Torah Shemot – Names
Shemot (Exodus) 1:1 – 6:1
Haftorah – YeshaYahu (Isaiah) 27:6 – 28:13; 29:22-23; YirmeYahu (Jeremiah) 1:1 – 2:3
B’rit Hadashah – Acts 7:17-36
Have you ever attended a social gathering where everyone wore clothes that looked the same and even their mannerisms were similar? How did you feel among those people?
On the road years ago, my wife and I attended a church where we didn’t fit in so well. The guys were all clean-shaven, wearing white, button-up shirts and black pants. The gals all wore their hair in buns and long dresses. I especially felt awkward with my long beard and color of my clothes. Leslie had her hair down. Even their behavior during worship went by a code that was new to us. During an upbeat song on spiritual warfare, the guys all ran around the pews in a circle, except for me. Needless to say, we didn’t feel like we belonged there. What does it take to fit into a body of believers?
Bricks or Stones?
If you could design your own house, what would you prefer to build the walls with – bricks or stones? Which material in your home would you rather look at day in and day out?
Bricks are made by man in factory kilns out of pulverized clay; whereas stones are made by the Creator, although often cut to size by men’s tools. Bricks are made to be the same shape, size, and texture with every brick, usually of the same shades of color. On the other hand, stones found on the earth can come in any shape, size, color, or texture.
Bricks are found nine times in our Torah portion, Shemot. The tyrannical ruler of the land, Pharaoh, imposed mandates on the Hebrew slaves to make large quantities of bricks for building, yet supplying them with less material. He treated his slaves like bricks in a wall.
The children of Israel groaned under hard bondage as they cried out to Heaven for deliverance. Owning nothing, the slaves had no other choices, and no opportunity to seek better occupations. Yet under the dire straits (meaning of Mitsrayim, Egypt), they were strong and vigorous, multiplying and producing numerous children and large families.
The Young Man Moses, Like the Young Man Messiah
One thing I love about Moses was that even as a young man, he had a heart for the oppressed and poor people of Israel. In the ‘Hall of Fame of Faith’ of Hebrews chapter 11, here is the faith that Moses was commended for as a young man:
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. Instead, he chose to suffer mistreatment along with the people of God, rather than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. He considered the disgrace of Messiah as greater riches than the treasures of Egypt – because he was looking ahead to the reward. Hebrews 11:24-26, TLV
In this way, we can be more like the Messiah. Yeshua did not identify with the rich nor the ruling classes of His day, but He lived and served among the low-class poor folk, the common people. He didn’t fit in with the ruling classes, but ordinary people loved Him!
One of the greatest rewards for an overseer is to be part of a ministry that liberates, restores, equips, and lifts up oppressed brothers and sisters. Our greatest treasures are redeemed souls whom Yeshua fits in, functioning and thriving in the Body of Messiah.
May all of us, especially our young people, make this wise choice sooner than later as Moses did: to choose to identify with the persecuted, lowly people of God, rather than enjoy the short-lived pleasures of sin for a season. Read James Chapter 5 for a prophetic warning to the rich, which we are seeing being fulfilled as the rich are losing their wealth, so much of it fiat and fake. Everlasting treasures are in the Temple of Yah!
Bricks and Religious Rulers
The word for ‘brick’ in Hebrew has to do with rich rulers, especially those of a religious class. How so? Lebenah means a brick from the whiteness of the clay’ (Str. H3843). It is in the family of words with the name Laban, whose name means ‘white.’ Remember how Laban was a tyrannical employer/ruler over Jacob, working for him for 20 years for his daughters? He foreshadowed the Hebrew slaves down in Egypt under Pharaoh. The color white in the Scriptures often represents the righteous garments of the saints; but as Yeshua said, white can also represent religious rulers, whom He called “white-washed sepulchers.”
Religious rulers tend to treat laymen as bricks in a wall. Rigid doctrines are made to shape and mold their adherents to be conformed to their image of a religious, or pious person. Denominational doctrines can manifest in dress codes and certain approved behaviors of how to conduct oneself in a worship service or other religious gathering.
Brick is made out of pulverized clay and straw, both representing man. If we submit to the hands of our Father, He is the Potter, we are the clay. He makes vessels of honor that can hold the anointing oil of His Spirit. If I’d submit to the hands of religious rulers to shape and mold me, I’d end up looking like everyone else – just another brick in the wall.
But YHWH chooses us as lively stones for His house, not man-made bricks if we have grown to trust in His goodness to us. For He truly is a good, good Father in His house!
If you ‘tasted and found out that our Master is good;’ (Psalm 34:8), to Whom you have come, because He is a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen of YHWH and precious. You also as living stones are being built into a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to Elohim through Yeshua Messiah. 1 Peter 2:3-4
Even Yeshua is one of those stones, albeit the Chief Cornerstone. By faith in Him, we are part of His dwelling place where we can join in with Him, abide with Him, and He with us.
For it says in Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone, a chosen, precious cornerstone. Whoever trusts in Him will never be put to shame.” Isaiah 28:16, 1 Peter 2:6
What is the difference between bricks and stones in a building? Each stone has unique characteristics unlike any other. On the other hand, individual bricks lose their identities.
Shemot: Names are Characteristics
Our Torah portion starts with Shemot, the names of the sons of Israel. Before we read the account of the Hebrew slaves making bricks down in Egypt, we are given the names of their fathers. Abba sets a precedence for the whole rest of the book with these names.
YHWH wants us to realize that no matter how tyrannical the rulers of our day, whether religious or governmental, we will not become nameless bricks in a wall. We will not lose our characteristics as sons of Israel. We will remain unique individuals, yet connected. We are not separate, nor isolated, but united as a house of lively stones founded on Messiah Yeshua, the Chief Cornerstone. Only His words hold us together (Col 1:17).
In paleo Hebrew, the word for name, shem, is the essence of a soul that emanates with the frequencies of light from the fire within and reproduces its character in the world around us. In other words, the Spirit within us influences those around us by the character of the Messiah, Who dwells as Light from within our souls, reflecting off others.
Growing Pains
Growing Pains
Praise Yah for the growth in our fellowship! New faces appear regularly and individual growth in the Spirit and the faith of our Messiah is wonderful! But with more sheep to tend to, the shepherds need more help. Last Shabbat I taught about the blessings and characteristics of the twelve tribes in an attempt to awaken the unique characteristics of the Messiah within each listener. Each one of us has a unique calling and character with a function and purpose to perform in the Body of Messiah. Each soul is so precious!
Although somebody else can do specific tasks in our mission for the King and His kingdom, such as what Mordechai told Esther (Est 4:14), nobody can replace you or me in our places as lively stones in the Temple of the Holy Spirit. Each one of us is as unique as a stone taken from the earth with a unique shape and size that the Messiah fits just right into the walls of His temple. Not one son was left out of the twelve sons of Jacob.
One thing that the elders need to guard against is to resist the urge to make bricks, instead of fitting stones into the house. It’s easier to fit in bricks than stones. Don’t let us do that. Help us be part of the Messiah’s work fitting living stones where He wants them.
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Messiah Yeshua Himself being the cornerstone, in Whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in YHWH, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. Ephesians 2:19-22
Our vision is to be that dwelling place of God in the Spirit where He is pleased to dwell. We want no one stumbling over the Cornerstone of our faith, the Divine Messiah, but giving themselves over to Him spirit, soul and body, forever joined with our Elohim!
The Message of the Restoration of the House of Israel...in Their Names!
Just how will the Messiah accomplish the restoration of Israel? Abba concealed a message for His people in the meanings of Shemot, the names of Benai Yisra’el, as recorded for us in Shemot (Exodus) 1:1-4.
The following replaces with meanings of the names Jacob – Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; Issachar, Zebulon, and Benjamin; Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher:
Holding off his adversary by his hand, the heel holder beholds a Son to be heard and obeyed, to be joined to, and praises YHWH with liberated hands thrown up in surrender.
For you, there is a reward of a habitation, a dwelling place, with the Son of My right hand.
A Doorway of Life is opened through My twisting and wrestling, My striving with you. An invading troop then has power and access to gain fortune. You will be happy and blessed!
Our Elohim reveals His character in His identifying name “EHYEH ASHER EHYEH – I AM that I AM.” This title is loaded with meaning and holds an awesome message, concealed for Benai Yisra’el today.
The four heys of this phrase, I believe, represent the four winds, the four Ruachot (Spirits) of Elohim (Ezek 37:9). The prophets declared that though scattered to the four winds, YHWH will bring us back from the corners of the earth to be jointly fit together as a Body.
Praise Adonai that the same Alef Tav, the Angel, Who brought Ya’aqov and his household into Egypt and brought them back out, will bring us back as the dry bones of the whole house of Israel. He is breathing upon us with a fresh wind of the Spirit!
The breathing, groaning, dry bones of Israel scattered to the four winds is a sound of the turning of those winds from that of scattering to that of regathering and coming back to the Promised Land. Soon, the whole house of Israel will be restored by the Messiah!
A major theme of the Scriptures is that we’re either scattering, or we’re gathering. Let’s choose to gather. Hope to see you this Shabbat. Let’s come in the Spirit of Elijah!
Pray with us for each member to be revived, to come alive in the Spirit, and to perform the function he is created for us in the Body of Messiah. Seek the Father for His purpose for your life. Pray that no one would be conformed as bricks to the elementary principles of the world (Col 2:20), but each one of us would be found fit as lively stones making up a dwelling place for the Spirit of the Living God, where He is pleased to dwell (1 Pet 2:5).
BaShem Yeshua HaMashiyach,
David Klug
David Klug is such a good teacher. When he teaches people learn. I would really like to see more of him teaching the message on shabbat.