Emery 1

Sean Emery

Ms. Akers

Honors English 9

19 October 2017

Moses was a Hebrew in Egypt while Hebrews were being brutally enslaved. He

eventually lead his people away from slavery and towards freedom. He was one of the most

influential figures in the Abrahamic religions. Moses suffering was important for the Hebrew

faith because without him, they might still be enslaved and have God irritated with them.

The Hebrews have given God a few reasons to be irked with them. Each incident, Moses

has fixed things with God. Like the time the Israelites had given up on God and Moses because

they had been up on Mountain Sinai for too long. They created a new figure to worship; a golden

calf. That is breaking one of the first of the ten commandments. The Ten Commandments were

basically laws for the Israelites to follow in order to maintain Gods respect. Moses had just

finished writing these commandments down on tablets when he saw his people breaking sacred

rules. He knew God would not be pleased with this, so he went back up to Mountain Sinai to

make atonement for their crime. And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he

neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the

ten commandments (137). This struggling was for God to forgive the Hebrews and Moses

himself. And so everyone now knows the covenant to follow if they want to remain in Gods

favor. If Moses hadnt worked so hard for the Israelis when this happened, they would not have

remained good in Gods eye and God probably would have done all he could to destroy them.
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Moses was born in a time of chaos and distress. When he was born, all male Hebrew

babies were killed. Once he was born, his mom noticed he was a godly child and hid him for as

long as she could so he could live. This could not have been easy on a three month old baby,

even if he was a god-like child. Even though Moses probably was not consciously struggling for

his people, it really did turn out that way. If he had not survived, the Hebrews might have never

escaped slavery. They would not have had such a powerful god-like figure to support and follow.

He became very powerful in Egypt: And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaohs

daughter, and he became her son (110). Being related to the Pharaoh in Egypt made you very

powerful. This made Moses more of a role model and savior for the enslaved Hebrew people.

Being a powerful minority is difficult and gave him the power to make change for the oppressed

Hebrews. However, it still was not easy to make change opposing what the Pharaoh wants.

One of Moses most difficult dilemmas was challenging the Pharaoh. When Moses fled

Egypt, God came to him in the form of a burning bush. God told him that he had to go and free

his people from slavery in Egypt. Moses did not want to challenge the Pharaoh on account of

how brutal he could be. Moses tried to escape the burden of challenging the Pharaoh: Oh, my

Lord, I am not eloquent, either heretofore or since thou hast spoken to thy servant; but I am slow

of speech and of tongue (112). This was a defining moment for Moses. He could have either

backed away from a challenge, or face it head on. Since Moses knew the right thing to do, he

went and faced his fear, all for his people. Moses eventually got past his mental struggle of

confrontation and approaches the Pharaoh. Even though the Pharaoh does not agree to let them

go at first, Moses did a great thing for his people. Without Moses initiating a solution to the

Hebrews problem, they may have never escaped Egypt. Even though Moses struggling was
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with himself, it did not make it any less difficult. In fact, it may have made it even harder than a

struggle with another person.

Moses did a lot for his people, the Hebrews. He stood up to the all-powerful God for

them, and an all-powerful king. Moses kept God on his side, and saved his people from being

heavily oppressed. Some may say that the common Hebrew suffered more than Moses did

because of the slave labor, but that is not true. Moses had a lot more pressure on him, than the

average Hebrew in Moses time. As well as the fact that if Moses did not sacrifice what he, it

was thousands of people feeling the repercussions. If Moses hadnt gone through what he did, his

people might not have gotten past all the problems they faced with him as a leader.