oses was the great leader of Israel, who freed his people from the slavery of Egypt. Moses received the Ten Commandments from God and he prepared the Hebrews for the conquest of Canaan. It is believed that it was Moses who wrote Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy .
A special boy
The pharaoh of Egypt felt threatened by the Israelites, so he enslaved them and had all the boys killed. But an Israeli woman hid her son in a basket on the Nile. Pharaoh’s daughter found the boy and adopted him. She gave it the name Moses, which means “taken from the waters” .
Look here: who was Moses’ mother?
Moses grew up in Pharaoh’s house and received an education as a prince ( Acts 7: 21-22 ). But Moses never forgot his origins and identified with the Hebrews.
Moses flees Egypt
One day, Moses killed an Egyptian who was mistreating a Hebrew. But he was discovered and ran away in fear. Moses went to the land of Midian, where he stayed with a priest named Jethro. He married Zipporah’s daughter, Zipporah, and had two children ( Exodus 2: 21-22 ).
Moses the prince became a simple shepherd for 40 years! One day Moses saw a burning bush that was not consumed by fire ( Exodus 3: 1-2 ). There, God sent Moses back to Egypt to deliver his people. Moses hesitated but ended up obeying God.
Israel leaves Egypt
At the age of 80, Moses confronted Pharaoh but he refused to release the Israelites. Therefore, God sent ten plagues on Egypt . All but the Hebrews were affected. After the last plague, Pharaoh let the people of Israel go.
Read here: what were the plagues of Egypt?
The Hebrews left Egypt triumphantly, but Pharaoh repented and went in pursuit ( Exodus 14: 5-6 ). The Hebrews were trapped between Pharaoh’s army and the Red Sea.
God then commanded Moses to lift his rod over the sea. A great wind came that opened the sea and the Israelites passed on dry land. But when the Egyptian army followed them, the Red Sea closed and everyone was drowned. Thus, the Israelites were freed from Egypt’s power for good ( Exodus 14: 29-31 ).
Moses, leader of Israel
Moses took the people to Mount Sinai , where he received the Ten Commandments and all the laws to govern God’s people. But the Israelites rebelled and worshiped a golden calf. God punished the people but Moses interceded for them and God did not totally destroy them.
See also: what are the Ten Commandments of the Bible?
Some time later, they reached the border of the promised land. But the people were afraid of the inhabitants and refused to enter. Then God declared that they would spend 40 years in the desert , until the entire rebel generation had died ( Numbers 14: 32-34 ).
For 40 years, Moses led the Hebrews in the desert . The people were ungrateful and repeatedly rebelled against Moses and against God. Moses was a very patient man, but he was frustrated by the people’s lack of faith in the face of so many miracles ( Numbers 12: 3 ).
At the end of his life, Moses took the people again to the border of the promised land. The new generation was not rebellious and was ready to conquer. From Mount Nebo, Moses saw the promised land and then died. Moses is remembered as a great hero, who was faithful to God and therefore saw great miracles ( Deuteronomy 34: 10-12
