God's people, the Israelites, lived in Egypt. But they lived as slaves. The King was scared by how many Israelites there were. He worried that they would fight him. So he made a law to take away all baby boys when they were born.
When Moses was born, his mother made a basket of reeds and hid him in the River Nile. A Princess from the palace found him there and decided to take care of him.
The Princess adopted Moses and he grew up in the palace. But when he was fully grown he got into a fight and ran away from Egypt.
For many years Moses lived as a shepherd. He married and had children. Meanwhile, in Egypt, the wicked King died but life was still hard for the Israelites. They cried to God to help them.
One day, Moses saw a bush that was on fire. But it was not burnt up. He went to look closer and heard a voice speak to him. It was God. 'Moses! Moses!' God said. 'I have heard my people's cries. You must tell the King to let them go. I will be with you.'
Moses went back to Egypt. He and his brother told the King what God had said. 'The Lord, the God of Israel, says: Let my people go.' But the King would not listen. <br />
God gave Moses special powers to make the King change his mind. Plagues of insects came to Egypt and destroyed crops. The River Nile turned to blood. When the Egyptians lost their first-born children, the King agreed to let the Israelites leave.
The Israelites packed their things and left Egypt. God himself led the people through the desert. But the King sent his armies after them, to make them come back.
The Israelites reached the Red Sea. They were scared. How could they get across? God told Moses to raise his stick over the sea. A strong wind blew and the waters parted. The land became dry and the Israelites crossed over to safety.
The Israelites camped in the desert of Sinai. God called Moses to go up the mountain. There, he gave Moses some important rules for the Israelites - now called the Ten Commandments. He wanted the people to learn how to live well with each other.
God told Moses to build a special tent where God himself could live among His people. It contained a special box where the Ten Commandments were kept and a lamp that would burn all night long.
I wonder how Moses felt when he saw the bush on fire? I wonder why God chose fire to explain the special message to Moses? * Write an important message for friend, family, school, world on a flame. Get all the children to sit in a circle and share them as a class and then place their messages in the middle to make a big fire. I wonder what kind of place it would be if all these special messages were shared? * God gives Moses lots of instructions. He tells him to do lots of things in this story because God knows it is the right thing to do. What instructions / good things do you think God would tell us to do today? Can you write a class list?
Thousands of years ago in Egypt, the land of the pyramids and Pharaohs, there was a man chosen by God to save his people from a life of slavery. His name was Moses, and he is one of the most important people in the Bible.
Find out more about his story in this timeline.