READING 10 - THE JEWISH READINGS - CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3
In fact, if we carefully read the end of the Book of Genesis, it is shown that, already at the time of Joseph, the Israelites were not allowed to leave Egypt, and we stressed in Reading 8 Joseph's wit to get the permission to bury Jacob in the Land of Canaan.
Let us first consider the "Exodus" parameters: the rescuing action, quite unexpected, of the Tribes of Israel from slavery in Egypt. This action is constantly present in all Jewish prayers: "Because He [God] saved us/led us out of Egypt, from the land of slavery", i.e.: we were slaves. From then on, we are a free nation encompassing different people named after the twelve Tribes of Israel.
But there is another explanation which should be taken into account: the Hebrew name of the Book: "Sh'mot". It is very important for anybody to have a name and to assume the vocation received through a name, not only in the Semitic tradition, but also in the Christian Orthodox world.
"Shem" means a "mark, name, nature, denomination, call and title". The radical is "SHuM" [to mark, estimate, value]. This also implies that a person is based and located in some determined place: SHaM: there, thither or moving from a defined place to another: SHaMaH: thereto. We might consider also the world "Shamayim" [Heaven] suggesting a duality of location according to the Hebrew grammar and the ending / -ayaim/.
Moreover, Shem is the name of the son of Noah, the ancestor of the Hebrew and Assyrian nation [cf. Talmud Tractate Megillah 9b] compared to Japhet, the forefather of the Greek people [Talmud Sanhedrin 69b].
"HaShem" is an ancient and very common substitute for the Name of God, especially the Four letter [consonants] Name of God also called Tetragrammaton in Greek: "YHWH" [Talmud Yoma III, 8; "Divine Name" in Sanhedrin VII:5].
Then it shows the importance of the reading in the time of the Nativity of our Lord. "These were the names of the children of Israel that came unto the Land of Egypt". They were in slavery, and God rescued first and Israeli Child educated by Pharoah's daughter. His name is Moses [Moshe, rescued from the waters - i.e. from death].
This is to be compared with the genealogy of Jesus Christ: the first one begins with Adam down to Jesus and recounts the history of Israel in the Gospel according to Saint Matthew [ch. 1]. This Gospel is read just before the Nativity. The second genealogy according to the Gospel of Saint Luke [3:23-38] starts with Jesus and traces back to Adam after the account of the birth and the vocation of Jesus as true God and true Man who took flesh in order to save and renew the creation.
Then our names are computed throughout history as leading us to freedom. Everybody is called to salvation. This does not imply that all of us accept this proposal given by God to the entire creation and all mankind. We may behave as the guests who made excuses and did not come to the banquet.
We are called to freedom, beyond death and personal and collective tribulations. We should now consider in the weeks to come how we participate in this history without fear and full of hope, a hope which remains beyond hope for our generation in the likeness of Abraham's attitude towards God. [Romans 4:18]
HOW to contact us?