Moses
Moses was born well over a thousand years before Jesus arrived. When he was three months old he was put into a waterproof basket on the River Nile so that he would not be harmed. Moses was a Jew, and the king of Egypt wanted to stop the Jewish nation from growing too large and powerful – so he ordered all the Jewish baby boys to be killed! God kept Moses safe, and even arranged for the king’s daughter to find Moses on the river and bring him up as her own child.
We can read about Moses in Acts 7:20-22. “At that time Moses was born – a beautiful child in God’s eyes. His parents cared for him at home for three months. When they had to abandon him, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and raised him as her own son. Moses was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful both in speech and action” (New Living Translation).
When Moses grew up he lived in the palace, but was very sad because his people (the Jews) were treated like slaves. He had to run away when he killed an Egyptian slave-master, and lived in the Midian desert for 40 years. This gave him plenty of time to get married and start a family!
One day God spoke to him from a bush that seemed to be on fire....and sent him right back to Egypt to help set his people free. Unfortunately, the king did not want to let God’s people go, and so many terrible things (called ‘the 10 plagues’) happened to the Egyptian people before the king finally gave in. Moses led the Israelites, which is another name for the Jews, out into the desert – they were not slaves any more - they were free!
Moses did not really want the job of setting his people free. He didn’t think he was a very good speaker, he was afraid of the king, and he generally worried about not being up to the challenge. God had to keep reminding him that He was more powerful than any king and would help Moses do the job he had asked him to do!
To find out more, read...Exodus Chapters 2-13
and watch...
Friends and Heroes Episode 6, “Sweet Freedom”
Friends and Heroes Episode 11, “Exodus”
Friends and Heroes Episode 18, “Prince for a Day”
Friends and Heroes Episode 23, “Home”
Friends and Heroes Episode 25, “Toadie on Trial”
