Dennis Prager - Exodus

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Dennis Prager
The Rational Bible
Exodus: God, Slavery, and Freedom
The Alperson Edition
Copyright 2018

The Most Important Book Of Our Time About The Most Important Book Of All Time

Many people today think the Bible, the most influential book in world history, is not only outdated but also irrelevant, irrational, and even immoral.

This explanation of the Book of Exodus, the second book of the Bible, demonstrates clearly and powerfully that the opposite is true. The Bible remains profoundly relevant -- both to the great issues of our day and each individual life. It is the greatest moral guide ever written.

Do you think the Bible permitted the African slave trade? You won't after reading this book. Do you find it difficult to love your parents? If you do, this book will help you immeasurably. Do you doubt the existence of God because you think belief in God is irrational? This book will give you reason after reason to rethink your doubts. The title of this commentary is "The Rational Bible" because its approach is entirely reason-based. The reader is never asked to accept anything on faith alone. In the author's words, "If something I write does not make rational sense, I have not done my job."

The Rational Bible is the fruit of Dennis Prager's forty years of teaching the Bible to people of every faith and no faith. On virtually every page, you will discover how the text relates to the contemporary world and to you. His goal: to change your mind -- and, as a result, to change your life.

    Table Of Contents - Exodus: 40 Chapters

    Introduction

xvi     Why This Commentary?
xvii    Who Is This Torah Commentary For?
            xvii    To Jewish Readers
            xviii    To Christian Readers
            xix     To Non-Religious Readers
xx     The Torah Is Not Man-Made
xxi     Man-Made or God-Made: Why It Matters
xxiii    How Was The Torah Transmitted?
xxiii    Reason, Torah, and God
xxiv    Why Read This Commentary?
xxvi    Did the Exodus Happen?
xxvi    A Few Details
            xxvi     Why Exodus Is Volume I
            xxvi     BC or BCE?
            xxvii    God as "He"
            xxvii    On How to Read This Commentary
            xxvii    The Use of Post-Biblical Jewish Sources
xxviii    Acknowledgments

    Foreword

Dedicated to Sue
"It is not good for man to be alone. I will make him a helper who is his equal."
Genesis 2:18 (literal translation)

xxvi - BC or BCE? BCE = Before The Common Era
Also referred to as Before The Christian Era

xxxvii - The first five books of the Bible have always been known as the Torah.

Even an atheist who doesn't believe that either the Exodus or the giving of the Ten Commandments at Sinai actually occurred would have to acknowledge that the Western world has been largely shaped by the belief that these events did occur.

    The Ten Plagues

Judgment and Salvation Through the Plagues - 7:6-11:10

1. Water Turned To Blood - 7:14-24


2. Frogs - 7:25-8:15


3. Gnats - 8:16-19


4. Flies - 8:20-32


5. Against Livestock - 9:1-7


6. Boils - 9:8-12


7. Hail - 9:13-35


8. Locusts - 10:1-20


9. Darkness - 10:21-29


10. Death of the Firstborn - 11

The Passover - 12:1-28 - Deliverance, Freedom, New Creation

    The Noahide Laws

The Noahide Laws

The Noahide Laws (www.myjewishlearning.com)

Seven commandments which, according to Jewish tradition, are incumbent upon all of humankind.

God speaks to Noah and his children as they exit the ark: ‘Behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you.’ (Genesis 9:9)

Although rabbinic texts preserve various traditions about the details of this covenant, the Talmud reports the following:

The children of Noah were commanded with seven commandments: [to establish] laws, and [to prohibit] cursing God, idolatry, illicit sexuality, bloodshed, robbery, and eating flesh from a living animal (Sanhedrin 56a; cf. Tosefta Avodah Zarah 8:4 and Genesis Rabbah 34:8).

The Laws

1. Do establish laws.
2. Don’t curse God.
3. Do not practice idolatry.
4. Do not engage in illicit sexuality.
5. Do not participate in bloodshed.
6. Do not rob.
7. Do not eat flesh from a living animal.

The Details

The prohibition against idolatry refers specifically to idolatrous worship, and not to beliefs. In later generations, Jews had to determine whether the prevailing religious cultures in which they lived were idolatrous. Since Islam is strictly monotheistic, Muslims have always been considered Noahides. Since the later Middle Ages, Jews have acknowledged that the Christian doctrine of the Trinity was not the same as idolatry, and they were also recognized as Noahides.

The prohibition against theft includes kidnapping, cheating an employee or an employer, and a variety of similar acts.

The prohibition against illicit sexuality includes six particular prohibitions, derived from a single verse:

Noahides are prohibited from engaging in six illicit sexual relationships: with one’s mother, with one’s father’s wife, with another man’s wife, with his sister from the same mother, in a male homosexual union, and with an animal as it says, ‘Therefore shall a man leave his father…’ this refers to his father’s wife; ‘and his mother…” refers to the mother; ‘and cling to his wife…’ and not another’s wife; ‘wife…’ and not a homosexual union; ‘and become one flesh‘ (Genesis 2:24) excluding animals… (Maimonides, Laws of Kings, 9:5)

Eating flesh from a living animal is how the rabbis understood “But flesh with its life, which is its blood, you shall not eat” (Genesis 9:4). It has been suggested that the custom of eating an amputated limb of an animal was a way to keep the rest of the meat fresh in the days before refrigeration.

The Obligation to Create a System of Laws

According to the medieval philosopher and codifier Maimonides, the legal system which Noahides are required to set up is specifically to establish punishments for infractions of the other six Noahide laws (Laws of Kings 9:14).

Nahmanides, a medieval Bible commentator, understands the obligation more broadly:

In my opinion, the laws which the Noahides were to establish according to their seven commandments is not only to establish courts in each town, but that they were also commanded concerning theft, abuse, usury, labor relations, damages, loans, business, and the like, just as Israel was commanded to set up laws in these matters (Nahmanides, Commentary to Genesis 34:13).

Later authorities, including Rabbi Moses Sofer (1763-1839), claim that Maimonides did not exclude what Nahmanides had included, but that Maimonides considered all of these laws to be included under the prohibition of “theft.” Rabbi Naphtali Tzvi Yehudah Berlin (1817-1893) states that Nahmanides’ approach requires non-Jews to legislate on these matters, but the details and formulation of the legislation are left to their discretion.

Natural Law

The Noahide laws bear a striking resemblance to a separate rabbinic tradition that describes the commandments that would have been derived logically even if God had not included them in the Torah:

‘You must keep my rulings’ (Lev. 18:4): These are the items which are written in the Torah which, had they not been written should logically have been written, such as the [prohibitions against] robbery, illicit sexuality, idolatry, cursing God, and bloodshed.” (Sifra, Ahare Mot, section 140)

The overlap here of five of the seven laws enumerated for Noahides indicates that they may have been understood as a sort of universal, natural morality. This is the way some modern philosophers, such as Hermann Cohen, understood them.

Indeed, based on the Talmudic discussion, Maimonides states:

Six items were commanded to Adam: concerning idolatry, blasphemy, bloodshed, illicit sexuality, theft, and laws…God added to Noah, the law of not eating from the flesh of a live animal.” (Maimonides, Laws of Kings 9:1)

The association of these laws with Adam implies that they were established as part of the creation of the natural world.

Conclusion

That Jews perceive non-Jews as bound by a set of laws–even if they are not bound by the full range of Torah law–is a significant statement. The expectation that non-Jews will set up their own system of justice became the basis for peaceful interactions between Jews and non-Jews. The Noahide laws separated humanity after the flood from the lawless violence which brought God to the point of destroying the world. The Noahide laws stand as a testament to the Jewish belief in the need for the rule of law to protect all peoples.

    Chronology Of The Exodus

Chronology, People, & Places Of The Exodus

The shortest route from Egypt to Canaan (The Promised Land) was about 250 miles [400 km], but Moses chose not to lead them through Philistia, enemy territory. The 11 Day journey took forty years.

Web Site: Detailed Account ofThe Exodus Route: Travel times, distances, rates of travel, days of the week, etc.

• 1532-1511 BC - Pharaoh who killed Hebrew children: AmuntotepI


• 1526 BC - Pharaoh's Daughter who adopted Moses: Hatshepsut


• 1498-1485 BC: Pharaoh of Moses' flight to Midian in 1486 BC - Thutmoses II/Hatshepsut


• 1485/1464-1431 BC - Pharaoh of the Exodus: Thutmoses III:


• Red sea crossing: Straits of Tiran on the gulf of Aqaba on day 25


• Mt. Sinai: Jebel/Mt. Lawz in Saudi Arabia arriving on day 45 - spending 11 months


• Kadesh Barnea at El Beidha beside modern Petra spending two years.


• 1406 BC - Crossing the Jordan - 40 years to the day they left Egypt.



The 250-Mile / 11-Day Journey Took 40-Years.
That's Walking 3 mph for 8 Hours Each Day (25 Miles).

Map of the Hebrews Journey

1. Rameses Israel was thrust out of Egypt (Ex. 12; Num. 33:5).
2. Succoth After the Hebrews left this first campsite, the Lord attended them in a cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night (Ex. 13:20-22).
3. Pi-hahiroth Israel passed through the Red Sea (Ex. 14; Num. 33:8).
4. Marah The Lord healed the waters of Marah (Ex. 15:23-26).
5. Elim Israel camped by 12 springs (Ex. 15:27).
6. Wilderness of Sin The Lord sent manna and quail to feed Israel (Ex. 16).
7. Rephidim Israel fought with Amalek (Ex. 17:8-16).
8. Mount Sinai (Mount Horeb or Jebel Musa) The Lord revealed the Ten Commandments (Ex. 19-20).
9. Sinai Wilderness Israel constructed the tabernacle (Ex. 25-30).
10. Wilderness Camps Seventy elders were called to help Moses govern the people (Num. 11:16-17).
11. Ezion-geber Israel passed through the lands of Esau and Ammon in peace (Deut. 2).
12. Kadesh-barnea Moses sent spies into the promised land; Israel rebelled and failed to enter the land; Kadesh served as the main camp of Israel for many years (Num. 13:1-3, 17-33; 14; 32:8; Deut. 2:14).
13. Eastern Wilderness Israel avoided conflict with Edom and Moab (Num. 20:14-21; 22-24).
14. Arnon River Israel destroyed the Canaanites who fought against them (Deut. 2:24-37).
15. Mount Nebo Moses viewed the promised land (Deut. 34:1-4). Moses delivered his last three sermons (Deut. 1-32).
16. Plains of Moab The Lord told Israel to divide the land and dispossess the inhabitants (Num. 33:50-56).
17. Jordan River Israel crossed the Jordan River on dry ground. Near Gilgal, stones from the bottom of the Jordan River were placed as a monument of Jordan’s waters being divided (Josh. 3-5).
18. Jericho The children of Israel possessed and destroyed the city (Josh. 6).

    Exodus - Chapter 1 - 22 Verses

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The Israelites Oppressed

1 - 1:1 - These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt with Jacob, each with his family:

1 - 1:2 - Reuben, Simeon, Levi and Judah;

1 - 1:3 - Issachar, Zebulun and Benjamin;

1 - 1:4 - Dan and Naphtali; Gad and Asher.

1 - 1:5 - The descendants of Jacob numbered seventy in all; Joseph was already in Egypt.

1 - 1:6 - Now Joseph and all his brothers and all that generation died,

2 - Nations, like people, are their memories. A nation that doesn't remember its past, like the man who fell on his head, ceases to be the nation it was.

Essay: The Jews: A Second Creation

2 - 1:7 - but the Israelites were exceedingly fruitful; they multiplied greatly, increased in numbers and became so numerous that the land was filled with them.

2 - The Jews: God's Third Attempt To Create A Moral World

1. First Attempt: Creation - Adam and Eve
2. Second Attempt: The Flood - Noah
3. Third Attempt: The Ten Commandments - Moses

2 - The Exodus followed by the revelation of the Ten Commandments at Sinai and the subsequent writing of this Torah may be considered God's third attempt to create a moral world.

3 - God's first attempt to make a good world was creating human beings with a conscience. That didn't work: Cain, the firstborn child of the first couple, Adam and Eve, killed his brother, Abel. After this, a general moral deterioration of humanity followed, and God came to reget creating human beings (Genesis 6:5-6).

3 - Consequently, God sent the flood, destroying all mankind except for one particularly good man -- Noah -- and his family. Since the human conscience was insufficient to make a good world, God then revealed some basic moral laws and principles such as not to murder, to take the life of those who deliberately murder, to have children, not to consume the blood of any creature, and every human being is created in the image of God (Genesis 9:1-7).

3 - Once again, people murdered and plundered and engaged in other evils. God, therefore, initiated a third effort to morally improve mankind by revealing Himself to one specific group who would be charged with spreading ethical monotheism to the world. This group was first known as Hebrews, then as Israelites, then as Jews. They descended from a man named Abraham to whom God revealed Himself and His desire that the entire world be blessed through Abraham and his descendants.

3 - Abraham's descendants were enslaved in Egypt for hundreds of years. The process by which they became enslaved begins in this chapter, and is followed midway in the book by the Exodus from Egypt and the revelation of the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai.

3 - Why Didn't God Give The Ten Commandments To The First Human Beings?

3 - Of course, one might ask, why would God have to keep trying? Doesn't God know what works and what doesn't? Why didn't He just begin the world with the Ten Commandments or with a Chosen People as conduits of His moral will? I would offer three responses:

1. (Page 3) - First, in creating a being (the human) with free will, it is arguable that God could not predict what this creature would always do. Genesis 6:6 says that, after seeing how much evil men do, "God regretted that He had created man on earth." That verse implies God did know how man would turn out.


2. (Page 4) - Second, God made these multiple attempts at having people act decently to show why revelation was necessary, and why specifically the revelation at Sinai and the Torah were necessary. Precisely because prior attempts -- the making of the human consicience and basic moral "Noahide" principles -- did not work, God gave the Ten Commandments and the Torah.


3. (Page 4) - Third, this third attempt at making a good world establishes the raison d'etre (the most important reason or purpose for someone or something's existence) of the Jewish People -- "to be a nation of priests and a holy nation (Exodus 19:6) and to bring the world to the Ten Commandments and ethical monotheism.

4 - Why Do People Think There Are So Many Jews In The World?

5 - The Indispensable Importance Of Remembering

5 - 1:8 - Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.

5 - Joseph, about whom more is written than any other figure in the Torah except for Moses, was the Israelite who rose from slavery, followed by imprisonment, to become the second most powerful man in Egypt. He is credited with saving Egypt (from famine). Given that Joseph's role in Egyptian history was so profound, the words "who did not know Joseph" are extraordinary.

5 - One of humanity's most common character traits is ingratitude -- people either not acknowledging the good another does for them or quickly forgetting that good.

5 - Human beings tend to much more quickly forget the good others have done for them than the bad others have done to them. That's human nature. It is, therefore, one of the very many reasons that to become a good person involves fighting one's nature -- a theme developed often in the Torah, in the rest of the Bible, and in this commentary.

5 - The American writer Bruce Feiler has an additional insight into this verse -- the recurring emphasis on remembering in the Torah and specifically the Book of Exodus.

5 - "The story begins with forgetting. The pharaoh does not remember how a son of Israel saved Egypt from famine. The rest of the Five Books of Moses becomes an antidote to this state of forgetfulness. God hears the groaning of Israel and 'remembers His covenant' (Exodus 2:24). Moses leads the Israelites from Egypt and urges them to 'remember this day' (Exodus 13:3). The Israelites are ordered to 'remember the Sabbath day' (Exodus 20:8), and to observe Passover as a 'day of remembrance' (Exodus 12:14). Moses's goal is to build a counter-Egypt...to construct a society that offers an alternative to ignorance and unknowingness. He must devise a community that remembers."

5 - Remembering -- the good others have done, the evil others have done, and one's moral obligations -- is an indispensable aspect of a good and meaningful life.

5 - Who are we, if not our memories? The same holds true for nations. Nations, too, are their memories. A nation that doesn't remember its past ceases to be the nation it was. This may be happening now in a number of Western European nations that teach their young to consider themselves "world citizens" or Europeans rather than members of a specific nation. Is is also happening in the United States, where the level of ignorance of the American past among young Americans is unprecedented.

5 - What can be stated for certain is a major reason for the survival of the Jewish people has been memory. The Jewish religion is replete with prayers and the retelling of the Exodus in Jewish homes for over 3,000 years.

6- The Individual And Massive Evil

6 - 1:9 - “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us.

8 - 1:10 - Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”

8 - The Guilt Of The Egyptian People

8 - 1:11 - So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh.

8 - The Torah indicts the Egyptians four times in the next four verses:

1. The Egyptians set taskmasters over the Israelites (verse 11).
2. They ruthlesly impose hardships on them (verse 13).
3. They make them perform harsh labors (verse 14).
4. They make life bitter for them (verse 14).

8 - The Torah is emphasizing the collective guilt of the Egyptians. Even though it is Pharaoh who initiates the slavery and annihilation campaign, the Egyptian people are the ones who execute it. Individuals initiate mass evil, but they need the collaboration of many people to carry it out. This explains the collective national punishments the Egyptian people will experience.

9 - 1:12 - But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites

9 - 1:13 - and worked them ruthlessly.

9 - You don't need a great number of truly evil people to carry out massive evil. You only need:

1. Ordinary people who have allowed themselves to be indoctrinated by the truly evil.
2. People who benefit from the evil.
3. A paucity of courageous good people.

9 - 1:14 - They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.

9 - Were The Midwives Who Disobeyed Pharaoh Egyptian Or Hevrews? - Part I

9 - The Torah Gives The Midwives Names, But Not The Pharaoh's

9 - 1:15 - The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah,

10 - 1:16 - “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.”

10 - Essay: The Moral Significance Of Fearing God

10 - 1:17 - The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live.

10 - Fear of God -- when that God is the moral God of the Torah, the God of the Ten Commandments, the God Who commanded, "Love your neighbor as yourself" -- is necessary to make a society of moral individuals.

11 - But you cannot build a good world with a handful of individuals who happen to be good people. You need a universal moral code from a universal God Who is the source of that moral code, and this God must judge all people accordingly.

11 - People fear those who are more powerful than they are. Therefore, the only way not to fear powerful people is to fear God.

11 - Most God-believers are moral on a day-to-day basis because they believe they will be judged by God. That's why, for example, in traditional Western societies, the finest people were routinely described as "God-fearing," not "God-loving."

11 - Fear of God is a liberating emotion, freeing one from a disabling fear of evil, powerful people.

12 - Those who feared God saved Hebrew babies. Those who feared Pharaoh helped drown Hebrew babies.

12 - Belief in God posits there is something higher than the Party, it constitutes a fatal threat to secular totalitarian societies (that's why North Koreans have been horribly punished for owning a Bible)

12 - Were The Midwives Who Disobeyed The Pharaoh Egyptians Or Hebrews? Part II

12 - 1:18 - Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, “Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?”

13 - When Lying Is Moral

13 - 1:19 - The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.”

13 - We are not only permitted, but morally obligated, to lie to the evil in order to save ourselves or other innocents.

14 - Essay: Moral Absolutes, Moral Relativism, and Situational Ethics

14 - Courage is the rarest of all the good traits. There are far more kind and honest people than there are courageous people.

14 - Moral truths depend entirely upon the existence of a Moral Source higher than mankind. Murder is wrong because God says so. It there is no God, all notions of right and wrong are subjective opinion.

15 - Moral absolutes is "universal morality." ... If it is a truth that murder is wrong, it is wrong for all people. Moral relativism holds the opposite. It hold that morality is not universal but determined by each individual or each society: "what you think is wrong is wrong -- for you; and what I think is wrong is wrong -- for me."

15 - "Situational ethics" is not at all the same as moral relativism. It means only by knowing the situation can we know whether an act is moral or immoral. (Examples: Killing in self-defense or war. Sex: Physical bonding or rape.)

15 - Very few acts are in and of themselves morally wrong. It is the situation that enables us to determine what is right and wrong.

15 - Lying is another example. If a murderer asks you where his intended victim is hiding, and you know the answer, it is not only alright to lie to the murderer, it is morally imperative to do so -- because saving an innocent person's life is a greater moral good than refraining from lying.

12 - More On The Midwives: Egyptians Or Hebrew? III

16 - 1:20 - So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous.

16 - 1:21 - And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.

16 - God generally intercedes only in the lives of those who involve themselves with Him, and/or those whose lives are involved in something much greater than themselves.

17 - 1:22 - Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.”

17 - The Torah once again reminds us it is only through the cooperation of the masses that massive evil is committed.

17 - One likely explanation is offered by a Midrash (a rabbinic story that illuminates a biblical story), which relates that Pharaoh was warned by his sorcerers and astrologers that a male savior of the Israelites was about to be born.

22 Verses

    Exodus - Chapter 2 - 25 Verses

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The Birth of Moses

19 - 2:1 - Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman,

19 - The "house of Levi" refers to one of the twelve tribes of Israel, the Levites.

19 - The Torah also wishes to emphasize that Moses's birth was in no way miraculous. God chose Moses to lead the Jews out of Egypt because of his exceptional moral and leadership traits. He was not preordained to lead and he was a normal mortal.

19 - The Preeminent Role Of Women In Mose's Life -- And In The Torah

19 - Pharaoh's daughter, who, we will see, saved Moses.

20 - The Torah often portrays women as playing a more important role than men. It is adamant about the equal value of women and men.

There Is No Miracle In Moses's Birth

20 - 2:2 and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months.

20 - The Torah continues its mundane description of Moses's birth. This is in keeping with the Torah's profound desire to prevent Moses from being regarded as divine and therefore worlshipped by the Jewish people after his death (or even while alive).

20 - This is also the probable reason why Moses is not allowed into the Promised Land, and why his burial place will forever remain unknown.

20 - Why Moses Was Saved In The Same Type Of Vessel Noah Was Saved In

20 - 2:3 But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.

21 - In order to show a relationship between the stories of Noah and Moses, the Torah uses the same Hebrew word, tevah, to refer both to Moses's basket and to Noah's ark.

21 - This is another example of the Torah communicating that the Exodus (which included the revelation of the Ten Commandments at Sinai) begins a new creation. Just as God saved Noah in a tevah set in the water, He will save Moses in a tevah set in water. Just as in Genesis, God started a new world with Noah, He is, in effect, starting a new world with Moses and the Jews. And just as God attempted to morally improve the world by revealing moral laws to Noah (i.e., all humanity) after the flood, He will attempt to do the same by revealing specific laws to humanity through Moses and a particular people.

21 - 2:4 His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

21 - The Daughter Of The Israelites' Killer Saves The Man Who Will Save The Israelites

21 - 2:5 Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it.

21 - 2:6 She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.

22 - 2:7 Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”

22 - 2:8 “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother.

22 - 2:9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him.

22 - 2:10 When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.”

22 - The name Moses comes from the root of the Hebrew word m'shi-tihu, "I drew him out." Moses is also an Egyptian name, and presumably Pharaoh's daughter chooses the name for an Egyptian reason rather than a Hebrew one.

22 - Biology is not destiny; you can be the child of an evil person and be a good person.

Moses Flees to Midian

23 - 2:11 One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people.

23 - Our Mother Is The Woman, And Our Father Is The Man, Who Raises Us

24 - As important as birth parents almost always are, in most cases blood is less important than actually raising a child when it comes to assigning the title "mother" or "father."

24 - Why Moses Will Be Chosen To Lead Is Already Apparent

1. Moses fights evil. He is instinctively intolerant of suffering and injustice.
2. Moses will later command the respect of the Israelites.
3. Moses does not have a slave mentality. Moses does not merely cry out; he takes action.

24 - 2:12 Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

25 - God Apparently Strongly Approved Of Moses's Act Of Homicide

25 - 2:13 The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”

26 - Moses's Three Responses To Injustice

1. Fighting back (and killing if necessary)
2. Speaking Out
3. Standing

26 - 2:14 The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”

26 - 2:15 When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well.

26 - When Pharaoh learned of the matter, he sought to kill Moses; but Moses fled from Pharaoh. He arrived in the land of Midian, and sat down beside a well.

27 - 2:16 Now a priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock.

27 - 2:17 Some shepherds came along and drove them away, but Moses got up and came to their rescue and watered their flock.

27 - 2:18 When the girls returned to Reuel their father, he asked them, “Why have you returned so early today?”

27 - 2:19 They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”

27 - 2:20 “And where is he?” Reuel asked his daughters. “Why did you leave him? Invite him to have something to eat.”

28 - 2:21 Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.

28 - 2:22 Zipporah gave birth to a son, and Moses named him Gershom, saying, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land.”

28 - 2:23 During that long period, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.

28 - 2:24 God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob.

28 - If God Intervened During The Exodus, Why Didn't He Intervene At Other Times?

29 - Indeed, it would appear that when it comes to rescuing the just from the unjust, much of the time God doesn't act at all. To such questions, we have no answer.

29 - One can only say, as the medieval Hebrew saying does, "If I knew God, I'd be God".

29 - The Torah does not hesitate to describe a Jew as evil. Much of the Torah's -- and the entire Hebrew Bible's -- greatness and credibility lie in its willingness to critique the Jewish people.

30 - In the final analysis, regarding God's not intervening to stop unjust human suffering, I have three responses:

1. First, if God always intervened to stop evil, human beings would not have free will; we would be robots.


2. Second, the only possible answer to the problem of unjust suffering is ultimate justice in an afterlife. As I will demonstrate later, if God is good, it is axiomatic there is an afterlife. Morevover, as we will see on a number of occasions, the Torah does affirm an afterlife, despite its relative silence on the issue -- because of its desire to keep us human beings preoccupied with this life.


3. Third, I have always been moved by an argument put forward by the late American Rabbi Milton Steinberg: The believer has to account for the existence of one thing -- unjust suffering; the atheist has to account for the existence of everthing else.

30 - 2:25 - God looked upon the Israelites, and God took notice of them.

25 Verses

    Exodus - Chapter 3 - 22 Verses

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Moses and the Burning Bush

31 - 3:1 - Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

31 - Winston Churchill had this to say about prophets and wilderness: "Every prophet has to come from civilization, but every prophet has to go into the wilderness. He must have a strong impression of a complex society and all that it has to give, and then he must serve periods of isolation and meditation. This is the process by which psychic dynamite is made."

31 - 3:1 (continued) - and came to Horeb, the mountain of God (Mount Sinai)

31 - 3:2 - There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up.

32 - This image (burning bush) became the most famous metaphor for the Jewish people: like the bush that burns but is not consumed, the Jewish people, too, have been burned (literally and metaphorically) but never destroyed. A divine fire sustains the Jews.

Essay: Belief in God Is A Choice -- And Why To Make It

32 - 3:3 - So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

32 - If you wait for God to contact you before you lead a God-centered life, you will almost surely never lead a life with God in it.

32 - The Victorian-era British poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, commented on this verse:
      Earth's crammed with heaven,
      And every common bush afire with God
      But only he who sees takes off his shoes....
      Only he who sees....

33 - That's the great question: Who sees the miracles of daily life? And the answer is: Whoever chooses to see.

33 - One of the most important lessons of life -- one I believe most people never learn -- is that almost everything important is a choice. We choose whether to be happy (or, at the very least whether to act happy), whether to be a hard worker, whether to be honest, whether to be kind, whether to see miracles, and, yes, whether to believe in God (or, at the very least, live as if there is a God).

33 - At an early age, I decided to believe in God and lead a God-centered and religious life. I made this decision because:

1. I came to realize the terrible consequences of a world without God.


• If there is no God, life is ultimately pointless -- the product of mere random chance.


• 34 - If there is no God, good and evil do not objectively exist because if there is no God, there is no non-material reality. Only the physical exists, and good and evil are not physical properties; they are moral properties.
  35 - Therefore, believing good and evil really do exist, I have no logical choice but to believe in a moral God.


• If there is no God, the only reality is material (physical). Only if there is a God (Who is not material) does anything non-material actually exist -- including everything we most cherish, such as love and the mind.


2. 36 - I chose to believe in God because I wanted to lead the deepest, richest, and most hope-fiolled life possible. Virtually every poll measuring the happiness of people living in the West finds religious individuals are more at peace, happier, live longer, and enjoy a more communal life.
   
   36 - You can be an agnostic intellectually. But you cannot live as an agnostic. You live as either a believer or as an atheist.
   
   36 - In light of this, the most important question to ask an atheist is this: "Do you hope you are right or wrong?"
   
   36 - Who wouldn't want to believe life has ultimate meaning, good and evil really exist, the good are rewarded and the evil punished, death doesn't end everything, and we will be reunited with those we love?


3. 37 - I want to live with hope.
   
   37 - This world is saturated with injustice. Enormous numbers of good people suffer horribly, and a great number of unjust people are never brought to justice. Only if the just God of the Torah exists can there be ultimate justice.
   
   37 - I believe in God for a host of rational reasons, one of which is the unique greatness of the Torah and the Bible. Moreover, all those atheists who believe there is (or, more precisely, who manufacture) some ultimate purpose to their lives should recognize their entire philosophy of a meaninful life really is based on wishful thinking -- precisely what they accuse believers of.
   
   38 - All of our observations find a complete symmetry between matter and antimatter, which is why the universe should not actually exist.
   
   38 - Moses chose to look carefully and see a miracle in that burning bush. If we look carefully, we, too, will see a miracle -- in everything.
   
   

39 - 3:4 - When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.”

39 - "When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to look,"
God waits to call out to Moses until Moses first notices God.

39 - God communicates with us after, or if, we make the effort to notice His presence. Again, this is our choice to make.

39 - Bringing God into your life takes effort. What worthwhile thing in life doesn't require effort? Why should God be different?

39 - 3:5 - “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

39 - 3:6 - Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

40 - 3:7 - The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.

40 - God repeatedly refers to the Israelites as "My people."

40 - 3:8 - So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.

40 - Milk here refers to goat's milk: "a land flowing with milk therefore suggests ample pasturage and the prospect of much meat, hide, and wool. And honey here refers to the thick, sweet syrup produced from dates, not to the honey produced from bees. Milk and honey were considered among the chief necesities of human life in the ancient Near East, and their combination was thought to constitute a highly nutritious diet -- milk being rich in protein and the dried date rich in carbohydrates.

The Only Sovereign States That Have Ever Existed In Canaan Were Jewish States

41 - Note that Canaan was not the land or country of the Canaanites. It was a land with seven nations (see Deuteronomy 7:1), meaning the land of Canaan was never historically identified with one people until the Israelites/Jews made it their state.

1. The first one lasted from the time of King David (around 1000 BCE) until 586 BCE, when the Babylonians destroyed the First Temple.


2. The second Jewish state lasted from about two generations after 586 BCE until its destruction by the Romans in about the year 70.


3. And the third Jewish state was established in 1948 as the modern state of Israel.

41 - 3:9 - And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.

41 - 3:10 - So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

41 - 3:11 - (Moses's first objection) But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

42 - Moses responds with a statement of total humility. It is often said that in order to successfully run for president of the United States, a person has to have the requisite "fire in the belly." Moses was the antithesis of this model. During the American Revolution, a relatively common phrase was the "meekness of Moses," which described the humility many were looking for in ther prosective leaders. In a 1976 letter to a fellow revolutionary, John Adams, later to be the second president of the United States, wrote: The management of so complicated and mighty a machine, as the United Colonies, requires the Meekness of Moses, the Patience of Job and the Wisdom of Solomon, added to the Valor of Daniel."

42 - In that sentence, the reader will also note (once again) the central role the Hebrew Bible played for the founders of the United States.

42 - 3:12 - And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”

42 - Perhaps God is telling Moses that who he is and what his qualifications are do not matter; he was chosen for his qualifications, but he will succeed because God will be with him.

43 - That is how things usually work: God's "signs" -- His interventions in individuals' or nations' lives -- are seen most clearly only in retrospect.

43 - Perhaps this is one meaning of the biblical verse that we can only see God from the back (Exodus 33:23) -- only after an event happens can we see God's hand in it.

43 - The Torah has the almost impossible task of being relevant to primitive slaves living in the Bronze Age and to highly educated people living thousands of years later.

43 - The Israelites have to be released from serving Pharaoh in order to serve God. This is consistent with Moses's later demand to Pharaoh -- made in God's name -- "Let My people go that they may worship [serve] Me" (Exodus 9:1]

43 - 3:13 - (Moses's second objection) Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

43 - Moses's first objection to God's command was "Who am I?" in this verse, he raises his second objection: "Who are You?"

44 - Your name was your essence, what you were all about, your identity rather than just your identification. To ask, "What is God's name?' is to ask, "What is God all about? What does He stand for?"

God's Name Is A Verb -- "To Be"

44 - 3:14 - God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

44 - 3:14 - (Book: And God said to Moses, "Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh." Thus shall you say to the Israelites, 'Ehyeh sent me to you.'") (Ehyeh means "Am" or "Will Be")

44 - At this sublime moment of divine revelation, God identifies Himself with a name having four possible meanings, each one perfectly accurate.

1. "I am what I am";
2. "I am who I am";
3. "I will be what I will be";
4. "I will be who I will be."

44 - The reason all four translations are accurate is Hebrew does not have a word for the present tense of the verb "to be."

45 - While the term "I am what I am" or "I will be who I will be" is not used again, 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 composed of the Hebrew letters, YHVH (from where we get the word "Jehovah"), and it is always translated "Lord" because it is pronounced Adonai, meaning "Lord" even though YHVH actually means "Being," or "Will Be," or even just "Is."

45 - Given that in the Torah names indicate essence, "YHVH" tells us the essence of God is being. God simply cannot be explained any further; anything else anthropomorphizes God. God simply "Is."

45 - 3:15 - God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’
“This is my name forever,
the name you shall call me
from generation to generation.

45 - 3:15 - (Book: And God said further to Moses, "Thus shall you speak to the Israelites: The Lord [YHVH], the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you: This shall be My name forever, This My appellation for all eternity.)

46 - 3:16 - “Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt.

46 - In any case, the term "elders" suggests they were credited with wisdom and therefore regarded with respect...

46 - The reason is wisdom, certainly in comparison with knowledge, is often undervalued or not valued at all. And one reason for that is knowledge is far more valued due to extraordinary advances in technology, medicine, and science. Likewise, intelligence is far more valued than wisdom -- think of how many parents want their childrn to be "brilliant" versus how may parents want their children to be wise (in truth, few parents even think in terms of wise, a term that cannot be measured on tests).

46 - The loss to society has been immeasurable. Societies need wisdom far more than knowledge; indeed, knowledge without wisdom is likely to lead to catastrophe.

46 - God is telling Moses to use both the personal name YHVH ("Jehovah") and the universal name Elohim in introducing God to the elders.

47 - 3:17 - And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’

47 - 3:18 - “The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.’

47 - God tells Moses to refer to Him as "the God of the Hebrews" because this was a term Pharaoh would understand. In the ancient world, gods were only gods of clans and peoples. There was no concept of a single God of all mankind; this was among the revolutionary ideas the Torah introduced to humanity.

48 - 3:19 - But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him.

48 - God tells Moses Pharaoh will only free the Israelites after Pharaoh is confronted by a formidable show of force.

48 - 3:20 - So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.

48 - In the final analysis, all of the negotiating is ultimately a charade; Pharaoh will free the Israelites only because of the plagues God will inflict on Egypt. However, God and Moses must first offer Pharaoh the option of freeing the slaves without having to suffer those plagues. God must act justly and therefore cannot inflict the plagues until Pharaoh has made them morally justified.

48 - 3:21 - “And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed.

48 - 3:22 - - Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians.”

49 - Even victims must act ethically. And that surely is one of the great Torah lessons relevant to the time in which we live.

49 - Ironically, it was almost certainly that jewelry the Israelites later used in building the Golden Calf (Exodus 32:2-3)

22 Verses

    Exodus - Chapter 4 - 31 Verses

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Signs for Moses

51 - Moses's Third Objection

51 - 4:1 - Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?”

51 - Moses raises a third objection.
51 - 4:1 - But Moses spoke up and said, "What if they do not believe me and do not listen to me, but say: The Lord did not appear to you?"

1. He first objected that he did not consider himself -- a shepherd in Midian -- the appropriate person to go before Pharaoh (see Exodus 3:11)
2. He then objected that he did not even know God's right name, or how to refer to the deity who was sending him (see Exodus 3:13).
3. Moses's third objection presents a more serious challenge. God will now give Moses a demonstration of how He will prove to doubters in Egypt both His presence and power.

51 - 4:2 Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied.

51 - 4:3 The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.” Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it.

51 - 4:4 Then the Lord said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand.

52 - In asking Moses to grasp the snake by its tail, God is testing Moses's faith. As a shepherd, Moses knows a snake should be held by the neck to prevent it from striking. He is therefore taking a risk in obeying God's command.

52 - 4:5 “This,” said the Lord, “is so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”

52 - 4:6 Then the Lord said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, the skin was leprous — it had become as white as snow.

52 - God's hardening" of Pharaoh's heart is precisely what allowed Pharaoh to exercise his free will.

52 - It is seen in the Bible as a divine punishment for human behavior.

52 - It is likely God performs this miracle to warn Moses that He is starting to tire of all his objections, and to subtly remind him He has the power to punish those who do not obey Him.

52 - 4:7 “Now put it back into your cloak,” he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.

52 - 4:8 Then the Lord said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second.

53 - 4:9 But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground.”

53 - 4:9 - (Book: And if they are not convinced by both these signs and still do not heed you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and it -- the water that you take from the Nile -- will turn to blood on the dry ground.)

53 - 4:10 Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”

53 - 4:10 - (Book: But Moses said to the Lod, "Please, O Lord, I have never been a man of words, either in times past or now that You have spoken to Your servant; I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.")

53 - 4:11 The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord?

53 - 4:11 - (Book: And the Lord said to him, "Who gives man speech? Who makes him dumb or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?)

53 - 4:12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”

53 - 4:12 - (Book: Now go, and I will be with you as you speak and will instruct you what to say.)

53 - One Of The Most Influential Leaders In History Didn't Speak Well...

54 - Moses is chosen for his moral greatness rather than for his charisma or eloquence. He is chosen not because he sounds good, but because he is good.

54 - Indeed, perhaps God deliberately chooses a leader who does not speak well to show that the message is so much more important than the medium.

54 - In any event, it is only fair to note it is God's plagues, more than Moses's (and Aaron's) words that convince Pharaoh to allow the Jews to leave Egypt.

54 - ...And Didn't Want To Be A Leader

54 - 4:13 But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.”

54 - 4:13 - (Book: But he said, "Please, O Lord, make someone else Your agent.")

54 - After four carefully reasoned objections, Moses finally admits the truth: He just doesn't want this dangerous, arduous, all-consuming mission that will completely change his life.

54 - 4:14 Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you.

54 - 4:14 - (Book: The Lord became angry with Moses, and He said, "There is your brother Aaron the Levite. He, I know, speaks readily. Even now he is setting out to meet you, and he will be happy to see you.)

54 - 4:15 You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do.

55 - 4:16 He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him.

55 - 4:16 - (Book: and he shall speak for you to the people. Thus he shall serve as your spokesman, with you playing the role of God to him,)

55 - 4:17 But take this staff in your hand so you can perform the signs with it.”

55 - 4:17 - (Book: and take with you this rod, with which you shall perform the signs.")

55 - With God on their side, Moses and David overcame foes far mightier than the Israelites on whose behalf they fought.

55 - 4:18 Then Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, “Let me return to my own people in Egypt to see if any of them are still alive.” Jethro said, “Go, and I wish you well.”

55 - 4:18 - (Book: Moses went back to his father-in-law Jether and said to him, "Let me go back to my kinsmen in Egypt and see how they are faring.")

Moses Returns to Egypt

55 - Why Doesn't Moses Tell His Father-In-Law About His Encounter With God?

55 - Jethro might well have regarded him as emotionally unbalanced, or, if he did believe Moses, might object to Moses taking on such a dangerous mission, and bringing Jethro's daughter and two grandchildren with him.

56 - 4:18 - (Book: And Jethro said to Moses, "Go in peace.")

56 - 4:19 Now the Lord had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all those who wanted to kill you are dead.”

56 - 4:19 - (Book: The Lord said to Moses in Midian, "Go back to Egypt, for all the men who sought to kill you are dead.")

56 - 4:20 So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.

56 - Did God Deprive Pharaoh Of Free Will?

56 - 4:21 The Lord said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.

56 - 4:21 - (Book: And the Lord said to Moses, "When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the marvels that I have put within your power. I, however, will stiffen his heart so that he will not let the people go.)

56 - The Torah refers twenty times to the stiffening or hardening of Pharaoh's heart; half of them are attributed to Pharaoh's decisions to harden his heart and half of them attributed to God hardening Pharaoh's heart.

1. 57 - (1) God believed Pharaoh deserved to be punished. Had Pharaoh released the Israelites after a single plague, God would not have been able to adequately punish him and the Egyptian nation for enslaving the Israelites for hundreds of years and for the mass murder of the infant boys -- all of which, it should be noted, they did out of free will, well before God hardened Pharaoh's heart.
   
   
2. 57 - (2) Strengthening Pharaoh's heart is precisely what gave Pharaoh free will.
   God's strengthening allowed Pharaoh to do what, in his heart, he really wanted to do: refuse to give up his slaves.

57 - 4:22 Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son,

57 - 4:22 - (Book: Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the Lord: Israel is My first-born son.')

57 - All the nations of the world are God's children. Israel is the firstborn because the Israelites were the people to whom God first introduced Himself.

57 - 4:23 and I told you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.’”

57 - 4:23 - (Book: I have said to you, "Let My son go, that he may worship Me," yet you refuse to let him go.)

Essay: The Difference Between Belief In God And Faith In God

57 - 4:23 - (Book: Now I will slay your first-born son.)

58 - Few readers, even veteran students of the Bible, recall the killing of Pharaoh's firstborn son, which transpired during the tenth plague, was mentioned by God to Moses even before the plagues began. But Moses does not repeat those words to Pharaoh at this point. Perhaps he feared it would provoke Pharaoh to kill him.

58 - Which raises the issue of trust, or faith, in God.

58 - There are two distinct meanings to the statement, "I believe in God."

58 - The first meaning is, "I believe God exists."

58 - The second meaning is, "I trust in God."

58 - The first is the most common meaning, but it is not nearly as important as the second.

58 - The importance of trust in God has been so fundamental to American history, for example, that one of the two mottos of the Unites States since the nineteenth century has been, "In God We Trust" (the other is e pluribus unum -- Latin for "from many, one"). The motto's words were carefully chosen; they were not "We Believe in God."

58 - If pain were water, the world would drown.

59 - Therefore, trust in God must mean, first and foremost, that we believe God cares about each one of us and in some way He will ultimately do right by us. And that in turn means -- in the final analysis -- since injustice often prevails in this world, there must be an afterlife, a life in which a just God makes sure justice prevails.

59 - Many people, myself included, believe God intervened in some way to inspire the founding of the United States of America, a country founded by Christians rooted in the Hebrew Bible. It is not surprising, therefore, that the only verse inscribed on the most iconic symbol of the American Revolution, the Liberty Bell, is from the Torah: "You shall proclaim liberty throughout the land for all its inhabitants" (Leviticus 25:10). America became the one truly Judeo-Christian country.

59 - 4:24 At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him.

59 - 4:24 - (Book: At a night encampment on the way, the Lord encountered him and sought to kill him.) The story is missing several important details: Most notably, we cannot be certain whom God sought to kill or why.

60 - Umberto Cassuto, an Italian Jewish Bible scholar who was a professor of Bible at the Hebreew University, argued it was Moses, not the son, God sought to kill, perhaps as a punishment for failing to circumcise his son. In either case, Zipporah understood that circumcising their son was necessary, and Moses's life -- or, according to some, his son's life -- is once again saved by a woman.

60 - 4:25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said.

60 - 4:25 - (Book: So Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin, and touched his legs with it, saying, "You are truly a bridegroom of blood to me!")

60 - As long as the Jews practice circumcision they will survive as a distinct people.

60 - The fact circumcision was practiced in other cultures demonstrates the vitally important point that it is the significance of a ritual, not the ritual itself, that matters.

60 - 4:26 So the Lord let him alone. (At that time she said “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.)

61 - 4:27 The Lord said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So he met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him.

61 - 4:27 - (Book: The Lord said to Aaron, "Go to meet Moses in the wilderness" He went and met him at the mountain of God, and he kissed him.)

61 - 4:28 Then Moses told Aaron everything the Lord had sent him to say, and also about all the signs he had commanded him to perform.

61 - 4:28 - (Book: Moses told Aaron about all the things that the Lord had committed to him and all the signs about which He had instructed him.)

61 - 4:29 Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites,

61 - 4:29 - (Book: Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites.)

61 - 4:30 and Aaron told them everything the Lord had said to Moses. He also performed the signs before the people,

61 - 4:30 - (Book: Aaron repeated all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses, and he performed the signs in the sight of the people.)

61 - 4:31 and they believed. And when they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.

61 - 4:31 - (Book: and the people were convinced. When they heard that the Lord had taken note of the Israelites and that He had seen their plight, they bowed low in homage.)

31 Verses

    Exodus - Chapter 5 - 23 Verses

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Bricks Without Straw

Where Did All The Elders Go?

63 - 5:1 - Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness.’”

63 - 5:1 - (Book: Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh,)

63 - God had told Moses to go to Pharaoh with the elders (Exodus 3:18), but the elders are not mentioned in this verse.

63 - Their fear of confronting the king of Egypt is the best explanation I can think of to account for the elders' absence.

63 - Older people are therefore less likely than young people to undertake a life-endangering mission. If you want caution, wisdom, and strategic thinking, you are more likely to get it from older people. If you want physical courage and risk-taking, you are more likely to get it from younger people. And there are times, such as in the case here, when physical courage is the more valuable attribute.

64 - Moses was assured by God that He would take care of him. The elders had no such direct assurance from God.

Moses Doesn't Talk To Pharaoh As He Was Told To

64 - Moses does not use the name God instructed him to use: "The Lord, God of the Hebrews" (Exodus 3:18)

64 - God had told Moses to politely ask Pharaoh for permission to leave Egypt for a brief period. Moses was even supposed to use the world "please" (nah in Hebrew -- see Exodus 3:18)

64 - They also neglect to specify they are asking permission for only a limited period (about a week).

64 - 5:2 Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.”

64 - 5:2 - (Book: But Pharaoh said, "Who is the Lord that I should heed Him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go.")

65 - These opposing responses of Moses and Pharaoh highlight their fundamentally different orientations. Moses sees himself as a simple human being, "the most humble of men" as the Torah later tells us (Numbers 12:3). In contrast, Pharaoh sees himself, as do the Egyptians, as a divine being.

Moses Then Says What He Was Told To Say

65 - 5:3 Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, or he may strike us with plagues or with the sword.”

65 - 5:3 - (Book: They answered, "The God of the Hebrews has manifested Himself to us. Let us go, we pray, a distance of three days into the wilderness to sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest He strike us with pestilence or sword.")

65 - If Pharaoh doesn't acquiesce, the Hebrews will suffer at the hands of God (for neglecting their obligations to Him). But it also threatens Pharaoh with a work-stoppage if the slaves are struck with pestilence or sword.

65 - 5:4 But the king of Egypt said, “Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their labor? Get back to your work!”

65 - 5:4 - (Book: But the king of Egypt said to them, "Moses and Aaron, why do you distract the people from their tasks? Get to your labors.)

65 - Pharaoh blames Moses and Aaron for the punishment he is about to inflict on the Israelites. So will the Israelites.

65 - 5:5 Then Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you are stopping them from working.”

66 - 5:6 That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers and overseers in charge of the people:

66 - 5:6 - (Book: That same day Pharaoh charged the taskmasters and foremen of the people, saying,)

66 - He (Pharaoh) is trying to turn the Hebrews against Moses and Aaron.

66 - 5:7 “You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw.

66 - 5:7 - (Book: You shall no longer provide the people with straw for making bricks as heretofore; let them go and gather straw for themselves.)

66 - 5:8 But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don’t reduce the quota. They are lazy; that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’

66 - 5:8 - (Book: But impose upon them the same quota of bricks as they have been making heretofore; do not reduce it, for they are shirkers; that is why they cry, 'Let us go and sacrifice to our God!')

66 - 5:9 Make the work harder for the people so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies.”

66 - 5:9 - (Book: Let heavier work be laid upon the men; let them keep at it and not pay attention to deceitful promises.)

66 - 5:10 Then the slave drivers and the overseers went out and said to the people, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I will not give you any more straw.

66 - 5:10 - (Book: So the taskmasters and foremen of the people went out and said to the people,)

66 - The Hebrew slaves had two levels of overseers who supervised them: the Hebrew foremen and, above them, the Egyptian taskmasters.

66 - 5:10 (continued) - (Book: Thus says Pharaoh: I will not give you any straw.(

66 - "Thus says" is often used in the Bible in referring to a royal pronouncement.

67 - 5:11 Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced at all.’”

67 - 5:11 - (Book: You must go and get the straw yourselves wherever you can find it; but there shall be no decrease whatever in your work.)

67 - 5:12 So the people scattered all over Egypt to gather stubble to use for straw.

67 - 5:13 The slave drivers kept pressing them, saying, “Complete the work required of you for each day, just as when you had straw.”

67 - 5:14 And Pharaoh’s slave drivers beat the Israelite overseers they had appointed, demanding, “Why haven’t you met your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as before?”

67 - 5:14 -(Book: And the foremen of the Israelites, whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten. "Why," they were asked, "did you not complete the prescribed amount of bricks, either yesterday or today, as you did before?")

67 - Pharaoh and his taskmasters sought to induce hatred of Moses among the Hebrew foremen -- and presumably among the slaves as well -- they understandably succeeded.

67 - When the Hebrew foremen came upon Moses and Aaron they said to them, "May the Lord look upon you and punish you for making us loathsome to Pharaoh..."

67 - 5:15 Then the Israelite overseers went and appealed to Pharaoh: “Why have you treated your servants this way?

67 - 5:15 - (Book: Then the foremen of the Israelites came to Pharaoh and cried: "Why do you deal thus with your servants?)

67 - The word "servants" (or "slaves" -- the Hebrew uses the same word for both)

67 - A sociological note: Jews have historically been reluctant to take on positions of servitude or positions that even imply servitude. While most people, when speaking of their employment, say, "I work for so-and-so," Jews are more apt to say, "I work with so-and-so."

68 - 5:16 Your servants are given no straw, yet we are told, ‘Make bricks!’ Your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people.”

68 - 5:16 - (Book: No straw is issued to your servants, yet they demand of us: Make bricks! Thus your servants are being beaten, when the fault is with your own people.)

68 - 5:17 Pharaoh said, “Lazy, that’s what you are—lazy! That is why you keep saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’

68 - 5:17 - (Book: He replied, "You are shirkers, shirkers! That is why you say, 'Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.')

68 - 5:18 Now get to work. You will not be given any straw, yet you must produce your full quota of bricks.”

68 - 5:18 - (Book: Be off now to your work! No straw shall be issued to you, but you must produce your quota of bricks!)

68 - Throughout history, slaves were almost always regarded as less than human. Therefore, they could be subjected to great cruelty, sometimes emanating from sheer sadism.

68 - 5:19 The Israelite overseers realized they were in trouble when they were told, “You are not to reduce the number of bricks required of you for each day.”

68 - 5:20 When they left Pharaoh, they found Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them,

68 - 5:20 - (Book: As they left Pharaoh's presence, they came upon Moses and Aaron standing in their path,)

68 - 5:21 and they said, “May the Lord look on you and judge you! You have made us obnoxious to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”

68 - 5:21 - (Book: and they said to them, "May the Lord look upon you and punish you for making us loathsome to Pharaoh and his courtiers -- putting a sword in their hands to slay us.")

God Promises Deliverance

It Can Be Difficult To Love Both Humans And God At The Same Time

68 - 5:22 Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me?

68 - 5:22 - (Book: Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, "O Lord, why did You bring harm upon this people?")

69 - If we truly love human beings, we can become so upset by the pain they endure we have trouble loving the God who allows such suffering.

69 - On the other hand, there are people who are so preoccupied with God they don't permit themselves to fully feel the pain of human beings.

69 - The Torah's goal is that we love both man and God.

69 - This is Moses's predicament. But it is Pharaoh, not God, who is the one responsible for the Hebrews' suffering. All anger should be directed at him.

It Is OK To Get Angry With God

69 - 5:22 - (Book: Why did You send me?)

69 - Moses criticizes God both for making his mission unsuccessful and for sending him to Egypt in the first place.

69 - God's non-reaction to Moses's outburst means all of us, not just Moses, are allowed to cry out against God when we are confronted with great evil, whether done to us or others. It is important to recall the name of the Jewish people, "Israel," means "struggle [or wrestle] with God. (Genesis 32:29)

69 - Moses's anger with God does not lead him to doubt God's existence; he had, after all, spoken with God (at the burning bush). But Moses does doubt God will deliver on His promise to save the Israelites. His reaction illustrates the two types of faith: faith in God's existence and faith in God's trustworthiness.

69 - Like Moses, we, too, can become angry with God and even doubt His trustworthiness; these are perfectly understandable responses to the reality of evil in the world.
70 - However, evil should not lead us to doubt God's existence. We need to be intellectually consistent. If the existence of evil argues for no God, then the existence of goodness must argue for God.

70 - 5:23 Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.”

70 - 5:23 - (Book: Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has dealt worse with this people; and still You have not delivered Your people.)

70 - When we want something good to happen we can become very impatient.

70 - Hence the need for perseverance, faith, and hope.

23 Verses

    Exodus - Chapter 6 - 30 Verses

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71 - 6:1 - Then the Lord said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country.”

71 - 6:1 - (Book: Then the Lord said to Moses, "You shall soon see what I will do to Pharaoh: he shall let them go because of a greater might; indeed, because of a greater might he shall drive them from his land.")

71 - There is an important Talmudic principle that states silence in the face of an accusation is, in effect, acknowledgment that the accusation is true. By saying nothing, God may be acknowledging it is understandable.

71 - 6:2 - God also said to Moses, “I am the Lord.

71 - 6:2 - (Book: God spoke to Moses and said to him, "I am the Lord.")

71 - 6:3 - I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself fully known to them.

71 - 6:3 - (Book: I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as El Shaddai, but I did not make Myself known to them by My name [YHVH].)

71 - 6:4 - I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners.

71 - 6:4 - (Book: I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners.)

72 - 6:5 - Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.

72 - 6:5 - (Book: I have now heard the moaning of the Israelites because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant.)

72 - When God "remembers" it is the Torah's way of saying God has decided to act at that moment.

72 - 6:6 - “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.

72 - 6:6 - (Book: Say, therefore to the Israelite people: I am the Lord. I will free you from the labors of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and through extraordinary chastisements.)

72 - This verse is the traditional reason why Jews drink four cups of wine at the Passover Seder. Each cup represents the three divine promises in this verse and the divine promise in the following verse:

1. I will free you...
2. I will deliver you...
3. I will redeem you...
4. I will take you to be My people...

72 - There are actually three more promises in the following two verses (then again, four cups of wine is quite sufficient):

1. I will be your God...
2. I will bring you into the land...
3. I will give it to you for a possession...

Why Seven Is The Most Important Number In The Torah

73 - God thus makes a total of seven promises. Once again, the number seven appears in the Torah. It is the most significant and recurring number in the Torah.

1. The world is created in seven days.
2. The Sabbath is on the seventh day.
3. Every seventh year is a Sabbatical year for the land (Leviticus 25:3-6) and every Jubilee Year (Leviticus 25:8-12) begins after every forty-ninth year (seven times seven).
4. The festivals of Pesach (Passover) and Succot (Tabernacles) are each seven days long.

73 - The reason, of course, is the number seven signifies God is the Creator.

73 - The first verse of the Torah is, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Even that verse, in the Hebrew, contains seven words!

73 - In brief, the reason that verse, and the recurring number seven, is so important is that everything in the Torah and the Bible rests on the belief God is the Creator. If one does not accept that, the God of the Bible is a fairy tale, and all life is just a natural coincidence devoid of ultimate meaning.

73 - 6:7 - I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.

73 - 6:7 - (Book: And I will take you to be My people, and I will be your God.)

73 - The language of this verse is reminiscent of the language of the ancient Jewish marriage contract in which a man takes a woman for his wife and the woman accepts his proposal.

73 - Most famously, the prophet Hosea speaks of God saying to the Jewish people: " Will betroth you unto Me forever; I will betroth you unto Me with righteousness and justice; and with goodness and mercy. And I will betroth you unto Me with faithfulness and you shall know God" (Hosea 2:21). Again, the number seven is alluded to by the seven statements of betrothal in Hosea's verse.

74 - 6:7 - (Book: And you shall know that I, the Lord, am your God who freed you from the labors of the Egyptians.)

74 - 6:8 - And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.’”

74 - 6:8 - (Book: I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possessions, I the Lord.)

74 - 6:9 - Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh labor.

74 - 6:9 - (Book: But when Moses told this to the Israelites, they would not listen to Moses, their spirits crushed by cruel bondage.)

74 - 6:10 - Then the Lord said to Moses,

74 - 6:10 - (Book: The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,)

74 - 6:11 - “Go, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his country.”

74 - 6:11 - (Book: Go and tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites depart from his land.)

75 - 6:12 - But Moses said to the Lord, “If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me, since I speak with faltering lips?”

75 - 6:12 - (Book: But Moses appealed to the Lord, saying, "The Israelites would not listen to me; how then should Pharaoh heed me, a man of impeded speech!")

Family Record of Moses and Aaron

75 - 6:13 - Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron about the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he commanded them to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.

75 - 6:13 - (Book: So the Lord spoke to both Moses and Aaron in regard to the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, instructing them to deliver the Israelites from the land of Egypt.) (This time God speaks to Aaron as well.)

75 - 6:14-19 - Verses 14 to 19 present the family background of Moses (through his father Amram). I believe it gives the Torah historical credibility.

75 - 6:14 - These were the heads of their families: The sons of Reuben the firstborn son of Israel were Hanok and Pallu, Hezron and Karmi. These were the clans of Reuben.

75 - 6:15 - The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. These were the clans of Simeon.

75 - 6:16 - These were the names of the sons of Levi according to their records: Gershon, Kohath and Merari. Levi lived 137 years.

75 - 6:17 - The sons of Gershon, by clans, were Libni and Shimei.

75 - 6:18 - The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. Kohath lived 133 years.

75 - 6:19 - The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. These were the clans of Levi according to their records.

75 - 6:20 - Amram married his father’s sister Jochebed, who bore him Aaron and Moses. Amram lived 137 years.

75 - 6:20 - (Book: Amram took to wife his father's sister Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses; and the span of Amram's life was 137 years.)
Torah law forbids a man from marrying his aunt (Leviticus 18:12-13), but obviously such a law was not applicable before the Torah.

Essay: Prominent Parents And Their Children

76 - 6:21 - The sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg and Zikri.

76 - 6:22 - The sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan and Sithri.

76 - 6:23 - Aaron married Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

76 - 6:23 - (Book: Aaron took to wife Elisheba, daughter of Ammninadab and sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.)
Aaron's sons are mentioned but not Moses's. And the explanation is probably this: They did not amount to much.

76 - This raises the interesting issue of the difficulty many children of great people face in leading successful and satisfying lives. In a book about Moses, "Overcoming Life's Disappointments," Rabbi Harold Kushner writes about this.

76 - Sometimes the father casts so large a shadow that he makes it hard for his children to find the sunshine they need to grow and flourish. Sometimes, the father's achievements are so intimidating that the child just gives up any hope of equaling him. But mostly, I suspect, it takes so much of a man's [the father's] time and energy to be a great man -- great in some ways but not in all -- that he has too little time left to be a father.

77 - As the South African leader Nelson Mandela's daughter was quoted as saying to him, "You are the father of all our people but you never had time to be a father to me."

77 - 6:24 - The sons of Korah were Assir, Elkanah and Abiasaph. These were the Korahite clans.

77 - 6:25 - Eleazar son of Aaron married one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas. These were the heads of the Levite families, clan by clan.

77 - 6:26 - It was this Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said, “Bring the Israelites out of Egypt by their divisions.”

77 - It is the same Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said, "Bring forth the Israelites from the land of Egypt, troop by troop.

Aaron to Speak for Moses

78 - 6:27 - They were the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt about bringing the Israelites out of Egypt—this same Moses and Aaron.

78 - 6:28 Now when the Lord spoke to Moses in Egypt,

78 - 6:29 he said to him, “I am the Lord. Tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I tell you.”

78 - 6:30 But Moses said to the Lord, “Since I speak with faltering lips, why would Pharaoh listen to me?”

78 - 6:30 - (Book: Moses appealed to the Lord, saying, "See, I am of impeded speech; how then should Pharaoh heed me!")

30 Verses

    Exodus - Chapter 7 - 25 Verses

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79 - 7:1 - Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.

79 - 7:1 - (Book: The Lord replied to Moses, "See, I place you in the role of God to Pharaoh, with your brother Aaron as your prophet.)

79 - The Hebrew word "navi" is commonly translated as "prophet," but it actually means "spokesman." The primary role of Aaron and of the later prophets in the Hebrew Bible, such as Amos, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, is not to predict the future, but to serve as God's spokesman (or spokeswoman).

79 - 7:2 - You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country.

79 - 7:2 - (Book: You shall repeat all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh to let the Israelites depart from his land.)

79 - 7:3 - But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt,

79 - 7:3 - (Book: But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that I may multiply My signs and marvels in the land of Egypt.)

80 - The Plagues Had Three Major Purposes

80 - 7:4 - he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites.

80 - 7:4 - (Book: When Pharaoh does not heed you, I will lay My hand upon Egypt and deliver My ranks, My people the Israelites, from the land of Egypt with extraordinary chastisements.)

80 - There are three major purposes for the Ten Plagues.

1. The first and most obvious is to force Pharaoh and the Egyptians to release the Hebrews.


2. The second is to punish Pharaoh and the Egyptians for the terrible suffering they inflicted on the Israelites over hundreds of years -- including for a time the mass murder of newborn Hebrew boys. While the world needs compassion and other good traits, they must all be rooted in justice or we end up with neither justice of compassion.


3. The third purpose of the plagues is to demonstrate to the Israelites (and to the Egyptians) that God, not the gods of Egypt (including Pharaoh), is the real God. That is why, as we shall see, the plagues were specifically directed against Egypt's gods.

80 - Essay: Is There Such A Thing As Collective Guilt?

80 - The punishments inflicted on Egypt raise the difficult issue of what is known as "collective guilt."

80 - Specifically, was it right to punish the Egyptian people for decisions made by their Pharaoh?

80 - The Torah's answer is, yes -- because the evils inflicted by the Egyptians on the Hebrews were not inflicted by a few individuals, but by the Egyptian people over the course of centuries.

81 - The Torah also makes it clear when it comes to individual crimes, as opposed to national crimes, evil is to be punished only on an individual level.

81 - Every punishment must be equivalent to the crime, not more, and must only be inflicted on the perpertrator, not his family.

81 - But when it comes to mass evil committed by a nation, there can indeed be collective guilt. We cannot deny national evil just because not every memnber of a nation was guilty.

81 - Take slavery in America. The whole American nation paid a terrible price -- as the whole Egyptian nation did -- because of the national crime of African slavery. America fought its Civil War because of slavery -- a war in which as many Americans died as in all the other American wars combined (a list that includes World Wars I and II, the Korean war, and the Vietnamese War -- over 700,000 -- a statistic particularly striking given America's population in 1860 was only 31 million.

81 - The only perfect justice is in the world to come.

81 - Statements on slavery by two of America's greatest presidents affirm the notion of collective guilt. Thomas Jefferson, the third American president and the author of America's Declaration of Independence, warned that Americans will one day collectively pay for the sin of slavery: "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever."

82 - During the American Civil War, Abraham Lincoln, too, affirmed America's collective guilt for slavery: Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until ... every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so it must be said, 'the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether'" (Psalm 19:10).

82 - Lincoln knew his Bible. As he put it: "In regard to this Great Book, I have but to say, it is the best gift God has given to man ... But for it we could not know right from wrong."

82 - Slavery was a universally practiced evil.

82 - There was a general sense that the German people, not just a handful of Nazis, were responsible for Nazi evil, and therefore deserved punishment.

83 - Eisenhower obviously believed Germans as a whole were guility.

83 - Likewise, Japanese citizens overwhelmingly supported the Nazi-like Japanes regime during the 1930s and 1940s. As with Nazi Germany, the Japanese were deemed to be collectively guilty.

83 - Specific Egyptian Gods Targeted By The Plagues

83 - 7:5 - And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.”

83 - 7:5 - (Book: And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out My hand over Egypt and bring out the Israelites, from their midst.)

83 - As noted, the third purpose of the plagues was to demonstrate to the Israelites and to the Egyptians that God is God -- most importantly God, not nature, is the only divinity. Therefore, the plagues were directed at the nature gods of Egypt.

83 - Here is a list of some of the Egyptian nature gods against which the plagues were directed:

1. First plague (water turned to blood): The gods attached to the Nile River
2. Second plague (frogs): The frog god and goddess
3. Third plague (lice): The earth god
4. Fourth plague (flies/insects): The fly-god and/or the beetle god
5. Fifth plague (disease cattle): Gods associated with bulls and cows
6. 84 - Sixth plague (boils): Gods of healing
7. Seventh plague (hail): Gods of the sky, atmosphere, and agriculture
8. Eighth plague (locusts): The gods who protected against locusts and human disease
9. Ninth plague (darkness): The sun god and moon god
10. Tenth plague (deaths of firstborn): All of Egypt's gods, including Pharaoh; and a response to the mass killing of the Hebrews' sons

84 - One of the Torah's primary purposes in Genesis 1 -- its opening chapter -- is to disassociate God from nature, and to make it clear God is outside of nature and rules it. Here in Exodus, the plagues are all directed against the nature gods of Egypt, reinforcing Genesis 1 and demonstrting the One True God who created nature rules over it.

84 - It is thoroughly understandable that human beings would worship nature. In this world, nature, after all, is everything. But nature, unlike the God of the Torah, is amoral, and therefore unworthy of worship. Whereas God is preoccupied with good and evil and with justice, nature has no interest in any of them. Nature is governed by blind forces and the amoral law of the survival of the fittest; it is, in Tennyson's famous description, "red in tooth and claw."

84 - Worship Of Nature Vs. Worship Of God

84 - 7:6 - Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded them.

84 - 7:7 - Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.

84 - 7:7 - (Book: Moses was eighy years old and Aaron eighty-three, when they made their demand on Pharaoh.)

Aaron’s Staff Becomes a Snake

84 - 7:8 - The Lord said to Moses and Aaron,

84 - 7:8 - (Book: The Lord said to Moses and Aaron,)

85 - 7:9 - “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ then say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a snake.”

85 - 7:9 - (Book: When Pharaoh speaks to you and says, "produce your marvel," you shall say to Aaron, 'Take your rod and cast it down before Pharaoh." It shall turn into a serpent.)

85 - 7:10 - So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake.

85 - 7:10 - (Book: So Moses and Aaron came before Pharaoh and did just as the Lord had commanded: Aaron cast down his rod in the presence of Pharaoh and his courtiers, and it turned into a serpent.)

85 - 7:11 - Pharaoh then summoned wise men and sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts:

85 - 7:11 -(Book: Then Pharaoh, for his part, summoned the wise men and the sorcerers; and the Egyptian magicians, in turn, did the same with their spells;)

85 - God begins with a startling act, albeit (although) one the Egyptian magicians would be able to replicate.

85 - The tone of the Torah implies the Egyptian magicians performed real magic "with their spells," but it soon becomes clear this is magic only in the modern sense of the word -- illusions that fool an audience.

85 - Why The Torah So Opposes Magic

85 - 7:12 - Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.

85 - 7:12 - (Book: each cast down his rod, and they turned into serpents. But Aaron's rod swallowed their rods.)

85 - The Torah radically opposes belief in magic (as opposed to magic tricks and illusions presented as entertainment) because magic implies forces other than God control the world.

85 - The Egyptian magicians cannot replicate what Aaron, acting at God's behest, does.

85 - 7:13 - Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

85 - 7:13 - (Book: Yet Pharaoh's heart stiffened and he did not heed them, as the Lord had said.)

85 - 7:14 - Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go.

85 - 7:14 - (Book: And the Lord said to Moses, "Pharaoh is stubborn; he refuses to let the people go.)

The Plague of Blood

The Plagues Follow A Pattern

86 - 7:15 - Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the river. Confront him on the bank of the Nile, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake.

86 - 7:15 - (Book: Go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is coming out to the water, and station yourself before him at the edge of the Nile, taking with you the rod that turned into a snake.)

86 - The first nine plagues are divided into three groups of three.

1. Before the first, fourth, and seventh plagues (blood, insects, hail), Moses is instructed to go in the morning and station himself where Pharaoh will be.
2. Before the second, fifth, and eighth plagues (frogs, pestilence, locusts), Moses is instructed to go to Pharaoh's palace and confront him there; and each of these plagues is executed by Aaron rather than Moses.
3. The third, sixth, and nith plagues (lice, boils, darkness) strike without any warning.

86 - Nothing was random.

86 - 7:16 - Then say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness. But until now you have not listened.

86 - 7:16 - (Book: And say to him, "The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you to say, 'Let My people go that they may worship Me in the wilderness." But you have paid no heed until now.)

- Turn the Nile into Blood

86 - 7:17 - This is what the Lord says: By this you will know that I am the Lord: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood.

86 - 7:17 - (Book: Thus says the Lord, "By this you shall know that I am the Lord." See, I shall strike the water in the Nile with the rod that is in my hand, and it will be turned into blood;)

86 - The contamination of the river served to discredit Egyptian polytheism. The Egyptians deified the Nile as the god Hapi.

86 - This first plague may be considered a fitting retribution for Pharaoh's decree that all newborn Hebrew males had to be cast into the Nile. Since so much blood was shed in this river it would now turn to blood. Many Egyptians denied or ignored the evil done in their name; this plague, in bringing their crime to the surface so to speak, made such denial impossible.

87 - 7:18 - The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink; the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water.’”

87 - 7:18 - (Book: and the fish in the Nile will die. The Nile will stink so that the Egyptians will find it impossible to drink the water of the Nile.)

87 - 7:19 - The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over the streams and canals, over the ponds and all the reservoirs—and they will turn to blood.’ Blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in vessels of wood and stone.”

87 - 7:19 - (Book: And the Lord said to Moses, "Say to Aaron: Take your rod and hold out your arm over the waters of Egypt -- its rivers, its canals, its ponds, all its bodies of water -- that they may turn to blood; there shall be blood throughout the land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and stone.)

87 - 7:20 - Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood.

87 - 7:20 - (Book: Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord commanded: he lifted up the rod and struck the water in the Nile in the sight of Pharaoh and his courtiers, and all the water in the Nile was turned into blood)

87 - Aaron could not, of course, hold out his arm over "all bodies of water. As a result, there is still some uncontaminated water left for the Egyptian magicians to turn to blood when they replicate this seeming trick (see verse 22).

87 - 7:21 - The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt.

87 - 7:21 - (Book: and the fish in the Nile died. The Nile stank so that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile; and there was blood throughout the land of Egypt.)

87 - For those seeking natural, as opposed to miraculous, explanations for the plagues, Sarna explains that one way of viewing the plagues is as an extreme intensification of natural phenomena. In this plague, a period of heavy rainfall caused the river to become so full of purple bacteria and eroded red sediment that it appeared blood-like. The purple bacteria that washed down into the river distubed the oxygen balance and killed off the fish, which in turn produced a foul stench. Of course, if the Nile turned into actual blood, as the literal reading of the text suggests, that, too, would have killed off the fish. All these explanations notwithstanding, "an extreme intensification of natural phenomena" -- given its perfect timing -- is also a miracle. In any event, I see no need to try to explain the plagues or any miracles as natural phenomena. If they are only naturral phenomena, they aren't miracles.

88 - 7:22 - (Book: But when the Egyptian magicians did the same with their spells,)

88 - In those directions toward which Aaron did not stretch forth his hand, pure water remained.

88 - 7:22 - But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh’s heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.

88 - 7:22 (continued) - (Book: Pharaoh's heart stiffened and he did not heed them -- as the Lord had spoken.)

88 - 7:23 - Instead, he turned and went into his palace, and did not take even this to heart.

88 - 7:23 - (Book: Pharaoh turned and went into his palace, paying no regard even to this.)

88 - 7:24 - And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile to get drinking water, because they could not drink the water of the river.

88 - 7:24 - (Book: And all the Egyptians had to dig round about the Nile for drinking water, because they could not drink the water of the Nile.)

88 - 7:25 - Seven days passed after the Lord struck the Nile.

The Plague of Frogs

88 - 7:25 - (Book: When seven days had passed after the Lord struck the Nile,)


The Hebrew Torah is enumerated differently than the Christian Bibles. This explains why the following four verses are included at the end of Chapter 7 instead of being listed at the beginning of Chapter 8. The following four verses from Chapter 8 have been re-numbered to reflect the NKJ Chapter identification.
Example: A verse listed as 7.26 is listed here as 8.1

89 - 8.1 - (Listed as 7.26 in Book) - Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and say to him, 'Thus says the Lord: Let My people go that they may worship Me.

- Frogs

89 - 8.2 - (Listed as 7.27 in Book) - If you refuse to let them go, then I will plague your whole country with frogs.

89 - The god that this plague discredited was the frog-headed goddess Hekt, the consort of the god Khnoum. Given that Hekt was thought to assist in childbirth, this plague may be considered a second instance of retribution for the killing of the Hebrew male newborns.

89 - 8.3 - (Listed as 7.28 in Book) - The Nile shall swarm with frogs, and they shall come up and enter your palace, your bed-chamber and your bed, the houses of your courtiers and your people, and your ovens and your kneading bowls.

89 - 8.4 - (Listed as 7.29 in Book) - The frogs shall come up on you and on your people and on all your courtiers."

25 Verses

    Exodus - Chapter 8 - 32 Verses

Top Of Page

The Hebrew Torah is enumerated differently than the Christian Bibles. This explains why there werfour verses listed at the end of Chapter 7 that are usually listed at the beginning of Chapter 8 in the NKJV. Chapter 8 has been re-numbered to reflect the NKJ Chapter identification.
Example: What the Hebrew Torah lists as 8:1 is listed as 8:5 in the Christian NKJV.

The Plague of Frogs

91 - 8:1 - Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.

91 - 8:5 (8:1) - (Book: And the Lord said to Moses, "Say to Aaron: Hold out your arm with the rod over the rivers, the canals, and the ponds, and bring up the frogs on the land of Egypt.")

91 - 8:2 - If you refuse to let them go, I will send a plague of frogs on your whole country.

91 - 8:6 (8:2) - (Book: Aaron held out his arm over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.)

91 - Of all of the plagues, frogs were the least destructive. This plague, in addition to being directed against the frog god of Egypt (Hekt), may have been designed simply to annoy and humiliate Pharaoh and the Egyptians. Even Pharaoh's bed (Exodus 7:28) was infested with frogs.

91 - There is a song about this humiliation, commonly sung by Jewish children at the Passover Seder:

One morning when Pharaoh woke in his bed
There were frogs on his head and frogs in his bed
Frogs on his nose and frogs on his toes
Frogs -- here!
Frogs -- there!
Frogs were jumping everywhere!

91 - 8:3 - The Nile will teem with frogs. They will come up into your palace and your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading troughs.

91 - 8:7 (8:3) - (Book: But the magicians did the same with their spells, and brought frogs upon the land of Egypt.)

91 - As with the previous plague (water turned into blood), the Egyptians are so eager to outdo Moses and Aaron they bring further damage upon their own land.

92 - The God introduced by the Torah is the first god in history to have been entirely above and beyond nature.

92 - 8:4 - The frogs will come up on you and your people and all your officials.’”

92 - 8:8 (8:4) - (Book: Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Plead with the Lord to remove the frogs from me and my people. And I will let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.)

92 - Evidently, Pharaoh is being coverted, albeit slowly and reluctatly, into a belever in God -- though not into an ethical monotheist; he is not a monotheist, since he probably still believes in Egyptian gods in addition to YHVH, and he certainly doesn't believe God demands ethical behavior.

92 - 8:5 - Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the streams and canals and ponds, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.’”

92 - 8:9 (8:5) - (Book: And Moses said to Pharaoh, "You may have this triumph over me: for what time whall I plead in behalf of you and your courtiers and your people, that the frogs be cut off from you and your houses, to remain only in the Nile?")

92 - 8:6 - So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land.

92 - 8:10 (8:6) - (Book: "For tomorrow," he replied. and [Moses] said, "As you say -- that you may know that there is none like the Lord our God;)

93 - The purpose of the plagues is, in large part, to reveal the one true God to humanity. This is the primary purpose of the Torah and of the Jewish people. And making God known has been the most important contribution to humanity ever made.

93 - Here are fifteen reasons why this contribution has been so significant.

93 - Essay: The God Of The Torah: The Most Important Idea In World History

1. 93 - The God introduced by the Torah is the first god in history to have been entirely above and beyond nature. And one of the first things God tells humans is to exercise dominion over nature (Genesis 1:26-28). This liberated humanity from believing it was controlled by nature, a revolution that made moral and scientific progress possible.
   A second consequence of God being above nature is humans are not part of nature -- meaning that just as we are to control the natural world outside us, we are to control our own human nature within us as well. We are to govern our lives by moral law, not by human nature.


2. 93 - The God introduced by the Torah brought universal morality into the world. Only if a moral God is universal, is morality universal. Morality was no longer local or individual. Cultures do not need to be universal; the world is enriched by multiple cultures. But morality must be universal.


3. 93 - The moral God introduced by the Torah means morality is real. "Good" and "evil" are not merely individual or societal opinions, but objectively real.


4. 94 - The God introduced by the Torah morally judges every human being. There had never been a concept like this. And it became a major reason for Jew-hatred. People do not like to be judged, and the people who introduced the idea of a God who morally judges people have paid a terrible price for bringing the idea into the world. The social psychologist Ernest van den Haag wrote:
   
   Fundamental to [anti-Semitism] though seldom explicit and conscious is hostility to the Jewish belief in one God... [The Jews] invisible God not only insisted on being the one and only and all-powerful god -- creator and lord of everything, and the only rightful claimant to worship -- He also developed into a moral God... No wonder [the Jews] are the target of all those who resent His domination.
   
   The evil done in the name of God by radical Islamists -- the worst sin according to the Ten Commandments [see Commandment 3 in Exodus 20].


5. 94 - The just and good God introduced by the Torah gives humanity hope. One of those hopes is there is ultimate justice. The belief that God judges humans means both the good and the evil will get what they ultimately deserve. Even though justice is rarely served in this world, there is a good God who will ultimately set things right.


6. 94 - The God introduced by the Torah introduced holiness -- the elevation of human beings from animals to creatures created in the divine image.


7. 94 - The God introduced by the Torah gives every individual unprecedented self-worth. Since all humans are created in God's image, each of us in infinitely valuable. Every person has the right to say, as the Talmud put it, "For my sake was the world created." There is some special mission and task only you can accomplish.


8. 95 - The God introduced by the Torah is necessary for human brotherhood. Since we all have the same Father, we are all brothers and sisters. As the Prophet Malachi asked: "Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us?" (Malachi 2:10)


9. 95 - The God introduced by the Torah began the long journey to belief in human equality -- solely as a result of the Torah statement that each of us is created in God's image. Slavery was abolished on a wide scale first in the Western world -- by Christians who were rooted in the Torah and the rest of the Hebrew Bible and who specifically cited the Torah doctrine that all humans are created in God's image.


10. 95 - The God introduced by the Torah is incorporeal (no body; not physical). This opened the human mind to abstract thought by enabling humans to think in terms of a reality beyond that which is accessible to our senses.


11. 95 - The God introduced by the Torah teaches us the physical is not the only reality. Consequently, there can be non-physical realities such as a soul, an afterlife, and moraltity.


12. 95 - The God introduced by the Torah means there is ultimate meaning to existence and to each of our lives. Without this Creator, existence is random and purposeless.
    That people make up meanings for their lives is a fine thing (at least, when that meaning is moral; many things -- evil ideologies are the most obvious example -- that give people meaning are not moral), but these meanings are nothing more than artificial constructs.


13. 96 - The God introduced by the Torah gives human beings free will. If we are only material beings, everything we do is determined by our genes and by our environment. Only if we have a non-material soul can we rise above our genes and our environment and act autonomously. The secular denial of anything beyond the physical deprives human beings of free will.
    Clarence Darrow, the most famous criminal defense lawyer in American history opposed all punishment of criminals. "All people are products of two things, and two things only -- their heredity and environment. And they act in exacty accord with the heredity which they took from all the past and for which they are in no wise responsible, and the environment."


14. 96 - The God introduced by the Torah teaches might is not right. It is God Who determines what is right, not displays of strength and force.


15. 97 - Finally, the God introduced by the Torah made human moral progess possible. Indeed, the Torah invented human moral progress. In the words of New York University historian Henry Bamford Parkes, "Judaism [starting with the Torah] repudiated the cyclic view of history held by all other ancient peoples and affirmed that it was a meaningful process leading to the gradual regeneration of humanity. This was the origin of the Western belief in progress..."
    In ancient civilizations, life was a cycle, meaning nothing changed from generation to generation. Every generation essentially repeated what came before it. There was therefore no such thing as moral progress -- indeed, the word "progress" would have been meaningless. Then came the Torah and its God and life was no longer to be a cycle, but a line -- a line moving forward toward a moral goal.

96 - The just and good God introduced by the Torah gave humanity hope that there is ultimate justice.

97 - 8:7 - But the magicians did the same things by their secret arts; they also made frogs come up on the land of Egypt.

97 - 8:8 - Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray to the Lord to take the frogs away from me and my people, and I will let your people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.”

97 - Justice and compassion determined Moses's actions.

98 - 8:9 - Moses said to Pharaoh, “I leave to you the honor of setting the time for me to pray for you and your officials and your people that you and your houses may be rid of the frogs, except for those that remain in the Nile.”

98 - 8:10 - “Tomorrow,” Pharaoh said. Moses replied, “It will be as you say, so that you may know there is no one like the Lord our God.

98 - 8:11 - The frogs will leave you and your houses, your officials and your people; they will remain only in the Nile.”

97 - 8:11 (8:7) - (Book: the frogs shall retreat from you and your courtiers and your people; they shall remain only in the Nile.)

98 - 8:12 - After Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh, Moses cried out to the Lord about the frogs he had brought on Pharaoh.

97 - 8:12 (8:8) - (Book: Then Moses and Aaron left Pharaoh's presence, and Moses cried out to the Lord in the matter of the frogs which He had inflicted upon Pharaoh.)

98 - 8:13 - And the Lord did what Moses asked. The frogs died in the houses, in the courtyards and in the fields.

98 - 8:13 (8:9) - (Book: And the Lord did as Moses asked; the frogs died out in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields.)

98 - 8:14 - They were piled into heaps, and the land reeked of them.

The Plague of Gnats

- Gnats

98 - 8:15 (8:11) - (Book: But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he became stubborn and would not heed them, as the Lord had spoken.)

99 - 8:15 - But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said.

99 - 8:16 - Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the ground,’ and throughout the land of Egypt the dust will become gnats.”

99 - 8:16 (8:12) - Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the ground,’ and throughout the land of Egypt the dust will become gnats.”
(Book: Then the Lord said to Moses, "Say to Aaron: hold out your rod and strike the dust of the earth, and it shall turn to lice throughout the land of Egypt.)

99 - 8:17 - They did this, and when Aaron stretched out his hand with the staff and struck the dust of the ground, gnats came on people and animals. All the dust throughout the land of Egypt became gnats.

99 - 8:17 (8:13) - Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the ground,’ and throughout the land of Egypt the dust will become gnats.”
(Book: And they did so. Aaron held out his arm with the rod and struck the dust of the earth, and vermin came upon man and beast; All the dust of the earth turned to lice throughout the land of Egypt.)

100 - 8:18 - But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not. Since the gnats were on people and animals everywhere,

100 - 8:18 (8:14) - But when the magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, they could not. Since the gnats were on people and animals everywhere,
(Book: The magicians did the like with their spells to produce lice, but they could not. The vermin remained upon man and beast;)

100 - 8:19 - the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not listen, just as the Lord had said.

100 - 8:19 (8:15) - the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hard and he would not listen, just as the Lord had said.
(Book: and the magicians said to Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God!")
But Pharaoh's heart stiffened and he would not heed them, as the Lord had spoken.

The Plague of Flies

100 - 8:20 - Then the Lord said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning and confront Pharaoh as he goes to the river and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me.

100 - 8:20 (8:16) - And the Lord said to Moses, "Early in the morning present yourself to Pharaoh, as he is coming out to the water, and say to him, 'Thus says the Lord: Let My people go that they may worship Me.

100 - The purpose of the liberation from Egypt is not only liberation but the service of God -- living according to His rules, and spreading ethical monotheism to the world's nations.

100 - 8:21 - If you do not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you and your officials, on your people and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies; even the ground will be covered with them.

100 - 8:21 (8:17) - If you do not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you and your officials, on your people and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians will be full of flies; even the ground will be covered with them.
(Book: For if you do not let My people go, I will let loose swarms of insects against you and your courtiers and your people and your houses; the houses of the Egyptians, and the very ground they stand on, shall be filled with swarms of insects.

100 - Slavery was abolished on a wide scale first in the Western world -- by Christians who were rooted in the Torah and the rest of the Hebrew Bible.

100 - Either Pharaoh will "send" the Israelites, or God will "send" another plague.

100 - The Egyptian people might have thought that their enemy was the God of Israel, but the real enemy of the Egyptian people was Pharaoh.

- Flies

101 - 8:22 - “‘But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the Lord, am in this land.

101 - 8:22 (8:18) - “‘But on that day I will deal differently with the land of Goshen, where my people live; no swarms of flies will be there, so that you will know that I, the Lord, am in this land.
(Book: But on that day I will set apart the region of Goshen, where My people dwell, so that no swarms of insects shall be there, that you may know that I the Lord am in the midst of the land.

101 - Sarna comments that "for the first time a clear distinction is made between the Egyptians and the Israelites, and the time of the onset of the plague is fixed, both particulars leaving no doubt the source of the plague is not just any god, but YHVH, God of Israel.

101 - 8:23 - I will make a distinction between my people and your people. This sign will occur tomorrow.’”

101 - 8:23 (8:19) - I will make a distinction between my people and your people. This sign will occur tomorrow.’”
(Book: And I will make a distinction between My people and your people. Tomorrow this sign shall come to pass.

101 - 8:24 - And the Lord did this. Dense swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh’s palace and into the houses of his officials; throughout Egypt the land was ruined by the flies.

101 - 8:24 (8:20) - And the Lord did this. Dense swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh’s palace and into the houses of his officials; throughout Egypt the land was ruined by the flies.
(Book: And the Lord did so. Heavy swarms of insects invaded Pharaoh's palace and the houses of his courtiers; throughout the country of Egypt the land was ruined because of the swarms of insects.

101 - 8:25 - Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God here in the land.”

101 - 8:25 (8:21) - Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God here in the land.”
(Book: Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Go and sacrifice to your Lord within the land.

101 - 8:26 - But Moses said, “That would not be right. The sacrifices we offer the Lord our God would be detestable to the Egyptians. And if we offer sacrifices that are detestable in their eyes, will they not stone us?

101 - 8:26 (8:22) - But Moses said, “That would not be right. The sacrifices we offer the Lord our God would be detestable to the Egyptians. And if we offer sacrifices that are detestable in their eyes, will they not stone us?
(Book: But Moses repied, "It would not be right to do this, for what we sacrifice to the Lord our God is untouchable to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice that which is untouchable to the Egyptians before their very eyes, will they not stone us!

101 - Moses tells Pharaoh the animals the Israelites wish to slaughter are worshipped in the Egyptian religion.

101 - Moses has clearly become a shrewd negotiator.

102 - 8:27 - We must take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, as he commands us.”

102 - 8:27 (8:23) - We must take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, as he commands us.”
(Book: So we must go a distance of three days into the wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God as He may command us.

102 - 8:28 - Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the Lord your God in the wilderness, but you must not go very far. Now pray for me.”

102 - 8:28 (8:24) - Pharaoh said, “I will let you go to offer sacrifices to the Lord your God in the wilderness, but you must not go very far. Now pray for me.”
(Book: Pharaoh said, "I will let you go to sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; but do not go very far. Plead, then, for me."

8:29 - Moses answered, “As soon as I leave you, I will pray to the Lord, and tomorrow the flies will leave Pharaoh and his officials and his people. Only let Pharaoh be sure that he does not act deceitfully again by not letting the people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.”

102 - 8:29 (8:25) - Moses answered, “As soon as I leave you, I will pray to the Lord, and tomorrow the flies will leave Pharaoh and his officials and his people. Only let Pharaoh be sure that he does not act deceitfully again by not letting the people go to offer sacrifices to the Lord.”
(Book: And Moses said, "When I leave your presence, I will plead with the Lord that the swarms of insects depart tomorrow from Pharaoh and his courtiers and his people; let not Pharaoh again act deceitfully, not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.

102 - Moses increasingly feels free to speak to Pharaoh from a position of superiority.

8:30 - Then Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord,

102 - 8:30 (8:26) - Then Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord,
(Book: So Moses left Pharaoh's presence and pleaded with the Lord.

8:31 - and the Lord did what Moses asked. The flies left Pharaoh and his officials and his people; not a fly remained.

102 - 8:31 (8:27) - and the Lord did what Moses asked. The flies left Pharaoh and his officials and his people; not a fly remained.
(Book: And the Lord did as Moses asked: He removed the swarms of insects from Pharaoh, from his courtiers, and from his people; not one remained.

8:32 - But this time also Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go.

102 - 8:32 (8:28) - But this time also Pharaoh hardened his heart and would not let the people go.
(Book: But Pharaoh became stubborn this time also, and would not let the people go.

102 - There is a lesson here for any of us who have stubbornly clung to a cause that is not only wrong, but is failing.

102 - The Japanese leaders knew they were losing World War II, but the stubborness of their military leaders brought down upon them the atom bomb, as the stubbornness of Pharaoh soon brought down upon his people the death of their firstborn. The Egyptian people might have thought their enemy was the God of Israel, but just as the real enemies of the Japanese people were their own leaders, the real enemy of the Egyptian people was Pharaoh.

32 Verses

    Exodus - Chapter 9 - 35 Verses

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103 - 9:1 - The Lord said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and say to him, "Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: Let My people go to worship Me.

- Against Livestock

103 - 9:2 - For if you refuse to let them go, and continue to hold them,

103 - 9:3 - then the hand of the Lord will strike your livestock in the fields -- the horses, the asses, the camels, the cattle, and the sheep -- with a very severe pestilence.

103 - Following Moses's allusion to the importance of sacred animals in Egypt.

103 - 9:4 - But the Lord will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of the Egyptians, so that nothing shall die of all that belongs to the Israelites.

103 - 9:5 - The Lord has fixed the time: tomorrow the Lord will do this thing in the land."

103 - 9:6 - And the Lord did so the next day: all the livestock of the Egyptians died, but of the livestock of the Israelites not a beast died.

104 - 9:7 - When Pharaoh inquired, he found that not a head of the livestock of Israel had died; Yet Pharaoh remained stubborn, and he would not let the people go.

- Boils

104 - 9:8 - Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Each of you take handfuls of soot from the kiln, and let Moses throw it toward the sky in the sight of Pharaoh.

104 - 9:9 - It shall become a fine dust all over the land of Egypt, and cause an inflammation breaking out in boils on man and beast throughout the land of Egypt.

104 - 9:10 - So they took soot of the kiln and appeared before Pharaoh; Moses threw it toward the sky, and it caused an inflammation breaking out in boils on man and beast.

104 - 9:11 - The magicians were unable to confront Moses because of the inflammation, for the inflammation afflicted the magicians as well as all the other Egyptians.

104 - 9:12 - But the Lord stiffened the heart of Pharaoh, and he would not heed them, just as the Lord had told Moses.

104 - After each of the first five plagues, the Torah says Pharaoh strengthened his heart. But for the first time, it is not Pharaoh, but God, who "strengthens" Pharaoh's heart. Pharaoh does not listen to his advisors, who, we shall soon see, have become eager to get rid of the Israelites and their terrible plagues.

105 - They suffer from them as do all other Egyptians, but they suffer the added humiliation of being exposed as impotent before the God of Israel. Meanwhile, Pharaoh is an example of an evil leader bringing destruction on the very people he claims to love. Quite often, tyrants who claim to love their people -- Stalin, Hitler, and Mao are modern examples -- eventually bring immeasurable suffering onto those very people. Likewise, Islamist terrorists have wreaked havoc not only on Jews and Christians and other non-Muslims, but even more so on Muslims, the grouip on whose behalf they murder non-Muslims.

105 - 9:13 - The Lord said to Moses, "Early in the morning present yourself to Pharaoh and say to him, 'Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: Let My people go to worship Me.

- Hail

105 - 9:14 - For this time I will send all My plagues upon your person, and your courtiers, and your people, in order that you may know that there is none like Me in all the world.

105 - 9:15 - I could have stretched forth My hand and stricken you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been effaced (erased) from the earth.

105 - 9:16 - Nevertheless I have spared you for this purpose; in order to show you My power, and in order that My fame may resound throughout the world.

105 - The plagues mark the first time God has revealed Himself to large groups of people rather than to isolated individuals such as Abraham and Moses.

105 - 9:17 - Yet you continue to thwart My people, and do not let them go.

106 - 9:18 - This time tomorrow I will rain down a very heavy hail, such as has not been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now.

106 - 9:19 - Therefore, order your livestock and everything you have in the open brought under shelter.

106 - God wants Pharaoh to announce this plague to the Egyptians -- to humble Pharaoh by having him be the one to relay the word of his slaves' God to his people. This verse poses an obvious dilemna: What livestock is it referring to? Didn't the Torah already state in verse 6, "all the livestock of the Egyptians died"? Any number of answers have been given, but I have not found them entirely persuasive. Either the word "all" in verse 6 was not meant literally or there is another explanation of which I am not aware. Given the Torah's general historicity and honesty, I am not troubled by the handful of verses I cannot explain.

106 - 9:19 (continued) - every man and beast that is found outside, not having been brought indoors, shall perish when the hail comes down upon them!"

106 - 9:20 - Those among Pharaoh's courtiers who feared the Lord's word brought their slaves and livestock indoors to safety;

106 - 9:21 - but those who paid no regard to the word of the Lord left their slaves and livestock in the open.

107 - Here is a sad instance where people -- in this case, slaves of Egyptians -- suffered not because of any wrongs they committed but because they had the misfortune to live among evildoers. One might say almost all human suffering caused by people (rather than by nature) is done by those "who paid no regard to the word of the Lord." In biblical language, such people are synonymous with those who mistreat others -- because to "pay regard to the word of God" is synonymous with treating other people decently. That is what ethical monotheism is all about.

107 - 9:22 - The Lord said to Moses, "Hold out your arm toward the sky that hail may fall on all the grasses of the field in the land of Egypt."

107 - 9:23 - So Moses held out his rod toward the sky, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire streamed down to the ground, as the Lord rained down hail upon the land of Egypt.

107 - 9:24 - The hail was very heavy -- fire flashing in the midst of the hail -- such as had not fallen on the land of Egypt since it had become a nation.

107 - 9:25 - Throughout the land of Egypt the hail struck down all that were in the open, both man and beast; the hail also struck down all the grasses of the field and shattered all the trees of the field.

---

True Story! - Russ Howell

I was working as a teacher for Calvary Chapel of Downey in the early 1990s. The school had planned a field trip, but the weather became overcast and threatening. One of the other teachers came to me and asked if I thought we should go ahead with our trip. We both decided to pray about it, and then opened the Bible to find the answer to our prayer. The verse that was revealed to us was Exodus 9:25. We immediately realized that continuing the field trip would be a bad idea. Later that day, news reports of thunder and lightning striking in the same area we were to travel to, had struck and killed three people from another school on a field trip. What are the odds that we should open our Bible to that exact scripture, and the words would come to pass? Heeding the word of God protects us.

---

107 - 9:26 - Only in the region of Goshen, where the Israelites were, there was no hail.

107 - 9:27 - Thereupon Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and said to them, "I stand guility this time. The Lord is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong.

107 - Pharaoh has grown accustomed to referring to God by His proper name YHVH ("The Lord"). Either he is deflecting moral blame from himself or he is acknowledging the enslavement of the Israelites was a national effort.

108 - 9:28 - Plead with the Lord that there may be an end of God's thunder and of hail. I will let you go; you need stay no longer.

108 - 9:29 - Moses said to him, "As I go out of the city, I shall spread out my hands to the Lord; the thunder will cease and the hail will fall no more, so that you may know that the earth is the Lord's.

108 - 9:30 - But I know that you and your courtiers do not yet fear the Lord God.

108 - 9:31 - Now the flax and barley were ruined, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in the bud;

108 - 9:32 - but the wheat and the emmer were not hurt, for they ripen late.

108 - 9:33 - Leaving Pharaoh, Moses went outside the city and spread out his hands to the Lord: the thunder and the hail ceased, and no rain came pouring down upon the earth.

108 - 9:34 - But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he became stubborn and reverted to his guilty ways, as did his courtiers.

109 - It is of great importance to note that both the punishment of Pharaoh and his nation and of the Jews in sixth-century BCE Judea -- as described in this episode (Jeremiah / 586 BCE / Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar's invasion of Jerusalem) -- are in response to the mistreatment of slaves. God holds His own people and the Egyptians accountable to the same basic standard -- a unique concept in religious history up to that time.

109 - The Torah does not legally ban slavery outright -- 3,000 years ago, any writing that did so would not have been taken seriously -- but it morally condemns it. In general, though not always, the moral precededs the legal. First you teach people what is right and wrong, then they eventually put the teaching into law. First you teach people "all men are created equal" and "created in the image of God" -- then eventually they end slavery.

109 - 9:35 - So Pharaoh's heart stiffened and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the Lord had foretold through Moses.

35 Verses

    Exodus - Chapter 10 - 29 Verses

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The Plague Of Locusts

111 - 10:1 - Then the Lord said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh. For I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his courtiers, in order that I may display these My signs among them,

The Unique Significance Of Remembering

111 - 10:2 - and that you may recount in the hearing of your sons and of your sons' sons how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and how I displayed My signs among them -- in order that you may know that I am the Lord.

111 - Through Moses, God instructs the Jews to tell generation after generation about God's miracles when taking the Jews out of Egypt. Remembering is an important value in the Torah.

111 - Gratitude: Only when people remember the good others have done for them will they have gratitude. Unfortunately, however, most people remember the bad people have done to them far longer than the good. Or to put it another way, gratitude takes effort; resentment is effortless.

111 - Wisdom: People attain wisdom in large part by remembering what happened in the past. No generation can attain wisdom without studying and remembering the past. None of those who believed in the 1960s aphorism, "Never trust anyone over thirty," becamse a wise person.

111 - Without wisdom, all the good intentions in the world amount to nothing.

112 - Faith: This verse speaks of the need to recount to every generation what God did to the Egyptians in liberating the Israelites. If we do no remember the good God did in the past, we are likely to lose faith in Him. Without remembering the miracles God has done for others, people are likely to ask, "Why should I trust in God -- what has God done for me?" And without remembering what God may have done for us in the past, we are likely to ask, "What has God done for me lately?"

112 - 10:3 - So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, "Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, "How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go that they may worship Me.

- Locusts

112 - 10:4 - For if you refuse to let My people go, tomorrow I will bring locusts on your territory.

112 - 10:5 - They shall cover the surface of the land, so that no one will be able to see the land. They shall devour the surviving remnant that was left to you after the hail; and they shall eat away all your trees that grow in the field.

112 - 10:6 - Moreover, they shall fill your palaces and the houses of all your courtiers and of all the Egyptians -- something that neither your fathers nor fathers' fathers have seen from the day they appeared on earth to this day." With that he turned and left Pharaoh's presence.

112 - 10:7 - Pharaoh's courtiers said to him, "How long shall this one be a snare to us? Let the men go to worship the Lord their God! Are you not yet aware that Egypt is lost?"

112 - Even when his most trusted advisors tell him "Egypt is lost" and beg him to release his slaves, Pharaoh still insists on keeping the Israelites in bondage.

113 - But the advisors, too, are victims of their own false beliefs. Believing Pharaoh to be a divine figure, they either don't have the courage or the ability to overthrow him, release the Israelites and thereby save themselves, their families, and the Egyptian people from terrible suffering.

113 - 10:8 - So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh and he said to them, "Go, worship the Lord your God! Who are the ones to go?"

113 - Pharaoh's question, "Who are the ones to go?" indicates he intends to keep some Israelites hostage in Egypt. Keeping some, or many, of the Israelites in Egypt will ensure that those who leave in order to worlship God will return.

On Taking Care Of Your Own People

113 - 10:9 - Moses replied, "We will all go, young and old: we will go with our sons and daughters, our flocks and herds; for we must observe the Lord's festival."

113 - This expression, "We will all go, young and old" has entered the Hebrew language as an expression of a Jew's commitment to not abandon other Jews in times of need or persecution.

113 - Though the term is not used, one may speak of a "Jewish trinity" consisting of God, Torah, and Israel (peoplehood).

113 - Jews taking care of one another has aroused both admiration and hatred among non-Jews.

114 - At one point I mentioned I was a Jew, which created a momentary silence. None of them had ever met a Jew, and no one said anything until one of them asked me, "Are they the people who all take care of each other?"

114 - On the other hand, anti-Semites have often accused Jews of only taking care of one another and not caring about anyone else. Given the role of Jews in building hospitals and universities in America and elsewhere, the tremendous contributions Israel and individual Jews around the world have made to medical and other scientific research, and the great amount of charity Jews give to general charities, the accusation is not only unfounded, it's pernicious.

114 - While taking care only of one's own is morally wrong, before you can love the world, you have to love your neighbor (see discussion of Leviticus 19:18). And you have to love (in the sense of taking care of) yourself and your family before you love and take care of your neighbor.

114 - As the Talmud put it, when giving charity, "the poor of your own town come first."

114 - One very positive consequence of groups taking care of their own is not relying on others to take care of you. For the first generations of Jewish immigrants in America -- though perhaps less so today -- it was regarded as "shameful" for a Jew to rely on non-Jewish institutions for support. Mormons, too, take care of fellow Mormons, and they have developed particularly admirable communities.

114 - 10:10 - Pharaoh said, “The Lord be with you—if I let you go, along with your women and children! Clearly you are bent on evil.

115 - And despite example after example of God's power and support for the Israelites' cause, he tells Moses he will not let all the people leave any more than he believes the God of the Israelites will actually be with Moses's people. Pharaoh's rudeness to Moses and his sarcasm about God are a challenge to God to do His worst.

115 - 10:10 (continued) - Clearly you are bent on evil.

115 - Like slave-owners throughout history, Pharaoh regards slaves who want to be free as bent on evil. He is thereby notifying Moses he knows the Israelites intend to be free -- forever -- and he will not allow it. The moral hypocrisy of slave-owners' contempt for slaves who desire to be free was perfectly described some 3,000 years later by Abraham Lincoln: "Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally."

115 - 10:11 - No! Have only the men go and worship the Lord, since that’s what you have been asking for.” Then Moses and Aaron were driven out of Pharaoh’s presence.

115 - 10:12 - And the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over Egypt so that locusts swarm over the land and devour everything growing in the fields, everything left by the hail.”

Was The Plague Natural Or Miraculous?

115 - 10:13 - So Moses stretched out his staff over Egypt, and the Lord made an east wind blow across the land all that day and all that night. By morning the wind had brought the locusts;

116 - As in each of the plagues except the tenth (and probably the ninth), God draws upon natural forces to bring devastation upon Egypt.

116 - The choice the Egyptians had to make -- coincidence or God" -- is the same choice we all have to make. Do we regard everything that happens, even existence itself, as a coincidence, or is God involved?

116 - 10:14 - they invaded all Egypt and settled down in every area of the country in great numbers. Never before had there been such a plague of locusts, nor will there ever be again.

116 - 10:15 - They covered all the ground until it was black. They devoured all that was left after the hail—everything growing in the fields and the fruit on the trees. Nothing green remained on tree or plant in all the land of Egypt.

Why Pharaoh Admitting He Sinned Means Little

116 - 10:16 - Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you.

116 - Pharoh's statement that he sinned before Moses's God highlights a radical difference between biblical monotheism and other worldviews. Monotheists hold there is a single moral God of the universe before Whom we sin and can repent. Polytheists such as Pharaoh, however, believed a person could sin before one god while doing nothing wrong in the eyes of another.

116 - Though Pharaoh recognizes he has sinned before Moses's God, he cannot be truly contrite and repent because he does not believe he has done anything objectively wrong.

117 - He doesn't believe in objective morality; he thinks in terms of power (similar to the fifth-century BCE Athenians who destroyed the Melians during the Peloponnesian War, though Melos did them no wrong; "the strong do what they have the power to do and the weak accept what they have to accept"). Pharaoh sees that Moses's God is prevailing over him and concludes he must have done something offensive in the eyes of this god.

117 - 10:17 - Now forgive my sin once more and pray to the Lord your God to take this deadly plague away from me.”

117 - 10:18 - Moses then left Pharaoh and prayed to the Lord.

117 - 10:19 - And the Lord changed the wind to a very strong west wind, which caught up the locusts and carried them into the Red Sea. Not a locust was left anywhere in Egypt.

117 - 10:20 - But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go.

The Plague Of Darkness

- Darkness

Was The Plague Of Darkness A Solar Eclipse?

117 - 10:21 - Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness spreads over Egypt—darkness that can be felt.”

118 - It is very hard to believe, however, that this could have been caused by a solar eclipse, since eclipes last for hours, not days. Nor would an eclipse have completely spared nearby Goshen. It makes more sense to regard this as a miracle, meaning it was an event with no natural explanation.

118 - 10:21 (continued) - a darkness that can be touched.

118 - This further argues against an eclipse. An eclipse does not create total darkness, let alone darkness that can be touched. Some commentators who reject the possibility of miracles have suggested that since darkness can be "touched" only if there is a substance making up that darkness, the ninth plague was caused by a thick sandstorm that swept over Egypt. That is not persuasivce, however. A sandstorm would not have spared Goshen. This was a miracle. Period.

118 - 10:22 - So Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Egypt for three days.

118 - 10:23 - No one could see anyone else or move about for three days. Yet all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived.

118 - 10:24 - Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “Go, worship the Lord. Even your women and children may go with you; only leave your flocks and herds behind.”

119 - 10:25 - But Moses said, “You must allow us to have sacrifices and burnt offerings to present to the Lord our God.

119 - Moses humiliates Pharaoh by insisting the Egyptians, who worship the animals the Israelites intend to slaughter, must provide those very animals for their slaves to sacrifice to their God.

119 - 10:26 - Our livestock too must go with us; not a hoof is to be left behind. We have to use some of them in worshiping the Lord our God, and until we get there we will not know what we are to use to worship the Lord.”

119 - 10:27 - But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was not willing to let them go.

119 - 10:28 - Pharaoh said to Moses, “Get out of my sight! Make sure you do not appear before me again! The day you see my face you will die.”
(Book: Pharaoh said to him, "Be gone from me! Take care not to see me again, for the moment you look upon my face you shall die.")

119 - The Hebrew for "take care" literally means "Watch yourself", but here it is uttered more in the nature of a threat ("watch your step").

119 - 10:29 - “Just as you say,” Moses replied. “I will never appear before you again.”

119 - There is no point -- there never really was -- to more negotiating. All that is left is for God to take His people out of Egypt once and for all.

29 Verses

    Exodus - Chapter 11 - 10 Verses

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The Plague on the Firstborn

121 - 11:1 - Now the Lord had said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely.

121 - 11:2 - Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold.”

121 - The Israelites felt compensation was due to them for the centuries of servitude, and the Egyptians, traumatized by the plagues, would probably willingly give them what they asked for, if only to hasten their departure.

122 - Since few, if any, Israelites were likely to have valuables after hundreds of years of slavery, "neighbor" can only refer to their Egyptian neighbors.

122 - The Hebrew word used here for "neighbor," ray'a, is the same world used in the commandment "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18).

122 - 11:3 - (The Lord made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh’s officials and by the people.)

122 - In the ancient world, the gods of the winners elicited great respect. Might made right.

- Death Of The Firstborn

123 - 11:4 - So Moses said, “This is what the Lord says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt.

123 - Though the end of chapter 10 suggests Moses would not see Pharaoh again, it appears Moses is now speaking to Pharaoh.

123 - This final plague, which Moses announces, differed from all the others because it was not brought about by anything Moses or Aaron did. Nor, unlike the earlier plagues, was there any way to explain this as having been brought about by natural means.

124 - 11:5 - Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the female slave, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well.

124 - Throughout history, perhaps the cruelest indignity suffered by slaves was the inability of slave parents to protect their children -- such as when slave parents in the American South could not protect their children from being sold to other owners by their masters.

124 - As noted, God does all the killing. No Israelite was ordered by God to kill a single Egyptian. Therefore, there is no issue here of a holy text depicting people being ordered by their God to kill infidels or innocents.

124 - Intellectual honesty therefore demands that those of us who believe God is good assume He had moral reasons to do what He did, though the Torah certainly allows us to question those actions.

125 - But it is one thing to question God, and it is another to reject God because of our questions. The God of the Torah -- ... has more than earned the benefit of any doubts we may have.

125 - 11:6 - There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever been or ever will be again.

125 - 11:7 - But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any person or animal.’ Then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.

125 - 11:8 - All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me and saying, ‘Go, you and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will leave.” Then Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh.

125 - The chronology of this final encounter with Pharaoh is problematic, because Moses's response to Pharaoh's threat to kill him if he ever again came into Pharaoh's presence (Exodus 10:29) was to declare he would never again see Pharaoh's face.

125 - 11:9 - The Lord had said to Moses, “Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you—so that my wonders may be multiplied in Egypt.”

126 - 11:10 - Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country.

126 - The final plague must be so awesome and terrible because none of the earlier plagues successfully persuaded Pharaoh to release the Israelites.

10 Verses

    Exodus - Chapter 12 - 51 Verses

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The Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread

127 - 12:1 - The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt,

127 - Perhaps these laws are inserted here because God will not take the Israelites out of Egypt until they first reaffirm their connection with Him. After all, the purpose of the Exodus is not only freedom. Freedom alone gives license and results in anarchy. That's why, in God's name, Moses repeatedly demanded freedom for the Israelites so "that they may worship Me" (Exodus 9:1, 10:3; seee also 5:1).

What Does It Mean To Worship God?

127 - Ritually, of course. But especially ethically. That God is primarily worshipped through moral conduct is emphasized repeatedly thoughout the Bible.

127 - "Do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord" (Deuteronomy 6:18)

127 - "The holy God is made holy through righteousness" (Isaiah 5:16)

127 - "He has told you, O Man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: Only to do justice, and to love goodness, and to wallk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8)

127 - ""Thus said the Lord: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom; Let not the strong man glory in his strength; Let not the rich man glory in his riches. But only in this should one glory: In his earnest devotion to Me. For I the Lord act with kindness, justice and equity in the world; for in these I delight" (Jeremiah 9:22-23).

128 - This listing of laws directing the Israelites on how to worship God is therefore, intended to remind the Israelites they are being liberated from Egypt to serve God.

128 - 12:2 - “This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year.

128 - The Torah is referring to the Hebrew month of Nisan. The Jewish calendar has two different first months. One is Tishrei, the autumn month that includes Rosh Hashanah (New Year) and Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). It is celebrated as a time of repentance, new beginnings, and the creation of the world. The other is this month of Nisan, the spring month that includes Passover. It is celebrated as a time of rebirth, renewal, and the beginning of the Jewish nation. Virtually every nation celebrates both the beginning of the New Year and the beginning of its country. In the Torah they are both New Years.

Sacrificing An Egyptian God

128 - 12:3 - Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one for each household.

128 - The Israelites are therfore instructed to slaughter a god of their oppressors as a way of serving their own God, which was exactly what Moses warned Pharaoh would so infuriate him and the Egyptians.

129 - The question of the moralty of animal sacrifice is discussed in detail in the commentaries in Leviticus.

129 - 12:4 - If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat.

129 - 12:5 - The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats.

129 - All animals sacrificed to God had to be perfect. People were not allowed to sacrifice their least desirable animals. Then it would not be a "sacrifice."

The Virtue Of Delayed Gratification

129 - 12:6 - Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.

130 - Only when the Israelites could bring themselves to sacrifice the gods of their oppressors -- before their oppressors' eyes -- would the Israeilites truly be ready to embrace freedom.

131 - 12:7 - Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes (lintel) of the houses where they eat the lambs.

131 - Placing the blood on the doorposts was a way of publicizing the Israelites' offense against the Egyptians, thereby "braving the vengeance of their former persecutors," and forcing them to endanger their lives and demonstrate their faith in God.

131 - 12:8 - That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast.

131 - 12:9 - Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire — with the head, legs and internal organs.

131 - God may be teaching the Israelites that they must be different from animals, who kill other creatures and immediately eat the meat. Elevating human conduct above that of animals is one of the primary aims of Torah law, and should be the aim of every civilization. Indeed, humans have often acted worse than animals (in inflicting pain on other humans solely for the sake of seeing them suffer).

132 - 12:10 - Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it.

132 - 12:11 - This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is the Lord’s Passover.

132 - God instructs the Israelites to be ready to leave because the Egyptians are about to throw them out of Egypt.

132 - 12:12 - “On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord.

132 - This plague serves to once again reinforce that only God is God and other gods are false.

Essay: Do All Believers In One God Believe In The Same God?

132 - The answer -- and to many this may come as a surprise -- is no. The reason this is so important is the God of the Torah (and the rest of the Bible) is often blamed by anti-religious people for any terrible actions committed by anyone who claims to believe in God. When Jews, Christians, and Muslims -- let alone people who identify with no specific religion -- say, "I believe in God," they are not necessarily talking about the same God, and certainly not necessarily talking about the God of the Torah.

133 - In fact, the statement, "I believe in God," tells us nothing about a person's beliefs or about the god in whom he or she believes.

133 - To cite an obvious example, a god in whose name believers cut innocent people's throats, behead them, burn them alive, and rape girls and women -- as is being done at the time of this writing by Islamist terrorists in the name of "the one God" -- cannot be the same god as the God of the Torah, the God who gave the Ten Commandments, who commanded His people to "Love the stranger," and demanded holy and ethical conduct at all times.

133 - So, then, how are we to know whether any two people who say they believe in God believe in the same God, specifically the God of the Torah? We can find out by asking three questions:

1. Do you believe in the God known as the "God of Israel"? (The God of the Torah) Before responding, some people might need to have the term defined.


2. Does the god you believe in judge the moral behavior of every human being -- and by the same moral standard? People who believe in a god who does not morally judge them and all other people do not believe in the God of the Torah. One need not be a Jew -- or a Christian, or a member of any faith -- to believe in the God of the Torah. The purpose of the Jewish people -- the purpose of being Chosen -- is to bring humanity to the God of the Torah, which, by definition, also means accepting God's moral demands (such as the "Noahide Laws" or the Ten Commandments). (Page 135) - The great Benjamin Franklin, one of America's founders, was one such example: He did not affirm the Christian Trinity, and he was not a Jew. But he believed in the God introduced by the Hebrew Bible, in its moral teachings, and that this God morally judges all human beings. As Franklin wrote in his autobiography: "I never doubted, for instance, the existence of the Deity, that he made the world and governed it by his Providence, that the most acceptable service of God was the doing of good to man, that our souls are immortal, and that all crime will be punished and virtue rewarded either here or hereafter." Franklin and many of America's founders were examples of ethical monotheists. They were the type of people the Torah wants all people to be.


3. Do you believe in the God who gave the Ten Commandments? The reason it needs to be asked is if God never revealed His moral will, how would we know what behaviors He demands from us and what acts He judges as wrong?

133 - While it is usually best to affiliate with a Torah-based religion, one can believe in the God of the Torah and in the Ten Commandments without being a member of a religion.

135 - 12:13 - The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.

135 - The sign functions to assure the Israelites that they will be spared in spite of of all the death that will be taking place around them.

136 - The Hebrew word pasachti means "I will pass over."

Essay: The Six Commandments Of Remembrace In The Torah

136 - 12:14 - “This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance.

136 - The Torah affirms the central importance of remembering. It may be creditied with the invention of collective memory. There are six commandments of remembrance in the Torah:

1. The Sabbath - "Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy" (Esodus 20:8)


2. The Exodus - "You shall not eat anything leavened with it...so that you may remember the day of your departure from the land of Egypt as long as you live" (Deuteronomy 16:3)


3. Receiving the Law at Sinai - "So that you do not forget the things that you saw with your own eyes...and make them known to your children and your children's children, the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb..." (Deuteronomy 4:9-10)


4. Amalek - "Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey after you left Egypt, how, undeterred by fear of God he...cut down all the stragglers in your rear" (Deuteronomy 25:17-19)


5. The Golden Calf - "Remember, never forget, how you provoked the Lord your God to anger in the wilderness" (Deuteronomy 9:7)


6. God's punishment of Miriam for speaking ill of Moses - "Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam on the journey after you left Egypt" (Deuteronomy 24:9 & Numbers 12:1-9)

137 - Why is remembering so important? Here are nine reasons.

1. Remembering endows history with meaning and significance.


2. Remembering enables us to learn from history.


3. Remembering leads to wisdom. Without remembering, wisdom is impossible. Wisdom is learning from our own lives and from the lives of others. Wisdom matters because good cannot be achieved without it. Good intentions without wisdom lead to either nothing or to actual evil.


4. Remembering makes the moral progress of civilization possible.


5. Remembering links us with those who came before us and reminds us we are part of an ongoing people and/or ideal.


6. Remembering ensures that those who have suffered and perished are not forgotten.


7. Remembering ensures that evil is not forgotten and allowed to disappear into the "ash heap of history."


8. Remembering is the only way to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.


9. Remembering -- by ensuring that goodness and good people are not forgotten -- makes enduring gratitude possible.

138 - Without remembrance, there is no way to stay grateful.

138 - The obligation to remember the Exodus is a permanent law; it applies to every subsequent generation.

138 - 12:15 - For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel.

138 - The seven days of Passover can be understood as a replica of the seven days of creation, because the Exodus from Egypt signifies the start of a new world for the Jews and therefore for humanity, given the influence the Jews and their Bible have had on history.

139 - Thus, the commandment to remember the Exodus is accompanied by the ritual obligation to eat unleavened bread for seven days, which still symbolizes for those who oberve this holiday it is better to eat the poor man's bread in freedom than to eat richer food as a slave.

Leavening Represents Death

139 - Leavening, a process believed to have been invented in Egypt about five hundred years before the Exodus, involves the fermentaion of dough. Fermentation is a form of decomposition, and therefore represents decay and death. Egypt was known for its obsession with death: The greatest symbols of ancient Egypt are the pyramids, which are tombs. The Torah, in contrast, is rooted in the affirmation of life.

140 - Thus, the avoidance of leaven on Passover may be seen as a symbolic rejection of the Egyptian preoccupation with death. Much Torah law and teaching is a rejection of the values of Egypt, most particularly the emphasis on death and the worship of nature.

What Does Karet -- "Cut Off" -- Mean?

138 - 12:15 - ... for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel.

140 - The Hebrew term for "cut off" is karet, one of the most severe punishments in the Torah. The Torah never makes fully clear what karet means, and there are three different ways in which the Talmud explains this term.

1. First, karet may refer to premature death. (Unlikely)


2. Second, karet may refer to the eventual ending of the sinner's family line.


3. The third Talmudic explanation for the karet punishment is being "cut off" from life in the world to come.

141 - In my view, the literal definition of karet may well be the best. Those who do not observe laws for which the punishment is karet do indeed "cut themselves off" from God and from their people.

141 - That karet is a punishment/consequence of eating leaven on Passover shows how important the Torah considers refraining from eating leaven on Passover.

142 - 12:16 - On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat; that is all you may do.

There Are Seven Holidays Designated As Holy Days In The Torah

1. Rosh Hashanah (in the Torah, the name for this holiday is Yom Tru'ah, the "Day of the Shofar Sound")
2. Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement)
3. Pesach (Passover)
4. Shavuot (Pentecost)
5. Sukkot (Tabernacles)
6. Shemini Atzeret (Eighth Day of Assembly)
7. Shabbat (Sabbath)

143 - 12:17 - “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.

143 - 12:18 - In the first month you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day.

143 - 12:19 - For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And anyone, whether foreigner or native-born, who eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from the community of Israel.

143 - 12:20 - Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat unleavened bread.”

143 - 12:21 - Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb.

143 - 12:22 - Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning.

144 - 12:23 - When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.

144 - 12:24 - “Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants.

144 - 12:25 - When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony.

Educating One's Children Is A Divine Law

144 - 12:26 - And when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’

144 - The education of children is prescribed in the Torah and children are encouraged to ask questions.

144 - This is one of four verses in the Torah dealing with the commandment to educate children about the Exodus. The Talmud associates each verse with a different type of child: a wise child, a bad child, a smimple child, and "One who does not know how to ask." The question in this verse is associated with the "bad child" because he asks "what do you mean" instead of "what do we mean," or "what does it mean?" He is implicitly excluding himself from the community, as if he is above it all.

144 - 12:27 - then tell them, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’” Then the people bowed down and worshiped.

144 - This answeer, which focuses on God's power both to destroy and save, is intended to make an impression on the child by instilling fear of God in him. Fear of a good and moral God is the basis of morality and a moral education.

145 - Children should also have a degree of fear of parents (Leviticus 19:3).

145 - 12:28 - The Israelites did just what the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron.

145 - 12:29 - At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well.

145 - The Torah spends only one verse on the killing of the firstborn. The Torah in no way revels in the Egyptians' punishment (any more, for example, than the Americans who made the decision to drop the atom bomb reveled in the suffering of the Japanese people). In fact, one of the Torah's 613 laws actually prohibits harming the Egyptians (Deuteronomy 23:8). If only the Jews' enemies had such a law regarding Jews (though if they had such a law, the Jews wouldn't be their enemies).

145 - 12:30 - Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.

The Exodus

145 - 12:31 - During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the Lord as you have requested.

146 - 12:32 - Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me.”

146 - 12:33 - The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country. “For otherwise,” they said, “we will all die!”

146 - 12:34 - So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing.

146 - Eating unleavened bread is a reenactment of the time during the Exodus when the Israelites fled Egypt in haste.

146 - 12:35 - The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing.

146 - 12:36 - The Lord had made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered the Egyptians.

Map of the Hebrews Journey
The 250-Mile / 11-Day Journey Took 40-Years.

1. Rameses Israel was thrust out of Egypt (Ex. 12; Num. 33:5).
2. Succoth After the Hebrews left this first campsite, the Lord attended them in a cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night (Ex. 13:20-22).
3. Pi-hahiroth Israel passed through the Red Sea (Ex. 14; Num. 33:8).
4. Marah The Lord healed the waters of Marah (Ex. 15:23-26).
5. Elim Israel camped by 12 springs (Ex. 15:27).
6. Wilderness of Sin The Lord sent manna and quail to feed Israel (Ex. 16).
7. Rephidim Israel fought with Amalek (Ex. 17:8-16).
8. Mount Sinai (Mount Horeb or Jebel Musa) The Lord revealed the Ten Commandments (Ex. 19-20).
9. Sinai Wilderness Israel constructed the tabernacle (Ex. 25-30).
10. Wilderness Camps Seventy elders were called to help Moses govern the people (Num. 11:16-17).
11. Ezion-geber Israel passed through the lands of Esau and Ammon in peace (Deut. 2).
12. Kadesh-barnea Moses sent spies into the promised land; Israel rebelled and failed to enter the land; Kadesh served as the main camp of Israel for many years (Num. 13:1-3, 17-33; 14; 32:8; Deut. 2:14).
13. Eastern Wilderness Israel avoided conflict with Edom and Moab (Num. 20:14-21; 22-24).
14. Arnon River Israel destroyed the Canaanites who fought against them (Deut. 2:24-37).
15. Mount Nebo Moses viewed the promised land (Deut. 34:1-4). Moses delivered his last three sermons (Deut. 1-32).
16. Plains of Moab The Lord told Israel to divide the land and dispossess the inhabitants (Num. 33:50-56).
17. Jordan River Israel crossed the Jordan River on dry ground. Near Gilgal, stones from the bottom of the Jordan River were placed as a monument of Jordan’s waters being divided (Josh. 3-5).
18. Jericho The children of Israel possessed and destroyed the city (Josh. 6).

How Many Israelites Left Egypt?

146 - 12:37 - The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Sukkoth. There were about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children.

147 - If 600,000 men left Egypt, the large majority of whom presumably had wives and children, then a minimum of two or more likely three million people would have left Egypt. The number 600,000 is based on the Hebrew word eleph, which means "thousand."

148 - 12:38 - Many other people went up with them, and also large droves of livestock, both flocks and herds.

148 - The Israelites left Egypt along with members of several other nations who comprised the lowest classes of Egyptian society.

148 - The Torah is not interested in blood lines nearly as much as it is in values. This is exemplified by the Jewish tradition that holds whoever becomes a Jew at any time is considered to have stood at Sinai.

148 - 12:39 - With the dough the Israelites had brought from Egypt, they baked loaves of unleavened bread. The dough was without yeast because they had been driven out of Egypt and did not have time to prepare food for themselves.

149 - 12:40 - Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years.

149 - 12:41 - At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord’s divisions left Egypt.

149 - 12:42 - Because the Lord kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the Lord for the generations to come.

Passover Restrictions

149 - 12:43 - The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “These are the regulations for the Passover meal: “No foreigner may eat it.

149 - 12:44 - Any slave you have bought may eat it after you have circumcised him,

149 - 12:45 - but a temporary resident or a hired worker may not eat it.

149 - 12:46 - “It must be eaten inside the house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones.

149 - 12:47 - The whole community of Israel must celebrate it.

149 - 12:48 - “A foreigner residing among you who wants to celebrate the Lord’s Passover must have all the males in his household circumcised; then he may take part like one born in the land. No uncircumcised male may eat it.

149 - 12:49 - The same law applies both to the native-born and to the foreigner residing among you.”

149 - This is one of the most important and morally sublime laws in the Torah, given to the Israelites as soon as they left Egypt, a society in which there wasn't "one law for the citizen and for the stranger." As in many contemporary societies, in the ancient world there was no legal protection at all for the stranger. This Torah law, to the best of our knowledge, was unique in the ancient Near East -- and, one presumes, in the world.

150 - 12:50 - All the Israelites did just what the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.

150 - 12:51 - And on that very day the Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt by their divisions.

51 Verses

    Exodus - Chapter 13 - 22 Verses

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Consecration of the Firstborn

151 - 13:1 - The Lord said to Moses,

151 - 13:2 - “Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal.”

151 - A later Torah law designates that thirty-one days after the child is born, the father can pay a priest five silver shekels (Numbers 18:16) TO "redeem" the child from temple work.

151 - 13:3 - Then Moses said to the people, “Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the Lord brought you out of it with a mighty hand. Eat nothing containing yeast.

152 - The Torah refers again and again to the importance of remembering the Exodus. Memory perpetuates gratitude (no memory, no gratitude); it perpetuates faith (no memory, no faith); and it perpetuates the Jewish people (no national memory, no nation).

152 - As is written in the Passover Seder service: "In every generation a person is obligated to see himself as if he himself has come out of Egypt."

152 - By maintaining and expressing their gratitude, Jews have kept their faith and national identity alive.

152 - 13:4 - Today, in the month of Aviv (Abib), you are leaving.

153 - Abib is the Hebrew word for spring (in modern Hebrew it is pronounced Aviv). The Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar, and therefore a year has 354 days, not 365, as does the solar calendar.

153 - The Muslim calendar is also lunar, but since there is no specification as to the season in which a holiday must fall, the holiday of Ramadan, for example, falls in different seasons over the course of the years.

153 - 13:5 - When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites—the land he swore to your ancestors to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey—you are to observe this ceremony in this month:

153 - 13:6 - For seven days eat bread made without yeast and on the seventh day hold a festival to the Lord.

153 - 13:7 - Eat unleavened bread during those seven days; nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders.

153 - 13:8 - On that day tell your son, ‘I do this because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’

154 - 13:9 - This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that this law of the Lord is to be on your lips. For the Lord brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand.

154 - 13:10 - You must keep this ordinance at the appointed time year after year.

154 - 13:11 - “After the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites and gives it to you, as he promised on oath to you and your ancestors,

154 - 13:12 - you are to give over to the Lord the first offspring of every womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the Lord.

154 - 13:13 - Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem every firstborn among your sons.

153 - Since the donkey was the only Israelite animal unfit for sacrifice, the owner of the donkey had to give the priest a sheep instead.

154 - This law guaranteed Israelites paid their dues to the priests.

155 - 13:14 - “In days to come, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ say to him, ‘With a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

155 - No two children are the same. "Educate a child, each according to his way..." (Proverbs 22:6) In general, children should not be raised in precisely the same way as their siblings (i.e., have the same achievements expected of them, automatically be sent to the same school, disciplined in the same way, etc.).

156 - 13:15 - When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed the firstborn of both people and animals in Egypt. This is why I sacrifice to the Lord the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons.’

156 - 13:16 - And it will be like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead that the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his mighty hand.”

Crossing the Sea

156 - 13:17 - When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.”

156 - 13:18 - So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle.

156 - 13:18 - (Book: So God led the people roundabout, by way of the wilderness at the Sea of Reeds. Now the Israelites went up armed out of the land of Egypt.)

Note: The Sea of Reeds was a swamp area. Many believe it was this area the Israelites passed through. Contrary belief argues that there was no "dry ground" for the Israelites to pass through. Also, the Bible refers to "walls of water" on both sides when they passed through.

156 - 13:19 - Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath. He had said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.”

156 - Genesis 50:25 - Joseph made the sons of Isrel swear, sayaing "When God has taken notice of you, you shall carry up my bones from here."

156 - 13:20 - After leaving Sukkoth they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert.

157 - 13:21 - By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.

157 - 13:22 - Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.

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    Exodus - Chapter 14 - 31 Verses

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159 - 14:1 - Then the Lord said to Moses,

159 - 14:2 - “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon.

159 - 14:3 - Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’

159 - 14:4 - And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” So the Israelites did this.

159 - God gains glory by rewarding good and punishing evil.

159 - This can be shown by answering this question: What is it that causes many thinking and decent people not to believe in God, let alone glorify Him?

160 - The answer is the amount of injustice in the world. That being the case, when God deals with injustice, He is most likely to be universally affirmed and glorified.

160 - Ironically, however, this is also a major reason many people reject the Torah and God. Many people are uncomfortable with being morally judged, and especially uncomfortable with a God who judges them (a God who might punish them).

160 - God hates evil and instructs us to do likewise: "You who love God [must] hate evil" (Psalms 97:10). Then we humans, too, can be glorified.

160 - 14:5 - When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!”

160 - 14:6 - So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him.

161 - 14:7 - He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them.

161 - 14:8 - The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly.

161 - 14:9 - The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon.

161 - 14:10 - As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord.

161 - The Israelites welcomed their liberation from Egypt with joy, but soon found themselves filled with fear and depression when they considered the burdens and responsibilities of their newfound freedom (including self-defense and self-reliance).

162 - 14:11 - They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?

162 - The Israelites' complaint is sarcastic; if any nation had enough graves, it was Egypt, whose religion revolved around death.

Is It Worth Dying To Be Free?

162 - 14:12 - Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”

162 - The Israelites claim they would rather return to slavery than confront the Egyptians in battle.

162 - One of the most famous statements of the American War of Independence was that of the American patriot Patrick Henry: "Give me liberty, or give me death."

162 - But it is hardly a universal sentiment. During the Cold lWar between the democratic West and the Soviet Union, there were, of course, many in the West who said, "Better dead than Red [communist]; but many others subscribed to the slogan associated with Bertrand Russell, the twentieth century's leading atheist philosopher: "Better Red than dead."

162 - Russell's slogan was consistent with that of much of the well-educated class in Britain. On February 8, 1933, right after Hitler came to power in Germany, the Oxford Union Debating Society held a debate on the resolution, "This House will in no circumstances fight for its King and Country." The resolution passed 275-153. The vote made an impression on Hitler and Mussolini, as it revealed that many of England's best educated would prefer to live under Nazism or Fascism than to fight for freedom and risk death.

162 - The Israelites' statement made it clear to Moses they so valued life they would be willing to return to everything they endured in captivity -- even the Egyptians' seeking to murder all of their newborn males -- in order to avoid doing battle with the Egyptians.

163 - 14:13 - Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again.

163 - 14:14 - The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

163 - This is perhaps the one time in Jewish history in which the Jews did not have to stand up for themselves and could simply rely on God. This is one of many ways the Exodus was a unique event.

163 - 14:15 - Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.

163 - Nevertheless, even in this singular instance, God does not want the Israelites to be utterly passive. Crying out to God is fine, but it never precludes taking action to the extent we're able. Words attributed to St. Augustine -- but probably not actually said by him -- are a good guideline: "Pray as if everything depends on God. Work as if everything depends on you."

163 -

163 - 14:16 - Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.

163 - 14:17 - I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen.

163 - 14:18 - The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.”

163 - 14:19 - Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them,

163 - In the Torah, angels of God are messengers who may take any form, human or otherwise.

163 - 14:20 - coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.

Why Did God Use Winds To Split The Sea?

164 - 14:21 - Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided,

164 - Like most of the miracles, the splitting of the sea was achieved through God's manipulation of nature.

164 - There are two likely reasons for this. The first, and probably the most likely, was to reinforce in the minds of the Israelites that God controls nature; nature is not a god. The other possible reason for His use of nature to achieve this miracle (and nearly all the other miracles of the Exodus) was to enable the skeptic to deny the splitting of the sea was in fact a divine maracle: "It wasn't God; fortuitous winds did it!"

164 - This seems to be God's approach in general. Much like God wanted Pharaoh to have the strength to exercise his own will with regard to letting the Israelites go rather than be coerced into it by God, He apparently wants human beings to be free to choose to believe in Him rather than to compel them to believe in Him by making His existence incontrovertible. He wants humans to have free will, and that must include the freedom to choose or reject God.

165 - 14:22 - and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.

165 - 14:23 - The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea.

165 - 14:24 - During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion.

165 - Each night had three watches. The morning watch lasted from about 2:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m.

165 - 14:25 - He jammed the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.”

165 - In accord with the famous statement, "Hell is truth seen too late," the Egyptians finally recogize the Lord (YHVH) as God. But it was too late; they drowned with that knowledge.

165 - God had the Egyptians drown at a time of day when the Israelites would be able to see it happen. The Israelites, who so feared the Egyptians, needed to see their oppressors destroyed.

165 - 14:26 - Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.”

165 - 14:27 - Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept them into the sea.

166 - 14:28 - The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.

166 - 14:29 - But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.

166 - 14:30 - That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore.

The Difference Between Belief In God And Trust In God

166 - 14:31 - And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.

166 - Although this verse has become famous in Jewish liturgy and tradition, depending on how one translates the Hebrew word va'ya'aminu, the word can be viewed as reflecting either positively or negatively on the Israelites.

166 - The normal translation of va'ya'aminu is "believed in." And if the verse means "they believed in the Lord" as "believe in" is usually understood, it would reflect negatively on the Israelites. It would imply that, despite all the miracles they already witnessed,they didn't believe that God existed until the splitting of the sea and the drowning of the Egyptians. And it would imply they also came to believe in Moses as a god-like figure.

166 - Those problems are resolved, however, if the Hebrew word va'ya'aminu is interpreted as "they trusted in," or, as it is rendered here, "had faith in." In Hebrew, as in English, when we say to someone, "I believe in you," what we are really saying is "I trust you," not "I believe you exist." Thus, the drowning of the Egyptians did not convince the Israelites to believe in God's existence, but to trust in God -- that He fulfills His promises. And just as the people learned to trust in God, they also learned to trust in Moses as a reliable servant of God.

166 - Regarding the phrase "servant of God," it is worth noting again that the Hebrew world for "servant" is the same word for "slave" (eved). In this verse, it is obvious eved means "servant" -- Moses was not the "slave of God." But in other places in the Torah, whether eved means slave or servant is not always clear -- which complicates some of the discussion about slavery in the Torah.

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    Exodus - Chapter 15 - 27 Verses

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The Song of Moses and Miriam

Essay: Is It Moral To Celebrate The Death Of Evildoers?

169 - 15:1 - Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord:

169 - According to a well-known passage in the Talmud, the angels, too, broke out in song when the Egyptians were drowning in the sea. But, the Talmud states, God rebuked them: "My creatures [the Egyptians] are drowning, and you sing songs?"

169 - This Talmudic passage is often cited by Jews who believe it is wrong for people to rejoice at the fall of an enemy, no matter how evil. But the story does not support that view. God does not rebuke Moses and the Israelites. He only rebukes the angels.

169 - Why" Because God does not hold people to the same standards as He does angels.

170 - Yes, one can always acknowledge the death of those doing evil is ultimately a human tragedy. But it is infinitely less tragic than the alternative.

170 - When I watch World War II films and see Nazi soldiers killed, I am mindful of the fact those soldiers were drafted, and they left behind grieving mothers, fathers, girlfriends, wives, and children. But I am happy they were killed because either the Nazi soldier or the soldier of a decent country was going to die; and the death of every Nazi soldier hastened the end of the Nazi regime and the closing of the Nazis' death and concentration camps.

171 - Whatever one concludes about the morality of celebrating the downfall of evil, this Talmudic story achieves two important purposes: It reminds us that even one's enemies, and even those who do evil, are still human beings created in God's image. And it forces us to ask moral questions.

171 - 15:1 (continued) - “I will sing to the Lord,
for he is highly exalted.
Both horse and driver
he has hurled into the sea.

171 - This entire song is about God; Moses plays no active role. And there is no mention of the angel of death, the cloud, or the darkness. It is God alone Who is celebrate here (Sarna).

171 - 15:2 - “The Lord is my strength and my defense;
he has become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will praise him,
my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

To Be A "God Of Love," God Must Also Be A God Of War"

172 - 15:3 - The Lord is a warrior;
the Lord is his name.

172 - The Hebrew literally says, "The Lord is a Man of War."

172 - Many people are much more comfortable saying "God is Love." But sometimes the only way to stop evil and increase love is through war. God must therefore be both Love and warrior. In this case, when the Israelites are fleeing heavily-armed professional troops, God acts as a warrior on their behalf. That was the only thing a God of Love could do.

172 - 15:4 - Pharaoh’s chariots and his army
he has hurled into the sea.
The best of Pharaoh’s officers
are drowned in the Red Sea.

172 - 15:5 - The deep waters have covered them;
they sank to the depths like a stone.

172 - 15:6 - Your right hand, Lord,
was majestic in power.
Your right hand, Lord,
shattered the enemy.

172 - 15:7 - “In the greatness of your majesty
you threw down those who opposed you.
You unleashed your burning anger;
it consumed them like stubble.

173 - 15:8 - By the blast of your nostrils
the waters piled up.
The surging waters stood up like a wall;
the deep waters congealed in the heart of the sea.

173 - 15:9 - The enemy boasted,
‘I will pursue, I will overtake them.
I will divide the spoils;
I will gorge myself on them.
I will draw my sword
and my hand will destroy them.’

173 - 15:10 - But you blew with your breath,
and the sea covered them.
They sank like lead
in the mighty waters.

173 - 15:11 - Who among the gods
is like you, Lord?
Who is like you—
majestic in holiness,
awesome in glory,
working wonders?

174 - 15:12 - “You stretch out your right hand,
and the earth swallows your enemies.

174 - 15:13 - In your unfailing love you will lead
the people you have redeemed.
In your strength you will guide them
to your holy dwelling.

174 - 15:14 - The nations will hear and tremble;
anguish will grip the people of Philistia.

174 - Philistia refers to the Philistines. When, many centuries later, the Romans conquered Judea, they sought to obliterate all memory of it as a Jewish nation, and renamed it "Palestine," after the ancient Philistines.

174 - 15:15 - The chiefs of Edom will be terrified,
the leaders of Moab will be seized with trembling,
the people of Canaan will melt away;

174 - 15:16 - terror and dread will fall on them.
By the power of your arm
they will be as still as a stone—
until your people pass by, Lord,
until the people you bought pass by.

174 - 15:17 - You will bring them in and plant them
on the mountain of your inheritance—
the place, Lord, you made for your dwelling,
the sanctuary, Lord, your hands established.

175 - 15:18 - “The Lord reigns
for ever and ever.”

175 - 15:19 - When Pharaoh’s horses, chariots and horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought the waters of the sea back over them, but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground.

175 - 15:20 - Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron’s sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women followed her, with timbrels and dancing.

175 - This is the first time Moses's sister is described as a prophetess (curiously, she is only identified as Aaron's sister, not as Moses's as well), which is among the highest accolades a person can receive in the Hebrew Bible.

175 - 15:21 - Miriam sang to them:
“Sing to the Lord,
for he is highly exalted.
Both horse and driver
he has hurled into the sea.”

The Waters of Marah and Elim

The Israelites' First Of Four Crises In The Desert

175 - 15:22 - Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water.

176 - The lack of drinking water described in verses 22-26 is the first in a series of four crises that befall the Jewish people on their way to Mount Sinai. Each of these crises (the second involved a lack of food, the third a lack of water again, and the fourth an attack by a desert tribe) illustrated both the precarious nature of Israel's survival and God's providential care.

176 - Despite all that has been done on their behalf, during three of these crises the Israelites complain bitterly to Moses and to God. Although God does not get angry with the people in any of these situations, the Torah's account is an implied critique of the people's repeated ingratitude and lack of faith.

176 - It took the Israelites a mere three days to lose sight of all the miracles God performed and to start complaining.

176 - Most people, like the Israelites, complain far more often than they express gratitude.

176 - Similarly, and more importantly, too many people criticize their spouses more often than they compliment them. That is the road to an unhappy marriage.

176 - 15:23 - When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.

176 - 15:24 - So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”

176 - 15:25 - Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink. There the Lord issued a ruling and instruction for them and put them to the test.

177 - While it has been noted this can be explained as a natural phenomenon in which porous wood filters out impurities in the water and renders it drinkable, what renders this a miracle is that a piece of wood can sweeten the water for so large a number of people.

177 - 15:26 - He said, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.”

177 - This verse does not say that if the Israelites observe all of God's laws they will never suffer any disease. It only says God will not bring upon them any of the diseases He brought upon the Egyptians.

Essay: God Doesn't Protect Religious People From Illness

177 - At a speech in an Orthodox Jewish synagogue in London, I was asked how I explain that obervant Jews -- Jews who strictly observe the laws of Shabbat and Kashrut, for example -- get struck with cancer or a heart attack at an early age.

177 - So I asked those present to raise their hands if they believe God protected the observant from disease. About half the audience raised their hands.

178 - There are many problems with that belief. First, it is obviously not true.

178 - Does the belief God protects the righteous mean a good religious person can go out in freezing weather without a coat and never get sick?

178 - Second, if God really did protect religious people from all illness, why would any rational person not be religious?

178 - That's not faith, it's a health care decision.

178 - Third, the belief God protects those with proper observance or faith from all disease must ultimately lead to an unsympathetic, even judgmental, response to people who get sick.

178 - So, are there rewards for being a good person, or, specifically, for being a faithful religious person? Yes, there are, and they fall into two categories -- this-world rewards and rewards in the afterlife.

178 - Regarding the afterlife, any belief in a just God must mean the good are rewarded and the evil are punished.

179 - Ultimate justice must take place in the next world.

179 - "There is no reward for the commandments [mitzvot] in this world," meaning God does not reward the faithful in this world.

179 - The reward for observing a commandment is the observing of the commandment.

179 - 15:27 - Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.

27 Verses

    Exodus - Chapter 16 - 36 Verses

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Manna and Quail

181 - 16:1 - The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt.

Miracles Bring People To Faith In God --For A Very Short Time

181 - 16:2 - In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron.

181 - By supplying an exact date, the Torah is reminding us it was only a little over a monmth since the Israelites sang a song of gratitude at their triumph over the Egyptians. Yet, as we will now see, they are already complaining that they would rather be back in Egypt.

181 - Despite what almost all of us may think, miracles do not necessarily lead to faith.

181 - In this regard, the witty American filmmaker Woody Allen was wrong when he insisted he would come to believe in God, "if only God would give me a clear sign, like making a large deposit in my name in a Swiss bank."

182 - Besides, there are miracles surrounding us every single day of our lives.

182 - Why is "everything came about on its own, by chance," more rational than "everything is a miracle" -- meaning divine intervention made the otherwise improbable (if not impossible) happen?

Do People Prefer Liberty -- Or To Be Taken Care Of?

182 - 16:3 - The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”

182 - They long to return to Egypt not because the food was really as plentiful as they claim, but because as slaves they did not have to provide for themselves.

182 - It is a myth people yearn most for freedom. Some people, thank God, do. But many, if not most, people prefer to be taken care of -- even at the price of a loss of freedoms -- rather than to have to take care of themselves. That is why people almost everywhere in the world prefer a big state to a limited one, even though, by definition, the bigger the state, the less the individual's freedom. That is why the American experiment in limited government was unique in world history and therefore produced the freest county in world history. It is not coincidental it was founded by people who revered the Hebrew Bible. As noted, the words on the Liberty Bell, the symbol of the American Revolution, are from the Torah, and they are about liberty (Leviticus 25:10).

183 - Complainers are masters of exaggeration.

183 - 16:4 - Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.

183 - We are tested in our faith regardless of our material circumstances. If we are poor, we have to be able to affirm God in spite of our privation; if we are rich, we have to keep God in our lives even though we might be tempted to think we don't really "need" Him.

183 - Goth the poor and the rich have reasons to doubt and reasons to believe. Belief in God, like just about everything else in life, is a choice.

183 - This is the beginning of the manna God provies the Israelites throughout their forty years of wandering in the desert.

183 - 16:5 - On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.”

183 - The Israelites will receive a double portion of manna on Friday so they do not have to gather it on Shabbat Day.

183 - 16:6 - So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt,

184 - 16:7 - and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?”

184 - 16:8 - Moses also said, “You will know that it was the Lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord.”

184 - Moses here is not merely absolving Aaron and himself from blame. He is reminding the Israelites that neither he nor Aaron is the source of miracles, God alone is.

184 - 16:9 - Then Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’”

184 - 16:10 - While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud.

184 - 16:11 - The Lord said to Moses,

184 - 16:12 - “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’”

184 - 16:13 - That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.

185 - 16:14 - When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor.

185 - 16:15 - When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat.

185 - 16:16 - This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.’”

185 - 16:17 - The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little.

185 - 16:18 - And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.

184 - An omer is approximately 3.5 lbs. or 1.6 kilograms. The people were permitted to gather this amount of manna per day. No matter how much they gathered, it would always miraculously amount to exactly the measure needed to feed each of them. If this miracle did not take place, Israelites would likely compete and even fight with one another to gather more manna for themselves.

184 - God wanted the people to learn they could rely on Him to provide food for the next day.

185 - 16:19 - Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.”

185 - 16:20 - However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.

184 - Now, a month later (after drowning the Egyptians) they disregard Moses's instructions out of a lack of faith in him.

185 - Moses will become angry with his people often in the Torah; usually appropriately, sometimes not.

186 - 16:21 - Each morning everyone gathered as much as they needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away.

186 - 16:22 - On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much—two omers for each person—and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses.

186 - 16:23 - He said to them, “This is what the Lord commanded: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of sabbath rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’”

186 - 16:24 - So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it.

186 - 16:25 - “Eat it today,” Moses said, “because today is a sabbath to the Lord. You will not find any of it on the ground today.

186 - Here is the establishment of the Shabbat (Sabbath) by God -- a holy day each week, set apart from the other days for rest and spiritual rejuvenation. God had not yet given the Ten Commandments, in which He will command the Israelites to observe the Shabbat.

186 - 16:26 - Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.”

187 - One of the miraculous aspects of the manna is it does not conform to the natural order. Unlike the sun, for example, which rises every morning, the manna falls only six days out of seven.

187 - 16:27 - Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none.

187 - 16:28 - Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions?

187 - Despite all God has done for them in the last few months -- providing for them and saving them with one miracle after another -- they still didn't follow God's ways.

187 - 16:29 - Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.”

187 - 16:30 - So the people rested on the seventh day.

187 - 16:31 - The people of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey.

187 - This description of the manna is included in the Torah for the sake of later generations of readers who would not have any idea what manna was or how it tasted.

187 - 16:32 - Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the wilderness when I brought you out of Egypt.’”

188 - 16:33 - So Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it. Then place it before the Lord to be kept for the generations to come.”

188 - 16:34 - As the Lord commanded Moses, Aaron put the manna with the tablets of the covenant law, so that it might be preserved.

188 - As has been noted, the Torah is not always written in chronological order, and this is another example. "The Pact" refers to the Ark in which the Ten Commandments were kept, yet the giving of the Ten Commandments isn't described until chapter 20.

188 - 16:35 - The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.

188 - For forty years, God nursed the Israelite nation like a mother would an infant, providing the Israelites' food and water, hoping they would eventually mature as a people. Forty years is a long weaning period, but it was a major challenge to convert the slaves of Pharaoh -- or their children, or any other people then or later -- into ethical monotheists.

188 - The daily portion of manna continued until after the death of Moses, and only stopped during the time of Moses's successor, Joshua (Joshua 5:12).

188 - 16:36 - (An omer is one-tenth of an ephah.)

188 - An ephah equals about thirty-five liters.

36 Verses

    Exodus - Chapter 17 - 16 Verses

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Water From the Rock

189 - 17:1 - The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.

189 - This is the third of four crises to befall the Israelites between their departure from Egypt and arrival at Sinai.

The Israelites Do Not Seem To Differentiate Between God And Moses

189 - 17:2 - So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?”

189 - 17:3 - But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”

190 - Again, the Israelites seem to attribute miracles -- this time the Exodus itself -- to Moses.

190 - It is ultimately, as I will show, the reason Moses is not allowed to enter the Promised Land.

190 - When complainers get angry they often exercise no restraint over their tongues and say whatever mean-spirited thoughts come into their heads.

Even The Most Devout Have Doubts About God Intervening On Their Behalf

190 - 17:4 - Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”

190 - 17:5 - The Lord answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.

191 - Whereas it once funtioned to deprive the Egyptians of drinking water (by turning the Nile into blood), it will now serve to provide water for the Israelites (Sarna).

191 - 17:6 - I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.

We Should Relate To God As Adults Relate To Parents -- Not As Children Do

191 - 17:7 - And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

191 - The Hebrew words Massah and Meribah mean "test" and "quarrel."

191 - We should relate to God as adults; and just as adults can no longer rely on their parents to provide for their every need, religious people should not rely on God to provide for their every need.

192 - If faith in God and leading a religious life were dependent on constant and obvious divine intervention on our behalf, no one would believe in God.

The Amalekites Defeated

192 - 17:8 - The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.

192 - The sudden, unprovoked aggression of the nation of Amalek is the fourth crisis to befall the Israelites in their journey from Egypt to Sinai.

192 - 17:9 - Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.”

192 - 17:10 - So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill.

192 - 17:11 - As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning.

192 - 17:12 - When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset.

192 - The text implies that whenever the Israelites looked up and dedicated their hearts to their Father in heaven, they prevailed, but otherwise they fell.

192 - 17:13 - So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.

193 - 17:14 - Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven.”
Wikipedia: Amalek

192 - This verse seems to contain a contradiction: We are supposed to remember the nation of Amalek, yet God will blot out Amalek's memory. Which is it?

192 - Perhaps the point is that we are to remember great evil, but ideally the perpetrators of the evil are forgotten.

193 - 17:15 - Moses built an altar and called it The Lord is my Banner.

193 - 17:16 - He said, “Because hands were lifted up against the throne of the Lord, the Lord will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation.”

16 Verses

    Exodus - Chapter 18 - 27 Verses

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Jethro Visits Moses

Another Non-Jewish Hero In The Torah

195 - 18:1 - Now Jethro, the priest of Midian and father-in-law of Moses, heard of everything God had done for Moses and for his people Israel, and how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt.

195 - Jethro is one of three portions in the Torah named for non-Jews (or more precisely, non-Israelites)' the two others are Noah and Balak. Both Noah and Jethro are outstanding people. Noah was renowned for his righteousness, and Jethro for his wisdom. Balak was the villainous king of Moab. The same number of Torah portions are named for Jews: Sarah, Korach, and Pinchas. Sarah is the first matriarch, Korach was a malevolent demagogue, and Pinchas was a zealous defender of the faith, but not one to be emulated (see commmentary on Numbers 25:6-8).

195 - The distribution of names underscores yet again the Torah is not a provincial document concerned only with Jews; its concern is all humanity, and its primary concern is goodness.

196 - In this portion, for instance, Jethro is the hero, even though he is a Midianite (i.e., pagan) priest.

196 - What matters is he is a good man, he is Moses's father-in-law, and he does not deny the God of the Jews (he even believes, as we shall see, in the supremacy of God while still serving Midianite gods.

196 - Neither the Torah nor later Judaism demand everyone in the world be Jewish. God wants, more than anything, that people be good. And the best way to achieve that end is to have the world believe in God and His moral law, specifically the Ten Commandments or the ancient Talmudic formulation "the Seven Noahide Laws," seven basic moral laws the Rabbis deduced from Genesis ("Noahide" refers to "the sons of Noah" -- meaning all humanity).

The Torah Repeatedly Identifies Jethro -- A Midianite Priest -- As "Moses's Father-In-Law"

197 - It is noteworthy because later Jewish law, which, due to its strong opposition to intermarriage (primarily to prevent an assimilation that could lead to the disappearance of the small Jewish people), would certainly not go out of its way to mention a familial connection between a Jew and a non-Jew related through marriage.

197 - 18:2 - After Moses had sent away his wife Zipporah, his father-in-law Jethro received her

197 - Moses's considerable responsibilities and consequent absence from his family must have taken a toll on him and his family.

197 - The Torah strongly implies Abraham and his wife Sarah permanently separated after Abraham nearly sacrificed their son Isaac (see comment on Genesis 22:19); and the Torah never makes any reference to what became of Moses's two sons (see commentary to Exodus 6:23).

198 - 18:3 - and her two sons. One son was named Gershom, for Moses said, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land”;

198 - 18:4 - and the other was named Eliezer, for he said, “My father’s God was my helper; he saved me from the sword of Pharaoh.”

198 - Moses's second son's name refers to the time when Pharaoh wanted to kill Moses for killing the Egyptian overseer (see 2:15). Moses fled to Midian, where God protected him from Pharaoh's wrath (4:19), and where he married Zipporah.

198 - 18:5 - Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, together with Moses’ sons and wife, came to him in the wilderness, where he was camped near the mountain of God.

198 - This is Sinai, where the Israelites will receive the Ten Commandments.

198 - 18:6 - Jethro had sent word to him, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons.”

198 - 18:7 - So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and kissed him. They greeted each other and then went into the tent.

198 - 18:8 - Moses told his father-in-law about everything the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake and about all the hardships they had met along the way and how the Lord had saved them.

199 - 18:9 - Jethro was delighted to hear about all the good things the Lord had done for Israel in rescuing them from the hand of the Egyptians.

The Origins Of The Expression Baruch Hashem ("Blessed Be The Lord")

199 - 18:10 - He said, “Praise be to the Lord,

199 - In Hebrew, the words for "Blessed be the Lord" are Baruch Hashem, which to this day remains one of the most commonly used expressions among religious Jews. Religious Jews almost always answer the question "How are you?" with "Baruch Hashem." The phrase has come to mean God is deserving of blessing regardless of one's situation at any given moment.

On Caring About Loved Ones Before Strangers

199 - 18:10 (continued) - ... who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from the hand of the Egyptians.

199 - Jethro's first concern is for his son-in-law. He praises God for saving Moses, and then for saving the people. Jethro's statement is a reminder that though it is not appropriate to care only about our loved ones, it is appropriate to care about our loved ones first.

Not By Might: God Is Not God Because He Wins Battles

200 - 18:11 - Now I know that the Lord is greater than all other gods,

200 - Jethro believes in God because of God's show of force against Egypt. His theology would seem to square with the prevailing attitude at that time -- gods, like nature, are governed by the law of survival of the fittest. Whichever god proves strongest is the god that commands belief (or at least, the most belief).

200 - The Bible, in contrast, holds that God is not God because He wins battles, but because of His superior morality and the power of His spirit. As the Hebrew propet famously expressd it: "Not by might and not by power, but by My spirit, says the Lord" (Zechariah 4:6).

200 - Thus, many centuries later when the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed and the Jews taken into captivity and dispersed by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar, the Jews did not presume the Babylonian gods were stronger than the God of Israel, but that the God of Israel sent Nebuchadnezzar to punish the Israelites for their sinfulness. The Jewish belief, rooted in the Torah, was that God was God whether the Jews won or lost any given war. That is a major reason Judaism survived, while all the other religions of antiquity (whose adherents, unlike Jews, adopted the religion of their conquerors) did not.

200 - 18:11 (continued) - for he did this to those who had treated Israel arrogantly.”

201 - The Egyptians drowned newly born Israelite males in the Nile -- and God, in turn, drowned the pursuing Egyptian troops.

201 - 18:12 - Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and other sacrifices to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law in the presence of God.

201 - He never became an Israelite, but remained a Midianite priest, albeit one who recognized the universal God of the Israelites. That is what the Torah and Judaism want of non-Jews -- to adopt the God and moral values of the Torah, but not necessarily to become Jews (though converts are welcomed and loved).

201 - 18:13 - The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening.

201 - 18:14 - When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?”

201 - 18:15 - Moses answered him, “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will.

201 - 18:16 - Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God’s decrees and instructions.”

201 - Most of God's laws and teachings were not known until after the people received the Ten Commandments and whatever else God revealed to Moses at Sinai. It is therefore likely this story actually takes place after the revelation at Sinai. Even the traditional commentators note the Torah does not always unfold in chronological order.

An Example Of The Antiquity And Historicity Of The Torah Narrative

202 - 18:17 - Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good.

202 - 18:18 - You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone.

202 - 18:19 - Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him.

202 - The Torah ascribes the Israelite judicial system to the initiative and advice of a Midianite priest.

202 - It is highly unlikely later generations of Israelites would have wanted to give one of their worst enemies credit for developing this central Israelite institution.

203 - 18:20 - Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave.

203 - 18:21 - But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.

Personal Note: "Many hands make light work."

203 - The Hebrew phrase anshei chayil, translated here "capable men," literally means "men of valor," and connotes not just capability but also courage and strength.

203 - The characteristics in this verse describe the ideal characteristics of good leaders and judges:

1. "Stong men" (translated here, I believe less accurately, as "capable men")
2. "Fearing God" (and therefore not fearing other men)
3. "Men of truth"
4. "Hating ill-gotten gain" (i.e., incorruptible)"

203 - It is worth noting that a characteristic valued perhaps more than any other in our time is absent -- compassion. It is not mentioned for good reason. although compassion is a beauitiful human trait and we need to be most compassionate in our personal lives, judges (and other leaders) cannot be guided solely by compassion because compassion often subverts justice. That is why the Torah expressly prohibits judges from favoring the poor in judgment (and, of course, the rich as well -- see Leviticus 19:15).

204 - 18:22 - Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you.

204 - 18:23 - If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.”

Essay: How To Respond To Advice And Criticism

204 - 18:24 - Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said.

204 - Moses is apparently not the slightesy bit resentful of, or even annoyed with, his father-in-law. On the contrary, he appreciates Jethro's criticism and advice, and immeiately acts on his father-in-law's recommendations. This is the intelligent and mature way to respond to criticism and advice, but it is far from common.

204 - So, the, let's answer this question first: When receiving advice or criticism, how does one know when to be offended and when to be thankful?

204 - Does the person have your best interests in mind or is he/she giving the advice or criticism to hurt you in some way?

204 - Intentions -- even our own -- are not always clearly discernible. But we can usually arrive at a correct answer by pondering these questions: Is this a good and honorable person? How well do I know this person? Does he/she have a history of having my best interests in mind?

204 - And what do we do when we do not know the motives of the advice/criticism giver? The ideal answer is to focus not on the person, but solely on the criticism or advice: Does it seem valid?

205 - Moses cared more about the welfare of the Israelite people than he did about his ego.

205 - When it comes to national and rational leadership, it is nothing less than catastrophic to have a leader who not only does not listen to criticism, but who forbids and punishes it. Such is the case with every tyrant.

205 - Take, for example, Mao Zedong, the communist dictator of China from communist China's founding in 1947 until his death in 1976 -- a tyrant responsible for the death of more innocent people than any person in recorded history.

205 - During the late 1950's, there were widespread food shorages in China. Mao insisted that no such shortages existed. The 1959 grain harvest was at least thirty million tons less than the preceding year's. Finally, one courageous man, Peng Dehuai, the minister of defense, sent Mao accurate reports about widespread starvation. Several years later, Mao had Peng tortured and murdered. Just as Peng predicted, scores of millions of Chinese died of government-induced starvation.

206 - The Hasidic Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav (1772-1810) taught, "If you are not going to be better tomorrow than you were today, then what need do you have for tomorrow?"

206 - To which Telushkin has added: "And if no one feels comfotable criticizing you, the likelihood that you will be better tomorrow is most probably nonexistent."

206 - 18:25 - He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.

206 - The Torah uses military terminology to describe these judicial positions, suggesting the Israelites are going to be a nation ruled by law in much the same way other nations are ruled by generals, sergeants, and captains in the military.

206 - 18:26 - They served as judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves.

206 - 18:27 - Then Moses sent his father-in-law on his way, and Jethro returned to his own country.

27 Verses

    Exodus - Chapter 19 - 25 Verses

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At Mount Sinai

207 - 19.1 - On the first day of the third month after the Israelites left Egypt—on that very day—they came to the Desert of Sinai.

207 - 19.2 - After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain.

207 - 19.3 - Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel:

The Two Types Of Faith -- In God's Existence And In God's Goodness

207 - 19.4 - ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.

207 - God is reminding the people of what He has done for them. This is a prelude to a demand He will now make of them.

207 - This is rare instance in the Torah in which God speaks in poetic language. According to Rashi, God compares Himself to the eagle that carries its young on its wings because other birds put their young between their feet -- they are afraid of birds that can fly above them and snatch their young. But the eagle knows no other bird can fly higher and it can protect its young by putting them on its wings. This image expresses God's protective love for His people.

208 - The two parts of this verse -- "what I did to the Egyptians" and "how I bore you on eagle's wings" -- reflect the duality of faith in God. By seeing what God did to the Egyptians, the Israelites "saw" God's existence in action; by hearing God carries them on eagles' wings, they hear of God's love. Belief in God means more than believing God exists; it also means believing God cares about us. After all, if God exists but doesn't care about us, what difference does it make to us whether God exists? For all intents and purposes, there is no difference between atheism and the existence of a God who doesn't care about us.

208 - The primary purpose of the Exodus was more than rescuing a people from bondage; it was to bring the Israelites to God and His moral law.

209 - The point is while liberty is necessary, it is not sufficient for a good life. As the brilliant French observer of early American democracy, Alexis de Tocqueville (Democracy In America), wrote, "Whoever seeks in liberty anything other than liberty itself is born for servitude." In other words, while liberty is magnificent, the only thing liberty guarantees is liberty, not goodness, not morality, not integrity, etc. Liberty must be accompanied by higher values, because liberty alone will lead to moral chaos, and ultimately, de Tocqueville prophesizes, servitude.

Is God's Love Unconditional?

209 - 19.5 - Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine,

209 - God is establishing with the Israelites the terms by which He will be their God and they will be His people.

209 - The "if" in this verse is often overlooked, yet it is of immense significance. It means Israel's being God's "treasured possession" is conditional: Only if the Jews obey God's laws will they be a treasure to God.

209 - Now, the Prophet Hosea teacher later in the Bible that God will always be prepared to take back a penitent Israel.

209 - There are many people who find the notion of being loved conditionally upsetting and therefore unacceptable.

209 - But the Bible -- and the God of the Bible -- is interested first and foremost in people behaving lovingly, decently, justly, and mercifully: "He has told you, O Man, what is good and what the Lord demands of you: Just to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8)

210 - That's why even the special status of God's Chosen People as His treasured people is conditional upon their living God-centered, moral lives.

210 - Furthermore, the good behavior God demands from us is rendered much less likely when people think there is literally nothing they could do, no matter how heinous, that will stop them from being treasured or loved.

210 - The Torah link's God's love -- as it does everything else -- to morality.

210 - This is a lesson that applies equally to human love. If we love those who do extraordinary evil as much as we love those who are extraordinarily good to people, we are saying love is unrelated to morality.

"Chosen" Does Not Mean Superior

210 - Israel is chosen to spread knowledge of God and His moral law to all of humanity.

God Chooses Whom He Chooses

211 - 19.5 (continued) - Although the whole earth is mine,

211 - People may question why God chose the Jews from all other people. We don't know why God chose Abraham, of all the people then living, to be the father of a nation assigned the special burden of acting as His emissary to humanity. But we can be fairly certain, given the imperfect nature of every human being, we wouldn't understand why any particular person was chosen, no matter who it was.

211 - This idea was put forth as directly as possible by a Roman Catholic priest on a radio show I moderated for many years. the show, "Religion on the Line," featured a Protestant minister, a Catholic priest, and a rabbi; there were different ones each week. On one occasion, a listener called in to berate the rabbi on the panel over the Jews' belief in being the Chosen People. The caller charged tht Choseness is a chauvinistic and dangerous belief, and Jews should drop it. The rabbi, obviously somewhat uncomfortable with the doctrine, was unable to effectively respond to the caller. Finally, the Catholic priest asked if he might respond to the caller, and said: "Sir, this is the Roman Catholic priest. God chose the Jews. Get a life."

211 - 19.6 - you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”

211 - The task of a priest is to minister to individuals and bring them closer to God. The task of the Jewish people is to minister to humanity and bring as much of it as possible closer to God.

The Meaning Of The Word "Holy"

211 - 19.6 (continued) - you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”

211 - The Hebrew word for holy, kadosh, also means "separate" or "distinct." In the time of the Torah, when the Jews were surrounded by pagan nations, it was particularly important to remain separate in order to preserve their distinct religious/moral identity. This has been the view of believing Jews ever since.

212 - Therein lies a tension between the command to be a holy nation and the fulfillment of the purpose of Chosenness. There is no question maintaining holiness demands separation. But too much separation makes the Jews' task of spreading belief in the God of the Torah and obedience to God's will as expressed in the Ten Commandments (or the (Seven Noahide Laws) almost impossible.

212 - Throughout the world, virtually throughout history, human beings have generally been confined to the social and/or economic class into which they were born; the ideal of social mobility was utterly foreign to ancient, and virtually all other, societies. Now God offers a very different vision for His people and ultimately for all humanity: we can elevate our lives by our own free will.

212 - This option of God calling men to be holy was another world-changing innovation of the Torah. In the words of Walter Kaufmann, the Princeton philosopher and self-described heretic: "Every man [not just one class of people] is called upon to make something of himself. Perhaps this was the most revolutionary idea of world history.

213 - 19.7 - So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words the Lord had commanded him to speak.

213 - 19.8 - The people all responded together, “We will do everything the Lord has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord.

213 - 19.9 - The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you.” Then Moses told the Lord what the people had said.

213 - God appears in a thick cloud because He can never be seen directly (see, for example, Exodus 33:20).

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The Importance Of Clothing

213 - 19.10 - And the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes

213 - The Torah recognizes we are physical beings, and therefore acknowledges how much the physical affects us morally, spiritually, and in just about every other way. Studies of school dress codes show when students must dress somewhat formally for school, and are not allowed to wear anything they want, the schools have fewer discipline problems and the students achieve higher grades. The impact of clothing on the individual is profound.

214 - The clothing people wear also reflects their level of respect for the situation and the people involved. When God appears before you, you should wear the best clothes you own. In this situation, the Israelites' best clothes were their regular clothes, but at least that clothing had to be clean.

214 - Throughout American history, for example, it was expected of Christians to attend church dressed in what was referred to as their "Sunday best."

214 - To those who argue, "God doesn't care what you wear," this verse would seem to suggest otherwise.

214 - 19.11 - and be ready by the third day, because on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

215 - 19.12 - Put limits for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful that you do not approach the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain is to be put to death.

215 - The consequences are very severe for disobeying God's word at this unique moment in human history -- God's revelation of the Ten Commandments and of Himself to an entire nation. Like many other instances in the Torah, the threat of the death penalty is likely made in order to communicate the severity of the sin.

215 - 19.13 - They are to be stoned or shot with arrows; not a hand is to be laid on them. No person or animal shall be permitted to live.’ Only when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast may they approach the mountain.”

Any Place Can Be Made Holy (Or Unholy)

215 - The people are free to ascend the mountain once God's presence has departed, since it will no longer be a holy place. No natural place is inherently holy; a holy place is where people are engaged in holy activity. When people honor God in a football stadium, the stadium becomes holy at that time.

215 - For example, the most widely attended Chanukah menorah lighting in history (as least as of this writing) occurred at a 1987 Miami Dolphins football game during halftime when 75,000 spectators and players on both teams participate as a Chabad rabbi lit the candles and chanted the blessings. For those few minutes, that stadium became a sacred space. Minutes later, when players went back to tackling, yelling, and even cursing at each other, it didn't become a bad place; it just ceased to be a holy place.

216 - 19.14 - After Moses had gone down the mountain to the people, he consecrated them, and they washed their clothes.

216 - 19.15 - Then he said to the people, “Prepare yourselves for the third day. Abstain from sexual relations.”

216 - 19.16 - On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled.

Fear Is Part Of Relating To God...

216 - God frightened the people with unusually terrifying natural phenomena. The Talmud recognized few people want to be bound by rules, but that is precisely what the Ten Commandments do. Indeed, the revelation at Sinai -- specifically, the giving of the Ten Commandments -- is regarded my many Jewish and non-Jewish thinkers as the root cause of Jew-hatred.

217 - Hitler, for example, acknowledged this. "We are fighting," he said, "against the most ancient curse that humanity has brought upon itself. Against the so-called Ten Commandments, against them we are fighting." His life's mission, he said, was to destroy "the tyrannical God of the Jews [and His] life denying Ten Commandments.

...And So Is Love

217 - Terrified as the Israelites were of God's power, they hopefully also recognized God lovingly carried them out of Egypt on eagles' wings.

217 - This combination of love and fear is a model for how people should strive to relate to God (and to parents, who are regarded as God's agents on earth).

217 - 19.17 - Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.

217 - 19.18 - Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently.

217 - Sarna explains this image is intended to convey that God is wholly independent of His creation, and even nature trembles before Him. The Torah constantly repeats that nature is subservient to God because Torah monotheism came to, among other things, eradicated nature worship.

217 - 19.19 - As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.

218 - 19.20 - The Lord descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up

218 - 19.21 - and the Lord said to him, “Go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the Lord and many of them perish.

218 - 19.22 - Even the priests, who approach the Lord, must consecrate themselves, or the Lord will break out against them.”

218 - 19.23 - Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up Mount Sinai, because you yourself warned us, ‘Put limits around the mountain and set it apart as holy.’”

218 - Moses believes that since he warned the people once, they will surely not try to come too close to the mountain. But God repeats this injunction because He has a better understanding of human nature. One warning won't suffice to hold the people back from getting closer to the once-in-a-lifetime spectacle.

218 - 19.24 - The Lord replied, “Go down and bring Aaron up with you. But the priests and the people must not force their way through to come up to the Lord, or he will break out against them.”

218 - 19.25 - So Moses went down to the people and told them.

25 Verses

    Exodus - Chapter 20 - 26 Verses

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God, Not Moses Or Anyone Else, Gave The Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments

219 - 20:1 - - And God spoke all these words:

219 - The Torah describes the laws in this chapter not as the "Ten commandments," but as the "Ten Statements" (Aseret Hadevarim: Exodus 34:28). In fact, the alternative English name of the Ten Commandments, "the Decalogue," means the "Ten Words" -- from the Greek words deca (ten) and logos (word).

The Ten Commandments Are Unique

219 - Nahum Sarna identifies at least four ways in which the Ten Commandments are unique, original, and unparalleled:

1. The Ten Commandments are the first and only example of a convenantal relationship between a deity and an entire people.


2. Unlike other ancient treaties between a ruler and his people, the Ten Commandments focus not only on the people's relationship with the ruler, but also on each individual's behavior toward every other individual.


3. The Ten Commandments treat both religious and social obligations as expressions of divine will. In doing so, the religious conscience is expanded to include matters of interpersonal morality, thereby ensuring a person who is unethical could not, and should not, be regarded as religious.


4. Unlike other legal codes, the Ten Commandments are laws that are simple, absolute, and devoid of qualification.

The Ten Commandments Were Deliberately Not Given In The Land Of Israel

220 - God chose to give the Ten Commandments in the no-man's land of a desert rather than in the land of Israel. I would offer three reasons for this:

1. First, the Ten Commandments are not just a one-nation guide to behavior, but applicable to all people.


2. Second, by giving the Ten Commandments outside of Israel, God wanted the Israelites then and Jews forever to understand the Ten Commandments are binding on them not only when they are in their homeland, but everywhere they live.


3. Third, God did not want to privilege any one Israelite tribe's territory as the site of revelation, which would have likely been the case had the Ten Commandments been given in the Land of Israel.

The Ten Commandments Constitute A Form Of Absolute Morality

220 - Because the Ten Commandments are given by God, they are absolute. People can and should argue about how to apply any of these commandments in any given situation -- such as what constitutes a violation of the Sabbath, what constitutes disrespect for a parent, or when taking a human life is to be defined as murder. But because they are decrrees from God, only those types of debates make sense, not debates about whether they are binding.

221 - The Ten Commandments therefore stand in direct opposition to all relativistic approaches to morality -- the notion that each individual or society determines what is right or wrong. The Ten Commandments are not relative. (The one exception is the Sabbath commandment, which one can deem as binding only on Jews.)

Four Defining Characteristics Of The Ten Commandments

Page 221

1. They contain no abstract moral principles, such as "Be a good person." Human beings need specific laws in order to do the right thing and be good people. Most people, even those who are not good, think they are good, and might easily conclude, therefore, they don't need the Ten Commandments -- or any divine commandments, for that matter.


2. Nearly all the Ten Commandments are formulated as prohibitions: "You shall not..." (Page 222) - Only two commandments, the Fourth and Fifth, are explicitly positive, and these, too, have essential negative components. This emphasis on prohibitions reflects an awareness that the first prerequisite for a stable, decent society is for people to desist from wrongful behaviors. In the words of the famous rule for physicians: "First, do no harm." A great deal of evil has been done by individuals who believe themselves preoccupied with doing good and by ideologies proclaiming good intentions -- hence the famous motto, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions." We must first ask whether the good we intend will do harm. Parents preoccupied with doing good things for their children while making few demands on them end up hurting them by spoiling them and producing ungrateful people (and ungrateful people are neither good or happy).


3. (Page 222) - The Ten Commandments are formulated in terms of obligations, not rights. While the Torah obviously recognizes fundamental basic human rights, given that each person is created "in God's image," it makes clear such rights will more likely be secured if people first feel morally obligated to others rather than first feel they have rights. The most famous verse in the Torah, "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18), is written as a moral obligation to act lovingly toward your neighbor, not as a right ("You have the right to be loved by your neighbor").


4. (Page 223) - Each one of the Ten Commandments is in the singular. One would think the plural form would be used given that God is addressing many people. But the singular is used throughout the Ten Commandments to emphasize the words of the Ten Commandments are directed to each person individually. A good society is composed of individuals doing what is right. A society in which too many parents, for example, are more concerned with their children's happiness, intelligence, success, or popularity than with their character will sooner or later fail.

223 - 20:2 - “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

223 - Because this verse does not command or prohibit any specific action, Christians enumerate the Ten Commandments slightly differently than Jews always have. As noted above, the Torah's name for this document is the Ten Statements, not the Ten Commandments. Consequently, technically speaking, a Jew would regard this verse as the First Statement, whereas Christians count the next verse, Exodus 20:3 as the First Commandment.

223 - There is no difference between Jews and Christians regarding the wording of the Ten Commandments.

224 - Therefore, as I understand it, this verse is concerned not with the question, "Is there a God?" but with the question, "Who is God?"

224 - (Two medieval Jewish thinkers, Hasdai ibn Crescas and Don Isaac Abarbanel) They argued that if you don't believe in God, you certainly won't believe God commands you to believe in Him.

Why God Mentions The Exodus At The Beginning Of The Ten Commandments

224 - This opening statement, that God freed the Israelites from Egyptian slavery, establishes God's "right" to demand observance of the commandments that follow.

225 - And yet, God asks nothing for Himself. This fact perfectly encapsulates the essence of the Torah's values -- what God demands in the Ten Commandments in exchange for what He has done for Israel is (God-based) moral behavior.

Why God Didn't Introduce Himself As The Creator Of The World

225 - Wouldn't "I am the Lord your God who created the Heavens and the Earth" be more impressive than "I am the Lord your God who took you out of the land of Egypt..."?

225 - Three possible reasons occur to me as to why God chose the latter way:

1. God indentified Himself to the Israelites in terms most relevant to them.


2. That God is the Creator of the world is certainly awesome and inspiring. But it doesn't necessarily mean He cares about His creations.


3. (Page 226) - God identifies Himself as the Israelites' liberator in order to state His desire that men be free. Why the Torah does not ban slavery outright -- though it places enormous limitations upon it -- is discussed in the chapters dealing with slavery (see, in particular, Exodus 21). His great revelation to humanity at Sinai and in His preamble to the great moral code known as the Ten Commandments makes His antipathy to slavery and love of freedom incontrovertibly clear. Millennia later, it was this understanding of God's will -- He wants us to be free -- that became the governing belief of the founders of the United States of America, the greatest experiment in human liberty ever devised.

Why Are The Words "House Of Bondage" Added To Describe Egypt?

226 - 20:2 (continuted) - The house of bondage:

226 - The Hebrew literally says "house of slaves" to describe Egypt.

226 - I would argue the reason is to prevent the Isrelites from ever romanticizing Egypt, which is precisely what they did (Exodus 16:3).

226 - People who live in liberty have a tendency to forget such things when the going gets rough.

227 - God doesn't want later generations to marvel at the glories of Egypt (such as the pyramids) without remembering those accomplishments were achieved on the tortured backs of slaves.

227 - God also wants the Israelites to forever remember their humble origin; they started out as slaves, on the lowest rung of human society. This is to keep them humble despite any achievement they might eventually attain as a people. But, more important, it is to make clear to the Israelites that whatever achievements they ultimately attain -- and the Jews have achieved as much or more than any other people and have had a unique influence on the course of human history -- such achievements are ultimately due to God, the Ten Commandments, and this Torah.

Essay: False Gods

227 - 20:3 - “You shall have no other gods before me.

227 - The commandment not only refers to "idols"; it says "other gods" (other gods being, by definition, false gods).

227 - And even when people think of false gods tht are not idols, they think of ancient deities such as gods of the sun and the moon, of rain and fertility, other nature gods, and chief gods such as the Roman Jupiter and the Greek Zeus.

227 - As a result, most people in modern times think of this commandment as essentially irrelevant to the modern age.

228 - Today we have as many false gods as the ancients did.

228 - The point of the Torah's monotheism is ther is only one god and only this God -- the Creator of the universe Who demands we keep these Ten Commandments -- is to be worshipped.

228 - One God means one human race. Only if we all have the same Creator, a Father in Heaven, are we all brothers and sisters.

228 - And one God means one moral standard for all people. You can't go to another god for another moral standard.

228 - When anything else is worshipped, it is a false god. In other words, when anything is made an end in itself, rather than as a means to God and goodness (as defined, most especially, by the Ten Commandments), it is a false god.

228 - What are examples of false gods -- things people regard as ends in and of themselves rather than as a means to God and goodness?

228 - Many people respond by naming money. Money is not really a false god. Even people who live for money rarely claim money is worth living for, or that they live for it, let alone that it is the highest value in life.

228 - Therefore, in order for a thing or an idea to truly be a false god, people must not only make it an end in itself, they must believe it is a worthy and noble thing to live for.

228 - Genuine false gods are therefore often beautiful things people come to venerate as ends in and of themselves -- things such as education, art, and even love and religion.

228 - All of these things are noble when pursued in the service of God and goodness, but when removed from God and goodness, they can lead to evil.

Education

229 - One almost universally worshipped false god of the modern era has been education. Vast numbers of people sincerely believe education makes people better. Education, when divorced from the higher ends of God and goodness, has either had no moral impact or has actually made people worse.

229 - Many of the best-educated people in Germany supported Hitler and the Nazis.

229 - And at the time of this writing, universities are at the center of Israel-hatred in the Western world.

229 - Nearly every American university was founded to teach young people theology and other subjects. Moral education was deemed the mosty important form of education, and knowledge of the Bible was assumed to be part of that moral curriculum. By the early-to-mid twentieth century, education, first at universities, then at high schools and elementary schools, was divorced from God and the Bible, and a disproportionately high percentage of secular intellectuals adhered to immoral ideologies and intellectually foolish beliefs.

229 - Nowhere is the belief in education as the road to a moral society more apparent than in some of the later writings of the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. In 1927, Freud, an atheist who was deeply committed to moral behavior, published a critique of religion, The Future of an Illusion (the illusion being God and religion).

230 - Freud did not fear the breakdown of belief in God would have any moral implications among intellectuals: "Civilization has little to fear from educated people and brain-workers. In them, the replacement of religious motives for civilized behavior by other secular motives, would proceed unobtrusively."

230 - As Dr. Freud was to witness within ten years of his statement, civilization has as much, if not more, to fear from educated people as from the uneducated. Freud's fellow Austrian and German intellectuals showed no more moral insight or strength than any other group of Germans and Austrians.

230 - The moral failure of secular education and secular intellectuals in Germany is almost universally ignored.

Art

230 - Art can uplift the spirit, elevate the human being, and illuminate the human condition. And it has done all that primarily during religious periods in Western history and/or by God-centered artists.

230 - For example, the man widely considered to be the greatest composer of music was Johann Sebastian Bach. This is not a "Euro-centric" assessment; it is a view held by Japanese, Koreans, Chinese, and other non-Westerners just as much as it is by Westerners.

231 - In Bach's view, "The aim and final reason...of all music...should be none else but the Glory of God and the recreation of the mind.

231 - As belief in God and Christianity declined in Europe in the late nineteenth century -- and especially after World War I -- classical music deteriorated, as did the other arts.

231 - The "death of God" (pronounced by Friedrich Nietzsche in 1882) and the near-death of great art are related.

231 - "To God alone the Glory" are the words Bach wrote on every manuscript of every one of his more than two hundred cantatas.

231 - Much of post-modern, post-Christian, classical music and art came to celebrate the ugly and the meaningless. More and more art has even celebrated the scatological (relating to or characterized by an interest in excrement and excretion):

231 - In 1987, a photograph by the American artist and photographer Andres Serrano showing a crucifix submerged in a jar of the artist's urine (titled Piss Christ) was an award-winning work of "art" shown in museums and galleries throughout America.

232 - In 2013, the Orange county Museum of Art in California placed a huge twenty-eight foot sculpture of a dog outside the museum, where it periodically "urinates" a yellow fluid onto a museum wall.

232 - In 2016, one of the most prestigious art museums in the world, the Guggenheim in New York, featured a pure gold, working, toilet bowl, which visitors to the museum were invited to use. The name of the exhibit was "America" -- so one could literally relieve oneself on America.

232 - There were great works of art -- certainly great for their time -- prior to western civilization and its affirmation of God. But those pre-Western artists -- such as the Greeks -- also believed in gods higher than themselves, if not in God.

232 - Although not all art needs to be God-centered -- and some great and/or beloved art, from Claude Monet's Water Lilies to Pablo Picasso's Guernica, have not been -- the overall trajectory of the art world since the bohemian, often anti-God, era of the nineteenth century to today has been a dramatic diminution in the quality and tranformative power of art. In the West, when God dies, so does higher culture. And in the many other countries where secularization has become the norm, there has been a similar decline in the arts.

233 - When art is not a vehicle to God and God-centered morality, it often becomes a morally worthless false god. That explains how cruel human beings could love beautiful music and art.

233 - Hollywood director Stanley Kubrick vividly made this point in his classic 1971 film based on the Anthony Burgess novel, A Clockwork Orange. In it, men rape and murder while classical music plays in the background.

233 - The Nazis forced death camp prisoners to play classical music while Jews were led to gas chambers. Rudolf Hoess, the commandant of Auschwitz, the largest Nazi concentration and death camp, played classical music in his house after gassing up to 10,000 people, mostly Jews, each day.

233 - But the realization that art, when valued as an end in itself, does nothing to make a person good and may even enable bad people to think they are good -- because many people equate being cultured with being good -- was one of the most important, and depressing, realizations of my life.

233 - Aesthetic beauty in the service of God is magnificent and important. But not otherwise.

233 - As the early twentieth-century American rabbi Emil Hirsch put it: "To the Greeks, the beautiful was holy; to the Jews, the holy was beautiful."

Love

233 - Even love can become a false god. When morally directed, love is incomparably beautiful. But it is not a moral guide in and of itself, any more than art or education.

233 - In the twentieth century, tens of millions of people put love of country (which can be a good thing) or of race (which can never be a good thing) or of an ideology above moral considerations, and evil resulted.

233 - Over the course of forty years, I have asked young people in America if they would first save their pet or a stranger if both were drowning. A smaller and smaller minority have said they would save the stranger. Why would the majority save their pet before a human being? Because, they say, they love their pet and they don't love the stranger.

Personal Note: Billy Graham once said, "Whatever you love most, be it sports, pleasure, business or God, that is your God!"
Whatever we love most will form the foundation upon which we make our decisions. (Russ Howell)

234 - That is one reason the Torah and other books of the Bible warn us against trusting our hearts (see, for example, Numbers 15:39).

234 - Love, like education and art, must be morally directed, or it, too, can be a false god.

234 - Nobel Prize-winning novelist Saul Bellow put it this way: "A man is only as good as what he loves."

234 - Joseph Telushkin makes the point that Bellow's words should be kept in mind when we hear of people who love vicious individuals: The women who loved monsters such as Hitler, Stalin, Mao and, for that matter, mass murderers in prison, and myriad other men like them put love above morality.

234 - This commandment against false gods made the ethical revolution of the Bible and of the ten Commandments -- what is known as ethical monthesism -- possible. Worship the God of the Ten Commandments and you will make a good world. Worship anything else -- no matter how noble-sounding -- and you can too easily end up with evil.

Reason

234 - Reason, too, can become a false god.

234 - Many people believe reason, without faith, is all we need to be moral and to make a moral world. In the words of the prominent American secular humanist and Yale professor of philosophy Brand Blandshard: "Rationality, or the attempt at it, takes the place of faith...Take reason seriously...Let it shape belief and conduct freely. It will shape them aright if anything can."

235 - Blandshard was wrong. The belief that reason automatically leads to moral behavior is itself unreasonable -- because reason is only a tool. Once you know what end you wish to achieve, reason becomes indispensable. If you want to build hospitals, you need reason; and if you want to build concentraion camps, you need reason.

235 - But reason doesn't tell you for what ends you should be aiming. If you want to live completely for yourself, reason will help you do that. If you want to live a life of kindness to others, reason will help you do that. But reason doesn't tell you whether to be kind or to be self-centered. Reason just as easily argues for immoral actions as it does for moral actions.

235 - It may be argued the only people in Nazi Germany who acted morally acted against reason.

235 - Not only does reason alone fail the morality test; it fails in determining a right response to almost every question involving values.

235 - For example, it is rational to have children? Yes and no. Reason argues both ways.

236 - Reason is exactly like a map. No map shows where you should go; only how to get there. So, too, reason tells you how to get to the place you want to go. But, whether you want to use reason to get to a moral place, or even know what a moral place is, is determined by your values.

236 - Nevertheless, it must be stressed that reason is a glory of the human mind.

236 - If you put reason first, you need God; and if you put God first, you need reason. Nothing guarantees goodness, but that combination offers the best hope for a moral world.

Relgion And Faith

236 - Even religion and faith can be false gods when they hold that something other than goodness is God's primary demand.

236 - Neither faith nor ritual observance must be an end in and of itself; both must be a means of making us better people by living according to God's moral will.

236 - The danger of religious false gods resides in every religion, even the most ethically demanding ones.

236 - In Judaism, there is the danger that preoccupation with ritual law (the "Laws between Man and God") can overshadow the Torah's and the rest of the Hebvrew Bible's demands of moral behavior above all.

237 - The Ten Commandments are all about moral behavior.

237 - In Christianity, there is also a danger. It is not posed by ritual law becoming more important than moral behavior, but by faith becoming more important than moral behavior. In the New Testament, James warns "Faith without works is dead" (James 2:20).

237 - But for much of Christian history, James's view did not prevail. It was a dangerous overemphasis on faith that allowed medieval Christian Crusaders to murder entire Jewish communities in Germany on their way to the Holy Land. Their rationale for doing so was the Jews refused to accept Christian belief, and in the Crusaders' minds should therefore convert or be killed. To the Crusaders, right faith, not right conduct, was what mattered.

237 - Martin Luther, the father of the Protestant Reformation, broke with the Catholic Church on many issues. But on the issue of faith Luther was even more extreme, insisting faith was incomparably more important than morality. As Luther expressed it: "Be a sinner and sin vigorously, but even more vigorously believe and delight in Christ who is victor over sin, death and the world... It is sufficient that we recognize through the wealth of God's glory the lamb who bears the sin of the world; from this, sin does not sever us, even if thousands, thousands of times in one day we should fornicate or murder."

237 - It is not surprising Luther even held the New Testament Book of James in contempt. He described it as "mere straw" and without merit." Why? Because it attributes "righteousness to works." Nor is it surprising Hitler and the Nazis idolized Luther because of the anti-Semetic sentiments that characterized his final years -- a hatred emanating entirely from his placing faith above morality.

237 - Nevertheless, Luther made something much better than himself. What he helped to create -- Protestant Christianity -- ultimately became a gift to mankind. Among their other moral achievements, Protestants led the modern world's abolition of slavery, and they created the United States of America. One might say Protestants created much of the modern world.

237 - In Islam, both dangers exist, since both faith and ritual can overwhelm the moral. And for much of Islamic history they have. One reason is the Quran has no prophets analogous to those of the Hebrew Bible repeatedly berating Muslims for unethical behavior.

238 - Another is the Quran's division of humanity between believers (Muslims) and non-believers (non-Muslims and non-monotheists), rather than between good and evil.

Money

238 - As already noted, while there have always been people who live for acquiring money and material items, money is not a false god because -- unlike art, education, reason, religion, and faith -- almost no one, even among those who do live for money, argues money is the highest good. So, while it may function as a god, it is not believed in as a god.

238 - This commandment against other gods reflects one of the most important and pervasive themes in the Torah: the obliteration of false gods. It is so important that the Talmud states, with only a little exaggeration, "Whoever denies idolatry is considered to have fulfilled the whole Torah."

238 - This is why the seven basic laws Judaism traditionally has deemed obligatory on all people (The Seven Noahide Laws) do not obligate people to worship God. They demand the denial of all other gods.


238 - 20:4 - “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.

238 - The primary purpose of this commandment is to prohibit images intended to be representtions of God. By forbidding the making of images of God, the Ten Commandments prevents people from thinking of God as having a physical form.

238 - The invisibility and incorporeality (no bodily form) of God are essential characteristics of the God of the Torah. If God were a physical being, He would be part of nature, not above and beyond it.

239 - And if God were material, there would be no immaterial reality That, in turn, would mean there could not be an immaterial part of the human being -- that is, the human soul. And if the human being has no soul, humans are merely material beings, not intrinsically more valuable than a pebble. Finally, if there is no soul, there is no afterlife.

239 - This commandment relates to the previous one in that both can be understood as warnings against the potential dangers of art -- art as a false god and using art to render God physical.

240 - According to Rabbi Gunther Plaut, prayer assumed the place of eminence denied to the visual arts. As he put it, because visual depictions of God were viewed as idolatrous, Jews developed beautiful ways of addressing God instead of beautiful ways of portraying God.

240 - Of course, Christianity later held that God appeared in human form. From a Jewish perspective, this compromised the doctrine of an incorporeal God; but this unquestionably enabled many people to more easily relate to the divine.

240 - And by doing so, Christianity played a seminal role in bringing knowledge of the Torah and God to the world.

240 - This commandment relates only to the visual arts. The Torah has no analogous limitation on music.

240 - The Torah is far more suspicious of the eye than of the ear, and rightly so: People are often led to sin when something glittering catches their eye or when they are seduced by someone who is irresistibly attractive to the eye. The eye has the greatest power to lead us astray (Numbers 15:39).

241 - 20:5 - You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

Does God Really Get "Jealous"?

241 - 20:5 (continued) - for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God...

240 - This statement is fodder for those who wish to mock the Bible. They ask: How impressive is a God Who is jealous?

240 - A first response is that God, of necessity, must speak in terms understandable to human beings. The moment God speak to human beings, He is, in effect, compromising His godliness. If God spoke pure "God-talk," we humans would presumably understand nothing. The notion of God being a "jealous God" is a powerful message delivered in human terms.

240 - And what is this powerful message: God's "jealousy" is a statement of His love.

240 - God wants His people to be faithful to Him. God, therefore, likens His reaction to Israelite infidelity to that of a spouse whose husband or wife is unfaithful.

241 - God is speaking in terms we can emotionally relate to, and He is humbling Himself in order to describe as powerfully and humanly possible how much He loves His people.

241 - And, or course, God knows the evils that ensue when people abandon Him and worship false gods.

Does God Punish The Children Of Bad People? - Part I

242 - 20:5 (continued) - ...punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

242 - 20.5 (continued) - Book: visiting the guilt of the parents upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generations of those who reject Me,

242 - This statement is often understood to mean God will punish the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of those who "hate" God (the word translated above as "reject" literally means "hate").

242 - It is true that one meaning of the Hebrew verb po-ked is "visit." But I believe the most accurate translation in this context is "take account of," which is how the verb is often used in the Bible. See, for example, Exodus 3:16, I Samuel 17:18, and other biblical verses where the meaning is not "visit," but "take account of," and where the word has nothing to do with punishment.

242 - It is therefore very unlikely, from a moral perspective (and the Ten Commandments form, after all, a moral document) the intent of the verse is God punishes the decent children and grandchildren of grievous sinners.

242 - First, the Torah has already established God as just.

242 - Second, if the verse really meant to say, God punishes four generations of offspring for the sins of their ancestors, it would not only be unjust, it would be utterly counterproductive. It would be announcing that no matter how good a person you become, no matter how different a person you are from your God-hating father or grandfather, you will still be punished. And that alone would make someone hate God. Legitimately.

243 - Third, the Torah itself expressly bans punishing children for the sins of their parents: "Parents shall not be put to death for children, nor children be put to death for parents: a person shall be put to death only for his own crime." (Deuteronomy 24:16).

243 - And the Prophet Ezekiel announced: "The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them" (Ezekiel 18:20).

243 - The Torah may be warning parents that if they are really bad and seek to undermine ethical monotheism, the chances are their children will suffer for what they have done -- both because children suffer when their parents are bad people, and because they are more likely to follow in their parents' footsteps.

243 - The worst mass shooting in American history as of this writing -- leaving fifty-eight people at an outdoor concert in Las Vegas dead and over five hundred injured -- was committed by a man whose father was a lifelong criminal and on the FBI's "Ten Most wanted Fugitives List."

243 - Fathers need to think about how they act. Their actions have enormous impact on their children.

Does God Punish The Children Of Bad People? - Part II

243 - 20:6 - but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

244 - But that is as morally impossible as the first part. Does it mean that no matter how badly one behaves, he is shown kindness if his great-great-great-great-grandfather obeyed God? Of course not.

244 - In this case, God want to contrast His desire to reward good with His need to punish bad.

244 - Regarding the words, "of those who love Me," love of God, like hatred of God, refers not to feelings but to actions.


244 - 20:7 - “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

244 - Another translation: "Thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain."

244 - So, what, then, does this commandment prohibit?

Essay: The Worst Sin Is Committing Evil In God's Name

245 - Is there such a thing as the worst sin? Apparently, there is. And this is it.

245 - How do we know? Because it is the only one of the Ten Commandments whose violation God says He will not forgive -- "the Lord will not hold him guiltless" (literally, "God will not cleanse" the one who violates this commandment).

245 - Why, of all sins, would a moral and just God say the only person He will not forgive is the one who takes His name in vain?

245 - Is murder potentially forgivable, but saying, "Oh God, did I have a tough day today" not forgivable? Obviously, this cannot be.

245 - For one thing, the word "God" is not God's name. So, saying something like "God, did I have a tough day today" does not violate this commandment.

245 - "God" is God's title. But God's name is YHVH (we do not know exactly how it is pronounced, and Jews refrain from pronouncing it). It is this name (in the Hebrew original) we are forbidden to say in vain.

245 - The Hebrew verb in the commandment, tisa, means "carry." The commandment therefore reads, "Do not carry God's name in vain."

245 - And who carries God's name in vain? Any person who claims to be acting in God's name while doing the opposite of what God wants -- evil.

245 - Obvious modern examples would include Islamist terrorists who shout, Allahu Akbar ("God Is the Greatest") when they murder innocent people; or a priest or any other clergy who, utilizing the respect engendered by his clerical status, molests a child. There is little question Islamist terrorists and molesting clergy have both played a role in the rise of atheism in our time.

246 - When any person commits evil, it reflects badly on the person. But when a person commits evil in God's name, it reflects badly on God as well. When associated with evil, God and ethical monotheism are thoroughly discredited. And that is unforgivable, as it dramatically reduces the chances of creating a good world.

246 - No atheist activist is nearly as effective in alienating people from God and religion as are evil "religious" people.

246 - As noted, the Hebrew word y'nakeh ("hold guiltless") literally means "cleanse." Essentially God is saying if anyone dirties God's name, God will never cleanse that person's name.


246 - 20:8 - “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

246 - More likely, however, "Remember" means "Never forget to" keep the Sabbath day.

246 - The careful reader will note this commandment does not say, "Remember the sabbath day to rest." While work is prohibited on Shabbat, our primary aim on the Shabbat should not be to rest. It should be to make it holy.

247 - Holy work is permitted, even though it is still work.

Essay: Why The Sabbath Commandment Is Unique

247 - The Shabbat Commandment is unique for at least three reasons, all of which underscore how important it is.

1. First, it is one of only two of the Ten Commandments that ordain positive action. Other than honoring one's parents and the Shabbat, all the commandments are stated in the negative ("You shall not...").


2. Second, and even more remarkably, it is the only ritual commandment in the Ten Commandments. This almost surely means the Shabbat is the most important ritual in the Torah and therefore in the Jewish religion.
   The Christian world is thus far the only non-Jewish civilization to have adopted the Ten Commandments, and societies that did so benefited immeasurably.
   Americans widely observed the Sabbath (on Sunday) until the radical secularization of America that began after World War II.


3. The third reason the Shabbat Commandment is unique is it is the only one of the Ten Commandments for which a reason is given.
   (Page 249) - That reason is to affirm each week that God created the world, and just as He ceased from work on the Seventh Day, so do we.
   When Moses restates the Ten Commandments in the book of Deuteronomy, he provides a specifically Jewish reason for the Shabbat: The Israelites are to observe it because God released them from slavery in Egypt, and free people, unlike slaves, can choose not to work one day a week.

Work Is Noble

249 - 20:9 - Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

247 - There are those who take this as an obligation to work six days a week. Others regard it as a statement that one should do all one's work six days of the week so as to be able to desist from work on Shabbat.

247 - The Torah values labor. In the Torah, there are no negative associations with either labor or money. Like everything else, work and money can be directed toward noble or ignoble ends. But the Torah wants us to observe a day without work or monetary concerns. God matters, too.

249 - 20:10 - but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.

247 - Man is not a beast of burden, and the Sabbath is not for the purpose of enhancing the efficiency of his work.

247 - The Seventh Day is the purpose and the culmination of the rest of the week, so much so that in Hebrew until this day, the days of the week are named in reference to their proximity to the Shabbat. Sunday is known as yom rishon, the "first day" (toward the Sabbath), Monday is yom sheni, the "second day" (toward the sabbath), etc.

249 - 20:10 (continued) - On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.

250 - Only free people can take a day off from work every week. Therefore, from the Torah's perspective, a person who works seven days a week is a slave, even if he does so voluntarily. And if he earns a great deal of money by working seven days a week, he would then simply be deemed a wealthy slave.

250 - The Sabbath is a time to reflect on the meaning of the work we did during the other six days. In this sense, Shabbat functions as a monastery, providing a weekly retreat from the world.

Slaves, Animals, And Strangers Must Also Have A Sabbath

249 - 20:10 (continued) - neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.

250 - This is one of the least quoted, yet most ethically revolutionary, commandments in history. The Ten Commandments became the first and, as far as is known, the only legal code to grant slaves a weekly day of rest.

251 - And by asserting a slave has fundamental human rights, the Torah began the arduous task of teaching people that slaves, too, are human beings.

251 - In the ancient world, and much of the world until today, the stranger has been regarded as outside the protection of the law.

251 - In these three ways, then, it is inaccurate to describe the Shabbat commandment as only "ritual." It is profoundly and uniquely moral.

The Sabbath: The Ritual That Affirms The Creator

251 - 20:11 - For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

251 - Sarna makes the important point that the division of time into seven days is not rooted in the natural; it is rooted in the supernatural, in God's creation of the world. The day corresponds to one complete rotation of the earth on its axis, and the month corresponds to one cycle of the moon's phases, but the week is completely disassociated from the movement of the celestial bodies. It is unnatural and arbitrary measurement of time.

251 - Therefore, by observing the Shabbat every seven days, one is worshipping the Creator of nature, not nature -- affirming the existence of a God Who is above nature and Who created it.

251 - There is no other ritual or ethical law in the Bible whose purpose is to affirm God as te Creator of the world. "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth," is arguably the most important verse in the Bible. The entire Bible rests on that claim. Life having ultimate meaning rests on it.

252 - If there is no Creator, there is no design and no purpose. All is random and ultimately meaningless, including right and wrong.

252 - We affirm the Creator by not working on the Seventh Day. For that reason alone, our increasingly godless world needs people who will observe the sabbath -- and invite others to celebrate it with them.

The Personal Impact Of The Sabbath

252 - When a person takes off from work one day every week to keep the Sabbath, that day almost inevitably becomes a day spent with people -- which means family and/or friends.

253 - In my parents' home, Shabbat was more or less the only time I engaged in protracted (lasting for a long time or longer than expected) conversation with my parents.

253 - Shabbat has similar positive effects on marriages. Ask anyone married to a workaholic.

The Uniqueness OF The Commandment To Honor Our Parents

253 - 20:12 - “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

253 - This is the first of the Ten Commandments addressing only human-to-human relations. It is listed among the first five, immediately following the commandment to observe the Sabbath. Both of these commandments serve as a bridge between relating to God and relating to people.

253 - As for parents, they are, along with God, our co-creators (biologically and non-biologically) and honoring parents is a building block of civilization; societies in which parents are honored will long survive.

253 - There is another way in which this commandment is a bridge between God and man. If a child does not honor parental authority, he is less likely to honor divine authority (and the converse is also true). There is a hierarchy in life without which moral order is unlikely: God, parent, child.

254 - The unique importance of this commandment is further underscored by the fact there is no other commandment in the Torah -- not just in the Ten Commandments -- demanding we honor someone or something.

Essay: We Are Not Commanded To Love Our Parents

254 - The Torah commands us to love God, to love our neighbor, and to love the stranger who dwells among us. But, in a particularly compelling example of the Torah's psychological sophistication, it does not command us to love our parents.

254 - Those who already love their parents don't need to be commanded to do so, while those who do not love their parents could not be commanded to do the impossible; the Torah understands how often child-parent relations are emotionally troubled.

254 - It is more important to honor parents than to love them.

255 - The moral success of a society does not depend on children loving parents; it does depend on children honoring their parents.

255 - Moreover, the Torah does not command us to always obey our parents, but to honor them. The distinction between honor and obedience is highlighted in a later Torah verse: "You shall each revere his mother and father, and keep My Sabbaths" (Leviticus 19:3).

255 - The Talmud explains the juxtaposition of these two laws this way: We must obey our parents, but not if they tell us to violate the Sabbath.

255 - In other words, there is a moral authority higher than one's parents: God. Accordingly, if our parents tell us to do something that violates God's will, we are to respectfully decline to obey.

256 - Sometimes it might be easier to honor one's parents by not living near them.

256 - Additional points:

1. (Page 256) - Implicit in the commandment to hor parents is the expectation for parents to act in ways that elicit their children's respect. This means, first and foremost, parents must act honorably.


2. (Page 256) - Children need to honor their parents for their sake, not only the parents'.


3. (Page 256) - We also honor our parents in the ways we behave toward all other people (even after our parents have passed on). Thus, we do not honor our parents only through how we treat them, but how we treat others throughout our lives.


4. (Page 257) - If we honor our parents, our children will see how we act toward them and are more likely to treat us similarly. By honoring our parents, we promote a value the younger generation is likely to emulate.


5. (Page 257) - (Paraphrased) A parent's behavior toward their parents makes a profound impression on their children.


6. (Page 257) - The Hebrew does not state "Honor your father and mother." It states, "Honor your father and your mother" to emphasize the equal importance of both parents. (Page 258) - There is no difference in God's eyes between father and mother; they are equals.

Honoring Parents: The Only One Of The Ten Commandments That Specifies Reward

258 - The Fifth Commandment is the only one of the Ten Commandments that specifies a reward. But this reward is not to be understood as a promise that the individual who honors his or her parents will live a long life. The commandment promises the nation collectively that if its members honor their parents, the family will be preserved, its religious traditions and beliefs will be preserved, and the civilization will therefore long endure. The breakdown of the family is a guarantor of the breakdown of a civilization. One reason is "a society in which children do not honor parents will lose the means through which the society's culture, religion, and ethics are transmitted" (Telushkin).

258 - Yet another reason why honoring parents and a long enduring civilization are connected is stong families form a major bulwark against totalitarian regimes. A standard feature of totalitarian regimes is the shifting of children's loyalty and obedience from their parents to the state.

Essay: Only If There Is A God, Is Murder Wrong

258 - 20:13 - “You shall not murder.

259 - To state the case as clearly as possible: If there is no God who says, "Do not murder," there is no way of saying murder is objectively wrong. One can say, "I don't like it," or "I think it is wrong," or "I feel it is wrong," or "My society says it is wrong," but not "It is wrong. For that, you need God.

259 - Regarding Hitler, "Rejecting the biblical commandments, said Hitler, was what human beings must do. In other words, murderous ideologies are far more likely to be guided by "survival of the fittest."

260 - There are no qualifiers whatsoever in the Sixth Commandment. It prohibits the murder of any human being, regarless of race, religion, class, gender, or any other distinction.

Essay: The Sixth Commandment Prohibits Murder, Not Killing

260 - As important as the Sixth Commandment is, it is also one of the most misunderstood and frequently misquoted commandments.

260 - The reason is the Sixth Commandment does not forbid killing; it forbids murder. Murder is the immoral killing of a human being. There is moral killing and immoral killing.

260 - If the Ten Commandments forbade killing, the taking of human life under any circumstance would be forbidden. There would be no such thing as a just killing. Killing in self-defense would be forbidden, as would killing in the defense of another person, and no war would eve be justified.

260 - Jehovah's Witnesses, who do understand this commandment as forbidding all killing, did not fight against Hitler or for him. Some Jehovah's Witnesses, specifically because of their pacifism, were incarcerated in Nazi concentration camps where the Nazis employed them as barbers; they were the only inmates the Nazi murderers were confident would not slit their throats.

261 - "Do not kill" is the position known as pacifism, the belief it is always wrong to take a human life.

261 - Hebrew, like English, has two words for taking a life: harog ("kill") and ratzach ("murder"). The Sixth Commandment uses ratzach.

261 - That is why we say, "A terrorist murdered five people," but we say, "The police killed the terrorist."

261 - And that is why we say, "I killed him in self-defense," not "I murdered him in self-defense."

261 - Unfortunately, most English-language Bibles, going back to the King James translation, have translated this verse as "Thous shalt not kill."

261 - This has led to many people using this commandment to defend pacifism and to oppose capital punishment for murder.

261 - The very same part of the Bible that contains the Ten Commandments -- the Torah -- commands the death penalty for premeditated murder (Exodus 21:12-14) and allows killing in war and in self-defense (Exodus 22:1).

Essay: Why Is Adultery In The Ten Commandments?

262 - 20:14 - “You shall not commit adultery.

262 - The prohibition on a married person having sexual relations with anyone other than his or her spouse is probably, for many people, the most consistently difficult of the Ten Commandments to observe.

262 - One is the enormous power of the sex drive. Another reason is the human desire to love and be loved.

262 - Why is adultery prohibited in the Ten Commandments? Because, like the other nine commandments, it is indispensable to forming and maintaining higher civilization. Adultery threatens the building block of the civilization the Ten Commandments seek to create.

263 - Spouses who have extramarital sex with the permission of their husband or wife may not be hurting their spouse's feelings, but they are harming the institutiion of marriage and their children, if they have any. Protecting the family, more than protecting spouses from emotional pain, is the reason for the commandment.

263 - Moreover, the Torah considers adultery to be an offense against three parties: the spouse, the family/community, and God.

264 - Indeed, Commandments Six through Ten are each intended to safeguard a foundation of civilization: life, family, property, truth, and justice; and the Tenth Commandment, as we shall see, protects all of them.

264 - Finally, in the Torah, both the man and the woman are held responsible for committing adultery, and therefore receive the same punishment (Leviticus 20:10).

Essay: The Unique Importance Of The Commandment Against Stealing

264 - 20:15 (Labeled 20:13 in Book) - “You shall not steal.

264 - The Eighth Commandment, "Do not steal," is unique in that it encompasses all the other commandments on the second tablet:

1. Murder is the stealing of another person's life.


2. Adultery is the stealing of another person's spouse.


3. Giving false testimony is stealing justice.


4. And coveting is the desire to steal what belongs to another person.

265 - This Commandment is unique in another way: It is the only completely open-ended commandment. All the other commandments are specific.

265 - It means we cannot take anything that belongs to another person.

Stealing Human Beings

265 - This commandment was always understood to mean, before anything, we are not allowed to steal human beings. The early rabbinic tradition interpreted this commandment as specifically referring to kidnapping.

265 - That is one reason no one with even an elementary understanding of the Eighth Commandment could ever use the Bible to justify the most common manner by which people became enslaved: kidnapping.

265 - And lest there be any confusion about this issue, the very next chapter of the Torah specifies a person who kidnaps another -- particularly when done with the intention of selling the victim into slavery -- "shall be put to death" (Exodus 21:16).

Stealing Property

265 - Of course, the most obvious meaning of the Eighth Commandment is a prohibition against stealing property -- and that, in turn, means God sanctifies personal property. Just as we are forbidden to steal people, we are forbidden to steal what people own.

266 - It has been shown over and over that private property, beginning with land ownership, is indispensable to creating a free and decent society.

266 - Then, in nineteenth-century Europe, many socialists argued for confiscating private property and giving it to the "people." Where that advice was followed, in what came to be known as the communist world, theft of property quickly resulted in a total theft of freedom, and ultimately a massive theft of life.

Stealing Another Person's Reputation, Dignity, Etc.

266 - Another enormously important meaning of the commandment against stealing concerns stealing the many non-material things each person owns: his or her reputation, dignity, trust, and intellectual property.

1. A person's reputation: Stealing a person's good name -- whether through libel, slander, or gossip -- is a particularly destructive form of theft. Unlike money or property, once a person's good name has been stolen, it can almost never be fully restored.


2. A person's dignity: The act of stealing a person's dignity is known as humiliation.


3. A person's trust: Stealing a person's trust is what we know as deceit. In fact, a Hebrew term for deceiving someone uses the term stealing (g'neivat da'at), which literally means "stealing knowledge," or "stealing another's mind." An example is the tricking of people into buying something, as when a real estate agent omits telling a prospective purchaser about the flaws in a home in order to make a sale. Another example would be when someone deceives another person with insincere proclamations of love in order to obtain material or sexual favors.


4. (Page 267) - A person's intellectual property: This form of theft includes anything from copying software or films, to downloading music and movies without paying for them, to stealing a person's words (plagiarism). Amazingly, at least in America, people actually admit it. I have been told any number of times after a speech, almost always by honorable people, "I'm going to steal that idea from you!"

267 - Stealing a life, a person, a spouse, material property, intellectual property, a reputation, dignity, or trust: there is hardly any aspect of human life not harmed -- sometimes irreparabley -- by stealing.

Societal Corruption

268 - There is another reason why stealing may well be the ultimate root of most evil. That reason is corruption.

268 - Virtually every society in history, and most societies in the world today -- were and are filled with corruption.

268 - More than anything else, it is widespread corruption that makes it impossible for a society to progress politically, morally, or economically.

The Ninth Commandment: Lies Cause The Greatest Evils

268 - 20:16 (Labeled 20:13 in Book) - “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

268 - The Ninth Commandment prohibits lying (specifically in court, but, as we shall see, outside of a courtroom as well).

268 - Truth is even more important than compassion or kindness.

268 - Virtually all the great societal evils -- whether African slavery, communism, Nazism, or anti-Semitism -- have been based on lies. All of them told, and most of them believed, some great lie that made or allowed them to participate in great evil.

268 - African slavery was made possible in large measure by the lie that blacks were inherently inferior to whites.

269 - The Holocaust would have been impossible without tens of millions of people believing the lie that Jews were sub-human.

269 - Jews have been the most consistent objects of lies in history.

269 - There is only so much evil that can be done by individual sadists and sociopaths. In order to murder millions of people, vast numbers of normal, even otherwise decent, people must believe lies. Mass evil is committed not because a vast number of people seek to be cruel, but because they are fed convincing lies that what is evil is actually good.

What The Ninth Commandment Prohibits

269 - The Ninth Commandment means two things:

1. Do not lie when testifying in court.


2. (Page 270) - Do not lie outside of a courtroom.

270 - As Brevard Childs of Yale University points out, if the Ten Commandments were solely concerned with truth and falsehood in a courtroom, it would have added words such as "in court."

270 - Regarding false testimony in court, it should be clear to anyone that when people testify falsely in a courtroom, there can be no justice. And without justice, there is no civilization.

270 - In addition to prohibiting perjury in the Ten Commandments, other Torah laws ordain measures to discourage it.

1. First, two eyewitnesses are required in order for the evidence to be regarded as valid.


2. Second, false witnesses were at risk of receiving the same punishment that would be meted out to the accused.


3. Third, in cases involving capital punishment, the witnesses had to initiate the execution (Deuteronomy 17:7).

20:16 - “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

270 - This phrase "against your neighbor" must mean something not obvious; otherwise, the commandment would simply state, "Do not bear false witness."

270 - The answer is the commandment prohibits lying "against" -- that is, to the detriment of -- your neighbor. The commandment is not against all lying. If one lies for moral reasons to aid one's neighbor, as did those non-Jews who hid Jews during the Holocaust, such lying is allowed. Lying is sometimes moral, just as killing is sometimes moral.

271 - St. Augustine, perhaps the preeminent Church Father -- certainly the most famous -- believed lying to save a life is short-sighted and unjustifiable, since telling a lie costs a person eternal life. "Does he not speak most perversely who says that one person ought to die spiritually, so another may live? Since then, eternal life is lost by lying, a lie may never be told for the preservation of the temporal life of another."

271 - In later Judaism, lying to protect shalom bayit, "peace in the home," was also permitted.

271 - As Jewish tradition points out, the Hebrew word for "lie" encompasses a tiny percentage of the Hebrew alphabet -- the three penultimate letters -- while the word for truth encompasses the entire Hebrew alphabet. Lies are a tiny fraction of what is real, whereas truth encompasses everything.

The Meaning Of The Tenth And Last Commandment

272 - 20:17 (Labeled 20:14 in Book) - “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

272 - Commandments Six, Seven, Eight, And Nine prohibit murder, adultery, stealing, and perjury. What could be left for the final commandment to prohibit?

272 - What remains is a prohibition of the primary reason people murder, commit adultery, steal, and lie -- they covet something that belongs to others: their spouse, their house, their servants, their animals, etc.

The Only Commandment Against Thought

273 - Most remarkably, however, the Tenth Commandment does something highly atypical of Torah law: it legislates thought. Each of the other nine commandments legislates behavior. In fact, of the 613 laws in the Torah, virtually none prohibit thought. We therefore need to understand what coveting means and, equally importantly, what it doesn't mean.

273 - To covet is much more than "to desire." The Hebrew verb lachmod means to desire to the point of seeking to take something that belongs to another person.

273 - "Seeking to take" does not mean "to desire"; nor does it mean envying or, in the case of your neighbor's spouse, lusting after. Neither envy nor lust is prohibited in the Ten Commandments. While uncontrolled envy and lust can surely lead to bad things and both can be psychologically and emotionally destructive, neither one is prohibited here.

273 - Why? Because neither is the same as coveting. The Tenth Commandment does not prohibit people from thinking, "What a great house (or car or spouse) my neighbor has; I wish I had such a house (or car or spouse)."

274 - It is when people want and seek to gain possession of the specific house, car, or spouse belonging to another that evil ensues. That is what the Tenth Commandment prohibits.

274 - Whatever belongs to another person must be regarded as sacrosanct (untouchable, regarded as too important or valuable to be interfered with).

274 - We are not prohibited from wanting similar items to what our neighbor has; we are prohibited from wanting what our neighbor has.

At Least With Regard To Coveting, People Can Control How They Think

274 - The Torah recognizes there is dignity in having possessions.

274 - The Torah recognizes, at least with regard to coveting, people can control how they think.

275 - 20:18 (Labeled 20:15 in Book) - When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance

275 - The Torah emphasizes that an entire nation was present at Sinai, and witnessed the revelation -- not a small group of followers, and not one chosen individual.

275 - The revelation at Sinai is not presented as a statement of faith, but as an historical event.

275 - 20:19 (Labeled 20:16 in Book) - and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”

275 - 20:20 (Labeled 20:17 in Book) - Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.”

276 - 20:21 (Labeled 20:18 in Book) - The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.

Idols and Altars

276 - 20:22 (Labeled 20:19 in Book) - Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites this: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven:

276 - 20:23 (Labeled 20:20 in Book) - Do not make any gods to be alongside me; do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold.

276 - They may not make material representions of God even for the sake of worshipping God: If God is physical, the physical world is all there is, and death means total and permanent annihilation. So long as God exists beyond the physical world, ther exists a realm in which we will endure beyond the death of our bodies.

276 - Also, the idea God is real even though He cannot be seen liberated the human mind to entertain the notion that even that which cannot be visualized exists.

276 - 20:24 (Labeled 20:21 in Book) - “‘Make an altar of earth for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, your sheep and goats and your cattle. Wherever I cause my name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you.

276 - God does not need altars of gold and silver; they can even use the dirt of the earth to worship Him.

276 - God repeats the term "your" in order to emphasize the people, not God, need sacrifices.

277 - He did not demand we pray to Him, sacrifice to Him, or otherwise worship Him -- except by keeping His laws.

277 - This verse is a license to have multiple centers of worship -- "in every place where I cause my Name to be blessed."

27 - 20:25 (Labeled 20:22 in Book) - If you make an altar of stones for me, do not build it with dressed (hewn) stones, for you will defile it if you use a tool on it.

277 - The idolaters of that time built their altars of hewn stones, therefore God forbade it.

27 - 20:26 (Labeled 20:23 in Book) - And do not go up to my altar on steps, or your private parts may be exposed.’

277 - This verse may be understood as a reaction to the widespread mixing of sex and religion in the ancient world. Ancient worship often involved cult prostitution and sexual displays. The Torah, in its ongoing battle against pagan practices, insists nakedness has no place in worship because it defames God's sanctuary. The complete de-sexulizatioon of religion and of the family are two of the greatest achievements of the Torah.

26 Verses

    Exodus - Chapter 21 - 36 Verses

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There were 613 Additional Laws given in the Torah.

279 - 21:1 - “These are the laws you are to set before them:

Essay: Why Didn't The Torah Abolish Slavery?

Hebrew Servants

279 - 21:2 - “If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything.

279 - The first laws God gave the Israelites after giving them the Ten Commandments concern the proper treatment of slaves. God begins this additional set of laws with slavery -- as if to say to the Israelites, "Though you will be allowed an institution called 'slavery,' it cannot be anything like what you experienced in Egypt."

279 - Nevertheless, the fact the Torah does not entirely abolish the institution of slavery is troubling. Since it is nearly universally agreed today slavery is inherently evil, how could a document claiming to be a moral guide -- which, moreover, claims it is of divine orign -- not prohibit slavery?

279 - Here are several reasons:

1. 279 - First, the Torah did indeed ban the type of slavery modern people think of when they picture slavery -- kidnapping free human beings and selling them for use as slaves. Verse 21:16 in this chapter makes kidnapping of any person -- Israelite or non-Israelite -- for the purpose of enslavement a captial crime.
   (Page 280) - It is therefore not true to say the Torah did not ban slavery. What is true is the Torah did not ban every form of slavery.


2. Second, given how entrenched it was in every human society, had the Torah banned every form of slavery, it is quite likely many Israelites would have simply opted out of the Torah system entirely. Most of the "slavery" discussed in the Torah is "indentured servitude," wherein a person worked off a debt over a set period, or the destitute found room and board working for no pay. Between one-half and two-thirds of all white immigrants to the British colonies between the Puritan migration of the 1630s and the Revolution came under indenture.
   Page 281 - The Torah is revolutionary in many of its teachings, such as its outright ban on the universal practice of human sacrifice. But sometimes the Torah's approach is evolutionary. Allowing animal sacrifice might have served as a way of weaning people away from -- by offering a substitue for -- human sacrifice.
   Another example is polygamy. While the Torah allowed polygamy, its ideal is monogamy (see Genesis 2:24), which is why every instance of polygamy described in the Torah is described in a negative way.


3. 282 - Third, in the following discussion, with the exceptions of verses 21 and 26, slavery refers to the institution of indentured servitude, wherein people sell themselves into "slavery" in order to pay off debts -- either debts they do not have the funds to repay or debts incurred as a result of criminal activity, such as a thief who lacks the means to pay back what he stole (see, for example, exodus 22:2 and 22:6).

282 - The Torah does not encourage, let alone require, Israelites to own slaves; it simply states that if they do, these laws must be obeyed.

282 - There were three types of people who could become Hebrew slaves: paupers, debtors, and thieves.

283 - No matter how great the sum needed to be paid back, the Torah set a six-year limit on a Hebrew slave's term of service (and less, if a debt was worked off sooner). In this instance, just as God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh, the Hebrew slave had to work for a maximum of six years and went free in the seventh.

283 - 21:3 - If he comes alone, he is to go free alone; but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go with him.

283 - 21:4 - If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free.

283 - It was common at the time for a master to mate a Hebrew slave with a non-Israelite bondswoman.

284 - He can choose to remain with his master and thereby remain with the wife given to him while he was in servitude (and with his children) -- the proof being this option is discussed in the very next verse.

284 - 21:5 - “But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free,’

284 - Four points may help us understand this law from a moral perspective.

1. The male indentured servant who wants to remain with the non-Israelite wife given to him can choose to remain with her and their children.


2. If the slave does not love his master -- but only loves his given wife and their children, after he completes his term of service, he can try to buy back his newly formed family.


3. That the slave/bondsman no longer works for his master while his non-Israelite wife does, does not necessarily mean he loses all contact with her and his children.


4. This verse implies Hebrew masters often treated their slaves/bondsmen quite well.

285 - 21:6 - then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.

A Torah Contrast To The Code Of Hammurabi

285 - This unique piece of legislation is a dramatic example of how dissimilar Torah law was from the laws of surrounding societies. With its focus on the ear, this law was clearly a response to the final ruling in the older Babylonian Code of Hammurabi (number 282): "If a male slave has said to his master, 'You are not my master,' his master shall prove him to be his slave and cut off his ear."

Were Daughters Really Sold Into Slavery?

285 - 21:7 - “If a man sells his daughter as a servant, she is not to go free as male servants do.

285 - As I will explain, parents could not sell their children into slavery. What is depicted here is not about slavery and certainly not about sexual slavery. It is about indentured servitude.

285 - People understandably think of it as slavery, because the Hebrew word eved is almost always translated as "slave." But this word also means "servant."

286 - In the twelfth century, Maimonides, in his Code of Jewish law, ruled: "A man may not sell his daughter [as a maidservant] unless he became impoverished to the extent that he owns nothing, neither land nor other property, not even the clothing he is wearing."

286 - Women -- and men -- began to freely choose whom they would marry only in the relatively recent past, and almost exclusively in parts of the Western world.

286 - 21:8 - If she does not please the master who has selected her for himself, he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, because he has broken faith with her.

287 - 21:9 - If he selects her for his son, he must grant her the rights of a daughter.

287 - 21:10 - If he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing and marital rights.

287 - The Torah was unique in asserting a woman is legally entitled to sexual gratification.

287 - Therfore, it is not accurate to call a daughter who is sold by her parents a "slave." She is sold to a man who will eventually marry her; and if he doesn't want to marry her, his son can. If neither does, she goes free. That is not slavery.

288 - 21:11 - If he does not provide her with these three things, she is to go free, without any payment of money.

Personal Injuries

288 - 21:12 - “Anyone who strikes a person with a fatal blow is to be put to death.

288 - Capital punishment for premeditated murder is the only law that appears in all five books of the Torah (Genesis 9:6; Exodus 21:14; Leviticus 24:17; Numbers 35:16; and Deuteronomy 19:11-13). But the Torah makes it clear in the very next verse (and elsewhere) that when a homicide is unintentinal or unremeditated, capital punishment is not imposed.

288 - 21:13 - However, if it is not done intentionally, but God lets it happen, they are to flee to a place I will designate.

288 - The term "act of God" is used to this day to denote such accidents.

289 - The words, "I will assign you a place to which he can flee" refer to a city of refuge.

Unlike In Other Cultures, There Is No Sanctuary For Murderers

289 - 21:14 - But if anyone schemes and kills someone deliberately, that person is to be taken from my altar and put to death.

289 - The Torah was the only legal code in the ancient world to declare there is no sanctuary for murderers.

290 - Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed. (Genesis 9:6).

Hitting A Parent Is A Grave Offense

290 - 21:15 - “Anyone who attacks their father or mother is to be put to death.

290 - A father or mother who is struck does not have to die in order for the child to deserve to be put to death.

290 - While the Torah does not specify what exactly constitutes striking a parent, the Talmud ruled that to be subject to the death penalty, a person would have to hit his parent hard enough to draw blood.

290 - While the Torah forbids striking a parent, Talmudic law subsequently forbade a parent to hit a grown child.

291 - 21:16 - “Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death, whether the victim has been sold or is still in the kidnapper’s possession.

291 - The kidnapping of any human being, regardless of religion, race, or nationality, is a capital offense.

Cursing A Parent Is Also A Grave Offense

291 - 21:17 - “Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.

291 - 21:17 (Book) - He who insults his father or his mother shall be put to death.

292 - 21:18 - “If people quarrel and one person hits another with a stone or with their fist and the victim does not die but is confined to bed,

292 - 21:19 - the one who struck the blow will not be held liable if the other can get up and walk around outside with a staff; however, the guilty party must pay the injured person for any loss of time and see that the victim is completely healed.

If A Slave Is Beaten And Dies

292 - 21:20 - “Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies as a direct result,

292 - Like any murderer, a master who murders his slave is subject to the death penalty.

292 - 21:21 - but they are not to be punished if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property.

294 - And, further protecting every slave was the Torah law that no one may return a runaway slave to his master (Deuteronomy 23:15).

Essay: The One Mention Of Premature Birth In The Torah

294 - 21:22 - “If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows.

295 - 21:23 - But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life,

295 - 21:24 - eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

295 - 21:25 - burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.

295 - A type of killing that is unintentional yet not fully accidental, somewhat corresponding to what is known in the United States as "involuntary manslaughter."

Essay: Abortion

297 - We can only infer the Torah views the value of a fetal life ... to be equal to that of all other human beings.

The Jewish View

298 - Ancient Jewish law considered abortions performed by non-Jews a capital crime.

298 - Orthodox Jews generally regard abortions as forbidden in all but the most extenuating circumstances (almost always regarding the health of the mother and, on rare occasions, the emotional health of the woman, such as a woman who was raped).

299 - In the words of the Union for Reform Judaism, "any decision should be left up to the woman within whose body the fetus is growing." Nevertheless, the Reform movement adds that "abortion should never be used for birth control purposes."

The Christian View

299 - The Septuagint translation, held that if there is no form to the expelled fetus, the man who induced the pregnant woman to expel her fetus would be fined, but if there is form, then you will give "life for a life."

299 - The Catholic position on abortion is expressed thus in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

300 - Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person -- among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you" (Jeremiah 1:5).

300 - From the beginning of Protestant Christianity in the sixteenth century, the Protestant position was the same.

300 - John Calvin (1509-1564): ...the unborn, though enclosed in the womb of his mother, is already a human being, and it is an almost monstrous crime to rob it of life which it has not yet begun to enjoy...

300 - Liberal Protestant denominations do not condemn abortions, holding that each woman must decide what is right.

Essay: "Eye For An Eye" -- One Of The Great Moral Advances In History

301 - In Jewish history, this list of punishments -- 'eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise" -- was never taken literally. Only "a life for a life" was taken literally, because the Torah meant it literally: The Torah repeatedly demands the taking of the life of one who commits premeditated murder (see, for example, Exodus 21:14). God Himself announces in Genesis that taking the life of a murderer is part of the moral foundation of civilization (Genesis 9:6).

301 - Thus, throughout Jewish hstory, the assailant was required to pay monetary compensation for any limbs and organs he damaged.

301 - Mahatma Gandi's biographer Louis Fischer said, in summarizing Gandhi's views, "An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind."

301 - Fischer said this view emanated from Gandhi's commitment to pacifism and doctrine of non-violence. But this commitment also led Gandhi to recommend to the jews of Nazi-occupied Europe they not engage in, or support, any violent resistance to Hitler, and to recommend to the British soldiers in the spring of 1940, when Hitler seemed poised to take over Europe, to lay down their arms, not fight the Nazis, and let the Nazis occupy England. In Gandhi's own words: "If these gentlemen [the Nazis!] choose to occupy your homes, you will vacate them. If they do not give you free passage out, you will allow yourselves, man woman and child to be slaughtered, but you will refuse to owe allegiance to them."

302 - Dismissing the lex talionis (Law of Retaliation) as primitive is simply wrong. This principle of equal punishment is a fundamental statement of the Torah's preoccupation with justice.

302 - First, lex talionis (Law of Retaliation) is the ultimate statement of human equality. No one's eye is worth more than the eye of anyone else.

302 - Second, the principle of "an eye for an eye" ensured only the guilty party was punished for his crime.

302 - Third, the lex talionis (Law of Retaliation) is based on justice and therefore prohibits unjust revenge.

302 - Fourth, the Torah is preoccupied with justice. And it recognizes it is profoundly unjust for a person who has deliberately and unjustly gouged out the eye of another person to keep his own eye. Perfect justice, therefore, would dictate that what I deliberately did to an innocent person be done to me.

303 - Many people object to "an eye for an eye" on the grounds it calls for "revenge," not justice. Yet, just as there is just and unjust violence, there is just and unjust revenge. Opponents of capital punishment for murderers often argue murderers should be given a life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole. But isn't that a form of revenge?

304 - However, we do not know of the existence of prisons, as such, in the Torah.

304 - 21:26 - “An owner who hits a male or female slave in the eye and destroys it must let the slave go free to compensate for the eye.

304 - Cassuto writes the Torah is the only ancient law code that includes a punishment for mistreating a slave.

304 - In at least four ways, Torah laws' treatment of slaves was morally superior to what prevailed in, for example, the United States until the end of slavery in the 1860s.

1. A slave was freed if a master ruined the slave's eye or just knocked out a tooth (Exodus 21:26-27).


2. It was forbidden to return a runaway slave to his master (Deuteronomy 23:16).


3. Slave owners who killed a slave were to be executed (Exodus 21:20).


4. Slaves were to desist from work on the Sabbath just as their owners (Exodus 20:12).

305 - 21:27 - And an owner who knocks out the tooth of a male or female slave must let the slave go free to compensate for the tooth.

305 - The fact the loss of an eye and a tooth are equated -- even though the former is an infinitely more serious loss -- underscores the law's intention to protect a slave from permanent harm or cruel discipline.

Why Kill An Ox That Killed A Person?

305 - 21:28 - “If a bull gores a man or woman to death, the bull is to be stoned to death, and its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the bull will not be held responsible.

306 - 21:29 - If, however, the bull has had the habit of goring and the owner has been warned but has not kept it penned up and it kills a man or woman, the bull is to be stoned and its owner also is to be put to death.

307 - This ox does not have to have killed anyone else already; a history of goring is sufficient to render the owner negligent.

307 - The owner may be compared to a judge who repeatedly lets drunk drivers get off easy; it is likely one of those drivers, like the goring ox, will go on to cause a fatal accident.

307 - From the Torah's perspective, the owner who fails to take care of his goring ox is functionally equivalent to a murderer, since the ox is, in effect, a loaded weapon not kept under lock and key.

307 - 21:30 - However, if payment is demanded, the owner may redeem his life by the payment of whatever is demanded.

307 - In general, the Torah does not permit a person to pay ransom for his life when he is deserving of capital punishment.

307 - The owner of the ox is an exception because he is not morally equivalent to a man who's committed premeditated murder. Although he is reponsible for the death of another human being, he has killed his ox's victim indirectly, and through negligence rather than intent.

Another Torah Rejection Of The Law Of Its Time

307 - 21:31 - This law also applies if the bull gores a son or daughter.

308 - It became clear this law was intended to distinguish Torah law from contemporaneous codes, which ruled that if a man's ox killed another man's son or daughter, then the son or daughter of the ox's owner would be killed.

308 - No matter who is killed, it is the ox's owner alone who is punished, and not his son or daughter.

308 - 21:32 - If the bull gores a male or female slave, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver to the master of the slave, and the bull is to be stoned to death.

308 - 21:33 - “If anyone uncovers a pit or digs one and fails to cover it and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

308 - 21:34 - the one who opened the pit must pay the owner for the loss and take the dead animal in exchange.

308 - Even though the digger of the pit did not hurt the other man's animal deliberately, he is nonetheless negligent.

308 - 21:35 - “If anyone’s bull injures someone else’s bull and it dies, the two parties are to sell the live one and divide both the money and the dead animal equally.

When Bad Things Happen, There Isn't Always A Villain

309 - In contrast to the previous case involving the pit, this verse refers not to a matter of negligence but to an accident.

309 - Sometimes things happen that are beyond people's control.

309 - In short, the Torah understood sometimes sad things happen and injuries result, with no one really at fault, In other words, just because there is a victim doesn't mean there is a villain.

309 - 21:36 - However, if it was known that the bull had the habit of goring, yet the owner did not keep it penned up, the owner must pay, animal for animal, and take the dead animal in exchange.

310 - In this case, the owner of the ox is culpable because he failed to control an ox known for its goring tendencies. He must make full restitution.



Note to reader: There is a different enumeration of verses in this chapter between Jewish and Christian editions of the bible. In the Christian enumeration, the first verse of this chapter is the last verse of the preceding chapter. Therefore, what is listed here as 21:37 is 22:1 in Christian editions -- meaning that each verse in Chapter 22 is one verse behind the Christian enumeration.

310 - 21:37 - When a man steals an ox or a sheep, and slaughters it or sells it, he shall pay five oxen for the ox, and four sheep for the sheep.

36 Verses

    Exodus - Chapter 22 - 31 Verses

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Note to reader: There is a different enumeration of verses in this chapter between Jewish and Christian editions of the bible. In the Christian enumeration, the first verse of this chapter is the last verse of the preceding chapter. Therefore, what is listed here as 22:1 is 22:2 in Christian editions -- meaning that each verse in this chapter is one verse behind the Christian enumeration.

Protection of Property

310 - 22:1 (Book 21:37) - “Whoever steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it must pay back five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep.

311 - 22:2 (Book 22:1) - “If a thief is caught breaking in at night and is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed;

311 - It can be assumed, therefore, that such an intruder is prepared to encounter opposition and to kill if necessary.

311 - One who kills a nightime invader is assumed to have acted in self-defense, and is not charged with murder.

311 - The Talmud teaches a basic principle of Jewish jurisprudence: "If one comes to kill you, wake up early [i.e., anticipate him] and kill him first."

311 - 22:3 (Book 22:2) - but if it happens after sunrise, the defender is guilty of bloodshed. “Anyone who steals must certainly make restitution, but if they have nothing, they must be sold to pay for their theft.

311 - In the daytime, the members of a household are not expected to be at home.

311 - The biblical scales give priority to the protection of life, even the the life of a burglar, over the protection of property.

311 - All this of course is based on individual circumstance.

312 - 22:4 (Book 22:3) - If the stolen animal is found alive in their possession—whether ox or donkey or sheep—they must pay back double.

313 - 22:5 (Book 22:4) - “If anyone grazes their livestock in a field or vineyard and lets them stray and they graze in someone else’s field, the offender must make restitution from the best of their own field or vineyard.

313 - This verse is referring only to the land of those people who have not granted such permission.

313 - 22:6 (Book 22:5) - “If a fire breaks out and spreads into thornbushes so that it burns shocks of grain or standing grain or the whole field, the one who started the fire must make restitution.

314 - 22:7 (Book 22:6) - “If anyone gives a neighbor silver or goods for safekeeping and they are stolen from the neighbor’s house, the thief, if caught, must pay back double.

314 - In ancient Israel, the fear of God was so great an oath invoking God was regarded as sufficient to end a trial.

314 - 22:8 (Book 22:7) - But if the thief is not found, the owner of the house must appear before the judges, and they must determine whether the owner of the house has laid hands on the other person’s property.

314 - 22:9 (Book 22:8) - In all cases of illegal possession of an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a garment, or any other lost property about which somebody says, ‘This is mine,’ both parties are to bring their cases before the judges. The one whom the judges declare guilty must pay back double to the other.

315 - 22:10 (Book 22:9) - “If anyone gives a donkey, an ox, a sheep or any other animal to their neighbor for safekeeping and it dies or is injured or is taken away while no one is looking,

315 - 22:11 (Book 22:10) - the issue between them will be settled by the taking of an oath before the Lord that the neighbor did not lay hands on the other person’s property. The owner is to accept this, and no restitution is required.

315 - 22:12 (Book 22:11) - But if the animal was stolen from the neighbor, restitution must be made to the owner.

315 - 22:13 (Book 22:12) - If it was torn to pieces by a wild animal, the neighbor shall bring in the remains as evidence and shall not be required to pay for the torn animal.

316 - 22:14 (Book 22:13) - “If anyone borrows an animal from their neighbor and it is injured or dies while the owner is not present, they must make restitution.

316 - 22:15 (Book 22:14) - But if the owner is with the animal, the borrower will not have to pay. If the animal was hired, the money paid for the hire covers the loss.

Social Responsibility

Essay: The Torah And Premarital Sex

316 - 22:16 (Book 22:15) - “If a man seduces a virgin who is not pledged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the bride-price, and she shall be his wife.

316 - It is primarily concerned with protecting the woman, specifically her ability to marry, by protecting the worth of her virginity, which was an extremely important consideration throughout history.

316 - The seduction of a married or betrothed woman would fall under the category of adultery.

317 - Regarding sexual matters, the Torah is preoccupied with:

1. Desexualizing God, desexualizing religion, and desexualizing family life.


2. Creating nuclear families and protecting them -- from adultery and incest.


3. Channeling the male sex drive into marriage.


4. Sustaining the male-female distinction.

317 - Though not preoccupied with the issue of sex between two unmarried people -- which in Western society is often referred to as "fornication," but for which there is no equivalent term in the Hebrew Bible -- the Torah nevertheless considers sexual intercourse to be an act of great significance whose only rightful place is within marriage.

317 - A man is therefore forbidden to seduce a woman if he has no intention of marrying her; and if he does seduce her without marital intentions, he can be compelled to marry her.

318 - After World War II, Western society underwent what is known as the "Sexual Revolution."

318 - However, in addition to creating more fatherless children than ever before, this revolution has harmed both sexes, especially women.

319 - Indeed, among young women, high rates of depression often relate to casual sex.

319 - The American magazine Vanity Fair: "It's rare for a woman of our generation to meet a man who treats her like a priority instead of an option."

319 - Finaly, it needs to be stressed the Torah's language here makes it unambiguously clear it is referring only to consensual sex, not anything approaching forced sex, i.e., rape.

319 - What should not be in doubt is the biblical view of rape: it is horrid. Is is decried in the Bible's stories. It is not tolerated in the Bible's laws.

320 - 22:17 (Book 22:16) - If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he must still pay the bride-price for virgins.

320 - He still has to pay the very same price to her family he would pay if he did marry her.

Three Polytheistic Practices That Merited The Death Penalty (At Least In Theory)

1. Sorcery

320 - 22:18 (Book 22:17) - “Do not allow a sorceress to live.

320 - 22.18 (Book) - You shall not tolerate a sorceress.

320 - This verse and the two that follow contain prohibitions of three polytheistic practices the Torah regards as so destructive to moral civilization they merit the death penalty.

320 - Belief in, and the practice of, magic were universal in the ancient world.

320 - Only the Torah outlawed magic altogether. Magic was the antithesis of the Torah's worldview: Whereas magic suggests mysterious supernatural forces control the universe -- and select individuals are capable of acquiring those abilities and becoming God-like -- the Torah maintains God alone has dominion over the world.

320 - Torah law would in no way oppose magic shows that are presented as entertainment.

320 - What it opposes are people presenting themselves as able, through incantations or other occult practices, to control another person's destiny.

2. Bestiality

321 - 22:19 (Book 22:18) - “Anyone who has sexual relations with an animal is to be put to death.

321 - Whoever lies (sexually) with an animal has reduced him or herself to the level of an animal and thereby blurred the distinction between humans and animals -- just as sorcery blurs the distinction between humans and God.

321 - As we will see later in the Torah, blurring monotheism's distinctions -- man and animal, God and man, good and evil, holy and profane, man and woman, life and death -- undermines the order of the universe as designed by God.

321 - Of all the ancient Near East's legal systems, only the Hittite code contained prohibitions on the (widespread) practice of bestiality. But while this code punished (with death) intercourse with pigs, dogs, and sheep, it allowed human intercourse with mules and horses.

3. Sacrifices To Other Gods
(The Torah Bans Behavior, Not Thought)

322 - 22:20 (Book 22:19) - “Whoever sacrifices to any god other than the Lord must be destroyed.

322 - This verse prohibits worshipping other gods, but it does not explicitly prohibit believing in them.

322 - The Torah legislates behavior rather than belief or thought. It recognizes it is bad behavior, not bad thoughts, that does the most damage in life.

322 - If people stop bringing sacrifices to other gods, they will eventually stop believing in them.

Laws Regarding The Most Vulnerable

322 - 22:21 (Book 22:20) - “Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt.

322 - Verses 20-24 consist of laws regulating the treatment of four categories of unprotected, vulnerable individuals: the stranger, the widow, the orphan, and the poor.

322 - We should not think we can get away with mistreating people who cannot protect themselves.

322 - These verses underscore the moral need for ethical monotheism, with the emphasis on ethical as much as on monotheism. Unless we recognize there is a God above us, and His primary demand of human beings is ethical behavior, and a moral God will judge us all, there is nothing to prevent us from oppressing those who are too weak to stop us.

323 - (Paraphrased) Fifth-century BCE - Athens and Sparta were at war - Athens wanted the residents of the island of Melos (Melians) to pay them tribute to support their war effort. The Athenian delegates believed, "So far as right and wrong are concerned, there is no difference between the two. Rather, the strong do what they have the power to do and the weak accept what they have to accept." Athens besieged Melos, murdered the men and sold the women and children into slavery.

323 - Friedrich Nietzsche, the nineteenth century's most famous atheist ("God is dead") wrote with great contempt of those who sympathized with the Melians' moral appeals.

The Non-Jewish Resident
Must Not Be Oppressed

1. Nahum Sarna comments that the arrangement of these laws highlights the stark moral contrast between polythesism and monotheism: Whereas polytheism is about sorcery, bestiality, and the worship of other gods, Torah monotheism is about protecting those who cannot protect themselves.


2. Page 324 - Benno Jacob makes the point that the Torah prohibits oppressing the non-Jew who resides among Jews immediately following the three verses about idolatrous practices in order to teach that the non-Israelite has to abandon those practices in order to be worthy of equal treatment in Israelite society.


3. 324 - Umberto Cassuto maintains the Torah's injunction to protect the stranger immediately follows the laws about pagan abominations to indicate the Torah's opposition is not to foreigners themselves, but to particular practices in which they engage.

324 - The idea that we have moral obligations to those who are not part of our ethnic, religious, racial, or national group was another revolutionary innovation of the Torah.

324 - The German Jewish philosopher Hermann Cohen wrote, "In the stranger, therefore, man discovered the idea of humanity."

324 - No other ancient Near Eastern culture, or any ancient culture with which I am familiar, had such a law.

324 - The challenge of the Torah, however, is to treat the stranger morally while remaining true to the Torah's values and to Israelite identity, and to attempt to bring the stranger into the Torah's value system (though not necessarily into the Israelites' religion).

325 - When Jews abandoned the Torah and ethical monotheism, these very values, affirming the sanctity of all human life have often been abandoned as well -- as was the case with those Jews who embraced communism (which made war on religion and God-based values) and ended up supporting the tyrannical and murderous Soviet Union and other communist regimes.

Essay: The Unique Moral Power Of Empathy

325 - It is a fact of life we can only fully empathize with other people when we have experienced what they have experienced.

326 - The Torah so frequently repeats the injunction to love and to treat the stranger justly because empathy, like most other moral traits, does not come naturally to people; it needs to be constantly taught.

326 - Given the unique power of empathy to lead to moral behavior, it is incumbent on all of us to aspire to empathy.

326 - That is one reason parents should punish their children when they hurt others; only by experiencing the pain of punishment can many children begin to understand the pain they have inflicted. Moreover, a lack of empathy is a defining characteristic of the sociopath.

326 - When people emerge from pain and oppression, they have two options: they can use their anger over their suffering to legitimize their oppression of others; or they can use the memory of their pain to empathize with others.

326 - Empathy is so important it might well be the solution to the problem of human evil.

326 - 22:22 (Book 22:21) - “Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless.

326 - 22:23 (Book 22:22) - If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry.

Measure-For-Measure: The Torah's Obsession With Justice

327 - 22:24 (Book 22:23) - My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless.

327 - Because the Torah is preoccupied -- even obsessed -- with justice, this verse reflects the Torah's theme of measure-for-measure: The way in which we treat others will in turn affect how we are treated.

327 - In nineteenth-century America, slaveholders engaged in a whole host of behaviors for which they would have demanded the death penalty for anyone who engaged in such behaviors against their own wives and children. Then, sure enough, the Civil War came along and caused tens of thousands of slave-owners' wives and children to become widows and orphans.

327 - Abraham Lincoln said in his second inaugural address he saw all this as God's judgment "until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword."

328 - If the Israelites oppress widows and orphans, they will become a nation of widows and orphans. Once again, the collective suffers because of the sins of some of its members. Another warning not to allow the bad people in our midst to get away with it.

328 - 22:25 (Book 22:24) - “If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not treat it like a business deal; charge no interest.

328 - On two occasions, the Torah forbids charging interest on loans extended to the poor (here and Leviticus 25:35-37). Essentially, then, this law is just another way of enjoining us to act charitably to the poor, who borrow money to pay for necessities, and might otherwise have to sell themselves as bondservants until they can afford to pay off their debts, debts that will increase dramatically if they are obligated to pay interest.

329 - 22:26 (Book 22:25) - If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, return it by sunset,

329 - A pledge is an object offered as security to guarantee the payment of a debt. The term more commonly used today for pledge is "collateral".

God Declares Himself Compassionate

329 - 22:27 (Book 22:26) - because that cloak is the only covering your neighbor has. What else can they sleep in? When they cry out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.

329 - The Torah's preoccupation is with justice, but a good world also needs compassion. But compassion only works in a just world. The Torah warns against favoring the poor, or the rich, in court.

329 - God's compassion is not something we would necessarily deduce from the world as is; neither nature nor humanity, both created by God, are particularly compassionate.

Respect For Judges And Leaders

330 - 22:28 (Book 22:27) - “Do not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people.

330 - In this verse, the word normally reserved for God, Elohim, means 'judges," as it does on a number of occasions (Exodus 21:6, for example).

330 - A certain degree of respect is due to individuals because of the office they hold, even if we disagree with the person currently holding it.

330 - There are times when one is expected to disobey the authorities. Certainly, in a tyranny, where leaders have attained authoity and rule through violence, and where judges form an arm of those criminal leaders, one is not expected to honor or obey such people.

330 - 22:29 (Book 22:28) - “Do not hold back offerings from your granaries or your vats. “You must give me the firstborn of your sons.

330 - Needless to say, the text is not commanding child sacrifice; child sacrifice is specifically listed as one of the Canaanite abominations (Deuteronomy 18:19).

331 - Rather, God is referring to the ritual of consecrating firstborn sons unto Him, which was described earlier in Exodus 13:2.

331 - 22:30 (Book 22:29) - Do the same with your cattle and your sheep. Let them stay with their mothers for seven days, but give them to me on the eighth day.

331 - 22:31 (Book 22:30) - “You are to be my holy people. So do not eat the meat of an animal torn by wild beasts; throw it to the dogs.

331 - The Hebrew word for "torn," treifah, is related to the word treif, which ultimately came to describe anything non-kosher.

331 - A major purpose of the Torah is to teach people how to elevate themselves above animals.

331 - They are also expected to bless God when they eat (Deuteronomy 8:10; Joel 2:26). In such ways, they distance themselves from animal-like behavior, and bring themselves closer to godly behavior, which in turn brings them closer to God.

31 Verses

    Exodus - Chapter 23 - 33 Verses

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Laws of Justice and Mercy

A Ban On Spreading Rumors

333 - 23:1 - “Do not spread false reports. Do not help a guilty person by being a malicious witness.

333 - The language of this verse echoes the language of the Third Commandment, which prohibits using God's name in vain. The literal translation of the Third Commandment reads, "Do not carry the name of your Lord God in vain." This verse uses the same words: "do not carry" (lo tisah, and "vain (shav - translated here as "false").

333 - Almost by definition, rumors are negative and often malicious.

333 - Therefore, passing on rumors, even if they turn out to be true, is almost always morally wrong; and considerably worse, and what is prohibited here, is passing on false rumors.

333 - People often do not realize the rumor they are spreading is false.

333 - Once a person's good name is lost, it is very hard, if not impossible, to get it back.

334 - 23:1 (Book - continued) - you shall not join hands with the guiltiy to act as a malicious witness:

334 - This statement prohibits testifying on behalf of a defendant or a litigant whom you know is in the wrong.

The Majority -- The "Herd" --
Is Too Often Morally Wrong

334 - 23:2 - “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd,

334 - 23:2 (Book) - You shall neither side with the mighty to do wrong --

334 - Translated literally this means, "Do not side with the many to do wrong." (Majority Opinion)

334 - Most good is achieved by individuals who have the courage to part from the majority when it is morally wrong.

334 - People tend to act worse in groups than when alone.

335 - People go along with the majoirity when it is wrong for at least two reasons:

1. First, people want to be well-liked, popular. It may lead a person to prefer being liked to being morally right.


2. Second, it takes courage to dissent from the immoral majority. It is a lot safer to side with an immoral majority.

335 - 23:2 (Book - continued) - you shall not give perverse testimony in a dispute so as to pervert it in favor of the mighty --

Judges Are To Enforce Justice, Not Compassion

335 - 23:3 - and do not show favoritism to a poor person in a lawsuit.

335 - The role of a judge is not to undo society's ills, but to render justice in any particular case before the court.

335 - A good society rests first and foremost on justice.

Essay: How To Treat One's Enemy

336 - 23:4 - “If you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to return it.

336 - 23:5 - If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help them with it.

336 - Virtually every one of us has enemies, rivals, or people we simply dislike. This verse prohibits us from allowing hostile and vindictive emotions to override basic human decency. We cannot do the wrong thing just because a personal enemy owns the animal.

336 - By "enemy," the Torah is referring to personal enemies, not to enemies in the sense of evil people with whom one may be at war.

336 - The Torah was unique in its preoccupation with demanding humane treatment of animals.

338 - Treat a personal enemy with fairness and respect, and the person might well find it impossible to remain an enemy.

338 - 23:6 - “Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits.

338 - Neither the wealth nor the poverty of the parties in a legal dispute should matter in court. In the courtroom, the only thing that matters is determining who is legally in the right and who is legally in the wrong.

Corrupt Judges Destroy Societies

338 - 23:7 - Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty.

338 - This is a warning to judges.

338 - The Torah, preoccupied with justice as the foundation of a decent society, knows only too well corrupt judges destroy societies.

339 - 23:7 (continued) - do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty.

339 - First, God would prefer we spare a wrongdoer than sentence an innocent person to death.

339 - Second, God explains why: because He will ultimately punish the evil-doers whom we fail to punish.

339 - This verse, therefore, with its divine declaration, "I will not acquit the wrongdoer" is one off the clearest suggestions in the Torah there is an afterlife.

Essay: The Terrible Power Of Corruption

339 - 23:8 - “Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the innocent.

339 - Bribery is the single most common form of corruption in society.

339 - A bribe is giving someone money, goods, or services dishonestly to gain an unfair advantage over others.

339 - If enough judges are bribed, a society has no justice, and cannot function.

340 - When enough police take bribes, a society is overrun by criminality.

340 - Nothing explains the success or failure of countries more than does the presence or absence of corruption.

340 - For example, the failure at this time of most African and Latin American countries, and Russia, to lift themselves from poverty is due overwhelmingly to corruption.

341 - Even the most morally upright person is not free from the temptation of bribery. In light of this, the Talmud warns: "Don't trust yourself until the day you die."

341 - 23:9 - “Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.

Sabbath Laws

The Sabbatical Year

341 - 23:10 - “For six years you are to sow your fields and harvest the crops,

341 - 23:11 - but during the seventh year let the land lie unplowed and unused. Then the poor among your people may get food from it, and the wild animals may eat what is left. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.

341 - Every seven years, the Israelites are commanded to stop working the land.

341 - This is to remind the Israelites and the world that God created the world. Just as God rested on the Seventh Day, the Israelites are to rest on the seventh day, and in the Seventh Year the land is to rest as well.

342 - 23:12 - “Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and so that the slave born in your household and the foreigner living among you may be refreshed.

Humans Are To Sanctify The Sabbath;
Animals Are To Rest On It

342 - 23:12 (continued) - so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and so that the slave born in your household and the foreigner living among you may be refreshed.

342 - We, our animals, and servants must rest.

343 - Since the observance of the Sabbath is both an ethical and a ritual/religious obligation, this verse serves as a bridge between the ethical laws preceding it and the ritual laws that now follow.

343 - 23:13 - “Be careful to do everything I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips.

The Three Annual Festivals

343 - 23:14 - “Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival to me.

343 - These three festivals were associated with important moments in the agricultural cycle: the planting, the first harvest, and the second harvest.

343 - 23:15 - “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread; for seven days eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you. Do this at the appointed time in the month of Aviv, for in that month you came out of Egypt.

“No one is to appear before me empty-handed.

343 - The Feast of Unleavened Bread (Matzo) is Passover, the holiday celebrated at the time of planting.

343 - 23:16 - “Celebrate the Festival of Harvest with the firstfruits of the crops you sow in your field. “Celebrate the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field.

344 - This is the holiday of Shavuot, the holiday that takes place at the time of the first harvest.

344 - Often referred to as Pentecost, Shavuot is the Hebrew word for "weeks." This holiday of "Weeks" was so named because the Torah commands it be celebrated exactly seven weeks after the first day of Passover. In addition to its agricultural significance, Shavuot marks the Jewish people's receiving the Torah.

343 - 23:16 (continued) - “Celebrate the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your crops from the field.

344 - This is Succot, the holiday that takes place at the time of the second harvest.

344 - In addition to its agricultural significance, this holiday commemorates the temporary portable huts in which the Israelites lived while wandering in the desert. Succot means "booths" or "huts" and the holiday is therefore known in English as Tabernacles (the biblical term for "a fixed or movable habitation usually of light construction").

344 - Deuteronomy 16:15 commands us to "have nothing but joy" on this holiday, which is why later Judaism described Succot as "the time of our happiness." As will be discussed there, happiness is a major moral and religious value.

344 - 23:17 - “Three times a year all the men are to appear before the Sovereign Lord.

345 - According to a basic principle in traditional Jewish law, women are exempt -- because of family responsibilities.

345 - Women did indeed often accompany their husbands to the sanctuary, as reflected in the account of Elkanah, Hannah, and Peninah, the story that opens the First Book of Samuel.

345 - 23:18 - “Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to me along with anything containing yeast. “The fat of my festival offerings must not be kept until morning.

345 - 23:19 - “Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God. “Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.

Essay: Why Not "Boil A Kid
In Its Mother's Milk"?
The Meaning Of An Obscure Law

345 - 23:19 (continued) - Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.

345 - Centuries ago, Maimonides speculated this prohibition was intended to keep the Israelites away from the idolatrous customs of other peoples.

346 - If some country's parliament prohibited stabbing fish while riding a bicycle, we would assume it was something people in that country did.

346 - Clearly, the Torah is sending a message: It is wrong to boil an animal in the substance with which its mother gave it life. We are never to forget animals are living creatures; and there is something mocking and even cruel about boiling a kid in the milk of its mother.

346 - It is grossly improper that the substance which fed the living animal should be used to season or flavor it afters its death.

347 - Mother's milk, the life sustaining food for her kid, should never become associated with its death.

347 - The Torah is replete with laws banning the comingling of life and death.

347 - For this reason, though the verse only prohibits the boiling of a kid in its mother's milk, for as long as we know, Jews have not cooked or eaten milk and meat together.

God’s Angel to Prepare the Way

347 - 23:20 - “See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.

347 - 23:21 - Pay attention to him and listen to what he says. Do not rebel against him; he will not forgive your rebellion, since my Name is in him.

348 - He is about to dispossess other nations so the Israelites can enter the land; and the Israelites' right to the land is not at all guaranteed -- it is conditional upon their observance of God's laws.

348 - 23:22 - If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you.

348 - God's protection, the Israelites are told, is contingent upon their obedience. Unconditional acceptance, support, protection -- none of these are Torah concepts. God's response to man, especially to the Israelites, is rooted in their acting decently.

348 - God's battle is moral, not ethnic.

No One Was "Annihilated"

348 - 23:23 - My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.

348 - Given the moral problem God "annihilating" these nations appears to raise, four points are worth noting.

1. 349 - First, "annihilate" does not mean kill every Amorite, Hittite, Perizzite, Canaanite, Hivite, and Jebusite. This is made clear seven verses later, in verse 23:30, where God says, "I will drive them out before you little by little." Furthermore, both the Bible later and modern archaeology affirm many Canaanites were not killed.


2. 349 - Second, God is speaking about a one-time situation in which He will fight on behalf of the Israelites. There is no notion in the Torah of God promising to always do so.


3. 349 - Third, here it is God doing the fighting -- just as in Egypt, where the Torah made clear the angel, not the Israelites, killed the Egyptian firstborn.


4. 349 - Fourth, it has already been established God does not protect the Jews if they cease living by His laws. In ancient religions, the gods' protection was nation-based, not morality-based.

349 - Jews who believe God would automatically fight on their behalf have not come up with helpful ideas. Indeed, they have sometimes been attracted to highly self-destructive ideas. For example, underground Jewish terrorists in Israel in the early 1980s plotted the destruction of the Dome of the Rock mosque in Jerusalem, on the assumption that though it might trigger a world-wide Islamic jihad against Jews and Israel, God would intervene and Israel would win, leading to the building of the Third Temple on the Temple Mount, (on which the mosque stands).

The Torah's Attitude Toward Idolatry
In The Land Of Israel

349 - 23:24 - Do not bow down before their gods or worship them or follow their practices. You must demolish them and break their sacred stones to pieces.

350 - The Torah is philosophically and theologically intolerant of idolatry. Rationally and morally, it could not be otherwise.

350 - The moment you assert there is only one God and therefore only one universal moral standard, you are asserting the pagan gods are false.

350 - For those who believe tolerance is always a moral virtue, this may be disturbing.

350 - Moreover, it is morally inconceivable that tolerance is always a moral virtue. Are we to be tolerant of child sacrifice?

350 - First, ethical monotheism's intolerance of false gods does not extend to persecution of followers of other religions. The follower of the Torah is neither instructed nor allowed to persecute, let alone kill, pagan believers because of their pagan beliefs.

350 - Second, even regarding pagan places of worship, this command applies only to the Land of Israel. Jews were never called upon to destroy pagan places of worship outside of Israel.

350 - 23:25 - Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you,

Do God's Promises Of No Sickness
Conform To Reality?

350 - 23:26 - and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span.

350 - God promises in return for serving Him, He will eradicate illness, miscarriage, and barrenness. These verses are troublesome to our modern sensibilities, since righteousness has never guaranteed good health.

351 - Obviously, the God who split a sea, delivered water from rocks, and brought ten plagues on Egypt can do anything. And if the Israelites all led the type of life God demanded of them, God might well have abolished illness.

351 - It is only to suggest no other promised reward would have been nearly as effective in getting the Israelites, or anyone else 3,000 years ago, to consistently do the right thing.

351 - Jews understood this long ago. As the Talmud put it, "The reward for observing a mitzvah [commandment] is not granted in this world." Rather, the Talmud says, "The reward for observing a mitzvah is observing a mitzvah."

351 - No one can rationally believe doing God's will guarantees one will, for example, never develop cancer or die in an earthquake. If that were the case, we would have to draw the irrational and cruel conclusion that anyone who dies prematurely was being punished by God -- or the equally irrational conclusion that all those who live long and healthy lives have lived God-centered lives.

352 - When people act decently, disease is minimized. For example, God wants people to treat the earth well, and when they don't, pollution of the environment leads to poor health conditions.

352 - God wants people to engage in monogamous sex, and non-monogamous sexual practices are the ones that cause sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis, genital herpes, and AIDS.

352 - So, too, those nations with the longest life spans are free countries, not tyrannies

352 - Take the dramatic example of North and South Korea -- the identical nation and ethnic group divided into two countries, one free and one a tyranny. In 2012, the lifespan of Koreans in the free South was at least twelve years longer than that of North Koreans.

352 - 23:27 - “I will send my terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn their backs and run.

352 - 23:28 - I will send the hornet ahead of you to drive the Hivites, Canaanites and Hittites out of your way.

352 - 23:29 - But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and the wild animals too numerous for you.

352 - 23:30 - Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.

352 - 23:31 - “I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give into your hands the people who live in the land, and you will drive them out before you.

352 - 23:31 (Book) - I will set your borders from the Sea of Reeds to the Sea of Philistia, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hands, and you will drive them out before you.

353 - The Torah is outlining here the ideal borders of the Jewish state, borders never fully achieved even during the time of Kings David and Solomon, when the Jewish state was at its largest.

353 - Moreover, it was not up to the Israelites -- or Jews thereafter -- to set these borders. It is for God to do, in His time: "I will set your borders..."

353 - 23:32 - Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods.

353 - 23:33 - Do not let them live in your land or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare to you.”

353 - As noted above, the goal of the commands to drive out the Canaanites was to develop one small corner of the world in which ethical monotheism could grow.

353 - And the biblical warning, "it will prove a snare to you," turned out to be correct.

353 - Israel's later history is replete with accounts of the Israelites assimilating with pagan tribes and worshipping their idols. To cite one example, Judges 2:11-13 cites instances in which the Israelites forsook the "God of their father Who had brought them out of the land of Egypt" and worshipped Baal and the gods of their neighbors.

33 Verses

    Exodus - Chapter 24 - 18 Verses

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The Covenant Confirmed

355 - 24:1 - Then the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. You are to worship at a distance,

355 - Nadab and Abihu, mentioned at the end of the verse, are Aaron's two oldest sons (Numbers 3:2). The priesthood has not yet been established, but when it is the Torah ordains it to be transmitted generation to generation from father to son (Exodus 40:12-15).

355 - 24:1 (continued) - and seventy of the elders of Israel.

The Devaluing Of The Old
Means Wisdom Isn't Valued

356 - 24:1 (continued) - and seventy of the elders of Israel. You are to worship at a distance,

355 - Throughout history, not only in ancient Israel, virtually every society greatly valued old people -- because old people were associated with wisdom, and wisdom was valued.

355 - In the contemporary world, especially in the West, youth is increasingly valued more than age. That is either a reflection of the fact that wisdom is less valued and therefore the old are less valued or the old are less valued and therefore wisdom is less valued.

356 - We live in an age that values -- or at least claims to value -- knowledge. But knowledge without wisdom tells you nothing about how to lead yor life. It is like owning a map but having no destination. If you don't know where you need to go, knowing exactly where you are is useless.

356 - 24:1 (continued) - You are to worship at a distance,

356 - 24:2 - but Moses alone is to approach the Lord; the others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him.”

356 - Only Moses is allowed to come closer to God. This is consistent with the Torah's posthumous assessment of Moses's unique status: "Never again did there arise in Israel a prophet like Moses -- who the Lord singled out, face to face" (Deuteronomy 34:10).

356 - 24:3 - When Moses went and told the people all the Lord’s words and laws (commands), they responded with one voice, “Everything the Lord has said we will do.”

356 - "The commands" refer to the Ten Commandments (chapter 20).

357 - The Israelites give public assent to all the commandments and laws -- a rare moment of agreement and unity in Jewish life.

357 - 24:4 - Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said. He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel.

357 - 24:5 - Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord.

357 - 24:6 - Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he splashed against the altar.

357 - 24:7 - Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.”

Essay: Doing And Understanding God's Will

357 - 24:7 (continued) - They responded, “We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.” (Obey can be translated as "understand")

358 - Doing leads to understanding. When we act lovingly we understand love. We understand marriage only after being married.

359 - But that is not all the Israelites are saying here. They are committing themselves to understanding the commandments, not just to doing them.

359 - This needs to be emphasized because for many religious people, too much of their religious life is habit, not understanding.

359 - In other words, ethical behavior is an end in itself; ritual behavior is a means to an end. Those ends are holiness, God, and the elevation of the self to a higher plane.

359 - 24:8 - Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

359 - 24:9 - Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up

360 - 24:10 - and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli (sapphire), as bright blue as the sky.

360 - 24:11 - But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.

360 - 24:11 (Book) - Yet He did not raise His hand against the leaders of the Israelites; they beheld God, and they ate and drank.

360 - The Torah mentions the leaders of Israel ate and drank to show they survived the experience of beholding God. The point is they survived precisely because they did not literally see God. Thus, the words translated here as "they beheld God," can be better rendered as "they had a vision of God."

360 - 24:12 - The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”

360 - 24:13 - Then Moses set out with Joshua his aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God.

360 - 24:14 - He said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you, and anyone involved in a dispute can go to them.”

360 - 24:15 - When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it,

360 - 24:16 - and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud.

361 - 24:17 - To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.

361 - 24:18 - Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

361 - This verse serves as a preamble to the story of the golden calf (chapter 32), which the people will build when they despair at losing their leader for forty days.

18 Verses

    Exodus - Chapter 25 - 40 Verses

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Offerings for the Tabernacle

363 - 25:1 - The Lord said to Moses,

363 - The remainder of the Book of Exodus is largely about the building of the Tabernacle, the portable sanctuary used by the Israelites in the desert. More chapters are devoted to the Tabernacle and the details of its construction and functioning than to any other subject in the five books of the Torah.

363 - These chapters describe God's instructions to Moses about how to construct the Tabernacle; the later chapters describe the Tabernacle's actual construction.

Why The Unparalleled Amount Of Detail Here?

363 - One reason for the extraordinarily detailed instructions listed here is the most obvious one: because the Torah records what God says.

364 - The most persuasive reason I have heard was offered by Rabbi Saul Berman. By listing every material required and how much was required, there would be no opportunity for those tasked with collecting the gifts to solicit more than was required and pocket the difference.

364 - There is a great virtue in openness, particularly in public financial matters. Individuals and especially governments have been notorious for corruption in building projects.

364 - One other reason was to communicate the important role aesthetic beauty can play in the worship of God.

Essay: In Religious Ritual -- Unlike In Ethical Behavior -- Intentions Matter

364 - 25:2 - “Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from everyone whose heart prompts them to give.

364 - Ordinarily, the Torah gives commandments we must fulfill regardless of whether our heart is in fulfilling them or not.

364 - Accordingly, the Torah commands that every third year we give ten percent of our earnings to the poor (Deuteronomy 26:12). But with regard to giving to God, our hearts can determine how much we give.

364 - Charity is given to people. Therefore it is a moral/ethical act. And regarding the ethical, God does not demand the heart. Good actions -- actions that help other human beings -- are worthwhile in and of themselves because recipients of charity are helped regardless of our intentions.

365 - Or, to put it another way: Good actions are good, even if animated by selfishness. And bad actions are bad, even if animated by good intentions.

365 - In ethics, what matters most is results, not intentions. At the same time, good intentions leading to bad results are worthless.

365 - Such is the case, for example, when wealthy nations, for altruistic reasons, give large sums of money to poor countries whose corrupt governments are then strengthened. Such "aid" does more harm than good.

365 - Society must, of course, take care of those who are in real need. But a certain percentage of people who are capable of working and providing for themselves will choose not to work, and instead seek to be financially supported by the government. This in turn leads to threee awful consequences:

1. It erodes the character of those relying on such aid.


2. It reduces the amount of resources available to care for the truly needy.


3. It literally makes addicts out of many of these people -- they become addicted to receiving unearned income. It can be as difficult to wean people off unearned benefits as it is to wean people off drugs.

365 - Each of these consequences is the product of good intentions.

365 - Regarding morality, intentions matter little; and often, not at all. But when it comes to relating to God (prayer, ritual acts, etc.), intentions matter a great deal.

365 - The Israelites' gifts will be used to build a place to worship God. This, then, is a ritual act, and when it comes to ritual, our hearts need to be involved if the act is to have significance. Unlike moral actions, which are ends in themselves, a ritual is not an end in itself but a means of bringing the individual closer to God and to greater holiness.

Essay: Beauty Can Bring People Closer To God

366 - 25:3 - These are the offerings you are to receive from them: gold, silver and bronze;

366 - The list that follows includes all the Israelites' most valuable possessions.

366 - Many moderns strongly criticize religions for building ornate temples, churches, and cathedrals. All that wealth would be much better used to help the poor, they argue.

366 - I don't find this a valid criticism.

367 - If all the gold in every cathedral in the poorest Catholic countries were melted, and everything of value in those cathedrals were sold off, with the money then dispersed among its neediest citizens, it would have minimal immediate, and no enduring, impact on poverty.

367 - These cathedrals have given untold numbers of poor (and wealthy) people peace, meaning, and solace -- things for which secular Westerners have little appreciation or empathy.

367 - Like the Israelites in the desert, most of these poor people have preferred to establish an enduring connection to God through their gifts than have a little bit of extra gold for a few days or weeks.

367 - The late British rabbi, Hugo Gryn, recounted a story from when he was a teenage prisoner in the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz: My father constructed a little Hanukkah menorah out of scrap metal. For a wick he took some threads from his prison uniform. For oil, he used some butter that he somehow procured from a guard. But I protested at the 'waste' of precious calories. Would it not be better to share butter on a crust of bread than to burn it?" "Hugo," said my father, "Both you and I know that a person can live a very long time without food. But Hugo, I tell you, a person cannot live a single day without hope."

367 - Without God, there is no hope. Only God gives us hope there is something beyond this life -- a destination where ultimate justice is achieved, where we reconnect with loved ones, and where life doesn't abruptly end for all eternity. A beautiful religious ritual or a beautiful religious edifice can bring us closer to God and hope.

368 - Beautiful rituals, beautiful places of worship, beautiful art, and music that elevate us and bring us closer to God are worth more than material benefits.

368 - 25:3 (continued) - These are the offerings you are to receive from them:

1. Metals
2. Dryed yarns
3. Fabrics
4. Timber
5. Oil
6. Spices
7. Gems

368 - The number seven recurs throughout the description of the blueprint for the Tabernacle and, as the number seven -- repeated over and over in the Torah -- always does, recalls God's creation of the world in seven days.

368 - 25:3 (continued) - gold, silver and bronze;

368 - In the Tabernacle, these materials are encountered in the opposite order. The entrance area is copper; the next chamber is silver; and the Holy of Holies (the innermost chamber where God's spirit dwells) is gold. "The closer the object is to the Holy of Holies, the more valuable the metal of which it is made" (Sarna)."

369 - Iron is not mentioned because it was used as a weapon of war and therefore had no place in God's sanctuary. The Talmud explains: "For iron [used in making weapons] was created to shorten man's days, while the altar was created to lengthen man's days, and it does not seem right that that which shortens life should be wielded against that which prolongs it."

369 - 25:4 - blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair;

369 - Each of these colors has symbolic significance. Blue represents the heavens and the creation of the world; purple represents royalty; and crimson represents sin (Isaiah 1:18).

369 - 25:5 - ram skins dyed red and another type of durable leather; acacia wood;

369 - 25:6 - olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense;

369 - 25:7 - and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece.

369 - The ephod was a vest worn by the high priest when he presided at the altar. Two onyx stones, upon which were engraved the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, were placed on the shoulder of the ephod.

Where Is God?

369 - 25:8 - “Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them.

369 - We would expect this verse to read, "And let them make Me a santuary that I may dwell in it." Instead, this verse states God will dwell "among them." God wants the Israelites to know that while He is invisible, He is not remote; He dwells in their midst, wherever they are.

370 - The portability of the Tabernacle is a reminder God is not restricted to any specific location -- another revolutionary innovatioon of the Torah.

370 - The nineteenth-century rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk challenged his followers one day with a question: "Where does God exist?" Puzzled by what sounded almost heretical, they answered: "God exists everywhere." "No," the rabbi responded: "God exists wherever man lets Him in."

370 - God's statement that He will dwell among the people emphasizes the Tabernacle is not for Him, but for them. God can be found everywhere, but there are certain settings in which it is easier for us to encounter Him. The Tabernacle is intended to serve as one such setting.

370 - God can be experienced through nature, but God is not in nature, He is above it; it is His handiwork).

370 - God is most present whenever we are good and just to other human beings. Nothing inspires people to believe in God as much as God-centered people doing good, just as nothing alienates people from belief in God as much as people doing evil in God's name.

Essay: Without Standards,
Everything Good Will Fail

370 - 25:9 - Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.

371 - The highest achievement of art is to elevate man.

371 - While it is certainly possible to be a Torah-based ethical monotheist without identifying with any religion, there is, nevertheless, much truth to what the twentieth-century American philosopher, George Santayana, said: (Page 372) - "To attempt to be religious without practicing a specific religion is like trying to speak without speaking a specific language."

372 - Without the Torah, we would not know how to become God-centered. Without the Torah, we would not even know what "God" means.

372 - The great lesson of this verse is individuals and societies need ethical, moral, artistic, and religious standards that transcend them or there will be no more ethics, morality, art, or good relgion.

The Ark

372 - 25:10 - “Have them make an ark of acacia wood—two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high.

372 - The Torah here lists the items to be built and placed in the Tabernacle. These items are listed in order from the most holy to the least holy, starting with the Ark The Ark is the holiest object because it contains the Ten Commandments, which is the centerpiece of the Tabernacle.

372 - A cubit is a standard biblical measurement. In ancient times, it was generally thought to be the distance between the tip of the middle finger and the elbow of a person of average height. The Hebrew word for cubit, amah also means "forearm." It is assumed to be about 18 to 21 inches (45 to 53 centimeters).

372 - Ark Measurements:
Length (2.5 cubits): 45-52.5 inches
Width (1.5 cubits): 27-31.5 inches
Height (1.5 cubits): 27-31.5 inches
Approximately: 4 feet Long x 2 feet Wide x 2 feet High

372 - 25:11 - Overlay it with pure gold, both inside and out, and make a gold molding around it.

373 - Gold is the most valuable and expensive metal, and thus it is used for the most important structure in the Tabernacle.

373 - 25:12 - Cast four gold rings for it and fasten them to its four feet, with two rings on one side and two rings on the other.

373 - 25:13 - Then make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.

373 - 25:14 - Insert the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry it.

373 - 25:15 - The poles are to remain in the rings of this ark; they are not to be removed.

373 - The Ark required poles so, like everything else in the Santuary, it could be portable.

The Ten Commandments:
The Most Important Words In The Torah

373 - 25:16 - Then put in the ark the tablets of the covenant law, which I will give you.

373 - Only the ten Commandments are placed in the Ark; no other words from the Torah.

373 - Within the Jewish tradition, there has long been a belief that, because the Torah is divine, all its words are of equal importance. But one should not infer that, if all the words are divine, they are, therefore, of equal importance. (Page 374) - They are all important; but they are not equally important.

374 - There is a powerful message in the placing of the Ten Commandments -- the core document of ethical monotheism -- in the ark, which is in the holiest part of the Tabernacle. It is a physical representation of a major Torah teaching; the holy protects the ethical.

374 - Ever since the French Enlightenment, Western man has believed ethics can survive without the holy, meaning without God. But "the death of God" along with the death of the holy inevitably leads to a moral collapse. It is an open question whether Western societies will survive "the death of God" (as famously declared in 1882 by Friedrich Nietzsche); and if those societies die, there is no reason to believe they will be replaced by something morally superior -- and a great deal of reason to believe they will not.

374 - 25:17 - “Make an atonement cover of pure gold—two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide.

374 - The Hebrew word for cover, kaporet, comes from the same root as the Hebrew word for atonement, kippur. Perhaps atonement is a way of covering our iniquities by burying them under the weight of good deeds.

374 - A rabbinic text posits the cover is made of gold as a form of atonement for the sin of the golden calf (see Exodus, chapter 32), thereby reminding us gold can be used for idolatry or for holiness: It is our choice.

374 - Atonement is fundamental to the Torah, but much of the modern world has either forgotten its importance or deliberately rejected it.

375 - The message of the sanctuary was we are all guilty to varying degrees, and have all committed offenses for which we must atone, but the message today -- in part due to the widespread substitution of the therapeutic for the moral -- is we should not burden ourselves with feelings of guilt. In addition, personal guilt -- the argument being that people who commit violent crimes, for example, do so because of social inequality, racism, poverty, or other forces outside the criminal. But a society that raises people to think they are not responsible for the evil they do will, quite simply, raise many people who do evil acts.

The Cherubim

375 - 25:18 - And make two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover.

375 - In the Book of Ezekiel (10:9-14), the cherubim are described as winged creatures with four faces: that of a man, a lion, an ox, and an eagle.

375 - The cherubim thus allude to the place where man dwelled free of sin.

375 - The images on the cherubim represented the most valuable beings of each class of life.

375 - The ox is the most valuable working creature. (Page 376) - the eagle is the greatest flying creature; the lion is the greatest of the predators; and man is the highest being of all.

376 - 25:19 - Make one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; make the cherubim of one piece with the cover, at the two ends.

376 - 25:20 - The cherubim are to have their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the cover.

376 - Everything in the Tabernacle functions to shield and protect the holier structure beneath it. The wings of the cherubim shielded the cover; the cover shields the Ark; the Ark shields the tablets; and the tablets; i.e., the Ten Commandments, shield and safeguard civilizaiton.

376 - 25:21 - Place the cover on top of the ark and put in the ark the tablets of the covenant law that I will give you.

376 - 25:22 - There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the covenant law, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites.

The Table

377 - 25:23 - “Make a table of acacia wood—two cubits long, a cubit wide and a cubit and a half high.

377 - 25:24 - Overlay it with pure gold and make a gold molding around it.

377 - 25:25 - Also make around it a rim a handbreadth wide and put a gold molding on the rim.

377 - 25:26 - Make four gold rings for the table and fasten them to the four corners, where the four legs are.

377 - 25:27 - The rings are to be close to the rim to hold the poles used in carrying the table.

377 - 25:28 - Make the poles of acacia wood, overlay them with gold and carry the table with them.

377 - 25:29 - And make its plates and dishes of pure gold, as well as its pitchers and bowls for the pouring out of offerings.

378 - 25:30 - Put the bread of the Presence on this table to be before me at all times.

The Lampstand

378 - 25:31 - “Make a lampstand of pure gold. Hammer out its base and shaft, and make its flowerlike cups, buds and blossoms of one piece with them.

378 - What is being described here is the menorah, or candelabra, which was the first symbol of the Jewish people. Today it is used as the coat of arms of the State of Israel. Unlike the table, which was made of acacia wood and overlaid with gold, the menorah is hammered from a single block, or ingot, of pure gold.

378 - 25:32 - Six branches are to extend from the sides of the lampstand—three on one side and three on the other.

379 - 25:33 - Three cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms are to be on one branch, three on the next branch, and the same for all six branches extending from the lampstand.

379 - In the Bible, a tree symbolizes life.

379 - 25:34 - And on the lampstand there are to be four cups shaped like almond flowers with buds and blossoms.

379 - 25:35 - One bud shall be under the first pair of branches extending from the lampstand, a second bud under the second pair, and a third bud under the third pair—six branches in all.

379 - 25:36 - The buds and branches shall all be of one piece with the lampstand, hammered out of pure gold.

379 - 25:37 - “Then make its seven lamps and set them up on it so that they light the space in front of it.

379 - Unlike the Chanukah menorah, which contains nine lamps (eight representing the eight days of the holiday, and one that holds the candle used to light the others), the menorah in the Tabernacle has seven. The centraL lamp represents the Sabbath, and the other six represent the days of the week.

379 - 25:38 - Its wick trimmers and trays are to be of pure gold.

380 - 25:39 - A talent of pure gold is to be used for the lampstand and all these accessories.

380 - 25:40 - See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.

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    Exodus - Chapter 26 - 37 Verses

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381 - The Torah Turns From A Discussion Of The Objects And Vessels Inside the Tabernacle to a description of the tapestries surrounding and covering it.

Once Again, The Importance Of Aesthetic Beauty In The Worship Of God

The Tabernacle

381 - 26:1 - “Make the tabernacle with ten curtains of finely twisted linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, with cherubim woven into them by a skilled worker.

381 - The elaborate details in this chapter once again attest to the importance the Torah attached to the place of great art in religious life.

382 - 26:2 - All the curtains are to be the same size—twenty-eight cubits long and four cubits wide.

382 - 26:3 - Join five of the curtains together, and do the same with the other five.

382 - 26:4 - Make loops of blue material along the edge of the end curtain in one set, and do the same with the end curtain in the other set.

382 - 26:5 - Make fifty loops on one curtain and fifty loops on the end curtain of the other set, with the loops opposite each other.

One God, One Sanctuary

382 - 26:6 - Then make fifty gold clasps and use them to fasten the curtains together so that the tabernacle is a unit.

382 - 26:6 (Book) - And make fifty gold clasps ,and couple the cloths to one another with the clasps, so that the Tabernacle becomes one whole.

383 - The words translated as "so that the Tabernacle becomes one whole" literally mean, "And the Tabernacle will be one."

383 - A new religion with a single deity required a single sanctuary.

383 - 26:7 - “Make curtains of goat hair for the tent over the tabernacle—eleven altogether.

383 - 26:8 - All eleven curtains are to be the same size—thirty cubits long and four cubits wide.

383 - 26:9 - Join five of the curtains together into one set and the other six into another set. Fold the sixth curtain double at the front of the tent.

384 - 26:10 - Make fifty loops along the edge of the end curtain in one set and also along the edge of the end curtain in the other set.

384 - 26:11 - Then make fifty bronze clasps and put them in the loops to fasten the tent together as a unit.

384 - 26:12 - As for the additional length of the tent curtains, the half curtain that is left over is to hang down at the rear of the tabernacle.

384 - 26:13 - The tent curtains will be a cubit longer on both sides; what is left will hang over the sides of the tabernacle so as to cover it.

384 - 26:14 - Make for the tent a covering of ram skins dyed red, and over that a covering of the other durable leather.

384 - 26:15 - “Make upright frames of acacia wood for the tabernacle.

384 - The Torah does not explain why acacia trees were used for the building of the Ark.

384 - 26:16 - Each frame is to be ten cubits long and a cubit and a half wide,

384 - 26:17 - with two projections set parallel to each other. Make all the frames of the tabernacle in this way.

384 - 26:18 - Make twenty frames for the south side of the tabernacle

385 - 26:19 - and make forty silver bases to go under them—two bases for each frame, one under each projection.

385 - 26:20 - For the other side, the north side of the tabernacle, make twenty frames

385 - 26:21 - and forty silver bases—two under each frame.

385 - 26:22 - Make six frames for the far end, that is, the west end of the tabernacle,

385 - 26:23 - and make two frames for the corners at the far end.

385 - 26:24 - At these two corners they must be double from the bottom all the way to the top and fitted into a single ring; both shall be like that.

385 - 26:25 - So there will be eight frames and sixteen silver bases—two under each frame.

385 - 26:26 - “Also make crossbars of acacia wood: five for the frames on one side of the tabernacle,

385 - 26:27 - five for those on the other side, and five for the frames on the west, at the far end of the tabernacle.

385 - 26:28 - The center crossbar is to extend from end to end at the middle of the frames.

385 - 26:29 - Overlay the frames with gold and make gold rings to hold the crossbars. Also overlay the crossbars with gold.

386 - 26:30 - “Set up the tabernacle according to the plan shown you on the mountain.

386 - 26:31 - “Make a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen, with cherubim woven into it by a skilled worker.

386 - This curtain, described in verses 31-35, separates the inner sanctum known as the Holy of Holies (where God's spirit dwelled) from the holy place outside it.

386 - 26:32 - Hang it with gold hooks on four posts of acacia wood overlaid with gold and standing on four silver bases.

386 - 26:33 - Hang the curtain from the clasps and place the ark of the covenant law behind the curtain. The curtain will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.

386 - 26:34 - Put the atonement cover on the ark of the covenant law in the Most Holy Place.

386 - 26:35 - Place the table outside the curtain on the north side of the tabernacle and put the lampstand opposite it on the south side.

386 - 26:36 - “For the entrance to the tent make a curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen—the work of an embroiderer.

386 - 26:37 - Make gold hooks for this curtain and five posts of acacia wood overlaid with gold. And cast five bronze bases for them.

37 Verses

    Exodus - Chapter 27 - 21 Verses

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The Altar of Burnt Offering

387 - 27:1 - “Build an altar of acacia wood, three cubits high; it is to be square, five cubits long and five cubits wide.

387 - The text moves to the description of the Tabernacle's courtyard, where sacrifices were offered.

Essay: Was Animal Sacrifice In The Torah Immoral?

387 - The sacrificial system strikes many moderns, perhaps most of us, as primitive and even cruel. But there are several reasons to reevaluate this initial reaction.

387 - First, anyone who eats meat -- in other words, the great majority of humanity -- has no legitimate reason to oppose animal sacrifice on moral grounds. Since the large majority of the biblical sacrifices were eaten by human beings, they were, essentially, public religious slaughtering.

387 - People today eat beef and chicken without thinking twice about the life of the animal taken. In the world of the Torah, however, the killing and eating of animals was taken extremely seriously and imbued with sanctity. Moreover, the animals sacrificed were not subjected to the cruelties of modern slaughter-houses or factory farming, the fate of the large majority of animals eaten in our time.

387 - In light of that, only a vegetarian could morally object to the sacrificial system -- and any such objection would have to be made against every secular or religous society that allowed meat eating.

388 - Second, animal sacrifice was, or course, an immeasurable moral advance over human sacrifice, which was universal in the ancient world -- another example of how the Torah changed the world.

388 - Of course, the Torah repeatedly prohibits human sacrifice, which God declares a moral abomination (see Leviticus 20:2-3), but does allow animal sacrifice.

388 - One might add, considering the number of immoral (as opposed to morally justified) wars nations, religions, and tyrannical regimes have waged, child sacrifice never really died.

388 - Only the age of the sacrificed children may have changed. And what else would one call sending young men and women on suicide terror missions?

388 - Third, unlike meat-eating generally, sacrifices were performed for noble goals: to atone for sins and to come closer to a moral God. The Hebrew word for sacrifice, korban, comes from the Hebrew word for "close" (karov). The sacrificial system is predicated on the notion we must give up -- sacrifice -- something precious as a way of getting closer to God. The giving up of an animal, and not just any animal, but a very fine one -- the best of one's herd, or the best specimen one could buy, which had a significant practical and financial value -- constituted such a sacrifice.

388 - The fundamental idea behind the sacrificial system -- giving to God something precious to us -- thus remains relevant. The reason is nothing worthwhile comes without sacrifice.

388 - Parents sacrifice a geat deal on behalf of their children; spouses sacrifice on behalf of their marriage; friends make sacrifices to maintain their friendships; and we sacrifice to be better at our professions.

388 - If we didn't make sacrifices, we would lose our children, our spouses, our friends, and our jobs.

388 - But when it comes to God and religion, most people don't think in terms of sacrifice. They think closeness to God and a religious life should come automatically, no sacrifice needed. The sacrificial system taught ancient Israelites the truth that sacrifice was necessay for a meaningful religious life.

389 - Of course, religious sacrifice today does not involve giving up livestock. It involves giving up money and time. In terms of money, this is generally understood to mean financial contributions to religious institutions and other charities. In terms of time, it means engaging in Bible study, other religious study, prayer, ritual observance, celebration of holy days, working to build a religious community, and doing volunteer work.

389 - It is trite to point out that one of the great lessons of the sacrifical system is the importance of sacrifice to a good life and to a religious life.

389 - 27:2 - Make a horn at each of the four corners, so that the horns and the altar are of one piece, and overlay the altar with bronze.

389 - 27:3 - Make all its utensils of bronze—its pots to remove the ashes, and its shovels, sprinkling bowls, meat forks and firepans.

389 - 27:4 - Make a grating for it, a bronze network, and make a bronze ring at each of the four corners of the network.

389 - 27:5 - Put it under the ledge of the altar so that it is halfway up the altar.

389 - 27:6 - Make poles of acacia wood for the altar and overlay them with bronze.

389 - Richard Elliott Friedman notes: "The quantity of detail in these chapters is an indication that these are authentic descriptions of the Tabernacle and its accoutrements. What motive would there be to make all this up? The dominant view in critical biblical scholarship for over a hundred years has been the tabernacle is ficition. The character of the text, however, argues against that view as much as the content does."

389 - 27:7 - The poles are to be inserted into the rings so they will be on two sides of the altar when it is carried.

389 - 27:8 - Make the altar hollow, out of boards. It is to be made just as you were shown on the mountain.

The Courtyard

390 - 27:9 - “Make a courtyard for the tabernacle. The south side shall be a hundred cubits long and is to have curtains of finely twisted linen,

390 - 27:10 - with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases and with silver hooks and bands on the posts.

390 - 27:11 - The north side shall also be a hundred cubits long and is to have curtains, with twenty posts and twenty bronze bases and with silver hooks and bands on the posts.

390 - 27:12 - “The west end of the courtyard shall be fifty cubits wide and have curtains, with ten posts and ten bases.

390 - 27:13 - On the east end, toward the sunrise, the courtyard shall also be fifty cubits wide.

390 - 27:14 - Curtains fifteen cubits long are to be on one side of the entrance, with three posts and three bases,

390 - 27:15 - and curtains fifteen cubits long are to be on the other side, with three posts and three bases.

390 - 27:16 - “For the entrance to the courtyard, provide a curtain twenty cubits long, of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen—the work of an embroiderer—with four posts and four bases.

390 - 27:17 - All the posts around the courtyard are to have silver bands and hooks, and bronze bases.

390 - 27:18 - The courtyard shall be a hundred cubits long and fifty cubits wide, with curtains of finely twisted linen five cubits high, and with bronze bases.

390 - 27:19 - All the other articles used in the service of the tabernacle, whatever their function, including all the tent pegs for it and those for the courtyard, are to be of bronze.

Oil for the Lampstand

390 - 27:20 - “Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning.

391 - 27:21 - In the tent of meeting, outside the curtain that shields the ark of the covenant law, Aaron and his sons are to keep the lamps burning before the Lord from evening till morning. This is to be a lasting ordinance among the Israelites for the generations to come.

391 - The twelfth-century commentator Rashbam noted this is the only commandment pertaining to the Tabernacle that applies for all time.

391 - To this day, synagogues throughout the world have a constantly-burning light known as an "eternal lamp" or "eternal light" (Ner Tamid) that takes the place of the regularly-kindled lamps in the Tabernacle.

391 - "This is the omnly commanded practice associated with the ancient Tabernacle that is still with us."

21 Verses

    Exodus - Chapter 28 - 43 Verses

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The Priestly Garments

393 - 28:1 - “Have Aaron your brother brought to you from among the Israelites, along with his sons Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, so they may serve me as priests.

Essay: The Benefits Of A Hereditary Priesthood

The Role Of The Priest

The Priesthood As A Male Institution

Essay: The Importance Of Clothing

399 - 28:2 - Make sacred garments for your brother Aaron to give him dignity and honor.

400 - 28:3 - Tell all the skilled workers to whom I have given wisdom in such matters that they are to make garments for Aaron, for his consecration, so he may serve me as priest.

401 - 28:4 - These are the garments they are to make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a woven tunic, a turban and a sash. They are to make these sacred garments for your brother Aaron and his sons, so they may serve me as priests.

401 - 28:5 - Have them use gold, and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and fine linen.

The Ephod

402 - 28:6 - “Make the ephod of gold, and of blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and of finely twisted linen—the work of skilled hands.

402 - 28:7 - It is to have two shoulder pieces attached to two of its corners, so it can be fastened.

402 - 28:8 - Its skillfully woven waistband is to be like it—of one piece with the ephod and made with gold, and with blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and with finely twisted linen.

402 - 28:9 - “Take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel

402 - 28:10 - in the order of their birth—six names on one stone and the remaining six on the other.

402 - 28:11 - Engrave the names of the sons of Israel on the two stones the way a gem cutter engraves a seal. Then mount the stones in gold filigree settings

402 - 28:12 - and fasten them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel. Aaron is to bear the names on his shoulders as a memorial before the Lord.

402 - 28:13 - Make gold filigree settings

402 - 28:14 - and two braided chains of pure gold, like a rope, and attach the chains to the settings.

The Breastpiece

402 - 28:15 - “Fashion a breastpiece for making decisions—the work of skilled hands. Make it like the ephod: of gold, and of blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and of finely twisted linen.

403 - 28:16 - It is to be square—a span long and a span wide—and folded double.

403 - 28:17 - Then mount four rows of precious stones on it. The first row shall be carnelian, chrysolite and beryl;

403 - 28:18 - the second row shall be turquoise, lapis lazuli and emerald;

403 - 28:19 - the third row shall be jacinth, agate and amethyst;

403 - 28:20 - the fourth row shall be topaz, onyx and jasper. Mount them in gold filigree settings.

403 - 28:21 - There are to be twelve stones, one for each of the names of the sons of Israel, each engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes.

403 - 28:22 - “For the breastpiece make braided chains of pure gold, like a rope.

403 - 28:23 - Make two gold rings for it and fasten them to two corners of the breastpiece.

403 - 28:24 - Fasten the two gold chains to the rings at the corners of the breastpiece,

403 - 28:25 - and the other ends of the chains to the two settings, attaching them to the shoulder pieces of the ephod at the front.

404 - 28:26 - Make two gold rings and attach them to the other two corners of the breastpiece on the inside edge next to the ephod.

404 - 28:27 - Make two more gold rings and attach them to the bottom of the shoulder pieces on the front of the ephod, close to the seam just above the waistband of the ephod.

404 - 28:28 - The rings of the breastpiece are to be tied to the rings of the ephod with blue cord, connecting it to the waistband, so that the breastpiece will not swing out from the ephod.

404 - 28:29 - “Whenever Aaron enters the Holy Place, he will bear the names of the sons of Israel over his heart on the breastpiece of decision as a continuing memorial before the Lord.

404 - 28:30 - Also put the Urim and the Thummim in the breastpiece, so they may be over Aaron’s heart whenever he enters the presence of the Lord. Thus Aaron will always bear the means of making decisions for the Israelites over his heart before the Lord.

Other Priestly Garments

405 - 28:31 - “Make the robe of the ephod entirely of blue cloth,

405 - 28:32 - with an opening for the head in its center. There shall be a woven edge like a collar around this opening, so that it will not tear.

405 - 28:33 - Make pomegranates of blue, purple and scarlet yarn around the hem of the robe, with gold bells between them.

405 - 28:34 - The gold bells and the pomegranates are to alternate around the hem of the robe.

405 - 28:35 - Aaron must wear it when he ministers. The sound of the bells will be heard when he enters the Holy Place before the Lord and when he comes out, so that he will not die.

406 - 28:36 - “Make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it as on a seal: holy to the Lord.

406 - 28:37 - Fasten a blue cord to it to attach it to the turban; it is to be on the front of the turban.

406 - 28:38 - It will be on Aaron’s forehead, and he will bear the guilt involved in the sacred gifts the Israelites consecrate, whatever their gifts may be. It will be on Aaron’s forehead continually so that they will be acceptable to the Lord.

406 - 28:39 - “Weave the tunic of fine linen and make the turban of fine linen. The sash is to be the work of an embroiderer.

406 - 28:40 - Make tunics, sashes and caps for Aaron’s sons to give them dignity and honor.

406 - 28:41 - After you put these clothes on your brother Aaron and his sons, anoint and ordain them. Consecrate them so they may serve me as priests.

406 - 28:42 - “Make linen undergarments as a covering for the body, reaching from the waist to the thigh.

407 - 28:43 - Aaron and his sons must wear them whenever they enter the tent of meeting or approach the altar to minister in the Holy Place, so that they will not incur guilt and die. “This is to be a lasting ordinance for Aaron and his descendants.

43 Verses