The Big Story · Stop 3
How did God rescue Israel, and why did God choose them?
Abraham's family ended up as slaves in Egypt, forced to build for Pharaoh. They cried out, and God heard. Today you'll follow them through the sea and into the wilderness, and find out why God chose them in the first place.
Start this stopRescued
Years after Abraham, his family moved to Egypt during a famine. Later a new Pharaoh made them slaves. God called Moses to lead them out. After ten plagues, Pharaoh let them go, then chased them to the sea.
God opened a path through the water, and the people walked through on dry ground. Jewish families still remember this every year at Passover. Christians see Baptism in it too: passing through water into freedom.
In the wilderness, God fed them with manna and gave them the commandments at Mount Sinai. The commandments were a gift for free people, to help them live well with God and each other.
Moses told them God didn't choose them because they were big or strong. God chose them out of love, and because God keeps promises. Paul wrote that the Jewish people are still God's people, and God does not take back that promise. Through Jesus, Christians who are not Jewish are grafted into that same family tree.
Read it in your Bible
- Exodus 14:21–22. Moses stretches out his hand over the sea. All night the Lord drives the water back with a strong east wind. The Israelites walk into the sea on dry ground, with the water like a wall on both sides.
- Deuteronomy 7:7–8. Moses tells the people God didn't choose them because they were many. They were the fewest of all peoples. God chose them because God loved them and kept the promise made to their ancestors.
The First Commandment, from Luther's Small Catechism
You shall have no other gods.
What does this mean? We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.
Words to know
- Moses. The leader God called to bring Israel out of slavery in Egypt. He argued with God at first. God used him anyway.
- Pharaoh. The title of Egypt's king, who kept Israel in slavery. Power that crushes people is never the last word in the Bible.
- Passover. The spring festival when Jewish families share a meal called the Seder and remember God freeing them from Egypt. Matthew, Mark, and Luke say Jesus shared a Passover meal the night before he died.
- Manna. The bread-like food God gave Israel every morning in the wilderness. Just enough for each day. Think of it when you pray for daily bread.
- Chosen. What Israel is, because God loved them, and not because they were big or strong. Being chosen is about God's love, not about being better.