PARSHA: VaEra (I appeared) SHEMOT 6:2-9:35

[Ben Avraham]

PARSHA : "VaEra" (and I appeared)


EXODUS 6:2 - 9:35, EZEKIEL 28:25-29:21, ROMANS 9:14-21


In this Parsha study, we have the plagues that YHVH cursed Egypt with, we all know about the plagues and the result of the plagues, I am not going to go into detail about the plagues, since we are familiar with them, especially when it comes time for Pesach. One thing we need to realize is that the plagues were directed against the pagan gods of Egypt, The Egyptians as we know had many gods which took different animal and human forms, The pharaohs believed themselves "Ra" on earth, or the god "Ra" incarnated, but this is what we can see: the Nile River turns to blood - the Nile was considered sacred

Darkness, the sun is hidden - against RA the sun god


The cattle get sick and die - against APIS the bull god


sores that broke out on the people - against the priests of Egypt, they are no longer "clean"

death of the first born - against HORUS god of the underworld


the sacrifice of the Passover lambs - against AMUN who took the form of a ram


Egypt was helpless against the plagues, and the priests didn't help any in reproducing the plagues, they made them worse. It was a battle against the gods, the one and only living YHVH against the false gods, or in reality, against satanic demons. and we all know who won.


In the beginning we see that the LORD (YHVH) appeared to Abram as EL SHADDAI, This is what God is telling Moshe, that he appeared as EL SHADDAI, and not as YHVH, what are we saying here? it is that God said to Abram "I AM THE ALMIGHTY GOD, WALK ME AND BE THOU PERFECT" (Gen 17:1) (Ani El Shadai, hit'halach l'p'nei v'h'yeh tamim) lieterally "walk before my "face" (p'nei) But when the LORD appeared to Moshe, he revealed his most sacred name YHVH, from where we get "YHVH" the LORD said to Moshe "I AM who I AM" or "I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE" But to Abram he said "I AM the almighty/powerful God, the name implying that GOD IS ALL POWERFUL as shown by the letters EL in the ancient Hebrew, the ox head and the inverted shepherd staff, meaning "The Powerful God who leads" In "Shadai" we see "Shin , dalet, yod" the "shin" can symbolize teeth, and also tongues of fire, while the "dalet" = door, and "yod" to make or do a deed,

We can see that God might be telling Abram through his name EL SHADAI that he is all powerful, like fire, to destroy (the wicked) yet through HIM (the door) he will do many deeds and wonders, in Gematria, the letters EL SHADAI sum 31 + 314 = 345. we can see "Elohim" is ONE (Echad) and again, "Elohim" is ONE and governs/rules the 4 corners of the world (one way of looking at it) "345" (divine completeness + creative works + grace) The all complete Elohim created ALL things with his might and is full of grace.

Today we know the LORD as all the above EL SHADAI (these letters are on the mezuzot) which we should have on our door posts. and he is YHVH to us, and in the flesh he was YESHUA and is now present with us as the RUACH HA KODESH.
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EZEKIEL 28 , 29


We see here that Egypt again is prideful and seems that the nation's leaders and people did not learn their lesson in the time of Moshe, Amenhemet III (who was probably the Pharaoh of the Exodus) did not learn his lesson and ended up treading water!!, Egypt never again regained its political and military dominance as in the days of Thutmose and Rameses the Great, and God speaks through Ezekiel and repeats the doom of Egypt, HOWEVER, we notice that just as the Israelites were scattered to all the nations of the earth, so will the Egyptians be scattered, perhaps this is a vision of the future, it predicts that Egypt will be desolate, for 40 years, that no one will be living in that land, (which has not happened yet) We see in chap 28 that God will bring back the Israelites from being scattered, yet will scatter the Egyptians. YHVH says that Egypt will be the lowest of all the nations, Imagine, from a mighty and powerful nation thousands of years ago, to a low and base nation in the future. because of pride. what can we learn from this? that a pride and haughtiness

should never be in a believer, yet a humble spirit, and a spirit of submission to our HOLY YHVH should be in our mind.
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ROMANS 9:14-21

"I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and compassion on whom I will have compassion"


YHVH will do his perfect will. We ask why does he not have compassion on many of the wicked, and they are destroyed, why does he not reach out to them and try to win them over? It could be that HE knows the depths of their hearts and knows that they will never respond or reach out to HIM, that their hearts are stone cold, and are far from repentance, and so, since they will never repent of their evil ways, HE will not show compassion nor mercy on them, yet to some of the wicked, who WILL have a change of heart, (such as Manasseh) HE WILL show mercy and compassion. Bottom line, HE knows our hearts, inspite of all the junk and garbage flowing in there, HE knows who seeks and loves HIM.


SHABBAT SHALOM ..................rabbi Ben Avraham

[alon]

Sometimes someone puts up something that is just so simple it is profound. Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews often does this. This is one of his free daily devotionals for this week:

When it’s Time to Change January 15, 2015

So Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the LORD had said through Moses. — Exodus 9:35

This portion for this week is Va’eira, which means “and I appeared,” from Exodus 6:2–9:35, and the Haftorah is from Ezekiel 28:25–29:21.

This past summer, Naftali Bennett, a leading politician in Israel, addressed an audience at a conference on peace. It so happens that Naftali Bennett is on the right politically and most of his audience that day was comprised of people on the left. But that’s not what I want to focus on. The message that he gave at the start of his speech is an important lesson for us all.

Bennett opened his talk by recalling his days in a hi-tech startup company. He described how he and several friends drew up plans and raised significant funds to launch their product, which would be sold on the Internet. They were on their way with high hopes for the future. A year and a half later, explained Bennett, the company was going 100 miles an hour with 70 employees and huge monthly expenses. The only problem was that there were no sales. Month after month, Bennett would appear before his board and explain that things would improve and the money would come. But the truth was that the company was going 100 miles an hour into a brick wall. Finally, Bennett’s financial advisor told him that if something didn’t change, they were going to be shut down. Bennett described that moment as jarring, but thankfully he heeded the warning and the company completely changed direction. They threw away everything that they had invested so much time, money, and energy into because they realized it wasn’t working. They completely changed course, and for that reason, the company is an overwhelming success today.

It doesn’t matter that Bennett’s message to his political opponents was that they should wake up and change direction. The point is that we all hang on too hard and too long to ideas and values that don’t serve us. We need to know when to wake up and change direction.

This is what Pharaoh in this week’s portion should have done. In this week’s reading, he had experienced seven of the 10 plagues — blood, frogs, lice, wild beasts, pestilence, boils, and the worst hailstorm Egypt had ever seen, except for in Goshen, where the Israelites lived. Yet Pharaoh refused to relent. With his hard and stubborn heart, he refused to change direction and let the children of Israel go. He led his nation straight into a brick wall – or more accurately, straight into the sea – where they perished.

As we read this story this week, let’s examine where we might need to make changes in our own lives. Let’s learn to let go of ideas and values that are leading us down the wrong road. Let’s acknowledge when it’s time to change direction and gather the strength to do it.

With prayers for shalom, peace,