MOSES:

Keeper ofthe Covenant

• After many generations, the Egyptian Pharaoh began to fear that the Hebrew people (the Israelites) would take over Egypt

• Pharaoh forced the Hebrews into slavery, and ordered that first-born Hebrew baby boys should be drowned

• A Hebrew woman placed her baby in a basket and left him among the reeds of the Nile River

• Pharaoh’s daughter noticed the basket and felt compassion for the baby. She hired the baby’s own mother to care for hm.

• Pharaoh’s daughter adopted the baby and named him Moses, which means “drawn from the water”

• Moses was raised and educated in the Egyptian palace, but he knew that he was Hebrew

• He was angered by the way his people were treated, going so far as to kill an Egyptian who had hit a Hebrew slave

• Moses fled to Midian and worked as a shepherd

• One day while Moses was tending his flock on Mount Sinai, God came to him in the form of a burning bush

• God called Moses by name and told him that he would rescue his people and lead them to a land “flowing with milk and honey.”

• God told Moses to go to Pharaoh to convince him to release the Hebrews

• When Moses asked God, “Whom shall I say sent me?” God replied, “I am who am. I am the Lord, the God of your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

• In Hebrew, the name of God translates to YAHWEH

• God sent Moses’ brother Aaron to assist Moses

• Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, telling him God’s message was to “Let my people go.”

• Pharaoh refused, in spite of the sign of God’s power, when Aaron’s staff turned into a snake

• Moses warned Pharaoh – “If you refuse us, I will turn the water of the river to blood; all the fish will die and the water will be unfit to drink.”

• Pharaoh ignored Moses; Moses struck the Nile with his staff and the river turned red

• Next came a plague of frogs swarming the land. Still, Pharaoh refused to release the Israelites

• More plagues followed: gnats, flies, disease of people and animals, hailstones, locusts and days of darkness

• Each plague was a sign that God was speaking through Moses, but Pharaoh would not change his mind

• God told Moses to warn Pharaoh about a final plague. Every firstborn son in the land would die.

• Pharaoh did not believe this would happen

• The Israelites were told to sprinkle lamb’s blood on their doorposts. Their houses would be “passed over” and their sons would be spared

• This event is celebrated as Passover. This is what Jesus was celebrating at the Last Supper.

• When all the Egyptian firstborn sons died, including Pharaoh’s, he agreed to let the Israelites go

• This escape out of Egypt is known as the Exodus

• Days after releasing the Israelites, Pharaoh changed his mind and sent soldiers to bring them back

• They had come to the Red Sea; God directed Moses to raise his staff. The water parted and a dry path was made in the sea. The Israelites crossed safely.

• When the Egyptians tried to follow, the sea came together and they were drowned.

• The Israelites had left Egypt to search for their Promised Land