Torah: Exodus 1:1-6:1

Haftarah: Isaiah 27:6-28:13; 29:22-23, Jeremiah 1:1-2:3

Long ago, the Jewish sages created the parsha, a reading calendar to be read annually throughout all the synagogues every sabbath. They are from the Torah (the first five books of the Bible), and the Haftarah (selected readings from the prophetic books or Nevi’im of the Old Testament or Ketuvim). Today, I continue my series exploring the Messiah in each of these portioned readings that was planned and scheduled in ancient days and appointed for our present days. For January 10, 2026, Sh’mot (Names), the readings are cited above. I would encourage you to read those passages first before you read my post, or at least read them in tandem.

Exodus begins with a recap of the end of Genesis. Israel’s entire family went to Egypt. Then Exodus tells us what happened after that generation: “⁷ But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them” (Ex. 1:7). Just like God’s blessing was apparent to King Abimelech on Abraham and Isaac in Canaan, to Laban on Jacob in Haran, to Potipher and Pharaoh on Joseph in Egypt, now the blessing was apparent to the new pharaoh of Egypt “who did not know Joseph” (vs. 8). So what did he do? Abimelech made a treaty with Abraham and Isaac, but Laban tried to subjugate Jacob and use the blessing to his advantage. Joseph’s pharaoh exalted him and reaped the benefits of his blessing. But now the new pharaoh seems that he took more of Laban’s route and chose to “deal shrewdly with them” instead (vs. 10).

¹¹ Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses.

“Raamses” was the same place as Rameses is Genesis 47:11, the place Joseph settled his family in Egypt. I don’t know why the ESV spells it differently because it is the same Hebrew word, Ra’amses, number 7486 according to Strong’s concordance. It is therefore logical to conclude that the Ra’amses in Genesis 47 and Exodus 1 are the same place. Therefore, the place of Israel’s sustenance during the drought, which was “in the best of the land” (Gen. 47:11), now became the place of their slavery. Instead of reaping the blessings of the granaries Joseph had built and filled by the Egyptians, the descendants of Israel would be the ones building “store cities” for Egypt (Ex. 1:11). This is a complete reversal. But no matter what humans tried to do to them, it could not hamper God’s blessing, for “the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad” (vs. 12). Let that be a message to this generation that tries to oppress Israel’s descendants who are still with us, by the way. The modern state of Israel, though in a 2-year was so far on seven fronts, has an economy booming bigger than ever before, and is in fact the third best performing economy in the world right now. To Christians who believe God replaced them when their leadership rejected Jesus, let me remind you of Romans 11:29, where Paul is specifically talking about the Jews: “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” The Haftorah for this week affirms this too. Isaiah 27:6-7 says,

⁶ In days to come Jacob shall take root,
    Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots
    and fill the whole world with fruit.

⁷ Has he struck them as he struck those who struck them?
    Or have they been slain as their slayers were slain?

Jeremiah 2:3 says,

Israel was holy to the Lord,
    the firstfruits of his harvest.
All who ate of it incurred guilt;
    disaster came upon them,
declares the Lord.”

The oppression of Israel to bitter slavery before the Exodus is the stage upon which we see a messiah arise, Moses, and I would like to argue he acts too as a foreshadowing of the Messiah Who was promised to Eve and Who God promised to Abraham would come from his descendants. I would like to compare the life of Moses to that of Jesus through the context of their names, their births and the threat on their lives at birth, their cause for exile, the cause of their returns from exile, and their signs.

In the Bible, names are important. Most of the time, names reveal the purpose or calling or nature of the people we remember because their lives “were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come” (1 Cor. 10:11). Moses’ name means “pull out,” and though Pharaoh’s daughter named him that because she pulled him out of the water, it foreshadowed his calling to pull out the Hebrews from Egyptian slavery into freedom in the land of promise. In Exodus 3:10, God told Moses, “Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” Therefore, Moses’ name is fitting.

Jesus, similarly, was named according to the purpose of His calling. Gabriel, sent by God, told Joseph to name Him Jesus, “for he will save his people from their sins” (Mt. 1:21). For anyone who may not see the similarity between deliverance from slavery and deliverance from sin, Jesus reveals the spiritual connection:

“³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. ³⁵ The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. ³⁶ So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Whereas the Hebrews of Exodus were slaves to Egypt and its gods, Jesus said the generation in which He walked (and indeed every generation) is a slave to sin. Therefore, since Jesus came to save us from our sins, He came to save us from slavery. This slavery is a greater kind, for it is spiritual and eternal. That is why Moses is a foreshadowing of the greater Messiah.

Secondly, I will compare Jesus’ birth to Moses’ both in their distinction and in the attempts on their lives. Exodus tells us Moses’ mother “saw that he was a fine child” (2:2). About this verse, the CJSB says, “Early Jewish biblical commentaries believed that Yocheved (Jochebed), Moshe’s (Moses’) mother, saw a supernatural sign confirming the future role of her son, so she protected him. According to Rashi in Sotah 12a, Yocheved sensed something special about Moshe’s destiny that motivated her to take extraordinary measures to save his life.” Hopefully any good mother would do anything in their power to save their child, but it is true that the Bible doesn’t record anyone else trying to hide their boys or save them by floating them in a basket down the Nile.

According to Jewish interpretation, a special sign was given Jochebed concerning Moses’ destiny, and also Mary was given a special sign, indeed several signs, concerning Jesus’ destiny. First, Gabriel came to Mary and told her how He would be so special, both in His conception and calling (Lk. 1:26-38). Second, angels announced His birth and sent shepherds to find Him, and they told everyone about it (Lk. 2:8-20). Third, both Simeon and Anna encountered Mary in the temple with Jesus and prophesied over Him (Lk. 2:22-38). And Fourth, God had wisemen from the east follow a star just for Jesus, find Him, bring Him gifts, and worship Him (Mt. 2:1-11). Those are some pretty special signs!

When Moses was born, it was during the time that Pharoah commanded that all the Hebrew baby boys be thrown into the Nile. Here is another irony. The Nile, the source of life for the Egyptians, became the place of death for Israel’s future. Then God makes the reversal again. The river of life that the Egyptians turned into the river of death became the river of life again. Moses was found in the river, and you could argue it was as if his life was given back to him. Historically, whatever scheme the enemy contrives to eliminate God’s people or God’s purpose turns into a tool God uses to further His purpose. That’s what Purim is all about. The Holocaust rebirthed the nation of Israel. That should serve as a reminder to our generation.  As the prophet Isaiah said,

“[N]o weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed,
            and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord
    and their vindication from me, declares the Lord.” (54:17).

One reason for the weapons of slavery and infanticide that Pharaoh fashioned was fear that the Hebrews might “escape from the land” (Ex. 3:10). Little did he know that he was setting the stage for Israel’s redeemer. Moses is the only baby boy the Bible records being rescued from this period of time during which Pharoah had the boys killed. Moses has a brother three years older than him, so it’s probably safe to assume that when Moses was born, Pharaoh’s command was no older than a few years. And Moses led out 600,000 men from Egypt (Ex. 12:37), most of whom were probably younger than him (since he was 80) (Ex. 7:7). It is into this small window time between that Moses is born.

Now it’s time to talk about Jesus! When Jesus was born, a non-Jew ruled over the Jews too, that is, Herod the Great. When he heard from the wisemen that the King of the Jews was born, he saw that as a threat to his authority like Pharaoh saw the Hebrews as a threat to his authority, which is another reason the Bible tells us Pharaoh enslaved the Hebrews: “Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us” (Ex. 1:10). Herod’s solution was the same as Pharaoh’s: eliminate the threat. He had every baby boy two years old and under murdered to eliminate the threat to his throne (Mt. 2:16). But just like Moses, there was one boy who escaped: Jesus.  

Now when they [the wisemen] had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” (Mt. 2:13).

Next, I want to talk about how both Moses and Jesus both went into exile and how their exiles had a common cause. Moses went into exile from Egypt to Midian because he killed an Egyptian who was striking a Hebrew slave (Ex. 2:11). I would argue he did this out of righteous anger and possibly self-defense or the preservation of the life of the slave. I’m not saying he should have killed the Egyptian, but maybe that was the only means of self-defense in this case. But what I can see clearly is his motive was to rescue a poor and oppressed person who was “one of his own people.” For this Pharoah sought to kill Moses, but he fled into exile. Similarly, Jesus was born to “save his people from their sins,” what we are all enslaved to, ultimately to put to death the power of sin by bearing our sins and dying for our sins on the cross. Jesus’ family was forced to go into exile from Judea to Egypt. Moses fled from Egypt and Jesus fled to Egypt. It’s an interesting contrast. Both men (I know Jesus was a baby technically) were sent into exile because they were a threat to the oppressive force of God’s people. For Moses, it was Egypt. For Jesus, it was sin.

Both had instructions from God specifically to return to the lands from which they fled so they could fulfill their callings, because their pursuers were dead. “And the Lord said to Moses in Midian, ‘Go back to Egypt, for all the men who were seeking your life are dead’ So Moses took his wife and his sons and had them ride on a donkey, and went back to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the staff of God in his hand” (Ex. 4:19-20). For Jesus, Matthew 2:19-21 says,  But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,  saying, ‘Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.’ And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.” Many pictures of Joseph and Mary’s journey to and from Israel has Mary riding on a donkey. The Bible doesn’t tell us she did, but it makes sense. I wouldn’t assume a pregnant woman or a woman with a baby would travel long distances on foot. At any rate, the similarity between Moses and Jesus is they both received the same call to return to the land from which they were exiled so that they could fulfill their callings.

Lastly, I want to talk about the similarity of signs between Moses and Jesus. When God sends Moses to speak to the people of Israel and to Pharaoh, he gives him signs to perform so that they will know that he was indeed sent by God. God enables him to turn his staff into a snake and back into a staff again (Ex. 4:2-17), God enables him to take water from the Nile and turn it into blood (verse 9), and God enables him to turn his hand leprous by putting it into his cloak and to restore his hand by putting it into his cloak again (verses 6 and 7). As we will see in later portions, God does more mighty works through Moses too, most famously the ten plagues of Egypt. Jesus, likewise, performed many mighty miracles. To parallel just a couple, He turned water into wine and He healed lepers. LearnReligions.com cites 37 miracles of Jesus recorded in the four gospels:

1. Jesus turns water into wine at the wedding in Cana (Jn. 2:1-11)
2. Jesus heals an official’s son at Capernaum in Galilee (Jn. 4:43-54)
3. Jesus drives out an evil spirit from a man in Capernaum (Mk. 1:21-27, Lk. 4:31-36)
4. Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law sick with fever (Mt. 8:14-15, Mk. 1:29-31, Lk. 4:38-39)
5. Jesus heals many sick and oppressed at evening (Mt. 8:16-17, Mk. 1:32-34, Lk. 4:40-41)
6. First miraculous catch of fish on the Lake of Gennesaret (Lk. 5:1-11)
7. Jesus cleanses a man with leprosy (Mt. 8:1-4, Mk. 1:40-45, Lk. 5:12-14)
8. Jesus heals a centurion’s paralyzed servant in Capernaum (Mt. 8:5-13, Lk. 7:1-10)
9. Jesus heals a paralytic who was let down from the roof (Mt. 9:1-8, Mk. 2:1-12, Lk. 5:17-26)
10. Jesus heals a man’s withered hand on the Sabbath (Mt. 12:9-14, Mk. 3:1-6, Lk. 6:6-11)
11. Jesus raises a widow’s son from the dead in Nain (Jn. 7:11-17)
12. Jesus calms a storm on the sea (Mt. 8:23-27, Mk. 4:35-41, Lk. 8:22-25)
13. Jesus casts demons into a herd of pigs (Mt. 8:28-33, Mk. 5:1-20, Lk. 8:26-39)
14. Jesus heals a woman in a crowd who had an issue of blood (Mt. 9:20-22, Mk. 5:25-34, Lk. 8:42-48)
15. Jesus raises Jairus’ daughter back to life (Mt. 9:18, 23-26, Mk. 5:21-24, 35-43, Lk. 8:40-42, 49-56)
16. Jesus heals two blind men (Mt. 9:27-31)
17. Jesus heals a man who was unable to speak (Mt. 9:32-34)
18. Jesus heals an invalid at Bethesda (Jn. 5:1-15)
19. Jesus feeds 5,000 men plus women and children (Mt. 14:13-21, Mk. 6:30-44, Lk. 9:10-17, Jn. 6:1-15)
20. Jesus walks on water (Mt. 14:22-33, Mk. 6:45-52, Jn. 6:16-21)
21. Jesus heals many sick in Gennesaret as they touch his garment (Mt. 14:34-36, Mk. 6:53-56)
22. Jesus heals a gentile woman’s demon-possessed daughter (Mt. 15:21-28, Mk. 7:24-30)
23. Jesus heals a deaf and dumb man (Mk, 7:31-37)
24. Jesus feeds 4,000 men plus women and children (Mt. 15:32-39, Mk. 8:1-13)
25. Jesus heals a blind man at Bethsaida (Mk. 8:22-26)
26. Jesus heals a man born blind (Jn. 9:1-12)
27. Jesus heals a boy with an unclean spirit (Mt. 17:14-20, Mk. 9:14-29, Lk. 9:37-43)
28. Jesus produces a miraculous temple tax in a fish’s mouth (Mt. 17:24-27)
29. Jesus heals a blind, mute demoniac (Mt. 12:22-23, 11:14-23)
30. Jesus heals a woman who had been crippled for 18 years (Lk. 13:10-17)
31. Jesus heals a man with dropsy on the sabbath (Lk. 14:1-6)
32. Jesus cleanses 10 lepers on the way to Jerusalem (Lk. 17:11-19)
33. Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead in Bethany (Jn. 11:1-45)
34. Jesus restores sight to Bartimaeus in Jericho (Mt. 20:29-34, Mk. 10:46-52, Lk. 18:35-43)
35. Jesus withers the fig tree on the road from Bethany (Mt. 21:18-20, Mk. 11:12-14)
36. While Jesus is being arrested, He heals a servant’s severed ear (Lk. 22:50-51)
37. Second miraculous catch of fish at the Sea of Tiberias (Jn. 21:4-11)

I want to point out that I quickly found this list isn’t exhaustive. I need to point out that this list does not include Jesus’ resurrection. If resurrecting others count as miracles, why wouldn’t His own resurrection count? Jesus said, “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again” (Jn. 10:17). It is by His own power that He raises Himself, not another’s. At any rate, I hope this list gives you a good visual of the number of Jesus’ miracles to validate His testimony, like Moses’ signs validated him. Jesus has many more.

Furthermore, John writes in his gospel,

Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written” (21:25).

Now none of Moses’ miracles nor Jesus’ miracles could be performed without the power of God. Jesus said,

“³⁷ If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; ³⁸ but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father (Jn. 10:37-39).

That is why people try to delegitimize the testimony of the gospels, because if Jesus really did perform so many miracles, then He is Who He said He is, and then people are confronted with what that truth requires of them, which is to repent from the kind of lives they prefer to live and to believe He is Lord of all, including their own lives. Most people believe Jesus was a good person. Judaism and Islam teach Jesus was a prophet. But they will not say He is Lord because that will delegitimize modern rabbinical Judaism that developed in the latter half of the first century, as well as Islam, which developed hundreds of years later and claims the Scriptures were corrupted. Go check out the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were written before Jesus. There is no corruption. Compare the earliest New Testament documents to a Bible in Barnes and Noble. There is no corruption (unless you’re reading a Jefferson Bible or something). Thomas Jefferson did corrupt the Bible because he was very happy to cut all the miracles out of the Bible so he could enjoy a Jesus that He liked, a Jesus who wasn’t Lord of his life. That way he could do what he wanted. He could indulge his appetites, drive his estate into debt, and sleep with at least one of his slaves. In modern times, the Jesus Seminar in California takes out all the miracles of Jesus as being legitimate. If Jesus wasn’t miraculous, then He’s not Lord. They made the assumption at the outset that if the gospels record Jesus doing anything miraculous, it didn’t actually happen like that. Therefore, they can easily conclude that Jesus is not Lord. Sounds like cyclical reasoning. But the gospels are legitimate testimonies. There were many eyewitnesses, and many people affirmed the gospels from their earliest compositions in the first century. The same generation of Jesus affirmed the gospels. Therefore, just as Moses’ signs affirmed he was who he said he was sent by God, then Jesus’ signs affirmed He is Who He said He is and sent by God. 

Moses and Jesus had similar hearts. Moses stopped an Egyptian from beating one of his people (Ex. 2:12), he tried to mediate between two quarreling Hebrews (Ex. 2:13), and he stood up to save Jethro’s daughters from the bullying shepherds at the well (2:16-17). He had a heart for the downtrodden and a desire for justice and truth. As for Jesus, Matthew tells us, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” (Mt. 9:36). Mark tells us this story:

¹³ He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. ¹⁴ And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

¹⁵ And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. ¹⁶ And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” ¹⁷ And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

I bet during Moses’ day, some Egyptians were wondering why he, now an Egyptian prince, was going out to visit the Hebrews, the Israelites, the ones Exodus calls “his own people,” slaves. Likewise, scribes and likely rabbis of the Pharisees wondered why the rabbi Jesus was going out to eat with “sinners.” Moses had a heart for the helpless, he had a heart like God’s. God sent Jesus to the world for the same reason, to lead us into freedom, but this time not just freedom from earthly powers, but freedom from sin.

In Moses’ last words, he told Israel to listen to and obey the prophet that would come after him that was like him.

¹⁵ “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen…¹⁸ I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. (Deut. 18:15, 18).

Jesus is the prophet like Moses. He was raised up from among Israel’s brothers. He was born of Mary of the tribe of Judah, born with flesh and blood. He grew up like we do, He learned like we do, He ate and drank like we do, and everything people do in the body, but without sin (Heb. 4:15). Hebrews says,

“¹⁷ Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. ¹⁸ For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” (2:17-18).

Jesus spoke with authority like Moses spoke. Mark 1:22 says, “And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.” Jesus spoke only God’s words, just like Moses (with the exception of Meribah, see Numbers 20:2-13). Jesus said so many times that He only taught the words the Father put in His mouth. One such time He said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me” (Jn. 8:28). Jesus even etymologically shares His name with Joshua, Moses’ successor. Yeshua is an abbreviated later version of the name Yehoshua. Jesus was regarded as a prophet (Mt. 21:11, Mk. 8:28), but moreover, people understood he was the Prophet that Moses referred to.

When the people saw the sign that he had done [feeding 5,000], they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” (Jn. 6:14).

When they heard these words [how He spoke about Himself in the temple on the last day of Sukkot], some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” (Jn. 7:40).

There were indeed many prophets after Moses, but the prophet Moses alludes to is singular, which indicates he would be an especially distinctive prophet, like Moses himself, who gave the Torah. I hope my presentation shows you how Jesus is that Prophet.

This prophet is more than just a prophet. Remember this portion is called Names, and in this portion we receive the holy Name of God, the tetragrammaton, YHWH. This God defined Himself as “I AM WHO I AM” (Ex. 3:14). Jesus’ Name doesn’t just connect Him with being the prophet like Moses. Jesus connected His Name to the very Name of God.

^56 “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” ⁵⁷ So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” ⁵⁸ Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” ⁵⁹ So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple (Jn. 8:56-59).

They sought to stone Him for what they considered blasphemy, making Himself out to be God, the I AM. I hope this post helped you in your knowledge and faith, and if you have not put your faith in Jesus, I pray you consider these things and their implications. We are all sinners deserving of God’s judgement, unable to enter heaven by our righteousness. Jesus is God Who became a man to live the perfect life we cannot, to die the death we deserve so we do not have to. Anyone who believes Jesus is Lord and repents will be saved. God will welcome believers into His heaven and resurrect them on the last day.

His Name is Salvation. It really is all about Sh’mot, Names. Until next time, God bless.

The Prophet Like Moses

He stood, looked at every Hebrew pilgrim,
And delivered unto them his last word:
Listen to the coming Prophet like him,
Obey the Torah, God would undergird.
He hoped the sea of people this time heard
Him, persecuted from birth, then exiled,
Who drew all God’s people out, by God spurred,
And in the wilderness they all defiled
God’s holy law, but He now on them smiled,
Who loves the lost and helps the helpless one,
Who’d do it all to have them reconciled,
Who’d later send the Prophet, His own Son,
The One Who lived and taught just like Moses,
Humble, with signs and wonders, He, Jesus.

Sources

The Bible. English Standard Version. Biblegateway.com. Accessed 29 Dec. 2025.

The Complete Jewish Study Bible. Peabody, Hendrickson Publishers, 2016.

The Complete Word Study Dictionary. Chattanooga, AMG Publishers, 2003.

Globes. “The Economist”: Israel is OECD’s third best economy in 2025 – Globes. 7 January 2026.

The Interlinear Bible: Hebrew, Greek, English. United States of America, Hendrickson Publishers, 2010.

Learn Religions. “Miracles of Jesus: from Turning Water into Wine to Healing the Sick”. 37 Miracles of Jesus Recorded in the Gospels. 4 January 2026.

The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Nashville, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1990.