MOSES AS LEADER
WEEK 4
SUBJECT: CHRISTIAN RELIGIOUS STUDIES
CLASS: SS 2
TOPIC:
MOSES AS LEADER
CONTENT:
- The early life and call of Moses
- God equips and sends Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt
- Moses led his people out of Egypt
Sub-Topic: 1.
THE EARLY LIFE AND CALL OF MOSES: EXODUS CHAPTERS 1-3.
A new Pharaoh came to power in Egypt after the death of Joseph who decided not to acknowledge the good works of Joseph about four hundred years from the date Jacob came to Egypt. He was exceedingly afraid of the increase in the population of the Israelites in the land and so became hostile to the Israelites, whom he saw as a threat to the political, economic and military interest of Egypt.
He made the Israelites to serve with rigor and bitterness as they serve under taskmasters, forcing them to build store-cities called Pithom and Raamses by self-making of morters and bricks.
He went ahead to order the midwives –Shiphrah and Puah to murder Israelite’s baby boys at birth, but because the mid-wives feared God, they did not carry out his order but gave excuse that the Hebrew women delivered their babies before calling them.
It was during this critical period, Moses was born. The mother – Jochebed (wife of Amram) kept him for three months but when he could no longer be kept; his mother made a basket of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen pitch before placing him among the reeds on a river bank.
Pharaoh’s daughter saved the child and named him Moses meaning “drawn out of water”. Moses’ sister Miriam came to her aid proffering to get a mid-wife to help look after the baby.
At age forty, Moses decided to associate with his people’s suffering, killed an Egyptian mal-treating an Israelite and buried him in the sand. The next day on his routine check, he tried separating two Israelites and the one at fault asked him who made him a ruler over them and whether he wanted to kill him as he killed an Egyptian the previous day. This led to his self-exile to Midian, where he lived with Jethro – a priest of Midian (Reuel) with seven daughters.
At Midian, he found favour with Jethro as he took care of his flock and married one of his daughters – Zipporah.
God called Moses (when he was leading his father-in-law’s flock to a wilderness near Mount Horeb) by the appearance of Angel, through a burning bush which was not burnt. God spoke with him as the God of his ancestors – Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
EVALUATION
- What is the name of Moses’ mother and father?
- Moses met ____ in Midian who gave him ____ to be his wife.
- God called Moses in the wilderness near Mount .
Sub-Topic: 2.
GOD EQUIPS AND SENDS MOSES TO LEAD THE ISRAELITES OUT OF EGYPT
EXODUS 4: 1-17; 5: 1-5
During Moses’ experience with the flame of fire, God spoke to him, equipped him and sent him to Pharaoh ordering the release of the Israelites.
Moses raised four objectives why he could not go; these are:
| MOSES OBJECTIONS | GOD’S ASSURANCE | |
| 1 | Inferiority and inability to stand before Pharaoh. | God promised to be with him. |
| 2 | He did not know the name of the God to tell the Israelites if asked. | God told him to tell them that his name was “I AM WHO I AM”. |
| 3 | Moses complained that the Israelites would not believe him that the LORD really appeared to him. | God turned his rod to a snake and back to his rod. God turned his hand to leprous when he put it in his bosom and back to normal. God told him to also pour some water from river Nile on the ground and it will turn to blood. |
| 4 | Moses objected that he was not eloquent. | God assured him of his presence and He would touch his mouth and teach him what to say. |
Hereafter, Moses had nothing to say than to ask God to send another person but God agreed to cause his brother – Aaron to go with him.
EVALUATION:
1.State the objections of Moses and God’s proffered solutions.
Sub-Topic: 3.
MOSES LEADS HIS PEOPLE OUT OF EGYPT. EXODUS 14: 1-31; 32: 1-14;
NUMBER . 13: 1-31
Moses agreed to see Pharaoh with the company of his brother – Aaron. He delivered God’s message to PHARAOH and performed all the needed convincing miracles in his palace but Pharaoh decided to increase the punishment of the Israelites instead of releasing them. Moses referred the case back to God but God still sent him back to repeat the message to Pharaoh, stating that He would make him (Moses) as God and Aaron a Prophet to Pharaoh.
God further told Moses that Pharaoh would not listen to him because He would hardened his heart. At this time, Moses was eighty years old and Aaron was eighty-three years old.
God afflicted Pharaoh and all Egyptians with ten plagues:
- Plague of blood
- Plague of frogs
- Plagues of gnats / lice (“this is the finger of God…”Ex 8:19)
- Plague of swarms of flies
- Plagues of death of cattle
- Plague of boils
- Plague of hail of fire and thunderstorm
- Plague of locusts
- Plague of thick darkness
- Death of all first born.
It was this last plague that led to the liberation of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage. When the Israelites camped at Piha-hiroth between Migdol and Baal-Zephon on the bank of the Red Sea, the troops of Pharaoh made up of six hundred soldiers and all the chariots in Egypt came near. The children of Israel exclaimed, saying Moses should have allowed them to die in Egypt instead of dying in the wilderness.
God instructed Moses to stretch his rod over the sea, it parted and they all walked on dry grounds
except all the troops of Pharaoh that perished in the sea as Moses stretched back his rod over the sea.
EVALUATION
- How many plagues did Egyptians experienced?
- Explain how Moses became the son of Pharaoh’s daughter?
- Explain in three ways how this prepared Moses for his future leadership roles.
- Where did the Israelites en camp before crossing the red sea.
GENERAL EVALUATION
Objective Test:
- By removing his sandals before the burning bush, Moses was showing a sense of (a).honour and love b. Curiosity and adventure c. Humility and respect d. Reverence and submissiveness (JUNE 2013 SSCE. Q4)
- Moses ran away from Egypt because he a. He did not like to be trained in Egypt b. Could no longer bear the hunger in the land c. Feared the news of his murder would reach the king d. Heard a divine call to save his people. (JUNE 2012 SSCE. Q6)
- Moses was born at a period when the Hebrews were (a) Suffering b. Increasing c. Backsliding d. Rejoicing (JUNE 2011 SSCE. Q2)
- “Who is the Lord that I should heed his voice and let Israel go”? after this statement, Pharaoh____ (a) engaged Israel into forced labour with task masters b. ordered the mid-wives to kill all males born to Israelites c. Asked Israelites to fetch their own straws to produce bricks. D. Decreed that Israelites male babies be drowned in the river Nile. (JUNE 2011 SSCE. Q3)
- The name Moses means a. Baptised in water b. Abandoned in water c. Drawn out of water (a) Thrown into water. (JUNE 2011 SSCE. Q4)
ESSAY QUESTIONS:
- State four objections of Moses against God’s direction to speak to Pharaoh.
- Mention chronologically the ten plagues God afflicted the Egyptians with.
QUIZ QUESTIONS
Results
Impressive
Not Impressive
#1. How did God first speak to Moses
#2. What lesson does the story of Moses and the exodus teach us?
#3. What gift did God give Moses to prove his authority to Pharaoh and the Egyptians?
#4. How did Moses communicate with God during the exodus?
#5. How did God help the Israelites escape Pharaoh's army?
#6. How did God provide for the Israelites during their journey through the wilderness?
#7. How did Moses eventually die?
#8. How did Pharaoh initially respond to Moses' request for the Israelites' release?
#9. How did God punish the Israelites for worshiping the golden calf?
#10. What event caused the Israelites to begin worshiping a golden calf?
WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT:
- How did Moses become the son of Pharaoh’s daughter? (JUNE 2012 SSCE. Q1)
- Explain in three ways how this prepared Moses for his future leadership roles. (JUNE 2012 SSCE. Q1)
PRE-READING ASSIGNMENT:
Study how Joshua equipped himself and was chosen to lead the Israel.
WEEKEND ACTIVITY:
State two major reasons why Moses was successful as a leader of the Israelites
REFERENCE TEXTS:
- CRS for SS2 by L.O Udokporo et al; by Melrose Publishers.
- Fundamentals of CRK for SSS Book One/SSCE Section A by A.E. Osubele; Doves Publishers.
- Essential CRK for SSS by Edmond Okoli; Tonad Publishers Limited.
- Revised Standard Version Holy Bible (RSV); Bible Society.