Sea Change

The Story of Moses, Part 2

Exodus 5-15

Pharaoh was, understandably from a human viewpoint, not thrilled at the prospect of losing his huge labor force of slaves.  He was contemptuous of Moses' assertion that the God of Israel wanted his people freed to worship him, even if only for a trip into the wilderness from which, Moses claimed, they would later return.  Far from agreeing to Moses' presumptuous request, Pharaoh increased the burden on the Hebrew slaves who were making bricks to build one of his cities; from now on, they would receive no straw needed in the bricks, but would have to find their own with no reduction in their quota.  Needless to say, the Israelites were not pleased with Moses at that point.

After this, a battle ensued between Moses and Aaron, and the magicians of Egypt.  Aaron now had the rod that turned into a snake, and he threw it down; the magicians performed their magic, and also produced snakes from sticks, with their trickery, but Aaron's snake swallowed up the other ones.  Pharaoh was not impressed, so Moses then called down the first of ten plagues on Egypt.  When the Nile and all other surface water was turned to blood, and when a plague of frogs covered the land, the magicians were able to conjure up tricks to match what the Lord had done.  With the plague of lice, though, they could no longer keep pace, and their so-called magic, the power of their vaunted gods, failed.

With each new plague, Pharaoh would promise to le the Israelites leave, but he always changed his mind when the Lord removed the problem, as God had already told Moses he would do.  The plagues grew progressively worse, from lice, to flies, to a disease that killed all the livestock, to boils that attacked the bodies of the Egyptians, to hail and locusts that destroyed their crops, to an awful darkness that covered the land for three days.  While Egypt suffered, Israel was free from the plagues from the point of the plague of the flies, a pointed reminder that God's anger was not directed toward his own people, and that he was more than able to make the distinction.

Finally, God's patience was at an end, and he prepared to send one more devastating assault against the Egyptians.  Before doing so, he instructed his people, through Moses, to get ready to leave, and to seek gifts from their Egyptian neighbors, with whom he had given them favor (these were later used in constructing God's tabernacle).  Further, to protect themselves from the the coming plague, he instructed them to slay a lamb for each household, and put blood from the slain animals on their doorposts.  This was a sign that death had already come to the house, with an animal taking the place of the people inside.  For, said the Lord, "Tonight I will send the Angel of Death to Egypt to kill the firstborn of both men and animals, but when the angel sees the blood on your doorposts, he will pass over you."  From that point on, God instructed Moses, a festival commemorating this "pass over" would be held in Israel at the same time every year.

Things came about as God had said, and there was a great wail of despair in Egypt that night.  The next day, Pharaoh finally relented; he could hardly wait to get the Israelites out of his country.  The children of Israel took their leave, then, a huge mass of 600,000 men with women and children.  Once they left, though, Pharaoh begin to have second thoughts about giving up such a great source of free labor, and he gathered his army and went after them.  The army came upon the Israelites on the shores of the Red Sea, and the people were sure they were doomed.  As they did many times afterward, they began whining and complaining, saying that Moses had led them out of Egypt just so they could be killed.  Moses, in turn cried out to God, and the Lord did not desert his people.

A cloud that had been moving ahead of Israel to lead them moved behind them, bringing darkness and confusion to the Egyptians.  In the meantime, God instructed Moses to stretch his hand out over the waters of the sea, and a great miracle, beyond all imagining, occurred.  A mighty wind blew through the night, and the sea divided itself into two parts, with dry land in the middle.  Israel crossed over to the other side, along with their flocks and herds.  After they reached the other shore safely, God withdrew the cloud from the Egyptians, and they followed after.  Once more, God told Moses to stretch out his hands, and the sea returned to its bed, drowning the Egyptians and their chariots and horses.  Moses and the children of Israel responded with a great anthem of praise.  They were bound for the land promised to Abraham long centuries before.