Moses WAS adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter (Ex 2:10), but in his heart remained a Levite, an Israelite, and as a seed of Abraham, perceived that he had a great destiny (Heb 11:24-26).
He was “drawn out of water” to be named the ‘one drawn from water’ (Ex 2:10) to water his people with the wisdom from above that would make them pre-eminently sought-after (Deut 4:5-8; Is 2:2-4; 60-63; Micah 4:1-8; 7:8-20), to prepare a people worthy to be called the “peculiar treasure” of the Most High (Ex 19:5-8; Mal 3:16-18), by being led from behind by the Shepherd of Israel (1 Cor 10:4; Is 30:21 ) “as seeing Him Who is invisible” (Heb 11:27).
The Holy Spirit of YHVH Who was put “within him” (Moses) to accomplish His forty years of ministry, thereby ordered his steps under instruction by His Shepherd, YHVH’s “Glorious Arm,” as a precursor to New Covenant baptism in the Spirit (Is 63:1-14).
As the humble servant of the LORD on which the Messiah is modelled (Deut 18:18; Acts 3:22 – “like unto thee”), Moses ‘bore his own cross’ with more than his fair share of suffering for the Messiah, even being willing to die to atone for Israel’s pervasive insolence, insubordination, rebellion and contempt for YHVH’s counsel, to save the Exodus project, to bring His difficult people to their Jordan, to cross over from death to life (Ex 2:11-15; Is 63:10 Heb 11:24-29).
Even though Aaron became Moses’ mouthpiece, Moses as RECEIVER and CONDUIT of God’s Voice and Torah of truth could just as easily have said what His Messiah said before Pilot: “To THIS end was I born, and for THIS cause came I into the world, that I should bear WITNESS to the TRUTH. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice” (Ex 4:12,15,16; 7:1; Deut 32:1-4; Jn 5:46; 18:37).
The Torah has a remarkable way of connecting NARRATIVE threads as well as threads of DOCTRINE (to maintain hermeneutical/interpretive continuity) and PROPHECY, to BE the plumb line, for detection of sly error and for sharpening our discernment to recognize and wisely apply vital covenant truths.
Another example of narrative threads thrown into sharp relief by treating the entire Bible as indivisible:
“And YHVH said to Moses in MIDIAN: ‘Go, return into EGYPT: for ALL THE MEN ARE DEAD WHO SOUGHT THY (Moses as type of Messiah) LIFE…” (Ex 4:19,20)
“But when Herod was dead, behold, an Angel of the LORD appeared to Joseph in a dream in EGYPT, saying, ‘Arise and take the young child and his mother, and go into the Land of ISRAEL: for THEY ARE DEAD WHO SOUGHT THE YOUNG CHILD’S (Y’shua the Messiah’s) LIFE” (Matt 2:19,20)
It also has a way of ‘piloting’ us to aspects of the New Testament that could do with closer examination in both narrower and broader contexts, in order to extract all that has been hidden for us, in them.
To illustrate, this Portion rather unexpectedly leads us to consideration of Governor Pontius Pilot’s traumatic deliberations over the Jews’ allegations of Messiah’s guilt as a supposedly blasphemous imposter (Matt 26:59-66) not by going off at a tangent from Ex 1:1 – 6:1, but by sensitively following the detail in themes which these chapters highlight within the context of the unfolding plot of the plan of eternal redemption in which MOSES plays a surprisingly important rôle.
Details like Y’shua at first refusing to dignify their incredulity, by withholding comment on the report of two witnesses who had heard Him say it was within His power to destroy and rebuild the Temple of YHVH (physical and/or spiritual) in three days, which takes on fresh meaning in light of his description then and there, of His Resurrection, to be found “sitting at the Right Hand of the Power and coming in the clouds of Heaven” as proof that He is the Son of God; and seeing as Moses, who would ACCUSE THEM of denying Him, would himself be born again (Matt 26:60-66; Jn 5:40-47).
After holding His peace, Y’shua was forthcoming, and was magnified by His Father when the chief priests invoked YHVH to “adjure thee by the Living God that thou tell us whether thou be the Messiah, the Son of God” (Matt 26:63).
The Jews sudden appeal to Caesar to rid themselves of ‘competition’ for their egos (Matt 27:18; Jn 19:15), was not only disingenuous, but Pilot rightly regarded Roman law as NOT COMPETENT to test and judge matters of Torah (Jn 18:31) and besides, he was not trained in subtleties of Divine Jurisprudence to distinguish between the Biblical precepts and edicts of God associated with the “SEAT of MOSES,” and the contrived rules of doctrines of men which had led to rabbinical presumption such as their earlier conclusion that Y’shua had broken Shabbat (Jn 5:18) – so he unhesitatingly responded to their allegation that Y’shua was a “malefactor,” with, “Take him (Y’shua) and judge him according to YOUR law” (Jn 18:31).
Amazingly, the mystery of Y’shua’s Sacrifice (Jn 10:18) is that He was neither sentenced under Roman law nor Jewish law (Jn 18:31).
Neither HUMAN system made His Atonement INEVITABLE.
God’s RIGHTEOUSNESS demanded the shedding of Blood for the remission of sins.
Mankind bears no guilt for His death, even though sin, for which we were absolved of guilt, precipitated it.
God’s LOVE sent Him to the Cross to show mercy to sinners, the Just dying for the unjust, by free will (Jn 3:16).
Clearly, He VOLUNTEERED Himself (Matt 26:52-54)
That’s what’s so wonderful.
Pilot’s verdict was seemingly off the record, not EX OFFICIO.
His line of questioning of Y’shua was more like an interview or seminar Q&A than an interrogation under due process of law.
It was almost conversational.
Pilot was extraordinarily ENGAGED in the sparse dialogue.
The impression we are left with is that He was asking questions more for HIMSELF than to conduct a formal hearing
Pilot: “What is truth?” (Jn 19:38).
He genuinely wanted to know who “that just man” really was (Matt 27:19).
We can almost feel the intensity of the encounter.
Perhaps he had a sense, from Y’shua’s profound statements (Jn 19:36,37), that the meaning of life was standing before him.
The fact is, neither Rome nor Jerusalem was Y’shua’s executioner.
Neither was Herod any more inclined to judge and condemn Y’shua, the Nazarene Galilean under his jurisdiction, than Pilot, who had considered the accusations false and now reported back to the chief priests – “No, nor yet Herod: for I sent (Y’shua) to him and lo (consider his finding that), nothing (worthy) of death has been done by Him” (Lk 23:4-11,14-16).
Our Saviour did what was necessary, OFFERING Himself without compulsion.
He CHOSE His own death (Jn 3:14; 8:28; 12:32).
The Jews’ violating Torah to invoke the curse of innocent Blood upon themselves and their children by demanding (under threat of tumult) the death of a JUST man, Y’shua-Jesus, to fulfil a HUMAN tradition at Passover (hence no Fear of God) (Is 29:13; Matt 27:15-17,25), hardly made it easier for Pilot to literally wash his hands of the matter to declare HIS verdict of Y’shua’s innocence (which flew in the face of theirs), because he knew “that for ENVY they had delivered Him” and that he was facing incitement to revolt, by hypocrites (Matt 27:18,19,24).
Of course, by what reasoning, despite his personal conviction of Y’shua’s innocence, Pilot finally yielded, to grant the noisy throng the Crucifixion which THEIR law would not allow (“It is not lawful for US to put ANY man to death” – Jn 18:31), is one of history’s greatest brain-teasers.
Whichever way one looks at it, though, it’s hard to believe that on the Last Day, with rôles reversed and Pilot standing before “the King of the Jews’ ” Judgment Seat (2 Cor 5:9-11), that he would warrant eternal damnation amongst those who as part of Y’shua’s pre-Passover ‘inspection’ and judgment, were of necessity at least partly veiled, to be part of doing what was NECESSARY for the will of YHVH to be done, which on that exact Passover, was to sacrifice “the Messiah their Passover,” Whom MOSES endorsed but which most of Israel has “disallowed,” as builders rejecting the precious Cornerstone (Ps 118:22; Is 28:16-19; Matt 21:33-46).
After all, the record is clear, that “had the PRINCES of this world known” and believed the truth, which had long been “hidden wisdom,” “they would NOT have crucified the LORD of Glory,” and where would that have left the prophecy? (Deut 18:18,19; Lk 23:33,34; Jn 3:16; 1 Cor 2:8).
How does this tie back to Ex 1-6?
On a long view, the events that sent Y’shua to His APPOINTED death, are an EXTRAPOLATION of the seed concept that Israel is YHVH’s son, His FIRSTBORN (Ex 4:22,23), to be redeemed by His own death AS the only Begotten Son, as Firstborn from amongst those who sleep, to fulfil the promise and purpose of the Exodus which is to “take you to Me for a people…” FOREVER (Ex 6:7).
The longing of the Jewish people for what they call the ‘resuscitation’ of the dead, simply cannot be realized without the Holy Spirit being allowed to knit the full counsel of Scripture together in their hearts, line by line and precept by precept (Is 28:9-13; Matt 5:19; Heb 10:16), to see how the Song of Moses corresponds to the Song of the Lamb (Rev 15:3,4), to see how their icon, Moses, and HIS Messiah, sing ‘the same tune’ ! (Jn 5:45-47).
To give a sense of the scale of its importance, the TORAH (which includes the seven pillars of wisdom and contains the roots of “the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven” referred to in Matt 13) is to ALL Scripture, what JERUSALEM (the ‘navel of the Earth,’ the resting place of the Name) is to the UNIVERSE.
This is what 2 Tim 3:14-17 is alluding to and impressing upon us. We are not to focus on the New Testament IF, by doing so, we leave the Hebrew Scriptures (and the Torah in particular) behind, any more than we are given permission to withhold the tithe while learning to practise the “weightier matters” of “judgment, mercy and faith” (Matt 5:19; 23:23).
Going back to righteous Abraham, Torah (which means Instruction) which was codified later, forever remains the matrix of the foundation principles of “the Way of YHVH” (Gen 18:18,19; 26:5) because neither the first Five Books (the ‘Pentateuch’) nor the Prophets can be abolished without undoing the very act of Creation and nullifying the “restitution of all things” necessary to perfect the restoration of Creation in “the regeneration,” when the Apostles will rule the Twelve Tribes under the Messiah as King of the Jews on David’s Throne (Matt 5:17-19; 19:28; Lk 1:32,33; Acts 3:21; 24:14).
In this Portion, which foreshadows the NATIVITY (discovery of the Deliverer) and the New Covenant’s PREPARATION of a HOLY REMNANT of Israel to reign as chief of nations with their Messiah with unchallenged dominion over all the territory blood-covenanted to Abraham (Gen 15:7-23; Jer 31:7,10,17,31-36; Amos 9:11-15; Micah 4:1-8; 7:8-20; Zech 9-14; Acts 15:14-17), we have an example, in these opening chapters of the profound biography of Moses which we could call “from CRADLE (Ex 2:2-5) to INHERITANCE (Ex 6:1-8),” of Torah’s priceless help in understanding the mind of the Messiah.
This is so because Moses actually SAW, MET and HELPED prepare Y’shua (his Master, “Mighty God” and “Eternal Father,” “the Saviour” – Is 9:6,7; 45:21,22) on the Mt of Transfiguration, to BE the TESTATOR Who needed to die as a “corn of wheat” (Jn 12:23,24), Incarnate as the “Seed (singular) of Abraham,” to “confirm” the inheritance to Abraham, for posterity (Gen 17:8; Ex 6:8; Is 9:6,7; Lk.9:28-3; Rom 15:8; Gal 3:16; Heb 9:16,17).
John 1:17, one of the great pillars of truth given to aid our understanding of the HOLY SYNERGY between grace and law in the process of our SANCTIFICATION by faith (Jn 17:17,19; Acts 20:32; 1 Thess 5:23; 2 Thess 2:13-15), describes the PARALLEL between the two great SPANS of Scripture which run from EXODUS to DEUTERONOMY (i.e. from Moses found in a slime and pitch-sealed ark (basket) of bullrushes in the Nile, to his citation as “king in Yeshurun” in Deut 33:5 in recognition of his exemplary servant-leadership as ruler (king) of Israel, YHVH’s firstborn nation); and then from MATTHEW – REVELATION (from Immanu El as the God-infant found in the manger, born King of the Jews, to restoration of the Monarchy to Jerusalem for Theocracy to be the ultimate form of world government under Y’shua’s succession to David’s Throne after Armageddon – Is 9:6,7; Zech 14; Mk 11:10; Rev 19, the penultimate battle for ownership of Jerusalem; Gog and Magog being the last, in Rev 21).
Ex 1:1 – 6:8 is Exodus-Deuteronomy in a nutshell.
WITHIN those two great cycles we receive our HERITAGE of Divine Instruction (Torah) through Moses – Deut 33:4; while through Y’shua, we receive the “grace and truth” to learn how to be freely cleansed, justified and acquitted of Torahlessness (unrighteousness) and absolved from the guilt of that sin (1 Jn 3:4); and how to overcome the power of sin to become true sons of God, by following after the righteousness of Torah “filled to the full” (as amplified by Y’shua in Matt 5), by walking after the Spirit in the footsteps of the obedience of the Messiah (Matt 5:17-19,48; 28:20; Jn 1:12/Heb 12; Rom 3:20,31; 7:22,25-8:4,14; 1 Tim 6:11-14; 1 Jn 2:3-6), to be made perfect in the PRACTICE of righteousness, to be “AS our Master” (Matt 5:19,48; 12:59; 28:50; Lk 6:40; 16:17; Acts 10:35; Col 1:28; 4:12; 2 Thess 2:17).
Those two great sequential cycles are
1) the pre-Messianic phase through Moses as primary type of Messiah,
2) the other triumphantly Messianic under Y’shua-Jesus as Ruler (King) of the House of Jacob forever
TOGETHER they build on the embryonic origins of the church in GENESIS through the earliest God-seekers such as Seth and Enos and Enoch after the debacle in the Garden (Gen 4:25,26; 5:24) then through heirs of the righteousness which is by faith, such as Noah and Shem, after the rescue of a tiny remnant of humanity from the Inundation (Gen 6:8-10; 9:26,27); and finally, through the call of Abram to be a Hebrew, to BE the eternal household of YHVH (Gen 14:13; 18:18,19; Is 51:1-7; Lk 1:33; Rom 11; Eph 2:11,12; Gal 3:29), and the Holy Spirit directing Israel throughout its Exodus AS “the church (kahal/ekklesia)” (Is 51:1-7; 63:9-14; Acts 7:38; Lk 1:33) with the Messiah their “spiritual Rock from Whom they drank,” “following” them (1 Cor 10:4).
Ex 1:1-6:8 is a preliminary synopsis of the life of Moses the Levite, who was hidden for three months from the savage judgment of Pharoah on newborn Hebrew males (Ex 1:16,17; 2:2,3 – just as Y’shua was later hidden in Egypt after fleeing insecure Herod’s executioners – Matt 2:12-23), then consecrated through his mother’s Instruction as basic foundation to his later commissioning at a burning bush below Sinai to bring Israel out of bondage as a great nation (Ex 2:7-10; 3:1-10; Deut 6:23; 26:5), to teach them YHVH’s ways and manners, to groom them for possession of their inheritance through his commissioning of Joshua (also a type of Y’shua – Deut 34:9).
We aren’t told at what age Moses was adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter (“And the child GREW, and she – Moses’ mother who was paid to rear him – BROUGHT him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he BECAME her son” – Ex 2:7-10), but it is not unreasonable to assume that his identity as a HEBREW was at least partly settled in his very young mind before leaving his Levitical parents’ household (which he must surely have later visited), to be fanned into action at the time appointed to become his people’s deliverer after he’d been raised as a prince in Egypt (Ex 2:11-15; Heb 11:23-29)
The very life of Y’shua about Whom Moses WROTE and Who endorsed Moses (Deut 18:18,19; Jn 5:45-47; Acts 3:22-26), from its richly prophetic beginnings in Beit Lechem (“little” Bethlehem, the House of Bread) in the stone manger prepared for Y’shua as “the Star of Jacob” and “Shepherd and STONE of Israel” (Gen 49:24; Nu 24:17; Micah 5:2), to His Atonement to “save His People from their sins” and His Resurrection for their justification as “the sure mercies of David” (Acts 13:32-39); and His forthcoming Return in glory to fight for Zion, to receive His Messianic Kingdom and be Enthroned as Son of David as embodiment of the New Covenant, “a Covenant of the people” (Is 49:5-8), is the seal of Israel’s inheritance and of their marriage to their Land, forever (Ps 105:8-11; Deut 33:26-29; Is 62:4; Rom 15:8).
Pilate’s evidently remorseful, reluctant surrender of Y’shua to the brazen insolence of Jewish demands for His Crucifixion (Jn 18:29-31; 19:12) WAS the grace described by Isaiah as “the SURE MERCIES of David” (Is 55:5; Acts 13:32-39) which has proved to be the greatest act of mercy by YHVH to humanity.
Pilate became Y’shua’s defence and paradoxically, his permitting the Crucifixion to go ahead did not change that.
His repetition THREE times (Jn 18:38,39; 19:4; 19:6), that in his judgment, he found “no fault at all” with “the King of the Jews,” a title he repeated SIX TIMES apparently without scepticism or sarcasm, coupled, in the Fear of God (Jn 19:7,8), and probably as a result of intense frustration, with his extraordinary gesture of empathy by testifying to the truth which the Jews could not rebut (Jn 19:33-38) by nailing the reality of Y’shua’s DEITY (“Y’shua Ha Notzri v’Melech Ha Yehudim” – Y’shua-Jesus of Nazareth/the Nazarene and King of the Jews) to the tree (above where our sins were nailed), left no-one under the illusion that the Jews had an open and shut case.
This was compounded by the maddened Jewish chief priests immediately discerning the 4 syllable Holy Acronym/Tetragrammaton YHVH [ Y (Y’shua) – H (Ha Notzri) – V (v’Melech) – H (Ha Yehudim) ] from Y’shua’s earlier declaration that “I and the Father are One” (Jn 5:18; 10:30,31), in the wording of what Pilate had written (or which he had had written) to immortalize the fact that neither he nor his court were UNCONVINCED by Y’shua’s description of Himself as the Son of God and King of a Kingdom not of this world (Jn 18:33-38; 19:7,8).
Pilot’s belief in Y’shua’s innocence was vindicated by the testimony of his centurion, witnessing His death accompanied by what were undeniably acts of God: “Truly, this was the Son of God” (Matt 27:50-54; Jn 19:7)
The chief priests must have howled in indignation as they demanded that the sign be rephrased SUBJECTIVELY, to the effect that Y’SHUA had said about Himself that He was King of the Jews; NOT that what was written was an objective statement of fact which validated the ACRONYM which declares to this day that Jesus IS God, the King and Master of the Universe.
Pilate flatly refused to budge, saying, “What I have written, I have written” (Jn 19:19-22).
YHVH used him as a scribe in that historic instant, to add weight to 1 Tim 3:16.
And so the truth prevails.
The Deity of Messiah is denied only by those who refuse the witness of John the Baptist; and Y’shua’s Father’s testimony (Jn 1:1; 5:31,32; 1 Jn 5:91 Tim 3:16).
All of this is anticipated in passages like Is 41:4,21,27 in the description of the Almighty, “the First and the Last,” as “King of Jacob” (and therefore King of the Jews), BEING the One given to Jerusalem for the Consolation of Israel and Redemption of Jerusalem and the world, by bringing “Glad Tidings of great joy which shall be to all people,” as “God with us,” Immanu El, as “a SIGN that shall be SPOKEN AGAINST” (Lk 1:68,78,79; 2:25,34; Rev 1:7,8,17,18).
The Lk 2:34b prophecy could apply equally to Is 7:13,14 (“a sign” to the House of David) and to the physical sign that Pilot erected over the Crucified Messiah which in different words, identified Him as no less than “the God of Israel, (AS) the Saviour” (Is 45:17-25).
HalleluYaH
Try as he may, knowing he was being cornered, Pilate had valiantly probed the Accused for decisive exculpatory evidence (Jn 18:27,28; 19:9,10), to give Y’shua’s prosecutors AMPLE opportunity to heed it and backtrack, but even so, couldn’t obstruct justice (that is, the Judgment of the sins of the WORLD by Jesus our propitiation for sin) to change destiny, because Hebrew prophecy is pre-written history.
Jesus had to die.
And not just for the nation (Jn 11:47-53).
And it had to be by crucifixion not only because that form of death was prophesied, but because “It isn’t lawful for US to put ANY man to death” (Jn 18:31,32).
Despite his wife’s ongoing personal Christian testimony and her sufferings by the Spirit for “that JUST man”; and her warnings to Pilot to “have nothing to do with” convicting Him (Matt 27:19,24), knowing full well that He and His Kingdom were indeed not of this world (Matt 27:19; Jn 19:36), Pilot gave Y’shua’s marvellous but disturbing RETICENCE, as a Lamb silent before slaughter (Is 53:7; Matt 27:12-14), the benefit of the doubt, while in his (Pilot’s) heart, in a twist of irony, he did not consider it UNACCEPTABLE that by force of circumstance, he would not be executing a CRIMINAL.
Hindsight shows us Pilot faced a vexing problem of unprecedented complexity, an almighty enigma, which only a PROPHETIC decision could solve.
If ever there were a case that illustrates the mystery of the power of God to have its way, it is Pharoah’s recalcitrance (which made the Exodus possible) (Rom 9:15-21), and Pilot’s willingness to release Barabbas instead of Jesus, for “Christ our Passover” to be our Hope of glory (1 Cor 5:7,8; Col ).
The righteousness of the law of life UPON WHICH THE UNIVERSE’s existence depends, required a death that human jurisprudence lacked the tools to comprehend and justify.
Jesus’ trial before Pilot, was mankind’s trial before God, Jesus standing proxy for mankind’s trespasses, for God in the Messiah to reconcile the world to Himself through His Sacrifice of Himself as the cause for which He was made flesh and dwelt amongst us (2 Cor 5:19).
Guilty as charged, ALL having fallen short of the glory of YHVH, MANKIND’s continued existence demanded Jesus be “Ransom for all,” so that “one dying for all” would cancel the fact that “all were dead” (2 Cor 5:14).
Without realizing it, Pilot was wrestling with 2 Cor 5:21 in his Judgment Hall. “He Who knew no sin, was made to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of YHVH in Him.”
A Roman found Him innocent, and Jewish law which found him guilty of breach of rabbinical doctrine couldn’t sentence Him to death (Jn 18:31; 19:6), so to quell tumult and looming riot (let alone fulfil prophecy), we could say that Pilate had to turn a blind eye to the truth, for original innocence and with it, “life and immortality to be brought to light” and restored to humanity “through the Gospel.”
Pilot was not flattering rabbinical law by executing their wishes and pandering to their jealousies.
In the moment, he was enacting Divine law.
His court was momentarily transmuted into the bar of Heaven.
At its core, Pilot’s decision was an evangelical necessity. “Behold the MAN!” (which rhymes with LAMB Who takes away the sins of the world), could be the opening line of the Gospel (Jn 19:5).
The characters of Judas and Pilot aren’t remotely comparable.
Judas’ ENTICEMENT and INDUCEMENT of the Jewish hierarchy to bribe him to identify and deliver Y’shua into confinement through a martial arrest (Matt 26:14-16), with no subsequent attempt on Judas’ part to truly repent and appeal for mercy (all he did was return the bribe then hang himself – Matt 27:1-10), has nothing in common with the dignity and equity of Roman law which under normal circumstances would never be thrown to the wind, to give an unsustainable verdict.
Pilot’s actions were in no way as incriminating as Judas’, who was consumed for his venality, as Herod was consumed by worms for his overweening pride and iniquity in failing to deflect credit to YHVH for his gift of oratory.
Pilot knew he was being blackmailed by the Jews’ hypocrisy (“THOU art not Caesar’s friend” and “WE have no king but Caesar” – Jn 19:12,15) but did not reach his final decision out of intimidation and cowardice through fear of Caesar, but because he emphatically believed that his deductions about the validity of the High Priest’s legal suit were more righteous than Jewish’s orthodoxy’s opportunistic arguments and allegations (“he MADE HIMSELF the Son of God,” which ironically has a double meaning which includes the description of the DEITY of Messiah as “a FORM of God” as described in Phil 2:6 and therefore as the One God of their ‘Shema’ – the last thing they would have wanted to vouchsafe).
So in reading this fascinating account of thoughtful Pilot over and over, we sense in his sincere solicitation of answers from both Jesus and His accusers, that he must surely have felt the power of YHVH as LawGiver and Judge operating on his soul, giving him the green light to commit Y’shua to his false accusers for Roman execution, DESPITE the merits of his own spirited defense of Y’shua’s innocence and integrity (Jn 18:38; 19:6,11), and therefore without his conscience condemning him.
It would be surprising therefore, if Pilot’s name is not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Given that those who die “the death of the righteous” (Nu 23:9) as the fathers and Moses and the Prophets did, and whose spirits live, “know as they are known,” one wonders how much of this background information, if any, “the two witnesses” Moses and Elijah, as prophets, were privy to ahead of time before being translated to the Mt of Transfiguration in glory to “speak of His (Jesus’) decease (death) which He should accomplish at Jerusalem” (Lk 9:31); and whether they knew that their dramatic 1260 days of evangelism of Jerusalem in sackcloth (this time Moses in full stature in Christ not needing Aaron as a crutch to speak truth to power – Ex 4:10-16,27-31) before dying for three and a half days and precipitating a costly earthquake (1/10th of the City devastated with 7 000 fatalities), would be decisive in helping bring Israel to their “fullness,” to trigger the Second Coming to fulfil Ex 6:7,8 in rememberance of His covenant with Abraham, by fervently recalling Y’shua to His City by blessing the One Who has come and will again come in the Name of YHVH (Matt 5:35; 23:34-39; Rom 11:11-15,25-29; Rev 11:2-13).
So the first five chapters of Exodus with verse one of chapter 6 bridging this Portion and the next, establishes for the record what the historical conditions were, under which the grace which is YHVH’s prophecy to Abraham in Gen 15:13-16 regarding the great nation he would sire, would turn 400 years of affliction and “strangers in a land that is not theirs” (verse 13) into a wave of miraculous migration to REPATRIATE a set-apart household (the House of Jacob) forged in a crucible of hardship, to recover legal succession to the portion of the Earth’s surface which would become the most contested real estate in history.
And which only the irresistible force of awesome acts of God will resolve, by the return of the Messiah Whom MOSES (by prophesying “Hearken unto My Words which He shall speak in My Name” – Deut 18:19) expects to be the definitive Interpreter of the Torah which HE (Messiah) gave to Moses in the first place, in preparation for His coming, to teach us how to be conformed to His Image to fulfil the rôle of Torah which is to perfect a bride (Rom 8:4,29; 2 Tim 4:13-17).
This commentary is full of interest, to better appreciate our inheritance of eternal redemption, and its cost paid by others
Shabbat 24th/25th December 2021 Parashah Shemot (“names”) | Weekly Portion of Instruction in “the Way of YHVH” : Exodus 1:1 – 6:1.
Topic: From cradle to inheritance
