Shemot - שְׁמוֹת - Exodus 1:1 - 6:1 Making Torah Personal

(6) “Be strong and resolute, for you shall apportion to this people the land that I swore to their fathers [Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; see Gen. 24.7; 26.3; 50.24; Deut. 1.8.] to assign to them.

(21) Pay heed to him and obey him. Do not defy him, for he will not pardon your offenses, since My Name is in him;

(1) These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each coming with his household: (2) Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; (3) Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; (4) Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. (5) The total number of persons that were of Jacob’s issue came to seventy, Joseph being already in Egypt. (6) Joseph died, and all his brothers, and all that generation.

(7) But the Israelites were fertile and prolific; they multiplied and increased very greatly, so that the land was filled with them. (8) A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph.

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Yet^*Yet: Despite the disappearance of the politically influential generation of Yosef, the Israelites’ success continues (Cassuto). the Children of Israel bore fruit, they swarmed,^*swarmed: This verb is usually applied to animals (see Gen. 1:20) (Greenberg 1969). Here the term is positive, as part of God’s plan; shortly, it will carry a negative connotation for Pharaoh. they became many, they grew mighty [in^*grew mighty (in number): This reflects the promise of God to Avraham in Gen. 18:18 (to become “a mighty nation”) (Keil and Delitzsch). number]—exceedingly, yes, exceedingly; the land filled up with them.

(9) And he said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are much too numerous for us. (10) Let us deal shrewdly with them, so that they may not increase; otherwise in the event of war they may join our enemies in fighting against us and rise from the ground.”

(15) The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, (16) saying, “When you deliver the Hebrew women, look at the birthstool: if it is a boy, kill him; if it is a girl, let her live.” (17) The midwives, fearing God, did not do as the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live.

(18) So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, letting the boys live?” (19) The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women: they are vigorous. Before the midwife can come to them, they have given birth.” (20) And God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and increased greatly. (21) And [God] established households for the midwives, because they feared God. (22) Then Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, “Every boy that is born you shall throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.” (end of chapter)

(1) A certain member of the house of Levi went and took [into his household as his wife] a woman of Levi. (2) The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw how beautiful he was, she hid him for three months. (3) When she could hide him no longer, she got a wicker basket for him and caulked it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child into it and placed it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile. (4) And his sister stationed herself at a distance, to learn what would befall him.

(5) The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe in the Nile, while her maidens walked along the Nile. She spied the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to fetch it. (6) When she opened it, she saw that it was a child, a boy crying. She took pity on it and said, “This must be a Hebrew child.”

(7) Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get you a Hebrew nurse to suckle the child for you?” (8) And Pharaoh’s daughter answered, “Yes.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. (9) And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will pay your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed it. (10) When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, who made him her son. She named him Moses, explaining, “I drew him out of the water.”

(11) Some time after that, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his kinsfolk and witnessed their labors. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his kinsmen. (12) He turned this way and that and, seeing no one about, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. (13) When he went out the next day, he found two Hebrews fighting; so he said to the offender, “Why do you strike your fellow?” (14) He retorted, “Who made you chief and ruler over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Moses was frightened, and thought: Then the matter is known! (15) When Pharaoh learned of the matter, he sought to kill Moses; but Moses fled from Pharaoh. He arrived*arrived Lit. “sat” or “settled.” in the land of Midian, and sat down beside a well.

(19) They answered, “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds; he even drew water for us and watered the flock.” (20) He said to his daughters, “Where is he then? Why did you leave the man? Ask him in to break bread.” (21) Moses consented to stay with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah as wife. (22) She bore a son whom he named Gershom,*Gershom Associated with ger sham, “a stranger there.” for he said, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land.”

(11) But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and free the Israelites from Egypt?” (12) And [God] said, “I will be with you; that shall be your sign that it was I who sent you. And when you have freed the people from Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.” (13) Moses said to God, “When I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers’ [house] has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is [God’s] name?’ what shall I say to them?” (14) And God said to Moses, “Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh, Thus shall you say to the Israelites, ‘Ehyeh sent me to you.’”

(1) But Moses spoke up and said, “What if they do not believe me and do not listen to me, but say: יהוה did not appear to you?” (2) יהוה said to him, “What is that in your hand?” And he replied, “A rod.” (3) [God] said, “Cast it on the ground.” He cast it on the ground and it became a snake; and Moses recoiled from it. (4) Then יהוה said to Moses, “Put out your hand and grasp it by the tail”—he put out his hand and seized it, and it became a rod in his hand— (5) “that they may believe that יהוה, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, did appear to you.”

Hope to Hashem, be strong, and let your heart take courage, and [(if your prayer is not answered, then give hope to Hashem.

It was the result of God's wisdom that the Israelites were led about in the wilderness until they acquired courage.

If he leaves himself in the hands of his [natural] heaviness, it is a certainty that he will not succeed. This is what the Tana (Mishnaic sage) stated: "be brazen as a leopard, light as an eagle, swift as a deer, and mighty as a lion to do the will of your Father in Heaven" (Avot 5:20). Likewise, the Sages counted among the things which need strengthening: "Torah and good deeds" (Berachot 32b). This is explicitly stated in scripture: "be strong and very courageous [to observe and do all of the Torah...]" (Yehoshua 1:6). For great strengthening is needed for one who wants to bend his nature to its opposite.

“I charge you: Be strong and resolute; do not be terrified or dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

Therefore for one to have the strength to relinquish what his nature impels him to and to overlook the wronging, not hating the one who ignited hatred in his heart, not exacting vengeance when he has the opportunity to do so nor bearing a grudge against him, but rather to forget the whole incident and remove it from his heart as if it had never happened - he is mighty and courageous.