On the road to Emmaus, Yeshua met with two of His disciples and, beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. (Luke 24:27). For our Torah studies this year, therefore, week by week we will seek to discover how all of Torah prepared the way for the coming Messiah.
31st January 2026 (13 Shevat)
B’shalach (When he let go): Exodus 13:17-17:16
What a deliverance! Who would not sing as Moses sang? Who would not dance as Miriam danced?
Though the God of Abraham would help His people through many other battles – even the one against the Amalekites that we read about in this week’s study – the victory over Pharaoh was entirely the Lord’s doing. In all history we rarely, if ever, can recall such a direct act of God. Moses was told to tell the people:
Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvationof the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall holdyour peace. (Exodus 14:13-14)
A miracle was accomplished that has never been repeated. The fearful Israelites only stood still and looked on: the Red Sea parted and then they went through on dry ground, to safety from their defeated foes.
So surely it was right for the Children of Israel to gives thanks and rejoice on the eastern shore of the Red Sea. The old life was over: a new life was before them.
While it was good for them to pause and give thanks, it was also necessary for them to move on. A journey was ahead of them – a walk in which they would be moulded into a nation under God, learning new things as they went. As such, it is a pattern for the life of anyone who would become a Hebrew by nature: trusting God for every stage of the journey, pausing to reflect and give thanks at appropriate times, and then moving on again. It is the journey of life. To be over-analytical on life’s journey, trying to work it all out logically, can be an enemy of being Hebraic. We must not let the enemy of doubt enter our minds concerning the security of our steps and our future with God. This can be so if we linger too long. So it was for the Children of Israel, who only three days later were confronted with lack of water and rejoicing turned to complaint.
Already, we hear the first echo in the teaching of Yeshua:
….do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6:31-34)
These words could have been spoken by Moses, encouraging the Children of Israel in their circumstance, just as much as by Yeshua encouraging the Israelites of His day – and as much as He is encouraging all His covenant family today.
Before drawing other parallels between Moses’ ministry in the wilderness and Yeshua’s greater ministry of fulfilment, let take an overview of what we are reading.
When we consider the journey of God’s people through history, it is sequential – one thing follows another. That is the experience of life on this earth. But surely God sees things differently. Yes, He is with us on our journey, but He also has the privileged position of eternity where He sees the end from the beginning, as He outworks His purposes fully.
Through Isaiah He said:
Listen to Me, O house of Jacob,
And all the remnant of the house of Israel,
Who have been upheld by Me from birth,
Who have been carried from the womb:
Even to your old age, I am He,
And even to grey hairs I will carry you!
I have made, and I will bear;
Even I will carry, and will deliver you.
…… I am God, and there is none like Me,
Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things that are not yet done,
Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
And I will do all My pleasure.’ (Isaiah 46:3-10)
We cannot fully understand why and how God created the world and put fallible mankind as the priority of His created order. We can understand enough to know that from the beginning of time until the fulness of His Kingdom, He has a purpose. Though Adam fell, His purpose is that a new kind of being – created and redeemed human beings – will inhabit the Kingdom of Heaven with Him, be around His throne with the angels, serving Him forever, despite the free will that is a hindrance at every earthly step.
That God could choose individuals in each generation to fulfil part of the overall covenant plan is amazing – Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses being among the most prominent up to this time in our Bible readings. Through each one of these specially chosen people we could think that history reached its peak at that time, and seal it with a song like Moses sang. Yet our timeline of history is caught up into one everlasting purpose in God. We perceive it piecemeal: He is always contemplating the whole.
It is as if the present purposes of God are part of an ever expanding universe of purpose, moving from the lesser to the greater – the mortal to the immortal. For us there is a process, each part coming to pass at the right time. For God, everything has a harmonious outworking. Thus, it should be no surprise that God had the end in view even at the time of Moses, so that the present experience would be in harmony with the completion of the plan of redemption. God would eventually take a covenant family from all mankind to be with Him forever, for them reversing the curse of the Fall in Eden.
In that there is harmony with all God’s purposes, what we learn from the wilderness journey is a preparation for later fulfilment. Later we will hear Moses promise Israel that a prophet like him would one day come to lead God’s people to the ultimate future that is planned (Deuteronomy 18:15-18). This led to Israel waiting for that prophet over many years. Elsewhere in the history of Israel, an expectation grew for a king, following the pattern of David. It was hard to imagine whom this kingly prophet might be. With growing discernment there could also have been expectation that whoever God chose would have the calling of a Priest. Looking ahead, despite a glorious expectation, no-one could foresee that the three ministries of Prophet, Priest and King would be given so wonderfully to one Man. In hindsight it is clear, but Israel was to take a journey of faith rather than sight. A greater ministry lay ahead even than that which Moses accomplished.
The victory over Pharaoh was entirely under the Hand of God. Isaiah foresaw a time when a another great victory would be won for Israel also entirely under His Hand:
For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. (Isaiah 9:6-7)
The miracles that were accomplished through Moses were unique and planted into the minds of God’s people for a purpose, that they would be enabled to understand the later fulfilment. Moses took Israel to the Promised Land, but an even greater leader would lead the Israel of God to eternity with their Maker.
Thus the miracles in the wilderness, which met immediate needs and became encouragement to faith on the journey, were also planned by God for a future fulfilment, in a most harmonious way.
The greatness of God’s fulfilment is that the miracles were raised to a level that became embodied in the One who was born to be the Saviour of the world. In our portion this week we find some examples.
Water is an absolute essential for life, as the Children of Israel knew. God’s miraculous provision was also intentionally prepared as a sign of the Messiah. This was why Yeshua spoke as He did of God’s provision of life, likened to fresh water:
Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?” Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:6-14)
Yeshua is the water of life to which the miracle of the provision of water from the rock at Meribah pointed. Yeshua spoke even more powerfully about Himself as the embodiment of that miracle, during the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem:
On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:37-39)
Food as well as drink are necessary for life. The miracle of the provision of manna was also a pointer to the greater fulfilment in Yeshua. After His miracle of the multiplication of bread to feed a great crowd, Yeshua compared it to the provision of manna, to show the He is the Bread of Life, in a greater interpretation of what is needed for eternal life:
Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” Therefore they said to Him, “What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread always.”
And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. (John 6:28-35)
On our journey with Moses to Canaan, we must bear in mind that God’s plan of redemption for eternal life was always in mind. Just as Moses was appointed, so was Yeshua and the entire tapestry of God’s covenant plan is woven perfectly together so that the lighter shades of physical provision through Moses give glory to the brighter shades of fulfilment through Yeshua.
Moses led the people to rejoice at the deliverance from Egypt. There is an even greater rejoicing in store through the deliverance to eternal life, where all sickness and disease will be no more, just as God promised when Moses made bitter waters sweet at Marah. At this time, the Song of Moses will be in complete harmony with the Song of the Lamb (the now glorified Yeshua):
Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete. And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God. They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying:
“Great and marvellous are Your works,
Lord God Almighty!
Just and true are Your ways,
O King of the saints!
Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name?
For You alone are holy.
For all nations shall come and worship before You,
For Your judgments have been manifested.”
After these things I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened……. (Revelation 15)
Dr Clifford Denton
Founder and Director
Tishrei Bible School
www.tishrei.org