What was Moses’ Mission?

 We are now referring to the descendants of Abraham as

the Hebrews or the Israelites.
G_d fulfilled the covenant and gave Abraham’s descendants a
land of their own. This land was called Canaan. However, at
the time of Jacob (Abraham’s grandson) there was famine in
the land of Canaan and the Hebrews were forced to leave Canaan and live in Egypt.

The Hebrew people lived in Egypt for 400 years. For a while they ruled Egypt but the
Egyptians wanted to regain control of their land. They then began to treat the
family of Jacob very badly. By the time 400 years had passed the Hebrews, who had
increased greatly in number, were slaves to the Egyptians.

The Hebrews had to work long and hard, making building bricks for the Egyptians. At
one point, the Pharaoh ruled that if a man didn't meet his quota of bricks for the
day, his baby was to be put into the buildings instead of bricks. This kind of
persecution got worse. Pharaoh was afraid of a prophecy that foretold of a
deliverer for the Hebrew people. He ordered that all of the baby boys be thrown in
the river from then on, so as to try to reduce the population.

Moses was born at this time, during the Jewish enslavement in Egypt. His mother,
Yocheved, desperate to prolong his life, floated him in a basket in the River Nile.
Hearing the crying child as she walked by, Pharaoh's daughter took pity on the infant
and adopted him (Exodus 2:1-10). Moses was then raised as Egyptian prince.

When Moses was a young man he became outraged at seeing an Egyptian overseer
beating a Jewish slave. He killed the overseer! The next day, he tried to make
peace between two Hebrews who were fighting. One of them asked him, "Do you
mean to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian?" Moses immediately understood that he
was in danger. Indeed, Pharaoh ordered Moses to be killed. Moses fled to Midian.

Moses married Tzipporah, one of the Midianite priest's daughters, and became the
shepherd for his father-in-law's flock. On one occasion, when he had gone with his
flock into the wilderness, an angel of God appeared to him in the guise of a bush
that was burning but not consumed!

God commanded Moses to go to Egypt and along with his brother, Aaron, make one
simple (but major!) demand of Pharaoh: "Let my people go!"
READ the text and answer the questions in your exercise books, using full sentences

1. What two names are used to refer to Abraham's descendants? Abraham’s descendants are
known as ….

2. Why had they come to live in Egypt, and how long did they remain there? The Hebrews
(Israelites) had come to live in Egypt because ……………….. and remained there for …………
years

3. Why do you think the pharaoh persecuted the Hebrews (Israelites?)

The pharaoah persecuted the Hebrews because …

4. What was his motive for murdering all the Hebrew baby boys in the land? The pharaoh
murdered the Hebrew baby boys because ….

5. Why wasn’t Moses killed during the genocide of the baby boys?
Moses was not killed because ….

6. Choose two adjectives which describe Moses’ early life. Say why you chose each adjective.
Moses’ early life could be described as …………………………and ………………………………. I chose
these words because ………………..

7. How did Moses put his life in danger? Moses endangered his life because he
……………………….
=
8. Moses fled to Midian. Describe his new life in Midian.

9. How did God reveal himself to Moses? What did Moses hear, see and feel?

10. Draw a picture to represent Moses’ encounter with God.