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Vaera begins with G-d telling Moshe that he appeared to
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as El Shaddai but he didn't make
himself known to him as hvhy
(yud,heh,vav, heh) Adonai. Yet we know that in Genesis
28:13 we read" I, Adonai am the G-d of Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob…" So what is this apparent contradiction?
I like how Rabbi Benno Jacob, explained it in his commentary
on Exodus (The Second Book of the Bible: Exodus 1992).
He devotes fourteen pages to these verses (pp. 143-156).
Allow me to quote from an article by Dr. Meir Seidler
of the Department of Jewish philosophy of Bar Ilan University:
"Part of what he has to say is a response to Bible
criticism, which saw the Torah's announcement of the transition
from the name El Shaddai to the Tetragrammaton (the ineffable
name of G-d - the four letters hvhy)
as further proof of its central hypothesis that the Torah
was written by several authors who used different names
for the Deity. Rashi's interpretation, "It is not
written here that I did not make known to them,
but that I was not known to them," explains
the change in name as a change in behavior (from a G-d
who makes promises to a G-d who fulfills them), and not
as the announcement of a new name for G-d."
Rashbam adds: 'to Moses he revealed himself when he declared
"I am that I am" (Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh hyha
rsa
hyha)
Shemot 3:14. This implies that G-d was revealing Himself
to Moses in a very direct way which differed from the
forefathers to whom He revealed Himself through dreams
and vision.
In
the earlier parashah, G-d is introducing himself as the
one who makes the promises of what he will do through
Israel and in this reading He begins the action of fulfilling
them. We also see that in Hebrew, the use of Ha SHEM (the
NAME) differs from the words used to describe the attributes
of G-d. For example, El Shaddai which comes from the Hebrew
word "Shad" meaning "breast" speaks
of G-d the nurturer. There are hundreds of such expressions
while there is only One NAME, by which He calls Himself.
Also at the beginning, He is G-d of the individuals, Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob while in the latter he becomes G-d of
the nation, Israel.
What
stood out for me in this study of the portion was, how
many times G-d told Moshe to tell Pharaoh to let our people
that they may go and "serve" me. This word,
"serve" has been translated today as "worship";
which is an old English word that comes from the contraction
of the word "workmanship". The Hebrew word is
actually "avodah" which means "work"
or "service" and a better translation would
be "service".
Does
G-d need our worship? Our acceptance? Our adulation? We
have humanized G-d to such a point that we make him smaller
than ourselves. Is G-d begging us to worship him? Actually,
it is quite the opposite. He created us to serve him,
to be his workmanship and to step into the "work
which he has already prepared for us to do" Ephesians
2:9, 10. This is a very hard thing for us to accept. If
we look at professional clergy, most are religious people
who expect to be served by the community instead of the
opposite. Many live to accumulate wealth, gain a lot of
influence and seek to make themselves well known worldwide.
This is a completely different example from the one which
Yeshua gave to us when he was here. He said that he did
not come to be served but to serve. The word "deacon"
in the Hebrew "shammash" means servant.
Why
did G-d want Moshe to take the people out of Egypt in
order to serve him in the wilderness? Why couldn't they
have simply served G-d right there? First of all let us
examine the nature of being a slave. Halachah (rabbinic
rules to obey G-d) states that the slave does not come
under G-d's commandments because the slave is not free
to decide for himself what to do. A slave cannot serve
because true service takes free will. The will of the
people had been completely taken from them over the past
210 years of slavery.
Moshe
himself constantly argued with G-d because he was not
convinced about his own calling. He thought that the people
would not follow him because "so crushed was their
spirit and so cruel their slavery" Shemot 6: 9. He
remembered how he had tried in his own strength to save
them and they had turned on him. He didn't want that to
happen again. He used every excuse to try to get out of
it.
How
many of us have a calling but are stuck in our past which
keeps us in that slave mentality; the mentality which
says that we are not capable to do anything on our own
and always look to see what others can do for us?
Israel
also had lived for so long in subservience to the Egyptians
that they actually believed that were better off there
than to leave to forge their own future. Fear is a great
catalyst to paralyze us into doing nothing. The reason
that Moshe was taken out of the community of Israel to
be brought up as an Egyptian was that G-d needed a free
man in order to free the people; a man with a slave mentality
could never have done it. He always knew that he was a
Hebrew but he never lived as one before.
The
children of Israel also had to learn to live as a free
people who could serve G-d. They would have to live 40
years in the wilderness where all but two of this generation
would have to die in the desert. The slave mentality was
so deep in them that they couldn't be set free from it
even after seeing the miracle of all the plagues as well
as the miracles of being sustained in the desert.
How
can we apply this to our lives today?
Moshe
as a leader was never accepted by the people. They rebelled
against his authority right to bitter end. All of us are
called to be leaders. I have spoken about this in the
past messages. He was not elected; he was called by G-d.
Where is your calling? Who elected you and who do you
think you truly are in G-d's plan within your community?
Moses
kept trying to get out of doing what he had to do but
G-d kept sending him back. Are you trying to get out of
what G-d wants you to do?
There
are times when we need to take a step of faith. The rabbis
say that Nachshon of the tribe of Judah was the first
to jump in after the parting of the Red Sea. We too are
being called to take a leap of faith. It's time to allow
Yeshua to release the chains of our bondage which hold
us back from fully stepping into our calling. When Yeshua
came into our lives he changed out mentality from fear
to freedom. With the help of Yeshua, we can do everything
he called us to do. Ephesians 2:10 tells us that G-d has
already prepared the work long ago for us to do and everything
we have gone through in our lives has prepared for this
day. What is holding you back from stepping in? What is
your Egypt, your bondage? G-d wants you to come to him;
to search your heart and like Moshe to admit your limitations
and inabilities. G-d is the One who will provide all that
we need to get the job done. That is true service.
Take
some time over the next while to ask yourself why you
are fighting against G-d. Are you able to accept what
G-d is asking you to do? It is my prayer that we all say
"Lord send me to the desert so that I can only depend
on you in order to serve you better."
May
G-d add blessings to His Word!
Rabbi
Percy Johnson
Netanel
ben Yochanan
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2008 Use by Permission
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