The Escape

At midnight, the final plague came to the land of Egypt. The oldest son from each family died that night, including the son of the king. The king called his leaders to come and help him decide what to do. In the meantime, the crying in the land was terrible because someone in every family had died.  Even though it was the middle of the night, Pharaoh ordered Moses to come to the palace.  He told Moses to take his people and all their possessions and get out of Egypt now!

While they were slaves in Egypt, the Israelites lived in the land of Goshen in the northwestern part of Egypt.  The Bible says that when they left Egypt their group had 600,000 men, not including the women and children.  To give you an idea of how many people that is, there are about 1,500,000 people living in the city of Philadelphia, including the women and children.  Can you imagine if everyone in Philadelphia suddenly left the city?  That's a lot of people!

If you follow the purple line on this map, you can get an idea of how they got from Goshen to the land that God promised to give them.

The Israelites of course were packed and dressed for travel, because God had told them to be ready. As soon as they got word from Moses, they left their homes and began to travel west, out of the land of Egypt.  

As soon as the king realized the Israelites had left, he changed his mind again!  He called for his soldiers and their chariots so that they could catch Moses and his people to bring them back to be slaves. When the Israelites saw the king and his army coming, they were scared.  Moses told them "Don't be afraid.  Watch what God is going to do for you today!  The Lord will save you and you will never see the Egyptians again. God is going to fight for you and all you have to do is stand still."

The Israelites made it safely to the other side. God asked the people to remember their rescue every year with prayers and a meal of celebration.  The festival is called Passover.