Torah Portion Summary

Shemot is both the title for the second book from the scroll of the Torah and the title of the first Torah portion therein. This week, we find the children of Israel in slavery. It seems at first that the God of their forefathers has forgotten them. But God has not forgotten His promises. He remembers His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and brings a Redeemer to their children's children, for the sake of His name, with love.

NOTE: Shemot means "names." The English-speaking world calls this book Exodus. The Hebrew title for the book comes from the opening phrase of the book: "Now these are the names [shemot] of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob" (Exodus 1:1). The English name Exodus comes from the Septuagint (LXX), the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. The Greek title for the book is Exodus Aigyptou, which translates as "Departure from Egypt." The name Exodus is an abbreviated form of that title and means "departure." The book of Exodus tells the story of the children of Israel enslaved in Egypt and their miraculous redemption through the hand of Moses, the story of the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, the construction of the golden calf, and the construction of the Tabernacle.

Haftarah Portion Summary

The Haftarah from Isaiah refers to acharit hayamim (the end of days), when "Jacob shall take root, Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots and fill the whole world with fruit." In that day, the LORD will take each Jew, one by one, and bring them back to the land promised to Abraham ("from the river Euphrates to the Brook of Egypt").

Just as the book of Exodus speaks of the themes of redemption and homecoming, so these themes find expression in Isaiah's message: "And it shall come to pass on that day that a great shofar shall be sounded and those who were lost in the land of Assyria shall come and they who were dispersed in the land of Egypt; and they shall worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem" (Isaiah 27:13).

But before this day, both Ephraim and Jerusalem will be judged, and the remnant of those who know the LORD will be considered a people of "strange lips" and a "foreign tongue," to those who are drunk in the pride of their flesh.

B'rit Chadashah Portion Summary

The excerpt from Acts (chapter 7:17-35) provides Stephen's succinct summary of the events described in this week's parashah (Stephen will then proceed in his narrative to make the case that Moses himself foretold the coming of the Mashiach as a "Prophet like unto me.")

The passage from 1 Corinthians deals with the relative importance of the gift of "tongues" in relation to the gift of prophecy, as they pertain to the edification of the church of the Mashiach. Here the apostle alludes to a passage from the Haftarah (Isa. 28:11-12) to demonstrate that the phenomena of tongues are a sign - not for believers but for unbelievers - but the gift of prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers.

All Portions this week (LINK)
Torah	Haftarah	B'rit Chadashah
Exodus 01:1-6:1	Isaiah 27:6-28:13	1 Corinthians 14:13-25
	Isaiah 29:22-23
	Jeremiah 1:1-2:3
COMMENTARY
Fruits of Torah	Torah Resource	Others
Ardelle -1	Tim Hegg -1	Torah Table Talk
Ardelle -2	Tim Hegg -2	These are the Names
Ardelle -3	Tim Hegg -3	The call of Moses
AUDIO COMMENTARY (Nehemia's Wall)
Portion	Torah Pearls	Prophet Pearls
Shemot