5: MOSES - Exodus 1-12

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HIS WORDS: Exodus 1-12 

MY WORDS

Remember when God promised Abraham he would be the father of a great nation? Well, God kept that promise. Abraham had Isaac, and Isaac had Jacob, and Jacob had twelve sons. Through one of his sons, Joseph, God brought all of the sons of Jacob to Egypt so that they would not die in a famine in the promised land of Canaan. In Egypt, they had grown from just Jacob's family into a large nation of twelve families or tribes. They were called Hebrews, from a word that means beyond, on the other side.  

God had also told Abraham that one day His people would live in a foreign land and become slaves. But God would punish the people who enslaved them, and that is exactly what happened. The king of Egypt feared that the Hebrews would turn against him because they were great in number so he made them slaves. 

Even after that particular Pharaoh died, the Hebrews were still suffering in slavery.  So they cried out to God, and He heard their cries and sent Moses to tell Pharaoh, "The God of Israel says, 'Let my people go!'"

But Pharaoh refused to let them go replying, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey Him and let the Hebrews go? I do not know the Lord, and I will not let the people go.  After this, he made it even harder on the Hebrews. 

God wanted to show His great power over Pharaoh and all the Egyptian gods so he sent ten plagues before Pharaoh would let the Hebrews go. 

In the first plague, He turned the water into blood so no one could drink it and all the fish died. 

In the second plague, He sent frogs that came from the Nile River, and they got into everything! This made Pharaoh ask that Moses pray that they go away, and they did, but when they were gone, he hardened his heart again and would not let them go. 

So God sent a third plague of insects that made them itch, and Pharaoh's magicians were powerless to help, saying that this God of gods was more powerful than anything that they could do. 

Then God sent a fourth plague of flies and a fifth plague that killed all the animals of the Egyptians. Then he sent a sixth plague of boils and a seventh plague of hail that destroyed their crops so that God's full power could be shown throughout the whole earth. With this, Pharaoh repented and said, "I have sinned, and the Lord is right and my people are wrong." But when the hail and thunder stopped, Pharaoh sinned again and hardened his heart. 

Then God sent an eighth plague of locusts to finish eating the Egyptian crops. Even Pharaoh's officials were telling him to let the people go. So he said the men could go but not the women and children. But God was not pleased with that arrangement so He sent a ninth plague of three days of darkness over the land. The Egyptians worshiped the sun god, Ra, so this was a major thing for them to see God's power over this god.  Then Pharaoh said, "You can all go, but you must leave your cows behind." 

But Moses said, "No, everything must go with us." So Pharaoh was very angry and told Moses he never wanted to see Moses again. And Moses said, "You will not see me again." 

The tenth and most terrible plague came. God said that the angel of death would come and destroy the firstborn of Egypt, both humans and animals. So, He told Moses to tell the Hebrews they must take a perfect lamb and kill it and take the lamb's blood and put it at the top and side of the frame of their doors so the angel of death would passover their homes. So, the Hebrews did as they were told. That night, the angel of death killed all the firstborn of the Egyptians, even Pharaoh's son, but death did not touch the firstborn of those who did as the Lord had instructed them. 

So, Pharaoh said that they could go with their livestock. That night the Hebrews left with great joy. And they even asked for gold and silver and clothing and the Egyptians gave it to them. They left very quickly.  

God told them they were to celebrate the Passover feast every March or April to remember their deliverance from Egypt and when the angel of death "passed over" their homes because of the blood of the lamb.

So they went on to the promised land, and we will see in our next story what happened to them there. 

I WILL 

Have a time of thanksgiving and praise for His blood that covers me and has delivered me from bondage into freedom in Christ. Tell someone my story of bondage to freedom this week before I meet with my Monday MUG!