Single lesson
Moses and Aaron Bring God's Message to Pharaoh
Exodus 4:18–31; Exodus 5:1–6:13; Exodus 7:1–13
God sends Moses back to Egypt, joins Aaron with him, and gives them words to speak to Pharaoh. In this lesson, children trace the order of the account, identify clear choices and outcomes, and notice that Yahweh keeps speaking when people resist.
Before you teach
These verses begin with Moses leaving Midian and meeting Aaron. Israel’s elders hear the message, see the signs, and worship. Moses and Aaron then speak to Pharaoh, who refuses and increases the people’s labour. Moses cries out to Yahweh. Yahweh answers with promises, commands for Moses and Aaron, and a sign before Pharaoh.
Students will sequence six events from the passage and identify at least three choice-and-outcome pairs: Israel believed and worshipped, Pharaoh refused and increased labour, and Moses complained yet Yahweh answered with promises and commands.
Welcome: Listen for choices and outcomes
4 minWrite six headings where everyone can see them: Moses returns, Aaron meets Moses, the people believe, Pharaoh refuses, Yahweh answers, the rod becomes a serpent before Pharaoh. Tell children they will listen for what people choose and what happens next. Explain that the final sign in today’s order happens later, before Pharaoh, after Yahweh gives renewed commands.
Exodus 4:19, Exodus 4:27, Exodus 4:31, Exodus 5:2, Exodus 6:13, Exodus 7:9, Exodus 7:10
Read and explain: Moses returns and Israel responds
7 minRead Exodus 4:18-31 in short parts. Moses goes because Yahweh tells him to return. On the way, Yahweh met Moses, Zipporah circumcised her son, and Yahweh let him alone. Keep this brief and sober. Then Aaron meets Moses, hears Yahweh’s words, and speaks to the elders. The people believe, hear that Yahweh has seen their affliction, and worship.
Exodus 4:18, Exodus 4:19, Exodus 4:24, Exodus 4:25, Exodus 4:26, Exodus 4:27, Exodus 4:28, Exodus 4:29, Exodus 4:30, Exodus 4:31
Discuss: Pharaoh refuses and the burden grows
7 minRead key verses from Exodus 5. Moses and Aaron say, ‘Let my people go.’ Pharaoh says he does not know Yahweh and will not let Israel go. He removes the straw supply but keeps the same brick quota. The officers are beaten and the people are in trouble. For children, say truthfully that the workers were treated cruelly and were in deep trouble, without graphic detail. Moses then complains to Yahweh.
Exodus 5:1, Exodus 5:2, Exodus 5:7, Exodus 5:8, Exodus 5:14, Exodus 5:19, Exodus 5:22, Exodus 5:23
Make and respond: Sequence cards with responses
8 minChildren make six cards: Moses returns, Aaron meets Moses, people believe and worship, Pharaoh refuses, Yahweh answers with promises and commands, Aaron’s rod becomes a serpent before Pharaoh. As they place them in order, ask them to add response words from the passage such as believed, worshipped, refused, complained, obeyed, or hardened. Review three pairs: Israel believed and worshipped, Pharaoh refused and increased labour, Moses complained yet Yahweh answered.
Exodus 4:27, Exodus 4:31, Exodus 5:2, Exodus 5:6, Exodus 5:22, Exodus 5:23, Exodus 6:6, Exodus 6:13, Exodus 7:6, Exodus 7:10, Exodus 7:13
Closing: Yahweh answers, commands, and is obeyed
4 minRead selected verses from Exodus 6:1-13 and 7:1-13. Emphasise that Yahweh says, ‘I am Yahweh,’ promises to bring Israel out, and speaks again when Israel does not listen because of anguish and cruel bondage. Moses says Israel has not listened and asks how Pharaoh will listen. Yahweh gives commands to Moses and Aaron about Israel and Pharaoh. They obey, and later Aaron’s rod becomes a serpent before Pharaoh, yet Pharaoh still does not listen.
Exodus 6:1, Exodus 6:2, Exodus 6:6, Exodus 6:7, Exodus 6:8, Exodus 6:9, Exodus 6:12, Exodus 6:13, Exodus 7:6, Exodus 7:9, Exodus 7:10, Exodus 7:13
Questions to explore
What did the people of Israel do after Aaron spoke Yahweh’s words and did the signs?
Look for the verse that says they believed, heard that Yahweh had seen their affliction, and bowed their heads and worshipped.
Exodus 4:30, Exodus 4:31
What choice did Pharaoh make, and what happened to the people’s work after that?
Notice Pharaoh’s refusal in one verse, then find the verses where he removes straw and keeps the same brick quota.
Exodus 5:2, Exodus 5:7, Exodus 5:8, Exodus 5:9
After Moses said Israel had not listened to him, what did Yahweh do next?
Find the verse where Moses asks how Pharaoh will listen, then the verse where Yahweh gives commands to Moses and Aaron about both Israel and Pharaoh.
Exodus 6:9, Exodus 6:12, Exodus 6:13
Make, think or respond
Sequence and Response Cards
What you’ll need
- Plain paper or card
- Pencils or textas
- Scissors
- Bible
Try it together
- Write or draw six moments from the passage on separate cards: Moses returns, Aaron meets Moses, people believe and worship, Pharaoh refuses, Yahweh answers with promises and commands, Aaron’s rod becomes a serpent before Pharaoh.
- Mix the cards and have children work in pairs to place them in order.
- Under each card, add a response word from the passage, such as believed, worshipped, refused, complained, obeyed, or hardened.
- Read the matching verses aloud and check the order together.
This activity helps children trace the account in order and connect each event with the choices and outcomes described in the passage.
Adapt for your group
- For younger children, prepare the card labels in advance and let them draw simple pictures before ordering them.
- For older children, ask them to add exact verse references and name which responses belong to Israel, Moses, Pharaoh, or Yahweh.
An optional closing prayer
You might pray: ‘Yahweh, thank you for speaking and for showing your care for your people. Please help us listen carefully to your words and respond with trust and obedience.’
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
Exodus 4
18 Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, “Please let me go and return to my brothers who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive.” Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”
19 Yahweh said to Moses in Midian, “Go, return into Egypt; for all the men who sought your life are dead.”
20 Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. Moses took God’s rod in his hand.
21 Yahweh said to Moses, “When you go back into Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your hand, but I will harden his heart and he will not let the people go.
22 You shall tell Pharaoh, ‘Yahweh says, Israel is my son, my firstborn,
23 and I have said to you, “Let my son go, that he may serve me;” and you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your firstborn son.’ ”
24 On the way at a lodging place, Yahweh met Moses and wanted to kill him.
25 Then Zipporah took a flint, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet; and she said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me.”
26 So he let him alone. Then she said, “You are a bridegroom of blood,” because of the circumcision.
27 Yahweh said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” He went, and met him on God’s mountain, and kissed him.
28 Moses told Aaron all Yahweh’s words with which he had sent him, and all the signs with which he had instructed him.
29 Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel.
30 Aaron spoke all the words which Yahweh had spoken to Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people.
31 The people believed, and when they heard that Yahweh had visited the children of Israel, and that he had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.
Exodus 5
1 Afterward Moses and Aaron came, and said to Pharaoh, “This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.’ ”
2 Pharaoh said, “Who is Yahweh, that I should listen to his voice to let Israel go? I don’t know Yahweh, and moreover I will not let Israel go.”
3 They said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to Yahweh, our God, lest he fall on us with pestilence, or with the sword.”
4 The king of Egypt said to them, “Why do you, Moses and Aaron, take the people from their work? Get back to your burdens!”
5 Pharaoh said, “Behold, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens.”
6 The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their officers, saying,
7 “You shall no longer give the people straw to make brick, as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves.
8 You shall require from them the number of the bricks which they made before. You shall not diminish anything of it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, saying, ‘Let’s go and sacrifice to our God.’
9 Let heavier work be laid on the men, that they may labor in it. Don’t let them pay any attention to lying words.”
10 The taskmasters of the people went out with their officers, and they spoke to the people, saying, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I will not give you straw.
11 Go yourselves, get straw where you can find it, for nothing of your work shall be diminished.’ ”
12 So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.
13 The taskmasters were urgent saying, “Fulfill your work quota daily, as when there was straw!”
14 The officers of the children of Israel, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and were asked, “Why haven’t you fulfilled your quota both yesterday and today, in making brick as before?”
15 Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, saying, “Why do you deal this way with your servants?
16 No straw is given to your servants, and they tell us, ‘Make brick!’ and behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people.”
17 But Pharaoh said, “You are idle! You are idle! Therefore you say, ‘Let’s go and sacrifice to Yahweh.’
18 Go therefore now, and work; for no straw shall be given to you; yet you shall deliver the same number of bricks!”
19 The officers of the children of Israel saw that they were in trouble when it was said, “You shall not diminish anything from your daily quota of bricks!”
20 They met Moses and Aaron, who stood along the way, as they came out from Pharaoh.
21 They said to them, “May Yahweh look at you and judge, because you have made us a stench to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us!”
22 Moses returned to Yahweh, and said, “Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Why is it that you have sent me?
23 For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people. You have not rescued your people at all!”
Exodus 6
1 Yahweh said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh, for by a strong hand he shall let them go, and by a strong hand he shall drive them out of his land.”
2 God spoke to Moses, and said to him, “I am Yahweh.
3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty; but by my name Yahweh I was not known to them.
4 I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their travels, in which they lived as aliens.
5 Moreover I have heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered my covenant.
6 Therefore tell the children of Israel, ‘I am Yahweh, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, and with great judgments.
7 I will take you to myself for a people. I will be your God; and you shall know that I am Yahweh your God, who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
8 I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it to you for a heritage: I am Yahweh.’ ”
9 Moses spoke so to the children of Israel, but they didn’t listen to Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage.
10 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
11 “Go in, speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land.”
12 Moses spoke before Yahweh, saying, “Behold, the children of Israel haven’t listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me, when I have uncircumcised lips?”
13 Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, and gave them a command to the children of Israel, and to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.
Exodus 7
1 Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, I have made you as God to Pharaoh; and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.
2 You shall speak all that I command you; and Aaron your brother shall speak to Pharaoh, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land.
3 I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.
4 But Pharaoh will not listen to you, so I will lay my hand on Egypt, and bring out my armies, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.
5 The Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh when I stretch out my hand on Egypt, and bring the children of Israel out from among them.”
6 Moses and Aaron did so. As Yahweh commanded them, so they did.
7 Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.
8 Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
9 “When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ‘Perform a miracle!’ then you shall tell Aaron, ‘Take your rod, and cast it down before Pharaoh, and it will become a serpent.’ ”
10 Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did so, as Yahweh had commanded. Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent.
11 Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers. They also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same thing with their enchantments.
12 For they each cast down their rods, and they became serpents; but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods.
13 Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he didn’t listen to them, as Yahweh had spoken.
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.