1 Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian ; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush ; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. 3 So Moses said, “I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.” 4 When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses !” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then He said, “Do not come near here ; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 He said also, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. 7 The LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. 8 “So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. 9 “Now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 “Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt ?” 12 And He said, “Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.”
The Israelites, that is, all the descendants of Israel and his sons, have been living in Egypt for hundreds of years now, and they have grown very strong. They are so strong that pharaoh is worried that they may be a threat to Egypt. So he starts to do really bad things to try and make them weaker. He tries to get rid of all the baby boys, so there won’t be any boys who can fight against Egypt. He makes slaves of all of Israel, forcing them to make bricks for his massive building projects, and the people cry out to God for him to help them.
Moses is one of the baby boys that Pharaoh tried to get rid of. Now he is a grown man living in the desert, and God calls him and tells him to go to Egypt and tell Pharaoh to let his people go.
Moses doesn’t sound too happy about this assignment, does he?
Moses doesn’t think he should be the one that God chooses to set Israel free. But God promises Moses, as he has promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob before him, that he will be with him, and that he will return, with all of Israel to this mountain to again meet with God.
Do you know the rest of this story?
Does God keep his promise?
Does Moses bring all the tribes of Israel out of Egypt and back to Mt. Sinai?
It’s a very exciting story, and you can read more about it if you like in Exodus, starting at chapter 1.
Tomorrow we’ll find out if they make it to Sinai or not.
Day 9 – Meeting God Face to Face