Bo

By, Rabbi David Markel Hall
Torah: Ex 10:1-13:16, Haftorah: Jer 46:13-28


Bo also pronounced ba means come, or in context can mean go or went to some place or someone. Here, Moshe "went" to Paro (Pharaoh) to deliver a message from G-d. From last week's Torah portion we can see how hard-hearted Paro was. So far, seven times he changed his mind and refused to let G-d's people go. The remaining plagues mentioned in chapter ten are locust, darkness and death of the first born.

There is an amazing "coincidence" connecting three days of darkness (Exodus 10:22) followed by the death of the firstborn sons of Egypt, with the death of Yeshua and His resurrection three days and nights later. He was the first born of G-d and the light of the world (Gen. 1:2 and John 1:5). There were three hours of darkness preceding His death, which pictures the three days and nights without His light present in the world (Matthew 12:40). Immediately following the death of the firstborn of Egypt is the Pesach seder looking forward to Yeshua as the Pesach lamb. Remember that He was executed on Passover, right after eating the erev Pesach seder with His talmidim (disciples).

Pictures and types are in the symbols of the seder. The Matzot (unleavened bread crackers) are striped and pierced reflecting on the stripes and wounds of our Messiah. The Matzot are unleavened reminding us that He was without sin (spot or blemish). The Paschal lamb was kept for three days and examined to see if it was free of spot or blemish. This reminds us of the three and a half years of service during which He was closely examined to see if any fault could be found in Him. Pilot declared, "I find no fault in him at all." (John 18:38-19:6). The lamb's blood was spilled and hyssop was used to mark the door posts and mantle, of the entrances of homes. This was to caused the death angel to pass over each home, just as Yeshua's blood marks our tabernacles (fleshly bodies). In the seder, the tash (cover) which symbolizes heaven, contains three matzot which are called ehchad, "the unity". These are the three manifestations of G-d most notably observed by man, Av the Father, Beyn the Son, and Ruach the Spirit. In the seder, Father and Spirit matzot remain in the tash while the son, represented by the afikomen (center matzah), leaves heaven and comes to us, is broken and tasted by all.

The Pesach seder is a totaphot, reminder (Ex 13:16). The L-rd does not want us to ever forget the bondage of Egypt or His mighty hand that delivered us from Pharaoh. We should live our lives every day in remembrance of His mighty works and our deliverance from bondage.


"Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shall you dwell in the land, and truly you shall be fed. Delight yourself also in the LORD; and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass." Psalms 37:3-5

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