Exodus 17 Water and Hands of Faith QA

Water and Hands of Faith

With Questions and Proposed Answers

 

 

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? 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!”

 

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?” 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)

 

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? 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)

 

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? 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)

 

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? 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)

 

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? 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)

 

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? 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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exodus 16 What is It? QA

Cilantro Seeds

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:

 

Cilantro Seeds

 

(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:

 

Concave 1

 

       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:

 

Concave 2

 

       Next, close them together:

 

Concave 3

 

       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:

 

Concave jar

 

       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.

 

Exodus 15 Song of Moshe and Israelis QA

Song of Moshe and Israelis

Questions and Proposed Answers

 

Background and Printed Text: Exodus chapter 15

 

Exodus 15:1 Then Draw (Moshe) will sing this song, and the children of Israel, to Yehovah. And they will say, to say, “I will sing to Yehovah! For heightening, He heightened horse! And He elevated his chariot via the Sea—2my Strength and the ballad of Yah! And He became to Salvation to me! This is my Mighty-[One]! And I house-dwelt Him—my Gods, my Father! And I elevated Him!

 

3 “Yehovah is a man of war! Yehovah is His Name! 4He taught charioteers of Pharaoh and his army via the Sea! And they immersed the choice of his thirds via the Ending Sea! 5Depths shall blanket-cover them. They shall descend into the profoundnesses like a stone.

 

6Thy right, Yehovah, is my majesty via power! Thy right, Yehovah, will shatter an enemy! 7Thou wilt demolish Thy risers via the multiplicity of Thy highness! Thou wilt send Thy heat! He will eat them as chaff!

 

8And Waters were piled via the wind of Thy noses. Distillings were positioned like a heap. Depths congealed in the heart of the Sea! 9Enemy said, ‘I will chase! I will reach! I will divide plunder! My being shall be filled of them! I will empty my sword! My hand will inherit them!’ 10Thou didst blow via Thy wind. The Sea blanket-covered them. They submerged like lead in majestic waters!

 

11 “Who is like Thee via their mighty-[one], Yehovah? Who is like Thee—majestic via a Holy-[One], Terror of Psalms Pele did? 12Thou stretched Thy right; land swallowed them.

 

13 “Thou guided this people Thou redeemed via Thy Grace. Thou led via Thy strength unto the living-quarter of Thy Holy-[One].

 

14 “The peoples hearkened. They quaked. Whirling grasped the inhabitants of Palestine. 15Then the alufs of Edom were dismayed, the strongmen of Moab! Trembling shall grasp them! All the inhabitants of Canaan melted! 16Dread shall fall upon them, and fear via the bigness of Thine arm. They shall be silent as a stone until Thy people will cross-over, Yehovah—until this people Thou hast acquired will cross-over! 17Thou shalt bring them. And Thou hast planted them in the Mountain of Thine inheritance established for Thy dwelling! Thou acted, Yehovah. Thine hands established the Sanctuary of my Lords!

 

18Yehovah will reign to Hider and onward!

 

19 “For Pharaoh’s horse came with his chariot and with his horsemen into the Sea. And Yehovah returned the waters of the Sea upon them. And the children of Israel walked via the dry in the midst of the Sea.”

 

20And Miriam the prophetess, sister of Aharon took the tambourine via her hand. And all the women exited after her via tambourines and via dances. 21And Miriam answered to them, “Sing-ye to Yehovah! For heightening, He heightened horse! And He elevated his chariot in the Sea!”

 

22And Draw (Moshe) journeyed with Israel from Ending Sea. And they exited unto Ox Desert. And they walked three days via desert. And they didn’t find water. 23And they came Bitternessward. And they were not able to drink waters from bitterness. For they are bitter! Therefore he called her name Bitter. 24And the people, they lodged upon Draw (Moshe) to say, “What shall we drink?” 25And he screamed unto Yehovah. And Yehovah taught him a tree. And he slung unto the waters. And the waters sweetened. He put a statute and a justice to him there. And He proved him there. 26And He said, “If hearkening, thou wilt hearken to the voice of Yehovah thy Gods, and thou wilt do the straight in His eyes, and thou wilt ‘ear’ to His commandments, and thou wilt guard all His statutes, I will not put upon thee all the sicknesses that I put into Egypt. For I am Yehovah thy Healer!

 

27And they came Their-Ramward. And twelve eyes of water and seventy palms are there. And they camped there upon the waters.

 

 

 

I. High Horse (verses 1-2)

 

Moshe will sing a song that is prophecy. He will teach the song to the children of Israel so that they will know what will happen during the End Times, during the Tribulation, and so that they will sing it to Yehovah!

 

They will start by saying, “I will sing to Yehovah!”

 

Why will they sing to Him? Yehovah heightened horse! He, the speaker’s Strength and the very ballad of Yah, also elevated the chariot by means of the Sea. This being who is the Strength of the speaker and who is the ballad of Yah became to the very Salvation of the speaker! He is identified as the speaker’s Mighty One. Yet, the speaker house-dwelt Him; He house-dwelt his Gods and his Father! The speaker also elevated Him!

 

 

 

Questions

 

1. The text states, “Then Moshe will sing this song, and the children of Israel, to Yehovah.” That sounds like it is a future text. Why is the text worded this way? It is a future text! I do not doubt that Moshe sang this after the Exodus, but the text is telling careful readers that this is what will occur in the future. The Israelis didn’t sing along with Moshe in the original event, but they will when those things described in this text occur in the future.

 

2. Why will they sing this song to Yehovah? This song is prophetic, and will be historical at that time. They will see that all these things happened exactly as described. They will be rejoicing as they sing the very things that Yehovah did—things that Yehovah wrote so many centuries before they occurred!

 

3. Why does the text say, “And they will say, to say”? If the text had only said, “And they will say,” it would have indicated that the Israelis will just repeat the words of the song. By wording it, “And they will say, to say,” this indicates that this will be what the Israelis truly desire to communicate! It will be from them, and not just repeated words.

 

4. Why will they say, “I will sing to Yehovah,” instead of singing, “I will sing to Yehovah”? Again, they will be communicating their own hearts, and not just repeating what has already been said. Besides, they are declaring what they will say in the future: “I will sing to Yehovah.” This isn’t a one-time communication; it will be what the Israelis do throughout the Millennium.

 

5. What does “He heightened horse” mean? What occurred? The word translated heightened is used for arrogance (that is, thinking one is bigger and higher than he/she really is) when it isn’t used for Yehovah. When it is used for Yehovah, it shows His highness in terms of all things, including rank. I propose that this text indicates that Yehovah is responsible for causing humans to view horses very highly in the future. Horses have become far less important than they were only 150 years ago. Automobiles, trucks, trains and other forms of transport have replaced horses and other pack and riding animals. Yet, in the End Times, the horse will again be a very important animal among all the animals of the world. I propose that this text explains that Yehovah is the one who has raised up horses in great rank among humans.

 

6. If the above answer is true, why did Yehovah heighten the horse? Yehovah will use horses in His plan! Bad guys riding horses will be overthrown along with their horses, and good guys riding horses will come to Mount Zion during the Millennium, thus not polluting the Mountain and the lands on the way to the Mountain.

 

7. Explain the wording, “For heightening, He heightened horse”: The repetition of the verb (to heighten in this case) shows that it is being strongly stated and strongly done. Yehovah really heightened horses in man’s estimation of their value.

 

8. What did Yehovah do if He elevated his chariot via the Sea? His can refer to either Pharaoh or the horse! Yehovah still elevated the chariot using the Sea! Thus, Yehovah caused the chariot to go up by means of the Sea. While its riders went down, the chariot seems to have floated. This must be very important for the Israelis because it is mentioned as important in the text. Seeing the empty chariot floating will prove that the chariot’s rider is gone! (Not seeing the chariot at all might give the impression that the chariot’s riders and the chariot escaped from the Sea.)

 

9. Who is the speaker in this Psalm text, and why do I call this a Psalm? There are other Psalms besides the ones listed in the Book of Psalms. This text is exactly like so many of the Psalms listed in the Book of the Psalms, and the way to view it is just like one must view the Psalms elsewhere. Every text must be taken literally and be carefully considered. Each statement tells a very important part of the events, and some statements give far more information than one might expect from them. A psalm is a commendation—that is, telling that something has been done very well. This Psalm shows this very well. (Some Psalms are very sad, but they still show that Yehovah has done things very well.)

 

Now, the speaker in any prophecy usually isn’t the writer. The writer is Moshe, in this case, but Moshe isn’t the speaker. The text states that Moshe and the children of Israel will sing this song to Yehovah; yet, the pronouns include I, me and my instead of we, us and our. When I run into texts like this, I think along these lines: “Could this be Israel as a group? That would explain the singular pronoun.” I then think, “Could this be Jerusalem, since Jerusalem also speaks in the Bible?” Finally, I think, “Could this be Mount Zion, since Yehovah and Mount Zion converse in the Bible?” I then see if I can determine if the speaker is one of these three by reading more of the text. In this case, I came to verse 13: “Thou guided this people Thou redeemed via Thy Grace.” I know that this people refers to the People of Israel; thus, the speaker isn’t the People of Israel.

 

Verse 17 states, “Thou shalt bring them.” Thus, the speaker is already where Yehovah will bring them; otherwise, the speaker would have said, “Thou shalt send them.” If I am right on this, the next line gives me an important clue: “And Thou hast planted them in the Mountain of Thine inheritance established for Thy dwelling!” At this point, I conclude that Mount Zion herself is the speaker. She is such an important character in the Bible, and she greatly loves the Israelis. She is a small and unimportant hill right now (in 2011), but she will become the most important piece of land in the world, and she will become very large during the Tribulation!

 

10. Why does the speaker refer to Yehovah as my Strength? If the speaker is Mount Zion, as I propose, a mountain can’t do much of anything unless another provides strength to it. Humans were made to serve the soil (among other things), and if they diligently work, they can greatly improve the strength of the soil so that it can produce much more. Yehovah will do far more than this for Mount Zion; Enemies will sink her, and He will raise her from the dead! Yehovah will raise her! He will give her the ability to rally the Israelis and their friends to come to her in order to live!

 

Isaiah 52:1 “Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion!”

 

The One Who is the strength of the speaker is Yehovah, but in the form of the Messiah: in the form of Yeshua!

 

11. What is a ballad? It is a story in the form of a song.

 

12. Who is Yah? Yah is an abbreviation (shortened form) of Yehovah, which is a shortened form for Yeheyeh, Hoveh, Hayah, meaning He will be, He is, He was. Thus, Yah is Yehovah.

 

13. Why would the speaker call Yehovah “the ballad of Yah”? This being who is the ballad of Yah is Yeshua! He is the very story in song about Yehovah! Therefore, the name fits.

 

14. The next statement declares that “He became to Salvation…” How did this occur? What is this describing? The Name Yeshua means Salvation. Yeshua’s work is about saving lives both physically and everlastingly. Yehovah sent His speech to be Salvation—that is, He sent part of Himself to be the Salvation for humans (and in this case, for the mountain). That occurred first when Yeshua appeared in ‘Old Testament’ events and saved lives, but it especially occurred when Yeshua was born as a mortal Israeli child. It will occur in the future when Yeshua is Salvation to Israel and Israel’s friends during the Tribulation, and also to Mount Zion. Thus, the One known as “my Strength” and as “the ballad of Yah” has also become Salvation in person.

 

15. Explain “He became to Salvation to me:” The expression, to me, sounds odd in English. For me sounds more natural. Yet, the expression in Hebrew, to me, is deeper and covers more that just for me. While for me means on my behalf, to me means that and also is very personal (as if the speaker is saying, He became Salvation for me personally—as my property). To me shows ownership.

 

16. If the speaker is Mount Zion, will Mount Zion need saving? Yes! Mount Zion will be attacked and sunk. She will then be resurrected from the earth and from among the dead. Thus, she will need saving.

 

17. What is a mighty one in the Bible? It is one who has the ability to get done what must be done, and that ability requires strength and fortitude. It is often associated with war, but not always. From the viewpoint of a child, a mighty one is a person who deals with that child, and does what is necessary for the good care and benefit of that young child. Adults of this nature seem to be able to do anything in the eyes of a very young child.

 

This can refer to Yehovah as it does in this text. The fuller phrase used in the Bible is the Mighty One of Israel or the Mighty One of Jacob.

 

18. Why is the speaker claiming this Mighty One as his/her own? This is a declaration of ownership as a mighty one—as a hero! The speaker feels very attached to Yehovah as her hero. It is as if the mountain is a child: “That’s my daddy!” for example.

 

19. What does house-dwelt mean? The main flavour of this word is habitation, which is similar to abode: a place where a person or animal lives permanently or for a while. A habitation is a place that a person or animal inhabits, occupies. This word (Navah in Hebrew) connects more with home than with abode (an abode doesn’t have to be a home). Thus, I chose house-dwelt.

 

20. How can the speaker ‘house-dwell’ someone else? If the speaker is Mount Zion, and if Him is Yeshua, if Mount Zion provides Yeshua with a place for Him to abide for a while, and if Yeshua does make Mount Zion His temporary residence, Mount Zion has house-dwelt Yeshua! Now, there is another detail that we must consider. If any of Yeshua’s property (in the form of Israelis) is also given a place to stay on Mount Zion, whatever is done to one of Yeshua’s persons is done to Yeshua! Thus, by taking in guests who belong to Yeshua, the mountain has taken Yeshua in as a guest! This is also true of anyone who will have taken Israelis in as guests!

 

Every person made in the image of God is very valuable because of that image. Yehovah judges everyone by the works that he/she does in this life. Value before God is determined by two means: the image of God on the person, and what the person does.

 

21. The statement, “And I house-dwelt Him—my Gods, my Father!” sounds as if it is spoken in excitement. If this is true, why is the speaker so excited? Mount Zion either just now realized that she had been providing an abode for her Gods and her Father, Yehovah by providing abodes for the Israelis, or she is expressing the privilege she feels at being able to do this.

 

22. If the speaker is Mount Zion, how can Mount Zion call Yeshua “my Father”? All things were created by Yeshua:

 

Colossians 1:13 And He translated [us] into the kingdom of the Son of His love 14in Whom we have redemption through His blood—the remission of sins, 15Who is the image of God—the invisible firstborn of all creation. 16For, all things were created by Him: the things in the heavens and the things upon the land, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or lordships or principalities or authorities—all things have been created by Him and for Him.

 

Since He created all things, including Mount Zion, He is the Father of even Mount Zion.

 

23. What did the speaker do to elevate Him? This reminds me of the following text:

 

John 12:32 “And I—if I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all unto me.” 33He said this signifying what death He would die.

 

If this is correct, it is as if the speaker (Mount Zion) feels part of the guilt for participating in this. Yet, consider this from another angle. Mount Zion will gladly take in Israelis who are innocent. Those Israelis well be conducted up Mount Zion; thus, Mount Zion will elevate them. Thus, Mount Zion will be elevating Yeshua by elevating His property as Mount Zion conducts them up her sides.

 

 

 

II. The Baptism of Pharaoh (verses 3-5)

 

Yehovah is a man of war. His Name is Yehovah! Yehovah gave Pharaoh’s charioteers and Pharaoh’s army a lesson in warfare that they will never forget by means of the Ending Sea.

 

Pharaoh’s charioteers and soldiers immersed the best of Pharaoh’s fighting thirds by means of the Ending Sea!

 

In the future, depths call cover them like a blanket; they will descend into the greatest depths of oceans like a stone.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1. Is the God of the Bible against war? He obviously isn’t if He is a man of war!

 

2. Is the God of the Bible for war? He will be for war until He comes to reign. Once He arrives, He will cause all wars to cease.

 

3. Why is He for war? When humans become prosperous, they increase their sinning; that sinning involves hurting, torturing and killing innocent folks for pleasure. Yehovah can do several things to stop those humans, including the following:

 

  • He can slaughter them (by various means including disease outbreaks)
  • He can bring war, and make sure they are defeated by another culture that is less violent outside of war and more violent in war
  • He can make them slaves—but this usually involves war
  • He can starve them until they are spending all their time just trying to find food

The least traumatic of all of these is war since most are killed quickly, and most feel that they have an opportunity to fight and perhaps win. Also, with war, there is sometimes more time to turn to do right. When those fighting in wars can take slaves, sometimes the best of societies are brought home to serve, and thus to become parts of new families. Relationships can be built that are very good and very strong if both the slaves and the slavemasters are wise. Yehovah has instituted war because it solves a number of problems at the same time in some cases. In other cases, it is a powerful tool for vengeance. (Yehovah used war to ravage Russia because of its mistreatment of the Jews for so long; He also made sure that Communism did to all the societies and cultures what those societies and cultures had done to the Jews for centuries.)

 

4. Why does the text state, “Yehovah is His Name”? I can think of a number of reasons:

 

  • When Yehovah is showing His character and works during the Tribulation, many throughout the world will desire to know the name of this deity who is doing these things. Thus, He tells them His name in this text.
  • When Moshe and the Israelis will sing about these works, they will identify this one and only deity who continues after the Tribulation and into the Millennium so that others who are not very familiar with Him will know His name.
  • The Name Yehovah has a meaning: He will be, He is, He was. Thus, when Moshe and the Israelis sing this song, they will tell all that His name is He will be, He is, He was so that they will know that this same God will continue into the future, that He is present now, and that He is the God Who was. This is different from all other gods.
  • This identifies the God with the name Yehovah as a man of war so that all will know that Yehovah fights!

5. What did Yehovah teach charioteers of Pharaoh and His army, using the sea? He taught them the following:

 

  • Yehovah is sovereign over the sea, over the waters, and over the land.
  • The Egyptians cannot win if Yehovah is fighting on the side of Israel.
  • Yehovah is the greatest warrior the earth has ever seen and will ever see.
  • The chariots of Egypt are meaningless in a fight with Yehovah.
  • The army of Egypt is anything but great in a fight with Yehovah.
  • A rowdy band of Israeli slaves can easily defeat the greatest army of Egypt if Yehovah is with the Israelis in the battle.
  • The sea itself will defeat the great Egyptian army in seconds if Yehovah turns the sea against Egypt.

6. Who, again, are Pharaoh’s thirds? I previously proposed that they were soldiers who were excellent swordsmen and who rode on the chariots along with the chariot drivers so that they could slaughter soldiers while the chariot riders conducted the chariots through the battle lines. I don’t have proof for this, but the wording gave me that impression.

 

7. If the above is correct, what is “And they immersed the choice of his thirds via the Ending Sea” describing? Who are they? They are the charioteers! They immersed (took them down under water) the choice (the very best and most skilled) of Pharaoh’s thirds (I propose them to be the second men in the chariots besides the charioteer, and that they are considered the thirds because the chariot itself is counted). Thus, the charioteers drove the thirds into the middle of the Ending Sea, and immersed them in the water where they all drowned!

 

8. The next statement is, “Depths shall blanket-cover them.” What are these depths, and what will occur if they are blanket-covered? The Hebrew word translated depths indicates very deep parts of the oceans. It cannot and does not refer to the Ending Sea. The difference between the depths and a regular sea part of the Ending Sea is that the Ending Sea’s depth is measured in feet (like 30 feet, for example) while the depths are measured in miles.

 

If soldiers are blanket-covered in the depths, that shows that they will go down to the bottom, and the ocean-bottom dust will give them a light covering like a blanket. This is what divers find when they go down to look at shipwrecks. They must be careful, because if they stir up too much of that dust that has landed in the waters, they won’t be able to see, and they can get hurt or killed running into things.

 

9. How does “Depths shall blanket-cover them” differ from what happened to the Egyptian soldiers after they were killed by the Ending Sea returning upon them? The Egyptian soldiers who were killed in the days of Moshe all floated to the seashore so that the Israelis could see them! Our present text describes a future event in which the soldiers will be taken far, far down in the oceans, and their bodies will stay on the bottom where they will be covered like a blanket with the dust of the oceans.

 

10. What are profoundnesses? They are extremely deep areas of the oceans—for example, areas measured in depths of miles—like four to 6 ¾ miles! (According to geology.com, “Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench is the deepest point in Earth’s oceans. The bottom there is 10,924 meters (35,840 feet) below sea level.” Since a mile is 5,280 feet, that means that this point is 6.8 miles deep! Another web site, Wikipedia, says that the deepest point is the Vityaz-1 Deep, and it is 6.85 miles deep.)

 

11. What does “They shall descend into the profoundnesses like a stone” describe? This describes how their dead bodies will go down to very deep parts of the oceans as if their bodies were stones—they will sink very rapidly! (Human bodies do not sink like stones under normal circumstances; sometimes they don’t sink for quite a while, instead floating.) Thus, Yehovah will change their dead bodies so that they become hard and dense like rocks!

 

12. Why does Yehovah mix historical texts with future texts, or write future texts as if they are referring to historical events? Yehovah isn’t limited by time. Thus, Yehovah sees an event that happened three thousand years ago and a related event that will happen 15,000 years from now as if they are directly connected, because they are! That is the way He describes them for readers so that they, too, can make the connections!

 

 

 

III. Yehovah and His Right Do Battle (verses 6-7)

 

Yehovah’s right (that is, His right side) is the speaker’s majesty in power. Yehovah’s right will shatter an enemy! Yehovah will demolish all who rise up against Him to try to destroy Him; that demolition will be by means of the multiplicity of Yehovah’s highness!

 

Yehovah will send His heat (His fury). That fury will eat those risers as if they were chaff!

 

 

 

Questions

 

1. What is Yehovah’s right? This is often used in the Bible. This word is not the word used in right versus wrong, and it is not the word used to mean what a person should always be permitted to do (as in, “Those are my rights! I can do them!”). Instead, it refers to a direction: right versus left.

 

Now, if something is on Yehovah’s right side, Yehovah favours it! Yet, what is on Yehovah’s right side is a person—I am referring to Messiah Yeshua. He sits on Yehovah’s right side, and He stands on Yehovah’s right side—at His right hand. While being on Yehovah’s left isn’t bad, being on His right is a more privileged position.

 

In texts like this text, the word right is used as a title for the person, Yeshua! Thus, when it says, “Thy right, Yehovah, is my majesty in power,” it is akin to saying, “Thy right-hand-Man, Yehovah, is my majesty in power.” Yet, it also refers to Yehovah’s right hand; Yeshua is Yehovah’s right hand!

 

2. What does majesty mean? This word describes something or someone as honorable, noble, important, great, having authority, magnificent, large (in importance) and even royalty! Thus, I chose the word majesty for it.

 

3. What does “Thy right is my majesty via power” mean? The speaker, which I have proposed to be Mount Zion, is telling Yehovah that Yehovah’s right, referring to Yeshua, is the Mountain’s majesty by means of the power that Yehovah’s right is using. Thus, Mount Zion will become a very majestic, royal and important mountain because of Yeshua and the power that He will use to both save lives and to raise and make Mount Zion have the highest rank among the mountains of the world!

 

4. What does shattering an enemy involve? It involves causing a unified enemy that is well-coordinated to break apart and to flee as separate soldiers. It involves blowing an enemy to pieces (as in an explosion). It involves destroying the leadership and all the reasons for being unified in the first place.

 

5. What does demolishing folks involve? The Hebrew word behind the word demolish means the following, according to the writer of the best Hebrew lexicon that I can find: to tear down, break down, overthrow, beat down, break, break through, destroy, pluck down, pull down, throw down, ruined, destroyer, utterly; break away; to be torn down, be thrown down; to overthrow, tear down; destroyer (participle). I chose demolish. You can see that it involves much violence!

 

6. Who are these risers? They are folks whom Yehovah is elevating in rank and power! As you can tell, though they are elevated in rank and power, they are rising against the Israelis! Therefore, they are rising against Yehovah. Every person who achieves higher rank and status in this world achieves it because of Yehovah. Every person who achieves higher rank and status in this world is given higher rank and status in order to do good. Yet, most will use them to do bad. Thus, Yehovah will do one of the following:

 

  • He will remove their rank and status (either temporarily or permanently)
  • He will humble them so that they can become ‘good guys’
  • He will destroy them (including killing them)
  • He will wait for them to die a natural death or through disease
  • He will wait for them to be violently killed at the hands of others (good or bad)

I cannot think of any other type of actions that are not included. (Perhaps you can think of some.) In the case of this text, He will slaughter them.

 

7. By what means will Yehovah demolish these risers? He will do this by means of the multiplicity of His own highness! Since Yehovah truly is the greatest, He will use any means He desires, making certain that all involved know that He did it! He won’t permit their demolition to be in secret or private. He will show that He is the Greatest.

 

8. What does highness mean in this text? The Hebrew word gäōn has the following acceptations (accepted meanings in the dictionary): exaltation, majesty, pride; majesty, exaltation, excellence; of nations; of God; of the Jordan; pride, arrogance (bad sense). When it describes Yehovah, exaltation and highness fit well. Yehovah does not have arrogance or pride. Yet, this word indicates arrogance and pride when used of evildoers. Yehovah has no need to arrogate anything to Himself (that is, to consider something or some trait his own without having the right to do this); all things are His. Yet, enemies will witness the appearance of arrogance and pride as Yehovah demonstrates that He is the Greatest by publicly destroying them in terrible ways! The following Psalm verses literally rendered explain this (see Psalm 18:26 in the King James Bible):

 

Psalm 18:26 With a graced-[one] Thou wilt-grace-Thyself. With a valiant-[one] of perfection Thou wilt-perfect-Thyself. 27With a purified-[one] Thou wilt purify-Thyself. And with a pervert Thou wilt-twist-Thyself! 28For Thou art with a humble-[one]. Thou wilt save. And Thou wilt-abase elevated eyes!

 

9. What is this heat that Yehovah will send? This heat is truly hot! It is His wrath! It is from the fire that will be in the Lake of Fire and Burning Sulfur!

 

10. Who will eat them as chaff, and what does this mean? Yehovah’s heat will ‘eat’ them (like fire eats chaff, sawdust, paper, etc.)—will burn them up! They will be burned to death just like chaff (the very flammable hulls of grains) is burned in a fire!

 

 

 

IV. The Waters Participate (verses 8-10)

 

The Ending Sea’s waters were piled by means of the wind of Yehovah’s noses! Distillings of waters were set in place as if they were something that can be piled. The depths of the Sea congealed (like Jell-o) in the very hart of the Sea!

 

The enemy of Yehovah and Israel said, “I will chase! I will reach! I will divide plunder! My being shall be filled of them! I will empty my sword! My hand will inherit them!”

 

Yehovah responded by blowing His own wind. The Sea covered them like a blanket. They submerged like lead in majestic waters!

 

 

 

Questions

 

1. What does “Waters were piled via the wind of Thy noses” describe? Yehovah’s noses (what we would call His nostrils) express Yehovah’s anger. When He is angry, His nostrils flare, like the nostrils of an angry bull. Heat comes out of His nostrils, along with breath, as if He is blowing out air. His nostrils were the source of the wind that caused the waters in the Ending Sea to pile up!

 

2. What are these distillings? This Hebrew word for this describes the slower and smaller forms of liquids flowing. Those were the flowings of water that were left after the main waters of the Ending Sea were moved. If those distillings had not been also moved, the Israelis would have stepped into mud that would have stopped them from walking.

 

Yehovah positioned those distillings like a heap—like a pile of stones! Yet, they were still liquid—not like ice!

 

3. What does “Depths congealed in the heart of the Sea” describe? It describes tall masses of water in a form like Jell-o, and positioned in the very middle of the sea!

 

4. Look carefully at this wording: “Enemy said, ‘I will chase! I will reach! I will divide plunder! My being shall be filled of them! I will empty my sword! My hand will inherit them!’” Did this happen in Moshe’s day? The Egyptians did chase the Israelis. The Egyptians thought they could reach the Israelis. They didn’t come after plunder, however; they came to retrieve the Israelis for Pharaoh so that Egypt wouldn’t lose them as slaves. Now, “My being shall be filled of [with] them” isn’t what the soldiers or Pharaoh desired; they didn’t come to devour them. They came to return them to Egyptian slavery. Then, “I will empty my sword” describes their preparing to attack and slaughter; that was the last thing that Pharaoh and the Egyptians desired to do. They desired them back and unhurt. The statement, “My hand will inherit them” isn’t what the Egyptians would have said, since they already thought that they owned the Israeli slaves.

 

5. Again, why does Yehovah mix texts about the crossing of the Ending Sea with texts that are about events that never took place? Yehovah desires careful readers to associate the historical events with the events that will occur: events that will have many similarities with what took place in the past, but will be much bigger!

 

6. What does “Thou didst blow via Thy wind; the Sea blanket-covered them” describe? This describes Yehovah’s blowing and causing the jelled waters to return to their normal state: wet, flowing waters! The sea returned and covered the soldiers like a blanket so that the soldiers were gone and out of sight.

 

7. If the sea blanket-covered them, how could they be seen dead along the shore?? Again, this describes a future event and not a past event. This describes the silt and sand at the bottom of the sea lightly covering the corpses that sank to the bottom; that isn’t what happened in Moshe’s day. The corpses were all washed ashore so that the Israelis could see them and so that they would know that the Egyptian army was entirely gone!

 

8. If this doesn’t describe a past event, when will this occur? It will occur during the Tribulation many centuries from now. Thus, Yehovah will do a similar but greater miracle at that time, and He won’t need to cause the corpses to be exposed. No one will want to view them, since those they were chasing will keep going to Mount Zion.

 

9. What does “They submerged like lead in majestic waters” mean? This means that their bodies didn’t float; instead, they sank as if they were made of lead—a very heavy metal that sinks as fast as or faster than stones! Those corpses sank that fast because Yehovah made them sink that fast; human bodies just don’t sink like that!

 

 

 

V. Comparing Other Gods (verses 11-12)

 

The speaker asked Yehovah a question: “Who is like Thee by means of their mighty one, Yehovah?” He continued, “Who is like Thee—majestic via a Holy One, Terror of Psalms Pele Did?” The speaker explained, “Thou stretched Thy right; land swallowed them!”

 

 

 

Questions

 

1. The first part of the question is, “Who is like Thee, Yehovah?” Answer this question. The only One Who is like Yehovah is Yehovah (in the form of Yeshua). There is no other being like Yehovah.

 

2. The question continues, “Who is like Thee via their mighty-[one], Yehovah?” What does “via their mighty one” mean? First, the statement indicates that Yehovah, too, has a mighty one, and He does! That mighty one is the Mighty One of Israel: Yeshua! Thus, the question becomes something like this: Who is like Thee, Yehovah, by means of their having a mighty one like Yeshua? There is no other deity who is both like Yehovah and who also has a separate mighty one who has done great things before man and before the entire planet! Yehovah combined with Yeshua are unique! Humans claim that all the other gods are somewhat like Yehovah, but their claims don’t have backing by action.

 

Yet, in our present time, the Mighty One of Israel is hidden from view so that nearly all humans don’t believe in Him. Many believe in their own gods whom they call ‘Jesus,’ ‘Lord,’ ‘God,’ ‘Allah’ (which means ‘God’ in Arabic), etc., but their gods are not the same as the Mighty One of Israel in His attributes (in His characteristics, what He does, for whom He stands, His righteousness, His justice, and so on). These folks would not like the Mighty One of Israel! Thus, the speaker asks, “Who is like Thee via their mighty one, Yehovah?” The answer is, No one!

 

3. Why does the speaker ask again, “Who is like Thee?” The speaker is about to describe differences!

 

4. Explain “majestic via a Holy One”: Yehovah’s majesty, splendour, greatness, etc. shows up on earth by means of Yehovah’s Holy One Whom Yehovah sent! Thus, Yeshua is the One Who shows just how majestic Yehovah is! If Yeshua Himself is extremely majestic, noble, glorious, royal, great, etc., and Yeshua was sent from Yehovah, that shows that Yehovah must be equally extremely majestic, noble, glorious, royal, great, etc.!

 

5. Explain “Terror of Psalms”: Terror refers to a person: to Yeshua. He is the Terror found in the Psalms in the Bible! (Yet, He is also the Salvation found in the Psalms in the Bible!) Every psalm is a praise, since the world translated psalm means praise. A praise is a commendation for doing things well; it is the giving of credit and acknowledgement for doing doings well. Those commendations of Yehovah describe how Yeshua will be a terror to his enemies and the Salvation of His people, Israel, as well as the Salvation of those who have proven to be friends of Israel, those who fear Yehovah in Truth. There is no terrorist like Yeshua; He is a destroying terrorist to His enemies who will not turn, and He will save the lives of even the weakest and least able persons who look to Him for His coming to reign (looking for Him during the Tribulation).

 

Read the Psalms! You will see descriptions of this Terrorist of Psalms. For example,

 

Psalm 2:4 Sitter in the heavens shall laugh! My Lords shall deride at them! 5Then He shall speak unto them via His nose! And He will terrify them via His heat!

 

6. Who is Pele? Pele means miracle, but not in the ordinary form of the Hebrew word miracle. It refers to a person who is the Messiah, the Miracle-doer of Israel, besides being the Miracle of Israel! Thus, Pele is another name for Yeshua. In one text, Pele is translated as Wonderful, describing that His Name will be called Wonderful.

 

7. What did Pele do, according to this text? He is the One who will do the Terror in the Psalms!

 

8. Who is thou in, “Thou stretched Thy right”? He is Yehovah!

 

9. What ‘right’ did He stretch? This refers to His hand and/or His arm! When He stretches His hand, He is sending His wrath! The following texts show this:

 

Isaiah 5:25 Therefore, Yehovah’s nose smoked into His people. And His hand is stretched-over him! And He smote him! And the mountains quaked {with terror}. And their corpse was as manure in the midst of streets. In all this, His nose did not return. And His hand is still stretched-out!

 

Isaiah 9:17 Therefore my Lords shall not rejoice over his chosen-ones! And He will not womb his orphans and his widows! For all of him is profane and a bad-doer, and every mouth speaks folly. His nose did not return in all. And His hand is stretched out!

 

10. Whom did land swallow? Land swallowed the bad guys—the enemies and those who rose up against Yehovah and the People of Israel.

 

 

 

VI. Guiding and Leading the Israelis (verse 13)

 

The speaker continued, “Thou guided this people Thou redeemed via Thy Grace.” He didn’t only work via His Grace, however; “Thou led via Thy strength unto the living-quarters of Thy Holy One!”

 

 

 

Questions

 

1. To what destination did Yehovah guide this people? Yehovah guided this people to Mount Zion. Yet, since this is a future event, I should say that Yehovah will guide this people to Mount Zion. The guiding that Yehovah did for the Israelis as they came out of Egypt was a very small example of what He will do in the future.

 

2. What does redeem mean? The word used here means to pay the price to free someone or something from being held or being a prisoner. It can also include purchasing someone or something.

 

3. If the above is true, from whom were the people freed, or from whom will the people be freed? Look carefully at the following texts:

 

Hebrews 9:12 Not by the blood of goats and calves, but rather by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained everlasting redemption.

 

This text shows that the price He paid was His own blood. That doesn’t tell from whom they were redeemed, however.

 

Hebrews 13:12 Yeshua also suffered outside the gate so-that He will sanctify the people with His own blood.

 

Since sanctifying is obtaining ownership, this shows that Yeshua will own this people. This still doesn’t explain from whom He did the purchasing.

 

The answer to this question was hard for me to find, at first. I then realized that the payment was made to justice, since the People of Israel was made of sinners, and all sinners are under the penalty of death. Justice had to be paid, as if justice were a person, but justice isn’t a person. Justice must be satisfied, since Yehovah is the God of justice. Since the Israelis were under the sentence of death, the only way to free them from that sentence will be to satisfy justice.

 

The people to which this refers is the people of Israel. This is a future text; the people of Israel will be redeemed, and this redemption will be by means of Yehovah’s Grace. His fervent zeal for the people of Israel will motivate Him to take action on their behalf.

 

4. What is the definition of Grace as it is used throughout the Bible? Grace is a very strong, burning zeal (conviction and drive to do something) by which one is motivated to take action regarding anything. That action can be on behalf of someone or something, or it can be against someone or something. It is like a mother who is both protecting her baby from an attacker (grace toward her baby) and is attacking the attacker at the same time (grace against the attacker).

 

5. To where were this people guided? They will be guided to several places at first: one part to Mount Zion, and another to the Botzrah/Petra area of the present country of Jordan, two safe havens during the Tribulation. Those in the Petra/Botzrah area will later come to Mount Zion where all remaining Israel will be gathered.

 

6. How can Yehovah lead via strength? What does this mean? Yehovah’s strength is another reference to the Messiah Himself. This ‘strength of Yehovah’ will be the ‘strength of Israel.’

 

7. What is this living-quarter? It is Mount Zion, since that will be the place where Yehovah will dwell during the Millennium and during the last portion of the Tribulation.

 

8. Who is this Holy One? He is Yeshua. He is called the Holy One because He is holy—that is, He is owned. The full title is the Holy One of Israel since Israel owns Him!

 

 

 

VII. The Terrors of the Peoples and Planting of Israel (verses 14-17)

 

Finally, the peoples of the world hearkened. They then quaked, shaking with terror. An army grasped the inhabitants of Palestine! The alufs of Edom were dismayed, and so were the strongmen of Moab!

 

In the future, trembling will grasp them!

 

In the past, the inhabitants of Canaan melted.

 

In the future, dread will fall upon them—dread and fear by means of the bigness of Yehovah’s arm! They will be totally silent like a stone is silent until Yehovah’s people will cross over—until this people that Yehovah has acquired will cross over!

 

Yehovah will bring them. Then, Yehovah will have planted them in the Mountain of Yehovah’s inheritance that He established for His dwelling!

 

Yehovah acted! Yehovah’s own hands established the Sanctuary of the speaker’s Lords!

 

 

 

Questions

 

1. Identify the peoples who hearkened: They are the various peoples of the world; each people is a separate cultural group. (A cultural group is a group of individuals who live and function within the same culture—the same practices and languages of life. They understand each other and hold similar practices.)

 

2. To whom and to what did they hearken? To hearken is to both listen and respond (in obedience, if that is what is being commanded). They finally hearkened to Yehovah’s obvious, open and deadly actions against some of Israel’s enemies and for Israel being redeemed and led. The peoples of the world will finally realize that Yehovah, the Gods of Israel, is above all other gods.

 

3. If they hearkened, does that mean that they did what Yehovah commanded them to do? No! Their hearkening was only in part! They now knew that Yehovah was doing all these things, but they were not willing to do what Yehovah said (by turning to righteousness and from sin)!

 

4. Why did they quake? What happened? They realized that Yehovah is furious against them for their willingness to even tolerate Israel’s destruction by the hand of Israel’s enemies! They now know that Yehovah is targeting them (those who are not friends of Israel), and they don’t know what He will do next!

 

5. What does “Whirling grasped the inhabitants of Palestine” mean? This describes the motion of anyone either in pain or in total confusion who begins going in circles (or, running around in circles). This word is usually used in conjunction with (in connection with) a woman who is giving birth (in natural childbirth). She is very uncomfortable, and she moves as she pushes with a twisting motion (which helps the baby move through the birth canal). When men experience this, they are totally confused, running for their lives to try to protect themselves or keep themselves alive. Some wounded men twist in the same pattern because of the intense pain they are enduring.

 

Since this happened to the inhabitants of Palestine, or better, since this will happen in the future to the inhabitants of Palestine, they will find their hopes (of destroying Israel) totally ruined, and their hopes (of being free on their own lands) gone; they will do what they have always done: take a stand against Yehovah and Yehovah’s property (the Israelis).

 

6. What do the Palestinians have to do with the events of the Israelis leaving Egypt under Moshe? They have absolutely nothing to do with the historical events under Moshe. They have everything to do with the future events of the Israelis leaving Egypt during the Tribulation. At that time, the Palestinians will be hoping that Israel is finally captured and destroyed, and that the Palestinians will finally be able to have the entire land of Israel to themselves. (The Palestinians are exactly the same people as the ‘Philistines,’ and translators nearly always call this people in the Bible with the name Philistines as if they have nothing to do with the modern Palestinians!)

 

7. What is an aluf? This is a person over a thousand soldiers. Such a rank exists in the modern Israeli army; this rank is that of a Major General.

 

8. Why was Edom involved in these historical events? Edom wasn’t involved in the historical events! Edom will be involved in the future events! The Edomites have hated the Israelis from the beginning even though they are related to them. Esau and Jacob were brothers; they grew up together, and they played together, being twins. The people that was formed from Esau (the Edomites) became hateful toward the people that was formed from Jacob (the Israelis) at a very early stage in history, and that hatred has been passed on from one generation to another. It will continue into the End Times. At that time, the Edomites will both hope for and work for the entire elimination of the Israelis. When Yehovah fights on the side of the Israelis, this will dismay the Edomites, since their own gods just won’t work, and their own plans will also not work. These alufs of Edom will be terrified and confused as Yehovah ruins their efforts against the Israelis.

 

9. Who is Moab? Moab was another relative of the Israelis, although they were not as close as Esau. This is how they were related:

 

  • Lot was Avraham’s nephew.
  • Lot had two sons; one was named Moab.
  • Moab became a tribe, and finally a race: the race of the Moabites.
  • Avraham childed Isaac, who childed Jacob.
  • Jacob’s name was changed to Israel.
  • Israel became a tribe, and finally a race: the Israelis.

Thus, the Moabites (Moab) and the Israelis (Israel) are related. Yet, the people of Moab, like the people of Edom, have held a hatred for the Israelis. (The women of Moab will later prove to be friends to the Israelis.)

 

10. What are “the strongmen of Moab”? They are like the toughest members of gangs; the Moabite gangsters (strongmen) will fight hard to destroy the Israelis.

 

11. Why are these folks trying so hard to destroy Israel? Why do they hate Israel so much? These different peoples have felt that their lives would be so much better if the Israelis no longer existed. They also know that the Gods of Israel, Yehovah, is causing the great Tribulation that has ruined so much of the world. If they can only destroy the Israelis, that will bring an end to the Gods of Israel (since this has always worked in the past with any other people and its gods). So many wars will have taken place between these peoples and the Israelis, by now, and no one has been able to destroy the Israelis. They will blame the Israelis for there being no peace on earth and for the lack of their own prosperity. They will not know or understand that they are taking the side of demons by wanting to destroy Israel. All demons know that the only way to stop Yehovah from permanently putting them into the Lake of Fire and Sulfur is by destroying Israel, since only the Israelis in Jerusalem can call for the Messiah to come to reign; once Messiah arrives, He will arrest all demons and lock them up, eventually placing them in that fire and burning sulfur lake.

 

12. Why will trembling grasp them? They will see what Yehovah is doing on behalf of the Israelis, and they won’t know what Yehovah will do next. They will therefore begin to shake with fear as they see the strong hand of Yehovah on the side of the Israelis—that is, saving their lives while ruining the attempts of the Edomites and the Moabites.

 

13. Who are the inhabitants of Canaan? They consist of the Canaanites and a number of other races that dwell on the same land with the Canaanites. The Bible gives a listing of these groups, and they include the Amorites, the Hittites, the Jebusites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, and the Amalekites.

 

14. What happened to them if they melted? If they melted, they liquefied and went into the earth. Yehovah will do this literally, in some cases! They won’t be able to stand in other cases, and their strength and power will leave them. They will go into hiding as if they were melting snow. Where they were in groups violently shouting against the Israelis and the Gods of Israel, now they won’t be seen anywhere.

 

15. What is dread? It is a combination of fear and anxiety in which someone just knows that something terrible or difficult will happen to him, and that person greatly desires to avoid that, if possible. In this case, the dread will be so great, that it will be a terror.

 

16. What will they dread? They will dread what Yehovah will do to them because they have taken a stand against Yehovah and His property! They will dread the bigness of Yehovah’s arm!

 

17. What is Yehovah’s arm? A very young child sees the arm of an adult in very interesting ways. That arm can support the child; it can also take hold of the child and pull the child from what he/she was doing. That arm can swat the child’s hand; the child thinks that the arm can do anything. If that arm is connected to an angry adult, that arm can be very dangerous. The same is true of Yehovah’s arm. He can send His arm, since the arm of Yehovah is Yeshua! Yehovah’s arm is so big, that no place is safe from His arm; His reach is greater than any place that these peoples can go.

 

18. The text describes Yehovah’s people crossing over. Explain what they will be crossing, and also what this word has to do with the word Hebrew. The word Ever in Hebrew (pronounced Ev-Air) means he crossed over. It is the name of a man who was an ancestor of Avraham. All that were born to this man were called Evereem, or better, Eevreem, which is the Hebrew word for Hebrew! (You can see Eevreem in Hebrew; look at this part: Hebrew.) Since this word means he crossed over, it prophesied regarding what would happen to the Israelis later: that they, as a people, will cross over.

 

What will they cross over? They will cross over every border in the world behind which they are located in order to come to the Land of Israel. They will cross the oceans on dry land (since both ships and airplanes won’t be taking them as passengers; the airplanes won’t be flying at all, and the ships will not be friendly to them, for the most part). Thus, the Israelis will cross over all parts of the world to come to the Land of Israel, and to arrive at Mount Zion.

 

19. Why will these other peoples be silent as a stone while the Israelis cross over? They know by now that any interference with these crossings of the Israelis will get them killed! They will know that Yehovah is fighting for the Israelis! They will know that they won’t want to see more of His terrifying wrath against them! Yet, they won’t take a stand with Yehovah; they will still hate the Israelis while these things occur.

 

20. How did Yehovah acquire this people (of Israel)? He paid for them with His own blood: the blood of Messiah Yeshua! He paid justice for the penalty that the Israelis owed, taking upon Himself what was due to Israel for sin! That is why He received the beatings, spittings, scourgings (whippings that include tearing skin) and other tortures before He was put to death. Because He paid such a high price for them, He isn’t about to lose them to His enemies!

 

21. To where will Yehovah bring the Israelis? He will bring them to the Mountain of His inheritance established for His dwelling: to Mount Zion! That mountain will be very large, by that time! It is located in Jerusalem right now, but later Jerusalem will be located in it!

 

22. Why does the text state that Yehovah will plant them in the Mountain? Yehovah pictures the Israelis as being like a tree or a vine. He greatly desires that the Israelis bear fruit (like a good tree or vine), and the only way they will be able to do that is if they are planted (since a tree or a vine needs to be planted to do well). This also shows that their permanent residence will be in that mountain.

 

23. Why is it called “the Mountain of Thine inheritance?” Yehovah will inherit the people of Israel! Yeshua went through death; inheritances are normally passed on to the next generation after death. Yeshua came alive after being dead; He will inherit the people of Israel! That inheritance will occur in Mount Zion, the mountain being discussed in this text. (As you can see, this text goes far beyond the crossing of the Red Sea!)

 

24. Where will Yehovah dwell (in this text)? He will dwell in Mount Zion, and more specifically, in the Temple in Jerusalem on the north side of Mount Zion.

 

25. Will Yehovah be visible for folks to see? Yes! He will be visible, and in the form of Yeshua! Folks will be able to see Him. He will radiate light so that the entirety of Mount Zion will be lit up at night as if the sun is shining! Yet, folks will be able to approach Him.

 

26. What does “Thou acted, Yehovah” mean? This means that Yehovah took action; it doesn’t mean that He played a role as if in a play.

 

27. What action did He take? He stood for the people of Israel (and for the friends of the people of Israel). He did many miracles to make certain that the people stayed alive.

 

28. What is a sanctuary? This is normally defined as a safe place, a place where someone or some animal can remain unmolested or hassled. The word has a different meaning in the Bible, however. Sanctuary contains the word sanctus meaning holy in Latin. It is a place that belongs to another. In this case, it belongs to Yehovah! It refers to the Temple and its surroundings.

 

28. The text states, “Thine hands established the Sanctuary of my Lords.” Who is thine, and who is my Lords? Thine refers to Yehovah; my Lords refers to Yeshua! Yehovah will establish the Temple of Yeshua in Jerusalem, in Mount Zion, in Israel!

 

29. How will Yehovah’s hands establish the Sanctuary of “my Lords”? Yehovah will both save the Israelis and their friends alive, bringing them to Mount Zion, and thus bringing what the Temple typifies (pictures) to Mount Zion, and He will build the Temple (the physical structure) Himself!

 

 

 

VIII. The Length of Yehovah’s Reign (verse 18)

 

How long will Yehovah reign? He will reign to Hider, and onward!

 

 

 

Questions

 

1. What is Hider? This refers to the time border between what is revealed in the Bible and what hides by not being revealed in the Bible. Thus, Hider will be a time just after the New Earth has been populated with the Saints.

 

Hider can also refer to the time border between what is revealed in the Bible and what hides before the earth was created!

 

Yet, Hider is a good way to describe Yehovah Himself, since He hides Himself so that humans can live by faith! If He were visible, no one could live by faith since whatever is seen isn’t known by faith, but instead by sight.

 

2. What does Hider and onward describe? It describes the time border of what is revealed by the Bible and what comes after that hasn’t been revealed, and beyond that time without an ending in time! Thus, it describes forever in time starting with the New Earth. Yehovah’s reign won’t end.

 

3. When will Yehovah start to reign? He will start to reign at the end of the Tribulation and just before the Millennium (thousand-years).

 

4. Over whom will He reign? He will reign over all the races, over all the earth, over all the universe, and over everything. He will be King over all kings (and there will be kings over the larger people groups) and Lord over all lords (there will also be lords over smaller people groups).

 

 

 

IX. The End of Pharaoh’s Horse, Chariot and Horsemen (verse 19)

 

Pharaoh’s horse accompanied Pharaoh’s chariot and Pharaoh’s horsemen into the Sea. Yehovah caused the waters of the Sea to return upon them. The children of Israel had walked by means of the dry seabed in the midst of the Sea; that isn’t what happened to Pharaoh’s army.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1. The text states, “For Pharaoh’s horse came with his chariot and with his horsemen into the Sea.” It doesn’t state that Pharaoh himself came into the Sea. How could a reader know with certainty that Pharaoh went into the Sea? I looked for this, and I found it in one place:

 

Psalm 136:13 To Him Who divided the Red Sea into parts, for His Grace is to Hider, 14and made Israel to pass through the midst of it, for His Grace is to Hider, 15and overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, for His Grace is to Hider…

 

2. Why would this text mention Pharaoh’s horse and his chariot, and not mention Pharaoh? It is as if Pharaoh’s horse and chariot are more important than Pharaoh! Yet, where his horse and his chariot go, he normally also goes. Pharaoh drove that horse and the chariot into the Sea! That was truly not smart!

 

3. Upon whom did Yehovah return the waters, according to this text? He returned the waters upon Pharaoh’s horse and Pharaoh’s chariot! That chariot represented the total power of the Egyptian army!

 

4. Why does the text repeat that the children of Israel walked via the dry in the midst of the Sea? This is so important; Yehovah made certain that readers realized that they did walk in the very midst of the Sea, and they walked on dry land. This will occur again in the future.

 

 

 

X. Tambourines, Dances and Singing (verses 20-21)

 

Miriam the prophetess, Moshe’s and Aharon’s sister, took the tambourine via her own hand. All the women exited after her by means of tambourines and dances!

 

Miriam answered to them as they responded in celebration: “Sing ye to Yehovah!” She then explained, “For heightening, He heightened horse! And He elevated his chariot in the Sea!”

 

 

 

Questions

 

1. What is a prophetess? A prophetess is a woman who consistently and infallibly (that is, perfectly and with no error) quotes a god (the Spirit of Yehovah, in this case: the testimony of Yeshua). When she is quoting Yehovah, she is always saying exactly what He is saying, using exactly the same wording that He is using.

 

2. Did Miriam often prophesy? Being a prophetess doesn’t indicate how often one prophesies. A true prophet might not prophesy for a year; Yeshua might not have anything to say for a year! A true prophet might be prophesying daily; Yehovah might have much to say!

 

3. If Miriam was Aharon’s sister, who was her other brother? Her other brother was Moshe!

 

4. What did she do with the tambourine? She sang with it, using it as the rhythm accompaniment!

 

5. Was the music fast, or was it slow? It was very fast and very rhythmic!

 

6. Did all the women in Israel follow Miriam with their tambourines? All the women who normally accompanied her when she sang prophesies did so. Some women were too old to accompany her; some didn’t sing or play the tambourine; some didn’t dance. Those who accompanied her could sing, dance, and play the tambourine.

 

7. Was this a normal way to deliver prophecies of Yehovah? This was a normal way of teaching the Israelis things that they needed to learn! I don’t know how many prophecies were delivered this way, but all the Psalms in the scroll of the Psalms are designed to be sung, to have musical instruments accompany them, and, I propose, for dancing!

 

8. Was the music pretty? Like most African music (which it was), it was beautiful! The words were given by Yeshua and were infallible (unable to fail), and the music would have been of the same quality!

 

9. Was the dancing pretty? It was beautiful! The women wore garments that were very colorful, as has been common in African dances. This was an excellent way to teach the Israelis to recite the speech of God exactly as Yehovah gave it!

 

10. Verse 21 states, “Miriam answered to them.” Whom did she answer, and what did they say in the first place? She answered after the entire group recited the speech of God: the prophecy that she brought to the Israelis. She did the refrain: “Sing-ye to Yehovah! For heightening, He heightened horse! And He elevated his chariot in the Sea!”

 

 

 

XI. Healing of Bitterness (verses 22-26)

 

Moshe journeyed with Israel from the Ending Sea. They exited the land unto Ox Desert. They then walked three days via desert.

 

The Israelis didn’t find water. Instead, they came to a place that seemed to have water, but the water was bitter; it was impossible to drink it (without becoming sick or dying). The waters were bitter. Thus, Moshe named this area Bitter.

 

The Israelis had been angering at Moshe because of the lack of water. The people lodged upon Moshe, coming very close and pushing on him, working themselves up to become violent. They said, “What shall we drink?” Moshe screamed to Yehovah. Yehovah responded by teaching Moshe a particular tree. He took from that tree and slung it unto the waters. The waters sweetened!

 

Yehovah put to Israel a statute and a justice at those waters. Yehovah proved Israel there. He then said, “If hearkening, thou wilt hearken to the voice of Yehovah thy Gods, and thou wilt do the straight in His eyes, and thou wilt ‘ear’ to His commandments, and thou wilt guard all His statutes, I will not put upon thee all the sicknesses that I put into Egypt.” Yehovah then identified Himself: “For I am Yehovah thy Healer!”

 

 

 

Questions

 

1. The text states, “And they exited unto Ox Desert.” What did they exit? They exited the area of the Ending Sea and Egypt unto this desert.

 

2. Wasn’t going three days without water quite hard on them? It was hard on them—on all of them. This was during the spring of the year, however, and the heat wasn’t at its height. Also, the Israelis had cattle, including milking cattle, and they also had milking goats. The lack of water was hard on the cattle, but the Israelis weren’t dying; they were thirsty.

 

3. What does “they came Bitternessward” mean? They came to a place called Bitterness where the water looked good, but it was too bitter to drink.

 

4. Who is he who called her name Bitter, and who is her? I am thinking that it is Moshe who named the place, but it may have been someone who had come to that place long before who named it Bitter; Yehovah agreed with that name for that place. Her refers to the place, since a place can be feminine or masculine.

 

5. The next statement is, “And the people, they lodged upon Moshe.” What does this mean? To lodge is to come into a person’s space and to just stay there. If a person lodges at a motel, the person comes into the space (the room) and just stays there (overnight). In the same way, lodging includes going up to a person, coming close to that person, and not going away. This can be to express a protest (to ‘lodge’ a protest), or it can be to just ‘hang around.’ Little children are good at lodging if they want something from an adult. In this case, an entire group of Israelis went to Moshe to surround him and to press him because of the trouble they now had, being without water.

 

6. When they asked, “What shall we drink,” were they being respectful toward Moshe? Though the words sound respectful, they were ready to kill him already! They didn’t foresee this occurring.

 

7. Why did Moshe scream unto Yehovah? The Israelis were loud! Also, Moshe saw that the Israelis were about to kill him over this.

 

8. What does “And Yehovah taught him a tree” mean? Yehovah didn’t just tell Moshe which tree to use, but how to use the tree to change the waters. Yehovah gave Moshe instructions.

 

9. What did Moshe sling unto the waters? He slung parts of the tree—the parts that Yehovah taught, prepared in the way that Yehovah taught.

 

10. How could one tree sweeten bodies of water that are together enough to give drink to so many Israelis and their cattle, and still have plenty of water left over? If the sap in the tree contains a chemical that reacts with the chemical that causes bitterness, some chemicals have very great effects in very small amounts. Yehovah designed a particular tree to contain a chemical that will react with bitter waters to cause those waters to become sweet. The text doesn’t say how much of the tree was used, or whether more than one tree of that species had to be used; it just states that there was one kind of tree that Yehovah taught Moshe, and Moshe put that tree into the waters; the effect was that the waters now tasted sweet and good!

 

11. If someone came upon waters today that were bitter, and if that same type of tree was in the area, would throwing the tree into the waters have the same effect? Yehovah gave this information so that it will be useful during the Tribulation that will occur many centuries from now! It will be lifesaving at that time, too!

 

12. What does “He put a statute and a justice to him there” mean, and who is him? Him is Israel. He is Yehovah. Yehovah put a statute and a justice to Israel there.

 

A statute is a rule—that is, something that is to be done or to not be done. The word statute pictures such a rule as engraved in stone—that means that it is fixed and won’t be erased.

 

The statute that Yehovah put to Israel will be described in the next text. The same is true of the justice.

 

Justice is making a right decision based on all true facts, and following through on that right decision.

 

13. The next text states, “And He proved him there.” What does proved mean? To prove is to test someone or something out; to see if it will be able to take what it needs to be able to take. Proving a person might involve seeing if the person is strong and tough enough to take insults without responding back in an unkind way, for example. In the case of our text, Yehovah proved Israel by supplying no water for several days, and then bringing Israel to a place of bitter waters to see if Israel will ask Yehovah and will wait for Him to do the necessary miracle. The Israelis will not prove to be consistent or good for quite a while; they will prove to be perfect later in the future starting with the last part of the Tribulation.

 

14. What must Israel do in order for Yehovah to not put on Israel all the sicknesses that He put into Egypt? Israel as a group must do all of the following:

 

  • Israel must hearken to the voice of Yehovah, the Gods of Israel
  • Israel must do what is straight in Yehovah’s eyes—that is, what isn’t crooked, but totally ‘on the level’
  • Israel must ‘ear’ to His commandments (put his ear to truly hear what Yehovah commands and all that He commands
  • Israel must guard all Yehovah’s statutes (rules)

If Israel fails in any of these areas, Yehovah will put all the sicknesses that He put into Egypt upon Israel.

 

15. What, then, is the statute that Yehovah put to Israel? The statute is the list above! It includes guarding all His statutes!

 

16. What is the justice that Yehovah put to Israel? The justice is this: If Israel will do the list above, Yehovah won’t put the sicknesses of Egypt upon Israel. If Israel won’t do the list above, Yehovah will put the sicknesses of Egypt upon Israel!

 

17. Yehovah’s last statement (here) is, “For I am Yehovah thy Healer.” Why did He say this at this point in the text? Israel won’t do the list above at most times in the history of Israel’s existence. Thus, Israel will become sick with devastations that will be those that He put into Egypt. Yet, Yehovah can and will heal Israel anytime that Israel does according to this short list. Yehovah is the only one who can heal Israel!

 

 

 

XII. Camping at Seventy Palms Resort (verse 27)

 

The Israelis then traveled toward a place called Their Ram. There were twelve eyes of water—places where water refills if water is withdrawn—in that place, as well as seventy palm trees. The Israelis camped there next to the waters.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1. What does “they came Their-Ramward” mean? The name of the location is “Their Ram.” They came toward that location; thus, they came “Their-Ram”-ward!

 

2. What are eyes of water? They are places where water comes out of the soil or sand, watering like human eyes water. Thus, if the water is used up, soon more water replaces the water that was used. Since these places resemble human eyes by watering, they were called eyes of water. The amount of water can be many gallons. Twelve eyes of water were enough to supply several million Israelis and all their flocks and herds.

 

3. What is so significant about seventy palms being there? Seventy palms give off a lot of water, and must be supplied with water from the ground. They also produce fruit; one type of fruit of a palm is the date. A date palm tree can be a huge tree! Seventy palms can give shade, and this place was an oasis (a place of water and plants in the middle of the desert).

 

4. How big were the waters at that place? I can’t tell how big the waters were, but the Israelis found this a very good place to camp with plenty of shoreline for them and their animals to get to the waters.

 

5. Was this place populated, and is it there today? My impression is that it wasn’t populated, though it sounds like it would have been a good place to live if one could trade with others for necessities. I don’t know if it is there today. Climates change, and waters can dry up while new water places can form.

 

6. Were the Israelis happy going camping? The Israelis will not be happy during the entire time that Moshe is leading them!

 

 

 

 

 

Exodus 15 Song of Moshe and Israelis

Song of Moshe and Israelis

 

Background and Printed Text: Exodus chapter 15

 

Exodus 15:1 Then Draw (Moshe) will sing this song, and the children of Israel, to Yehovah. And they will say, to say, “I will sing to Yehovah! For heightening, He heightened horse! And He elevated his chariot via the Sea—2my Strength and the ballad of Yah! And He became to Salvation to me! This is my Mighty-[One]! And I house-dwelt Him—my Gods, my Father! And I elevated Him!

 

3 “Yehovah is a man of war! Yehovah is His Name! 4He taught charioteers of Pharaoh and his army via the Sea! And they immersed the choice of his thirds via the Ending Sea! 5Depths shall blanket-cover them. They shall descend into the profoundnesses like a stone.

 

6Thy right, Yehovah, is my majesty via power! Thy right, Yehovah, will shatter an enemy! 7Thou wilt demolish Thy risers via the multiplicity of Thy highness! Thou wilt send Thy heat! He will eat them as chaff!

 

8And Waters were piled via the wind of Thy noses. Distillings were positioned like a heap. Depths congealed in the heart of the Sea! 9Enemy said, ‘I will chase! I will reach! I will divide plunder! My being shall be filled of them! I will empty my sword! My hand will inherit them!’ 10Thou didst blow via Thy wind. The Sea blanket-covered them. They submerged like lead in majestic waters!

 

11 “Who is like Thee via their mighty-[one], Yehovah? Who is like Thee—majestic via a Holy-[One], Terror of Psalms Pele did? 12Thou stretched Thy right; land swallowed them.

 

13 “Thou guided this people Thou redeemed via Thy Grace. Thou led via Thy strength unto the living-quarter of Thy Holy-[One].

 

14 “The peoples hearkened. They quaked. Whirling grasped the inhabitants of Palestine. 15Then the alufs of Edom were dismayed, the strongmen of Moab! Trembling shall grasp them! All the inhabitants of Canaan melted! 16Dread shall fall upon them, and fear via the bigness of Thine arm. They shall be silent as a stone until Thy people will cross-over, Yehovah—until this people Thou hast acquired will cross-over! 17Thou shalt bring them. And Thou hast planted them in the Mountain of Thine inheritance established for Thy dwelling! Thou acted, Yehovah. Thine hands established the Sanctuary of my Lords!

 

18Yehovah will reign to Hider and onward!

 

19 “For Pharaoh’s horse came with his chariot and with his horsemen into the Sea. And Yehovah returned the waters of the Sea upon them. And the children of Israel walked via the dry in the midst of the Sea.”

 

20And Miriam the prophetess, sister of Aharon took the tambourine via her hand. And all the women exited after her via tambourines and via dances. 21And Miriam answered to them, “Sing-ye to Yehovah! For heightening, He heightened horse! And He elevated his chariot in the Sea!”

 

22And Draw (Moshe) journeyed with Israel from Ending Sea. And they exited unto Ox Desert. And they walked three days via desert. And they didn’t find water. 23And they came Bitternessward. And they were not able to drink waters from bitterness. For they are bitter! Therefore he called her name Bitter. 24And the people, they lodged upon Draw (Moshe) to say, “What shall we drink?” 25And he screamed unto Yehovah. And Yehovah taught him a tree. And he slung unto the waters. And the waters sweetened. He put a statute and a justice to him there. And He proved him there. 26And He said, “If hearkening, thou wilt hearken to the voice of Yehovah thy Gods, and thou wilt do the straight in His eyes, and thou wilt ‘ear’ to His commandments, and thou wilt guard all His statutes, I will not put upon thee all the sicknesses that I put into Egypt. For I am Yehovah thy Healer!

 

27And they came Their-Ramward. And twelve eyes of water and seventy palms are there. And they camped there upon the waters.

 

 

 

I. High Horse (verses 1-2)

 

Moshe will sing a song that is prophecy. He will teach the song to the children of Israel so that they will know what will happen during the End Times, during the Tribulation, and so that they will sing it to Yehovah!

 

They will start by saying, “I will sing to Yehovah!”

 

Why will they sing to Him? Yehovah heightened horse! He, the speaker’s Strength and the very ballad of Yah, also elevated the chariot by means of the Sea. This being who is the Strength of the speaker and who is the ballad of Yah became to the very Salvation of the speaker! He is identified as the speaker’s Mighty One. Yet, the speaker house-dwelt Him; He house-dwelt his Gods and his Father! The speaker also elevated Him!

 

 

 

Questions

 

1. The text states, “Then Moshe will sing this song, and the children of Israel, to Yehovah.” That sounds like it is a future text. Why is the text worded this way?

 

2. Why will they sing this song to Yehovah?

 

3. Why does the text say, “And they will say, to say”?

 

4. Why will they say, “I will sing to Yehovah,” instead of singing, “I will sing to Yehovah”?

 

5. What does “He heightened horse” mean? What occurred?

 

6. If the above answer is true, why did Yehovah heighten the horse?

 

7. Explain the wording, “For heightening, He heightened horse”:

 

8. What did Yehovah do if He elevated his chariot via the Sea?

 

9. Who is the speaker in this Psalm text, and why do I call this a Psalm?

 

10. Why does the speaker refer to Yehovah as my Strength?

 

11. What is a ballad?

 

12. Who is Yah?

 

13. Why would the speaker call Yehovah “the ballad of Yah”?

 

14. The next statement declares that “He became to Salvation…” How did this occur? What is this describing?

 

15. Explain “He became to Salvation to me:”

 

16. If the speaker is Mount Zion, will Mount Zion need saving?

 

17. What is a mighty one in the Bible?

 

18. Why is the speaker claiming this Mighty One as his/her own?

 

19. What does house-dwelt mean?

 

20. How can the speaker ‘house-dwell’ someone else?

 

21. The statement, “And I house-dwelt Him—my Gods, my Father!” sounds as if it is spoken in excitement. If this is true, why is the speaker so excited?

 

22. If the speaker is Mount Zion, how can Mount Zion call Yeshua “my Father”?

 

23. What did the speaker do to elevate Him?

 

 

 

II. The Baptism of Pharaoh (verses 3-5)

 

Yehovah is a man of war. His Name is Yehovah! Yehovah gave Pharaoh’s charioteers and Pharaoh’s army a lesson in warfare that they will never forget by means of the Ending Sea.

 

Pharaoh’s charioteers and soldiers immersed the best of Pharaoh’s fighting thirds by means of the Ending Sea!

 

In the future, depths call cover them like a blanket; they will descend into the greatest depths of oceans like a stone.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1. Is the God of the Bible against war?

 

2. Is the God of the Bible for war?

 

3. Why is He for war?

 

4. Why does the text state, “Yehovah is His Name”?

 

5. What did Yehovah teach charioteers of Pharaoh and His army, using the sea?

 

6. Who, again, are Pharaoh’s thirds?

 

7. If the above is correct, what is “And they immersed the choice of his thirds via the Ending Sea” describing? Who are they?

 

8. The next statement is, “Depths shall blanket-cover them.” What are these depths, and what will occur if they are blanket-covered?

 

9. How does “Depths shall blanket-cover them” differ from what happened to the Egyptian soldiers after they were killed by the Ending Sea returning upon them?

 

10. What are profoundnesses?

 

11. What does “They shall descend into the profoundnesses like a stone” describe?

 

12. Why does Yehovah mix historical texts with future texts, or write future texts as if they are referring to historical events?

 

 

 

III. Yehovah and His Right Do Battle (verses 6-7)

 

Yehovah’s right (that is, His right side) is the speaker’s majesty in power. Yehovah’s right will shatter an enemy! Yehovah will demolish all who rise up against Him to try to destroy Him; that demolition will be by means of the multiplicity of Yehovah’s highness!

 

Yehovah will send His heat (His fury). That fury will eat those risers as if they were chaff!

 

 

 

Questions

 

1. What is Yehovah’s right?

 

2. What does majesty mean?

 

3. What does “Thy right is my majesty via power” mean?

 

4. What does shattering an enemy involve?

 

5. What does demolishing folks involve?

 

6. Who are these risers?

 

7. By what means will Yehovah demolish these risers?

 

8. What does highness mean in this text?

 

9. What is this heat that Yehovah will send?

 

10. Who will eat them as chaff, and what does this mean?

 

 

 

IV. The Waters Participate (verses 8-10)

 

The Ending Sea’s waters were piled by means of the wind of Yehovah’s noses! Distillings of waters were set in place as if they were something that can be piled. The depths of the Sea congealed (like Jell-o) in the very hart of the Sea!

 

The enemy of Yehovah and Israel said, “I will chase! I will reach! I will divide plunder! My being shall be filled of them! I will empty my sword! My hand will inherit them!”

 

Yehovah responded by blowing His own wind. The Sea covered them like a blanket. They submerged like lead in majestic waters!

 

 

 

Questions

 

1. What does “Waters were piled via the wind of Thy noses” describe?

 

2. What are these distillings?

 

3. What does “Depths congealed in the heart of the Sea” describe?

 

4. Look carefully at this wording: “Enemy said, ‘I will chase! I will reach! I will divide plunder! My being shall be filled of them! I will empty my sword! My hand will inherit them!’” Did this happen in Moshe’s day?

 

5. Again, why does Yehovah mix texts about the crossing of the Ending Sea with texts that are about events that never took place?

 

6. What does “Thou didst blow via Thy wind; the Sea blanket-covered them” describe?

 

7. If the sea blanket-covered them, how could they be seen dead along the shore??

 

8. If this doesn’t describe a past event, when will this occur?

 

9. What does “They submerged like lead in majestic waters” mean?

 

 

 

V. Comparing Other Gods (verses 11-12)

 

The speaker asked Yehovah a question: “Who is like Thee by means of their mighty one, Yehovah?” He continued, “Who is like Thee—majestic via a Holy One, Terror of Psalms Pele Did?” The speaker explained, “Thou stretched Thy right; land swallowed them!”

 

 

 

Questions

 

1. The first part of the question is, “Who is like Thee, Yehovah?” Answer this question.

 

2. The question continues, “Who is like Thee via their mighty-[one], Yehovah?” What does “via their mighty one” mean?

 

3. Why does the speaker ask again, “Who is like Thee?”

 

4. Explain “majestic via a Holy One”:

 

5. Explain “Terror of Psalms”:

 

6. Who is Pele?

 

7. What did Pele do, according to this text?

 

8. Who is thou in, “Thou stretched Thy right”?

 

9. What ‘right’ did He stretch?

 

10. Whom did land swallow?

 

 

 

VI. Guiding and Leading the Israelis (verse 13)

 

The speaker continued, “Thou guided this people Thou redeemed via Thy Grace.” He didn’t only work via His Grace, however; “Thou led via Thy strength unto the living-quarters of Thy Holy One!”

 

 

 

Questions

 

1. To what destination did Yehovah guide this people?

 

2. What does redeem mean?

 

3. If the above is true, from whom were the people freed, or from whom will the people be freed?

 

4. What is the definition of Grace as it is used throughout the Bible?

 

5. To where were this people guided?

 

6. How can Yehovah lead via strength? What does this mean?

 

7. What is this living-quarter?

 

8. Who is this Holy One?

 

 

 

VII. The Terrors of the Peoples and Planting of Israel (verses 14-17)

 

Finally, the peoples of the world hearkened. They then quaked, shaking with terror. An army grasped the inhabitants of Palestine! The alufs of Edom were dismayed, and so were the strongmen of Moab!

 

In the future, trembling will grasp them!

 

In the past, the inhabitants of Canaan melted.

 

In the future, dread will fall upon them—dread and fear by means of the bigness of Yehovah’s arm! They will be totally silent like a stone is silent until Yehovah’s people will cross over—until this people that Yehovah has acquired will cross over!

 

Yehovah will bring them. Then, Yehovah will have planted them in the Mountain of Yehovah’s inheritance that He established for His dwelling!

 

Yehovah acted! Yehovah’s own hands established the Sanctuary of the speaker’s Lords!

 

 

 

Questions

 

1. Identify the peoples who hearkened:

 

2. To whom and to what did they hearken?

 

3. If they hearkened, does that mean that they did what Yehovah commanded them to do?

 

4. Why did they quake? What happened?

 

5. What does “Whirling grasped the inhabitants of Palestine” mean?

 

6. What do the Palestinians have to do with the events of the Israelis leaving Egypt under Moshe?

 

7. What is an aluf?

 

8. Why was Edom involved in these historical events?

 

9. Who is Moab?

 

10. What are “the strongmen of Moab”?

 

11. Why are these folks trying so hard to destroy Israel? Why do they hate Israel so much?

 

12. Why will trembling grasp them?

 

13. Who are the inhabitants of Canaan?

 

14. What happened to them if they melted?

 

15. What is dread?

 

16. What will they dread?

 

17. What is Yehovah’s arm?

 

18. The text describes Yehovah’s people crossing over. Explain what they will be crossing, and also what this word has to do with the word Hebrew.

 

19. Why will these other peoples be silent as a stone while the Israelis cross over?

 

20. How did Yehovah acquire this people (of Israel)?

 

21. To where will Yehovah bring the Israelis?

 

22. Why does the text state that Yehovah will plant them in the Mountain?

 

23. Why is it called “the Mountain of Thine inheritance?”

 

24. Where will Yehovah dwell (in this text)?

 

25. Will Yehovah be visible for folks to see?

 

26. What does “Thou acted, Yehovah” mean?

 

27. What action did He take?

 

28. The text states, “Thine hands established the Sanctuary of my Lords.” Who is thine, and who is my Lords?

 

29. How will Yehovah’s hands establish the Sanctuary of “my Lords”?

 

 

 

VIII. The Length of Yehovah’s Reign (verse 18)

 

How long will Yehovah reign? He will reign to Hider, and onward!

 

 

 

Questions

 

1. What is Hider?

 

2. What does Hider and onward describe?

 

3. When will Yehovah start to reign?

 

4. Over whom will He reign?

 

 

 

IX. The End of Pharaoh’s Horse, Chariot and Horsemen (verse 19)

 

Pharaoh’s horse accompanied Pharaoh’s chariot and Pharaoh’s horsemen into the Sea. Yehovah caused the waters of the Sea to return upon them. The children of Israel had walked by means of the dry seabed in the midst of the Sea; that isn’t what happened to Pharaoh’s army.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1. The text states, “For Pharaoh’s horse came with his chariot and with his horsemen into the Sea.” It doesn’t state that Pharaoh himself came into the Sea. How could a reader know with certainty that Pharaoh went into the Sea?

 

2. Why would this text mention Pharaoh’s horse and his chariot, and not mention Pharaoh?

 

3. Upon whom did Yehovah return the waters, according to this text?

 

4. Why does the text repeat that the children of Israel walked via the dry in the midst of the Sea?

 

 

 

X. Tambourines, Dances and Singing (verses 20-21)

 

Miriam the prophetess, Moshe’s and Aharon’s sister, took the tambourine via her own hand. All the women exited after her by means of tambourines and dances!

 

Miriam answered to them as they responded in celebration: “Sing ye to Yehovah!” She then explained, “For heightening, He heightened horse! And He elevated his chariot in the Sea!”

 

 

 

Questions

 

1. What is a prophetess?

 

2. Did Miriam often prophesy?

 

3. If Miriam was Aharon’s sister, who was her other brother?

 

4. What did she do with the tambourine?

 

5. Was the music fast, or was it slow?

 

6. Did all the women in Israel follow Miriam with their tambourines?

 

7. Was this a normal way to deliver prophecies of Yehovah?

 

8. Was the music pretty?

 

9. Was the dancing pretty?

 

10. Verse 21 states, “Miriam answered to them.” Whom did she answer, and what did they say in the first place?

 

 

 

XI. Healing of Bitterness (verses 22-26)

 

Moshe journeyed with Israel from the Ending Sea. They exited the land unto Ox Desert. They then walked three days via desert.

 

The Israelis didn’t find water. Instead, they came to a place that seemed to have water, but the water was bitter; it was impossible to drink it (without becoming sick or dying). The waters were bitter. Thus, Moshe named this area Bitter.

 

The Israelis had been angering at Moshe because of the lack of water. The people lodged upon Moshe, coming very close and pushing on him, working themselves up to become violent. They said, “What shall we drink?” Moshe screamed to Yehovah. Yehovah responded by teaching Moshe a particular tree. He took from that tree and slung it unto the waters. The waters sweetened!

 

Yehovah put to Israel a statute and a justice at those waters. Yehovah proved Israel there. He then said, “If hearkening, thou wilt hearken to the voice of Yehovah thy Gods, and thou wilt do the straight in His eyes, and thou wilt ‘ear’ to His commandments, and thou wilt guard all His statutes, I will not put upon thee all the sicknesses that I put into Egypt.” Yehovah then identified Himself: “For I am Yehovah thy Healer!”

 

 

 

Questions

 

1. The text states, “And they exited unto Ox Desert.” What did they exit?

 

2. Wasn’t going three days without water quite hard on them?

 

3. What does “they came Bitternessward” mean?

 

4. Who is he who called her name Bitter, and who is her?

 

5. The next statement is, “And the people, they lodged upon Moshe.” What does this mean?

 

6. When they asked, “What shall we drink,” were they being respectful toward Moshe?

 

7. Why did Moshe scream unto Yehovah?

 

8. What does “And Yehovah taught him a tree” mean?

 

9. What did Moshe sling unto the waters?

 

10. How could one tree sweeten bodies of water that are together enough to give drink to so many Israelis and their cattle, and still have plenty of water left over?

 

11. If someone came upon waters today that were bitter, and if that same type of tree was in the area, would throwing the tree into the waters have the same effect?

 

12. What does “He put a statute and a justice to him there” mean, and who is him?

 

13. The next text states, “And He proved him there.” What does proved mean?

 

14. What must Israel do in order for Yehovah to not put on Israel all the sicknesses that He put into Egypt?

 

15. What, then, is the statute that Yehovah put to Israel?

 

16. What is the justice that Yehovah put to Israel?

 

17. Yehovah’s last statement (here) is, “For I am Yehovah thy Healer.” Why did He say this at this point in the text?

 

 

 

XII. Camping at Seventy Palms Resort (verse 27)

 

The Israelis then traveled toward a place called Their Ram. There were twelve eyes of water—places where water refills if water is withdrawn—in that place, as well as seventy palm trees. The Israelis camped there next to the waters.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1. What does “they came Their-Ramward” mean?

 

2. What are eyes of water?

 

3. What is so significant about seventy palms being there?

 

4. How big were the waters at that place?

 

5. Was this place populated, and is it there today?

 

6. Were the Israelis happy going camping?

 

Exodus 27: The Altar and the Courtyard

The Altar and the Courtyard

 

 

Background and printed text: Exodus 27

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

Questions

 

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

 

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

 

3.    What does acacia typify?

 

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

 

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

 

6.    What is a standing?

 

7.    What does the number 3 typify?

 

8.    What does the number 5 typify?

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

II. Copper Utensils (verse 3)

 

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

 

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

All the utensils must be made of copper.

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    What is a searer?

 

2.    Why will shovels be necessary?

 

3.    What is a sprinkling-basin?

 

4.    For what will a fork be used?

 

5.    What is a seizer?

 

6.    What does a searer typify?

 

7.    What does a shovel typify?

 

8.    What does a sprinkling-basin typify?

 

9.    What does a fork of this kind typify?

 

10. What does a seizer typify?

 

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

 

 

 

III. Copper Net Grate (verses 4-5)

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    What is a grate?

 

2.    What do the grate and net typify?

 

3.    What do sunk-impressions typify?

 

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

 

5.    What is this chariot?

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

Questions

 

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

 

2.    What does acacia typify?

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

6.    What are these sunk-impressions?

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

V. Slates (verse 8)

 

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

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    What are slates?

 

2.    How many slates must he make?

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

6.    What shall they make?

 

 

 

VI. The Courtyard (verses 9-11)

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

Questions

 

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

 

2.    What does the courtyard typify?

 

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

 

4.    What are these slings?

 

5.    Of what will these slings be made?

 

6.    Explain again about the groping of a stranger.

 

7.    How many groups will there be?

 

8.    What are these standings?

 

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

 

10. What are these hooks?

 

11. Why are the hooks made of silver?

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

15. What does “100 length” mean?

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

Questions

 

1.    What is a breadth?

 

2.    What sea is this?

 

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

 

4.    Whose standings are 10?

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

VIII. The Camouflage (verses 16-17)

 

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

 

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

 

Their hooks are silver and their lords are copper!

 

 

 

Questions

 

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

 

2.    Identify this gate:

 

3.    Explain the “20 forearm”:

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

IX. Length of the Courtyard (verse 18)

 

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

 

 

Questions

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

X. Copper (verses 18-19)

 

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

 

 

 

Questions

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

Questions

 

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

 

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

 

3.    What is beaten olive oil?

 

4.    What does this type of oil typify?

 

5.    Explain pure as it is used here:

 

6.    What is a light emanator?

 

7.    What is a lamp of continuance?

 

8.    Why would a lamp of continuance necessarily ascend?

 

9.    What does this lamp of continuance typify?

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

13. What was the appearance of this Menorah?

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

17. Is the veil upon the Testimonies?

 

18. What is a statute?

 

19. What is Hider?

 

20. What is a statute of Hider?

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

Exodus 14 The Chase and the Baptism QA

The Chase and the Baptism

Questions with Proposed Answers

 

Background and Printed Text: Exodus chapter 14

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

I. Camping and Confusion (verses 1-4)

 

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

 

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

 

The Israelis did what they were told.

 

 

 

Questions

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

II. Heart Flip (verse 5)

 

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

 

 

 

Questions

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

III. The Chase (verses 6-9)

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

Questions

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Raised fist

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

IV. The Army Approaches (verse 9)

 

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

 

 

 

Questions

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

V. Terror (verses 10-12)

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

Questions

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

Questions

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

Questions

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

Questions

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

Questions

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

       Yehovah commanded the waters to stack, and they did!

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

Questions

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

Questions

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

XII. Israeli Baptism (verses 29-30)

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

Questions

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

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

 

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

 

 

 

Questions

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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