NARRATOR: Four hundred years before the Exodus, a Hebrew named Joseph lived in the land of

Egypt. Originally from Canaan, Joseph had been sold into slavery by his jealous brothers. His
extraordinary ability to interpret dreams eventually won his freedom and rose to prominence in
Egypt.

NARRATOR: When a severe famine ravaged the area, Joseph reconciled with his brothers and
brought his extended family from Canaan, settling them in Goshen, one of Egypt’s most fertile
regions. As Joseph’s brilliant rationing strategies spared Egypt the worst of the famine, he was
revered by the Egyptians.

NARRATOR: This love extended to his tribe — the Hebrews, or Israelites. But hundreds of years
later, a Pharaoh came to power who didn’t know of Joseph and his legacy. And this Pharaoh feared
the Israelites’ numbers. The Pharaoh didn´t love God, and he hated God´s people.

PHARAOH: Our land teems with Israelites! Should war break out, they could easily side with the
enemy. We must keep them from multiplying!
Go and find all the baby boys and throw them into the river.

NARRATOR: So Pharaoh set taskmasters over the Israelites, hoping to deplete their vigor with
hard labor. Still, the Hebrew population swelled. Furious, Pharaoh ordered his soldiers to find
every firstborn Hebrew boy and cast him into the Nile.

NARRATOR: Now there was a Hebrew mother named Jocheved ( The mother of Moses). Often
she’d seen Pharaoh’s daughter and her maidservants bathe in a pool sheltered by reeds.

NARRATOR: The soldiers went to town. They knocked on the doors, and they threw into the
river every baby boy that they found. Moses family was very sad.
So Jocheved, with her daughter Miriam, set to work. Jocheved weave a thick basket. They went
to the river. They put Moses into the basket. She put a cover on the basket. Then she put the
basket in the river.

NARRATOR: Unable to watch her child be claimed by another, Jocheved returned to Goshen. But
Miriam stayed behind, wanting to know her baby brother’s fate. Soon Pharaoh’s daughter came to
the river. When she spotted the basket, she commanded a servant to draw it from the water.
Looking down at the little face, her heart filled with compassion for what she quickly realized was
a Hebrew infant, most likely hidden by a desperate mother. She turned to one of her servants.

NARRATOR: Down to the water came the princess with her maids.

PRINCESS: Look! I see something in the water. Go get it for me maid.

NARRATOR: A maid went into the water. Soon she came back with Moses in the basket.
MIRIAM: What will happen now?. Please, God, take care of Moses.

NARRATOR: The maid took the basket to the princess. She took the cover off. And baby Moses
began to cry.

PRINCESS: My baby needs a wet nurse. Find one!

NARRATOR: Miriam stepped out from hiding.

MIRIAM: I know a woman who can nurse your baby.

PRINCESS: Well, go then and fetch her!

NARRATOR: Miriam went back to her own home.

MIRIAM: Mother, mother! The princess found Moses. She will not hurt him. She wants you to
take care of him untile he is big.

NARRATOR: Mother ran to the river to find the princess.

PRINCESS: Will you take care of this baby?. Will you take it home with you until he is big?.

MOTHER: Oh, yes. I will take good care of this baby.

NARRATOR: The happy mother went home with her own baby Moses. She took care of Moses,
and God helped her. Moses grew to be a big, strong boy. His mother taught him to love God.
Then he went to the palace to live with the princess. Moses learned many things in the palace.
When he became a man, God chose him to be a great leader of his people. Moses had a hard job
to do. But he always could say.

NARRATOR: Moses grew up with Pharaoh’s son. They played together, rode horses together, and
were like brothers. But Moses often felt a strange longing — especially when he watched the
Hebrews toiling under the scorching sun, forced to build the treasure cities of Ramses and Pithom.
The feeling deepened until one day when, as a whip whistled over the back of an elderly Hebrew,
it erupted.

MOSES: Stop! You must stop!

NARRATOR: When the slave driver ignored Moses’ command, Moses killed him and hid the
body in the sand. But one of Pharaoh’s men witnessed the killing. When he learned of it, Pharaoh
shouted:

PHARAOH: Find Moses! He must be punished!

NARRATOR: But Moses had already escaped. He was now sojourning in the desert, seeking a
home far from the tyranny and temples of Egypt.