The Prophet Moses was the leader of a large people. They were named Hebrews, as was their ancestor Abraham. They were slaves in Egypt where they were forced into hard labour. Moses was born into slavery, and the future for him was grim. Pharaoh had ordered all Hebrew babies which were boys should be thrown into the River Nile at the time of birth. The mother of Moses hid him for three months, but after that she couldn’t keep him hidden anymore. So she took a papyrus basket, covered it with tar, and she placed Moses in the basket on the edge of the River Nile among the reeds.

His older sister, Maryam, watched the papyrus basket. The daughter of Pharoah came to the river to take a bath in the river. She heard Moses crying and rescued him from the reeds. When she saw baby Moses she decided to keep him. Maryam asked her ‘Would you like one of the Hebrew women to look after him for you?’ She brought Moses’ mother to her, and then she was appointed as Moses’ nurse. When Moses grew up, he went to live at the palace.

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Moses was brought up as an Egyptian prince with all the privilege that brought, but he identified with his persecuted people. His life changed dramatically when he was forty years old. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave and in anger killed the Egyptian. Although he thought no-one knew, it soon became common knowledge. Moses escaped immediately from Egypt. He settled in a remote area near the Gulf of Aqaba. Jethro, a priest of Midian, welcomed Moses into his family. Moses married one of his seven daughters. Moses and Zipporah had two sons. He lived there as a shepherd caring for his father-in-law’s flocks.

When Moses was eighty years old, he was watching the sheep on the far side of the desert, near Sinai which is known as the mountain of God. There he saw a strange sight. A small bush was on fire but it did not burn up! Moses went to have a look, but as he approached God spoke to him from within the bush. God commanded Moses to take off his sandals because he was standing on holy ground. Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look on God. That day God called Moses to set his people free from slavery in Egypt.

Moses returned to Egypt in obedience to God’s call. God sent plagues on Pharaoh and all Egypt because he refused to let the Hebrews go. Despite all these plagues Pharaoh still refused to let the people go.

Moses warned him that the firstborn in Egypt among both men and cattle would die unless Pharoah let them go, but Pharaoh wouldn’t listen. The angel of death passed through Egypt one night and there was sorrow in every Egyptian household because of the death of all the Egyptian firstborn sons. Among the Hebrews, however, no-one died, because they did exactly what God told them to do. God told them to take a lamb for every house and make it a sacrifice. Then they put blood from the lamb over the door and around the door. When the angel of death saw the blood he passed over that house.

From that time on ‘Passover’ was celebrated regularly each year to remind the people of when the angel of death passed over, and the Hebrew firstborn sons were saved from death. That same night the Egyptians begged them to leave and all the Hebrews, the whole nation, left in haste. Pharaoh set off to stop them, but God rolled back the waters of the Red Sea so that the Hebrews could cross on dry ground! Pharaoh’s army followed them, but the waters of the Red Sea came back on them and they perished in the sea.

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God led his people to Mount Sinai, also known as the mountain of God. There God gave the moral law, which was called ‘The Ten Commandments.’  There Moses built an altar for sacrifice and a tent for God’s Presence. The sacrifices on the altar were an annual reminder of the sins the people committed. The people knew what God wanted because he had given his commandments. Sadly, they were not willing to listen, and often chose to sin instead.

Moses loved the people and he prayed powerfully for them. He was an outstanding leader. With other prophets God spoke in dreams and visions, but with Moses, God spoke face to face. God was so pleased with Moses that he promised to raise up another prophet like him from among his people. This prophet would speak God’s word and he would lead the people. All nations would come to Him.

Material sourced from Exodus 1 – 40, Acts 7, Matthew 22, Deuteronomy 18, Numbers 12, Isaiah 40 – 66 and Hebrews 10.

God spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to a friend. What does this tell us about the willingness of God to speak to people?  Click here to receive our study guide.

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