Moses

• Found: Exodus chapter 1 - 4

Moses Born in Captivity (Exodus 1 - 2v9)

Jacob's family went into Egypt an stayed there. They married among themselves, not mixing with the Egyptians, and grew to be great in number. The Israelites became the slaves of the Egyptians and were in bondage for about 400 years. Pharaoh started to get worried about the Israelites. There were two million of them; enough to cause him problems if they rebelled; so Pharaoh attempted to keep the population down. He ordered that every baby Israelite boy was to be killed, and his soldiers carried out this command.

Two Israelites - Amram and Jochebed - had a son. They hid him from the soldiers for a few months, but eventually it became impossible. Miriam, the boy's sister, took him down to the Nile, laid him in a basket, and floated him off into the water. She waited to see what would happen.

After a while, Pharaoh's daughter came down to bathe. She spied the basket and discovered the child. Not wanting any harm to come to it, she decided to keep it. Miriam appeared from hiding and offered the services of a Hebrew woman to look after the baby for a while. This meant that the boy, now named moses, was given back to his mother to be looked after.

Growing Up in the Palace (Exodus 2v10-25)

Moses grew for a few years in his parents' house and learned about his people and about the one true God. After a while, though, he was taken to the palace to be brought up as the princess's son. He grew and learned and became a mighty captain in Pharaoh's army, but was always troubled by the plight of his people. The Egyptians whipped them to keep them under control, and treated them very harshly

One day, Moses saw an Egyptian hitting a Hebrew man. Seeing that no one was watching, he struck the Egyptian such a blow that he killed him, and he buried him in the sand. The next day the Israelites confronted him. Moses grew afraid and ran away to the desert.

In the desert land, Moses helped out the daughters of a Midianite man. This man, Jethro, took Moses in and he married Jethro's daughter Zipporah. They had a son they called Gershom.

The Burning Bush (Exodus 3-4)

Moses looked after Jethro's sheep, which took him all over the desert. One time he was at Mount Horeb, and there he saw a strange sight. A bush was burning, but it wasn't consumed by the fire. Going closer to look, the Lord spoke to Moses from the bush and told him to take off his shoes, since he was standing on ground that was holy. Then God told Moses he was to go to Pharaoh and demand freedom for his people.

Moses had all sorts of excuses. He claimed weakness, but God said He would be his strength. Moses claimed the people would not believe the Lord had sent him, but God told him to say he came in the name of "I AM". Again Moses claimed the people would not believe God had sent him, and God gave him two signs. When he threw his staff down, it turned into a snake, and when he put his hand into his cloak, it came out leprous. If they didn't believe this, he was to take water from the river and it would turn into blood. Moses said he couldn't speak eloquently, but God said he would give him the words. Moses still wasn't happy, so God was angry at him and assigned his brother Aaron to be his spokesman.

Moses gathered his family and his belongings and returned to Egypt. There he spoke with the Israelites and they were convinced he came from God. Hearing that God cared for their plight, they worshiped the Lord.

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