“Names”

Moshe, a Hebrew man raised in Pharaoh’s house, kills one of his foremen and flees to the desert, resulting in his knowledge of God. Following His orders, he goes back to Pharaoh to lead the Israelites in making a sacrifice to the Lord during three days in the wilderness. God, nonetheless, intends to release His people from bondage and prepares a series of plagues that will be inflicted in the land of Egypt—for which He will harden Pharaoh’s heart.

Pharaoh finally acquiesces, but then regrets and goes after his slaves with his army; the People of Israel sees itself trapped between the soldiers and the Sea of Reeds. God performs a magnificent miracle, parts the waters and the people cross to the Sinai Desert. Pharaoh and his army also enter the water, but it recedes, killing everyone.

At the other margin, the Israelites celebrate theirs freedom from centuries of bondage. Many miraculous things will happen in the wilderness, the main one being a collective theophany, when God appears to His People and dictates laws that will guide them from then on.

God, still wanting to live amongst His fellow humans, dictates the measures for His own dwelling, the mishkan |משכן| (tablernacle) and initiates a priestly order by the hand of Aharon, Moshe’s brother.