Strike Baby by Flickr user Nina Bargiel — CC License = Attribution, Non Commercial, Share Alike
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What would you do if you went to visit a relative at his or her job and, just as you walked up, you witness the boss beat up your relative? I mean, really, think about it. Now, at least in the U.S.A,, we can usually call the police, file a lawsuit, or something that will at least bring some kind of justice. But what if you knew that the only justice that could truly work would be to get rid of the offender?
In today’s reading from Exodus 2:11 through the end of the chapter at Exodus 2:25, we see this exact scenario in the life of Moses. He knows he is a Hebrew, so he goes to visit his kinsmen. If he just breaks up the fight, or beats up the offensive Egyptian, it will betray the fact that he is a Hebrew. If he leaves the situation alone, he has to bear the pain of watching his kinsman being treated unfairly. His solution was to wait until he found the offender alone, and then kill him and hide his body in the sand.
Unfortunately, things must not have been as private as Moses assumed, so when he corrected two of his kinsmen for fighting, they asked him if he would do the same thing to them as he had done to the Egyptian. I guess some people heard their proclamations since the next thing we know, Moses is facing a death threat and must go on the run. He ends up in Midian just as seven daughters of a priest from Midian show up to water their sheep. Field shepherds try to run off the girls, but Moses saves them and waters their sheep for them.
When the girls get back to tell their father, he insists they bring Moses to their home and feed him dinner. Eventually, he marries one of the daughters, Zipporah. She gives birth to Gershom, meaning “stranger” because Moses was a stranger in a strange land. Of course, I’m not sure here why he was a stranger since the girls and their father thought he was an Egyptian. I guess he was in a land where he was a stranger regardless of whether he was Hebrew or Egyptian.
As today’s reading comes to an end, the fearful pharaoh dies, but the people are still in bondage, and they cry out to God. God hears their cry and remembers His covenant for them as made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I’m thankful that God hears the cry of His people and that He is faithful to remember His promises to us.
December 23, 2013
Posted by Crystal A Murray (aka CrystalWriter) |
Bible Study, Nonfiction, Torah Commentary | Adonai, Almighty, Bible, Bible Gateway, Bible reading, Bible study, Complete Jewish Bible, Creator, crystalwriter, Deliverer, Egypt, Exodus, fairness, foreigner, God, Hebrew, Holy Bible, kin, labor, Lord, Moses, murder, Old Covenant, Old Testament, Parashah, Portions, promise, remember, Scripture, stranger, The Complete Jewish Bible, Torah, Torah commentary, Torah Portions, Torah Reading, Word, Word of God, Word of the Lord, www.biblegateway.com, Yahveh, Yahweh |
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Moses-Aic by Flickr user Brionv CC License = Attribution, Share Alike
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How many times have we heard the question, “What am I here for?” Do you suppose Moses ever asked the same question? In today’s reading from Exodus 1:18 through Exodus 2:10, the Hebrew midwives who were told to kill the male Hebrew babies use the excuse that the Hebrew women are quick (lively in one translation) and deliver their babies before the midwives are able to arrive. Scripture tells us that God blesses them to be parents of strong children because of their integrity. But Pharaoh decides then that they should just throw the living boy babies in the river.
As our story progresses, we see Moses delivered multiple times. First, he is delivered as a newborn. Then, for three months, he is delivered from being discovered as his mother hides him to keep Pharaoh’s people from killing him. When his mother places him in a basket of reeds and hides him in the river, he is delivered from being alone as his sister, who works as a handmaid for Pharaoh’s daughter, keeps watch over the floating basket. And then he is delivered from the water when Pharaoh’s daughter finds him, and from death when she takes pity on him. He is delivered from being an orphan when his big sister offers to get a Hebrew woman to nurse the infant and goes to get Moses’ own mother for the task. Finally, he is delivered from being raised in ignorance of his true identity by having his mother and sister around to speak the truth to him about his heritage as a Hebrew.
The story has a long way to go before we will see Moses act as a deliverer for his people, but we are told in today’s reading that his lineage comes from the tribe of Levi, and we will learn later that this is the tribe of the priesthood. And what are priests called to do? They help people in becoming delivered from the bondage of sin. So deliverance was in his DNA as well as in his history.
Deliverance is also in our DNA through our salvation and new birth in Yahshua. In 1st Peter 2:9 (NKJV–italics mine) we read, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” Just like Moses experienced an abundance of deliverance to become a deliverer, we who have been delivered (saved) from sin through the grace and mercy in the Blood of Christ were also delivered for a purpose. We may not all do the same job, but we all can do whatever we are called to do for the same reason–to help deliver others from an eternity of separation from the presence of their Loving Creator.
December 22, 2013
Posted by Crystal A Murray (aka CrystalWriter) |
Bible Study, Nonfiction, Torah Commentary | Adonai, Almighty, basket, Bible, Bible Gateway, Bible reading, Bible study, birth, born, Christ, Complete Jewish Bible, Creator, crystalwriter, deliver, deliverance, Egypt, Exodus, God, grace, Hebrew, Holy Bible, Lord, mercy, Moses, Old Covenant, Old Testament, Parashah, Pharaoh, Portions, priesthood, purpose, saved, Scripture, The Complete Jewish Bible, Torah, Torah commentary, Torah Portions, Torah Reading, water, Word, Word of God, Word of the Lord, www.biblegateway.com, Yahveh, Yahweh |
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Crystal Writes A Blog 
Labor Strike
Strike Baby by Flickr user Nina Bargiel — CC License = Attribution, Non Commercial, Share Alike
Click image to view original in new tab and access user’s full photo stream
What would you do if you went to visit a relative at his or her job and, just as you walked up, you witness the boss beat up your relative? I mean, really, think about it. Now, at least in the U.S.A,, we can usually call the police, file a lawsuit, or something that will at least bring some kind of justice. But what if you knew that the only justice that could truly work would be to get rid of the offender?
In today’s reading from Exodus 2:11 through the end of the chapter at Exodus 2:25, we see this exact scenario in the life of Moses. He knows he is a Hebrew, so he goes to visit his kinsmen. If he just breaks up the fight, or beats up the offensive Egyptian, it will betray the fact that he is a Hebrew. If he leaves the situation alone, he has to bear the pain of watching his kinsman being treated unfairly. His solution was to wait until he found the offender alone, and then kill him and hide his body in the sand.
Unfortunately, things must not have been as private as Moses assumed, so when he corrected two of his kinsmen for fighting, they asked him if he would do the same thing to them as he had done to the Egyptian. I guess some people heard their proclamations since the next thing we know, Moses is facing a death threat and must go on the run. He ends up in Midian just as seven daughters of a priest from Midian show up to water their sheep. Field shepherds try to run off the girls, but Moses saves them and waters their sheep for them.
When the girls get back to tell their father, he insists they bring Moses to their home and feed him dinner. Eventually, he marries one of the daughters, Zipporah. She gives birth to Gershom, meaning “stranger” because Moses was a stranger in a strange land. Of course, I’m not sure here why he was a stranger since the girls and their father thought he was an Egyptian. I guess he was in a land where he was a stranger regardless of whether he was Hebrew or Egyptian.
As today’s reading comes to an end, the fearful pharaoh dies, but the people are still in bondage, and they cry out to God. God hears their cry and remembers His covenant for them as made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I’m thankful that God hears the cry of His people and that He is faithful to remember His promises to us.
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December 23, 2013 Posted by Crystal A Murray (aka CrystalWriter) | Bible Study, Nonfiction, Torah Commentary | Adonai, Almighty, Bible, Bible Gateway, Bible reading, Bible study, Complete Jewish Bible, Creator, crystalwriter, Deliverer, Egypt, Exodus, fairness, foreigner, God, Hebrew, Holy Bible, kin, labor, Lord, Moses, murder, Old Covenant, Old Testament, Parashah, Portions, promise, remember, Scripture, stranger, The Complete Jewish Bible, Torah, Torah commentary, Torah Portions, Torah Reading, Word, Word of God, Word of the Lord, www.biblegateway.com, Yahveh, Yahweh | 2 Comments