Exodus

The Exodus was the foundational event of Israel's national history — the departure of the Israelite people from their enslavement in Egypt under the leadership of Moses, and their journey toward the promised land of Canaan. The narrative is contained in Exodus 1–18 and is the dominant paradigm of divine redemption in the Old Testament. God declared to Pharaoh through Moses: Let my people go (Exodus 5:1), and after ten plagues culminating in the death of Egypt's firstborn, Pharaoh expelled the Israelites. Israel departed on the night of the Passover, approximately 600,000 men plus women and children (Exodus 12:37), passed through the Red Sea, and received the Law at Sinai.

The date of the Exodus is debated: the traditional chronology, based on 1 Kings 6:1 (480 years before Solomon's fourth year), places it around 1446 BC in the reign of Amenhotep II; a later date around 1270–1250 BC in the reign of Ramesses II is favored by many archaeologists based on Egyptian evidence. The Exodus defines God's identity in the Old Testament: the Decalogue begins I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery (Exodus 20:2). The New Testament presents Christ's death and resurrection as the ultimate Exodus — the liberation of humanity from the slavery of sin and death (Luke 9:31; 1 Corinthians 5:7; 10:1–4).