31 December 2021

"The Four Expressions of Redemption"

27 Tevet 5782
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
Parashat Va'era - Mevorchim 

...Therefore, say to the Children of Israel: 'I am HASHEM, and I shall take you out from under the burdens of Egypt; I shall rescue you from their service; I shall redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.  I shall take you to me for a people and I shall be a God to you; and you shall know that I am HASHEM your God, Who takes you out from under the burdens of Egypt.  (Shemot 6.6-7)

From the Stone Edition Chumash Commentary... 

The four expressions of redemption.  Having told Moses that the impending revelation would be greater than that which was revealed to the Patriarchs, and that He was about to redeem the Jewish people, God commanded him to go once again to the Jews and tell them that He - as HASHEM, the Name that denotes power and mercy - was about to redeem them.  These two verses contain four different expressions, representing progressive stages of the redemption.  These four stages are the basis for the Rabbinic requirement of the Four Cups at the Pesach Seder.  The expressions, as explained by R' Bachya, are:

והוצאתי - I shall take you out.  God would remove the Jews from the burdens of slavery even before they were permitted to leave the country and while they were still the chattels of Egypt.  The slavery ended in Tishrei, but they did not leave Egypt until six months later.

והצלתי - I shall rescue you.  God would take the Jews out of Egypt.  The subjugation to Egypt will be formally ended.

וגאלתי - I shall redeem you. This alludes to the Splitting of the Sea, when God's outstretched arm with great judgments crushed Egypt's power for good [ch. 14-15].  Until then, the Jews feared that they would be pursued by their former masters and returned to slavery.  As the Sages teach, the punishments inflicted on the Egyptians at the Sea were five times as great as those they suffered during the Ten Plagues.

ולקחתי - I shall take you.  God took the Jews as His people when He gave them the Torah at Sinai.  That was the climax, the purpose, of the Exodus.

May we all merit to live and survive to see and experience the greater redemption from the Roman exile - The New World Order - the present-day Egypt.  And may HASHEM redeem us very, very soon.  Amen!

~ SHABBAT SHALOM and CHODESH TOV ~

1 comment:

  1. Shavua Tov: Exceellent to the point post. Love it.
    Amen v'Amen!

    ReplyDelete