The Exodus From Egypt

oses grew up in the palace of the pharaoh. But when he got older, he discovered that he wasn’t an Egyptian.

So he went to see the pharaoh. “I am an Israelite,” he said, “and I worship the one God of the Israelites. God says: Let the Israelites go!”

But the pharaoh didn’t want to lose all his slaves. So he refused to let the people of Israel go. When Moses saw that the pharaoh would not free the slaves, he told the pharaoh that God would send ten plagues on Egypt. Each one of these plagues showed that the God of the Israelites was more powerful than all the gods of the Egyptians. The Egyptians thought that Horus was the god of the Nile, and protected all the life in the river—but the God of Moses turned the river to blood and killed all the fish. Frogs were sacred to the Egyptians, because they belonged to Isis, the wife of Osiris—but God sent so many frogs that the Egyptians found frogs in their beds, their clothes, their bathtubs, and even in their food. The Egyptians thought that Ra was the god of the sun, and was stronger than any other god—but the God of Moses covered up the sun and made darkness last all day long.

Finally the pharaoh told Moses that the Israelites could leave Egypt. They packed up all their belongings and left that very night. But then the pharaoh changed his mind and sent his army after them.

The Israelites were running as fast as they could go. But when they looked behind them, they saw dust rising up from the hooves of the Egyptian army. “Faster!” they cried. “Faster! Or the Egyptians will take us back to Egypt, and we will be slaves again!”

Then they looked up. Ahead of them they saw the shore of a sea—the Red Sea. Water lay in front of them, as far as they could see.

“We are trapped!” they said. “Moses, have you led us out of Egypt only to kill us here on the shores of the Red Sea?”

Then Moses raised his staff. God parted the waters so that the Israelites could walk through. Huge walls of water rose up on either side of them. They could see fish, swimming in the walls. But the ground beneath them was dry.

They walked all the way through the Red Sea, to the other side. But behind them the Egyptians were still coming. The Egyptians drove their war chariots down into the sea as well.

Then Moses lifted his staff again. The water flooded back over the Egyptians and drowned them all! The Israelites were finally free.

This part of Israel’s history is now called the Exodus. The story of the Exodus shows monotheism winning out over polytheism, because the one god of Israel was able to conquer the many gods of Egypt. The Israelites walked from Egypt all the way back up to Canaan, where Abraham had once lived. They lived in Canaan for many years and became a powerful kingdom in their own right.

The story tells us something else, too. Egypt, which had been powerful for a long time, was once again growing weak. The New Kingdom of Egypt had come close to ruling the world. But now, even a band of slaves without weapons could escape from the clutches of the Egyptian army. Egypt was losing its strength once again.