Exo 10:1-29

My Notes

• hardened

  • Multiple Hebrew roots appear in Exodus 10 for "hardened": kabad (heavy/stubborn) in verse 1, chazaq (strengthen/resolute) in verses 20 and 27.
  • It wasn't just Pharoah with a hardened heart - it was also his servants.
  • Bible Project notes:
    • In Exodus 4:21, God tells Moses that he “will harden” Pharaoh’s heart, yet Pharaoh first hardens his own heart repeatedly (Exod. 7:13, Exod. 7:22; Exod. 8:15, Exod. 8:19, Exod. 8:32; Exod. 9:7). God gives Pharaoh multiple chances to relent and stop oppressing the Israelites, intervening only after Pharaoh persistently resists (Exod. 9:12).
      So when God finally acts to harden Pharaoh’s heart, it does not appear that he is forcing or coercing the Pharaoh to act contrary to his own desire. Instead, the narrative suggests that God is further strengthening Pharaoh’s resolve to follow the path he has already chosen. By bringing Pharaoh to the end of that path—the point of judgment—God delivers the Israelites from his hand.
  • Ancient Egyptian belief - Weighing of the Heart"
    • The people of this time would have understood it was an expression of the extent of Pharoah's guilt.
      • Prov-21#v2 YHWH weights the heart
      • Prov-24#v12 he who weighs the heart
      • It does means stubborn, but to those familiar with the Egyptian idiom, it was a clear allusion to Pharaoh’s sinfulness.
    • The ritual occurs in the underworld (Hall of Maat) before Osiris, where the deceased’s heart is weighed.
      • The goddess Maat was the symbol of the cosmic order. The Egyptian personification of truth, justice, social order, and harmony
      • The ancient Egyptians believed that the heart recorded all of the good and bad deeds of a person’s life, and was needed for judgment in the afterlife.
    • If the heart is lighter than or equal to the feather of Maat, the person lived a righteous life and is granted entry into paradise, known as the Field of Reeds
    • If the heart is heavy with sin, it is immediately devoured by the monster Ammit (a chimeric mix of lion, hippopotamus, and crocodile), resulting in the permanent destruction of the soul.
    • The god Thoth (god of wisdom/writing) records the verdict of the weighing.
    • The god of the Israelites was ensuring Pharaoh's judgment. The act allowed YHWH to showcase his superiority over Egyptian gods and ensure his reputation lasted.
    • Pharoah's heart keeps getting heavier:
      • Pharoah did on his own (7:13, 7:14, 7:22, 8:11, 8:15, 9:7 , 9:35)
        • Exod-08:11 "he made his heart heavy"
        • Exod-08:28 "But Pharaoh made his heart heavy"
        • Exod-09:7 "yet Pharaoh made his heart heavy"
        • Exod-09:24 "“I //Pharoah// stand guilty this time. YHWH is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong." v34 "he made his heart heavy"
      • Attribute the heart hardening to God (4:21, 7:3, 9:12, 10:1, 10:20, 10:27, 11:10, 14:4, 14:8, 14:17)
        • Exod-10:1 Then YHWH said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh. For I have made his heart heavy
        • Exod-11:10 "but YHWH had fortified the heart of Pharaoh"

• Reason for hardened hearts:

  • So Yah could show his Signs OT אוֹת Mark, miracle, token, a signal (literally or figuratively), as a flag, beacon, monument, omen, prodigy, evidence, etc
    • Later the Blood of the Lamb will be an Ot
    • The Seventh Day Rest is an Ot
    • More information on Ot
  • So the Israelites would tell about what Yah had done
  • So they would know who Yah is.

• The Servants - even tho their hearts were hardened as well - they wanted to let the people go. They convinced Pharoah to let the people go. They also blamed Moses for doing it, not Yah nor Pharoah.

• Locust

  • 'arbeh (אַרְבֶּה) - The term emphasizes overwhelming numbers and destruction, often as God's instrument of judgment (e.g., plagues, enemy armies), but also permitted as food under law. In prophetic contexts like Joel, it symbolizes both calamity and eventual restoration.
  • The Egyptians were familiar with the locust-scaring deities in ancient Greece and Asia were divine figures petitioned to prevent or stop locust plagues, which frequently devastated agricultural societies. They were typically known as creators of chaos who could also bring order to chaotic natural disasters.

• Pharoah recognized he has Sinned against Yah and against Moses, asks for Forgiveness, and asks Moses to Pray to Yah to take away the death caused by the locust.

  • Moses prayed
  • Yah sent a strong west wind Ruach
    • ruach-yam chazaq me'od - רוּחַ־יָם חָזָק מְאֹד - a very strong west/sea wind
    • ruach kadim (רוּחַ קָדִים) - east wind (used in Exodus 10:13 for bringing the locusts)
    • God's sovereignty is shown over natural forces in judgment and deliverance

• Red Sea

  • In this time period, what ever god ruled the water, was the supreme god.

• Darkness - choshek (חֹשֶׁךְ) - darkness, obscurity, gloom

  • The Hebrew term מוּשׁ (mush) means “to feel.” The literal rendering would be “so that one may feel darkness.”
  • Choshek appears ~80 times in the Hebrew Bible, often symbolizing chaos, evil, or absence of God's light.
  • Choshek - Genesis 1:2: The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep
  • In Egypt no one rose from their place for three days
  • The Israelites had light in their dwellings.
  • Egypt’s high god was the Sun God. Lord Sun was now being shut down by Lord Yahweh.
  • “Let there be darkness” (although it is subordinated as a purpose clause; cf. Gen 1:3).
  • Isa 45:7 alluded to this by saying, “who created light and darkness.”

• Yah wanted the people to be let go so they could:

  • Serve him
  • To hold a Feast to Yah
    • The word used for feast becomes specifically associated with the three pilgrimages (Passover/Feast of Unleavened Bread, Feast of Weeks, Feast of Tabernacles )
  • Bring Sacrifices and Burnt Offering
    • Didn't know what offerings would be given until they got there.

Isa 19:1-25

My Notes

• Princes of Zoan - Zoan (ancient Egyptian city, Tanis in the Nile Delta. The elite rulers/officials of the prominent Delta city Zoan
• Yahweh of Armies
• Egyptians Egypt, Assyria Assyria, and Israel as partners being blessed together.

Matt 24:29-26:30

My Notes

Matthew 24:29-51

Tribulation

• Immediately AFTER the tribulation (refers back to the "great tribulation" (megalē thlipsis) of verse 21)
  • the sun will darken (thematic links exist (darkness as judgment sign) to Exodus 10 (physical/tangible choshek); but Matthew 24:29 is eschatological/apocalyptic (skotizō for celestial bodies failing). No direct lexical tie—skotizō translates similar darkening ideas across OT prophecies. (Isaiah 13:10; Joel 2:10, 31; Ezekiel 32:7-8)
  • the moon will not give its light
  • the stars will fall from the sky (ouranos refers to the visible sky/heavens)
  • the powers of the heavens (ouranos) will be shaken
  • THEN the Son of Man will appear in the sky (ouranos)
  • THEN all the tribes of the earth
    • will mourn
    • will see the Son of Man coming
      • on the clouds of the sky (ouranos) (Dan-01#v13 allusion; Rev-14#v14-16)
        • with power
        • with glory
        • Riding on the clouds (Source: Wisdom in Torah Video)
          • Greco Roman context alluding to Daniel 7
          • Canaanite culture and the Baal cycle
            • The Baal cycle is basically proclaiming Bal riding on the clouds
            • In the ancient neareastern culture, riding on the clouds, specifically in Canaan, was a type of a kingship language.
              • That's why you have the cloud leading them in the wilderness because it was God who's riding on the clouds of heaven. He is the king of Israel.
          • In the book of Revelation
            • We have Yeshua, the son of the living God
              • The title son of God was a title for kingship,
              • But you notice it is the son of man.
                • Ben Adam or Barinosh in Arama in Aramaic is alluding to Daniel 7
                • In which the ancient of days is giving power, authority and the name to Benadam, the son of men to come and rule and reign on behalf of the father.
            • It lines up perfectly. So anyone in the first century would have heard, oh, he's the one riding in the clouds of heaven.
          • A Jewish person would have said, yeah, we know what that means. its alluding to Daniel and it comes from a understanding and a counterculture to the ancient world's understanding of who was king of creation.
      • will send out his Messengers
        • with a great sound of a trumpet
        • they will gather together chosen ones
          • from the four winds
          • from one end of the sky to the other
          • Matthew 24:22,24 - those NOT deceived / days were shortened for
  • Is Jesus Pre-trib, mid-trib, or post-trib

Fig Tree

• WHEN the branch has
  • become tender
  • produces it's leave
  • THEN you know that the summer is near
• WHEN you see all these things (see Tribulation above)
  • THEN you know that he is near - at the door
  • This Generation will not pass until all these things are accomplished
    • Notes from NET Bible:
      • This is one of the hardest verses in the gospels to interpret. Various views exist for what generation means.
        • (1) Some take it as meaning “race” and thus as an assurance that the Jewish race (nation) will not pass away. But it is very questionable that the Greek term γενεά (genea) can have this meaning.
        • (2) Generation might mean “this type of generation” and refer to the generation of wicked humanity. Then the point is that humanity will not perish, because God will redeem it.
        • (3) generation may refer to “the generation that sees the signs of the end” (v. 30), who will also see the end itself. In other words, once the movement to the return of Christ starts, all the events connected with it happen very quickly, in rapid succession.
  • Heaven and earth may pass away
    • BUT the Messiah's words will not ^[1]
• BUT no on know of the DAY OR HOUR
  • (thinking back to fig tree, we know the season it will produce, but not the exact day or hour it will produce)
  • Not the Messengers
  • Only "MY" //The Messiah's// Father
  • LIKE the days of Noah
    • (Noah knew it was coming, he was building an ark - but he didn't know the day or the hour)
    • They continued to
      • eat
      • drink
      • marry
      • give in marriage
    • Right up unto the day
    • Didn't know until the flood came
    • Didn't know until they were took away //debated: Was Noah "taken away" or was the rest of humanity was taken away?//
      • two men in a field - one taken, one left
      • two women grinding - one take, one left
  • WATCH because you don't know in what HOUR
  • YOU KNOW if the master of the house had known
    • in what watch //hour//
      • the theif was coming
    • he would have watched
    • would not have allowed the break in
• THEREFORE be ready
  • in an HOUR you don't expect
  • the Son of Man will come

Psalm 47

• For the shields of the earth
  • Often refers to protectors, defenders, rulers, princes, or leaders who act as a "shield" for their people or land (e.g., kings or nobles providing protection).
  • The rulers or nobles of the earth belonging to God
  • The noble/princes of the peoples gather with the people of the God of Abraham, because the "shields" (protectors/rulers) of the earth ultimately belong to Him.

Connections