17 January 2025
Week of 12-18 January 2025
Torah portion: Exodus 1:1-6:1 Haftarah: Isaiah 27:6-28:13; 29:22-23
Theme: “Be Yad Hazakah” – By A Mighty Hand
Parashat Shemot links the exodus to the patriarchal generation, by naming the sons of Jacob who had accompanied their father to Egypt, and by recording the deaths of Joseph and his eleven brothers there (Ex 1:1-6.) Then, abruptly shifting to 430 years later, “a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph” (Ex.1:8) and oppression of the descendants of Jacob began. In three vignettes, the parashah introduces the drama of liberation that will follow.
The first vignette (chapters 1 and 2) exposes the Egyptian-Israelite/Hebrew tension. Pharaoh fears the Israelites’ growing numbers and potential for revolt, yet values their skills. Despite his ruthless attempts to control them, a glimmer of liberation emerges with the birth of Moses. In a desperate yet clever maneuver, his mother and sister conceal him in a papyrus basket among the reeds near the bank of the Nile, where Pharaoh’s daughter comes to bathe. She discovers him, recognizes him as a Hebrew child, and eventually adopts him, naming him Moses, forever identifying him as “drawn from the water,” with its premonitions that one day he will lead his people, in liberation, through the Sea of Reeds.
The palace experience does not diminish Moses’ awareness of his Hebrew heritage: “one day he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his kinsfolks”; he killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand (2:11-12). The next day, in a similar incident involving two Hebrews, the assailant revealed that he had witnessed the murder. Frightened, Moses fled to Midian. As the water of the Nile had provided refuge for the infant Moses, now, watering the flocks of Reuel’s daughters, Moses meets the priest of Midian who gives him his daughter, Zipporah, in marriage. They named their son, Gershom, meaning “I have been an alien residing in a foreign land” (2:22). On that nostalgic note, vaguely reminiscent of a homeland, the second chapter closes; the Israelites’ cry rises to God who remembers his covenant with the patriarchs, and takes notice of them.
The focus of the second vignette (chapters 3 and 4) is the dramatic encounter at the burning bush, when an extremely reticent Moses meets “the LORD” and is missioned to assemble the Elders of Israel and go to Pharaoh. His only security is that the LORD will be with him, as will Aaron. God confirms that “the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand” (3:19).
In the third vignette (chapters 5 and 6), Moses and Aaron deliver the Lord’s command to Pharaoh: “Let my people go, so that they may celebrate a festival to me in the wilderness” (5:1), but Pharaoh is far from receptive. He orders them back to work, this time without the straw for the bricks, but the same daily quota. Israelite supervisors complain to Pharaoh and suffer a beating. Moses turns to God in desperation: Why have you mistreated this people? Why did you send me? You have done nothing at all to deliver your people (5:22-23). Chapter 6 begins with the Lord’s assurance: “Now you shall see what I shall do to Pharaoh: indeed, by a mighty hand he will let them go and by a mighty hand he will drive them out of his land (6:1)
For Reflection and Discussion: 1. Moses, in desperation, asks, “Why did you send me?” (5:22). Have you experienced, or known of, such a dilemma? What were the circumstances and how were they resolved?
Bibliography: Coogan, Michael D., editor, The New Oxford Annotated Bible, (Oxford University Press, 2001)
This week’s Parasha Commentary was prepared by
Diane Willey, Canada Bat Kol Alumna: 2005, 2006
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