Parasha Vaera 5786
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Parasha Vaera 5786
Parasha Vaera 5786
Synopsis: This week we are in Parasha Vaera (Exodus 6:2–9:35), which opens with G-d revealing Himself to Moses as HaShem (The Name/the Tetragrammaton/Four Letter Name of G-d), declaring that He is now acting to fulfill the covenant made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He promises redemption, deliverance, and the inheritance of the land, and instructs Moses to speak again to the people of Israel. Though discouraged by their broken spirit and harsh labor, Moses is sent back to Pharaoh, accompanied by Aaron, to demand Israel’s release.
The Torah then presents the genealogical record of Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, establishing Moses and Aaron’s authority as divinely appointed leaders. Confronting Pharaoh, Aaron’s staff becomes a serpent, yet Pharaoh’s magicians replicate the sign. G-d responds by striking Egypt with ten plagues, the first seven of which appear in this Parasha: blood, frogs, lice, flies, pestilence, boils, and hail. Each plague escalates in intensity, devastating Egypt’s land, livestock, and people.
Throughout these confrontations, Pharaoh repeatedly hardens his heart despite acknowledging G-d’s power. The parasha closes with Egypt shattered by the plague of hail, while Israel remains untouched in Goshen, setting the stage for the final acts of redemption.
Principle: The Name of G-d is not whispered in heaven, it is declared in deliverance.
(Repeat)
Parasha Vaera 5786
20 Then they met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them as they came from Pharaoh.
21 So they said to them, “May Adonai look on you and judge, because you have made us a stench in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants—putting a sword in their hand to kill us!”
22 So Moses returned to Adonai and said, “Adonai, why have You brought evil on these people? Is this why You sent me?
23 Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your Name, he has brought evil on these people. You have not delivered Your people at all.”
1 Adonai said to Moses, “Now you will see what I am going to do to Pharaoh. By way of a strong hand he will let them go, and drive them out of his land.”
Parasha Vaera 5786
2 God spoke further to Moses and said to him, “I am Adonai.
3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, as El Shaddai. Yet by My Name, Adonai, did I not make Myself known to them.
4 I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage where they journeyed.
5 Furthermore, I have heard the groaning of Bnei-Yisrael, whom the Egyptians are keeping in bondage. So I have remembered My covenant.
The rabbis are very clear on the revelation of the Name of G-d here in Parasha Vaera, this is not about the Patriarchs’ ignorance of the Name, but about the experience of what the Name represents.
Rashi says explains that the Patriarchs certainly knew the Name YHVH, but they never experienced the full realization of its promises.
They heard the promises.
They believed the promises.
But they did not live to see their fulfillment.
YHVH represents G-d as the One who keeps covenant through action. The Patriarchs trusted Him, but Israel is about to see Him.
Nachmanides draws a sharp theological line between the revelation of El Shaddai and YHVH:
El Shaddai = G-d who makes promises and sets boundaries
YHVH = G-d who intervenes supernaturally in history
The Patriarchs experienced providence.
Israel experiences redemption.
Egypt is where G-d shifts from private covenant to public power.
Midrash Rabah teaches that the Patriarchs never questioned G-d even when His promises seemed impossible. They trusted Him without proof.
Now G-d tells Moses: You are about to see what they only believed.
The Name YHVH is revealed when:
Promises are kept
Slavery is broken
Nature is overruled
Empires are humbled
In rabbinic thought, a “name” is not a label — it is a revelation of character.
To know YHVH is to know:
He keeps covenant
He overrides nature
He defeats oppressors
He redeems His people
That is why Egypt is necessary. Power must be displayed for the Name to be known.
The Patriarchs knew G-d’s promises, but Israel would know His power — and that is the meaning of His Name.
Parasha Vaera 5786
6 Therefore say to Bnei-Yisrael: I am Adonai, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will deliver you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.
7 I will take you to Myself as a people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am Adonai your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
8 So I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, and give it to you as an inheritance. I am Adonai.”
Parasha Vaera 5786
9 Moses spoke this way to Bnei-Yisrael, but they did not listen to him because of their broken spirit and cruel bondage.
10 So Adonai told Moses,
11 “Go, speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that will he let Bnei-Yisrael go out of his land.”
12 But Moses said to Adonai, “Bnei-Yisrael have not listened to me. So how would Pharaoh listen to me—I, who have uncircumcised lips?”
13 Then Adonai spoke to Moses and to Aaron and gave to them a charge for Bnei-Yisrael and Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring Bnei-Yisrael out of the land of Egypt.
Parasha Vaera 5786
Principle: The Name of G-d is not whispered in heaven, it is declared in deliverance.
Parasha Vaera 5786
Support for the understanding that “knowing the name of YHVH” means witnessing or being made to experience the display of divine might is found in several biblical passages.
3 For thus says Adonai: “You were sold for nothing. So you will be redeemed without silver.”
4 For thus says Adonai Elohim: “At first My people went down to Egypt to reside there, then the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing.
5 “Now therefore, what do I have here?” —it is a declaration of Adonai— “My people are taken away for nothing? Its rulers wail” —it is Adonai’s declaration— “and My Name is continually blasphemed all day long.
6 Therefore My people will know My Name. Therefore in that day, I am the One who will be saying, ‘Hineni!’ ”
Parasha Vaera 5786
19 Adonai, my strength, my stronghold, my refuge in the day of affliction, to You will the nations come from the ends of the earth and say: “Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, futility and useless things.”
20 Will man make gods for himself? Yet they are not gods.
21 “So I will surely make them know— this time I make them know My hand and My might— they will know that My Name is Adonai.”
Parasha Vaera 5786
Principle: The Name of G-d is not whispered in heaven, it is declared in deliverance.
Parasha Vaera 5786
(Call the worship team back)
In Exodus, Israel learns the Name YHVH by watching slavery collapse.
In the Brit Chadashah, the Name of Yeshua is revealed through resurrection.
6 Who, though existing in the form of God, did not consider being equal to God a thing to be grasped.
7 But He emptied Himself— taking on the form of a slave, becoming the likeness of men and being found in appearance as a man.
8 He humbled Himself— becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
9 For this reason God highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Yeshua every knee should bow, in heaven and on the earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue profess that Yeshua the Messiah is Lord— to the glory of God the Father.
The Name is given after the cross. Power follows obedience. Authority follows suffering. Glory follows redemption.
Just as YHVH is revealed through the defeat of Pharaoh, Yeshua’s Name is revealed through the defeat of sin and death.
Israel does not “learn” YHVH in Egypt. They experience Him.
The disciples do not merely believe in Yeshua. They witness His power.
Parasha Vaera 5786
Principle: The Name of G-d is not whispered in heaven, it is declared in deliverance.
Parasha Vaera 5786
