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Parashat Bo Shemot (Exodus) 10:1-13:16 – The Book of Revelations - Part III.

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I. Introduction

A. Shemot (Exodus) - The Book of revelations - The Power of the Blood of the Lamb

B. Parashah Abbreviated Outline

1. The last three of the Ten Plagues are visited on Egypt: a swarm of locusts devours all the crops and greenery; a thick, palpable darkness envelops the land; and all the firstborn of Egypt are killed at the stroke of midnight of the 15th of the month of Nissan.
2. G-d commands the first mitzvah to be given to the people of Israel: to establish a calendar based on the monthly rebirth of the moon. The Israelites are also instructed to bring a "Passover offering" to G-d: a lamb or kid is to be slaughtered and its blood sprinkled on the doorposts and lintel of every Israelite home, so that G-d should pass over these homes when He comes to kill the Egyptian firstborn. The roasted meat of the offering is to be eaten that night together with matzah (unleavened bread) and bitter herbs.
3. The death of the firstborn finally breaks Pharaoh's resistance and he literally drives the Children of Israel from his land. So hastily do they depart, there is no time for their dough to rise, and the only provisions they take along are unleavened. Before they go, they ask their Egyptian neighbors for gold, silver and garments, draining Egypt of its wealth.
4. The Children of Israel are commanded to consecrate all firstborn and to observe the anniversary of the Exodus each year by removing all leaven from their possession for seven days, eating matzah, and telling the story of their redemption to their children. They are also commanded to wear tefillin on the arm and head as a reminder of the Exodus and their resultant commitment to G-d.

C. Review - Levels of Revelation

1. El Shaddai represents the level of the emotions and the physical realm

      a. El Shaddai - God the Nourisher

      b. El Shaddai - God the Mountain

      c. El Shaddai - God the Sufficient One

      d. El Shaddai - Bereshit 17:1; 28:3; 35:11; 43:14; 48:3; 49:3

2. Yahweh represents the level of the inner person The Spirit, the neshamah - Spiritual transformation through an act of redemption - cp Jer. 31: 33 (level 3)
3. The revelation of the progressive stages of redemption (The Four Passover Cups of Salvation - Tehillim  (Psalms) 116:13)

a. I will free/ take / bring you out - God would remove the Jewish people from the burden of slavery Ber.15: 14; Yochanan 10:14; Mat 11:29

b. I will release / rescue you - God would formally terminate the Jewish people's relationship with the Egyptians - From slavery to freedom cp. Yochanan 19: 30; 8:36

c. I will redeem you - God would be the Jewish people's Kinsman - Redeemer - When I see the blood I will pass over you - cp. Ber 22:16; Shemot 14: 13; Ruth; Yochanan 3:29; I Cor 10:2

d. I will take/ adopt/ marry you as - God would marry the Jewish people at Mt. Sinai - Shemot 19:1-24:3-4 cp. Hosea 2 cp. Yochanan 14:1ff

i. I will be their God - God would have a personal relationship with His Bride

ii. I will bring you to the land - God would fulfill His promise to the patriarchs by giving His Bride the gift of Eretz Yisrael

D. The process of redemption began with the ‘Blood of the Lamb' - Shemot 12: 1- 12, 21-24, 27 cp. Bemidbar (Numbers) 28 16-25; Devarim (Deuteronomy) 16: 1-8

E.  Whose Lamb - Rabbinics or Brit Chadashah - Revelation or interpretation?

II. The Purpose of the Lamb

A. Rabbinic Interpretations

1. The Lamb represented one of the gods of the Egyptians so by slaying the Egyptian god, the Israelites were demonstrating the superiority of HaShem over the gods of Egypt

   a. Why would HaShem require us eat an animal that represented an Egyptian god? That seems so pagan - consuming its life force - Animism

   b. Why did the Children of Israel choose to worship a calf instead of a lamb to represent the gods of Egypt - Shemot 32: 4-5

2. The Lamb is a Korban Pesach- (Rashi Ex. 12:11; Maimonides, Hilchot Korban Pesach not any type of Zevach (sacrifice) cp. Lev. 1:1-5:25

a. A Korban is an offering whose purpose is to bring oneself (Nefesh) closer to God.

b. The Korban is a voluntary sacrifice that shows that a person desires to take upon himself the yoke of the kingdom of  Heaven.

c. The Korabn represents a person's desire to be unified with HaShem. - Toras Ha'olah

d. The Korban can atone for a person's sins - Lev 3:4

e.  The symbolic meaning of the Korban sacrificial process - see below Additional Material C. 1.   

B. The going out from Egypt - יציאת מצרים is a paradigm of Messianic redemption and was not just a physical redemption. It was also a spiritual redemption

1. The Sacrifice Lamb - Yeshayau (Isaiah) 53:7-12 cp. Yochanan 1:29
2. The Brit Chadashah - Yermayahu  (Jeremiah) 31: 31- 37
3. Just like in the days of the going out from Egypt- Micah 7:15ff
4. Mashiach (Yeshua) our Pesach Lamb has been slain - I Cor. 5: 7-8

C. Additional Material

1. The sacrificial process of the Korban:  Rather, a more acceptable explanation of the sacrifices is that in the process of sinning a person utilizes thought, speech and action.  Therefore, G-d decreed that atonement for his sin should also be three fold: First he places his hands on the animal, an action of atonement.  Then, he confesses verbally.  And finally, the animal's innards - the source of physical desire - are burned, in corresponding to the person's thoughts and desires that led him to sin.  The animal's blood is also spilled out, suggesting to the person that, really, his own life should have been taken away because of the sin, but that G-d in His mercy has accepted the life of the animal as a substitute.                        
2. The lamb was to be fully roasted because in ancient Pagan rites associated with spring festivals meat was eaten raw or half- boiled - Shemot 12:9
3. Hyssop and the Metzira- Maschiach the Leprous one  cp. Shemot 12:21;Lev 14:4, Is 53:4
4. The lamb's bones were not to be broken because Royalty discards the bones whole while the poor pick the bones for their meat - Shemot 12:46

III Conclusion

A. The Blood of the Lamb is atonement from sin and preserves life by protecting one from physical and spiritual death.

B. The Blood of the Lamb is a reminder that G-d redeemed us with a mighty hand from the place of constriction - Mitzraim/Egypt

C. Each one of us must see ourselves as if we have come out of Mitzraim

D. Behold - The G-d's Pesach Lamb who takes away the sins of the world

IV. Abbreviated Bibliography

• Bloch, Abraham P., The Biblical and Historical Background of the Jewish Holidays, KTAV
• Elias, Rabbi Joseph, The Haggadah/ With Translation And A New Commentary Based On Talmudic, Midrashic, and Rabbinic Sources, Mesorah Publications, LTD.
• Miller, Rabbi Chaim, The Chumash The Gutnick Edition, Kol Menachem
• Scheinbaum, Rabbi A. Leib, "Perspectives From Exile to Redemption " Insightful Observations on the Festival of Pesach, Highlighting Relevant Passages From the Torah and Haggadah, Peninim Publications