This image in a thirteenth-century psalter (book of psalms), made for an English couple, shows Moses and the Israelites fleeing from slavery in Egypt. As instructed by God, Moses raises his staff, parting the Red Sea so the Israelites can cross. Divine justice is served as Pharaoh’s soldiers—depicted in medieval chainmail—drown in the closing waters. Recorded in Exodus, this story of deliverance from oppression has given hope to countless people up to the present.
Huntingfeld Psalter, in Latin, English and French, England, Oxford, 1212–20. Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837–1913) in 1902. MS M.43, fol. 13r.