At the end of Genesis Joseph has died and Israel’s family of 75 people are in Egypt. Many years elapsed between the time Jacob and his family entered Egypt and the beginning of Exodus. The Egyptians had forgotten Joseph, and the Israelites had multiplied until they were found throughout Egypt. Thus, Pharaoh and the Egyptians were frightened by the possibility the Israelites would join with an Egyptian enemy, fight against the Egyptians, and leave Egypt, thus depriving the Egyptians of cheap laborers.

Pharaoh proposed to deal shrewdly with the Israelites. So they turned the Israelites into slave laborers to build supply cities for Pharaoh. The lives of the Israelites were bitter, and they cried to the Lord for help.

But the more the Egyptians oppressed the Israelites, the more they multiplied. This frightened the Egyptians. They made their lives very difficult with extremely hard work in brick making.

When this did not stop the growth of the Israelite population, Pharaoh commanded the midwives who assisted the Hebrew women in giving birth to kill the male babies but keep the girl babies alive. But the midwives feared God and didn’t cooperate. So Pharaoh commanded his people to kill the male babies of Israel.

At this time a Hebrew baby boy was born to Amram and Jochebed. By the providence of God and the loving care of his mother Jochebed and his older sister Miriam, he not only was kept alive but was adopted by Pharaoh’s daughter. She named him Moses.

Moses learned of God and his Israelite heritage from his mother, who nursed him for the Egyptian princess. Because he was in the Egyptian royal family, he received the best education available in the world at that time. Moses was a well educated, eloquent man of action. God was preparing a great man for a great work.

When he was forty years old, Moses tried to join his people, Israel. Because of his faith in God, he was willing to give up the riches and pleasures of Egyptian royalty to suffer with slaves. He wanted to deliver them, but instead he had to flee for his life to Midian, in the region of Mt. Sinai.

There Moses met Reuel the priest of God in Midian and eventually married his daughter, Zipporah. Another forty years passed by as Moses led the quiet life of a shepherd in the desert of Sinai. God was still preparing him for a very great work.

When Moses was eighty years old, God appeared to him in a burning bush and told him to go back to Egypt and to tell Pharaoh to let Israel go. The Pharaoh who had tried to kill Moses was dead.

Moses, who had been overly aggressive forty years earlier, was now overly cautious. He didn’t want to go. After God had answered all Moses’ excuses, He simply commanded Him to go. Because Moses now did not think he could speak well, God sent Aaron his older brother with him to be his spokesman. He equipped Moses and Aaron to work miracles.

God knew Pharaoh was stubborn and would not let Israel go. So he planned to do great miracles to show His power so Pharaoh and the Egyptians would know their idol gods were powerless and the Lord was the only true God.

Sure enough, Pharaoh was stubborn and did not believe in the Lord. Not only did he refuse to let Israel go, he just made the Israelites work harder. They became discouraged and complained against Moses and Aaron.

So the Lord sent Moses and Aaron back to Pharaoh to work miracles before him. Although the Egyptian magicians could do impressive tricks, the miracles God worked through Moses and Aaron were greater. The Lord was giving Pharaoh opportunity to repent, but because Pharaoh was proud and stubborn, these opportunities only further hardened his heart.

Thus the Lord sent nine great plagues on the Egyptians. Each time Moses warned him to let Israel go or the plague would come.

The Lord turned the waters of the great Nile River, the source of all Egypt’s water, to blood. When the magicians turned water to blood also, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he refused to listen to Moses.

The Lord caused frogs to come up from the Nile River and cover the land, swarm into the Egyptian houses, and get into their cooking utensils. Egyptians worshiped frogs. The Egyptian magicians also made frogs appear. But the plague was so loathsome, Pharaoh promised to let Israel go if Moses would remove the frogs. Moses did so, but Pharaoh hardened his heart and refused to let God’s people go free.

Then Moses caused lice to cover all the Egyptian people and animals. The magicians could not duplicate this and confessed it was from God. But Pharaoh hardened his heart again.

So God sent swarms of flies throughout the land, but only on the Egyptians. Pharaoh agreed to let Israel go three days journey into the wilderness, but, when Moses removed the flies, Pharaoh hardened his heart again.

Next the Lord sent disease on all the Egyptian farm animals but spared the farm animals of the Hebrews. But Pharaoh was stubborn again.

Thus Moses caused boils to come on all the Egyptian people and farm animals. Even the magicians had boils. But Pharaoh hardened his heart even more.

So God caused a great hail storm to come on Egypt. It destroyed the Egyptian crops but did not affect Israel. Pharaoh confessed his sin and asked Moses to stop the hail. But when Moses prayed to God, and the hail stopped, both Pharaoh and his people hardened their hearts.

Then the Lord sent such great swarms of locusts on Egypt that they darkened the sky. No such swarms of locusts had ever been seen in Egypt before. All the crops that had survived the hail were destroyed. Again, Pharaoh confessed his sin, but then hardened his heart and refused to let Israel go.

So God sent three days of such thick darkness over Egypt that people couldn’t even see to get up from bed. Pharaoh again confessed then hardened his heart.

Nine great plagues had demonstrated to Pharaoh and Egypt that the Lord alone is God. But Pharaoh was still stubborn, even though his land was destroyed. So God sent one last terrible plague that would break Pharaoh’s stubborn will and give Israel its freedom.

The Lord passed throughout the land of Egypt and killed the first born of man and animal. Great crying was heard throughout the land.

But the Lord commanded the Israelites to make this night a great feast that they would keep forever, the feast of Passover. Each family was to eat a lamb. The Israelites put the blood of the lamb on the entrances of their houses, and the Lord passed over and spared them. At last the Lord delivered Israel from Egyptian slavery. The Feast of Passover commemorates Israel’s beginning as a nation.

Pharaoh drove the Israelites from Egypt. They journeyed to the Red Sea, as the Lord led them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

When they came to the Red Sea, they had nowhere to go. Pharaoh decided to recapture them, and he pursued them with his army. They were surrounded by desert, sea, mountains, and the army of Pharaoh.

But Moses commanded Israel to remain calm. He stretched out his staff over the Red Sea. A strong east wind blew all night and caused the waters of the sea to part. The next morning Israel marched through the sea on dry ground. Pharaoh’s army pursued them, but the waters came back and drowned them. Moses and Israel stood on the other side and sang a song of praise to God for delivering them. Israel was free. The Lord had shown His great power to all the people of the world and had delivered His people from the most powerful nation on earth.