Torah Portion: Shemot | When God’s Name Enters the Story
Exodus 1:1–6:1; Haftarah: Isaiah 27:6–28:13; Isaiah 29:22–23; Besorah: Matthew 6:19–34
Shalom friends,
Shemot opens a new book, but it doesn’t start the way we might expect.
No burning bush yet.
No plagues.
No dramatic “Let My people go.”
Instead, it starts with a list of names.
“These are the names of the sons of Israel…”
Which feels almost anticlimactic until you realize that Exodus is making a point right out of the gate. This isn’t just a national story. It’s a family story. And the suffering that follows isn’t random. It’s covenant history unfolding in real time.
Genesis ended with Israel comfortable, settled, and thriving in Egypt. Shemot opens by showing us how quickly comfort can turn into confinement. Sometimes the place that once felt like provision quietly becomes a place of pressure.
And God lets us sit in that tension for a bit.
Torah: Exodus 1:1–6:1
When Growth Makes Power Nervous
The first chapter moves fast. Israel multiplies. The language is intentional. Fruitful. Increasing. Abounding. It echoes creation itself. God’s blessing is still very much in play.
And then Scripture says a new king arose who did not know Joseph.
That doesn’t mean Pharaoh failed a history quiz. It means he chose not to remember. Forgetting Joseph made it easier to fear Israel. And fear is always a dangerous thing in the hands of insecure power.
Pharaoh sees growth and calls it a threat. So he does what oppressive systems always do. He tightens control. He enslaves. He dehumanizes. When that doesn’t work, he escalates.
Enter Shiphrah and Puah.
Two midwives. No pedigree. No army. No speech. Just women who fear God more than Pharaoh. They refuse to participate in violence, and Scripture is very clear that God honors them for it.
This is how redemption starts in Shemot. Not with a miracle, but with moral courage. God begins His rescue plan quietly, through women who simply refuse to cooperate with evil.
Then Moses is born.
His life begins under a death sentence and is preserved through irony so thick you can almost laugh. Pharaoh orders Hebrew boys killed, and Moses is raised in Pharaoh’s own house. If God has a sense of humor, and I know He does, this is Exhibit A.
Moses grows up knowing injustice but not yet understanding his calling. He kills an Egyptian taskmaster, tries to intervene on his own terms, and ends up running for his life. Midian becomes his wilderness classroom.
Years pass. Scripture says very little. And that silence matters.
God is not in a rush.
Then comes the burning bush, and God speaks His name.
“I AM who I AM.”
This is reassurance. God is telling Moses that He is present, faithful, and not threatened by Pharaoh, Egypt, or Moses’ insecurities. He sees the suffering. He hears the cries. He remembers the covenant.
Moses, understandably, panics a bit. Ok maybe a lot. He questions himself. He questions God. He lists reasons why this is a terrible idea. But God doesn’t scold him here. God reveals Himself.
Shemot shows us that deliverance doesn’t start with confidence. It starts with encounter.
Haftarah: Isaiah 27:6–28:13; 29:22–23
When Hearing God Isn’t the Same as Listening
Isaiah picks up the same tension we see in Shemot.
God speaks of Israel taking root and bearing fruit. The promise is still there. Growth is still the goal.
But Isaiah also calls out leaders who hear God’s words without letting them change anything. The famous phrase “precept upon precept” isn’t praise here. It’s frustration. God’s voice has become background noise.
And yet, Isaiah doesn’t leave us in judgment. He ends with hope.
Jacob’s descendants will sanctify God’s name. They will stand in awe. They will finally understand.
Just like in Shemot, discipline and promise live side by side. God’s correction is always aimed at restoration. He is not finished with His people, even when they are slow to listen (which is often!).
Besorah: Matthew 6:19–34
Trusting God When Anxiety Feels Practical
In Matthew 6, Yeshua goes straight for the things we cling to when life feels unstable. Money. Control. Planning ten steps ahead just in case.
Don’t store up treasures on earth, don’t worry about tomorrow, seek first the kingdom.
This isn’t just spiritual fluff. It’s deeply rooted in Israel’s story.
Israel learned in Egypt that security can turn into slavery. Moses learned that acting without God leads to disaster. Yeshua teaches that real security has never been found in accumulation or control.
God provides. God sees. God knows what His people need.
The question is whether we’ll trust Him enough to loosen our grip.
My Final Thoughts
Shemot is the portion where God’s name enters the story in a new way.
Genesis showed us promise. Shemot shows us what carrying that promise can cost.
Israel grows. Pharaoh panics. God listens. And quietly, deliberately, He begins to move.
Shemot reminds us that silence doesn’t mean absence, delay doesn’t mean denial, and suffering doesn’t mean God has lost control of the story.
God reveals Himself in the middle of fear, resistance, and uncertainty. He shows up when His people can no longer rescue themselves.
And He still does.
Shemot leaves us with a question worth sitting with.
Where might God be at work right now, even if things feel like they’re getting harder before they get better?
Because redemption always begins long before it looks like rescue.
Hebrew Letter of the Week: ל (Lamed)
Sound: “L”
Numeric Value: 30
Meaning: Learn, teach, grow, movement toward understanding
Lamed is the tallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet. It rises above the line, which is intentional. It represents learning that lifts a person beyond where they currently are. Not information for information’s sake, but formation.
That makes Lamed a perfect fit for Shemot.
This portion is not about immediate freedom. It’s about education. God is teaching His people who He is, teaching Moses who he is, and teaching Egypt that power has limits.
Moses does not step into leadership fully formed. He asks questions. He hesitates. He learns in Midian. He learns at the bush. He learns while pushing back. Lamed reminds us that calling almost always involves a learning curve.
And sometimes the lesson comes before the rescue.
How to Write Lamed
ל
Lamed is written with a tall upward stroke that rises above the other letters.
Start with a small base at the bottom.
Then draw the long vertical line upward, allowing it to extend higher than the line.
Lamed visually teaches us that learning is meant to elevate us. God does not reveal Himself simply to inform us. He reveals Himself to transform us.
Study Questions
Torah: Exodus 1:1–6:1
Why does Exodus begin by listing names instead of events?
How does Israel’s growth become a source of fear rather than blessing for Pharaoh?
What stands out to you about the role of Shiphrah and Puah in God’s redemptive plan?
Why does Moses’ first attempt at intervention fail?
What does Moses’ time in Midian teach about preparation and patience?
Why is God’s name revealed at this moment in the story?
Haftarah: Isaiah 27:6–28:13; 29:22–23
How does Isaiah use the language of growth and fruitfulness to echo Exodus?
Why is “precept upon precept” presented as a critique rather than praise?
What does this passage reveal about the danger of hearing God without responding?
How do judgment and promise function together in this reading?
Besorah: Matthew 6:19–34
Why does Yeshua focus so strongly on anxiety and trust in this passage?
How does His teaching connect to Israel’s experience in Egypt?
What does it mean to seek the kingdom first in seasons of uncertainty?
Where might worry be disguising itself as responsibility in your own life?
Reflection Questions
Where might comfort be quietly turning into constraint in your life?
How do you usually respond when growth begins to attract resistance?
What season of learning has God placed you in right now?
How do you react when God’s timing feels slower than you expected?
What would it look like to trust God with provision instead of control?
Action Challenges
Identify one place where God may be teaching you before delivering you. Write it down and pray through it this week.
Practice obedience in a small area where no one else is watching.
Spend time thanking God for unanswered prayers that may be shaping you.
Meditate on Exodus 3:14 and reflect on what God’s name reveals about His presence.
Release one anxiety intentionally by bringing it to God in prayer instead of rehearsing it.
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The danger of hearing God but not responding to Him but instead only focusing on the minutia of life. OH LORD give us tender, responsive, and surrendered hearts always and ears willing to hear and act on the inconvenient or difficult things you ask of us!
Isa 28:12-13 To whom He said, “Here is rest, give rest to the weary, here is repose”—but they would not listen. So the word of Adonai is to them ‘precept on precept, precept on precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.’ So they walk, and fall backward, and are broken, trapped, and captured.
In the Final Thoughts the words “silence, delay and suffering” are discussed truthfully. The very day prior to my expectation of healing, a sermon titled “Waiting on G-d” was heard.
My heart sank when I heard the words, “A delay is not necessarily a denial.” How interesting that Parashat Shemot reveals the workings and prolonged planning of the Master of the Universe .