The Exodus from Egypt

The family of seventy that came to Egypt in Joseph's day had grown into a vast people — and into slaves. A new pharaoh 'which knew not Joseph' set taskmasters over them and, fearing their numbers, ordered their sons drowned. Into that bondage God raised up Moses, drawn from the Nile as an infant and called from a burning bush eighty years later with a commission: 'Let my people go.'

Pharaoh refused, and God answered with ten plagues that dismantled Egypt and its gods one by one — until the last and most terrible, the death of the firstborn. Israel was spared by the blood of a lamb painted on their doorposts; the LORD 'passed over' those houses, and that night became the Passover, kept ever after as the memorial of redemption (Exodus 12). Pharaoh finally drove Israel out, then changed his mind and pursued them to the sea. There God parted the waters; Israel crossed on dry ground, and the returning sea swallowed the Egyptian army (Exodus 14). On the far shore, Moses and the people sang.

The date of these events is the most debated point in Old Testament chronology: the early-date view places the Exodus around 1446 BC (from the 480 years of 1 Kings 6:1), the late-date view around 1260 BC under Rameses II. We present both rather than settling the question, and the chart's dating-scheme toggle lets you switch between them.

The Exodus is the defining act of salvation in the Old Testament — the event Israel retold forever as proof that the LORD is a God who hears, remembers, and rescues. Redemption by the blood of a lamb, deliverance through the waters, and a people brought out to belong to God become the template for everything that follows.

The New Testament presents Jesus as the fulfillment of this pattern: he is 'Christ our passover... sacrificed for us' (1 Corinthians 5:7), the Lamb whose blood delivers from death; he accomplishes a greater 'exodus' (the word Luke uses at the Transfiguration) through his death and resurrection, leading a redeemed people out of bondage to sin. The Lord's Supper is rooted in a Passover meal. To understand the cross, you must first understand the Exodus.