The Burning Bush | Weekend Torah Teaching

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On today's episode of Timeless Wisdom.

How many of you have gone through things in life which made no sense or seemed horrific when it happened and turned out to be blessings? And if I'd have said to you, God is in this act, God is in this act, give me a break, this is terrible. And then in the long run of things, certain things do make sense. Not for everybody. I already said, I don't know if God operates in everybody's life. We dealt with that, you know, the previous session. But even for those to whom God directly, directly reveals himself, they only know it once it's happened. It's faith until it happens. Even for Moses, a burning bush, a God talking to him. To go to Egypt and try to get the Jews out is an act of faith. You won't know Moses until you are back here with the Jewish people at Sinai. For you won't know for a fact until that happens. Until then, it is, it is partially revelation and partially faith, your faith, that is going to enable it to happen.

That's coming up on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager.

What happens when faith and mental health meet for real?

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I'm Grace Graber. Welcome to Breaking Through with Grace Graber, a podcast for honest conversations about anxiety, trauma, healing, hope, and the God who never backs away when life gets heavy. We are going to talk about everything mental health. No pretending, no perfect answers, just real stories, real faith, and a reminder that you're not alone.

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Welcome to Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Hear thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses, and classic radio programs. And to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bibles, go to dennisprager.com.

Today is really, uh, these are actually, along with a handful of, of, uh, chapters in Genesis, my favorite chapters in the entire Torah. The beginning of Exodus, the introduction of Moses, and now Moses meeting God at the burning bush are— I get the chills really when I study it. Those who know me know this is my favorite thing that I do. You know that teaching Torah is the favorite thing I do.

Mm-hmm.

This is a work pure of pure love and passion. In fact, I will add something that may be of of help more than of interest, because, you know, what's one other person's life to you? But this may be of actual help to some of you. You know, one of the advantages of getting on in years, and I obviously, I'm not old, but I'm not a kid, is that you, if you do it right, so to speak, you get to know yourself as you get older. And for some people, it's a very unfortunate part of getting older. And for others, if nothing else, at least it's interesting. I have never, I have never had a very developed ability to pray. It ha— I have, the number of times that I have prayed with real enthusiasm and passion is probably to be counted on 2 hands. I certainly don't say that with pride. I don't say it with shame either, but I just say it as a fact. My form of prayer as a Jew is to study the Torah. This is when I connect with God in a religious manner. I connect with God when I see beautiful acts of goodness. There are, I mean, it's hardly the only time, but it's the one regular time. Prayer in Judaism is regulated, as you know, while you can spontaneously pray, There are 3 specific times a day you're supposed to pray, and that's, that is supposed to connect you to God each time. It didn't work with me from my childhood. And I have finally made peace with the fact that God gives out, I'm convinced that God gives out different abilities and tendencies in all of us. You may have music and you may have architecture and You may have fiction and you may have carpentry, right? I mean, not everybody has everything. We respond differently. A dear friend of mine, I tried through much of my life to introduce to classical music. It is to him effectively noise. It's clear that that ability to touch, be touched by classical music just doesn't exist in him. And a person like me, the first time I heard Handel, I was in high school. I was a sophomore. The next day I spent my entire 2 weeks allowance on concert tickets. I ate, you know what I ate for lunch for the next 2 weeks? I went to yeshiva high school where they would have netilat yadayim, where you wash your hands before making hamotzi, the the prayer over the bread, there would be little pieces of rye bread so that you could immediately make hamotzi right after you washed. I would wait till all the kids did it and then eat the bag of hamotzi scraps. Did I ever tell you that? Yeah. So you knew that. And that was what I ate for 2 weeks. That is how deep. And I didn't think I was a hero. I was just so thrilled to be able to go to Carnegie Hall that often. I remember how much, $32 in tickets I bought. It was love at first hearing and it has never stopped. It is my drug of choice, music. And yet others don't have it. Others have ballet. I tried ballet for 2 seasons with tickets and all I did was look at the orchestra pit. Okay? I mean, which is a silly reason to go to the ballet. It doesn't touch me. Art touches some, not others. Prayer doesn't touch me. I wish it did, because any experience that could enrich me that I don't have, I'm a poorer person for. I go to synagogue every week and I have found one that I love with a great deal of singing and study, which touches me a great deal when it's sung, but the actual prayer doesn't really do much for me. And all of that is by way of a long statement that if there are among you Jews who do not relate to Jewish prayer that well, You should certainly give it a try, but if you find it doesn't after 47 years, try learning. This to me is my form of prayer. This is when I am touched by God. This to me is divine. As I explained what I mean by that, that there is the divine in it and the profundity You don't know. I know most of what we're teaching now by heart in Hebrew, which is not a credit to me. If any of you would, if you read it that many times and studied yeshiva till you were 18. My point though is that reading it again for this class, I can't believe how little I knew. I can't say, I, it just cracks me up. You mean, Dennis, you're just noticing that now? And I'm sure if I taught it next year, the same thing would happen, which is almost as Partially frustrating, but also partially exhilarating. And so I'm just— thought I'd give you, share with you what this does for me and why I have such enthusiasm for doing it, even though it really, it takes out the time from my life that is not easily afforded. But it is the best one of the best time outside of family time that I spend. Last week we were at the burning bush. Uh, one of you came over to me. If you're here, raise your hand, 'cause I wanna give you credit. It is this gentleman there. And I had said the angel that is mentioned only once, verse 2, chapter 3, verse 2, is not an angel as we think of angel as person, and certainly not a winged person. Uh, but I said it was the bush. And you corrected me as we were leaving and said it was the fire.

Correct.

And I think he's right. The angel, as it were, that appears to Moses is the fire, and it's out of the fire that the speech comes. And I wanted to make that clear for, for you and of course for the tape. Hi there in tape land.

All right.

Verse. So God speaks to him and we had done verse 4. You recall very quickly that That God was waiting to see, would Moses see this divine act that a bush was burning and not being consumed? And when God saw it, he called to Moses, Moses, Moses, which is a term of both divinity, God calling like Abraham, and of love. Moses, Moses. And he says, Hemeni, here I am. Verse 5 is what we're up to. And he said, that is, God said, don't come closer. Take the sandal or the shoe from off your foot because the place that you are standing on, I'm translating for you literally so you get a sense of the original text. Is Holy Land. Holy Land is where God is. This is, after all, no nothing. This is wilderness. What makes it holy is the appearance of God. Not that, that, that spot is any holier than this spot right here. Are you with me? That's what's God announcing. It's holy cuz I am here, not because this is designated holy spot necessarily. And so Moses hears this voice, and then God continues in verse 6. And God said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face because he was afraid. To look at God. God identif— this is very important now because this is God's introducing himself to a human. We don't really have this outside of this story. This is very powerful because in a way it's God introducing himself to humanity, to us, as I'll show you, not just to Moses. But the first thing God says to him is, I am the God of your father. And then the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac. So first, it's very specific. You will see a gradual movement of God from the very, very specific to the universal. The most specific is, I am the God of your father. Can't get more specific than that. Your Moses's father. Then broadening it a bit, And I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then in a moment when God reintroduces himself, you will see a much broader, incredibly universal introduction and self-description by God. This incidentally is the tension of Judaism in a nutshell, is to— is the tension between the particular and the universal. Are Jews Jews first or human beings first?

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

For a short devotional, we would love to introduce you to The Salvation Army's 1-minute podcast, Heartbeat. New episodes drop every Tuesday and Thursday.

One of the biggest questions we carry as human beings is, what happens next? What will heaven be like? The Bible gives us incredible promises about eternity. We know that through Jesus, death isn't the end. We know there will be no more pain, no more suffering, and that we will be with God. But it's interesting that the Bible doesn't give us every detail about heaven. And maybe that's intentional. Maybe God didn't reveal everything because he doesn't want us spending our lives only looking forward to the next one. He wants us to live this one. Jesus said, We don't have to fear the future because God holds eternity, but we also don't have to miss the beauty of the life he has given us right now. Live fully, love deeply, trust God with what comes next.

For more episodes of Heartbeat, visit salvationarmyradio.org.

Now back to more of Dennis Prager's Timeless Wisdom.

Okay. The answer is yes. It's the best answer I can give. Ultimately, the answer is humans first. I believe, and it's a lifetime of working through that issue that brings me to a simple statement like that, but not only This is worthy of its own lecture, and I have an essay on it. And so I don't want to belabor the point, but I need to explain it for a moment. There is a, the human being, Jew or not Jew, the human being is not a moderate by nature. The reason we're not moderates by nature is very simple. To give you a metaphor, it is as easy to be a moderate in life as it is to be a tightrope walker. It is much easier to fall off a tightrope onto the right side or onto the left side than to walk in the middle the whole time. It is exceedingly difficult. Therefore, to take Jews for an example, many Jews have either affirmed only their Jewishness and not their humanity, Or only their humanity and not their Jewishness. Both are wrong, morally wrong and dangerous. The Jews who affirm only their Jewishness and not their humanity are what we would call in modern parlance, right-wing extremists, chauvinists. It's every nation has this, not just Jews. That's what fascism is based on. Where you celebrate only the blood group you're in. Okay? The most virulent example being Nazism, where your loyalty was to the Aryan race. Non-Aryans were worthless creatures, not fully human. Therefore, to a Nazi, you were— the idea that you were a human before a German would be absurd. You're a German, period. End of issue. You know what that leads to. But it could lead to things like that if all you are is a Jew. I'm only a Jew. That is all I am. I, the humanity of it is irrelevant. Non-Jews are, are of almost another species. They're just a bunch of goyim. Is, is, is just wrong and not Jewish, not moral, not healthy. That's obvious to nearly all of you. What is less obvious to modern Jews is that only being human is as bad. And many Jews fell into the trap of universalism, of only being human. And these Jews were called, by and large, humanists or communists, which are certainly not the same thing. But I'm giving you 2 examples. A very famous example is the Jewish communist woman, Rosa Luxemburg. who said, and I'm paraphrasing, I would sooner care about what happened in the most distant tribe in Africa than what happened to a Jew. And this was common among Jewish communists, that they loved humanity and hated their Jewishness. People who are not rooted in something specific lose compassion, just like people who are only rooted in something specific and not humanity lose compassion. It is, for example, it's as if somebody said, I don't love my own children, but I love the world's children. You would say, that's very scary, isn't it? You would be very suspicious of their love for the world's children. I am very suspicious of a Jew who loves humanity but has nothing to do with Jews in the same way that I'm suspicious of a person who loves the families of the world. But has nothing to do with his or her family. That is why it is important to have a family, is in order to be bound to somebody, to a wife, to a sibling, to a parent, to a child, to a cousin, whatever it is. You don't have to have children to have realized what I'm saying, but you have to have someplace that you have some special bond, even if you can't stand them. which is half the time the case with family, right? I mean, let's be honest, but you still have the obligation and the bond. You would be, as I said, very, very worried about a human who loved the world's families, but not his own or her own. And that is, or at least show love to his or her own. I don't mean feel it. The emotions are not what matters here. God, likewise, God is introducing himself here. I am the God of your father. I am the God of the Jewish patriarchs, but that's not all I am. On the other hand, I'm not only the God of humanity, I have a special relationship with you individually. And every non-Jew should feel that too. This is not specific only to Jews, although this particular text obviously is, because God introduces himself through the Jews. But I can't really, there are not many more important ideas than that. We must all walk a line between the particular and the universal. It's incredibly simple to become too particularist or too universalist. And Jews have exemplified both, unfortunately, with the modern Jew especially attracted to the false god of universalism alone. Universalism is important, but first you have to be rooted in something. And by the way, the truth of the matter is you have nothing to say to the world if you are not rooted in some group. Think of the people who 20th century looks at for some wisdom. Mahatma Gandhi, he was first a Hindu. Mother Teresa, first a Catholic. Elie Wiesel, First a Jew, but these people have major messages to humanity, but they were first rooted as something. I don't know anyone who was not rooted as something who has a wisdom to give to the world. It was made clear to me when I studied Russian literature, and it was a very interesting thing. Dostoevsky, to the best of my knowledge, never left Russia, and all he wrote about are Russians. Now, why do people all over the earth want to read Dostoevsky? All he knew were Russians because he was rooted in the condition of his people, but had something universal to say. I'll give you a great example. The greatest, the father of child psychology is Jean Piaget. Jean Piaget learned everything that he knew about children from his children. I think that that is a terrific metaphor For how the particular is essential, essential for growth. But if you stop with it, you are small. You didn't grow. He, what he said was, my, I am first learning from my children, but there is something universal that I want to apply my own particular children wisdom to. namely the world's children. And he is read all over the world. He is the father, as I said, of child psychology. A lot of Jews have bent over backwards to be part of the world, but not given their children a particular identity. And it has not helped the children and it has not helped the world. On the other hand, many Jews who are Jewish ignore the world and go into religious ghettos, not wanting in any way to associate with the rest of the world. And they are, they have nothing to say to the world. And I don't even think they have much to say to fellow Jews. But that's, that's what God's tension is here. That is why, why didn't God say, why didn't God say when he meets Moses, hello, I am the creator of heaven and earth. Was that not more impressive than your father's God? You created heaven and earth. That's pretty good. No, that's not enough. Of course, God is creator of heaven and earth. That's Aristotle's God though. Aristotle believed in a God, but that God was not a personal God. That God was, in Aristotle's phrase, the unmoved mover. I moved the world, but then I'm not moved any longer. I have no relationship to any of you particularly. I'm, I'm the God of the universe. But not of the particular. God of Judaism is the God of the universe and of the particular. And now it goes from the most particular to the most universal, beginning with God's introduction. I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob. Now here's an interesting rabbinic idea on the God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob. Wouldn't it have been A lot simpler for God to say, I am the God of your father and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Why God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob? It strikes right. It's a good question the rabbis ask, and they have a beautiful answer. It's the same God, but every one of us relates differently to God so that Abraham's God is a little different than Isaac's. whose is a little different from Jacob's. And so while we all believe in one God, we all hear God a little differently. Not morally, that's supposed to be, you know, you can't hear, well, what God told me that murder is all right. No, that's different. But in your relationship, it is different. Every one of you who relates to God relates differently than everybody else. By the way, it's not different in a certain way from children And a parent, if they actually love the parent. It's the same parent, but the, the relationships are different. And that's, if it's true in human terms, it's certainly true vis-à-vis God.

Okay.

There's another reason I theorize why God did not introduce himself as God, the creator of heaven and earth, because If that would've been the identification that, that God gave to Moses to bring to the Jews, it wouldn't have meant anything. First of all, the Jews were not that theologically developed at the time. The God of our ancestors is much more powerful to somewhat primitive group of slaves in Egypt than the creator of the heavens and the earth. Secondly, it's not relevant to what's gonna happen now. God is revealing himself to Moses to get the Jews out of Egypt. So the creation of heaven and earth is not particularly relevant. It, it's almost as if God would say, I am the God of the— I am the God who created the heavens and earth, to which Moses would say, wonderful, that's really great to know you, have a nice day. 'Cause, but it, it wouldn't have mattered. What matters now is God the particular, because there is a particular reason God is revealing himself to Moses, not to tell him that there's a God who created the heavens and earth. But to say, I'm the God of the Jews and I didn't forget what I promised I would do, and that is to take them out of Egypt. Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look upon God. Clearly, none of us could understand this. God in Judaism is invisible in any event. It's just that it's too awe-inspiring what was happening. You just don't look when something like that happens. I mean, I think you can relate to that. It's just, you know, you, what are you gonna look up at? Oh, let me, oh God, really? Uh, it, it, it doesn't, it makes sense that he would, he would hide his face. Uh, interesting though that, uh, it doesn't say he hid his eyes. Uh, that he hid his face. I don't know what that means, but it, but when you think about it, I guess perhaps because he went like this. I guess you don't usually, you don't go like that. Kids do that. I guess that's the reason.

Number 7.

And God said, God is continuing to speak. I have seen, I have seen well. The Hebrew doubles the verb. I have really seen the, the, the suffering of my people. He keeps calling, by the way, the Jews my people. It's a very touching, touching phrase that God keeps using here. My people, my people, my people. I'm involved with them. It's my people. It's a loving phrase that is in Egypt. And I have heard their screams. The Hebrew is the most powerful word for an outcry. Tsa'aka. It's, scream is, I guess, the best English that we have that comes to it. I have heard their screams because of their taskmasters, their oppressors. And I, I, I, I know their sufferings or what, what is hurting them. K'ev machovav. What is causing them to be hurt? Notice that God uses 2 verbs here for his relationship to the Jew suffering. I saw the, the torture of my people, the suffering of my people. And I heard their screams. I saw and I heard. It's obviously anthropomorphic 'cause God doesn't see and hear the way we understand it. But it's interesting that God felt it necessary to say both words. The two way— the two most direct ways we get communication are the ear and the eye. Judaism trusts the ear more than it trusts the eye, but when it comes to suffering, Sight is sometimes more effective. One picture of, from the Holocaust may remain with you more than 10 tales told to you by ear. Both are important in understanding suffering. I wish in some ways it weren't true that people could relate to suffering orally as much as they do visually. But that's not really the human, the way we're made. Because if it were the case, there would be a lot more uproar, for example, in the world over Tibet, over what the Chinese did in Tibet. But because there were no cameras or videos to record it, there isn't, there isn't the outcry that it would normally elicit. That's why I don't rely on television, incidentally, to get my understanding of the world, because it's limited by what video cameras can video. And much of the evil of the world is not videoable. I have, I will come down to rescue it, the, that is the people. Again, I'm trying to translate literally from the hand of Egypt and to bring it up from that land to a good and large or wide land. A land flowing in milk and honey, to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusites. Uh, with regard to milk and honey, since it's not what you think it is, let me read to you from Sarna. Milk in the Bible is generally from the goat. The little man's cow. A plentiful supply presupposes an abundance of goats, which in turn points to ample pasturage and the prospect of much meat, hide, and wool. Now, you never would've known that, or I never did without Sarna telling me that. I always wondered, what's the big deal of milk and honey? But now, now you understand what the ancient mind thought. Ah, milk. Milk means goats. Goats means pasturage and meat, hide, wool. That's my kind of place. That is what milk meant. Honey in the Bible, dvash, is predominantly the thick, sweet syrup produced from dates. Again, something you would never have known. You'd probably every, all of us would've thought there are a lot of bees in Israel. You know, with busy hives, which, so what? You know, it's not also necessarily something that would've been critical. The combination of milk and honey provides a highly nutritious diet. Milk, widely regarded in the ancient world as a source of vitality, is rich in protein. The dried date is rich in carbohydrates. Ben Sira declared milk and honey to be among the chief necessities of human life in the ancient world. Some Arab tribes are known to subsist for months at a time solely on milk and honey. Now you understand why it meant a great deal, and it doesn't mean milk and honey as we understand it. You know, you, because when you think about it, Israel is not a big dairy producer. And yet that's what we would think with milk. A lot of cows with people with, you know, pushing udders, squeezing udders, you know, push udders. Okay. The, the, a very interesting thing here is with the, the 7 nations that are described as living in Canaan, Canaan, where, which is, becomes Israel. Why do you think they are listed? I don't have a complete answer, but I think the answer is to suggest that that land has never in history been identified with any one people. You identify France with the French, Burma with the Burmese, Japan with the Japanese, but Canaan is never identified with one people except the Jews. And that's the reason I am convinced the Torah lists 7 nations living in there. A lot of different peoples all through history have lived there, but only one has identified it with his national identity, and that was the Jew.

This episode of Timeless Wisdom will continue right after this.

For a short devotional, we would love to introduce you to The Salvation Army's One Minute Podcast. Heartbeat. New episodes drop every Tuesday and Thursday.

One of the biggest questions we carry as human beings is, what happens next? What will heaven be like? The Bible gives us incredible promises about eternity. We know that through Jesus, death isn't the end. We know there will be no more pain, no more suffering, and that we will be with God. But it's interesting that the Bible doesn't give us every detail about heaven. And maybe that's intentional. Maybe God didn't reveal everything Because He doesn't want us spending our lives only looking forward to the next one. He wants us to live this one. Jesus said, I have come that they may have life and have it abundantly. We don't have to fear the future because God holds eternity, but we also don't have to miss the beauty of the life He has given us right now. Live fully, love deeply, trust God with what comes next.

For more episodes of Heartbeat, Visit salvationarmyradio.org.

Now back to more of Dennis Prager's timeless wisdom.

There have only been 3 sovereign states in all of human recorded history in what is known as Palestine or Canaan or Israel: the First Jewish Republic or Commonwealth, the Second Jewish Commonwealth, and the modern state of Israel. And I am not a hawk on territory, so I'm not here to make This is not a political point. It is a historical point about why all of them were listed. It's not a land that we're gonna kick out the Japanese from Japan to make room for you. It's a hodgepodge now, and I want it identified, as it were, God is saying, with one people, and it is my people who will come in there. You can raise all sorts of moral problems when we get into Numbers about the The conquering of Canaan, but now's not the time. Verse 9. And now, by the way, verse 9 is one of those puzzles. It happens every so often. I have no answer. I have no explanation for, because verse 9 simply duplicates what you had in verse 7. And nobody explains that I have seen. And even I couldn't come up, not even, and I also couldn't come up with, a little arrogant, and I too couldn't come up with any explanation for it, why it is simply repeated. And now here is the cry of the children of Israel coming to me. And I have also seen the oppression which the, with which the, with which Egypt Oppresses them. It's simply a repeat in effect of verse 9. And again, it's, I heard the scream and I saw the oppression. So now verse 10, I will send you to Pharaoh and you will take my nation Israel out of Egypt. Can you imagine? This is one of those moments where I, I, wish we could go back in time. Moses is a happy shepherd living in Midian on the Sinai Peninsula, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, in a burning bush, he's told he's going to go back to Pharaoh and take the Jews out of Egypt. I mean, can you— it's not even imaginable. I can't even think right now of a parallel in any of your lives. But, you know, maybe God will appear to you tonight and tell you, you will solve all of America's problems, right? I mean, you know, you thought you had it bad today. This is, this is, I mean, it is so overwhelming, the news that comes to him. At any rate, maybe that's why, maybe I'll answer my question that I said was a puzzle. Maybe that's why it just occurs to me psychologically why God had to repeat the suffering of the Jews to make the case so much more powerful about why you have to help me get them out, or you have to help them get them out, however you wish to look at it. Do you understand? It's so terrible. It's so terrible. It's so terrible. And he's going, yeah, yeah, yeah. And now God pops the killer and you are going to take him out. You're going to go to Pharaoh and take him out just as It's like to remind Moses, you have it good here, but they're having it horribly there. You have to take them out. So I will send you to Pharaoh. Now, the first thing in Moses's mind, I am sure, when he hears, I'm going to send you to Pharaoh, is, I'm dead. Is that not right? That has to be the first reaction. I'm dead. I ran away from Pharaoh because he wanted to kill me. And now I'm told, go back to Pharaoh. That's the first thing it says. So that's, I am sure, his first reaction. Now he said, it says, you will take my people out of Egypt. Now you will notice, however, it does not say something else about what Moses will do. What had God just said to Moses? Please look. And this is where, you know, your 400th reading finally opens your eyes to this. Verse 8, 2 verses before, I'm gonna go and, and take them out of Egypt. And what does God say? And do what with them? Take them into Canaan, right? Okay. Into a good land of milk and honey. It doesn't say actually, it says Canaanite and others. Doesn't say that to Moses. You will take them out of Egypt, period. They will go into the promised land, but you won't. God doesn't say that. And I'm, I don't even believe that Moses picked up on it. I know. That's right. Sarna did. Prager did, but Moses didn't. And the reason is because, A, we never hear what we don't want to hear unless it's spelled out so clearly that we have no choice but to confront it. But B, because it doesn't seem to be necessary to state. And I'm going to go down and save them and take them into a land of milk and honey. And you, and I'm sending you to Pharaoh to take them out of Egypt and in his mind and take them into Israel, right? That would be the logical ending of the phrase in Moses's mind. I am sure of it that that is what he believed. And if you'd have asked him, hey, you met God, what did he say to you? Well, like a typical man, he probably would've said nothing. This would've been a problem. Can you imagine that if Moses, you know, was a typical guy? So what'd you say to God?

Eh, no.

No big deal. Take Jews out of Egypt. But if you would've somehow forced him to elaborate, I am sure he would've said, God wants me to go to Pharaoh and take the Jews out of Egypt and get 'em into, get 'em into the land of the Canaanites. But that's not what it said, which means therefore, and this is a very interesting thing 'cause it's, we're gonna have to square this with later. Is it because God knows that Moses will do something later that will render him unfit to take the Jews to Israel? I mean, you all know, or most of you know, you know, guy's punished because he hit the rock. I don't believe that for a minute, but that's much later on. But whatever it is, we all believe that it was taken away from Moses what was scheduled to be. But here it's not scheduled to be, which I believe is deliberate because I don't think from the outset God wanted Moses to take the Jews into Israel because of the fear, the absolutely correct fear that God would have that the Jews would then worship Moses and not God, which is why I believe in general, even before this reading, this, that, that was the reason he was not allowed into Israel. Because it's very easy to worship a human, or at least to worship where they're buried or what have you. So this, in a sense, we have hinted already to the reader more than to Moses that he's not gonna get into Israel.

Yeah.

Yes, it could be written after the fact. Of course, that's correct. And indeed, in essence it is even to those who believe God dictates every word to Moses. That's correct. That is one way of looking at it. I choose though to read the Torah as if this is what's happening when it's happening. You understand? That's a very correct statement, but I like to read it in the order it's put and to live the story, not Well, but it was given later and they changed the meaning to this, you know, and so on. But you're absolutely right. Can you imagine God dictating this? Which is the traditional Jewish view is God dictates the 5 Books of Moses except for the last, I think it's 17 or whatever verses to Moses, or less than 17. I don't remember the number. And do you remember the number? Okay. You don't? Would you raise your hand please?

17.

No, no, I was just joking. He's the fellow who told me about the angel leaning on the fire. And then can you imagine if it said, and you will take them into Israel? How could Moses write those words? It'd be too painful. You know, so what's the matter? You can't let me in? You promised me at the bush that you would. So that's a possibility.

Verse 11.

Moses's first objection. There's a series of objections to God's very interesting invitation to Moses. And so Moses says to God, who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should take the children of Israel out of Egypt? This is impressive. The obvious reason it's impressive is there's a statement of humility here. Remember I spoke to you last week about leadership and the best leaders are those who don't seek it, but who are drafted, as it were, who are happy with their lives and they're not aching for fame, et cetera. That's one obvious reason. Why? It's impressive, his response. Who am I to do all to go to Pharaoh and to take Israel out of Egypt? What though, would it the most, to make it more impressive though, imagine you're Moses and you're not so impressive. You're a normal person. What's your first reaction? And I, in a sense, told you already, what's your first reaction when you're told, go to Pharaoh?

No.

Well, he says, why me? I'll get killed. The most natural human reaction would be, what if somebody said to you, go back into Nazi Germany, you're a Jew, and meet with Hitler? Your first reaction is, I'll get killed, right? That is the most logical. That is, that makes Moses that much more impressive. He truly doesn't He truly isn't self-preoccupied in the way most of us would be. It's remarkable, which all the stories showed. He cared about, remember, he cared about the Jew being beaten. He cared about the Jews fighting. He cared about the non-Jewish women at the well. He cares about others so much that even his instinct isn't. It would've been totally okay in the Torah if he would've now said, Ah, the Pharaoh yaharogoti, and Pharaoh will kill me. Give me, you know, can I have some reassurance that that won't happen? No. Who am I to have such a task? That's why his, that's to me why it's even more impressive, his response. He also asks God, is he the right person? And for 2 reasons he says he may not be the right one, right? He has 2 objections in the first objection. One, or at least questions. Who am I to go to Pharaoh? That's number one. And who am I to take the Jews out of Egypt? You with me? Those are 2 separate questions he's asking God. I'm going to talk to the king of Egypt? I'm going to take the Jews out of Egypt? Either one is incredible. So he asks about both because both strike him As incredible that he would be asked to do both. Verse 12. And God said, remember, let me, who am I, right? Who am I that this, that to do one incredible thing? Who am I to do the other incredible thing? And God says, because I will be with you. It's a very complex verse, verse 12. And this will be your sign that I have, that it is I who has sent you. When you take the nation, the people out of Egypt, you will serve God. You will worship God on this mountain. I'm literally translating. Part 2 looks like a total non sequitur with regard to part 1. Let's— the whole thing is slightly a non sequitur. Who am I? Remember the questions, because then only then can we try to understand the answer. Who am I to talk to Pharaoh and take the Jews out of Egypt? God's answer, because I will be with you. Notice there isn't a word by God answering his question about who he is. You would think. Because I think you're the best man for the job. That would be a direct answer to Moses's question.

Who am I?

You're a great guy. I mean, that would be a logical thing, correct? Or I chose you from the womb. I don't know, anything like, you know, some spiritual answer. Because I like the way you dealt with the Egyptians. I like your wife. I mean, anything about Moses would've made, would've made sense. Nothing about Moses. And that is critical here for, for the essence of Judaism. While he tells him, you'll take them out, it's the fact is I'm taking them out. You are my vehicle. That's what his answer is. Who are you? The truth is nobody. That's what, in, in, without insulting Moses, this is God's answer. Who are you? I'm with you. That's who you are. You get the answer now? It's a great answer, isn't it? God's very sharp. You have to hand it to God. I want to tell you, when it comes to answers, God is number one. So that is what God is saying. I, you forget who you are. It's a, it's a question is irrelevant. I'm with you. That's how you're gonna take them out. That's how you're gonna talk to Pharaoh. If God's with you, you can do anything you want. So that is God's answer to who you are. I'm with you now. Now, write it down cuz I don't want you to forget it. Now, this will, this is for you a sign that I have sent you. Now, this is very complex. What is the, this? What's the sign that I have sent you, that I, God, has sent you? There are 2 possibilities. This is the part that took me a very long time. Usually I have 2 lines of notes for any given verse. I have most of the page For this verse, because I write in very succinct form. This is for me after all. This is not, you know, for others to read. One possibility of what the sign is, is that it's the burning bush. God is talking out of the burning bush. That's why this makes sense. This burning bush that isn't being consumed is a sign to you that God is with you. I get it. which you can't tell from the sentence necessarily.

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Now back to more of Dennis Prager's Timeless Wisdom.

The other possibility though is Moses is being able to take the Jews out of Egypt, being able to negotiate with Pharaoh and to bring the Jews right back to this mountain to worship God. This is much more complex, and the more and more I thought of it, the more I believe that this might be the, the explanation. Which is not one that I normally have seen, or I don't think I've seen at all. Again, there were 2 possibilities. This is the sign that I am with you. Sign number one, the burning bush. Sign number 2, that you will take the Jews out of Egypt and bring them here right where you are now at this mountain, and they'll worship me. Now there's something wrong with sign 2. If my theory is— there's a real challenge to my theory that the burning bush is the sign. Makes total sense, right? This is a divine sign. It's clear. Number 2's problem is it hasn't happened yet. It's a very big, you know, I could just see Moses. What a great sign. You know, it's not a— it's a sign after it happened. So let me read more of what I wrote. If the first is correct, that is that the burning bush is the sign, then the second part of the verse is telling Moses what to do and what to tell Pharaoh to take the Jews out of Egypt and bring them here. Remember, he, when he, remember, I, I never jump ahead except when it's absolutely essential because I'd like to teach it. In the timeframe it's in. But he always says to Pharaoh later, let my people go so that they may go and worship God in the wilderness.

Okay?

It's never just let my people go, and I'll explain why later when we get to it. So in a sense, God is giving him a directive. This is your, you know what, according to theory 1, the sentence reads as follows. Okay? I'll read you the sentence, how it would be read. And God said, because I will be with you, this burning bush and me talking to you will be the sign for you. Furthermore, when you take the nation from Egypt, you will serve God on this mountain. That is how verse— the verse would read if the sign God refers to is the burning bush. I'll repeat it. Okay.

Again.

And God said, because I will be with you, This burning bush and me talking to you will be the sign for you. Semicolon. With me? Semicolon. Furthermore, when you take the nation from Egypt, you will serve God on this mountain. A perfectly plausible reading, which is the only reading possible if the sign is the bush. But if it is the other, If the sign is coming here, taking Israel out of Egypt and worshiping at this mountain, then the verse would read, and God said, because I will be with you, and this will be the sign for you, colon, not semicolon, colon. When you take the nation from Egypt, you will serve God on this mountain. You get it? And God said, because I will be with you. Yes.

Who am I?

Because I will be with you. And this will be the sign for you. When you take the mount, when you take the nation from Egypt, colon, when you take the nation from Egypt, you will serve God on this mount. I believe that it is the second. Till an hour before this class, I believed it was the first. Rattling my brain, I felt, and the final analysis, I come down on the second reading. It is a direct response. You will know that you were the man, answering your question, who am I, when you have taken the Jews out of Egypt and brought them to this mountain. That's how you, that's truly when you will know. That will be a sign for you that I am with you. Your task will have succeeded. Hertz has a colon. Hertz has a colon too. Good. Listen, this is very important because if this is correct, and, and I certainly find number 1 plausible. Okay. I truly do. I don't reject the possibility that number one is the, is the, is the thing, is the, is the explanation. But if it is number 2, it means that we do not know that God has been with us until after the fact. Even people who talk directly to God did not know for sure until after the divine purpose has been fulfilled. This is a very important point, and it relates to every one of you. How do you know if God has played or plays a role in your life? The truth is you only know afterwards. You don't know in advance. The only time you can ever really tell Is after the fact. And it's true for Moses. How will Moses know that God is with burning bush, smirning bush? What if he goes to Egypt and nothing happens? You'll know that I'm with you because you are gonna be here worshiping with a free Jewish people at this spot.

Oh.

And isn't that the truth? Isn't that the absolute truth? That's only then will Moses know when the task is completed. And that's how any of us know about God in our lives, when we know afterwards. Now it makes sense. How many of you have gone through things in life which made no sense or seemed horrific when it happened and turned out to be blessings? And if I'd have said to you, God is in this act, God is in this act, give me a break. This is terrible. And then in the long run of things, certain things do make sense. Not for everybody. I already said, I don't know if God operates in everybody's life. We dealt with that, you know, in a previous session. But even for those to whom God directly, directly reveals himself, they only know it once it's happened. It's faith until it happens. Even for Moses, a burning bush, a God talking to him to go to Egypt and try to get the Jews out is an act of faith. You won't know, Moses, until you are back here with the Jewish people at Sinai. You won't know for a fact until that happens. Until then, it is partially revelation. And partially faith, your faith that is gonna enable it to happen. That's why I believe in explanation number 2. This is the sign that I am with you. You're gonna be here with the Jewish people worshiping me at Sinai. And it's a tremendous lesson for all of us. It is. That is the only way to know when God, that God is with you. When you could see to know it, you believe it. You can believe it at any time in life, but you can only know it afterwards. And it may not even be in your lifetime that you'll know it. It may be obvious later. It may be obvious to your children. It may be obvious to, to friends who outlive you. To those who touch history, it's usually only obvious afterwards. Did Lincoln really know what he had done? Did Washington really know? My ultimate statement is that's Jewish history. Jewish history is an act of faith. To be an identifying committed Jew is an act of faith. But we now have an after-the-fact We have 3,200 years of Jewish history since, since the Exodus. Looking back, do you see God in Jewish history? I do, especially after the Jewish return, the in— an incomparable act that has never happened in human history of a people wandering 2,000 years, of a people influencing the world. That is people totally despised, but its one God idea takes over much of humanity. I see the God, I see God in Jewish history as plainly as Moses could see God in his life at Sinai later. But at any given moment in Jewish history, it seems that God is not around. That's why this, I think, is the real explanation. Because it's truer to life. Afterwards, you see that God's hand was in it, not during it. It's too difficult. The larger picture is not obvious. And that, as I say, is to me Jewish history. If I were a Jew in the Holocaust, would I say that the Jew, that God is in Jewish life? It would be pretty, pretty clear that God wasn't doing much in Jewish life. It's only at an extremely larger picture. That one looks at this whole Jewish scene and says, "It's too incredible to have been solely man-made," and that's why I buy explanation number two. Got to put it down. Got to put it down. Forgive me. The word for serve God in this verse, in verse twelve. Is the same verb as the verb for slavery. The Hebrew servant and the Hebrew slave, the Hebrew worship and the Hebrew serve, and the Hebrew enslave is the same word. La avod. It's even the same as to work. It's it it it has many many meanings. The reason for that, I suspect, and God's choice of the same. Verb for what the Jews did to Pharaoh is what they'll do for God is because of the basic Jewish belief that you either serve God or you serve man. And so, and I'm gonna go, I'm gonna elaborate on this when the Exodus takes place and the purpose of the Exodus. There's a purpose. God didn't slay the— God did not free every enslaved people. There's a bigger purpose than freedom, and, uh, and that is to worship God, to serve God. That's so, that's why it says that you have to stop serving man, then you can serve God. You can't serve both at, at the same time. Verse 13. This is now objection number 2. After God's soliloquy about the the sign, and Moses said to God, "Here I here I come." It's so beautiful that you here I come. It's basically hine again. Here here I come to the children of Israel, and I tell them, "The God of your fathers sent me to you." And they're going to say to me, what's his name? What am I going to tell them? It might be my favorite sentence in the Bible. The humanity of it, it is all it, and the total humanness of it. I mean, he's talking to God, you know, who shall I say called? I mean, right? Is that not it? I mean, that is exactly what he said. You know, listen, It's a great idea. Taking the Jews out of Egypt is a winner. I like your idea of miraculous signs, but who exactly shall I say I'm representing? That is exactly what he does. It's so beautiful. It's so real. You know, it's like, okay, okay, enough with the theology and the morality. What's your name? Before we go any further, it's important to know that. It's just, it's so priceless. It's like, this is the way I put it. His first objection is, who am I? His second objection is, who are you? That's how I label them. You know, who the hell are you? You know, I know you're God and all this, but I would like to know you better. Now, this is a remarkable question. What's your name to God? First of all, it implies that the Jews didn't know God's name. What name shall I use implies that they don't have a name, that all they know is that I have an ancestral God. Otherwise, he would know what name, right? Roshbam, however, a medieval Jewish— it's redundant to add Orthodox Jewish commentator— went so far as to say it implies Moses didn't even know God's name. That's how far they had strayed from the faith. Because it might have been simply too difficult for Moses to say, I don't know your name. So he puts it as a problem. It's almost, you know what? Who do that all the time? Parents do that at speeches that I give. And they go, Mr. Prager, what should I answer to my kid When they ask. And in every instance that a parent has asked that question to me, when I have said, well, I'm just curious, how do you answer that question for you? Beats me. Parents always do that. You know, how do I explain to my kid that bad people prosper and good people suffer? So do you have an answer for you? No. So I said, let's be honest. The problem is you, not your kid. We often will do that. It's like I get on my show a lot of times, you know, Dennis, my friend has this problem. The friend is them. But people don't want to acknowledge it. Rashbam, in effect, is saying that he doesn't even know God's name. Well, he was raised as an Egyptian, though obviously knew from his mother and sister that he was a Jew. But who knows how much theology he got and how much, as I say, the whole problem is that there was an abandon, a gradual abandoning of faith. So what is your name? What should I tell them is your name? Now, Plaut suggests— should have put the page down— that here, that there was a problem with Moses's own faith. And I read it to you because it is important for you to hear others' views, but I don't happen to have that one.

Whoa.

Sorry?

Thank you. No, no, I don't know the ages, but he's a, he's somewhat of a young man here. That's the, that's the implication, but I don't know how accurate that is. It might've been many years cuz it does say after many years earlier. It's a good question. I don't know if it's knowable. Well, then he wasn't a young man. That's clear. He was a young 80. Yes. Right. Who knows? Okay. Let me see. No, 4— wait, what did you say? 403?

Right.

Oh yeah. Here is the way— this is what Plaut says. The series of objections that Moses raises before he accepts the mission reveals a man who not only feels unworthy of the task, but also has doubts about the efficacy of the mission itself. That's an interesting reading of it. Some may read that into it, some may not. Although Moses has been categorically told that Israel would listen to his message, he demurs and says, this is, we'll come to it, what if they do not believe me and do not listen to me? In contrast to Abraham, who never questioned his being singled out by God and never sought to learn his essence by asking for God's name, Moses is frankly doubtful. Like a Jeremiah later on, he resists the divine call and not long thereafter regrets that he ever agreed to go. Rashi therefore described Moses as one who had little faith. I think that's an overreading of Rashi, and the Talmud considered his response to God to have been a reason for not being allowed to enter the Promised Land. I don't buy any of that, but I want you to understand the way people interpret it. Just different interpretations than mine. I do not regard what Moses is doing as a lack of faith. Okay. I think the question about what is your name strikes me as an honest question. I want to understand your essence. I'm putting my life in your hands. I'd like to know more about you. I don't, that's not a lack of faith in my opinion at all. And it's also a good, it's a good tactic. Who am I gonna say sent me? He knows who he came from, that these Jews are by and large, you know, pagans who believe in a deity of their ancestors. It's a very, it's a very fair question to say, who am I to go? It's not a statement of doubt either. It's a, it's an honest statement. Who am I? I don't speak that well. I can get killed there. I don't think I'm worthy of, you know, being your emissary to take them out. And yet others read it this way. And he writes, Rashi's assessment is too simple. Resistance of the prophet to the divine demand is a complex fabric woven of faith and doubt, anxiety and a sense of unworthiness. The Bible does not depict its heroes as cardboard saints who answer the divine challenge without question. Abraham's apparent readiness to sacrifice his son is not necessarily an exception. He had evidently by this time reached a firm and unshakable faith. Moses at the bush is at the beginning of his knowledge of God. It's an important point. And while he is struck with awe and even fear, he remains also very much himself and preserves his right to refuse initially, and then to doubt and question. He never loses this independence, even long after he becomes the intimate of his God. Which is, to me, a great credit of, of the Torah. That it depicts it that way. The freedom that Abraham felt to challenge God, you recall over Sodom, the freedom that Moses feels here is not common at all. I think in fact it's unique in monotheistic holy literature of people being talked to by God and answered totally, really not I hear you, I submit to you, but rather, wait a minute, I want to understand you better. In that sense, with all that is spoken about the Jews not emphasizing intimacy with God, it's a very intimate relationship with God. When Jews question God or yell at God, that's more intimate at the— with the very important proviso that I I am a member of one religion, not other religions, and that therefore I have an inherent bias. And with the important proviso of great respect for the insights of other religions, I, I will tell you a story having made that introductory statement. A very quick one. A woman once called me years ago on my radio show and she said, Dennis, I'm a Muslim.

Yeah.

Could you tell me please why you're not a Muslim? And I was very, very complimented by the fact that she would ask. So she knew I took Islam seriously enough to give a serious answer and that she felt free enough to, to talk to me like that. And I said, look, you know, I, I, I, I, I have believed in this religion and, you know, I'm sure that, you know, I have not immersed myself as a member of your religion, but I'll tell you one reason very quickly. The name of your religion in your religion's language and the name of my religion or people in my religion's language give the answer. The key word in your religion is Islam. The identity in my religion, if not key word, is Israel. They mean something. Islam means submission to God and Israel means fight with God. And I rather fight with God than submit, than surrender to God. Obviously there's a submission element, obviously. Nevertheless, you see from the way Moses reacts, it is par for Judaism to talk back to God respectfully. That is God after all. But, but you know, it, it, it, it, you don't blink. You don't blink when you read in the Torah that the greatest Jew who ever lived says to God, What's your name? All you want to know is what's the answer, right? You don't sit there and go, wow, I can't believe he asked that. No, what you say is, God, I'm dying to know what God answers. And I will tell you because it is very important what God answers. You see, thus far it's God, the God of the patriarchs, To Moses, that's not enough. God needs a name. Apparently going to the Jews and saying the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob isn't enough. You with me? It, the, the God needs a name. So, uh, we are at verse Yes, that's right. What's his name? And so on. What shall I say to them? And now the most sublime, I think the most sublime verse in the Torah. And God said to Moses, ehia asher ehia, which means one of 4 things. And they're all related, but, but it, it, There is no way to know which of the 4 is correct. There is no way to know. Okay? All 4 are equally possible. I will be what I will be, or I am what I am, or I will be who I will be, or I am who I am. In other words, there are 2 possibilities. Either it's what or who, and they're not the same. They're related, but they're not the same. And it could be present or future. You know, you may ask, why is that? There's a difference between I am who I am and I will be who I will be. There is in English, but there isn't in Hebrew because there are many languages, and I only realized this when I studied Russian, that do not have a present tense for the verb to be.

Hmm.

They have a past and a future so that in Hebrew and Russian and Arabic, If you want to say I am a waiter, you say I waiter. And it's obvious you don't need am when you think about it. It's, it really is pointless. Okay? Uh, and so you have the verb to be is only future and past. This is the future of the verb, uh, to be, and therefore can be Either I am what I am, or I will be what I will be, or I am who I am, or I am who I will be. Now the question is, in any of those events, but what what exactly does it mean? The the answer the answer here is. The answer that God gives is the essence of God. God's name is Jehovah. God's proper name, as you probably know, it's not said in Hebrew, where instead of J is a Y sound, a Y sound. It's just not pronounced by Jewish tradition. It's too holy. What does Jehovah mean? It only means being For will be, or will be, will be being, so to speak. In effect, God's name is Is. Not short for Izzy or Isidore, but Is. I-S. Essentially, God is. The answer is so profound that it can't be used again except for the next verse, verse 14. Nowhere in the Torah is God ever referred to again as eheyeh, will be, or am. Never. It's the only time in the Tanakh, forget the Torah, in the whole Hebrew Bible, It's the only time that the name God gives to Moses is ever used. And the reason is it's much too abstract for most people today, let alone slaves in Egypt. I am convinced, therefore, that this answer that God gives to Moses is for Moses's sake and for ours. Because you wanted to know the answer too, to what's your name, right? You, the reader today, 1995, 2095, 3095, or '95. People wanted to know what is, what is God's name? Because name gives essence, especially in the Torah. And I named him Isaac because laughter in his Yitzchak. And I named him Gershom because it means I was a stranger there. Name is essence. I told you the story that when we named our fish, we got attached to them. When we didn't name our fish, the attachment was much less. So if you keep fish, don't give them names because they tend to die on you. And name, and conversely, in the concentration camps, they took Jews' names away and gave them numbers. Your essence was taken away from you. Your humanity was removed. That's why we could treat you as they were treated. You are a number. Name is very important. That's why he asks that. He doesn't ask— a modern philosophical person meeting God at a burning bush would say, what is your essence? That is what the question, what is your name in Torah talk is. What is your essence? And this answer is for Moses and the rest of us, clearly not for the Jews in Egypt. It's never used again, as I keep telling you. I am what I am. I cannot be explained, Moses. All I can say to you, to be honest about me, is that I am, and that I appear in different ways at different times, and that I, I manifest myself differently in different ways. And that's why I will be what I will be, and I am what I am, and I am who I am and will be who I will be. But I am. And in essence, ladies and gentlemen, I am enamored of this verse because I want a deeper answer than the God of my forefathers. The God of my forefathers doesn't turn this Jew on nearly as much as this. To each his own. I told you, we all respond in different ways. That's the beauty of this response. To some, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob is just enough. Oh, is that great? It's the family, it's the tribe's God. I'm into this God. To me, I want something that gives me something more universal and deeper. I am, and folks, to me, that's all I want to know. I don't want to know more about God than God is, because anything else that you tell me about God in essence anthropomorphizes God. It makes God human-like. What are you gonna tell me? That God is good? That's good to know. Sure. It's good to know though, so that I'll, I'll know that it's important to be good cuz I wanna be God-like. But, but in, in essence, the only knowable thing of the human mind about God is that God is. And so that's it. And that God is in being. Now, there are those who will take from this an idea that God is continually evolving. I personally don't buy that. I think that God doesn't evolve because God is fully formed, but I'm just saying how others might want to interpret it. The truth of the matter is that for most of us, isn't it enough to know that God is? I mean, isn't that alone comforting? It means, right? It means a lot. Certainly for most of us moderns, that's really all we care about. You know, if God is, I want to know that God is. Good. Thank you. That is important to me and helpful to me, and that is more or less enough. And so God says, and this is our final, our final verse for today. And God continued because this is, I used to do a routine on this, you know, on 14. Oh yeah, we're, we're finishing 14. That's right. 'Cause we didn't, uh, we didn't, I, the first part is, uh, I am, I am who I am. And I, I, when I used to do this with, uh, college kids, I would, you know, tell 'em, and Moses is waiting there at the bush.

Yeah.

And he asks the ultimate question. He wants to know, God, who are you? And God says, I am who I am. And Moses is not one bit richer for having asked the question. Give you an example. If somebody knocked at your door and you said, who's there? And they said, I am who I am, you would still not know who's there. Is that not correct?

No.

So in a sense, Moses is not left with a great deal of knowledge after that answer. I mean, I have given you a whole philosophical spiel on what I Am Who I Am is, but for all we know, this wasn't terribly informative to Moses. Oh, that's wonderful. Thank you. You are who you are. I appreciate that.

Yeah.

And that is why, that is why in 15 you'll see God realizes this is not gonna work. But let me finish 14. So, uh, you go and tell the Israelites, will be sent me to you, or is sent me to you. Am actually tell 'em am sent you. Now, can you imagine the guy doesn't want to go anyway? And now he gets this from God, you know, tell 'em am sent you. That is why you notice there is no, at this point, no dialogue. The next person or the next being to speak is God. God knows exactly what's going on in Moses's mind. And that is why, since this is never mentioned again in the Bible, I am totally convinced this answer was given for later sophisticated readers. Or for Moses, if he was sophisticated enough at the time, because it is never referred to again. It's incredible. I mean, the most important question ever asked of God, who are you? The answer is given and never referred to again in the Bible. And it's almost as if God said, oh, you really want to know? I am what I am. It's not going to work. I know that no one's going to understand it. So let's return to earth. And sure enough, verse 15, and God continued to speak. It's what it has continued to. It almost never has something like that. It's like, I know that's not working. Okay, Moses, you know, you're flipping out. It's bad enough you have to show up in Egypt and now tell 'em Am sent you. I understand. So God continues and says to Moses, this is how you will speak to Israel. Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob sent me to you. That's my name forever, and that is how I will be remembered from generation to generation. It won't work to tell them who I really am. You've got to give them a, a pronoun Yahweh, Jehovah, that they'll, they'll relate to and especially tribalize it. So ladies and gentlemen, I conclude by telling you, for the Jews then, a tribal identity was absolutely necessary. Our God, our ancestors' God. But at the moment of divine revelation of self, The likes of which we never have again in the Bible, of God describing himself. He used the most sublime phrase that we could ever imagine. I am, and I am what I am. And there is in essence no way you humans can know more about me. But because that won't work, tell 'em Jehovah, the God of their fathers, sent you. And that's where we got to today. Okay, thank you. You want to? You have a couple of questions here, and then we'll we'll just take five minutes. So if you folks could stay, anybody can. I know some people have to leave. We'll just do five minutes of questions, and then next week take more. Yes. If I was born in Jerusalem, it would be so unusual that the Israelites would know that guy. There'll be nobody, nobody other than the God and the Father. Furthermore, so many unusual people to ask. So I'm like, did he have that, that question? Well, last question that he got asked, like, who makes you ruler over us? I think now I'm going to have a big streak that man is going to finally ask him that question. Yes, I agree with you totally. That's absolutely right. He had to ask the question, etc. Yes. Um, I come from a secular Jewish upbringing, and that's why I'm asking this question. When you were talking— Her preface is that she comes from a secular Jewish upbringing. That's why she has to ask this question. Yes. When you were talking about God is in this act and how do I know if God has acted in my life? I think you partially explained it. I'm looking for what am, what am I, what am I looking back on and saying, oh, that was God. I mean, it's not goodness and it's not beauty. We're talking about that's anthropomorphizing. So it just is a feeling. It felt spiritual.

It felt big.

Well, sure. I see what you're— she's asking, and that's why you prefaced it with you come from a secular background. No, I'm going to give you an intellectual, not a feeling answer. At least intellectual in the sense that I'm going to appeal to your intellect and that it's not solely feelings-based, though there is an element of that. I believe that there were a couple of times in my life where God acted. There was, in retrospect, there was no way for me to know it at that time. Seeing what those events led to. And I don't mean that it became a great day for me, okay? As a result of that, I went to Encino one day in my life, bought a lottery ticket, and it turned out to win me $2 million. And if God sent me to Encino, that's not what I'm thinking of. I'm thinking of things that had a deeper ramification for others. As well as for me. And only in retrospect. I'll give you an example. Okay? And again, it's faith. It could be total coincidence. I did a lot for Soviet Jewry when I was young, a real lot. I was one of a handful of people who really did a lot for Soviet Jewry. It's not a brag, it's a fact. Nobody cares today anyway, and thank God they don't because they're basically free. Why did I take Russian in college? There was no reason in the world. I have no relative who speaks it. It was as weird a thing as my family could not understand. Why is Dennis taking Russian? Right?

Mm-hmm.

If I had not taken Russian, I would not have been sent to Russia, which I was by the Israeli government who would send Jews from outside of Israel to do, to Bring materials in and out and so on. And that enabled me to do a great deal. It could be totally coincidental. I'm just saying that's an example, and it wasn't for me. It's why I'm using it as an example. I don't know. I can't prove that God did that. You all have, or many have, a way of looking at certain things that at the time seemed inconsequential or even negative and then had a very deep impact. That is what I mean. And even then it's a matter of faith. Listen, it's a matter of faith. Moses could have said it's not— a lot of Jews did. The Jews who got to Sinai didn't all say God took us out. They worshiped a cow, right? Yes. Last one. If we could go back an hour and 15 minutes before this, talking about running through. And you believe in one, but in two? Yes. Maybe it's both of them because the first point is, hmm, when he says, who am I?

Yes.

Yes, Anthony. She denies that. Well, my— also, God knows, make the point, and maybe Pharaoh will kill me. So that's really your answer. No, no. That there are two signs. Yeah. Here's the sign in the boat. Right. Right. He's not going to kill me because what's the use? Look who I am. Then when you take the people out, then you really know for yourself. Right. The problem is, he's saying that both are signs, the burning bush and the, and you're coming here with the free Jewish people worshiping me at Sinai. The problem with that, and it doesn't negate it, the only is that it's in the singular. You would think it would've been, and these are your signs. Rather, it said, and this is your sign. That's my only problem with your explanation. You're a guy who loves, you know, to bring opposing viewpoints together, and that's a beautiful trait. And you may be right, but the problem I had is a grammatical one. Thank you. See you next week.

On tomorrow's Sunday Fireside Chat.

People are taught to mock religion and, and, and the teaching has worked. That is one's immediate instinct. You know, I remember years ago— it's funny that this is coming back. I don't think I've raised this in 20 years. About 20 years ago, I remember asking on my radio show, what would you rather be caught by colleagues? Let's say you're on the plane and colleagues, people at your workplace, by coincidence, are passing you. As you're sitting, you know, at an— let's say an aisle seat near the front, would you rather be caught reading Playboy or the Holy Bible? Which would embarrass you more? That's really what I was asking. The very fact that the question is legit gives you Gives you an idea of to what extent people find the Bible worthy only of mockery and embarrassment.

Join us tomorrow to hear more on Timeless Wisdom with Dennis Prager. Visit DennisPrager.com for thousands of hours of Dennis's lectures, courses, and classic radio programs, and to purchase Dennis Prager's Rational Bible. We want to take just a second to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership with us on the podcast. Go to lifeaudio.com to find dozens of other faith-centered podcasts in their network, including shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.

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