beshelach after he had let go

8/13/2019 Beshelach After He Had Let Go

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BeshelachAfter He Let GoTorah: Sh mot 13:17 17:16Haftarah: Judges 4:4 5:31Brit Chadasha: Luke 2:22 24


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Sh mot 13:17 17:16 Judges 4:4 5:31 Brit Luke 2:22 24

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=בית : bayit , S#1004;meaning house or building; home; household; land, aplace of worship or sanctuary, it can signify a room or

rooms, a place where someone dwells or rests; a receptacle

or container for something; can also refer to those who live

in the house or to the descendants. From S#1129 which is

.=: baw-naw‟; a primבנהroot, to build, build up, built again, repair, set up, have

children, establish, construct, rebuild; “to build a house”

may also mean “to found a dynasty”. The name of this week‟s parasha is Beshalach, or “After he let go.

Much of my style in facilitating Torah study is to share oftentimes in a

written style that affords a reader to consider things Abba brings to mind,

which I think is a pretty accurate assessment of how most if not all teachers

teach. However, it‟s important to never privately attempt to interpret

Scripture as GOD warns against it, and will inevitably bring confusion,

which is what has often times contributed to so many well-intentioned

manmade traditions so prevalent in many an assembly today. We have animpression, a compulsion, a leading of The Ruach that brings to our heart

and mind items of critical importance from Torah, but all of which by His

design create the opportunity to awaken us to a greater understanding of

our purpose and the beauty of who He is.


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This week‟s parasha may be somewhat modified as time and health

have been somewhat of a battle, but it‟s important that you get this because

only not often enough do we get to shema this particular message that TheFather has for us today.

You‟ll notice I opened up with a few definitions to kick -start your

mind today. How often do we gloss-over things we‟ve since resigned

ourselves to having already mastered? I do, but so often we read Scripture

and rarely get beyond, to the treasures that lie in wait beneath the p‟shat, or

surface level of interpretation.

When we see the word Bet, or Bayit we think of a house, a building, a

tangible structure with nails and studs and drywall; someone‟s pulled wire

for appliances, outlets, switches and ceiling fans. There‟s a foundation, floor

joists, rafters and such…which technically a house is. But in our minds we

often fail to see the greater meanings The Father desires us to see. So up

above you see the meaning of house and where it originates from; notice it

also refers to a place of worship, a place of rest, a sanctuary, a receptacle or

container (to hold what?) and also place to build. These will follow us

throughout our exploration of this week‟s parasha. And so we begin…

If you read last week ‟s parasha, Bo (Go), which is in Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah)

46:13-28, you would have gotten a clue as to what The Father is trying to do

in His people, and even today. He tells Israel,

27 But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for,

behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their


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captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall

make him afraid.

28 Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD: for I am with thee;

for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I

will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not

leave thee wholly unpunished. (Jer. 46:27-28 KJV)

The key word we see here is fear. Fear is a very powerful motivator,

but it is also a very powerful stronghold that too many of us have accepted

as status quo, and it is tearing our lives apart, causing us to live a life

paralyzed and stunted.

And as fear is a key component to understanding the greater things of this

particular parasha, I truly believe much of it is communicating our

damaged mindsets….shall we peel back the veil?

12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-

edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and

of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of

the heart. (Heb 4:12 KJV)Understand….I started my thought asking you to understand, which

just so happens to be the root of the word Bayit, as outlined in the

beginning of our study. Understanding is acquired through wisdom, or

Chokmah, which is obtained through Torah.


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We all possess a bayit, house, or sanctuary that Abba lives in as The

Holy Spirit. And as we obey, or Shema His Word and apply it to our bayit,

so shall His Glory be manifested outwardly to a watching world.

I was seeking to know the deeper meaning of the word bayit, and

realized as I dug deeper the root of House was none other than Banah

which is understanding, to establish, to repair, to build etc. Which is key

because all too often we assume that once we “Give our lives over to God”

that we essentially wait for God to do something; which couldn‟t be any

further from the Truth! GOD gives us His Son‟s blood to redeem us, fills us

with His Ruach, and His Torah, and then sends us out to be a light unto the

nations, that they would see through our love, our actions, our faith inaction, God living in us, and be moved by a heart of repentance.

To only confirm what Hashem makes clear over and over in Scripture

though I want to show you another picture;

: Bayit, or house is comprised of a letterBet, a Yod, and a Tav. Remember now that the Bet is also

used as a prefix meaning inward—so the house, the

establishing, or repairing of the home begins where?

Inside. Inside where? You already know beloved. Let‟s

follow the trail anyway

:Bet, meaning the home inside, or inward, as I believe King David spoke

about God desiring Truth in the inward parts.

:Yod, meaning the Hand, and also an indirect reference to the identity of

God; but yod means to worship, to throw, to work, to energize.

:Tav, meaning the sign, to mark, to seal, own, covenant.


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Now bear with me a moment more. In the previous parsha, Bo, we read

how GOD sends the death angel to claim the firstborn; but to protect all of

Israel He commands them to take the blood of the lamb sacrifice and toplace it on the sides and lintel of the door of their homes.

So if we recognize this inwardly, we see that GOD desires of us too, to take

the sign, the mark of the covenant— which is the blood of Yeshua, and to

place it on the door of our homes inwardly, which is our hearts!

Again, GOD demonstrated something in the natural, that He desires

for us to experience in the spiritual. Now, this is critical that we submit our

heart to Him, because it‟s only through Him that our heart will be prepared

for the rest of the journey yes? Because what lies out there in the world

without and within? Let‟s see…

So much of our problem today is essentially a heart problem. We

allow our life to be tossed like a wave on the ocean because all too often we

live by the seat of our emotions, which is the heart. How many songs have we heard growing up about the heart? How many song lyrics, stories and

movies have been made to reach in and touch your heart, to get you to

reach in and take money out of your wallet? The heart is an amazing

thing, from within the heart are the two natures that dual daily for your

allegiance, and it is a war; as Paul said,

For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I

hate, that do I. (Rom 7:15 KJV)

22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:

23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my

mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my

members. (Rom 7:22-23 KJV)


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Beloved, just like our Israelite ancestors, we too suffer from a heart

problem. Varied and manifested in similar ways, all of us on some level are

trying to learn what King David echoes to us still today … 6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden

part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. (Psa 51:6 KJV)

He desires truth in the inward parts…that we may know

wisdom… wisdom as we realize comes from GOD, and much of it was

communicated to Moshe on Mt. Sinai in the form of the Torah given by way

of the two tablets of Testimony, and the oracles (halachic rulings: how to

walk out Torah) which were passed to Moshe and the 70 elders who later

came and dined with YHWH and Moshe, on the Mountain (Exo. 24:9-12)

In the Etz Hayim Torah and Commentary we read regarding Israel‟s

initial path upon departing from Egypt that “17 Now when Pharaoh let the

people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines,

although it was nearer; for God said, "The people may have a change of

heart when they see war, and return to Egypt." (Exo. 13:17 TNK)

As a psychological interpretation, Rashi says “God did not lead Israel

through Philistine territory precisely because it was close, and it would have

been too tempting to become discouraged and return to Egypt.

Rambam: Although the way through the Philistine territory was more

direct, God was afraid that the people would be discouraged if they had to

fight their way through.

Finally ….[s]ome commentators specifically spell out the implication

that sometimes the harder way of doing something turns out to be the

better way. „There is a long way which is short and a short way which islong‟. When something comes to us too easily instead of being hard earned,

we don‟t always appreciate it.”


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The point about all of this, regardless of which is the correct

interpretation, or perhaps they could all be correct as there several million

Israelites participating in the Exodus, could it be remotely possible that adiversity of fears, concerns and emotions swept over them?

Certainly ….the issue I want to press upon us is the fact that Israel had

become accustomed to living in bondage to Pharaoh. Commentators argue

over whether Israel had remained separate from Egyptian culture and held

fast to their beliefs, or if they had over time perhaps acquiesced to Egyptian

culture. In defense of separation we do know they kept Hebrew

names...which very well could imply that they had some vestige of hope in

the GOD of their Fathers. But all throughout this time beginning withMoshe‟s commitment to relent upon Pharaoh Hashem‟s decree, the

Israelites were forever-looking in the rear-view mirror, if I may use a figure.

I would appeal to you to simply consider that despite the fact that

GOD had promised to redeem Israel from the hand of Pharaoh, you have a

people who, despite their own groanings that “got” GOD‟s attention, were

more apt to romance living out their existence under the cruel bondage of a

tyrannical dictator! Now that‟s what I call the Good Life—NOT!

This is what those who struggle with addictive behaviors classify as

insanity. You hate the life you have, you seek to change it, but when the

opportunity for change presents itself you run back to the very thing that is

killing you. Do we all on some level find ourselves doing this at different

points in our life? I know I do, but the hope is as we willfully allow YHWH

to change our hearts, our lives will reflect the changes…going from glory to

glory, and from strength to strength. The question is, are we really being

willing to let GOD take us through the wilderness where we can truly be

changed?

We read in the book of Hebrews,


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12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief,

in departing from the living God.

13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be

hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our

confidence steadfast unto the end;

15 While it is said, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts,

as in the provocation.

16

For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that cameout of Egypt by Moses.

17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had

sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? (Heb 3:12-17 KJV)

Again, I say … we, much as they …suffer from a heart problem. Pharaoh

and Israel suffered a hardening of heart from the deceitfulness of sin!

(Heb. 3:13) Pharaoh became a tool to reveal GOD‟s glory that resulted in

Pharaoh‟s death, and Israel‟s deliverance, but Israel still had a heart

problem GOD wanted to address as well. Hindsight is 20/20, but one may

think that if GOD brought death upon Pharaoh for his unwillingness to

repent of his hard heart, why would GOD choose any different for any

rebellious unrepentant heart, regardless whether it beat in the chest of an

Egyptian or Israelite; which as we discover later proves true as many

Israelites in the wilderness did die for the exact same reason that Pharaoh

did.

I want to speak to some specific heart issues. How about the heartthat obsesses and stresses over feelings of inadequacy, inability, judgments

of others, bitterness, resentment, pride? The root of such emotions stems

from fear…


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Fear, Stress, Anxiety …do you think Israel suffered from these

emotions as they were beaten and told they had to maintain the same

number of bricks despite the fact that they now had to gather their ownstraw? How about when Pharaoh decreed that all Hebrew baby boys had to

be ruthlessly murdered by being drowned in the Nile River? Or could they

have felt such a fear sweep over them when they sat like so many sitting

ducks as Pharaoh and his captains in their chariots thundered towards

them with the snorting war horses and blades and spears glinting? What

was it they said to Moshe just then? Oh yes,

10 As Pharaoh approached, the people of Isra'el looked up and saw the

Egyptians right there, coming after them. In great fear the people of Isra'elcried out to ADONAI

11 and said to Moshe, "Was it because there weren't enough graves in

Egypt that you brought us out to die in the desert? Why have you done this

to us, bringing us out of Egypt?

12 Didn't we tell you in Egypt to let us alone, we'll just go on being slaves

for the Egyptians? It would be better for us to be the Egyptians' slaves than

to die in the desert!" (Exo 14:10-12 CJB)

Fear, Stress, and Anxiety most certainly had paralyzed The Israelites

in the very moment GOD had designed to reveal His Glory to them. And so

we often go the same path, when GOD is there the entire time taking even

our broken, paralyzed, scared-to-death hearts desiring to do a heart-work,

and we would rather go back to a house of bondage.

In his book “ A More Excellent Way, Be in Health” Pastor Henry

Wright shares “The Bible says—in the last days men‟s hearts shall fail them

because of fear.

„Men‟s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after thoses things

which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

(Luke 21:26)


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In the textbook Pathophysiology: The Biologic Basis for Disease

under the heading „Examples of Stress-Related Diseases and Conditions,‟ a

primary target organ is the heart and/or the cardiovascular system.Diseases such as angina, hypertension, arrhythmias, mitral valve prolapsed

are listed and considered fear, anxiety and stress diseases by the medical

community.

Not only does the medical community say the basis for these diseases

is fear, anxiety, and stress, but who else said it? In the scripture we just

quoted from Luke 21:26 God said it—in the last days men‟s hearts will fail

them because of fear. What good would it do for God to heal you, for

example, of angina if you hold onto the spirit of fear and anxiety that iscausing the stiffening, hardening, vasospasm or hyperactivity of the

cardiovascular system?

Do you think that God knows that fear and anxiety will produce

angina pain and other cardiovascular problems? Do you think He knows

that? If He knows that, don‟t you think He wants us to know it too? That‟s

why He told us in His Word exactly what would cause certain types of heart

disease. He said that in the last days men‟s hearts shall fail them because of

fear.” (p.228)

However, these emotions, as powerful as they can be are only half of

the equation because Israel as most commentators concede, were still

psychologically bound even after they had left Egypt. Recall in Sh‟mot as

Hashem ordered Moshe and Aharon on numerous occasions,

“

And the LORD spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him,Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me.”

(Exo 8:1 KJV)

And isn‟t this often where the rub comes? God lets us go…that we may serve

Him. The second half of that statement is what all too often Israel then, and


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now has forgotten. But it is The Truth, GOD redeems us so that we can

serve Him. The problem herein lies. In Egypt Israel served Pharaoh. Life

there was lean, unforgiving, cruel and punishing, but their flesh was fed,right? Everything they did was circumstantial and apparent to the eye.

Make the bricks, keep your mouth shut, do your job— you generally get to

go home at the end of the work-shift and eat a decent hot meal and a place

to lay your head to sleep. The food must have been a delectable, as Israel

often used it as the reason to go back to Egypt when life in the wilderness

proved to require more than humility …it requires action.

Here‟s the deal— we were not created for ourselves. We were created for a

set-apart relationship with Elohim. When we live life unto ourselves we endup serving under a different a cruel taskmaster; one that bases everything

on a selfish rule. We will find a cheap substitute for peace provided we

please man, provided we obtain all the trinkets and trappings that man says

one must have in order to be a person of any real value and substance. This

type of life takes you into the bayit, or house of bondage and sabotages your

heart and cuts your life short because you become ate up with fear, stress,

and anxiety.

When we Serve our Faithful Creator, he blesses us with joy, purpose thatcannot be taken away, a spirit of power and sound mind. We can live free of

the shackles the enemy of this world desires to place us in. Our heart and

mind is able to operate free from fears of judgment of others, free from

fears of inadequacy, free from the stress of getting things done wrong, when

all GOD asks is to step out in the measure of faith and knowledge that you

have and He will add unto it, amen? Ahmein!

The life of redemption pulls you out of an unforgiving torturous,

hopeless existence, and breathes real purpose into you where you can

experience real joy —still with its ups and downs, but all of it is designed to

grow your……Faith! Again the writer of Hebrews so succinctly states for us,


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6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God

must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently

seek him. (Heb 11:6 KJV)

Chapter 15 is the recital of the Song of Moshe and how Adonai

absolutely destroyed Pharaoh and his men and miraculously delivered The

Israelites through the parting of the waters of the Sea of Suf. At the end ofthe chapter we read how after celebrating with song and tambourines, and

dance and hearts refreshed, renewed and invigorated with faith, the plow

ahead under the anointed leadership of Moshe.

But again, after 3 days, notice, this was part of the original plan—God said

told Moshe and

“Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of

Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the

wilderness. (Exo 5:1 KJV)

The word here for feast is…

: = S#2287, chagag, khaw-gag'; meaningחגג 1) to hold a feast, hold afestival, make pilgrimage, keep a pilgrim-feast, celebrate, dance.

Folks, this was going to be a celebration! Joy! An Exuberantdemonstration of thankfulness for God‟s faithfulness, goodness,

redemption and provision! But as we see at the end of 3 days, instead,

Israel demonstrated anything but!


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22 So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the

wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found

no water.23 And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of

Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah.

24 And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?

25 And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD shewed him a tree, which

when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he

made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved

them,(Exo 15:22-25 KJV).

The deeper lesson here is the people had lost faith. At the end of 3

days they had become bitter. If it‟s not fear, it‟s bitterness, which gives way

to grumbling in the ranks right? And grumbling and bitterness all lead to

resentment, unforgiveness, and retaliation and anger.

25 Then he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree; and

he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet. There He made

for them a statute and regulation, and there He tested them.(Exo 15:25 NAS)

Beloved, this was nothing more than the beginning of a series of tests. Oh

yes, GOD tests us. Why, you say, would a loving, redeeming Creator allow

His chosen people to go through times of testing?

16 "In the wilderness He fed you manna which your fathers did not know,

that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do good for you in

the end. (Deu 8:16 NAS)

"Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that

the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin."

(Exo 20:20 NAS)


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To explain so beautifully this passage in our parsha on the bitter

waters of Marah, again we consult the Etz Hayim commentators, “ v.23 they

could not drink the water… because it was bitter—Literally, „they could notdrink the waters….because they were bitter‟. Were the waters bitter? Or was

it the people who were bitter, full of self-pity at having to travel through a

wilderness? One of the Sages interprets the words „found no water‟ to mean

that water was there (see the oasis nearby in Elim, v. 27) but the people did

not notice it because they were so busy complaining. V.25 the water became

sweet—

he purpose of religion is not to explain life‟s bitterness but

to sweeten it, to make it more palatable. The Midrashenvisions Moses asking God, „Why did You create

brackish water in Your world, a liquid that serves no

purpose?‟ God replies, „Instead of asking philosophical questions, do

something to make the bitter waters sweet. (Etz Hayim, p.413)

This is a valuable lesson. As pointed out in the parasha Va‟era, GOD

promised Israel that He would Redeem them, which included 4 stages.

6 Say, therefore, to the Israelite people: I am the LORD. I will free you from

the labors of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will

redeem you with an outstretched arm and through extraordinarychastisements.


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7 And I will take you to be My people, and I will be your God. And you shall

know that I, the LORD, am your God who freed you from the labors of the

Egyptians.8 I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and

Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession, I the LORD." (Exo 6:6-

8 TNK)

Again the Etz Hayim commentators very clearly explain, “The stages

of Redemption: ‘I will free you’ from physical enslavement in Egypt; I will

‘deliver you’ from the psychological mind-set of being a slave, which might

persist even after you have been physically liberated; ‘I will redeem you’ so

that you will think of yourselves as free people; and ‘I will take you’ into a

special relationship with Me, for that is the ultimate goal of your liberation.

Finally , „I will bring you into the land which I swore to give Abraham.‟

(p.352.)

The word hidden in plain site in Marah, is the Hebrew word Mar, and

it means bitter. Some rabbinical commentators say on a deeperunderstanding of the bitter waters of Marah, that the teaching has to do

with Torah; the bitter waters were symbolic of a people who had become

bitter because they lacked instruction. The piece of wood Moshe was given

to throw into the bitter waters in Hebrew is Etz, or tree, which is symbolic

of Torah—as we read in Proverbs chapter three that Torah is a Tree of Life

unto all who take hold of it.

So from a Messianic perspective we see that our life is bitter water,

but Yeshua comes and tells us to drink of Him and we shall have rivers ofliving water flowing out of us, He makes our life sweet! How sweet is that?

Now, the question is, does your life reflect the sweet water of Yeshua? Or

the bitter water of a mindset that would rather grumble and complain about

how comfortable the chain and shackle accommodations at Hotel Pharaoh


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were? But if we will submit ourselves and observe, shema, and listen to His

voice—then He will not bring any of the diseases that He brought upon the

Egyptians….Yeshua, our Healer.

In Chapter 16 we read again about the grumblings of Israel. They had

been removed from Egypt, but still they chose to romance the life they had

there for the meat they had access to. This is hard, because we have to eat.

Taste is a gift from GOD. But it‟s important again for us to understand that

taste should not be the king on the throne in our heart?

Our Healer Yeshua made it abundantly clear that man does not live

by bread alone, but by every word from the mouth of God. And yet here‟s

Israel sitting outside their tents, complaining about how „great‟ life was in

Egypt because of the sumptuous smell of the boiling pots of meat; forget the

fact that they were treated cruelly earlier that day with whips from a cruel

taskmaster; forget the fact that their newborn infant son had just been

stripped from its mother‟s breast and tossed into the Nile….I don‟t know

about you but I just lost my apetite.

Again, Abba to the rescue, here we read a story of The Father‟s

chesed, and yesod, His Love demonstrated towards a stiff-necked people… 2 "I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people,

Who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts,

(Isa 65:2 NAS)

The deceitfulness of sin is in the camp, but GOD in His infinite

wisdom realizes this is a process, and as the veil of blindness is pulled back

from the eyes of Israel, then their hearts will become soft and pliable and

truly willing to serve GOD as He intended, in love— because GOD is not like

Pharaoh, He‟s like a faithful Husband that longs for faithfulness, honesty,

intimacy and real relationship with his bride. How are we doing?

Chapter 16, verse 7 reads “and in the morning you shall behold the

Presence of the LORD, because He has heard your grumblings against the


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LORD. For who are we that you should grumble against us? 8Since it si the

LORD, Moses continued, „ who will give you flesh to eat in the evening and

bread in the morning to the full, because the LORD has heard thegrumblings you utter against Him, what is our part? Your grumbling is not

against us, but against the LORD!”

Commentators explain that grumbling “against the LORD”, which at

first is worded as grumbling against Moshe and Aharon is really a grievance

against GOD, from whom their mission and authority are derived. So, when

we begin to grumble against our leadership, perhaps the very first thing we

should look at is ourselves.

“ Why am I grumbling? Why am I experiencing this knot in the pit of

my stomach? What is the root of this emotion I‟m struggling with right

now?—is it Susie‟s fault? Is it Davey ‟s fault? Hmm, where do I place the

blame here?”

You see, we have to address the root of our emotions and if they ‟re

not founded in Torah, then it‟s important for us to stop looking outward,

and address the malady we‟ ve encouraged in our own hearts. Beloved, I say

these things because I struggle with them daily. So, be encouraged, let uschoose to walk in love, and to be sweet to one another, because GOD will

reward us if we choose to go through the test obediently.

The remainder of chapter 16 has to do with GOD‟s prescription for

Israel to prepare for Shabbat. The truth is, Friday should be a day of

preparation so that we will have all we need to sustain us on Shabbat…it‟ssimple, Rest on Shabbat….I need to heed this better because I find there are

things I do, that I know I make allowances for, when GOD says—this is my

Holy Set Apart Shabbat—on it you shall do no work, and you shall rest!


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GOD commands Moses to tell Aharon to take one omer of Manna and

place it in a jar which later came to be placed inside the Ark of The

Covenant next to the Tablets of Testimony. The greater understanding welearn from this is that GOD can take something from His Spirit realm, and

bring it down to the physical realm and give it to sustain man. This teaches

us about Yeshua, who is The Bread of Life that came from The Father, and

was born a virgin and lives and walks, and breathes, experiencing

everything we have, to the point of death on a cross. Yeshua—The Living

Manna, come to give real life to man!

Chapter 17: The Grumblers

31 And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and

said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" (Mat 14:31 NAS)

Read Exodus Chapter 17, verses 1-7 please:

This is the 3rd time The Israelites complain against Moshe. Rabbinical

commentary says the word for quarrel here is orרי ( (rib or rub) (936bרוMeaning: to strive, contend

Origin: a prim. root

Usage: argue(2), complain(2), contend(24), contended(7), contends(1),

dispute(1), ever strive(1)

And connotes an angry, hostile confrontation. Here we have yet another

picture of a people that have been shown miracle after miracle, after

miracle—and to really put salt in the wound they go on to Test GOD! By

saying "Is ADONAI with us or not?" (Exo 17:7 CJB)


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Beloved, I don‟t think GOD minds it when we go through periods of

doubt, but one must, after careful consideration of GOD‟s obvious „hands-

on‟ deliverance and miraculous provision for all of Israel, over and overagain, to then be questioned if He was for them or not? This I would

humbly submit to you is less about doubt, and more about willful rebellion.

GOD‟s heart is pure, no darkness at all—and here you have a people

with hearts riddled with bondage putting a HOLY ELOHIM to the test and

questioning GOD‟s presence with them? What was that whole Fire by Night

and Cloud by Day? Or the Manna and birds? How about the sweet water?

Oh yeah, and what about the whole parting of the Sea, delivering them

across faithfully and then destroying Pharaoh and his men? Can you see thestiff-necked attitude coming out? GOD has a way to adjust that ya‟ll.

And suddenly here comes Amalek. Commentary states that Amalek is

the Torah‟s symbol of pure malice, attacking without cause. Some people

commit crimes for profit or revenge, but Amalek acts that way for the sheer

joy of hurting people. God‟s “ war from generation to generation is not only

with the tribe of Amalek, but with those people in very generation who revel

in cruelty and hatred. The Amalekites were a tribe of Edomite nomas whoe

home was the Negeb and the Sinai Peninsula. (pp.420-421)

Interestingly enough, if one does a word study on Amalek, and the

Hebrew word for Doubt, both have the same Gematria of 240. And so we

recognize this battle, as savage as it was upon The Israelites, was the first of

many wars they would have to fight with Amalek —or better yet, doubt.

When Moshe‟s hands were raised during the battle with Amalek, then

Israel prevailed. When his hands became weakened and lowered, Israel

suffered. Rabbinic commentary states this is the result of Israel‟s faith being demonstrated in GOD. I like what Etz Hayim again has to say …

“Repeatedly the first half of the Book of Exodus, God‟s „outstretched arm‟

smites the Egyptians in Egypt and at the sea. Similarly, Israel is described


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as leaving Egypt boldly, literally „ with arms raised high,‟ and Moses

commands the sea to plit by lifting his arm and rod over it. The upraised

arm, representing both God‟s power and Israel‟s attention directedheavenward, is a central image in the narrative” (p.421)

The parasha concludes with Moshe building an altar unto YHWH as a

heart of gratitude for victory and a memorial as to what GOD had done for

Israel this day. He calls the altar “The LORD is My Banner”, or Adonai Nissi

(Exo 17:15 NAS) Some translations translate Banner as Miracle. But the tw0

letter root word there is Nun- Samech.

Nun means Son, Life, fish, Heir, to Continue.

And Samech means thorn, to Grab Hold. Together Nun-Samech means “To

Continue to Grab Hold…and aren‟t we all on the journey. Let us this week

not grumble against one another.

Beloved, may we with hearts submitted

trusting faithfully in our Creator, submit to one

another in love, and may our actions today andthis week shine His Standard to everyone we

come in contact with …may our words and our

actions Lift up one another! May we love one

another in such an outward demonstration of

love that it encourages one another to keep

holding onto ADONAI NISSI, who IS OUR

MIRACLE!


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Beloved, Debora and I love you all, we Miss allof You And as soon as we get over this cold wewill be back We look forward to seeing each ofyou next Shabbat. Be Safe, & Be Blessed We arekeeping each of you in prayer Shavua TovMishpocha

beshelach after he had let go

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