The story continues with Pharaoh's daughter finding the baby Moses and bringing him home to be raised in the palace. Moses' own mother was employed to nurse him. Moses was brought up as the son of the pharaoh whose daughter had rescued baby Moses. This pharaoh had already massacred Hebrew infants in order to curb the population explosion among the settlers. After the death of the pharaoh, his successor enslaved the Israelites and committed them to hard labor. Moses was angry at the mistreatment of an Israelite laborer at the hands of an Egyptian overseer, and he killed him. This act brought the news to the pharaoh that Moses was a Hebrew, and Moses was no more safe. To escape death, Moses fled to Midian.where he met Jethro and married his daughter Zipporah.

He was 40 years old at the time. He spent the next 40 years in Midian, but returned to Egypt at God's command for the deliverance of his people. In a burning bush, God appears to Moses and says "Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt." (Ex.3: 10) Moses is understandably shaken with the vision and the responsibility. He stalls for time and asks God His name. Moses wants to know what to say when they ask: "What is his name?" "And God said to Moses: 'I AM WHO I AM'" (Ex.3: 14)

Moses is still scared and so God provides him with a rod with which to perform miracles. When Moses complains of his lack of eloquence, God sends Aaron to speak for Moses. So Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh and utter the famous words: "Let my people go" (Ex. 5: 1) But things only get worse for the Israelites as Pharaoh demands a higher quota of bricks and will no longer supply the necessary straw to make them.

Moses (now 80 years old) and Aaron (83 years old) went to Pharoah and requested that the Hebrews be allowed to worship God for three days in the wilderness. Pharoah did not allow this, so Moses and Aaron had to demonstrate the power of God with miracles and plagues, such as frogs, flies, hail, and locusts. Finally, (Exodus 11) God told Moses that He would send the "Destroyer" to kill the firstborn sons of all in Egypt. The Hebrews were instructed by Moses to kill a lamb and coat the sides and tops of their door frames with the blood of the lamb, so that the "Destroyer" would pass over their home

The Ten Plagues of Egypt

Blood (Exodus 7:19-20) The Nile river, the longest in the known world was worshipped, so God had it turned into blood and all life in it died.

Boils (Exodus 9:8-9) God gave them boils, even their magicians had them, showing their powerlessness.

Frogs (Exodus 8:1-15) Heka, their goddess of intelligence, was represented by a frog, so God had them knee deep in frogs everywhere.

Hail (Exodus 9:23-25) Horus, the falcon sky god, was defeated as God had their crops destroyed by great hail mixed with fire.

Lice (Exodus 8:16-21) The one thing Egypt's magicians could not produce was lice, so lice covered the people and their animals.

Locusts (Exodus 10:12-15) The locusts ravaged whatever the hail left.

Beasts (Exodus 8:24) The god Set. represented by a crocodile, had its own temples and priests, so God sent them wild beasts.

Darkness (Exodus 10:22-23) Ra, the hawk sun god, was defeated by three days of total darkness that could be felt.

Plague (Exodus 9:1-6) Their chief god was Apis, a bull, and they worshipped Osiris, a goat, and Isis, a cow, so God had the cattle killed with a plague.

Death (Exodus 12:29) The Egyptians would have had all the Hebrew sons killed, so God had their firstborn sons killed on the first Passover