Beshelach 2022: Kingdom Come Part 4: Biblical Israel’s Independence Day

The first Exodus generation experienced their independence day in this week’s Torah Portion and, immediately after, set out on what was the greatest enterprise in history to create a Kingdom with YHVH Yeshua Elohim as their King! The end times generation will experience an even greater deliverance but we must learn from the mistakes of the first generation.

This transcript is not exactly like the recording but it doesn’t vary by much and all the essential scriptures and quotes are there. Click here to listen to the Midrash. Some excellent comments were made and questions asked.

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The Kingdom Come series continues as YHVH is still laying on my heart that we need to understand what Israel is, who the King of Israel is and what will be required of us as citizens of Israel. We must make that paradigm shift from religion to reality. Religion is unreal, manmade and not of YHVH. The King of Israel is real. The people are citizens in His land. To that end, I continue focusing on the King, His people and the land He wants to give them to live in.

The first Exodus generation experienced their independence day in this week’s Torah Portion and, immediately after, set out on what was the greatest enterprise in history to create a Kingdom with YHVH Yeshua Elohim as their King! The end times generation will experience an even greater deliverance but we must learn from the mistakes of the first generation.

What Do We Owe Our King?

I want to pay special attention to what we Israelites owe our King in return for Him delivering us from Satan’s Egypt/Babylon to the Kingdom of Israel. Existing together on this one planet are two Kingdoms – YHVH’s which always was from the beginning, and Satan’s which came along later and is superimposed over YHVH’s for a time and by His choice. That time is coming to an end. We can no longer afford to misunderstand the nature of these two opposing Kingdoms. The Exodus accounts and the coming Tribulation are the ongoing conflict between YHVH’s eternal Kingdom and Satan’s time-limited one.

Egypt and Babylon are Satan’s and these are where religion comes from with their manmade rules and perversions of the Kingdom of YHVH. We must understand there are requirements for us to be citizens in good standing in His Kingdom. These are not religious requirements. They are national requirements for all citizens of His realm.

Here in Exodus 13 is where we begin to find out what our requirements are, the first of which is our duty to consecrate the firstborns of both animal and man to our King.

Israelites will always be required to give, to set apart, to sanctify, to “qadosh”, the firstborns to YHVH forever. That is what He says we owe Him in return for being delivered from Egypt.

Exodus 13:1  Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 
Exodus 13:2  “Sanctify to me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of animal. It is mine.” 

YHVH gives the reason for setting apart the firstborns in Numbers 3:13 saying it is because He struck the firstborns of Egypt on our behalf and will now take all the firstborns for Himself.

Numbers 3:13 for all the firstborn are mine. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I made holy to me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and animal. They shall be mine. I am Yahweh.”

It is within the authority of a King to exact a duty, a gift, a tax, a tribute or any other kind payment in exchange for his help and it is reasonable for Him to do this in our reciprocal relationship. This goes against the grain of Christian doctrine which teaches that our relationship with YHVH is mostly one directional, from Him to us, and it is all free for simply confessing that Yeshua is our Messiah. So people treat YHVH like a genie or a sugar daddy that they go to get their desires fulfilled without ever having a real intimate relationship with their King.

By the way, I have said this before, but it bears saying again. YHVH’s Kingdom is the only one ever on the earth which requires each individual to have a personal and intimate relationship with the King. We have to be personally involved with Him in order to a citizen of His Kingdom. Personal involvement spans more than just someone we go to for satisfying our desires. Personal involvement requires time talking with Him as a friend while at the same time being submitted to Him as a servant.

Israel’s relationship with our King is reciprocal. He forgives sin freely but otherwise there is a reciprocity that must exist between us and our King.

The consecration of the firstborns has three effects. First, we remember the firstborns of Egypt (Exodus 13:15, Numbers 3:13) where YHVH reminds us of those who lost their lives in the deliverance of the Israelites. And two, the sacrifices of the firstborns along with the other sacrifices become food for the priests (Numbers 18:11, 14). Third, the firstborn human males serve as living sacrifices in YHVH’s Tabernacle/Temple. Numbers 18:15-16 sets the firstborn redemption price as 5 shekels.

We set the firstborns apart because they are YHVH’s. They are never ours. They only come through us.

Now, let’s talk about the donkeys.

Exodus 13:13  Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb; and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck; and you shall redeem all the firstborn of man among your sons. 

Why does a donkey need to be redeemed with a lamb but the ox does not? And don’t we believe that only humans were redeemed by the lamb?

In the ancient Near East, donkeys were important household servants. They are even mentioned as needing a Sabbath rest along with the human members of the household in Exodus 23:12 where we Israelites, our oxen, donkeys, our servants and even the strangers among us are to rest.

Donkeys may have been household servants but they also represent the sins of Egypt and Babylon (Ezekiel 23:20, Hosea 8:9), i.e. fornication and the worship of other gods (which the Israelites were involved with), wildness and being stiff neck (something YHVH repeatedly attributed to Israel). Stiff necked-ness is a reference to the stubborn donkey. The spiritual and symbolic meaning behind the redemption of a firstborn male donkey is that Israelites will either be redeemed or they will die by having their stiff necks broken.

Yeshua riding a donkey into Jerusalem symbolizes the arrival of a King who is in control of His people. The donkey, His people, serves Him and are in submission to Him as their King. David rode a donkey. The 12 tribes were in submission to David.

 

Independence Day

Now the Israelites have been delivered from Satan’s Kingdom to YHVH’s. They have walked out of Egypt and are now an independent people. The Passover memorial will forever mark their independence day. Passover will annually renew the agreement our ancestors made with YHVH to be delivered from the wickedness and oppression of Egypt forever (Exodus 12:14, 17, 24, Leviticus 23:14, 21) but there will be more to memorializing that event than we are traditionally taught. Hang on and I will explain.

Paraphrasing Exodus 13:3 to 16, the terms of the Passover memorial meal and the Unleavened Bread week are observed as follows:

Remember the day that YHVH brought us out of Egypt by eating only unleavened bread for seven days. We cannot have any yeast in our homes for this entire week.

Keep this memorial at exactly the same time from year to year. Eat the Passover sacrifice in the beginning of Aviv/Nissan 15 (which is the darkness of the beginning of the 15th). Have a holy convocation on the 7th day of Unleavened Bread.

The Passover is not a “day”. It is the name of the sacrifice. The Jews spoke about the Passover in their cultural jargon which confuses people. They include all of 14 Nissan in what they erroneously called “Passover week”. There is such Biblical thing as “Passover week”. There is the sacrifice at the end of 14 Nissan after the afternoon daily lamb goes on the altar around 3pm, and then the 7 days of Unleavened Bread.

We are to tell the story of the Passover while we are eating or after we finish and throughout the year when our son asks us (Exodus 13:14-16).

Here comes what we are often not taught: We are to make a sign on our hand and our forehead to memorialize it every day of our lives (Exodus 13:9, 16), and we are to set apart the firstborns as part of this memorial throughout the year (Exodus 13:11-13).

Passover is so important to YHVH that it isn’t just on Nissan 15 that we remember it. He gives us these other duties to help us remember it throughout the year in our daily lives.

Let’s talk about the tophapha, the forehead binding.

The tophaphah, the frontlets in Exodus 13:9, is a binding around your head.

H2903
טופפה
ṭôphâphâh
to-faw-faw’

From an unused root meaning to go around or bind; a fillet for the forehead: – frontlet.

The definition of “frontlet” online is

  1. an ornamental piece of cloth hanging over the upper part of an altar frontal.
  2. a decorative band or ornament worn on the forehead.

An addition from Merriam-Webster is a reference to “the forehead “of an animal”. This is interesting because we lay our hands on the head of the sacrificial sin sacrifice before it is killed in substitution for us. Binding our head is associated with keeping our desires in check so we don’t have to kill an innocent animal on our behalf.

A tophapha is an ornamental cloth over the front of an altar. This reminds us that our brain is His altar and all of our thoughts should be toward Him so we can be in His likeness. This is why we need to take all thoughts captive or be in control of our thoughts.

We see this kind of head binding on Bedouin men in the Middle East even today. I suspect, but cannot prove, that the tophapha band had a symbol centered in the forehead above the eyes. What that symbol was, I don’t know. Men of the desert bind their head coverings as a practicality. YHVH added a symbol of some kind to be worn on that head band which was not, I believe, a Jewish phylactery box.

These items are meant to be visible reminders of the Passover sacrifice and Unleavened Bread week when Pharaoh chased down the Israelites in the wilderness.

 

Not By The Way Of The Philistines

Exodus 13:17-18 says YHVH did not lead the people by the way of the land of the Philistines “lest the people change their minds about leaving Egypt and turn back” (paraphrasing).

I believe our end times people may be armed as they flee to the wilderness but they likely won’t engage in war. Just as it was the first time, there will be supernatural help from YHVH and He will lead people in paths that don’t bring them into combat but which could trap their enemies. One such instance is given to us in Revelation 12:13-14.

Rev 12:13  When the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. 
Rev 12:14  Two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, so that she might be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. 

YHVH’s woman will be given supernatural help from Him including that He will give her two wings of an eagle. Some say this could be the US helping the people to flee (because the eagle symbolizes the US now). But I see problems with this view because the US is part of the beast system and the beast will not help YHVH’s people just as Pharaoh did not help YHVH’s people.

However, there is an eagle with 2 wings rising out of the lowered water level of the Dead Sea which can now be walked across. The mountain range between Israel and Jordan make up the wing feathers. The feathers hang inside Jordan territory. You can see the satellite image on the website in this transcript. It is more likely people will flee from Israel and elsewhere across the land bridges of the Dead Sea. Or it could be by some other “eagle” means that we don’t know about yet.

Another supernatural assistance will happen in Revelation 12:15-17 when the dragon spews water after the fleeing woman and the earth swallows it up.

As YHVH protected His people from Pharaoh, so too will He protect us from the dragon.

The Journey Home Begins

Exodus 13:17-18 says God led the people through the wilderness of the Red Sea.

Through the way of the wilderness would have been an unexpected route for them. The Book of Jasher reports that some Ephraimites had already tried forging an escape route for the Israelites by going through Philistine territory. They were obliterated. YHVH did not want to subject the people to war with the Philistines for that reason but also because YHVH is a good commander who was saving their war efforts for the people who counted: The “ites”, the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and the Jebusites named in Exodus 13:15. The Philistines were not YHVH’s main target. The “ites” were. But before that, they would see war with the descendants of Esau’s grandson, Amalek (Exodus 17: 8-16).

YHVH drew Pharaoh after the Israelites to position his army for annihilation. Had the people gone toward the way of the Philistines, the watch tower guards at Pihahiroth and Migdol (Exodus 14:2) would not have seen them and reported that they were lost. This encouraged Pharaoh to run after the Israelites. In other words, YHVH used His own people to set a trap for Pharaoh.

Here is a lesson. We must learn that YHVH will not let harm come to us but He may use us to trap His enemies. This kind of situation often happens in military operations and because the Israelites came out of Egypt armed, this was a military operation but one of a different kind since the women, children, herds and flocks were present.

When YHVH wants to put us in this kind of situation for His purposes, we must act quickly but carefully which requires a special skill. More on that in a minute.

First, let’s look at the pillars of cloud and fire.

Exodus 13:21  Yahweh went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them on their way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light, that they might go by day and by night: 
Exodus 13:22  the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, didn’t depart from before the people. 

Let’s go to 1 Thessalonians 4:17 so I can show you what these will mean to us in the end of days.

1 Thessalonians 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

The clouds in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 are the same clouds as in Exodus 13:21-22. How do I know?

Isaiah 4:5  And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence.

This is why I suspect that the woman who flees will have pillars of clouds surrounding her.

1 Thessalonians 4:17 has to do with the resurrection of the dead which is in itself a gathering of YHVH’s people. Let me address that we will meet Yeshua in the air.

Where are the people when they are dead? In an oxygen deprived grave.

Where will they be when arise and are walking around on the solid earth? In the air.

And where will these resurrected people appear? All over the world or in the place where they will meet with Yeshua? In the place where they will meet with Yeshua.

And where will Yeshua be? In the wilderness where He will gather His people before moving them north of the Dead Sea adjacent to ancient Jericho to cross the Jordan river in the same way that His name sake, Joshua, did.

Now back to our Red Sea moment.

That first generation began to be hostile to YHVH early on when they saw Pharoah pursuing them. When Pharaoh approached their rear flank, they said:

Exodus 14:11  They said to Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you treated us this way, to bring us out of Egypt? 
Exodus 14:12  Isn’t this the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, ‘Leave us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians?’ For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” 

Where do we read that they said that? Nowhere.

Here is where I want to point out how we need to remain calm while acting quickly and realize that everyone makes mistakes. Moses made a mistake here.

Exodus 14:13  Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of Yahweh, which he will work for you today: for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you shall never see them again. 
Exodus 14:14  Yahweh will fight for you, and you shall be still.” 
Exodus 14:15  Yahweh said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Speak to the children of Israel, that they go forward. 
Exodus 14:16  Lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go into the middle of the sea on dry ground. 

Moses told the people, “Don’t be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of Yahweh, which he will work for you today: for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you shall never see them again. Yahweh will fight for you, and you shall be still.” 

That is what Moses is saying. Stand still, do nothing and hold your peace. YHVH had other instructions.

Exodus 14:15  Yahweh said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Speak to the children of Israel, that they go forward. 

Oops. Moses made a mistake. He became passive and instructed passivity when he needed to be active and instruct the people to move. The point is, we want leaders that don’t make mistakes but that is not possible. It is an unreasonable expectation.

This illustrates for us that no leader of Israel is perfect and always gets it right except for Yeshua. And there are times when we don’t need to pray before acting. We need to have developed the skill of hearing the Spirit on the fly and be able to act on it immediately which comes from having that personal and intimate relationship with the King that I spoke of earlier.

So YHVH told Moses:

Exodus 14:16  Lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go into the middle of the sea on dry ground. 

The first generation saw the water split and earth come forth. This generation will see the water disappear inside of the earth (Revelation 12:15-16).

Exodus 14:17  Behold, I myself will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall go in after them: and I will get myself honor over Pharaoh, and over all his armies, over his chariots, and over his horsemen. 

YHVH will get the honor due Him from Pharaoh and the Egyptians by fighting His enemy face to face. YHVH drew Pharaoh forth to position him for battle. Honor is only obtained when everyone sees who is the victor. And YHVH will be acknowledged by Satan and his Egyptian/Babylonian cohorts as scripture says in:

Exodus 14:18  The Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh, when I have gotten myself honor over Pharaoh, over his chariots, and over his horsemen.”

This trap, which looked like death to the Israelites, was also about putting the Egyptians on trial as they had done to the Israelites. Sometimes what looks like trouble to us is actually YHVH coming to our rescue.

Pharaoh had put Israel on trial in Egypt and had deemed they were guilty of treason against him so he punished them by drowning their male babies. This is called “trial by water”. In this trial, if the person lived who was thrown into the water, if they came out of it alive, the verdict was “innocent”. If the person drowned, the verdict as “guilty”. For this, the Israelite male babies were thrown into the water to drown. And they did, which proved to the Egyptians that the Hebrews were, indeed, guilty of treason against Pharaoh.

YHVH turned Pharaoh’s injustice against him, thus proving to Pharaoh and the Egyptians that the Israelite were innocent of treason against Pharaoh. How? By sending the Israelites through a water trial at the Red Sea where they came out innocent on the opposite shore!

Pharaoh and the Egyptian male warriors (stand-ins for the drowned Hebrew male babies) were proved guilty. Every one of them died as the waters broke and flowed over them! Guilty as charged!

After this great salvation:

Exodus 14:31  Israel saw the great work which Yahweh did to the Egyptians, and the people feared Yahweh; and they believed in Yahweh, and in his servant Moses. 

In chapter 15, Miriam, Moses’ sister, led the Israelites in praise and worship but it would not be long before there came a second water trial (Exodus 15:22-27).

Exodus 15:24 tells us that the people murmured against Moses because of the bitter water they found when moving away from the Red Sea. How quickly we forget all of YHVH’s benefits.

Moses made the water sweet and YHVH promised that if they would obey Him, He would not put the diseases of the Egyptians on them. It turns out that this was a test and object lesson. Trust YHVH and He will not only heal you but you won’t get the diseases in the first place.

Then YHVH moved them to Elim, 12 springs of fresh water and 70 palm trees. Twelve tribes of Israel and 70 nations.

They stayed in Elim until the 15th day of the second month when they moved from there and then started murmuring again the third time (Exodus 16:2-3). …“We wish that we had died by Yahweh’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots, when we ate our fill of bread, for you have brought us out into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

We’re going to see murmuring over and over with these people. The lesson we must learn is to not murmur but to ask YHVH for what we need. These people wanted Moses to anticipate their needs and handle them without any participation from them. In other words, they wanted Moses and Aaron to be servants to them (and by extension, YHVH Himself) rather than being YHVH’s servants, making personal relationships with Him and getting their needs met by their personal friend and King, YHVH.

YHVH said nothing but simply answered them with the manna in the morning and meat in the evening (Exodus 16:12-13).

This was not just a provision but also a test. Which individuals would obey YHVH and which would not? We read about that in Exodus 16:14-28 when the instructions for gathering the manna was given.

Verse 29 is where we find out that the Sabbath was given to Israel.

Exodus 16:29  Behold, because Yahweh has given you the Sabbath, therefore he gives you on the sixth day the bread of two days. Everyone stay in his place. Let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” 

In Genesis, it was given to all mankind, but now the Sabbath belongs to Israel. And it is in this chapter that we are given the first instructions on consecrating the Sabbath. We are to bake and boil our provisions for Shabbat on the 6th day of the week (Exodus 16:23) in preparation for 2 days so we are not cooking on Shabbat.

The Sabbath still is for all of mankind, but Israel is here being given oversight of it to bring it to the nations and, more importantly, for it to be a sign.

Exo 31:12  And the LORD said to Moses,
Exo 31:13  “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the LORD, sanctify you.

He says “above all” we are to keep His Sabbaths. It is so that WE will know who YHVH is, not for Him to know us. He already knows us and will judge us by it.

Again in chapter 17 in the Wilderness of Sin, Sinai (not to be confused with the Wilderness of Zin where they will also be), another issue over water comes up and again the Israelites say:

Exodus 17:3  The people were thirsty for water there; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst?” 

This is the third time the Israelites have accused Moses of trying to kill them (Exodus 14:11 when Pharaoh was pursuing them, Exodus 16:3 before they received the manna and Exodus 17:3). This is the third provocation so far.

Exodus 17:4  Moses cried to Yahweh, saying, “What shall I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 

I understand this feeling.

Exodus 17:5  Yahweh said to Moses, “Walk on before the people, and take the elders of Israel with you, and take the rod in your hand with which you struck the Nile, and go. 
Exodus 17:6  Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb. You shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 
Exodus 17:7  He called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because the children of Israel quarreled, and because they tested Yahweh, saying, “Is Yahweh among us, or not?” 

An ungrateful people says things. Rather than keep their eye on the prize of getting their own nation not subject to Egypt or anyone else, they instead focus only on their bellies.

Heb 3:7  Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you will hear his voice, 
Heb 3:8  don’t harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, like as in the day of the trial in the wilderness, 
Heb 3:9  where your fathers tested me by proving me, and saw my deeds for forty years. 
Heb 3:10  Therefore I was displeased with that generation, and said, ‘They always err in their heart, but they didn’t know my ways;’ 
Heb 3:11  as I swore in my wrath, ‘They will not enter into my rest.’” 
Heb 3:12  Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God; 
Heb 3:13  but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called “today”; lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 
Heb 3:14  For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm to the end: 
Heb 3:15  while it is said, “Today if you will hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts, as in the rebellion.” 

Every test in the wilderness was a lesson in which they were supposed to learn something. They have been tested with water and food. They’ve had the wrong attitude about how to get that from YHVH. In fact, they keep going to Moses who does not have the ability to give that to them. But what is the real lesson for them?

Mat 6:25  “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

You see, Yeshua’s teachings were always commentaries on the things His people were supposed to have learned. They were supposed to have figured out certain things but the only way to figure out those things is to have a personal and intimate relationship with YHVH. They never got there. So part of Yeshua’s task was to teach what they had not learned which they would have already learned if they would have had the right kind of relationship with YHVH. The Spirit would have revealed the deeper meanings from the Law of Moses. But they stuck with only the letter of the Law and never progressed to the Spirit of it.

People can read and study Yeshua’s teaching on the mountain and never understand it because they try to turn His comments into another “letter of the law” set of commandments. Unless we develop our relationship with YHVH, we won’t understand His Kingdom nor will we enter into it.

After the third complaint, YHVH lets them have war, something to fight for so that perhaps they will begin to have a vested interest in being Israelites from the Kingdom called Israel. They fight and win their battle against Amalek.

Next week, we will get to the Mount Sinai experience even if YHVH has to drag them there kicking and screaming.

Be Blessed!
Kimberly Rogers-Brown

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Kimberly Rogers-Brown has been teaching Torah and special Bible topics since 2008. She is also the author and publisher of Beast Watch News dot com and is heard internationally via two radio programs on Hebrew Nation Radio. Kimberly now lives in Aqaba, Jordan close to the Exodus wilderness area where the Bride (i.e. "the woman" of Revelation 12:6) will flee for 1260 days of the Great Tribulation.