- there are 70 faces to 
Post by alon on Dec 30, 2022 13:58:49 GMT -8
This Week’s Readings:
Parashah- Exodus 15:19-16:24
Haftara- Isaiah 45:14-25
D’rash: Our parashah starts with Miriam leading the women in a song of celebration. It was the custom for the women to play music and sing to celebrate both the victory and the victor; who in this case is YHVH-Tsevaoth, the Lord of Hosts (1 Sam 1:3): “And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;”” Exodus 15:21a.
Exodus 15:20 Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing.
Miriam is the only woman in Torah named as a prophetess. However she is mentioned only as Aharon’s sister, not Moshe’s. I see here two possibilities: (a) Aharon and Miriam are of a lower status than Moshe, who speaks with God face to face. Or (b) this is prophetic of a later development where this distinction and/or position is also mentioned: Numbers 12:1a,2a Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, … they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” …
Exodus 15:22-24 Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah [marah- bitterness]. And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”
Three days in and the people already seem to have have forgotten all that God has done through Moshe. They grumble against him instead of asking in faith for deliverance once again. Lest we be too self righteous here, it usually takes far less time for us to forget and start to grumble. It’s human nature not to trust that Elohe Yeshuathi, God of My Salvation (Ps 18:46) will deliver us yet again.
Exodus 15:25a And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.
Again God uses what can be explained by a natural phenomenon. A log possibly could filter water and make it drinkable. However to make water drinkable for so many fast enough that they would not die of thirst is a definite miracle. Yet we are free to interpret this as we wish.
Exodus 15:25b-26 There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.”
This is used by many Christians and Jews alike to say “if we are good or obedient no ills will befall us.” This is obviously wrong, but many believe this. The popular Prosperity Doctrine of today is based in part on this. Those who believe this generally become judgmental towards others and even themselves. This is different from making good judgements: “judge with righteous judgment.” John 7.24b These people instead say anyone who is ill or has suffered loss must have done something wrong. God did not say here that nothing bad would happen to us; only that He would not put on an obedient people “the diseases … I put on the Egyptians, for I am YHVH-Rapha God Who Heals.” (Ex 15:26).
Exodus 16:1-3,6 They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” … So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
There are a couple of important things here:
(1.) Miracles do not insure lasting faith and trust. Only about a month after being miraculously delivered from the Egyptians, and after all the miracles they had witnessed leading to that deliverance, the people were grumbling once again! They somewhat dramatically accuse Moshe and God of trying to kill them. Soon after Moshe implies strongly that only after witnessing another miracle will they believe in (trust) God.
(2.) Most people prefer being cared for by an authority (government) to freedom (the individual), which places responsibility on us to care for ourselves. We are seeing this same thing today in the insanity played out on American streets, as people riot and demand a socialist government; more even than what we already have.
And just as today, the accusations here presage rebellion; so God acts to prevent it:
Exodus 16:4-5,23 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” … he said to them, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’” So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. The mitzvoth the Lord is testing them on is Shabbat and trust, or love for Himself:
(a.) Deuteronomy 6:5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
(b.) Mark 12:30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
Exodus 16:18-19 But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.” The purpose of this was to teach the people to trust in God for their sustenance . Each day they had just enough, and on the preparation day for Shabbat they had just enough for two days. Yet another miracle was any left over (which apparently disobeyed the instructions just given) had worms and stank: “But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank.” … Exodus 16:20a. However this was not the case on 6th and 7th day: “So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it.: Exodus 16:24.
Exodus 16:22,23b On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, … ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’”
בָּת shabbâth- cessation of (normal, or unnecessary) activity
This links us to next weeks parashah where we will see the reestablishment of Shabbat as a day set aside for rest for the people that they may worship their God.
Exodus 16:15a … When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” [מָן הוּא mân hû] For they did not know what it was. מָן הוּא mân hû, Hebrew for “what is it” is where we take the term ‘manna’ from. According to Moshe, it was the “bread from heaven.” But of course, again we can find several “reasoned” explanations for this. For example:
(1.) One is it was actually the sweet-tasting secretion of a kind of plant lice which infected shrubs in the Sinai Desert. But according to Dr. Fritz Bodenheimer and Oskar Theodor of Hebrew University (c. 1920), these are "the little pills forming as yellow, sulphur-like drops on the tamarisk twigs.” They’re described in Torah: A Modern Commentary: "In June the substance falls to ground in little drops and is gathered up before sunrise for afterward it liquifies again once the sun shines on it. The Arabs preserve the manna in leather gourds and thus save it, like honey, for the future." All I can say is it would take a lot of lice to feed thre million people. And they’d be putting in a lot of overtime working all year, with double overtime on the 6th day!
(2.) Another is that manna was a “dried form of algae or drought-desiccated and wind-dispersed lichen.” (Anthony F. Chiffolo and Rayner W. Hesse, Jr.). Try to imagine three million people spreading out to scrape up wind-blown lichen. That doesn’t make sense, as those going farther out would trample most of it into the ground. And what they did manage to scrape up would taste more like dirt than sweet. Furthermore dirt doesn’t rise. I’m just not seeing it.
But people will believe what they want; and they’ll grumble whether it was dirty or just gets boring, eating the same thing day after day. It’s hard to overcome our nature: “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” Rev 3:21 KJV.
Mekorot: All scripture from the ESV unless otherwise specified; JPS Study TNK; MF Unger; D Prager:
Dr. F Bodenheimer & O Theodor; L Bramen; AF. Chiffolo & RW Hesse Jr.; my father and others
Next Week’s Readings:
Parashah- Ex 16:25-17:16
Haftara- Is 56:1-8, 58:12-14
* Apostolic references will be given in the darashot
Parashah- Exodus 15:19-16:24
Haftara- Isaiah 45:14-25
D’rash: Our parashah starts with Miriam leading the women in a song of celebration. It was the custom for the women to play music and sing to celebrate both the victory and the victor; who in this case is YHVH-Tsevaoth, the Lord of Hosts (1 Sam 1:3): “And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;”” Exodus 15:21a.
Exodus 15:20 Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing.
Miriam is the only woman in Torah named as a prophetess. However she is mentioned only as Aharon’s sister, not Moshe’s. I see here two possibilities: (a) Aharon and Miriam are of a lower status than Moshe, who speaks with God face to face. Or (b) this is prophetic of a later development where this distinction and/or position is also mentioned: Numbers 12:1a,2a Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, … they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” …
Exodus 15:22-24 Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah [marah- bitterness]. And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”
Three days in and the people already seem to have have forgotten all that God has done through Moshe. They grumble against him instead of asking in faith for deliverance once again. Lest we be too self righteous here, it usually takes far less time for us to forget and start to grumble. It’s human nature not to trust that Elohe Yeshuathi, God of My Salvation (Ps 18:46) will deliver us yet again.
Exodus 15:25a And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.
Again God uses what can be explained by a natural phenomenon. A log possibly could filter water and make it drinkable. However to make water drinkable for so many fast enough that they would not die of thirst is a definite miracle. Yet we are free to interpret this as we wish.
Exodus 15:25b-26 There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them, saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.”
This is used by many Christians and Jews alike to say “if we are good or obedient no ills will befall us.” This is obviously wrong, but many believe this. The popular Prosperity Doctrine of today is based in part on this. Those who believe this generally become judgmental towards others and even themselves. This is different from making good judgements: “judge with righteous judgment.” John 7.24b These people instead say anyone who is ill or has suffered loss must have done something wrong. God did not say here that nothing bad would happen to us; only that He would not put on an obedient people “the diseases … I put on the Egyptians, for I am YHVH-Rapha God Who Heals.” (Ex 15:26).
Exodus 16:1-3,6 They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” … So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
There are a couple of important things here:
(1.) Miracles do not insure lasting faith and trust. Only about a month after being miraculously delivered from the Egyptians, and after all the miracles they had witnessed leading to that deliverance, the people were grumbling once again! They somewhat dramatically accuse Moshe and God of trying to kill them. Soon after Moshe implies strongly that only after witnessing another miracle will they believe in (trust) God.
(2.) Most people prefer being cared for by an authority (government) to freedom (the individual), which places responsibility on us to care for ourselves. We are seeing this same thing today in the insanity played out on American streets, as people riot and demand a socialist government; more even than what we already have.
And just as today, the accusations here presage rebellion; so God acts to prevent it:
Exodus 16:4-5,23 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” … he said to them, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’” So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. The mitzvoth the Lord is testing them on is Shabbat and trust, or love for Himself:
(a.) Deuteronomy 6:5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
(b.) Mark 12:30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
Exodus 16:18-19 But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.” The purpose of this was to teach the people to trust in God for their sustenance . Each day they had just enough, and on the preparation day for Shabbat they had just enough for two days. Yet another miracle was any left over (which apparently disobeyed the instructions just given) had worms and stank: “But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank.” … Exodus 16:20a. However this was not the case on 6th and 7th day: “So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it.: Exodus 16:24.
Exodus 16:22,23b On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, … ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’”
בָּת shabbâth- cessation of (normal, or unnecessary) activity
This links us to next weeks parashah where we will see the reestablishment of Shabbat as a day set aside for rest for the people that they may worship their God.
Exodus 16:15a … When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” [מָן הוּא mân hû] For they did not know what it was. מָן הוּא mân hû, Hebrew for “what is it” is where we take the term ‘manna’ from. According to Moshe, it was the “bread from heaven.” But of course, again we can find several “reasoned” explanations for this. For example:
(1.) One is it was actually the sweet-tasting secretion of a kind of plant lice which infected shrubs in the Sinai Desert. But according to Dr. Fritz Bodenheimer and Oskar Theodor of Hebrew University (c. 1920), these are "the little pills forming as yellow, sulphur-like drops on the tamarisk twigs.” They’re described in Torah: A Modern Commentary: "In June the substance falls to ground in little drops and is gathered up before sunrise for afterward it liquifies again once the sun shines on it. The Arabs preserve the manna in leather gourds and thus save it, like honey, for the future." All I can say is it would take a lot of lice to feed thre million people. And they’d be putting in a lot of overtime working all year, with double overtime on the 6th day!
(2.) Another is that manna was a “dried form of algae or drought-desiccated and wind-dispersed lichen.” (Anthony F. Chiffolo and Rayner W. Hesse, Jr.). Try to imagine three million people spreading out to scrape up wind-blown lichen. That doesn’t make sense, as those going farther out would trample most of it into the ground. And what they did manage to scrape up would taste more like dirt than sweet. Furthermore dirt doesn’t rise. I’m just not seeing it.
But people will believe what they want; and they’ll grumble whether it was dirty or just gets boring, eating the same thing day after day. It’s hard to overcome our nature: “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” Rev 3:21 KJV.
Mekorot: All scripture from the ESV unless otherwise specified; JPS Study TNK; MF Unger; D Prager:
Dr. F Bodenheimer & O Theodor; L Bramen; AF. Chiffolo & RW Hesse Jr.; my father and others
Next Week’s Readings:
Parashah- Ex 16:25-17:16
Haftara- Is 56:1-8, 58:12-14
* Apostolic references will be given in the darashot
