Exodus Summary

Part 1: The Israelites are slaves in Egypt

Chapter 1:
     At the end of Genesis, we saw the family of Jacob (also called Israel). Jacob/Israel had twelve sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Gad, Asher, Dan, Naphtali, Joseph, and Benjamin. The twelve sons, along with their own children and grandchildren, relocated to Egypt.
     Now Exodus picks up some years after Genesis ended. Jacob and his sons are now dead. They have left behind descendants. The descendants of Jacob/Israel are called "Israelites" or "Hebrews". The word "Israelite" or "Hebrew" means any person who can trace his ancestry back to Jacob/Israel.
     The Israelites are separated into twelve groups. Each group is a tribe made up of descendants of one of Jacob's sons, and the tribe is named after that son. So there are twelve tribes: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Gad, Asher, Dan, Naphtali, Joseph, and Benjamin. And all of them are subdivisions of the Israelites.
     The Israelites are many. Egypt becomes filled with them.
     Years later, Egypt has a new pharaoh, who didn't know Joseph. He sees that the Israelites are too numerous, and could be a threat. So he makes a law that the Israelites are to be slaves. Then he makes them suffer intolerable working conditions.
     Then he speaks to the two Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah. He orders them "Whenever you deliver a Hebrew child, if it's a male child, then kill it." But the midwives disobey this cruel law.
     Finally the pharaoh makes a new law: "All Hebrew male babies will be drowned in the river."

Chapter 2:
     There is a Hebrew woman who is from the tribe of Levi. She marries, and has a son. She can't bring herself to kill her child. So she puts the baby into a basket, and sends it floating down a river. The baby's older sister watches the basket float down the river.
     The basket floats to where the pharaoh's daughter is bathing. The pharaoh's daughter recognizes the baby as a Hebrew male baby, but she has compassion for him. She takes the child, and decides to raise it as her own. The baby's older sister asks the pharaoh's daughter "Shall I get a nurse of the Hebrew women to be the baby's nurse for you?" The pharaoh's daughter agrees. The sister gets the baby's mother to be the nurse!
     The pharaoh's daughter raises the baby as her own. She names him Moses. But Moses knows that he is secretly from a Hebrew family.
     Moses grows up. As an adult, he sees an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave. Moses kills the Egyptian, and is branded an outlaw. He flees to the land of Midian.
     In Midian, Moses meets seven women who are the daughters of the priest of Midian. He helps them water their father's flock. They introduce him to their father, the priest of Midian. (There is a discrepancy as to the name of the priest. In most passages, he is called Jethro. But 2:18 gives his name as Reuel.)
     Moses marries one of Jethro's daughters, named Zipporah. She bears Moses a son named Gershom (also called Gershon).
     Meanwhile back in Egypt, the Israelites pray to God for help. God hears them.

Chapter 3:
One day, Moses tends Jethro's flock. He leads the flock to the west side of the wilderness, to Mt. Horeb, the mountain of God. He sees a burning bush, one that is not being consumed by the flames. From the bush, God tells Moses "I am the god of your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I have heard the cry of my people, the Israelites, who are slaves in Egypt. I want you to deliver them out of Egypt and into the land of Canaan. Go back to Egypt, and tell them 'The god of your fathers has sent me. He will lead you to freedom.'"
Moses says "If I tell them that, then they will ask me who you are. They will say to me 'If it is the god of our fathers, then what is his name?' What will I say to them?" God says "I AM WHO I AM. Tell them that I AM has sent you."

Chapter 4:
     Moses says "The Israelites won't believe me." God shows him a few magical signs to convince them that this is for real. Moses says "I am not eloquent. I am slow of speech." God says "Your brother Aaron can speak well He will help you. Go back to Egypt. And don't worry about having been an outlaw. The people who wanted you dead are now dead themselves."
     Moses gets his wife and son, and says goodbye to Jethro. Moses, Zipporah, and Gershom go back to Egypt. On the way, Gershom is circumcised.
     Moses meets his brother Aaron in Egypt. He tells Aaron what God had told him. Aaron tells the Israelites that God will lead them to freedom. The Israelites believe it.

Chapter 5:
Moses goes to the pharaoh of Egypt, and says "The Lord commands you to release the Israelites." The pharaoh refuses. As a punishment, he makes the Israelites work even harder. Before, straw had been given to them to make bricks. Now the Israelites must gather the straw themselves. The Israelites are mad at Moses.

Chapter 6:
God speaks to Moses again: "I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I established a covenant that I would give them the land of Canaan. Tell the Israelites again that God will lead them out of Egypt." Moses does so, but the people don't believe him.
Then we are told the sons of Reuben, Simeon, and Levi.

Chapter 7:
God tells Moses and Aaron to talk to the pharaoh again. They go back and say "Release the Israelites." To prove their power, they perform miracles. Still the pharaoh refuses.
God performs the first of the ten plagues: The waters of Egypt are turned into blood for seven days. But the pharaoh refuses.

Chapter 8:
Then God causes a plague of frogs over Egypt. The pharaoh refuses. Then a plague of lice, and then a plague of flies. But the pharaoh still refuses.

Chapter 9:
Then God causes the Egyptians' cattle to die, then causes sores to break out on people, and then causes a heavy hail. Still the pharaoh refuses.

Chapter 10:
Then God causes a plague of locusts, and then there is total darkness in Egypt for three days. But still the pharaoh refuses.

Chapter 11:
Finally God has Moses threaten the pharaoh. "Pharaoh, if you don't release the Israelites, then every first-born child in Egypt shall die, except for those among the Israelites." But the pharaoh still refuses.

Continued in Part 2...

Overall Summary Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Back to Exodus Summary Home Page

Back to Exodus Home Page