Last week saw me prattling about the Oral Torah and all and I neglected to speak about the Parsha! Well, to bring us up to speed, last week's Parsha told about how the Children Of Israel become enslaved in Egypt, Moshe's birth and ultimate appointment as God's point man to take said Children out of Egypt and Moshe's first confrontation with Pharaoh.
Regarding the latter, Moshe goes to Pharaoh fully thinking that Pharaoh is going to roll over and let his (i.e. Moshe's) people go. Not only does Pharaoh not let them go, but he makes life more difficult for them.
So Moshe complains. To God.
One can understand Moshe's feelings here. He was pretty reluctant to go on this errand for God to begin with but at least, he must have figured, his brethren will be better off if they can leave. But Moshe's demands just make working conditions for the Hebrews even worse! Moshe feels 'used,' perhaps, or at the very least slighted by God. And last week's parsha ends with Moshe pointing this out to God.
Our parsha this week opens with God's reply. Clearly, God was up for this and had somethiung prepared to tell Moshe already. His reply has something to do with His names. And we will talk about those names and a bit of Biblical Hebrew grammar tomorrow.
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