The escape of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and their deliverance in the crossing of the Red Sea. The beginning of a long and difficult journey under Moses' leadership to Canaan, the promised land.
God's promise of deliverance
Exodus 6:1–8 See also Exodus 3:7–10
But the LORD said to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh, for because of My mighty hand he will let the people go; because of My strong hand he will drive them out of his land.” God also told Moses, “I am the LORD. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by My name the LORD I did not make Myself known to them. I also established My covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land where they lived as foreigners. Furthermore, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered My covenant. Therefore tell the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as My own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. And I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD!’”
The LORD smites the Egyptians with ten plagues
Pharaoh refuses, despite the plagues, to let the Israelites leave: Exodus 11:9–10; Psalm 105:26–36
The plague on the firstborn and the Passover
Exodus 12:31 See also Exodus 12:23
Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Get up, leave my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, worship the LORD as you have requested.
The Israelites leave Egypt
Exodus 12:37–41; Numbers 33:3–5 See also Psalm 105:37–38
The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth with about 600,000 men on foot, besides women and children. And a mixed multitude also went up with them, along with great droves of livestock, both flocks and herds. Since their dough had no leaven, the people baked what they had brought out of Egypt into unleavened loaves. For when they had been driven out of Egypt, they could not delay and had not prepared any provisions for themselves. Now the duration of the Israelites’ stay in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the LORD’s divisions went out of the land of Egypt.
On the fifteenth day of the first month, on the day after the Passover, the Israelites set out from Rameses. They marched out defiantly in full view of all the Egyptians, who were burying all their firstborn, whom the LORD had struck down among them; for the LORD had executed judgment against their gods. The Israelites set out from Rameses and camped at Succoth.
The crossing of the Red Sea
Exodus 14:29–31 See also Exodus 13:17–14:28
But the Israelites had walked through the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on their right and on their left. That day the LORD saved Israel from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the shore. When Israel saw the great power that the LORD had exercised over the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and believed in Him and in His servant Moses.
The Israelites' travels: described in detail in Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy and Joshua
God's mighty deliverance remembered in confession
We have sinned like our fathers; we have done wrong and acted wickedly. Our fathers in Egypt did not grasp Your wonders or remember Your abundant kindness; but they rebelled by the sea, there at the Red Sea.
Now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and who made for Yourself a name renowned to this day, we have sinned; we have acted wickedly.
Events of the exodus: remembered in the Passover Feast
Exodus 12:24–28 See also Joshua 5:10
And you are to keep this command as a permanent statute for you and your descendants. When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as He promised, you are to keep this service. When your children ask you, ‘What does this service mean to you?’ you are to reply, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when He struck down the Egyptians and spared our homes.’” Then the people bowed down and worshiped. And the Israelites went and did just what the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron.
Related themes
Dictionary of Bible Themes © 1999 Martin Manser, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0, via Bible Aquifer. Formatted for this site, with Scripture from the Berean Standard Bible.