The life of Moses sets the scene for the great events of the exodus from Egypt, and the showing forth of the power of the LORD, culminating in the giving of the covenant at Sinai and the preparations for entry into the promised land.
The meaning of the name Moses
When the child had grown older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses and explained, “I drew him out of the water.”
Moses' birth and early life
See also Exodus 2:1–3, Exodus 2:5–6; Acts 7:20–22
Moses kills an Egyptian
The calling of Moses
God reveals himself to Moses at the burning bush
He is called to deliver his people
Exodus 3:10 See also Exodus 3:7–9
Therefore, go! I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring My people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
Moses learns the divine name
God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
Moses protests his inadequacy
Exodus 3:11 See also Exodus 3:13, Exodus 4:1, Exodus 4:10–13, Exodus 4:16 Moses is given Aaron as spokesman.
But Moses asked God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
Moses' confrontation with Pharaoh
Moses and Aaron speak to Pharaoh
So Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD had commanded them. Moses was eighty years old and Aaron was eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.
Pharaoh's disobedience leads to the plagues
See also Exodus 7:1–5
The death of the firstborn in Egypt
The institution of the Passover
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.
Moses leads Israel in the exodus from Egypt
The crossing of the Red Sea
Exodus 14:29 See also Exodus 14:26–28; Joshua 2:10, Joshua 4:23; Hebrews 11:29
But the Israelites had walked through the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on their right and on their left.
Thanksgiving for deliverance from Egypt
The establishment of the covenant with Moses
Moses is given the Ten Commandments
When the LORD had finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.
He smashes the tablets because of the people's idolatry
See also Exodus 32:19; Deuteronomy 9:16–17
He puts the new stone tablets in the ark
Moses leads Israel in the wilderness
He asks to see the glory of the LORD
Exodus 33:18, Exodus 33:22–23; Luke 9:30–32
The LORD promises his presence on the journey
The construction of the tabernacle
Moses inaugurates the Aaronic priesthood
Leviticus 8:30; Numbers 6:22–27
Moses on the brink of the promised land
He takes a census before the entry into Canaan
He sends spies ahead
He is vindicated against the grumblers
Numbers 16:28–32, Numbers 21:4–9
He is prohibited from entering the promised land
Numbers 20:12 See also Deuteronomy 3:23–26, Deuteronomy 34:4
But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust Me to show My holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”
Joshua succeeds Moses
The death of Moses
Deuteronomy 34:4–5 See also Deuteronomy 34:6; Jude 1:9
And the LORD said to him, “This is the land that I swore to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your own eyes, but you will not cross into it.” So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, as the LORD had said.
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.