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Shemot (Names)
(Sefer Shemot) Exodus 1:1-6:1
1:7- “And the children of Yisrael were fruitful, and
increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed
exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.
11- Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to
afflict them with their burdens. And they built for
Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.
12- But the more they afflicted them, the more they
multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because
of the children of Yisrael.
3:1- Now Moshe kept the flock of Yitro his
father-in-law, the kohain of Midian: and he led the
flock to the
backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of
Elohim, even to Chorev.
2- And the angel of YHVH appeared unto him in a
flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he
looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and
the bush was not consumed.
4- And when YHVH saw that he turned aside to see,
Elohim called unto him out of the midst of the bush,
and said, Moshe, Moshe. And he said, Here am I.
6- Moreover He said, I am the Elohim of thy father,
the Elohim of Avraham, the Elohim of Yitzchak, and
the Elohim of Yaakov. And Moshe hid his face; for he
was afraid to look upon Elohim.
7- And YHVH said, I have surely seen the affliction
of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard
their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know
their sorrows;
8- And I am come down to deliver them out of the
hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of
that land unto a good land and a large unto a land
flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the
Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and
the Perizzites, and the Hivites and the Jebusites.
3:13- And Moshe said unto Elohim, Behold, when I
come unto the children of Yisrael, and shall say
unto them, The Elohim of your fathers has sent me
unto you; and they shall say to me, What is His
name? What shall I say unto them?
14- And Elohim said unto Moshe, I AM THAT I AM (I
WILL BE WHO I WILL BE): and He said, Thus shall
thou say unto the children of Yisrael, I AM has sent
me unto you.
15- And Elohim said moreover unto Moshe, Thus shall
thou say unto the children of Yisrael, YHVH Elohim
of your fathers, the Elohim of Avraham, the Elohim
of Yitzchak, and the Elohim of Yaakov, has sent me
unto you: this is My name for ever, and this is My
memorial unto all generations.
4:31- And the people believed: and when they heard
that YHVH had visited the children of Israel, and
that He had looked upon their affliction, then they
bowed their heads and worshipped.
5:1- And afterward Moses and Aharon went in, and
told Pharaoh, Thus says YHVH Elohim of Yisrael, Let
My people go, that they may hold a feast unto Me in
the wilderness.
5:2- And Pharaoh said, Who is YHVH, that I should
obey his voice to let Yisrael go? I know not YHVH,
neither will I let Israel go.
5:3- And they said, The Elohim of the Evrim has met
with us: let us go, please three days' journey into
the desert and sacrifice unto YHVH our Elohim; lest
He fall upon us with pestilence, or with the sword.”
“And when we cried unto YHVH
the Elohim of our fathers, YHVH heard our voice, and
looked on
our affliction, and our labor, and our oppression.”
(Deuteronomy 26:7)
“In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the
angel of his presence saved them: in his love and
in his pity he redeemed them; and he bore them, and
carried them all the days of old.”
(Isaiah 63:9)
“Blessed be he that comes in the name of YHVH: we
have blessed you out of the house of YHVH.”
(Psalms 118:26)
“Who is among you that fears YHVH, that obeys the
voice of his servant, that walks in darkness,
and has no light? let him trust in the name of YHVH,
and lean upon his Elohim.”
(Isaiah 50:10)
“Make us glad according to the days wherein thou has
afflicted us, and the years wherein we
have seen evil. Let thy work appear unto thy
servants, and thy glory unto their children.”
(Psalms 90:15-16)
“The name of YHVH is a strong tower: the righteous
runs into it, and is safe.”
(Proverbs 18:10)
Shemot Summary:
1. The Names of Compassion and Deliverance:
In times of affliction, when suffering under
circumstances that appear inescapable, we must never
forget the Name of YHVH. In parasha Shemot, HaShem
responds according to His name, hearing the cries
from His covenant people by reason of their
affliction, and prepares Moshe to introduce His
great compassion and mighty deliverance. In an
artfully designed plan, HaShem using the
foreshadowed ark of Noach, directs His foreknown
prophet out of house of unredeemed slaves, down the
river of “chance” and back to the courts where Yosef
once ruled. While the life of Moshe embodies
deliverance, realizing it from birth, being the
instrument to rescue a nation, and even possessing
this calling in his name, the characteristic of
compassion, would become the catalyst for drawing a
line in the sand between him and Pharaoh. After
delivering a fellow Hebrew from an Egyptian
taskmaster, his compassion not only drove him out of
Egypt, but also prompted him to defend the daughters
of Yitro, finding himself positioned for a holy
encounter at the mount of Elohim. For it was at
Chorev, where Moshe, attracted by that burning bush,
did “turn aside” to see, only to then hear from the
One Who was the source of his compassion and
deliverance. There he would learn of the Name of
HaShem as a manifestation of His essence; indeed, it
was advantageous to know the Name of Elohim as one
bringing deliverance as declared in Psalms 91:14:
“Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will
I deliver him: I will set him on high, because
he has known My name.”
It was compassion, which moved HaShem, and it was
their deliverance from bondage, which the people
were desperate to experience. So it was that HaShem
identified these two attributes to Moshe in their
initial meeting. As it is written, “for I know their
sorrows...and I am come down to deliver them.” This
facet of HaShem’s nature like innumerable other
qualities are addressed within the Name; yet, here
alone, inTorah do we learn the extension of that
Name. When inquiring about Elohim’s name, Moshe is
told, “ Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh” (I WILL BE WHO I WILL
BE); tell them, “Ehyeh has sent me.”
What do we need Elohim to be for us? Do we not need
compassion leading to our deliverance as well? For
the sake of the Covenant HaShem has declared that He
will be what we need him to be. May we cry out to
Him who has the power to save us. Joel 2:32 urges us
to call on the name, namely:
“And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall
call on the name of YHVH shall be delivered:
for in mount Tzion and in Yerushalayim shall be
deliverance, as YHVH has said, and in the
remnant whom YHVH shall call.”
2. Called by His Name, Reflecting His Nature:
With the blessing of being called by the Divine Name
and recognizing the limitlessness of His Divine
Nature, there comes the sobering reality of
responsibility. The Name by which we are called is
no mere force to be manipulated freely for our own
indulgence, but rather it must be sanctified in our
lives. Even as we call out to HaShem in our
afflictions, we are likewise called to reflect His
essence. Reinforcing the 3rd Commandment, Leviticus
19:12 warns us against using the Name in hypocrisy:
“And ye shall not swear by My name falsely, neither
shall thou profane the name of thy Elohim:
I am YHVH.”
While the volatility of His Name is not to be
casually treated, Deuteronomy 28:10 reminds us that
as we identify with the HaShem, His Name will
undoubtedly bring our deliverance, as it is written:
“And all people of the earth shall see that thou art
called by the name of YHVH; and they shall
be afraid of thee.”
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