210 That Feels Like 430
Welcome to parasha Bo. It begins in Exodus 10:1-13:16. Bo means to go in Hebrew or to come. When we concluded the last parasha, it was hailing and thundering and there was one big storm going on! Just when the skies are beginning to brighten up for Pharaoh, in comes Moshe to introduce another plague. He announces the arrival of the locusts! Now Pharaoh's servants were smarter than he was, they were all ready to give in. They even ask Pharaoh, can't you see with your eyes the land is destroyed. Why not let him and his people go and get them out of our hair. For a moment it looked like Pharaoh was going to listen to them. He would let the men go, but no one else. So Moshe stretched out his rod over Egypt and the East wind brings in the locusts. The Midrash teaches this plague was measure for measure. The Egyptians forced the Hebrews to grow the crops, now YHVH was destroying them. Pharaoh calls for Moses after this one! He admitted he had sinned against YHVH. Also notice that he said he had sinned against Moses also. Remember how YHVH said He would make Moses as a God to Pharaoh? He even asked for Moshe's forgiveness and to make prayers on his behalf. The next plague was a very frightening one, darkness. This was not an ordinary darkness as we know it. This darkness could be 'felt'. This was upon the land for three days. Can you even imagine darkness that can be felt? I'm sure there was lots of panic going on. I'm not even crazy about sunset, much less darkness:. Then Pharaoh calls for Moses again. Now he's ready to let the men and their families go, but not their livestock. When Moses tells him, it's no deal, he becomes angry. He tells Moses to leave and he'd better not show his face again to him. If you notice, it says Moses tells him, that's right, I will see your face no more. We know later on he did speak with Pharaoh. But what the scholars say is meant here, is that Moses would not come 'looking for Pharaoh' anymore. When he next sees Moses, it will be that Pharaoh is seeking him out, not the other way around as it has been in the previous times. Now YHVH instructs Moses to tell the people to ask their neighbors for their gold and silver and jewels. By now these people have begun to reverence Moses. It says even Pharaoh's servants saw him as a great man.
We know the Egyptians complied with their requests and gave them lots of riches. The riches of the wicked are laid up for the just:. So we see the death of the firstborn coming. Even the first born of the beasts died. There was a great cry in the land that had never been matched before or will never be matched again. Someone died in every household that did not have blood upon the doorpost. You didn't need to be a baby to be the first born male. You could be a grown man and be the firstborn and you would have died. Somehow, we only think of babies dying in this plague, but not so, all the firstborn males died. Some people had husbands die, other had fathers and of course some had babies to die. It says in Egypt there was not a house where one did not die. Of course this was not referring to the homes of the Hebrews who had the blood on the doorpost. Moses directs the people to take a lamb of the first year into their homes for inspection for four days. This was done from the tenth of the month until the fourteenth of the month. There was to be a lamb taken in for each household. It was to be killed and eaten roasted over a fire. The insides were to be left in tact. You couldn't boil it; it had to be roasted in the fire. Then it was to be eaten in haste with your shoes on your feet, your clothes on and your staff in your hand. We've added a few things to the Passover plate that originally weren't there. Originally, there were only the lamb, matzah and bitter herbs. Now days, some have an egg on it, salt water and charoset to name a few add ons. So we basically see Passover being established here. For the ones who like to celebrate Rosh Ha'Shannah as the beginning of the year, I have a question. How do you misunderstand Exodus 12:2? This passage 'clearly' informs you that the first month of the year was established here at Passover time. Then for the people who say Passover was done away with after Yeshua died, I have a question. How do you answer the statement in Exodus 12:14? This passage 'clearly' tells you this is to be celebrated "FOREVER." What part of 'forever' do you not understand :)? To the people who say the Passover was only for the 'Jews', I have a question for you. How do you explain Exodus 12:49? This passage says there is "ONE TORAH" for him that is a native and also for the one who sojourns with them. As we use to say; one for all and all for one!
How did Passover turn into celebrating something that involves rabbits and eggs???? I could tell you a very unsavory story about how we came into using Easter eggs, but that's another writing:. Then we see the setting apart of the firstborn males unto the Lord. Not just the human males, but the first born of the beasts too. It was quite the privilege to be a firstborn male at one time. Now we don't think anything about it. YHVH gave the people clear instructions on how to celebrate Passover and Unleavened Bread. He plainly tells them that for seven days they are to eat only matzah. You are supposed to inform your son at that time why you are doing this. Some people believe chapter thirteen is a proof text that you are supposed to wrap tefillin. This is because of verses nine and sixteen. But it would seem to me if this was the case, YHVH would have given instructions on what they were to be made out of. He would have given the dimensions and what verses were to be written inside. Everything else He commissioned to have built, He gave very specific instructions on its building, why not these if they are so important? For one thing, everyone cannot afford to buy them. They run anywhere from three or four hundred dollars and up. We basically know the verses they put in them, it's the first two passages of the shema and two passages about the exodus from Egypt. So what if you say those verses everyday without wrapping leather around your arm, wouldn't remembering the Scriptures be just as good whether you had leather on your arm or not when you recited them? I believe YHVH is more interested in your remembering that He is God every day and that He brought them out of Egypt. He brings us 'out of Egypt every day' and we need to remember that. That's my opinion on that subject and I'm sticking to it:! Some people believe they were down in Egypt four hundred and thirty years. But they were not down there for that full length of time. The counting of the prophecy YHVH made goes all the way back to the birth of Isaac. They were actually only down in Egypt two hundred and ten years. I'm sure to them, it certainly felt like four hundred and thirty years! So we leave the Hebrews down in Egypt for a bit longer at the end of this parasha. But not to worry, in the next parasha, they split the Nile wide open:. Tune in next time and see the biggest mikvah in history:. Shalom
We know the Egyptians complied with their requests and gave them lots of riches. The riches of the wicked are laid up for the just:. So we see the death of the firstborn coming. Even the first born of the beasts died. There was a great cry in the land that had never been matched before or will never be matched again. Someone died in every household that did not have blood upon the doorpost. You didn't need to be a baby to be the first born male. You could be a grown man and be the firstborn and you would have died. Somehow, we only think of babies dying in this plague, but not so, all the firstborn males died. Some people had husbands die, other had fathers and of course some had babies to die. It says in Egypt there was not a house where one did not die. Of course this was not referring to the homes of the Hebrews who had the blood on the doorpost. Moses directs the people to take a lamb of the first year into their homes for inspection for four days. This was done from the tenth of the month until the fourteenth of the month. There was to be a lamb taken in for each household. It was to be killed and eaten roasted over a fire. The insides were to be left in tact. You couldn't boil it; it had to be roasted in the fire. Then it was to be eaten in haste with your shoes on your feet, your clothes on and your staff in your hand. We've added a few things to the Passover plate that originally weren't there. Originally, there were only the lamb, matzah and bitter herbs. Now days, some have an egg on it, salt water and charoset to name a few add ons. So we basically see Passover being established here. For the ones who like to celebrate Rosh Ha'Shannah as the beginning of the year, I have a question. How do you misunderstand Exodus 12:2? This passage 'clearly' informs you that the first month of the year was established here at Passover time. Then for the people who say Passover was done away with after Yeshua died, I have a question. How do you answer the statement in Exodus 12:14? This passage 'clearly' tells you this is to be celebrated "FOREVER." What part of 'forever' do you not understand :)? To the people who say the Passover was only for the 'Jews', I have a question for you. How do you explain Exodus 12:49? This passage says there is "ONE TORAH" for him that is a native and also for the one who sojourns with them. As we use to say; one for all and all for one!
How did Passover turn into celebrating something that involves rabbits and eggs???? I could tell you a very unsavory story about how we came into using Easter eggs, but that's another writing:. Then we see the setting apart of the firstborn males unto the Lord. Not just the human males, but the first born of the beasts too. It was quite the privilege to be a firstborn male at one time. Now we don't think anything about it. YHVH gave the people clear instructions on how to celebrate Passover and Unleavened Bread. He plainly tells them that for seven days they are to eat only matzah. You are supposed to inform your son at that time why you are doing this. Some people believe chapter thirteen is a proof text that you are supposed to wrap tefillin. This is because of verses nine and sixteen. But it would seem to me if this was the case, YHVH would have given instructions on what they were to be made out of. He would have given the dimensions and what verses were to be written inside. Everything else He commissioned to have built, He gave very specific instructions on its building, why not these if they are so important? For one thing, everyone cannot afford to buy them. They run anywhere from three or four hundred dollars and up. We basically know the verses they put in them, it's the first two passages of the shema and two passages about the exodus from Egypt. So what if you say those verses everyday without wrapping leather around your arm, wouldn't remembering the Scriptures be just as good whether you had leather on your arm or not when you recited them? I believe YHVH is more interested in your remembering that He is God every day and that He brought them out of Egypt. He brings us 'out of Egypt every day' and we need to remember that. That's my opinion on that subject and I'm sticking to it:! Some people believe they were down in Egypt four hundred and thirty years. But they were not down there for that full length of time. The counting of the prophecy YHVH made goes all the way back to the birth of Isaac. They were actually only down in Egypt two hundred and ten years. I'm sure to them, it certainly felt like four hundred and thirty years! So we leave the Hebrews down in Egypt for a bit longer at the end of this parasha. But not to worry, in the next parasha, they split the Nile wide open:. Tune in next time and see the biggest mikvah in history:. Shalom