Exodus - Shem "The way out..." "These are the names.."

THE TORAH (THE LAW) Second Book of Moses:

Forward: The name “Exodus” comes from the Greek word meaning “exit” or “the way out.” This name it sums up the entire theme of what happens in the book, namely the Israelite's left captivity in Egypt to travel to their homeland. However the Hebrew name for the book, like the names of all of the books of Moses are simply the first line of the text. The name for Genesis in Hebrew is "In the beginning" or the first words of the text. In the Case of Exodus the Hebrew name for this book is "shem" which is translated "These are the names" which are the first words of this book. As with all first five books, known as the Torah, the author is Moses, and the editor is Ezra. Ezra, author of some of the Old Testament (books of Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles) was also the person God selected to put the entire Old Testament together and to edit it. We will examine this later when we read about the death of Moses.

EXODUS describes two key events in the history of the people of Israel. The first event is the exodus from Egypt. It begins with the birth of Moses, who, though born a Hebrew, is raised as an Egyptian prince. Only later does he leave such comfort and to obey God’s command to free his own Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt. The exodus story includes a description of the great disasters (often called “plagues”) that God sent upon the Egyptian people in order to force their Pharaoh to let the people of Israel leave Egypt. The dramatic escape from Egypt includes the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea. All future generations would remember the exodus as the great example of God’s saving help.

The second key event in the book occurs at Mount Sinai, where God gives Moses and the people the Ten Commandments and the laws that are to guide how they will worship and live together as God’s people. Also included were instructions for maPharaoh the sacred tent and its furnishings and the priestly clothes. The agreement God made with the people at Sinai was built on the promises God had first made to Abraham (EXODUS 33:1-3; see also GENESIS 12:1-3; 17:1-8). But in order to receive God’s promised blessings, the people had to be loyal to God alone and follow God’s commands (23:20-33).

Like with all of the books written by Moses, all the symbols of Exodus in reality point to Jesus Christ as both God of the Israelites and as savior Jesus in the New Testament. It is in Exodus that we are given BOTH the Family name of God and Jesus' own personal name, that he uses to identify himself in John 8.

According to 1 KINGS 6:1, the exodus from Egypt occurred 480 years before the fourth year of King Solomon’s reign. This makes the timeframe probably between 1500-1800 BC.

How is Exodus constructed?

The following outline divides the book into three major sections, based primarily on the location of events.

Moses leads the people out of Egypt (1:1—13:16)

* Troubled times for Israel and Moses (1:1—2:25)

* God chooses Moses (3:1—4:31)

* The God of Israel versus Egypt’s Pharaoh (5:1—11:10)

* Passover and the exodus (12:1—13:16)

Moses leads the people in the desert (13:17—18:27)

* Escape through the sea (13:17—15:21)

* God provides water and food (15:22—17:7)

* Victory in battle and the appointment of judges (17:8—18:27)

Moses and the people at Mount Sinai (19:1—40:38)

* God gives Moses the Law (19:1—24:18)

* God gives instructions for worship (25:1—31:18)

* The people rebel, but God remains faithful (32:1—33:23)

• God’s instructions are carried out (34:1—40:38)

Exodus 1 "These are the Names" Chapter 1

MOSES:

1 Now these are the names of the children of Israel {Jacob}, who came with him to Egypt with their families:

2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah,

3 Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin,

4 Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

5 There was a total of seventy people who were descendants of Jacob. Jacob's son Joseph was already in Egypt.

6 Joseph died, and so too did all his brothers, and all that generation.

7 But the people of Israel were fruitful, and their number grew greatly. They became very strong, and overran the nation of Egypt.

8 Then a new Pharaoh{Dynasty} began to rule {in} Egypt, that not remember who Joseph was.

Actually this new dynasty were the original Egyptians that overthrow the Hyksos that ruled Egypt for some 400 years. Around 1720 B.C., a group of foreigners referred to as Hyksos, invaded the land of the Nile and erected their capital at Avaris (Tell ed-Dab'a) Though they penetrated Egypt at a time of political disintegration that had resulted in a proliferation of local rulers throughout Lower Egypt (the western delta had already seceded to form an independent kingdom), the success of Hyksos imperialism should be attributed largely to their exploitation of a number of Asiatic technological innovations. Those may have included the horse-drawn war chariot, the battering ram, and the composite bow. Soon after 1560 B.C., however, the Hyksos were expelled from Egypt by native princes, and the so-called New Kingdom period of Egyptian history was inaugurated. During that time, a concerted effort was mounted to rid Egypt of any trace of Hyksos influence. One illustration of that is found in the historical records of Thutmosis III. This sovereign appears to have launched at least twenty-one military campaigns against the Hyksos and their Asiatic allies (Amorites, Hurrians), and in a few of those he boasted that he even crossed the Euphrates River to rout the enemy and to free Egypt from its influence. Greek authors later rendered this as "Hyksos," which was mistranslated as "shepherd kings." For this reason many scholars believed the Hyksos to be the Hebrews, although there is no archaeological basis for this assumption. They were probably city dwellers from southern Palestine. This is why Joseph was probably so trusted by the Pharaoh! These were fellow realties from the line of Shem, or Semites. The new Pharaoh was from Ham and hated the Semites, thus the phrase, "did not know Joseph." They knew him alright, they just hated him!In a word, it appears that the biblical, historical, and archaeological data are best served by theorizing that it was a Hyksos monarch before whom Joseph stood as an interpreter of dreams (Gen. 41:14-37) and who later ceded a choice parcel of land (Goshen) to Joseph's family (Gen. 47:6). According to such a theory, the "new king" of Exodus 1:8 would have been one of the native Egyptian monarchs of the New Kingdom who, as part of his Hyksos purge, resolutely refused to recognize the validity of the Goshen land grant. Discerning in the Israelites a multitude who might very well join with his Asiatic enemies in war, this new king moreover acted quickly to enslave the Israelites.

The above-mentioned theory also fits well with the historical profile attested in the book of Genesis. The patriarchs moved in and through Palestine for some 215 years (cf. Gen. 12:4; 21:5; 25:26; 47:9), seemingly with the greatest of ease, mobility and freedom. Yet, it is inconceivable that their movements should have gone unnoticed (e.g., Gen. 14:14). That bespeaks a political climate in Palestine that would have been free from any sort of national or international domination, which is truly characteristic of that period between 1850 and 1550 B.C. The theory might also humanly explain how Joseph, a non-Egyptian, was able to rise to a position of Grand Vizier in a foreign land -- the court itself would not have been Egyptian, but Hyksos. It also might explain why there is no historical mention of Joseph.

This is obviously not the place for a detailed discourse concerning the date of the Hebrew Exodus. However, an interpretation of Exodus 12:40 does impinge upon our discussion, and it must be addressed at least briefly. Does the mention there of 430 years designate the amount of time that the Israelites spent in Egypt (so the Masoretic text) or in Canaan and Egypt (so the Samaritan Pentateuch and the Septuagint, though the order is inverted in the latter text)? Prior statement should make it clear that we have given historical and textual preference to the latter view (cf. Gen. 15:13; Gal. 3:17). And, accordingly, we could advocate that the patriarchal sojourn in Egypt took place between approximately 1660 and 1445 B.C. and that the patriarchal sojourn in Canaan encompassed approximately the dates 1875-1660 B.C. Thus, some 430 years elapsed while the early Israelites lived in Canaan and Egypt. This would mean that Joseph was promoted about 1670 B.C., in the middle of the Hyksos occupation of Egypt. But it is impossible to identify the individual before whom Joseph appeared, because the dating and succession of Hyksos kings remains indemonstrable today. In addition, the Bible provides virtually no clues for the length of time the Israelites suffered under Egyptian bondage, so it seems hazardous to speculate on the identity of the pharaohs of Exodus 1:8, aside from identifying him as a native Egyptian. The biblical narrative locates the beginning of the Israelite trek at the city of Ra'amses (Ex. 12:37; cf.1:11), from which they journeyed first to Succoth (13:20), then to Etham, to Pi Hahiroth (14;2, between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal-zephon), finally to the body of water where the biblical parting of the waters took place (cf. Num. 33:5-8).

9 This Pharaoh said to his people, "Look! The people of Israel are too many and too strong for us to handle!

They had risen to great prosperity--as during the lifetime of Joseph and his royal patron, they had, probably, enjoyed a free grant of the land. Their increase and prosperity were viewed with jealousy by the new government; and as Goshen lay between Egypt and Canaan, on the border of which latter country were a number of warlike tribes, it was perfectly conformable to the suggestions of worldly policy that they should enslave and maltreat them, through apprehension of their joining in any invasion by those foreign rovers. The new king, who neither knew the name nor cared for the services of Joseph, was either Amosis, or one of his immediate successors [OSBURN].

10 We have to outsmart them, or they'll increase in number. Then, if war breaks out, they will join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the country."

11 So the Egyptians put slave drivers in charge of them in order to oppress them through forced labor. They built Pithom and Rameses as supply cities for Pharaoh.

These two store-places were in the land of Goshen; and being situated near a border liable to invasion, they were fortified cities (compare 2 Chronicles 11:1-12:16'). Pithom (Greek, Paturnos), lay on the eastern Pelusiac branch of the Nile, about twelve Roman miles from Heliopolis; and Raamses, called by the Septuagint Heroopolis, lay between the same branch of the Nile and the Bitter Lakes. These two fortified cities were situated, therefore, in the same valley; and the fortifications, which Pharaoh commanded to be built around both, had probably the same common object, of obstructing the entrance into Egypt, which this valley furnished the enemy from Asia [HENGSTENBERG].

12 But the more they mistreated them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they became worried because of the children of Israel.

13 and demanded even more of them.

14 They made their lives miserable with hard labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their hard labor the Egyptians used them ruthlessly.

15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah,

16 "When you are helping the Hebrew women give birth to their babies, watch! If the baby is a girl, let her live, but if it is a boy, kill him!"

17 But the midwives feared God(Elohim/Theos), so they did not do as the Pharaoh demanded of them; and they let all the boy babies live.

18 Then the Pharaoh of Egypt sent for the midwives and said, "Why did you do this? Why did you let the boys live?"

19 The midwives said to him, "The Hebrew women are much stronger than the Egyptian women. They give birth to their babies before we can get there."

20 Therefore, God(Elohim/Theos) protected the midwives. And the Hebrew people continued to grow in number, so they became even mightier.

This represents God as rewarding them for telling a lie. There are righteous lies!

21 Because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.

22 So the Pharaoh commanded all his people, "Every time a boy is born to the Hebrews, you must throw him into the Nile River, but let all the girl babies live."

The Egyptians tried to destroy Israel by the murder of their children. The enmity that is in the seed of the serpent, against the Seed of the woman, makes men forget all pity. It is plain that the Hebrews were now under an uncommon blessing. And we see that the services done for God's Israel are often repaid in kind. Pharaoh gave orders to drown all the male children of the Hebrews. The enemy who, by Pharaoh, attempted to destroy the church in this its infant state, is busy to stifle the rise of serious reflections in the heart of man. Let those who would escape, be afraid of sinning, and cry directly and fervently to the Lord for assistance. (Matthew Henry)

After Jacob by God's commandment in Ge 46:3 had brought his family into Egypt, where they remained for four hundred years, and from seventy people grew to an infinite number so that the king and the country endeavoured both by tyranny and cruel slavery to suppress them: the Lord according to his promise in Ge 15:14 had compassion on his Church, and delivered them, but plagued their enemies in most strange and varied ways. The more the tyranny of the wicked raged against his Church, the more his heavy judgments increased against them, till Pharaoh and his army were drowned in the sea, which gave an entry and passage to the children of God. As the ingratitude of man is great, so they immediately forgot God's wonderful benefits and although he had given them the Passover as a sign and memorial of the same, yet they fell to distrust, and tempted God with various complaining and grudging against him and his ministers: sometimes out of ambition, sometimes lack of drink or meat to satisfy their lusts, sometimes idolatry, or such like. For this reason, God punished them with severe rods and plagues, that by his correction they might turn to him for help against his scourges, and earnestly repent for their rebellion and wickedness. Because God loves them to the end, whom he has once begun to love, he punished them not as they deserved, but dealt with them mercifully, and with new benefits laboured to overcome their malice: for he still governed them and gave them his word and Law, both concerning the way to serve him, and also the form of judgments and civil policy: with the intent that they would not serve God after as they pleased, but according to the order, that his heavenly wisdom had appointed.

Exodus 2 "These are the Names" 2

Moses Saved

1 Now a man from the family Levi married a woman who was also from Levi.

Amram was the husband and Jochebed the wife (compare Exodus 6:2, Numbers 26:59). The marriage took place, and two children, Miriam and Aaron, were born some years before the infanticidal edict.

2 She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him for three months.

Beauty was regarded by the ancients as a mark of the divine favor.

3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got a wicker basket[ARK] for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.

I like the KJV "ARK" the best because what this basket represents is the Ark of Noah. That is why the words pitched it (coated) with tar and pitch is used, just like Noah's ark. Both Noah's flood and this episode, along with crossing the Red Sea later in this book, symbolize baptism.

4 The baby's sister stood a short distance away to see what would happen to him.

Miriam would probably be a girl of ten or twelve years of age at the time.

5 Then the daughter of the Pharaoh of Egypt came to the river to take a bath, and her servant girls were walPharaoh beside the river. When she saw the basket in the tall grass, she sent her slave girl to get it.

The occasion is thought to have been a religious solemnity which the royal family opened by bathing in the sacred stream. Peculiar sacredness was attached to those portions of the Nile which flowed near the temples. The water was there fenced off as a protection from the crocodiles; and doubtless the princess had an enclosure reserved for her own use, the road to which seems to have been well known to Jochebed. I think this means she knew the princess would find the baby.

6 The Pharaoh's daughter opened the basket and saw the baby boy. He was crying, so she felt sorry for him and said, "This is one of the Hebrew babies."

They could easily tell because the boy was white, they were black.

7 Then the baby's sister asked the Pharaoh's daughter, "Would you like me to go and find a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby for you?"

8 The Pharaoh's daughter said, "Go!" So the girl went and got the baby's own mother.

9 The Pharaoh's daughter said to the woman, "Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you." So the woman took her baby and nursed him.

The origin of the plan was most probably came from divine suggestion, as its success was due to an overruling Providence, who not only preserved the child's life, but provided for his being trained in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Hence it is said to have been done by faith (Hebrews 11:23), either in the general promise of deliverance, or some special revelation made to Amram and Jochebed--and in this view, the pious couple gave a beautiful example of a firm reliance on the word of God, united with an active use of the most suitable means.

10 When the child grew older, she brought him back to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She called his name Moses: and she said, "Because I drew him out of the water."

Moses is an Egyptian name and not a Hebrew name. Many pharaohs had the name Moses in their names. Thutmosis, for example. It must be said here that unlike the movies, everyone knew Moses was a Hebrew! He was white, they were black, but because of their religion, they saw this as a divine happening and dared not do anything about it.

11 One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people.

Not in age and stature only, but in power as well as in renown for accomplishments and military prowess (Acts 7:22). There is a gap here in the sacred history which, however, is supplied by the inspired commentary of Paul, who has fully detailed the reasons as well as extent of the change that took place in his worldly condition; and whether, as some say, his royal mother had proposed to make him coregent and successor to the crown, or some other circumstances, led to a declaration of his mind, he determined to renounce the palace and identify himself with the suffering people of God (Hebrews 11:24-29). The descent of some great sovereigns, like Diocletian and Charles V, from a throne into private life, is nothing to the sacrifice which Moses made through the power of faith.

12 Moses looked all around and saw that no one was looking, so he murdered the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand.

13 The next day Moses returned and saw two Hebrew men fighting one another, so he said to the one that was started it, "Why are you hitting one of your own kind?"

14 The man replied, "Who made you our king and judge? Are you going to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?"

Moses determined to consult his safety by immediate flight (Hebrews 11:27). These two incidents prove that neither were the Israelites yet ready to go out of Egypt, nor Moses prepared to be their leader (James 1:20). It was by the staff and not the sword--by the meekness, and not the wrath of Moses that God was to accomplish that great work of deliverance. Both he and the people of Israel were for forty years more to be cast into the furnace of affliction, yet it was therein that He had chosen them (Isaiah 48:10).

Moses was afraid and thought, "What I did must have become known to everyone."

15 When the Pharaoh heard what Moses had done, he sought to kill him. But Moses ran away from the Pharaoh and went to live in the land of Midian. There he sat down near a well.

Midian, is in modern Saudi Arabia and not the Sinai Desert. (Genesis 37:28). Also see Galations 4:25—Paul also agrees with Arabia as being the located of Mount Sinai and Midian.

16 There was a priest in Midian who had seven daughters. His daughters went to that well to get water to fill the water troughs for their father's flock.

17 Some shepherds came and chased the girls away, but Moses defended the girls and watered their flock.

18 When they went back to their father Reuel, he asked them, "Why have you come home early today?"

What was Moses' father-in-law's name? From The JPS Torah Commentary:

their father Reuel The name means “friend of God.” It is mentioned once again in Numbers 10:29 — “Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses’ father-in-law” — where it is uncertain which of the two is so designated. From Judges 4:11 it would appear that Hobab is the father-in-law, but in two other texts the latter epithet is given to Jethro, who also bears the title “priest of Midian.” Rabbinic exegesis reconciles the discrepancies by assuming that Reuel was the grandfather of the girls and that the other names all refer to the same person, who bore several names. Many modern scholars prefer to assign the variants to different strands of tradition. However, it is to be noted that the title “priest of Midian” is only attached to Jethro. This raises the possibility that Hebrew yitro (yeter) is not a proper name but an honorific meaning “His Excellency.” In Akkadian atru (watru) means “preeminent, foremost,” and several Akkadian names begin with that element. In Ugaritic several personal names are prefixed by the element ytr. — Nahum M. Sarna, Exodus (The Jewish Publication Society, 1991), page 12.

So, Reuel? Jethro? Hobab? What's up with that? The most common answer: It's actually just the usual Ancient Near Eastern practice of multiple names for persons and cities according to context, just like Yahweh and Elohim. We agree, but add some more. "Reuel" means "friend of God" and it is most likely an actual name, but the word used for "father" is 'ab and this also refers to the chief patriarch of a clan. Reuel, as the chief patriarch, was the one who arranged all the marriages for his female descendants. He was most likely a grandfather (or perhaps great-grandfather), which the word combination father/daughter allows.

"Jethro" actually means "his excellence" -- yes, in light of the Beverly Hillbillies, that seems strange, but it is a title, not a name as we have become accustomed to thinking.

That leaves "Hobab" in Judges. Who the Hobab is that? That one is what we indeed would call, exclusively and legally, Moses' father-in-law. Some skeptics try to throw Numbers 10:29 in the mix here, but make sure they quote it fully: "And Moses said unto Hobab, the son of Raguel the Midianite, Moses' father in law..." Solomon Tulbure leaves out the part about Raguel, which is merely a linguistic variation of Reuel. But it actually serves to prove our point: Reuel was the lead patriarch; Hobab was his son and Moses' father-in-law as we define the term.

19 The girls answered, "The shepherds chased us away, but an Egyptian defended us. He got water for us and watered our flock."

20 He asked his daughters, "Where is this man? Why did you leave him? Invite him to eat with us."

21 Moses agreed to stay with Jethro, and he gave his daughter Zipporah[Hebrew:bird] to Moses to be his wife.

22 Zipporah gave birth to a son. Moses named him Gershom[Hebrew: stranger], because Moses was a stranger in a land that was not his own.

23 And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.

24 God(Elohim/Theos) heard their cries, and he remembered the covenant that he had made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

25 He saw the troubles of the people of Israel, and he felt sorry for them.

Observe the order of Providence: just at the time when Pharaoh's cruelty rose to its height by ordering the Hebrew children to be drowned, the deliverer was born. When men are contriving the ruin of the church, God is preparing for its salvation. The parents of Moses saw he was a goodly child. A lively faith can take encouragement from the least hint of the Divine favour. It is said, Heb 11:23, that the parents of Moses hid him by faith; they had the promise that Israel should be preserved, which they relied upon. Faith in God's promise quickens to the use of lawful means for obtaining mercy. Duty is ours, events are God's. Faith in God will set us above the fear of man. At three months' end, when they could not hide the infant any longer, they put him in an ark of bulrushes by the river's brink, and set his sister to watch. And if the weak affection of a mother were thus careful, what shall we think of Him, whose love, whose compassion is, as himself, boundless. Moses never had a stronger protection about him, no, not when all the Israelites were round his tent in the wilderness, than now, when he lay alone, a helpless babe upon the waves. No water, no Egyptian can hurt him. When we seem most neglected and forlorn, God is most present with us. (Matthew Henry)

Exodus 3 "These are the Names" 3

This is the pivotal chapter in all of the Bible. Here we find the identity of God, Jesus Christ and the underlying message of redemption in the Bible. This great God), who formed the universe, man and everything that there is, who talked to Moses from a burning bush, became Jesus Christ, a humble sinless man who came into the world to take the world's sins on His shoulders and to save us from ourselves! Shivers run down my spine when I just think of this!

The Burning Bush

1 Moses kept of Jethro, his father in law. Jethro was the priest of Midian and also Moses' father-in-law. Moses led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God(Elohim/Theos), named Horeb.

So named either according to Hebrew idiom from its great height, as "great mountains," Hebrew, "mountains of God" (Psalms 36:6); "goodly cedars," Hebrew, "cedars of God" (Psalms 80:10); or some think from its being the old abode of "the glory"; or finally from its being the theater of transactions most memorable in the history of the true religion to Horeb--rather, "Horeb-ward."

Horeb--that is, "dry," "desert," was the general name for the mountainous district in which Sinai is situated, and of which it is a It was used to designate the region comprehending that immense range of lofty, desolate, and barren hills, at the base of which, however, there are not only many patches of verdure to be seen, but almost all the valleys, or wadys, as they are called, show a thin coating of vegetation, which, towards the south, becomes more luxuriant. The Arab shepherds seldom take their flocks to a greater distance than one day's journey from their camp. Moses must have gone at least two days' journey, and although he seems to have been only following his pastoral course, that region, from its numerous springs in the clefts of the rocks being the chief resort of the tribes during the summer heats, the Providence of God led him thither for an important purpose. This area is in present day Arabia!

2 There the angel[Hebrew: spokesman] of the LORD(Jesus) appeared to him in flames of fire coming out of a bush. Moses saw that the bush was on fire, but it did not burn up!

This is Jesus.

3 So Moses said, "I will go closer to this incredible thing. How can a bush be on fire and not burn up?"

4 When the LORD(Jesus) saw Moses was coming to look at the bush, God(Elohim/Theos) called to him from the bush: Moses, Moses!

And Moses said, "Here I am."

5 Then God(Elohim/Theos) said: Do not come any closer. Take off your sandals, because you are standing on holy ground!

6 I AM the God(Elohim/Theos) of your fathers—the God(Elohim/Theos) of Abraham, the God(Elohim/Theos) of Isaac, and the God(Elohim/Theos) of Jacob.

Moses covered his face because he was afraid to look at God(Elohim/Theos).

7 The LORD(Jesus) then said: I have certainly seen the misery of My people in Egypt, and I have heard their cries because of their slave drivers. I am concerned about them,

8 and I have come down to save them from the Egyptians. I will bring them out of that land and lead them to a good land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.

Milk and Honey: Not only implies the two foods are good for us, but an expression which shows that the land was green, lush and fertile. Almost like a Garden of Eden for the day!

The reverential awe of Moses must have been relieved by the divine Speaker (see Matthew 22:32), announcing Himself in His covenant character, and by the welcome intelligence communicated. Moreover, the time, as well as all the circumstances of this miraculous appearance, were such as to give him an illustrious display of God's faithfulness to His promises. The period of Israel's journey and affliction in Egypt had been predicted (Genesis 15:13), and it was during the last year of the term which had still to run that the Lord appeared in the burning bush.

9 Yes, I have surely heard the cries of My people Israel, and I have seen the way the Egyptians have oppressed them.

10 I am sending you, Moses, to the king of Egypt. Go! Bring My people, the Israelites, out of Egypt!"

11 But Moses said to God(Elohim/Theos), "I am not a powerful man! How can I go to the king and lead the Israelites out of Egypt?"

12 God(Elohim/Theos) said: I will be with you. This will be the proof that I am sending you: After you lead the people out of Egypt, all of you will worship Me on this mountain.

13 Moses said to God(Elohim/Theos), "When I go to the Israelites, I will say to them, 'The God(Elohim/Theos) of your ancestors sent me to you.' What if the people say, 'What is His name?' What should I tell them?"

Moses is afraid, doubtful and plain just don't want to obey God, much like we are today, so we shouldn't feel to bad about ourselves. We are no worse than Moses, one of the greatest men ever in the Bible. Also, the fact that Moses is asking for God's name implies that he does not know it!

14 Then God(Elohim/Theos) said to Moses: I AM[Hebrew:hayah] who I AM[hayah]. When you go to the people of Israel, tell them, '"I AM"[Hebrew:shalach] sent me to you.'

"I am that I am" "I will be who I will be" or even "We are who WE ARE!" since the name like Elohim applies to both God the Father and Jesus!

(Hebrew:YHWH...Yahweh ) Originally Hebrew didn't have any vowels, and was written right to left, although some of the consonants carry with them the indication of associated vowel sounds. So we do not know today the absolute correct pronunciation of this name, wrongly translated Jehovah back in the 1800's. Some say Yahweh (Ya-Weh) others say (ya-a-veh) and others say it may sound like (ye- hav-vay). It's not important. What is important is that we are told that this is the family name of God. IT IS NOT the personal name of Jesus as many have stated and erred about. The Bible is clear that both the Father and Jesus are Yahweh! In psalm 110, "The LORD said to my Lord," Yahweh is clearly the Father God and not Jesus! There is a little known secret in this passge that I think has been missed by every single Bible scholar that I know, including the Armstrong's! The personal name of Jesus IS NOT YAHWEH (The exisiting one) but "hayah shalach"(to set free, the branch, or The ONE WHO SETS US FREE!) This is the name of Jesus. In John 8, when Jesus says "before Abraham was, I AM," he was not saying Yahweh, but hayah shalach! Look at the concordance of the Hebrew of Exodus 3:14 compared to that of Exodus 3:15. In verse 14, I AM who I AM is not from the Hebrew YAHWEH but HAYAH! Look for yourselves! In verse 15, the name Yahweh is used for the proper name of God for all time! YAHWEH, like Elohim is UNIPLURAL! Both the Father God and Jesus God are Yahweh (Yaw-weh), Jesus calling himself HAYAH (YHOWH-Ha-Yah or Ha-yeh). It's as plain as day!

15 God(Elohim/Theos) also said to Moses: This is what you should tell the people: 'The LORD(Jesus) is the God(Elohim/Theos) of your ancestors—the God(Elohim/Theos) of Abraham, the God(Elohim/Theos) of Isaac, and the God(Elohim/Theos) of Jacob. He has sent me to you.' This is My name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.

16 Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, 'The LORD(Jesus), the God(Elohim/Theos) of your fathers—the God(Elohim/Theos) of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt.

17 And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.'

18 The elders will listen to you. And then you and the elders of Israel will go to the king of Egypt and tell him, 'The LORD(Jesus), the God(Elohim/Theos) of the Hebrews, appeared to us. Let us go three days into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD(Jesus) our God(Elohim/Theos).'

19 And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, except by My mighty hand.

20 so I will use My great power against Egypt. I will strike Egypt with all the wonders that will happen in that land. After I do that, he will surely let you go.

21 I will cause the Egyptians to think well of the Israelites. So when you leave, you will not go empty-handed.

22 Each woman should ask her Egyptian neighbor and any Egyptian woman living in her house for gifts—silver, gold, and clothing. You should put those gifts on your children when you leave Egypt. In this way you will take with you the riches of the Egyptians.

Observe the order of Providence: just at the time when Pharaoh's cruelty rose to its height by ordering the Hebrew children to be drowned, the deliverer was born. When men are contriving the ruin of the church, God is preparing for its salvation. The parents of Moses saw he was a goodly child. A lively faith can take encouragement from the least hint of the Divine favour. It is said, Heb 11:23, that the parents of Moses hid him by faith; they had the promise that Israel should be preserved, which they relied upon. Faith in God's promise quickens to the use of lawful means for obtaining mercy. Duty is ours, events are God's. Faith in God will set us above the fear of man. At three months' end, when they could not hide the infant any longer, they put him in an ark of bulrushes by the river's brink, and set his sister to watch. And if the weak affection of a mother were thus careful, what shall we think of Him, whose love, whose compassion is, as himself, boundless. Moses never had a stronger protection about him, no, not when all the Israelites were round his tent in the wilderness, than now, when he lay alone, a helpless babe upon the waves. No water, no Egyptian can hurt him. When we seem most neglected and forlorn, God is most present with us. (Matthew Henry)

Exodus 4 "These are the Names" 4

The Miracles Begin:

1 Then Moses answered and said, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me? What if they say, 'The LORD(Jesus) has not appeared to you'?"

2 The LORD(Jesus) said to him: What is that in your hand?

Moses answered, "A walking staff."

Notice God asks easy questions! A rod or walking stick--probably the shepherd's crook--among the Arabs, a long staff, with a curved head, varying from three to six feet in length.

3 And HE said: Throw it on the ground. So Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a snake. Moses ran from the snake,

4 And the LORD(Jesus) said to Moses: Reach out and grab the snake by the tail.

And he reached out his hand and took hold of it, it again became a stick in his hand.

5 The LORD(Jesus) said: That they may believe that the LORD(Jesus), the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee.

6 And the LORD(Jesus) said to Moses: Put your hand inside your coat.

So Moses put his hand inside his coat. When he took it out, it was leprous, white as snow.

7 Then he said: Now put your hand inside your coat again.

And he put his hand inside his coat again. When he took it out, his hand was healthy again, like the rest of his skin.

8 Then the LORD(Jesus) said: If thew will not believe you or pay attention to the first miracle, they may believe you when you show them this second miracle.

9 Then, if they will not believe these two signs, or listen to you, take some water from the Nile River and pour it on the dry ground. The water will become blood when it touches the ground.

10 And Moses said to the LORD(Jesus), "Oh, my LORD(Jesus), I am not a gifted speaker. Even now, I cannot speak well. I speak slowly and can't find the best words.

The book of James refutes this, this is merely an excuse, or maybe after 40 years he has forgotten to speak the language well.

11 Then the LORD(Jesus) said to him: Who made a man's mouth, or who makes someone deaf and dumb? Or who gives a person sight or blindness? It is I, the LORD(Jesus)?

12 Now go! I will help you speak, and I will teach you what to say.

13 But Moses said, "Please, LORD(Jesus), send someone else."

14 The LORD(Jesus) became angry with Moses and said: Is not Aaron, the Levite, your brother? I know that he is a skilled speaker. He is already coming to meet you, and he will be happy when he sees you.

15 You will speak to Aaron and tell him what to say. I will help both of you to speak and will teach you what to do.

16 He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God(Elohim/Theos) to him.

17 And you shall take your walking stick with you, and use it to do the signs.

Important points here: One, Moses is now being made into God the father, and Aaron into God's spokesman Jesus! The power of God (The Holy Spirit) is being represented as the walking stick or cane! NO TRINITY HERE, DUALITY!

18 Moses went back to Jethro, his father-in-law, and said to him, "Let me go back to my people in Egypt. I want to see if they are still alive."

Jethro said to Moses, "Go in peace!"

19 Now the LORD(Jesus) had said to Moses in Midian: Go back to Egypt, for all the men who wanted to kill you are dead.

The death of the Egyptian monarch took place in the four hundred and twenty-ninth year of the Hebrew sojourn in that land, and that event, according to the law of Egypt, took off his proscription of Moses, if it had been publicly issued.

20 So Moses took his wife and his sons, put them on a donkey, and started back to Egypt. He took with him the walking stick of God(Elohim/Theos)in his hand.

Septuagint, "asses." Those animals are not now used in the desert of Sinai except by the Arabs for short distances. (Compare Acts 3:12).

21 The LORD(Jesus) said to Moses: When you get back to Egypt, do all the miracles I have given you the power to do. Show them to the Pharaoh of Egypt. But I will make the Pharaoh's hear hard [stubborn], and he will not let the people go.

22 Then say to the Pharaoh: This is what the LORD(Jesus) says: Israel is my son, my firstborn son.

23 I told you to let my son go so he may worship me. But you refused to let Israel go, so I will kill your firstborn son.'

24 As Moses was on his way to Egypt, he stopped at a resting place for the night. The LORD(Jesus) met him there and sought to kill him.

25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son's foreskin and touched [Moses'] feet with it.

The narrative is obscure, but the meaning seems to be, that,to please his wife, postponed or neglected the circumcision of one of his sons, probably the younger. To dishonor that sign and seal of the covenant was criminal in any Hebrew, peculiarly so in one destined to be the leader and deliverer of the Hebrews; and he seems to have felt his sickness as a merited chastisement for his sinful omission. Concerned for her husband's safety, Zipporah overcomes her maternal feelings of aversion to the painful rite, performs herself, by means of one of the sharp flints with which that part of the desert abounds, an operation which her husband, on whom the duty devolved, was unable to do, and having brought the bloody evidence, exclaimed in the painful excitement of her feelings that from love to him she had risked the life of her child [CALVIN, BULLINGER, ROSENMULLER].

26 She said, "You are a bridegroom of blood," because she had to circumcise her son. So the LORD(Jesus) let Moses live.

27 Meanwhile the LORD(Jesus) said to Aaron: Go out into the desert to meet Moses.

When Aaron went, he met him at the Mount of God(Elohim/Theos), and kissed him.

After a separation of forty years, their meeting would be mutually happy. Similar are the salutations of Arab friends when they meet in the desert still; conspicuous is the kiss on each side of the head. Moses and Aaron went--towards Egypt, Zipporah and her sons having been sent back. (Compare Exodus 18:2).

28 Moses told Aaron everything the LORD(Jesus) had said to him when he sent him to Egypt. He also told him about the miracles which the LORD(Jesus) had commanded him to do.

29 Moses and Aaron gathered all the elders of the Israelites,

30 and Aaron told them everything that the LORD(Jesus) had told Moses. Then Moses did the miracles for all the people to see,

31 and the Israelites believed. When they heard that the LORD(Jesus) was concerned about them and had seen their troubles, they bowed down and worshiped him.

Why Did God Want To Kill Moses?

A little background to start with:

Moses, from being weened, was raised in Pharaoh's household as the son of Pharaoh's daughter (Shemot / Exodus 2:1-10) and when he was forty years old (Acts 7:23-29) he fled to Midian to escape the wrath of Pharaoh (Shemot / Exodus 2:15) where he settled, married and had two sons (Shemot / Exodus 18:2-4). He then encountered God at the burning bush and was commissioned to bring the Israelites out of Egypt and into the promised land (Shemot / Exodus 3:1-10). On the way to Egypt, God wanted to kill Moses and only "let him alone" after Moses' wife, Zipporah, had circumcised their son (Shemot / Exodus 4:24-26).

The most common answer given by the majority of commentators "Because Moses had failed to circumcise his son in accordance with the Abrahamic Covenant" immediately presents a problem as there is nothing in Scripture that condemns a father to be punished by death for not circumcising his son on the eighth day - the only punishment mentioned is that the uncircumcised soul is to be cut off from his people (Beresheet / Genesis 17:14); this would seem to apply to the father in the case of a newborn son - the father being held responsible as the child obviously cannot make decisions for himself - therefore Moses accordingly would be guilty.

However, the fact that Zipporah did the circumcision rather than Moses, creates another difficulty in that Moses would still stand guilty as he did not do the actual circumcision himself. Some commentators have Moses telling Zipporah to do the circumcision as he is sick in bed, struck with a plague by God and unable to move, thereby excluding him from doing it himself. However there is absolutely no Scriptural evidence for this whatsoever and so it must therefore be relegated to mere speculation; however, even if it were true, for reasons discussed below, it would still leave Moses guilty.

So why did Zipporah circumcise the boy rather than Moses? There are two possible explanations (based on how one understands the phrase 'the LORD met him' (v.24)): the first is that Moses was simply sleeping when the LORD came to meet with him and kill him and that Zipporah, sleeping lightly as mothers of small children do, responded to the suddenness of the situation knowing that precious time would be lost in stirring her sleeping husband. The second is that Moses was awake 'meeting with the LORD' (it was more than likely a monologue with the added threat of the angel of the LORD standing there with drawn sword) and therefore couldn't just turn away to do the circumcision himself.

Whichever it was Zipporah wasted no time, she quickly took a flint knife and cut off her son's foreskin touching Moses' feet with it thereby saving his life (the reason she touched his feet with the foreskin was a symbolic act of showing that she was a submissive wife (Rut / Ruth 3:4-11 and note) and that she only did the circumcision because of the necessity of the situation). It must be noted that this expression of submission shows that Zipporah acted on her own initiative and not at the command or bequest of Moses, thereby proving that Moses had no part whatsoever in the circumcision of his son (if Moses had indeed instructed Zipporah to perform the circumcision then she would have had no need to show her submission in such a way).

Some might also say that Moses, after his encounter at the burning bush, was held to a higher level of accountability and therefore God was justified in wanting to kill him for his failure in regards to the circumcising of his son. However, as already noted, there are no Scriptural grounds to take someone's life for their failing to circumcise their son. There is more: as we have already seen, Moses had two sons (Shemot / Exodus 18:2-4), both of whom were with him on the journey (Shemot / Exodus 4:20); however we are not told whether the other son was circumcised or not; if he was then it might seem plausible that God's not killing Moses was as a direct result of the other son being circumcised; if however he was not circumcised, and, as we shall see later, there is strong evidence to show that he wasn't, then Zipporah's act of circumcising her son to fulfill the Abrahamic Covenant proves to be false as both sons would naturally need to be circumcised in order to fulfill the covenant's requirements concerning circumcision: not only so but if Moses was guilty of breaking the Abrahamic Covenant by not circumcising his son then Zipporah's act would only redeem the boy and not Moses - he would still stand guilty (in order for Moses to have redeemed himself he would have needed to have instructed Zipporah to carry out the circumcision, but as already shown Moses played no active part at all).

Evidence For Moses Not Having Circumcised His Sons

Moses was forced to leave Egypt because Pharaoh wanted to kill him (Shemot / Exodus 2:15) on account of his killing of an Egyptian (Shemot / Exodus 2:12). We are told in Acts 7:23-25 that Moses supposed that his brothers understood that God was using him to deliver them (although his brothers didn't see it that way (Shemot / Exodus 2:13-14 also Acts 7:26-29) ) - he could have had some sort of revelation or insight into the plan of God or it might simply have been that since he was a learned person (Acts 7:22), then he probably knew the history of the promised redemption of the Israelites (Beresheet / Genesis 15:13-16) and saw himself, preserved as a child in such a special way (Shemot / Exodus 1:15-2:10), as the person that God would use to fulfill the promise. Whichever is closest to the actual truth we will never know except that Moses acted presumptuously in assuming that now was the time that God was going to deliver the Israelites. We know that it was presumption because Moses acted alone, highlighted by the description of how he struck down and killed the Egyptian (Shemot / Exodus 2:12) and as a result he had to flee in fear of his life - not something that would have happened had God initiated the redemption at that time.

He fled to Midian where he settled down and married a shepherd girl. There seems to be reason to believe that he had an identity crisis, not knowing if he was a Hebrew, an Egyptian (Zipporah told her father that it was an Egyptian that had rescued them (Shemot / Exodus 2:19) ) or that perhaps after making such a grave mistake and having to flee for his life, that he should now become a Midianite and forget his past. We catch a glimpse of this identity crisis when Scripture tells us that "Moses was content to dwell with the man" (Shemot / Exodus 2:21), meaning that he decided for the time being to accept the authority and customs of his father-in-law Jethro. That Jethro also happened to be the priest of Midian would surely have had a tremendous impact on him to the point that his own, albeit remote, Israelite heritage would have been all but lost. We can surmise that his identity crisis continued for some time as he named his first son Gershom which means 'a stranger here' (Shemot / Exodus 2:22): Moses, although living with the Midianites and most likely as one, still recognized that he was not really one of them (Acts 7:29).

The Midianites were descended from Midian, a son of Abraham through Keturah (Beresheet / Genesis 25:1-2) and were, with the rest of Abraham's children, the exception being Isaac, separate from the covenant promises (Beresheet / Genesis 17:19-21; 21:12; 25:5-6; Shemot / Exodus 2:24). Since the covenant was to be continued exclusively through Isaac it would not make any sense for the rest of Abraham's children to continue with the practice of circumcision. Circumcision was a token of the covenant from which they were excluded and their own circumcision would only serve as a reminder of that exclusion: therefore there is no reason, given Moses' willingness to live among the Midianites and Zipporah's ethnic seperation from God's covenant people, for them to have circumcised their sons.

If Moses had circumcised his sons in accordance with the Abrahamic Covenant, then it would have created a chasm between himself and Zipporah's family (bearing in mind that his father-in-law was the priest of Midian) that would have resulted in a situation whereby Moses would not have been able to continue to live with them any longer.

It is worth noting that although Hebrews chapter 11 makes mention of Moses being a man of faith (vs. 24-28), a careful reading will show that the referrence is to Moses after his return to Egypt. It is quite clear from Scripture that Moses did not have a great deal of faith prior to his encounter with God at the burning bush.

Zipporah's declarations, as recorded in verses 25 and 26, can also be seen as evidence to show that her two sons were not previously circumcised. It must be noted that according to the Hebrew text she referred to Moses as being to her, not a husband of blood but as a bridegroom of blood; the inference being of a new beginning in their relationship based upon the realisation that Moses' God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, was the one true God. The LORD 'let him alone' as a direct result of Zipporah's actions and she gives glory to God by declaring [to Moses] "You are a bridegroom of blood, because of the circumcision." (the Hebrew Bible ascribes the whole quote to Zipporah) thus showing that she understood the significance of circumcision as the token of the Abrahamic covenant and it's promises (Beresheet / Genesis 17:7-14) and also the mercy and grace of God.

So Why Did God Want To Kill Moses?

Having looked at why it wasn't due to Moses neglecting the circumcision of his son, we now come to the reason why God wanted to kill Moses:

God made a covenant with Abram (Beresheet / Genesis 15:7-21) where He promised Abram the land as an inheritance and, in verses 13-16, that the people would be slaves in a foriegn land for 400 years but that they would come out in the fourth generation. This was part of the covenant and God was obliged to keep it.

We know that Satan's end is the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10); Satan also knows this and will do everything in his power to stop it from happening. His only solution is to try and break one or more of the promises of God - if God said that it would happen and he (Satan) somehow stops it from taking place, then God is a liar and has no right to judge him.

When God made the covenant with Abram, the devil knew that in the fourth generation something was to happen which would enable the children of Israel to leave Egypt and go to the promised land. He watched and waited. He knew that God had promised a Savior (Beresheet / Genesis 3:14-15) but didn't know when He would come - perhaps in the "fourth generation". The fourth generation came and Satan engineered the killing of the Hebrew boys (Shemot / Exodus 1:15-22) in an attempt to kill the would be deliverer but there was one that escaped - Moses; however he was taken into Pharaoh's house and therefore no longer posed a threat; that was until, when as a young man, Moses started to show an interest in his own people and one day went to the rescue of one of them and struck down his Egyptian oppressor (Shemot / Exodus 2:11-12), and then forty years later when God calls Moses to bring the people out of Egypt in fullfilment of the promise to Abram.

Satan meantime gets worried and goes to see God, "God, you said to Noah that if a man sheds another man's blood then you will demand his blood (Beresheet / Genesis 9:5-6 and note). God, Moses is a murderer - I remind you of what you said and I demand his blood.". We know that Moses was indeed a murder because Scripture tells us that 'He looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no one, he killed the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.' (Shemot / Exodus 2:12). When Moses killed the Egyptian the killing wasn't justified at all, he could have easily commanded the Egyptian to leave him alone - Moses had the authority, he was after all the son of Pharaoh's daughter and would have been easily recognised; he was also "mighty in his words and works" (Acts 7:22) - but he choose instead to murder him, burying him in the sand to conceal the evidence. Although Stephen, in Acts 7:24, tells that Moses "defended him, and avenged him who was oppressed, striking the Egyptian." (Stephen was giving a condensed version), the actual passage that he was paraphrasing is more telling:

"11 It happened in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his brothers, and looked at their burdens. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brothers.

12 He looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no one, he killed the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand."

Shemot / Exodus 2:11-12

Verse 12 defines Moses actions as calculated murder. Yes he was defending his fellow Israelite but as previously noted, he could easily have commanded the Egyptian to stop - he had no need to kill him. So God, bound by His own word, set out to kill Moses and as seen in the previous section, Zipporah, by circumcising her son, saved Moses' life.

But why did God wait for forty years before bringing judgement on Moses? For those forty years Pharaoh was still seeking Moses' life (Shemot / Exodus 4:19) and therefore there was still 'due process'. It was only when all those who sought his life had all died, and Moses was sent to deliver the Israelites from Egypt that Satan had no choice but to bring the charge of murderer before the throne of God himself.

So the answer is that Moses was a murderer and accused so by Satan in the hope that God's promise to Abram would be broken, therefore showing God to be a liar and therefore not fit to sit in judgement over him.

An Important Conclusion

A cursory reading of the Scriptures and history reveals that the Jewish People have often times been the subject of attempted annihilation. The reason being that God promised that the Messiah would come from the Jewish People (Beresheet / Genesis 49:10; Bamidbar / Numbers 24:17(a)) and that Messiah would only return when asked to do so by the Jewish People as a nation (Matthew 23:37-39 see also Zekharyah / Zechariah 12:10-14), so therefore the devil is doing his upmost to destroy the Jewish People - no Jews, no Messiah - no final judgement!

Messiah came the first time to bring salvation (John 12:47); He will come the second time to judge the world (Matthew 25:31-46; John 5:22; Acts 10:42; 2 Timothy 4:1) and afterwards Satan will be cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10), his judgement having already been pronounced (John 16:11).

The Nation of Israel and the Jewish People around the world are still the target of Anti-Semetism. Radical Islam is a self declared virulent enemy of anything Jewish and repeatedly states it's desire to destroy Israel. This is nothing more than the continued attempt by Satan to avoid his own punishment in the lake of fire. Although he is destined to fail in his strategy and God's plan for Israel will be accomplished, Israel and the Jewish People still need our prayers before the throne of grace. http://www.i-amfaithweb.net/god_kill_moses.htm

Exodus 5 "These are the Names" 5

Moses and Aaron Before Pharaoh

1 Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, "This is what the LORD(Jesus), the God(Elohim/Theos) of Israel, says: 'Let my people go so they may hold a feast for me in the wilderness.' "

As representatives of the Hebrews, they were entitled to ask an audience of the king, and their thorough Egyptian training taught them how and when to seek it.

2 And Pharaoh said, Who [is] the LORD(Jesus), that I should obey him? Or listen to his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD(Jesus), and I will not let Israel go." (Hebrews 11:16).

Who is "Yahweh." Lord was a common name applied to objects of worship; but Jehovah was a name he had never heard of. Pharaoh estimated the character and power of this God by the abject and miserable condition of the worshippers and concluded that He held as low a rank among the gods as His people did in the nation. To demonstrate the supremacy of the true God over all the gods of Egypt, was the design of the plagues.

3 Then Aaron and Moses said, "The God(Elohim/Theos) of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us travel three days into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD(Jesus) our God(Elohim/Theos). If we don't do this, he may kill us with a disease or in war."

4 But the king said to them, "Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their work? Go back to your jobs!

5 There are very many Hebrews, and now you want them to quit work!"

6 That same day the Pharaoh gave a command to the slave masters and foremen.

7 He said, "Don't give the people straw to make bricks as you used to do. Let them gather their own straw.

8 But they must still make the same number of bricks as they did before. Do not accept fewer. They have become lazy, and that is why they are begging me, 'Let us go to offer sacrifices to our God(Elohim/Theos).'

9 Make these people work harder and keep them busy; then they will not have time to listen to the lies of Moses."

10 So the slave masters and foremen went to the Israelites and said, "This is what the Pharaoh says: I will no longer give you straw.

11 Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it. But you must make as many bricks as you made before."

12 So the people went everywhere in Egypt look for dry stalks to use for straw.

13 The slave masters kept forcing the people to work harder. They said, "You must make just as many bricks as you did when you were given straw."

14 The Pharaoh's slave masters had made the Israelite foremen responsible for the work the people did. The Egyptian slave masters beat these men and asked them, "Why aren't you making as many bricks as you made before?"

15 Then the Israelite foremen went to the Pharaoh and complained, "Why are you treating us, your servants, this way?

16 You give us no straw, but we are commanded to make bricks. Our slave masters beat us, but it is your own people's fault."

17 The Pharaoh answered, "You are lazy! You don't want to work! That is why you ask to leave here and make sacrifices to the LORD(Jesus).

18 Now, go back to work! We will not give you any straw, but you must make just as many bricks as you did before."

19 The Israelite foremen knew they were in trouble, because the Pharaoh had told them, "You must make just as many bricks each day as you did before."

20 As they were leaving the meeting with the Pharaoh, they met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them.

21 So they said to Moses and Aaron, "May the LORD(Jesus) punish you. You caused the Pharaoh and his officers to hate us. You have given them an excuse to kill us."

22 Then Moses returned to the LORD(Jesus) and said, "LORD(Jesus), why have you brought this trouble on your people? Is this why you sent me here?

23 I went to the Pharaoh and said what you told me to say, but ever since that time he has made the people suffer. And you have done nothing to save them."

Exodus 6 "These are the Names" 6

RENEWAL OF THE PROMISE:

1 Then the LORD(Jesus) said to Moses: Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh, king of Egypt. I will use My great power against him, and he will let My people go. Because of my power, he will force them out of his country.

2 Then God(Elohim/Theos) said to Moses: I am the LORD(Jesus).

3 I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by the name God Almighty(El Shaddai), but they did not know me by my name, the LORD(Jesus).

Here is proof that Abraham, Issac and Jacob never knew that name Yahweh! They knew him as El Shaddai, El, and Elohim! This fact did not stop them from being "saved" or the most important people in all of the Bible! This is proof against these that proclaim you must know the real name of Yahweh to have your prayers heard. This is total blasphemy because these so-called scholars are limiting the power of God!

4 I also made my agreement with them to give them the land of Canaan. They lived in that land, but it was not their own.

5 Now I have heard the cries of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are treating as slaves, and I remember my agreement.

6 So tell the people of Israel that I say to them, 'I am the LORD(Jesus). I will save you from the hard work the Egyptians force you to do. I will make you free, so you will not be slaves to the Egyptians. I will free you by my great power, and I will punish the Egyptians terribly.

7 I will make you my own people, and I will be your God(Elohim/Theos). You will know that I am the LORD(Jesus) your God(Elohim/Theos), the One who saves you from the hard work the Egyptians force you to do.

GOD marries Judah and Israel here.

8 I will lead you to the land that I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give you that land to own. I am the LORD(Jesus).' "

9 So Moses told this to the Israelites, but they would not listen to him. They were discouraged, and their slavery was hard.

10 Then the LORD(Jesus) said to Moses,

11 Go tell Pharaoh king of Egypt that he must let the Israelites leave his land.

12 But Moses answered, "The Israelites will not listen to me, so surely Pharaoh will not listen to me either. I am not a good speaker."

13 But the LORD(Jesus) spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them orders about the Israelites and Pharaoh. He commanded them to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.

The faith of Moses himself was faltering; and he would have abandoned the enterprise in despair had he not received a positive command from God to revisit the people without delay, and at the same time renew their demand on the king in a more decisive andperemptory tone.

14 These are the leaders of the families of Israel:

Israel's first son, Reuben, had four sons: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. These are the family groups of Reuben.

15 Simeon's sons were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. These are the family groups of Simeon.

16 Levi lived one hundred thirty-seven years. These are the names of his sons according to their family history: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

17 Gershon had two sons, Libni and Shimei, with their families.

18 Kohath lived one hundred thirty-three years. The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.

19 The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi.

These are the family groups of Levi, according to their family history.

20 Amram married his father's sister Jochebed, who gave birth to Aaron and Moses. Amram lived one hundred thirty-seven years.

21 Izhar's sons were Korah, Nepheg, and Zicri.

22 Uzziel's sons were Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri.

23 Aaron married Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab and the sister of Nahshon. Elisheba gave birth to Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

24 The sons of Korah were Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These are the family groups of the Korahites.

25 Eleazar son of Aaron married a daughter of Putiel, and she gave birth to Phinehas.

THE LEVITES:

26 This was the Aaron and Moses to whom the LORD(Jesus) said, "Lead the people of Israel out of Egypt by their divisions."

27 Aaron and Moses are the ones who talked to Pharaoh king of Egypt and told him to let the Israelites leave Egypt.

28 The LORD(Jesus) spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt:

29 And said: I am the LORD(Jesus). Tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I tell you.

30 But Moses answered, "I am not a good speaker. The king will not listen to me."

good speaker: OR:uncircumcised lips?--A metaphorical expression among the Hebrews, who, taught to look on the circumcision of any part as denoting perfection, signified its deficiency or unsuitableness by uncircumcision. The words here express how painfully Moses felt his want of utterance or persuasive oratory. He seems to have fallen into the same deep despondency as his brethren, and to be shrinking with nervous timidity from a difficult, if not desperate, cause. If he had succeeded so ill with the people, whose dearest interests were all involved, what better hope could he entertain of his making more impression on the heart of a king elated with pride and strong in the possession of absolute power? How strikingly was the indulgent forbearance of God displayed towards His people amid all their backwardness to hail His announcement of approaching deliverance! No perverse complaints or careless indifference on their part retarded the development of His gracious purposes. On the contrary, here, as generally, the course of His providence is slow in the infliction of judgments, while it moves more quickly, as it were, when misery is to be relieved or benefits conferred.

Exodus "These are the Names" 7

The Plagues:

1 And the LORD(Jesus) said to Moses, See, I have made you a God(Elohim/Theos) to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet.

2 You will speak all that I command you. Your brother Aaron will speak to Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of the land.

Again, Moses is acting as God the Father, Aaron as Jesus and the walking stick is the Holy Spirit.

3 And I will make the king stubborn. I will do many miracles in Egypt,

4 But Pharaoh shall not listen to you, So then I will punish Egypt terribly, and I will lead my divisions, my people the Israelites, out of that land.

5 And the Egyptians shall learn that I am the LORD(Jesus), I will punish Egypt with my power, and I will bring the Israelites out of that land.

6 Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD(Jesus) commanded them.

7 Moses was 80 years old, and Aaron 83 years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

8 And the LORD(Jesus) spoke to Moses and unto Aaron, saying,

9 When Pharaoh speaks to you, and says, "Show me a miracle," then you tell Aaron, Take my walking stick, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a crocodile.

The word here is not the same as in the garden. Here the Hebrew word is tannin, which really is a crocodile and not a snake! Moses' rod turned into a snake (nachash), but here Aaron's became a crocodile! Why? One of the greatest Egyptian God's was a crocodile man! Here God is showing Pharoah, that Aaron's staff is greater than anything in Egypt!

10 And Moses and Aaron went to the Pharaoh, and they did as the LORD(Jesus) had commanded them. Aaron cast down his walking stick before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a snake.

11 Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and magicians. Now, the magicians of Egypt, were able to do the same thing[as Aaron].

His object in calling them was to ascertain whether this doing of Aaron's was really a work of divine power or merely a feat of magical art. The magicians of Egypt in modern times have been long celebrated adepts in charming serpents, and particularly by pressing the nape of the neck, they throw them into a kind of catalepsy, which renders them stiff and immovable--thus seeming to change them into a rod. They conceal the serpent about their persons, and by acts of legerdemain produce it from their dress, stiff and straight as a rod. Just the same trick was played off by their ancient predecessors, the most renowned of whom, Jannes and Jambres (2 Timothy 3:8), were called in on this occasion. They had time after the summons to make suitable preparations--and so it appears they succeeded by their "enchantments" in practising an illusion on the senses.

12 For they all cast down their sticks, and they became snakes too! Yet, Aaron's snake(sticks) swallowed up their snakes(sticks).

13 And HE hardened Pharaoh's heart, and refused to listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD(Jesus) had said.

14 And the LORD(Jesus) said unto Moses: Pharaoh's heart has grown stubborn, so he refuses to let the people go.

15 Get yourself back to Pharaoh in the morning, and when he goes out to get water, go meet him by the edge of the river, and take with you the walking stick that became a snake.

16 And you are to say to him, "The LORD(Jesus) God(Elohim/Theos) of the Hebrews has sent me to you, saying, "Let my people go, so they can worship me in the wilderness: and until now, you have refused to listen!"

17 So the LORD(Jesus) says this, In this you will know that I am the LORD(Jesus). I will strike the water of the Nile River with this stick in my hand, and the water will change into blood!

--Whether the water was changed into real blood, or only the appearance of it (and Omnipotence could effect the one as easily as the other), this was a severe calamity. How great must have been the disappointment and disgust throughout the land when the river became of a blood red color, of which they had a national abhorrence; their favorite beverage became a nauseous draught, and the fish, which formed so large an article of food, were destroyed. The immense scale on which the plague was inflicted is seen by its extending to "the streams," or branches of the Nile--to the "rivers," the canals, the "ponds" and "pools," that which is left after an overflow, the reservoirs, and the many domestic vessels in which the Nile water was kept to filter. And accordingly the sufferings of the people from thirst must have been severe. Nothing could more humble the pride of Egypt than this dishonor brought on their national god. The word for blood is DAM. It only means blood and not bloodlike. It is my opinion that the waters turned to blood as a divine miracle and nothing else! The Nile River often turned red with silt, and the Egyptians would know this. What probably made Pharaoh change his mind (verse 23) is that even though he knew better, the Pharaoh convinced himself (through God's supernatural prodding) that it was just red clay after all.

18 And the fish in the river will die, and the river will stink; And the Egyptians will not be able to drink the water from the Nile.' "

19 And the LORD(Jesus) spoke to Moses: Say this to Aaron. Take your walking stick, and stretch it out in your hands over the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, so that they will become blood. There will be blood throughout all Egypt, both in wooden buckets and in stone jars.

20 Moses and Aaron did this all, just as the LORD(Jesus) commanded. He[Aaron] lifted up the stick, and struck the waters that were in the river, in front of Pharaoh, and in front of his servants. Then, all the waters that were in the river were turned into blood.

21 And the fish that lived in the river died; and the river stunk, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water, and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

22 Using their tricks, the magicians of Egypt did the same thing. So the king was stubborn and refused to listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD(Jesus) had said.

23 The Pharaoh turned and went into his house, and ignored what Moses and Aaron had just done.

24 Now all the Egyptians dug along the bank of the river, looking for water to drink, for they could not drink of the water in the river.

25 Seven days passed after the LORD(Jesus) changed the Nile River[into blood].

Our world has rejected God, rejected Christ, rejected the Bible and rejected truth. Because of this, our world is headed for judgment. The Lord Jesus spoke of a future day of trouble which would be the most difficult period in all of human history: "For then shall be great tribulation (trouble), such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be." One of the reasons this will be such a difficult time on earth is because men will face plagues and judgments sent from God. The book of Revelation describes three series of judgments: 1) The Seven Seal Judgments (Revelation chapter 6), 2) The Seven Trumpet Judgments (Revelation chapters 8-9), 3) The Seven Vial or Bowl Judgments (Revelation chapters 15-16).

In the book of Exodus we learn about ten plagues or judgments that fell upon the land of Egypt. In the first plague, all the waters (including the waters of the Nile River) were turned to blood (Exodus 7:20). The second plague involved an invasion of frogs as described in Exodus chapter 8:

The Plagues of Egypt and the Plagues of the Tribulation Years

EGYPT PLAGUES TRIBULATION

Exodus 7:19 Water turning to blood Revelation 8:8-9; 16:3-4

Exodus 7:18, 21 Fish dying Revelation 8:9; 16:3

Exodus 8:3 Frogs Revelation 16:13-14

Exodus 8:17, 21; 9:3, 9 Lice and flies Revelation 16:2, 11

Murrain (pestilence)

Boils

Exodus 9:15 Pestilence/Disease Revelation 6:5-6, 8

(Almost always connected Luke 21:11; Psalm 91:6, 10

to famine).

Exodus 9:18, 22 Hail Revelation 16:21

Exodus 9:23-24 Hail and fire together Revelation 8:7

Exodus 9:25 Green things burned up Revelation 8:7

Exodus 10:13-14 Locusts Revelation 9:3

Exodus 10:22 Darkness Revelation 16:10; 8:12; 9:2

Exodus 11:5: 12:12 Certain people die Revelation 6:8; 9:15, 18

in judgment Zechariah 13:8-9, 14:12

As in Egypt, with these plagues, they caused economic disaster also, with burned crops and destroyed buildings. War is a big factor in the tribulation that brings the plagues of nuclear destruction, economic disaster, famine, disease, and releases the “beasts of the earth”, from the microscopic, to insects, to meat-eating animals, rodents, and reptiles. Each plague dealt with the judgment on one of the Egyptian’s gods, which are still being worshipped today in different forms.

The tribulation, according to several Scriptures is 3 ½ years long only. Yahushua tells us that if the days were not shortened, “No flesh would be saved”. Several Scriptures tell us that the earth will be burned up, and most of its life destroyed. It is compared to Sodom and Gomorrah, which was reduced to ash. These plagues today include biological and chemical warfare and nuclear warfare.

A good description of the plagues of Egypt can also be found in Psalm 105:27-36.

Exodus 8 "These are the Names" 8

FROGS:

1 The LORD(Jesus) said to Moses: Go back to Pharaoh, and say, Thus saith the LORD(Jesus), Let My people go! So that they may serve Me.

2 And if you refuse, behold, I will cover all your country with frogs.

3 The river will be filled with frogs. They will come up into your palace, into your bedroom, on your bed, into the houses of your officers, and onto your people. They will come into your ovens and into your baking pans.

4 The frogs will jump all over you, your people, and your officers.'

5 And the LORD(Jesus) also said to Moses: Tell Aaron to hold his walking stick in his hand over the rivers, canals, and ponds. Make frogs come up out of the water onto the land of Egypt.

6 And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered all of Egypt.

7 The magicians used their tricks to do the same thing, so even more frogs came up onto the land of Egypt.

What they undertook to do already existed in abundance all around. They would better have shown their power by removing the frogs.

8 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Pray to the LORD(Jesus), that He may take away the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they can sacrifice to the LORD(Jesus).

9 Then Moses said to Pharaoh, "Please set the time when I should pray for you, your people, and your officers. Then the frogs will leave you and your houses and will remain only in the river."

10 And the Pharaoh said, Tomorrow.

And Moses said, "What you want will happen. By this you will know that there is no one like the LORD(Jesus) our God(Elohim/Theos).

11 The frogs will leave your houses, and from your servants, and from your people and remain in the river only.

12 Then Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh: and Moses prayed to the LORD(Jesus) to remove the frogs which He had brought against Pharaoh.

13 And the LORD(Jesus) did what Moses asked forand the frogs died in the houses, in the yards, and in the fields.

14 The people put them in piles, and the whole country began to stink.

15 Now when Pharaoh saw that they were free of the frogs, he became stubborn again. He did not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had predicted.

16 And the LORD(Jesus) said to Moses: Say to Aaron, 'Stretch out your stick, and strike the dust on the ground. Then everywhere in Egypt the dust will change into gnats.'

17 It happened; for Aaron raised the walking stick that was in his hand and struck the dust on the ground, everywhere in Egypt the dust changed into gnats. The gnats got on the people and animals.

gnats: The exact meaning is not clear. It could be mosquito, fleas scabies or gnats...

18 The magicians tried to do the same thing, but they could not make the dust change into gnats. The gnats remained on the people and animals.

Notice that the Egyptians, who were allowed to do many of the first miracles are now powerless

19 Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, This is the finger of God(Elohim/Theos): and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he refused to listen to them; as the LORD(Jesus) had said.

20 The LORD(Jesus) said to Moses: Rise up early in the day, and stand before Pharaoh as he goes out to the river. Tell him, 'This is what the LORD(Jesus) says: Let My people go so they can worship Me.

21 If you don't let them go, I will send swarms of flies into your houses. The flies will be on you, your officers, and your people. The houses of Egypt will be full of flies, and they will be all over the ground, too.

22 And I will not treat the Israelites the same as the Egyptian people. There will not be any flies in the land of Goshen, where My people live. By this you will know that I, the LORD(Jesus), am in this land.

23 I will treat My people differently from your people. This miracle will happen tomorrow.'

Here, like the Church in the Tribulation, at a time during the worst of it, God will divinely protect His people from the wrath of the plagues. Now some commentators try to say that this implies a rapture, but it does not! Did the people in Egypt get raptured? No, God by a miracle, protected them IN THE LAND!

24 So the LORD(Jesus) did as he had said, and great swarms of flies came into the king's palace and his officers' houses. All over Egypt flies were ruining the land.

25 And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, "Offer sacrifices to your God here in this country."

26 However, Moses said, "It wouldn't be right to do that, because the Egyptians hate the sacrifices we offer to the LORD(Jesus) our God(Elohim/Theos): If they see us offering sacrifices they hate, they will throw stones at us and kill us.

27 We will go three days' into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the LORD(Jesus) our God(Elohim/Theos), as he has commanded us."

28 Pharaoh said, "I will let you go, that you can sacrifice to the LORD(Jesus) your God(Elohim/Theos) in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away. Now go and pray for me."

29 Moses said, "I will leave and pray to the LORD(Jesus) that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people tomorrow: But do not try to trick us again. Do not stop the people from going to offer sacrifices to the LORD(Jesus)."

30 And Moses left the Pharaoh, and prayed to the LORD(Jesus).

31 And the LORD(Jesus) did as Moses said he would, and he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; not one remained.

32 But the king became stubborn again and did not let the people go.

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: if we think to cheat God by a sham repentance and a false surrender of ourselves to him, we shall put a fatal cheat upon our own souls. Pharaoh returned to his hardness. Reigning lusts break through the strongest bonds, and make men presume and go from their word. Many seem in earnest, but there is some reserve, some beloved, secret sin. They are unwilling to look upon themselves as in danger of everlasting misery. They will refrain from other sins; they do much, give much, and even punish themselves much. They will leave it off sometimes, and, as it were, let their sin depart a little way; but will not make up their minds to part with all and follow Christ, bearing the cross. Rather than that, they venture all. They are sorrowful, but depart from Christ, determined to keep the world at present, and they hope for some future season, when salvation may be had without such costly sacrifices; but, at length, the poor sinner is driven away in his wickedness, and left without hope to lament his folly. (Matthew Henry)

Exodus 9 "These are the Names" 9 
The 5^th Plague:

1 Then the LORD(Jesus) said to Moses: Go in to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘the LORD(Jesus) God(Elohim/Theos) of the Hebrews says: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me.

2 For if you refuse to let them go, and still hold onto them,

3 Know that the hand of the LORD(Jesus) will be against your cattle in the field, on the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the oxen, and on the sheep—and they will to become sick.

4 But the LORD(Jesus) will treat Israel's animals differently from the animals of Egypt. None of the animals that belong to the Israelites will die.

5 The LORD(Jesus) has set tomorrow as the time he will do this in the land.'

(Jeremiah 12:4)

6 The next day the LORD(Jesus) did as he promised. All the farm animals in Egypt died, but none of the animals belonging to Israelites died.

Not every beast, for we find (Exodus 9:19,21) that there were still some left; but a great many died of each herd--the mortality was frequent and widespread. The adaptation of this judgment consisted in Egyptians venerating the more useful animals such as the ox, thecow, and the ram; in all parts of the country temples were reared and divine honors paid to these domesticated beasts, and thus while the pestilence caused a great loss in money, it also struck a heavy blow at their superstition.

7 Then Pharaoh sent people to see what had happened to the animals of Israel, and they found that not one of them had died. But the king was still stubborn and did not let the people go.

The despatch of confidential messengers indicates that he would not give credit to vague reports, and we may conclude that some impression had been made on his mind by that extraordinary exemption, but it was neither a good nor a permanent impression. His pride and obstinacy were in no degree subdued.

8 So the LORD(Jesus) said to Moses and Aaron: Take for yourselves handfuls of ashes from a fireplace, and let Moses scatter it toward the heavens[sky] in the sight of Pharaoh.

9 The ashes will spread like dust through all the land of Egypt. They will cause boils to break out and become sores on the skin of people and animals everywhere in the land. Revelation 16:2

10 Then they took ashes from the fireplace and stood before Pharaoh, and Moses scattered them toward the sky[heaven]. And they caused boils that break out in sores on man and beast.

11 The magicians could not stand before Moses, because all the Egyptians had boils, even the magicians.

12 However, the LORD(Yahweh)made Pharaoh stubborn and he did not heed them, just as the LORD(Jesus) had predicted to Moses.

13 Then the LORD(Jesus) said to Moses: Rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh, and say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD(Jesus) God(Elohim/Theos) of the Hebrews: “Let My people go, that they may serve Me,

14 for at this time I will send all My plagues into your midst, and on your servants and on your people, Then you will know there is no one in the whole universe like Me.

15 By now I could have used my power and caused a terrible disease that would have destroyed you and your people from the earth.

16 But I have let you alive for this reason: to show you my power so that my name will be talked about in all the world.

17 Even now, you are still against My people because you will not let them go.

18 Behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause very heavy hail to rain down, such as has not been in Egypt since its founding until now.

The seventh plague which Pharaoh's hardened heart provoked was that of hail, a phenomenon which must have produced the greatest astonishment and consternation in Egypt as rain and hailstones, accompanied by thunder and lightning, were very rare occurrences.

19 Now send for your animals and whatever you have in the fields, and bring them into a safe place. The hail will fall on every person or animal that is still in the fields. If they have not been brought in, they will die.'

20 Those who feared the word of the LORD(Jesus) among the officials of Pharaoh made their servants and livestock flee to the barns.

21 But those who did not believe the word of the LORD(Jesus) left his servants and livestock in the field.

22 Then the LORD(Jesus) said to Moses: Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt—on man, on beast, and on all the vegetation of the field, throughout the land of Egypt.

23 And Moses stretched out his walking stick toward heaven; and the LORD(Jesus) sent thunder and hail, and fire darted to the ground. And the LORD(Jesus) rained hail on the land of Egypt.

24 There was hail, and lightning flashed as it hailed—the worst hailstorm in Egypt since it had become a nation.

25 And the hail struck throughout the whole land of Egypt, all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail struck all the vegetation of the field and broke every tree of the field.

26 The only place it did not hail was in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived.

27 And Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “I have sinned this time. The LORD(Jesus) is righteous, and my people and I are wicked.

This awful display of divine displeasure did seriously impress the mind of Pharaoh, and, under the weight of his convictions, he humbles himself to confess he has done wrong in opposing the divine will. At the same time he calls for Moses to intercede for cessation of the calamity. Moses accedes to his earnest wishes, and this most awful visitation ended. But his repentance proved a transient feeling, and his obduracy soon became as great as before.

28 Pray to the LORD(Jesus), that there may be no more mighty thundering and hail, for it is enough. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.”

29 So Moses said to him, “As soon as I have left the city, I will raise my hands to the LORD(Jesus) in prayer, and the thunder and hail will stop. Then you will know that the earth belongs to the LORD(Jesus).

30 But I know that you and your officers do not yet fear the LORD(Jesus) God(Elohim/Theos)."

31 The flax was in bloom, and the barley had ripened, so these crops were destroyed,

32 But both wheat crops ripened later, so they were not destroyed.

33 So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh and raised his hands to the LORD(Jesus); then the thunder and the hail stopped, and rain also stopped falling to the ground.

34 And when Pharaoh saw that the rain, the hail, and the thunder had stopped, he sinned again; and he became stubborn again, both he and his servants.

35 So the heart of Pharaoh became stubborn and refused to let the Israelites go, just as the Lord had said through Moses.

Exodus 10 "These are the Names" 10

8^th Plague -LOCUST:

1 Now the LORD(Jesus) said to Moses: Go to Pharaoh; for I have made him and his officers stubborn so I could show them my powerful miracles.

2 I also did this so you could tell your children and your grandchildren how I was hard on the Egyptians. Tell them about the miracles I did among them so that all of you will know that I am the LORD(Jesus).

3 So Moses and Aaron went to the Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the LORD(Jesus) God(Elohim/Theos) of the Hebrews: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, that they may serve Me.

4 If you refuse to let my people go, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your country.

5 They will cover the land so that no one will be able to see the ground. They will eat anything that was left from the hailstorm and the leaves from every tree growing in the field.

6 They will fill your palaces and all your officers' houses, as well as the houses of all the Egyptians. There will be more locusts than your fathers or ancestors have ever seen—more than there have been since people began living in Egypt.'" Then Moses turned and walked away from Pharaoh.

7 Then Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long will this man make trouble for us? Let the men go, that they may serve the LORD(Yahweh)their God(Elohim/Theos). Don't you know that Egypt is ruined?"

8 So Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, serve the LORD(Jesus) your God(Elohim/Theos). Just who is going?”

9 And Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old; with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds we will go, for we must hold a feast to the LORD(Jesus).”

Proof by the way that a springtime Passover/Unleavened bread feast was already in the calendar to follow.

10 Then he said to them, “The LORD(Yahweh)be with you if I ever let you and all of your children leave Egypt. See, you are planning something evil!

'The LORD be' In Hebrew YHVH yh. A play on the words to be...

11 No! Only the men may go and worship the LORD(Jesus), which is what you have been asking for." Then the king forced Moses and Aaron out of his palace.

12 Then the LORD(Jesus) said to Moses: Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land—all that the hail has left.

13 So Moses stretched out his walking stick over the land of Egypt, and the LORD(Jesus) brought an east wind on the land all that day and all that night. When it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.

14 Swarms of locusts covered all the land of Egypt and settled everywhere. There were more locusts than ever before or after.

15 They covered the whole land so that it was black. They ate everything that was left after the hail—every plant in the field and all the fruit on the trees. Nothing green was left on any tree or plant anywhere in Egypt.

16 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron quickly, and said, “I have sinned against the LORD(Jesus) your God(Elohim/Theos) and against you.

17 Now therefore, please forgive my sin only this once, and beg the LORD(Jesus) your God(Elohim/Theos), that He may take away from me this death only.”

18 So he went out from Pharaoh and prayed to the LORD(Jesus).

19 And the LORD(Jesus) turned a very strong west wind, which took the locusts away and blew them into the Red Sea. Not one locust was left anywhere in Egypt.

20 But the Lord caused the king to be stubborn again, and he did not let the Israelites go.

21 Then the LORD(Jesus) said to Moses: Stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness that you will be able to feel!

22 So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days.

23 No one could see anyone else, and no one could go anywhere for three days. But the Israelites had light where they lived.

24 Then Pharaoh called to Moses and said, “Go, serve the LORD(Jesus); only let your flocks and your herds be kept back. Let your little ones also go with you.”

25 But Moses said, “You must also give us sacrifices and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice to the LORD(Jesus) our God(Elohim/Theos).

26 Our livestock also shall go with us; not a hoof shall be left behind. For we must take some of them to serve the LORD(Jesus) our God(Elohim/Theos), We won't know exactly what we will need to worship the LORD(Jesus) until we get there."

27 But the LORD(Jesus) hardened[made stubborn] Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go.

28 Then Pharaoh said to him, "Get out of here, and don't come again! The next time you see me, you will die."

29 So Moses said, “You have spoken well. I will never see your face again.”

Exodus 11 "These are the Names" 11

THE DEATH OF THE NEW BORN:

1 Now the LORD(Jesus) told Moses: I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh, and on Egypt, Afterwards he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely.

2 Tell the people that everyone alike are to ask their neighbors for anything made of silver and gold.

3 And the LORD(Jesus) caused the Egyptians to respect the Israelites, and both the king's officers and the Egyptian people considered Moses to be a great leader.

4 And Moses said, "Thus says the LORD(Jesus), 'About midnight I will go throughout the heart of Egypt:

5 Every firstborn son in the land of Egypt will die—from the firstborn son of the king, who sits on his throne, to the firstborn of the slave girl grinding grain. Also the firstborn farm animals will die.

6 And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, worse than there has ever been or ever will be again.

7 But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any man or animal.' Then you will know that the LORD(Jesus) makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.'

8 Moses said,"All your officers will come to me. They will bow facedown to the ground before me and say, 'Leave and take all your people with you.' After that, I will leave." Then Moses very angrily left the king.

9 And the LORD(Jesus) said unto Moses: Pharaoh shall not listen to you, so that I may do many miracles in the land of Egypt.

10 And Moses and Aaron did all these miracles before Pharaoh: and the LORD(Jesus) hardened Pharaoh's heart, so that he would not let the children of Israel go out of his land.

A secret revelation was made to Moses while in the presence of Pharaoh, that he might give warning of the last dreadful judgment, before he went out. This was the last day of the servitude of Israel; they were about to go away. God will right the injured, who in humble silence commit their cause to him; and none are losers at last by patient suffering. The Lord gave them favour in the sight of the Egyptians, by making it appear how much he favoured them. He also changed the spirit of the Egyptians toward them, and made them to be pitied of their oppressors. Those that honour God, he will honor.

Exodus 12 "These are the Names" 12

THE PASSOVER INSTITUTED:

1 The LORD(Jesus) said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt:

2 This month shall be the start of months: it shall be the New Year for you.

see note on Calendar at end of chapter

3 Speak to the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man must get one lamb for the people in his house.

This could be the true day of the so-called "Palm Sunday" when Jesus rode a donkey into the city a few days before his death.

4 And if there are not enough people in his house to eat a whole lamb, he must share it with his closest neighbor, considering the number of people. There must be enough lamb for everyone to eat.

It appears from JOSEPHUS that ten persons were required to make up the proper paschal communion.

5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a one year old male. You are to take it out from the sheep, or from your goats.

Without blemish, a symbol for the perfect Messiah, Jesus Christ. (Hebrews 7:26, 1 Peter 1:19).

6 Keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the church of Israel shall kill it in the afternoon.

See notes concerning when the day begins at end of chapter. In brief, the day begins at sunrise each day (see Genesis chapter 1) so, the 14th evening is the night following the 14th day. This is not how the Jews and many Christians follow the Passover. They start the days at the evening time which is wrong. Also, being selected from the rest of the flock, it was to be separated four days before sacrifice; and for the same length of time was Christ under examination and His spotless innocence declared before the world.

shall kill it in the afternoon(evening): that is, the interval between the sun's beginning to decline, and sunset, corresponding to our three o'clock in the afternoon, the exact hour Christ died.

7 And they shall take of the blood, and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs.

take of the blood, and strike it on the two side-posts, &c.--as a sign of safety to those within. The posts must be considered of tents, in which the Israelites generally lived, though some might be in houses. Though the Israelites were sinners as well as the Egyptians, God was pleased to accept the substitution of a lamb--the blood of which, being seen sprinkled on the doorposts, procured them mercy. It was to be on the sideposts and upper doorposts, where it might be looked to, not on the threshold, where it might be trodden under foot. This was an emblem of the blood of sprinkling (Hebrews 12:24, 10:29).

8 And they shall eat the meat that same night, roasted over fire, with unleavened bread; along with bitter herbs or lettuce.

THAT SAME NIGHT! Proof that the nighttime was still the 14th day of the month, and NOT the 15th!

Bitter herbs: can mean radish, parsley, but the Hebrew word maror) also means plain old lettuce (some are bitter to the taste). Bitter herbs--literally, "bitters"--to remind the Israelites of their affliction in Egypt, and morally of the trials to which God's people are subject on account of sin.

roast with fire--for the sake of expedition; and this difference was always observed between the cooking of the paschal lamb and the other offerings (2 Chronicles 35:13).

unleavened bread--also for the sake of despatch (Deuteronomy 16:3), but as a kind of corruption (Luke 12:1) there seems to have been a typical meaning under it (1 Corinthians 5:8).

9 Do not eat it raw or boiled in water. Roast the whole lamb over a fire—with its head, legs, and inner organs.

NO BLOOD can be eaten... It was to be roasted whole, not a bone to be broken, and this pointed to Christ (John 19:36).

10 You must not leave any of it the next day, but if any of it is left over until morning, you must burn it with fire.

the next day, or morning, now the 15th day of the first month has started at dawn.

11 This is the way you must eat it: You must be fully dressed as if you were going on a trip. You must have your shoes on and your walking stick in your hand. You must eat it in a hurry; this is the Lord's(Yahweh's) Passover(Pesah).

12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD(Jesus).

Jesus himself is the "killing angel of death," and none other. He personally visited the homes and killed the firstborn. (see Numbers 33:4, Isaiah 19:1).

13 And the blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt..

14 And this day shall be a memorial for you; and you must keep it a feast(Holiday) to the LORD(Jesus) throughout your generations; you shall keep it, a festival to the LORD(Jesus) -a lasting ordinance forever.

Passover is forever, and Christ is bringing back this Holiday, along with all of God's Holiday's when he returns.

15 For seven days you are to eat unleavened bread; on the first day you are to remove all yeast from your homes before sunset, because anyone that eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.

The 7 day period last from sunset on the 14th until sunset of the 21st. On the day of the 14th, the houses are to be cleaned of all yeast, but the countdown doesn't begin until sunset.

Cut-off- means to be kicked out of the church.

This was to commemorate another circumstance in the departure of the Israelites, who were urged to leave so hurriedly that their dough was unleavened (Exodus 12:39), and they had to eat unleavened cakes (Deuteronomy 16:3). The greatest care was always taken by the Jews to free their houses from leaven--the owner searching every corner of his dwelling with a lighted candle. A figurative allusion to this is made (1 Corinthians 5:7). The exclusion of leaven for seven days would not be attended with inconvenience in the East, where the usual l eaven is dough kept till it becomes sour, and it is kept from one day to another for the purpose of preserving leaven in readiness. Thus even were there none in all the country, it could be got within twenty-four hours [HARMER].

16 On the first day(15th) hold a Special Sabbath, and another one on the seventh day(the 21st). Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat—that is all you may do.

These are the HIGH SABBATHS talked about in John:19:31. Weekly Sabbaths are not "high days." High days are those Special Sabbaths that are not 7th day Sabbaths like Passover, Pentecost, Atonement, etc...literally, calling of the people, which was done by sound of trumpets (Numbers 10:2), a sacred assembly--for these days were to be regarded as Sabbaths--excepting only that meat might be cooked on them (Exodus 16:23).

17 You must celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because on this very day I brought your divisions of people out of Egypt. So all of your descendants must celebrate this day. This is a law that will last forever!

The seven days of this feast were to commence the day after the Passover.

18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at nighttime, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at nighttime.

19 For seven days no yeast shall be found in your homes: for whosoever eats anything made with yeast, that person shall be cut off from the congregation(church) of Israel, whether he is a gentile or an Israelite.

20 Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread.

21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said to them, "Go out and select a lamb for your families, and kill the Passover.

Notice at first, before there is a Temple or Tabernacles, the eldest father of the household was to kill the lamb, as each one of these elders are considered a priest for the family. Remember the meaning of birthright in Genesis? Today, every Christian is a priest, and we are allowed to kill and eat our own Passover lamb.

22 Take a branch of the hyssop plant, dip it into the bowl filled with blood, and then wipe the blood on the sides and tops of the doorframes. No one may leave their homes until morning.

hyssop--a small red moss [HASSELQUIST]; the caper-plant [ROYLE]. It was used in the sprinkling, being well adapted for such purposes, as it grows in bushes--putting out plenty of suckers from a single root. And it is remarkable that it was ordained in the arrangements of an all-wise Providence that the Roman soldiers should undesignedly, on their part, make use of this symbolical plant to Christ when, as our Passover, He was sacrificed for us [John 19:29].

Jesus and the disciples did leave their homes that night. Just a note, no comment on why they could....there is an allusion to it (Isaiah 26:20). Moses and Aaron left theirs too - THAT NIGHT. With God, exceptions are made!

23 For the LORD(Jesus) will pass through to smash the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood upon the doorframes, the LORD(Jesus) will pass over that home, He will not allow the angel of death to come into your homes and kill you.

24 And you shall observe these instructions as a lasting law for you and your descendants.

25 When you enter the land that the LORD(Jesus) will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony.

26 When your children ask you, 'Why are we doing these things?'

27 you will say, 'This is the Passover sacrifice to honor the LORD(Jesus). When we were in Egypt, the LORD(Jesus) passed over the houses of Israel, and when He killed the Egyptians, he saved our homes.' " Then the people bowed down and worshiped the LORD(Jesus).

28 The Israelites did just what the LORD(Jesus) commanded Moses and Aaron.

29 At midnight the LORD(Jesus) struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well.

This judgment, terrible though it was, evinced the equity of divine retribution. For eighty years the Egyptians had caused the male children of the Israelites to be cast into the river [Exodus 1:16], and now all their own first-born fell under the stroke of the destroying angel. They were made, in the justice of God, to feel something of what they had made His people feel. Many a time have the hands of sinners made the snares in which they have themselves been entangled, and fallen into the pit which they have dug for the righteous [Proverbs 28:10]. "Verily there is a God that judge in the earth" [Psalms 58:11].

30 And Pharaoh got up in the night, he, with all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house without someone dead.

31 During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the LORD(Jesus) as you have requested.

-a striking fulfillment of the words of Moses (Exodus 11:8), and showing that they were spoken under divine suggestion.

32 Also, take all of your flocks and herds as you have asked, and go. And also bless me."

33 The Egyptians also asked the Israelites to hurry and leave, saying, "If you don't leave, we will all be dead men!"

34 So the people took their dough before the yeast was added. They wrapped the bowls for making dough in clothing and carried them on their shoulders.

35 The Israelites did what Moses told them to do and asked their Egyptian neighbors for things made of silver and gold and for clothing.

36 The LORD(Jesus) caused the Egyptians to think well of them, and the Egyptians gave the people everything they asked for. So the Israelites took rich gifts from them.

This may be because Moses himself was loved by the people when he was Pharaoh, and he may have been a lesser Pharaoh before being thrown out of Egypt!

37 The Israelites traveled from Rameses to Succoth. There were about 600,000 men, not including the women and children.

now generally identified with the ancient Heroopolis, and fixed at the modern Abu- Keisheid. This position agrees with the statement that the scene of the miraculous judgments against Pharaoh was "in the field of Zoan" [Psalms 78:12,43]. And it is probable that, in expectation of their departure, which the king on one pretext or another delayed, the Israelites had been assembled there as a general rendezvous. In journeying from Rameses to Palestine, there was a choice of two routes--the one along the shores of the Mediterranean to El-Arish, the other more circuitous round the head of the Red Sea and the desert of Sinai. The latter Moses was directed to take (Exodus 13:17).

to Succoth--that is, booths, probably nothing more than a place of temporary encampment. The Hebrew word signifies a covering or shelter formed by the boughs of trees; and hence, in memory of this lodgment, the Israelites kept the feast of tabernacles yearly in this manner.

It appears from Numbers 1:3 that the enumeration is of men above twenty years of age. Assuming, what is now ascertained by statistical tables, that the number of males above that age is as nearly as possible the half of the total number of males, the whole male population of Israel, on this computation, would amount to 1,200,000; and adding an equal number for women and children, the aggregate number of Israelites who left Egypt would be 2,400,000.

38 A great rabble who were not Israelites went with them, as well as a large number of sheep, goats, and cattle.

-literally, "a great rabble or riffraff!" (see also Numbers 11:4, Deuteronomy 29:11); slaves, persons in the lowest grades of society, partly natives and partly foreigners, bound close to them as companions in misery, and gladly availing themselves of the opportunity to escape in the crowd. Moses was a savior to Gentiles! This is overlooked today, but Moses was like Jesus, he came to his people first, but to the gentile also!(Compare Zechariah 8:23).

39 The Israelites used the dough they had brought out of Egypt to bake loaves of bread without yeast. The dough had no yeast in it, because they had been rushed out of Egypt and had no time to get food ready for their trip.

40 Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years.

Here we see it took 430, not the 400 years promised to Abraham for the Israelite's to leave Egypt. What was this 30 year delay? Did this have something to do with Moses' character? Was he not ready when he was supposed to be? Was the LORD ready to kill Moses and find another Savior when his wife circumcised the boys? We are not told, and can only imagine why God was off by 30 years. There is a reason! This shows us also that God can delay his promised prophecies!

The Septuagint renders it thus: "The sojourning of the children and of their fathers, which they sojourned in the land of Canaan and in the land of Egypt." These additions are important, for the period of sojourn in Egypt did not exceed two hundred fifteen years; but if we reckon from the time that Abraham entered Canaan and the promise was made in which the sojourn of his posterity in Egypt was announced, this makes up the time to four hundred thirty years.

41 At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the LORD's(Yahweh's) divisions left Egypt.

So maybe the time was 30 years off, but God made sure it FIT EXACTLY to HIS calendar, showing that when the promise was given to Abraham, it was PASSOVER!

42 Because the LORD(Jesus) kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the LORD for the generations to come.

43 And the LORD(Jesus) said to Moses and Aaron: This is the legal-regulations for the Passover: No unbeliever is to eat it.

44 But any slave you have bought may eat of it after you have circumcised him,

Realize that even today, that a man that isn't circumcised, even a Christian man, cannot eat the Passover. The Passover is not required to be followed today. We are the same of the people wandering in the desert under Moses. The 10 Commandments are in force, but NOT the Holy Days! For now, we are under GRACE, but when Jesus returns, so does circumcision and the Holy Days. We can, and I believe should observe these days, but if we do, we must observe the regulations listed here when following them! See note in Joshua: 5 on circumcision and Passover.

45 A but a temporary resident and a hired worker may not eat of it.

This implies they are unbelievers so they can not participate in Passover!

46 It must be eaten inside one house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones.

Like Jesus, not a bone broken. Just another "proof" of Jesus as Messiah. Psalm 34:20; John 19:33-36

47 The whole community of Israel must take part in this feast.

48 A non-Israelite or gentile who lives with you may share in the Lord's(Yahweh's) Passover if all the males in his house become circumcised. Then, since he will be like a citizen of Israel, he may share in the meal. But a man who is not circumcised may not eat the Passover meal.

This is the law today for gentile Christians. We may observe this Holy Day now, in this present world, but only if circumcised.

49 One law shall apply to an Israelite born in the country or to a foreigner living there."

Can this be any more plain? One law applies for all! We are all under the same LAW!

50 So all the Israelites did just as the LORD(Jesus) commanded Moses and Aaron for them to do.

51 On that same day the LORD(Jesus) led the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by their armies.

Exodus 13 "These are the Names" 13

The FIRSTBORN BELONG TO GOD & UNLEAVENED BREAD:

1 Then the LORD(Jesus) spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Consecrate to Me every firstborn male among the Israelites, whether human or animal.

"consecrate," to "set apart" or make "holy" from a common to a sacred use. The foundation of this duty rested on the fact that the Israelites, having had their first-born preserved by a distinguishing act of grace from the general destruction that overtook the families of the Egyptians, were bound in token of gratitude to consider them as the LORD's peculiar property (compare Hebrews 12:23).

The Feast of Unleavened Bread

3 And Moses said to the people: “Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; for by strength of the LORD's(Yahweh's)hand, He brought you out of this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten.

Unleavened Bread is bread made without yeast

4 Today, in the month of Abib, you are leaving here.

Abib--literally means, "a green ear," and hence the month Abib is the month of green ears, corresponding to the middle of our March. So, "in the month of green ears," is the literal translation.

5 And it shall be, when the LORD(Jesus) brings you into the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, which He promised your fathers to give to you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall keep this service in this month.

Another "proof" that this celebration preexisted this time.

6 For seven days you must eat bread made without yeast, and on the seventh day there will be a feast to honor the LORD(Jesus).

7 So for seven days you must not eat any bread made with yeast. There must be no bread made with yeast anywhere in your land.

8 On that day you should tell your children: 'We are having this feast because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.'

literally: "thou shalt show thy son" but all children are implied...

9 It shall be as a sign to you on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the LORD's(Yahweh's) law may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand the LORD(Jesus) has brought you out of Egypt.

A sign: Sign commandments or "mark" commandments act as a signpost to identify God's people. The weekly Sabbath is a sign, and so too are the annual Holy Days, especially this feast. See note on bottom og page

10 You shall therefore keep this law in the springtime from year to year.

11 And when the LORD(Jesus) takes you into the land of the Canaanites, the land he promised to give you and your ancestors,

12 you must give the LORD(Jesus) every firstborn male. Also every firstborn male animal must be given to the LORD(Jesus).

13 Buy back every firstborn donkey by offering a lamb. But if you don't want to buy the donkey back, then break its neck. You must buy back from the LORD every firstborn of your sons.

14 From now on when your son asks you, 'What does this mean?' you will answer, 'With his great power, the LORD(Jesus) brought us out from Egypt, the land where we were slaves.

15 And it came to pass, when Pharaoh was stubborn about letting us go, that the LORD(Jesus) killed every firstborn male in Egypt, both human and animal. That is why I sacrifice every firstborn male animal to the Lord, and that is why I buy back each of my firstborn sons from the Lord.'

16 It shall be as a sign( mark) on your hand and on your forehead, for by strength of hand the LORD(Jesus) brought us out of Egypt.”

sign or mark: See Comment bottom of page.... See Revelation 13:15-17

17 Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God(Elohim/Theos) did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although the nearest way; for God(Elohim/Theos) said, “I'm afraid that the people will change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.”

18 So God(Elohim/Theos) led them through the desert toward the Red Sea. The Israelites were dressed for fighting when they left the land of Egypt.

Numbers 33:6

19 Moses carried the bones of Joseph with him, because before Joseph died, he had made the Israelites promise to do this. He had said, "When God(Elohim/Theos) saves you, remember to carry my bones with you out of Egypt."

20 So they took their journey from Succoth and camped in Etham at the edge of the wilderness.

21 And the LORD(Jesus) went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night.

In the Bible, the story of Israel's exodus from Egypt is filled with awesome images. Usually, we have to depend on Hollywood animation to be able to visualize just exactly what some of the events that happened then looked like. The parting of the Red Sea, the Burning Bush and the Pillar of God... You say, "the Pillar of God? What's that." What is a pillar of cloud? Well it obviously looked like a tornado in a desert! At night God stood by them as a pillar of flame, all the way to heaven as far as the eye could see! What an awesome sight to behold! Just imagine, people camping right next to a tornado that did not harm them. It stayed stationary for days at a time, then when it started to move, all of the people would FOLLOW IT! What many of us do not realize is that the God in the pillar was none other than Jesus Christ! Christ was with the church in the wilderness, Paul tells us so in 1 Corinthians 10:9. Also remember, Christ identified himself being the God of Moses in the eighth chapter of John, when the Jews asked him who he was he said, "Before Abraham was I AM!" When Moses asked God his name, he said "I AM that I AM, tell the people that I AM hath sent thee." Jesus, in his day was telling the people that he was I AM, in Hebrew 'Hayah!' The personal name of Jesus! Jesus is Hayah Yahweh (I am The Everlasting One, or literally, I AM, 'I AM that I AM'). None other than Jesus Christ in His pre-human existence was the God of what we call the Old Testament. God the Father NEVER uttered one word or appeared to anyone in the Old or New Testament! How do we know this? Jesus said so! Read John 5:37 for the shock of your life, "And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form..." Is there any clearer proof? The Bible is a light to our feet, a lantern to our paths, with which the God's love has provided us. It testifies of Christ. It is to us, like the pillar was to the Israelites. Listen to that voice which cries, "I am the Light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the Light of life," John 8:12. Jesus Christ alone, as shown in the Bible, "is the Way, the Truth, and the Life," John 14:6. Follow that pillar, as the Israelites did to His pathway to eternal life.

22 He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people.

Sign or Mark:

The Bible uses the words “mark,” “sign,” and “seal” interchangeably. Mark commands are signs to show the world and to God, those that God claims as HIS and for that matter the Devil claims as well! According to Revelation 13:16, the mark of the beast is received either in a person’s forehead or in his right hand. The seal of God, on the other hand, is received only in the forehead, as Revelation 7:2,3 shows. “And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.” Thus, the Sabbath is the sign, the mark, the seal between God and His people. The Sabbath day is the seal of God; and it is an everlasting seal, a perpetual covenant, as this text shows.

Ezekiel 20:12 is another verse which shows that the Sabbath is God’s sign, His seal, a mark between Him and His people. In fact, this verse shows that God gave His Sabbaths specifically to be the sign of God’s true people! “Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them.”

Ezekiel 20:20 also indicates that the Sabbath is God’s seal. “And hallow my Sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.”

How long will the Sabbath be a sign, a seal, a mark between God and His people? Isaiah 66:22,23 indicates that the seal of God will be forever, for His people will worship and keep holy every Sabbath day in the new earth, forever. “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that, from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.”

Remember that all of these Old Testament texts are applicable to us today, for 2 Timothy 3:16,17 tells us that “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly [thoroughly] furnished unto all good works.” Sabbath observance is the sign of God’s true Christians, and it will always be the sign of God’s true Christians, for a perpetual covenant. (Exodus 31:16).

Exodus 14 "These are the Names" 14

The Red Sea Crossing... THE EXODUS:

1 Now the LORD(Jesus) spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Speak to the Israelites to turn back to Pi Hahiroth and to camp between Migdol and the Red Sea. Camp across from Baal Zephon, on the shore of the sea.

The Israelites had now completed their three days' journey

3 For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, ‘The Israelites are lost, trapped by the desert.’

4 Then I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that he will pursue them; and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the LORD(Jesus). And they did as they were told.

5 When the king of Egypt was told that the Israelites had left, he and his officers changed their minds about them. They said, "What have we done? We have let the Israelites leave. We have lost our slaves!"

6 So he prepared his chariot and took his army with him.

7 Also, he took six hundred choice chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt with an officer in each one of them.

8 And the LORD(Jesus) hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so he chased the Israelites, who were leaving victoriously.

9 The Egyptians pursued them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and overtook them camping by the sea beside Pi Hahiroth, before Baal Zemphon.

10 And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the LORD(Jesus).

11 They said to Moses, "What have you done to us? Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in the desert? There were plenty of graves for us in Egypt.

12 We told you in Egypt, 'Let us alone; we will stay and serve the Egyptians.' Now we will die in the desert."

13 And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD(Jesus), which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever.

14 The LORD(Jesus) will fight for you, remain calm.”

15 And the LORD(Jesus) said to Moses: Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.

"Why do you cry to me?" This is an awesome question that I am afraid most overlook and it is important to our lives everyday! God is saying, "why are you waiting and crying to me for help, I have already given you all you need, so just don't stand there like a bump on a log, DO SOMETHING, ANYTHING, and I will make it happen! Christians today are empowered by the Spirit of Christ. He has promised us that we can do anything in God's will, in His name and the Father will do it for us. WE MUST BELIEVE. Below, he realizes Moses is "lost" and instructs him just what me must do.

16 Raise your walking stick and hold it over the sea so that the sea will split and the people can cross it on dry land.

17 And I indeed will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them in and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, his chariots, and his horsemen.

18 Then the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD(Jesus), when I have gained honor for Myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.

Pharaoh said to Moses "Who is Yahweh, that I should obey him?" This blasphemous question by Pharaoh must have got to God, and now he wants to show him just who he is! With all of His power and might, so Pharaoh will never ask that question again.

19 And the Angel of God(Elohim/Theos), who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them.

Again: the Angel of God(Elohim/Theos) is Jesus. The slow and silent movement of that majestic column through the air, and occupying a position behind them must have excited the astonishment of the Israelites (Isaiah 58:8). It was an effectual barrier between them and their pursuers, not only protecting them, but concealing their movements. Thus, the same cloud produced light (a symbol of favor) to the people of God, and darkness (a symbol of wrath) to their enemies (compare 2 Corinthians 2:16).

20 So the cloud came between the Egyptians and the Israelites. This made it dark for the Egyptians but gave light to the Israelites. So the cloud kept the two armies apart all night.

21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD(Jesus) caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters split in two.

22 So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

23 And the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.

24 When morning came, the LORD(Jesus) looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and made the Egyptians panic.

25 He kept the wheels of the chariots from turning, making it hard to drive the chariots. The Egyptians shouted, "Let's get away from the Israelites! The LORD(Jesus) is fighting for them and against Egypt."

26 Then the LORD(Jesus) said to Moses: Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen.

27 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and at dawn, the sea returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were trying to run from within it. So the LORD(Jesus) swept the Egyptians away into the sea.

28 The water returned, covering the chariots, chariot drivers, and all the Pharaoh's army that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.

It is surprising that, with such a declaration, some intelligent writers can maintain there is no evidence of the destruction of Pharaoh himself (Psalms 106:11).

29 But the Israelites crossed the sea on dry land, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.

30 So the LORD(Jesus) saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.

31 Thus Israel saw the great work which the LORD(Jesus) had done in Egypt; so the people feared the LORD(Jesus), and they trusted the LORD(Jesus) and his servant Moses.

The Crossing:

Ron Wyatt may have found the true crossing of the Red Sea, which would between Sinai and Arabia. We know the Sinai is in Arabia....After researching the route that the Israelites might have taken in their exodus from Egypt, Ron Wyatt found that the Biblical description fitted perfectly with a deep gorge called Wadi Watir. The book of Exodus explains how God led the children of Israel, "not through the way of the land of the Philistines although that was near...but God led the people about through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea." (Exodus 13:17, 18). Here we find a vast, open desert area. Then in Exodus 14:1, 2 God tells them to turn off the highway, which Ron found led to a canyon now called Wadi Watir.

The Bible records the reaction of Pharaoh when he was informed of their deviation from the highway, (Exodus 14:3), "They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in." Wadi Watir is a long deep canyon which fits this description perfectly. Traditionally it is believed that the Red Sea crossing took place on the Gulf of Suez. However, there are no mountains to be found there. The area is completely flat, unlike the Biblical description. The Gulf of Suez was also a popular site because it is traditionally believed that Mt. Sinai is on the Sinai Peninsula. Again the Bible tells us differently, (Galations 4:25), "Mt. Sinai in ARABIA". After several miles Wadi Watir opens out to a large beach area, on the western coast of the Gulf of Aquaba.

The only beach area along the Gulf of Aquaba, that would have been large enough to accommodate the estimated two million people and their flocks. The Israelites were prevented from traveling north by the presence of an Egyptian military fortress. Indeed to the north of the mouth of Wadi Watir we find an ancient fortress, could this have been the place referred to in the Bible as, Migdol, (Exodus 14:2). To the south the mountains extend all the way down to the sea, thus preventing any further passage. Of course they could not turn around and retrace their steps as the Egyptian army was pursuing them. God had brought them to a point where only He could deliver them, "And Moses said unto the people, fear not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will show you today, for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you shall see them no more again forever...and the LORD caused the sea to go back by strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left." (Exodus 14:13, 21, 22).

http://www.wyattarchaeology.com/red_sea.htm

Exodus 15 "These are the Names" 15

The Song of Moses

This is written poetry in the original text, as a poem or song today would be.

1 Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the LORD(Jesus), and spoke, saying:

"I will sing to the LORD(Jesus),

because he is worthy of great honor.

He has thrown the horse and its rider

into the sea.

2 The LORD(Jesus) is my strength and song,

And He has become my salvation;

He is my God(Elohim/Theos), and I will praise Him;

My father’s God(Elohim/Theos), and I will exalt Him.

3 The LORD(Jesus) is a warrior;

The LORD(Jesus) is His name.

4 Pharaoh’s chariots and his army He has cast into the sea;

His chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea.

5 The deep waters covered them,

and they sank to the bottom like a rock.

6 “Your right hand, O LORD(Jesus), is amazingly strong.

Your right hand, O LORD(Jesus), broke the enemy to pieces.

7 In your great victory

you destroyed those who were against you.

Your anger destroyed them,

like fire burning straw.

8 And with the blast of Your nostrils

the waters piled up.

The moving water stood like a wall;

the deep waters became solid in the middle of the sea.

9 The enemy bragged,

'I'll chase them and catch them.

I'll take all their riches;

I'll take all I want.

I'll pull out my sword,

and my hand will destroy them.'

10 You blew with Your wind,

The sea covered them;

They sank like lead

in the raging water.

11 “Who is like You, O LORD(Jesus), among the gods(el)?

You are wonderfully holy,

amazingly powerful,

a worker of miracles.

12 You stretched out Your right hand;

The earth swallowed them.

13 You in Your mercy have led forth

The people whom You have redeemed;

With your strength you will guide them

to your holy place.

14 “The people will hear and be afraid;

Sorrow will take hold of the inhabitants of Philistia.

15 Then the chiefs of Edom will be dismayed;

The mighty men of Moab,

Trembling will take hold of them;

All the inhabitants of Canaan will melt away.

16 Fear and dread will fall on them;

By the greatness of Your arm

They will be as still as a stone,

Till Your people pass over, O LORD(Jesus),

Till the people pass over

Whom You have purchased.

Whom you have purchased (bought). Jesus purchased us on the cross.

17 You will lead your people and place them

on your very own mountain,

In the place, O LORD(Jesus), made for yourself to live,

the temple, Lord(Adonai), that your hands have made.

18 “The LORD(Jesus) shall reign forever and ever.”

19 For the horses of Pharaoh went with his chariots and his horsemen into the sea,

and the LORD(Jesus) brought back the waters of the sea upon them.

But the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground.

20 Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron[and Moses], took the timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.

took a timbrel--or "tabret"--a musical instrument in the form of a hoop, edged round with rings or pieces of brass to make a jingling noise and covered over with tightened parchment like a drum. It was beat with the fingers, and corresponds to our tambourine.

21 And Miriam answered them:

“Sing to the LORD(Jesus),

For He has triumphed gloriously!

The horse and its rider

He has thrown into the sea!

Miriam the prophetess--so called from her receiving divine revelations (Numbers 12:1, Micah 6:4), but in this instance principally from her being eminently skilled in music, and in this sense the word "prophecy" is sometimes used in Scripture (1 Chronicles 25:1,1 Corinthians 11:5).

22 So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; then they went out into the Wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water.

23 Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah.

Marah means "bitter."

24 The people grumbled to Moses and asked, "What will we drink?"

25 So he cried out to the LORD(Jesus), and the LORD(Jesus) showed him a tree. When he threw the tree into the water, the water became good to drink.

There the Lord gave the people the rule of the law to live by, and there he tested their loyalty to him,

Some travellers have pronounced this to be the Elvah of the Arabs--a shrub in form and flower resembling our hawthorn; others, the berries of the Ghurkhud--a bush found growing around all brackish fountains. But neither of these shrubs are known by the natives to possess such natural virtues. It is far more likely that God miraculously endowed some tree with the property of purifying the bitter water--a tree employed as the medium, but the sweetening was not dependent upon the nature or quality of the tree, but the power of God (compare John 9:6). And hence the "statute and ordinance" that followed, which would have been singularly inopportune if no miracle had been wrought.

26 and said: If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD(Jesus) your God(Elohim/Theos) and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD(Jesus) who heals you.

27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees; so they camped there by the waters.

Exodus 16 "These are the Names" 16

Manna (Bread) from Heaven

1 The Israelites left Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which was between Elim and Sinai; they arrived there on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left Egypt.

It appears from Numbers 32:1-42, that several stations are omitted in this historical notice of the journey. This passage represents the Israelites as advanced into the great plain, which, beginning near El-Murkah, extends with a greater or less breadth to almost the extremity of the peninsula. In its broadest part northward of Tur it is called El-Kaa, which is probably the desert of Sin [ROBINSON].

15th day of second month, also happens to be the day after the SECOND PASSOVER for the unclean. The "Second Passover" on the 14th of the second month and is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible (Numbers 9:6-13) as a make-up day for people who were unable to offer the Passover sacrifice at the appropriate time due to ritual impurity or distance from Jerusalem. Just as on the first Passover night, breaking bones from the second Paschal offering (Numbers 9:12) or leaving meat over until morning (Numbers 9:12) were prohibited. Some in the New Testament Church of God believe we should follow this day.

2 Then the whole Israelite community grumbled to Moses and Aaron in the desert.

3 They said to them, "It would have been better if the LORD(Jesus) had killed us in the land of Egypt. There we had meat to eat and all the food we wanted. But you have brought us into this desert to starve to death."

(See 1 Corinthians 10:11,12).

4 Then the LORD(Jesus) said to Moses: I will cause food to fall like rain from the sky for all of you. Every day the people must go out and gather what they need for that day. I want to see if they will obey My law or not.

Israel, a type of the Church which is from above, and being under the conduct, government, and laws of heaven, received their food from heaven also (Psalms 78:24).

5 On the sixth day of each week, they are to gather twice as much as they gather on other days. Then they are to prepare it.

6 Then Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, “At evening you shall know that the LORD(Jesus) has brought you out of the land of Egypt.

7 And in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD(Jesus); for He hears your complaints against the LORD(Jesus). But who are we, that you complain against us?”

8 Moses also said, "Each evening the LORD(Jesus) will give you meat to eat, and every morning he will give you all the bread you want, because he has heard you grumble against him. You are not grumbling against Aaron and me, because we are nothing; you are grumbling against the LORD(Jesus)"

9 Then Moses spoke to Aaron, “Say to all the church (congregation) of the children of Israel, ‘Come near and stand before the LORD(Jesus), because he has heard your grumblings."

10 While Aaron was speaking to the whole community of the Israelites, they looked toward the desert and all of a sudden, the glory of the LORD(Jesus) appeared in the cloud.

11 And the LORD(Jesus) spoke to Moses, saying:

12 I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. And you shall know that I am the LORD(Jesus) your God(Elohim/Theos).’

13 That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp.

14 And when the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost were on the desert ground.

15 So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was.

Manna means "What is it?"

And Moses said to them, “This is the bread which the LORD(Jesus) has given you to eat.

16 This is the thing that the LORD(Jesus) has commanded: 'Each one of you must gather what he needs, about two quarts for every person in your family.' "

17 Then the children of Israel did so and gathered, some more, some less.

18 Then they measured it. The person who gathered more did not have too much, nor did the person who gathered less have too little. Each person gathered just as much as he needed.

19 And Moses said, “Let no one leave any of it till morning.”

20 But some of the people did not listen to Moses and kept part of it to eat the next morning. It became full of worms and began to stink, so Moses was angry with those people.

21 So they gathered it every morning, every man according to his needs. And when the sun became hot, it melted away.

22 On the sixth day the people gathered twice as much food—four quarts for every person. When all the leaders of the community came and told this to Moses,

23 he said to them, "This is what the LORD(Jesus) commanded, because tomorrow is the Sabbath, the LORD's(Yahweh's) holy day of rest. Bake what you want to bake, and boil what you want to boil today. Save the rest of the food until tomorrow morning."

The Sabbath is seen here as a law of God BEFORE Sinai! This is because the Ten Commandments were all in force before the actual writing on the tablets!

ALSO NOTE: The Sabbath BEGINS AT DAWN HERE!!!!!!!

24 So the people saved it until the next morning, as Moses had commanded, and none of it began to stink or have worms in it.

25 Moses told the people, "Eat the food you gathered yesterday. Today is a Sabbath, the Lord's day of rest; you will not find any out in the field today.

26 You should gather the food for six days, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day. On that day there will not be any food on the ground."

27 Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none.

28 And the LORD(Jesus) said to Moses: How long do these people refuse to keep My Commandments and My Laws?

God is angry and should be, but more importantly this is a question for us today. HOW LONG WILL WE REFUSE TO OBEY GOD's LAWS as the churches do today.

29 See! For I, the LORD(Jesus) has given you the Sabbath! I gave you on the sixth day bread for two days, but on the seventh day each of you must stay where you are. Do not go anywhere.

30 So the people rested on the seventh day.

31 And the house of Israel called its name Manna. And it was like white coriander seed, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.

32 Then Moses said, “This is the thing which the LORD(Jesus) has commanded: 'Save two quarts of this food for your descendants. Then they can see the food I gave you to eat in the desert when I brought you out of Egypt.'”

33 And Moses said to Aaron, "Take a jar and fill it with two quarts of manna. Then place it before the Lord, and save it for your descendants."

This was placed in the Ark of the Covenant after it was made and God miraculously kept it for hundreds of years in the Ark without it ever spoiling!

34 So Aaron did what the LORD(Jesus) commanded Moses. He put the jar of manna in front of the testimony to keep it safe.

Aaron was commanded to put a sample of it in a pot--a golden pot (Hebrews 9:4)--to be laid before the Testimony, to be kept for future generations, that they might see the bread on which the Lord fed their fathers in the wilderness. But we have the bread of which that was merely typical (1 Corinthians 10:3, John 6:32).

Testimony means here: The agreement of following the TEN 10 Commandments.

35 The Israelites ate manna for forty years, until they came to the land where they settled—the edge of the land of Canaan.

36 The measure they used for the manna was two quarts.

two quarts, or one-tenth of an ephah

Exodus 17 "These are the Names" 17

Water from the Rock:

1 Then all the church(congregation) of the children of Israel set out on their journey from the Wilderness of Sin, according to the command of the LORD(Jesus), and camped in Rephidim; and there wasn't water for the people to drink.

2 So they quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water to drink."

Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why are you testing the LORD(Jesus)?”

3 And the people were very thirsty for water, so they grumbled against Moses. They said, "Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Was it to kill us, our children, and our farm animals with thirst?"

4 So Moses cried out to the LORD(Jesus), saying, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me!”

His language, instead of betraying any signs of resentment or vindictive imprecation on a people who had given him a cruel and unmerited treatment, was the expression of an anxious wish to know what was the best to be done in the circumstances (compare Matthew 5:44, Romans 12:21).

5 And the LORD(Jesus) said to Moses: Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your walking stick with which you struck the river, and go.

6 I will then stand before you there on the rock in Horeb(Mt Sinai). Hit that rock with the stick, and water will come out of it so that the people can drink.

Moses did these things as the elders of Israel watched.

that rock: I am not sure if this is the pillow rock of Jacob or not, but some think that it was. I rather believe that it is a play on words, and the rock struck, represents Christ. The cloud rested on a particular rock, just as the star rested on the house where the infant Savior was lodged (Matthew 2:9). And from the rod-smitten rock there forthwith gushed a current of pure and refreshing water. It was perhaps the greatest miracle performed by Moses, and in many respects bore a resemblance to the greatest of Christ's: being done without ostentation and in the presence of a few chosen witnesses (1 Corinthians 10:4).

7 So he called the name of the place Massah[Literally Tempted] and Meribah[Contention], because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD(Jesus), saying, “Is the LORD(Jesus) with us or not?”

The question is more like, "We want to find out if God is real or not!" See: Hebrews 3:8.

8 At Rephidim the Amalekites came and fought the Israelites.

9 And Moses said to Joshua(Jesus), "Choose some men and go and fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill, holding the walking stick of God(Elohim/Theos) in my hands."

JOSHUA or, "Jesus" Joshua is the same name for Jesus. Jesus is the Greek form of Yeshua, or Joshua in English. It is important to connect the name Joshua as Jesus because like the Savior, this Joshua follows Moses too. This fact cannot be overlooked or ignored. It is another "proof" of the identity of Jesus as Messiah.This is the earliest notice of a young warrior destined to act a prominent part in the history of Israel. He went with a number of picked men. There is not here a wide open plain on which the battle took place, as according to the rules of modern warfare. The Amalekites were a nomadic tribe, making an irregular attack on a multitude probably not better trained than themselves, and for such a conflict the low hills and open country around this wady would afford ample space [ROBINSON]. (Acts 7:45, Hebrews 4:8).

10 So Joshua did as Moses instructed him, and fought with Amalek. Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

11 When Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek started to win the battle.

12 Moses’ hands became tired; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; They kept his hands steady until the sun went down.

13 So Joshua(Jesus) defeated the Amalekites with his weapons.

14 Then the LORD(Jesus) said to Moses: Write about this battle in a book so people will remember. And be sure to tell Joshua, because I will completely destroy the Amalekites from the earth.

15 And Moses built an altar and called its name, The-LORD(Jesus)-Is-My-Banner;

The LORD Is-My-Banner...Hebrew YHWH Nissi

16 for he said, “The LORD(Yah) has promised me that he, the LORD(Jesus), will fight against the Amalekites forever."

Not important but Yah is used here instead of Yahweh the first time, then Yahweh is used the second time.

Exodus 18 "These are the Names" 18

1 And Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard of all that God(Elohim/Theos) had done for Moses and for Israel His people—that the LORD(Jesus) had brought Israel out of Egypt.

Jethro . . . came . . . unto Moses, &c.--It is thought by many eminent commentators that this episode is inserted out of its chronological order, for it is described as occurring when the Israelites were "encamped at the mount of God(Elohim/Theos)." And yet they did not reach it till the third month after their departure from Egypt (Exodus 19:1,2; compare Deuteronomy 1:6,9-15).

2 Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after he had sent her back,

3 along with their two sons. The first son was named Gershom(stranger), because when he was born, Moses said, "I am a stranger in a foreign country."

Compare Exodus 2:22

4 The other son was named Eliezer,[God(Elohim/Theos) is help] because when he was born, Moses said, "The God(Elohim/Theos) of my father is my help. He saved me from the Pharaoh of Egypt."

5 and Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness, where he was encamped at the mountain of God(Elohim/Theos).

6 Jethro had sent a message ahead to Moses that said, "I, Jethro, your father-in-law, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons."

7 So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, bowed down, and kissed him. And they asked each other about their well-being, and they went into the tent.

This is most telling to me. Moses has not seen his wife now in some time, yet he spends this time talking with his father-in-law instead of with her. I think this shows the continued tension in this marriage between the two. We will see later that Moses takes a second wife, who appears to be black and this further upsets everyone, except God.

8 And Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD(Jesus) had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardship that had come upon them on the way, and how the LORD(Jesus) had delivered them.

9 Jethro was very happy to hear all the good things the LORD(Jesus) had done for Israel, whom He had delivered out of Egypt.

10 And Jethro said, “Blessed be the LORD(Jesus), who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh, and who has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.

11 Now I know that the LORD(Jesus) is greater than all the gods(Elohim/Theos); because he did this to those who looked down on Israel."

12 Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, offered a burnt offering and other sacrifices to God(Elohim/Theos). And Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God(Elohim/Theos).

Exodus 18:12 Masoretic Text and Septuagint; Syriac, Targum, and Vulgate read offered and not took as KJV has..

13 The next day Moses solved disagreements among the people, and the people stood around him from morning until night.

14 When Moses' father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he asked, "What is all this you are doing for the people? Why are you the only one to solve disagreements? All the people are standing around you from morning until night!"

15 And Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to ask God(Elohim/Theos) questions.

16 When people have a disagreement, they come to me, and I decide who is right. I make known the statutes of God(Elohim/Theos) and His laws.”

17 Moses' father-in-law said to him, "You are not doing this good.

18 You and the people who come to you will get too tired. This is too much work for you; you can't do it by yourself.

19 Now listen to me, and I will give you some advice, and God(Elohim/Theos) will agree. You must speak to God(Elohim/Theos) for the people and tell him about their disagreements.

20 And you shall teach them My ( Jesus ( אֵת ('eth))*) statutes and the laws, and show them the way in which they must walk and the work they must do. 

21 But choose some capable men from among the people—men who respect God(Elohim/Theos), who can be trusted, and who will not change their decisions for money. Make these men officers over the people, to rule over groups of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.

22 And let them judge the people at all times. Then it will be that every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they themselves shall judge. So it will be easier for you, for they will bear the burden with you.

23 If you do this as God(Elohim/Theos) so commands you, then you will be able to do your job, and all the people will go home with their disagreements solved."

24 So Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said.

25 So Moses chose capable men from all the Israelites and made them leaders over the people; they were officers over groups of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.

26 These officers solved disagreements among the people all the time. They brought the hard cases to Moses, but they decided the simple cases themselves.

27 So Moses sent his father-in-law on his way, and Jethro went back to his own home.

Sanhedrin:

This is the formation of the Sanhedrin, the group of 71 religious elders that would put Jesus to death! It should be noted that God did not command Moses to do this, his father-in-law did, who may have been a bit pagan. We don't know. The Sanhedrin is mentioned frequently in the Gospels. According to the Gospels, the council conspired to have Jesus killed by paying one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, thirty pieces of silver in exchange for delivery of Jesus into their hands. When the Sanhedrin was unable to provide evidence that Jesus had committed a capital crime, the Gospels state that witnesses came forward and accused the Nazarene of blasphemy — a capital crime under Mosaic law. But, because the Sanhedrin was not of Roman authority, it could not condemn criminals to death, according to John 18:31. This did not prevent them from doing so at other times; Acts 6:12 records them ordering the stoning of Saint Stephen and also Jesus half-brother, James the Just according to Antiquities of the Jews 20.9.1.

Circa 30, the Gospels continue, Jesus was brought before the Roman governor of Iudaea Province, Pontius Pilate, for decision. The Christian account says that Pilate disagreed with the Sanhedrin's decision, and found no fault — but that the crowd demanded crucifixion. Pilate, it is speculated, gave in because he was concerned about his career and about revolt — and conveyed the death sentence of crucifixion on Jesus. For more information on this subject, see Jesus' Roman Trial.

The New Testament also claims certain members of the Sanhedrin as followers of Jesus. Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea are two such men that are named in the Gospels.

The Christian accounts of the Sanhedrin, and the role the council played in the crucifixion of Jesus, is frequently cited as a cause of Christian anti-Semitism, and is thus normally considered a sensitive topic.

A Sanhedrin also appears in Acts 4–7 and 22:30–23:24, perhaps the one led by Gamaliel.

Exodus 19 "These are the Names" 19

Mount Sinai

1 Exactly two months after the Israelites left Egypt, they arrived in the wilderness of Sinai.

In the third month (I translated Exactly on the beginning of the 3rd month) --according to Jewish usage, the first day of that month--"same day."--It is added, to mark the time more explicitly, that is, forty-five days after Egypt--one day spent on the mount (Exodus 19:3), one returning the people's answer (Exodus 19:7,8), three days of preparation, making the whole time fifty days from the first Passover to the promulgation of the law. Hence the feast of Pentecost, that is, the fiftieth day, was the inauguration of the Old Testament church, and the divine wisdom is apparent in the selection of the same reason for the institution of the New Testament church (John 1:17, Acts 2:1).

Wesley writes: In the third month after they came out of Egypt. It is computed that the law was given just fifty days after their coming out of Egypt, in remembrance of which the feast of Pentecost was observed the fiftieth day after the passover, and in compliance with which the spirit was poured out upon the apostles, at the feast of Pentecost, fifty days after the death of Christ. Mount Sinai was a place which nature, not art, had made conspicuous, for it was the highest in all that range of mountains. Thus God put contempt upon cities and palaces, setting up his pavilion on the top of a mountain, in a barren desert. It is called Sinai, from the multitude of thorny bushes that over - spread it.

2 After breaking camp at Rephidim, they came to the wilderness of Sinai and set up camp there at the base of mountain(Mt Sinai).

3 And Moses went up to God(Elohim/Theos), and the LORD(Jesus) called to him from the mountain, saying: Give these instructions to the family of Jacob; announce it to the children of Israel.

4 You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.

5 Now if you will obey Me and keep My Covenant, you will be My own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to Me.

6 And you will be My kingdom of priests, My holy nation. This is the message you must give to the people of Israel.

7 So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and put before them all the words which the LORD(Jesus) commanded him.

8 Then all the people answered together and said, “All that the LORD(Jesus) has spoken we will do.” So Moses brought back the words of the people to the LORD(Jesus).

9 And the LORD(Jesus) said to Moses: I will come to you in a thick cloud, Moses, so the people themselves can hear Me when I speak with you. Then they will always trust you.

So Moses told the words of the people to the LORD(Jesus).

10 Then the LORD(Jesus) said to Moses: Go down and prepare the people for My arrival. Consecrate them today and tomorrow, and have them wash their clothing.

11 Be sure they are ready on the third day, for on that day the LORD(Jesus) will come down on Mount Sinai as all the people watch.

12 Mark off a boundary all around the mountain. Warn the people, ‘Be careful! Do not go up on the mountain or even touch its boundaries. Anyone who touches the mountain will certainly be put to death.

13 No hand may touch the person or animal that crosses the boundary; instead, stone them or shoot them with arrows. They must be put to death.’ However, when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast, then the people may go up on the mountain.

14 So Moses went down to the people. He consecrated them for worship, and they washed their clothes.

15 He told them, “Get ready for the third day, and until then abstain from having sexual intercourse with your wives.”

16 On the morning of the third day, thunder roared and lightning flashed, and a dense cloud came down on the mountain. There was a long, loud blast from a ram’s horn, and all the people trembled.

As the mountain burned with fire, God was exhibited as a consuming fire to the transgressors of His law. The thunder and lightning, more awful amid the deep stillness of the region and reverberating with terrific peals among the mountains, would rouse the universal attention; a thick cloud was an apt emblem of the dark and shadowy dispensation (compare Matthew 17:5).

17 And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God(Elohim/Theos), and they stood at the foot of the mountain.

18 Now Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the LORD(Jesus) had descended on it in the form of fire. The smoke billowed into the sky like smoke from a brick fireplace, and the whole mountain shook violently.

19 As the blast of the ram’s horn grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God(Elohim/Theos) answered him by voice.

20 Then the LORD(Jesus) came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the LORD(Jesus) called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

21 And the LORD(Jesus) said to Moses: Go down and warn the people, not to break through the boundaries to see the Lord, or they will die.

22 Even the priests who regularly come near to the LORD(Jesus) must purify themselves so that the LORD(Jesus) does not break out and destroy them.

23 But Moses said to the LORD(Jesus), “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai; for You warned us, saying, ‘Set markers around the mountain and consecrate it.’”

24 Then the LORD(Jesus) said to him: Away! Go down and bring Aaron back up with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to approach the LORD(Jesus), or he will break out and destroy them.them. In the meantime, do not let the priests or the people break through LORD(Jesus),

25 So Moses went down to the people and spoke to them.

Moses, as a mediator, returned the words of the people to God. Thus Christ, the Mediator, as a Prophet, reveals God's will to us, his precepts and promises; and then, as a Priest, offers up to God our spiritual sacrifices, not only of prayer and praise, but of devout affections, and pious resolutions, the work of his own Spirit in us.

Exodus 20 "These are the Names" 20

The Ten Commandments:

The Movie “The Ten Commandments” is what most think about when you mention the commandments of God. Many today think the teachings of the Apostle Paul claimed that commandments of God were done away. Many believe Paul taught Christians to disobey the Ten Commandments. Nothing is farther from the truth. David was inspired to say: "All His commandments are sure. They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness" (Ps. 110:7-8). Jesus didn't abolish the Ten Commandments. "Think not," He said, "that I came to destroy the law or the prophets: I came not to destroy, but to fulfill." (Matt:5:17-20). We must follow His example today and FULFILL the law. We must believe the prophets, too -- and obey God as they commanded us. The Ten Commandments constitute the BASIC SPIRITUAL LAW which regulates human life. It is "holy, just and good," said Paul in Romans 7:12 and 14.

The Law (Ten Commandments) have always existed since creation. In Exodus 16:28 we read that the Eternal, when speaking about Israel to Moses, said: "How long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?" Israel could not refuse what did not exist! The Ten Commandments were already in force! Every Law of God can be found in Genesis! God is the same yesterday, today and forever! Today, we live in a lawless age, and no wonder, our very own churches teach us that God's Law has been abolished! We are lawless. The Bible gives one definition of sin. Sin = Lawlessness! Without the law, there is no sin! Yet we are told that everyone is a sinner and must repent. This means that all of us BREAK THE LAW! It's that simple.

From Herbert W Armstrong: To properly understand and feel the real impact of the Ten Commandments, let us notice the setting in which they were given. Remember that Moses and the Israelites had preserved the knowledge that their God was the Creator of heaven and earth. He was the great RULER of the earth who had brought about the Flood in the days of Noah, their forefather.

And now the true God, the God of Israel, had delivered them from Egyptian bondage by tremendous miracles; had brought them out of Egypt and through the waters of the Red Sea which rose on either side of them as a mighty wall (Exodus 14).

Since the time they had passed through the Red Sea, God had begun to deal with them and to remind them of His laws which they may have, in part, forgotten. Before they ever reached Mount Sinai,

God erased all doubt about which day was His Sabbath by performing a series of miracles to remind them (Exodus 16). In Exodus 18, Moses was already judging the people according to God's laws and statutes (verse 16).

Now that they were come to Mount Sinai, God proposed -- NOT to give them a new law -- but to enter into a covenant or AGREEMENT with them so that they would be His special people and He would be their God whose laws and statutes and judgments they would obey.

Since the Ten Commandments were -- and always will be -- God's basic SPIRITUAL law (Romans 7:14), they were made a part of this agreement between God and Israel. Since they were His holy and spiritual laws, He gave them with great power, and, unlike the rest of the covenant, wrote them with His own hand.

Notice the setting in Exodus 19. God commanded the people to clean themselves up and be ready against the third day when He would come down to them (verses 10-11). "And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightning, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet, exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp TREMBLED" (verse 16).

God was here showing His power as the Creator of this earth as He began to speak with His own voice the Ten Commandments! As the Creator Himself descended upon Mount Sinai in His glory, "the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and THE WHOLE MOUNT quaked GREATLY" (verse 18).

In this setting of great glory and majesty and power, God spoke the Ten Commandments to the people who were trembling in awe below the mountain. His voice must have literally shaken these people with its power as it boomed across the land like the sound of thunder (Psalm 104:7). From: The Ten Commandments 1960.......

God's Ten Commandments are still in force because Jesus declared them to be. We are still called by God to honor the Ten Commandments and obey them. Jesus also said that obeying the Law or the Ten Commandments is not just a superficial act, but one that carries the essence of the law into our thoughts and hearts. Jesus proclaimed that if we think something that is contrary to one of the Ten Commandments, we are to view it in the same light as if we had physically carried out the act. For instance, if we think to ourselves it is okay to slander or gossip about our neighbors, we are in essence breaking the ninth Commandment, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." If we are married and one day we see a handsome man or a pretty woman walking down the street and we lust in our hearts for them, we are breaking the seventh of God's Ten Commandments, "Thou shalt not commit adultery."

As Christians, we should not think that since Paul tells us "we are set free from the law" the Ten Commandments no longer apply to us. Paul is telling us that because we are now in a relationship with Christ, we are forgiven of our indiscretions when it comes to following the Ten Commandments. What he gave us was a way to be forgiven from the penalities of these Commandments when we break them - ONLY IF WE ASK! We are still called throughout the New Testament to obey God's Ten Commandments.

God's Ten Commandments are still the standard by which we should strive to live our lives. They are not some outdated laws that were only to be used by Moses. God meant the Ten Commandments to be permanent guidelines that we are still to follow in order to have a more meaningful relationship with God and each other. This is the New Covenant which Jesus has ratified by His blood (Luke 22:20).

Stone Tablets: Carved in stone by the finger of Jesus Christ, which he promises to carve into our hearts in the New Covenant, when he returns. (Jer 31:33, Hebrews 8:10) "This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law into their minds and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor saying 'Know the Lord', for they all shall know Me, from the least to the greatest among them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more" (Jeremiah 31:33-34). This is the New Covenant which Jesus has ratified by His blood (Luke 22:20).

Psalm 40:8 is a prophecy of the Messiah: "Behold, I come; in the scroll of the Book it is written of me: 'I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart'". In fulfillment: "When the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under law, so that He might redeem those who were under the law" (Galatians 4:4). Jesus Christ has kept the law of God, loving the Lord His God with all His heart, and His neighbor as Himself. This is obvious from reading the four gospels. Delighting to do God's will (John 4:34; 5:30; 6:38), Jesus had the law of God (the Ten 'Words' of God) in His heart, just as the Ark of the Covenant kept the stone tablets of the Testimony. The Word of God had become flesh and tabernacled among us, full of grace and truth (reality, Greek) (John 1:14). Through Jesus' death on the cross, as a perfect offering, we are forgiven our offenses under the law and redeemed from slavery to it.

God undertakes to write His laws into our hearts and inscribe them on our minds, by sending forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts (Galatians 4:6 Hebrews 8:10-12). Thereafter, an inner working of life takes place, "Christ who is our life" (Colossians 3:4), "Christ being formed in you" (Galatians 4:19), that will result in at least the same testimony of God as the Ten Commandments. The children of Israel broke the old covenant, and we still do, because of trying to keep it by self-effort in our flesh. In the New Covenant, God undertakes to write His laws into our minds by His Spirit (Romans 8:4 Ezekiel 36:25-28), providing we walk by the Spirit.

John is very economical in his writing, using one or two words to describe vast realities. But his focus is not on understanding so much as truly knowing, experiencing, for example the Bread of Life (John 6:35). John refers to Jesus as:

the 'Word' in his gospel (John 1:1)

the 'Word of Life' in his first epistle (1 John 1:1)

the 'Word of God' in Revelation 19:6.

In each case, John's underlying thought seems to be the Ark of the Testimony.

In the Torah (first five books of the Bible, written by Moses) these are known as the TEN SAYINGS or THE LAW. All of the Law of God are summed up here.

1 And God(Elohim/Theos) spoke all these words, saying:

#1 2 I am the LORD(Jesus) your God(Elohim/Theos), who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of slavery.

3 You shall have no other gods but Me.

This is the first Commandment. The Divine Being Himself was the speaker (Deuteronomy 5:12,32,33), in tones so loud as to be heard--so distinct as to be intelligible by the whole multitude standing in the valleys below, amid the most appalling phenomena of agitated nature. The First Commandment is a most logical, simple, easy-to-understand commandment. As we have seen, however, the whole world would be a dramatically different place if everyone kept the First Commandment!

Think about it for a moment! What do you really have to give up by keeping the First Commandment? Do you have to move, change jobs, go back to school, give away all your material goods, go through rigorous training, deprive yourself of food, shelter or clothing, or "do" anything else which is harsh, unreasoning, rigorous or which places you in bondage? Absolutely not! All you have to do is recognize the greatness of your Creator! You must learn to love, honor and worship Him; to stand in deep awe and respect of Him, and to place your Creator first in your life! This removes from you an enormous number of curses, and brings with it an automatic number of blessings.[Garner Ted Armstrong]

#2 4 You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea.

5 You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the LORD(Jesus) your God(Elohim/Theos), am a jealous God(Elohim/Theos), who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me

You should not bow down... "make in order to bow." Under the auspices of Moses himself, figures of cherubim, brazen serpents, oxen, and many other things in the earth beneath, were made and never condemned. The mere making was no sin--it was the making with the intent to give idolatrous worship.

6 But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.

#3 7 You shall not take the name of the LORD(Jesus) your God(Elohim/Theos) in vain, for the LORD(Jesus) will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.

#4 8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

9 For six days each week you are to do your ordinary work,

10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath, dedicated to the LORD(Jesus) your God(Elohim/Theos). On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you.

11 For in six days the LORD(Jesus) made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD(Jesus) blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.

Remember---implying it was already known, and recognized as a season of sacred rest. The first four commandments [Exodus 20:3-11] comprise our duties to God--the other six [Exodus 20:12-17] our duties to our fellow men; and as interpreted by Christ, they reach to the government of the heart as well as the lip (Matthew 5:17). "If a man do them he shall live in them" (Leviticus 18:5, Nehemiah 9:29). But, ah! what an if for frail and fallen man. Whoever rests his hope upon the law stands debtor to it all; and in this view every one would be without hope were not "the LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" [Jeremiah 23:6, 33:16] (John 1:17).

see note below by Garner Ted Armstrong:

#5 12 Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the LORD (Yahweh) your God(Elohim/Theos) is giving you.

The first four Commandments are our relationship with God, the Fifth to our parents and the final five to our friends and neighbors. This is why Jesus said the Law can be summed up by two Commandments only. Love your God with all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. These two Laws sum up the Ten Commandments! They do not replace them!

#6 13 Don't murder.

Not, "You must not Kill". God allows and sometimes demands the killing of others, but not murder. The Hebrew word here is ratsach, which means to kill illegally.

#7 14 Don't not commit adultery.

The definition is only this: Sex between a married women and any man other than her husband. Paul does expand this to also mean any fornication (hence a married man with a virgin other than his wife) but God's Law does not mean this here.

#8 15 Don't steal.

Commandments 6,7,8 are only one word long. In English we use many words to translate what one word of Hebrew meant. Here the word is ganab. That is the only word in Hebrew or ancient Caananite that was used. Don't take what is not yours!

#9 16 Don't testify falsely against your neighbor.

False testimony, is a crime today and with God. A legal system cannot survive that allows people to lie in a court against someone else. This is why God's Law requires the testimony of two-witnesses inorder to condemn anyone. This is why God must send two witnesses to condemn the earth in Revelation, as with Moses and Aaron against Pharaoh. Lying is not bearing false witness! Many people try to say, if you lie, you break God's Law. That is not the truth! If you lie concerning someone else and say they did what they didn't do, that is the crime.

#10 17 You must not covet your neighbor’s house. You must not covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.

Human nature is vanity, jealousy, lust and greed. Human nature is egocentric, self- centered and solely concerned with pleasing the self. But the Word of God makes it very clear that, while man wants to appear "good," and he wants to BE "good," he does not want to do good! "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Romans 8:7). God's Word makes it dear that "thy neighbor" is not restricted to the individual living next door, or just across the street. "Thy neighbor" means any other fellow human being on the face of the whole earth. Coveting comes as naturally to human beings as breathing. The profiteering, competitive motive of "keeping up with the Joneses," or "getting ahead," is what drives humankind. No single word better describes our sin-sick modern space-age world than the word "materialism." While the disparity between "have" and "have-not" nations is wide and growing wider, it is nevertheless true that, in our Western societies, millions of human beings have never had it so good. Millions live amidst an outpouring of manufactured goods and commodities such as has never been seen from creation until now. The blood of Jesus Christ forgives our past transgressions! Now we are not to sin any more. meaning we are no longer to break the Ten Commandments! [Garner Ted Armstrong]

18 When the people heard the thunder and the loud blast of the ram’s horn, and when they saw the flashes of lightning and the smoke billowing from the mountain, they stood at a distance, trembling with fear.

19 Then they said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen. But don’t let God(Elohim/Theos) speak with us, we are too afraid that we will die.”

20 Don’t be afraid,” Moses answered them, “for God(Elohim/Theos) has come to test you, and so that your fear of him will keep you from sinning!”

21 So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God(Elohim/Theos) was.

22 Then the LORD(Jesus) said to Moses: Say this to the people of Israel: You saw for yourselves that I spoke to you from heaven.

23 Remember, you must not make any idols of silver or gold to represent me.

Or to represent and worship him with. Images of Jesus, or anything that becomes a part of worshipping God is wrong. This does not apply to objects of gold used in following God's law. He allowed a gold lampstand, as long as everyone knew it was not God Himself. He may even allow the wearing of gold crosses (although I believe the cross is pagan) or jewelry that have the Ten Commandments on them or other types of images like this. The simple test is does the object get worshipped, or does it inspire worshipping the ONE TRUE GOD.

24 Build me an altar made of earth, and offer your sacrifices to me, your burnt offerings and peace offerings, your sheep and goats, and your cattle. Build my altar wherever I cause my name to be remembered, and I will come to you and bless you.

25 And if you make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hand carved stone; for if you use your tools on it, you have profaned it.

Alters of stone must be placed whole rocks only!

26 And do not approach my altar by going up steps. If you do, someone might look up under your clothing and see your nakedness.

I guess a precaution taken for the sake of decency, in consequence of the loose, wide, flowing garments of the priests.

SEE NOTE ON THE SABBATH

Exodus 21 “These are the names” 21 
LAWS:

There is a lot of confusion today concerning Mosaic versus Divine law. Many claim that the New Testament, especially the epistles of Paul, is that Christians are no longer under the rule of the Mosaic law. (see Rom. 6:14; 7:1-14; Gal. 3:10-13, 24-25; 4:21; 5:1, 13; 2 Cor. 3:7-18) The Sabbath and dietary laws were in existence before Moses, and the Holy Days are forever. After all, Jesus (Yeshua or Joshua) commands us to commemorate His sacrifice, His death, every PASSOVER, and the Sabbath-keeping Church of God was founded upon the holy day of PENTECOST. Good thing those Jewish converts didn't fall for the religious lies popular today that blather they were all "done away!" (1 John 2:4, Titus 1:16).

We are in lawless times, and I believe that much of this can be traced back to the erroneous teaching of the so-called Christian Churches that teach that Jesus came to abolish the Law, or in another way to look at it, He came to make us lawless, or sinners! How’s that you say? Jesus wanted us to be sinners? No, that is not what I am saying, it is what your churches are saying Jesus did! They say he came to abolish the Law. What is the law, and what is Sin? The Bible gives the definition of sin as, "Sin is the transgression of the law" (1 John 3:4). Sin is breaking the Law! So if we are lawless, we are sinners. Is there no law?

Then there is no sin, right? Do these same churches say that using profanity in God’s name, or having sex with others not married to you, or murder is sin? You bet they do! That is where their doctrines go astray! One of the terms most often used is "not under law but under GRACE."

But what is grace? When one is "gracious," it usually means being kind and good. Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary says grace is "favor, kindness, mercy, etc." The ecclesiastical usage is "divine mercy or forgiveness."Grace means more than just possessing a kind, good and gentle spirit; it connotes the favor and mercy of God—divine mercy or being forgiven. Forgiven from what? You know the answer, SIN!But, again, how about another definition?

What is sin? The Bible responds, "Sin is the transgression of the law" (1 John 3:4). If that is what sin is—if sin is the breaking of God's laws—sin is also failing to keep God's laws! Sin is not only the breaking of the law of God, but it is also failing to keep the law of God, is it not? When we break laws of God, we are a "sinner." and the Bible also says “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

Everyone has broken God's holy laws, the Ten Commandments. It is the breaking of these laws, then, as they are applied in principle and as they are magnified by Christ in the New Testament, that constitutes sin (1 John 3:4). However, Jesus Christ of Nazareth died so that his death could act as a payment for our sins, so we don't have to die and suffer the consequences of our own illegal and unlawful acts!

Grace is God's mercy: the undeserved, unmerited, unearned pardon which God grants us upon our acceptance of the shed blood of Jesus Christ, our confession of our personal sins and our acceptance of Jesus as our personal Savior. "In whom [Christ] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace!" (Ephesians 1:7).

Grace, then, is God's loving willingness to forgive us of having broken His Ten Commandments! We are still under the Law, and eventually under even Mosaic Law again in the millennium. The only laws that follow that are or will be changed, are those laws that have an older better law to replace it. Jesus gives us this example concerning divorce. He said Moses allowed for divorce because we are a stubborn people, but he said IN THE BEGINNING it was not so. Here Christ is showing an earlier more perfect law to follow, over Mosaic Law. The same applies for polygamy. It is in the Law and legal, but originally, it was not God’s intent.

EXODUS 21:

MOSAIC LAW:

1 These are the rulings you are to present to them:

2 If you purchase a Hebrew slave, he is to work six years; but in the seventh, he is to be given his freedom without having to pay anything.

Every Israelite was free-born; but slavery was permitted under certain restrictions. An Hebrew might be made a slave through poverty, debt, or crime; but at the end of six years he was entitled to freedom, and his wife, if she had voluntarily shared his state of bondage, also obtained release. Should he, however, have married a female slave, she and the children, after the husband's liberation, remained the master's property; and if, through attachment to his family, the Hebrew chose to forfeit his privilege and abide as he was, a formal process was gone through in a public court, and a brand of servitude stamped on his ear (Psalms 40:6) for life, or at least till the Jubilee (Deuteronomy 15:17).

3 If he is not married when he becomes your slave, he must leave without a wife. But if he is married when he becomes your slave, he may take his wife with him.

4 If his master has given him a wife, and she gives birth to sons or daughters, the woman and her children will belong to the master. When the slave is set free, only he may leave.

5 But if the slave says, 'I love my master, my wife and my children, and I don't want to go free,'

6 then the slave's master must take him to God(Elohim/Theos). The master is to take him to a door or doorframe and punch a hole through the slave's ear using a sharp tool. Then the slave shall serve him forever.

7 If a man sells his daughter to be a female slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do.

8 If her master married her but decides she no longer pleases him, then he is to allow her to be redeemed. He is not allowed to sell her to a foreign people, because he has treated her unfairly.

9 If he has her marry his son, then he is to treat her like a daughter.

10 If he marries another wife, he is not to reduce her food, clothing or marital rights.

This means that a man cannot stop having sex, or any other obligations to his older wife because of a newer one. This actually protects the family. DIVORCE is NOT an OPTION FOR GOD It is permitted, sometimes mandated for paganism, but not what God wants.

11 And if he does not do these three for her, then she shall go out free, without paying money.

12 Anyone who hits a person and kills him must be put to death.

13 However, if he did not plan it before hand, then God(Elohim/Theos) allowed that to happen, so the person must go to a place I will choose.

14 But if a man acts with premeditation against his neighbor, to kill him by treachery, you shall take him from My altar, that he may die.

or: even if he has run to my altar for safety.

15 And he who hits his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.

16 Whoever kidnaps someone must be put to death, regardless of whether he has already sold him or the person is found still in his possession.

17 And he who curses his father or his mother shall be put to death.

18 If two men argue, and one hits the other with a rock or with his fist, the one who is hurt but not killed might have to stay in bed.

19 Later if he is able to get up and walk around outside with his walking stick, the one who hit him is not to be punished. But he must pay the injured man for the loss of his time, and he must support the injured man until he is completely healed.

God's Laws do not make use of jails! Yes, we will see they contain “cities for criminals” but God's Laws are based on resitution and not incarceration. God expects that criminals are to pay back for their crimes and not be imprisoned. Really, doesn’t this make better sense than throwing people in jail, only to become even more hardened criminals? We surely could use God’s legal system today in place of man’s.!

20 If a person beats his male or female slave with a stick so severely that he dies, he is to be punished;

21 except that if the slave lives for a day or two, he is not to be punished, since the slave is his property.

22 If people are fighting with each other and happen to hurt a pregnant woman so badly that her unborn child dies, then, even if no other harm follows, he must be fined. He must pay the amount set by the woman's husband and confirmed by judges.

23 If any harm follows, then you shall give life for life,

The law which authorized retaliation (a principle acted upon by all primitive people) was a civil one. It was given to regulate the procedure of the public magistrate in determining the amount of compensation in every case of injury, but did not encourage feelings of private revenge. The later Jews, however, mistook it for a moral precept, and were corrected by our Lord (Matthew 5:38-42).

24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

26 If a person hits his male or female slave's eye and destroys it, he must let him go free in compensation for his eye.

27 If he knocks out his male or female slave's tooth, he must let him go free in compensation for his tooth.

28 If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox is to be stoned and its flesh not eaten, but the owner of the ox will have no further liability.

-For the purpose of sanctifying human blood, and representing all injuries affecting life in a serious light, an animal that occasioned death was to be killed or suffer punishment proportioned to the degree of damage it had caused. Punishments are still inflicted on this principle in Persia and other countries of the East; and among a rude people greater effect is thus produced in inspiring caution, and making them keep noxious animals under restraint, than a penalty imposed on the owners.

29 However, if the ox was in the habit of goring in the past, and the owner was warned but did not confine it, so that it ended up killing a man or a woman; then the ox is to be stoned, and its owner too is to be put to death.

30 However, a ransom may be imposed on him; and the death penalty will be commuted if he pays the amount

Blood fines are common among the Arabs as they were once general throughout the East. This is the only case where a money compensation, instead of capital punishment, was expressly allowed in the Mosaic law.

31 If the ox gores a son or daughter, the same rule applies.

32 If the ox gores a male or female slave, its owner must give their master twelve ounces of silver; and the ox is to be stoned to death.

33 If someone removes the cover from a cistern or digs one and fails to cover it, and an ox or donkey falls in,

34 the owner of the cistern must make good the loss by compensating the animal's owner; but the dead animal will be his.

35 If one person's ox hurts another's, so that it dies, they are to sell the live ox and divide the revenue from the sale; and they are also to divide the dead animal.

36 But if it is known that the ox was in the habit of goring in the past, and the owner did not confine it; he must pay ox for ox, but the dead animal will be his

Exodus 22 “These are the names” 22

Laws:

1 If a man steals a bull or a sheep and kills or sells it, he must pay back five bulls for the one bull he stole and four sheep for the one sheep he stole.

2 If a thief caught in the act of breaking in is beaten to death, it is not murder;

3 unless it happens after sunrise, in which case it is murder. A thief must make restitution; so if he has nothing, he himself is to be sold to make good the loss from the theft.

As we learned earlier, restitution and not prison is the method God orders for thieves.

4 If what he stole is found alive in his possession, he is to pay double, no matter whether it is an ox, a donkey or a sheep.

5 If a man lets his farm animal graze in his field or vineyard, and it wanders into another man's field or vineyard, the owner of the animal must pay back the loss from the best of his crop.

6 If a fire is started and spreads to thorns, so that stacked grain, standing grain or a field is destroyed, the person who lit it must make restitution.

If fire break out, and catch in thorns--This refers to the common practice in the East of setting fire to the dry grass before the fall of the autumnal rains, which prevents the ravages of vermin, and is considered a good preparation of the ground for the next crop. The very parched state of the herbage and the long droughts of summer, make the kindling of a fire an operation often dangerous, and always requiring caution from its liability to spread rapidly.

stacks--or as it is rendered "shocks" (Judges 15:5, Job 5:26), means simply a bundle of loose sheaves.(Jamieson)

7 If a man gives his neighbor money or other things to keep for him and those things are stolen from the neighbor's house. If the thief is caught, he must pay back twice as much as he stole,

8 But if the thief is never found, the owner of the house must make a promise before God(Elohim/Theos) that he has not stolen his neighbor's things.

9 In every case of dispute over ownership, whether of an ox, a donkey, a sheep, clothing, or any missing property, where one person says, 'This is mine,' both parties are to come before God(Elohim/Theos); and the one whom God(Elohim/Theos) condemns must pay the other one double.

10 If a person trusts a neighbor to look after a donkey, ox, sheep or any animal, and it dies, is injured or is driven away unseen,

11 then the neighbor's oath before the LORD(Yahweh)that he has not taken the goods will settle the matter between them-the owner is to accept it without the neighbor's making restitution.

12 But if it was stolen from the neighbor, he must make restitution to the owner.

13 If it was torn to pieces by an animal, the neighbor must bring it as evidence, and then he doesn't need to make good the loss.

14 If a man borrows an animal from his neighbor, and it gets hurt or dies while the owner is not there, the one who borrowed it must pay the owner for the animal.

15 But if the owner is with the animal, the one who borrowed it does not have to pay. If the animal was rented, the rental price covers the loss.

16 If a man seduces a virgin who is not engaged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the bride-price for her to be his wife.

Another case where polygamy is FORCED BY GOD if a man, even a married man seduces a virgin. There is no getting around this! Hiowever, think how much less cheating there would be today if this Law still was in force? Women, commiting adultry would be killed, and men having affairs would find many more wives to feed! I think that may reduce infidelity quite a bit!

17 But if her father refuses to give her to him, he must pay a sum equivalent to the bride-price for virgins.

18 Put to death any woman who does witchcraft.

19 Put to death anyone who has sexual relations with an animal.

20 Destroy completely any person who makes a sacrifice to any god(Elohim/Theos) except the Lord (Adoni).

21 Do not cheat or hurt a foreigner, because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

22 Do not cheat a widow or an orphan.

23 If you do, and they cry out to me for help, I certainly will hear their cry.

24 And I will be very angry and kill you in war. Then your wives will become widows, and your children will become orphans.

25 If you lend money to one of my people who is poor, do not treat him as a moneylender would. Charge him nothing for using your money.

26 If your neighbor gives you his coat as a promise for the money he owes you, you must give it back to him by sundown,

27 because it is the only cover to keep his body warm. He has nothing else to sleep in. If he cries out to me for help, I will listen, because I am merciful.

28 You must not speak against God(Elohim/Theos) or curse a leader of your people.

29 Do not hold back your offering from the first of your harvest and the first wine that you make. The firstborn of your sons you are to give to me.

30 You are to do the same with your bulls and your sheep. Let the firstborn males stay with their mothers for seven days, and on the eighth day you must give them to me.

31 You are to be my holy people. You must not eat the meat of any animal that has been killed by wild animals. Instead, give it to the dogs.

Exodus 23 “These are the names” 23

More Laws:

1 You are not to repeat false rumors; do not join hands with the wicked by offering perjured testimony.

2 Do not follow the crowd when it does what is wrong; and don't allow the popular view to sway you into offering testimony for any cause if the effect will be to pervert justice.

3 You shall not show partiality to a poor man in his lawsuit.

4 If you come upon your enemy's ox or donkey straying, you must return it to him.

5 If you see that your enemy's donkey has fallen because its load is too heavy, do not leave it there. You must help your enemy get the donkey back on its feet.

6 Do not deny anyone justice in his lawsuit simply because he is poor.

7 You must not lie when you accuse someone in court. Never allow an innocent or honest person to be put to death as punishment, because I will not treat guilty people as if they were innocent.

8 And don’t take bribes, for a bribe blinds the clearsighted and subverts the cause of the righteous

9 Don’t mistreat a foreigner. You know how it feels to be a foreigner, because you were foreigners in Egypt.

10 Six years you are to sow your land with seed and gather in its harvest.

Six years you are to sow your land--intermitting the cultivation of the land every seventh year. But it appears that even then there was a spontaneous produce which the poor were permitted freely to gather for their use, and the beasts driven out fed on the remainder, the owners of fields not being allowed to reap or collect the fruits of the vineyard or oliveyard during the course of this sabbatical year. This was a regulation subservient to many excellent purposes; for, besides inculcating the general lesson of dependence on Providence, and of confidence in His faithfulness to His promise respecting the triple increase on the sixth year (Leviticus 25:20,21), it gave the Israelites a practical proof that they held their properties of the Lord as His tenants, and must conform to His rules on pain of forfeiting the lease of them.(Jamieson)

11 But the seventh year, you are to let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor among your people can eat; and what they leave, the wild animals in the countryside can eat. Do the same with your vineyard and olive grove.

12 For six days, you are to work. But on the seventh day, you are to rest, so that your ox and donkey can rest, and your slave-girl's son and the foreigner be renewed.

This law is repeated (Exodus 20:9) lest any might suppose there was a relaxation of its observance during the sabbatical year.

13 And in all that I have said to you, be careful not to mention of the name of other gods(Elohim/Theos)s, nor let it be heard from your mouth.

Annual Feasts to God:

This is a list of the great religious festivals--"The feast of Unleavened bread," or the Passover--"the feast of harvest," or Pentecost--"the feast of ingathering," or the feast of Tabernacles, which had the people dwelling in tents in the wilderness, and which was observed in the seventh month (Exodus 12:2). Jamieson notes, “Though the absence of all the males at these three festivals left the country defenseless, a special promise was given of divine protection, and no incursion of enemies was ever permitted to happen on those occasions.” It is my belief that these were already Holy Days, re-instutted by God here.

14 Three times a year, you are to observe a festival for me.

15 Keep the festival of Unleavened Bread (matzoh): for seven days, as I ordered you, you are to eat matzah at the time determined in the month of Aviv; for it was in that month that you left Egypt. No one is to appear before me empty-handed.

It is really the Feast of Matzohs...

16 Next, the festival of harvest, the firstfruits of your efforts sowing in the field; and last, the festival of ingathering, at the end of the year, when you gather in from the fields the results of your efforts.

17 Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the LORD(Yahweh adown)

Usually rendered The Lord (small caps) God. I don’t see that from looking at the Hebrew. It is Yahweh Adown.. or LORD lord, our the master, the LORD.

18 You must not offer animal blood along with matzohs(unleavened bread). nor save any of the fat My sacrifice for the next day.

19 The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring to the LORD(Jesus) your God’s(Elohim/Theos) house. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

It is this one sentence that Jews claim that one cannot eat meat with milk. It says nothing of the sort. It merely says, don’t be so uncaring as to boil a mother’s baby in her own milk. It is showing respect for a mother’s bond to her calf.

20 Behold, I send My SPOKESMAN(WORD or Angel) before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.

Angel can also mean word, messenger and I believe is the proper translation here if you understand that Jesus is this being and compare to John 1.

21 Pay attention to Him, listen to what He says and do not rebel against Him; because He will not forgive any wrongdoing of yours, since my name resides in Him.

This angel is frequently called Jehovah and Elohim, that is, God. It is Jesus. Jesus is not an “angel” as Michael or Gabriel, he is GOD. However the word for angel also means messenger or word. We know that Jesus is the Word (logos) of God. (John 1).

22 But if you indeed obey His voice and do everything I tell you, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes.

23 For My SPOKESMAN(WORD or Angel) goes ahead of you and brings you to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will destroy them.

24 You are not to bow down to their gods(Elohim/Theos), nor serve them, or follow their ways; rather, you are to demolish them completely and smash their stone pillars to pieces.

We are not to follow the pagans religious holidays, customs, traditions or ways. We are not to “Christianize” pagan days, or laws or traditions, like Christmas, Easter or Sunday!

25 You are to serve the LORD(Jesus) your God(Elohim/Theos), and I will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you.

26 None of your women will have her baby die before it is born, and all women will have children. I will allow you to live long lives.

27 None of your women will have her baby die before it is born, and all women will have children. I will make all your enemies run away from you.

28 I will send armies ahead of you that will force the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites out of your way.

KJV uses the word hornets, but the word in Hebrew means hornet-like armies that move swift and bread terror. I think this means angles from God, going out to do battle. See next verse.

29 I will not drive them out from before you in only a year. If I did that, the land would become a desert and the wild animals would become too many for you.

30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until there are enough of you to take over the land.

31 I will give you the land from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates (River), for I will hand the inhabitants of the land over to you, and you will drive them out from before you.

Hebrew Nahar, the Euphrates

32 You shall make no agreement with them, nor with their gods(Elohim/Theos)s.

33 They are not to live in your land; otherwise they will make you sin against me by ensnaring you to serve their gods(Elohim/Theos).

Exodus 24 “These are the names” 24

MOSES GOES UP MOUNT SINAI:

1 To Moses, He said: Come up to the LORD(Jesus), you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from a distance.

Nadab, and Abihu--the two oldest sons of Aaron (Exodus 6:23).

2 Moses alone must come near the LORD(Jesus), the others are not to approach, and the people are not to go up with him.

3 So Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD(Jesus) and all the laws. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words which the LORD(Jesus) has said we will do.”

4 And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD(Jesus). He got up early the next morning and built an altar near the bottom of the mountain. He set up twelve stones, one stone for each of the twelve tribes of Israel.

This is the start of Moses writing the Bible.

5 He sent the young men of the people of Isra'el to offer burnt offerings and sacrifice peace offerings of oxen to LORD(Jesus).

Other animals, though not mentioned, were offered in sacrifice (Hebrews 9:18-20).

6 And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar.

7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it so the people could hear him. And they said, "We will do everything that the Lord has said; we will obey."

This is the books he wrote. Whether it is just Exodus or Deuteronomy or Genesis too, we don’t know....

8 And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which the LORD(Jesus) has made with you according to all these words.” On the Mountain with God(Elohim/Theos)

Probably on the twelve pillars, as representing the people (also the book, Hebrews 9:19), and the act was accompanied by a public proclamation of its import. It was setting their seal to the covenant (compare 1 Corinthians 11:25). It must have been a deeply impressive, as well as instructive scene, for it taught the Israelites that the covenant was made with them only through the sprinkling of blood--that the divine acceptance of themselves and services, was only by virtue of an atoning sacrifice, and that even the blessings of the national covenant were promised and secured to them only through grace. The ceremonial, however, had a further and higher significance, as is shown by the apostle (see as above) (Jamieson)

9 Then Moses went up[the mount], also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel,

Nadab, and Abihu--the two oldest sons of Aaron (Exodus 6:23).

The 70 is the Sanhedrin, established at the suggestion of Jethro and the body that would someday try Jesus!

10 and they saw the God(Elohim/Theos) of Israel. Under his feet were something like a sapphire stone pavement as clear as the sky itself.

That there was no visible form or representation of the divine nature, we have expressly intimated (Deuteronomy 4:15). But a symbol or emblem of His glory was distinctly, and at a distance, displayed before those chosen witnesses. Many think, however, that in this private scene was discovered, amid the luminous blaze, the faint adumbrated form of the humanity of Christ (Ezekiel 1:26; compare Galatians 3:24).

Sapphire--one of the most valuable and lustrous of the precious gems--of a sky-blue or light azure color and frequently chosen to describe the throne of God (see Ezekiel 1:26, 10:1). (Jamieson)

11 The leaders of the children of Israel saw God(Elohim/Theos) but God(Elohim/Theos) did not destroy them. Then they ate and drank together.

12 Then the LORD(Jesus) said to Moses: Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, so that you can teach them.

The ten commandments, which had already been spoken, were to be given in a permanent form. Inscribed on stone, for greater durability, by the finger of Jesus Christ!

13 So Moses got up, with his assistant Joshua(Jesus), and Moses went up to the mountain of God(Elohim/Theos).

JOSHUA or, "Jesus" Joshua is the same name for Jesus. Jesus is the Greek form of Yeshua, or Joshua in English. It is important to connect the name Joshua as Jesus because like the Savior, this Joshua follows Moses too. This fact cannot be overlooked or ignored. It is another "proof" of the identity of Jesus as Messiah.This is the earliest notice of a young warrior destined to act a prominent part in the history of Israel. He went with a number of picked men. There is not here a wide open plain on which the battle took place, as according to the rules of modern warfare. The Amalekites were a nomadic tribe, making an irregular attack on a multitude probably not better trained than themselves, and for such a conflict the low hills and open country around this wady would afford ample space [ROBINSON]. (Acts 7:45, Hebrews 4:8).

14 Moses said to the older leaders, "Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you, and anyone who has a disagreement with others can take it to them."

The people stood below, as in the "outer court," the elders in the "holy place," Moses, as a type of Christ, in "the holy of holies."

15 Then Moses went up onto the mountain, and a cloud covered the mountain.

16 Then the glory of the LORD(Jesus) rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. And on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.

Probably The Sabbath Day.

17 The sight of the glory of the LORD(Jesus) looked like a fire burning on top of the mountain to the people of Israel.

18 So Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain; he was on the mountain forty days and nights.

During that protracted period he was miraculously supported (Deuteronomy 9:9). The 40 days and 40 night fast was without food OR water. This is impossible without Divine intervention.

Exodus 25 “These are the names” 25

1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Speak to the children of Israel, Tell the Israelites to bring me gifts. Receive for me the gifts each person wants to give.

3 These are the gifts that you should receive from them: gold, silver, bronze;

4 blue, purple, and scarlet thread, fine linen, and goats’ hair;

5 ram skins dyed red, badger skins, and acacia wood;

Or: shittim wood--or Shittah (Isaiah 41:19), the acacia, a shrub which grows plentifully in the deserts of Arabia, yielding a light, strong, and beautiful wood, in long planks. The wood is much like TEAK WOOD, strong, durable and heals itself from wounds!

6 oil for the light, and spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet incense;

7 onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod and in the breastplate.

8 And let them make Me a sanctuary(holy place), that I may live among them.

9 Build this Holy Tabernacle and everything in it by the plan I will show you.

The Ark:

10 They are to make an ark of acacia-wood 5 feet feet long, two and a half feet wide and three feet high.

11 You are to overlay it with pure gold-overlay it both inside and outside-and put a molding of gold around the top of it.

12 Make four gold rings for the Ark and attach them to its four feet, two rings on each side.

13 And you shall make poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold.

14 You shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, that the ark may be carried by them.

15 The poles are to remain in the rings of the ark; they are not to be removed from it.

16 And you shall put into the ark, the Testimony which I will give you.

The testimony--that is, the two tables of stone, containing the ten commandments, and called "the testimony," because by it God did testify His sovereign authority over Israel as His people, His selection of them as the guardians of His will and worship, and His displeasure in the event of their transgressing His laws; while on their part, by receiving and depositing this law in its appointed place, they testified their acknowledgment of God's right to rule over them, and their submission to the authority of His law. The superb and elaborate style of the ark that contained "the testimony" was emblematic of the great treasure it held; in other words, the incomparable value and excellence of the Word of God, while its being placed in this chest further showed the great care which God has ever taken for preserving it. (Jamieson)

See note on The Tabernacle at end of the Exodus.

17 Then make a lid of pure gold for the Ark; this is the mercy seat. Make it forty-five inches long and twenty-seven inches wide.

a lid, covering it exactly. It was "the propitiatory cover," as the term may be rendered, denoting that Christ, our great propitiation [1 John 2:2, 4:10], has fully answered all the demands of the law, covers our transgressions, and comes between us and the curse of a violated law.(Henry)

Mercy Seat. God’s actual seat!

18 And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at each end of the Ark.

The real meaning of these figures, as well as the shape or form of them, is not known with certainty-- probably similar to what was afterwards introduced into the temple, and described in Ezekiel 10:8-22. They stretched out their wings, and their faces were turned towards the mercy seat [Exodus 25:20], probably in a bowing attitude. The prevailing opinion now is, that those splendid figures were symbolical not of angelic but of earthly and human beings--the members of the Church of God interested in the dispensation of grace, the redeemed in every age--and that these hieroglyphic forms symbolized the qualities of the true people of God-- courage, patience, intelligence, and activity. (Jamieson)

19 Attach one cherubim on one end of the lid and the other cherubim on the other end. Make them to be one piece with the lid at the ends.

20 The cherubim' wings should be spread upward, covering the lid, and the cherubim are to face each other across the lid.

21 Put this lid on top of the Ark, and put in the Ark the Covenant which I will make with you.

22 And there I will meet with you, and I will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are on the ark of the Testimony. There I will give you all my commands for the Israelites.

The Shekinah, or symbol of the Divine Presence, rested on the mercy seat, and was indicated by a cloud, from the midst of which responses were audibly given when God was consulted on behalf of His people. Hence God is described as "dwelling" or "sitting" between the cherubim.

The Table:

23 You are to make a table of acacia-wood three feet long, eighteen inches wide and eighteen inches high.

24 Overlay it with pure gold, and put a molding of gold around the top of it.

25 Make a frame three inches high that stands up all around the edge, and put a gold strip around it.

26 Then make four gold rings. Attach them to the four corners of the table where the four legs are.

27 The rings shall be close to the frame, as holders for the poles to bear the table.

28 And you shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold, so that the table may be carried with them.

29 Make its cups, pans, bowls and pitchers of pure gold.

cups; for though no mention is made of wine, libations were undoubtedly made to God, according to JOSEPHUS and the rabbins, once a week, when the bread was changed.

30 On the table you are to place the bread of the presence in my presence always.

Literally, presence bread, called this because it was constantly before the Lord.

The Gold Lampstand:

31 You are to make a menorah(lamp stand) of pure gold. It is to be made of hammered work; its base, shaft, cups, ring of outer leaves and petals are to be of one piece with it.

Literally, "a lamp bearer." It was so constructed as to be capable of being taken to pieces for facility in removal. The shaft or stock rested on a pedestal. It had seven branches, shaped like reeds or canes--three on each side, with one in the center--and worked out into knobs, flowers, and bowls, placed alternately [Exodus 25:32-36]. The figure represented on the arch of Titus gives the best idea of this candlestick.

32 It is to have six branches extending from its sides, three branches of the menorah on one side of it and three on the other.

33 On one branch are to be three cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with a ring of outer leaves and petals; likewise on the opposite branch three cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with a ring of outer leaves and petals; and similarly for all six branches extending from the menorah.

34 On the central shaft of the menorah are to be four cups shaped like almond blossoms, each with its ring of outer leaves and petals. Ornamental knob and flower.

35 Where each pair of branches joins the central shaft is to be a ring of outer leaves of one piece with the pair of branches-thus for all six branches.

36 Their knobs and their branches shall be of one piece; all of it shall be one hammered piece of pure gold.

37 You shall make seven lamps for it, and they shall arrange its lamps so that they give light in front of it.

The light was derived from pure olive oil, and probably kept continually burning (compare Exodus 30:7, Leviticus 24:2).

38 The wick trimmers and trays must be made of pure gold.

39 The lamp-stand(menorah) and its utensils are to be made of sixty-six pounds of pure gold.

40 Be very careful to make them by the plan I showed you on the mountain.

Exodus 26 “These are the names” 26

The Tabernacle

1 Make for the Holy Tabernacle(Tent) ten curtains of fine linen and blue, purple, and red thread. Have a skilled craftsman sew designs of cherubim with wings on the pieces of cloth.

2 The length of each curtain shall be forty-two feet long and six feet wide; all the sheets are to be the same size.

3 Sew five curtains together for one set, and sew the other curtains together for the second set.

4 Make loops of blue cloth on the edge of the end curtain of one set, and do the same for the end curtain of the other set.

5 Make fifty loops on the end curtain of the first set and fifty loops on the end curtain of the second set. These loops must be opposite each other.

6 And make fifty gold hooks to join the two sets of curtains so that the Holy Tent is one piece.

7 Then make another tent that will cover the Holy Tabernacle, using eleven curtains made from goat hair.

8 The length of each curtain shall be forty-five feet long and six feet wide; and the eleven curtains shall be the same size.

9 Sew five of the curtains together into one set. Then sew the other six curtains together into the second set. Fold the sixth curtain double over the front of the Tent.

10 Make fifty loops down the edge of the end curtain of one set, and do the same for the end curtain of the other set.

11 And then make fifty bronze hooks and put them in the loops to join the tent together so that the covering is one piece.

12 Let the extra half piece of cloth hang over the back of the Holy Tabernacle.

13 There will be eighteen inches hanging over the sides of the Holy Tabernacle, to protect it.

14 You are to make a covering for the tent of tanned ram skins and an outer covering of fine leather.

15 Make the upright planks for the tabernacle out of acacia-wood.

16 Each plank is to be fifteen feet long and two-and-a-quarter feet wide.

17 with two pegs side by side. Every frame must be made the same way.

18 Make the boards for the tabernacle as follows: twenty boards for the south side, facing southward

19 Each board must have two silver bases to go under it, a peg fitting into each base. You must make forty silver bases for the boards.

20 Make twenty more boards for the north side of the Holy Tabernacle.

21 and forty silver bases for them -- two bases for each frame.

22 For the rear part of the tabernacle, toward the west, make six boards.

23 And you shall also make two boards for the two back corners of the Tabernacle.

24 They shall be coupled together at the bottom and they shall be coupled together at the top by one ring. Thus it shall be for both of them. Do the same with both of them; they are to form the two corners.

25 So there shall be eight boards with their sockets of silver—sixteen sockets—two sockets under each of the boards.

26 And you shall make crossbars of acacia wood to connect the upright boards of the Holy Tabernacle. Make five crossbars to hold the boards together on one side

27 and five to hold the boards together on the other side. Also make five crossbars to hold the boards together on the west end, at the rear.

28 The middle bar shall pass through the midst of the boards from end to end.

29 You shall overlay the boards with gold, make their rings of gold as holders for the bars, and overlay the bars with gold.

30 You are to erect the tabernacle according to the design you have been shown on the mountain.

31 You are to make a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely woven linen. Make it with cherubim worked in, that have been crafted by a skilled artisan.

32 You shall hang the curtain by gold hooks on four posts of acacia wood that are covered with gold, and set them in four silver bases.

33 And you shall hang the veil from the hooks. Then you shall bring the ark of the Covenant in there, behind the veil. The veil shall be a divider for you between the holy place and the Most Holy Place.

34 You shall put the lid (mercy seat) upon the ark of the Covenant in the Most Holy Place.

35 You shall place the table outside the veil, and the lamp-stand(menorah) across from the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south; and you shall put the table on the north side.

36 Then, for the entrance of the Tabernacle, make a curtain with fine linen and blue, purple, and red thread. Someone who can sew well is to sew designs on it.

37 Make five posts of acacia wood covered with gold. Make gold hooks for them on which to hang the curtain, and make five bronze bases for them.

The tabernacle, from its name as well as from its general appearance and arrangements, was a tent; but from the description given in these verses, the boards that formed its walls, the five (cross) bars that strengthened them, and the middle bar that "reached from end to end," and gave it solidity and compactness, it was evidently a more substantial fabric than a light and fragile tent, probably on account of the weight of its various coverings as well as for the protection of its precious furniture. The ark and mercy seat were placed in the west end of the tabernacle, and consequently the door or entrance fronted the east, so that the Israelites in worshipping Jehovah, turned their faces towards the west; that they might be thus figuratively taught to turn from the worship of that luminary which was the great idol of the nations, and to adore the God(Elohim/Theos) who made it and them [HEWLETT].

SEE note on the Tabernacle at end of Book of Exodus.

Exodus 27 “these are the names” 27

The Altar of Burnt Offering

1 You shall make an altar of acacia wood, seven-and-a-half feet long and seven-and-a-half feet wide - the altar is to be square and four-and-a-half feet high.

2 Make each of the four corners of the altar stick out like a horn, in such a way that the corners with their horns are all one piece. Then cover the whole altar with bronze.

3 Use bronze to make all the tools and dishes that will be used on the altar: the pots to remove the ashes, the shovels, the bowls for sprinkling blood, the meat forks, and the pans for carrying the burning wood.

4 Make for it a grate of bronze netting; and on the four corners of the netting, make four bronze rings.

5 Put the screen inside the altar, under its rim, halfway up from the bottom.

6 Make poles of acacia-wood for the altar and overlay them with bronze.

7 The poles are to be put into the rings; the poles are to be on both sides of the altar for carrying it.

8 Make the altar out of boards and leave the inside hollow. Make it as you were shown on the mountain.

The Court

9 Make a wall of curtains to form a courtyard around the Holy Tabernacle. The south side should have a wall of fine linen curtains one hundred fifty feet long.

10 Hang the curtains with silver hooks and bands on twenty bronze posts with twenty bronze bases.

11 Likewise, along the north side are to be curtains 150 feet long, hung on twenty posts in twenty bronze sockets, with silver hooks and rings for the posts.

12 Across the width of the courtyard on the west side are to be curtains seventy-five feet long, hung on ten posts in ten sockets.

13 The east end of the courtyard must also be seventy-five feet long.

14 On one side of the entry, there is to be a wall of curtains twenty-two and one-half feet long, held up by three posts on three bases.

15 On the other side of the entry, there is also to be a wall of curtains twenty-two and one-half feet long, held up by three posts on three bases.

16 The entry to the courtyard is to be a curtain thirty feet wide, made of fine linen with blue, purple, and red thread. Someone who can sew well is to sew designs on it. It is to be held up by four posts on four bases.

17 All the posts around the court must have bands of silver; their hooks shall be of silver and their sockets of bronze.

18 The length of the courtyard is to be 150 feet and the width seventy-five feet everywhere; with the height seven-and-a-half feet. The curtains and screen are to be of finely woven linen, and the sockets are to be of bronze.

19 All the equipment needed for every kind of service in the tabernacle, as well as the pegs for the tabernacle and for the courtyard, are to be of bronze.

20 Command the people of Israel to bring you pure olive oil, made from pressed olives, to keep the lamps on the lampstand burning.

21 Aaron and his sons must keep the lamps burning before the Lord from evening till morning. This will be in the Meeting , outside the curtain which is in front of the Ark. The Israelites and their descendants must obey this rule from now on.

See comment on The Tabernacle at end of Exodus