MOSES AND THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

[ssreeranjan]

The Hebrews were slaves in Egypt which was ruled by Pharaoh.
Pharaoh was afraid of the Hebrews because he thought that they might take over his country.
So he ordered that all Hebrew baby boys be killed at birth so that they would not growup
and revolt against him.To a Hebrew lady by name, Jochebed,a beautiful baby was born and
in order to save the baby from Pharaoh, the motherput the boy in a basket and kept it o
n the bank of River Nile. She had entrusted her daughter Miriam to take care of the child
and Miriam called the boy as Moses.
One day, Pharaoh's daughter came to the river for wash. She found the baby with the basket.
She had enquired about the same, then Miriam  told that he is an orphan and she is taking
care of him. Pharaoh's daughter felt pity on the child and she took him with her to the
palace to live with her.
Moses grewup as Egyptian prince but he never forgot that he is a Hebrew.One day,
 an Egyptian had beaten a Hebrew slave to death and by seeing this, Moses became
wild and beaten the Egyptian to death.AS a result he had to run away to another land.There
GOD had spoken to Mosesfrom a burning bush,and told him that he must go back and save
the Hebrews from slavery.
Moses returned and met Pharaoh and told him to free the Hebrews. But Pharaoh was not
 willing to do the same since the Hebrew slaves were working on his buildings and other
jobs. Meanwhile, many awful things used to happen in Egypt. Egypt was attacked by plague
ten times. Before the out burst of each plague, Moses used to warn Pharaoh and he used
to tell Pharaoh what would happen. Moses told Pharaoh that the disasters had been sent
 bythe GOD.The last plague was the worst. The eldest sons of all Egyptian family including
that of Pharaoh's died. God had advised Moses to mark the doors of all Hebrew houses
so that the Hebrew boys would be safe.Pharaoh was so upset by losing his son.He told Moses
that the Hebrews could leave Egypt. The Hebrews quickly packed up with whatever they could
carry and started the journey.Suddenly Pharaoh changed his mind and sent his soldiers to
bring back the Hebrews.The army chased the Hebrews to the bank of Red Sea.They would have been
trapped but for a miracle.GOD had told Moses to raise the rod which he used to carry every
where and when Moses did the same, the water of the sea parted to make a dry path for thr
Hebrews and they were able to make their escape.When all the Hebrews were safely reached the
otherside of the sea,Moses had again raised the road and  water of the sea closed on Pharaoh's
army. Thus the Hebrews had the miraclous escape.
Even though, the Hebrews were free, they were still in the desert. They wanted to go to
a place called "Canaan" which the GOD had promised to them.The journey was long and they
ran out of food and water.They were hungry and started blaming Moses for taking them out
of Egypt.But Moses had told them that GOD would give them food and water.Same night, the
 GOD appeared and told Moses that the next day HE will provide food and water for the Hebrews.
Next morning the ground was civered with a white food which tasted like honey and Moses
told the food as"Manna".God had sent flocks of birds by name Quailthat the Hebrews coocked and ate.
Moses strike his rod on a rock and water started rushing out of the rock and they had
enough drink.
After a long journey, they reached to the foot of Mount Sinai. Moses felt the pressence of GOD
there. GOD had called him to the top of the mountain. Moses advised all the Hebrew members
to stay at the foot of the mountain and he started climbing.When he reached the top, the
GOD had advised him TEN LAWS which told the people how to live.
These TEN LAWS were later known as the TEN COMMANDMENTS which the basic principle
of christianity.
Moses story is not ending here.