Exodus 10:1-13:16
“Adonai said to Moshe, ‘Go to Pharaoh, for I have made him and his servants hardhearted, so that I can demonstrate these signs of mine among them, so that you can tell your son and grandson about what I did to Egypt and about my signs that I demonstrated among them, and so that you will all know that I am Adonai.’ Moshe and Aharon went in to Pharaoh and said to him, ‘Here is what Adonai, God of the Hebrews, says: How much longer will you refuse to submit to me? Let my people go, so that they can worship me’” (Exodus 10:1-3).
Excerpt:
Each family was to take a lamb from their flock and keep the animal until the fourteenth day of the month when the entire community would slaughter it at dusk. They were to take some of the blood and smear it with hyssop on the sides and top of the door frame at the entrance to the house where the family would eat the lamb. The lamb was to be roasted in the fire and served with matzah (unleavened bread) and maror (bitter herbs). Nothing was to remain until morning; leftovers were to be burned up (Exodus 4:6-10).
An interesting commentary suggests the blood of the lamb was placed on the inside of the home’s door and lintel because the Scripture states, “The blood will serve you as a sign marking the houses where you are, when I see the blood, I will pass over (pesach)” (Exodus 12:13). Adonai could see the blood on the inside or the outside of the home, but perhaps the Hebrews needed the ‘sign’ to keep them trusting in the faithfulness of Adonai and to remind them not to leave the protection of the house.
ח
By smearing blood on the two sides of the door and the top of the door frame, they created the Hebrew letter chet. The Hebrew Word Picture is a ‘fence’ and symbolizes ‘protection in the inner chamber.’ Chet is also the first letter in the word chaim meaning ‘life.’
Hebrew Word Pictures
Life or chai – חי – chet, yod
– protect the finished work
“Sprinkle me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow” (Psalm 51:9).
Hyssop, sometimes translated as oregano, is a Biblical herb that is part of the mint family. It comes from the Hebrew word ezob which means ‘holy herb’ and is used for cleansing holy places and objects. Moshe uses hyssop to sprinkle the ‘blood of the covenant’ on the book of Torah (Exodus 24:8). Hyssop brought vinegar to Yeshua’s mouth when he was on the cross (John 19:29). Today, hyssop grows wild between the stones at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. This exact herb was used to spread the lamb’s blood on the doorposts and lintel of individual Hebrew homes symbolizing their cleansing from all the defilement they endured while slaves in Egypt.
“Also he [Yeshua] is head of the Body, the Messianic Community — he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might hold first place in everything. For it pleased God to have his full being live in his Son and through his Son to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace through him, through having his Son shed his blood by being executed on a stake” (Colossians 1:18-20).
For a complete copy of this Torah portion, the readings from the Prophets, gospels, letters, and study questions, please purchase Open My Eyes: Wonders of Torah.
©2018 Tentstake Ministries Publishing, all rights reserved.