A look at Exodus 1-6 "Rescue from bondage in Egypt"

[Ben Abraham]

EXODUS 1:1-6:1

We enter into a new era, Jacob/Israel and Joseph are now in the past, yet their legacy continues, in “Am Yisrael” (The People of Israel).

”70 souls” entered Mitzraim (Egypt). It is interesting that the Hebrew word “Nefesh” is used for “souls,” yet the word is in the singular, but why? Is there a symbolism here? If we are to read this in English, we would read: “70 soul entered Egypt”.

One could say that the word “Nefesh” (Soul) could refer to the whole “Family” of Israel as ONE (Echad) family unit, as we are ONE with Elohim, then all of Israel was ONE as well. We must also realize that these "70" were the immediate family of Jacob; this is not to mention the hundreds of widows and children of Shechem that became part of the Tribes when Simeon and Levi murdered the males of that city in reprisal for the raping of their sister, Dinah. So, we might imagine many hundreds entering Egypt.

Hundreds of years later, we have a few million Hebrews. There is a list at the beginning of Exodus of the “b'nei Israel” (the sons of Israel), and they had their children, and their children had children, etc. They remained in the area of “Goshen” along the Nile Delta, farming, raising cattle, making clay-bricks to build their houses, and probably a few became merchants. They adapted to life in Egypt, got used to seeing Egyptian deities, and probably understood spoken Egyptian. Who knows if many became “Egyptianized”? Did they bow down to the deities? Or did they remain faithful to the invisible God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?

How much did they retain about Adonai? ¿El Shaddai? We don't know, but I am sure that the story of Joseph and how he brought his family to Egypt from Canaan was passed down from family to family. The story of the famine and how Yosef preserved life in the midst of the famine. So "The children of Israel” multiplied, and the land was filled with the “b'nei Israel”, and now the Egyptians start to get nervous. In verse 8, problems start.

” And there arose a new king over Egypt who knew not Joseph.” This new king had overthrown the Hyksos rulers, and did not personally know Yosef nor knew of his accomplishments to save Egypt. Perhaps the Egyptians were reminded of how Joseph had "enslaved" the Egyptians by taking their money, land, and cattle, in exchange for grain during the famine. Now, the Egyptians want revenge, time to get even.

There are a few ideas of who it might have been. Some believe it might have been “Pharaoh Ahmose”(begotten of the moon); the title “Pharaoh” is not the name, it is only a title which means “ruler”. It might have been “Ahmose” or even “Rameses II”. A little on Egyptian words and etymology, the Egyptian word “meses” or “mose” means “born of” so the name “Moshe” or “Moses” is similar to “meses” (born of) or "begotten" or "Taken from."

Since Moses was “Taken from the water, or from the river (The Nile). We ask what might have been the Egyptian name Moses used? The Egyptian word for “river” is “iteru” so, his name might have been “Iterumose” or “Iterumeses” (given ancient Egyptian entomology) There were many “Rameses” it means “Born of the god RA” “Ahmose” probably (born of the moon god) “Thutmose” (born of the god Thut) and so on. So many pharaohs took on those names.

Also, the title “Pharaoh” is exactly that, a title, not a name. It comes from two Egyptian words: “per” and “o”. “Per” = house, and “O” = great. So the title “pharaoh” means “of the Great House.”

The pharaoh of verse 8 is paranoid and thinks that the Israelites will join, perhaps with the Hittites, to overthrow Egypt. The Hyksos kings and the Hebrews were descendants of Noah's son "Shem," while the Egyptians were from"Ham." In Goshen, the Hebrews were geographically separated from the Egyptians, yet Goshen was their home, so why would they want to join an enemy to destroy their homes? But this pharaoh thought otherwise. He made slaves out of them and even sought to destroy them. (Then, who would do the work?)

This could be considered the first "Shoah" or "Holocaust". 2000 years later. Hitler wanted to rid Europe of the Jews, so he sent them to forced labor camps, and that led to the "Final Solution." The "work camps" became "Death Camps" (Auschwitz, Treblinka, etc.) It all started between the 9th and 10th of Nov, 1938, called "Kristallnacht" (night of the broken glass)

Yet Elohim hears the cries of his people, and has selected the tribe of Levi, through a couple, Amram (a unified people) and Jochebed, (Glory of Yah) to bring into the world, “Moshe” (taken out of) who would be a sort of “Mashiach” (like Yosef) to take Israel OUT of Egypt, in God's appointed time. YHVH has a time for ALL THINGS., We cannot rush God's clock; it ticks slowly for us, yet it ticks out second by second and includes us all in the plan of things.

Moses is placed in a "Teivah" (ark) made of papyrus reeds and made waterproof by Yochebed and Miriam, and placed by the palace steps that led to the Nile River. This is the same word used for Noah's ark. Noah's ark was to save "Mankind" through the family of Noah (large scale). This small "ark" was used to save the leader and representative of the Nation of Israel. (a small piece of mankind) Some movies portray Moses being floated down the Nile and "just happens" to land near the palace steps. That would have been dangerous since the Nile was inhabited by crocodiles and Hippos. Yochebed and Miriam knew that. They knew that the princess, daughter of Pharaoh (BatYah) would come to bathe by the river on a regular basis.

 

[Ben Abraham]

I would like to mention that this "daughter of Pharaoh" was a proselyte, whose name was "Bit-Yah" or "BatYah." "Daughter of God." Her name is mentioned in 1 Chronicles 4 as being the wife of "Mered," one of the descendants of Judah. When she married Mered is not known. So, she was "grafted into" the Nation of Israel through her faith in YHVH, and became part of the Tribe of Judah through marriage.

Did she leave Egypt with Moses and the Israelites? We don't know, but if she did, she would have been in her late 90s. We don't know what her Egyptian name was, but here is this: We all get a new name when we accept Yeshua/Jesus as LORD. There is a song called "There's a New Name written down in glory." We are all known as "B'nei Elohim" (sons of God) being part of HIS family through the blood of Yeshua and his saving grace.

At the time when Moshe grows up and is in the palace, being raised as a “prince of Egypt” and at the same time, “retaining (inside) his Hebrew identity”. We remember that he killed an Egyptian in defending one of his own; the Pharaoh who sought his death might have been “Amenemhet III”. When Moshe fled and spent 40 years in Madian, upon returning, he faced the Pharaoh “Amenemhet IV”, who was the Pharaoh of the Exodus, who pursued the Israelites through the Red Sea (T. Stewart, Solving the Exodus Mystery)) You might look at this site on Google.


When Moshe fled, there is an interesting verse, 2:15, it says that “Moshe fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian (which is now Saudi Arabia). “And he sat down by a well.” Moshe fled and probably went East, then South to get to the land of Midian. If he took that direct route (no one knows for sure), it would have been a 250-mile walk. We don’t know how many supplies he took with him, how much water, etc, since he was on the run, Pharaoh threatened to kill him. But he arrived mightily thirsty.

A well was a meeting point in those days, so he knew that people would be coming to get water. Sure enough, came Yitro’s daughters to get water, and he was there to help and defend the damsels. Yet we also need to look at this from a derashic and symbolic standpoint. Moshe has made contact with the “well”. A water well represents life. Moshe hangs on to life. One of Yeshua’s titles is “The Living Water”. We might look at that well symbolically as “Yeshua, the Well of Living Water . At a water well was where Eliezer met Rebecca, and Jacob met Rachel at a well. Now Moses meets Tziporah at a well.

Adonai had grace upon grace to Moshe, since he would be his instrument of redeeming Israel from Egyptian bondage. The word for “grace”in Hebrew is “Rachem” and “Rachamim” is the plural form; “a large and plentiful amount of grace”. There is “Mayim”(water) in “Rachamim” (spelled with the Hebrew letters), so grace is like plentiful water, and since Yeshua is the “Living Water,” He is the author of “grace”. Moshe would be a “Messiah type” who would “take his people out,” and that is the meaning of the name “Moshe” (taken out of), so he would live up to his name.

Matthew 2:15 states, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.” Yeshua went down to Egypt with his parents to escape Herod. They spent some years there and then returned to Israel. Yet also Israel is the son, as he went to Egypt when he was old, and his bones were “carried out”; yet Moses also represents Israel as a nation, and Moshe went out with Israel, and since Moshe symbolizes Messiah then, the verse fits both parties (yet primarily, it fits Yeshua first).

This study has so much that I wish to concentrate on the “Calling of Moshe” in chapter three of Exodus. God calls to Moshe while he is taking care of Yitro's sheep near Mt. Sinai. A note to mention is that God prepares his servants beforehand, before sending them out on the mission fields. “Midian and the flocks of sheep” were the training grounds and subjects of his training, before leading out “Human sheep” to the land of Midian that “he now knew and was familiar with.”

God calls him saying, “Anochi Elohei Aviyha” (I am the God of your father), so the name “Elohei” is used, then he uses a more personal name in verse 14; “Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh” if you can really call it a name, it is translated as I AM that or who I AM, which is really not a name at all. So, what is God trying to convey to Moshe? In a way, he is saying, “Is a proper name so important Moe? Just understand that I EXIST! I have existed in the past, the present, and will exist in the future” from the word “Ehyeh” is a form of “Haya” or “Havayah” meaning “to exist” or “the essence of being” from this we get the most sacred name of God: YHVH.
HaVaYaH (re-arrange the letters, and we get YHVH). Modern translators put in vowels to get YeHoVaH and have changed the Y to J to become JEHOVAH, God's name is also revealed as "Elohim" (the plural, triune God) Three in ONE.

Elohim has revealed himself to us in human form through YESHUA, and as Moshe leads his people out of the slavery of physical bondage, YESHUA leads us out of the bondage of spiritual slavery of sin, leading us to a new life, in a personal relationship with HIM, as the Israelites entered into a renewed relationship with Elohei starting at Sinai, our relationship starts at Calvary. We are now joined to “His chosen people” through adoption, both native born in Israel, and those who are from the diaspora, we are all ONE (ECHAD) in Messiah Yeshua Ben David, Ben Adam, Ben YHVH.

We continue to read, and we find in chapter 4 that YHVH sends Moshe back to Egypt to lead his people out. We find that God works through people, some very special, others very ordinary. Yet before sending back Moshe, He prepares him in the desert as a shepherd. One can divide the life of Moshe into three parts: the first 40 years as a prince and general in Egypt, the second 40 years as an outcast, yet an instrument in the hands of YHVH, and the last 40 years as leader of Israel.

Before sending him back, there are three signs that YHVH gives Moshe, as “authority”. When we look at these three signs of authority, we see “Yeshua” in these signs. The first was the “Mateh” (The staff). It was common for every household leader to carry a staff, a little more than just a “walking stick”. The “Mateh” was the sign of leadership and authority. But this one would be changed into a serpent when Moshe threw it down before Pharaoh. The serpent was the sign of “kingly authority” in Egypt, as it was a part of the royal headdress that the pharaohs wore.

Shepherds carried a “rod” and a “staff” when leading sheep. The “rod” is a short, heavy club that was used as a weapon, and the “staff” to lead. Yeshua is the “good shepherd” who leads us, who, “crushed the head of the serpent” at Calvary.

The second sign was the sign of “disease and healing of said disease,” namely “Tza-arat” (leprosy). We see in the Prophets that Elisha healed Naaman the Syrian of leprosy, and Yeshua also healed the sick, including lepers. Even in the desert, those who were bitten by “serpents” were healed by a “bronze serpent on a staff” (again, returning to the staff and serpent). Yeshua is our healer and heals us of the curse of sin and death.

The third sign was the “water turned to blood” on dry land (4:9). This reminds us of our Messiah Yeshua, who, when on the cross, was pierced by a Roman spear, and out of his side came “blood and water,” and this mixture of “blood and water” fell from the cross on dry land. By his shed blood we are saved, by Yeshua who is the “living Water”.

Moses took Israel out of Egypt, taking them away from physical slavery to be joined as "One People" to serve "One God. We were taken out of spiritual slavery to sin by the power of the Blood of the Lamb, the Lion of Judah, who has joined all believers to be "Am Echad"
(One People, under One God) (YHVH).