II-4 Beshelach In Over My Head
Beshelach, Beshalach, Shmot, Shemos, Moses, Reed Sea, Red Sea, enslavement, captive people, Exodus, Yom Suf, Yam Suf, freedom, exile, galut, oppression, move forward, psychological enslavement, liberation, liberty, parsha, parasha studies, interfaith dialogue, Bible Studies, two levels of freedom
II-4 SP Beshelach "When he sent" 21 Jan 2005
Torah: Ex:13:17-17:16
Haftorah: Jdgs 4:4-5:31
Aliyot:
1. Ex 13:17-18:8
2. Ex 14:8-14
3. Ex 14:15-25
4. Ex 14:26-15:26
5. Ex 15:27-16:10
6. Ex 16:11-36
7. Ex 17:1-16
Overview: With the last three plagues, Pharaoh finds his power limited. Regretfully he lets the Israelites go in his grief for his own son, struck down by the last plague of death. The Israelites move out en masse with a pillar of cloud leading them into the wilderness. Morning breaks and the Pharaoh assembles his army for revenge. Within a short time, a cry goes up in the Israelite camp, "Were it not better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness?" Caught between the Egyptian armies and the sea before them, the Israelites give into despair. Moses stretches his hand over the sea and it parts opening a path for an oppressed people to become a nation on the other side.
In Focus:
Now when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although it was nearer, for God said, "The people may have a change of heart when they see war, and return to Egypt." Ex 13:17
And they said to Moses, "Was it for want of graves in Egypt that you brought us to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, taking us out of Egypt? Ex 14:11
The the Lord said to Moses, "Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward." Ex 14:15
The quickest way to get to Canaan was to follow the Way of Horus along the Mediterranean, but this was a trade route fortified by the Egyptians against external forces and invaders sweeping in from the Mediterranean, "the Philistines." To go this way would mean direct confrontation with the past on both fronts, with the Egyptians hounding them from behind and the Egyptians before them all the way as well as the intimidation of other hostile tribes.
Instead, They were led southwards where they were caught between the Yom Suf and the rampaging Egyptian Army, moving with one heart as one man according to Rashi's commentary. Viewing their impending doom, the joy of liberation is short. Burdened with all the wealth they could take with them, plus their flocks and their herds and their old and their young, their daughters and their sons, the Israelites could only howl with bitterness, "Why did you bring us here to die in the desert? Aren't there enough graves in Egypt?"
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