Exodus

The Exodus is the story of how the Israelites, under the leadership of Moses, escaped slavery in Egypt.

At the time of Moses birth, all Hebrew male babies had been ordered by the Pharaoh to be drowned.  Moses' mother was able to conceal his birth, but she eventually was forced to abandon him.  She built a small raft and set him floating down the Nile River.  He was found by the daughter of the Pharaoh, who decided to raise him.

Eventually, Moses would, in the name of the Hebrew God, ask the new Pharaoh to let his people go.  Pharaoh refused.  It took ten plagues from the Hebrew god, including the death of every first-born male Egyptian child, to convince the Pharaoh to allow them to leave.  The Israelites then wandered the desert for 40 years until they found their ay back to what is modern-day Israel.

== Speech Relevance ==
<BLOCKQUOTE>''You and I know and do not believe that life is so dear and peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery. If nothing in life is worth dying for, when did this begin--just in the face of this enemy? Or should Moses have told the children of Israel to live in slavery under the pharaohs? Should Christ have refused the cross? Should the [[Battle of Concord|patriots at Concord Bridge]] have thrown down their guns and refused to fire the shot heard 'round the world? The martyrs of history were not fools, and our honored dead who gave their lives to stop the advance of the Nazis didn't die in vain. Where, then, is the road to peace? Well, it's a simple answer after all.''</BLOCKQUOTE>
Reagan is asking, if freedom isn't worth dying for, why didn't Moses ignore God and allow his people to continue to serve in Egypt?

== Source Links ==
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Exodus|The Exodus ''(Wikipedia)'']
The Reagan Speech Preservation Society

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Exodus
