In reality the word Torah in Hebrew simply means instruction or teaching.

Proverbs 1:8-9

“Do not forsake your mothers Torah”

 

The terms “Old Testament and New Testament” need to be removed from our vocabulary. The proper name for what is inaccurately called the old testament is the Tanakh also known in Hebrew as the Miqra (Mi-kra). Tanakh is and acronym for the sections of the “Old Testament”.

TA = Torah, also known as the book of the law or the Law of Moses. The Greek word for this section of the bible is the “Pentateuch” This is important to know because the Septuagint is the Tanakh translated into Greek.

NA = The second section with is Nevi'im which is the book of the prophets. Judges, Joshua Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zachariah, and Malachi.

KH = Ketiuvim The poetic and wisdom literature. Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther.

Why is this Exodus called “Shemot” in Hebrew? Each book of the first five books of the bible are simply titled whatever the beginning statement was about. “Bereshit”, Genesis, Beginnings, and so on. Exodus traditionally is thought of as a continuation of Genesis because it is the account of the beginning of, and the constitution of the Nation of Israel.

The nation of Israel is not defined by physical boundaries but rather by the obedience to the commandments of YHVH. If you are a Torah observant person, you are a participant in the covenant of YHVH and therefore a part of the nation of Israel  The name Israel means  “He who wrestles with YHVH.” 

Leviticus 26 also makes it clear that "If you walk in my statuets and keep my commandments..." 

YESHUA himself proclaimed:

Matthew 5:17:18 "Do not think I have come to distroy the Law or the Prophets.  I did not come to destroy, but to fullfill. For assuradly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one title, will by no means pass until all is fulfilled.

Last time I checked heaven and earth have not passed and YESHUA has not come back, which is the fulfilment.  This topic could be a complete teaching by itself.

A few notabel quotes about Exodus:

“Exodus is a classic in its own right politically in that it is an account of the birth of a great nation and people. The roots of both the French revolution and the American revolution came form the book of Exodus.” -Dr Os Guinness

“Too often we neglect the contribution of the Hebraic sources to western civilization, particularly the Torah. The Exodus gives an extraordinary claim that morality is God given through the commandments and not merely discovered through trial and error of man kind.” -Dr James Orr Divinity Professor Cambridge University

“God is good, and demands we be good, is the only belief that will enable us to make a good world. I believe if people properly understand the Torah and attempt to live by its values and precepts, the world will be an infinitely kinder and more just place.” In general it has not gone well for Jewish people, or the world, when we cease believing in the Torah and belief in the Torah is abandon, social movements with non-Torah, or even anti-Torah values, gain power and erode moral values eventually destroying society. Having God, religion, a religious community, and a sacred text in one's life enables one to have a far deeper and richer, not to mention wiser life. The Torah is given by God, how HE chose to deliver it is His business.” --Dennis Prager                                                                                Author, Radio Talk Show Host                                                          Exodus, the Rational Bible Introduction.

“Whatever is the top of your hierarchy of perception, will function as god for you. Exodus leads us to the highest ethical spirit, to which we are beholden and is presented precisely as the spirit that allies itself with the cause of freedom against tyranny. If it is the voice of God speaking to you then its going to call you out of slavery. Maybe the slavery of your own mind, the slavery of external conditions into freedom. Even if that pulls you into the dessert.”                              -Jordan Peterson                                                              Physiologist, Author and Commentator

In Exodus YHVH shows Israel who HE is, HE is trustworthy, HE is holy, He is just, but HE is also not to be trifled with. Exodus ends with YHVH showing Israel who they are in HIS sight.                              --Tom Bradford Seed of Abraham Ministries

Exodus is the beginning of YHVH giving his laws and statutes to HIS chosen people and in the Hebrew mindset, Genesis, was the foundation for Exodus.  Exodus is considered the second half of the creation story because form those foundations, YHVH began building the nation of Israel.

There are many foundational truths that are laid out in Exodus

- A universal God with one “Father in Heaven”, and that all human beings are brothers and sisters. 

- An invisible, incorporeal God: Therefore, the physical, is not the only reality. Life is infinitely more than the material world in which we live during our brief lifetime on earth.

- A moral God with ultimate justice that will prevail, if not in this life but the next.  Humans can argue with, and question, this just God. The word Israel means “Wrestle with God”. God expects us to ask questions and even struggle against our human nature to follow His instruction.

- A God beyond nature. God made nature, and is therefore not natural but instead supernatural. The book of Exodus ends the universal human belief in nature gods, such as rain, sun, and moon gods, just to mention a few. It is also significant to realize that all of YHVH's holidays, are based on historic events that are there to help us re-live the GOD moments in our faith. While all of the pagan holidays are based on nature events. Easter is the spring equinox, Christmas is the Winter Equinox, and so on.

- A God who loves and wants to be loved. Nature gods did not love humans. Humans had to constantly appease them.

- Universal human worth. The commandment to keep the sabbath day, for example, is specific that every person including the slave had a day of rest. Not to mention Genesis tells us that all mankind is made in God's image.

- Universal human rights. The Torah, time and time again tells us to treat everyone with kindness and dignity.

- As YHVH chose HIS people, HE also calls us to be separated from the rest of the world. Set apart, (Sanctified) for HIMSELF. HE begins in Exodus to lay out HIS laws and statutes that are designed to make us different and sanctify us so that we can remain in right relationship with HIM and set apart from the world.

In Exodus, along with every other book of the bible, many times God's people, especially HIS chosen people are portrayed in a negative light. Moses makes many mistakes and has serious anger management issues. This is unprecedented in any ancient national or religious, literature world.This Is even more evedance to the credibility of divine inspiration.

“The more I study Torah, The more I am convinced that it is the revealed word of God. The more I study ancient cultures, the more I see the absolutely radical disparity between the values of pagan civilizations and the values which Torah brought into the world.          -Rabbi Saul Berman                                                                Renowned Orthodox Rabbi                                                    Yeshiva University

The Torah Battles against many of the dominant ideas of our time, just  as it did three millennia ago when the Torah came into the world.

What difference does it make if the Torah was God inspired or man made philosophy? God commanded. When we say this, we are determining that a supreme authority is setting the standards. Human philosophy is flawed philosophy. The Torah is the infallible words of YHVH/God, ELOHIM, ALMIGHTY and Exodus is completely YHVH centered. He is present, and he is near, but at this point, HE has no physical presence.

If the commandments of any religion or philosophy are man made, they can be easily ignored or changed to accommodate our whims of social convenience. If you acknowledge, except, and submit to the ultimate authority of YHVH, there is no compromise. This is one reason we do our best to follow Torah and are careful not to let man made rules interfere with our observance of our faith. Rabbi's, pastors and priests, are men that could have outside agenda's. Constantine, King James, and other religious and governmental officials have all had influence on translation of the bible. This is why it is so important to not just read the bible, but to study it thourghly in complete herminutical context and dig for the real truth of scriptures.

The world view of the bible, that it is some ancient book written by ancient men thousands of years ago, and it is irrelevant to the world today.

Let's look at some statistics of segments of people that do not follow these “ancient” ideas.

-In 2024, There were over 13,000 alcohol related deaths due to automobile accidents, 704,300 deaths from alcohol related liver disease.

-There were over 100,000 drug over doses reported in 2024 with 89740 resulting in death.

Proverbs 20:1 1                                                                        "Wine is a mocker, beer is a brawler, whoever is led astray by it is not wise."

-There were more than 2.4 million reports of sexually transmitted infections in the US alone in 2024.

-39% of LGBTQ young people seriously considered attempting suicide in 2024 including 46% of transgender and non binary young people. 12% actually followed through with an attempt on their own lives.

1 Corinthians 6:18 Flee from sexual immorality, Every other sin a person commits outside the body, but the sexual immoral person sins against his own body.

-According to the FBI the rate of violent crimes is 368.3 per 100,000 people nation wide. This is actually stated on the FBI web sight and with a little critical thinking it is easy to see that his is a sugar coated way of presenting the information. With a little simple math this actual equates to 1,275,120 violent crimes last year. Not to mention the ones that were not reported. Research on crime rates are very difficult to determine because it is estimated that 40 to 60 percent of violent crime goes nu-reported. Almost every crime, violent or otherwise starts with the sin of covertness.

-Exodus 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor's house, you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, not his male servant, not his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's”.

If read in herminutical context, the Torah is completely reasonable and rational. From the six day creation to the sacrificial system.