The Exodus Story

Pharaoh fears the growing number of Israelites while they are enslaved in Egypt, so he orders all newborn Israelite boys to be killed. Moses is spared by Pharaoh’s daughter, who adopts him as her own son.

God appears to Moses in the Burning Bush and calls him to lead the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt. Pharaoh, who views himself as a god, hardens his heart against Moses and God.

The plagues show God’s ability to bring death and suffering to Pharaoh and the Egyptians. Pharaoh repents, but then again hardens his heart.

God separates the Israelites from the plagues to show that He can spare His people. The Egyptians begin to see God’s power and have the chance to obey God’s commands and be spared as well.

After many warnings and attempts to convince Pharaoh to obey God, the final plague is the death of the firstborn throughout Egypt. The Israelites are spared, and Pharaoh, who is himself a firstborn son, is spared.  Pharaoh finally agrees to let the Israelites go.

Pharaoh pursues the Israelites, but he and the Egyptians are destroyed in the Red Sea. The Israelites murmur against God and Moses as they wander through the wilderness. God provides food and water for them.

The Ten Commandments establish the proper relationship between God and man and between man and man within the community of God's chosen people. The commandments  remind the people that God saved them from slavery in Egypt and that He is their only God.

When Moses returns from Sinai, he finds the Israelites worshiping a golden calf. As God’s wrath flares against the Israelites, Moses pleads the cause of the people, and then Moses mediates God’s wrath to the people by letting his own wrath flare so they will repent and return to obedience.