Leader of Exodus boarding ship to follow second prophet (5)
I believe the answer is:
moses
'prophet' is the definition.
(Moses is an example)
'leader of exodus boarding ship to follow second' is the wordplay.
'leader of' indicates taking the first letters.
'boarding' indicates putting letters inside.
'ship' becomes 'ss'.
'to follow' says to put letters next to each other.
'second' becomes 'mo' (both are short periods of time**).
The first letter of 'exodus' is 'e'.
'e' inserted into 'ss' is 'ses'.
'ses' after 'mo' is 'MOSES'.
(Other definitions for moses that I've seen before include "Prophet found in a basket" , "He led the Jews from captivity in Egypt" , "Leader of Jewish Exodus" , "Hebrew prophet who received the ten commandments" , "Liberator" .)