The Story of Moses By: Emmanuel Torres Parting the WatersA long time ago, the pharaoh of Egypt

was seeing a problem with the rising population of the Hebrews which were slaves. He ordered that every first-born male child be immediately killed. Moses' mother loved her child and saw that the only way for Moses to survive was to put him in a basket and let him float down the Nile River. She could only hope that someone would raise him up. It turned out that the pharaoh's daughter was about to wash herself when she found the little boy in the basket. She begged the pharaoh not to kill him and the pharaoh agreed to raise him as the prince of Egypt along with their own son. When he was older, Moses watched in disgust as all the slaves were being whipped and severely beaten. One day, he saw a slave being brutally beaten by a guard and he could not watch, he was so furious that he killed the guard. The pharaoh quickly found out and ordered for Moses to be killed. Moses fled into the desert. He became thirsty and came across a well. He was very weak and he fell into the well. After a couple of hours a few women heard his cries and pulled him out. The women invited him to their camp and after a few weeks, Moses married one of the women by the name of Zipporah. Moses lived in peace with his wife for forty years as a shepherd. One day, while he was looking after the sheep, he saw a bush that was on fire on the mountaintop, but to his surprise the bush did not burn out. Then he heard a voice. "I hear the cries of my people and I want to you go and deliver them from Egypt into the promised land flowing with milk and honey!" God spoke. "Who am I to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt? I am just a mere man," Moses replied. "I will be with you always, Moses. It is through you that I will deliver the children of Israel. "What am I going to tell them? I don't know what to say. "You will tell them that I am who I am," God replied. Moses was still hesitant and doubted that he could deliver his people. So, God told him to drop his shepherd's rod onto the ground and he turned it into a serpent. Even after seeing this, Moses was not confident that he would do as God asked. God then told Moses of the seven

plagues that would happen if the pharaoh did not comply. Still, Moses was not a good speaker and was hesitant. "Was it not I, that created your mouth? Did I not create the seeing and the blind? Go and I will be your mouth and tell you what to say!" God was angry at this point and Moses got the picture. So he headed out with his brother Aaron toward Egypt to approach his step-brother and now pharaoh. "Brother, I come to ask you to let my people go!" The pharaoh refused to abide by God's request, so Moses performed his first miracle. He threw his rod to the ground where it became a serpent. Soon enough, the pharaoh's magicians did the same thing. God showed his immense power when Moses' serpent devoured the other three. The pharaoh was angry at what he was seeing and refused. "I am sorry brother, but this is the will of the Lord: If you refuse to let his people go, there will be ten plagues!"Moses Moses struck the water in Egypt with his rod and all the waters turn red with blood. The pharaoh's magicians were able to do the same thing and so Ramses refused to let them go. Soon after, the plague of frogs came up, followed by lice, flies, death of livestock, boils, hail, locusts, and darkness. The pharaoh was very proud and refused to let the people go, even after seeing all of God's power. Finally, God sent the angel of death to kill all of the first-born children. He told his people to cover their door posts with the blood of a lamb. At midnight, the angel went door to door, killing all without the marked door posts. On this very night, you could hear the cries of the Egyptian parents as they discovered that their first-born had taken its last breath. The pharaoh finally gave in and agreed to let the Israelites go after discovering the death of his own child. So, the Israelites headed out of Egypt in search for the promised land. Once again, the pharaoh changed his mind and decided to go after the Israelites with all of his powerful army. The Israelites saw the approaching Egyptians and complained to Moses. Moses replied, "Don't be afraid. The Lord is with us and will watch over us. We shall not fear in the midst of the Lord." They had come across the Red Sea as the Egyptians were approaching. Then God said, "Moses, lift up your rod and part the sea. My people shall pass on dry ground and witness my power."

God parted the sea and the people crossed on dry ground. When they made it onto the other side, God returned the sea back to normal, drowning the Egyptians who had made it halfway through. After seeing all these amazing things and witnessing God's power, the Israelites believed in Moses and the Lord. God decided to test his chosen people in the wilderness before leading them into the promised land. This test took several years. He wanted to see if his people would keep his laws and commandments. So, he instructed Moses to make his way up to Mount Sinai for forty days. It is there that God himself wrote the Ten Commandments onto two stone tablets. The people back at the bottom of the mountain grew inpatient and decided to make a God of their own. They collected all of their gold and made a gold calf which they worshiped. Knowing this, God became furious and threatened to consume all the people. Moses pleaded to God not to do so and he made his way back from the mountaintop to find his people worshiping a gold calf. He was very furious and he destroyed the golden calf and threw the two stone tables onto the foot of the mountain. He appeared to the people in a rage and told them to choose whether they were on God's side or not. The people chose and the ones not on God's side were consumed by God's fury. Moses went back up to Mount Sinai and God gave him two more tablets to replace the broken ones. The people were to follow the law of God and follow these commandments for all the time to come...... Author's Note: This story was very hard to write. The story of Moses is very long and it was hard to pick out the important things and not leave anything off that would take away from the story. What amazes me is that the Israelites saw all the things described and still made their own gold calf to worship. This comes to show you that people are defiant no matter what they witness. I can see why God and Moses would get angry. I decided to include this story in my storybook because Moses was one of the few that talked directly to God. In this aspect, the story of Moses and Noah's ark is different. Noah talked to God and was obedient, while Moses was doubtful. This story showed a lot of obstacles that were overcome and it also brought about the ten commandments which we still follow to this day.