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. Finally he makes a new law: "All Hebrew
male babies will be drowned in the river."
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 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 raises it 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 goes to the land of
Midian. In Midian, he meets a family, and marries one of their daughters.
Meanwhile back in Egypt, the Israelites pray to God for
help. God hears them.
God goes to Moses and says "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 "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." Moses gets
his wife and son, and goes back to Egypt.
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.
Moses and Aaron go to the pharaoh of Egypt, and says "The
Lord commands you to release the Israelites." The pharaoh refuses. Moses
and Aaron wield staffs, and God causes nine plagues. But still the pharaoh refuses.
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.
God tells Moses to tell the Israelites: "During
the night, I will pass through Egypt, and smite all the first-born, both man and
beast. But put lamb's blood around your doors. This will be a sign. When I see
the blood around your doors, I will pass over your house, and no harm will come
to you." Moses tells the Israelites this. They do as God says.
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 take
Joseph's bones with them. They
travel from Raamses to Succoth, then to Elam, and finally 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.
Then they continue on to
Shur, then to Marah, and then to Elim, then to the wilderness of Sin, then to
Rephidim, and finally to 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. Tell the
people." Moses does so.
Moses goes up the mountain. God tells Moses various rules for the people.
Then he tells Moses to have the Israelites construct a
moveable tabernacle for worship. He assigns Bezaleel (also called Bezalel) and Aholiab
(also called Oholiab) to do the construction. God gives
Moses two tablets of stone, on which are written the instructions.
Moses has been up on the mountain for a long time. The
Israelites tell Aaron "We don't know what happened to Moses. Create a god
for us." Aaron makes a statue of a golden calf. The Israelites worship it.
God tells Moses what the Israelites are doing.
"Leave me alone, so that my wrath will burn against them. I will consume
them. But of you I will make a great nation. Moses pleads "Don't. The
Egyptians will say that you brought them out of Egypt to kill them. Remember
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You promised to multiply their descendants and give
them the land of Canaan." God agrees.
Moses goes down the mountain, carrying the tablets God
had given him. He sees what the Israelites are doing, and gets angry. In a fury
of anger, he accidentally breaks the tablets. He destroys the golden calf. God sends a plague to
punish the people.
Moses makes two new stone tablets, and goes up Mt.
Sinai with them. God writes words on them. He tells Moses "The Israelites
shall have the land of Canaan. The people who live in the land now will be
driven out. Don't make any deals with them. Tear down their altars and pillars."
Moses goes back to the Israelites. His face shines.
Moses tells the rules to the Israelites. They construct the tabernacle. Now
the Israelites have their own movable tabernacle for worship. Whenever the cloud
of God is descended on the tabernacle, they will hold services. If the cloud is
not descended on it, they will travel. They will continue this throughout their journeys.
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