Exodus 2:10: “And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.”
We may not have realized that Moses was not named by God but by Pharaoh’s daughter. This child became such an important man in the plan of God, not only bringing the children of Israel out of bondage and leading them to freedom from their slavery in Egypt; but also being the one to receive the Torah instructions from the Most High. So it does seem a little strange that he had a name that means:
to draw out of water.
Meaning of משה Moses: Child, Rescued From Drowning In Water. Delivered, Extracted, Loan. Hidden, Covered.
From the Egyptian noun mes, child, or from (1) mo, water, and (2) uses, saved from drowning.From the Hebrew verb משה (masha), to extract from water, or the noun משה (mashe), a loan.From the Greek verb μυσω (muso), to hide or cover.
The ancient Hebrew rabbis, teachers and sages saw much more to the name Moses than just the first and most obvious one, that the definition of Moses meant, draw out of water.
According to the scriptures, it was Pharaoh’s daughter who drew Moses out of water, while his sister Miriam watched, those waters were the waters of the Nile river.
Ex.2:4 The baby’s sister then stood at a distance, watching to see what would happen to him.
Egyptians did not worship the One True God of the Hebrews, they had many gods; most who were connected to the land and natural elements. Others included animals and other creatures, as well as fallen angels and demonic entities..
This daughter of Pharoah drew him out of the one of the most significant Egyptian gods. This god they worshipped was called Hepi, Hepi was a fertility god who was the god of the annual flooding of the Nile. When the Nile flooded, fertile solii was deposited onto the banks of the river. This gave them the ability to farm the land, raise good crops and provide food for the people.
A good question is, why was Pharaoh’s daughter’s at the Nile?
In Exodus 2:5 we are told that she came to wash herself or to bathe. This gives us an image of her coming to take a bath in the sacred waters, which was holy to the Egyptians. On second thoughts this is probably unlikely, because especially a daughter of Pharaoh who took luxurious baths in tubs filled with all sorts of fragrances, like myrrh and frankincense, would not on purpose choose the option of the Nile rivers’ questionable cleanliness.
The word used in Hebrew here for
washing or bathing
is rachats
which also means: to pour water upon yourself.
Strongs 7364 rachats: to wash, wash off or away, bathe
Original Word: רָחַץ Part of Speech: Verb Transliteration: rachats Phonetic Spelling: (raw-khats’) Definition: to wash, wash off or away, bathe self
A primitive root; to lave (the whole or a part of a thing) — bathe (self), wash (self), to pour water upon yourself..
When the Nile overflowed, it was the signal that Hepi had arrived; and one of their beliefs was that as a fertility god it was said to cause women to become pregnant. It is likely that Pharaoh’s daughter’s went to Nile at the point of the flooding overflow when Hepi was said to have arrived. Women would anoint themselves with water from the Nile by washing, bathing and pouring water over themselves, hoping Hepi would cause them to become pregnant. We have to remember that their mindset was totally different from our modern western way of life and culture. In India today many people bathe in the Ganges river because it is a sacred holy river to them.
So for the daughter of Pharaoh to find a baby floating down the Nile in a basket it was like a gift from the god Hepi, especially for her.
Once she realized it was a baby Hebrew boy she knew she would face criticism and this is why she named him Moses meaning: drew out of the waters (of the Nile) indicating this child was a gift from the god Hepi.
Interestingly the name Moses also means to separate and as we know from the rest of the story in scripture during his life, he was actually drawn away from the gods of Egypt and separated from them.
Another connection is revealed in that the name Moses comes from the same root word as Messiah and we know that Moses was a picture, a type and shadow of the Messiah and in the same way that Moses would free his people from slavery in Egypt, the Messiah would come and free us from our sins.
If we take the name of
Moses in Hebrew isMOSHAH
משׁה
above are the Hebrew letters for M SH and H
and if we turn that first letter M/Mem, in the name Moses, into a preposition, which means the word: “from”, it would read:
from shach.
Shach means:
a little lamb.
This shows Moses’ compassion and the concerned feelings he had for others. It could also be a type and shadow of the future Messiah who would come as a lamb and deliver HIs people at the first Passover at the Exodus.
Remembering that in the Hebrew alefbet each letter has a numerical value and the rabbis/teachers have noted that words of equal value in the Hebrew language have connections to similar themes. The numerical value of His name Moses indicated that he would live a long life. Moses in Hebrew without the vowels is: Mem = 40, Shin = 300 and Hei = 5 for a total of 345. He lived for 120 years. The Hebrew word for the number 120 is beshagamwhich is spelled Beth = 2, Shin = 300, Gimmel = 3 and Mem = 40 and gives a total of 345.
The children of Israel called Moses,
Moses our teacher
which in Hebrew is Mosheh Rabeynu.
As previously noted the numerical value of Moses is 345, the numerical value of teacher is Resh = 200, Beth = 2, Yod = 10, Nun = 50, Vav = 6, a total of 268.
By adding 345+268 = 613. 613 is the number of commandments in the Torah and it was Moses who brought these commandments from the Lord God to His people.
One 19th century Hebrew teacher, Rabbi Hirsch, noted that the word Moshah has a similar sound to the word mosahwhich in Hebrew means: to melt away, to vanish.
We could take a cautionary message from this for ourselves.
Although Moses was probably one of the greatest people who ever lived, before the presence of God he became as nothing and just melted away and vanished. So too we, in our self elevated positions as teachers, pastors and church leaders need to mosah like Moshah; meaning we need to vanish by melting away in the presence of our Heavenly Father Who is the one true God, then, people will not see us, they will only see Him.
A little later in the book of Exodus in chapter 10 and verse 23 we read :
They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.
We are all familiar with the call on Moses life to bring the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage. There are memorable parts of the biblical account where God did many miracles and the plagues that came upon Egypt. One of the plagues was darkness. This was so disturbing to Pharaoh that he agreed to let the people of Israel go.
Why was Pharaoh so disturbed about total darkness, weren’t there candles, torches and oil lamps in all of Egypt? It only lasted three days, but when light returned the record tells that Pharaoh was very ready to let the people go.
The scripture says:
King James Bible And the LORD said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.
Amplified Bible Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky, so that darkness may come over the land of Egypt, a darkness which [is so awful that it] may be felt.”
Berean Standard Bible Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that darkness may spread over the land of Egypt—a palpable darkness.”
Contemporary English Version The LORD said to Moses, “Stretch your arm toward the sky, and everything will be covered with darkness thick enough to touch.”
International Standard Version Then the LORD told Moses, “Stretch your hand toward the sky and there will be darkness over the land of Egypt, a darkness that one can feel.”
(Hebrew Word References Above Are From Bible Hub.com)
These words describe the darkness as being thick and tangible, that it was not only be so dark that it was impossible to see anything at all but palpable and tangible in the way that it could be felt, like thick oil. If that is accurate no wonder Pharaoh was ready to let the Israelites leave!
“They saw not one another,” we are told, “for three days”
Exodus 10:23.
The darkness was one which “might be felt” Exodus 10:21.
Such a supernatural manifestation of absolutely impenetrable “blackness of darkness” would cause to anyone a feeling of intense fear and horror.
To the Egyptians it would be peculiarly painful and terrible. Ra, the sun-god, was among the principal objects of their worship, especially in the Delta, where Heliopolis and Pithoni were cities dedicated to him. Darkness was a creation of Set–the Evil Principle, the destroyer of Osiris–and of Apophis, the Great Serpent, the impeder of souls in the lower world. It would have seemed to the Egyptians that Ra was dead, that Set had triumphed over his brother, that Apophis had encircled the world with his dark folds, and plunged it in eternal night. This explains Pharaoh’s early call for Moses, and permission that the people should depart, with their families (Exodus 10:24): a promise of release which had the restriction, Only let your flocks and herds be stayed.
In order to have total darkness means that the creator of the universe had to put out the lights of the sun, moon, and stars for three days. Those who experienced the total eclipse on 8th of this month had a brief taste of that total darkness. Remember that the Egyptians worshipped the sun, moon, and stars. Their chief god was the sun god Ra. They worshipped the stars, they looked to the constellations to tell them when to plant their crops when to harvest them and when the Nile would overflow its banks and irrigate the land.
It was no coincidence that all their gods were being shown as no contest to the Creator God of the Hebrew children of Israel.
If the people of Egypt saw light coming from Goshen where the Hebrews were, it surely would have been even more disturbing.
It is very interesting that some of the Hebrew Rabbis teach that this light literally came from the people themselves. However it was not shining through them, rather it was reflected off of them. Giving the picture that the light where the Israelites were living was Gods’ Light reflected off them. This could have been the case, if His people literally had a light shining from their very being, and it is not impossible as Moses face shone after he had been in the presence of the Most High.
And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him. Ex 34:35 KJV
The Hebrew says in this verse that there was‘or bemoshevotham. This literally means:
a light from within the dwellers
The use of the word “dweller” might also suggest angelic beings. Angels of light.
There is no doubt however that, this light, in Hebrew (‘or) was
a divine light.
Shekhinah שְׁכִינָה
Shekinah Glory is a Hebrew term that refers to the divine presence of God on earth. The word “shekinah” means “dwelling” or “one who dwells”. Shekinah Glory is often symbolized as a cloud or pillar of fire. The Hebrew Bible mentions several places where the presence of God was felt as a Shekinah, including the burning bush, the cloud on Mount Sinai and the wilderness Mishkan. The word shekinah does not appear in the Bible, but the concept clearly does. The Jewish rabbis coined this extra-biblical expression, a form of a Hebrew word that literally means “he caused to dwell,” signifying that it was a divine visitation of the presence or dwelling place of God.
The etymology of “Shekinah” is from the Hebrew word shākan, which means“to reside or permanently stay.”The rabbis used the term Shekinahto describe the presence of God amongst His people ( Exodus 19:16-18; Exodus 40:34-38; I Kings 6:13)- The glory of God dwelling in the Temple (2 Chronicles 7:1)– How God dwells in the mountain (Psalm 68.16-18; Joel 3:17)
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 4:6
This is the light of Genesis 1:3 when God said: “Let there be light.”
He had not yet created the sun, moon or stars this light was Divine light. God is light. 1John1:5 God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.
What the Hebrew teachers/sages do, is that they take the preposition and pronoun away from the word
bemoshevotham
be moshev otham
and the word moshev remains.
4186 moshab/moshev:
a seat, assembly, dwelling place, dwelling, dwellers
Original Word: מוֹשָׁב Part of Speech: Noun Masculine Transliteration: moshab Phonetic Spelling: (mo-shawb’) Definition: a seat, assembly, dwelling place, dwelling, dwellers
This is a literal play on the word Moshiach or Messiah and if the light coming from the people was reflected off them, then it was the Shechinah glory which was present in each household.
As the use of the word dweller here is a play on the word Moshiach/Messiah, could it also suggest that it was the Light of Messiah Yeshua/Jesus which was reflecting off the people?
The word Moshovotam spells out moshav tam which means: a complete resting place. And we know that wherever we find the light of our Heavenly Father we will find a complete peace, a resting place, His true shalom.
mo-shawb’: assembly, dwell in, dwelling-place, wherein that dwelt in, inhabited place, seat
Or moshab {mo-shawb’}; from yashab; a seat; figuratively, a site; abstractly, a session; by extension an abode (the place or the time); by implication, population — assembly, dwell in, dwelling(-place), wherein (that) dwelt (in), inhabited place, seat, sitting, situation, sojourning.
Scripture tells us in John 8:12 Messiah Yeshua/Jesus said of Himself :
I Am the Light of the World.
And
John 10:30-36 I and my Father are one.
This means: He is the light of God
and so in Him, we can find moshav tam.
If we can imagine just what it must have been like in those Hebrew households for three days living in the light of the Messiah, the true shekinah glory light of God? The same shekinah glory that would accompany them for the next 40 years and came to rest on the mishkan, dwelling with them?
Not only that, but if this concept is in any way accurate, to look around and see that shekinah glory light, reflected off the people around you, right before that first passover; must have been an amazing 3 days – not of darkness, but of the presence of God. What a miracle that must have given the Hebrew children a reason to praise and worship their Deliverer.
LIGHT FROM THE DWELLER –
‘ORBEMOSHEVOTHAM –
~אור במושׁבתמ
As Holy Spirit filled believers, the light of our Heavenly Father and Messiah dwells in us, in Him we live and move and have our being,(Acts 17:28); and because we are now representing Messiah, the light of the world, people around us should see
Messiah/Christ in us the hope of glory, the
or bemoshevotham
~אור במושׁבתמ
Light from the dweller!
Shalom aleikhem
chaverim and mishpachah!
Peace to friends and family.
Shavua Tov, Have a blessed week.
Make certain Messiah Jesus/Yeshua is your Redeemer, Savior, Lord and soon returning King and that you have a personal relationship with Him.
It’s all about Life and Relationship, NOT Religion.
You are very precious in His sight.
Not sure ..you can be…
SIMPLY SAY THE FOLLOWING MEANING IT FROM YOUR HEART..don’t delay one more minute,
SAY IT RIGHT NOW…
Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.
I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus/Yeshua is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus/Yeshua rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name.
