Vaera (and I appeared)
Exodus 6:2 - 9:35
Most
of this week's Torah portion is a description of call of Moses and Aaron to go
to Pharaoh in order to redeem the Jewish people out of
Egypt
. In addition we
read about some of the plagues sent upon the land. From this Sedra we learn that
God had two basic goals in this whole scenario. His goal for
Israel
was that they
would have a renewed relationship with God. We read in 6:7 Then I will take
you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the Lord
your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. As we
learned from the message last week, the goal was for
Israel
to dwell in the
land
of
Israel
at rest with
God. The second goal was that God would reveal Himself to the Egyptians. In
chapter seven, we read that God would harden the heart of Pharaoh in order to
send the plagues which ultimately would reveal that the God of Israel is the one
God and that He is a unique God who rules even the
land
of
Egypt
. What we read in
this whole narrative is from the perspective of God which he shared with Moses
and Aaron. That is, that the events that were to take place were for the benefit
of
Israel
and in a sense
of
Egypt
as well, because
God would make Himself known.
However,
consider the perspective of the Jewish slaves as well as the people of
Egypt
! The Israelites
had become content living in
Egypt
and were
reluctant to leave and once they did leave
Egypt
, they desired to
return! They did not see the hand of God in all of this. The same, of course,
goes for the Egyptians. They saw disaster after disaster and felt the effects of
the plagues on their lives. Can you imagine if someone told the Egyptians at
that time that "God is love"? We learn here that God is always at work
revealing Himself to the world with a desire to enter into an intimate
relationship with His people. These same principles are at work in our world
today. God has revealed Himself in the person of Yeshua. One would think that
the Jewish people would receive Him with great joy. However, much like Moses,
the people do not receive Him nor even listen to the message. God reveals
Himself to the world at large through events. He desires that the world would
know that He is the one and only God and that there is no other like Him, while
at the same time moving the world forward on a course that will eventually lead
to the ultimate redemption of
Israel
and all others
who trust in the Messiah of Israel. As anyone would attest, it is one thing to
know these things but quite another to experience them.
All
of us experience discomfort of varying degrees in our lives. We can look to
these chapters in the book of Exodus for encouragement, remembering that,
regardless of our personal circumstances, God is at work moving the world closer
to the ultimate day of redemption.
Shabbat
Shalom!