Simply Jewish Bible Commentary
EXODUS - SHEMOT (Sapirstein Edition)

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Exodus 2:13
He went out on the second day, and behold, two Hebrew men were quarreling, and he said to the wicked one, "Why are you going to strike your friend?"

That one man is specified as "the wicked one" and called so because of action he is about to do contradicts missionary teachings. Not everybody is wicked; some are righteous. Behavior is included in defining a righteous or wicked person.

 

Exodus 18:21-22
But you shall choose out of the entire nation men of substance, G-d fearers, men of truth, who hate monetary gain, and you shall appoint over them [Israel] leaders over thousands, leaders over hundreds, leaders over fifties, and leaders over tens.

And they shall judge the people at all times, and it shall be that any big matter they shall bring to you, and they themselves shall judge every small matter, thereby making it easier for you, and they shall bear [the burden] with you.

How can any believer in Sola Scriptura explain Jethro's advice to Moses? Those who deny the Oral Torah claim that any pedestrian knows the Law simply by reading the Bible. But this is not true. Why is there a need to have lower courts and higher courts, with the latter getting the more difficult cases? Why is there a need for judges to be "wise and understanding" if knowledge of the Law requires no special training?

 

Exodus 40:34
And the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the L-rd filled the Tabernacle.35. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud rested upon it and the glory of the L-rd filled the Tabernacle.

G-d' glory appeared prior to the offering of any blood sacrifce in the Tabernacle. G-d's glory came after the Jewish people's performed G-d's will regarding the instructions for building the Tabernacle. Doing G-d's will brings His glory and presence.

The problem for Christian theology is obvious.

To be honest, the text may be written not in chronological order. However, even if G-d's glory was preceded by a sacrifice, the textual order teaches a conceptual truth: human action brought the result.

 

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