Blessing
Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us concerning the counting of the Omer.
Barukh atah, A-donai E-loheinu, Melekh Ha-ʿolam, asher qid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu ʿal S’firat Ha-ʿomer.
Count
Today is thirty four days, which is four weeks and six days of the Omer.
Meditation
Exodus 15:1-3
1 Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. 2 The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. 3 The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name.
Devotional
After the defeat of Pharaoh and his army at the Red Sea, Moses and Israel rejoiced in song. Exodus 15 is one of the oldest chapters in the Bible. As Pharaoh sank like a rock to the bottom of the sea (Isaiah 27:1), the glory of God is exalted. Psalms 105, 106, 114, 135, and 136 speak of the great salvation of the Exodus. The Exodus is the paradigm and pattern of all divine acts of salvation in the Bible. The Prophets anticipate the New Exodus, which Gospels see happening in the story of Jesus and his death, burial and resurrection. God comes to rescue the oppressed from oppressors. Sadly, humans mistreat humans. We steal the lives, labor and land of others. We strip each other of dignity, respect and belonging. We create systems and governments that exalt a few and enslave many. God comes to make our straight lines into circles. The Lord loves justice and is exalted in justice (Isaiah 5:16, 61:8, Psalm 37:28). “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24).