Parashat Beshalach, Let the Word of God be your guide and stand firm in its truth!

726

In this week’s reading, from Parashat Beshalach (Shemot / Exodus 13:17-17:16), Pharaoh let the people go and the Torah describes that the Lord God did not lead the people by the way of the Philistines saying that the people might change their minds and return to Mitzrayim (Egypt) (פֶּן-יִנָּחֵם הָעָם בִּרְאֹתָם מִלְחָמָה וְשָׁבוּ מִצְרָיְמָה).  The Scripture mentions that Moshe carried the bones of Yoseph back to the Promised Land (13:19).  The Scriptures describe that God led the people by a pillar of cloud during the day and pillar of fire by night.  The Lord hardens Pharaoh’s heart once more (14:4-9) and follows Yisrael with his army catching up with them by the Red Sea.  The people see the army of Mitzrayim, become frightened and cry out to the Moshe (14:10-14).  Moshe assures the people that the Lord will save them and they will never see the Egyptians again.  At this point in the narrative God commands Moshe to instruct the people to move forward, the Lord sends a strong east wind and divides the sea so the people could cross on dry land (14:15-22).  The Egyptian army pursued Yisrael into the Sea and the Lord caused the Sea to return to its normal state killing the entire army saving Yisrael (14:23-31).  As a result of the victory, the people sung a song exalting the Name of the Lord (15:1-22).  After the victory, the people come to a place they name Marah meaning bitter for the water was bitter and the Lord tested the people there (15:23-26).  Then the people travel to Elim where there were twelve springs and seventy date palms and encamped (15:27).  They then traveled to the wilderness of Sin and the people grumbled against Moshe and Aharon because there was no food (16:1-3).  The Lord then says that he shall rain bread from heaven to provide food for them to eat (16:4).  The Lord then gives the people bread in the morning and meat in the evening to eat (16:5-16).  The command to rest on the Shabbat (Sabbath) is given with the instructions on how to gather the Manna during the end of the week (16:17-30).  One Omer of the Manna was taken and placed before the Lord as a reminder how God provides for His people (16:31-34).  The Scriptures say that the people ate Manna for 40 years until they entered into the Promised Land (16:35, וּבְנֵי יִשְֹרָאֵל אָכְלוּ אֶת-הַמָּן אַרְבָּעִים שָׁנָה עַד-בֹּאָם אֶל-אֶרֶץ נוֹשָׁבֶת אֶת-הַמָּן אָכְלוּ עַד-בֹּאָם אֶל-קְצֵה אֶרֶץ כְּנָעַן).  The people journeyed slowly to the mountain of Sinai, arriving at Rephidim next where there was no water to drink (17:1-3).  The people again complained about leaving Mitzrayim (Egypt) (17:4), the Lord commands Moshe to strike the rock to make water for the people (17:5-7).  Then Amalek came to fight against Yisrael at Rephidim (17:8) and Moshe tells Yehoshua (Joshua) to choose men and go and fight Amalek.  Moshe stood at a high place and held up his hands and holding his hands up Yisrael prevailed against Amalek and the Lord declares that He will blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven (כִּי-מָחֹה אֶמְחֶה אֶת-זֵכֶר עֲמָלֵק מִתַּחַת הַשָּׁמָיִם).  This week’s Parashat is especially interesting detailing some important biblical principles, God’s final deliverance from Mitzrayim, and His provision of bread from heaven in the morning, meat in the evening, all of these things in the midst of the complaining peoples.&nbsp Read More here.

Previous articleParashat Bo, God’s Deliverance and Truth gives Us the Power to Overcome Anything!
Next articleParashat Yitro, Do not look to the altar that is hewn by human hands
Duane D. Miller received his Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. Degree in Chemical Engineering from The University of Akron Ohio. He is currently a Chemical Engineering Researcher. Duane’s research expertise has focused upon functional materials development for the control, conversion, and release of process gases in Energy production technologies. His R&D interests include computational chemistry, developing novel technologies for converting biomass to fuels and studying their fundamental interactions during the chemical conversion process. His past experience includes sorbent development for pre- and post-combustion CO2 and SO2 capture, selective absorption of H2S from methane streams, O2 capture for oxy-fuel combustion, photocatalytic reduction of alcohols, NOx reduction catalysis, the development of oxygen carriers to combust fossil fuels (CH4 and coal) for the chemical looping combustion processes, and the extraction of rare earth elements using patent pending sorbents. His research expertise has focused on operando-characterization using Infrared, Raman, and UV-Vis spectroscopy to observe the nature of the catalytic active sites and reaction intermediates under realistic reaction conditions, allowing direct correlation of molecular/electronic structures with catalyst performance during Gas-Solid / Liquid-Solid Adsorption and Photocatalytic Processes with real time online analysis of reaction products using ICP-MS and mass spectrometry. His current work involves a multi-disciplinary approach to developing, understanding, and improving the catalytic gasification of coal and methane, high temperature chemical looping combustion, and the catalytic decomposition and gasification of biomass and coal using novel microwave reactor.​ He has been studying the Hebrew Scriptures and the Torah for 20+ years and sharing what he has learned. The studies developed for MATSATI.COM are freely to be used by everyone, to God be the Glory!