Hebrews’ Relationship with God
Numbers 12:3 states “Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.” God saw Moses as a very humble man, the most humble man. But, according to scripture he did not start out this way by a long shot. Moses was born in Egypt when the Israelites became a threat to the Egyptians because of their large population. Because of this new found threat, Pharaoh ordered all newborn male Israelite babies to be thrown into the Nile River. Moses’s parents decided to put Moses into a waterproof basket and hide him in the tall grasses of the Nile.
Meanwhile, Moses’s sister hid and watched over him from a distance. A group of women and servants were washing themselves nearby and heard the cry of a baby. One of these women happend to be the daughter of Pharaoh, she found and rescued the baby naming him “Moses” meaning “drawn from the water.” Pharah’s daughter had always wanted a child so she made sure he had the best of everything including education.
Moses was raised up in the luxury of the Egyption Court as the Pharaoh’s daughter adopted son. As Moses became older he became aware of his Hebraic roots and shared a deep compassion for his confined kinsmen. One day, Moses became extremely enraged while seeing an Egyption master ruthlessly beating a Hebrew slave and out of impulse killed the Egyption. Dreading the Pharaoh’s punishment, he escaped and fled to the desert of Midian where found work as a shepherd for Jethro, a midianite priest, and later married his daughter Zipporah. While tending to the flocks, Moses witnessed a bush that was on fire but was not turning to ashes. From within the bush, Moses heard a voice telling him that he was chosen to lead the Israelite people to freedom. Moses was also told to declare that there was only one God to his people because, during this time most of the Israelite people were worshiping many gods.
When God asked Moses to do lead the Israelites out of Egypt he wasn’t quite sure if he was up for the difficult challenge because of his own shyness and feelings of unworthiness. God reasured Moses by telling him that his brother Aaron, who was much more talkative, would be his spokesman to both the
Israelites and to the Pharaoh. God also promised Moses and the rest of the Hebrews and land filled with “milk and honey.” Moses finally agreed to go back to Egypt when he was in his forties.
When Moses arrived back in Egypt he talked with the Hebrews and persuaded them to organize a quick trip from the Egyptian slave drivers and , with the help of Aaron, Moses confronted Pharaoh and informed him that the God of the Hebrews demanded that they be set free from Egypt. Pharaoh ignored Moses and and brought ten terrible plagues upon him and Egypt but none of the plagues affected the Israelites and their part of the land or their animals. The first plague turned all the Egyptians water including their drinking water into blood for a whole week, it also killed off all of the fish and had a horrible smell, Pharoah still refused to set the Israelites free. Moses warned Pharaoh of the second plague which was frogs swarming over every inch of their land including in their homes.
At this point Pharaoh became afraid and called for Moses and Aaron and asked them to pray to God to remove the creatures from all the land and he promised that he would release the Hebrews but as soon as the frogs were gone he refused to let the Israelites go. Because of this, God instructed Aaron to strike the earth and as soon as this was done bugs of all kinds started to cover the land. Both man and animals suffered terribly from this plague but, the Pharaoh hardened his heart and once again refused to set the Israelites free. The fourth plague put upon the Egyptians was wild animals roaming all throughout the land and destroying everything in their path. Once again Pharaoh promised to let the Israelites got to the dessert if the plague would be lifted but, once the wild animals were gone Pharaoh refused to let the Israelite people go. God then created a fifth plague that was a disease that killed the majority of all the domestic animals including horses, the pride and joy of Egypt, and the cattle of the fields, yet Pharaoh’s heart still remained hardened and he refused to let the Israelites move on.
So, God let out a sixth plague and he told Moses to take soot from the furnaces and throw it towards the heavens, Moses did so, and Boils began forming and bursting on every Egyption and every animal that belonged to the Egyptians. After this a seventh plague was let out towards the Egyptians and it started hailing. Man and animal who were exposed to the hail died in an instant and all crops and all plants were destroyed. Pharaoh then called for Moses and acknowledged that he had sinned. (Exodus 9:27). ‘I have sinned this time. The Lord is the righteous One, and I and my people are the guilty ones. Entreat the L-rd, and let it be enough of God’s thunder and hail, and I will let you go, and you shall not continue to stand.’ Moses replied: ‘When I leave the city, I will spread my hands to the Lord. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, in order that you know that the land is the Lord’s.’ Everything happened just as Moses said it would, the storm was over but Pharaoh’s heart still remained hardened.
Once more Moses and Aaron went to speak with Pharaoh but, this time, Pharaoh seemed a little bit more considerate and gave them an offer but it was not acceptable to Moses and Aaron so they refused which angered Pharoah and told them to leave but before they could leave they warned Pharaoh of another plague that would come upon the land. This eighth plague sent out locus all throughout Egypt and they devoured all of the Egyptians crops and plants. Pharoah, again, refused to let the Israelites free even after the plague was lifted like he had asked. A ninth plague came across the land which covered the entire land of Egypt in a thick darkness that would shut out any source of light.
Again, Pharaoh tried to bargain with Moses and Aaron by saying all the people of Israel could leave but they would have to leave they’re herds behind and again, Moses and Aaron refused. The last plague, the worst of them all was then sent out. Out of all the Egyption families all of their first born children were killed instantly at midnight. This plague sent Pharaoh over the edge and he told Moses and Aaron to get their people and leave immediately.
Moses and Aaron got the Israelites to get all of their stuff and they left in the middle of the night. Instead of leading the Israelites through enemy land, God had Moses lead them through a dessert to the Red Sea. Pharaoh changed his mind once the Israelites had already left and chases them to the shore of the Red Sea and the Israelites wouldv’e been traped but God told Moses to lift up his staff and he did so and the Red Sea split in half and once all the Israelites were safely on the other side God closed the Red Sea crushing all the Egyption army that were following them.
Even though the Hebrews were free they were still in the desert for 40 years in fact. They were searching for the land of Canaan which God had promised them. They had a long journey ahead of them and eventually they ran out of food and God then provided them with a white food that tasted like honey. God also sent quails and flocks of birds for them to cook and eat. And, once their water ran out God told Moses to strike a rock and once he did this water started flowing out of the rock.
After 3 months of wandering the desert the Hebrews came to the foot of Mount Sinai. God called Moses up to meet Him at the top of the mountain where it was filled with thunder and lightning. Moses and God created 10 simple laws by which man was to follow. While Moses was up on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights, the Israelites became impatient and decided to create a false god to worship. When Moses finally returned from the mountain he was so shocked and upset with the people that he broke the tablets in which the 10 Commandments were written on and destroyed the golden calf, the false god.
God ended up forgiving His people for worshiping a false god and told Moses to make two more tablets of stone. Moses took the tablets back up to God and He made the 10 Commandments once again. This time, when Moses came back down the people were ready to listen to him. Following Moses’s directions, The Israelites renewed their commitment to the commandments by building a tabernacle with the exact measurements that God had told them to.
Moses may not have started out with the best background, but, no matter what God asked him to do he always followed through with it. No matter how many miracles Moses performed he always knew that it was God performing them through him and that he was nothing without God.
