The three poems, "Go Down, Moses," "Runagate Runagate," and "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho" had special meaning for slaves because they gave them hope for deliverance from slavery. This deliverance would come in the form of a modern-day Moses who, as their namesake had done before, would lead their people out of slavery and into the Promised Land – the North. There are a couple things about the poem "Go Down, Moses" that would contribute to this hope of deliverance. For one, the title itself: "Go Down, Moses" could be interpreted as "Go Down to the South, Moses" by those in slavery. The phrase "Let my people go!" (115) is repeated nine times in the poem; a fitting battle cry for freedom if ever there were one.

In "Runagate Runagate," we move from just hoping about freedom to doing something about attaining that freedom. With the help of ‘Moses’, Harriet Tubman, a group of slaves are escaping along the Underground Railroad, which could be compared to the Wilderness that Moses and the Israelites faced on their way to Canaan. As they travel the Underground Railroad, just like the Israelites the slaves fall into despair and give up. ‘Moses’ silences their qualms with a brandishing of power – though in the form of a pistol, rather than the power of God her namesake had used, with similar results.

"Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho," like "Go Down, Moses," could easily be considered a metaphor of slavery and the escape thereof. The walls of Jericho represent the mental barriers that kept slaves in their places. Only through war – ‘ "Go blow them ram-horns" Joshua cried, /"cause the battle is in my hand." ’ (153) – and the involvement of everyone – "Joshua commanded the children to shout" (153) – can the walls of slavery be brought down. This poem could be described as a detailed plan of action hidden in Old Testament reference.

Each of the three poems, "Go Down, Moses," "Runagate Runagate," and "Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho" gave hope to the slaves of: Deliverance by another from slavery, deliverance with the aid of another from slavery, and deliverance by the crushing of slavery, respectively.