Moses (est.1526-1406 BC)

Moses came from the tribe of Levi but his mother feared for his life and hid him, but he was found by the daughter of the King of Egypt and was adopted by her and named Moses.  After killing an Egyptian to protect a Hebrew but the king heard and wanted to kill him for it, so Moses fled to Midian where he met a priest called Jethro and his seven daughter, he married a daughter and became a shepherd.

At one point Moses takes the herd to Mount Sinai where he sees a bush on fire but not being consumed, and God speaks to him and tells him to go and lead the people out of Egypt, and that the king will not easily let them leave, so God teaches him how to preform miracles to help make people believe in the message that he has to bring.

So Moses goes with Aaron and asks the King of Egypt to let the people of Israel go, but instead the King punishes the slaves, making their brick-building task harder.  After the failure Moses faces a backlash from his own people and fail to convince them that God will set them free.  Moses is not very confident about speaking so he gets Aaron to speak for him.

This is where Moses stick is thrown down and turns into a snake, but the Egyptian magicians can do the same thing, although Moses snake eats the other ones.  So the next next day it is stepped up and all the rivers are turned into blood, killing the wildlife, but once again the magicians could copy Moses so the King ignored it.  This was followed by the plague of frogs, then a plague of gnats, then a disease struck the livestock, then sores on people and animals, then hailstones came which destroyed crops, then a plague of locusts came to destroy the last of the crops, then there was three days of darkness, and lastly all the first-borns fell dead. Through all of it the Israelites were protected.

Finally they left Egypt, 430 years after they had first arrived there in the time of Joseph.  They headed out into the desert, avoiding the Philistines for fear out them attacking and headed towards the Red Sea.  Moses took with him the bones of Joseph.  A think cloud led their way, it burned with fire so that they could travel by day and night.  God informs Moses that the King has changed his mind and will chase the Israelites, so now God will destroy them.  So Moses opens up the Sea, and the Israelites escape and the Egyptians are destroyed.

And so they went out into the desert, relying on God and Moses to lead them to water, they travelled in the direction of Mount Sinai.  They carry on through constant issues with finding food and water, and then they fight a battle with the Amalekites, the attack led by Joshua.  So they reach Mount Sinai, where he gives them the law, the ten commandments and guidelines to live by.

God tells Moses about they land which they shall have, and that he will send an angel to help them defeat the people who live their, to drive them off their land.  God gives details of the stone tablets, and the gold box that is to be made to carry them, which is all to be kept within a holy alter, where a lamp must stay lit at all times (and maintained by Aaron and his sons).  Aaron is become the high priest.  At one point Moses is up on the mountain and Aaron makes the mistake of building a golden idol at the request of the people.  Moses instructs the Levi tribe to kill the disobediant people and they kill 3000, and God sends a disease upon the others who disobeyed.

They counted all the men over the age of twenty who could fight, they numbered over 600,000. They settled what order the tribes would enter into battle.  So they left Mount Sinai and after a number of days, the camp caught fire and Moses prayed and the fire went out.  Then the people complained of no meat so God sent a wind to blow thousands of quail inland to feed them, but he spread a disease onto the people who had been complaining for not trusting in God.

Moses sent 12 spies ahead to scout out the land and the people and the fortifications, but the people loose faith yet again.  Now God condemns them for their lack of faith in several instances and sentences them to live in the desert for forty years.  Some leaders rebel saying that they should lead instead of Moses, but, Moses asks God to open up the ground and swallow up the rebels, and it does.  IN all 14,700 died in the incident, including fire and disease.

God informs that Moses and Aaron will not be the ones to lead the people into the promised land.  Aaron dies on Mount Hor, and the priest robes are passed to his son Eleazar.  The Edomite King refuses to let the Israelites pass through Edom so they are forced to travel by a different route.  When the Amorite King refuses them entry he attacks them but is defeated.  The Israelites move on and capture more lands through battle such as Jazer, Og, Bashan, Gilead.  Eventually Moses passes on the leadership to Joshua, as God tells Moses that he will see the promised land and then die.

Ezekiel (est 595 - 571 B.C.)

Ezekiel, the son of Buzi,in the place of the Chaldeans.  Ezekiel was a priest who saw a 'whirlwind of fire' and from it came all manner of things, things with wheels and things with wheels, he is told by God to go to the children of Israel, and he is given a book containing sadness and grief and woe, and yet he has to eat the roll in order for him to deliver its words, told to tell them whether they listen or not.

He travels first to Telabib to the captives there where he declares that wickedness creates iniquity, once done the iniquity cannot be changed but the soul can be saved (Eze 3:18 & 19)

He walked and talked with God and Ezekiel himself is used to represent the Jewish nation, told about a siege on Jerusalem and how the people were divided into three, one part destroyed, one part killed by a plague and the last part scattered.

"Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none" (Eze 7:25)

Then he met with the elders of Judah, and he had another vision, in a vision he foresees the destruction of the wicked people in Jerusalem, that captives will be taken to Babylonia, and he sees the throne of God and his four angels, as Ezekiel begs for lives of the people, God promises him that the people to scattered will return and live in Israel once again.  He is told to condemn the false prophets who speak falsehoods, they know that they make it up yet they believe in what they say.

In Ezekiel 18, it talks about people charging high interest rates are evil, we are instructed to "start thinking pure thoughts" and to "stop sinning and live".  Ezekiel is told to pass on messages in cryptic parables, he even admits that "I confuse them with my messages"

Not only will Babylonains come to attack but also armies from Assyria, Chaldean tribes of Pekod, Shoa and Koa, Ezekiel's wife dies and God tells him not to mourn as a sign for what punishment that is coming for the rest of Jerusalem.

Ezekiel is also told to give other messages; to condemn the people of Ammon, Moab, Edom the Philistines, Egyptians and Ethiopians, and the cities of Tyre Sidon Thebes, and to condemn the King of Tyre and the King of Egypt.  Daniel is mentioned as a source of knowledge (Eze 28:3) as well as the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar.  Ezekiel is told that if he refuses to pass on God's message then he becomes responsible for their fate (Eze 33:8) God promises Ezekiel that he will rebuild the nation of Israel.

On another occasion God takes Ezekiel to the valley of bones where he raises bones up out of the ground to have muscles and skin to make an army and he tells Ezekiel to breath life into them.

Then Ezekiel is told to condemn Gog the ruler of Meshech and Tubal in the land of Magog, as they with their allies from southern Spain will attack Israel, yet the army will be put to death (this a prelude to the revelations prophecy?), the army will be buried east of the Dead Sea.

Next Ezekiel is given the measurements to re-build the temple, and how to divide up the land between all the tribes and that the trive of Levi shall be the priests.