Why the angel of death passes over-This week’s Torah Portion is Bo (Come)‏‏‏

Shabbat Shalom,

Welcome to Bo (Come!), this week’s Parsha (Torah Portion).

Please read with us the portion of Torah that will be read in synagogues
around the world during this week’s Shabbat (Saturday) service.  We know
you will be blessed!

BO (Come!)
Exodus 10:1–13:16; Jeremiah 46:13–28; Luke 22:7–30

“Go [come in] to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of
his officials so that I may perform these signs of mine among them that you
may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the
Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may
know that I am the Lord.”  (Exodus 10:1–2)

Last week we read how God told Moses to go to Pharaoh and demand that
the Israelites be freed from slavery.

Pharaoh Ramses II of Egypt in Abu Simbel.

Pharaoh, however, refused to free the Israelite slaves and God unleashed
plagues on the Egyptians.  Pharaoh practically begged Moses to stop each
plague.  And he promised every time to free the Israelites.

But instead of freeing them, he made their lives increasingly more difficult.

God had hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that he could display His power.

Tourists visiting the Abu Simbel temple complex built by Ramses II.

Why did God Demonstrate His Power in Egypt?

“If you refuse to let them go, I will bring locusts into your country
tomorrow.”  (Exodus 10:4)

Parsha Bo begins with the eighth plague upon Egypt: Locusts

We may wonder why God, who was fully capable of delivering Israel from
Egypt without involving Pharaoh in the process, decided to demonstrate
His power to both Israel and Egypt.

Scripture is clear on this: God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, so that He might
show His signs and wonders, in order that the Egyptians would finally know
that the God of Israel is the Sovereign Lord.

He hardened Pharaoh’s heart to demonstrate His power over all the false
gods of Egypt, represented by each of the ten plagues.

His purpose was that both Israelites and Egyptians might know that He is
YHVH Elohim (Lord God).

Jewish men prepare to read the Torah at the Western Wall on Shabbat.

The Temptation to Compromise

“Have only the men go and worship the Lord….”  (Exodus 10:11)

God sought to liberate the children of Israel from Egypt for one purpose:
that they may serve Him.

In the midst of God’s demonstrations of power, Pharaoh tried to get
Moses to compromise (just take the men) but Moses refuses to
compromise with Egypt.

“…not a hoof is to be left behind.”  (Exodus 10:26)

Lifting of the Torah on Shabbat in Israel:  the Magbiah (“lifter”) has the
honor of Hagbaha (“lifting”) and displaying the Torah’s Hebrew text for all
to see.

We must also take this same attitude with the enemy of our soul, and refuse

to compromise.  We must be determined to live completely and fully in
God’s Kingdom of Light and to leave behind nothing in the kingdom of darkness!

Only that way can we hope to serve God wholeheartedly.

In the same way Moses commanded Pharaoh to release the Israelites,
Yeshua says to the enemy of our souls, “Let my people go!”

The purpose of our liberation from the pharaoh of this world and from
slavery to sin is that we may become slaves of righteousness.

“You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to
righteousness.”  (Romans 6:18)

And what a freedom it is to be a slave to righteousness!  The enemy has
no power over those who are slaves of righteousness.

The Plague of Darkness

“Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness spreads over Egypt
—darkness that can be felt.”  (Exodus 10: 21)

With the ninth plague of darkness, Elohim (God) established His supremacy
over the Egyptian sun god. 

Although the Egyptians were plunged into total darkness, the Israelites had
light in their dwellings in the land of Goshen.  

Likewise, Yeshua came to give freedom to the prisoners of darkness.

“I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people … to
say to the captives, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’”
(Isaiah 49:8-9)

Plague of darkness judges Ra and Amun:  Seen here as depicted in the
tomb of Ramses IV, the sun-god Ra has the head of a falcon and the
sun-disk resting on his head.  The plagues revealed that Egypt’s gods
were powerless and that the God of Israel was the one true God.

As Covenant people of God, we can trust that even when there is total,
paralyzing darkness in the world, we can still have light in our dwellings,
just as the Israelites had in Goshen.

If we will rise up and shine, and do all things without arguing and
complaining, we will be lights in the midst of the dark and perverse
generation.  (Philippians 2:14-15)

If we want light in our homes, in our dwellings, then we must turn from hatred
and walk in love.  We must stop cursing, fault finding, and arguing, and
instead begin blessing.

“Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in
the darkness.  Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light,
and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.  But anyone who hates a
brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness.  They
do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.”
(1 John 2:9-11)

Celebrating Passover at the Western (Wailing) Wall

The Final Plague: Death of the Firstborn

“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.”  (Exodus 12:13)

This week’s parsha (Torah portion) tells the story of the first Pesach
(Passover), approximately 3500 years ago.

Even though Passover is celebrated later in this year [April], this portion
describes one of the most significant events in the Torah: the physical
salvation of Israel through the blood of the lamb.

This event is significant to all Believers, Jew or Gentile, as it foreshadowed
our spiritual salvation through the atoning blood of the Lamb of God,
Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah).

This final plague– the death of the firstborn of Egypt– required that Moses
prepare the people of Israel so that God could make a distinction between
the Egyptians and Israelites.  (Exodus 11:7)

God commanded Israel to kill a lamb and place its blood on the doorposts
(mezuzot) of their dwelling places.

The Signs on the Door, by James
Jacques Tissot, at the Jewish
Museum, New York

That blood was a sign to the angel of death to pass over those dwelling
places where the blood had been applied to the lintel.

Just as those who applied the lamb’s blood to their doorposts were saved
—Israelite and Egyptian alike—we are also saved from death and
destruction by the blood of the Lamb of God, Yeshua, who died on the
crucifixion stake (cross) on Passover.  However, remember that He also
rose after three days.

Placing the blood on the doorposts and lintel forms the letter ‘chet’ in
Hebrew, which stands for chai, meaning living.  Chai is related to the
Hebrew word chaim, which means life.

“Yeish co’ah b’damo shel haseh!” (There is power in the blood of the lamb!) 

The Hebrew word chai (above) consists of the Hebrew
letters Chet (ח) and Yud (י).  Unlike English, Hebrew is
read right to left.

The Passover

“This month is to be for you the first month, the first month of your year.”
(Exodus 12:2)

God demonstrated His power to the Jewish People so that we might recount
God’s great deliverance and redemption to our children in the future.

The institution of the Passover is so significant that God commanded it to be
the spiritual beginning of the months.

All our sense of time is reckoned from this moment of freedom, the
Passover, the day that God passed over us, and we were saved from His wrath.

That is why each year during Passover we recount this great story of
redemption at the Passover Seder, which is a designated teaching tool by
which we impart our faith in a mighty, merciful God to the next generation.

Passover:  This man is reading from the Haggadah
(meaning telling), which is the text that sets forth the
order of the Passover Seder.

While most Jewish people celebrate the Passover each year, for many it’s

simply a family tradition or a religious ritual.

Like most Gentile Believers, Jewish people also need a deeper
understanding of the Passover and especially the blood of the Lamb.

Please pray that, as Jewish people study these passages of Scripture this
Shabbat (Sabbath), the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) would give them
revelation about salvation through the blood of the Messiah.

“Celebrate this day [Passover] as a lasting ordinance for the generations to
come.”  (Exodus 12:17)

A Jewish family enjoying a celebratory meal at the Passover Seder.

The Protection of the Blood Covenant

“There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt—worse than there has ever
been or ever will be again.  But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at
any person or animal.”  (Exodus 11:6)

When the angel of death passed over Egypt, a great cry was heard
throughout the land from the wailing of the mourners.

But wherever the blood had been applied to the doorpost in obedience to
God, it was quiet and calm.

In the face of so much destruction, some find it difficult to reconcile God’s
love for all people, as seen in the New Covenant (New Testament), with
God’s judgment of sin that is clearly depicted in the Torah.

The Angel of Death and the First Passover (illustration from the 1897
Bible Pictures and What They Teach Us by Charles Foster)

But we see in this story that God didn’t just come in and wipe out all
the Egyptians.  He warned them; He gave them time and opportunity
to repent.

And He put the umbrella of His protective covering over those who chose
to be in covenant relationship with Him.

Just as those Egyptians were saved who heeded God by entering a
household with the blood of the lamb on the doorpost, all people, not just
the children of Israel, are welcome to come into this privileged covenant
status with YHVH (the Lord), the God of the Israelites, through the blood
of the Jewish Messiah, Yeshua.

Death of the Pharaoh’s firstborn son, by Lawrence Alma-Tadema

Hardness of Heart

“How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me?”  (Exodus 10:3)

Our own hardness of heart has ramifications not only for our own lives, but
for our loved ones and for our businesses and employees.

Pharaoh invited destruction upon himself, his family and all of Egypt simply
because of the hardness of his heart; he refused to humble himself or to
heed the ten rebukes of the plagues.

“He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck, will suddenly be
destroyed, and that without remedy.”  (Proverbs 29:1)

May our own hearts be soft clay in the Potter’s hands.  May we each seek
to walk in humility, to heed rebuke and to receive proper correction.

Clay in the potter’s hands: “Yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the
clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.”  (Isaiah 64:8)

Protection from the Wrath to Come

“Gather together, gather yourselves together …before the day of the Lord’s
wrath comes upon you.”  (Zephaniah 2: 1–3)

Throughout the Tanakh (Hebrew Scriptures), the prophets foretell of the
judgment that will come upon the earth.  The blood of the lamb is the only
thing powerful enough to protect us from the coming wrath of God.

God is merciful and does not desire even one to perish.

Therefore, He has given each one of us the opportunity to place the blood
of the lamb, by faith, on the doorposts and lintels of our hearts, by receiving
Yeshua’s atonement for our sins.

Will you pray that the Jewish people will receive Yeshua as their Messiah
and be saved by His blood?

Yeshua is returning, not as the meek, sacrificial lamb, but as the mighty Lion
of Yehudah (Judah), to execute judgment upon the peoples of the earth,
especially upon the enemies of Israel.

Shabbat shalom from all our ministry staff

“I will bless those that bless Israel.”  (Genesis 12:3)

 

This message was sent from: Bibles For Israel | P.O. Box 8900 | Pueblo, CO 81008