“You are like Moses, leading us out from slavery!” Jamila exclaimed. As a bonded brick-kiln worker in Pakistan, she and her family suffered because of the exorbitant amount they owed the kiln owner. They used much of their earnings just to pay off the interest. But when they received a gift from a nonprofit agency that released them from their debt, they felt tremendous relief. In thanking the agency’s representative for their freedom, Jamila, a believer in Jesus, pointed to the example of God’s release of Moses and the Israelites from slavery.

The Israelites had been oppressed by the Egyptians for hundreds of years, laboring under harsh conditions. They cried out to God, asking for help (Exodus 2:23). But their workload increased, because the new pharaoh ordered them not only to make bricks but also to gather the straw for these bricks (5:6–8). When the Israelites continued to cry out against the oppression, God reiterated His promise to be their God (6:7). No longer would they be slaves, because He would redeem them with “an outstretched arm” (v. 6).

Under God’s direction, Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt (see ch.14). Today God still delivers us through the outstretched arms of His Son, Jesus, on the cross. We’re set free from a far greater enslavement to the sin that once controlled us. We’re no longer slaves, but free!