Bo | בוא | "Come "

Bo | בוא | "Come "  The fifteenth reading from the Torah is named Bo (בוא), which means “Come.” The title comes from the first words of the first verse of the reading, which say, “Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘[Come] to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart” (Exodus 10:1). The portion begins by concluding the narrative of the ten plagues, the tenth of which is the slaying of the firstborn. To avoid the plague, the Israelites are given the instructions for the Passover sacrifice and the laws of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Pharaoh finally consents to let Israel go, and they leave Egypt.  (Taken from First Fruits of Zion)

My thoughts and study: It is interesting that my translation below changed the word from “come” to “go”.  This doesn’t greatly change things when you consider that God is and was and is yet to come!  Let us always keep this perspective because there is nothing that happens that He is not aware of and in control of even if we feel alone for He is with us always!

• Torah: Exodus 10:1-13:16

Exodus 10:1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go in to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them, 2 and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your grandson how I have dealt harshly with the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.”

 

Now, I’ve seen this before and read it many times but this time was different.  My study actually stopped in the very first two sentences of this Portion selection for a moment and I had to look again.   

WHAT????  The Lord says that “he” had hardened Pharaoh’s heart.  (As I said, I’ve read this before but never really took the time to think about it much.)

My questions came rushing in.  Can that possibly be?  Why would God do such a thing as harden Pharaoh’s heart?  Well, when I read on I saw the answer immediately!   God wanted to show signs to all of them, to Jew and Gentile alike.  He wanted Moses to be able to tell his son and grandson how ‘the Lord God’ dealt with the Egyptians. 

But, why was there a need to show all these signs?  Reading again, it was for “Moses” most of all.  It was that Moses could finally grasp the knowledge that God was and is Lord of everything forever!  God is the “Great I AM”!!!  (If we go back to Exodus 3, we see where God first called Moses out of the burning bush!)

Had Moses doubted God before?  Do we really know?  I suspect that Moses was full of doubt just by reading about his behavior.  He ran away from Egypt rather than face the consequences of his actions of killing an Egyptian.  That alone must have caused doubt that God was anywhere with him.  He doesn’t trust God when he calls out to him from the burning bush.  Although scripture doesn’t say this exactly, it appears to me that Moses doesn’t want to go back to Egypt.  He most likely was full of fear of what could happen to him.  At this point he doesn’t trust God and take him at his word.   Moses doubts himself and his own ability.  He hasn’t yet placed himself in God’s hand, believing that God would not only deliver the Israelites but that God would also deliver him.  When Moses argues with God, he is worried that no one will listen to him or believe that he even talked to God.

Well, how does apply to me and to you?   The big question is how much do we trust God? 

Look at Moses.  He became fearful and ran away, but God knew where he was at all times.  Moses had to learn to be a simple man.  How many times did he question his actions of murder and wonder how he could have let all his wealth and heritage disappear in one moment of anger?  We are not told, but I’m sure we can all imagine.    Maybe we have never murdered anyone, but I’m sure most of us have regrets at times and think “if only I would have…” concerning our own life decisions.

Then out of the blue (or out of a burning bush) God reveals himself to us and waits for our acknowledgement. He calls us and gives a mission, but how many times do we act like Moses and argue about it because we’re fearful of what might happen to us and how others think of us. Or could it be that we gave up?  Moses never had to worry about much when he had wealth and fame, but when all that was taken away, he was aware of his own weaknesses.   That’s when his journey of work as a simple man began.  Did Moses think that he had done alright by himself and on his own?  At this point in his life, he felt like he was on his own and destined to life as a simple man.  What must that have been like and have we ever felt this way?  Have we had accomplishments that we believed we achieved entirely on our own?  This does give us cause to pause and think about our lives… and about our blessings…

Before Moses was chosen to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, God had to put him through training.  He had to change his mind-set.  This is exactly what God had to do with the Israelites as well once they got out of Egypt.  What about Pharaoh?  The scripture says that God hardened his heart.  Pharaoh would never have acknowledged God without the sign.  After all Pharaoh was king, an absolute ruler and in his culture believed to be a god himself.  God was getting the attention of everyone through the signs that revealed that He alone was (is) the one true God!

Do we know of people who have hardened hearts?  Perhaps, just perhaps, God has hardened their hearts to take them through trials in order to reveal His majesty to them.  Perhaps, he is not finished and is about to declare that He alone is God to those with hardened hearts.  Perhaps he is showing signs in the daily lives and waiting for acknowledgement.  Perhaps the trials take place so that sons, daughters, and grandchildren may witness the beauty of His holiness.  It does give us something to think about.  God has a bigger plan than any of us can ever imagine.

 

With hope, I continue to pray for all those both near and far from the Lord. May God use whatever it takes to bring us all into submission and unity in order to bring glory to Him.  In Jesus’ name…AMEN.