Shabbat Midrash (Teaching) Outlines

• Plague # 8 - Last week’s portion took us through the first seven plagues. This week’s portion begins with Moses warning Pharaoh to “Let my people go so that they can worship me.” Yahweh tells Pharaoh through Moses that if he refuses, He will bring locusts into the land of Egypt. Moses tells Pharaoh that, “this plague will be like nothing your fathers or their fathers have ever seen since the day they were born until today.” Even Pharaoh’s own officials warn him saying, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the people go so that they may worship Yahweh their G-d. Don’t you realize that Egypt is being destroyed?”

• The locusts were an attack on Anubis, the god of the fields. The locust finished up the work done by the plague of hail. The locusts devoured the last of the crops of barley and flax. Now the later crops of wheat and spelt were also lost. Every last bit of green left on the trees or plants was wiped out.

• Plague # 9 - The next plague was given with no warning to Pharaoh at all. Moses was asked to stretch out his hand toward the sky. Darkness flooded over Egypt. “No one could see anyone else or leave his place for three days.” Darkness represented Yahweh lifting His presence from these people, but light was still over the Children of Israel. There continued to be light in Goshen because Yahweh’s presence (faithfulness) was with them. Revelation 21:23 tells us that the city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of Yahweh illuminated it. Yeshua is its light.

• Darkness snuffed out life, without the light life ceased. Scripture says that no one could move. They were paralyzed for those three days. Their life support, even the air around them was immobile, not even a torch burned. This plague was so terrible they could actually “feel” the darkness. This attack was on Ra or Amon-Re, the sun god. Darkness was considered a creation of Seth, evil principle destroyer of Osiris. It seemed Ra, the sun god, was dead and Seth had killed him. Ra is believed to be the physical father of all Pharaohs and Pharaoh the king of all gods.

• The early church father, Constantine, saw himself as the sun god. He believed this so much that he had the Biblical lunar calendar changed to a solar calendar to have the people pay homage to his god and to himself. He planned to take the focus off the G-d of Israel and put it on the sun god.

• Without the lunar calendar, Yah’s people lost their heritage and their identity. This calendar is widely used today. The days of the week are named for the gods Constantine wanted the people to pay homage to. Today, many people do not know their heritage as Israel nor do they follow or know to keep Yahweh’s feasts but are lead to keep Babylonian feast days instead. May we be true to the Covenant Yahweh gave us which was fulfilled by our Kinsman Redeemer, Yeshua our Messiah. May we be a people who revive Yah’s calendar and follow His feasts, Sabbaths, and embrace our heritage in Yahweh alone and not in other gods.

• Plague # 10 - The last and final plague on Egypt was the death of the firstborn. This was an attack on Pharaoh, the god-king. Pharaoh was considered a god, and so was his first-born son who would succeed him on the throne. In fact, firstborn people and animals were often worshipped. Pharaoh was considered an incarnation of Ra, the sun god, and Osiris, the giver of life. Because Pharaoh’s son was considered a god, a god of Egypt actually died.

• Moses delivered the warning to Pharaoh then left him. He then prepared the Israelites for their redemption. Certain guidelines were to be followed to bring them through this night of deliverance. The guidelines were to be remembered each year at her same time throughout all generations, even in our generation today. The Feast of Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread are Yahweh’s feasts. They are prophetic and hold revelations for our own redemption by the only one who could redeem us, Yeshua Ha Mashiach, the Messiah of Israel.

Passover

• Redemption always leads us away from the darkness, the realm of death, toward the light, the realm of life. Those who are waiting for Yah’s hand of deliverance will receive it in His perfect timing. The Israelites came out of Egypt on the exact date told to Avraham. (Genesis 15:13)

• For the Israelites, their redemption came in the “first” month. Yahweh declared this month to be the first month of the year. The first day of each month is called the “Rosh Chodesh” or the New Moon. This first day of the first month heads Yah’s lunar calendar and sets all of Yahweh’s moedim or feast days. Without knowing when the Rosh Chodesh is today, the Israelites cannot know when Yah’s feast are or celebrate them. In Constantine’s calendar, we miss Yahweh’s prophetic movement on the earth, as all His moedim lead to and are rehearsals for the Bride to meet her Bridegroom.

• For preparation of Passover, on the tenth day of that first month the Israelites were to take a male lamb or kid, one year old into their homes. Just as our domesticated pets have a place in our hearts, bringing a lamb into our homes would have a similar effect. You would become very attached to this innocent lamb and a personal relationship and bonding would grow, as this lamb would become part of the family. It was very difficult to give this animal up, knowing that by their own hands the lamb must be sacrificed for their sins. Yahweh instructed the Israelites in Sh’mot (Exodus) 12:6, “You are to keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, and then the entire assembly of the community of Israel will slaughter it at dusk.”

• The word “house” is a reference to the Tabernacle, the Temple, and our hearts. Yeshua came to be our Passover Lamb. John 1:29 tells us, “The next day John saw Yeshua coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of G-d who takes away the sin of the world!” Yeshua came to Jerusalem on the tenth of the first month. He went to His Father’s house and was examined those four days, fulfilling the Exodus scriptures that the lambs come into the “houses” on the tenth of the month to be examined.

• Luke 18:31: Yeshua took the twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.”

• The age-old question ‘Who killed Yeshua’? is answered in the scriptures. Not “one” people killed Yeshua as we are “all” guilty of His death. He chose to lay down his own life. 1 John 3:16 tells us that, “This is how we know what love is: Yeshua the Messiah laid down his life for us.”

• He died because of our sinfulness. He took our sins upon Himself and died our death. He is the Passover Lamb. He is our redemption. No other sacrifice is needed for our sins. It is finished. Yeshua, from the House of Judah and the tribe of Judah, became the kinsman-redeemer for the House of Israel.

• Exodus 12:7, 22-23: “They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat.” They were to apply the blood using the hyssop plant. The hyssop was associated with cleansing. This was a picture of Yeshua’s crucifixion.

• The blood applied to the two doorposts represent the Two Houses of Israel; the House of Judah and the House of Israel. They are joined together by the “lintel,” Yeshua, the Lamb of G-d. This is prophetic of end times unity, the restoration of all Twelve Tribes and a picture of the “twelve gates” leading into the New Jerusalem. (Ezekiel 37:15-28, Ephesians 2:14-22, Ezekiel 48:31, Revelation 21:12-13)

• Not one bone of the Passover lamb was to be broken. This was prophetic of Yeshua’s body that not one bone of his body be broken at His death. It was also prophetic of the Twelve Tribes of Israel who make up the “body of Yeshua.” Not one tribe will be broke or split off from the main body. All twelve tribes are complete in Him. Yeshua’s death came about to restore the Twelve Tribes of Israel; thus not one bone in His body was broken upon His death.

• The angel of death spared the “houses” that had the blood of the lamb. “The blood is a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.” (Exodus 12:12-13)

• Exodus 12:8-11 “That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. Do not leave any of it till morning; if some is left till morning, you must burn it. This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste; it is Yahweh’s Passover.”

• The Passover is a prophetic picture revealing end-times truth. We are to celebrate the remembrance of this night throughout “ALL” generations. Early Church history removed Yah’s Passover in 325 A.D. by the Council of Nicaea under Constantine’s leadership. They invented their own paganized Passover, which is known as Easter, which is the celebration of Ishtar the Babylonian goddess of fertility during the Spring equinox. The egg was a symbol of the goddess. Eggs were dipped in the blood of human sacrifices to pay homage to her. Decorating Easter eggs is a product of that tradition.

• Yah’s true Passover is now being restored by more and more people who are embracing the prophetic words of Moses in their lives. Yah is restoring His Feasts to His people by revealing the truth that is held in them.

• Passover was not only the night the angel of death passed over the Israelites but also it was to be a feast. The Israelites were to eat roasted lamb with bitter herbs like onions and horseradish along with unleavened bread. Bitter herbs represent the bitterness of bondage under the Egyptians, Matzah, a flat unleavened bread represents Yah’s word and the roasted lamb, the Messiah. See Seder Plate.

• When the Israelites obeyed Yahweh, with the blood on the doorposts and the lintels of their homes, when they had eaten the roasted lamb with bitter herbs and bread with no yeast, the angel of death passed through the land of Egypt. Loud wails of mourning and weeping were heard as the firstborn of the Egyptians died. True to Yahweh’s word, Pharaoh gave Moses and Aaron permission to leave. The Egyptians were favorable toward the Israelites handing over articles of gold, silver, and clothing. Egypt was plundered as they left.

• Leaving in such a hurry, they carried the bread without yeast “covered” in their kneading troughs on their shoulders. (Exodus 12:34) This “bread” became their life.

• The realm of death had no hold on the Children of Israel when they obeyed Yahweh. This will be the same for us as we are not of this world (Egypt) but are of a heavenly, spiritual realm. Yeshua was the light, the lamb, and the unleavened bread and redeemed them from all their bitterness. They had partaken IN HIM that night and took Him into their lives. When they left Egypt, they took the very symbol of the Messiah with them on their shoulders. The troughs were like a manger. Yeshua came as a child wrapped in swaddling clothes as a covering, which were actually worn priestly garments used to light the menorahs in the Temple. Yeshua as our High Priest is the light of the world. All power and authority rests on His shoulders.

• Yeshua said in John 6:33-35, “For the bread of Yahweh is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. I am the Bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”

• Yeast represents sin. At Passover the Israelites were to remove all the yeast from their homes and not consume it for seven days. Seven days represents a personal consecration period for believers. The Israelites came from living in the realm of death (world system). The obedience of this brought cleansing to the body, soul and spirit. The bread they carried on their shoulders represented Yeshua, the spotless Lamb of Yahweh who took away the sins of the world.

Amen!