| * | Shemot / "Summary: The book of Shmot begins directly from where the book of Genesis left off: listing the ""names"" of the descendants of Jacob who came down to Egypt after Joseph. Seventy members of Jacob's family down to Egypt, but we are told they were very fertile and increased greatly in Egypt. When a new king comes to the throne in Egypt, he oppresses and enslaves the people out of fear that this growing band of Israelites might prove to be a military or political threat. When this does not succeed in curbing their growth, he issues orders to kill all new-born Israelite boys. The infant Moses, however, survives this decree, and when his mother can no longer keep him hidden, she leaves him in a basket floating on the Nile. He is found by the daughter of Pharaoh, who adopts him and hires his mother as a wet-nurse. The text then jumps ahead. Moses, now a man, seeing a taskmaster beating an Israelite slave, Moses kills the Egyptian and then must flee. He runs to Midian, where he is welcomed by a Midianite priest and is given his daughter Zipporah as a wife. She gives birth to a son. While tending his new father-in-law's flocks, Moses is called by God from the burning bush. God instructs Moses to return to Egypt to free the Israelites from slavery. Moses returns and is reunited with his Brother Aaron. Together they go and pay their first visit to Pharaoh. But Pharaoh dismisses Moses and his God, and increases the workload of the slaves." |