The First Holocaust........
Yocheved, a Hebrew slave
mother, watches in horror at Pharoah Seti's slaughter of all the
Hebrew baby boys in the Hebrew city of Goshen. The Pharoah ordered
the killing of all the male Hebrew children under the age of two in order
to keep the Israeli population from becoming to large and powerful, and
to defy the prophecy of a Hebrew slave that would someday grow up to become
a leader and deliver his people out of slavery. Yocheved is one of
my favorite characters from the film. She is very Jewish, and she
even sings in Hebrew.
Desperate to save her
infant son from the Pharoah's decree, Yocheved and her two other children,
Aaron and Miriam, take cover and flee to the Nile River.
River, Oh River.......
As she sings her last
lullibye to her infant son, Yocheved places her baby in a basket of reeds
and sends him adrift on the Nile River.
As she watches her baby
drift away in the basket, Yocheved prays the river will deliver her baby
to a safe place and that someday he will return to free his people.
Miriam follows the basket
down the river to ensure that it reaches a safe destination.
The basket takes a rough
journey down the Nile where it is almost overturned by crocodiles and hippos.
At last, the basket makes
its way to calmer waters....and to Pharoah's palace.
The Queen of Egypt finds
the basket floating near the palace and finds the baby boy inside.
She takes him in to live with Pharoah's family and names him Moses.
Miriam is happy to see
her baby brother in a safe place and says goodbye to him, hoping that he
will one day return to free his people from slavery.
A sovereignt Prince of
Egypt........
Moses, along with Pharoah's
son Ramses, grows up to become a young man, not knowing where he came from
and who he truly is.
Tzipporah, a young Midian
woman, makes a quick escape from Pharoah's palace after being kidnapped
and offered to Moses as a gift.
After learning that he
is really a Hebrew slave and not Pharoah's son, Moses leaves the palace
and wanders alone into the desert.
While Moses is in the
desert, a huge sandstorm comes, almost burrying Moses up to his head.
But God saves Moses from his wanderings and the sandstorm.
Look at your life through
Heaven's Eyes......
Moses wanders upon a
desert tribe of Midian people, including Tzipporah and her family.
Tzipporah's people take
Moses in, and teach him their ways, including how to be a shepherd.
Moses and Tzipporah eventually
fall in love and are married by Tzipporah's father Jethro who is the High
Priest of Midian.
God appears to Moses
in the form of a burning bush and tells him to return to Egypt to ask his
brother Ramses, the new Pharoah, to let his people go.
Because of Pharoah's
stubbornness, Egypt suffers through many plagues, including the death of
all the firstborn sons. Here the Angel of Death comes down into Egypt
and takes all of the firstborn children, including Pharoah's only son.
The Passover is a celebration and reminder of that fateful night when God
came down and killed all the first born sons of Egypt, but passed over
the homes of the Israelis.
Ashira, ashira.....
Griefstricken by the
death of his only son, Pharoah gives the Hewbrews permission to go.
At the last minute, Pharoah
has a change of heart and sends his soldiers after the Hebrews to kill
them. But God stops the Egyptians from reaching the Hebrews at the
Red Sea by sending down a tornado of fire.
There can be miracles
when you believe......
Through God's power,
Moses plunges his staff into the Red Sea, and the waters part and make
a pathway for the Hebrews to go through and escape to freedom.
The parting of the Red
Sea is one of the most fascinating works of animation I have ever seen
in a film. It's my favorite part of the entire movie.
The Hebrews hurry along
through the parted waters of the Red Sea with Pharoah's soldiers in hot
pursuit.
The Hebrews make it across
the sea while the waters close in on Pharoah and his men, drowning them
all. The waters become calm again and Moses and his people are free.