Exodus Summary

Part 2: The Israelites travel to Mt. Sinai

Chapter 12:
     God tells Moses to tell the Israelites: "This month shall be the first month of the year for you. On the tenth day of this month, each household shall take a lamb from the sheep or goats, a male lamb that's a year old. You shall keep this lamb until the fourteenth day. Then on the evening of the fourteenth, you shall kill the lamb for dinner. Put some of the lamb's blood around the door to your house. Eat the lamb that night for dinner. Don't eat any of it raw or boiled with water, but roasted, its head with its legs and inner parts. Eat it roasted, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
     "This day shall be a memorial day for you. You shall keep it as a feast to God, and shall observe it forever. For seven days, you shall eat no leavened bread. In the first month, from the evening of the fourteenth day to the evening of the twenty-first day, you shall eat no leavened bread. During these days, no work shall be done. And on the first and seventh days, you shall hold holy assemblies."
     Moses tells the Israelites this. They do as God says. (Today this holiday has become a Jewish holiday called Passover.)
     That night at midnight, God smites all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. There is a great cry in the land. In the middle of the night, the pharaoh gets up and discovers what has happened. He sends for Moses and Aaron. He says "All right. The Israelites are released. Take your flocks and your herds, and go, and serve your own god." 
     Finally the Israelites leave Egypt. They leave in haste, because they are afraid that the Egyptians will kill them for revenge. They don't have time to leaven their bread dough, so they take it unleavened. They travel from Raamses to Succoth.

Chapter 13:
     God has Moses tell the Israelites "Remember this day, when God brought you out of slavery in Egypt. When God brings you to the land of Canaan, all of your first-borns belong to God. All of the male firstlings of your cattle you shall sacrifice to God."
     God leads the Israelites towards the Red Sea. They take Joseph's bones with them. They move from Succoth to Etham.

Chapter 14:
     The Israelites move to the western shore of the Red Sea.
     The pharaoh changes his mind. He and some soldiers chase the Israelites, intending to bring them back to Egypt. They catch up to the Israelites at the Red Sea. The Israelites are trapped by the Egyptian soldiers on one side and by the Red Sea on the other.
     God has Moses stretch his hand over the sea. The waters of the sea divide, and form a strip of land in the middle. The Israelites walk through the sea. The Egyptians chase them. When the Israelites reach the other side of the sea, the waters come back, and drown the Egyptians.

Chapter 15:
     The Israelites sing to God. Then they continue on to Shur, then to Marah, and then to Elim.

Chapter 16:
     From Elim, they go to the wilderness of Sin, near Mt. Sinai. Now they are hungry. God feeds them by making bread rain from the sky. This bread is called manna. They will have manna to eat until they reach the boarder of Canaan.

Chapter 17:
     They move to Rephidim, to a side of a mountain called Mt. Sinai. (But at this point, it is called Mt. Horeb.) Now they are thirsty. So God brings water out of a rock.
     Soldiers from Amalek fight with the Israelites. God helps Israel win. Moses predicts that they will have more trouble with Amalek.

Chapter 18:
     Jethro joins the Israelites, along with Moses' wife and children. (Moses' wife and children had gone back to Jethro at some point.) Jethro notices how Moses is the judge when there is a dispute. He tells Moses "You and the people with you will wear yourselves out. You can't do it alone." He helps Moses arrange a council of judges to decide matters. Then Jethro goes home.

Chapter 19:
     The Israelites come to the wilderness of Sinai, and to a mountain called Mt. Sinai. Moses goes up the mountain, and speaks with God. God tells him "You shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. I will speak to you on this mountain in three days. Tell the people." Moses does so.
     On the third day, a cloud descends on the mountain. The Israelites stand at the foot of it. Moses goes up. God tells him "Tell the people not to let anyone come up Mt. Sinai yet. Go down, get Aaron, and come back up. But don't let anyone else up." Moses goes back down and tells them.

Continued in Part 3...

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