Fox Byte 5775 #15: Bo (Go)

My friend Al McCarn has hit a home run with this post. Did you ever wonder why the donkey is the only animal mentioned in regard to redemption in Parsha Bo? It always puzzled me and I remember it being a source of discussion over the years. But, I never really “got it” until this year, with Al’s post. Interestingly enough, this is the torah portion being read the week of my birth. Do you think Abba is trying to tell me something???

THE BARKING FOX

בֹּא

Donkeys in Transition. Top left: James Cagney as Nick Bottom with Anita Louise as Titania in the 1935 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (via “The Many Faces of Nick Bottom” on Shakespeare Talks). Top right: Pinocchio turns into a donkey, from the 1940 Walt Disney film, Pinocchio, via The Disney Wiki. Bottom Left: Donkey (voiced by Eddie Murphy) in Shrek the Third (via HD Wallpapers). Bottom Right: Donkey as Stallion in Shrek II (via Wiki Shrek).

Is there anything more ridiculous among beasts of burden than a donkey?  They are hardly the picture of a noble animal.  On the contrary, they are loud, obnoxious, stubborn, homely (not exactly ugly, but certainly not beautiful), and they smell bad.  It is no coincidence that William Shakespeare places a donkey’s head on the foolishly self-confident Nick Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  Neither is it…

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Of Pharaohs and Free Will

Having been overwhelmed again this week by the needs of others and feeling hopelessly behind in my studies on the book of Exodus, I have decided to put it on hold for this year and, with the help of the Creator, begin work on the Book of Leviticus next week. Meanwhile, I wanted to recommend this week’s and last week’s post by my friend and fellow sojourner Al McCairn, a.k.a. “The Barking Fox.” Until next week, shalom!

THE BARKING FOX

Ramesses II storming the Hittite fortress of Dapur. He was the most famous and powerful Pharaoh of Egypt’s New Kingdom, but contrary to prevailing opinion he was not the Pharaoh who withstood Moses.

Of all the pharaohs who ruled Egypt over the course of ancient history, only one had the dubious honor of facing Moses in a contest to see whose God was greater.  We may not know exactly which pharaoh he was, but he most certainly was not Ramesses II.  Such is filmmaker Timothy Mahoney’s conclusion in his astounding documentary, Patterns of Evidence:  Exodus.  Mahoney presents a compelling case for reconsidering the accepted timeline of ancient Egyptian history.  He bases his case on considerable evidence that Israel’s presence in Egypt, the Exodus, and the conquest of Canaan actually happened two or three hundred years earlier than has been supposed.

For centuries we have assumed that Raamses II…

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THE SECOND EXODUS

Due to computer and family issues, I have not been able to prepare a lesson this week on Va’eira. However, I do want to share a compelling article by my friend and co-blogger Sue Wyatt in regard to the Second Exodus.

Shemot – Names

Torah portion: Exodus 1:1-6:1

Haftarah: Isaiah 27:6–28:13, 29:22-23

New Testament: Acts 7:17-27, Hebrews 3:1-19, 11:22-28

In last week’s lesson we spent some time considering the prophets’ declaration of a Second Exodus in the “acharit ha yamim,” which is Hebrew for “latter days” or “end of the ages.” Therefore, this year, as we read the details of the First Exodus, we will be on high alert, heeding Paul’s warning:  

Vayechi – And he lived

Torah Portion: Genesis 47:28-50:26

Haftarah: I Kings 2:1-12

New Testament: Hebrews 11:21-22, 13:14

In last week’s lesson, Joseph not only revealed his identity to his brothers; but, more importantly, he revealed his forgiveness for their sins against him. Joseph embraced them and kissed them and urged them to bring their father and their families to Goshen, where Joseph provided all the food that the family needed and “gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded” (Gen. 47:11).