Welcome to my Hebrew reading & language series.

Exodus 23:25-33

We are finishing up chapter 23 today with the promise of Elohim (God) that He will bless them and bring them into their land (He gives the borders) - read on. It was not going to be a year long, war after war, event but He spoke of taking them there as their numbers increased so that they could fill the land he was giving them. Let's see all that is in this lengthy passage. I did not want to break up the promise.

Part of the reason I study the foundational writings is to investigate seemingly erroneous wording. We have Elohim (God) switching from third person "He will bless your bread and water" to first person "I will take sickness away..." in the same line. I said, "Gotcha!" Then I read the Hebrew and the wording is 100% correct. It says exactly that in the Hebrew.

Today we are reading about Elohim saying what He will do. So our counts will only go up by four,

• "You shall serve YHVH your God."
• "you shall drive them out before you"
• "You shall make no covenant with them"
• "They shall not dwell in your land"

The last one above is a killer because there are Muslims and Arabs in the k'nesset (Synagogue). Yes, that is the word they chose for their 'congress' or 'parliament'.

These above are the new Mitsvot (commandments) spoken to the people. The rest are His promises below.

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He will:

• bless your bread and water
• take sickness away from among you
• None shall miscarry or be barren
• fulfill the number of your days
• send my terror before you
• throw into confusion all the enemies against you
• make all your enemies turn their backs to you
• send hornets before you
• drive them out from before you (slowly over years)
• little by little I will drive them out from before you
• so you increase to possess the land
• set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines
• and from the wilderness to the Euphrates
• give the inhabitants of the land into your hand

Other than the Mitsvot and covenant terms for both parties, he mentions three of the nations we talked about last week. The Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites

• ha-chee-Vee (the Hivites)
• ha-c'na-ahNee (the Canaanites)
• ha-cheeTee (the Hittites)

That was a lot to go through. These terms: You shall do x (and if you do) I will bless you in the following ways, are the way covenants are 'cut' between Elohim and the Ivrim.

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Counting the rules past 'ten'.
Our General list is up to 78.
And our Strict list is at 178.

Today's Reading

English

You shall serve YHVH your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you. None shall miscarry or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days. I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land. And I will set your border from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates, for I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. You shall make no covenant with them and their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you."

Hebrew

Next week, the people respond...

Info on each letter starting at the beginning

If you are just starting, my lessons are all here starting at Alef, adding vowels (the dots and lines) as we go. I explain the meaning of each letter and its numerical value. Just go to my blog and scroll to the bottom or click here.

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Thanks for reading.

Shabbat Shalom