Va Era- and I appeared

Again, thanks dear brother for sharing your thoughts- Brad


Parashat HaShavua VaEra / And I Appeared

This Week's Reading List:
Shemot / Exodus 6:2-9:35
Yeshayahu / Isaiah 66:1-24
Romim / Romans 9:14-25


Shemot {6:2} G-D spoke to Moshe (Moses), and said to him, "I am HaShem; {6:3} and I appeared to Avraham (Abraham), to Yitzchak (Isaac), and to Ya'akov (Jacob), as G-D Almighty; but by My Name HaShem I was not known to them. {6:4} I have also established My brit (covenant) with them, to give them the land of Cana'an, the land of their travels, in which they lived as aliens. {6:5} Moreover I have heard the groaning of bnei Yisrael (children of Israel), whom the Mitzrim (Egyptians) keep in bondage, and I have remembered My brit.

Why did HaShem wait hundreds of years, while bnei Yisrael were suffering miserably in Mitzrayim, to remember them? It confuses me that a loving and caring G-d would allow people, His people, to suffer in slavery, under servitude to hard taskmasters, before He finally decides to redeem them. I am often asked a similar question about the holocaust, “If there is a G-d then why did He allow such a thing to happen?”

It is sad that people are so quick to accuse G-d of being brutal without recognizing their own brutality, manifested in anger, hatred and prejudice. I am not going to address the question of the holocaust in this drash (commentary), other than to say that the cures recorded for us in Torah (Devarim [Duteronomy] 28), answer this question. G-d is a loving, kind and compassionate G-d, but we also must remember that He is a just G-d and will not allow the guilty to go unpunished. Sadly His justice, as He warned us, extends beyond one generation.

Devrim {5:9} you shall not bow down yourself to them, nor serve them; for I, HaShem, your G-D, am a jealous G-D, visiting the iniquity of the avot (fathers) on the children, and on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate Me;

Now back to our original question of why HaShem waited hundreds of years before remembering bnei Yisrael.

HaShem had bnei Yisrael in Mitzrayim so that their numbers would increase to the point where they could be a viable nation. A nation needs people, and not just a few. HaShem knew that His new nation would have to fight for and conquer the land He had promised Avraham, Yitzchak and Ya'acov so there needed to be sufficient people to foster an army that could accomplish that task. HaShem also needed a people who would want to leave Mitzrayim, when the time came to do so, as one. Bnei Yisrael, having been used, abused and in salved for hundreds of years in Mitzrayim, accomplished that purpose. Therefore, when the opportunity arose for bnei Yisrael to leave Mitzrayim they jumped at it.

Today you would be hard pressed to get the Jewish population of the United States and Canada to leave as a whole and take up residence in Yisrael. Why, because they are rich and prosperous so there is no incentive for them to leave. We see an example of this from the Babylonian exile. Only fifty thousand Jews left Babylon when King Cyrus issued the decree to rebuild Yerushalayim (Jerusalem). That was because they were prosperous and flourished within the Babylonian society. The same is now true for the Jews of the United States and Canada. However, if suddenly they were to be thrust into hard times and faced with the prospect of being persecuted, perhaps even imprisoned, they would leave. The time bnei Yisrael spent suffering in Mitzrayim was the time HaShem used to prepare them for their departure. It took hundreds of years to get them to the point of wanting out of Mitzrayim, but when the fullness of HaShem's time came they were ripe to leave.

We need to take note of how HaShem works with Yisrael, because this is how He works with us. Perhaps you have been going through years of trials, tribulation and hard times. Your life has been a disaster and you are working like a slave, but getting deeper into debt and depression. You have a boss the rivals any Egyptian taskmaster and there are footprints on your back from all the people that have been walking over you. From this you have been questioning and doubting your relationship with G-d, thinking that He has left you and no longer cares for you. Well take heart because, if you are a child of G-d, a believer in Yeshua HaMashiach, then HaShem is preparing you for a change. He has a plan and a purpose for you, and when the fullness of His timing is right He will call you out and you will be so ready!

Galitim (Galatians) {4:4} but in the fullness of time, G-d sent forth His Son. He was born from a woman, born into a culture in which legalistic perversion of the Torah was the norm.

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Baruch HaShem
Rabbi Ya'acov Farber

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