In the Bible story are these words:
“And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren.
“And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.
“Now when Pharaoh heard this, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian.”
This Pharaoh was not the father of Moses’ foster mother, who was now dead. It is said that this king was afraid Moses would drive him from the throne and become Pharaoh himself.
For forty long years the exiled prince lived in Midian, studying, planning, and writing. It was during this time that he made the great decision of his life. He resolved to save his own people, the million Hebrews who were slaves to the Egyptians.
At last, Moses and his brother Aaron appeared before the Pharaoh, and announced that God had demanded that the king should let the children of Israel go free. It was a hard thing to ask, for the Egyptians still needed the great army of slave men to build great pyramids and temples.
The king refused, and consented, and refused again, until plague after plague was sent upon the land of Egypt. At last, when the king’s son, and the oldest child of every Egyptian family in the whole country had died in one night, the terrified and heartbroken king called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up and get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go.”
“And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders.”
This going out of the Hebrew people bound for the Promised Land, nearly four thousand years ago, is called “the Exodus.” To this day it is celebrated by the Jews every year as the Passover.