Moses role-play - part 1 of 15

Exodus 1 to 2

re-told by Debbie Dunn

Story Highlights:

* Under threat of punishment, Hebrew slaves were forced to make bricks and work in fields in Egypt.

* Hebrew midwives refused to obey Pharaoh's order to kill all baby boys.

* Pharaoh's daughter adopted 3-month-old baby found in basket in Nile River and named him Moses.

Narrator #1: The true story about Moses began long after Jacob's family of 70 people, including his 11th son Joseph, had died. The Pharaoh — the king of Egypt — had also died.

Narrator #2: A new Pharaoh came into power. This new king did not know or care about all the good things Joseph had done to save people from starvation during that 7-year famine.

Narrator #1: The only concern of this new king of Egypt was that the original family of 70 had grown and multiplied with many children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

Narrator #2: These descendants of Jacob, also known as Israel, reproduced so often that they were "extremely powerful and filled the land." [Exodus 1:7]

Narrator #1: That new king of Egypt said to his people, "Look! The people of Israel now outnumber us and are stronger than we are."

Narrator #2: He continued, "We must make a plan to keep them from growing even more. If we don't, and if war breaks out, they will join our enemies and fight against us."

Narrator #1: The king also said, "Then, these people of Israel will escape from Egypt back to their own country. To make certain they can't do this, we will force them to become our slaves!"

Narrator #2: That king appointed brutal slave drivers over them. They forced them to build cities. They made their lives bitter.

Narrator #1: They forced them to mix mortar and make bricks. They also had to do all the work in the fields.

Narrator #2: Anytime they rebelled or talked back, the slave drivers whipped them until the blood ran down their backs into the ground.

Narrator #1: Nevertheless, the Israelites multiplied and spread. The scared king and his people passed a horribly cruel law.

Narrator #2: He ordered the Hebrew midwives, the ones who help pregnant women give birth to their babies, to kill all the baby boys. Only the baby girls would be allowed to live.

Narrator #1: The midwives ignored this horrible new law because they did not wish for God to turn against them. The angry king called them in for questioning.

Narrator #2: The king demanded, "Why have you done this? Why have you allowed those baby boys to live?"

Narrator #1: God had given the midwives the wisdom to say these words to the angry king. They said, "The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women."

Narrator #2: They continued, "They are more energetic and have their babies so quickly that we cannot get there in time."

Narrator #1: So, God was good to the midwives who feared and respected His laws, and the Israelites continued to multiply, growing more and more powerful.

Narrator #2: Therefore, the Pharaoh encouraged all the Egyptians to "throw every newborn Hebrew boy into the Nile River. But you may let the girls live."

Narrator #1: Around that time, a man and a woman from the tribe of Levi, the descendants of Jacob's 3rd-oldest son, got married.

Narrator #2: Before that cruel law had passed, they already had a daughter, Miriam, and a son, Aaron.

Narrator #1: Can you imagine how scared this mother was when she gave birth to a baby boy during the time of this horrible law?

Narrator #2: This clever mother managed to keep the baby boy hidden for three months.

Narrator #1: To give him a chance to survive, she made a basket of papyrus reeds and waterproofed it with tar and pitch.

Narrator #2: The mother put the baby in that basket and laid it among the reeds along the banks of the Nile River. The basket began to float.

Narrator #1: Miriam, his brave big sister, stood at a distance, watching to see what would happen to him.

Narrator #2: Soon, Pharaoh's daughter and her maids came down to the river to bathe. When the princess saw that floating basket, she sent her maid to retrieve it.

Narrator #1: When the princess saw the crying baby inside, she felt sorry for him. She declared, "This must be one of the Hebrew children. Well, …, he is going to be my child now."

Narrator #2: When a maid asked what the princess would name him, she replied, "I will name him Moses because I lifted him out of the water."

Narrator #1: Then, Miriam came out of hiding and said, "Princess, should I go and find one of the Hebrew women to nurse that baby for you?"

Narrator #2: The princess of Egypt happily agreed. She even planned to pay this woman for feeding her adopted son until he was old enough to eat regular food.

Narrator #1: Excited, Miriam ran home and got her mother. And for three years, Moses' actual mother got to nurse her own child for the kind princess of Egypt.