The shepherd who parted the sea and delivered the ten commandments.
Right from his birth, God had a good plan for the life of Moses. He was set aside to do great things in the history of Israel. Moses played a significant role as a Prophet and leader of God's people, despite several challenges that came along his journey of life.
Moses was born into a Hebrew family at a time when Pharaoh, King of Egypt, gave an instruction for all Hebrew newborn males to be killed. Moses' mother hid him for three months until she could not hide him anymore. She put him in a basket and set it on a river where Pharaoh's daughter took him in as her own.
Moses grew up as an Egyptian, but he did not behave like them. He was upset by the living condition of the Hebrews who were slaves in the land of Egypt. One day, he saw an Egyptian beating up a Hebrew slave and out of anger, Moses fought and killed the Egyptian, then ran away afterwards.
Moses married Zipporah, daughter of Jethro and one day as he was caring for his sheep, he encountered God in form of a burning bush. God gave him a divine task to set the Israelites free from slavery in Egypt, and despite many obstacles, Moses agreed to carry out this task, with God by his side.
The Egyptians tried and failed, but Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt to the promised land, through the wilderness where they spent forty years. God took care of them even in the wilderness through Moses who performed many miracles like striking a rock to bring forth water to drink and providing manna and quail as food.
The Israelites had a mind of their own, leading them was not always easy for Moses. They would sometimes grumble and complain, and even wish to return to Egypt as slaves, but Moses remained strong in his leadership, providing help when he could and speaking to God on behalf of the Israelites.
Their grumble made Moses to disobey God, and God said he would not see the promised land. Moses only climbed Mount Nebo where God showed him the promised land from a distance. This was where he died, and from there, Joshua led the Israelites to the promised land.
Moses was taking care of his Father-in-law’s sheep in the desert when he had a wonderful encounter with God. An angel of God appeared to him as a flame of fire on a bush. However, the bush was not burned by the fire, even as the flames of this fire were burning. Moses was surprised by this and tried to go closer to see how this was happening when he heard a voice saying, “Moses, take off your sandals for you stand on Holy ground.”
God had an important task for Moses, and that was to set the Israelites free from slavery in Pharaoh’s kingdom. Moses was scared of this task because he was timid and worried about what the people would say, but God’s appearance and assurance let him know that this assignment was divine and that the all-powerful and superior God was on his side.
When Moses and Aaron told Pharaoh to let the Israelites go, he refused. Instead, he made the Israelites work harder so they would have no time to plan their exit from Egypt. However, God knew that Pharaoh would not let the Israelites go easily, so He had a plan to teach him a hard lesson. God called Israel His first-born son, so He chose to kill the first-born sons of Egypt. To do this, God sent ten plagues while forcing Pharaoh to release the Israelites.
The ten plagues include water in the Nile River turning to blood, swarms of frogs, lice, flies and locusts, a deadly disease killing the livestock, boils being found on the bodies of Egyptians, a hailstorm destroying crops and vegetations, severe darkness in the land, and lastly, the death of all first-borns of the Egyptians. This was when Pharaoh finally let the Israelites go.
After Pharaoh let the Israelites go, his heart was hardened again, and he decided that they did not deserve to go. He called on his mighty captains, and they went upon six hundred chariots to chase down the Israelites and bring them back to Egypt to continue as their slaves. God was about to use this to His glory, but the Israelites thought they were in trouble. They yelled at Moses saying, “You should have left us to remain slaves to the Egyptians than bring us out to die here.”
Moses heard from God, and he stretched his rod towards the sea in front of them. The sea opened up and there was dry land for them to cross. The Egyptians saw this and continued the chase, but after Moses and the Israelites crossed, Moses stretched his rod again to the sea, and it closed up, swallowing all the Egyptians.
After the Israelites were delivered from Pharaoh and his commanders, they were camped in the wilderness of Sinai, just before Mount Sinai. God wanted the Israelites to promise their obedience to Him; therefore, He told Moses to confirm their position. He reminded the Israelites of the help He granted them, and said if they would obey Him, then He would keep them safe and blessed. The Israelites agreed, saying they would do all that God asks of them.
God spoke to the Israelites from heaven on the Ten Commandments, but the power of His presence scared them so much that they told Moses to speak with God alone and pass the message to them. So, Moses went up Mount Sinai for forty days and nights, hearing from God all that He had as the laws to guide the Israelites. After these days, God handed Moses two tablets of the law.
Character appearances in Scripture.
Explore characters connected to Moses's journey.
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