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The Burning BushMy Book of Bible Stories
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STORY 30
The Burning Bush
MOSES had come all the way to the mountain of Hoʹreb to find grass for his sheep. Here he saw a bush on fire, but it wasn’t burning up!
‘This is strange,’ Moses thought. ‘I will go closer and get a better look.’ When he did, a voice came from the bush, saying: ‘Do not come any closer. Take off your sandals, because you are standing on holy ground.’ It was God speaking by means of an angel, so Moses covered his face.
God then said: ‘I have seen the suffering of my people in Egypt. So I am going to free them, and you are the one I am sending to lead my people out of Egypt.’ Jehovah was going to bring his people to the beautiful land of Caʹnaan.
But Moses said: ‘I am nobody. How can I do this? But suppose I do go. The Israelites will say to me, “Who sent you?” Then what shall I say?’
‘This is what you are to say,’ God answered. ‘“JEHOVAH the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob has sent me to you.”’ And Jehovah added: ‘This is my name forever.’
‘But suppose they don’t believe me when I say that you sent me,’ Moses replied.
‘What is in your hand?’ God asked.
Moses answered: ‘A stick.’
‘Throw it on the ground,’ God said. And when Moses did, the stick became a snake. Jehovah then showed Moses another miracle. He said: ‘Put your hand inside your robe.’ Moses did, and when he took his hand out, it was white like snow! The hand looked as if it had the bad sickness called leprosy. Next Jehovah gave Moses power to do a third miracle. Finally he said: ‘When you do these miracles the Israelites will believe that I sent you.’
After that Moses went home and said to Jethʹro: ‘Please let me go back to my relatives in Egypt to see how they are.’ So Jethʹro said good-bye to Moses, and Moses began his trip back to Egypt.
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Moses and Aaron See PharaohMy Book of Bible Stories
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STORY 31
Moses and Aaron See Pharaoh
WHEN Moses returned to Egypt, he told his brother Aaron all about the miracles. And when Moses and Aaron showed the Israelites these miracles, the people all believed that Jehovah was with them.
Then Moses and Aaron went to see Pharʹaoh. They told him: ‘Jehovah the God of Israel says, “Let my people go for three days, so they can worship me in the wilderness.”’ But Pharʹaoh answered: ‘I don’t believe in Jehovah. And I’m not going to let Israel go.’
Pharʹaoh was angry, because the people wanted time off from work to worship Jehovah. So he forced them to work even harder. The Israelites blamed Moses for how badly they were treated, and Moses felt sad. But Jehovah told him not to worry. ‘I will make Pharʹaoh let my people go,’ Jehovah said.
Moses and Aaron went to see Pharʹaoh again. This time they did a miracle. Aaron threw down his stick, and it became a big snake. But Pharʹaoh’s wise men also threw down sticks, and snakes appeared. But, look! Aaron’s snake is eating up the snakes of the wise men. Still Pharʹaoh would not let the Israelites go.
So the time came for Jehovah to teach Pharʹaoh a lesson. Do you know how he did it? It was by bringing 10 plagues, or great troubles, on Egypt.
After many of the plagues, Pharʹaoh sent for Moses, and said: ‘Stop the plague, and I will let Israel go.’ But when the plague would stop, Pharʹaoh would change his mind. He would not let the people go. But, finally, after the 10th plague, Pharʹaoh sent the Israelites away.
Do you know each of the 10 plagues? Turn the page and let’s learn about them.
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The 10 PlaguesMy Book of Bible Stories
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STORY 32
The 10 Plagues
LOOK at the pictures. Each one shows a plague that Jehovah brought on Egypt. In the first picture you can see Aaron hitting the Nile River with his stick. When he did, the water in the river turned to blood. The fish died, and the river began to stink.
Next, Jehovah caused frogs to come up out of the Nile River. They were everywhere—in the ovens, the baking pans, in people’s beds—everywhere. When the frogs died the Egyptians piled them up in great heaps, and the land stank with them.
Then Aaron hit the ground with his stick, and the dust turned into gnats. These are small flying bugs that bite. The gnats were the third plague on the land of Egypt.
The rest of the plagues hurt only the Egyptians, not the Israelites. The fourth was a plague of big flies that swarmed into the houses of all the Egyptians. The fifth plague was on the animals. Many of the cattle and sheep and goats of the Egyptians died.
Next, Moses and Aaron took some ashes and threw them into the air. They caused bad sores on the people and the animals. This was the sixth plague.
After that Moses raised his hand toward the sky, and Jehovah sent thunder and hail. It was the worst hailstorm that Egypt ever had.
The eighth plague was a large swarm of locusts. Never before that time or since have there been so many locusts. They ate everything that the hail had not destroyed.
The ninth plague was of darkness. For three days thick darkness covered the land, but the Israelites had light where they were living.
Finally, God told his people to sprinkle the blood of a young goat or a young sheep on their doorposts. Then God’s angel passed over Egypt. When the angel saw the blood, he did not kill anyone in that house. But in all the houses where there was no blood on the doorposts, God’s angel killed the firstborn ones of both man and animals. This was the 10th plague.
After this last plague, Pharʹaoh told the Israelites to leave. God’s people were all ready to go, and that very night they started their march out of Egypt.
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Crossing the Red SeaMy Book of Bible Stories
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STORY 33
Crossing the Red Sea
LOOK at what is happening! That is Moses with his stick stretched out over the Red Sea. Those with him safely on the other side are the Israelites. But Pharʹaoh and all his army are being drowned in the sea. Let’s see how this came about.
As we learned, Pharʹaoh told the Israelites to leave Egypt after God brought the 10th plague on the Egyptians. About 600,000 Israelite men left, as well as many women and children. Also, a large number of other people, who had become believers in Jehovah, left with the Israelites. They all took their sheep and goats and cattle with them.
Before they left, the Israelites asked the Egyptians for clothes and for things made of gold and silver. The Egyptians were very much afraid, because of that last plague upon them. So they gave the Israelites everything they asked for.
After a few days the Israelites came to the Red Sea. There they rested. In the meantime, Pharʹaoh and his men began to feel sorry that they had sent the Israelites away. ‘We have let our slaves go!’ they said.
So Pharʹaoh changed his mind once more. He quickly got his war chariot and his army ready. Then he began to chase after the Israelites with 600 special chariots, as well as all the other chariots of Egypt.
When the Israelites saw Pharʹaoh and his army coming after them, they were very much afraid. There was no way to flee. The Red Sea was on one side of them, and here the Egyptians were coming from the other direction. But Jehovah put a cloud between his people and the Egyptians. So the Egyptians were not able to see the Israelites to attack them.
Jehovah then told Moses to stretch his stick out over the Red Sea. When he did, Jehovah caused a strong east wind to blow. The waters of the sea were parted, and the waters were held up on both sides.
Then the Israelites began to march through the sea on dry ground. It took hours for the millions of people with all their animals to get safely through the sea to the other side. Finally the Egyptians were able to see the Israelites again. Their slaves were getting away! So they rushed into the sea after them.
When they did, God caused the wheels of their chariots to fall off. The Egyptians became very much afraid and began to cry out: ‘Jehovah is fighting for the Israelites against us. Let’s get out of here!’ But it was too late.
This is when Jehovah told Moses to stretch his stick out over the Red Sea, as you saw in the picture. And when Moses did, the walls of water began to come back and cover the Egyptians and their chariots. The whole army had followed the Israelites into the sea. And not one of the Egyptians got out alive!
How happy all God’s people were to be saved! The men sang a song of thanks to Jehovah, saying: ‘Jehovah has won a glorious victory. He has thrown the horses and their riders into the sea.’ Moses’ sister Mirʹi·am took her tambourine, and all the women followed her with their tambourines. And as they danced with joy, they sang the same song as the men were singing: ‘Jehovah has won a glorious victory. He has thrown the horses and their riders into the sea.’
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A New Kind of FoodMy Book of Bible Stories
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STORY 34
A New Kind of Food
CAN you tell what the people are picking up off the ground? It is like frost. It is white, and it is thin and flaky. But it’s not frost; it’s something to eat.
It has been only about a month since the Israelites left Egypt. They are in the wilderness. Little food grows here, and so the people complain, saying: ‘We wish that Jehovah had killed us in Egypt. At least there we had all the food that we wanted.’
So Jehovah says: ‘I am going to cause food to rain down from the sky.’ And this is what Jehovah does. The next morning when the Israelites see this white stuff that has fallen, they ask one another: ‘What is it?’
Moses says: ‘This is the food that Jehovah has given you to eat.’ The people call it MANNA. It tastes like thin cakes made with honey.
‘You are to pick up as much as each person can eat,’ Moses tells the people. So each morning this is what they do. Then, when the sun gets hot, the manna left on the ground melts.
Moses also says: ‘No one is to save any of the manna over to the next day.’ But some of the people don’t listen. Do you know what happens? The next morning the manna that they have saved is full of worms, and it begins to stink!
There is one day of the week, however, that Jehovah tells the people to gather twice as much manna. This is the sixth day. And Jehovah says to save some of it over to the next day, because he will not cause any to fall on the seventh day. When they save the manna over to the seventh day, it doesn’t get full of worms and it doesn’t stink! This is another miracle!
All the years that the Israelites are in the wilderness Jehovah feeds them with manna.
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Jehovah Gives His LawsMy Book of Bible Stories
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STORY 35
Jehovah Gives His Laws
ABOUT two months after they leave Egypt, the Israelites come to Mount Siʹnai, which is also called Hoʹreb. This is the same place where Jehovah spoke to Moses from the burning bush. The people camp here and stay for a while.
As the people wait below, Moses climbs the mountain. Up there on top of the mountain, Jehovah tells Moses that He wants the Israelites to obey Him and to become His special people. When Moses comes down, he tells the Israelites what Jehovah has said. And the people say that they will obey Jehovah, because they want to be his people.
Jehovah now does a strange thing. He makes the top of the mountain smoke, and causes loud thunder. He also speaks to the people: ‘I am Jehovah your God who brought you out of Egypt.’ Then he commands: ‘You must not worship any other gods except me.’
God gives the Israelites nine more commandments, or laws. The people are very afraid. They tell Moses: ‘You speak to us, because we are afraid that if God speaks to us we may die.’
Later Jehovah tells Moses: ‘Come up to me in the mountain. I will give you two flat stones on which I have written the laws that I want the people to keep.’ So Moses again goes up into the mountain. For 40 days and nights he stays there.
God has many, many laws for his people. Moses writes these laws down. God also gives Moses the two flat stones. On these, God himself has written the 10 laws that he spoke to all the people. They are called the Ten Commandments.
The Ten Commandments are important laws. But so are the many other laws that God gives the Israelites. One of these laws is: ‘You must love Jehovah your God with your whole heart, your whole mind, your whole soul and your whole strength.’ And another is: ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’ God’s Son, Jesus Christ, said that these are the two greatest laws that Jehovah gave to his people Israel. Later we will learn many things about God’s Son and his teachings.
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