Shemot (Exodus)
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Meaning
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Day Three
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Haftara
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B'rit Hadashah
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1 Our Father, we receive Your Words and hide Your commandments with us; 2 we incline our ear unto wisdom, and apply our hearts to understanding; 3 We cry after knowledge and lift up our voices for understanding; 4 we seek it as silver; and search for it as for hidden treasures; 5 We declare that we shall understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. Declaration of Proverbs 2:1-5
Exodus 3:1-17 (NASB)1
1 Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. 3 So Moses said, "I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up." 4 When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." 5 Then He said, "Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground." 6 He said also, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. 7 The LORD said, "I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. 8 "So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. 9 "Now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 "Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt." 11 But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?" 12 And He said, "Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain." 13 Then Moses said to God, "Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you.' Now they may say to me, 'What is His name?' What shall I say to them?" 14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM " (or Ehyeh Asher Eheyeh in Hebrew); and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" 15 God, furthermore, said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations. 16 "Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, "I am indeed concerned about you and what has been done to you in Egypt. 17 "So I said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey."'
Welcome to another day in Paradise. It's 21 degrees F here at the homestead. I checked around and it's a balmy 44 in Brazoria County (not for them but it would be for me at this stage of my winter), and just for kicks I looked up Las Vegas and it's forecast a high of 50 today by five desert o'clock today! The Santa Ana winds are forecast to be blowing high again and that is not a good thing now, even though it is a common event. I've been asking our Father that He would decrease the force of those Santa Ana winds, to give the golden state a chance to get that Palisades fire extinguished. The Appalachian Mountains and all the states hit by Helene are not off my radar just because California is burning. Folks are freezing in those states and I can certainly imagine living with no heat in such cold and snowy environs.
The first two years on the homestead I was conserving the heating oil because I was now on a fixed income after thirty-one years. Actually I was conserving everything because I wasn't sure that my pensions could cover expenses. Retirement was a new thing and I simply had no idea. I even unscrewed light bulbs that I considered to be unnecessary in order to keep the electric bill as low as possible. I admit, I was a little crazy about it. I never went shopping unless absolutely necessary (window shopping was out of the question!) But after that two year mark, I relaxed as I saw that there was a huge difference between city and rural living in the matter of utilities. When we downgraded from two cars to one, that helped. Those first winters were certainly a learning experience and I used to daydream about setting up a lawn chair right beside the wood stove to spend the day there. One of the unknown perks of not starting the furnace or the wood stove until my knuckles were blue (a little hyperbole here but that's how it felt) was that now I seem to have a higher tolerance for cold! I'm not any more fond of winter, but I can function in it much better than before.
I left some links below related to that issue of smart meters in California that I rabbit trailed yesterday. Just because I was thinking on that, I saw the first link in a newsletter in the afternoon. Then I surfed on to that other link when I searched out the company behind those meters. Truly, it's amazing what one can learn when they become aware of just a phrase like I did yesterday: “thermal runaway”! Check them out if you're interested and have time (and maybe nothing else to do), or not. This “Itron” company was a red flag for me when they used the phrase: “To realize a sustainable future, start here: www.itron.com.” That phrase “sustainable future” and others like it, are buzz words of those non governmental agencies we all love to hate like the United Nations and the World Economic Forum. They use these phrases to sell the globalist way of living that pushes the notion that we will own nothing and be happy in our “smart” fifteen minute cities. After all, we've already been washed in the “smart” notion with all the “smart” appliances and those meters that can now be read, not manually, but by remote computer operation. And speaking of computer operation, it's about time that we remotely observe a day in the desert with Moses as he surveils his sheep in maybe what was the noon day sun.
I imagine what his life was like after such a tumultuous beginning in life. Moses had to have experienced a very odd childhood and raising up. He was a member of a Hebrew family and then also an Egyptian one. He was raised in a dichotomy of culture and knowledge. Did he actually ever know where he belonged? He had all the knowledge that he learned from his Hebrew family and all that of the Egyptian education. Did he participate in the pagan ways of his Egyptian mother and the Pharaoh? Just how far his acceptance was with his Egyptian Pharaoh grandfather we don't know. Did the Pharaoh look at him and utter, “You may be my daughter's little foundling, but you're still a Hebrew and I only tolerate you for her sake.” Was Moses actually being groomed for the Egyptian throne? Now that would lead me to another question as to how that system actually worked. How did that succession to Egyptian king work? Wouldn't the Egyptian mother of Moses have many brothers who would be heir first? There is another rabbit trail I have to follow later. At the moment we see Moses in the desert and he spies this tree that is on fire!
In one of the news reports of the Palisades fire you could visibly see that wind whipping about the reporters and those interviewed and behind them was a tall palm tree that was burning from an ember that landed on it during the report! Not unlike this modern day anomaly, Moses saw this burning bush and had to investigate!
2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. Exodus 3:2-3.
What an incredible thing! A fire without the destruction of fire! Did folks have crazy sayings like they do now? “What the heck?” “Holy Toledo, what's up with that?” The Bible says there's nothing new under the sun, so I have to wonder about the reaction of Moses. It certainly got his attention and that is exactly why God did it! “Why is that bush not burnt?! I gotta see this up close!!”
4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. 5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. 6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God. Exodus 3:4-6.
Moses was to have an appointment with The God of his fathers, just as they had done. Now, all the teaching and cultural knowledge that Moses learned as a toddler and possibly a teenager on visits came to him in an instant. Now he was absolutely certain of his cultural and natal identity. He showed the ultimate respect and reverence and yes, fear, by hiding his face. Here comes another one of my favorite passages:
7 And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; 8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. Exodus 3:7-10.
The call to Moses was given! Moses was tapped to lead the break of bondage to Egypt! Moses had legged it out of Egypt because of the Pharaoh at that time would have had him killed. Was it God's design that at the time of the burning bush, there was a new Pharaoh? Otherwise, Moses would have been killed at the get-go.
23 And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. Exodus 3:23.
The cry of Israel had come to God's attention and it was time. When God needs something done, He sends a baby. Everything that had occurred in the life of Moses was now going to come to fruition. The film projection room in my mind is on overdrive right now... All the events of his life flashed before him and at that moment, Moses knew that he knew beyond all the fear-filled doubts that he had in his failures as a young man, he was being groomed for greatness all that time! Only, of course, he wouldn't accept that “groomed for greatness” notion.
11 And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? Exodus 3:11.
How much work did the enemy have to do to completely fool Moses into thinking he was useless? We have no idea how he worked to deceive Moses. He killed that Egyptian overseer and was it an accident? Did Moses actually engage that overseer and the overseer threw the first punch? How did that Egyptian die by the hand of Moses? One has to wonder! Was that an act accidental, self defense, or was it of murderous intent? What would have happened if that day in the life of Moses had never happened? Do you wonder if Moses could have worked for Israel, possible from the inside, as an official of the kingdom, in order to release Israel from their servitude? Would he actually have ascended to the throne or to some other official capacity because he was the adopted son of a Pharaoh's daughter? Joseph had already proven that scenario could work when he was brought before another Pharaoh to interpret his perplexing dreams. But God doesn't work with formulas as men might consider. Perhaps the aftermath of that killing changed Moses in ways that we've never thought. Whatever we might postulate the one single truth of the matter is that Moses ran and he was in exile every minute until God caught his attention at that burning bush.
His calling entailed:
-calling the elders of Israel and revealing the God of their fathers had heard their cry for help
-revealing that their God would free them from bondage to go to Canaan
-engaging the Pharaoh with the elders of Israel to go three days away and have a retreat
-being warned by God, THE I AM, that Pharaoh would surely resist the idea but there would come the time they would go out with favor of the Egyptian people (if not the Pharaoh) and they would be given many 'gifts of parting' from the Egyptian citizens.
The one thing that would bolster Moses, or it could have or maybe should have, was the ultimate plan of The I AM, the God of Israel, to exhibit “wonders” in the midst of Egypt in order that Pharaoh would eventually let them leave. In the natural, it was a struggle between Moses with Israel against the stronghold of Egyptian rule. But in the spiritual: it was between God and the enemy who had inspired the entire religious system of men up to that time. Egypt embodied and promulgated the mystery religion that came out of Babylon and the plain of Shinar. That mystery religion may have been the sole reason for the raising up and the eventual destruction by THE I AM of that great tower. The entire pagan system of the plethora of perverted false gods and idols that presented as half human with the heads and other features of the animal kingdom. It was actually a showdown between Good and Evil. God was going to prove HIS power and overturn the evil one, and men would play a substantial part of that great spiritual offensive action. The amazing thing about learning this is a knowledge that one can't unlearn. You can't look back and look at this history of Moses with Egypt like a child looking at the story on the flannel board in Sunday school. This is reality. We're not in Sunday school anymore.
The first two years on the homestead I was conserving the heating oil because I was now on a fixed income after thirty-one years. Actually I was conserving everything because I wasn't sure that my pensions could cover expenses. Retirement was a new thing and I simply had no idea. I even unscrewed light bulbs that I considered to be unnecessary in order to keep the electric bill as low as possible. I admit, I was a little crazy about it. I never went shopping unless absolutely necessary (window shopping was out of the question!) But after that two year mark, I relaxed as I saw that there was a huge difference between city and rural living in the matter of utilities. When we downgraded from two cars to one, that helped. Those first winters were certainly a learning experience and I used to daydream about setting up a lawn chair right beside the wood stove to spend the day there. One of the unknown perks of not starting the furnace or the wood stove until my knuckles were blue (a little hyperbole here but that's how it felt) was that now I seem to have a higher tolerance for cold! I'm not any more fond of winter, but I can function in it much better than before.
I left some links below related to that issue of smart meters in California that I rabbit trailed yesterday. Just because I was thinking on that, I saw the first link in a newsletter in the afternoon. Then I surfed on to that other link when I searched out the company behind those meters. Truly, it's amazing what one can learn when they become aware of just a phrase like I did yesterday: “thermal runaway”! Check them out if you're interested and have time (and maybe nothing else to do), or not. This “Itron” company was a red flag for me when they used the phrase: “To realize a sustainable future, start here: www.itron.com.” That phrase “sustainable future” and others like it, are buzz words of those non governmental agencies we all love to hate like the United Nations and the World Economic Forum. They use these phrases to sell the globalist way of living that pushes the notion that we will own nothing and be happy in our “smart” fifteen minute cities. After all, we've already been washed in the “smart” notion with all the “smart” appliances and those meters that can now be read, not manually, but by remote computer operation. And speaking of computer operation, it's about time that we remotely observe a day in the desert with Moses as he surveils his sheep in maybe what was the noon day sun.
I imagine what his life was like after such a tumultuous beginning in life. Moses had to have experienced a very odd childhood and raising up. He was a member of a Hebrew family and then also an Egyptian one. He was raised in a dichotomy of culture and knowledge. Did he actually ever know where he belonged? He had all the knowledge that he learned from his Hebrew family and all that of the Egyptian education. Did he participate in the pagan ways of his Egyptian mother and the Pharaoh? Just how far his acceptance was with his Egyptian Pharaoh grandfather we don't know. Did the Pharaoh look at him and utter, “You may be my daughter's little foundling, but you're still a Hebrew and I only tolerate you for her sake.” Was Moses actually being groomed for the Egyptian throne? Now that would lead me to another question as to how that system actually worked. How did that succession to Egyptian king work? Wouldn't the Egyptian mother of Moses have many brothers who would be heir first? There is another rabbit trail I have to follow later. At the moment we see Moses in the desert and he spies this tree that is on fire!
In one of the news reports of the Palisades fire you could visibly see that wind whipping about the reporters and those interviewed and behind them was a tall palm tree that was burning from an ember that landed on it during the report! Not unlike this modern day anomaly, Moses saw this burning bush and had to investigate!
2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. Exodus 3:2-3.
What an incredible thing! A fire without the destruction of fire! Did folks have crazy sayings like they do now? “What the heck?” “Holy Toledo, what's up with that?” The Bible says there's nothing new under the sun, so I have to wonder about the reaction of Moses. It certainly got his attention and that is exactly why God did it! “Why is that bush not burnt?! I gotta see this up close!!”
4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. 5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. 6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God. Exodus 3:4-6.
Moses was to have an appointment with The God of his fathers, just as they had done. Now, all the teaching and cultural knowledge that Moses learned as a toddler and possibly a teenager on visits came to him in an instant. Now he was absolutely certain of his cultural and natal identity. He showed the ultimate respect and reverence and yes, fear, by hiding his face. Here comes another one of my favorite passages:
7 And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; 8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. Exodus 3:7-10.
The call to Moses was given! Moses was tapped to lead the break of bondage to Egypt! Moses had legged it out of Egypt because of the Pharaoh at that time would have had him killed. Was it God's design that at the time of the burning bush, there was a new Pharaoh? Otherwise, Moses would have been killed at the get-go.
23 And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage. Exodus 3:23.
The cry of Israel had come to God's attention and it was time. When God needs something done, He sends a baby. Everything that had occurred in the life of Moses was now going to come to fruition. The film projection room in my mind is on overdrive right now... All the events of his life flashed before him and at that moment, Moses knew that he knew beyond all the fear-filled doubts that he had in his failures as a young man, he was being groomed for greatness all that time! Only, of course, he wouldn't accept that “groomed for greatness” notion.
11 And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt? Exodus 3:11.
How much work did the enemy have to do to completely fool Moses into thinking he was useless? We have no idea how he worked to deceive Moses. He killed that Egyptian overseer and was it an accident? Did Moses actually engage that overseer and the overseer threw the first punch? How did that Egyptian die by the hand of Moses? One has to wonder! Was that an act accidental, self defense, or was it of murderous intent? What would have happened if that day in the life of Moses had never happened? Do you wonder if Moses could have worked for Israel, possible from the inside, as an official of the kingdom, in order to release Israel from their servitude? Would he actually have ascended to the throne or to some other official capacity because he was the adopted son of a Pharaoh's daughter? Joseph had already proven that scenario could work when he was brought before another Pharaoh to interpret his perplexing dreams. But God doesn't work with formulas as men might consider. Perhaps the aftermath of that killing changed Moses in ways that we've never thought. Whatever we might postulate the one single truth of the matter is that Moses ran and he was in exile every minute until God caught his attention at that burning bush.
His calling entailed:
-calling the elders of Israel and revealing the God of their fathers had heard their cry for help
-revealing that their God would free them from bondage to go to Canaan
-engaging the Pharaoh with the elders of Israel to go three days away and have a retreat
-being warned by God, THE I AM, that Pharaoh would surely resist the idea but there would come the time they would go out with favor of the Egyptian people (if not the Pharaoh) and they would be given many 'gifts of parting' from the Egyptian citizens.
The one thing that would bolster Moses, or it could have or maybe should have, was the ultimate plan of The I AM, the God of Israel, to exhibit “wonders” in the midst of Egypt in order that Pharaoh would eventually let them leave. In the natural, it was a struggle between Moses with Israel against the stronghold of Egyptian rule. But in the spiritual: it was between God and the enemy who had inspired the entire religious system of men up to that time. Egypt embodied and promulgated the mystery religion that came out of Babylon and the plain of Shinar. That mystery religion may have been the sole reason for the raising up and the eventual destruction by THE I AM of that great tower. The entire pagan system of the plethora of perverted false gods and idols that presented as half human with the heads and other features of the animal kingdom. It was actually a showdown between Good and Evil. God was going to prove HIS power and overturn the evil one, and men would play a substantial part of that great spiritual offensive action. The amazing thing about learning this is a knowledge that one can't unlearn. You can't look back and look at this history of Moses with Egypt like a child looking at the story on the flannel board in Sunday school. This is reality. We're not in Sunday school anymore.
20 And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go. 21 And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty: 22 But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians. Exodus 3:20-22.
1 NASB www.lockman.org for daily reading and KJV in commentary unless otherwise specified
California municipal utility deploys 120,000 smart meters (power-grid.com)
Southern California Edison Installs Four Millionth Itron Smart Meter, Expands Energy Management Programs and Services for Consumers | Itron Inc.
California municipal utility deploys 120,000 smart meters (power-grid.com)
Southern California Edison Installs Four Millionth Itron Smart Meter, Expands Energy Management Programs and Services for Consumers | Itron Inc.
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