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Our parasha this Shabbat is entitled Vaera, meaning “…and I appeared” covering Exodus 6-9. God tells Moses that whereas He had appeared to the Patriarchs by the title El Shaddai (‘God Almighty’), He was now revealing Himself to Moses and Israel by His personal name – a name we are no longer certain how to pronounce correctly. It is comprised of the four letters, yod, hay, vav and hay consequently known as the Tetragrammaton (from Greek τετρα meaning “four” and γραμμα meaning “letter”). Some mistakenly pronounce it Jehovah, which is a linguistic improbability, since Hebrew lacks a hard “J” sound. Some pronounce it Yahweh which is, at best, speculative. Then there are the so-called ‘sacred name’ groups, who think they alone have it right, despite none of them having studied Hebrew. Our people long ago decided to not risk mispronouncing the sacred name; and though still written in Scripture as yod, hay, vav, hay, is spoken aloud as Adonai (‘Lord’) or HaShem (‘the name’).
Adonai assures Moses that He remembers His covenant with Abraham, to give the land of Canaan to his descendants, and that He is aware of the suffering of the sons of Israel at the hands of the Egyptians. He sends Moses to announce to the Israelis that God will accomplish their deliverance from Egypt, and will bring them into the Promised Land. Moses goes and announces it, but he finds the people despondent and hard-pressed to believe. Nevertheless, God was going to deliver His people whether they believed or not, and so He sends Moses to Pharaoh.
Suddenly the narrative is interrupted by a genealogy – focused on the tribe of Levi and two particular individuals from that tribe: Moses and Aaron. Why this abrupt insertion of a genealogy? Because it was necessary to establish the credentials of the two men who together were going to lead the entire nation. In ancient Israel, you didn’t get to square one without proving proper ancestral lineage.
In chapter seven God tells Moses that He will harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that Pharaoh will refuse to let Israel go, and God will use the opportunity to display His signs and wonders in Egypt. The idea that God hardens a man’s heart and then judges him for his actions may make some people uncomfortable, but we’re told why it would be this way: And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the sons of Israel from their midst.
In fact, God’s authority was so undeniable that when our people left Egypt, a multitude of non-Israelis accompanied us (12:38). When God judges, it is often with a redemptive purpose. In fact, the prophet Isaiah foretold that the Egyptians will one day worship the Lord side-by-side with Israelis (see Isaiah 19:16-25)!
So Moses and Aaron (who are now 80 and 83, respectively) confront Pharaoh. Aaron throws down his staff and it becomes a serpent. But Pharaoh’s magicians are able to duplicate the sign, so Pharaoh’s heart is hardened. Counterfeit miracles? Yes – so don’t be impressed just because you see supernatural signs. Listen to what is being proclaimed, and make sure it is in keeping with the Scriptures, and that the one performing the miracle is a genuine servant of God and is of good character.
The next day Moses and Aaron confront Pharaoh again in the name of the Lord, Moses’ staff touches the waters of the Nile River and the Nile turns to blood! But once again, Pharaoh’s magicians duplicate the sign, and so again he hardens his heart. They waved the staff over the rivers and reservoirs as well, and all the waters turned to blood. And all the fish died, and the Nile became foul.
In chapter eight, Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh again in the name of the Lord, calling on him to let Israel go. Pharaoh refuses and the land is smitten with frogs everywhere – in the house, on the bed, even in the oven. And the magicians are also able to make frogs. Great – more frogs. Pharaoh summons Moses and Aaron, promising that if they will entreat the Lord to remove the frogs, he will let Israel go. Moses even allows Pharaoh to name the time for it to happen, so that he might know it was from the Lord. And sure enough, at that very time all the frogs (except for those in the Nile) die out and disappear. But Pharaoh hardens his heart again.
And so it continues, chapters eight and nine chronicling five more plagues: gnats, swarms of insects, the death of Egypt’s cattle, horrible sores on the skin of the Egyptians, hail destroying both crops and what little livestock remained- each time Pharaoh promising to let Israel go if the plague would only be removed, and then hardening his heart and reneging on his word once God removed it. Pharaoh bears responsibility for the great suffering of the Egyptian people. Had he humbled himself before the God of Israel, there might have been blessings instead of plagues.
A disturbing truth highlighted in this parasha is the capacity of fallen human beings to harden their hearts and dismiss evidence that’s right before their eyes. Miracles alone rarely produce faith. Those who are dedicated to unbelief will always manage to find some other explanation.
We must learn from Egypt’s painful object lesson that Adonai alone is God, and that all the gods of the people are idols. Hopefully, it will not require plagues to bring our friends, neighbors, co-workers and loved ones to a saving knowledge of God and of Messiah Yeshua. Finally, we must learn to honor our commitments. Yeshua declared, “let your ‘yes’ be yes”. God’s people are expected to maintain honesty and faithfulness in all our dealings. Pharaoh was dishonest, but then again, Pharaoh was not one of God’s people.