II.

The Exodus

Moses went to Pharaoh with his brother Aaron, but in spite of the miracles he worked, such as changing the water of the Nile to blood and bringing plagues upon the Egyptians, Pharaoh would not release the Hebrew people. At last, he consented, and Moses led the Hebrews out of Egypt toward Canaan. As they neared the Red Sea, a hostile Egyptian army, dispatched by Pharaoh, came upon them from the rear. Moses stretched out his arm, whereupon the Red Sea rose up in two walls, leaving dry land between them. The Hebrews crossed on the land, but when the Egyptians tried to pursue them, the walls of water broke upon them, and they drowned. When the Hebrews reached Sinai, on the Sinai Peninsula, Moses ascended the mountain to speak with Yahweh. He spent 40 days and nights with Yahweh, from whom he received two tablets of stone on which were inscribed the Ten Commandments, which thereafter constituted the fundamental laws of the Hebrews. After 40 years of wandering in the wilderness and desert under Moses's leadership and the endurance of many hardships, such as earthquakes, plagues, fires, thirst, and wars with the native people of Palestine, the Hebrews at last came to Canaan. Moses was permitted by Yahweh to see Canaan, the Promised land, from the top of Mount Pisgah (now in Jordan), and then he died. Before he died, however, he turned the leadership of the people over to Joshua. Although the dates of Moses's birth and death are hard to establish, many contemporary authorities believe that the exodus took place in the 13th century bc.