This book was named "Exodus" by the rabbis who translated the Hebrew in the Septuagint. Our sages have also named it "ha sefer ha geulah" or the book of the redemption. They say that it is a very important book highlighting three major elements: 1) the salvation of Israel 2) the giving of the Torah and 3) Israel's return to the land. Everything in this book, including the mishkan, points to these three.

Moses is a clear picture of the Messiah in the same way in which Yosef depicts Messiah ben Yosef, the suffering servant from last week's portion.

There is a legend in the Haggadot of the rabbis which once again demonstrates to us that everything which has been written in the Messianic writings concerning the Messiah is not an invention of Christianity but has belonged to our people from the beginning. Here is a quote from a past article of mine on Moses as a Leader:

The Chumash (Pentateuch) by Rabbi Yaacov Benzaquen contains a very surprising statement: "Our prophet Moses had an unusual conception and birth, according to the legends of our people….when Pharaoh gave the decree that all the male boys born from Israel needed to be drawn in the River (i.e. killed), the people of Israel got divorced in order to not have more children. Amram and Yochabed were separated (divorced) but Miriam prophesied that Moses was going to be born and that he would be the Savior of Israel (Sotah 11b, 12a; Meg. 14a; Ex. R. 1.24; compare with Josephus, "Ant." 2. 9,) Amram and Yochabed remarried (some legends say that before Amram knew Yochabed, she was already with a child from the Ruach HaQodesh) and the light of Israel was born."

This was an "oht" or sign meaning that God would be giving his people direction or guidance sometimes through a supernatural event. It points to another "sign" much later in history where a young virgin, Miriam would give birth to Yeshua our Messiah. Yeshua's earthly father was Joseph making him the son of Joseph or Messiah ben Yosef. No coincidence.

The name "Moses" in Hebrew means to be drawn from the water, but it is an Egyptian word, as in the names of the Pharaohs like Tutmoses or Ramses which has the connotation of being "like God". Even in the choice of his name given to him by the pagan daughter of Pharaoh, there is no coincidence.

Moses was born of the tribe "Levi" but he was not a priest. His brother, Aharon began the priestly line. Yeshua also was not a priest descended from the tribe of Levi, yet is described as a better one than the earthly priest.

In Exodus we see that Israel's redemption is the redemption of the world. Paul in Romans 11 refers to 2 trees: the wild olive tree and the true, natural tree. The branches of the wild tree (the pagan nations) would be broken off and grafted into the true tree (Israel). The roots of the natural olive tree are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and its sap is the blood of the Messiah which nourishes all.

Moses was saved out of the Nile River which was a god to the Egyptians making him like a god. He too like Yeshua became a shepherd. Both intervened to save Israel. Moses could not, on his own save Israel because God had to do it.

Moses said "a greater prophet is coming after me…listen to him" Deut.18.

Exodus is indeed a special book describing the stages of the birth and growth of the nation of Israel. It was a true "born again" experience for the nation. Like a baby is completely dependant upon its mother for everything needing 24 hour a day care, so Israel had to be on God at the beginning. Israel was being born as a nation.

When children go through the terrible twos, they become more aware of their environment and the first word they learn is "no".

At 6 years old, children are now aware of their independence and want to be less controlled by their parents. They have their friends, neighbors, teachers and other influences at play. Their characters are now fully developed.

The adolescent years bring on the understanding that their parents don't know anything and that they are definitely smarter than them. How often do we as parents hear "that's not fair"?

Compare these stages with not only the development of Israel as a people but also our own walk as believers in Messiah. There are some people who are spiritually retarded (by today standards, to be politically correct, we should say spiritual challenged) and will remain so. We take care of them and accept them as they are.

Israel in this book develops and at the end of Exodus is made ready to settle the land.

Most of our families are dysfunctional and the only way to function is to rely on the Lord. Israel, in the same way needed to constantly return to God to function well as a nation.

Like a father who, out of love for his children needs to punish them for bad behavior, so God also had to punish Israel. When Moses received the Torah from God, after being punished for the golden calf incident, we as a people said "yes, we will do it." We constantly went from one extreme to another…in one moment serving God with radical fervor and the next committing idolatry.

How can we take this portion and apply it to our lives?

Ask yourself…have I become an idolater? What exactly is idolatry? It is anything that takes us away from God. It can be our family, our work or even an idea. Even religion itself can be idolatry. The carrying out of our religious actions can cause us to feel puffed-up, better than others, holier than thou and highly judgmental.

God doesn't want our excuses for bad behavior, he wants our confession. We must not blame others for what we do but accept the responsibility and ask God to help in those moments.

Religion has created hypocrisy where a good believer is a good hypocrite. It happens in every religion. In Judaism, we have a double jeopardy. We are guilty for having been called the chosen people. It is too much responsibility and at the same time, pride for being chosen. Neither is valid for it is God who did the choosing. We did not choose ourselves. We were not the only ones chosen. Along with Israel leaving Egypt, we left with the "erev rav" - the mixed multitude. One of the princes of tribe of Judah who had an inheritance in the land was Calev, the son of Yefunneh, a Kenizzite (in other words, a Gentile). It was through this tribe, Judah that the Messiah ben David would come.

Once again: there are three keys for this portion:
      1) God chose a people through whom the world would
          be redeemed and blessed. The message of Messiah
          is not a new one.
      2) Torah is the basis our understanding that this blessing
          would be for all nations, Jew and Gentile together in
          one tree, Israel.
      3) After the redemption, both Jew and Gentile having
          been grafted into the olive tree would once again
          be living in the land.

Please ask yourself these questions:
Where am I on my journey with God?
Can I relate to Israel's stages?
At what stage have I allowed myself to be held up….toddler, teenager, or mature believer?

My desire as spiritual leader is that you learn where you are on this journey and rely on God to bring you to the Promised Land.

     Rabbi Percy Johnson
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