Just Because: The Story of Salvation for Children (10 page)

let them go. So He would do things to Pharaoh and

the Egyptians, and finally the Egyptians would give

the Israelites money and stuff to pay them back for

all the years they had been slaves there.

Now Moses was having some doubts about

going to Egypt. In fact he just didn’t want to go, so

he asked, “What will I do if the people don’t believe

me and they say, ‘God never sent you here’?”

“What is that in your hand?” asked the Lord.

Now Moses always carried a stick like a long

walking stick so he could fight off any wild animals.

“It’s my staff, Lord,” he said.

“Throw it on the ground,” said the Lord.

Moses thought this was a strange request, but

he wasn’t gonna argue, so he threw his staff on the

ground. The moment it hit the dirt it started wriggling

and became a big snake. Moses nearly freaked out.

“Now grab it by the tail,” said the Lord.

Moses is looking at this big mama snake and

listening to the Lord and thinking maybe he should

just get out of there, but he decided to obey God. He

bent down and quickly grabbed the snake by the tail,

and it turned back into his staff again. “Wow!” he

was thinking. “What a cool trick.”

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Now Moses knew this was just not natural. I

mean, staffs do not simply become snakes. We call

things like this miracles, and this was the second

miracle Moses had seen in one day if you count the

burning bush. The Lord told him this miracle was so

the people would believe him, but the Lord could see

Moses was still worried.

“Put your hand inside your coat, Moses,” the

Lord told him, and Moses did as he was told.

“Now take your hand out.”

Moses took his hand out and couldn’t believe his

eyes. His hand was covered in ugly big sores, and

it looked as if it was rotten and might fall clean off.

On top of that it didn’t smell too good. Moses knew

that when people had this disease they were going to

die. Poor old Moses stood there staring at his yucky-

looking arm, and the Lord spoke again and told him

to put it back inside his coat. This time when he

pulled it out again it was back to normal, as good as

new. He was very relieved.

The Lord told him that if they didn’t believe

the first miracle with his staff they would believe

the second. Just in case they still wouldn’t believe

him, he should get some water from the river where

Pharaoh’s daughter found him; when he threw it on

the ground it would turn into blood.

Now Moses could see the Lord had it all figured

out, but he still didn’t want to go. So he said to the

Lord, “Sometimes I don’t speak too well when I get

nervous, Lord, and I stutter.” Actually many people

stutter when they are n-n-n-n-nervous, and Moses

was one of these.

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The Lord replied, “Who makes a man able to

speak or not able to speak? Who makes a man able to

see or not able to see? It is I the Lord, and I will help

you to speak.”

But Moses argued and said, “Oh, Lord, please

send someone else to do it.”

It was a good thing the Lord was patient or He

might have turned old Moses into a snake himself.

Instead He said to Moses. “Okay, you can take your

brother Aaron with you because he speaks well. You

will tell him what to say, and he can repeat it for you.

Now get going and meet Aaron, and don’t forget to

take your staff with you.”

So Moses went back home and got his wife and

son. They loaded up some good-smelling donkeys,

met Aaron and headed off to Egypt. He was still

nervous about what might happen in Egypt, but he

had decided he should obey the Lord. He had his

staff and his brother, and he knew the Lord had given

him power to do the miracles so the people would

believe him. He also knew the Lord would be with

him because the Lord had promised, and He always

keeps His promises. Moses knew in his heart that

everything would happen as the Lord had said, Just

Because the Lord’s plans are perfect and He always

makes them work.

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Chapter 18

k

It was a long journey to Egypt. When Moses and

Aaron finally arrived they left their wives and chil-

dren with some Hebrew people and went to Pharaoh’s

palace. Moses was now eighty years old, and his

brother Aaron was eighty-three. Moses ordered the

guards to take him to see Pharaoh, and he and Aaron

were taken inside. The powerful Egyptian king had

a beautiful palace, with gold and jewels glittering on

the walls and ceilings. The doors opened into the main

room where the king’s throne was, and the two visi-

tors saw the most powerful man in the world sitting

and staring at them. They introduced themselves.

“What do you want, Moses?” asked Pharaoh.

Moses looked into Pharaoh’s wild green eyes and

said, “The Lord God of Israel says to you to let His

people go so they can go out to the desert to celebrate

a feast to Him.”

Pharaoh replied, “Who is this Lord of Israel that

He should command me to let these people go? I don’t

know this Lord, and besides I won’t let them go to

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the desert to have a celebration. They are my slaves,

and they belong to me. They can’t have enough work

to do if they are thinking about having a celebration.

I’ll make them work harder!”

So Pharaoh ordered Moses and Aaron out of his

palace and sent his guards to tell the slave masters to

work the Jews harder and to whip them harder if they

slowed down.

Many Jews died, and when the people saw Moses

they were very angry with him.

“You have made Pharaoh mad at us now. He is

making us work harder and whipping people to death,

and he isn’t afraid of the Lord. It would be better if

you never asked him to let us go out to celebrate to

the Lord.”

Moses was upset, and no wonder. People were

dying, and he felt responsible.

So he prayed to the Lord again and asked Him,

“Why did You ever send me, Lord? Now You have

brought even bigger problems to Your people.” Moses

was upset with the Lord, and he said even more. “Is

this why You sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh

to speak in Your name he has brought trouble upon

these people, and You have not rescued Your people

at all.”

Then the Lord spoke to Moses again in that kind

of voice you know you’d better listen to real good,

and Moses sat up and took notice. This is what He

said: “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh. I

will force him to let My people go, and he will even-

tually drive them out of his land to get rid of them.

I am the Lord! I made a promise to Abraham, Isaac

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and Jacob to make their descendants My people and

to give them the land of Canaan. I will not break My

promise. They will leave this land and be free from

their slavery, and they will know I am their God and

they are My people. This is My promise.”

Well, Moses couldn’t very well argue with that,

could he? But he did.

“Lord, I can’t speak to Ph-ph-ph-pharaoh prop-

erly because I stutter.”

“All right, Moses,” said the Lord. “I shall tell you

My commands for Pharaoh and you will tell your

brother Aaron what to say. You will give Aaron your

staff. When Pharaoh asks for a miracle to show that I

have sent you, then Aaron will throw it down.”

So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh and did

what the Lord had commanded them. When Aaron

threw the staff on the ground it became a large snake

sliding around in front of the king. Now old Pharaoh

wasn’t going to be beaten, so he called his magicians

and wizards. These magicians were worshippers of

someone who hates God. Someone who is always

trying to get people to hate God, and he gave these

magicians some magic power. Now I’m not going to

mention his name because you know who I mean. So

in walked Pharaoh’s magicians carrying their magic

sticks. These guys were like evil wizards. Three of

these guys said some evil magic words and threw

their staffs on the ground. Immediately their staffs

turned into snakes.

Pharaoh turned and stared at Moses with his cold

cruel eyes and smiled his smarty-pants smile. Moses

wasn’t too sure what to do at this point, what with

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three smarty-pants wizards watching their snakes

crawling around and Pharaoh thinking he was better

than the Lord. Moses sent up one of those real quiet

prayers you pray when you think you’re in trouble,

like when you’ve been talking in class at school and

the teacher says, “STAND UP.”

So Moses sent up this little prayer: “Uhmm, what

do I do now, Lord. . .help.”

Suddenly Moses’ snake turned around and

at acked al three of the magicians’ snakes and then

ate the lot of them. That wiped the stupid smile off the

wizards’ faces, and Pharaoh wasn’t looking too happy

anymore either. Guess who else was angry as a bear

with a sore head. Yep, you guessed right—old Satan,

who had been there al the time giving the wizards

power to do their lit le trick. And like most of the time

old Satan was just copying what the Lord did.

But Pharaoh got angry and stubborn when he saw

what happened, and he said to Moses: “Get out of

my palace and take your snake with you. I have not

changed my mind. I will not let the people go.”

So Moses and Aaron left after Aaron picked up

the snake by the tail, and of course it turned into a

stick again. Then Moses went to ask the Lord the

next part of the plan.

“In the morning,” the Lord told Moses, “go down

to the river Nile, and when Pharaoh comes down

for his swim, tell him to let My people go. When

he refuses, tell him you’re going to turn the entire

river into blood, and then you will go around all the

houses and turn the water in their jugs and vases and

baths into blood as well.”

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When Moses arrived in the morning Pharaoh

was doing his morning exercises and preparing for a

nice little swim. Moses told him what the Lord said,

and he just laughed. These Egyptians didn’t think

Moses could do something to their river because they

thought their river was like a god, the way the people

who live in India think their river Ganges is a holy

place. So Moses told Aaron to strike the water with

his staff, and immediately the whole river turned into

red thick blood instead of nice clean water. Pharaoh

was real mad, and he missed out on his swim, and

Moses and Aaron went off to the people’s houses to

finish off the job.

Pharaoh’s magicians ran to some houses and tried

their evil black magic, and they managed to turn some

of Egypt’s water into blood as well. There they were

trying to prove how clever they were, and all they

were doing was helping out the Lord. Pharaoh was

not very happy, but he got even more stubborn when

he saw his magicians could do the same as Moses

and Aaron, so he marched off into his palace. In the

meantime the fish died, and with the hot sun burning

down the blood started to stink real bad, even worse

than a camel train.

Seven days passed, and the Lord said to Moses,

“Go to the Pharaoh and tell him to let My people go,

or else I will cover the land with frogs. And they will

go into his house and his bedroom and his bed, and

everywhere will be covered with frogs.”

Now the Lord had a special reason for picking

frogs. You see, the Egyptians, silly dudes, used to

worship frogs. They thought the frogs were gods.

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Can you imagine praying to some frog? So the Lord

decided to give them all the frog gods they could

handle and a few million more thrown in. Aaron

told Pharaoh what the Lord was gonna do, and guess

what. Yep, Pharaoh just laughed again.

So Aaron struck the Nile river again with Moses’

staff, and out of the water came millions and millions

of big, green, slimy, ugly, smelly, blood-covered

frogs, hopping toward the houses of everyone living

in Egypt, except of course the Hebrews. So Pharaoh

called in his magicians. And although they could not

make the Lord’s frogs disappear, they managed to

make a few more frogs come out of the river which

didn’t help the situation. So Pharaoh had frogs all

through his house. He couldn’t move because their

slimy, smelly, little bodies were everywhere and

driving him crazy. They jumped into his bed; they

jumped into his bath; they jumped down his boots.

Actually that’s not true because he didn’t have boots.

But they jumped into his soup and all over his feet