Parshat Bo notes
"Check out Parshat Bo, Exodus Chap. 10, v. 8-13: Moshe tells Par'o [Pharaoh] that they're taking the whole gang to make a sacrifice, but when Par'o objects, saying that only the men should go, HaShem sends another plague! So we women are indispensible for worship!
Said it before & I'll say it again--the blood on the doorposts was for us, not HaShem, who would surely have known which houses were home to B'nei Yisrael [the Children of Israel]. We had to be willing to "out" ourselves as B'nei Yisrael. It turns out that p'shat [the literal meaning of a biblical text] supports me: Chapt. 12, v. 13 specifies "the blood shall be a sign for you (v'hayah hadam lachem l'ot) . . . " The blood wasn't a no-tech GPS, leading HaShem to the houses of B'nei Yisrael--it was HaShem's way of forcing us to make a commitment. HaShem would spare only those who were willing to "out" themselves."
More notes (with Sh'mot [Shemot] and Vaera [Vaeira] thrown in for good measure).
Thurs., Jan. 6, 2011 update, courtesy of her comment: Here's Techelet's take.
Sat. night, Jan. 8, 2011: Better late than never, here's DovBear's Bo post.
Thurs., Jan. 13, 2011: Really late--my link, not the post--a political view from Rabbi Barry Leff .
posted by Shira Salamone at 6:41 AM
4 Comments:
Also, Bo provides support for the 'hardening Pharaoh's heart supported free will, it did not eliminate it' theory. Shemot 10:1 God said to Moses, 'Go to Pharaoh. I have made him and his advisors stubborn, so that I will be able to demonstrate these miraculous signs among the
Shemot 10:7 Pharaoh's officials said to him, 'How long will this [man] continue to be a menace to us? Let the men go, and let them serve God their Lord. Don't you yet realize that Egypt is being destroyed?
I've always found the free-will vs. heart-hardened-by-Hashem business pretty confusing. At least the officials were pragmatic enough to get the message.
I talked about the plague of darkness in my posting on Bo: http://techelet.wordpress.com/2011/01/06/bo-inner-darkness/
Thanks, Techelet. I just updated my post with your link.
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