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Shemot
Va'era (Exodus 6:2–9:35)
God reveals Himself to Moses with a deeper Name and a fourfold promise of redemption—“I will bring out, save, redeem, and take you as My people”—and pledges the land sworn to the patriarchs. The people, crushed by labor and “shortness of spirit,” struggle to hope. A brief genealogy situates Moses and Aaron within the tribe of Levi, then the mission resumes: they confront Pharaoh, Aaron’s staff becomes a serpent that swallows the magicians’ staffs, and the first seven plagues begin.
The Nile turns to blood; frogs swarm the land; dust becomes lice that the magicians cannot replicate. With the fourth plague, swarms strike Egypt while Goshen is spared—God now “sets a distinction.” A devastating pestilence kills Egyptian livestock; boils afflict people and animals; and hail—thunder, fire, and ice—shatters crops and trees. Each time, Pharaoh’s heart hardens (or is hardened), mercy flares and then recedes, and the demand remains unchanged: “Let My people go that they may serve Me.” Themes to listen for: the power of God’s Name as faithful presence, hope rekindled under oppression, the unraveling of a false god (the Nile) and an empire’s control, and how judgment and mercy together prepare the way for freedom.