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The Sabbath Straw Man
It's Happening to You
Shemot "Names"
Exodus 1:1-6:1
Isaiah 27:6-28:13;
29:22-23
Psalm 99
1 Corinthians 3:9-23
Pharoah's atrocious demand that the Israelites gather their own straw goes deeper than the plain text. What Pharaoh really demanded is something much more sinister than extra work. In order to confuse the real intent of the decree, Pharaoh uses the straw man. The Israelites were then afflicted with the extra load, and their source of hope, Moses,...disappears?
A straw man fallacy occurs when someone takes another person's argument or point, distorts it or exaggerates it in some kind of extreme way, and then attacks the extreme distortion, as if that is really the claim the first person is making. For example:
*A
rgument
: Bicycle infrastructure should be expanded because cycling is a sustainable and healthy mode of transportation
.
*
Straw man
:
We should not build bike lanes because cyclists run red lights and endanger pedestrians
.
In the example, the straw man argument ignores the positive aspects of bicycle infrastructure and focuses on the minority of cyclists who don't follow traffic rules. The straw man clouds the real issue by creating a distraction from the real issue. In the case of the Hebrews, the real argument is Whom they serve, Pharaoh, Egypt's over 2,000 gods, or the Holy One of Israel, YHVH? Pharaoh claims not to know the Hebrews' God, and he diverts attention from the real issue, which is that they need to worship Him with a feast at His appointed time:
*
Argument
: Moses
and Aaron came and said to Pharaoh, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'Let My people go
that they may celebrate a feast to Me in the wilderness
.'"
(5:1)
*
Straw Man
: Pharaoh
commanded the taskmasters over the people and their foremen, saying,
"You
are no longer to give the people straw to make brick as previously; let them go and gather straw for themselves.
But
the quota of bricks which they were making previously, you shall impose on them; you are not to reduce any of it.
Because they are lazy
,
therefore they cry out,
'Let
us go and sacrifice to our God
.' (5:6-8)
To clarify,
1. Yes, the Israelites are requesting a few days off from work to go worship YHVH, but...
2. They are not asking because they are lazy, but because they wish to obey the Father rather than Pharaoh.
Pharaoh ignores the real point, that the Hebrews worship a different God, and that Pharaoh is not their demi-god, nor are any of the others among the over 2,000 Egyptian gods. Pharaoh moved it from a religious issue to one of work ethics, bread-n-butter.
And this will happen to you. If you value the Father's appointed times of worship, if you value His commandments over your work supervisor's quotas or government holidays, then you will be accused of having less-than-noble reasons for religious accommodations to worship. If you have a heart for the Father's commandments, then every failure will be highlighted as hypocrisy or proof that Moses was a liar and no one can keep "all" the commandments.
This straw man ignores the fact that no individual was ever intended to keep "all" the commandments, only the ones specifically pertaining to his or her gender, career, tribe, age, etc. It will ignore the fact that grace is for when we do fall short, not when we rebelliously ignore the commandments in exchange for self-worship. It will ignore the Holy One of Israel as the King of the Universe who created the appointed times of worship, who said through Moses that His commandments were NOT too far away, but in our hearts and our mouths.
The midrash claims that this is the point at which Moses returned his wife and children to Midian, inexplicably disappearing for six months after he calls Israel to the feast. He leaves the Hebrew "trustees" to endure beatings for six months when the extra work of
finding
straw
is imposed.
The rabbis say this is a picture of final redemption. The redeemer will make a call, and then he will disappear for a season before he returns and the plagues begin.
This is still a pattern. When a great, inspiring, hope-filled move of the Spirit occurs, there will come a point where it seems as though it's gone nowhere. Chaos, even regression from where it was before Moses spoke the Word. Avraham, who wandered in the Land for years before Isaac. Jacob, who served Lavan for years before returning to the Land of his birthright. Joseph the Dreamer, a slave and prisoner before he rode in the second chariot.
Don't lose heart. If the Father has inexplicably planted the seed of Shabbat, His feasts, and His commandments in your heart in a powerful way, then let that hope sustain you until Yeshua returns. The rabbis say that it was the hope of Moses' first visit that sustained the Hebrews through the worst of the Egyptian oppression until he returned.
Many Jewish commentators equate Pharaoh's
straw man
decree to a virtual prohibition against observing Shabbat. Now the Hebrews' one day of rest would be devoted to scavenging for
straw
to make bricks the other six days. Like the Babel-
onians
who baked bricks to build a tower to Heaven, so the pharaohs spent their reigns building structures to deceive the Egyptians into thinking they were demi-gods and rulers by Divine authority:
The [confused Tower of Bavel-onians] said to one another, "Come,
let us make bricks
and burn them thoroughly." And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar
. (Ge 11:13)
and they made their lives bitter with hard labor in mortar and bricks and at all kinds of labor
in the field
, all their labors which they rigorously
imposed
on them
. (Ex 1:14)
If you keep the Shabbat and the high
sabbaths
of the feasts, then you, too, will be accused of questionable motives, which is meant to confuse even
you
.
When it feels as though the system is crushing Shabbat out of you, it may seem like Moses and
Yeshua
have disappeared. This must happen.
To remove Shabbat from Israel is to extinguish them as a people.
It
is to remove them as
the firstborn
extension of the Father and
His
provision of salvation to the world
.
Abraham
took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac
his son
, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife.
So the two of them walked on together
. (Ge 22:6)
Abraham
said, "God will
provide
for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering,
my son
."
So the two of them walked on together
. (Ge 22:8)
The "extension" from Avraham to firstborn
Yitzchak reflects two points of faith:
1. Belief in personal sacrifice, the "fire and the knife."
2. Belief in the provision and salvation of El
Shaddai
to resurrect.
The life is in the seed, not the
straw
or chaff. Only the seed lives again, while the
straw
and chaff feed the beast of he field. The straw supports the seed. If pharaohs can keep the Israelites wandering, scrounging, and gathering in the fields for the insignificant things to build Egypt and Babylon, then they will forget that the life is in the seed. Resurrection. Their worship will become confused and mingled in the field.
Like Isaac, Israel walks with the Father in spite of
knife and fire
because the two walk together.
Before the Tabernacle
or Temple
were built, Israel had no ritualistic worship observance to help them maintain their identity in Egypt. In the exile, we face the same dilemma. In fact, many scorn Jewish Shabbat home ritual as antithetical to the Spirit.
In exile, Shabbat and the Seventh Spirit of Adonai, The Reverence of Adonai, are what hold a nation together without a central place of worship. Moses wanted to return Israel to the appointed times, but Pharaoh tried to squash even their Shabbat observance, which he thought would surely destroy their desire to celebrate the feasts of Adonai. To hold on to Shabbat in the exile is to walk in expectation of fire and knife without losing one's faith in the salvation and resurrection of Messiah. Jews are still here because they are not confused about Shabbat or Who created it for mankind.
Did the Hebrews really keep Shabbat in Egypt? After all, there is no mention of it after Creation until Moses, right? Logically, i
f the ancients kept details unmentioned in the Creation, such as
niddah
, tithing, birthright, sacrifice, and blessing before Sinai, then why wouldn't they keep Shabbat, the clearest universal commandment of Creation? In fact, h
ow would Moshe have even known to request permission to celebrate a
chag
, the first of which is the weekly Shabbat?
There is textual evidence to support that the battleground between Israel and Pharaoh was the Shabbat.
"You are no longer to give the people
straw
to make brick as previously; let them go and gather straw for themselves
." (Ex 5:7)
5:7 לֹא תֹאסִפוּן לָתֵת תֶּבֶן לָעָם לִלְבֹּן הַלְּבֵנִים כִּתְמֹול שִׁלְשֹׁם הֵם יֵֽלְכוּ
וְקֹשְׁשׁו
ּ לָהֶם תֶּֽבֶן
׃
The action of gathering
straw
is very specific.
Mekokeish
typically refers to gathering
straw
, not other things. Hebrew attaches specific verbs to gathering different crops, such as grapes, fruit, grain, wood, etc. To find it in reference to gathering something else would be an anomaly. Such as...
Now while the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man
gathering wood מְקֹשֵׁשׁ עֵצִים on the sabbath day
.
Those who found him
gathering wood
brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation
;
and they put him in
custody
because it had not been
declared
what should be done to him.
Then
the LORD said to Moses, "The man shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp
."
So all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him
to
death with stones,
just as the LORD had commanded Moses
. (Nu 15:32-36)
Now while this sounds harsh, there's more going on in the text than meets the English eye. First, though, it is important to have the context of this incident of a man gathering wood on Shabbat, especially when the Hebrew word for "gather" is not the typical one for gathering wood, but for when the Hebrews gathered STRAW, mekokeish. The context is when someone sins IN ERROR, NOT INTENTIONALLY.
But
when you unwittingly fail
and do not observe all these commandments, which the LORD has spoken to Moses,
even
all that the LORD has commanded you
through
Moses
, from the day when the LORD gave commandment and onward throughout your generations
,
then it shall be,
if it is done unintentionally,
without the knowledge of the congregation
, that
all the congregation
shall offer one bull for a burnt offering, as a soothing aroma to the LORD, with its grain offering and its drink offering, according to the ordinance, and one male goat for a sin offering.
Then
the priest shall make atonement for
all the congregation of the sons of Israel
, and
they will be forgiven
;
for it was an
error
, and they have brought their offering, an offering by fire to the LORD, and their sin offering before the LORD, for their
error
.
So all the congregation of the sons of Israel will be forgiven
,
with the alien who sojourns among them
, for
it happened to all the people through error
. (Nu 15:20-26)
Moses just instructed the Israelites on the difference between an error (yes, it is still sin) and a rebellious sin. The assumption is that when the error comes to the attention of
all the congregation, then they can correct the sinner by instructing him how to stop making the error. When all the congregation can do this, a fire offering is brought and everyone is forgiven. On the issue of Shabbat, a nation stands together.
If the sinner ignores all the congregation and Moses, then what he was gathering (
mekokeish) was not straw, which is confusion, but
etzim (wood/trees). Since trees are metaphors for people in Scripture, the Sabbath wood-gatherer was gathering much more than "straw," he was gathering trees like straw. He was not attempting to spread an error of ignorance on his part, but attempting to confuse others to join his open rebellion against the Word.
A straw man introduces confusion as to the real issue.
It was not the person's express will to violate the commandment, but he suffered from confusion, and the congregation was unable to help him in correction of his
error.
It is an error, not a willful rebellion. As the error occurred when the Hebrews were aliens in Egypt, so also the alien with
them
will be forgiven when they are able to return to the commandment given through Moshe.
The Sabbath-gatherer, however, was attempting to gather PEOPLE. He rejected the Shabbat, and by his actions, he invited others to join him in his rebellion. They were no longer in Egypt. All the congregation could confront him and correct him.
Scrutinize each word:
Now while the
sons
of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man
gathering wood
on the
sabbath
day
. Those who found him
gathering wood
brought him to Moses and Aaron and to
all the congregation
.
1. Israel is the Father's firstborn son. He is an extension and expression of the will of the Father as it pertains to the family. "They"-the sons of Israel-found a man
mekakeish
, gathering trees like a man gathers
straw.
2. Twice it states he was gathering wood, as if he were confused, warned, instructed, then found gathering again. The second gathering results in a trip to Moses and
Aharon
and significantly, to ALL the congregation. It was no longer confusion, but rebellion.
3. When ALL the congregation is capable of rebuking him,
then
the full punishment goes into effect.
The context turns from breaking Moses' words
in error
to one who breaks it
intentionally and without remorse
:
But
the person who does anything defiantly
, whether he is native or an alien,
that one is blaspheming the LORD
; and that person shall be cut off from among his
people. Because
he has despised the word of the LORD and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his
guilt
will be on him
. (Nu 15:30-31)
This gave Moses and "all the congregation" a guideline from the previous verses. They must distinguish between a sin committed in violation of one's will, which is to obey YHVH, and one committed to defy Him. It wasn't just Moses' and the LORD's Word violated, it was "all the congregation's" correction that the Sabbath-gatherer rejected.
All the congregation must determine whether the man gathered
wood/straw
in error or rebelliously. If he had been previously rebuked, and if further instruction was rejected, then ALL the congregation was obligated to stone him. If he repented, then an appropriate sacrifice could be offered to restore the holiness of Shabbat.
The man's wood gathering was the clue:
mekokeish
, like
straw
which confuses the sons of Israel, the distinction between Shabbat and the work days.
Mekokeish
is conjugated in the present progressive (ongoing) tense: "he is gathering," or he continues to gather. Despite the warnings of the sons of Israel, the role of being the assembly of the firstborn, an extension of the Father, pleas, warnings, etc., the Shabbat gatherer does not desist. The Shabbat gatherer WILL NOT desist. He is not gathering on Shabbat because Pharaoh forces him to work, but because he does not worship the God of Israel.
T
he kingdoms of
straw men
take a point of argument, power and control, ethics, etc., and they confuse the valid point in order to confuse the real issue.
Social politics today is even more Egyptian than the Egyptians. It presents an ethical point to deceive the discouraged masses into accepting a pseudo-religion of humanism as god because the God of the Bible is just too mean and unknown to get involved...if they even believe in Him at all. More and more "supervisors" claim not to know the God of Israel, YHVH.
T
he religions of feminism, eco-preservation, animals rights, etc., raise valid life issues, but the
motivation
is to use them as "clothes" for causing confusion as to Whom worship belongs. They blind above and destroy fruit of the trees of the field, taking life where they purport to preserve it. Whether one uses a metal straw or a plastic one is a straw man; the real question is whether one worships the God of Israel and keeps His sabbaths. One before the other.
Don't despair. Don't be confused. Know the difference between straw and grain. Your hope is in the Seed. If you feel guilty for working on a Shabbat because you were forced to, then understand, Moses will return. Plagues will come. Pharaoh will be destroyed by his confusion, but you will emerge from the walk through fire and the knife. You believe in the resurrection, and you did not sin in rebellion, but in error. The Father has already made provision for the Lamb, and you will be free to worship at the appointed times with ALL the congregation.
The thing that will hold Israel together in this exile is the Shabbat of worship. Hold on. Don't give up. Walk in that faith. Be an example of un-confused obedience to Heaven, a light to both Egyptians and discouraged Israelites. Don't let the world be confused about Shabbat, and then maybe they'll begin to be less confused about the appointed feasts. Moses, Elijah, and Yeshua will return. We will worship in the Temple from Jerusalem above.
So the two of them walked on together. Father and child.
Amarillo By Morning...
Will we see you in Amarillo this month?
I'll be teaching at Life of Worship Friday the 24th at 6:30 and Saturday the 25th at 2 & 5. The first couple of sessions will be an overview of the resurrection at the Feast of Trumpets and what happens when we die from 50,000 DEGREES AND CLOUDY: A BETTER RESURRECTION. The final session will be a detailed look at the Song of Moses and the supernatural locusts of Revelation and why John used so many descriptions of them. This is from the second edition of CREATION GOSPEL WORKBOOK TWO: THE SEVEN ABOMINATIONS, SEVEN SEALS, SEVEN TRUMPETS, AND SEVEN BOWLS which is complete and in the formatting stage for publication soon.
Spotlight on Israel
Interested in celebrating Passover 2020 in Israel?
It's time to plan Passover. Join us in Israel for a Passover seder. To read about the adventure, click
Passover in Israel.
You can't beat the price for room and board!
Relax, hike, volunteer, explore the archaeological ruins, study, count the stars, or day tour, and choose the number of days you spend at Tamar. The sooner you register, the easier it is to book flights that fit your budget and schedule. The feasts are busy flight times in Israel.
If you're interested in a FULL-SERVICE tour, then please consider going at Sukkot 2020. We hope to have registration and information available soon.
Does Something About the "Rapture" Doctrine Bother You?
The deep Torah study in Section One restores the
original foundation of the resurrection. The resurrection is put in the context of the numerous prophecies of in the Torah portions. The Exodus and wilderness journey have illustrations of the event that were too numerous to fit into one book. Section One uncovers the Torah foundation to which the writers of the New Testament refer.
Section Two answers the question, "What happens when we die?" Matching Scriptural information with traditional Jewish sources on the topic, the reader finds more insight into the post-mortem experience of the dead and expressions such as "the souls under the altar." It's a great source of comfort to those who grieve and an encouragement that the Kingdom is very near, just as Yeshua said. The book is worth the price just for the footnotes! Click
50,000 Degrees to view on Amazon.
LaMalah Children's Centre
We appreciate your donations at any time, but especially in the "slow" months of winter. Three of the children will be starting high school, which requires some extra funds.
Thanks to your generosity, the congregations of Kenya and the children of LaMalah were able to enjoy Sukkot.
If you would like to donate to the Children's Centre through The Creation Gospel, click on the Donate link below. It will say The Olive Branch Messianic Congregation on your receipt. Our local congregation is the non-profit covering for our ministry. Checks or money orders may be sent to:
The Creation Gospel
PO Box 846
East Bernstadt, KY 40729
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