Weekly Torah

When one examines the Torah portions dedicated to the Book of Exodus, one can be overwhelmed by the morsels of insights and profound examples of God’s providence in the opening pages of Shemos (Exodus). Does one stop and examine the reality that God took a small family of seventy and multiplied it into a nation of thousands and millions (1:5-7)? Or should one begin to develop a historical understanding of when the date of Exodus was and just who was the Pharoah who knew not Joseph (1:8)? By the way, I believe the Pharoah was Thutmose III for I date the Exodus around 1445 BCE/BC but that is a discussion for another blog post and another day.

Or does one examine the bravery of the midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, who did all they could to protect the Hebrew children (1:15-22)? By the way, those last two questions are filled with nuances and fraught with philosophical quagmires that could quickly turn into quicksand if one is not careful!

We could also begin to examine the opening days and years of Moses’ life in the courtyard of the Pharaoh and what that meant to his life and perspective of being a Hebrew. And while all these issues are important, let’s instead focus on three verses that are often overlooked but are critical to a fully realized understanding of Scripture, both the Hebrew Scriptures and those which are called the New Testament – Exodus 2:23-25.

In these three short verses, we are reminded that while we might often feel all alone when we feel overwhelmed by our burdens, our cries are heard by God—“and their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to God” (2:23c). While this is comforting, it is almost exceeded by the next verse, which states that God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (2:24).

For this verse (2:24) raises a profound question – Had God forgotten his covenant and then had to remember it? By no means, it is simply an indication that God’s timing might not make sense to us humans, but it is in God’s perfect timing. My Baptist pastor father once said, and this was not necessarily original with him, that God took the children of Jacob down to Egypt in order to get Canaan out of their system. In other words, God wanted His Chosen Ones to realize that their hope and sufficiency were possible not through their own strength but because of His strength. When they cried out to God in Exodus 2:23, they had reached their breaking point and were turning back to the only one who could release them from their slavery.

Was God cruel by allowing His children to reach the bottom before He delivered them from bondage? On the surface, many would say so, but we must remember that God loves us but a part of that love is discipline for our failings (see this truth spelled out very bluntly one might say in the work of Hebrews 12). For we can only be molded into His will for our lives when we have reached a point when we have no one else, including ourselves, to save us from ourselves.

And above all else, we can take comfort in the fact that God’s covenant is irrevocable (2:24). Even when we fail him, He never fails us. We sin, He restores. We are weak, He is omnipotent. We fail, He succeeds because of and in spite of us. Because “God took notice of them (2:25)” and He still takes notice of us. Shalom. God bless.