Exodus 1:1-6;1

Moshe flees Egypt for Midian after trying to save one of his people from a whipping, kills an Egyptian and buries him in the sand. When he discovers that his own people have spread the rumor about what happened, and was advised that Pharaoh was seeking to kill him, he escaped before the guards could capture him. He finds lodging and a new lifestyle with Yitro, Priest of Midian where he is given Zipporah, one of the daughters of Yitro for a wife. He becomes a shepherd. After a period of time he meets up with Hashem at the burning bush, and the rest is history!

What we see unfold is in the face of the extreme anguish of the Jews under Egyptian slavery, the small request to have a 3-day break to worship their G-d in the wilderness amplifies the oppression. Pharaoh defies Hashem, stating: Who is Hashem that I should obey his voice?” and then commands that no more straw be provided for the Israelites who are building his pyramids. The supervisors are beaten when the people do not fulfill their normal quota. They turn on Moshe and Aharon and accuse them of bringing more trouble upon the people, clearly showing their almost complete lack of Emunah in the power of Hashem and the promise to deliver them.

Moshe takes it to Hashem, and asks why He got him involved if He was going to let the people suffer? That Pharaoh has made things much worse since he came to Egypt and requested the favor for Israel. Hashem replies for Moshe to wait and see what He is going to do to Pharaoh. And that is the end of the Parsha.

I find this very very intriguing in the light of what has happened in the past few weeks in the world! There is a plague affecting humanity and the Jews are not exempt. The ones who represent the nation of Israel have accepted the rulings of the nations as to how to control their own people. Israel has thrown out their own vaccine to be in step with the popular Pfizer vaccine. The leadership is clearly looking to the nations for advice and not calling out to Hashem. And the people will suffer because of their decisions. Verses from Tanakh come to mind:

Yeshyahu 9:15 “For the guides of this people cause them to err and they who are led by them are destroyed.”

Yeshyahu 1:23 “Your princes are rebellious and associates of thieves; each of them loves bribery and pursues payments.”

The idea that the government prospers at the expense of its people shows that the government is not a government for the people but a people for the government. We see great changes in the governments of the nations and in Israel today. Could it be that Mitzraim is still in control? That we must be delivered from oppression here in our own land? Surely it is time for Hashem to rise and show His Power.

Yeshyahu 10:1-3: “Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, And to the writers that write iniquity; To turn aside the needy from judgment, And to take away the right of the poor of My people, That widows may be their spoil, And that they may make the fatherless their prey! And what will ye do in the day of visitation, And in the ruin which shall come from far? To whom will ye flee for help? And where will ye leave your glory?”

When it was time to deliver Israel from Egypt, the trouble got worse. Today, when the children of the exile are turning their hearts towards home, multitudes asking for Aliyah, the problems increase. Death tolls are reportedly increasing like never before and the leaders show by their desire to get on board with the nations that they don’t believe Hashem can or will protect His people. While the great second Exodus has begun, all hell breaks out to destroy them. Isn’t this what we see in the first Exodus? Are we seeing birth pangs that come with the return of the the sons of Jacob?

Yirmiyahu 30: 6-7: “Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child;

Wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it; it is a time of trouble unto Jacob, but out of it shall he be saved.”

Next week we will study the plagues Hashem sent to humble Pharaoh and break the yoke of Egypt and the oppression. Will we see something in Israel and the lands where the exiles are locked down and oppressed? Will we have another plague? Great troubles have hit the world. This past week, the US congress mocked Hashem and his creation of man and woman, father and mother in an opening prayer that has gone viral using “Amen and Awoman”.

The prophet Yirmiyahu predicted punishment of the nations where Israel has been in Exile:

Yirmiyahu 30:11 “…for I will bring annihilation upon all the nations among whom I have dispersed you, but upon you I will not bring annihilation; I will chastise you with justice, but I will never eliminate you completely.

Where will it all end and when will Hashem arise with power to save His people?

Yoel 2:17 “Let the priests, the ministers of Hashem, weep and say: “Oh, spare your people, Hashem! Let not your possession become a mockery, to be taunted by nations! Let not the peoples say, ‘Where is their G-d”?