Bo: God's Family Plan

Exodus and the Last Plagues: A Torah Portion Study

In this episode of the 'Perfect Body Podcast: A Torah Portion Afterthought,' the host discusses the Torah portion 'Bo,' from the book of Exodus. We delve into the final plagues that God inflicted on Egypt, including locusts, three days of darkness, and the death of the firstborns. The episode emphasizes the importance of trusting God for vengeance, keeping families united, and understanding God's intentions and plans. The host also touches on the spiritual significance of the Passover. Join us for a detailed study and reflection on this compelling biblical narrative.

00:00 Introduction and Welcome

01:01 Overview of the Torah Portion 'Bo'

03:10 Reflection on Previous Torah Portions

06:00 The Plagues of Egypt

07:20 The Final Plagues and Pharaoh's Stubbornness

15:12 God's Family Plan and Wholeness

24:40 Conclusion and Invitation to Faith

26:40 Next Week's Torah Portion

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Transcript

 You have a perfect body,

you're a teen in every direction, perfect body. That's my diligent inspection. You have a perfect body. That is what the Lord told me that I could understand with my human understanding when he visited me. On this very earth, and I made a song about it and I created a podcast about it. Perfect body podcast, a Torah portion afterthought.

Welcome, welcome, welcome. We are studying the Torah one week later than the actual rabbinical schedule. Today we are looking at Bo, which was the Torah portion for last Shabbat. That's why I call it an afterthought. We're just taking a little more time, maybe chewing on the cud a little bit longer, we're just a little bit behind, just saying, we're just wanting to follow in the footsteps of our elders and I am here, you are here.

I am so happy that we have the mind to study God's word. That is such a privilege to be able to hear the very heart of God by reading the Bible. And we are now in the book of Exodus. It is the second book of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. So we're in Exodus on the Torah portion called Bo, which means come when I, whenever I think about that, I think of come Lord Jesus, as it says in the book of Revelation, and the Lord says, Behold, I come quickly.

He is coming quickly. I love that. It's so comforting to know that the Lord is coming quickly. And not only is he coming quickly, but his reward is with him. That means his reward for those who believe in him, who keep the faith and endure until the end. That is the reward. That he will be bringing with him when he comes, when he appears on earth, welcome, welcome everyone.

Thank you for joining me for this Torah portion Bible study bow. So what did we talk about last week? We talked about let my people go. We studied the initial plagues that Pharaoh that the children of Israel were given by God to get out of the land. Actually, that was called Get Rid of My Enemies.

That was our last show. Get rid of our enemies. And I don't know, how have you been doing with that? Have you been allowing the Lord to work with you? On those who hate you, those haters out there. Are you allowing the Lord to deal with that instead of you trying to deal with it on your own?

Because what happens is if you try to deal with it on your own, you might get in trouble because if you do something against someone that is evil. Now you're sowing bad seeds, you're sowing negative fruit. And so even though the person is evil, it's still a seed. And so that seed is going to grow and sprout and return in your life in some way, because the Lord says, vengeance is mine.

I will repay. That's what God says. Vengeance is mine. He wants to take revenge. On those who hate you on those haters out there. He wants to take their revenge. He wants to Handle that for you. He doesn't want you to get your hands dirty He wants us to have clean hands and a pure heart. So allow God to do his job.

Let him, he's the Avenger. Yeah. He got his dukes up. So let God be God. And I, I know it may be hard because people are bothering you or you just want to like step in there and do something, but just pray and. Be patient, and God will take care of that mess for you, whoever's trying to bother you, whoever's trying to hate on you.

And that, so that's what we were talking about in the last Torah portion, Va'era. And then in the Torah portion before that, we talked about, let my people go. That's when God called Moses. Moses at 80 years old, remember we talked about that it's not too late to be called by God to do something amazing for the Lord.

He called Moses at 80 years old to deliver his people out of the land of Egypt. So now we continue on. We have, I believe it was five plagues or six plagues that have already been given on the land of Egypt. We talked about what lice. What else was there? There was lice, there was frogs. What else do you remember anything else?

Lice, frogs blood, a bloody river hail, heavy hail that was killing all the cattle was falling down. It reminds me once when I was. In Texas, I think I was in San Antonio, Texas, and there was some major hail coming down and it was hitting my head and it, it hurt. And it was, I mean, they were pretty big.

I would say like, maybe like that big. And just imagine huge, huge balls of hail. And it said the hail was mingled with fire. So a ball of snow mingled with fire. Falling down on cattle, killing all of the cattle and people too. And so now we're going to continue on with the final plagues so that the Lord can rescue his people out of the land of Egypt by the hand of Moses and overcome Pharaoh.

So we start in chapter 10 and the next plague is Locusts. Those things that are, that make the weird noise. I can't, I used to have these things on my window screen at night. They would come and they would just be like on our window screen, like so many locusts and like I can hear the sound in my ear, but I can't make the sound that a locust makes but they're creepy and then they shed their skin.

Like their shell and they leave their shale behind. It's gross. And so the whole land of Egypt was filled with locusts and they ate up everything. They ate up all the green trees. So there's no more fruit. Everything that was left, it says. Everything that was left. This is chapter Genesis Exodus chapter 10.

I want to say Genesis is Exodus, Exodus, Exodus, Exodus chapter 10, verse five says, and they shall cover the face of the land so that no one can see the land. He's talking about the locust. And they shall eat what is left to you after the hail. So everything that the hail did not destroy, the locusts are going to eat up.

So, and they shall eat every tree of yours that grows in the field. And they shall fill your houses and the houses of all your servants. So I'm live, I am live right now and I am with you. So thank you for being with me. So the locusts further destroyed Egypt. Pharaoh's people, his servants are like, Pharaoh, why don't you just let the people of Israel go?

They're destroying our land. The Pharaoh heart was hardened. He would not let the people of Israel go. In fact, God had a hand in hardening Pharaoh's heart because God wants to show his mighty power. So he made sure that Pharaoh was going to be stubborn and Come against him so that God could show his mighty Wonders and take revenge on Israel.

We're gonna talk about that in a moment So the ninth plague so that the locusts was the eighth plague the ninth plague is darkness Three days of darkness. Have you ever heard about that? I've been hearing different prophecies about three days of darkness coming soon and, but this is real. This has already happened.

This is not in the future. This is all, this is the three days of darkness. It was so dark. Pitch black. It said pitch ha. Have you ever been in a place where there was. No lights, no street lights. Anyone from the country, from a rural area, area, anyone, anyone been in a country area where there was no lights, there was no stores around, everything dark, pitch black, or maybe you were in a place that had a power outage.

Maybe if you were in a area where maybe there was a storm or fires, like we've had here in Los Angeles. I know the lights were out for. Some weeks and everything's pitch black because there's no electricity. Well, it was dark, darker than that during this three days of darkness in the land of Egypt.

That even if it says, even if someone stretched their hand forth like this, they couldn't even see their own hand. That's how dark it was. And no one was able to leave their home for three days. And the final plague. Dun da da da! Can I get a drum roll! Come on!

This is the final plague. Plague number ten. Ten! Five and five. And I'm gonna read a little bit about what's gonna happen here. It says in Exodus chapter 11,

verse 2. Speak now in the hearing of the people. That they ask every man of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor for silver and gold jewelry. And the Lord gave the people the favor, favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt and the sight of Pharaoh servants and the sight of the people.

So now Moses is famous. Remember, if you don't remember back at the beginning of Exodus, Moses. didn't even want to do this. It was telling God that he couldn't speak well. He was saying, my lips are uncircumcised. Meaning he couldn't talk very well. He was trying to get out of it. But God was getting angry with Moses and he said, no Moses, you're the one I called to do this.

You, Are the deliverer for my people, Israel. See, sometimes God causes us to do something and we don't even think we can do it because we just don't, we don't realize the gifts that God put inside of us, like maybe God called you to do something. And you're like, me, are you sure God, of course, God is sure he is always sure.

And so he's perfect. And so I felt like that before I remember standing at the altar of my church, I was praying and the Lord told me to help his people with relationships. And I was like, what, like me, are you sure?

And God said it again, help my people with relationships. Like, I don't want to make God angry. No. So I'm like, okay. And so I became a relationship coach and I started helping God's people with relationship and I still do that to this day. And so when God calls you to do something. You might not think you know how to do it, but God will give you the ability to do whatever it is He's called you to do.

Look! What happened to Moses? He's famous now! So that's awesome. Exodus chapter 11, verse 4. So Moses said, Thus says the Lord about midnight, I will go out in the midst of Egypt. And every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl, who is behind the hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle, there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt.

Such as there has never been, nor ever will be again. So the name of this show is called God's Family Plan. So this is the problem. This is what Pharaoh wanted. He wanted the, to separate the people of Israel. God wanted all his people to go with all their possessions. But Pharaoh kept trying to compromise with Moses saying, Okay, all the men go.

The man can go, let the man go and worship God, but all your family has to stay here. Your belongings, your cattle, everything you own has to stay here, but you can go. So he's trying to cause separation. He's trying to destroy the family unit. He's trying to break down the Israelites, make them weak. If all the men are gone, don't you think that would hurt a society?

Yeah. And then another compromise. So Moses said, no we're not going to do that. God says we all have to go. God wants to keep his people together. He wants to keep families together. That makes us stronger. And so now another compromise that Pharaoh asked is, okay, go take all the people, but leave all your belongings here.

What he said, no, you can't take the cattle. You can't take any of your belongings. So he wants them to go, but he wants them to be poor. This is another way to break down people, to break down communities, to break down families, to cause them to live in poverty. Oh, you can go, but you can't take any of your belongings.

You can't take any of your money. You can't take any of your wealth with you.

So Moses, again, had to say, no, we will not accept poverty. Our God gives us power to get wealth. And so the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did just that. All the people of Israel plundered the Egyptians. They asked them for gold. They asked them for jewelry. They asked them for clothes. They were rich. When they finally left the nation of Egypt and they all went together, and this is God's family plan to make you whole.

He wants you to be whole, to be whole. Now I'm not saying that there are not certain situations where there's a reason why there's a breakdown in a family. If there is an abusive situation, then there may be a need for separation. Or if there's some other kind of mistake that happened. And I wanted to just bring this up because every situation is different.

So I'm not just saying that, you know, you should just, yes, God loves family. He wants us to stay together and he wants us to be whole, but you can be whole. With a mom and a son, I'm a living testimony of that. I raised a son pretty much for the most part of all of his life by myself. And we were a very whole family.

We were not missing anything. We were not, we were not in lack. We, God took total care of us. So it's not, I'm not saying that, Oh, you know, there's some kind of dysfunction. If you're, if you're don't have a man and a woman and the children, yes, that is God's holistic plan. A man and a woman and children, of course.

However, there are some times when that just is not possible. Maybe someone's off at war, maybe someone got killed somehow. Maybe it just, you know, like I said before, it could have been an abusive situation or it just didn't work out. It was a single parent from the beginning. God understands the frailty of human beings and he knows that sometimes it's not gonna always be this molecular unit of a wife, husband, and children.

Yes. Sometimes it is, but sometimes it isn't, but you can be whole either way. Wholeness depends on God. Wholeness is not, does not depend on who's in the house. It depends on the Father, who is God, our Heavenly Father. And I'm a living testimony of that wholeness. And I also wanted to just bring up the end part here.

Let's see. So we have the death of the firstborn. This is what happened to Egypt. This is why you should leave your enemies in the hand of God, because God knows. How to free you from an evil situation, Exodus chapter 11, verse four. So Moses said, thus says the Lord about midnight, I will go out in the midst of Egypt and every first born in the land of Egypt shall die from the first born of Pharaoh, who sits on his throne, even to the first born of the slave girl.

Who is behind the hand meal and all the firstborn of the cattle, there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor will ever be again. And that's exactly what happened. And so during this time, there was also a very a festival that was. It's instilled or installed into the Jewish calendar called Passover.

I'm not going to go into the Passover but that's when they had to kill a lamb and eat it whole and put the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of their home so that the angel of death who came to kill all the firstborn of Egypt. Wouldn't kill the children of Israel, whoever had the blood of the lamb on their doorpost.

You know, that little cross section on your, here's your door post. Then the angel of the Lord did not go to their home to kill anyone, to kill the firstborn. But every house in Egypt had someone dead. Every, can you imagine? Every house. There was not a house in a city where someone died in the same night.

That's, that's crazy. Can you imagine all the, the, the

howling, the crying you would hear? So this is what happened after that.

There was not a house where someone was not dead. That's in Exodus chapter 12, verse 30.

And after that Pharaoh said let's see. Take your flocks.

So Pharaoh's asking for a blessing, but he finally let the children of Israel go. All of them. They were whole, they were rich. They plundered the Egyptians. The Lord gave them favor in the sight of the Egyptians that they gave them whatever they asked for.

So this is how God operates. He's the best Avenger, even if you try to get someone back, you're not going to do half as good of a job as God will. And then you're going to be bringing negative seeds into your life that you may have to reap later on. But when God handles your enemies, you're free from the negativity that will come from you taking your own revenge.

And also, God is going to do the best job at getting someone back for what they've done to you. So just be patient, and I pray in the name of Jesus that God makes you whole again. Whatever the enemy has tried to do to you, whatever your haters are saying about you, Whatever anyone is trying to do to manipulate you or cause harm in your life or cause you to be separate, separated from your family or cause your family to be broken down in some way, I just come against that with the blood of the lamb.

You know, that blood they put on the lentil, that blood, the blood of the lamb. I'm calling that blood of the lamb, the blood of Jesus Christ, the blood that he shed on the cross. For you, for me, for the entire world, he died for God so love the world, he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Just like the children of Israel did not perish that night because they had the blood on their doorpost. When you believe in Jesus Christ, his blood that was shed for you on the cross keeps you forever. You will have eternal life. Just say, Jesus, I believe in you. I believe you died for me. I believe you rose again.

I believe you're coming back.

Amen. If you believe that in your heart and you confess it with your mouth. You are saved and the child of God. Welcome to the family of God. Welcome to wholeness. It's a beautiful life. All right. That is the Torah portion. Bo, my favorite Torah portion. And next week we will talk about Torah portion B'Shalach, which is the Torah portion that started today on today's Sabbath, the Saturday.

Until then, remember to love God, love you, and love people.