Let My People Go

LET MY PEOPLE GO
By Penny Hoprich

As the children arrived for their second Bible Club meeting, Grandma pinned nametags on their shirts.

After the pledges, motto and Bible verse had been recited, she asked Ricky to open the meeting in prayer.

Grandma smiled as she said, “It’s time to see how well you know your Bible characters. For the next few minutes you are the person whose name you are wearing. I’d like for you to stand in the middle of the floor and introduce yourself as that person and tell us a little about yourself. If you learned a lot about your character, we might have to cover one each meeting. Let’s start with Phillip,” she suggested.

As Phillip stepped to the middle of the floor, he pointed to his nametag.

“As you can see by my nametag, I’m Moses. When I was a tiny baby, my mother was afraid the wicked king was going to kill me. By the time I was three months old she couldn’t hide me anymore. She took an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and pitch, and put me in it. Then she laid it in the edge of the Nile River. I sure am glad that basket could float,” he laughed.

“Why was she afraid the king would kill you?” asked Grandma.

“Because the land was filled with the children of Israel. The king was afraid if war ever broke out, they would overtake him and his armies. He sent out orders that if there were any boy babies born to the Hebrews, they were to be killed. If there were any girls born, they could live,” answered Phillip.

Ricky asked, “Did your mom go back and get you?”

“She had my sister, Miriam, to hide so she could see what would happen to me.” Phillip knew he had the children’s and Grandma’s attention, so he continued. “Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe in the river. When she saw my little basket, she sent her maid to bring it to her. As soon as she saw me, she knew I was a Hebrew baby.”

“What happened then?” asked Shani.

“Miriam asked if Pharaoh’s daughter would like for her to find a Hebrew woman to take care of the baby for her. That’s when Miriam called my mom.”

“Hey, Pharaoh’s daughter even paid my mom to take care of me. You can’t beat that, can you?” he asked.

“I became Pharaoh’s daughter’s son, though. She called me Moses.”

“Where did she get that name?” asked Tori.
“She said she was naming me Moses because she drew me out of the water,” explained Phillip.

“After I had grown up, I saw an Egyptian hitting a Hebrew. I lost my temper, and killed the Egyptian. I had to run for my life.”

“Where did you go?” inquired Miranda.

“I went to Midian where I helped seven damsels in distress. Their father rewarded me by giving me his daughter, Zipporah, to be my wife.”

Phillip continued with his story. “After that I kept my father-in-law’s flock. One day I saw a burning bush. The only thing was, the flames were in the bush, but the bush wasn’t burning up. I decided to get closer. God spoke to me from the burning bush and told me to take my shoes off.

Shani decided to help Phillip along with his story. She asked in mock curiosity. “Why in the world did He want you to take your shoes off?”

“He said I was standing on Holy ground,” explained Phillip. “ He wanted me to lead his people out of bondage. I sorta argued with Him a little bit. I felt he was asking me to do something I couldn’t do. You see, I speak real slow. Well, anyway, God appointed my brother Aaron to talk for me. God told me what to say. I told Aaron and Aaron told Pharaoh.”

“Did Pharaoh listen to you?” asked Tori.

“Good grief, no!” replied Phillip. “That was one hard headed, hard hearted man. You should have seen some of the stuff God put him through before he finally gave up and let God’s people go.”

“I’ve heard about that,” replied Robert. “God turned their water to blood and Pharaoh still wouldn’t let God’s people go.”

“God sent frogs upon the land. They went into Pharaoh’s house and were even in his bed,” exclaimed Phillip. “Can you imagine pulling your covers back and finding a frog sitting on your pillow, ready to jump at you?”

“Yeah,” added Miranda. “We read something about that in Sunday School. There were lice everywhere, too. Pharaoh still wouldn’t let God’s people go.”

“Did you hear about the land being filled with aggravating flies?” asked Phillip. “Pharaoh wouldn’t even let God’s people go when all their cattle died,” he continued.

“God caused boils to come on the Egyptians and their magicians. They still wouldn’t let God’s people go. Old Pharaoh hung in there through thunder, hail and fire. You’d think having all the land filled with locusts that ate up all their plants and fruits would make him give in,” said Phillip. “Not this guy. God even sent darkness over the land of Egypt. I mean the darkness was so thick you could feel it. But Pharaoh still wouldn’t let God’s people go.”

“What finally convinced him to let God’s people go?” asked Robert.

“One night at midnight, God killed the oldest child of every household in Egypt. Pharaoh told Moses and Aaron to get away from his people. He said take your flock and the children of Israel.”

“How did you know which way to go when you led God’s people out of Egypt?” asked Ricky.

Phillip thought for a second before answering. “God led us during the day in a cloud. At night he led us in a pillar of fire. This gave us light to travel by,” he explained.

“We thought Pharaoh had given up. But he had his army follow us. We were camping by the sea when we saw them coming,” continued Phillip.

Ricky’s blue eyes widened with anticipation as he asked,” What did you do, Moses?”

“We waited on the Lord. The cloud came between the Egyptians and us. It was darkness to them, but it gave us light.”

“God told me to stretch out my hand over the sea, and a strong east wind blew all night. It made the sea dry land, and the waters divided, so we could walk across on dry land. You should have seen the water! It made a wall on either side of us,” he explained.

“What kept the Egyptians from following you?” inquired Tori.

“They started following us, but God told me to stretch forth my hand over the sea. When I obeyed, the waters returned and covered the chariots, and the horsemen and all the host of Pharaoh that came after us. It was awesome. There were dead Egyptians all over the seashore,” he continued.

“You know what is so sad about this story?” asked Phillip. “After all the miracles the children of Israel saw God perform, they complained. They complained because they were hungry. God sent them quail in the evening and bread in the morning.”

“I’ve heard about the manna from heaven, Moses. What was it like?” asked Shani.

Phillip replied, “It was white like the coriander seed and it tasted like wafers made with honey.”

“They complained because they were thirsty. God had me to hit a rock with my rod, and water came out of it. They still complained,” continued Phillip.

“Moses, where were you headed when you led the children of Israel out of Egypt?” inquired Tori.

“We were headed for Canaan,” answered Phillip. “It was a land that flowed with milk and honey,” he continued. “But because of my disobedience when God told me to speak to the rock, (I smote it) I didn’t get to go into the Promised Land.”

“I remember that,” stated Robert. “Moses died on the mountain and God buried him.”

“Wow!” exclaimed Grandma. “I’d say you really did some studying to get your story together, Phillip. You did great. Tell us what book or books of the Bible you found your information.”

“My story began in Exodus and ended in Deuteronomy,” explained Phillip.

Grandma reminded the other children to be prepared to introduce their characters at the next meeting. Miranda dismissed in prayer.

THE END