Sanctification and Light

With Questions and Proposed Answers

 

 

Background and Printed Text: Exodus chapter 13

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

I. Sanctification (verses 1-2)

 

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

 

 

 

Questions

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

II. Remembering and Vinegar (verse 3)

 

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

 

 

 

Questions

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

Questions

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

       In Hebrew, they are the following days:

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

Questions

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

       Thus, Israel will speak exactly what is right.

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

V. Firstborn Commandments (verses 11-13)

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

Questions

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

VI. “What is this?” (verses 14-16)

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

Questions

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

VII. Avoidance (verses 17-18)

 

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

 

 

 

Questions

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

VIII. Yosef’s Bones (verses 18-19)

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

Questions

 

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

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

IX. Light and Leading (verses 20-22)

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

Questions

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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