'The Exodus' is a book about the liberation of the
people of Israel and their alliance with Yahve, as well as their pilgrimage
through the desert in search of the promised land and the appearance of the great epic and biblical figure, Moses, who liberated Israel from Egypt's slavery.
The book begins by reminiscing back to Joseph, thus linking in with the story that started in Genesis. Joseph, son of Jacob, who had become Viceroy of Egypt, brought his father and brothers with him during a period of poverty. Some time after he had died, the Israelites' situation changed for the worse ending in oppression and slavery. Of all the humiliations of the state in which they found themselves, the most painful was the fact that the new Pharaoh ordered all Hebrew children born after a certain date to be killed, as he feared they were becoming more numerous than the Egyptians. Moses' mother gave birth during this time and, so that he wasn't killed, she put him in a small basket and let it float down the Nile. Soon after, the Pharaoh's daughter rescued him, allowing Moses to be raised as a royal. With the passing of time, a young Moses saw an Egyptian treat a Hebrew badly and he killed the Egpytian. As a result, he was forced to flee and so he went to Madian's country, where he married Sefora.
On one occasion, while the herds were grazing, he arrived at the mountain of Horeb, where God appeared to him in the form of an inextinguishable bramble bush. He heard a voice that told him to go to Egypt to free his brothers, who were dominated by the Pharaoh. Moses asked who was sending him and the voice replied 'I am who I am' (Yahve in Hebrew). He gave him a stick and said his brother, Aaron, should accompany him as a spokesperson.
Moses went to Egypt and met with the Pharaoh and told him of Yahve's requests. The Pharoah refused to let them go. To persuade him, he resorted to plagues - Yahve's supernatural acts against Egypt. In the first plague,
water turned to blood; during the second, there was an invasion of frogs; the third brought a cloud of gnats; the fourth, a cloud of flies; the fifth left livestock diseased; the sixth produced boils on humans and animals; the seventh triggered a huge storm; the eigth consisted of a plague of locusts, the ninth shrouded Egypt in darkness and the final and most awful of all was the death of firstborn Egpytians. When this last plague was about to take place, Yahve instructed Moses to hold a ritual, Passover, which involved a special meal. The blood of the animal eaten was to be used to stain the lintel and doorposts so that the Angel of the Lord realised they were Hebrews and did not kill their firstborns. After this was done, the angel passed over and killed the firstborn Egpytians, including the Pharaoh's firstborn child. Following this, the Pharaoh allowed Israel to leave, however, soon after, he regretted this and went out to pursue them. To halt his advance, Yahve put a column of cloud in his way and parted the waters of the Red Sea, allowing the Israelites to go through on foot. After stopping the column of fire, the Pharaoh's army continued in their pursuit. They entered the sea and the waters closed around them.
Then began the pilgrimage through the desert, where wonders kept occurring to prove Yahve was with his
people: when they lacked water, salty water was turned sweet; when they had no food, manna and quails were sent; water shot out of rocks; he helped them defeat Amalec. They finally arrived at the Sinai desert. There, God spoke to Moses to establish an alliance with Israel and ordered him to climb Mount Sinai, which was covered in thick cloud. At the summit, Yahve gave Moses the Tables of the Law containing the ten commandments and other various laws. He also told him to make a chest, a sanctuary, the candelabra, the altar, and the Sabbath amongst other things.
Meanwhile, the people, seeing that Moses was taking a long time to come back down, thought he wouldn't return anaron to sculpt them a golden calf resembling the Egyptian gods out of gold they collected amongst themselves, and they worshipped it. Yahve advised Moses of what was happening and wanted to wipe out all the people, but Moses interceded and Yahve agreed to establish a new alliance. Then Moses came down from the mountain and became furious when he saw how they worshipped the calf. He broke the Tables of the Law, smashing the idol to pieces and made his people drink its powder with water. Yahve made him make a new set of Tables and return once again to the mountain, where Yahve engraved the commandments that had been on the old ones, into the new ones. Also at this point, God allowed his glory to be seen, though not his face. When Moses came back down the mountain, his face was radiant from seeing God, so much so that the Israelites were afraid to approach him. Until the end of the book (chapter 40), Moses continued to pass on the will of God to the Israelites and complete the laws that governed them.