January 10, 2026 – Shemote (“Names”) – Parshat 13

• Torah: Exodus 1:1-6:1
• Haftara: Isaiah 27:6-28:13, 29:22-23
• Brit Chadasha: Matthew 2:1-12

וְאֵ֗לֶּה שְׁמוֹת֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל הַבָּאִ֖ים מִצְרָ֑יְמָה אֵ֣ת יַעֲקֹ֔ב אִ֥ישׁ וּבֵית֖וֹ בָּֽאוּ׃

Ve’eleh shemot beney Yisra’el haba’im Mitsraymah et Ya’akov ish uveyto ba’u.

These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each coming with his household:

Shemote (Exodus)3:1&2 Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to God’s mountain, to Horeb. The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

We begin Shemote with another type of Mashiach in Moshe. It has been a while but Israel has been hoping and waiting for a redeemer, their promised deliverer. Generations have known of the hope of the fathers, and only hoped for it to be realized in their time. A man rose up as a defender once and killed an Egyptian defending one of their brothers, but he looked like and Egyptian himself, and was rejected by them. He fled to the wilderness and lived among the Midianites as a lowly shepherd. One day shepherding the flock he saw a wonderous sight that drew him into his encounter with The divine, and subsequent calling to Shepard His people from Adonai.

Because Israel is compared to the flock of HaShem in the Tanach, and the patriarchs had flocks, it is fitting that this man Moshe would have spent 40 years shepherding his fathers flock. Time and time again he suffered injury protecting and caring for the sheep, and watched over every one continually never wanting to lose even one. HaShem was training him to shepherd His flock Israel out of harms way and into the promise he had made to the fathers Avraham Yitzchak, and Yaacov.

The Midrash says of this training … Our teachers have said: Once, while Moses our Teacher was tending [his father-in-law] Yitro’s sheep, one of the sheep ran away. Moses ran after it until it reached a small, shaded place. There, the lamb came across a pool and began to drink. As Moses approached the lamb, he said, “I did not know you ran away because you were thirsty. You are so exhausted!” He then put the lamb on his shoulders and carried him back. The Holy One said, “Since you tend the sheep of human beings with such overwhelming love – by your life, I swear you shall be the shepherd of My sheep, Israel.” (Shemot Rabbah 2:2)

Scripture says of Mashiach, of whom Moshe is a type, Yechezkel (Ezekiel) 37:24&25 “My servant David shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my ordinances, and observe my statutes, and do them. They shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob my servant, in which your fathers lived; and they shall dwell therein, they, and their children, and their children’s children, forever: and David my servant shall be their prince for ever.

Yeshua identified himself with Moshe and this Messianic prophesy as well in Yochanan (John) 10:11-15 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who doesn’t own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees. The wolf snatches the sheep, and scatters them. The hired hand flees because he is a hired hand, and doesn’t care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and I’m known by my own; even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep.

May we recognize Him and follow him when He calls. Listen for His voice this week and enjoy the warmth of His presence as he burns within us. Yes like that bush, his Ruach burns within us but we are not consumed!

Ahav V’shalom L’Mish’pachtanu love and peace to our family in Messiah from Beth Hallel Lodi