Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Torah Portion Bo - Go - The Bigger Picture - January 16

16 January 2016  ~  13 Shevat 5776
Torah Parashah - Bo ~ Go
Sh’mot (Exodus) 10:1-13:16
The bigger picture 



Last week in Torah Parashah Va’era - Sh’mot 6:20 - 9:35 was the beginning of Moshe and Aahron’s visits to Pharaoh saying - “let my people go”.... and the plagues.

I asked you to consider what these plagues are ... AND what plagues would happen to come against things in your life....

I find that I have realized one in my life... in fact it seems to be going on right now in greater intensity.

Learning to not just “survive” and “get through” hard places - but to continue to walk - have my halacha in YHWH’s instructions...
and to STAND - no matter how hard the storm....

-   some of you know this place well.

But perhaps the bigger picture is - “plagues” going on - to point out or challenge my EMUNAH... FAITH.

FAITH.... do I have it?? 

Because I thought I did... but perhaps not so much.... 

and if - “Not so much”... then what plan do I really desire....??

We’ve talked before about - running a marathon.

I can say - I want to run a marathon... but the fact is, that if I am not training - actually working out - hard and with a plan - I won’t run any marathon....

And we have talked about what Yaakov wrote in his book (James)....

Yaakov (James) 2:17 RSTNE p 811
“Even so emunah, if it has not mitzvoth, is dead, being alone.”
(Traditional English = “faith without works is dead.”)

So what if the difficulties in my life right now - are things that are put here to challenge my faith...
          not so much to make me have none (which these things could do)
          -but to invite or CAUSE me to consider ...

          DO I HAVE FAITH.

SO ... let’s go to the Torah

If we start in last weeks’ parashah we find the plagues start....

Sh’mot 7:20....


Plagues

1.  Water to blood - against Apis, the god of the Nile, Isis the goddess of the Nile, and Khnun = guardian of the Nile and Hopi = god of the Nile/spirit of the Nile.
          The Nile was believed to be the bloodstream of Osiris, who was reborn each year when the river flooded. 
          The river formed the basis of daily life and the national ECONOMY, was devastated, as millions of fish died in the river and the water was of course - not usable.
         
          Get this picture - the thing you THOUGHT was your life source - is not!!
         
          What is your life source - or WHO??

          Sh’mot 7:17 Pharaoh was told “In this you shall know that I am YHWH...”


2.    Frogs - against Hechet/Hequet  = the frog headed goddess of birth.  Frogs were thought to be sacred and not to be killed.  They were worshiped.  Their dead bodies were everywhere!...

          Hequet was the wife of the god Khnum.  She was the symbol of resurrection and the emblem of fertility and assisted in childbirth.
          Hequet - was one of the four primeval gods who personified the primeval water,infinity, darkness, an that which is hidden.

          Killing a frog could be punishable by death.

         
       Get this picture - The thing you worshiped - STINKS in every part of your life!! 
          Plus - in this YHWH destroys the idea that resurrection comes from something other than HIM!
         
= Worship of anything but YHWH STINKS up every part of your life!
         
3.    Dust to lice = against the land god Geb/Set = “god of the earth or desert”
          The magicians were unable to duplicate this one - and declared to Pharaoh ...  (in Sh’mot 8:19) “This is the finger of Elohim.”

-   Something that no man could copy...

Sh’mot 8:16  literally says the dust becomes a bug....
our Bibles say lice - some say gnats.

The Hebrew word comes from the Egyptian word chenemes which means “gnats” or “mosquitoes”!!!....   and it was like the dust in number and size!!

There is “…a species of gnats, so small as to be hardly visible to the eye, but with a sting which, according to Philo and Origin, causes a most painful irritation of the skin. They even creep into the eyes and nose, and after the harvest they rise in great swarms from the inundated rice fields.”

Another source says - “It is not clear against what specific deities this plague was directed, but it may have been directed towards Geb, the great god of the earth. Egyptians gave offerings to Geb for the bounty of the soil—yet it was from “the dust of the soil” that this plague originated.”

It is very possible that it was designed to humiliate the official priesthood. The priests in Egypt were a group that was to be reckoned with not only religiously but also economically and politically, for they controlled the minds and the hearts of the people.”

“The priests in Egypt were noted for their physical purity. Daily rites were performed by a group of priests known as the Uab or ‘pure ones.’ Their purity was basically physical rather than spiritual. They were circumcised, shaved the hair from their heads and bodies, washed frequently, and were dressed in beautiful linen robes.
           In the light of this it would seem rather doubtful that the priesthood in Egypt could function very effectively having been polluted by the presence of these insects.

"They, like their worshipers, were inflicted with the pestilence of this occasion. Their prayers were made ineffective by their own personal impurity with the presence of gnats on their bodies.”

This would be significant because the priests would not be able to enter the temple to pray to their gods for deliverance because of their physical defilement.

Sh’mot 8:17 states that the gnats irritated both man and beast, and included all of Egypt.
          This is significant since the previous two plagues seemed to be concentrated in the capital and along the Nile and were not a direct attack against the living by causing pain.

The small insects were around in great numbers, and the Egyptians dedicated much of their effort and resources to constructing devices to keep them away, especially from the Pharaoh and the priests.”


Get this picture... the small things are very very significant


4.   Swarms of flies = against the god of the air = shea god khepri = creation, movement, sun and rebirth.
          Another source says this was a judgment on Uatchit, the fly god.

          And another source says...

         
The text here does not use the word “flies;” rather, it uses the Hebrew word for “swarms.”

The idea of the flies comes from the Septuagint rendering “dog-fly,” which may carry some weight since those who translated the Septuagint lived in Egypt.

The blood-sucking dog fly (gadfly) was a great abhorrence and may be responsible for the blindness in the land.

 It might also be the Ichneumon fly, which deposits its larvae on living things so that it can feed.

The Egyptians saw this as the manifestation of the god Uatchit. Many other insects may have been revered in the same way.

It is also known that the fly, in Egyptian mythology, gave protection against disease or misfortune. Stone amulets in the form of flies were being made in Egypt as early as 3500 BC, approximately. The fly was also depicted on various ritual artifacts, including the so-called “magic wands,” often carved from hippopotamus ivory and probably intended to protect the owner from harm.

There are, some scholars who do not accept the Septuagint rendering and think the passage implies the scarab beetle, which was actually a dung beetle.

 Swarms of scarabs, with mandibles that could saw through wood, were destructive and worse than termites. Deification of the scarab was found in the creator and king god Amon-Ra.
“Ra, the Sole Creator was visible to the people of Egypt as the disc of the sun, but they knew him in many other forms. He could appear as a crowned man, a falcon or a man with a falcon’s head and, as the scarab beetle pushes a round ball of dung in front of it, the Egyptians pictured Ra as a scarab pushing the sun across the sky.”
In the Hebrew the phrase “grievous swarm” speaks of something oppressive like a yoke. It may also carry the idea of massive numbers or abundance. This communicates the intensity and the severity of the plague and that all in the land are experiencing the wrath of Yahweh.

This is the first plague where it clearly states that Israel would be untouched.

Sh’mot 8:23
“And I will put a division between MY people and your people:”


Get this picture - There are things - small things - that will attack you if you are in Mitzriem / SIN - that will be relentless miserableness.

Also - The division...  we - part of Yisra’el are called to be divided from Mitzrayim!


5.    Cattle, horses, donkeys, camels, sheep, oxen (hoof and mouth??) = against bull god Apis and cow god Hapha, Egyptian goddess Hathor of love and protection.  Both Hathor and Apis were depicted as cattle!

          = Death of livestock

          This was destroying the economy of Mitzriem/Egypt.
          But notice that Isra’el’s livestock did not die....

          Pharaoh even sent investigators (Sh’mot 9:7) to see if the livestock of Yisra’el were dying. 

          Get this picture..... your economy - what you expect to survive on - can not save you....

6.   Ashes to boils on man and animals = against the ashes of child sacrifices = Queen of Heaven.  This was against several gods over health and disease - sekhmet, sunu, and ISIS.

          This time- the magicians couldn’t even stand before Moshe because of their boils. 

Another source says:

This plague was against --- Sekhmet, a lion-headed goddess, who had the power of both creating epidemics and bringing them to an end.

A special priesthood called the Sunu was dedicated to her.

Amulets were often used by the Egyptians to ward off evil and sickness in their lives.

Serapis was the god of healing, and Imhotep was the god of medicine and the guardian of the healing sciences.

Like the plague of the gnats and flies, this plague would also affect the purity of the priests and hinder them from entering their temples and praying to their gods.

Get this picture...  man is not in charge of health and disease
AND the religions of man can not stand before YHWH.

And then comes the last three plagues...  because all that was not enough....

Pharaoh was given a special message from YHWH...

Sh’mot 9:14-19 p 55

These plagues would be more severe than the previous ones.... and they were designed to convince Pharaoh and all the people that

(Sh’mot 9:14)  “That you may know that there is none like Me in all the earth.”

9:16  Pharaoh is told that YHWH put him in his position - to show YHWH’s power through Pharaoh...so that the name of YHWH - would be declared through all the earth.

In His grace, YHWH warned Pharaoh to gather in cattle and crops that still remained ... and shelter them from the storm. 

vs 20 - Some of Pharaoh’s servants did this... others did not


AND then the last three plagues....


7.    Hail - thunder, fire = against  the god of nature.
Another source says - against Nut the sky goddess; Osiris, the crop fertility god; and Set, the storm god. 

          This hail was unlike any that had been seen before.
          It was accompanied by a fire which ran along the ground, and everything left out int he open was devastated by the hail and fire.

-   Except no problems for Yisra’el.

Another source says:

Nut was also considered by the Egyptians to be the mother of five other gods: Osiris, Hathor, Set, Isis, and Nephthys.

Other gods were Shu, the wind god, and Horus, the hawk-headed sky god of Upper Egypt.

The plague would have also been directed towards those gods who protected the crops, such as Isis and Seth.

This plague would have also damaged many of the monuments that the Egyptians were obsessed with building to honor the glory of the gods and the Pharaoh. Now those glorious images representing their gods were being defaced.

The only crops that were destroyed were flax and barley, which indicates that this occurred in late January or early February. The hail would not just have affected the Egyptians’ crops but also their homes. They were confined to their homes while their surviving livestock and crops were being destroyed.


          Get this picture - the economy is being destroyed, the food source is being destroyed....  Just when you think you have seen it all - know that there is more than we can imagine ....but it is NOT controlled in any way by man.


And then we get to our Torah Parashah for today...

Sh’mot 10:2
Then YHWH tells Yisra’elites - I’m doing this so you can tell your children what I have done in Mitzrayim ....  “that you may know that I am YHWH.”


8.    Locusts = “ardabey” in Hebrew = against the gods - Nut and Osiris and Set.  Nut = sky goddess, Osiris = crop god, Set = storm god
          The later crops of wheat and rye had survived the hail, were now devoured by the swarms of locusts.  ... There would be NO harvest that year...
          Another source says...this was against Serapia the god who was to protect Egypt from locusts

There were many gods associated with the crops of Egypt, for the crops and the Nile were the source for all life in the country.

There was Nepri, the god of grain; Ermutet, the goddess of childbirth and crops; Thermuthis, the goddess of fertility and the harvest; and Seth, another god of crops.

There have been discoveries of many amulets in the shape of a locust that were probably worn by the Egyptians to ward off the swarms that would ravage their crops.

The locusts were so numerous that Sh’mot 10:15 says that the whole land was darkened.

The locusts would not have just destroyed crops but also the trees and the fruit of the land.

Get this picture.... you can’t count on what you count on - unless it is YHWH.


9.    Darkness for three days = against the sun god Ra who symbolized Pharaoh himself.  The Isra'elites had light.
       Another source says....this was against - Ra, Amen-Ra, Atum, and Horus - all who were related to the sun.

Another source says...
          In Egyptian mythology Horus was the god of light who personified the life-giving power of the Sun.

 He was usually represented as a falcon-headed man wearing a sun disk as a crown.

There was also the god Ptah, the one who created the moon, the sun and the earth; Atum, the god of the sunset; and Shu, the god of sunlight and air. Khepre, who often appeared in the shape of the scarab, was a form of Ra.

The plague would also have been a direct attack against Pharaoh, for he was the divine representation of the sun god Ra.

Get this picture...light only comes from YHWH.


10.  Bachor = first born = against the god Pharaoh. 
          Another source says - this plague was against ISIS - the protector of children. 
         
          In this - YHWH was teaching the Yisra’elites a deep lesson about Mashiach.

          This was different  - The Yisra’elites survived ONLY because of their identity as YHWH’s people. 
          The protection - required FAITH / Emunah by them.

The blood of the lamb was to be smeared on the door posts... and the lamb was to be roasted and eaten...

ANY family - that did not follow these instructions would suffer in this plague.

The ONLY protection was the blood of the Lamb.
When the death angel saw the blood - he would “PASS OVER” the home.

The people were in bondage/ slavery in Mitzrayim - AKA = SIN......

Qorintyah Alef (1 Corinthians) 5:7  p 854
          “Clean out therefore the old chametz, that you may be a new lump, as you are unleavened.  For even Moshiach our Pesach was sacrificed for us:”

-Y’shua was our Pesach lamb.... who freed us from bondage

 Another source says: (www.knowingthebible.net)...

This plague was directed against “all of the gods of Egypt” (Sh’mot 12:12) and would show the total inability of the gods of Egypt to protect their subjects in the face of unparalleled tragedy.

This plague was potentially more devastating than all of the other plagues combined,

for the firstborn was not only the heir of a double portion of his father’s inheritance, but represented special qualities of life.

 The law of primogeniture decreed that the firstborn son would inherit the major portion of a family estate when the father died. The death of the firstborn son would cripple a family legally and emotionally.

This would have been humiliating to Isis, the winged goddess of fertility; Meskhenet, the goddess who presided at the birth of children; to Hathor, one of the seven deities who attended the birth of children; to Min, the god of procreation; to Selket, the guardian of life; and to Renenutet, the cobra-goddess and guardian of Pharaoh.
Not only is this an attack against the gods but also against the Pharaoh. It undermined his immortality through his inability to protect his son, who was a god as well, and it undermined his ability to provide unity and protection over the land of Egypt.


The Hebrew word for “plague” in Sh’mot 11:1 describes a “mark” and comes from the Hebrew root word naga,

= nun -gimel- ayin

meaning to “touch, reach, or strike.”

 Previously, Yahweh had not revealed how many plagues there would be, and now Yahweh reveals that this will be the last one and that it will leave a mark on Egypt.

In Ps. 135:8 and Ps. 136:10 the death of the firstborn is the only plague mentioned at all, probably because this plague made such a great impression on future generations.

Whereas all the other plagues affected everything around, this one was selected to affect only the firstborn son of each family. It is interesting to note that even the animals’ offspring are included in this distinction.

In the previous plagues Israel was left untouched as a nation, but now Yahweh required an act of faith on their part in order to escape the judgment.

Pharaoh himself was now left without an heir to the throne; this would be devastating to a king, especially one who was the representation of the god Ra. 

Get this picture.....  What if - “the mark” is a plague.... that brings death of what YHWH offers - Chayim....  ??


And then in Torah - we have ...

YHWH’s instructions for “first” Pesach

But I read something very interesting.... by Mike Clayton

What if this was not the FIRST Pesach....  ???

Consider - the “passover” of death in Gan Eden - and they were given skins....

Consider Avraham’s Akediah - arguably the passing over of death of Yitzchak......

With every plague the Pharaoh is becoming a bit more ticked off, and to make matters worse, Moshe is again living with the fact that his own family, the Hebrews, are not too happy with him either.

The difference between his current situation and the one forty years earlier is he is able to "see" the hand of Elohim working in his midst. This is what gives him strength.

To fully understand where Moshe is at, we must take a look at the word I used: see. In English the word "see" is to look upon something with our eyes. This limits us to our natural vision. In Hebrew the word for see is "ra'ah," which means to not only see with our eyes, but to perceive and consider with our spirit.

Let's look at it this way; When a situation arises in life, whether good or bad from our perspective, we have a choice. We can either "see" it through our eyes, or we can ask to "see" it through His.

- Again - back to Emunah!!

For Moshe and the Hebrews, a greater work had to be done than simply leaving Egypt. Egypt was going to have to leave them.

Many years had passed since Yaakov and his family had entered Egypt. When they arrived, the Hebrews were abhorrent to the Egyptians and the Egyptians were abhorrent to the Hebrews. As time had passed, the Hebrews had settled into the life of Egypt. To many of them the land and ways of Egypt had become who they were. It was home. The act of delivering the Hebrews from Egypt meant Egypt had to once again become abhorrent to them. The purpose of the plagues was not only to judge the pride and arrogance of Egypt, but to destroy Egypt in the hearts of the Hebrews. We will see in later readings that this would be more difficult than even Moshe could have ever thought.

With all this said, let's bring it to our day.

 It appears the whole world has entered into a time of plagues. From ebola in Africa to killings in Paris, the world is being set on fire. I, for one, believe it is just the beginning. There are going to be events in the near future which will make us stand with Moshe and say, "I didn't see that coming." The choice each of us face is the decision to not "see" these events with our eyes, but to pray for discernment to "ra'ah" through His eyes, for there is a greater purpose going on in our midst than just those "lousy old politicians" being judged for the way they are treating us.

The plagues in Egypt were not only to take the Hebrews out of Egypt, but to take Egypt out of the Hebrews.

With each plague Egypt was being chipped from their hearts and a greater work was being done. In the end, many would not let Egypt go and would die in the wilderness. Let us not make the same mistake. When we "see" things coming and they are not the way we expected, let us pray that we may "ra'ah" the greater work.

***********************
Keeping the plagues in mind....

I want to step back and review something we learned awhile ago.....

If you still have the handout from Guardian Angel study....

B’re’shiyt 1:26-27
Tselem - “image” - is a masculine noun
transferred authority and order over what destroys. 
To be created in YHWH’s image is to reflect divine action.
Demut - “likeness” - is a feminine noun.
“Being human is ACTING according to YHWH’s path to life.
 It means standing against chaos. 
.. It also means knowing what is permitted and what is not and acting accordingly.

-To be human is to ACT LIKE YHWH ACTS... to reflect His choices... It is not to BE YHWH... but to reflect Him.


I am most interstersted in:

Demut - “likeness” - is a feminine noun.
“Being human is ACTING according to YHWH’s path to life.
 It means standing against chaos. 
.. It also means knowing what is permitted and what is not and acting accordingly.

-To be human is to ACT LIKE YHWH ACTS... to reflect His choices... It is not to BE YHWH... but to reflect Him.

And we know that Brad Scott also talks about this.

Now....I’d like to look at something else:

in Moen’s book - “Spiritual Restoration”  he writes...

“The Earth-made Being who prays

A Living Being - YHWH fashioned from the dust the body that he animated with His breath -

 man always manifested as NEPHESH.”

And he goes on to say....

“Prayer existed before the Fall. 

The one formed from the earth communicated with the Creator and in the process received life-enhancing purposes, balance, and instruction.

  In a fallen world, prayer is even more important. 

and - “You must decide to become human.”

Moen goes on to say...

“My humanity depends entirely on how His life is manifest in my nephesh.”

Read that again...

“Now the world itself is under the power and influence of the IN-HUMAN.

The systems of this world are designed to remove your humanity because they are designed to remove you from a relationship with your Creator.”

 Whatever is self driven leads to inhuman behavior.

True humanity is found in humble submission to the Creator.”

There is only one model for being human- it is Y’shua!

The author goes on to say -

“I must decide to become human”

“Now the world itself is under the power and influence of the IN-HUMAN.

The systems of this world are designed to remove your humanity because they are designed to remove you from a relationship with your Creator.

 Whatever is self driven leads to inhuman behavior.”

“My humanity depends entirely on how HIs life s manifest in my nephesh.”

We need to RA’AH - to see as YHWH sees... the situations around us !!

Selah!!

“Now the world itself is under the power and influence of the IN-HUMAN.

The systems of this world are designed to remove your humanity because they are designed to remove you from a relationship with your Creator.


Questions for you....

1.  How does this relate to who you are and how you live??

2.  And how does this idea relate to the 10 Plagues????

          The plagues were attacks on gods....  the INHUMAN....

3.    How does this relate to my world - and how I live TODAY??!!!

          What if I can actually see (RA’AH) the world for what it is - inhuman...

What if YHWH was attacking this “inhuman”??....in the plagues....

and what if HE is showing us this today - so that we can get cleaned up and live kadosh????!!!!

BUT we have to RA’AH - see as YHWH sees....
*
EMUNAH - faith.... (is dead with out the works of living it and walking it.  -
What do you see??

AMEIN.

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