Torah Tidbits: Parshat Shemot

1:8-10 - Interesting verses...  First, we have the explanation for the difference between Josehp's Pharaoh-friend and Moses's Pharaoh-enemy ("Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph").  Second, it's eye-opening to read with a blank-slate what this "new" Pharaoh did:  Seeing that "the children of Israel are [becoming?] too many and too mighty for us," he argues that the Egyptians should "deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there befalleth us any war, they also join themselves unto our enemies, and fight against us, and get them up out of the land."  I somehow always had it in my head that Pharaoh's inflicting labor on the Israelites was out of plain malice or evil, but put in this context it makes sense that the Egyptians would be concerned about a growing number of non-Egyptians in their midst.  Not that the response was morally justified, but the idea that the Israelites would be viewed as a domestic threat is not a far-fetched idea.

1:15-21 - A remarkable story!  Pharaoh commands the Hebrew midwives to put to death all the boys they deliver, but "the midwives feared God" and did not do so, offering excuses to Pharaoh afterwards about how Hebrew women know how to give bith so well ("like animals") and did so before midwives could even arrive.  God was so pleased with them that "the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty" and "He made them houses."  It's interesting to me how women in the Torah narrative often lie to other, powerful men in order to save themselves and others (e.g., Rachel lying to her father about stealing the idols, Leah and Rachel deceiving Jacob, etc.).  Pretty gutsy, actually.  On the other hand, I find it a little hard to believe that Pharaoh would have bought such a bogus line.  If Hebrew women didn't need midwives, then why were there Hebrew midwives in the first place?!?  Another interesting thing:  what does it mean that God made them houses?!?

2:10 - Moses receives his name מֹשֶׁה (moshe) כִּי מִן-הַמַּיִם מְשִׁיתִהוּ ("because [the Pharaoh's daughter] drew him out of the water").  I never knew that!  One thing that I'm enjoying in my read-through is learning why people are given the names they're given.  (Well, at least the men; not much about womens's names is explained.)

2:12 - Moses kills the Egyptian taskmaster beating a Hebrew man...  Was this actually the right thing to do?  We're led to believe it is, but was it?  If the taskmaster would have killed the man, perhaps, but one gets the sense that Moses killed the Egyptian because just intervening might have led to his own capture and/or execution.  But I still wonder...was this killing kosher?

3:2 - The "Burning Bush" episode begins...  One thing that struck me immediately is that while I always thought it was God who appears in the BB, it's actually an angel of God.  God calls out of the bush in 3:4, but does not appear.  So, then, what does Moses actually see?  We don't know.  Does the angel come in the form of a flame?  We don't know.  Weird.

3:4-6 - God now calls to Moses out of the bush (where did the angel go), telling him to remove his shoes "for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground."  Then a strange thing happens:  "And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God."  First, I thought it was the angel, not God in the bush.  Second, this expression implies that had Moses not been afraid, he could have seen God...even though we know this was impossible. 

3:10-12 - God tells Moses that he will send him to Pharaoh in order to get the children of Israel out of Egypt.  Moses, reasonably, asks "who am I" to undertake such a task?  God's answer is maddeningly vague:  "I will be with thee; and this shall be the token unto thee, that I have sent thee."  But what does God mean by the "token" (הָאוֹת)?  What is it?  The text doesn't say.  So basically, God doesn't answer Moses at all.  Nice.

3:13-15 - Fascinating!  Moses asks God what he should say when the Israelites ask him what God's name is:  "What is His name? what shall I say unto them?"  God's answer is terrific -- again vague, but also, in a poetic way, accurate:  "I will be what I will be" (אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה) and "I will be the one who sent you to them" (אֶהְיֶה, שְׁלָחַנִי אֲלֵיכֶם).  Here is God saying, in effect, my name isn't important; what is important is what I do.  God then goes on (my translation):  "So shall you say to the children of Israel, 'the Lord -- God of your fathers, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob -- has sent me to you.'  This is my name forever, how I am to be remembered for all generations."  For deeds, not words, are we to remember God...

4:1-17 - In this remarkable passage -- with echoes of God's debate with Abraham over the fate of Sodom and Gemorrah -- Moses complains to God that the people will not believe him "'...for they will say: The LORD hath not appeared unto thee.'"  In the exchange that follows, God shares with Moses the magic signs he will need to prove God is with him.  First, the staff that turns into a snake.  But then two more signs that, if I recall correctly, never again appear in the narrative:  by putting his hand on his chest, Moses's hand became "leprous, as white as snow," only to return back to normal when the act was repeated; and God tells him that if he takes water from the Nile and pours it onto the ground, it will turn into blood.  But Moses, the reluctant prophet, then objects he isn't a good public speaker speaker.  God says take Aaron with him.  What strikes me is that, essentially, God capitulates to Moses's complaining.  Why not just reiterate his command and be done with it?  Why bother to reason with Moses? 

4:21-23 - This part I have never been able to come to grips with:  God tells Moses that, in spite of all the powers granted to him, Pharaoh will not allow the Israelites to leave because God "will harden his heart."  Why does God do this?  Was it not possible that, had God not done so, Pharaoh would have been swayed by the powers God gave to Moses, thereby avoiding the plagues to come?  This is reminiscent of the Tree of the Knowledge of God and Evil in Eden...why does God put the tree there only to command Adam and Even not to eat of it.  Here, if we are to believe the narrative, God indirectly condemns the Egyptians to great suffering for seemingly no reason at all.  Why would God do this?

4:24-26 - This has seriously got to be the weirdest couple of verses in the Torah.  Immediately after God tells Moses what he needs to do in front of Pharaoh, we read:  "And it came to pass on the way at the lodging-place, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him."  What?!?  Why?  Then it gets seriously weirder:  "Then Zipporah [Moses's wife] took a flint, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet; and she said: 'Surely a bridegroom of blood art thou to me.'  So He let him alone. Then she said: 'A bridegroom of blood in regard of the circumcision.'"  Then we go right back into the narrative streat, with God telling Aaron to go meet Moses for their showdown with Pharaoh.

What more needs to be said?  If there was ever some evidence of bad editing in the Torah, this is it.  The lines make no sense, are totally unrelated to what comes immediately before and after, and, well, they're just weird.  (Something to study up on...?)

5:1-2 - First of all, it's interesting to me that the first time Moses (and Aaron) go to Pharaoh, it's not to ask that the Hebrew slaves be freed but rather that they get a few days off, as it were, "that they may hold a feast unto [God] in the wilderness."  Moreover, Pharaoh's reply is pretty reasonable under the circumstances:  "Who is GOD that I should heed His voice and let Israel go?  I do not recognize GOD, nor will I let Israel leave" (from Kehot).  Seriously, why should Pharaoh agree to Moses's request?  I'd think it was a scam too!

6:1 - So Pharaoh says no, punnishes the Israelites by demanding that they make the same number of bricks with no straw, and Moses complains that things are now worse, not better.  God's answer?  "And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh; for by a strong hand shall he let them go, and by a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land.'"  See the logic?  God hardens Pharaoh's heart, which causes him to punish the Israelites, which causes God to punnish Pharaoh.  !!!!!