History of Judaism - Moses

History of Judaism-Moses

Lucienne Etienne

February 22, 2016

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Robert Schuler

History of Judaism-Moses

        Moses’ journey starts in the Nile River where he is rescued by the Egyptian Princess and raised among royalty. Moses eventually finds himself as the leader of the Israelites, with the blessing of God, and ultimately frees his people from the grasp of Pharaoh who manages to enslave them over the years. It takes the Ten Plagues for Pharaoh to agree to free the children of Israel, but not before Egypt suffers much loss. Today, most people are familiar with the Ten Commandments which Moses brought to his people as a message delivered directly from God once the people of Israel are free.

The Life of Moses

Moses’ introduction is covered in the first five chapters of Exodus. The sons of Israel live in Goshen, outside of Egypt so as not to mix with those who worship idols instead of the Lord. They are peaceful there for some time and as long as Joseph is a great tribal leader, the Israelites are left alone. However, when a new king takes over he does not care much for Joseph or his people, and actually views them as a threat due to their great numbers. After some time he manages to enslave them. During this period of slavery Moses is born to an Israelite who manages to keep him hidden. In an attempt to keep him from harm, she puts him in a little box and places the box in the river. Eventually the little baby boy is rescued by the princess of Egypt who raises him with the aid of an Israelite woman who happens to be Moses’ mother. Moses is privileged enough to be an Israelite who lives among the nobles as the son of the Princess. His education is from the wisest in the land (Bible Hub, 2016). However all of the wisdom and the wealth in the world cannot curve the love that he has for his own people. When he becomes a man he makes the decision to leave Egypt and be among his people. He feels that it is his calling to set his people free. At first, he recognizes that this cannot be done the way he had originally hoped. Unable to return home to Egypt as he has made an enemy of the king, he retreats to a place called Midian (Bible Hub, 2016). While there he marries the daughter of a sheep herder named Jethro and he too becomes a shepherd. One day while Moses is tending to his sheep God appears before him in the form of a burning bush and tells Moses that he has a duty to return to Egypt so that he may become the leader of the Israelites and deliver them from the Egyptians. God also promises to punish the Egyptians their false worships as well as for the ill-treatment of the Israelites (Bible Hub, 2016).

Key Event in the history of Judaism

        The book of Exodus illustrates how God was able to fulfill his promise to Moses to set the Israelites free. Moses demands for Pharaoh to let his people go. When he refuses, a series of ten plagues consume the Egyptian people (Chabad, 2016). The first is that the waters of the land turns into blood. For an entire week the Egyptians suffer from thirst but Pharaoh does not give in. The second plague is an infestation of frogs. Pharaoh becomes frightened and asks Moses to pray to his God to remove this nuisance. Sadly, once the frogs are gone, Pharaoh breaks his promise to free the Israelites. So comes plague number three. Similar to plague number two, there is an infestations of bugs throughout the land. Still, Pharaoh will not free the children of Israel. The next plague is hordes of wild animals which destroy everything in their path. The fifth plague is a pestilence which kills all of the domestic animals, followed by the plague of boils which are very painful and affect man and beast alike. The next plague to strike Egypt is an extremely violent hail-storm which harms land, human, and animals alike, followed by a locust infestation ad several days of impenetrable darkness. Still, Pharaoh will not budge on his position. He refuses to liberate the children of Israel. Before the final plague, there is a day called The Passover sacrifice. Moses warns everyone that God’s expectation is to sacrifice a lamb on the fourteenth day of the month and mark their doors with the blood of the lamb. Per God’s promise, those who have the blood on their doorway will escape the wrath of God when he strikes Egypt with the final plague. At midnight on the fourteenth day, the final plague strikes-death of the first-born. King Pharaoh is not spared from this plague, his first born dies just as many others in the land, with the exception of the many who followed God’s order regarding the Passover. Pharaoh is completely broken at this point and sets the Israelites free (Chabad, 2016).