Mark Call

Part II of the story of ‘the Exodus’ (Vayeira, Exodus/Shemot 6:2 through chapter 9) begins with what Mark Call of Shabbat Shalom Mesa fellowship contends is THE key understanding in the Book, and of the Creator Himself, “ki ani YHVH,” and the fact that He will NOW make that known. It is not that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had never heard that Name, just that He did “not make Himself KNOWN” to them as He is now about to do.

And that includes the first of the “Ten Plagues” of Egypt, although, they are probably better thought of as the “Three sets of three, plus one,” that is different from the others:

Over a number of years of teaching this parsha, Mark has focused on the intriguing patterns among the plagues, and the progression, all of which may well be a harbinger of what we might see during the prophesied “Greater Exodus” to come, the and fact that the plagues are each ‘judgments’ (or even humiliations) of the fake gods of Egypt by the Real One.

He also does not fail to note the “conflation” about Pharaoh’s heart being “hardened,” either by himself, or later on, by YHVH — because there are TWO different Hebrew words used for what happened, but the distinction is often lost in most English translations.

But in the Sabbath Day midrash this time, Mark suggests that current events, including things we have already seen that point to elements of prophecy already making headlines, take us back to the central issue of what makes us human: Free Will. Choice.

Did Pharaoh have it? Shaul, or Paul, in Romans chapter 9, addressed the issue with his famous metaphor of the potter, and his clay, which doesn’t get to ask whether it will be formed into a “vessel for honor,” or the equivalent of an ashtray, destined for something very different.

And is it just possible that the “closing bracket” set of plagues might end up being directed at what we might think of as an “Artificial Intelligence” version of a Skynet Pharaoh?

Does such a creation even have “free will?” Did Pharaoh, at least at some point? And, when did his ‘choice’ become a terminal commitment?

Vayeira: When Does “Free-Will” Become Terminal?