Judaism - Abraham and Moses

1. Abraham was a great Jewish leader.

2. God promised a nomad leader called Abram that he would be the father of a great people if he did as God told him.

3. Abram’s early life was spent as a shepherd in Mesopotamia (Iraq).

4. Abram’s family then moved to Haran, where his father sold idols for a living.

5. Stories say that Abram was the first person to recognise and worship one God.

6. God asked Abram to leave his home and country.

7. God made three promises to Abram, the promise of a relationship with God, the promise of land and the promise of children.

8. Abram and his wife were childless and already very old, but Abram put all his faith in God and did as he asked.

9. Due to his great faith and obedience, God changed his name to Abraham, meaning ‘father of the people.

10. Abraham and his wife Sarah, despite their age, did have a son called Isaac.

11. Later God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son.

12. Abraham took Isaac up a mountain but, at the last minute, God sent a ram as a sacrifice instead.

13. Abraham trusted God and developed a special relationship with him.

14. God did something for Abraham and Abraham did something for God.

15. Moses was also a great Jewish leader.

16. He was born in Egypt.

17. The Pharaoh at the time was afraid of the Israelites and kept them as slaves.

18. He ordered all their boy babies to be drowned at birth.

19. In order to try to save him, Moses’ mother put him in a basket in the River Nile.

20. Moses was found by the Pharaoh’s daughter and brought up as a royal prince.

21. Moses was forced to leave Egypt after killing an Egyptian slave master for his cruel treatment of the Israelites.

22. He went to be a shepherd and then one day heard the voice of God in a burning bush.

23. God told Moses to return to Egypt and free the people of Israel from slavery.

24. Moses did as God asked, but the Pharaoh refused to free the Israelites.

25. God sent ten plagues until, finally, the Pharaoh agreed.

26. Shortly afterwards, the Pharaoh changed his mind and sent his soldiers after the Israelites.

27. God helped the Israelites by parting the sea so they could walk through it.

28. When the Egyptian army tried to follow, the waters came back together and the soldiers drowned.

29. When they arrived at Sinai, Moses spent forty days talking to God on the mountain.

30. God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, written on tablets of stone.

31. These told the Israelites how they should live.

32. Moses promised God the Israelites would keep the commandments.

33. Moses led the Israelites for forty years through a terrible wilderness to the Promised Land.