Egypt and Wilderness

A new king arises "who did not know Joseph" (Exodus 1:8), and the family that came for grain becomes a nation in chains. The midwives Shiphrah and Puah defy the order to kill the Hebrew boys (Exodus 1:15–21); one mother, Jochebed, hides her son in a basket in the Nile, his sister Miriam watches, and Pharaoh's daughter draws him out and names him Moses (Exodus 2:1–10). Grown, Moses kills an Egyptian and flees to Midian, where he marries Zipporah, daughter of the priest Jethro, and keeps sheep until a bush burns without being consumed (Exodus 3:1–6).

Moses returns with his brother Aaron as his mouth (Exodus 4:14–16). Ten plagues fall on Egypt, the last of them answered by blood on the doorposts and the first Passover (Exodus 12:1–13). Israel walks out through the sea, Pharaoh's chariots do not, and Miriam takes up a tambourine on the far shore (Exodus 15:20–21). Three months later the mountain shakes at Sinai and the Ten Commandments are given (Exodus 19–20), followed by the pattern for the tabernacle, built by the craftsmen Bezalel and Oholiab (Exodus 31:1–6).

The wilderness years are a long argument. While Moses is on the mountain Aaron makes the golden calf (Exodus 32); Nadab and Abihu offer unauthorised fire and die before the LORD (Leviticus 10:1–2); Korah, Dathan and Abiram lead a revolt and the ground opens under them (Numbers 16). Twelve spies survey Canaan and ten of them lose heart; only Caleb and Joshua bring back a believing report, and that generation is sentenced to die in the desert (Numbers 13–14).

Even outside Israel the story keeps moving. Balak of Moab hires the seer Balaam to curse Israel, and blessing comes out of his mouth instead (Numbers 22–24). Miriam dies at Kadesh and Aaron on Mount Hor (Numbers 20). Moses himself strikes the rock and is told he will not enter the land (Numbers 20:8–12). Deuteronomy is his last long sermon on the plains of Moab, ending with the commissioning of Joshua and the death of the prophet "whom the LORD knew face to face" on Mount Nebo (Deuteronomy 34:5–10).