This week we begin worship with:
Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD, theshield of your help, and the sword of your triumph!
This verse comes at the end of the blessing that Moses spoke to the tribes of Israel, just before his death in Moab. Moses had led his people out of slavery and stood at the very edge of the promised land. From this vantage point he was permitted to see the Promised Land but not enter it (Deuteronomy 34:1-8).
Yes, Israel was at that moment free from the tyranny of Pharaoh, but they were also homeless and vulnerable!
Yet, Moses blessed them as "saved" (yāšaʿ), shielded, and triumphant.
Unlike English, Hebrew does not have past, present, and future tense. The verb describes the ongoing but sure salvation, whose certainly rests on God alone and it was being used as their identity -- "Saved by the LORD".
Now look back at the Hebrew for that word, try to pronounce it. Then read the angel's announcement to Joseph:
She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
The name Jesus comes from yâ, which is a shortened name for God that you hear at the end of "Hallelujah", and today's word yāšaʿ. Literally, the name Jesus means "God Saves".
Now reread the angel's announcement and hear in the name "Jesus" that this baby would be divine! God himself will save us. So, we too are "Saved by the LORD".
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