Author: Sandra Hughes

To Rephidim came the Israelites and once again they had a great plight. Not enough water for man and beast to drink. Just like at Kadish and now what should they think?

They hollered at Moses to give him shame.  
Just as in the past they forgot God’s name. 
Moses’s reply was quick and clear, 
remember its God that you should fear.  
After all He has done for both me and you, 
God is so faithful and always so true.

But, maybe we should not be so quick to judge.  In our land of plenty only a small minority are willing to thank God for all we have.

And remember, they lived 400 years in a country that worshipped Pharaoh as their god-man.  

Under those circumstances it might be easy to revert to the thought that their leader was not just a man, but a god-man.

Once again the Israelites were mad, their reply was, why did you bring us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst.”

All through the first five books of the Old Testament
we will find evidence that the Israelites confused the personalities and personages of God with Moses.

We tend to assume Moses was conflicted.  He cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people?
Before long they will be stoning me.”

Protests in that day were symbolized by the stoning of those the people were unhappy with. Moses evidently was afraid of that fate.

We don’t know if Moses was truly afraid the Lord may allow him to be stoned to death or not.  

Put yourself in his place, would you be afraid of that type of riot?

But the Lord had an answer.  He told Moses to Pass before the people with some of the elders of Israel
and take your rod that has performed favorably in the past.

God then assured him. I will be standing there before you on the rock at Horab.  Smite the rock and water will issue forth from it and the people will drink.

This place was named Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested God. Massahtranslates quarreled,  Meribah translates tested.

After that incident there was a fourth crisis that fell upon the Israelite people.

The nation of Amalek, though unprovoked, came and fought with the Israelites. Moses instructed Joshua to pick some men to go out and battle Amalek.

But Moses didn’t just send Joshua, he gave him confidence that he would also be there.

He said, “I will station myself on the top of the hill,
with the rod of God in my hand.”

Joshua did as Moses told him and fought with Amalek while Moses, Aaron and Hur went on top of the hill.

I don’t know about you, but that man named Hurcaught my attention, because I never heard of him before. Though I remembered the movie “Ben Hur”.

Well there are three separate men named Hur mentioned in the Bible, all in the Old Testament.

The least-known of the three is simply mentioned by name in Nehemiah 3:9. He was the father of Rephaiah, one of the rulers of Jerusalem who repaired a section of the walls of Jerusalem.

Another Hur in the Bible was one of the five rulers of Midian in the time of Moses.

But the most well-known Hur appears in the book of Exodus. He is described as being from the tribe of Judah. 
As Hur is most often mentioned in conjunction with Aaron, Moses’ brother and high priest of the Israelites; it is likely that Hur also had a place of authority among the people. 
Hur is one of the two men who went to the top of the hill with Moses, while the Israelites’ battled 
against the Amalekites.

At the top of the hill whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, but whenever he let down his hand Amalek prevailed.

Well you can imagine poor Mosses, his hand grew weary. So they took a stone and put it under his armwhile Aaron and Hur supported his hand
on each side. Mosses hand stayed steady until the sun set.

Some interpret the fact of holding up his hand was so the Israelites could look up and dedicate their hearts to their father in Heaven, and then they prevailed; but when they forgot to look up they failed.

And Joshua overwhelmed the people of Amalek
with the sword.

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 45
⇛ return to Exodus

The fourth of the ten Commandments is “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.” Notice that God did not have to tell the Israelites what day the Sabbath was. 

He had already taught them that they could gather the manna for six days and on the sixth day, Friday, they were to gather a double portion so they would not have to gather or to work for their food on the seventh.

The instructions from God were not to work on Saturday, but it also does not say they were to rest on the Sabbath. Actually they were told to make it holy. In Hebrew “holy” means separate or distinct.

There are actually only two commandments that require positive action. All the others say, “Thou shalt not.”  And remember the Sabbath is the only commandment that requires a ritual.

It’s also important to note that the ten Commandments are universally applicable.

And it is interesting to note that the Christian world is the only non-Jewish civilization to have adopted the Ten Commandments. And the best part of all is
there is a good reason for accepting and adopting the Ten Commandments as our creed: it affirms that God created the world in six days and on the seventh day He rested. This is a good pattern for man to follow to be healthy, wealthy and wise. And the neat part of it is that your children and your animals are just as free from work as you are
on the Sabbath.

After teaching we need a day of rest we are next told to honor our father and our mother. If a child does not honor parental authority he is less likely to honor God. 
In fact, it is so in reverse also. If a child does not honor their parent they are less likely to honor God.

If we pay close attention we will see there are only two commandments telling us who we should honor.  First God and second our parents.

Actually it is more important to honor your parent than it is to love them. The moral success of a society does not depend on children loving their parents, but it does depend on children honoring their parent.

We know in Paul’s writings he repeats “Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.   
“Honour your father and mother”, which is the first commandment associated with the promise. It says “so that it may be well with you and you may have a long life on the earth.”

The only moral authority that is higher than parents is God. And then comes the reward! To honor your father and mother is the only one of the Ten Commandments that specifies a reward. The promise is to all of society. It promises the collective nation that if its members honor their parents,
the family will be preserved, it religious traditions and beliefs will be preserved, and the civilization will long endure.

The breakdown of the family is a guarantee of the breakdown of a civilization. God bless those parents
who have raised up a child In the way he should go.

God’s promise is: 
Train up a child 
in the way he should go:
and when he is old, 
he will not depart from it.

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 49
⇛ return to Exodus

At this point the Israelites are at God’s Mountain, – Mt. Sinai, and they are warned they cannot touch the mountain when God is there.  When God was no longer there they could go to the mountain because it was not holy if God was not there.

Having fear for what God can do, this fact truly frightened the Israelites.

In the Talmud there is a legend that depicts God holding the mountain over the heads of the people and threatening to drop it on them if they did not accept the law.  The point being made is the Israelites accepted the law out of fear.

When you think about it logically that seems to be what makes people obey a law?  If we are truthful, it is very convincing that we are persuaded to obey
by the combination of love or fear.   

(I behave myself because I don’t want to suffer the consequences of misbehaving, or, because my love for the law giver makes me want to keep the object of my affection happy, whether parents, spouse, or other authority.  I believe my attitude is shared by possibly the majority of people.)

Moses led the people out of the camp toward Gad where they took their places at the foot of the mountain.

Mt Sinai was all in smoke, because the Lord was on it. The Lord had come down upon it; and the whole mountain trembled violently. The Lord had come down upon it in fire. And as Moses spoke  God answered him in thunder.

The Lord had come to the top of Mt Sinai and called Moses to the top with Him. He then told Moses to go down and warn the people not to break through the land to graze. He also said the Priests must remain pure.  After this he reiterated that the people were not to come to the mountain or they would die.

Per normal, telling them once is not enough but poor Moses is naïve enough to think that since they were warned they would not come to the mountain

God, being much wiser than Moses knows curiosity will be stronger than the rule to stay away from the mountain. Genesis chapter 20 makes it abundantly clear that it is God who gave the Ten Commandments and they were not Moses’ idea.

No human is the sole source or responsible for all the words in the Ten Commandments.  God is the sole author and giver of these rules that are given to the people.

The Ten Commandments are also called “the Decalogue”.  The Decalogue is the alternative name 
for the Ten Commandments, and actually means Ten Words.

The Ten Commandments are the first and only example of a covenantal relationship between 
deity and an entire people. They are unique in that God revealed His will not just to a single prophet
or to a privileged class, but to an entire people;
all of whom became answerable to its terms.

The Ten Commandments focuses not only on the relationship with the ruler, but also on each individual’s behavior toward every other individual. They treat both religious and social obligations as expressions of divine will. The Ten Commandments are laws that are simple, absolute, and devoid of qualification.

God gave the Ten Commandments to the ancient nation of Israel. He chose to give the Commandments in the no-man’s land of a desert
rather than in the land of Israel. This seems to signify that they are not just for one nation but apply to all people, from the beginning of their giving clear through to the end.

These biblical principles given to the Jews are set principles given by God, relating to ethics and worship, and play a fundamental role in Judaism and Christianity.

The first and second commandments go hand in hand, both emphasizing the need to give our worship exclusively to the one true God

The commandments were written on two tables of stone by the finger of God.  The Jews are to follow the commandments anywhere and everywhere thy go, and not just when they are in Israel.

The Commandments  are listed in both Exodus and Deuteronomy.

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 48
⇛ return to Exodus

How very fortunate it was that Jethro loved and cared for his family.  And because he did, he came to have great respect for his son-in law, Moses
and all the work Moses had to do.

It was because he saw how taxing it was for Moses to judge every situation for the Israelites that he devised a plan that became the judicial system for that nation during Moses’ lifetime.

Moses, in return, must have had great respect for his Midianite father-in-law, because that was the system he adapted to govern all his people.

The judicial system was set up with heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.  It was set up in military style and worked so well that it freed up Moses’ time. Then Jethro went home to his own land, and his own job.

On the third new moon after leaving Egypt, the Israelites entered the wilderness of Sinai. They made their encampment in front of Mount Sinai, God’s Mountain.

And Moses went up to God. God called from the mountain and said: “You have seen what I did to the Egyptian, how I bore you on Eagles wings.

Well, it’s easy to recall the death of all the Egyptians armies, but when he says he bore the Israelites
on Eagles wings, it takes a little more explanation.

It is very rare for God to do but He is using poetic language to explain what he did for the Jews.

This is where we get a lesson on birds. God is comparing Himself to the Eagle that carries its young on its wings. Other birds put their young between their feet.

It seems the birds fear the birds that fly higher than they do that would snatch the birds off their backs.
But eagles fly the highest so they protect their babies on their wings.

Using that example God is expressing His protective love for His people. In this verse God is expressing
His love for His people by destroying their enemies 
and his care for His people by carrying them on His wing.

God then said, “If you will obey Me faithfully, and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possessions.”

God just said He will be their God and they shall be His people “IF” they will obey His Headship in their lives. And we all know who it was that fell down on the job! But they are not without hope as 
the prophet Hosea said later that God is ready and willing to take them back when they acknowledge they must follow Him. God made it clear that all the earth is His, and He had a chosen people.

After listening to God and knowing what God’s desire was, Moses was to go to the people 
and tell them what God expected.

He did and all the people said, All that the Lord has spoken we will do.  After telling the people God’s desires Moses returned to God.

God instructed him to tell the people that they must stay pure today and they were to wash their cloths.

Then on the third day the Lord will come down,
in the sight of all the people, on Mount Sinai.

The people were warned to not go up the mountain
and to not touch the mountain and if they do they will be put to death.

A ram’s horn was used in a long blast to let the people know when it is safe to return to the mountain.  Then they may climb the mountain
because without God then it is no longer a holy place.

On the third day, as morning dawned, and they had cleansed themselves, and washed their cloths,
as morning dawned there was thunder and lightning and a dense cloud upon the mountain
and a very loud blast of the horn and all the people in the camp trembled.

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 47
⇛ return to Exodus

The Amalekites provoked the Israelites into a war,
with God’s instructions the Israelites prevailed.
God then instructed Moses to inscribe a document
as a reminder of the battle. But it seems almost like a contradiction when God says this will be a reminder of what happened.

And not only will it be a reminder but Moses is
supposed to read it out loud to Joshua. But then God says He will blot out the memory of Amalek.

It almost sounds like a contradiction: Remember the war but forget Amalek.

Maybe remembering Amalek would give him glory.  But God is the one who deserves glory for victory over evil, and that is what we all are supposed to remember.

Then God tells them what they are to remember.
They are to build an alter and name it Adonai-nissi.

Adonai or course translates to LORD or God. And nissi is simply a banner or standard.

So they were to build an altar and over it

put an identifying marker that says, “YHVH is my banner. And that banner is meant to say, “Hand upon the throne of the Lord”:  The Lord will be at war with Amalek throughout the ages.

In the book of Exodus, the very next person God teaches us about is Jethro, Moses’s father-in-law.

It’s interesting that first we learn about Amalek, a wicked man, who was unprovoked; and now we will learn about a good man, and neither was provoked to do what they did. It’s a real contrast in human nature.

When Jethro, Moses’ father –in-law heard all that God had done for Moses and for Israel he took Zipporah, Moses’ wife and sons back to Moses.

It is surmised that Moses sent his wife and sons back home to her own father to stay during all the troubling times In Egypt with the plagues and on through the exodus. But now that the Israelites were in the wilderness Moses’ family was brought back to him.

It is assumed Moses sent his wife and two sons,
Gershom and Eliezer, to his father-in-law at the time he was escaping to Midian to protect his own life against reprisals against him for killing that Egyptian overseer.  It was at that time that Pharaoh 
was bent on killing Moses.

At the time Jethro and Moses’s family are coming home Moses is encamped at the mountain of God,
better known as Mt. Sinai.

Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, he greeted him and bowed low and kissed him

When Jethro and Moses talked, Moses told his father-in- law all about what God had done for him and all the Israelites.

Jethro was completely impressed, even though he was not a Jew. He was completely impressed and said, “Blessed be the Lord, who delivered you from the Egyptians and from Pharaoh, and who delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.” And he continued with, “Now I know that the Lord is greater than all Gods”.

Jethro was actually a Midianite priest and his daughter was not a Jew when Abraham married her. The only thing we have to believe that she was converted was when she circumcised her son and declared she had a bloody religion.

Jethro on the other hand, never became a Jew, he remained a Midianite Priest, but had true respect for the God of the Israelites. To show this respect Jethro brought a burnt offering and sacrificed for God.  Aaron came with all the Elders of Israel to partake of the meal before God with Jethro.

The following day Moses went back to work! He was needed!  He was the magistrate of his people. Moses listened to all the problems all the people 
who had problems.

Jethro inquired why it was Moses alone who had to do this all day long with all the people? Couldn’t someone else help with this work?

Moses’s answer was short and to the point.
When they have a dispute it comes before me and I make known the law and the teachings of God.

Remember, they had not yet been given the law.
It was written in The Ten Commandments.

Jethro felt this was the wrong way to approach all the problems. He was fearful that Moses would
wear himself out so he decided Moses needed his counsel.

“You be the one to take the problems concerning God to God; and then you teach the people in the way God would have them go. But then you seek out from among all the people, wise capable men who fear God; trustworthy men who will spurn ill-gotten gain. Set over them as chiefs of thousands,
hundreds, fifties, and tens. Let them judge the people at all times. Have them bring every major dispute to you, but let them dictate every minor dispute themselves. Make it easier for yourself 
by letting them share the burden with you.’

It’s interesting to note that a non-Jew was able to set up a whole judicial system for the Jews. How unique and wonderful when you consider that the Israelites and the Midianites would soon come to be each other’s most vile enemy.

God works in mysterious ways His wonders to perform.

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 46
⇛ return to Exodus

At this point the Israelites are at God’s Mountain, -Mt. Sinai, and they are warned they cannot touch the mountain when God is there.  When God was no longer there they could go to the mountain because it was not holy if God was not there.

Having fear for what God can do, this fact truly frightened the Israelites.

In the Talmud there is a legend that depicts God holding the mountain over the heads of the people and threatening to drop it on them if they did not accept the law.  The point being made is the Israelites accepted the law out of fear.

When you think about it logically that seems to be what makes people obey a law?  If we are truthful, it is very convincing that we are persuaded to obey by the combination of love or fear.   

I behave myself because I don’t want to suffer the consequences of misbehaving, or, because my love for the law giver makes me want to keep the object of my affection happy, whether parents, spouse, or other authority.

Moses led the people out of the camp toward Gad where they took their places at the foot of the mountain.

Mt Sinai was all in smoke, because the Lord was on it. The Lord had come down upon it; and the whole mountain trembled violently. The Lord had come down upon it in fire. And as Moses spoke, God answered him in thunder.

The Lord had come to the top of Mt Sinai and called Moses to the top with Him. He then told Moses to go down, warn the people not to break through the land to graze. He also said the Priests must remain pure.  After this he reiterated that the people  werenot to come to the mountain or they would die.

Per normal, telling them once is not enough but poor Moses is naïve enough to think that since they were warned they would not come to the mountain

God, being much wiser than Moses knows curiosity will be stronger than the rule to stay away from the mountain. Genesis chapter 20 makes it abundantly clear that it is God who gave the Ten Commandments and they were not Moses’ idea.

No human is the sole source or responsible for all the words in the Ten Commandments.  God is the sole author and giver of these rules that are given to the people.

The Ten Commandments are also called “the Decalogue”.  The Decalogue is the alternative name for the Ten Commandments, and actually means Ten Words.

The Ten Commandments are the first and only example of a covenantal relationship between deity and an entire people. They are unique in that God revealed His will not just to a single prophet or to a privileged class, but to an entire people; all of whom became answerable to its terms.

The Ten Commandments focuses not only on the relationship with the ruler, but also on each individuals behavior toward every other individual. They treat both religious and social obligations as expressions of divine will. The Ten Commandments are laws that are simple, absolute, and devoid of qualification.

God gave the Ten Commandments to the ancient nation of Israel. He chose to give theCommandments in the no-man’s land of a desert rather than in the land of Israel. This seems to signify that they are not just for one nation but apply to all people, from the beginning of their giving clear through to the end.

These biblical principles given to the Jews are set principles given by God, relating to ethics and worship, and play a fundamental role in Judaism and Christianity. 

The first and second commandments go hand in hand, both emphasizing the need to give our worship exclusively to the one true God

The commandments were written on two tables of stone by the finger of God.  The Jews are to follow the commandments anywhere and everywhere thy go, and not just when they are in Israel.

The Commandments are listed in both Exodus and Deuteronomy

⇛ return to Exodus

How very fortunate it was that Jethro loved and cared for his family.  And because he did, he came to have great respect for his son-in law, Moses
and all the work Moses had to do.

It was because he saw how taxing it was for Moses to judge every situation for the Israelites that he devised a plan that became the judicial system for that nation during Moses’ lifetime.

Moses, in return, must have had great respect for his Midianite father-in-law, because that was the system he adapted to govern all his people.

The judicial system was set up with heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.  It was set up in military style and worked so well that it freed up Moses’ time. Then Jethro went home to his own land, and his own job.

On the third new moon after leaving Egypt, the Israelites entered the wilderness of Sinai. They made their encampment in front of Mount Sinai, God’s Mountain.

And Moses went up to God. God called from the mountain and said: “You have seen what I did to the Egyptian, how I bore you on Eagles wings.

Well, it’s easy to recall the death of all the Egyptians armies, but when he says he bore the Israelites
on Eagles wings, it takes a little more explanation.

It is very rare for God to do but He is using poetic language to explain what he did for the Jews.

This is where we get a lesson on birds. God is comparing Himself to the Eagle that carries its young on its wings. Other birds put their young between their feet.

It seems the birds fear the birds that fly higher than they do, that would snatch the birds off their backs.
But eagles fly the highest so they protect their babieson their wings.

Using that example God is expressing His protective love for His people. In this verse God is expressing
His love for His people by destroying their enemies 
and his care for His people by carrying them on His wing.

God then said, “If you will obey Me faithfully, and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possessions.”

God just said He will be their God and they shall be His people “IF” they will obey His Headship in their lives. And we all know who it was that fell down on the job! But they are not without hope as 
the prophet Hosea said later that God is ready and willing to take them back when they acknowledge they must follow Him. God made it clear that all the earth is His, and He had a chosen people.

After listening to God and knowing what God’s desire was, Moses was to go to the people 
and tell them what God expected.

He did and all the people said, All that the Lord has spoken we will do.  After telling the people God’s desires Moses returned to God.

God instructed him to tell the people that they must stay pure today and they were to wash their cloths.

Then on the third day the Lord will come own,
in the sight of all the people, on Mount Sinai.

The people were warned to not go up the mountain
and to not touch the mountain and if they do they will be put to death.

A ram’s horn was used in a long blast to let the people know when it is safe to return to the mountain.  Then they may climb the mountain
because without God there it is no longer a holy place.

On the third day, as morning dawned, and they had cleansed themselves, and washed their cloths,
as morning dawned, there was thunder and lightning, and a dense cloud upon the mountain,
and a very loud blast of the horn, a dense cloud upon the mountain and all the people in the camp trembled.

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 51
⇛ return to Exodus

While talking to Moses from the burning bush God said, “Come, I will send you unto Pharaoh that you may bring forth my people out of Egypt and away from Pharaoh.

Think about it.  Moses is leading a completely normal shepherd’s life when, out of nowhere, 
God Himself appears and asks him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.  Moses asked God, 
“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and free the Israelites?”

Remember that phrase, ‘the meekness of Moses’ 
that was so frequently used as an example to us 
throughout the history of our country? Well, it was said because it was true, Moses was a truly meek man.  He was strong in his beliefs and strong in justice but he endured injury with patience 
and without resentment.  He had a quiet strength.

Actually, he was a meek man with a past. Moses knew he was wanted for murder in Egypt, and now he is asked to appear before a king who wants to kill him.  But God always prevails and God said to Moses, “I will be with you”.  Basically God said, 
“Moses, you don’t have to worry, I will be your strength and protection.” God said, “That shall be your sign that it was I who sent you.”  “And when you succeed because of me, you shall worship me at this very mountain.

It’s interesting to note that when God makes His request of Moses the first question Moses asks is,“Who am I?  

The second question Moses asks is, ​“Who are you?”   
Said more politely, he has actually asked who shall I say sent me. Moses knew The Israelites had strayed 
so far from their faith they probably no longer even knew God or anything about Him. 

It’s even quite probable that after having grown up 
in the Egyptian royal household knowing only the Egyptian gods and even now he was familiar with the Midianite gods that he needed to be reminded who God was.  Or possibly Moses asked the question because he was anxious to know more 
about the Israelite God.

God said to Moses “Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh.”  You will say Ehyeh sent me.

God just identified Himself to Moses with a name that has four different meanings, each one perfectly accurate. 
They were,  “I am what I am”, “I am who I am” “I will be what I want to be” and “I will be who I will be”.

Actually Hebrew does not have a word for the present tense of the verb “to be.”  
There is no Hebrew word for “am” or “is” or “are”.  In other words, to say I am Moses he could only say, 
“I Moses”.

What this leads to is the fact that terms “I am who I am” and “I will be” were never again mentioned in the Torah.  God gave Moses the complete answer 
for Moses only, but not for the Israelites.  

The most commonly used name for God ​​
in the Torah and the rest of the Hebrew Bible 
is essentially the verb “to be”.  It is comprised of the Hebrew letters, YHVH.  We now pronounce that word Yahweh. Yahweh is where we get the name Jehovah, and it is always translated “Lord”, even though YHVH actually means “Being,” or “Will Be,” or even just the word “Is”.  

God simply “Is”.

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 50
⇛ return to Exodus

Chapter 34
Having gone through the Passover and witnessing the miracles of God that saved them from Egyptian slavery, the Jews have been following God’s demands continually up and to today concerning Passover. Those were God’s instructions, to the Jews so that they not forget the Passover. Not to mention the fact that the Torah, those first five books of the Old Testament, tells them again and again the importance of remembering the Exodus. God intervening forcefully and unequivocally on behalf of the Jewish nation was without doubt a unique moment in history.

One of the reasons why God instructed the Jews to always remember the Passover was so they could be happy. Heaven knows that with all the persecutions they have gone through over all these years they have not had a lot in their lives to be happy about. Remembering the good from the past gives people a good thing to concentrate on. Something powerful takes place when people assemble to express gratitude. 

IF we are only grateful at the time something good happens, we may never be grateful again, unless good is done repeatedly. Remembering the good is a statement of faith, and it helps to maintain that faith. This must be the reason why the Lord instructed them to teach this to their sons and to celebrate seven days with only unleavened bread.

They were to take the time and trouble to educate their children about God and the Exodus. Can you even imagine if every father would fulfill the request to regularly teach their children about God and His teachings?

Verse 9 of chapter 13 says, “And this shall serve you as a sign on your hand and as a reminder on your forehead -in order that the Teaching of the Lord may be in your month- that with a mighty hand  the Lord freed you from Egypt. This is the main verse that led the Israelites to wear tef-ill-in.

The definition of tefillin is two small leather boxes that contain words from the Torah that are worn, especially during prayer time, hanging low on a person’s forehead and around a person’s arm. Actually the Torah does not mention the word tefillin.  

In fact, the Torah does not specify that this “sign” must be an actual physical object. But archeological evidence has documented, tefillin have  been physical objects for years. My curiosity about these phylacteries led me to check out more information on tefillin.

I learned these phylacteries consisted of small strips of parchment, on which are written certain passages from the Law which are then folded tight, placed in small boxes, and attached by bands to the left wrist and to the forehead at the hours of prayer. It is well known that a similar custom prevailed in Egypt; and this fact has made an objection to the Mosaic institution of phylacteries.

It has been thought that Moses would not have encouraged an Egyptian superstition. But the adoption of Egyptian customs, purged from their superstition, is in the spirit of the Mosaic institutions, and presumably in no way reprehensible.

If the Israelites were addicted to wearing amulets, like the Egyptians, it is explained, it would have been a wise provision to substitute for the magic charms of sorcerers to the solemn words of the Law, and in this way to turn a current superstition to a good account. And we know that man, even today chooses how they will display and worship God, or anything else.

It is evidenced by the fact of wearing crosses on a necklace, tattoos on our bodies, piercings on our head and clothing to signify who we are and what we believe. None of that is instructed in Scripture so we don’t have the Word of God to approve or condemn the custom.

But as humans we sometimes feel the need to show our righteousness. Right or wrong, we know tefillin cannot make or break us because: For by grace we are saved… not of works… lest any man should boast.

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 34
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In Exodus chapter thirteen, verse 2, the final plague in Egypt was the death of the firstborn of all households.

God revealed to Israel the one and only way they would be spared was to sacrifice an unblemished lamb and brush its blood on the lintel and doorposts of their homes. Only then would the Angel of Death pass over their homes and spare their firstborn. After the Passover the Lord switched to new instructions concerning the first born child in each Jewish family. These rules preceded the Levites, when a sub group within the Levites, carried out all the rituals involving animal sacrifice that were designated. In other words, these men were set aside for temple service. The Lord’s rule was: Sanctify unto me all the first-born. To “sanctify” means to “consecrate”, “set apart”, 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 At that time in Jewish history a mother’s first child was supposed to be dedicated to the priests. They were consecrated to service for God. Later in the Torah there was a law which designated that 31 days after the child is born the father could pay a priest five silver shekels to “redeem” or free the child from temple work A shekel is 14 grams of silver. A U.S. silver dollar contains 9.83 grams of silver. And we know that the price of the silver in any coin today sells at a very inflated rate, but at this time in history.

And even today, the price was never intended to be a large sum of money. It was not to be a burden for poor people to redeem their first born son. It may seem extreme to have to give your first born to the temple. But to Sanctify unto God all the firstborn was a reasonable demand when you stop to realize that the existing firstborn of Israel, were spared by God when the Egyptian firstborn were destroyed. The firstborn should be regarded as God’s and set apart for His service. But the command is limited, when it says “whatsoever openeth the womb”.

To be clear, in that command we learn it says that every child which is the firstborn of his mother. So if a man had many wives, either together or successively, his first child by every one of these was a firstborn, and, if a male, he was claimed by the Lord. But if a female came first, and afterward a male, that male was not devoted to God, because it was not the firstborn. Thus the parents were not to look upon themselves as having an interest in their firstborn, if males, till they had first solemnly presented them to God, and received them back from him again, by special right and title, as being by singular favor preserved from the common destruction.

The firstborn of man, if male, were claimed for the sacred ministrations of the priestly office and the firstborn were to be redeemed at a certain rate, which was part of the priest’s maintenance. But after the Jewish commonwealth was formed, the Levites were chosen to officiate in their stead.

The extension of the demand to existing beasts was also reasonable, since they too had been spared. God’s further requirement, that henceforth all the future firstborn should also be His, was intended to perpetuate the memory of the recent deliverance, and to help to fix it in the mind of the nation.

The substitution of a redemption in the case of unclean beasts was necessitated by the circumstances of the case, since they could not be sacrificed; and the redemption of the firstborn sons naturally followed when the Levitical priesthood was established, and their services were no longer necessary.

Can you imagine giving away your firstborn son to be raised by a priest and committed to temple service for God. It wasn’t meant as a punishment, it was meant as a privilege.

And it even carried down in our lifetimes when you think about the fact that in many Old Catholic families it was a privilege to have your first born son become a priest. First born sons seem to come equipped for special service or position in most families even today.

⇛ continue reading Exodus – Part 33
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