Return to Index The Story of Moses
Some of you may have heard an earlier story about a man called Joseph. The king of Egypt was called the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh at that time had a dream that there were seven fat cattle and seven thin cattle. The thin cattle came and ate up the fat cattle but the thin cattle did not get any fatter. The Pharaoh did not know what the dream meant but Joseph told him that there would be 7 years of plenty and then 7 years of famine.
Picture of Egyptian Granaries
The Pharaoh made Joseph a very important man and Joseph told the people to save up the grain during the 7 years of plenty. The picture shows the granaries where grain was stored.
When the 7 years of famine came there was enough grain to feed the people.
Joseph's father and his brothers came to live in Egypt and they were treated as honoured guests.
Joseph and his brothers had many children and they all had many children until the family had grown into a nation called the Hebrews or Israelites. By this time there was a new Pharaoh who did not know about Joseph and did not like the Hebrews.
He said, "There are so many of these Hebrews and they are so strong that they are a danger to us. If we go to war they might join with our enemies and fight against us. Then they might escape from the country."
He gave orders that the Hebrews should become slaves and told some of the Egyptians to become slave masters.
picture of slave master
. This was a dreadful thing to happen. The people had to work very hard and were given no pay. The slave master sometimes whipped them to make them work harder
But even worse things happened. The Hebrews needed someone to help them. Someone who would be a
hero. Can you think what a hero should be like. God had someone in mind and his name was Moses.
