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Moses at the Red Sea
This photo from the International Space Station shows the V-shaped Sinai Peninsula, with Mount Sinai (Horeb) among the peaks in the southernmost point. To the west lies the Gulf of Suez; further west, the deep cleft and wide delta of the River Nile; to the east, the Gulf of Aqaba. The Israeli city of Eilat stands at the Gulf of Aqaba’s northernmost point; southern Jordan and Saudi Arabia can be seen to the right. The distance from Cairo on the Nile Delta to Eilat is roughly 220 miles.
Back to text
This photo from the International Space Station shows the V-shaped Sinai Peninsula, with Mount Sinai (Horeb) among the peaks in the southernmost point. To the west lies the Gulf of Suez; further west, the deep cleft and wide delta of the River Nile; to the east, the Gulf of Aqaba. The Israeli city of Eilat stands at the Gulf of Aqaba’s northernmost point; southern Jordan and Saudi Arabia can be seen to the right. The distance from Cairo on the Nile Delta to Eilat is roughly 220 miles.
Introduction
Moses has failed to persuade Pharaoh to let the Israelites leave Egypt, so he has taken matters into his own hands and brought them out anyway. Pharaoh quickly puts aside grief for his firstborn son, taken by God’s angel of death, and rides after the escaped slaves with vengeance in his heart.
PHARAOH believed he had the Israelites pinned down, trapped between his host and the Red Sea, and many of the Israelites feared so too.
But Moses lifted up his staff, and the waters of the sea parted, heaping up left and right. Between these swirling walls the Israelites crossed the glistening sands on foot, led by God (though he left no footprint),* together with their flocks. Pharaoh’s chariots and cavalry followed them in headlong, but the exposed sea-floor was heavy going.
The Israelites reached the farther shore first, where there was sweet water, and palm trees.* There Moses turned. He stretched out his hand over the sea, and the turbid walls of water began to fall. Down upon Pharaoh’s host they fell. Horse and rider were cast into the sea, sank like lead, and were lost.
But there was no rest for the Israelites. Almost at once, Moses led them away into the wilderness beyond, towards the land that God had promised to them.*
Remarked in Psalm 77:16-20. In the Christian liturgy, the birth of Christ is spoken of in these same terms, as God left no footprint in entering our world: Mary remained a virgin still.
The Israelites crossed into the Sinai Peninsula, meaning that they probably crossed not the Red Sea proper but the Gulf of Suez, an arm of the Red Sea projecting northwest towards the Mediterranean, to which it is now joined by the British-built Suez Canal.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Horse. They. Together.
2 Many. Out. Trap.
3 Lead. Tree. Up.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Statements, Questions and Commands Find in Think and Speak
Use each word below in a sentence. Try to include at least one statement, one question and one command among your sentences. Note that some verbs make awkward or meaningless words of command, e.g. need, happen.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Turn. 2 Stretch. 3 Promise. 4 Lift. 5 Hand. 6 Land. 7 Follow. 8 Part. 9 Fear.
Variations: 1. use a minimum of seven words for each sentence 2. include negatives, e.g. isn’t, don’t, never 3. use the words ‘must’ to make commands 4. compose a short dialogue containing all three kinds of sentence: one statement, one question and one command
Homophones Find in Think and Speak
In each group below, you will find words that sound the same, but differ in spelling and also in meaning. Compose your own sentences to bring out the differences between them.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
Add Vowels Find in Think and Speak
Make words by adding vowels to each group of consonants below. You may add as many vowels as you like before, between or after the consonants, but you may not add any consonants or change the order of those you have been given. See if you can beat our target of common words.
stds (5+1)
steadies. studies. studios. studious. studs.
steeds.
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Even as Moses is in the presence of God receiving the Ten Commandments, the people down below are already breaking the first of them.
Picture: © Adergham2017, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.. Source.
Posted January 24 2018
Picture: From the Kaufmann Haggadah (14th century), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted January 23 2018
Pharaoh dismisses Moses’s embassy for the last time, and Moses prepares the Israelites for a hasty departure.
Picture: By Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836-1912), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted January 23 2018
Jochebed hides her baby son from Pharaoh’s soldiers, only for him to be discovered by Pharaoh’s daughter.
Picture: By William Hogarth (1697–1764), via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.. Source.
Posted January 22 2018
