Moses and the Burning Bush (Exodus 3:1-4:17)
Moses is a person who spoke with God face to face (Dt 34:10). On the first account, when God met Himself with Moses (Ex 3), God introduced Himself with the name: אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֶֽהְיֶ֑ה "I am who I am". It was always difficult for translators to rightly translate this phrase. Key Hebrew word...
Passover (Exodus 12:1-51)
The celebration of Passover or Pesach in Exodus 12 is one of the most important parts of the whole Bible. It commemorates the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery. In this text, the significant word form is the verb פָּסַח [pāsaḥ]. Its first occurrence is at Ex 12:13 (in the form of...
Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:1-34)
The day of atonement represented the key event in the whole year for Israel. It was a time when holy sanctuary was cleased from sins. The sins of the people were transfered to a goat, who was expeled to the desert. In this manner all of Israel's sins were removed.
Priestly Blessing (Numeri 6:23-27)
The text of Numbers 6:23-27 is known as Priestly Blessing or Birkat Kohanim (coming from Hebrew ברכת כהנים). This liturgical text bears a strong expression of the idea of God in the Old Testament. The passage is a conclusion of a series of priestly legislation. The primary concern of the text is...