Study Desk

"In the future, your children will ask why you do this. They will say, ‘What does all this mean?' And you will answer, ‘The Lord used his great power to save us from Egypt. We were slaves in that place, but he led us out and brought us here.

This is like a string tied on your hand, like a sign in front of your eyes. It helps you remember that the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his great power."

I will make Pharaoh brave, and he will chase you. But I will defeat Pharaoh and his army. This will bring honor to me. Then the people of Egypt will know that I am the Lord ." So the Israelites did what he told them.

Pharaoh received a report that the Israelites had escaped. When he heard this, he and his officials changed their minds about what they had done. Pharaoh said, "Why did we let the Israelites leave? Why did we let them run away? Now we have lost our slaves!"

So Pharaoh prepared his chariot and took his men with him.

He took 600 of his best men and all of his chariots. There was an officer in each chariot.

When the Israelites saw Pharaoh and his army coming toward them, they were very frightened and cried to the Lord for help.

I have made the Egyptians brave, so they will chase you. But I will show you that I am more powerful than Pharaoh and all of his horses and chariots.

Then Egypt will know that I am the Lord . They will honor me when I defeat Pharaoh and his horse soldiers and chariots."

Moses raised his hand over the Red Sea, and the Lord caused a strong wind to blow from the east. The wind blew all night long. The sea split, and the wind made the ground dry.

So just before daylight, Moses raised his hand over the sea. And the water rushed back to its proper level. The Egyptians were running as fast as they could from the water, but the Lord swept them away with the sea.

The Israelites saw the great power of the Lord when he defeated the Egyptians. So the people feared and respected the Lord , and they began to trust the Lord and his servant Moses.

The Lord is a great soldier. The Lord is his name.

Any time Moses held his hands in the air, the men of Israel would start winning the fight. But when Moses put his hands down, the men of Israel began to lose the fight.

After some time, Moses' arms became tired. So they put a large rock under Moses for him to sit on. Then Aaron and Hur held Moses' hands in the air. Aaron was on one side of Moses and Hur was on the other side. They held his hands up like this until the sun went down.

So Joshua and his men defeated the Amalekites in this battle.

So Jethro went to Moses while Moses was camped in the desert near the mountain of God. Moses' wife and his two sons were with Jethro.

So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law. Moses bowed down before him and kissed him. The two men asked about each other's health. Then they went into Moses' tent to talk more.

Moses told Jethro everything the Lord had done for the Israelites. He told what the Lord did to Pharaoh and the people of Egypt. He told about all the problems they had along the way. And he told his father-in-law how the Lord saved the Israelites every time there was trouble.

Then Moses said to his father-in-law, "The people come to me and ask me to ask for God's decision for their problem.