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Writer's pictureOrah Sofer

The word VISIT and the Redemption





Exodus 3:16 Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Avraham, of Yitzchak, and of Yaakov, appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited pakod pakadeti פָּקֹד פָּקַדְתִּי  you and seen what is done to you in Egypt.


The keyword is the verb “visit pakod yifkod פָּקֹד יִפְקֹד“. It is used in several passages; all linked to salvation. Jewish Tradition assimilates this double word to a double remembrance: “one for Moshe, the other to the King Messiah.” It means “to remember, to visit,” and also “counting.” It is a secret code given to the children of Israel. It marks the promised deliverance for the children of Israel and is employed for every divine intervention:


Genesis 21:1 And the Lord visited pakad פָּקַד Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken.


Exodus 3:16 Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Avraham, of Yitzchak, and of Yaakov, appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited pakod pakadeti פָּקֹד פָּקַדְתִּי  you and seen what is done to you in Egypt.


Exodus 4:31 So the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had visited pakad פָקַד the children of Israel and that He had looked on their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.


Ruth 1:6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the Lord had visited pakad פָקַד His people by giving them bread.


Those words, “I have surely visited you pakod pakadeti פָּקֹד פָּקַדְתִּי” echo in Moshe’s spirit, reminding him of Yossef’s words. He will become the redeemer of the Hebrew people, while awaiting THE REDEEMER OF THE WHOLE WORLD: centuries later, HaShem will again visit His people by fulfilling the prophecies described in the Torah: 


Luke 1:68-79 Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited and redeemed His people, And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of His servant David, As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, Who have been since the world began, That we should be saved from our enemies And from the hand of all who hate us, To perform the mercy promised to our fathers And to remember His holy covenant, The oath which He swore to our father Avraham: To grant us that we, Being delivered from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life. And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, To give knowledge of salvation to His people By the remission of their sins, Through the tender mercy of our GodWith which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace.


He watches over His Word to fulfill it and the story of Pesach is His story!


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Messianic Yeshiva, Menora
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