The Story of Moses 1542 B.C.

The Exodus is the birth of Israel as a people. Moses leads the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage to safety. The Passover, The Ten Commandments and the Burning Bush all happened during this time.

Exodus, the second book of the Bible, describes the emancipation of the Jewish nation from Egypt. In the latter part of the Book of Genesis, Jacob's family had settled in the Goshen area of Egypt. This family of seventy people was the root of the Hebrew nation &endash; the twelve sons of Jacob.... Joseph, one of Jacob's sons, had risen to a position of prominence in Egypt and the Pharaoh had allowed his family to ride out the famine in Egypt. ..."Now the sojourning of the children and of their fathers, which they sojourned in the land of Canaan and in the land of Egypt was four hundred and thirty years" ..The Hebrews sojourned two hundred fifteen years in Canaan and two hundred fifteen years in Egypt. The Historian Josephus concurs. the descendents of Jacob "were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them." (Ex.1: 7). The Israelites grew from 70 souls from the time Jacob arrived in Egypt to over 2 million at the time of the Exodus.

Joseph came to Egypt during the reign of the first pharaoh Amenemhet I (1688-1667), who then co-reigned with his son for another 20 years). Joseph was elevated to vizier by his son and successor, Sesostris I (1667-1625 BC). Sesostris is his Greek name and his Egyptian name is Senuset. Jacob came to Egypt in the 22nd year of Joseph in Egypt, which marked the beginning of the Israeli stay in Egypt.. The children of Israel had been granted land and certain freedoms because of the unique relationship Joseph had with Pharaoh. Things change rapidly in Exodus: "Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph." (Ex.1: 8) The pharaoh of the Exodus was probably Amenhotep II.

The new king was afraid of the children of Israel. Their population was growing too large and the king ordered them to be afflicted and to make them "serve with rigor". (Ex.1: 13) They were put to work building new cities for the king. Pithom and Ramses were cities built with Jewish slave labor. The cruel work conditions did not stem the growth of the Hebrew population. "And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage…" (Ex.1: 14) This was a plan of extermination that wasn't working so the king ordered the midwives to kill any newborn Hebrew males that they delivered. The midwives didn't follow through and told Pharaoh that the Hebrew women were too "lively" and delivered before they arrived to help. The new decree from Pharaoh was that all male babies were to be thrown in the river.

Moses' mother hid him for three months and then "when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river's bank." (Ex.2: 3)