BIBLE TIMELINE: MOSES (1500 B.C.)

(Message by Tanny Keng)

1. Life of Moses (1500 B.C.)

a) Before we get into the life of Moses, it is helpful to know why the children of Israel lived in Egypt and why they became slaves.

2. Israel in Egypt

a) Jacob's (Israel's) favorite son was Joseph. It was he, because his father loved him more than he loved his other children, who received from him a coat of many colors (Genesis 37). Joseph's eleven brothers, envious of his special treatment, wanted to kill him. They ultimately sold him to slave traders on their way to Egypt.
In Egypt God is with Joseph and blesses him. After a series of events and trials (Genesis 39-41), he is made ruler over Egypt.

i) ". . .'You shall be over my house, and all my people shall be ruled according to your word; only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you.' And Pharaoh said to Joseph, 'See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.' " (Genesis 41:40-41, NKJV)

b) After Egypt experiences seven years of bountiful harvests (where Joseph stores extra food) a famine overtakes not only the country but also the land of Canaan where Jacob and his entire family are living. In 1685 B.C., Jacob and his entire household move to Egypt's land of Goshen in order to survive the famine.

c) Sometime after the death of Joseph in 1614 B.C., a new ruler took the throne over Egypt who had no regard for the children of Israel. This new Pharaoh, fearing the growing and increasingly prosperous Israelites in the land of Goshen, made them into slaves.

3. Life of Moses

a) Moses, whose name means 'taken out' or 'drawn forth,' is born into an Israelite family from the tribe of Levi. The family consists of sister Miriam (roughly twelve years old) and brother Aaron (three years old). Shortly before his birth, Pharaoh decreed the death of all Hebrew male children. Unable to conceal her baby for very long, Moses' mother Jochebed carried out a plan to save her child. She put him in a small ark and placed it in the reeds along the river hoping would find and let him live. Pharaoh's daughter finds the baby and immediately adopts him. Miriam, who serves the princess, suggests and arranges for her mother to nurse the child.

b) Moses grows up taught and trained in Pharaoh's court. From the age of twenty to forty he was "mighty in words and deeds" (Acts 7:22). He, according to historian Josephus, becomes general of the Egyptian army and leads a successful campaign against the Ethiopians (Antiquities (History) of the Jews, Book 2, Chapter 10).

c) Around the age of forty Moses flees Egypt to escape punishment for killing an Egyptian taskmaster who wrongly beat and killed a Hebrew slave. His journey takes him to Midian where he ends up working for a man named Jethro. He soon marries Jethro's daughter. After spending forty years as a herdsman, God commissions him, through a burning bush, to free the children of Israel from their Egyptian bondage.

d) Moses journeys back to Egypt with his brother Aaron, who acts as his spokesman. Their confrontations with Pharaoh Thutmose III (ruled Egypt from 1479 to 1425 B.C.) lead to ten plagues brought on Egypt and the killing of their firstborn. The Exodus occurs when the Israelites leave Egypt. Moses then spends the last forty years of his life serving God and governing the people. He leads the people to Mt. Sinai where God gives them his laws and commandments. After the children of Israel show a lack of faith to enter their inheritance, God judges them unfit to receive this blessing and has them wander the wilderness for forty years. During this period, he writes the first five books of the Bible. He dies at the age of 120. Joshua, his second in command, leads the Israelites into the promised land.

4. Important events in the life of Moses

i) Saved from an early death by Pharaoh's daughter.

ii) Called to serve God through a burning bush.

iii) Pharaoh's continuing refusal to release God's people brings plagues on Egypt and the death of each Egyptian family's firstborn.

iv) Israelites miraculously cross the Red Sea.

v) The children of Israel receive God's laws and commandments at Mt. Sinai.

vi) Israel's lack of faith leads to wandering wilderness for 40 years.

vii) Writes the first five books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy).

The End ...

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