharon and Hur supported via his hands, from this: one, and from this: one” mean? First, if Aharon and Hur supported via his hands, that indicates that Moshe did have the rod in his hands. Secondly, Aharon and Hur didn’t take the rod out of Moshe’s hands, but they instead held onto Moshe’s hands, and Moshe’s hands held onto the rod! I am thinking that they held Moshe’s wrists. Thirdly, “from this: one” means that Aharon stood on one side (“from this,” referring to “from this side”), and held one hand; Hur did the same from the other side. The word this is used twice, once to refer to one side and once to refer to the other side.

5. According to the text, what gave Israel the power to prevail when Moshe’s hand was elevated? The text states, “And his hands were Faith unto [until] the sun came.” Thus, when either hand or both hands were elevated, the Israelis had faith, and therefore they fought with much less fear. When both hands were not elevated, the Israelis didn’t have faith that they could win. Thus, Moshe’s hands were faith—faith for the Israelis!

6. How long were Moshe’s hands faith? They were faith until the sun ‘came’ (the Hebrew way of describing a sunset, since the light from the sun appears to come down to the land or sea—that is, it appears to come down to the horizon.

7. What does “to the mouth of the sword” mean? The sword eats its victims (in Hebrew). Therefore, it is described as having a mouth (since very young children would imagine the sword eating with a mouth if they heard and understood this in Hebrew). Every person killed by the sword was eaten by the sword; that required the sword to have a mouth, though swords don’t physically have a mouth.

8. What did Joshua do that disabled Amalek? Joshua kept prevailing, and Amalek kept losing. Amalek wasn’t able to prevail, and was therefore disabled from victory. Amalek kept losing its best fighting men (Israeli swords ‘ate’ them).

VII. Blotting the Remembrance of Amelek (verse 14)

Yehovah told Moshe, “Write this remembrance in a scroll, and put into ears of Joshua. For blotting, I will blot the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens!”

Questions

1. What remembrance did Yehovah tell Moshe to write? He told Moshe to write what He is about to say in the next sentence: “For blotting, I will blot the remembrance of Lick-Lapped-People [Amalek] from under the heavens!”

2. Why does this need to be written in a scroll? This way, it is a written record that isn’t just a piece of paper (or better, animal skin); it is actually a scroll that is formally made.

3. Why must it be “put into ears of Joshua”? Joshua must also remember this!

4. What will Yehovah do to Amalek? He will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens!

5. Has Yehovah already done this? No, He hasn’t, since we can easily remember Amalek, and we are under the heavens!

6. When will Yehovah do this? He will do this in the future, although I don’t know when.

7. What does blot mean? Blotting always has to do with a liquid that can be soaked up. A paper towel is designed to blot liquids—that is, to soak them up so that the surface will be dry. Some things that Yehovah writes are written in blottable ink; if some of those writings are blotted, there isn’t even a mark indicating that they had ever been written. An example is the names of folks who are all written in the Book of Life; most will die without faith, and their names will be blotted from that book. Thus, the Book of Life and another Book, the Lamb’s Book of Life will agree by the end of the Millennium! Until then, there will be many whose names are still in the Book of Life because they haven’t yet died in unbelief.

8. Now, since Yehovah recorded about Amalek in the Torah (Teaching) given to Israel, and since Yehovah will write that entire Torah on the heart (mind) of every Israeli throughout the Millennium, how can Yehovah blot the remembrance of Amalek as long as the Torah keeps reminding folks of Amalek? This problem goes one step further; for, the Torah will continue into the New Earth. Yet, this text states, “from under the heavens,” which indicates this earth, since this earth is under the heavens.

Part of the answer is that Yehovah will not permit any archaeological artifacts (items left over that humans left behind) to be found in the soil. That will keep archaeologists (folks who study civilizations from years ago) from finding any signs of the Amalekite civilization. This still doesn’t solve the remembrance problem, however.

I propose this as an answer: The Israelis, who will have the Torah written on their minds, and all readers of the Torah will be able to read about the Amalekites and to recite the Torah. Yet, they won’t be able to remember anything about this race; it will be impossible for them to remember anything apart from what they will read in the Torah; and even this will be gone from their memory shortly after they have read about this race. If I am right, it is like what occurs with a woman who births a child. She sometimes goes through terrible pain, but after she has birthed the child, she is no longer able to remember the pain. (That is why women are willing to become pregnant again.) Now, if she sets her mind to it, she can reconstruct the pain, but she has had it blotted from her mind in such a way that it doesn’t affect her the way other pain issues in life affect folks.

Yet, there is one other way to solve this problem. Look at the word remembrance. It is exactly the same word in Hebrew as male. Now, if this is the correct rendering, it would be: “For blotting, I will blot a male of Lick-Lapped-People [Amalek] from under the heavens!” That means that Yehovah will destroy every male of Amalek, and Yehovah will not permit any male to come to old age. He will blot out the male—removing him from the Scroll of Life—and He will do this in every generation! Thus, if a male among the race of Amalek has children, the male himself will then be blotted (more than just killed), and his children will grow just enough to keep the race going, each male then likewise being killed. (See verse 16.)

9. Why did Yehovah so hate Amalek, that He determined to do this blotting when there have been other races who were worse than Amalek toward the Israelis? Another text may give the reason:

Deuteronomy 25:17 Remember-thou what Amalek did to thee in the way in your exiting from Egypt ¹⁸who happened-upon-thee in the way. And he tailed into thee—all the feeble-ones after thee. And thou art tired and weary. And he didn’t fear Elohim! ¹⁹And he shall be via Yehovah resting to thee from all thine enemies from around in the land that Yehovah thy Gods [Elohim] gave to thee an inheritance to possess her, thou shalt blot a remembrance/a male of Amalek from under the heavens. Thou shalt not forget!

Amalek tailed the Israelis, killing off the most feeble of them who were the slowest. Yehovah therefore determined to ‘pick off’ every male of Amalek as long as the earth lasts.

VIII. The Hand and Yah’s Estimation (verses 15-16)

Questions

1. Why did Moshe build an altar at this time? Moshe saw the great victory that Yehovah gave to Israel over this race that had well-developed guerilla tactics (attacking and running, attacking and hiding, attacking and picking off the weakest). Moshe saw that a group’s strength is according to Yehovah’s measure, and not according to the capabilities of enemies.

2. What is an ensign? It is something lifted up that signifies (stands for) something. It is used as a signal, as a flag, as a banner, or a sign to give information to others.

3. Why did Moshe name the altar Yehovah My Ensign? Is naming an altar Yehovah right to do? Moshe was prophesying. Yehovah Himself will be Israel’s ensign in several cases during the Tribulation. When He reveals Himself in the heavens on His way down to Mount Zion, He will be Israel’s ensign, showing that Israel will certainly win and Israel’s enemies will certainly lose! When Yehovah appears as a high-towered rock in which Israelis and friends of Israelis will take refuge, and into which enemies will not be able to come, Yehovah will again be an ensign—an ensign in the form of a giant rock! Perhaps you will be able to find other texts that give other examples of Yehovah being physically seen as an ensign!

Naming the altar with this name is right because the name is prophetic. (Calling any object or person Yehovah other than Yehovah Himself would not be right unless the name/title is prophetic.)

4. What does Moshe mean by a hand in, “For a hand is according to an estimate of Yah”? The Bible uses hand in many ways, and nearly all have to do with power. View an adult’s hand from the perspective of a very young child; that hand can do anything and everything! It can move objects that the young child cannot move; it can fix things that the child cannot fix; it can rescue the child; it can chastise the child; it can console the child and show affection to the child… The hand of an adult can do anything, in the view of a very young child. Since the Bible uses words from the perspective of young children, the hand is used for many things in Hebrew.

Now, Moshe raised his hand, and Israel began to prevail. When Moshe lowered his hand, Israel began to lose. Yehovah did the estimating of the importance and power of Moshe’s hand.

5. Who is Yah? He is Yehovah. Yah is a contraction (a shorter form) of Yehovah.

6. What does “War is to Yehovah via Amalek from generation to generation” mean? Yehovah will never have peace with Amalek because of what this race did to the Israelis, and because Amalek will never turn and confess the evil the Amalekite forefathers did. Thus, in every generation, Yehovah will attack and kill the males of Amalek.

March 27, 2011July 5, 2017

Exodus 16 What is It? QA

What is it?

With Questions and Proposed Answers

Background and printed text: Exodus chapter 16

Exodus 16:1 And they journeyed from Their-Ram. And they came—all the witness of the children of Israel—unto the Thorn Desert that is between Their-Ram and between My-Thorn in the fifteenth day to the second month to their exiting from the land of Double-Adversity [Egypt].

²And they lodged—all the witness of the children of Israel—upon Draw [Moshe] and upon Oy!-Conception! [Aharon] in the desert. ³And the children of Israel said unto them, “Who will give our death? Via the hand of Yehovah? Via the land of Egypt? Via our sitting upon a pot of the flesh? Via our eating bread to the full? For ye exited us unto this desert to kill all this congregation via famine!”

⁴And Yehovah said unto Draw [Moshe], “Behold I am raining bread to you from the heavens! And the people shall exit. And they shall glean a speech of a day in his day so-that I will test him: Will he walk via my Teaching, if not? ⁵And he shall be in the sixth day. And they shall foundation what they shall bring. And he shall be doubled upon what they shall glean: day, day.

⁶And Draw [Moshe] said, and Oy!-Conception! [Aharon], unto all the children of Israel: “Evening! And ye shall know that Yehovah exited you from the land of Egypt! ⁷And morning! And ye shall see the importance of Yehovah via His hearkening-to your lodgings upon Yehovah! And what are we that ye shall be lodged upon us?”

⁸And Draw [Moshe] said, “Via Yehovah’s giving flesh to you in the evening to eat and bread in the morning to satisfaction! Via Yehovah’s hearkening-to your lodgings that ye are lodging them upon us! And what are we? Your lodgings are not upon us; for, upon Yehovah!”

⁹And Draw [Moshe] said unto Oy!-Conception! [Aharon], “Say unto all the witness of the children of Israel, ‘Approach-ye to the faces of Yehovah! For He hearkened-to your lodgings!’” ¹⁰And he was as the speech of Oy!-Conception! [Aharon] is unto all the witness of the children of Israel. And they faced unto the desert. And behold, the importance of Yehovah was seen via a cloud.

¹¹And Yehovah spoke unto Draw [Moshe] to say, ¹² “I hearkened-to the lodgings of the children of Israel. Speak unto them to say, ‘Ye shall eat flesh between the evenings. And ye shall be satisfied of bread in the morning. And ye shall know that I am Yehovah your Gods!’”

¹³And he shall be in the evening. And the quail has ascended. And she covered the camp. And in the morning she was the lying of the dew around to the camp. ¹⁴And the lying of the dew ascended. And behold upon the faces of the desert is the fineness of a fine, vanishing pottery-refuge as a cover upon the land. ¹⁵And the children of Israel saw. And they said a man unto his brother, “What is that?” For they didn’t know what he is. And Draw [Moshe] said unto them, “He is the bread that Yehovah gave her to you to eat. ¹⁶This is the speech that Yehovah commanded: Glean-ye from him, a man to the mouth of his eating, a baler to the skull from a scrolling of your beings. Ye shall take a man to what is in his tent.” ¹⁷And established, the children of Israel did. And they gleaned, the multiplier and the little-causer. ¹⁸And they measured via a baler. And the multiplier didn’t-cause the surplus. And the little-causer didn’t cause-lack. They gleaned a man to the mouth of his eating!

¹⁹And Draw [Moshe] said unto them, “A man shall not ‘excess’ from him unto morning!” ²⁰And they didn’t hearken unto Draw [Moshe]. And men ‘excessed’ from him unto morning. And he elevated worms. And he stank. And Draw [Moshe] angered concerning them. ²¹And they gleaned him in the morning, in the morning, a man as the mouth of his eating. And the sun heated. And he melted.

²²And he was in day sixth. They gleaned double bread: two of the baler to one. And all of the carriers of the congregation came. And they told to Draw [Moshe]. ²³And he said unto them, “He is what Yehovah spoke. A cessation—a ceasing of the Holy-[One] is to Yehovah tomorrow. Bake-ye what ye shall bake and boil-ye what ye shall boil. And ye shall rest to you all the surplus to tomorrow unto the morning.” ²⁴And they rested him unto the morning just-as Draw [Moshe] commanded. And he didn’t stink. And a maggot wasn’t in him.

²⁵And Draw [Moshe] said, “Eat-thou him today. For today is a ceasing to Yehovah. Ye shall not find him today in the field. ²⁶Thou shalt glean him six days. And cease-thou in the seventh day! He will not be in him!”

²⁷And he was in the Day Seventh. They exited from the people to glean. And they didn’t find. ²⁸And Yehovah said unto Draw [Moshe], “Until when are ye refusing to guard my commandments and my teachings? ²⁹See-ye that Yehovah gave the Ceasing to you! Therefore He, He gave bread of two days to you in Day Seventh! Return-ye a man under himself! A man shall not exit from his place in the Day Seventh!” ³⁰And they ceased—the people—in Day the Seventh. ³¹And they—the House of Israel—called his name, ‘What?’ [män]. And he is as the seed of white coriander. And his taste is as a pancake in honey.

³²And Draw [Moshe] said, “This is the speech that Yehovah commanded: ‘Fill the baler from him for a guarding to your generations so-that they shall see the bread that I caused-you-to-eat in the desert during my exiting you from the land of Egypt!’”

³³And Draw [Moshe] said unto Oy!-Conception! [Aharon], “Take one concave-concave. And give a fullness of a baler of ‘What?’. And rest him to the faces of Yehovah for a guarding to your generations ³⁴just-as Yehovah commanded unto Draw [Moshe]. And Oy!-Conception! [Aharon] rested him to the faces of the Witness for a guarding. ³⁵And the children of Israel ate the ‘What?’ forty year[s] unto their coming unto a dwelt land. They ate the ‘What?’ unto their coming unto an edge of the land of Merchant [Canaan]. ³⁶And the baler is a tenth of the baker.

I. The Long Journey (verse 1)

The Israelis journeyed from Their-Ram to Thorn Desert. This desert is between Their-Ram and My-Thorn.

The Israelis together are called the witness of the children of Israel.

They traveled until the fifteenth day of the second month from the time that they exited from Egypt!

Questions

1. Why would a desert be named Thorn Desert? I suspect that it has very thorny plants! Some deserts have many plants with very sharp thorns. Now, cacti are from the continents that have the United States (and Canada), Mexico, Central America, and South America. Cacti are not native to other parts of the world, though they grow very well in many places once they have been introduced. All cacti have thorns, but there weren’t any cacti where the Israelis were. There were thorny plants, however, like thorny bushes and trees.

2. How long have the Israelis been traveling at this time? They have been traveling one month.

3. Did the Israelis know where they were going? No, they didn’t. They will soon show their anxiety over not knowing some things.

II. Anger and Bitterness (verses 2-3)

The witness of the children of Israel became angry, and came into the personal space of Moshe and Aharon. They wanted to know who will give (cause) their death; will it be the hand of Yehovah? Will it be the land of Egypt? Will it be by means of sitting upon a pot of flesh? Will it be by means of having plenty of food? They then accused them both: “Ye exited us unto this desert to kill all this congregation via famine!”

Questions

1. The text states that all the witness of the children of Israel lodged upon Moshe and Aharon. What does this mean? To lodge is to lean or recline in a place, or in this case, upon folks. It is getting into their space, and putting pressure on them. This is one step away from becoming violent. When the Israelis lodge, they are in the process of working themselves up to violence.

2. The text states that the witness of the children of Israel lodged in the desert. What is a witness as it is used here? A witness is either a person or a group acting as one person who is seeing something, experiencing something, and/or hearing something that will later be important to remember and to recall.

3. Why does the text mention that this witness of Israel lodged upon Moshe and Aharon in the desert? Why is that so important? A desert is one of the hardest environments in which to survive. Food is scarce or not present, and water is scarce or not present. Humans easily die in deserts (unless they have been trained to survive there).

4. Are the children of Israel young? The word children is used in the Bible to mean the offspring without regard to age. Thus, 80-year-old folks can be children of their parents, grandparents, great grandparents, etc. These children of Israel are of all possible ages.

5. The children of Israel said, “Who will give our death?” What did they mean? They are asking to know who (or what) will be the cause of all of them dying. Will Yehovah cause them to die, or will the land of Egypt (from which Yehovah took them)? They are also asking if they will die next to a pot of the flesh (what we would call a stew)—that is, will they die full, or will they starve to death? Will they die via eating bread (food) to the full? They are furious, claiming that Yehovah has brought them out there to kill them in the desert!

6. Explain their accusation against Moshe and Aharon: The Israelis said, “For ye exited us unto this desert to kill all this congregation via famine!” They are claiming that Moshe and Aharon will cause the entire congregation to starve to death in the desert.

7. Are the Israelis in danger of dying of starvation? If the reader ignores Yehovah, yes! The land is a very stark and harsh land. Why ignore Yehovah, though? He did so many miracles. They aren’t really considering Yehovah, however; they only see Moshe and Aharon, and they think those two are incompetent!

8. Why did Yehovah permit them to become so hungry? He explains in Deuteronomy 8:2 that He caused the Israelis to hunger so that they will learn (in the distant future) that man lives by everything that proceeds from the mouth of Yehovah!

III. The Test (verses 4-5)

Yehovah spoke unto Moshe. He explained what He was about to do: “Behold I am raining bread to you from the heavens.” He then explained how the Israelis were to respond: “And the people shall exit. And they shall glean a speech of a day in his day.” Yehovah’s purpose was to test them in order to demonstrate if they will walk via His Teaching, or not.

Yehovah then gave more instructions: “And he shall be in the sixth day. And they shall foundation what they shall bring. And he shall be doubled upon what they shall glean: day, day.” This is what will occur for the Sabbath.

Questions

1. How will Yehovah rain bread to the Israelis from the heavens? He is about to explain this. It won’t be in the form of loaves of bread. The word bread in the Bible is also used for food (of any kind).

2. The next statement is, “And the people shall exit.” What shall he (the people) exit? He shall exit the tents of Israel. All the Israelis will go outside to do what Yehovah will next explain.

3. What does glean mean and involve? Gleaning is picking up grain and food from the ground. For example, when a wheat field is harvested, some of the harvested wheat berries (that are ground to flour to make breads and pie crusts, etc.) fall to the ground. If a person picks these up from the ground and collects them, that person is gleaning. If the person picks up wheat shafts with the berries still attached, whether the wheat shafts fell to the ground or were just missed, this is also gleaning. If a person picks up apples that fell from the tree once the tree was harvested, that is also gleaning.

4. What will the Israelis glean in this case? What is there to harvest? That will be explained a few verses down.

5. What does “a speech of a day in his day” mean? Every new day starts with a speech: an announcement that it has arrived. Since the day starts in the evening, the evening breezes and the sounds of the evening start the speech. When the sun rises after the night, another speech (often of birds) announces this event. This is the speech that also announces that the gleaning can begin.

6. What is the purpose for causing the Israelis to have to glean for their food, according to the text? It is a test that Yehovah is giving: “Will he walk via my Teaching, if not?”

7. Who is he in, “Will he walk via my Teaching”? He is Israel; He is the people (of Israel). Yehovah’s interest isn’t to find out if individuals will walk via His Teaching, but whether the entire group (without any exceptions) will walk via His Teaching. He will only be satisfied if the entire group does so.

8. Explain if in, “Will he walk via my Teaching, if not”: Speakers of English would say or instead of if. Hebrew uses if because Israel’s walking via Yehovah’s Teaching is uncertain from the view of humans. Yehovah knows which Israel will do; the test is for the sakes of the Israelis, not for the sake of Yehovah.

9. What does “And they shall foundation what they shall bring” mean? The word foundation is like the word establish; a foundation must be certain if it will support a building. The Israelis must make certain how much of this gleaned food they will bring to their tents. Whatever they will bring, the amount (he) will be doubled! This will occur every sixth day.

10. At the end of the statement, “And he shall be doubled upon what they shall glean: day, day,” the words day, day are found. What do they mean? They mean that every day that is the sixth day of the week, this event will take place: the doubling of the amount of the gleaned food that they will bring to their tents.

IV. Moshe’s and Aharon’s Response (verses 6-7)

Moshe and Aharon told the Israelis what Yehovah had told them. They explained, “Evening! And ye shall know that Yehovah exited you from the land of Egypt!” Thus, they would know this by evening. They also said, “And morning! And ye shall see the importance of Yehovah via His hearkening-to your lodgings upon Yehovah!” They then added, “And what are we that ye shall be lodged upon us?”

Questions

1. Verse 6 starts out, “And Moshe said, and Aharon, unto all the children of Israel…” Why didn’t it just say, “And Moshe and Aharon said unto all the children of Israel…”? The text is explaining that Moshe did the speaking, and Aharon repeated what Moshe said. Thus, Moshe said (first), and then Aharon said the same thing (second).

2. What did Moshe (and Aharon) mean by saying, “Evening”? That is the succinct (very short, brief, and to-the-point) way of saying, “When the evening arrives…”

3. Didn’t the Israelis already know that Yehovah is the One Who exited them from the land of Egypt? They thought that Moshe and Aharon had done this! They didn’t truly believe in Yehovah Whom they didn’t see; blaming Moshe and Aharon was much more convenient. Thus, the Israelis will learn by evening that Yehovah was the One Who did this.

4. What did Moshe mean by, “ye shall see the importance of Yehovah”? The Israelis still didn’t see Yehovah as all that important. They knew that Moshe and Aharon saw Him as important, but the Israelis continued to see Egypt as important rather than Yehovah. Seeing Him as important is a necessary part of fearing Him; fearing Him is necessary if a person will successfully refuse to sin and will refuse to practice idolatry (believing in false gods).

5. How will the Israelis see Yehovah’s importance? This will occur by means of Yehovah’s hearkening to the lodgings (potentially violent protests) upon Yehovah! They didn’t just lodge upon Moshe and Aharon, but upon Yehovah, since Yehovah sent Moshe and Aharon! Yehovah will hearken to these lodgings, and He will respond with very strong action!

6. Moshe added, “And what are we that ye shall be lodged upon us?” What did he mean by this? Moshe is declaring that Moshe and Aharon are not important. Therefore, lodging upon them is useless. They don’t have any power to do anything; they are sent by Yehovah Who alone has the power to do things.

V. Outrage (verse 8)

The next statement of Moshe seems to be the answer to a question: “Via Yehovah’s giving flesh to you in the evening to eat and bread in the morning to satisfaction, via Yehovah’s hearkening-to your lodgings that ye are lodging them upon us…” Moshe then again stated, “And what are we?” He then accused them: “Your lodgings are not upon us; for, upon Yehovah!”

Questions

1. Moshe gave two incomplete sentences (they have no verb). The first states, “Via Yehovah’s giving flesh to you in the evening to eat and bread in the morning to satisfaction!” What did he mean by this? It is as if Moshe were answering a question of the Israelis, like this: “And how will we see the importance of Yehovah?” with Moshe answering, “Via Yehovah’s giving flesh to you in the evening to eat and bread in the morning to satisfaction!”

2. Explain the second incomplete sentence, “Via Yehovah’s hearkening-to your lodgings that ye are lodging them upon us”: It is again as if Moshe were answering another question of the Israelis, like this: “And how will we know that it is Yehovah who is doing this instead of some trick of magicians?” with Moshe answering, “Via Yehovah’s hearkening-to your lodgings that ye are lodging them upon us!”

3. What did Moshe mean by, “Your lodgings are not upon us; for, upon Yehovah”? English speakers would say, “Your lodgings are not against us, but against Yehovah!” Moshe found this astonishing since He knew the power of Yehovah and the powerlessness of the Israelis! Moshe knew that the Israelis were inviting a great destruction by what they were saying and doing.

VI. The Glory of Yehovah (verses 9-10)

Moshe now spoke to Aharon, giving him instructions to tell the Israelis: “Say unto all the witness of the children of Israel, ‘Approach-ye to the faces of Yehovah! For He hearkened-to your lodgings!’”

When Aharon was just finished relaying this information to all the witness of the children of Israel, they faced toward the desert. And they beheld; they saw the importance of Yehovah by means of a cloud!

Questions

1. Why did Moshe tell Aharon to say things to the witness of the children of Israel instead of saying things himself? Moshe knew that the Israelis wouldn’t listen to him; they would at least listen to Aharon, since he had been a slave with them. Also, Aharon will later be established as a priest between the Israelis and Yehovah.

2. How can the witness of the children of Israel approach to the faces of Yehovah? Where are His faces located? The text later said that they faced unto the desert. The cloud was located there; His faces were in that cloud.

3. The text next stated, “And he was as the speech of Aharon is unto all the witness of the children of Israel.” Who is he? He is the next event that is about to take place. The next event occurred just as Aharon finished the speech.

4. The text says, “And behold, the importance of Yehovah was seen via a cloud.” What did they see? I propose that they saw a cloud of quails coming toward the camp! If this is what they saw, it showed the importance of Yehovah because He easily controlled nature when He desired.

VII. Yehovah Speaks (verses 11-12)

Now Yehovah spoke unto Moshe: “I hearkened-to the lodgings of the children of Israel.” Yehovah gave Moshe a reply for them: “Ye shall eat flesh between the evenings. And ye shall be satisfied of bread in the morning. And ye shall know that I am Yehovah your Gods!”

Questions

1. What does “Ye shall eat flesh between the evenings” mean, and what does between the evenings mean? Between the evenings is between sunset and sunrise; this then represents the time of night. Eating flesh is eating what we call meat (as distinct from vegetables, salads, deserts, etc.). Yehovah sent quails to the camp of Israel; the Israelis can now obtain all the quails they desire.

2. What does “And ye shall be satisfied of bread” mean? This means “ye shall be satisfied with bread,” as in food, “ye shall be satisfied by bread,” and “ye shall be satisfied from bread.” The Israelis will have plenty to eat.

3. The last statement is, “And ye shall know that I am Yehovah your Gods.” Didn’t they already know that Yehovah is their Gods? Yehovah wasn’t saying this for their sakes, but for the sakes of future Israelis who will be able to identify Yehovah as their Gods when He has supplied them with food! The Israelis about which we are reading who lived in Moshe’s day never knew that Yehovah was their Gods; they didn’t believe in Him.

VIII. What is He? (verses 13-18)

When the evening will come, the quail has ascended and has covered the camp! She is still there in the morning as the dew began to set. Then the lying of the dew ascended. In its place is the fineness of a fine vanishing refuge (a little shelter that disappears) that altogether is a cover upon the land! The children of Israel saw this and began questioning each other: “What is that?” They didn’t know what it was. Moshe said unto them, “He is the bread that Yehovah gave her to you to eat. This is the speech that Yehovah commanded.”

Moshe told them what to do: “Glean-ye from him, a man to the mouth of his eating, a baler to the skull from a scrolling of your beings.” (A baler measures grain taken from bales of grain stalks; the skull refers to the head-count.) He continued: “Ye shall take a man to what is in his tent,” referring to collecting the amount needed for all the occupants.

The Israelis did what they were told. They gleaned. Some multiplied the amounts gathered, and some only took a small amount. They then began to measure what they took using a baler (a grain measuring container, like a measuring cup). The person who took much more than he would need didn’t cause a surplus, and the one who took very little didn’t cause any lack! Every person gleaned exactly what he or she needed to eat!

Questions

1. Who is he who shall be in the evening? He is the event about to be described.

2. If the quail ascended (went up), from where did they ascend? They (the quail—the word quail can be singular or plural) ascended from wherever they were, and from great distances from each other to congregate in the camp of the Israelis. Yehovah called them to come together. (He will do something like this in the future!)

3. What does “she covered the camp” mean? There were quail everywhere! Yehovah made certain that the Israelis couldn’t even walk without practically stepping on quail!

4. What does “And in the morning she was the lying of the dew around to the camp” mean? Quail was everywhere in the camp in the early morning hours when dew began to settle. The Israelis could still capture quail to eat, if they desired.

5. What happened when the lying of the dew ascended? I propose that the quail that were left took flight and left the Israeli camp.

6. What does “the fineness of a fine, vanishing pottery-refuge” describe? What was on the land was the color of pottery—a light brown or tan colored small object as if it is ready to vanish, and in which something might take refuge (perhaps looking like a roly-poly when it is closed). The word fine indicates something that has been crushed or beaten into very small parts. I obtained the words “vanishing pottery-refuge” by taking the Hebrew word apart into two parts. This is often the way to solve definition mysteries in the Bible. These items were edible just the way they were, or they could be cooked and used in recipes.

7. Where were these small items found? They were found as a cover upon the land! They were everywhere, like frost is everywhere on a very cold and humid morning.

8. Wouldn’t this item be mixed with soil, with bird droppings, and with other things that would pollute it so that it couldn’t be eaten? Yehovah made certain that the Israelis had excellent health; these objects were not mixed with soil or droppings from animals. They were quite clean and could be gathered that way.

9. Why did Yehovah make certain that it covered the land? This way, no one had to travel far to obtain it; it was just outside of the Israelis’ tents. Besides this, it pictures the Bread of Lives (that gives everlasting life to anyone who eats it); that Bread is available everywhere.

10. What was the reaction of the Israelis to this stuff? They didn’t know what it was (“what he is”). They asked in Hebrew, “Män hu?” from which the word manna will come.

11. Moshe explained, “He is the bread that Yehovah gave her to you to eat.” Who is her? She is the very different ‘bread’ that was over the entire camp. Yehovah gave her to the Israelis to eat.

12. Why did Yehovah force them to glean for this food instead of causing it to appear in their empty bowls each morning? This food is a type: a picture of something far more important. The Israelis had to go get it just like they have to obtain the Bread of the everlasting life in order to live. It is freely available to anyone who desires it, but each person must reach to obtain it. Now, a man or a woman could collect it for his household, but they still had to eat it in order to obtain benefit from it. Thus, one person could also obtain the Bread of everlasting life, and could then present it to others, but each had to eat it to be benefited.

13. How must of this food was each collector told to collect? The amount should be according to how much each person would eat. (Yehovah helped, as a future verse will show.) That is what the text means when it says, “a man to the mouth of his eating.”

14. What does baler mean? I propose that a baler measures grain taken from bales of grain stalks. I am thinking that this is a bowl-shaped container.

15. To what does the skull refer? I propose that the skull refers to the head-count. Thus, the baler (or bowl) of this product is gathered for each skull (each head).

16. What is a scrolling of beings? It is a count and a record of all persons. Using scrolls to keep track meant that pages could not easily be removed, since pages were sewn end on end or side on side to each other. While books are far easier to make and far less bulky, scrolls were used so that tampering was more difficult. Modern computers work on the basis of scrolling instead of book pages.

17. Explain using more modern and simpler words what “Glean-ye from him, a man to the mouth of his eating, a baler to the skull from a scrolling of your beings” means:

Glean: pick up from the ground
Him: the bread—that is, the food
A man to the mouth of his eating: each person (man, woman, child) according to the amount of food that each one eats
A baler: a measuring container: a bowl
The skull: each head, used in a head count
A scrolling of your beings: a record of each person who will eat

Put this together: Pick up the food from the ground according to the amount each eats, a bowl amount for each person in the head-count according to the record of each person who will eat.

18. What does “Ye shall take a man to what is in his tent” mean? Each person (thus, a man, referring to a human) will take the amount of the food for the persons in his tent. Thus, what refers to the record of each person.

19. Why did Yehovah find it necessary to say that the children of Israel did? Many will not try something new—especially something that suddenly appears on the ground. All the Israelis tried this new food!

20. What does “the multiplier and the little-causer” mean? The multiplier is the person who gathered as much as he could, thinking that there might not be enough to solve his hunger. The little-causer is the person who gathered just a bit, perhaps thinking that he or she might not like it.

21. Why did they measure via a baler? What were they trying to see? Yehovah had commanded them to use a baler, which measures amounts; so, they measured! They wanted to see how much they each had.

22. What miracle is described in verse 18, and what does this show? The miracle was the amount for each person. The one who gathered and kept on gathering, perhaps thinking that it wouldn’t be enough, found that the measurement was perfect for him; he had not managed to gather any extra! The person who had gathered just a little in the bowl found that there was the perfect amount in the bowl (as if it multiplied when being carried back)! No matter what amount each gleaned, it was perfect for the appetite of each!

Since this food is a picture of the Bread of the Lives (the food that will give a human everlasting life), this shows that if a person eats of that Bread, the person will always have exactly the right amount to give everlasting life!

IX. No Leftovers (verses 19-21)

Moshe warned the Israelis: “A man shall not ‘excess’ from him unto morning,” indicating that none of the gleaning was to be left until morning. The Israelis didn’t hearken; they set some extra aside for the next morning. It developed worms, and it stank! Moshe became angry at them.

They gleaned this every morning just as a person needed for his mouth (his appetite). When the sun became hot, this item left on the ground melted.

Questions

1. What does “A man shall not ‘excess’ from him unto morning” mean? This means that no one is to keep leftovers of this food for use the next morning.

2. What was wrong with keeping leftovers? First, the amount of the food was already exactly right for each eater; there should not be any leftovers. Secondly, this food pictured the Bread of the Lives. Keeping leftovers for the next morning ruined the type (the picture), since this communicated that one could reserve the Bread of the Lives to the next day, and not eat it all! That would picture a person becoming partly born of God, and that makes no sense!

3. The text states, “And they didn’t hearken unto Moshe. And men ‘excessed’ from him unto morning.” Why did they do this? I am thinking that they were concerned that there wouldn’t be a supply of food the next day; some wanted to reserve food (hoard food) in case they again went hungry.

4. Who elevated worms, and what does this mean? This special appearing bread elevated worms (maggots)! The food rotted overnight, and it stank!

5. Why did Moshe anger? What was the big deal? The Israelis were not obeying Yehovah’s commands. If they didn’t obey with a small and simple command, they wouldn’t obey if given a much harder command. Yehovah’s commands are designed to save lives. Disobeying what seems to be a minor or relatively unimportant command will get folks killed. Yehovah only commands what is absolutely vital and necessary; He never commands anything that is truly unnecessary. Moshe knew this; he therefore became angry.

6. What does “And they gleaned him in the morning, in the morning, a man as the mouth of his eating” mean? This means that they did this according to a routine: they gleaned this food each morning, picking up exactly what was right for each person’s appetite.

7. Who or what melted? What does this mean? After the Israelis (and all their animals) obtained the amount of this food that they needed for the rest of the day, when the sun became hot, this food melted as if it were ice. It went down into the sandy soil.

8. Of what was this food made? It was made of whatever each person and each animal needed for the entire day: the right amount of vitamins, minerals, sugars, fiber, proteins, amino acids, etc. with good flavours for all. Yehovah created it each day that it appeared. The Israelis could either eat it straight or could cook it, fry it, bake using it as flour, eat it with other food items that they might grow, etc. It would still provide exactly what they needed to live. Thus, it was a true picture of the Bread of the Lives (the Bread of Life). Yet, all that remained that wasn’t used melted (if on the ground) or bred maggots (if stored for a later time—with one exception about to be mentioned).

X. Double (verses 22-24)

Day sixth (Friday) came. Whatever they picked up was double compared to the previous days; the baler (measurer) showed this. Those in the congregation who carried information came to tell Moshe. He said unto them, “He is what Yehovah spoke. A cessation—a ceasing of the Holy-[One] is to Yehovah tomorrow.” He then instructed them, “Bake-ye what ye shall bake and boil-ye what ye shall boil.” They could fix this product in any way they chose. “And ye shall rest to you all the surplus to tomorrow unto the morning.” That way, they would have food for the next day. The Israelis did this. This product didn’t stink, and no maggot was found in it.

Questions

1. What was in day sixth? The next event about to be described was in day sixth (that is, in the sixth day of the week).

2. What miracle occurred on day sixth, according to this text? Each person gleaned exactly double the amount of this bread! The measuring bowls showed that it was double!

3. What are the carriers of the congregation? They are the leaders with responsibilities. They therefore carry responsibility as leaders.

All leaders are responsible for what they do. Yehovah holds all leaders responsible. Many desire to be leaders, thinking that this gives them power. Few consider the responsibilities they carry, however. Some do think of the responsibilities, but some of them like to take advantage of those under their leadership in ways that are wrong. Yehovah will judge them with much greater condemnation for doing this, since all leaders have always been promoted by Yehovah to the leadership position. There is no leader in any place at any time who wasn’t put there by Yehovah. Yehovah always puts leaders into the leadership position in order to benefit those whom they lead. Many leaders don’t desire to benefit others except for their own friends, and they become cruel to others who aren’t their friends. Yehovah will judge them with great condemnation for mistreating others without justice. Yehovah even raises up leaders in idolatrous religions in order for them to benefit those whom they rule; Yehovah will hold them responsible for what they do and teach.

4. Why did the carriers consider telling Moshe about the doubling of the measurements as if this were so important? They didn’t want trouble over this, and it was different.

5. What is this cessation? A cessation is a time of stopping something; it is related to the word cease. This cessation is the Hebrew word Shabbat from which the word Sabbath comes. Every Shabbat is a cessation—a cessation of labour. This will be explained later in the text.

6. Why is this called “a ceasing of the Holy One”? Who is this Holy One, and from what will he cease? This Holy One, known more fully as the Holy One of Israel, is the Messiah of Israel. His name is Yeshua, and His name means Salvation. While some call Him Jesus, most don’t know who Yeshua is, what He wants, what He does and will do, what He has done, what His personality is, and what He character is.

Yeshua, the Holy One, will cease from His labour—from His work—for a short time. This is called “a ceasing of the Holy One to Yehovah,” telling me that this belongs to Yehovah and will be a time when Yehovah does the work so that Yeshua will cease. The food—the Bread of the Lives that has already been provided—will be available to those who have already obeyed and acquired it; there will be no bread waiting on the soil the next day.

7. What ways could this strange bread be fixed, according to verse 23? It could be baked and it could be boiled, though it didn’t have to be cooked at all. The Israelis figured out different ways to fix this bread.

8. What does “And ye shall rest to you all the surplus to tomorrow unto the morning” mean? This means that the Israelis must put aside the remainder of the food that will certainly be there. They will keep it unto the next morning; it will be fine.

XI. Ceasing (verses 25-26)

Moshe told Israel (as if Israel were one person), “Eat-thou him today,” referring to the strange ‘bread’ (food) that the Israelis had picked from the ground the previous day. He explained, “For today is a ceasing to Yehovah. Ye shall not find him today in the field.” Moshe continued, “Thou shalt glean him six days. And cease-thou in the seventh day! He will not be in him!”

Questions

1. On what day did Moshe say, “Eat-thou him today”? He said this on Shabbat; he also said, “For today is a ceasing to Yehovah.”

2. Who is him whom they won’t find in the field? This refers to the special Bread that will later be known as manna.

3. Who owns this ceasing, and what does owning it mean? Yehovah owns this ceasing—this Shabbat (Sabbath). If Moshe had said, “For today is a ceasing to you,” that would have shown that the Israelis own it. Since it is a ceasing to Yehovah, however, the Israelis cannot treat the Sabbath as their own property. They must treat it as Yehovah’s property, and they must do what Yehovah says when the Sabbath arrives. The Israelis cannot make their own rules, and they cannot define it; Yehovah must make the rules, and He must define it. (I say this because in forms of Judaism that care about the Sabbaths of Yehovah, the Israelis (Jewish folks) have decided what can and cannot be done on the Sabbaths, and therefore they haven’t understood this text showing that the Sabbaths belong to Yehovah and not to them.)

4. Why won’t the Israelis find ‘him’ in the field on this day? Yehovah won’t send the special food from the heavens on this day. This teaches the Israelis that this special food must be gathered while it is available; there will be times when it isn’t available for gathering, and only those who have already gathered it will have what they need when it isn’t available for gathering. Had Yehovah sent that bread all seven days of the week, that would have taught that it is always available; but it isn’t!

5. Will there be a future event that will include these six days when this Bread can be gathered, after which it won’t be available? I propose that there will be a time of six days during the last part of the Tribulation when Israelis who haven’t yet come to faith will know Truth, and will be able to obtain the Bread of Everlasting Lives. All who truly believe and therefore turn to Yeshua, the Bread of the Lives in person, during those six days, will live. The rest of the Israelis who wait until the seventh day will be destroyed from among the rest of the Israelis; they will not obtain everlasting lives.

XII. Refusal to Guard (verses 27-31)

The next event occurred on Day Seventh—that is, on Saturday in the way we reckon days. Some of the Israelis exited to glean the strange food from the ground. They didn’t find it, of course. Yehovah responded to their actions by stating to Moshe, “Until when are ye refusing to guard my commandments and my teachings? See-ye that Yehovah gave the Ceasing to you! Therefore He, He gave bread of two days to you in Day Seventh!” Yehovah referred to Himself in the third person!

Yehovah continued, “Return-ye a man under himself!” (What did He mean?) He then commanded, “A man shall not exit from his place in the Day Seventh!” This was the most restrictive command Yehovah gave regarding the Sabbath.

The Israelis ceased; the entire people did this in Day the Seventh.

They needed a name for this edible item picked from the desert floor. They called it, “What?” which in Hebrew is män (the ä is pronounced like “ma” in the shortened form for mother).

Its size was the size of white coriander seed—that is, about an eighth of an inch. The taste was like a pancake in honey!

Questions

1. Who was in the Day Seventh? The next event described was in the Day Seventh.

2. What is the difference between “the Day Seventh” and “the seventh Day”? The Hebrew days of the week are like this:

Day First
Day Second
Day Third
Day Revolution (that is, the day of revolving or turning over; the end of the week is now becoming close)
Day Fifth
Day Sixth
Day Seventh/Day Ceasing

While the seventh day can be the seventh in any series of days (for example, he arose on the seventh day from his bed), Day Seventh refers to the day of the week (similar to what we call Saturday, but starting as the sun sets rather than at midnight).

3. Who exited from the people to glean? Israelis who disobeyed the simple and direct command of Yehovah exited from the Israeli people to glean!

4. Did Moshe also go out to glean on Day Seventh? No; Moshe obeyed Yehovah.

5. If the above answer is correct, why did Yehovah say unto Moshe, “Until when are ye refusing to guard my commandments and my teachings,” as if Moshe is one of the violators? If even one of the Israelis does wrong, all Israel has done wrong. Yehovah looks at the group and holds the group responsible for every member of the group. Since Moshe was part of the group, Yehovah spoke to him as part of the ‘ye’ (the ‘you,’ plural). Moshe understood this.

6. Were the Israelis refusing to guard Yehovah’s commandments and His teachings by just looking for the special Bread on the Sabbath? Yes! They were disobeying Yehovah’s commandments, since disobeying just one commandment is breaking them all, and they were not guarding His teachings since the Teaching of the Sabbath included no special Bread on the ground. (They had to consider why this was one of His Teachings; few have thought this through.)

7. To whom did Yehovah give the Ceasing, according to verse 29, and what does this mean? Yehovah gave the Ceasing to the Israelis. Thus, He entrusted them with both the command and the Teaching so that they can consider it, obey it, and live! Yehovah never gave the Ceasing to any other group. Thus, the Israelis are responsible to cease from their labours on this day. (Yehovah will give them exceptions so that they can take care of their cattle, for example; the exceptions do not harm the Teaching that is life-saving.)

8. What does “Return ye a man under himself” mean? The word under in Hebrew is used in this way: “Then he reigned under him” when we in English would understand, “Then he reigned in his stead,” meaning in his place. With this in mind, look at “Return ye a man under himself.” This means, “Return ye a man in his own place,” a Hebrew way of saying, “Every person is to return back to his own place and stay there!” Hebrew has a way of saying things that is much shorter.

9. When Moshe commanded, “A man shall not exit from his place in the Day Seventh,” what did he mean? Moshe was telling the Israelis to remain in their tents and not to exit to go look for the special Bread (the manna). They could go out of their tents to tend their cattle, their children, to urinate, to get water, to visit their neighbours, etc., but they must not go look for manna during the Day Seventh!

10. The text states, “And they ceased—the people—in Day the Seventh.” From what did they cease? They ceased from looking for the manna. They also ceased from doing their daily occupations of work, doing only what was necessary for their children, cattle, etc.

11. What does manna mean, according to verse 31? It means, “What?” Another verse states that it means, “What is he?” The pronunciation, män, is given.

12. In what way is manna like white coriander, and what does that look like? Manna appeared very much like coriander seed (that is, the seed of the cilantro plant—you can obtain it where garden seeds are sold), except that manna was white in color. It looked like this, but white:

(Picture by Sanjay Acharya posted on http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sa-cilantro_seeds.jpg)

13. Like what did manna taste? It tasted like a pancake in honey!

14. Did everyone like the taste of manna? Yehovah made sure that everyone liked the taste of manna, and that all the sheep, goats, cattle, dogs and cats that the Israelis had also liked the taste!

XIII. The Guarding (verse 32)

The measurement, an omer, is a baler—that is, it is a container that was used when baling hay and grains. Yehovah commanded the Israelis to gather a baler of the män to guard it for the generations of Israelis so that they will see this food that Yehovah caused the Israelis to eat in the desert during His exiting them from the land of Egypt.

Questions

1. What did Yehovah command to do with some of the manna in verse 32, and why did He command this? Yehovah commanded Israel (singular) to fill one measuring container of the manna to keep for generations to come in order for them to see this special Bread that He caused Israel to eat in the desert at this time of exiting from Egypt.

2. Did Israel do this? Yes.

3. Where is this manna now, so that we can see it? I have two ideas about this:

One day in the future, the container with the manna inside will be found; or,
Yehovah will again provide manna, and this time a container of it will be preserved for the entire Millennium (thousand years during which time Yeshua, the King of Israel reigns over all kings and lords of the earth)

I don’t know which of these will occur, but I am certain that one of the two will occur. Yehovah desires for the Israelis to be able to see this manna!

XIV. The Basket of Mahn (verses 33-36)

Moshe told Aharon to take one double-concave container, and give a fullness of a baler of ‘What?’ This included filling it with the män. Aharon must rest the container to the faces of Yehovah for a guarding to the generations of the Israelis; that is what Yehovah had commanded Moshe. Aharon did so in front of the Witness—in front of Israel—so that Israel will guard it.

The children of Israel ate the ‘What?’ (män) forty years right up to the time that they came unto a land already being dwelt. They ate this ‘What?’ (män) right up to the point of their coming to the very edge of the land of Canaan.

What volume size is the baler (an omer)? It is a tenth of a baker’s measure (an ephah).

Questions

1. What is a concave-concave? Look at these pictures:

This first picture shows a bowl. It is concave, meaning that it has an area that goes inward. The opposite is convex, meaning that it has an area that goes outward. (If you turn it upside down, the bottom that is then up is convex!)

Now, put two together with the concave parts facing each other:

Next, close them together:

Now, flatten one of the points so that it will stand on one end, and open the opposite side so that it will be a container:

This is a ‘concave-concave’! It is a jar!

2. What does “And give a fullness of a baler of ‘What?’” mean? This means to put into the jar a full measure of the manna from the measuring bowl. This will be kept for later use.

3. Where did Israel put this jar, and for what purpose did Israel put it there? Moshe told Aharon to rest the jar “to the faces of Yehovah”—that is, right in front of where Yehovah’s faces will see it all of the time. This location will later be described; the jar will be placed in a special box inside of a special chamber of a special tent. That chamber is where the faces of Yehovah will be, since Yehovah will place His faces there.

The purpose of placing it there is so that it will be “for a guarding to your [the Israelis’] generations.”

4. Why is faces plural (more than one)? Everyone, including Yehovah, has more than one face! The Hebrew word for face describes turns, and our faces have many turns in two ways: the curves of our cheeks and chins, foreheads and ears, and the various looks that we can give. We can turn from a smile to frowning, for example. The same is true with Yehovah’s faces. He also has one other ability that we don’t have: His faces can be in many different locations around the world at the same time!

5. In what way will this manna be “for a guarding to your generations”? This will occur in two ways:

The Israelis must guard the manna—that is, make certain that they don’t lose it, and make certain that it isn’t changed in any way, but is kept safe
The manna will guard the Israelis and their generations!

This manna pictures the Bread of the lives—that is, the food that gives everlasting lives to the Israelis; it is the only source of this life. It is a picture of Yeshua Himself:

John 6:35 And Yeshua said unto them, “I am the Bread of life! He who comes to me shall never hunger!”

In the meantime, the Israelis have lost the manna; they don’t have Yeshua (because they don’t believe in Yeshua—with a very few individual exceptions), and the rabbis of Israel have changed the manna for teachings that won’t provide everlasting life for anyone.

The manna, in the form of Yehovah, is what (Who) guards Israel! Though Israel has temporarily lost the manna, Yeshua is still the guard of Israel.

6. Where did Aharon place the manna? He rested it (“him”) “to the faces of the Witness for a guarding.” Thus, the Witness of Israel—that is, the entirety Israel as one single witness of events is where Yehovah is located! He is in the camp of the Israelis!

7. How long did the Israelis eat the manna? They ate it for forty years! That means that Yehovah provided it for forty years, six days a week for all those weeks!

8. What land is the dwelt land? It is the land of Canaan (Merchant), a land inhabited by the Canaanites, the Perizites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Jebusites, etc. Since they dwell in that land, it is a dwelt land.

9. What is a baker? It is a measurement used by bakers (since they deal in larger amounts of things). According to this text, a baker measure is ten times the size of a baler measure.