Download Lesson 1 – MOSES THE EGYPTIAN Exodus 1-2:10

Last week we talked about how Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh to ask him to let them go into the
wilderness to worship God. Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites go, and made them work even
harder. One of their main jobs was to make bricks for the magnificent buildings that he liked to build.
He had supplied them with straw for mixing with the river clay to make the bricks, but now they had
to find their own and still make the same number of bricks. The poor slaves! Their task was hard
enough before and here it was being doubled.
The Israelites complained to Pharaoh and they were unhappy with Moses. They had expected Moses
to help them, not make their lives worse. God told Moses that He had not forgotten the covenant He
had made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and He would bring the people into the land as He had
promised. Moses told the Israelites this but they would not listen. So God commanded Moses and
Aaron to go and see Pharaoh again. God said, ‘I will multiply my signs and wonders … and the
Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD’.
So Moses and Aaron appeared before Pharaoh the second time. Moses was eighty years old and
Aaron eighty-three. This was a huge task for such old men but with God’s help they too on the task
of convincing Pharaoh. When Pharaoh asked for a sign from them Moses told Aaron to throw down
his rod and it became a snake. Then Pharaoh called for his magicians. They were able to do exactly
the same thing with their magic tricks. But then Aaron’s rod swallowed up the magicians’ rods,
showing that the God of Moses and Aaron was the greatest. Still, Pharaoh would not let the children
of Israel go. So now they would really see the awesome power of God. God sent horrible plagues to
cover the land. Do you know how many there were? There were ten all together and it was not until
the last one that Pharaoh let the people go.
Although Egypt was a very civilised and great nation as far as wealth and power was concerned, the
people worshipped all kinds of idols. Even Pharaoh himself was worshipped as a god. The Egyptians
worshipped cattle, serpents, frogs, beetles, and the Nile River, which watered the land. The plagues
that God sent were against all these things and showed that they were false gods. The God of the
Israelites was the only true God and He was all-powerful. The plagues were also sent as a punishment
on the Egyptians for the cruel way they had treated the Israelites.
1.
BLOOD - God turned the River Nile into blood. Yuck. All the fish died, the river began to stink
and the people could not drink the water. They had to dig for fresh water. This went on for seven
days.
2
FROGS - thousands of frogs came out of the river and went hopping
everywhere, even through the people’s houses. There were so many of them
that the people would step on them if they moved and they could not do that
because the frog was a symbol of one of their goddesses. And think how
noisy it would be! To get rid of the frogs God made then all die. The Egyptians
now had to get rid of heaps and heaps of dead frogs.
3.
LICE - Has anyone ever had head lice? Yucky itchy things. Without any
warning God sent lice to cover all the people and animals. This would be really horrible for them
because they were a very clean nation.
4.
FLIES - Although the Bible says flies they were not the flies that we know. It
probably means all sorts of insects and beetles that God sent to cover all the
Egyptian people and their animals. The Israelites were not affected by them at
all. This was the first time that God made a difference between the two
nations.
5.
DEAD CATTLE - All the Egyptian horses and cattle became terribly sick and eventually died.
6.
BOILS - God sent boils, which are like very painful sores to cover all the Egyptian people and
their animals.
7.
HAIL – There were terrible hail storms which were so strong that they killed the Egyptian
animals and people in the fields and destroyed trees and crops. Anybody who believed in Yahweh
had enough time to get inside and be protected.
8.
LOCUSTS - God sent locusts, which are like grasshoppers, to
cover the land of Egypt. There were so many that the sky was black.
The locusts ate all the trees and the crops that were left after the hail.
Anything that was green they ate. They even went into the people’s
houses.
9.
DARKNESS - God made the sky to turn dark for three whole days. It was so dark that you
could feel it, like being deep in a cave where there is no light at all.
The magicians of Egypt were also able to copy the first two plagues with their tricks. They were able
to produce blood instead of water and conjure up frogs. The important thing though, is that the
magicians were not able to stop the plagues or get rid of them. They could not turn the river back to
pure water or get rid of the thousands of frogs. These were the only two plagues they were able to
copy. From the third plague of lice onward they were powerless. Then there was another change
with the fourth plague. God separated the land of Goshen where the Israelites were living, it was like
having a protective bubble around it. No flies came to smother them and they were not affected by
the other plagues which followed.
Throughout all of this Pharaoh kept changing his mind. ‘Yes you can go’ when the plague was at its
worst and then ‘No you can’t’ when the pressure was off. He had seen the power of Yahweh in nine
plagues but was not ready to say that the God of the Israelites was all powerful. His stubbornness
brought on the final plague which was the worst of all and would cost the land dearly. This would
make him change his mind but that is next week’s story, God willing.
Last week we talked about how Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh to ask him to let them go into the
wilderness to worship God. Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites go, and made them work even
harder. One of their main jobs was to make bricks for the magnificent buildings that he liked to build.
He had supplied them with straw for mixing with the river clay to make the bricks, but now they had
to find their own and still make the same number of bricks. The poor slaves! Their task was hard
enough before and here it was being doubled.
The Israelites complained to Pharaoh and they were unhappy with Moses. They had expected Moses
to help them, not make their lives worse. God told Moses that He had not forgotten the covenant He
had made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and He would bring the people into the land as He had
promised. Moses told the Israelites this but they would not listen. So God commanded Moses and
Aaron to go and see Pharaoh again. God said, ‘I will multiply my signs and wonders … and the
Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD’.
So Moses and Aaron appeared before Pharaoh the second time. Moses was eighty years old and
Aaron eighty-three. This was a huge task for such old men but with God’s help they too on the task
of convincing Pharaoh. When Pharaoh asked for a sign from them Moses told Aaron to throw down
his rod and it became a snake. Then Pharaoh called for his magicians. They were able to do exactly
the same thing with their magic tricks. But then Aaron’s rod swallowed up the magicians’ rods,
showing that the God of Moses and Aaron was the greatest. Still, Pharaoh would not let the children
of Israel go. So now they would really see the awesome power of God. God sent horrible plagues to
cover the land. Do you know how many there were? There were ten all together and it was not until
the last one that Pharaoh let the people go.
Although Egypt was a very civilised and great nation as far as wealth and power was concerned, the
people worshipped all kinds of idols. Even Pharaoh himself was worshipped as a god. The Egyptians
worshipped cattle, serpents, frogs, beetles, and the Nile River, which watered the land. The plagues
that God sent were against all these things and showed that they were false gods. The God of the
Israelites was the only true God and He was all-powerful. The plagues were also sent as a punishment
on the Egyptians for the cruel way they had treated the Israelites.
1.
……………………… - God turned the River Nile into blood. Yuck. All the fish died, the river
began to stink and the people could not drink the water. They had to dig for fresh water. This went
on for seven days.
2
………………………- thousands of frogs came out of the river and
went hopping everywhere, even through the people’s houses. There were so
many of them that the people would step on them if they moved and they
could not do that because the frog was a symbol of one of their goddesses.
And think how noisy it would be! To get rid of the frogs God made then all die.
The Egyptians now had to get rid of heaps and heaps of dead frogs.
3.
………………………- Has anyone ever had head lice? Yucky itchy
things. Without any warning God sent lice to cover all the people and animals. This would be really
horrible for them because they were a very clean nation.
4.
………………………- Although the Bible says flies they were not the flies that
we know. It probably means all sorts of insects and beetles that God sent to
cover all the Egyptian people and their animals. The Israelites were not
affected by them at all. This was the first time that God made a difference
between the two nations.
5.
……………………….………………………. - All the Egyptian horses and cattle became
terribly sick and eventually died.
6.
………………………. - God sent boils, which are like very painful sores to cover all the
Egyptian people and their animals.
7.
……………………….– There were terrible hail storms which were so strong that they killed
the Egyptian animals and people in the fields and destroyed trees and crops. Anybody who believed
in Yahweh had enough time to get inside and be protected.
8.
………………………- God sent locusts, which are like
grasshoppers, to cover the land of Egypt. There were so many that
the sky was black. The locusts ate all the trees and the crops that were
left after the hail. Anything that was green they ate. They even went into
the people’s houses.
9.
………………………- God made the sky to turn dark for three whole days. It was so dark that
you could feel it, like being deep in a cave where there is no light at all.
The magicians of Egypt were also able to copy the first two plagues with their tricks. They were able
to produce blood instead of water and conjure up frogs. The important thing though, is that the
magicians were not able to stop the plagues or get rid of them. They could not turn the river back to
pure water or get rid of the thousands of frogs. These were the only two plagues they were able to
copy. From the third plague of lice onward they were powerless. Then there was another change
with the fourth plague. God separated the land of Goshen where the Israelites were living, it was like
having a protective bubble around it. No flies came to smother them and they were not affected by
the other plagues which followed.
Throughout all of this Pharaoh kept changing his mind. ‘Yes you can go’ when the plague was at its
worst and then ‘No you can’t’ when the pressure was off. He had seen the power of Yahweh in nine
plagues but was not ready to say that the God of the Israelites was all powerful. His stubbornness
brought on the final plague which was the worst of all and would cost the land dearly. This would
make him change his mind but that is next week’s story, God willing.