Torah Pearls #15 – Bo (Exodus 10:1-13:16)

There was darkness (despair) across the land, but the Israelites had light (hope). This parashat comes at a time when HAMAS is releasing hostages (letting people go) and during the Holocaust Memorial Day this week when survivors tell their stories that when they were in concentration camps, they never gave up hope. How appropriate that we are in Torah Portion Bo at this exact time this week (there are no coincidences, just God incidences).

jc never existed people. May Yahoveh bless your understanding.

This is my favorite episode of Torah Pearls. It answered my question of how to redeem the first born. When I gave birth to my son 20 years ago I was not Torah observant, but I had read the Bible and was at that time a traditional Christian. Gave birth and first thought was NEED to REDEEM the BOY. Thought I was going a bit crazy because that was Old Testament stuff. This thought never went away. Some years later, I start being Torah observant and really start wondering how to redeem my son. I was so relieved when I heard this episode because it answered my question and It was something I could finally do. So I sent one of Nehemia’s silver coins along with some plain silver rounds to Jonathan Cahn, the only Cohen I was aware of, and finally felt at peace (although the whole thing still feels a bit crazy). God is so amazing. This series is such a blessing and I love listening to it each year.

Nehemiah, real biblical moment here: MY dog’s name is Georgia.

Exo 12:48
“And when a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it.”

Seems that you cannot be part of the ‘congregation’ without these two requirements.
However, since at least one is impossible now with no temple, I feel surely Yehovah knows. And has He not revealed Yeshua as Our Passover sacrifice that we may still participate in? And as our spiritual hearts are circumcised by the Spirit dwelling within, does this not establish Torah within us?

I believe that might explain why they did not keep the Feast while in the desert. Jos.5:6-11
If they weren’t circumcised, they could not; hense they did not need to keep track of the Aviv if they didn’t keep it anyways.

Again… thank y’all for the wealth of knowledge you share!

Just wanted to mention an Oy Vey!
I have heard several rabbis say that when there was complete darkness, all the Jews went into the Egyptian homes and looked thru their closets and drawers for valuable stuff, so that when they would spoil the Egyptians, they would know exactly what they had…

Just another reason it is so much more refreshing to listen to your podcasts!
Shalom.

were the first born all ages? religion taught us the first born that died were children but scripture just says firstborn. Exodus 12 29

all feast days have to be correct. Otherwise we doing what we think is right in our own eyes. And that would be wrong.

Great Job Mr. Gordon.

Does the Hebrew word for “ask” indicate borrowing in any way or is it ask as to give permanently? In English asking usually means to have permanently, not temporarily.

Usually the name of the artist of the painting for the weeks torah portion is listed but cannot find it this week. It is so good it almost looks like a photo. Can you fill us in on the artists name?

After the Israelites left Egypt, no one was circumcised until they crossed the Jordan.

“At that time the LORD said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites again.” So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites at Gibeath Haaraloth.
Now, this is why he did so: All those who came out of Egypt—all the men of military age—died in the wilderness on the way after leaving Egypt. All the people that came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness during the journey from Egypt had not. The Israelites had moved about in the wilderness forty years until all the men who were of military age when they left Egypt had died since they had not obeyed the LORD. For the LORD had sworn to them that they would not see the land he had solemnly promised their ancestors to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. So he raised up their sons in their place, and these were the ones Joshua circumcised. They were still uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way. And after the whole nation had been circumcised, they remained where they were in camp until they were healed.”
(Joshua 5:2–8 NIV11-GKE)

Hi guys… I love your podcasts.

In reference to Moses stretching out his rod instead of his hand, in Exodus 8:16-17, Aaron was told to stretch out his rod, and it says: “and the did so; for Aaron stretched out his hand WITH his rod.”

Thank you team Nehemia for all the explanation. I am intrigued by the fact the Torah said that the month”Aviv” is the beginning of the year and Israel has another one toward the feast of Tabernacles, Tosh Hashanah, why? And what is the biblical references for that? Thanks. Shalom

My name is Joseph. First, I would like to say that I respect your ways of thinking and believe Adonai Ro-eh is with you. I enjoyed your book the Hebrew Yeshua vs the Greek Jesus. I believe you to be wise and discerning. This raises why I think I can ask this next question. With your comment above with circumcision being necessary for Pesach. What is your take on these scriptures:

Deut. 30:6, Jerm. 4:4, Deut. 10:16, Jerm 9:25 -26, Rom. 2:25 – 29, 1 Corn. 7:19.

Now one could argue against all those scriptures with Exodus 12:48. But what does Yahweh mean by circumcision???

These are but a few of many scriptures that go into circumcision of the heart.

I feel Yahweh seeks for us to have faith like Abraham did before he was circumcised.

Num.3:12 I hereby accept the Levites from among the Israelites as substitutes for all the firstborn that open the womb among the Israelites. The Levites shall be mine.

wouldn’t the newly circumcised be awfully sore on the journey??

how could the children of Israel determine the first month of green ears and new moon Egypt when they both were to be sighted in Israel?

Do you think that the government of Israel will ever embrace 12:48 and 49?

January 19, 2019
Something that has been on my mind a lot lately, and I struggle with, regarding the words we speak….. and Pharaoh speaking death and then death occurring makes me go back to Genesis 1 and how God spoke the Word and what He spoke came in to being… how careful we should be of the words we speak… a lesson I learned the hard way several years ago is the harm our words can cause and how scripture teaches ‘what is in the heart is what will come out of the mouth”… when there is anger and bitterness in the heart… that’s what will come out of the mouth… we must allow Yehovah to clean our hearts so that what comes out of our mouth is Love. He’s still teaching me about this…

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This just occurred to me TODAY! For weeks, Moses had been asking Pharaoh to let Israel go into the wilderness to sacrifice but he said no. Finally, God says, OK do the sacrifice IN Egypt and that kicks off the most disastrous night in all of Egyptian history! THEN Pharaoh lets them go.

Just a quick thought on the darkness:

While I have no problem with Yehovah using natural phenomena to reveal Himself, I can’t accept the darkness as natural. In this case, as with the Nile and all the other easily accessible water turning to blood, I see a supernatural cause to the darkness, While I have no definitive textual proof of this next statement, I believe that Yehovah blocked the light from even the lamps of the Egyptians and because they could get no light from the sun, much less their lamps, they were too afraid to move for the three days of the “thick darkness.”

Thank you for all the information & inspiration. I am blessed through you all & ask our Father to bless you in return.

Verse 21 ; “…, darkness so thick it can be FELT !” – Herein is the key to understanding the Egyptian’s in verse 23; “and no one went anywhere for three days.” The issue of not going anywhere wasn’t limited to the fact that there was no light but perhaps the FEELING of this “thick darkness” was also unprecedented. Yahovah states; ” I dwell in thick darkness ! ” 1 Kings 8 :12. Is this account a revelation that in the” thick darkness” the spirit of Yahovah was present and it was actually the tangible ” fear of Yahovah ” that paralyzed the Egyptians ? It’s easy to imagine the Egyptians sitting in their dark homes with the sense that, ” something is out there ! “. I see the Ten Plagues as a choreographed display of the Wisdom of Yahovah in the ” Drama of Deliverance”. It is a systematic stripping of the senses in order to bring the entire audience to a place of brokenness and teshuva. Those Egyptians who ” got it “, left with Moshe. What was happening to the land of Egypt was an outward manifestation of what may have been happening in the hearts of those who would SEE, believe and leave. As a young man I had a horrible ” fear of the Dark”. I rationalized that if Yahovah was real, He would deliver me from myself ( my fears). So, I went into my Mother’s empty house one night as she had died in her bedroom via Hospice month’s earlier. I refused to turn on any lights but made my way to her room by feeling my way through the house. When I made it to her bedroom, I stood there in numbing FEAR and began calling out to Yahovah. I remained there until my FEAR slowly turned to ANGER as Yahovah was delivering me through my sensory gates. My ANGER, because I began to see how the darkness OWNED ME. I SAW in that instance that my FEAR wasn’t in the darkness but rather, the UNKNOWN. After that night any time I have had a twinge of fear about darkness, I allow a wonderful HOLY ANGER to rise up and LIGHT UP my path.Shalom

Dealing with the darkness issue. In Genesis 15:12 it says terror and great darkness fell over Abraham and Yehovah told him of what was to come. You can also take this back to “the beginning” in Genesis 1:2 where there was darkness. Yehovah makes great and wonderful things come from the darkness. It may not be JUST a physical darkness but a darkness of the soul. Just a thought.

Look up planet 7X by Gill Broussard he has a 360 year for each passing. I believe it is around182 years plus a couple of months. Need to look up other history about shamayim occurrences. First trip the flood 1656 years after Adam was formed = 2358 B.C.E. 2nd month 17th day. Then the 5th trip would be 912 years Exodus 1446 B.C.E. Then 9th trip would be 1636 years Assyrians 185,000 die 722 B.C.E. Then the 13th trip Y’shua dies 2386 years 28 C.E. Then the 24 trip 4386 years 2028 C.E. Yah’s day. As stated by Y’shua like the days of Noah & like Maqqabim the 12th trip 2194 years from flood 166 B.C.E.

If the Israelites were told to go to their neighbors to ask for articles of gold and silver, isn’t it logical that the darkness was in their houses which seem to be interspersed with the Israelis not in a geographical area?

Thank you, Nehemia. I really appreciate this.

I have two questions. 1) you mentioned the leven was three different words, in our world what would they be? We went to a orthodox messianic synagogue ( I know that sounds like an oxymoron ) anyways they said that you couldn’t use several things that don’t contain yeast, we don’t do that. My question is would we add to the yeast list baking powder and baking soda? 2) verse 13:9 says it will be a sign on your hand…….. Is the “it” the not eating of leven, or peach itself

Exodus 12:43-49; Isaiah 52:1; Ezekiel 44:9.

Hello, Nehemia you mentioned at the end of the recording that the Passover in the future with Messiah the males need to be circumcised in order to partake of the Passover. Where is that scripture, I cannot find it.

Thank you and Shalom.

Amen!