Exodus

The **Exodus** was the founding myth of the Israelites, recorded in the Book of Exodus in the Old Testament. From 1491 to 1451 BC, the Jews of Egypt were delivered from their slavery through the prophet Moses, who parted the Red Sea and led the Israelites to the Promised Land after 40 years of wandering through the Sinai wilderness.

## Background

Under the Viceroy of Egypt Joseph (the son of Jacob), the Jews of Canaan were invited to leave behind famine in the Levant and settle in Goshen in the Lower Nile region of northern Egypt. The Israelites were tolerated due to Joseph's good favor with the Pharaohs, but, over the course of several decades, the Jews became more numerous, and the Pharaohs began to fear that they would take over the country. The Pharaohs began to stealthily and gradually enslave the Jews until all of them were in chains, and they were forced to build treasure cities. In 1571 BC, Pharaoh Ramesses I - concerned by a prophecy that one of the Jewish newborns (a "Deliverer") would eventually lead the Jews out of slavery - decided to have all of the newborns killed. Jochebed, the wife of Amram, had her infant son sent down the Nile River in a basket, sending her daughter Miriam to ensure that the baby found himself in good hands. She delivered the baby to the Egyptian princess Bithiah, who raised the infant as her own son, naming him "Moses" and making him a prince of Egypt.

Moses grew up at the court of Pharaoh Seti I, and he was raised as a pagan and as a nobleman. In 1544 BC, he won a military campaign in Ethiopia and forged an alliance with Cush, and he also brought back large amounts of tribute and oversaw the construction of a new treasure city for Seti's jubilee. However, the princess Nefertari (who was in love with Moses) discovered from Moses' nanny Memnet that Moses was really the son of Jewish slaves, and she angrily killed Memnet before telling Moses about his true past. Moses reunited with his long-lost mother and his siblings Miriam and Aaron, and he decided to work with Hebrew slaves to learn more about his people. He learned about God from Joshua, and he later saved Joshua from death by killing his overseer Baka in 1531 BC. This act was witnessed by Dathan, another overseer, who also overheard Moses' confession to Joshua that he was the son of Jewish slaves. Dathan reported Moses to Prince Ramesses, Moses' adoptive brother and rival, and Ramesses had Moses arrested and brought before Seti. Moses denied that he was the "Deliverer", but, when asked if he would free the Jews, Moses said that, if he could free them, he would. Heartbroken, Seti had Moses exiled and had all traces of his name removed from public records and obelisks, hoping that he would be forgotten. Moses was sent into the desert, and he spent the next 40 years living as a shepherd among the Midianites, marrying Jethro's daughter Zipporah.

Moses was told to return to Egypt and free the Jews by a vision of God in a burning bush, and he reluctantly gave up his life of peace to head to Ramesses' court. There, he demanded that Ramesses free the Israelites, and, to prove that God was on his side, he turned his brother Aaron's rod into a snake. Ramesses, who believed that Moses was using cheap magic, had the sorcerers Jannes and Jambres repeat the trick with their own rods. However, Moses' snake ate Jannes and Jambres' snakes, proving that he had God on his side. As punishment for Moses' arrogance, Ramesses decreed that the Jews should be given no straws for the making of bricks, and Moses was nearly stoned to death by his fellow Jews, had it not been for Nefertari's interference.

Not long after, the Plagues of Egypt began. Moses became a powerful figure whom even the Egyptian officials feared, and they demanded that Ramesses listen to him after Moses turned the waters of the Nile blood red at a festival of Khnum and brought burning hail down upon the Pharaoh's palace. Moses warned the Pharaoh that the next plague to fall upon Egypt would be summoned by Ramesses himself. Ramesses, enraged, ordered all first-born Hebrews to die, but a cloud of death instead killed all of the firstborn of Egypt, including Ramesses' own son Amun-her-khepeshef.

## Exodus

### Departure

The Pharaoh ultimately decided to let the Israelites go, and the Jews from across Egypt gathered together in a large caravan, taking with them the bones of Joseph, many treasures, and some Nubians. Moses, who considered himself to be a poor speaker, placed Joshua in charge of the logistics, and Joshua told the Israelites how to move and where to stash their belongings. The Israelites travelled with their donkeys, camels, and other animals, marching into the desert.

### Parting of the Red Sea

Ramesses, who did not expect for the Israelites to leave Egypt after being freed, regretted his emancipation and sent Pentaur after them with an army. Ramesses himself accompanied the army on his own chariot, and he sent the Egyptian soldiers to massacre the Israelites at Pi-hahiroth as they had their backs to the Red Sea. However, Moses summoned God's help in holding the Egyptians back with a pillar of fire, scaring the Egyptian forces and preventing the Egyptians from charging as the Israelites prepared to cross the sea.

As the Israelites began to panick over how they would cross the Red Sea, Moses used his staff to part the waters, holding the waves back and clearing a pathway for the Israelites. They were able to walk across the exposed dry ground of the sea floor, reaching the other side. The Pharaoh, seeing the open pathway, sent Pentaur and the army to charge across the pathway and slaughter the Israelites. However, Moses let the waters recede, and the walls of water crashed into the Egyptian army, killing all of them. Ramesses, devastated, returned to Nefertari empty-handed and concluded that Moses' god was God.

### Ten Commandments

Moses ascended Mount Sinai with Joshua and stayed there for forty days, as he waited for God to speak to him. Eventually, God spoke to him, identifying himself as the God who had delivered the Israelites from the "house of bondage" in the land of Egypt, and he began to list commandments for Moses and the Jewish people. As he spoke, words were miraculously carved onto two tablets, and Moses held in his hands the Ten Commandments on two tablets, with five commandments being written on each of them.

### Golden calf

While Moses waited atop Mount Sinai for forty days, Dathan (who had served as Governor of Goshen after turning Moses in, and joined the Israelites during their exodus) began to stir up dissent among the Israelites. He began to question how anyone could know what God's plan was, and he called for the people to sacrifice their possessions and create an idol of a golden calf as their god; 250 people, including his brother Abiram and the rebellious Korah, joined the rebellion. Aaron was pressured to build the calf, and the Israelites had a wild orgy in front of the idol. When Moses returned from Mount Sinai, he angrily threw the Commandment tablets at the calf, causing it to explode. God then caused an earthquake which killed all of the nonbelievers, although Aaron was spared due to Moses' intercession. God punished the Israelites; the wicked died in the earthquake, while the others would be forced to wander for 40 years.

### Arrival

By 1451 BC, the Jews were nearly at the Promised Land in Canaan, but Moses and Aaron were unable to enter, as they had impatiently struck a rock with the goal of obtaining water from it; God took this as an insult. Moses decided to name Joshua as the new leader of the Israelites, and Moses spent the rest of his life at Mount Nebo until his death. Moses also had the 601,730 Israelites massacre the Midianites for attempting to lead the Israelites astray in their worship of God, and the Israelites were then instructed to exterminate the wicked Canaanites. The boundaries of the land were spelled out, and the land was to be divided among the Israelite tribes. With the Israelites invading Canaan, the Exodus was at an end.