YISRO, EXODUS 18:1-20
BS”D
Moses receiving the Ten Commandments, with his brother, Aaron, standing to his right and Israelites waiting at the foot of the mountain, miniature illuminated manuscript, c. 1322.
In this Parsha we have the revelation of God, not to a single individual, but to an entire nation.
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Beginning at Chapter 20 at Mt. Sinai we hear the 10 Commandments spoken by Hashem. It is not until much later in Chapter 31 that Hashem inscribes the 10 Commandments into two stone tablets and gives them to Moshe to bring down to the people.
Most likely they were written in a script called Paleo-Hebrew and not in the square script that we today are familiar with called Ashura script. Paleo-Hebrew was the script used through out the land of Canaan during the Late Bronze Age, about 1,500 BCE when the Ten Commandments were given. Ashura script developed much later, perhaps a thousand years later and originated out of Mesopotamia and not Canaan.
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In Parshas Yisro we receive the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai, a high point in our relationship with Hashem.. The third one of these Commandments at 20:6-7 is:
לֹא תִשָּׂא אֶת-שֵׁם-יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, לַשָּׁוְא: כִּי לֹא יְנַקֶּה יְהוָה, אֵת אֲשֶׁר-יִשָּׂא אֶת-שְׁמוֹ לַשָּׁוְא.
“You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain, for the Lord will not hold blameless anyone who takes His name in vain.”
What does this Commandment mean to you?
It seems to me that in our common culture, taking God’s name in vain has been much trivialized…perhaps a sign of the times where things are taken casually or made light of.
לַשָּׁוְא which appears twice means “for nothing” or a misuse.
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The Ten Commandments begin at 20:2 with Hashem stating his bonafides: “I am the Lord, your God, Who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage”.
Then there is a list of responsibilities and obligations, things that we are required to do or not to do through verse 20:14. In turn if we do our part Hashem will do His as stated previously in Chapter 19:
19:5, וִהְיִיתֶם לִי סְגֻלָּה מִכָּל-הָעַמִּים,
“…you shall be My own treasure from among all peoples…”
19:6, וְאַתֶּם תִּהְיוּ-לִי מַמְלֶכֶת כֹּהֲנִים, וְגוֹי קָדוֹשׁ
“you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation”.
This clearly a contract between a sovereign and a people, not between a sovereign and an under lord, but between a sovereign and a multitude.
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In the Parshah at 18:2: וַיִּקַּח, יִתְרוֹ חֹתֵן מֹשֶׁה, אֶת-צִפֹּרָה, אֵשֶׁת מֹשֶׁה--אַחַר, שִׁלּוּחֶיהָ
I want to focus on what “to be sent away” may possibly mean.
וַיַּשְׁכֵּם אַבְרָהָם בַּבֹּקֶר וַיִּקַּח-לֶחֶם וְחֵמַת מַיִם וַיִּתֵּן אֶל-הָגָר שָׂם עַל-שִׁכְמָהּ, וְאֶת-הַיֶּלֶד--וַיְשַׁלְּחֶהָ; וַתֵּלֶךְ וַתֵּתַע, בְּמִדְבַּר בְּאֵר שָׁבַע.
“And Abraham arose up early in the morning, and took bread and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away; and she went, and became lost in the wilderness of Beer-sheba”.
Getting back to Moshe and the Parshah, it is only in 18:2 and not before that we learn that Zipporah had been sent away. We have to read into the text in order to make sense out of 18:2.
Not only is the phrase found at 18:2, but it is also found at 18:27 –
וַיְשַׁלַּח מֹשֶׁה, אֶת-חֹתְנוֹ; וַיֵּלֶךְ לוֹ, אֶל-אַרְצוֹ.
“And Moses sent his father-in-law away; and he went to his own land”.
Ask yourself: Why would Moshe be prompted to banish his father-in-law as he done previously to his wife?
The answer may be found in a conversation between Moshe and Yisro.
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Some verses from the Book of Numbers 10: 29-32 shed some light on what may have transpired in the Parshah:
Moses says: “…We are traveling to the place about which the Lord said, I will give it to you. Come with us and we will be good to you, for the Lord has spoken of good fortune for Israel.
Yitro replies: He said to him, I won't go, for I will go to my land and my birthplace.
Moses answers: He said, Please don't leave us, for because you are familiar with our encampments in the desert and you will be our guide. And if you go with us, then we will bestow on you the good which God grants us.
There is another clue as to what is happening. At 18:24, Moses seems to comply with what Yitro is telling him:
וַיִּשְׁמַ֥ע משֶׁ֖ה לְק֣וֹל חֹֽתְנ֑וֹ וַיַּ֕עַשׂ כֹּ֖ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר אָמָֽר
"Moses understood his father in law, and he acted to all that he said".
וַיִּשְׁמַ֥ע means that Moses heard or listened or understood. On its face this conversation seems to refer to setting up of a judicial system.
But it might mean something more, and Moshe got the picture. His father-in-law was a Midianite who had no desire to throw in with the Jews.
And in our Parshah: “And Moses sent his father in-law away; and he went to his own land”.
We all know that Moshe had a temper. I’m thinking that Moshe understood and was so upset with Yitro’s response, that Moshe threw him out never to return.
Sam Cooke, not Rav Kook, has a different point of view on "sending":
https://youtu.be/tcrU3ddNeIg
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This brings up another question: We would like to believe that Yisro converted to Judaism when he arrived at our encampment. After all, Yisro was impressed by all that Hashem had done for us:
At 18:1 - Now Moses' father in law, Jethro, the Priest of Midian, heard all that God had done for Moses and for Israel, His people that the Lord had taken Israel out of Egypt.
At 18:9-12
9 - Now Moses' father in law, Jethro, a Priest of Midian, heard all that God had done for Moses and for Israel, His people that the Lord had taken Israel out of Egypt.
10 - Jethro said, "Blessed is the Lord...
11 - Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the deities...
12 - Then Moses' father in law, Jethro, sacrificed a burnt offering and a peace offering to God,...
This is interpreted by some as a celebration of his conversion. But did he really convert? In all what follows in the Chumash, the Midianites have been our enemy and not a friend.
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The Haftorah portion concerns parts of Chapters 6, 7 and 9 (for Ashkenazim).In this week's Haftarah portion at 6:1-3 we read the Prophet Isaiah's vision of heavenly beings:
“Seraphim stood above for Him, six wings, six wings to each one; with two he would cover his face, and with two he would cover his feet, and with two he would fly. And one called to the other and said, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory."
Isaiah saw a Seraph which is a heavenly being that flies around the Throne of God exclaiming:
קָד֧וֹשׁ | קָד֛וֹשׁ קָד֖וֹשׁ יְהֹוָ֣ה צְבָא֑וֹת מְלֹ֥א כָל־הָאָ֖רֶץ כְּבוֹדֽוֹ
Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory”.
These words are the Kedushah, probably the most important part of the Amidah where we attempt to emulate the Angels. The Kedushah is also said in the first prayer prior to reciting the Shema and towards the conclusion of the morning service as part of the Uva L'tzion prayer and at the conclusion of Shabbat.
Then at 6:5 the Prophet exclaims that he is not fit to have seen what he has seen:
“Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips...Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away”,
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At 7:1 Isaiah introduces us to the Judean King, Achaz. Most of us do not know him, but are familiar with his son Hezekiah and his great-great grandson Josiah. Ahaz ruled in Judah between 734–714 BCE.
He is viewed as a wicked King, but from a historical perspective, Achaz was one of the strongest and most determined leaders of the kingdom. In the north the Assyrian Empire was on the rise, and two local kingdoms, Aram and Israel (that’s right Israel, the northern kingdom) tried to force Achaz to join an alliance in opposition to Assyria.
According to Isaiah 7:6, when Achaz refused, they attempted to force Judah to join their anti-Assyrian coalition, or annex it and put their own man on the throne.
נַעֲלֶה בִיהוּדָה וּנְקִיצֶנָּה, וְנַבְקִעֶנָּה אֵלֵינוּ; וְנַמְלִיךְ מֶלֶךְ בְּתוֹכָהּ, אֵת בֶּן-טָבְאַל
Long story short: Achaz appealed to Assyria for help; Assyria complied and whips Israel and Aram, but in turn Judah loses its independence and becomes a vassal kingdom of Assyria. For the next 600 years until after the Maccabees, we were a subject kingdom or province of Assyria, Egypt, Babylonia, Persia, Ptolemy, Seleucid and lastly Rome.
It sure is good, now, to be free in our Land and not under the foot of a foreign power.
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