Parasha V'eira - The Light of Torah Messianic Congregation

Sh’mot (Exodus) 6:2 – 9:35
Haftarah: Yechezk’el (Ezekiel) 28:25 – 29:21
Brit Chadasha: Rom. 9:14 – 17 and
2 Corin. 6:14 – 7:1

The Alef Tav

In the Revelation of Yeshua HaMashiach to John we find 4 references to the Alef Tav, the first and last letters of the Hebrew Alef Bet; Rev. 1:8, 1:11, 21:6 and 22:13.

The translation reads “I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending.”

Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek Alphabet.
Messiah Yeshua is a Hebrew man and not a Greek man therefore He would have said “I am the Alef and the Tav, the beginning and the ending.
He is the entire Hebrew Alef Bet from A to Z so to speak therefore He is ALL the Hebrew letters, ALL the Hebrew words. Jn. 1:1 confirms this understanding. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Elohim, and the Word was Elohim. He was in the beginning with Elohim.”
In its ancient form the Alef Tav would read “strength of the covenant.”
Why is understanding the placement of the Alef Tav important to our study of the Tanakh (aka Old Testament)?
The placement of the Alef Tav gives the reader a Messianic connection to words or circumstances that would otherwise be overlooked. If our goal is to find the Mashiach in the whole of Scripture then this added investigation will be a rich and rewarding study.
Let’s look at an example.
Ge. 1:1 – 5 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. (NJKV)
The foregoing is a true and accurate account of the Hebrew Scriptures… in English.
Now lets look at the same Scriptures through the Hebrew lens.

Ge. 1:1 – 5 .בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָֽרֶץ וְהָאָרֶץ הָיְתָה תֹהוּ וָבֹהוּ וְחֹשֶׁךְ עַל־פְּנֵי תְהֹום וְרוּחַ אֱלֹהִים

מְרַחֶפֶת עַל־פְּנֵי הַמָּֽיִם

וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים יְהִי אֹור וַֽיְהִי־אֹֽור

וַיַּרְא אֱלֹהִים אֶת־הָאֹור כִּי־טֹוב וַיַּבְדֵּל אֱלֹהִים בֵּין הָאֹור וּבֵין הַחֹֽשֶׁךְ

וַיִּקְרָא אֱלֹהִים לָאֹור יֹום וְלַחֹשֶׁךְ קָרָא לָיְלָה וַֽיְהִי־עֶרֶב

וַֽיְהִי־בֹקֶר יֹום אֶחָֽד

When we start looking for the Alef Tav’s patterns begin to emerge. The first Alef Tav is placed as the 4^th word; thus begins the pattern of 4. The second Alef Tav is placed as the 6^th word; thus begins the pattern of 6.
Elohim “said” let there be light and light obeyed. No Alef Tav is connected to the word light. Only when light is called “good” do we see a couple of things. The “strength of the covenant” is THE light.
Who is the light?
Scripture tells us in 1 Jn. 1:5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.
The Scripture tells us that Elohim “said” let there be light. The placement of the Alef Tav tells us that Yeshua will be the manifestation of that light.
Jn. 8:12 Yeshua identifies Himself as that manifestation: Again Yeshua spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Ps. 105:1 – 10 Oh, give thanks to Yehovah! Call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples! Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; talk of all His wondrous works! Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those rejoice who seek Yehovah! Seek Yehovah and His strength; seek His face evermore! Remember His marvelous works which He has done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth, Oh seed of Avraham His servant, you children of Jacob, His chosen ones! He is Yehovah our God; His judgments are in all the earth He remembers His covenant forever, the word which He commanded, for a thousand generations,
The covenant which He made with Avraham (אֶת־אַבְרָהָם ), and His oath to Isaac, and confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant.
V 27 – 29 They performed His signs among them, and wonders in the land of Ham. He sent darkness, and made it dark; for had they not rebelled against His word (אֶת־דברוו )? He turned their waters (אֶת־מֵימֵיהֶם ) into blood, and killed their fish (אֶת־דְּגָתָֽם ).

Parasha V’eira

וָאֵרָא and I appeared

Parasha Highlights:

Yehovah reassures Moshe
The expressions of redemption
The first seven plagues; prelude to the first redemption
Ex. 6:2 And God spoke to Moshe and said to him: “I am the LORD. “I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name LORD I was not known to them. “I have also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, in which they were strangers. “And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant. (NKJV)
Can we see Messiah in the English translation?
Ex. 6:2 – 5 And Elohim spoke to Moshe and said to him: “I am Yehovah. “I appeared to Avraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name Yehovah I was not known to them. “I have also established My covenant (אֶת־בְּרִיתִי ) with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, in which they were strangers. “And I have also heard the groaning ( אֶֽת־נַאֲקַת ) of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant (אֶת־בְּרִיתִֽי ).
The Alef Tav covenant and groaning will give us a deeper insight as we begin the plagues of Egypt.
The Alef Tav covenant is directing our attention to the Covenant of Pieces. This Covenant was a guarantee from Yehovah to Avraham that he would have descendants or seed from his own body and land for his people (Ge. 15:1 – 21).
Amazingly, in the portion that describes the Covenant that Yehovah made with Avram, there are twelve (12) instances of the untranslated Alef Tav ( א ת ). Because of this we see a picture of the Messiah passing through the pieces. Therefore, the message is clear that the Messiah would carry the punishment for either party breaking the Covenant. Twelve is the number of sons of Jacob/Israel. The body of Messiah is Covenant Israel.
The Alef Tav groaning speaks to Yeshua in the garden of Gethsemane.
Lk. 22:43 – 45 Then an angel from heaven appeared to Him and strengthened Him. And in His anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground. When Yeshua rose from prayer and returned to the disciples, He found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow.…
The Covenant of Pieces was ratified by the blood of animals and Yeshua walking between the parts while the renewed covenant will be ratified by the blood of Yeshua. Keep in mind then, that the Covenant and blood seem to go together.

The bloodlines

The judgment of Egypt, the serpent bloodline, is being judged while Covenant Israel, the royal bloodline, is being protected in the womb of Goshen.

Who then is Egypt?
The sons of Ham were Cush, Mitzraim, Phut and Canaan (Ge. 10:6 – 10 ) And Cush begat Nimrod (אֶת־נִמְרֹד ) he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before Yehovah: wherefore it is said, even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before Yehovah. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
Egypt, Mitzraim, was a nation that worshiped many gods. This system of religion is in direct opposition to Yehovahs’ protocol for worship. Clearly Egypt practiced the dark arts we referred to in a previous parasha. The arts taught to men by the fallen angel Azazel.
This is what we are going to see in this sidra; a dynamic display of Yehovahs’ power over the spiritual and physical realms of man. The holy over the profane. His kingdom over the kingdoms of man. The gods of Egypt are going to be destroyed.
Our Parasha contains the first seven plagues used against Egypt. Why is the first plague “blood?”
The Hebrew word for “blood” isדָּם . The numerical value of which is 44; 4 + 4 = 8; covenant and blood. In its ancient form would read “the door is mighty.”
Egypt, symbolic of the nations, is going to be judged. This judgment is a foreshadow of what the nations will experience prior to the second advent.
The narrative of this sidra begins in Egypt, the nations. A nation with a pantheon of gods beginning with Pharaoh himself. The Egyptians believed their pharaoh to be the mediator between the gods and the world of men.
In official documents, the full title of the Egyptian king consisted of five names, each preceded by one of the following titles: Horus, Two Ladies, Golden Horus, King of Upper and Lower Egypt, and Son of Re. The last name was given to him at birth, the others at coronation. Re, also spelled Ra or Pra, in ancient Egyptian religion, god of the sun and creator god. ( Encyclopedia Britannica.com)
This is not the first time we’ve encountered the sun god deity. Remember Nimrod from the land of Shinar? Shinar was located in Mesopotamia, outside the land of Israel. It was Nimrods’ desire to build a tower to reach into the heavens.
Nimrod means “tyrant.” He led the Sumerians of Babylon to pay tribute to the skies (sun, moon, stars, planets) with the sacrifice of their children. The Tower of Babel was built for this purpose, echoed in other cultures such as the Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas.
Since the head of this government was such an idolatrous tyrant, Esau murdered him. Nimrod’s mother and wife, Semiramis, consoled the people by making them believe the child she carried was Nimrod “reincarnated” — and named him “Duzu” (Tammuz), Babylonian for the son who rises. This Duzu went into the groves (forests) and placed a gift on a tree to honor Nimrod each year at the winter solstice. It has been said that Duzu was the offspring of Nimrod, who mated with his mother. Nimrod became known as Baal, meaning lord, and was worshipped by the Babylonians as the sun in the sky — thus the origin of “going to the heavens” at death. **Nimrod and Pharaoh are both anti Messiah, a spirit of rebellion**

Blood; the first plague

Why is the first plague blood? Not just blood but blood and water? Can this be a foreshadow of Messiah?

Is it a coincidence that in Jn. 19:34 we are told “one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.
After all, Egypt is being judged for her rejection of the “rules of the kingdom.” She rejected the Covenant so the first plague is blood.
Ex. 7:19 Then Yehovah spoke to Moshe, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your rod and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their streams, over their rivers, over their ponds, and over all their pools of water, that they may become blood. And there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in buckets of wood and pitchers of stone.’ ” And Moshe and Aaron did so, just as Yehovah commanded. So he lifted up the rod and struck the waters (אֶת־הַמַּיִם ) that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants. And all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. The fish that were in the river died, the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink the water of the river. So there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.
Notice the Alef Tav is connected to the word waters. These are the lower waters; those that were gathered together at the beginning of the third day of creation. Is this a Messianic connection?
Water is symbolic of the nations and fish is symbolic of humanity. A couple of weeks ago we discussed the remnant (say 10% of humanity ) of fish caught in the net. These are the remaining 90% that chose NOT to become part of Covenant Israel; those that will be judged in the tribulation. These plagues are tribulation prior to the first redemption while there will be tribulation prior to the second redemption. What happened to Israel in the beginning will happen to Israel at the end.
Scripture tells us that Israel would live in a land that was not there own for 400 years (Ge. 15:13). It’s safe to say that the Egyptian people were exposed to the Elohim of Israel. Aren’t some Egyptians going to be included as part of the “mixed multitude?” Some will accept the “rules of the kingdom” and some will perish during the wilderness journey.
Those that do choose to be part of Covenant Israel will be adopted into one of the 12 tribes.
The four expressions of redemption:
6:6 – 7 “Therefore say to the children of Israel: ‘I am Yehovah;
I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and
I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.
The first “I will” is a precursor to the first redemption. I will bring you out. Before redemption can begin there must be a separation; the separation of the holy from the profane.
Will there be a separation again before the second redemption? Will The Father “bring us out?”
Ez. 36:24 – 25 I will show the holiness of My great name, which has been profaned among the nations—the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am Yehovah, declares Yehovah Elohay, when I show My holiness in you before their eyes. For I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all the countries, and I will bring you back into your own land. I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols.…
If this theory is correct then it should be revealed in Scripture.
We do, in fact, have a another account of blood in water. This can be found in Rev. 8:1 – 8; prelude to the second redemption: And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thundering’s, and lightning’s, and an earthquake. And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood…
Chapter 7 speaks to the separation of Covenant Israel from the nations; they are sealed and the 144000 are sealed.
Covenant: those in Covenant are Israel
Blood in water: judgment of the nations
Preceding the second redemption
The third “I will” is regarding the redemption of the firstborn; the firstborn is Israel. Ex. 4:22 tells us Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says Yehovah: “Israel is My son, My firstborn.”
The Hebrew word for redeem is גָּאַל. גָּאַל means to redeem, act as kinsman-redeemer, avenge, revenge, ransom or do the part of a kinsman. The numerical value is 34; 3 + 4 = 7. The 7^th festival of Sukkot is when we can expect our redemption to occur. Being in Covenant and the blood of Yeshua guarantees our redemption.
I will take you as My people, and I will be your Elohim. Then you shall know that I am Yehovah your Elohay who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
In conclusion I believe the heart of this Parasha is not found in the judgments against Egypt rather in the redemption and the Covenants given by Yehovah. The Covenants of Yehovah are eternal.
Our redemption, restoration and reconciliation has always been provided by Yehovah. Heb. 9:28 “So Messiah was once offered to bear the sins of many; and to them that look for him shall he appear the “second” time without sin unto salvation.”
Ezekiel 28:25 – 29:21
The connection to the Torah portion is v 25 – 26 ‘Thus says Yehovah Adonai: “When I have gathered the house (אֶת־בֵּית ) of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and am hallowed in them in the sight of the Gentiles, then they will dwell in their own land which I gave to My servant Jacob. And they will dwell safely there, build houses, and plant vineyards; yes, they will dwell securely, when I execute judgments on all those around them who despise them. Then they shall know that I am Yehovah their Elohay. **this is the second redemption, the 7^th millennia.

Brit Chadasha

Rom. 9:17 “It is for this very reason that I raised you up, so that in connection with you I might demonstrate my power, so that my name might be known throughout the world.” (Ex. 9:16)

2 Corin. 6:16 I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (Ex. 6:7)