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Moses is considered to be one of the best known and most significant figures in the Old Testament.

He is the person who helped God to save the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.

He is also important because of his role in sharing God's laws - The Ten Commandments.

His story begins in the Bible book of Exodus. Exodus is the second book of the Pentateuch.

• Moses was born in Egypt to Hebrew parents, at a time when Hebrews were kept as slaves
• Noticing them multiplying, and afraid of an uprising, a new Pharaoh ordered that all Hebrew boys should be thrown into the River Nile at birth.
• Moses' mother saved him by sending him floating down the Nile in a basket.
• The Pharaoh's daughter found him and the Hebrew Moses grew up in Pharaoh’s household.
• As an adult Moses killed an abusive Egyptian slave driver and so he fled to the country.

Fast forward forty years and Moses is living in Midian with his wife, where he is a shepherd for his father-in-law, Yitro.

One day a lamb ran away from the rest of the flock.

Moses chased after it and saw a strange sight: a bush covered in fire, but not burning!

Amazed, Moses drew even nearer and heard the voice of God speaking to him.

“Go down to Egypt and tell Pharaoh to let My people go!”

This is the moment God sent Moses to deliver Israel from the control of Pharaoh.

Moses, with the help of his brother Aaron, confronts Pharaoh on God’s behalf saying: “Let My people go” (Exodus 5:1).

When Pharaoh continued to refuse to free the Israelites, Moses and Aaron warned Pharaoh that God would punish both him and his people.

Pharaoh refused, and so God sent the ten plagues upon the Egyptians.

Using the leadership of Moses and the powerful 10th plague, which killed Pharoah’s son, God led the Israelites out of Egypt.

As they began their journey to the Promised Land, Moses instructed the people of Israel to remember what God was doing in their lives.

“Moses said to the people, ‘Remember this day on which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, because the LORD brought you out from there by strength of hand’.” (Exodus 13:3).

This escape from slavery has become known as the Passover and is celebrated annually.

Soon after God delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, Pharaoh sent his army to recapture them.

This is when God saved them by parting the Red Sea.

To allow the Israelites to cross the Red Sea, God told Moses:

“Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them." (Exodus 14)

When the Israelites reached the Red Sea Moses stretched out his hand and the waters divided, allowing his followers safe passage.

The Egyptians followed them but God again commanded Moses to stretch out his hand and the sea engulfed the army.

The story of Moses and the Ten Commandments unfolds in Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21, when the Israelites travelled through the desert to Sinai.

Here they camped in front of Mount Sinai, also called Mount Horeb.

One day God called Moses to the top of the mountain. He gave Moses the first part of his new system of laws for the people, the Ten Commandments.

Moses was at the top of the mountain with God for 40 days and 40 nights.

When God finished speaking to Moses, he gave him two tablets of stone inscribed by the very finger of God. The tablets contained the Ten Commandments:

• You shall have no other gods before Me.
• You shall not make idols.
• You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
• Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
• Honour your father and your mother.
• You shall not murder.
• You shall not commit adultery.
• You shall not steal.
• You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
• You shall not covet.

Meanwhile, the people of Israel had become impatient while waiting for Moses to return with a message from God.

Moses had been gone for so long that the people gave up on him and pleaded with Aaron, Moses' brother, to build them an altar so they could worship.

Aaron collected offerings of gold from all the people and built an idol in the shape of a calf. The Israelites held a festival and bowed down to worship the idol.

When Moses came down from the mountain with the tablets of stone, his anger burned as he saw the people given over to idolatry.

He threw down the two tablets, smashing them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. Then Moses destroyed the golden calf, burning it in the fire.

The breaking of the tablets was symbolic of the laws of God being broken in the hearts of his people.

Moses and God disciplined the people for their sins.

Later God instructed Moses to chisel two new stone tablets, just like the ones God had written with his own finger.

• The Ten Commandments are the first part of God's law system. They are a summary of the hundreds of laws found in the Old Testament Law.
• Commandments 1-4 focus on God and humanity’s relationship to him.
• Commandments 5-10 focus on humanity’s duties towards others.
• Together, the ten serve to create a community devoted to one God that is categorised by social justice.