Parashah 14: Va'era (I appeared) Exodus 6:2 through 9:35

Shabbat shalom, mishpocah/family/friends!  As always, a synopsis of this week’s Torah portion can be found on our website. This particular Torah portion truly reveals the raw power of our ELOHIM!

First, in Exodus 6:2, we see YHWH giving His Name to Moshe (Moses): "I am ADONAI. 3 I appeared to Avraham, Yitz'chak and Ya'akov as El Shaddai, although I did not make myself known to them by my name, .

The tetragrammaton, Yud-Hey-Vav-Hey, consists basically these letters in English: YHWH (most likely pronounced Yahweh/Yahway).

So, God Himself revealed His Name to us, and man has had access to it all along as we saw in Genesis 4:26, yet actually only knowing Him up until then as El Shaddai, the God who performs hidden miracles and exercises mastery over Nature (Exodus 6:3)! Ironically, traditional Jews refuse to utter his Name for fear of mispronouncing it or misspelling it, etc., and on the other end of the spectrum, you'll never hear the Father's Name in most Christian churches as they are all concentrating on "Jesus" whom they believe came to abolish the Torah (YHWH's divine Instruction in Righteousness)....

Moving on to Exodus 6:6-7, we see haShem making a wonderful promise to His people:

Exodus 6: 6 "Therefore, say to the people of Isra'el: 'I am ADONAI. I will free you from the forced labor of the Egyptians, rescue you from their oppression, and redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. 7 I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am ADONAI your God, who freed you from the forced labor of the Egyptians.

The word "redeem" stands out because it basically means "to free from captivity by payment of ransom." The Israelites couldn't extricate themselves from the Egyptians; they were held captive under hideous, deplorable conditions - and YHWH Himself promised to "redeem" them.

Two thousand years ago, He sent His Son Y'shua to redeem the whole world from "Egypt" (paganism, sin, a life of separation from YHWH). How awesome for the Creator to bother with a creation that has been disobeying and disappointing Him since the very beginning!

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