Handout #13 –O.T.: Exodus (Shemot): the Hyksos, I AM…, YHVH, Passover, Shabbat ha gadol, Kiddush, Luke’s account, mysteries, Pardes, All Testifies of Christ March 2014
Many scholars speculate that Joseph came to power in Egypt while the nation was under the domination of the Hyksos people. The ancient historian Manetho called the Hyksos the shepherd-kings and told how their conquest and dominion were bitterly hated by the Egyptians. The Hyksos were Semitic peoples from the lands north and east of Egypt. Since Jacob and his family were also Semitic, it is easy to understand how Joseph would be viewed with favor by the Hyksos and also how, when the Hyksos were finally overthrown and driven out of Egypt, the Israelites would suddenly fall from favor with the native Egyptians.
As a prince, Moses may have had access to the royal libraries of the Egyptians as well as the scriptural record of the Israelites as taught by his mother, Jochebed. Stephen’s address (Acts 7:23, 25.) implied that Moses understood his responsibility: “And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel. … For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not.” (LDS OT Student Guide)
I Am that I Am- this response God used in the Hebrew Bible when Moses asked for his name (Exodus 3:14). It is one of the most famous verses in the Torah. Essentially it means I am, I shall be, I will be what I will be. Many mystical implications in Hebrew. Heavenly Father identifies Himself as the god of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, then gives his name: YHVH. In most English bibles the phrase essentially means: Uncreated Creator. God exists by himself for himself, and is the uncreated Creator who is independent of any concept, force, or entity; therefore (ongoing). the Hebrew conception of monotheism.
Click on this wonderful talk by LDS prophet.
http://www.lds.org/general-conference/1985/04/christ-our-passover?lang=deu&clang=eng&country=at Howard W. Hunter
When the Lord appeared to Moses in the burning bush He used the name I am to identify Himself as the God of Israel, Etymologically, the title I am is directly related to the most frequently used name of Deity in the Old Testament—YHWH. How often the name YHWH appears in the Bible may not always be evident in the King James Version, since the translators substituted the TITLE Lord or God almost every place it appeared in the Hebrew. This practice shows deference to the reverential feelings of the Jews who never pronounced the name of God = YHVH, substituting instead their word for Lord—Adonai. YHVH is the Tetragrammaton, meaning 4 letters. יחוח = hvhy- letters right to left
Heavenly Father has many titles but His NAME means: “In order to know the Father, you must know the Son.” (Revealed through prayer) When a mark or character standing for the vowel “o” is added to the Hebrew YHVH = יהוֹוה YHoVH, we get Jehovah, or Yehovah. There is no J in Hebrew, hence the Y.
“All revelation since the fall has come through Jesus Christ, who is the Jehovah of the Old Testament. In all of the scriptures, where God is mentioned and where he has appeared, it was Jehovah who talked with Abraham, with Noah, Enoch, Moses and all the prophets. He is the God of Israel, the Holy One of Israel; the one who led that nation out of Egyptian bondage, and who gave and fulfilled the law of Moses. The Father has never dealt with man directly and personally since the fall, and he has never appeared except to introduce and bear record of the Son” (Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 1:27).
Passover (Pesach) Starts as a Sabbath: The seven-day deliverance feast of Passover is called the “Seder.” Celebrated on the first full moon after the first day of spring, the first day is a “high day” and is treated as a Sabbath. That“high-day Sabbath” can be on any day of the week. The day before Passover is the preparation day when allleavened products are removed from the home. It is even the custom in Israel for the Chief Rabbi to “sell” all the grain and leavened products to an Arab so that Israelis don’t own anything that has or might “rise.” Passover is to remember “rising” quickly and being delivered from Egyptian slavery. It is a symbol of a future “rising” or deliverance that would be even greater than the first Passover. This “leaven kor chametz” includes beans, peas, wheat, barley. peanuts, etc. (Ex 12:20). This prohibition lasts 8 days. Passover begins on the 15th day of Hebrew month of Nissan (late March, April). See www.jewfaq.org.
The Sabbath before Passover is known as Shabbat ha-Gadol (the great Sabbath), a special reading from the Book of Malachi referring to the day on which Elijah the Prophet will reappear as forerunner of the great day of the Lord.” (Encyclopedia Judaica Jr.)
At the Passover meal, a door is opened for Elijah, a seat is reserved for him and songs are sung in expectation of Elijah. During Passover on April 3, 1836, while millions of Jews were going through the festive ritual of anticipating Elijah, he came to Joseph Smith the prophet in Kirtland, Ohio. “After this vision had closed, another great and glorious vision burst upon us; for Elijah the prophet, who was taken to heaven without tasting death, stood before us, and said . . . the keys of this dispensation are committed into your hands; and by this ye may know that the great and dreadful day of the Lord is near, even at the doors.” (Doctrine & Covenants 110:13-16) www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/holidaya.html www.jewfaq.org/index.shtml
An extra day was added to the observance of Passover following the exile from ancient Israel in a.d. 70. This exile occurred after the destruction of the Second Temple and is when a large number of Jews began living in countries all over the world. The Hebrew calendar is lunar based instead of solar. Each month began when witnesses spotted the New Moon in the sky. There had to be at least two male witnesses who would testify about what they had seen to judges based in Jerusalem. Once the judges verified that the men had seen the correct phase of the moon, news about the start of the month was sent from Jerusalem to places far and wide.
Because it could take a while for news to reach territories outside of Israel and because mistakes could possibly be made along the way, an extra day was added to the observance of Passover in order to prevent people from accidentally ending the holiday early.
In a religious Jewish home, a weekly reminder of the first Passover is done with a “Kiddush.” The master of the house pours the wine with an appropriate blessing, sips first, followed by everyone else sipping. He breaks a piece of bread and after the appropriate blessing, eats the first piece with everyone following his example. The prayers include a promise of a future deliverance, greater than the first Passover. Weekly, Latter-day saints takea “sacrament” of bread, broken, blessed and the presiding Elder partakes first, then water is blessed. Again the presiding authority partakes first and then everyone follows. It should be considered that symbolically, the Jews take wine and bread in anticipation of a greater deliverance while Christians take bread and wine in remembrance of that great deliverance – with the Savior’s atonement in the middle. Passover=celebration of freedom.
When Jesus was but twelve years old, he went to Jerusalem with his parents to take part in the Passover celebration. Luke’s account tells us that Jesus remained behind in the temple after his parents had departed for home. They returned with fear and anxiety to find him among the doctors of the law “both hearing them, and asking them questions.” (Luke 2:46.) Luke records that all who “heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.” (Luke 2:47.)
Could it have been possible that Jesus was teaching these older and formally trained men about the meaning of the Passover just celebrated? Would it have surprised them that one so young and seemingly inexperienced would have known so much about the meaning of that fateful night in Egypt so long ago and so far away? Would they have been amazed at his knowledge of the lamb and the blood and the firstborn and the sacrifice? As the Gospel of John makes clear, the feast of the Passover marked significant milestones during the mortal ministry of Christ. At the first Passover in his ministry, Jesus made his mission known by purifying the temple when he drove from its portals the money changers and those who sold animals. In the second Passover Jesus manifested his power by the miracle of the loaves and fishes. Christ here introduced the symbols that would later have even greater meaning in the Upper Room. “I am the bread of life,” he said. “He that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35.)
The Lord does not harden the hearts of men, they harden their own hearts. In the scriptures where it says the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, it is a mistranslation in either case: (JFS answers to Gospel Questions, JST Ex 7:3, 22-23, others)
The Old Testament carries many comments, allusions, intimations, clues to the deeper mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven. As we read this voluminous work it is useful to read our scriptures on more than a surface level. There are different levels of understanding in Hebrew and English scriptures. These techniques should be applied to reading latter-day scripture as well.
The scriptures are full of mysteries: “ For now we see through a glass, darkly…” (1 Cor 13:12).
Observant Jews study Torah in these four ways:
The Practice of “Pardes” – techniques of scripture exegesis:
First: peshat: plain, direct meaning “O clap your hands, all ye people;” Psalm 47:
Second: remez: allegoric, symbolic: For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.” 1 Cor 9:9-11
Third: Derash: to seek, inquire. In the beginningGod created the heaven and the earth. Gen 1:1
Fourth: sod (as in mode): secret, mysterious, hidden, given through inspiration, revelation: How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. Psalm 119:9
Each line of this second section of Psalm 119 begins with the Hebrew letter beth (בּ), which also means “a house.” This section tells us how to make our heart a home for the word of God. See also the word “mystery” used many times in New Testament scriptures. In the Book Of Mormon we encounter phrases like “the heavens opened,” possibly indicating a sod (as in mode) experience. (See 1 Ne 1:8-11, 11:14, 12:6; Helaman 5:44-50; Ezek 1:1, Matt 3:13, others).
All Things Testify of Christ: Beyond the Hebrew understanding of the Feasts of Israel and the Christian interpretations of the symbols, there is another way to understand how the Gospel transcends all we do and experience on this earth. Why are there 7-9 months of pregnancy? Includes all 7 Feasts of Israel.
Exact span of days between Purim (Book of Esther, deliverance of Jews from death in Persia) and Chanukah (Cleansing of temple, rededication) = 280 days/ 9 months. See Hebcal.com for date converter.
Purim: spring, fertilizing, conception
Passover, Unleavened Bread, seed buried
Pentecost: Seed implantation, first fruits, become fetus in 50 days.
Feast of Trumpets (Rosh ha Shanah): Fetus gets hearing ability 1st day of 7th month
Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur): Fetus’ blood matures 10th day, 7th month
Feast of Tabernacles: Lungs mature, 15th day, seventh month
Feast of Light (Chanukah), rebirth of temple: Fetus essentially ready for birth as mortal. Needed strength, size, gained during final two months.
The Ten Plagues Of Egypt
1. Water to Blood: 7:19 And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone.
2. Frogs: 8:2 And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs:
8:3 And the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into thine house, and into thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneading troughs:
8:4 And the frogs shall come up both on thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants.
3. Gnats or Lice 8:16 And the LORD said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt.
4. Flies 8:21 Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are.
5. Livestock Diseased 9:3 Behold, the hand of the LORD is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous murrain.
6. Boils 9:8 And the LORD said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh.
9:9 And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast, throughout all the land of Egypt.
7. Thunder and Hail 9:18 Behold, to morrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as hath not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now.
8. Locusts 10:4 Else, if thou refuse to let my people go, behold, to morrow will I bring the locusts into thy coast:
10:5 And they shall cover the face of the earth, that one cannot be able to see the earth: and they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field.
9. Darkness 10:21 And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.
10:22 And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days
10. Death of the Firstborn 11:4 And Moses said, Thus saith the LORD, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt:
11:5 And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first born of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts.