“Deborah’s Drash”

 

“Sitting at the feet of Yeshua”

 

A  Daily Devotional/Bible Study based on the Hebraic/Jewish Roots of Christianity

 

 

Today’s Date:   March 17

 

This Months Theme – The Spring Feasts of Messiah – Passover/Pesach, Unleavened Bread, First Fruits,   `                                            Pentecost/Shavuot

 

Click below for Blank Devotional Journal to use with your Studies

 

Devotional Journal

 

 

 Weekly Torah Portion[1] for the  week- New Torah Cycle Begins!

 

 

Click Here For Current Torah Reading Schedule

             

 

Daily Bible Reading Schedule:

 

Tenach/Old Testament Reading:

 

11 Samuel 23:24-24:25

 

Tehillim/Psalms Reading:

 

Psalm 123:1-4

 

Mishlei/Proverbs Reading:

 

Proverbs 16: 21-23

 

Brit Hadasha/New Covenant:

 

Acts 3:1-26

 

Hebrew Daily Word/Phrases:

 

Betzah           Hebrew for “egg”, the symbolic hard-boiled and roasted egg on the sedar plate; also called “Chaggigah” or “Haggigah”

 

Meditation Verse

 

Ephesians 1:14 Complete Jewish Bible

 

  14 It is through his Son that we have redemption—that is, our sins have been forgiven[2]

 

 

 Quote Of The Day:

 

Mitch Glaser “The Fall Feasts of Israel”

 

“In Leviticus 23, God calls the feasts of Israel “My appointed time”.  It was important for the Israelites to remember that behind the intricate details of each feast stood the God who ordained them, to remember that He created time, and to remember that history bears the image of His presence.”

 

Deborah’s Drash Commentary:

 

 Backround of the Feast of Passover 

Genesis 50:5-11

5       Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you.

         6 “The land of Egypt is at your disposal; settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land, let them live in the land of Goshen; and if you know any capable men among them, then put them in charge of my livestock.”

         7 Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and presented him to Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

         8 Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many years have you lived?”

         9 So Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my sojourning are one hundred and thirty; few and unpleasant have been the years of my life, nor have they attained the years that my fathers lived during the days of their sojourning.”

         10And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from his presence.

11So Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had ordered.[3]

Genesis 50:27-31

27    Now Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in Goshen, and they acquired property in it and were fruitful and became very numerous.

         28 Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; so the length of Jacob’s life was one hundred and forty-seven years.

         29 When the time for Israel to die drew near, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “Please, if I have found favor in your sight, place now your hand under my thigh and deal with me in kindness and faithfulness. Please do not bury me in Egypt,

         30 but when I lie down with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place.” And he said, “I will do as you have said.”

31 He said, “Swear to me.” So he swore to him. Then Israel bowed in worship at the head of the bed.[4]

 

Christ in the Passover Moshe Rosen[5]

 

Because of the devastating drought that drove Jacob to seek refuge in Egypt, most of the Egyptians were starving also.  Many sold their cattle, their land, and finally themselves to Pharaoh in exchange for food.  But Jacob’s sons flourished and prospered.  Because the pharaohs of that time were Semitic descent, they favored the seed of Abraham, who also were Semites.  For the first time since Abraham left Ur, the Hebrews enjoyed a feeling of permanence.  They lived a quiet, secure, pastoral life in Goshen.  The Nile overflowed its banks once a year, bringing life-giving water to the earth.  There was lush, abundant pastured for the flocks, and rich soil to grow their food.

 

Here the Hebrews watched their children grow tall and brown in the sun.  At night they slept in safety, with no desert wind howling through the solid walls of their adobe homes.  No longer did they awake to the distressed bleating of hungry flocks, a signal that once again they must move on.  Their Egyptian neighbors were people of high morals and advanced culture.  Not only did they produce literature and music, but they also knew mathematics and a degree of the healing arts, and many were skilled architects.  They accepted the Hebrews as equals and even bestowed high honors on some of them.  Life was pleasant indeed.

 

In this situation the descendents of Abraham prospered for hundreds of years.  Exodus 1:9 indicates that they multiplied so fast that a later Pharaoh grew concerned that there were more Hebrews than Egyptians in the land.  The children of Israel were so comfortable and secure that it was easy to forget that Egypt was not the land God has promised their fathers.  Maybe some of them forgot God Himself.

 

Exodus 1

1     Now these are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob; they came each one with his household:

         2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah;

         3 Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin;

         4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.

         5 All the persons who came from the loins of Jacob were seventy in number, but Joseph was already in Egypt.

         6 Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation.

         7 But the sons of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly, and multiplied, and became exceedingly mighty, so that the land was filled with them.

         8 Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.

         9 He said to his people, “Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are more and mightier than we.

         10           “Come, let us deal wisely with them, or else they will multiply and in the event of war, they will also join themselves to those who hate us, and fight against us and depart from the land.”

         11           So they appointed taskmasters over them to afflict them with hard labor. And they built for Pharaoh storage cities, Pithom and Raamses.

         12          But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out, so that they were in dread of the sons of Israel.

         13          The Egyptians compelled the sons of Israel to labor rigorously;

         14          and they made their lives bitter with hard labor in mortar and bricks and at all kinds of labor in the field, all their labors which they rigorously imposed on them.

         15          Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other was named Puah;

         16           and he said, “When you are helping the Hebrew women to give birth and see them upon the birthstool, if it is a son, then you shall put him to death; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.”

         17           But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded them, but let the boys live.

         18           So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and let the boys live?”

         19           The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife can get to them.”

         20          So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied, and became very mighty.

         21           Because the midwives feared God, He established households for them.

         22           Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every son who is born you are to cast into the Nile, and every daughter you are to keep alive.”[6]

Alfred Edersheim – History of the Old Testament-The Exodus

Three centuries and a half intervened between the close of the Book of Genesis and the events with which that of Exodus opens. But during that long period the history of the children of Israel is almost an entire blank. The names of their families have come down to us, but without any chronicle of their history; their final condition at the time of the Exodus is marked, but without any notice of their social or national development. Except for a few brief allusions scattered through the Old Testament, we should know absolutely nothing of their state, their life, or their religion, during all that interval. This silence of three and a half centuries is almost awful in its grandeur, like the loneliness of Sinai the mount of God.

Two things had been foretold as marking this period, and these two alone appear as outstanding facts in the Biblical narrative. On the boundary of the Holy Land the Lord had encouraged Israel: “Fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation.” And the Book of Exodus opens with the record that this promise had been fulfilled, for “the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.” Yet another prediction, made centuries before to Abram, was to be fulfilled. His seed was to be “a stranger in a land not theirs,” to be enslaved and afflicted. And as the appointed centuries were drawing to a close, there “arose up a new king over Egypt,” who “evil entreated our fathers.” Thus, in the darkest period of their bondage, Israel might have understood that, as surely as these two predictions had been literally fulfilled, so would the twofold promise also prove true: “I will bring thee up again,” and that “with great substance.” And here we see a close analogy to the present condition of the Jews. In both cases the promised future stands in marked contrast to the actual state of things. But, like Israel of old, we also have the “more sure word of prophecy,” as a “light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn.”

The closing years of the three and a half centuries since their entrance into Egypt found Israel peaceful, prosperous, and probably, in many respects, assimilated to the Egyptians around. “The fathers” had fallen asleep, but their children still held undisturbed possession of the district originally granted them. The land of Goshen, in which they were located, is to this day considered the richest province of Egypt, and could, even now, easily support a million more inhabitants than it numbers. Goshen extended between the most eastern of the ancient seven mouths of the Nile and Palestine. The border-land was probably occupied by the more nomadic branches of the family of Israel, to whose flocks its wide tracts would afford excellent pasturage; while the rich banks along the Nile and its canals were the chosen residence of those who pursued agriculture. Most likely such would also soon swarm across to the western banks of the Nile, where we find traces of them in various cities of the land. There they would acquire a knowledge of the arts and industries of the Egyptians. It seems quite natural that, in a country which held out such inducements for it, the majority of the Israelites should have forsaken their original pursuits of shepherds, and become agriculturists. To this day a similar change has been noticed in the nomads who settle in Egypt. Nor was their new life entirely foreign to their history. Their ancestor, Isaac, had, during his stay among the Philistines, sowed and reaped. Besides, at their settlement in Egypt, the grant of land—and that the best in the country—had been made to them “for a possession,” a term implying fixed and hereditary proprietorship. Their later reminiscences of Egypt accord with this view. In the wilderness they looked back with sinful longing to the time when they had cast their nets into the Nile, and drawn them in weighted with fish; and when their gardens and fields by the waterside had yielded rich crops—“the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick.” And afterwards, when Moses described to them the land which they were to inherit, he contrasted its cultivation with their past experience of Egypt, “where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs.” As further evidence of this change from pastoral to agricultural pursuits, it has also been remarked that, whereas the patriarchs had possessed camels, no allusion is made to them in the narrative of their descendants. No doubt this change of occupation served a higher purpose. For settlement and agriculture imply civilisation, such as was needed to prepare Israel for becoming a nation.

In point of fact, we have evidence that they had acquired most of the arts and industries of ancient Egypt. The preparation of the various materials for the Tabernacle, as well as its construction, imply this. Again, we have such direct statements, as, for example, that some of the families of Judah were “carpenters” (1 Chron. iv. 14), “weavers of fine Egyptian linen” (ver. 21), and “potters” (ver. 23). These must, of course, be regarded as only instances of the various trades learned in Egypt. Nor was the separation between Israel and the Egyptians such as to amount to isolation. Goshen would, of course, be chiefly, but not exclusively, inhabited by Israelites. These would mingle even in the agricultural districts, but, naturally, much more in the towns, with their Egyptian neighbours. Accordingly, it needed the Paschal provision of the blood to distinguish the houses of the Israelites from those of the Egyptians; while Exodus iii. 22 seems to imply that they were not only neighbours, but perhaps, occasionally, residents in the same houses. This also accounts for the “mixed multitude” that accompanied Israel at the Exodus, and, later on, in the wilderness, for the presence in the congregation of offspring from marriages between Jewish women and Egyptian husbands.

While the greater part of Israel had thus acquired the settled habits of a nation, the inhabitants of the border-district between Goshen and Canaan continued their nomadic life. This explains how the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh possessed so much larger flocks than their brethren, as afterwards to claim the wide pasture-lands to the east of Jordan. We have, also, among the records of “ancient stories,” a notice of some of the descendants of Judah exercising lordship in Moab, and we read of a predatory incursion into Gath on the part of some of the descendants of Ephraim, which terminated fatally. It is but fair to assume that these are only instances, mentioned the one on account of its signal success, the other on that of its failure, and that both imply nomadic habits and incursions into Canaan on the part of those who inhabited the border-land.

But whether nomadic or settled, Israel preserved its ancient constitution and religion, though here also we notice modifications and adaptations, arising from their long settlement in Egypt. The original division of Israel was into twelve tribes, after the twelve sons of Jacob, an arrangement which continued, although the sons of Joseph became two tribes (Ephraim and Manasseh), since the priestly tribe of Levi had no independent political standing. These twelve tribes were again subdivided into families (or rather clans), mostly founded by the grandsons of Jacob, of which we find a record in Numb. xxvi., and which amounted in all to sixty. From Joshua vii. 14 we learn that those “families” had at that time, if not earlier, branched into “households,” and these again into what is described by the expression “man by man” (in the Hebrew, Gevarim). The latter term, however, is really equivalent to our “family,” as appears from a comparison of Josh. vii. 14 with vers. 17, 18. Thus we have in the oldest times tribes and clans, and in those of Joshua, if not earlier, the clans again branching into households (kin) and families. The “heads” of those clans and families were their chiefs; those of the tribes, “the princes.” These twelve princes were “the rulers of the congregation.” By the side of these rulers, who formed a hereditary aristocracy, we find two classes of elective officials, as “representatives” of “the congregation.” These are designated in Deut. xxix. 10, as the “elders” and the “officers,” or, rather, “scribes.” Thus the rule of the people was jointly committed to the “princes,” the “elders,” and the “officers.” The institution of “elders” and of “scribes” had already existed among the children of Israel in Egypt before the time of Moses. For Moses “gathered the elders of Israel together,” to announce to them his Divine commission, and through them he afterwards communicated to the people the ordinance of the Passover. The mention of “scribes” as “officers” occurs even earlier than that of elders, and to them, as the lettered class, the Egyptian taskmasters seem to have entrusted the superintendence of the appointed labours of the people. From the monuments of Egypt we know whet an important part “the scribes” played in that country, and how constantly their mention recurs. Possibly, the order of scribes may have been thus introduced among Israel. As the lettered class, the scribes would naturally be the intermediaries between their brethren and the Egyptians. We may, therefore, regard them also as the representatives of learning, alike Israelitish and Egyptian. That the art of writing was known to the Israelites at the time of Moses is now generally admitted. Indeed, Egyptian learning had penetrated into Canaan itself, and Joshua found its inhabitants mostly in a very advanced state of civilisation, one of the towns bearing even the name of Kirjath-sepher, the city of books, or Kirjath-sannah, which might almost be rendered “university town.”

In reference to the religion of Israel, it is important to bear in mind that, during the three and a half centuries since the death of Jacob, all direct communication from Heaven, whether by prophecy or in vision, had so far as we know, wholly ceased. Even the birth of Moses was not Divinely intimated. In these circumstances the children of Israel were cast upon that knowledge which they had acquired from “the fathers,” and which, undoubtedly, was preserved among them. It need scarcely be explained, although it shows the wisdom of God’s providential arrangements, that the simple patriarchal forms of worship would suit the circumstances in Egypt much better than those which the religion of Israel afterwards received. Three great observances here stand out prominently. Around them the faith and the worship alike of the ancient patriarchs, and afterwards of Israel, may be said to have clustered. They are: circumcision, sacrifices, and the Sabbath. We have direct testimony that the rite of circumcision was observed by Israel in Egypt. As to sacrifices, even the proposal to celebrate a great sacrificial feast in the wilderness, implies that sacrificial worship had maintained its hold upon the people. Lastly, the direction to gather on the Friday two days’ provision of manna, and the introduction of the Sabbath command by the word “Remember,” convey the impression of previous Sabbath observance on the part of Israel. Indeed, the manner in which many things, as, for example, the practice of vows, are spoken of in the law, seems to point back to previous religious rites among Israel.

Thus far for those outward observances, which indicate how, even during those centuries of silence and loneliness in Egypt, Israel still cherished the fundamental truths of their ancestral religion. But there is yet another matter, bearing reference not to their articles of belief or their observances, but to the religious life of the family and of individuals in Israel. This appears in the names given by parents to their children during the long and hard bondage of Egypt. It is well known what significance attaches in the Old Testament to names. Every spiritually important event gave its new and characteristic name to a person or locality. Sometimes—as in the case of Abram, Sarai, and Jacob—it was God Himself Who gave such new name; at others, it was the expression of hearts that recognised the special and decisive interposition of God, or else breathed out their hopes and experiences, as in the case of Moses’ sons. But any one who considers such frequently recurring names among “the princes” of Israel, as Eliasaph (my God that gathers), Elizur (my God a rock), and others of kindred import, will gather how deep the hope of Israel had struck its roots in the hearts and convictions of the people. This point will be further referred to in the sequel. Meantime, we only call attention to the names of the chiefs of the three families of the Levites: Eliasaph (my God that gathers), Elizaphan (my God that watcheth all around), and Zuriel (my rock is God)—the Divine Name (El) being the same by which God had revealed Himself to the fathers.

Besides their own inherited rites, the children of Israel may have learned many things from the Egyptians, or been strengthened in them. And here, by the side of resemblance, we also observe marked contrast between them. We have already seen that, originally, the religion of the Egyptians had contained much of truth, which, however, was gradually perverted to superstition. The Egyptians and Israel might hold the same truths, but with the difference of understanding and application between dim tradition and clear Divine revelation. Thus, both Israel and the Egyptians believed in the great doctrines of the immortality of the soul, and of future rewards and punishments. But, in connection with this, Israel was taught another lesson, far more difficult to our faith, and which the ancient Egyptians had never learned, that God is the God of the present as well as of the future, and that even here on earth He reigneth, dispensing good and evil. And perhaps it was owing to this that the temporal consequences of sin were so much insisted upon in the Mosaic law. There was no special need to refer to the consequences in another life. The Egyptians, as well as Israel, acknowledged the latter, but the Egyptians knew not the former. Yet this new truth would teach Israel constantly to realise Jehovah as the living and the true God. On the other hand, the resemblances between certain institutions of Israel and of Egypt clearly prove that the Law was not given at a later period, but to those who came out from Egypt, and immediately upon their leaving it. At the same time, much evil was also acquired by intercourse with the Egyptians. In certain provisions of the Pentateuch we discover allusions, not only to the moral corruptions witnessed, and perhaps learned, in Egypt, but also to the idolatrous practices common there. Possibly, it was not the gorgeous ritual of Egypt which made such deep impression, but the services constantly there witnessed may have gradually accustomed the mind to the worship of nature. As instances of this tendency among Israel, we remember the worship of the golden calf, the warning against sacrificing unto the “he-goat,” and the express admonition, even of Joshua (xxiv. 14), to “put away the strange gods” which their “fathers served on the other side of the flood.” To the same effect is the retrospect in Ezek. xx. 5–8, in Amos v. 26, and in the address of Stephen before the Jewish council. Yet it is remarkable that, although the forms of idolatry here referred to were all practiced in Egypt, there is good reason for believing that they were not, so to speak, strictly Egyptian in their origin, but rather foreign rites imported, probably from the Phenicians.

Such then was the political, social, and religious state of Israel, when their long peace was suddenly interrupted by tidings that Aahmes I. was successfully making war against the foreign dynasty of the Hyksos. Advancing victoriously, he at last took Avaris, the great stronghold and capital of the Shepherd kings, and expelled them and their adherents from the country. He then continued his progress to the borders of Canaan, taking many cities by storm. The memorials of the disastrous rule of the Shepherds were speedily removed; the worship which they had introduced was abolished, and the old Egyptian forms were restored. A reign of great prosperity now ensued.

Although there is difference of opinion on the subject, yet every likelihood (as shown in the previous chapter) seems to attach to the belief that the accession of this new dynasty was the period when the “king arose who knew not Joseph” For reasons already explained, one of the first and most important measures of his internal administration would necessarily be to weaken the power of the foreign settlers, who were in such vast majority in the border province of Goshen. He dreaded lest, in case of foreign war, they might join the enemy, “and get them up out of the land.” The latter apprehension also shows that the king must have known the circumstances under which they had at first settled in the land. Again, from the monuments of Egypt, it appears to have been at all times the policy of the Pharaohs to bring an immense number of captives into Egypt, and to retain them there in servitude for forced labours. A somewhat similar policy was now pursued towards Israel. Although allowed to retain their flocks and fields, they were set to hard labour for the king. Egyptian “taskmasters” were appointed over them, who “made the children of Israel serve with rigour,” and did “afflict them with their burdens.” A remarkable illustration of this is seen in one of the Egyptian monuments. Labourers, who are evidently foreigners, and supposed to represent Israelites, are engaged in the various stages of brickmaking, under the superintendence of four Egyptians, two of whom are apparently superior officers, while the other two are overseers armed with heavy lashes, who cry out, “Work without fainting!” The work in which the Israelites were employed consisted of brickmaking, artificial irrigation of the land, including, probably, also the digging or restoring of canals, and the building, or restoring and enlarging of the two “magazine-cities” of Pithom and Raamses, whose localities have been traced in Goshen, and which served as depôts both for commerce and for the army. According to Greek historians it was the boast of the Egyptians that, in their great works, they only employed captives and slaves, never their own people. But Aahmes I. had special need of Israelitish labour, since we learn from an inscription, dating from his twenty-second year, that he was largely engaged in restoring the temples and buildings destroyed by the “Shepherds.”

But this first measure of the Pharaohs against Israel produced the opposite result from what had been expected. So far from diminishing, their previous vast growth went on in increased ratio, so that the Egyptians “were sorely afraid (alarmed) because of the children of Israel.” Accordingly Pharaoh resorted to a second measure, by which all male children, as they were born, were to be destroyed, probably unknown to their parents. But the two Hebrew women, who, as we suppose, were at the head of “the guild” of midwives, do not seem to have communicated the king’s order to their subordinates. At any rate, the command was not executed. Scripture has preserved the names of these courageous women, and told us that their motive was “fear of God” (in the Hebrew with the article, “the God,” as denoting the living and true God). And as they were the means of “making” or upbuilding the houses of Israel, so God “made them houses.” It is true that, when challenged by the king. they failed to speak out their true motive; but, as St. Augustine remarks, “God forgave the evil on account of the good, and rewarded their piety, though not their deceit.”

How little indeed any merely human device could have averted the ruin of Israel, appears from the third measure which Pharaoh now adopted. Putting aside every restraint, and forgetting, in his determination, even his interests, the king issued a general order to cast every Jewish male child, as it was born, into the Nile. Whether this command, perhaps given in anger, was not enforced for any length of time, or the Egyptians were unwilling permanently to lend themselves to such cruelty, or the Israelites found means of preserving their children from this danger, certain it is, that, while many must have suffered, and all needed to use the greatest precautions, this last ruthless attempt to exterminate Israel also proved vain.

Thus the two prophecies had been fulfilled. Even under the most adverse circumstances Israel had so increased as to fill the Egyptians with alarm; and the “affliction” of Israel had reached its highest point. And now the promised deliverance was also to appear. As in so many instances, it came in what men would call the most unlikely manner.[7]

 

 

Christ in The Passover – Moshe Rosen[8]

 

O Lord, Forgive Our Complacency –Get Us Out Of Here!

 

For the seed of Abraham, Egypt had been a volcano threatening to erupt. …..

 

Under the cruel Pharoah, the children of Israel toiled and suffered, but still they grew in numbers.  Enrgaed, Pharaoh ordered the Hebrews’ male babies murdered so that the entire nation would eventually die.  Then the Israelites remembered the God of their fathers.  At last they recognized their need to be rescued.  They needed to be delivered, not only from Pharaoh, but from Egypt itself.  They cried out to God in their bondage and distress, and He heard their anquished pleas.  Now that they were ready for His help, He remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.  Deliverance was near.

 

Egypt to the Hebrews had become comfort and complacency outside God’s providence.  The covenant of Jehovah made with Abraham was two-sided. On God’s part, He promised the land (Genesis 15:18); on Abraham’s part, he and his seed were to bear the physical marks of the covenant-circumcision (Genesis 17:10).  The Hebrews did  remember to circumcise while they were in Egypt (Joshua 5:5), but they prevented God from fulfilling the covenant by not seeking the land He had promised.  They broke the spirit of the covenant. They needed to be redeemed, to be “deemed again” the people of the covenant, the people of God.

 

Jehovah could have slain the wicked Pharaoh in an instant to alleviate the sufferings of His people. He could have brought about a new, more favorable order in Egypt.  But that would not have been enough.  The sons of Jacob had to forsake Egypt in order to serve the living God.  Old things, old attitudes, old affections had to pass away-all things had to become new.  The Bible teaches that a person cannot see the Kingdom of God until his is spiritually born again (John 3:3).  So the nation of Israel needed a new beginning, a new birth. Thus the redemption at Passover prepared the sons of Jacob for another covenant to be made as Sinai, which would reestablish  and reaffirm them as the nation of God.

 

The Passover redemption from Egypt changed Israel’s reckoning of time. (by tradition, the Jewish people celebrate the fiscal New Year in the fall, in the seventh month of the Jewish calendar; but the religious calendar begins in Nisan, the first month) God commanded the Hebrews to count the month of the deliverance from Egypt as the first month of the year. He was saying in effect. “This event is so historic that you are to rearrange your calendar because of it”.

 

 The Sin of Complacency to the things of G-d can cause us to get into bondage and slavery to the things of the World.

 

Bonus: Prayers of The Bible – Prayers in The Wilderness

 

Exodus 32:7-14

 

 Torah Nuggets:[i]

 

 Click link for Torah Portion Teaching:

 

Messianic Israel Ministries Torah Study

 

Halacha – The Way One Walks or Goes- Derived from the Hebrew word “Halakh” which means “To Walk”.  The Way to follow the Torah/Word of God.

 

 

In this weeks Torah Portion, what is God saying to me today about my walk with Him? 

 

How can I apply this Torah Portion with my walk with Yeshua this week?

 

Bible Study Nuggets From Daily Bible Reading:

 

Golden Nuggets From Gods Word: (Write the Revelations and Insights you have received from Him today)

 

Word to Hide in my Heart: (Write memory Verse of your choosing)

 

Word from the Lord (Write out verse, quote or anything that was spoken to you by the Ruach HaKodesh/The Holy Spirit.

 

Today I will…. (write down how you will apply what the Lord has spoken to your heart through His Holy Word to your daily walk with Him in your Journal.)

 

Daily Prayer Guide For Your Prayer/Tefillah Journal

 

Worship Time - Psalm 100:4 “I will adore you AdonaiPut in your favorite Worship CD or Tape and Praise Adonai-See Amidah #1-4 Below and Shema

 

Waiting Time - Psalm 62:5 – I will wait in Your presence and surrender my thoughts to you! Clear your mind of the clutter and focus on Ha Shem.

 

Confession & Repentance /Tishuvah Time -1 John 1:9 – I will ask and receive forgiveness for my sins –Write down what you need forgiveness or deliverance from so you may walk in Holiness. –See Amidah #5-6 Below

 

See below for Personal Word  Confessions to build up your Faith and Spirit and to plant the Word in Your Heart

 

Intercession Time –Ezekial 22:30-31  I will stand in the Gap for the world and for others as Yeshua is doing for us as our High Priest at the right hand of The Father

 

31 Day Cycle of Prayer for the World…(Use a World Atlas to help you pray for the World) 

 

Today’s Countries to Pray for are:

 

Click Here For Map of  World and Countries

 

Israel – Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem Daily

 

 

*Daily Prayer Reminders: See Amidah #11-12, 14-17 Below

 

1 Timothy 2:1  1 First of all, then, I counsel that petitions, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be made for all human beings, 2 Including kings and all in positions of prominence; so that we may lead quiet and peaceful lives, being godly and upright in everything. 3 This is what God, our deliverer, regards as good; this is what meets his approval.[9]

 

President, Government Leaders, Family, Friends, Church, Ministers, Spouse, Children, Ministries, Schools, Salvation, Missions, World Revival – See 40 Day Prayer Focus Below

 

Petition Time – My Abba Father hears me when I pray and answers when I pray in faith/trust and according to His Word. Write down personal petitions for today. See Amidah #7-8 Below

 

Watching Time – Colossians 4:2a – I will keep watch in the spirit and be alert to what & who I need to pray for.   See Amdiah #13

 

Prayer Alert: Today Adonai has specifically laid these people upon my heart to pray for: Write it down in your Prayer Journal

 

Listening Time: Psalm 85:8 Write down what Ruach HaKodesh/The Holy Spirit has revealed to you today in Prayer.

 

List 5 Things your are thankful to G-d for today in your Prayer Journal (You can print one out below)

 

In  Tefillah/Prayer: Always Pray the Word and Pray in the Ruach and Pray Always with ALL Prayer…..

 

Praise, Waiting, Confession, Singing, Watching, Intercession, Petition, Thanksgiving, Devotions, Meditation, Listening and Praise

 

Suggested Prayer Books:  Prayer’s That Avail Much Volumes 1,2 and 3 by Germain Copeland[ii]  and The Artscroll Seder Series[iii].

 

The Prayers of a Righteous Person are Powerful and Effective –James 5:16

 

 

Click on the Links for Daily Prayer and Bible Study helps

 Torah/Bible Study Helps

 

 Blue Letter Bible

Lots and Lots of Study Helps, Concordances, Commentaries, Various Translations Etc.

 

 

First Century Judaism/Christianity

Eddie Chumney’s Hebrew Roots Website

 

Hebrew Glossary

 

Hebrew Roots Glossary

 

The Sabbath and Biblical Festivals

Learn about the Sabbath and Feasts of YHWH

Eddie Chumney’s Hebrew Roots Website

 

The Tabernacle

Learn about the Tabernacle

Eddie Chumney’s Hebrew Roots Website

 

Recommended Reading For Further Study

 

Messiah Volume 1, 2 and 3 Avi Ben Mordachi

http://www.millennium7000.com/

 

Restoring the Two Houses of Israel- Eddie Chumney

The Feasts of Messiah – Eddie Chumney

Who is The Bride of Christ-Eddie Chumney

http://www.hebroots.org/

 

Who is Israel – Angus and Batya Wooten

Restoring Israels Kingdom – Angus and Batya Wooten

http://www.mim.net

 

First Fruits of Zion – Torah Club Volume 1,2,3, 4 and 5

http://www.ffoz.org

 

 

Prayer Helps

 

Shemoneh Esreh-Amidah and Ha Adonai Tefillah/The Lords Prayer

Shema

 

Traditional Jewish Prayers and Blessings

(Jewish Website by D’vorah, Click here for more insights into Jewish Prayer)

 

40 Day Prayer Focus

(Daily Petitions to Yahweh)

 

Personal Word Confessions

(to build up your  faith)

 

 

Who I am In Messiah Scriptures

(What Yeshua did for you)

 

 

 

 Click Here to Return to Index Page

Lots more to See and Read !

 

 

Baruch HaShem Adonai –

 Shalom B’Shem  Yeshua Ha Mashiach

 

 

Deborah

 

All Rights Reserved ã2003-2004/5764-5765 Deborah’s Messianic Ministries/Debra E. Brandt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



[1] An excellent Torah Devotional is the Walk Series, Walk Genesis, Walk Exodus, Walk Leviticus, Walk Number, Walk Deuteronomy , by Jeffery Enoch Feinberg, PHD by Lederer Books, a division of Messianic Jewish Publishers.   Easy to read, with Hebrew nuggets, and illustrations. Also FFOZ Torah Club is a more detailed study, and worth enrolling for.

[2]The Jewish New Testament, (Clarksville, MD: Jewish New Testament Publications) 1996.

[3]The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, (La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation) 1996.

[4]The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, (La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation) 1996.

[5] Christ In The Passover – Ceil and Moshe Rosen copyright 1978 by The Mood Bible Institute of Chicago, Moody Press.

 

[6]The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, (La Habra, California: The Lockman Foundation) 1996.

[7]Edersheim, Alfred, Bible History: Old Testament, (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.) 1998.

[8] Christ In The Passover – Ceil and Moshe Rosen copyright 1978 by The Mood Bible Institute of Chicago, Moody Press.

[9]The Jewish New Testament, (Clarksville, MD: Jewish New Testament Publications) 1996.



[i] An excellent Messianic Jewish Devotional called The Walk Series, Walk Genesis, Walk Exodus, Walk Leviticus, Walk Numbers and Walk Deuteronomy by Jeffery Enoch Feinburg, PhD.  Published by Lederer Books Messianic Jewish Publishers is a wonderful Daily Devotional to use for studying Torah, along with FFOZ Torah Club which is more detailed.  Both will give you additional insights into Torah.

[ii] This book is filled with Scripture Prayers to help you pray the Word – Harrison House Publishers, Germaine Copeland –Available in any Christian Book Store

[iii] You can order The Art Scroll Seder Series through Amazon. Com or First Fruits of Zion