The first Torah portion reading from the Book of Exodus this week is ‘Shemot’ (Exodus 1:1-6:2), which is of course the Hebrew name of the Book as well. And it begins the story of Moses (Moshe) and the Exodus from Egypt, and bondage, but actually begins even a bit earlier, and about two centuries after the story of Joseph in Genesis comes to an end.

The Erev Shabbat reading not only introduces us to Moses, but actually covers about two-thirds of the span of his life in just a few chapters. Perhaps it’s encouraging to consider that the most important part of his life’s work didn’t even begin until about his ninth decade:

How did a people who were literally the “Sons of Israel,” and direct descendants of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, manage to descend from direct promises and blessings from the Creator Himself, to “cruel bondage” in just over two centuries?

And for that matter, how do a people who understood “self-evident Truths” about that same Creator manage to descend to what may be even greater tyranny and bondage to an entirely different ‘god’ in almost that same times span?

There is more here than you might think. Especially when you consider where we are on that timeline.

The combined two-part teaching is here: