Moses: A 3-Day Journey From Bondage to PromiseSýnishorn

MOSES’ LIFE WAS IN DANGER from the moment he was born. In a despicable act of ethnic cleansing, Pharaoh instructed his people to throw every male child descended from Abraham into the Nile River (Exodus 1:22). But Moses’ mother came up with a plan to save her son. She put him in a basket and hid him in the reeds at the edge of the river.

One day, Pharaoh’s daughter came down to the river to bathe. She found the basket and, taking pity on the infant inside, she brought Moses home and raised him in the palace. Moses grew up surrounded by every luxury money could buy, but he knew that he did not belong in the palace. He belonged to the line of Abraham, and his people were in trouble. So, he left the palace and identified himself with the people God had promised to bless.

God commissioned Moses to bring His people out of Egypt and lead them into the land He had promised (Genesis 12:7). By this time, the descendants of Abraham numbered 600,000 men (Exodus 12:37), so the entire community would have been about 2 million people.

These men were Pharoah’s workforce, so at first, he refused to let them leave. But after a series of plagues that God sent through Moses, he relented and let God’s people go (Exodus 12:31). But, after they left, Pharaoh changed his mind again and sent his armies after them.

When the people came to the Red Sea, it seemed that they were trapped. But God made a path for them through the sea.

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. (Exodus 14:21–22)

But when the pursuing army tried to cross, God caused the wall of water to collapse over them. God’s people knew that they had been saved from certain destruction by a miracle that only God Himself could have performed.

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

• What is your first reaction when you hear that God saved His people by parting the Red Sea?