15th Portion [26 Jan - 1 Feb 2025]
Theme of the Book of Exodus:
About pursuing the instructions in order that we can build a dwelling place for Yeshua.
Meaning of "bo" = "come in / enter in"
This week's Torah portions:
Sunday: Exodus 10:1-11
Monday: Exodus 10:12-23
Tuesday: Exodus 10:24-11:3
Wednesday: Exodus 11:4-12:20
Thursday: Exodus 12:21-28
Friday: Exodus 12:29-51
Shabbat: Exodus 13:1-16 & Jeremiah 46:13-28
Apostolic Writings:
Luke 22:7-30
1 Corinthians 11:20-34
Daily Bread for Busy Moms portions:
2 Samuel 19-24
Psalms 86-91
Luke 13-16
In this portion we read about the last three plagues which God sent over Israel before Pharaoh let the Israelites go. The three plagues were the locusts who ate the harvest, the darkness which covered all of Egypt for three days and the death of the first born children as well as the animals of the Egyptians at midnight. The Israelites' firstborns were not killed - because they had blood on their doorposts / gates. This is where the term "Pass Over" has started. The Lord's angels passed the Israelites over when they struck all of Egypt, and killed the Egyptian firstborns.
These three things are the very things which Abba promises us when we follow Him! To have a harvest, to live in His Light and to have an offspring & inheritance. If we are followers of Yeshua and we live according to His principles, we are covered by the Blood of Yeshua.
Our "gates" or "doorposts" are our mouths. And we need covering over our mouths, we need control over it - if we want to receive Abba's blessings for our lives.
We read in Exodus 12:2 "This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you."
The beginning of what year did God mean? The beginning of a harvest year! Remember the 7 promises God gave them in the previous portion (Vaera)? God comes and confirms to them that He will be their God and they will be His people and that means that they will have a harvest.
God secondly also told them to bring an offering. The Israelites had to offer a lamb and sprinkle the doorpost with the blood of the slain lamb. Which we know from our Pesach / Pass Over teachings - that this happenings in Egypt was a shadow of what was to come - which was Yeshua, Who was the Lamb that was slain for us. And now we have the covering of the Blood of the Lamb/ Yeshua.
God was setting a rhythm in place even whilst the Israelites were still in Egypt. And He commanded them to continue observing it. It's about establishing a rhythm of life!
We need to learn how to continuously live in God's rhythm. This is not something that comes naturally for us as mankind. So it's something which we will have to cultivate in our lives. We need to get into a lifestyle of living according to God's rhythm. Instead of dipping in and going out of His rhythm as we go through life.
Abba's heart is for us to go from life to life to life. From harvest to harvest to harvest.
But what do we as Christians do? We live our lives the way we want to, doing all the religious stuff (but none of the relationship). And then when things go south, then we quickly want to run to God and pray for breakthrough. And we wonder why we don't get it. We even sometimes get mad at God for not answering our prayers.
Oh how veiled our eyes are! How limited our understanding! We cannot expect God to come through for us, when He has given us His instructions to live in His rhythm - but we don't abide in it! God's not far off or to busy or unfaithful. God is God! He's a God of order and He has set a rhythm in place. And we either have to get in line with His rhythm or stop complaining that we're not experiencing His blessing.
When we live in God's rhythm we will live in a continual harvest.
When the Israelites slaughtered the lamb and placed the blood on their doorposts, they ate the meat with bitter herbs as they were instructed. We also read in this section that the Israelites made unleavened bread, which is flat bread / bread that don't rise. Leaven in the Bible is symbolic of sin. And thus through the unleavened bread, it was a symbolic reminder that they had to get rid of sin in their lives. Just like leaven is symbolic of sin in the Bible, so is darkness. Remember that the second last plague which God sent over Egypt was darkness. It was symbolic of the sin of Egypt which covered the whole of Egypt.
Pesach / Pass Over is a celebration of harvest! The promise which God gave the Israelites and the promise we still have today! Many people think that those (including myself and my family) who celebrate the Biblical feasts are strange or stuck in the Old Testament. But in fact, it's exactly the opposite. It's because we understand that the New Testament was written to those who already had the Old Testament. Thus the New Testament can only truly be understood when you look at it through the lense of the Old Testament. When celebrating the Biblical Festivals, we're not under the law. It means that we value and understand the spiritual significance of what the feasts symbolises. And that most definitely should be celebrated!
When we enter into God's rhythm it means that we apply His principles to our lives and as a result we have a harvest and we live in His Light and display His Light unto the world.
The final plague was the death of the firstborns - which convinced the Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. This pushed Pharaoh so far that he didn't only allowed the Israelites to go, he actually drove / chased them from his land. We read from Scripture that the Israelites had to leave in such a hurry that their bread did not even have time to rise. So they only had unleavened bread to leave with.
When the Israelites left Egypt in the hurry - they demanded silver and gold from their Egyptian neigbours. Which was a fulfillment of the promise which God made to Jacob. That Jacob and his descendants would not leave Egypt empty handed.
Remember that when Jacob and his sons went to live in Egypt with Joseph - he struggled with the thought of living in Egypt when God had promised him and his grandfather (Abraham) the Promised Land. But Jacob understood that it doesn't nullify God's promise over their lives if they had to temporarily live in Egypt. And here we see how Abba then fulfills the promise.
The Israelites left Egypt with great wealth, just like Abba promised Jacob.
Just like Abba took care of the Israelites, when we live in His rhythm - He will also provide in our needs. Spiritually, financially and in all areas of our lives. In today's day and age, many preachers and pastors use this to back their prosperity gospel ideology. But what we often don't realise is that when the Israelites were in the desert - they didn't use their wealth for themselves. They gave it as an offering to build the Tabernacle for God.
We can learn so much from just this! When God bless us - no matter in what aspect - it's not only for ourselves. But we are to use it to build His Kingdom and make His Name known.
When the Israelites were in the desert, Abba instructed them to consecrate their firstborns. This was the fifth instruction for the Israelites.
First: they had to get into the rhythm of harvest.
Secondly: they had to slaughter the lamb and apply the blood.
Thirdly: they had to get rid of the darkness (leaven) in their houses.
Fourthly: they had to collect their "pay" / reward for all their hard work whilst they were slaves - which was the silver and gold that they collected before they left Egypt.
Fifthly: they had to consecrate the firstborns.
This consecration of the firstborns was the start of a principle which God had set in place. And that's the spiritual principle of the firstborn which were set in place - even back when the Israelites were in the desert.
According to the book of Hebrews, we are the generation of the firstborns. The firstborn from the dead. Dying from our sins and rising again as new beings with Yeshua.
Being the firstborn comes with certain rights and blessings. Which is to be a royal priesthood and to act prophetically.
Remember the anointing which Jacob divided and spoke over Ephraim and Judah. Jacob received this blessing from Isaac, and Isaac received this blessing from Abraham. And Abraham received this blessing from God! (Gen 12)
The blessing of the firstborn is this spiritual and prophetic anointing of being kings and priests.
God commanded them to celebrate this feast every year and to tell their offspring of their redemption. Part of living in your inheritance is about sharing with your inheritance (offspring) that they too have an inheritance if they stay in Abba's rhythm.
We then read that the Israelites wore the tefillin (a small box with Scripture in) in their hands and on their foreheads - as a way to always remember their redemption and what Abba has done for them.
In today's day and age, we see that everyone just wants to forget about the past. Even in Biblical times. Because we tend to live from our past and some parts might not always be fun or easy to remember. But forgetting your past is NOT a Biblical principle! Forgiveness is. But forgetting is not.
If we forget our pasts, we have no testimony. Then we can't testify about the Egypt (physical & spiritual bondage) which Abba has freed us from.
We have to live from our future and not from our past, like the world does. And when you live from your future, you would want to remember your past. Because you'd understand that Abba use our past and the things we had to overcome to build His Kingdom.
And despite the things we faced in the past, we also want to remember because it was in the past that Abba has given us His promises for our lives. And we want to remember that so that we can walk into our callings and the promises which God has spoken over our lives.
Do you still remember the 7 promises from last week's portion? If we don't remember them (and forget it because it's the past) - then how will we teach our children?
Abba's plan of redemption is that we will always have provision (harvest), that we can live in His Light and ourselves be a light unto this world, and that we can have life. And that's why we want to remember it. So that we can continually be reminded to live in such a way that we can stay in His rhythm and experience His blessing!
Kol Kallah's teaching of this portion finishes it off by summarising the theme as: "redemption starts with a revelation of God's provision for our lives, His light in our lives and His life everlasting for everyone of us!"
How can we NOT want to remember and celebrate this?
May we all have a renewed revelation that He redeemed us! That He wants to provide in our needs! That He IS the Light in our lives! And that He IS our lives!
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Portion 15: Bo (This blog you are reading now)
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