God Married Israel (pdf)
Moses 7 Trips (pdf)
Yitro Slides (pdf)
Yitro Notes (pdf)
Please read this week’s Portion, Yitro (“Jethro”) (Exodus 18:1 – 20:26) and review the notes, Power Point slides, and handouts found here: https://torahnotes.org/torah-portions/exodus/yitro/
Overview of Yitro
In last week’s Portion we saw the beginning of the Exodus from Egypt, ending in chapter 17 with Israel camping at Rephidim (see the maps in the Power Point slides). This week’s Portion starts with them at Mt Sinai (chapter 18) and then goes back to them traveling from Rephidim to Sinai in chapter 19. So again, Torah is clearly not in chronological order; as we saw last week when Yehovah told Moses to put a pot of the manna into the Ark of the Testimony (chapter 16) when the Ark wouldn’t be built until chapter 37. Torah is not a book of history; it contains history (particularly in the genealogies), but the Holy Spirit uses the concepts expressed in historical events (not necessarily in chronological order) to His way of instructing us.
A note on the location of Mt Sinai: tradition (since the days of Constantine) says that Mt Sinai is located in the southern part of the Egyptian Sinai peninsula. However, there is no archeological evidence to support that theory. On the other hand, Paul says that Sinai is in Arabia (Gal 4:23); and there is plenty of evidence there to support this location at Jabal Al Lawz (Mountain of the Law – the Saudis know what happened here!) in the western part of modern day Saudi Arabia. If you wish to pursue this study further, watch this video: The Exodus Revealed https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=the+exodus+revealed+video&view=detail&mid=210D02CC3E255F874745210D02CC3E255F874745&FORM=VIRE to see evidence of a Reed Sea crossing (the Gulf of Aqaba, not the Gulf of Suez). And watch this video: Mountain of Fire https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=mountain+of+fire+vedeo&view=detail&mid=C21DC86E692B4D78C5C4C21DC86E692B4D78C5C4&FORM=VIRE for evidence of Mt Sinai in western Saudi Arabia.
As well documented as the location of the real Mt Sinai is, there is much less consensus on the route that Moses and the Children of Israel took to get there. As I taught last week, there is significant evidence of the Red Sea crossing at Nuweiba; but there is also evidence that disqualifies Nuweiba and suggests that it could have taken place at the southern end of the Gulf of Aqaba. In either case, there is still no evidence of Mt Sinai in the southern Sinai Peninsula.
Chapter 18 – Yitro (Jethro)
We were introduced to Yitro (Jethro), Moses’ father-in-law (back in chapters 2 & 3) as the Priest of Midian; and now he reappears at the Mountain of God (Mt Sinai). He is called Yitro and also Reuel (“Friend of God” in Exodus 2:18); both names refer to the same man – Jethro is his given name and Reuel is a title.
Yitro had heard of the Israelites’ miraculous exodus from Egypt, and here Moses filled in all the details; and Yitro “rejoiced for all the good which Yehovah had done for Israel, whom He had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians…Now I know that Yehovah is greater than all the gods; for in the very thing in which they behaved proudly, He was above them.” Yitro became a Believer and entered into covenant relationship with Yehovah!! We see that covenant confirmed here with a sacrifice and a meal. These are the four elements of a covenant confirmation: 1) hearing the conditions of the covenant; 2) agreeing to them; 3) the shedding of blood; and 4) the covenant-confirming meal. We will plainly see these four elements again in chapters 20-24.
The guest list to Yitro’s covenant-confirming meal (in verse 12) omitted one person – Moses! And we see why; he was so busy settling disagreements among the 2.5 million people that he couldn’t even attend his father-in-law’s celebration. So Yitro proposed a solution: Moses would delegate these duties to “able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.” If you do the math (see the Power Point slides), that means that nearly one out of seven people would be one of these judges; that’s a lot of judges!! Looking at the deeper meanings of these Hebrew words suggests a judicial system structure that consists of criminal courts, civil courts, military courts and small claims courts…just like the various courts of our modern judicial system.
Chapter 19 – A Kingdom of Priests
We now resume the story of Israel’s journey from Rephidim to Mt Sinai. They arrived there on the third day of the third month…which is 47 days from the crossing of the Reed Sea (see the Power Point); they were instructed to prepare themselves for three days and then meet Yehovah on The Mount (verse 11). This puts the meeting of God (and giving of Torah, written on tablets of stone) 50 days after the Crossing…which fits exactly with the time span from the Feast of Firstfruits to Shavuot (Pentecost), as explained in Lev 23:15 & 16. So it is no coincidence that Yehovah chose Shavuot to give His New Covenant conditions to us…this time by writing them in our hearts (Acts 2)!
God called His People to Mt Sinai just as He promised He would in Ex 3:12. It is here that Yehovah, through Moses, entered into a conditional covenant with Israel:
“Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”
God’s plan here was that Israel would be a witness of Him to the rest of the world; they were to be a kingdom of priests (melchi-tzadik in Hebrew, or as we know it: the Melchizidek Priesthood).
This covenant took the form of a wedding ceremony (see the God Marries Israel handout on the website): Yehovah is the groom; Israel is the bride; Moses is the best man – the liaison between Yehovah and the people; and Torah is the Ketubah, the marriage agreement between the groom and his bride (through her father). The literal interpretation of verse 17 says that Israel and Yehovah stood “under” the mountain, a visual image of them standing under the chupah – the wedding canopy.
It is not a coincidence that we see this same wedding theme in the Gospels: John the Baptist played the role of the liaison between Yeshua and the Disciples: as Yeshua’s ministry increased, John’s ministry decreased so that the Bride (the Disciples) would move into a relationship with Yeshua. John used wedding language to describe these events in John 3:27-30. Now…back to Exodus.
We see here the first elements of the covenant process – reading the terms of the covenant:
“So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words which the Lord commanded him”; the second element (agreement): “Then all the people answered together and said, ‘All that the Lord has spoken we will do.’”
We will see the remaining two elements (the shedding of blood and the covenant-confirming meal) next week in chapter 24.
When the people saw the awesomeness of Yehovah, they drew back and sent Moses to represent them in His Presence. Yehovah marked a boundary around the mountain (a threshold of sorts) so the people would not draw too near to Him. So Yehovah wrote the covenant conditions – obedience to His instructions – upon tablets of stone and gave them to Moses to bring back to the people….who had already agreed to those conditions earlier when Moses had spoken them.
Chapter 20 The Ten Commandments
These are the basis for Judeo/Christian beliefs today…and are still in force today: “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” Please see the notes for further explanation and also read Yeshua’s interpretation in Matthew chapter 5. We will look at them in more detail next week as that Portion goes into the application of each of these Ten Commandments in daily living.
The chapter and Portion end with the instruction to build altars of worship from natural stone, not stones cut by human hands. Now we do not worship on stone altars today – those are instructions for the Aaronic Priesthood. Our bodies are the temple of the Living God and we worship on these “altars” not cut from stone, but according to our position in the Melchizidek Priesthood. We will talk more about that as we progress through Torah.
Yehovah here referenced only the sacrifices of Burnt Offerings and Peace Offerings to be presented on these stone altars. No other types of offerings were would be necessary for those who are in a covenant relationship with Yeshua. Ezekiel described his so-called Millennial Temple in Ezekiel chapters 40–48, and also referenced all types of sacrifices (especially Sin Offerings). That’s why I believe the Temple that Ezekiel described is not intended for use by those who are in a covenant relationship with Yeshua and will not be present during the Millennium. Just a thought…!
The Haftarah (Isaiah 6:1–13)
The Torah Portion describes Yehovah meeting Moses on Mt Sinai. In the Haftarah reading, we see Isaiah meeting Yehovah face-to-face. But instead of God coming here to Earth (as we just read in the Torah Portion) we see Isaiah meeting Yehovah in His Heavenly Council Room. And in both events, we see Him described in the terms of smoke & fire & thundering voices; and Isaiah describes some of the lesser elohim who are members of Yehovah’s Heavenly Council. We read Isaiah 6:1-10:
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!” And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke. So I said: “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.” Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” And He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ “Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and return and be healed.”
The Brit Chadashah (Revelation 4:2-11)
This week’s Brit Chadashah reading, from the Book of Revelation, is another picture of man meeting Yehovah in His Council Room (this time, it’s the Apostle John). Here John is supernaturally transported through time and space to witness events that will happen in the future – events that will happen in the spirit realm. We see here the same description of Yehovah as smoke & fire & thundering voices; we also see amazingly similar descriptions of the lesser elohim who are members of God’s Heavenly Council. We read from Revelation 4:2-11:
Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads. And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying:
“Holy, holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty,
Who was and is and is to come!”
Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:
“You are worthy, O Lord,
To receive glory and honor and power;
For You created all things,
And by Your will they [h]exist and were created.”