EXODUS 33.17-23
FOR forty years, Moses, the little boy who had been taken out of the water by Pharaoh's daughter, was brought up in Pharaoh's Palace in Egypt, where he learned the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in word and deed.
He evidently knew that he belonged to the Israelites or Hebrews, as they were called; but it was not till he had reached forty years of age that he began to look upon the sad plight of his own people.
The Egyptians had gradually made the Hebrews into slaves, and were using them with great cruelty; but at length Moses understood that God was going to deliver the people by his hand.
However, the first effort he made, was that he killed an Egyptian who was hurting a Hebrew man; and this came to the ears of Pharaoh, and he was so angry that Moses fled away, and never stopped till he reached the land of Midian.
Here he remained for another forty years. He married a wife and had two sons, and he tended the flocks of his father-in-law, and lived a very peaceful life.
But one day God came down and spoke to him. He told Moses that in Egypt, the condition of God's people was getting worse and worse, and that He had chosen Moses to be their deliverer.
God said that He would go with him, and help him through; and promised that they should all serve God on this very Mountain in Horeb, where God was now speaking to him.
It would take too long to tell you all the wonders that God had to do to set His people free from their bondage; but at length they escaped from Egypt—every one of them—they went through the Red Sea on dry land, because God kept back the water on each side of them; and as they passed in to the dry pathway God had made for them, He took His Pillar of Cloud, which used to lead them, and He put it behind them, so that it was between them and their enemies. And it was a cloud of darkness to the Egyptians, but it was a bright light to the Israelites, all night.
When they had passed over, God took the cloud away, and the Egyptians followed through the Sea, but God let the waters go back on Pharaoh and his host, and they were all drowned in the sea, and the Israelites were all safe on the other side.