Daily Bible Portion (Monday)
Daily Bible Portion – 2 of 7
"THE NAMES"
(Weekly Reading>>Exodus 1:1-6:1, Jeremiah 1:1-2:3, Hebrews 11:23-26)
The Israelites were a flourishing and self-sufficient people in their own right and they had blessed Egypt through their own economy. However, Pharaoh’s plan was successful and soon the Hebrews were given Egyptian names and hard taskmasters over them to oppress them. In their enslavement, the Israelites were forced to build the store-cites of Pithom and Rameses located in Lower Egypt. Pithom means "the city of justice" and Rameses “child of the sun".
Pharaoh’s plan to enslave Yahweh’s people had four phases:
The enemies of Israel have used these tactics throughout history. We have seen this in the Pogroms, the Inquisition and the holocaust that have attempted to thwart Yahweh’s plans.
The Hebrew Midwives
With the Israelites doing so well Pharaoh feared that in the event of a war these slaves would unite with those attacking Egypt, fight against the Egyptians and leave the land. This would devastate the country’s economy. In order to prevent them from gathering against Egypt, the king decreed all Hebrew male babies be put to death, whereas the female babies were allowed to live. It was here that we see Egyptian names being applied to the attending Hebrew midwives. The rabbis believe that the two midwives with the Egyptian names Shiphrah (fair) and Puah (splendid) are actually Jochebed and Miriam, the mother and sister of Moses (Exodus 1:10-15).
Scripture states that the Hebrew midwives had a respectful fear of Yahweh over fear of man because they believed in His Covenant promises. Allowing the male babies to live soon had the midwives standing before Pharaoh to explain their actions.
Because of their courageous actions Yahweh blessed them. The Hebrews continued to flourish, which made Pharaoh even more enraged, and he said,
Yahweh’s prophesy for the Israelites was about to unfold. Yahweh chose a baby named Moses for His great plan to redeem Israel and bring them back to the Promised Land. Moses’ life was a prophetic picture of Yeshua’s life thousands of years later because He also came as the kinsman redeemer for the nation of Israel. Both men came into this world in vulnerable positions; as babies.
Why do we fear? Here Yahweh presents His plan of redemption through the very vehicle that the enemy was attempting to destroy - a baby! Yahweh is revealing to us that His Covenant promises are so powerful that even if we are spiritually like helpless babies, walking in His truth will deliver us.
As Moses’ life was threatened, so was Yeshua as a baby. The Prophet like Moses (Deut 18:18-19).
continues tomorrow...
"THE NAMES"
(Weekly Reading>>Exodus 1:1-6:1, Jeremiah 1:1-2:3, Hebrews 11:23-26)
The Israelites were a flourishing and self-sufficient people in their own right and they had blessed Egypt through their own economy. However, Pharaoh’s plan was successful and soon the Hebrews were given Egyptian names and hard taskmasters over them to oppress them. In their enslavement, the Israelites were forced to build the store-cites of Pithom and Rameses located in Lower Egypt. Pithom means "the city of justice" and Rameses “child of the sun".
Pharaoh’s plan to enslave Yahweh’s people had four phases:
•First: recruitment for public service (Exodus 1:11).
•Second: enslavement under hard labor by making bricks, along with all kinds of fieldwork that made their lives difficult (Exodus 1:13-14).
•Third: changing names from Hebrew to Egyptian causing them to lose their identity and assimilate (Exodus 1:15-16).
•Fourth: the final solution - killing all male Hebrew babies (Exodus 1:22).
•Second: enslavement under hard labor by making bricks, along with all kinds of fieldwork that made their lives difficult (Exodus 1:13-14).
•Third: changing names from Hebrew to Egyptian causing them to lose their identity and assimilate (Exodus 1:15-16).
•Fourth: the final solution - killing all male Hebrew babies (Exodus 1:22).
The enemies of Israel have used these tactics throughout history. We have seen this in the Pogroms, the Inquisition and the holocaust that have attempted to thwart Yahweh’s plans.
The Hebrew Midwives
When you do the duties of a midwife for the Hebrew women, and see them on the birth stools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live (Exodus 1:16).
With the Israelites doing so well Pharaoh feared that in the event of a war these slaves would unite with those attacking Egypt, fight against the Egyptians and leave the land. This would devastate the country’s economy. In order to prevent them from gathering against Egypt, the king decreed all Hebrew male babies be put to death, whereas the female babies were allowed to live. It was here that we see Egyptian names being applied to the attending Hebrew midwives. The rabbis believe that the two midwives with the Egyptian names Shiphrah (fair) and Puah (splendid) are actually Jochebed and Miriam, the mother and sister of Moses (Exodus 1:10-15).
Scripture states that the Hebrew midwives had a respectful fear of Yahweh over fear of man because they believed in His Covenant promises. Allowing the male babies to live soon had the midwives standing before Pharaoh to explain their actions.
The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them (Exodus 1:19).
Because of their courageous actions Yahweh blessed them. The Hebrews continued to flourish, which made Pharaoh even more enraged, and he said,
Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive (Exodus 1:17-22).
Yahweh’s prophesy for the Israelites was about to unfold. Yahweh chose a baby named Moses for His great plan to redeem Israel and bring them back to the Promised Land. Moses’ life was a prophetic picture of Yeshua’s life thousands of years later because He also came as the kinsman redeemer for the nation of Israel. Both men came into this world in vulnerable positions; as babies.
Why do we fear? Here Yahweh presents His plan of redemption through the very vehicle that the enemy was attempting to destroy - a baby! Yahweh is revealing to us that His Covenant promises are so powerful that even if we are spiritually like helpless babies, walking in His truth will deliver us.
Therefore Yahweh himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, meaning God with us (Isaiah 7:14)(John 1:1,14).
Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son (Luke 2:4-7).
Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son (Luke 2:4-7).
As Moses’ life was threatened, so was Yeshua as a baby. The Prophet like Moses (Deut 18:18-19).
An angel of Yahweh appeared to Joseph in a dream. ‘Get up,’ he said, ‘take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.’ And so was fulfilled what Yahweh had said through the prophet: ‘Out of Egypt I called my son (Hosea 11:1).’ When Herod realized that he had been outwitted, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi (Matthew 2:13, 15-16).
continues tomorrow...