Exodus 15:19-16:24 Chavurah Shalom 11/12/16 V. 19-21 V. 19 Is
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Exodus 15:19-16:24 Chavurah Shalom 11/12/16 V. 19-21 v. 19 is an epilogue to the Song at the Sea, the Shirat ha-yam. This is considered not a part of the foregoing poetry of song, since this is no longer in the same poetic form, but serves as a prose summary statement of all that the song taught and reminded us of concerning the Exodus. Keil & Delitzsch propose that Pharaoh and his horse are first, as he leads his vast army into the depths of the sea with the wall of water on either side. He is placed at the head of the enemies destroyed by ADONAI. Our text would indeed seem to indicate this, with the first mentioned being the horse of Pharaoh, then his chariots and his horsemen. As he is in the sea, ADONAI returns the waters to their place, thus drowning all of them. But the children of Israel walked on the dry ground in the midst of the sea. This is quite the summary statement! v. 20-21 We have just a brief epilogue, followed with the identification of a separate worship involving Miriam and the women. Miriam is here identified as a prophetess. She is the older sister of the two brothers, Moshe and Aharon. She was instrumental in the saving of Moshe from being drowned in the Nile, and getting him into the hands of both the daughter of Pharaoh for his life, and into the hands of his own mother until weaned. She is counted alongside of Moshe and Aharon as leading Israel out of Egypt in Micah 6:4. We have no record of any prophecy which she might have spoken, but the fancifulness of the Sages has it that she prophesied the birth and ministry of Moshe. The other women with whom she shares this designation in the Tanach are Deborah, Huldah, and Noadiah; and the only name mentioned in the Apostolic Writings is Anna. Judges 4:4; 2 Kings 22:14; Nehemiah 6:14; Ezekiel 13:17; Luke 2:36; Acts 21:8-9; Revelation 2:20. In Isaiah 8:3, “the prophetess” is the wife of the prophet. Rabbinic tradition adds another three—Hannah, Abigail, and Esther—for a total of seven prophetesses active in Israel in biblical times, that is in the times of the Tanach. The text states that Miriam recites only the first line of the shirah. However, a midrash has it that Miriam and the women actually recite the entire song. These verses affirm the custom, chronicled in Judges 11:34 and 1 Samuel 18:6, of women going forth with music and dance to hail the returning victorious hero, - 1 - although in the present instance, it is God and not man who is the victor. The Sages have it that there are two companies engaged in the song. The men led by Moshe, and the women led by Miriam. Hebrew tof is most likely the portable frame drum, a percussion instrument constructed of two parallel membranes stretched over a loop or frame. It was apparently used exclusively by a special class of female musicians. The Chumash identifies this instrument as a drum. The is a general term for tambourines and small drums (the most common תּ ֹף noun instruments of percussion in ancient times), examples of which have been found in Egyptian and Mesopotamian excavations.--Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, p. 978. Exodus 15:22-16:24 Crisis in the Wilderness We now begin the journey from the Red Sea to the Mountain of God at Sinai. There is an immediate testing of the faith of this newly formed nation as they receive their marching orders to leave the Reed Sea and to head out into the desert. The Talmud lists 10 trials with which Israel tested God after the Exodus, and one consistent challenge, “what shall we drink?” They entered the wilderness of Shur, the desert northwest of the Sinai peninsula. They journeyed for 3 days without finding an oasis sufficient for the people and their flocks. The old adage is that you can live for 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food. They arrived at Marah, which means bitter, and could not drink the water because it was bitter, hence the name. On the way to the mountain four crises occur: (1) a lack of drinking water (15:22–27), (2) a shortage of food (16:1–36), (3) a further lack of water (17:1–7), and (4) sudden, unprovoked aggression by a wild desert tribe (17:8–16).--JPS Torah Commentary, p. 83. The Mekhilta turns the entire incident into a metaphor. The living, life- sustaining water symbolizes the Torah; to be deprived of its spiritual sustenance for three days is life-threatening. (Hence, the Torah is read publicly each Sabbath, Monday, and Thursday.) The parable is reinforced by the Hebrew verb va-yorehu , “He showed him,” which comes from the same stem as Torah, and by ‘ets, “a tree log,” which is a symbol of Torah described in Proverbs 3:18 (cf. 3:1) as “a tree of life to those who grasp her.” The verse succeeding this Exodus passage further enhances the homily.--JPS Torah Commentary, p. 84. This was evidenced even in the days of Yeshua, in that these days were coupled with the days the people from the countryside would come to town, and they became for the - 2 - P’rushim, the Pharisees, days of fasting. This is commentary for Romans 14:5-9. Here the people complained against Moshe. Coming to an end of their natural provisions, they are apparently not capable of looking with faith to what God will do. Here is the first miracle of preservation. This was also a test of the people’s faith. Moshe in turn cried out unto God who showed him a tree, which cast into the water, made it palatable. and a regulation or judgment, a ; ח ֹק ,There He made for them a statute, a chok Thus God gave them statutes and .נָסָה ,and there he tested them ;מִשׁפָּט ,mishpat regulations before ever coming to Sinai. This may be a general summary of all that was about to happen with the gathering and the preparation of the manna, and for the Shabbat, the giving of the quail, etc. God’s miracles bring about a test. Would they accept the work of God as sufficient? The rabbis distinguish between a statute and a judgment, saying: a statute is a commandment given by God for which there is no rational explanation. In contrast, the judgment is something that makes sense rationally. Here He identifies Himself as the Great Healer – Ani ADONAI Rophecha, If hearing, shema, you obey, shema the voice of ADONAI, and do .אֲנִי יְהוָה רֹפְאֶך that which is proper IN HIS EYES, and you listen closely to His Mitzvot, His commandments, and you keep, shamar, all of his statutes, his judgments, then the entire malady that I inflicted upon Egypt I will not inflict upon you, for I am Your healer. ...it would be much more natural to suppose that there was an allusion to the tree of life, especially if we compare Gen. 2:9 and 3:22 with Rev. 22:2, “the leaves of the tree of life were for the healing of the nations,” though we cannot regard this reference as established. All that is clear and undoubted is, that by employing these means, Jehovah made Himself known to the people of Israel as their Physician, and for this purpose appointed the wood for the healing of the bitter water, which threatened Israel with disease and death (2 Kings 4:40).--Keil & Delitzsch. Thus Keil & Delitzsch determine that the statute and the judgment that ADONAI was proving to them was that God was their help and deliverance from every trouble. The promise is that Healing comes as the direct result of obedience and the exercise of faith in following after Him. This is fully illustrated as they arrived at Elim, the oasis of 12 springs and 70 date palms. The Sages of course take great - 3 - license with this. We may well see the significance throughout the Scripture of the 12 and of the 70. The number seventy in the Bible is usually meant to be taken as typological, not literal; that is, it is used for the rhetorical effect of evoking the idea of totality, of comprehensiveness on a large scale. Thus, in Genesis 10 precisely seventy nations issue from the three sons of Noah, and these constitute the entire human family. The children of Jacob - These seventy built up the nation of Israel. See Genesis 46:27; Exodus 1:5 and Ruth 4:11. Seventy elders furnished Israel's great Tribunal, Exodus 24:1; Numbers 11:16, afterwards called the Sanhedrin. Seventy disciples sent out by the Lord prefigure the mighty host which followed them, Luke 10:1,17, in spirit and in power. It is the number specially connected with Jerusalem, for the city kept its sabbaths seventy years, while Judah was in Babylon, Jeremiah 35:11. And seventy sevens were determined upon it to complete its transgression, and bring in everlasting righteousness for it, Daniel 9:24. Hegg noted that there were 12 springs, one for each of the tribes of Israel, signaling that full provision for the nation was given. He then connected this with Philippians 4:19: And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.--Parashah 57, p.