Under the Pharaoh (probably Amenophis IV) Joseph had risen to a position of wealth and power and the Hebrews had prospered. However his successor was not so tolerant and after Joseph's death the situation rapidly became worse. It was feared that the Hebrews would take over Egypt, due to their high birth rate. In an attempt to prevent this they were oppressed and forced into slavery to build the Egyptian cities of Pittom and Ramses. However, the birth rate remained high, so the Egyptian midwives were ordered to kill the first born boys of the Hebrew slaves. This did not have the desired effect and eventually it was decreed that every Jewish male infant should be drowned in the River Nile.

One baby boy was placed by his mother, Jochebed (Yochebed), in a basket daubed with pitch, which she then set to float down the Nile. She told her daughter Miriam to follow closely and watch to see what would happen. Pharoah's daughter, Batsheva, went to the river to bathe and found the basket with the babe inside. Miriam approached her and offered to find a nursemaid for the baby - who was, of course, his own mother Jochebed. Batsheva named the baby Moses.

Moses was brought up as a prince in the palace of the Pharaoh, received a good education and at some time learned of his Hebrew ancestry. One day, when he was a young man, something happened that changed his life forever.

Moses was walking among the Hebrew slaves and saw one of the Egyptian taskmasters cruelly beating a Hebrew. Moses told the Egyptian to stop and when he continued, Moses hit out and killed him. Next day, thinking himself to have been unobserved, he returned to the same place and found two men fighting, but when he tried to mediate between them one revealed that he had witnessed the events of the previous day and threatened Moses with betrayal.

Moses fled in fear of his life and, after a long and dangerous journey, reached the land of Midian. He was resting near a well when the seven daughters of a Midianite priest named Jethro came to water their flocks. Soon some other shepherds arrived and drove the girls away in order to water their own flocks, but Moses managed to rout them and then was given refuge in Jethro's house. He eventually married the eldest daughter, Zipporah (Tziporah).

While tending his sheep in the desert Moses noticed a bush which appeared to be burning, but was not consumed. When he approached to investigate this strange phenomenon, he heard a voice warning him to come no closer. He was told to remove his shoes for he was standing on holy ground and was in the presence of God - the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The Lord commanded Moses to return to Egypt to free his people from bondage. Moses pleaded that he was a simple shepherd, slow of speech, and unworthy for such a task. The Lord told him to take his elder brother Aaron - a gifted speaker - and together they should go to Pharaoh.

Moses left his family in Midian and joined Aaron in Egypt. They went to the Pharaoh's palace and asked that their people should be freed. Pharaoh - who considered himself to be a god in human form, and was unaccustomed to taking orders from "lesser gods" - refused. Greatly angered by this, Pharaoh increased the oppression of the Hebrews by dint of taking away the straw they used to make bricks while increasing the quota demanded of them.

Moses and Aaron returned to the palace, again asked for freedom for the Hebrews and again were refused. Moses stretched his staff across the River Nile and the water in the river slowly turned to blood - every drop of water, whether in the river or in storage vessels, turned to blood. But in Goshen, where the Hebrews lived, the water was clear.

This was the first of the plagues that were to be visited upon Egypt. Following the turning of the water to blood came plagues of frogs, gnats, mosquitoes, cattle murrain, boils, hail, locusts, and thick darkness. After each plague the Pharaoh's advisors begged him to send the Hebrews away, but each time he refused.

Then the Lord commanded Moses to tell the Jews to chose a healthy lamb, sheep or goat on the 10th of the month, to keep it and to slaughter it at sunset on the fourth day. Then they should smear its blood on their doorposts and their thresholds, and roast the animal. They should eat the meal quickly, and prepare for instant flight. While they were eating their meal, every first born male, human and animal, perished. Only the Jewish homes were passed over.