followHIM - Exodus 1-6 -- Part 2 : Anthony Rivera Jr., MTS

Episode Date: March 19, 2022

Anthony Rivera, Jr. MTS returns to discuss the parallels between the Exodus story and the Garden of Eden,  the value of Jethro, Zipporah, and the commandment of remembrance.Show Notes (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese): https://followhim.co/episodesFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followhimpodcastYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FollowHimOfficialChannelThanks to the followHIM team:Steve & Shannon Sorensen: Executive Producers/SponsorsDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: MarketingLisa Spice: Client Relations, Show Notes/TranscriptsJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic DesignWill Stoughton: Rough Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Transcripts/Language Team/French TranscriptsAriel Cuadra: Spanish TranscriptsIgor Willians: Portuguese Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com/products/let-zion-in-her-beauty-rise-pianoPlease rate and review the podcast.

Welcome to part two of this week's podcast. out on the sea north into Canaan. He can't even go on the Mediterranean Sea because the Egyptians have that all covered. The only place he can go is the desert because nobody's out there, and that's Midian. Midian is being prepared. There's two stories going on. There's the one Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Jacob's family, and then from into Canaan into Egypt. There's another storyline from Abraham going a separate way, preparing the way for the coming of this Moshe. Deliverer. The descendants of Midian are the descendants of Abraham from his third wife, Keturah. And here Moses ends up there.

He ends up next to a well. Jesus uses the well for some of his best teachings, right? The woman at the well. The Samaritan woman, who's a foreigner, at Jacob's well. What does he teach her? John chapter 4. Living water. John chapter 4. Living water. John chapter 4.

Living water. Living water. Now, Moses just came from where? He just came across the desert. Because Midian is on the east side of the Red Sea. It's on the east side of Sinai. He's gone a long ways. He's been wandering by himself a long way and he ends up next to a well

which he probably desperately needs at this point yeah he desperately needs this living water right not only is it going to keep him alive uh physically but just wait who this well belongs to. It belongs to the priest of the god of the mountain, the priest of Midian. Let's look at that. In verse 16, we're introduced to another family. Now, this is not an Israelite family. This is a Midianite family. But it's an Abraham family. They're both related to Abraham,

right? Moses is related to Abraham and Midian is related to Abraham. So, let's read this one, verse 16, John, please. Now, the priest of Midian had seven daughters and they came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. Did you notice some words that are repeating? The daughters. The daughters. We also learn that the priest of Midian. So now we finally are back online with priesthood. It's real priesthood. He's a descendant of Abraham. With real Mechazidic priesthood authority.

Now we learn that from Doctrine and Covenants section 84. The Lord reveals the line of Moses, the Melchizedek line of Moses, from this priest and from his predecessors. On my website, I have a piece that I wrote, an e-book. It's actually coming from a presentation that I gave at one of the Sperry Symposiums that was published in this book here called Voices of Old Testament Prophets. I presented my research on Jethro and his priesthood lineage. Chapter one is a chapter called Remnants Gathered, Covenants Fulfilled. Isn't that a great title? By Elder Russell M. Nelson. Chapter 2 is Jethro, the prophet and priest of Midian.

Here we see the Melchizedek authoritative priest, finally, and Moses is now on his doorstep. This is like a wonderful chess game. The Lord is bringing these pieces together. We learned something. He's a priest with priesthood. He has seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father's flock. We hear all kinds of things. Priest, father with a flock. So this priesthood holder knows something and has things that Moses is going to need. He's going to be a great mentor.

He's one of those lucky fathers like myself who only have daughters. When you only have daughters, you learn a few things. You learn that they're very capable. So, I remember I used to coach my daughter's soccer teams. And I remember in priesthoods meeting sometimes at church, the brethren would say, you know what, Brother Rivera, you're so sorry that you don't have any sons. And I said, hey, brother, I'll tell you what, meet me over on the field and I'll pit my daughters against your sons in a soccer game anytime. They never took me up on it. But here it looks like Jethro is blessed with seven wonderful, strong, capable daughters.

In verse 17, really quick, it says here that here come the bad guys, these renegade shepherds who are trying to steal the flock. And the shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses it uses another verb, and it pauses in the Hebrew text. It says, Now, this word means to save or to deliver. So, he's already has these instincts of saving. Now, what also is interesting here in this verb is it's the same word or root words, yesha, which the angel tells Joseph and Mary, you will name your son Yeshua. In English, we say Jesus. In Hebrew, the angel tells both of them, you are going to name this son who will be the son of God, Yeshua.

It's this word. Yeshua is a noun. It means savior or salvation. Isaiah uses it all the time. As a matter of fact, his name, Isaiah, is this word, Yesha-Yahu. Yesha-Yahu in Hebrew is Isaiah. In English, I think it says in the Bible dictionary, the Lord is salvation. Same thing? That's right.

And I've always loved that because in the Book of Mormon, when Abinadi says, what are you teaching these people? And they said, the law of Moses. And he said, why don't you keep it? And then he quotes the law of Moses. And he says, if you teach the law of Moses, keep it, but salvation comes in Christ, or the Lord is salvation, and then he quotes Isaiah 53. And Isaiah's name means the Lord is salvation. I've always thought, oh, that's kind of elegant the way that's put there, because Isaiah's name indicates his mission to teach that the Lord is salvation. This is a foreshadow here.

Moses saving the daughters of Jethro, delivering them, saving, is preparing him. He's on the right track. He's ready. He's ready now to be a deliverer. But he has to learn what that really means. He doesn't know yet. Jethro says to his daughters, how come you're back so quick? I like that. They say an Egyptian rescued us.

And I like that Jethro says, well, did you invite him over for dinner? Yeah. Where is he? You left him there? Yeah. This is another question I had was, did the Midianites have their own language? Yes, they would have their own unique language. Okay, I think this is where Ruel is coming in. This seems to be a Midianite clan name for Jethro that they know. There was an ancestor, an ancestor named Ruel in amongst the Midianite lineage. So, yes, they would have their own language, a Semitic language, what we call a Northwest Jordanian or Transjordan language. They're in

the southwestern part of what we know today as Jordan was Midian and the northwest part of Arabia, these wonderfully desert places. But it appears that their belief, at least amongst Jethro and his family, has been passed down from Abraham. It appears they know this God. He is the God of Abraham. And we learn that later on when God introduces himself to Moses. And it looks like Jethro is one of those very hospitable and traditional sheikh-like person, very much like Abraham. So, he asks his daughters, well, did you leave him out there?

You know, come on, girls, bring him over here that we may break bread with him. Eat bread. It says that Moses may break bread with him. Eat bread. It says that Moses, he decides to stay. Moses decides to marry Jethro's daughter, Zipporah. There's another name we need to know. Zipporah. So, Moses' family begins in Midian. He has a new family now.

He has a Midianite father-in-law now, Jethro, who is still the priest, the presiding Melchizedek authority. He has his wife, Zipporah, and they have two sons. Gershom is Moses' firstborn, and then he has Eliezer. Gershom is a sojourner or foreigner. It's reflecting on Moses. He's like, I'm way out here, middle of nowhere. I'm a stranger here. I'm trying to get to know who I should be.

And so he names his son a stranger there. Gershom or Gersham. He has another son, Eli, Ezer. My God is a helper. Because in the next verses, God is going to keep repeating to Moses. Every time he calls Moses to this great deliverer mission, he gets called to the Memphis Egyptian mission. And Moses keeps saying, you don't want me. I can't go back. I don't know if I can do this. I don't, I don't, I'm not qualified. And then he finally says, just send somebody else.

Every time he says that, he keeps telling Moses, I will help you. I will be with you. So, he names his second son Eliezer. My God is a helper. He will help us. I love that when God tells Moses, I will be with you. I know it's frightening. I know it's going to be hard. I know I'm asking you to do the impossible. I know you think you can't do it, but I will be with you. We should all write it down today, put it on your Post-it or wherever,

and put it right in front of you so you see that every day. God didn't say, no, you're great, you're awesome, you're going to do wonderful. He just said, I'll be with you. But I love that's the promise at the sacrament table. You can always have his spirit to be with you. I know you aren't a good speaker. I know that. I know that it's hard. I know these things. Trust me. I know. I've been preparing you for this, but we're going to do it together. At the end of chapter two, this is where the word for God starts appearing over and over and over again. Now, the word for God that keeps appearing is this word Elohim. The name isn't spoken yet. They keep using the term Elohim, Elohim, Elohim.

In verse 24, let's have a read there. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. There it is. He heard and he remembered. So that connects us back to Genesis. And this is beautiful that he already has a plan in place. I mean, think about that within our own lives. You say a prayer and God has had a plan in place for a long time, already been preparing Moses for the moment that prayer is said. I have an answer for you, actually. God has had a plan in place for a long time, already been preparing Moses.

For the moment, that prayer said, I have an answer for you, actually. I've been preparing it for quite a while. That's right. God knows this plan, and he does these preparations. But sometimes it takes time to get us into the position where we are ready to engage them, to discover why and what we need to do. This is where Moses is right now, and he's prepared Joseph. So, it says again in verse 25, and God saw, or he looked upon the sons of Israel, it says. Elohim knew them. In Hebrew, it says, and Elohim saw the sons of Israel, and Elohim knew them, it says. Is that what your translation says?

No, it says, and God had respect unto them. Which is interesting because God says he's no respecter of persons. And here it says he has respect unto them. And so, I think that's why they wanted to make this footnote, footnote 25a, God knew. In other words, he was cognizant of them. As we move now into chapter 3 of Exodus, okay? So, we're going to get a glimpse on his life here in chapter 1 because he spends decades in Midian. He's being trained, he's being mentored, and it's time for his mission call and his introduction to God. So let's have a look at verse 1.

Verse 1 is very telling. Chapter 3. Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the backside of the desert and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. So they know, Jethro knows where Moses has come from. But look how he puts him to work. He doesn't put him to work as a diplomat of the sheikh's fortune. He doesn't put him as a trader or he doesn't start making treaties with Egypt now. Notice how he teaches Moses. He teaches him, Moses, you need to learn how to be a shepherd now.

You know what it's like to be a king. You know what it's like to be a king. You know what it's like to be a warrior. A bit about slavery. Now, you need to learn other skills, like leading a flock. Leading a flock through the desert. He's going to do that later in life. Leading a flock through the desert. You need to learn what this is like and gain those skills, not only physically, temporally, but also spiritually to care for each one of these. And then you will be ready, once you've served in this capacity, to be introduced to the God of the mountain.

So, here's Moses. He's leading the flock and he's walking around the mountain, which he has probably done many times. And remember, mountains are always the natural temples of God. Right. The mountain of God, it says. That's right. So, now he is on Horeb, which is another name for Sinai. In English, we say Mount Sinai, right? Moses is ready

to be introduced to the presence of God. Let's see what happens. So, this is where we're going to see this burning bush, the famous burning bush. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. And he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. It says in Hebrew that Amalach Yehovah. Now this, you see where it says the Lord, this is the first time in Exodus that the name of the Son, in Hebrew, the vowels say Yehovah, Yehovah. Sometimes the vowels say Yehovah, Yehovah. Other times it says Yehovah. Here, in this first time, it says Yehovah.

But it says the Malach, the Mal says Yehovah. Here, in this first time, it says Yehovah. But it says the Malach, the Malach Yehovah. That's what they're translating as the angel of Yehovah. This word Malach, which translates as angel, means, it literally means a messenger. But I think for modern revelation, we learn that this learn that the presence of Yehovah was there. Pete Yeah, the JST footnote says, presence of the Lord. So, yeah. Pete That's right. And the presence of the Lord is what is creating this light, almost like fire. What's that wonderful song we sing? The Spirit of God, like a fire,

is burning. From Adam to Joseph Smith always uses these same terms of this flaming fire, so bright, brighter than the sun, Joseph Smith said. Pete I think he said he thought the forest would be consumed in the first vision, one of the accounts. Yeah. So, it's not fire. It's like a fire is burning, right? Yeah. And that's why the bush isn't being consumed because it's not fire.

It's something more powerful. It's the haor from the creation. In verse 3 of chapter 1 of Genesis, he says, it says, It says, It says, Or you can translate it, It will be light. And there was light. But you can translate it, it will be light. And there was light.

But that light is not the sun, right? It's something else. The sun is created in verse 16 of Genesis chapter 1. This is that same thing that Moses is experiencing here, that light. It's very powerful. That's interesting. And he's fascinated by it. It says

in verse three, I will now turn aside and see this great sight. See how he's being drawn to it? Now we have Yehovah on the scene, is ready to deal with him. And look what he says. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God is such a great way to start. The first thing that Moses hears out of the mouth of Jehovah is his name. Joseph Smith learned the same thing, right? In that first millisecond. Same thing. A personal God.

And we're going to learn this because he's going to explain that he is personal in the next couple of verses. And Moses makes that famous reply that all the humble worshipers of the Lord do. In Hebrew, they say, hineni. Now, it's often translated as here am I or here I am, right? Hine means to behold, to behold. So, hineni should be translated, behold me, because the E part means me. Hineni, behold me. It's very telling that Moses is prepared, and he says, behold me. And then God instructs him, Moses, in order for you to be in my presence, you need to understand a few things. We need to get you ready.

That's verse 5. And he said, He says, you are now in my world, and you don't get to bring your dirty things in my world. So don't come any closer until you remove your shoes as a symbolic act, of course. That's fascinating, Anthony, this idea of like, I want you to come to my presence. That can't come with you, though. That whatever sin it is, whatever uncleanness we have in our life, I want you to come with, but you've got to get rid of that. So that's the prerequisite. Once he does that, and he stands before this god that he only

knows is the god of the mountain, the god of Jethro, and I'm sure over time Jethro was instructing him, preparing him. It's not like, although some folks are thrown into the temple and they're thinking, whoa, what just happened? It's helpful if folks are prepared to go into the temple, like Moses was. They need a mentor. They need to understand the scriptures. They need to do some shepherding to be ready to know the wonders and knowledge that will be given. So, here in verse 6 comes the famous introduction. This isn't the official introduction that God wants Moses to tell Israel. This introduction in verse 6 is just for Moses. Let's read to see what it says. This is going to connect the dots now back to where we left off in Canaan. Moreover, he uses a pronoun.

Now, in English, we get this all mixed up, the I am's, right? Here, in this verse 6, God is using a personal pronoun, not the verb. So, this isn't the same as what he's going to say later to tell Israel. This is as if they've known each other for a long time. This is personal. This is friendship. He says, I, me, I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. So he's trying to help Moses put into context who he really is and who he has been all along. This brings Moses now from an Egyptian to a Hebrew. He's all in now. He is all in now. He's now directly connected to Israel. God continues in his discussion. Now,

Moses, in the meantime, is freaking out. He's like, whoa. Maybe he's obviously feeling the transfiguration, right? This is really being in the presence of God. It has nothing to do with what he experienced in Egypt. Yehovah now starts to instruct him. And in verse 7, let's see what it says. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. Did you notice that the Lord, the word Lord is in all capitals? You're going to have to translate in your head that everywhere it says Lord, it really says Yehovah. So, if we read this properly, we would say,

and Jehovah said, I have seen the suffering of my people. So, it makes it a little bit more personable in verse 8. It's interesting what he says to him. And here we get a glimpse into the Jehovah as the true deliverer and the Savior. Moses isn't going to be the deliverer. It's really Yehovah who is going to be the deliverer. Look what he says in verse 8. And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey, unto the place These are the people who are there now in the land that Abraham was covenant with Abraham. Moses next says, why me, right? Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and make this happen?

– Ironic, because it's the one person who's like, Pharaoh doesn't want to see me. Well, actually, Pharaoh's looking for me. He wants to slaughter me, as you told us in the last chapter. – That's right, that's right. But the answer to Moses' question, because he's asking questions, and they're real questions. Why am I called to this? Verse 12 is the answer.

And he said, certainly I will be with thee, and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee. When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain. So it's basically, come back here. So number one, he says, you're not going to do this alone. As a matter of fact, I'm going to be doing this. I will send you in verse 10. I will be with you in verse 12. That's right. I will be with you.

He doesn't say, and if you free Israel, he says, and when you free them, you will worship Elohim, it says, on this mountain. So now Moses gets to test the promise, right? That's right. And in verse 13 is when Moses says, okay, all right, let me see if I understand this. He says, what am I going to tell them? This is great. He's not so worried about Pharaoh as he is the Israelites. Last time I was there, they saw me riding in Pharaoh's chariot. Yeah. But what am I going to tell them of what your name is? The book is called The Names.

Yeah. Shamot. Shamot, that's right. And he says, what should I tell them? What God is sending me? Are they going to even remember this? This is that famous line that reads in Hebrew. Let me tell you what it says.

It says, Vayomer Elohim el Moshe. And Elohim said to Moses, Ehyeh asher ehyeh. Thus shall you say to the sons of Israel, Ehyeh has sent me to you. Ehyeh, Asher, Ehyeh is often translated, I am that I am. That doesn't make much sense, and we can work it out and try to explain it. In Hebrew, it's a very clear, specific kind of verb that is being used. It's the verb to be with a future prefix, which says I will. So, eh-yeh literally means in Hebrew, I will be, who will be. It's how it probably should be translated. I will be, who will be it's how it probably should be translated i will be who will be that's right

he says tell them that i am the one who promised adam seth enoch noah abraham isaac and israel Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, who is going to not only deliver you from bondage physically, but from the bondage of sin eternally. I am the one who will be. Could I relate this to the idea of Moses has got to prove he's from God, truly been called? That's right. And only the Israelites passed down from Abraham know this. He says, you are to tell them that. That's what you should say. And they'll understand. Now, when Moses goes back, he doesn't say, I will be sent me, because they're going to get confused. He's going to tell them, he will be sent me. He changes the person from I will be that he was telling Moses to he will be

in the third person. And that's where you get the word Yehovah. Yehovah means he will be. He is to tell them also that he is the one that covenanted with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This is the very one. the elders of Israel, and say unto them that Yehovah, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me, has heard your prayers. And then he flat out tells him, by the way, Pharaoh's not going to let you go. He says, yeah. There's going to be some other things that are going to have to happen. So just so you know. That phrase sets up the battle between the gods,

the battle between the so-called god Horus, who is Pharaoh, and the true son of God. We're going to see this battle play out between them. It's not between Moses and Pharaoh. It's between the god of Moses and Pharaoh. And we're going to see who really is the powerful one. We talked about earlier about this staying on a personal level. And it's the idea of someone gets stuck in an addiction and it's a battle of Satan versus the Savior. And the Savior's saying,

look, Satan doesn't let go. So, we're going to have a battle here for you. Yeah. For your soul. Yeah. And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go. No, not by a mighty hand. Pharaoh with the club, his hand raised in all of the imagery throughout all of the palaces and temples of Egypt, that is a symbol for the strength of the mighty hand. But God is going to show him, hey, listen,

we can't come at him to armies. That's not how this works. We need to show him who has the mightier hand here. And he keeps repeating that. Because look at the next verse, verse 20. And I will stretch out my hand and smite Egypt with all my wonders, which I will do in the midst thereof. And after that, he will let you go. What symbol is stronger than that image of Pharaoh raising his hand. It's the hand of God, Yehovah, who is really mightier than Pharaoh. And he says, after I do it, he will let you go.

He's pretty confident in himself. He will let you go. He will. That's right. And then he says in the last verse, and by the way, you're going to load up on all their stuff. Take some spoils with you. You're going to take some spoils with you because this is a victory. And it's the victory of Jehovah over Horus. And then starting in chapter 4, Moses starts questioning. He starts asking these questions.

Well, what if they don't believe me? They're going to say, the Lord didn't appear to you. He didn't appear to you. Oh, we remember you. Where have you been? And then the Lord says, I'll tell you what. Let me provide you with some power, if you will, to show them. And notice every time he uses his hand. He says, let me show you.

This is not, it's not the way I do it, but for you, use your hand. At first he says, your staff. What's in your hand? He says, it's my shepherd's staff. Throw it on the ground and watch what I do. And notice it doesn't turn into a dragon or a monster of some sort. What does it turn into?

The serpent. This is garden language. This is garden language. But this time the serpent is an image of the true God. Now Pharaoh's going to try to do the same thing, because he has that serpent on his crown, right? He's like, ah, that's child's play. Watch this.

And that's not going to work. And then he says, take your hand and put it close to your chest. He says, let me show you what I can do to the body. He sees that it's leprous like snow he says he says put your hand back there and he heals it he says i'm able to heal and he says if israel does not heed this first sign then they'll believe the second one and he still sees that moses is scratching his head yeah those are good those are really good i like those i like those okay fine one more take that water and pour it on the ground what do you see blood he says this they will believe the water will turn to blood on dry ground.

You can turn your staff into a snake, or you can make your hand leprous and then not leprous again. And you can pour water out and it'll turn to blood. That would be pretty convincing. But Moses is still a little doubtful. He still is. I don't know how to talk. Yeah, yeah. It says that his mouth is heavy.

But this word for heavy can mean a number of different things. It doesn't necessarily have to mean a speech impediment. It could have to do with language. It could be, listen, I don't speak Hebrew like they do. I don't speak the language. I don't speak the language. I don't speak the language. That could be part of it. You know, I know Egyptian pretty well.

I'm learning this Midianite accent over here. I understand you, Lord, but I don't know if I'm the guy to say the words. And then, of course, God says, Moses, who's the one who controls your mouth? I am the one. He says again in verse 12. Let's see what that says. Now, therefore, go. I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say.

That's right. Now, what's interesting in the language here is something interesting. The word to go is a famous word amongst the Israelites, the Jews today. God gives them a command. It's a command. Lech. It's the same command that he gave Abraham. Lech lecha. Go now to the land of Canaan, he says. It's an important command. Go. You don't get to think about it. You don't get to see if you have time for it. It's a prompting. It's a command. You need to go. And then he says, I will be. And you know what that word is? The same word that he said his name is.

Eh-yeh. But it says, I will be. Eh-yeh im picha. I will be with your mouth. In other words, your words will be my words. Eh-yeh will be speaking, Moses. Do you understand that? My spirit will be with you that the words that are coming out of your mouth will be Eh-yeh's words.

And next he says, and I will instruct you, right? The word for I will teach you is the word Torah, Torah. Now you've probably heard that word before. Torah is usually translated as the law, the law, the Torah. But Torah, the law, really means instruction. It means teaching. We often think Torah or the law means these really harsh commands. That is the farthest of what it means here. It means just what he says right here. I will teach you what to do is the law. I wish we could say, and Moses went forth into Egypt and appeared

before, no, Moses has one more question or at least one more thing. He's hearing all this and he's saying, Lord, I know I believe this, but if it be thy will, let this pass to another. He says, send somebody else. Pete I need a companion. Pete Yeah. Pete I need. Pete Because I don't know if I can do this by myself. When Christ said that in the Garden of Gethsemane. What does the father do? And he sent an angel to comfort him,

and he was able to fulfill the atonement. Here, God says, Moses, I will send somebody for you who will be with you. He'll help you. And it's his brother, Aaron. This is great. Isn't that great? It's an angel brother. Your angel brother. Isn't that great? Angel brother. Your angel brother. He knows what to say to you. And Moses goes immediately to Jethro, which you can kind of tell that relationship.

So he goes immediately from the mountain to his father-in-law. I'm sure he recounts all the things. He says, I've been called on this mission. Let me go. Now, notice Moses doesn't say, I got to go. He has this respect and this understanding for who Jethro, the presiding priest here, of this God that he just met with. He doesn't say, hey, guess who I just talked with, right? And this is what I got to do.

He requests respectfully, let me go to do this thing. And what does Jethro say to him? And he uses the same word as God, lech. He's not just saying, okay, no, I understand. You can go. No. He uses the same word that God does. Lech l'shalom. It's a command. Go. And he says, le shalom. Go in peace. And then the Lord says it again to Moses, it looks like, in 19.

Yeah. Go, return to Egypt. It says, lech shuv this time. Go, return to Egypt. So, I'm sending you back in. I'm seeing so much Matthew here too. The men are dead which sought thy life. That's straight. Matthew's going to use all this language when he tells Jesus' story. He is. He is. Now, Moses doesn't tell everybody, okay, I'm out of here. I don't know when I'll be back. But when I'm back, there's

going to be a lot of people with me. But he takes his family, his wife, his sons. He takes the staff, the shepherd's staff, because he learned how to be a shepherd. And he took God with him. And they all go

through the desert again, back to Egypt. You have kind of here at the tail end, some interesting things happening. Let's just look at verse 22, the words of the Lord to Moses as he's journeying to Egypt. But look what he tells him here in verse 22. It says, And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn. Yes. Now, that's going to be a major statement because Pharaoh is lining up his firstborn to succeed him. Okay, it's very important that the successor of Egypt is the right one. Well, the Lord has a better plan. He says, okay, that's all good and well, but Israel is my firstborn son.

Isn't that interesting? And in verse 23, that this is the reason why Pharaoh, now God is talking to Pharaoh. Of course, he's telling Moses this, but this is a conversation between gods, if you will, or God and the Pharaoh man. He's saying, Israel is my firstborn and you must let him go. Otherwise, I will slay your firstborn son. Then we get this really interesting episode on the journey as they're camping. Zipporah is very interesting. She says this thing to Moses and maybe we can just touch on it because folks are going to wonder what's happening here,

right? And there's a lot of information that's probably not here. This looks like an excerpt. Now, the rabbis have a lot to say about this and they go into this very long commentary on what's really happening here. The rabbi starts saying, what happened to Gershom? Why aren't we talking about Gershom? And the other rabbis say, yeah. Oh, the son. Yeah, the son. Was he circumcised according to the Abrahamic covenant? God must have told him about that. And then the rabbis say, he wasn't. As a matter of fact, they never say that he was. This is very important. They start having this long drawn out commentary. And they said, the Lord was upset with Moses because he didn't do that. And Zipporah is telling him, Moses, you got to do this.

It's part of the covenant. You have to do it. And Moses is not doing it. As a matter of fact, he's trying to find them lodging and set up the camp. He's not focusing on the commands of God. This is hearkening back to the creation. Are you going to keep all the commandments of God? Because remember that one he said about being fruitful and filling the earth, the first one? Well, I'm busy. So, it's very interesting.

Zipporah then, it says, the rabbis say in the commentary, she takes matters into her own hands. And she says, well, if you're not going to focus on this, then I'm going to do it. And she circumcises Gershom. And she tells Moses, the translation is very odd. You are a bridegroom of blood of me. I don't know how it's translated. How do you, what's your translation say verse um verse 25 it's a bloody husband art thou to me yeah yeah it's not the word of of husband it's the word son-in-law so that's where they get the connection moses is supposed to be doing something his father-in-law said to do.

And the only thing he would have said to do in regard to what it's saying here is the circumcision. It looks like she's yelling at him. You are this. But it might not be that she's criticizing him. He's saying, okay, now the blood of the circumcision, which is the sign of the covenant, the son-in-law of the priest needs to do that. And then the Lord is preparing Aaron, which is wonderful, right? When Moses is coming towards Egypt, there's Aaron ready to meet him. That's got to be a nice boost of confidence. That's right. And the Lord even tells before he gets there, Moses, your brother is coming,

even as we speak. And sure enough, Aaron follows the prompting and heads out there. In chapter 5, we get Aaron and Moses standing before Pharaoh, delivering the message, being the spokes. Let my people go. Let my people go. Okay. Of course, the arrogant, prideful Pharaoh, who thinks there is no God above him, asks an interesting question. Verse 2. And Pharaoh said, who is the Lord that I should obey his voice to let Israel go?

I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. Thanks, King Noah. Yeah, yeah, isn't that funny? The arrogant prideful are just like that. He really says, who is Jehovah? Never heard of him. I've heard of Ra, I've heard of Amun, I've heard of Tot, and all the other great Egyptian gods that you can see them all around me I never heard of this one and who is he to command me well we know the rest of the story and I think folks know this that pharaoh says I'll tell you what why don't I do this instead of letting the the Hebrews go why don't I just make it more difficult for them again? Now, remember, before Moses, there's a previous verse that says,

Moses hears that the king, the original king has died. So, here we have the son of the king now, the heir in Egypt, who is even more ruthless. Moses is not having a lot of good luck here. The Israelites think, right? Yeah, I was going to say it got worse for him. It got worse. He came to free them and he made it worse. He reminds Moses. He has to keep reminding him.

And he keeps it very simple. Verse 2. And God spake unto Moses and said unto him, I am the Lord. I am Yehovah. That's all he says. But he does it in a personal way. It's not the formal way. He doesn't say, He says, It's personal.

I am Yehovah. It's just like if you were to tell your child who's struggling, I'm your father, or I am your mother. I know what you're going through, and I know how you're feeling, but I'm here. It's that wonderful sense of peace. Pete Which is great, because he already told him, I remember back in chapter three, he told him, he's not going to let you go. It seems like Moses forgot that part. Yeah, he forgot that part. I went and did what you said and he didn't let us go and you haven't delivered us. God's almost like, we talked about this. He continues throughout the beginning of

chapter six. He's telling him, listen, he points him back to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Remember the things that we learned on the mount? Remember the things we talked about in the temple? You know, when we go to the temple today, we don't need the things that we learned in the temple to be used in the temple as much as we need them to be used when we leave the temple. That's when we need that stuff. Pete Remember what you learned in the temple? Can you remember that when you're outside the temple? Pete Yes. He reminds him in verse 4 of chapter 6 about the covenant that he has with them. Verse

5, he says, I remember my covenant. Don't think I've forgotten. Anthony, this is great stuff. When we go through difficult things, remember your temple experiences, remember the promises. That's right. And then in verse 6, he repeats himself, I am Jehovah. So, that little pep talk right there is so important. And then he tells them, okay, fine. Remember when I told you I am going to stretch out my hand? You remind them that I am Jehovah your God and that I swore, he says in verse 8, I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who we all know and are all related to, about the promised land. Yeah, I love this back and forth, though, Anthony.

The Lord's like, very, I am the Lord. We're going to do this. And Moses keeps, no one's listening. It's not happening. They don't believe me. In your head, you're thinking, come on, Moses, get with the program. But how often do I do this in life? We all do the same thing. We have great confidence in the Lord, and then all of a sudden, the slightest thing happens and our confidence is gone.

But notice the Lord keeps repeating himself. A pep talk. Over and over again. He's not telling them anything new. He keeps reminding him. I got this. You know who I am. Chapter six ends with that, and it goes right into a genealogy. So, we started off with Elishamot. These are the names.

And we end this portion, chapter six 6 with the names of all the sons we learn the name in verse 20 we preserved the name of God. So, this is all about specific people with names, from the names of the midwives that just pop out, to the name of Moses, Moses, Moshe, right? To the name of Jethro and who he was and his situation and his priesthood. To the names of Moses' sons, to the names throughout. The one name we do not get is the name of Pharaoh because it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter who he is. Pharaoh's come and go.

And then finally, the name of God revealed and taught and understood that he will be. That's what Yehovah means. He will be. Not only will he be with you now, but one day, God himself, he will be born in Bethlehem and work out the salvation and the deliverance from sin for all. This is fascinating stuff. They name everybody except for Pharaoh. Except for Pharaoh. He never gets named. Anthony, this has been really fun. This is really going to help me when I teach Matthew.

I know that Matthew's referencing Moses a lot, but I started to see more and more. But in the Gospels, they skip Jesus's childhood, basically. I mean, he's an infant, then he's a grown man. Well, Moses is pretty much the same story. He's an infant, and he's a grown man, right? And I was like, ah, I wonder if they did that on purpose to this idea of a new Moses, right? They know this story already. One thing I really enjoyed was when we think of Moses, we think of Moses, the end product Moses, but Exodus 1 through 6 gives us the, he's not as confident as that Moses we have in our head. He's not as sure of God's promises. He's getting his confidence built through some experience, right? That's so human of all of us that you don't walk

onto the scene as the big prophet. We can relate it to all of us. Who am I? Why did I get this calling? I can't do it. And let me enumerate all of the reasons now, Lord, why I can't do it. And then once things go wrong, see, Lord, I told you, look what just happened. I'm failing, which I thought you were going to help me. You called the wrong guy. The Lord is so patient with him. He's like, okay, let's talk again. Well, I'm thinking of the Book of Mormon when Alma is like, what do I do? The rising generation's leaving. The Lord says, Alma, what do I do? The rising generation is leaving. The Lord says, Alma, this is not your church.

This is my church. I got this. Exactly. And it reminds me of that. I am the Lord. Enoch says similar words. I'm of slow speech. I'm of a slow tongue.

And this is Enoch that is such a leader or influence or something that his whole city gets taken. But when it starts out, it's like, I can't talk. I'm a lad and the people hate me. There's that, I will be with thee though, but I will be with thee. These first chapters, we have to keep it down to earth that he's working things out. And we have to follow his example on how it works out. He's not perfect, but he's trying to do what God says. But God keeps reminding him and pointing him back to their first meeting on the mountain in the temple. Love the Hebrew we've learned today. I was going to say, when you would do those full verses in Hebrew, there's a power in that I hadn't realized. I got to go to the

Holy Land and attend sacrament meeting in the Galilee branch. And I don't even know if it's there anymore, but you overlook the Sea of Galilee in this chapel and it's just a house, you know. But this man and his son blessed the sacrament in Hebrew. Amazing to hear the sacrament prayer in Hebrew because the first word was Elohim. I mean, the feeling of reverence that came over the room as he did the sacrament prayers was awesome. Pete Yeah, you can hear it, hear it in the language. Pete To hear it that way was so cool. And so,

thank you for doing that. I teach classes to members and non-members. What's interesting that's happening right now in my teachings is there are a lot of non-LDS people who are searching and they're asking these questions. They're asking questions about covenants and about temples and about Melchizedek. I'm thinking, whoa. I read together with them the Hebrew text just like we do here. And let me tell you this, the Lord is hastening His work. He's working on these people. And I hope that members feel that same spirit as they study this incredible piece of scripture. Because like we saw today, there's spirit in there that we need to remember. God keeps reminding Moses to remind Israel about Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.

He's intertwining in the text to remember the creation, to remember the garden. And we see it written throughout all scripture from the Book of Mormon, which understands it completely, gets it to modern-day revelation. So important. So important. We want to thank Dr. Anthony Rivera for joining us today. Wow, what an awesome day. I need to go learn Hebrew, John. You and I both. We need to learn some more Hebrew. We need to speak it.

Yeah, no kidding. We want to thank our executive producers, Steve and Shannon Sorenson, our sponsors this year, David and Verla Sorenson. And we hope all of you will join us next week on another episode of Follow Him.