Parashat Beshalach
30th January 2026
Week of 25-31 January 2026
Torah portion : Exodus 13 :17-17 :16 Haftarah : Judges 5 : 1-31
Theme: Let the LORD be king for ages, eternity!
Parashat Beshalach- ‘when Pharaoh, let the people go’- contains a number of very memorable and eventful narratives, the outline of which is described in ‘The Women’s Commentary’ (p.380) as follows: I) Departing from Egypt (13:17-22); II) Crossing the Sea (14:1-31); III) Celebrating Deliverance (15:1-21); IV) Journeying in the Wilderness (15:22-17:13).
The themes of deliverance, journeying, celebration, and wilderness hardships are obvious – all with God’s Presence in various ways. This spells out for me the human journey through life to the Promised Land – Eternity. Fox speaks of the Hebrews being children in slavery, adolescents in their ‘freedom’ wanderings with these experiences leading to adulthood as the Israelites, the People of God in the Promised Land.
Central to the Israelite’s experiences is the miraculous crossing of the Sea of Reeds freeing them from Egypt as a place but not yet freeing them from the Egypt within them. The ‘Song of the Sea’ is also described by Fox, p.334, as ‘The Song of God as Triumphant King’. After all the tense excitement of the Plagues (signs), the Passover to avoid the Angel of death, the gathering together of the Hebrews with their spoils, and the miraculous crossing of the Sea of Reeds, a song of celebration and praise is needed to fully express the feelings of a people now freed from the brutal yoke of slavery but still having to face their grueling journey to the Promised Land.
The attempts to discover what happened historically at the Sea by means of reading the poem have failed because the poem is constructed out of two traditional stories: the victory at the Sea and the later conquest of Canaan (vv.1-12 and 13-17).
The major concern of the poet is God’s Kingship with which he ends the poem – “Let the LORD be king for the ages, eternity!” (v. 18)
Traditionally Victory Songs were sung and danced to, by women and we are given a hint of this in verses 20-21. Some scholars see this as the ‘original’ form of the poem. We note that Miryam is designated as a ‘prophetess’. Fox continues to note that the process of liberation from Egypt began with a an unnamed little girl at the Nile watching through the reeds making sure her baby brother was safe. Now it ends with the same person, now named, an adult and ‘prophetess’, celebrating the final victory at the Sea of Reeds.
For Reflection and Discussion:
1) Can you relate to the journey from slavery to freedom as described in this Parashah? 2) We too have a Promised Land to which we are journeying in hope. We hope because the promise is from the LORD of the ages. Discuss.
Bibliography: Eskenazi, T. C. & Weiss, A. The Torah, a Women’s Commentary. (New York:2008); Fox, Everett. The Five Books of Moses (New York: 1997);
This week’s Parasha Commentary was prepared by
Bernadette Teresa Chellew, KZN, South Africa, Bat Kol Alumna: 2008
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