14:1 Then Yahuwah said to Mosheh,

² "Tell the sons of Yisrael to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon.

³ Pharaoh will think, 'The sons of Yisrael are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.'

⁴ And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Mitzrites will know that I am Yahuwah." So the sons of Yisrael did this.

⁵ When the king of Mitzrayim was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, "What have we done? We have let the sons of Yisrael go and have lost their services!"

⁶ So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him.

⁷ He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Mitzrayim, with officers over all of them.

⁸ Yahuwah hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Mitzrayim, so that he pursued the sons of Yisrael, who were marching out boldly.

⁹ The Mitzrites-- all Pharaoh's horses and chariots, horsemen and troops-- pursued the sons of Yisrael and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon.

¹⁰ As Pharaoh approached, the sons of Yisrael looked up, and there were the Mitzrites, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to Yahuwah.

¹¹ They said to Mosheh, "Was it because there were no graves in Mitzrayim that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Mitzrayim?

¹² Didn't we say to you in Mitzrayim, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Mitzrites'? It would have been better for us to serve the Mitzrites than to die in the desert!"

¹³ Mosheh answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance Yahuwah will bring you today. The Mitzrites you see today you will never see again.

¹⁴ Yahuwah will fight for you; you need only to be still."

¹⁵ Then Yahuwah said to Mosheh, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the sons of Yisrael to move on.

¹⁶ Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the sons of Yisrael can go through the sea on dry ground.

¹⁷ I will harden the hearts of the Mitzrites so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen.

¹⁸ The Mitzrites will know that I am Yahuwah when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen."

¹⁹ Then the angel of Elohim, who had been traveling in front of Yisrael's army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them,

²⁰ coming between the armies of Mitzrayim and Yisrael. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.

²¹ Then Mosheh stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night Yahuwah drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided,

²² and the sons of Yisrael went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.

²³ The Mitzrites pursued them, and all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea.

²⁴ During the last watch of the night Yahuwah looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Mitzrite army and threw it into confusion.

²⁵ He made the wheels of their chariots come off so that they had difficulty driving. And the Mitzrites said, "Let's get away from the sons of Yisrael! Yahuwah is fighting for them against Mitzrayim."

²⁶ Then Yahuwah said to Mosheh, "Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Mitzrites and their chariots and horsemen."

²⁷ Mosheh stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Mitzrites were fleeing toward it, and Yahuwah swept them into the sea.

²⁸ The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen-- the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the sons of Yisrael into the sea. Not one of them survived.

²⁹ But the sons of Yisrael went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.

³⁰ That day Yahuwah saved Yisrael from the hands of the Mitzrites, and Yisrael saw the Mitzrites lying dead on the shore.

³¹ And when the sons of Yisrael saw the great power Yahuwah displayed against the Mitzrites, the people feared Yahuwah and put their trust in him and in Mosheh his servant.

15:1 Then Mosheh and the sons of Yisrael sang this song to Yahuwah: "I will sing to Yahuwah, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea.

² Yahuwah is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my Elohim, and I will praise him, my father's Elohim, and I will exalt him.

³ Yahuwah is a warrior; Yahuwah is his name.

⁴ Pharaoh's chariots and his army he has hurled into the sea. The best of Pharaoh's officers are drowned in the Red Sea.

⁵ The deep waters have covered them; they sank to the depths like a stone.

⁶ "Your right hand, Yahuwah, was majestic in power. Your right hand, Yahuwah, shattered the enemy.

⁷ In the greatness of your majesty you threw down those who opposed you. You unleashed your burning anger; it consumed them like stubble.

⁸ By the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up. The surging waters stood firm like a wall; the deep waters congealed in the heart of the sea.

⁹ "The enemy boasted, 'I will pursue, I will overtake them. I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them. I will draw my sword and my hand will destroy them.'

¹⁰ But you blew with your breath, and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.

¹¹ "Who among the gods is like you, Yahuwah? Who is like you-- majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?

¹² You stretched out your right hand and the earth swallowed them.

¹³ "In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling.

¹⁴ The nations will hear and tremble; anguish will grip the people of Philistia.

¹⁵ The chiefs of Edom will be terrified, the leaders of Moab will be seized with trembling, the people of Canaan will melt away;

¹⁶ terror and dread will fall upon them. By the power of your arm they will be as still as a stone-- until your people pass by, Yahuwah, until the people you bought pass by.

¹⁷ You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance-- the place, Yahuwah, you made for your dwelling, the sanctuary, Yahuwah, your hands established.

¹⁸ Yahuwah will reign for ever and ever."

¹⁹ When Pharaoh's horses, chariots and horsemen went into the sea, Yahuwah brought the waters of the sea back over them, but the sons of Yisrael walked through the sea on dry ground.

²² Then Mosheh led Yisrael from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water.

²³ When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.)

²⁴ So the people grumbled against Mosheh, saying, "What are we to drink?"

²⁵ Then Mosheh cried out to Yahuwah, and Yahuwah showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There Yahuwah made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them.

²⁶ He said, "If you listen carefully to the voice of Yahuwah your Elohim and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Mitzrites, for I am Yahuwah, who heals you."

²⁷ Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.

16:1 The whole community of the sons of Yisrael set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Mitzrayim.

² In the desert the whole community grumbled against Mosheh and Aharon.

³ The sons of Yisrael said to them, "If only we had died by Yahuwah's hand in Mitzrayim! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death."

⁴ Then Yahuwah said to Mosheh, "I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.

⁵ On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days."

⁶ So Mosheh and Aharon said to all the sons of Yisrael, "In the evening you will know that it was Yahuwah who brought you out of Mitzrayim,

⁷ and in the morning you will see the glory of Yahuwah, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?"

⁸ Mosheh also said, "You will know that it was Yahuwah when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against Yahuwah."

⁹ Then Mosheh told Aharon, "Say to the entire Congregation of the sons of Yisrael, 'Come before Yahuwah, for he has heard your grumbling.'"

¹⁰ While Aharon was speaking to the whole community of the sons of Yisrael, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of Yahuwah appearing in the cloud.

¹¹ Yahuwah said to Mosheh,

¹² "I have heard the grumbling of the sons of Yisrael. Tell them, 'At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am Yahuwah your Elohim.'"

¹³ That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.

¹⁴ When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor.

¹⁵ When the sons of Yisrael saw it, they said to each other, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. Mosheh said to them, "It is the bread Yahuwah has given you to eat.

¹⁶ This is what Yahuwah has commanded: 'Each one is to gather as much as he needs. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.'"

¹⁷ The sons of Yisrael did as they were told; some gathered much, some little.

¹⁸ And when they measured it by the omer, he who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little. Each one gathered as much as he needed.

¹⁹ Then Mosheh said to them, "No one is to keep any of it until morning."

²⁰ However, some of them paid no attention to Mosheh; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Mosheh was angry with them.

²¹ Each morning everyone gathered as much as he needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away.

²² On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much-- two omers for each person-- and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Mosheh.

²³ He said to them, "This is what Yahuwah commanded: 'Tomorrow is to be a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to Yahuwah. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.'"

²⁴ So they saved it until morning, as Mosheh commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it.

²⁵ "Eat it today," Mosheh said, "because today is a Sabbath to Yahuwah. You will not find any of it on the ground today.

²⁶ Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any."

²⁷ Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none.

²⁸ Then Yahuwah said to Mosheh, "How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions?

²⁹ Bear in mind that Yahuwah has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where he is on the seventh day; no one is to go out."

³⁰ So the people rested on the seventh day.

³¹ The people of Yisrael called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey.

³² Mosheh said, "This is what Yahuwah has commanded: 'Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the desert when I brought you out of Mitzrayim.'"

³³ So Mosheh said to Aharon, "Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it. Then place it before Yahuwah to be kept for the generations to come."

³⁴ As Yahuwah commanded Mosheh, Aharon put the manna in front of the Testimony, that it might be kept.

³⁵ The sons of Yisrael ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.

³⁶ (An omer is one tenth of an ephah.)

The primary negative and positive commandments for the Sabbath are clear.  We are instructed NOT to do any regular work or perform our occupation on the seventh day.  Also, we ARE to have a set-apart time of gathering for reading and proclaiming of the Scriptures.

One of the questions that always gets asked is: are we permitted by Scripture to cook on the Sabbath?  Does cooking constitute regular work?  Don't we have to eat even on the Sabbath? and doesn't that imply that cooking is allowed on the Sabbath?  The Scriptures do speak a definitive word on this point.  But it requires a willingness to give up our practices and conveniences to obey.

First of all, we must start by understanding (again) the basic prohibition on Shabbat: "you shall not do any work."  For women who stay at home and take care of the home, cooking is one of the core labors done regularly.  Along with cooking are cleaning (housework), laundry, running errands, and the like.  So even on the surface of things, cooking appears to fall into the category of "labor, work."

But the Scriptures are even more specific than that.  When Yahuwah had delivered our ancestors from the bondage of Mitzrayim (Egypt), and was feeding them manna from heaven, he gave them instructions regarding the Sabbath:

Then Yahuwah said to Mosheh, "I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people will go out and gather a certain amount each day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my instruction or not.  And on the sixth day they will prepare what they bring in, and it will be twice as much as they gather each day" (Shemot 16:4,5).

Here we are explicitly told that the preparation of the food for the sixth and seventh day was to be done on the sixth day!  There can be no confusion about this instruction.  The sixth day is the day of the preparation of food for the Sabbath.

If there was any doubt or uncertainty about this teaching, Yahuwah cleared up any confusion by repeating the instruction:

And on the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, two omers per person; and all the leaders of the community came and told Mosheh.  And he said to them, "This is what Yahuwah has said: 'Tomorrow is a time of cessation, a set-apart Sabbath to Yahuwah. Whatever you want to bake, bake today; and whatever you want to boil, boil today; and whatever is left put aside for yourselves to be kept until morning.'"  So they put it aside until the morning, just as Mosheh had commanded, and it did not stink, nor was there any worm in it.  (Shemot 16:22-24).

The phrase in question here is in Hebrew:

WlVeêB; ‘WlV.b;T.-rv<)a] taeÛw> Wpªae WpúaTo-rv,a] taeä

Rendering this literally we get: "that which you will bake, bake.  And that which you will boil, boil."  The baking and boiling referred to here was to occur on the sixth day.  This is indicated by the instruction that follows:  "(then) whatever is left over (after the eating on the sixth day) put aside for yourselves to be kept ('preserved') until the morrow (the Seventh day)."  This instruction given is explicit regarding food preparation and the Sabbath.  No work is to be done on the Sabbath with regard to gathering or preparing food.  The gathering and preparing of food is to be done on the sixth day to provide food for the sixth and the seventh day.

Whatever needs to be boiled or baked (cooked on top of the stove or fire, or cooking in an oven or in the fire) should be done on the sixth day, not on the seventh.  Returning to our core definition of work, work is that which is done with the hands which results in a product or service.  The reason given for not baking or boiling on the seventh day is that the Sabbath is to be a time of cessation, a complete rest and a set-apart day to Yahuwah.  It cannot be a complete rest if one is cooking or boiling food on it.

The concept of "complete rest" is rendered by the Hebrew !AtêB'v (pronounced "shabbaton") which is usually translated "cessation, rest, sabbath observance, complete rest."  The weekly Sabbath, each of the 7^th month moadim and the 7^th year are each described as “shabbaton” – a time of complete rest.  Our word occurs 11 times in 10 verses:  Used of: Sabbath (Shemot 16:23; 31:15; 35:2; Vayiqra 23:3), Yom Teru’ah (Vayiqra 23:24), Day of Atonement (Vayiqra 16:31; 23:32), Feast of Tabernacles (Vayiqra 23:39 twice), Every seventh year (Vayiqra 25:4,5).

However, the 1^st and 7^th day of HaMatzot (unleavened bread) are NOT called “shabbaton.”  On these days, food is permitted to be prepared, thus they are not “complete rests”  Also on these days (it seems), extensive traveling was permitted (i.e. the exodus from Mitzrayim).

For seven days you must eat bread made without yeast. Surely on the first day you must put away the yeast from your houses because anyone who eats leavened bread from the first day to the seventh day may be cut off from Yisrael.  And on the first day there will be a set-apart miqra, and on the seventh day there will be a set-apart miqra for you. You must do no work of any kind on them, only what every person must eat--that alone may be prepared for you (literally, “…except that which is to be eaten for every person, that alone is to be done for you”) (Shemot 12:15,16).

Contrasting the moadim (appointments) which are called Shabbaton and those which are not, the only difference seems to be described in terms of permission to prepare food.  On those days which are called "Shabbaton," no food preparation was allowed, and on those moadim which are not also "Shabbaton," food preparation is allowed, but no other "work."

Therefore, from its usages and exceptions, it is evident that food preparation, cooking and baking is considered "work."  And as such, cooking is forbidden on the Sabbath day.

17:1 The whole community of the sons of Yisrael set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as Yahuwah commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.

² So they quarreled with Mosheh and said, "Give us water to drink." Mosheh replied, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put Yahuwah to the test?"

³ But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Mosheh. They said, "Why did you bring us up out of Mitzrayim to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?"

⁴ Then Mosheh cried out to Yahuwah, "What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me."

⁵ Yahuwah answered Mosheh, "Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Yisrael and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.

⁶ I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink." So Mosheh did this in the sight of the elders of Yisrael.

⁷ And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the sons of Yisrael quarreled and because they tested Yahuwah saying, "Is Yahuwah among us or not?"

⁸ The Amalekites came and attacked the sons of Yisrael at Rephidim.

⁹ Mosheh said to YHUSHA, "Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of Elohim in my hands."

¹⁰ So YHUSHA fought the Amalekites as Mosheh had ordered, and Mosheh, Aharon and Hur went to the top of the hill.

¹¹ As long as Mosheh held up his hands, the sons of Yisrael were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning.

¹² When Mosheh' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aharon and Hur held his hands up-- one on one side, one on the other-- so that his hands remained steady till sunset.

¹³ So YHUSHA overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.

¹⁴ Then Yahuwah said to Mosheh, "Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that YHUSHA hears it, because I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven."

¹⁵ Mosheh built an altar and called it Yahuwah is my Banner.

¹⁶ He said, "For hands were lifted up to the throne of Yahuwah. Yahuwah will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation."