Moses and Pharaoh
The God of Israel came down to speak to Moses, and told Moses to go to the Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say to Pharaoh, "Let my people go, let them go free." Moses didn't want to do this, but God said he had to, and he did.
Moses said to Pharaoh, "Let my people go!" But Pharaoh was a hard-hearted man, and wouldn't let the Israelites, the Jews, go free. So with God's help, Moses took his staff while Pharaoh was watching, lifted it up, and struck the water of the Nile River. Immediately all the water in the river turned to blood, and that made all the fish in the river die. It did not smell good. And because the Egyptians got their water from the Nile, they had a hard time getting enough water to drink, or to wash with.
Well, you think that would have been enough to convince Pharaoh not to fool around with Moses -- and to not fool around with the God of the Israelites. But the Pharaoh was a hard-hearted man. Moses came to Pharaoh, and said, "Now will you let my people go?" But Pharaoh said no.
This time Moses stretched out his staff over the river, the ponds and lakes and all the water, and with God's help he let loose a plague of frogs. There were frogs everywhere! There were frogs in Pharaoh's palace, frogs in everyone's houses, frogs in people's beds, so many frogs that the bakers put them into bread by mistake. Yuck! Bread with frogs in it. It tasted horrible.
Well, you think Pharaoh would have learned his lesson, but the Pharaoh was a hard-hearted man. Moses said, "Let my people go!" and Pharaoh just said, no.
This time Moses stretched out his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and with God's help released a horde of gnats. Do you know what gnats are? They are little insects that bite you just like mosquitoes and when they bite you it's just like a mosquito bite which swells up and itches, but gnats are so small you can't see them. There were gnats everywhere, a plague of gnats, biting everyone all the time. It was most unpleasant.
Well, you think Pharaoh would have learned his lesson, but that Pharaoh was a hard-hearted man. Moses said, "Let my people go!" and Pharaoh just said, no.
So with God's help, Moses sent a swarm of flies to plague the land. (If you're keeping count, that's the fourth plague Moses let loose on Egypt.) Flies everywhere! — on your food, in your eyes, everywhere.
But when Moses said, "Let my people go," Pharaoh just said, no. So with God's help Moses made all the cows and chickens and other livestock get sick. No milk to drink! No eggs to eat! (That's number five.) Everyone got very hungry.
But when Moses said, "Let my people go," Pharaoh just said, no. So with God's help Moses made everyone in Egypt get pimples and boils that hurt like the dickens and looked nasty. (That's number six.)
But when Moses said, "Let my people go," Pharaoh just said, no. So with God's help Moses let loose thunder and hail, big hailstones that damaged all the crops. (That's number seven.)
But when Moses said, "Let my people go," Pharaoh just said, no. So with God's help Moses brought locusts into the country of Egypt. The locusts covered every inch of the land, and if there was anything left in the fields that the hail had not damaged, the locusts ate it up. (That's number eight.) Now there was basically no food left to eat in all of Egypt.
But when Moses said, "Let my people go," Pharaoh just said, no. So with God's help Moses brought a dense darkness over the entire land of Egypt, except for little bits of light that were in the houses of the Israelites. (That's number nine.)
But when Moses said, "Let my people go," Pharaoh just said, no. This time, God said, "Moses, go tell Pharaoh that I, God, will make every first-born child die throughout the land of Egypt." But God also told Moses that all the Jews should make a mark over their doors with the blood of a lamb, and that way God would know that God should pass over those houses, and not make the firstborn child die. That's why it's called Passover -- God passed over the houses of the Israelites. (And that was the tenth, and the very worst, of the ten plagues.)
This time, when Moses went to Pharaoh and said, "Let my people go," Pharaoh said, "Go! Go! You bring nothing but disaster to me and my kingdom." But of course, it was all Pharaoh's fault, because he should have set the Israelites free from slavery long before.
That's the story of how the Jews, who were kept in slavery by Pharaoh, at last gained their freedom. Some people don't like this story because it is kind of disgusting in places. Even though it is kind of disgusting, I still like the story because it reminds me how important freedom is; and it reminds me that we should never, never keep anyone enslaved.