Shemot - Exodus 1:1-6:1

In Genesis 46:27 it tells us that 70 people went down to Egypt (although if you take the time to add the names, you don't quite get to 70). Jacob went to Egypt to see Joseph.

Then it tells us that Jacob spent 17 years in Egypt before dying.

In this week's parashah it lists the names of the 11 sons of Jacob and tells us that Joseph was in Egypt, but to total who went down there was 70, without listing the specifics.

It should be obvious that this week's version takes place 17 years prior, and is a repeat of the story of Genesis 46:27, but it skips the death of Jacob and all of the rest of Genesis and gets right to the meat of the story: that the sons of Israel were making a lot of babies, prospering, and making the locals jealous.

Some interesting sights to see in the story.

As I noted before, the story in Exodus 1:1-1:18 repeatedly speak about the King of Egypt. while verses 1:19-22 make a transition to speak of the Pharaoh. It has been suggested that these might be two competing characters (Avraham Korman). It's an interesting take, but not necessarily accurate.

There is a Midrash that says that Shifrah and Puah are the mother and sister of Moses. Chronologically, having these two being the chief birth assistants would be a problem, since Miriam would have been too young to assist with anything.

"Every son that will be born, you will throw into the river" - Several takes on this phrase by the Pharaoh. On, in the Talmud, declares that this killing took place only for one day, to prove a point. Another, which holds that there was competition between the King and Pharaoh says that it was for all males, Jewish or Egyptian, to prove a point.

Baby Moses in a basket: It should be noted that, unlike the "Prince of Egypt" cartoon, the basket was never in the water, but sitting on the shore.

Pharaoh's daughter: some hold that she was called "daughter of Pharaoh" because she was as bad as he was. Others hold that she converted to Judaism (how?!) with the parents of Moses. Some say that she called him the Egyptian name "Moses" because she was from the family of Thutmose (The "Thut" prefix being "of the God Thoth"), which makes better sense than saying it was a Hebrew name of "pulled".

In verse 2:8, we find the word "almah", meaning "she who was not seen, but came into view", which Christians translate to "virgin", but only for Isaiah 7:14. For the rest of the time, they don't bother!

At that point, Moses is taken to the palace, and his birth mother became his wet nurse. There are those who want to say that he stayed with his birth mother for 3 years before being given away, but the text doesn't say that. Moses was raised in a place of idolatry, with his grandfather being seen as a living God (Pharaoh).

In 2:11, Moses kills a guy. The sages make a big deal about this, claiming that he used his gift of prophecy (which he didn't get yet) to see if this guy made any difference, and since he didn't, Moses killed him. In another Midrash, it says that this man will be the father of the Jew who will curse God's name in the wilderness and be stoned to death. Apparently, the Egyptian was sleeping with the wife of one of the slaves. Or so the Midrash goes.

Oddly enough, Moses' grandfather (Pharaoh) wants Moses dead for killing a guard.

In 2:17, Moses flees to Midian. Interestingly enough, they see him as Egyptian. He has no identity of being Jewish. The priest of Midian, Jethro, was a polytheist and Moses marries into that family.

In the Haggadh, we recite that "we cried to YHVH-Elohim of our ancestors". But we read in 2:23 that the Hebrews cried out because of hard work, and the Elohim heard them. Not that  the Hebrews cried to YHVH, since they had no connection by that point. As we will read later, they didn't circumcise or have much of a connection with God.

At the beginning of chapter 3, we start the burning bush story.

Verse 3:12 is a classic Illeism, God telling Moses that "when you take the people out of Egypt, you will worship Elohim on this mountain". God speaking of Himself in the third person.

Verse 3:14 is a tough one for Christians. In Hebrew it says, "I will be what I will be" (or "I will be as Aheyeh"). Because of John 8:57, they need it to be "I AM". I explain that problem more in this post. But despite all of these names, it won't be until the next parashah that we will get a mention of El Shaddai. It's omission here is glaring.

Verse 3:18 is YHVH being a schemer. There is no "Let my people God" statement to be delivered to Pharaoh, but "We were walking along and YHVH, the ELohim of the Hebrew, happened upon us, so please let my people go for a few days to worship our God on His special spot".

God "happened" upon us? The word נרקה is a fascinating one to use as a "chance encounter"!

But God then says, "But he won't let you go anyhow. I plan to screw with him! And when I'm done, the Egyptians will loan you so much stuff!" Well, borrowing without the intent to return it is actually called something else!

In chapter 4, we have the first of the miracles that YHVH teaches Moses - the withered hand and the staff that turns into a snake. He tells Moses to do the first trick, and if that doesn't work, do the second trick, and if that doesn't work, the third trick is to turn a cupful of river water into blood. Of course, Moses being Moses doesn't appear to have followed those directions exactly, as he rarely did (in 4:30) he does all the miracles. Either he needed to do all three, or he decided to just do them all at once.

Verse 4:22 - YHVH calls the children of Israel "my son" - which is an expression of a chosen one. The Christians use this term in a rather bizarre way, having YHVH father Jesus.

And in his first dick move with Moses, in 4:24, YHVH again happens by chance (נקרה) upon Moses at an inn, and decides to kill him until his wife acts quickly and slices off his foreskin. I mean, YHVH really should have mentioned that tidbit when they were together with the burning bush!

Moses finally sees Pharaoh, who says, "YHVH? Who is YHVH?" and tells Moses and Aaron to get lost, and makes things tough for the Hebrews, making bricks with no straw. Actually, that's not 100% correct. They could use straw, but they had to gather their own. The government wasn't going to hand out straw to them for use anymore.

But let's pause about this brick thing for a moment.

Straw as a binding agent is important when making mud huts, stables, and so forth. Unlike the movies, they weren't building great statues or pyramids. They were likely building personal structures, not ones for the Empire, although 5:8 seems to indicate that they had a quota of bricks. So what a king would use mud bricks for is uncertain.

When we get to 5:15 we see an interesting use of "servants". They called themselves servants, not slaves. And you will see that a lot! It is only after they leave Egypt and Moses recalls their time there that "house of slaves" is created, which is used in the Haggadah.

And the parashah ends with YHVH gleefully telling Moses, "Now watch what I'm going to do to Pharaoh!"

Lots of fun stuff!