Parashat Bo

Exodus 10:1-13:16

In Parashat Bo we learn about the final three plagues with the culmination being the death of the firstborn. This is the final act of God that released the Children of Israel from the grip of Egyptian slavery. But right before this final plague is poured out, the Children of Israel are given instructions for the Passover Lamb and all that went with it. They were to take a male lamb without blemish on the tenth day of the month and keep it until the fourteenth day when they would slaughter it. They would then smear some of its blood upon the doorframes of their houses so that the firstborn of the Israelites would not face the same fate as that of the Egyptians.

That night they were to eat it “roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs” (Exodus 12:8). And whatever was not eaten was to be burned in fire. They were to eat it in a special way: “with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste” (Exodus 12:11).

All of these instructions were to be observed meticulously so that the firstborn of the Children of Israel would be spared when the LORD struck the firstborn among the Egyptians. But after this we read about how this event should be memorialized and relived year to year thereafter. Aside from the offering of the Passover Lamb most of the instruction is focused around matzah, unleavened bread. In Exodus 12:17 there is a fascinating instruction given that most people miss because of our English translations. Most English translations render it, “And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread.”

Who Are These?

Parashat Vayechi (Genesis 47:28-50:26)

When Jacob was one hundred and forty-seven years old he realized his life on this earth had come to an end. Because of this he called Joseph to him and made him swear that when he departed from this life that Joseph would not bury his body in Egypt, but take it back to Canaan and bury it there. The next thing we learn is that Jacob has become seriously ill. When Joseph understood the severity of his father’s illness he brought his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, to his father so that he would bless them. Jacob tells Joseph:

And now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are. And the children that you fathered after them shall be yours. They shall be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance. (Genesis 48:5–6)

However, when Joseph presents his sons to his father, Jacob acts as if he doesn’t know them after being around them for the last seventeen years. He asks Joseph, “Who are these?” (v. 8). Most people attribute Jacob’s question of their identity to his eyesight, because just two verses later the Torah tells us, “Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age, so that he could not see” (v. 10). However, there may be a deeper answer given to us by the Torah, and one that can help us see a beautiful picture of what Yeshua has done for us.