Lesson 315: MOSES - DELIVERER OF ISRAEL

Full Lesson HERE

INTRODUCTION. After Jacob's family moved to Egypt, they increased and multiplied

until the land was filled with them. Joseph died, many years passed, and a

new king came to power who did not know Joseph. Afraid of the strength and might

of the Israelites, the king began to afflict them, enslaving them and forcing them to

build cities for him. He decreed that all boy babies born to the Hebrew women

should be cast into the river. One Levite family hid their infant son. When they

could no longer hide him, his mother put him in a basket and placed him in the river

where the daughter of Pharaoh bathed. The royal princess found the basket and

child, named him Moses which means to draw out, and raised him as her son. For

the first forty years of his life, Moses enjoyed the pleasures of the Egyptian royal

household although he was aware of his Hebrew origin. One day while Moses observed

the burdens of his Hebrew brethren, he saw an Egyptian smite one of the Israelites.

Moses killed the Egyptian and was forced to flee Pharaoh and Egypt (Ex.

1-2:15).

Moses journeyed to Midian where he married and became a shepherd, keeping the

flocks of his father-in-law. After forty years passed, the Lord spoke to Moses at

Horeb, the mountain of God, from a bush that burned but was not consumed by the

fire. God told Moses He had chosen him to deliver his people, the children of Israel,

out of Egypt and bondage, into Canaan, the land He had promised to give to Abraham's

seed (Ex. 2:16-4:31).

God performed wonders and signs in Egypt by the hand of Moses, and after ten

plagues occurred, Pharaoh allowed the children of Israel to leave, only to pursue

them later. When it appeared the Israelites were trapped between the army of

Pharaoh and the Red Sea, God saved his people by instructing Moses to stretch his

rod over the sea. The waters parted, the Israelites crossed on dry land, and then the

waters closed over the pursuing army of Pharaoh (Ex. 5-14).

Before Moses died, God took him to Mount Nebo on the east side of the Jordan

River and showed him the land of Canaan. Moses then died at one hundred twenty

years of age–his eye was not dim, nor his natural force (vigor) abated. God buried

him in the valley of Moab, but no man knows where (Deut. 34).