I am Moses, the son of Amram a Levites. I was sent by God to take the Israelites out of Egypt to live in the promised land of Canaan. After repeated struggles with Pharaoh, Aaron and I finally fulfilled God's mission to let Pharaoh fear God's work and let us go. I took the Israelites out of Egypt and, under God's guidance, marched through the wilderness of the Red Sea to the land of Canaan. Pharaoh's servants were not happy with the departure of the Israelites, and Pharaoh was not reconciled. So, shortly after I left with the Israelites, Pharaoh began to pursue us with his army.
Thank God that He gave me the ability to separate the Red Sea by a passage that allowed me and the Israelites to travel dry from the Red Sea to the other side of the Red Sea. After the pharaoh's army entered the Red Sea passage, the Red Sea closed again, drowning Pharaoh and his army, leaving not a single person behind. In this way, we escaped Egypt once and for all and became free men. God led us on the way of the wilderness, step by step to the land of Canaan.
The road in the wilderness was difficult, and as I witnessed God's miracles along the way, and I also saw the Israelites' rebellion and repentance along the way, I became more aware of the weakness of human nature and why God would punish mankind in the days of Noah. A lot of the time, people are hard-hearted. Even if you receive God's love, you will quickly forget it, and you will only have your own interests in mind. In good times, people forget God's love, and only in bad times do they complain and pray, but soon they forget God. The road in the wilderness was crossed by the Israelites in constant temptation and repentance.
The Israelites and I went from the Red Sea to the wilderness of Shur, and after walking in the wilderness for three days we could not find water, and the people began to complain incessantly. But I couldn't make water, but I told them that God would prepare for them to endure. Finally to Mara, where there is indeed a spring of water, but unfortunately the water there is very bitter and cannot be drunk. Then the people came to me and murmured, saying, What shall we drink, and will you cause us to die of thirst, and we might as well be in Egypt, where at least the water of Egypt may be drinkable.
I had no choice but to call for God's help. God instructed me to cut down a tree and throw it in the water, and the water became sweet. Seeing the great weakness and rebellion of the Israelites, God placed me there to make statutes and judgments for them, and to test them there. And said unto the people, If thou wilt hearken diligently unto the word of thy God, and do that which is right in the sight of God, and hearken diligently unto the commandments of God, and keep all statutes, God will not put upon you the sickness which he inflicted on the Egyptians, for I have healed thee. Because the bitter waters were sweetened, the people once again remembered the grace of God and listened to God's teaching.
Soon we came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and we encamped there by the water. Elim's water and products helped us to recuperate for a while and enabled us to continue our journey. And we departed from Elim, and on the fifteenth day of the second month after the Exodus, we came to the wilderness of Sin, between Elim and Sinai.
Because of the shortage of food, the whole congregation of Israel murmured against me and Aaron in the wilderness, saying, "Oh that we had died at the hands of the god of the land of Egypt, when we were sitting by the pot of meat and eating to our heart's content." You have brought us out into this wilderness so that the whole congregation may starve to death. This frustrated me and Aaron, what can we do?Aren't we here to save them from slavery?Why do they never know contentment?
And God said unto me, I will send you bread from heaven, that the people may go out and reap every day, that I may test them whether they do not walk in my testimonies. And on the sixth day they shall prepare twice as much as they have in each day.
And I, Aaron, said unto all Israel, When evening comes, know ye that God hath brought you out of the land of Egypt. In the morning you will see the glory of God, because God has heard your murmuring against him. Who are we, that you should murmur against us?
God will give you meat to eat in the evening, and bread to fill you in the morning: for he has heard what we are when you murmur against God, and your murmuring is not against us, but against God.
I said to Aaron, "Speak unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, Come near to God, for he has heard your murmuring." While Aaron was speaking to all the congregation of Israel, they went out into the wilderness,** and, behold, the glory of God appeared in the clouds. And God said, I have heard the murmuring of the children of Israel, and thou shalt tell them, Eat meat at twilight, and in the morning you will have food to your fill, and you will know that I am your God.
In the morning there was dew on the ground round about the camp, and when the dew had risen, behold, there were little round things like hoarfrost on the field. When the children of Israel saw it, they did not know what it was, and they said to one another, "What is this?" I said to them, "This is the bread that God has given you to eat." This is what God has commanded: Gather yourselves every man according to the amount of his bread, and gather it for every man in his tent, according to the number of men, and take an omer from each man. And the children of Israel did as I said, and they received much and some less. And when he measured the amount of the omere, there was no surplus of what was overgained, and there was no shortage of what was little, and every man took according to his own bread. This food, which is called manna in Israel, looks like coriander seeds, and is white in color, and tastes like crepes mixed with honey. In this way, God sent down the manna at the right time every day, and for six days he gave to each man according to his meal, and on the seventh day he would give everyone a double portion, because it was the Sabbath, and the Israelites did nothing to keep the Sabbath for God.
We continued our journey from the wilderness of Flood, and encamped in Rephidim. And there the people had no water to drink, so they quarreled with me again, saying, Give us water to drink. And it was a great headache for me to be troubled by the people, so I said unto them, Why do ye quarrel with me, and why do ye tempt God?
And the people of Israel murmured against me, saying, Why hast thou brought us out of Egypt, that we should die of thirst, and our sons and our daughters, and our cattle? The people even wanted to kill me, and I even saw that they had red eyes, and they did not have red eyes before the Egyptians. I was very angry with the people's behavior, and I cried out to God, saying, "What shall I do to this people, they will almost stone me to death."
And God said unto me, Take in thy hand the rod with which thou smote the waters of the river, and lead the elders of Israel before the people.
I will stand before you at the rock of Horeb. And thou shalt strike the rock, and out of it water shall flow forth, that the people may drink. So I called the elders of Israel to the rock, and after I had struck the rock, a fountain of water came out, and the people were no longer thirsty. In order that the people might remember this, I called the name of the place Masa, which means temptation.
Amalek was the first enemy we encountered in the wilderness, and they fought against us at Rephidim. Then I said to Joshua, "Choose men for us to go out to fight against the Amalekites." Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the mountain with the rod of God in my hand to help you.
Joshua led the men to battle against the Amalekites, and whenever I raised my hand, the children of Israel were victorious, and when I lowered my hand, the Amalekites were victorious. To prevent my hands from sinking, Aaron brought me a stone and sat on it. Aaron and Hur held my hands on either side of me, and my hands were held firm until the sun went down, when the children of Israel prevailed over King Amalekit and his people. There we built an altar to God to commemorate God's work.
During the process, the people have a lot of disputes and contradictions, which need to be dealt with by me, and I will arrange a lot of time to deal with this matter alone, but the customer said that it is still impossible to deal with it. When my father-in-law, Jethro, came to see me, he gave me an idea, that is, to choose a godly and righteous person who loves God, to be a ten-captain, a fifty-captain, a centurion, and a thousand-commander, and they will handle civil affairs on my behalf.
Three months after we left the land of Egypt, we left Rephidim and encamped in the wilderness of Sinai. And there God appeared to the people, and when they saw the thunder and lightning, they were all afraid, and they affirmed that I spoke to God in my belly, and then I relayed it to them. On Mount Sinai, God gave the Ten Commandments, namely: Keep the Sabbath, work six days, and rest on the seventhHonor your parents;Thou shalt not kill;Thou shalt not commit adultery;Thou shalt not steal;Thou shalt not bear false witness against others;Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, nor thy wife, nor thy servant, nor thy servant, nor thy oxen or donkey, or all that he has;Thou shalt not worship idols;Fear God. God also gave the law to deal with disputes among the people and civil disputes. The next morning, I took seventy elders with me and went up to the mountain to offer sacrifices and make a covenant with God. After that, God called me up to the mountain to teach me more laws, and I stayed on the mountain for forty days and nights.
And it came to pass during the forty days and nights that I had gone up to the mountain, that the people, because they had not seen me, and thought that something had happened to me, and they forced Aaron to build them a golden calf for them, and to make it their god, and provoked the god to wrath, and slew three thousand Israelites.
Because the Israelites had repeatedly tempted God, God was angry and caused the Israelites to wander in the wilderness for forty years, until all the men of that generation died, and then brought the Israelites to the Promised Land.