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Moses with the Tablets, 1659, by Rembrandt
This article is about the Biblical figure. For other uses, see Moses (disambiguation).

Moses or Mosheh (Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה Standard Mošé Tiberian Mōšeh; Arabic: موسى, Mūsā; Ge'ez: ሙሴ Musse) was an early Biblical Hebrew religious leader, lawgiver, prophet, and historian. Moses is traditionally considered the transcriber of the Torah, or the first five books of the Bible, and is also an important prophet in Islam.

According to the Bible, he was born to a Hebrew mother who protected him during a genocide of all boys born, and was adopted into the Egyptian royal family. After killing a slave master he fled and became a shepherd, and was commanded by God to deliver the Hebrews from slavery. After the Ten Plagues were unleashed upon Egypt, he led the Hebrew slaves through the Red Sea and in the desert for 40 years. Despite living to 120, he did not enter the Holy Land.

Moses in the Bible

Egyptian Prince

The Book of Exodus begins many years after the close of the Book of Genesis, at the end of which the Israelites were dwelling in relative harmony with the native Egyptians in the Land of Goshen, the eastern part of the Nile Delta. Sometime during the interval, the Egyptians became hostile to the Israelites and enslaved them.

According to the Book of Exodus in the Hebrew Bible, Moses was a son of Amram, a member of the Levite tribe of Israel, having descended from Jacob, and his wife Jochebed. Jochebed was also the sister of Amram's father Kohath. (Exodus vi 20) Aaron was Moses' elder brother. According to Genesis 46:11, Amram's father Kohath immigrated to Egypt with 70 of Jacob's household, making Moses part of the second generation of Israelites born during their time in Egypt.

In the Exodus account, the birth of Moses occurred at a time when the current Egyptian Pharaoh had commanded that all male children born be killed by drowning in the river Nile. The Torah leaves the identity of this Pharaoh unstated.[1]

The finding of Moses, by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
The finding of Moses, by Edwin Long

Jochebed, the wife of the Levite Amram, bore a son and kept him concealed for three months. When she could keep him hidden no longer, rather than deliver him to be killed, she set him adrift on the Nile river in a small craft of bulrushes coated in pitch. In the Biblical account, Moses' sister Miriam observed the progress of the tiny boat and then asked Pharaoh's daughter if she would like a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby. Thereafter, Jochebed was employed as the child's nurse, and he grew and was brought to Pharaoh's daughter and became her son. The daughter of Pharaoh is not identified specifically in Exodus. If Rameses II is the Pharaoh of the Oppression as is traditionally thought, identifying her would be extremely difficult as Rameses II is thought to have fathered over a hundred children. The daughter of Pharaoh named him Mosheh, similar to the Hebrew word mashah, "to draw out". In the Greek translation, Mosheh was Hellenized as Moses.

It is extremely peculiar that an Egyptian daughter of the Pharaoh would turn to the Hebrew language in order to name a child whose Hebrew origins were meant to be concealed from everyone. Even if this unnamed daughter of Pharaoh had learned the slave's language, such a name would be recognized as foreign by Moses' Egyptian peers, and immediately raise questions. Therefore, medieval Jewish scholars suggest that Moses' actual name was the Egyptian translation of "to draw out," and it is translated into Hebrew, either by the Bible, or by Mosheh himself later in his lifetime. Modern scholars suggest that the daughter of Pharaoh would derive his name from the Egyptian word moses which means "son" or "formed of"; for example, "Thutmose" means means "son of Thoth", and Rameses means "son of Ra".

Shepherd in Midian

After Moses had reached adulthood, he went to see how his brethren who were enslaved to the Egyptians were faring. Seeing an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, he killed the Egyptian and enshrouded his body in the sand, supposing that no one would be disposed to reveal the matter knew of it. The next day, seeing two Hebrews quarreling, he endeavored to separate them, whereupon the Hebrew who was wronging the other taunted Moses for slaying the Egyptian. Moses soon discovered from a higher source that the affair was known, and that Pharaoh was likely to put him to death for it; he therefore made his escape over the Sinai peninsula and settled with Hobab, or Jethro, priest of Midian (a region just East of the gulf of Aqaba), whose daughter Zipporah he in due time married. There he sojourned forty years, following the occupation of a shepherd, during which time his son Gershom was born.

One day, Moses led his flock to Mount Horeb, usually identified with Mount Sinai — a mountain that was thought in the Middle Ages to be located on the Sinai Peninsula, but that many scholars now believe was further east, towards Moses' home of Midian. At Mount Horeb, he saw a burning bush that would not be consumed. When he turned aside to look more closely at the marvel, God spoke to him from the bush, revealing his name to Moses.

Leader of the Israelites

God commissioned him to go to Egypt and deliver his fellow Hebrews from bondage. He then returned to Egypt, was met upon his arrival by his elder brother, Aaron, and gained a hearing with his oppressed kindred. It is also revealed that during Moses' absence, the Pharaoh of the Oppresion (sometimes identified with Rameses II) had died, and been replaced by a new Pharaoh, known as the Pharaoh of the Exodus. If Rameses II is the Pharaoh of the Oppression, then this new Pharaoh would be Merneptah. Because the story the book of Exodus describes is catastrophic for the Egyptians -- involving horrible plagues, the loss of thousands of slaves, and many deaths (possibly including the death of Pharaoh himself, though that matter in unclear in Exodus) -- it is conspicuous that no Egyptian records speaking of Israelites in Egypt have ever been found. However, Merneptah, is indeed, historically known to have been a mediocre ruler, and certainly one weaker that Rameses II. The Pharaoh's identity undisclosed, Moses persuades Pharaoh to let the Hebrews depart after Moses' God sends ten plagues upon the Egyptians. The first plague was the Nile converted to blood. The second was that frogs emanated from the Nile. The third was lice/gnats. The next was a swarm of flies. The next was the invasion of pestilence. Sixth were boils on the skins of Egyptians. Seventh, hail and thunder struck Egypt. The next plague was locusts encompassing Egypt. The ninth plague was total darkness. The tenth plague culminated in the slaying of the Egyptian first-born males, whereupon such terror seized the Egyptians that they ordered the Hebrews to leave in the Exodus. The final plague is commemorated as Passover, referring to how the plague "passed over" the houses of the Israelites whilst smiting the Egytians.

And so Moses leads his people Eastward, beginning the long journey to Canaan. The procession moved slowly, and found it necessary to encamp three times before passing the Egyptian frontier — some believe at the Great Bitter Lake, while others propose sites as far south as the northern tip of the Red Sea. Meanwhile, Pharaoh had a change of heart, and was in pursuit of them with a large army. Shut in between this army and the sea, the Israelites despaired, but Exodus records that God divided the waters so that they passed safely across on dry ground. When the Egyptian army attempted to follow, God permitted the waters to return upon them and drown them. Whether Pharaoh himself drowns is unclear, although Egyptian records did not chronicle such an event.

When the people arrived at Marah, the water was bitter, causing the people to murmur against Moses. Moses cast a tree into the water, and the water became sweet.[2] Later in the journey the people began running low on supplies and again murmured against Moses and Aaron and said they would have preferred to die in Egypt, but God's provision of manna from the sky in the morning and quail in the evening took care of the situation.[3] When the people camped in Rephidim, there was no water, so the people complained again and said, "Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?" Moses struck a rock with his staff, and water came forth.[4]

Moses strikes water from the stone, by Bacchiacca

Amalekite raiders arrived and attacked the Israelites. In response, Moses bid Joshua lead the men to fight while he stood on a hill with the rod of God in his hand. As long as Moses held the rod up, Israel dominated the fighting, but if Moses let down his hands, the tide of the battle turned in favor of the Amalekites. Because Moses was getting tired, Aaron and Hur had Moses sit on a rock. Aaron held up one arm, Hur held up the other arm, and the Israelites routed the Amalekites.[5]

Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came to see Moses and brought Moses' wife and two sons with him. After Moses had told Jethro how the Israelites had escaped Egypt, Jethro went to offer sacrifices to the Lord, and then ate bread with the elders. The next day Jethro observed how Moses sat from morning to night giving judgement for the people. Jethro suggested that Moses appoint judges for lesser matters, a suggestion Moses heeded.[6]

When the Israelites came to Sinai, they pitched camp near the mountain.[7] Moses commanded the people not to touch the mountain.[8] Moses received the ten commandments orally (but not yet in tablet form) and other moral laws.[9] Moses then went up with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders to see the God of Israel.[10] Before Moses went up the mountain to receive the tablets, he told the elders to direct any questions that arose to Aaron or Hur.[11]

While Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving instruction on the laws for the Israelite community, the Israelites went to Aaron and asked him to make gods for them. After Aaron had received golden earrings from the people, he made a golden calf and said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt." A "solemnity of the Lord" was proclaimed for the following day, which began in the morning with sacrifices and was followed by revelry. After Moses had persuaded the Lord not to destroy the people of Israel, he went down from the mountain and was met by Joshua. Moses destroyed the calf and rebuked Aaron for the sin he had brought upon the people. Seeing that the people were uncontrollable, Moses went to the entry of the camp and said, "Who is on the Lord's side? Let him come unto me." All the sons of Levi rallied around Moses, who ordered them to go from gate to gate slaying the idolators.[12]

Following this, according to the last chapters of Exodus, the Tabernacle was constructed, the priestly law ordained, the plan of encampment arranged both for the Levites and the non-priestly tribes, and the Tabernacle consecrated. Moses was given eight prayer laws that were to be carried out in regards to the Tabernacle. These laws included light, incense and sacrifice.

Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses on account of his marriage to an Ethiopian,[13] and about him being the only one through whom the Lord spoke. Miriam was punished with leprosy for seven days.[14] Many may make the assumption the Ethiopian means a "negro" or "black person" in this context, but that may not be the case. The Hebrew words which the King James Bible translates as "Ethiopian", is "Cushi", and the Revised Standard Version translates it as Cushite. Cush refers to an African civilization that preceded the Egyptians in the same general area, which may indeed be desribing Ethiopia, but it may also be that the "Ethiopian woman" is Zipporah, the only woman who is ever named explicitly as being married to Moses'. Zipporah's status as a non-Israelite might have incited Miriam's complaints.

The people left Hazeroth and pitched camp in the wilderness of Paran.[15] (Paran is a vaguely defined region in the northern part of the Sinai peninsula, just south of Canaan) Moses sent twelve spies into Canaan as scouts, including most famously Caleb and Joshua. After forty days, they returned to the Israelite camp, bringing back grapes and other produce as samples of the regions fertility. Although all the spies agreed that the land's resources were spectacular, only two of the twelve spies (Joshua and Caleb) were willing to try to conquer it, and are nearly stoned for their unpopular opinon. The people began weeping and wanted to return to Egypt. Moses turned down the opportunity to have the Israelites completely destroyed and a great nation made from his own offspring, and instead he told the people that they would wander the wilderness for forty years until all those twenty years or older who had refused to enter Canaan had died, and that their children would then enter and possess Canaan. Early the next morning, the Israelites said they had sinned and now wanted to take possession of Canaan. Moses told them not to attempt it, but the Israelites chose to disobey Moses and invade Canaan, but were repulsed by the Amalekites and Canaanites.[16]

The Reubenites, led by Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and two hundred fifty Israelite princes accused Moses and Aaron of raising themselves over the rest of the people. Moses told them to come the next morning with a censer for every man. Dathan and Abiram refused to come when summoned by Moses. Moses went to the place of Dathan and Abiram's tents. After Moses spoke the ground opened up and engulfed Dathan and Abiram's tents, after which it closed again. Fire consumed the two hundred fifty men with the censers. Moses had the censers taken and made into plates to cover the altar. The following day, the Israelites came and accused Moses and Aaron of having killed his fellow Israelites. The people were struck with a plague that killed fourteen thousand seven hundred persons, and was only ended when Aaron went with his censer into the midst of the people.[17] To prevent further murmurings and settle the matter permanently, Moses had the chief prince of the non-Levitic tribes write his name on his staff and had them laid them in the sanctuary. He also had Aaron write his name on his staff and had it placed in the tabernacle. The next day, when Moses went into the tabernacle, Aaron's staff had budded, blossomed, and yielded almonds.[18]

After leaving Sinai, the Israelites camped in Kadesh. After more complaints from the Israelites, Moses struck the stone twice, and water gushed forth. However, because Moses and Aaron had not shown the Lord's holiness, they were not permitted to enter the land to be given to the Israelites.[19] This was the second occasion Moses struck a rock to bring forth water; however, it appears that both sites were named Meribah after these two incidents.

Now ready to enter Canaan, the Israelites abandon the idea of attacking the Canaanites head-on in Hebron, a city in the southern part of Canaan, having been informed by spies that they were too strong, it is decided that they will flank Hebron by going further East, around the Dead Sea. This requires that they pass through Edom, Moab, and Ammon. These three tribes are considered Hebrews by the Israelites as descendants of Lot, and therefore cannot be attacked. However they are also rivals, and are therefore not permissive in allowing the Israelites to openly pass through their territory. So Moses leads his people carefully along the eastern border of Edom, the southernmost of these territories. While the Israelites were making their journey around Edom, they complained about the manna. After many of the people had been bitten by serpents and died, Moses made the brass serpent and mounted it on a pole, and if those who were bitten looked at it, they did not die.[20] This brass serpent remained in existence until the days of King Hezekiah, who destroyed it after persons began treating it as an idol.[21] When they reach Moab, it is revealed that Moab has been attacked and defeated by the Amorites led by a king named Sihon. The Amorites were a non-Hebrew Canannic people that once held power in the fertile crescent. When Moses asks the Amorites for passage and it is refused, Moses attacks the Amorites (as non-Hebrews, the Israelites have no reservations in attacking them), presumably weakened by conflict with the Moabites, and defeats them.

The Israelites now holding the territory of the Amorites just north of Moab, desire to expand their holdings by acquiring Bashan, a fertile territory north of Ammon famous for its oak trees and cattle. It is led by a king named Og. Later rabbinical legends made Og a survivor of the flood, suggesting the he had sat on the ark and was fed by Noah. The Israelites fight with Og's forces at Edrei, on the southern border of Bashan, where the Israelites are victorious and slay every man, woman, and child of his cities and take the spoil for their bounty.

Balak, king of Moab, having heard of the Israelites conquests, fears that his territory might be next. Therefore he sends elders of Moab, and of Midian, to Balaam (apparently a powerful and respected prophet), son of Beor, to induce him to come and curse the Israel. Balaam's location is unclear. Balaam sends back word that he can only do what God commands, and God has, via a dream, told him not to go. Moab consequently sends higher ranking priests and offers Balaam honours, and so God tells Balaam to go with them. Balaam thus sets out with two servants to go to Balak, but an Angel tries to prevent him. At first the Angel is seen only by the ass Balaam is riding. After Balaam starts punishing the ass for refusing to move, it is miraculously given the power to speak to Balaam, and it complains about Balaam's treatment. At this point, Balaam is allowed to see the angel, who informs him that the ass is the only reason the Angel did not kill Balaam. Balaam immediately repents, but is told to go on.

Balak meets with Balaam at Kirjathhuzoth, and they go to the high places of Baal, and offer sacrifices at seven altars, leading to Balaam being given a prophecy by God, which Balaam relates to Balak. However, the prophecy blesses Israel; Balak remonstrates, but Balaam reminds him that he can only speak the words put in his mouth, so Balak takes him to another high place at Pisgah, to try again. Building another seven altars here, and making sacrifices on each, Balaam provides another prophecy blessing Israel. Balaam finally gets taken by a now very frustrated Balak to Peor, and, after the seven sacrifices there, decides not to seek enchantments but instead looks upon the Israelites from the peak. The spirit of God comes upon Balaam and he delivers a third positive prophecy concerning Israel. Balak's anger rises to the point where he threatens Balaam, but Balaam merely offers a prediction of fate. Balaam then looks upon the Kenites, and Amalekites and offers two more predictions of fate. Balak and Balaam then simply go to their respective homes. Deuteronomy 23:3-6 summarises these incidents, and further states that the Ammonites were associated with the Moabites. Joshua, in his farewell speech, also makes reference to it. Nehemiah, Micah, and Joshua, continue in the historical account of Balaam, who next advises the Midianites how to bring disaster upon the Israelites by seducing the people with idols and beautiful women, which proves partly successful.

Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, put an end to the matter of the Midianite seduction by slaying two of the prominent offenders, but by that time a plague inflicted upon the Israelites had already killed about twenty-four thousand persons. Moses was then told that because Phinehas had averted the wrath of God from the Israelites, Phinehas and his descendents were given the pledge of an everlasting priesthood.[22]

After Moses had taken a census of the people, he sent an army to avenge the evil brought upon the Israelites by the Midianites. The expedition was very successful, and among the slain were five Midianite kings: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba. The Israelites also slew Balaam.[23]

Moses appointed Joshua, son of Nun, to succeed him as the leader of the Israelites.[24] Moses then died at the age of 120.[25]

Moses in Christian thought

For Christians, Moses -- mentioned more often in the New Testament than any other Old Testament figure -- is often a symbol of the contrast between traditional Judaism and the teachings of Jesus. New Testament writers often made comparison of Jesus' words and deeds with Moses' in order to explain Jesus' mission. In Acts 7:39-43,51-53, for example, the rejection of Moses by the Jews that worshipped the golden calf is likened to the rejection of Jesus by the Jews that continued in traditional Judaism.

Moses also figures in several of Jesus' messages. When he met the Pharisee Nicodemus at night in the third chapter of the Gospel of John, he compares Moses' lifting up of the bronze serpent in the wilderness, which any Israelite could look upon and be healed, to his own lifting up (by his death and resurrection) for the people to look upon and be healed. In the sixth chapter, Jesus responds to the people's claim that Moses provided them manna in the wilderness by saying that it was not Moses, but God, who provided. Calling himself the "bread of life", Jesus states that he is now provided to feed God's people.

Moses is also regarded as a symbol of the law. He is presented in all three Gospel accounts of the Transfiguration in Matthew 17, Mark 9, and Luke 9, respectively.

Later Christians found numerous other parallels between the life of Moses and Jesus to the extent that Jesus was likened to a "second Moses." For instance, Jesus' escape from the slaughter by Herod in Bethlehem is compared to Moses' escape from Pharaoh's designs to kill Hebrew infants. Such parallels, unlike those mentioned above, are not pointed out within Scripture. See the article on typology.

Moses in Jewish thought

There is a wealth of stories and additional information about Moses in the Jewish genre of rabbinical exegesis known as Midrash, as well as in the primary works of the Jewish oral law, the Mishnah and the Talmud.

Arising in part from his age, but also because 120 is elsewhere stated as the maximum age for Noah's descendants (one interpretation of Genesis 6:3), "may you live to 120" has become a common blessing among Jews.

Moses in Muslim thought

Main article: Islamic view of Moses

In the Qur'an, the life of Prophet Moses (Arabic: Musa) is narrated and recounted more than any other prophet recognized in Islam. The Qur'an narrates much of Moses' life in relation to God. The Qur'an and the Bible are similar on the basic outline of Moses' life. But one of the distinctive accounts which is found in the Qur'an but not the Bible, is the story of Moses and Al Khidr.

Moses in Mormon thought

The Book of Moses is a text published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormons to be the translated writings of Moses. It is published today as part of the Pearl of Great Price.

The first chapter describes an encounter between Moses, God, and Satan. This chapter was supposedly appended to the Bible but lost through translation and omission. The encounter describes the magnificence of deity, and Moses' understanding of man's insignificance in comparison. Moses is shown the entirety of the history of the world and all that will come to pass. After this vision God leaves Moses to himself, whereupon Satan comes tempting Moses to worship him. Moses recognizes the weakness of Satan, and drives him away with the knowledge of God. Afterwards, God returns to Moses and shows him the numberless worlds with numberless people that God has created. A prophecy alluding to Joseph Smith is given in the final verses.

Moses in historiography

Known extra-Biblical references to Moses date from many centuries after his supposed lifetime, and contain significant departures from the Biblical account. In addition to the Judeo-Roman historians Flavius Josephus and Philo, a number of gentile historians including Polyhistor, Manetho and Tacitus make reference to him. The extent to which any of these accounts rely on earlier sources is unknown. Moses also features prominently in later traditions such as the Midrash, Mishna and Qur'an; these texts draw on and diverge from Biblical accounts. See the article on The Bible and history.

Currently, no other surviving written records from Egypt, Assyria, etc., indisputably referring to the stories of the Bible or its main characters before ca. 850 BC have been found.[26][27] Destruction of unfavorable records by unsympathetic Pharaohs, and even mass obliteration of cartouches from monuments, is known to have occurred at several epochs in Ancient Egyptian history.

Moses in Strabo

The following excerpt comes from the Roman historian Strabo (c. 24 AD):

34 As for Judaea, its western extremities towards Casius are occupied by the Idumaeans and by the lake. The Idumaeans are Nabataeans, but owing to a sedition they were banished from there, joined the Judeans, and shared in the same customs with them. The greater part of the region near the sea is occupied by Lake Sirbonis and by the country continuous with the lake as far as Jerusalem; for this city is also near the sea; for, as I have already said, it is visible from the seaport of Iopê. This region lies towards the north; and it is inhabited in general, as is each place in particular, by mixed stocks of people from Aegyptian and Arabian and Phoenician tribes; for such are those who occupy Galilee and Hiericus and Philadelphia and Samaria, which last Herod surnamed Sebastê. But though the inhabitants mixed up thus, the most prevalent of the accredited reports in regard to the temple at Jerusalem represents the ancestors of the present Judaeans, as they are called, as Aegyptians.

35 Moses, namely, was one of the Aegyptian priests, and held a part of Lower Aegypt, as it is called, but he went away from there to Judaea, since he was displeased with the state of affairs there, and was accompanied by many people who worshipped the Divine Being. For he says, and taught, that the Aegyptians were mistaken in representing the Divine Being by the images of beasts and cattle, as were also the Libyans; and that the Greeks were also wrong in modeling gods in human form; for, according to him, God is this one thing alone that encompasses us all and encompasses land and sea — the thing which we call heaven, or universe, or the nature of all that exists. What man, then, if he has sense, could be bold enough to fabricate an image of God resembling any creature amongst us? Nay, people should leave off all image-carving, and, setting apart a sacred precinct and a worthy sanctuary, should worship God without an image; and people who have good dreams should sleep in the sanctuary, not only themselves on their own behalf, but also others for the rest of the people; and those who live self-restrained and righteous lives should always expect some blessing or gift or sign from God, but no other should expect them.

36 Now Moses, saying things of this kind, persuaded not a few thoughtful men and led them away to this place where the settlement of Jerusalem now is; and he easily took possession of the place, since it was not a place that would be looked on with envy, nor yet one for which anyone would make a serious fight; for it is rocky, and, although it itself is well supplied with water, its surrounding territory is barren and waterless, and the part of the territory within a radius of sixty stadia is also rocky beneath the surface. At the same time Moses, instead of using arms, put forward as defense his sacrifices and his Divine Being, being resolved to seek a seat of worship for Him and promising to deliver to the people a kind of worship and a kind of ritual which would not oppress those who adopted them either with expenses or with divine obsessions or with other absurd troubles. Now Moses enjoyed fair repute with these people, and organized no ordinary kind of government, since the peoples all round, one and all, came over to him, because of his dealings with them and of the prospects he held out to them.

— [28]

Moses in Tacitus

The Roman historian Tacitus (ca. 100 AD) mentions several possible origins of the Jews that were taught by those of his time.

As I am about to relate the last days of a famous city, it seems appropriate to throw some light on its origin. Some say that the Jews were fugitives from the island of Crete, who settled on the nearest coast of Africa about the time when Saturn was driven from his throne by the power of Jupiter. Evidence of this is sought in the name. There is a famous mountain in Crete called Ida; the neighbouring tribe, the Idaei, came to be called Judaei by a barbarous lengthening of the national name. Others assert that in the reign of Isis the overflowing population of Egypt, led by Hierosolymus and Judas, discharged itself into the neighbouring countries. Many, again, say that they were a race of Ethiopian origin, who in the time of king Cepheus were driven by fear and hatred of their neighbours to seek a new dwelling-place. Others describe them as an Assyrian horde who, not having sufficient territory, took possession of part of Egypt, and founded cities of their own in what is called the Hebrew country, lying on the borders of Syria. Others, again, assign a very distinguished origin to the Jews, alleging that they were the Solymi, a nation celebrated in the poems of Homer, who called the city which they founded Hierosolyma after their own name. Most writers, however, agree in stating that once a disease, which horribly disfigured the body, broke out over Egypt; that king Bocchoris, seeking a remedy, consulted the oracle of Hammon, and was bidden to cleanse his realm, and to convey into some foreign land this race detested by the gods. The people, who had been collected after diligent search, finding themselves left in a desert, sat for the most part in a stupor of grief, till one of the exiles, Moyses by name, warned them not to look for any relief from God or man, forsaken as they were of both, but to trust to themselves, taking for their heaven-sent leader that man who should first help them to be quit of their present misery. They agreed, and in utter ignorance began to advance at random. Nothing, however, distressed them so much as the scarcity of water, and they had sunk ready to perish in all directions over the plain, when a herd of wild asses was seen to retire from their pasture to a rock shaded by trees. Moyses followed them, and, guided by the appearance of a grassy spot, discovered an abundant spring of water. This furnished relief. After a continuous journey for six days, on the seventh they possessed themselves of a country, from which they expelled the inhabitants, and in which they founded a city and a temple.

— [29]

Moses in The Antiquities of the Jews

Flavius Josephus relates several other incidents in connection with the Biblical account of Moses:

Before the incident in which Moses slew the Egyptian, Moses had led the Egyptians in a campaign against invading Ethiopians and routed them. While Moses was besieging one of the Ethiopians' cities, Tharbis, the daughter of the Ethiopian king, fell in love with Moses and wished to marry him. He agreed to do so if she would procure the deliverance of the city into his power. She did so immediately, and Moses promptly married her.[30] This marriage is also mentioned in Numbers 12:1 (Cushite meant Ethiopian; Zipporah was Midianite, definitely not Ethiopian). The account of this expedition is possibly also mentioned by Irenaeus[31], and the event would explain why St. Stephen refers to Moses as "mighty in his words and in his deeds" before Moses slayed the Egyptian.[32]

Flavius Josephus also gives significantly detailed accounts of the aftermath of Baalam's blessings and the events that lead to the slaying of Zimri.[33]

Date of the Exodus

Main article: the Exodus

Historicity and date of the Exodus are uncertain. Suggestions include:

  • it occurred around the end of the Hyksos era (1648 - 1540 BC), as expressed above;
  • it occurred about 1400 BC, since the Amarna letters, written ca. forty years later to Pharaohs Amenhotep III and Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) indicate that Canaan was being invaded by the "Habiru" — whom some scholars in the 1950s to 1970s interpret to mean "Hebrews". However, the Hebrews Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are also recorded to have conducted military activities in Canaan some centuries before the Exodus. Many scholars today view the Hapiru as members of a social, rather than a tribal, underclass of people who existed throughout the Ancient Near East, not just Egypt.
  • it occurred during the 13th century BC, as the pharaoh during most of that time, Rameses II, is commonly considered to be a pharaoh with whom Moses squabbled - either as the 'Pharaoh of the Exodus' himself, or the preceding 'Pharaoh of the Oppression', who is said to have commissioned the Hebrews to "(build) for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses." These cities are known to have been built under both Seti I and Rameses II, thus possibly making his successor Merneptah the 'Pharaoh of the Exodus.' This is considered plausible by those who view the famed Year 5 (ca. 1208 BC), Merneptah Stele's claim that "Israel is wasted, bare of seed", as pure propaganda to cover up this king's own loss of an army in the Red sea. Taken at face value, however, the primary intent of the stela was clearly to commemorate Merneptah's victory over the Libyans and their Sea People allies. The reference to Canaan occurs only in the final lines of the document where Israel is mentioned after the city states of Ashkelon, Gezer and Yanoam perhaps to signal Merneptah's disdain or contempt for this new entity. In Exodus, the Pharaoh of the Exodus did not cross into Canaan since his Army was destroyed at the Red Sea. Hence, the traditional view that Ramesses II was the Pharaoh of either the Oppression or the Exodus is affirmed by the basic contents of the Merneptah Stele. Under this scenario, the Israelites would have been a nation without a state of their own who existed on the fringes of Canaan in Year 5 of Merneptah. This is suggested by the determinative sign written in the stela for Israel--"a throw stick plus a man and a woman over the three vertical plural lines"--which was "typically used by the Egyptians to signify nomadic groups or peoples without a fixed city-state,"[34] such as the Hebrew's previous life in Goshen. A remoter and unverified possibility is that the line "wasted, bare of seed" refers to the time when the infants of Israel are said to have been thrown into the Nile when Moses was born.[citation needed]
  • An unverified theory places the birth and/or adoption of Moses during the reign of Amenhotep III with a minor oppression that was soon lifted, then the real oppression during the reign of Horemheb, and finally the Exodus during the reign of Ramses I. This is supported by the Haggada, which suggests that they were oppressed and then re-oppressed quite a few years later by Pharaoh. There is also an inscription from the very beginning of Seti I's reign[citation needed] that says upon the death of Ramses I, many of the Shasu (a word as a collective for many of the nomadic groups of the time) left Egypt, traveled through Sinai, into northern Arabia, and, as recorded in other inscriptions, after about forty years, entered Canaan. The Bible, Koran, and Haggada all suggest that the Pharaoh of the Exodus died in year 2 of his reign, matching Ramses I. Also, as Horemheb and Ramses I were builders of Pi-Tum and Raamses, more probability is lended to this view. Seti I records that during his reign, the Shasu wared with each other, matching the Midyan and Moabite wars. Seti's campaigns with the Shasu are also slightly similar to Balaam's exploits.[35]{{fact} Mainstream Egyptologists reject this view.[citation needed]
  • A more recent and non-Biblical view places Moses as a noble in the court of the Pharaoh Akhenaten (See below). A significant number of scholars from Sigmund Freud to Joseph Campbell suggest that Moses may have fled Egypt after Akhenaten's death (ca. 1334 BC) when much of the pharaoh's monotheistic reforms were being violently reversed. The principal ideas behind this theory are: the monotheistic religion of Akhenaten being a possible predecessor to Moses' monotheism, and a contemporaneous collection of "Amarna Letters" written by nobles to Akhenaten (Amarna was Akhenaten's capital city) which describe raiding bands of "Habiru" attacking the Egyptian territories in Mesopotamia.[36]
  • David Rohl, a British historian and archaeologist, author of the book "A Test of Time", places the birth of Moses during the reign of Pharaoh Khaneferre Sobekhotep IV of the 13th Egyptian Dynasty, and the Exodus during the reign of Pharaoh Dudimose (accession to the throne around 1457-1444), when according to Manetho "a blast from God smote the Egyptians".
  • It did not occurr at all. Surveys of ancient settlements in Sinai --pottery remains and so forth--do not appear to show a great influx of people around the time of the Exodus (given variously as between 1500-1200 BC). Therefore, not the wandering, but the arrival alerts us to the fact that the biblical Exodus may not be a literal depiction. [37]

Moses and Egypt in historical psychoanalysis

There is also a psychoanalytical interpretation of Moses' life, put forward by Sigmund Freud in his last book, Moses and Monotheism, in 1937. Freud postulated that Moses was an Egyptian nobleman who adhered to the monotheism of Akhenaten. Freud also believed that Moses was murdered in the wilderness, producing a collective sense of patricidal guilt which has been at the heart of Judaism ever since. "Judaism had been a religion of the father, Christianity became a religion of the son," he wrote. The possible Egyptian origin of Moses and of his message has received significant scholarly attention. [38]. Opponents of this view observe that the religion of the Torah seems very different to Atenism in everything except the central feature of devotion to a single god,[39] although this has been countered by a variety of arguments, e.g. pointing out the similarities between the Hymn to Aten and Psalm 104[40][41].

Depictions

Bas-relief of Moses in the U.S. House of Representatives chamber.

Moses is depicted in several U.S. government buildings of his legacy as a lawgiver. Moses in one of the 23 lawgivers depicted in marble bas-reliefs in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives in the United States Capitol.[42] An image of Moses holding two tablets written in Hebrew representing the Ten Commandments (and a partially-visible list of commandments six through ten, the more "secular" commandments, behind his beard) is depicted on the frieze on the south wall of the U.S. Supreme Court building.[43]

Horned Moses

Moses with horns, by Michaelangelo

Exodus 34:29-35 tells that after meeting with God the skin of Moses' face became radiant, frightening the Israelites and leading Moses to wear a veil. Jonathan Kirsch, in his book Moses: A Life, thought that, since he subsequently had to wear a veil to hide it, Moses' face was disfigured by a sort of "divine radiation burn".

This passage has led to one longstanding tradition that Moses grew horns. This is derived from a misinterpretation of the Hebrew phrase karnu panav (קרנו פניו). The root קרן may be read as either "horn" or "ray", as in "ray of light". Panav (פניו) translates as "his face".

Interpreted correctly, these two words form an expression meaning that he was enlightened, and many rabbinical studies explain that the knowledge revealed to him made his face metaphorically shine with enlightenment, and not that it suddenly sported a pair of horns.

The Septuagint properly translates the Hebrew word קרן as δεδοξασται, "was glorified"; but Jerome translated it as cornuta, "horned", and the latter image became popular. The tradition survived from the first centuries well into the Renaissance. Many artists, including Michelangelo in a famed sculpture, depicted Moses with horns.

Moses as depicted on South Park.
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New title Judge of Israel Succeeded by

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Moses.

Notes

  1. ^ see Reference Halley's Bible Handbook
  2. ^ Ex. 15:23-25
  3. ^ [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2016;&version=9; Ex. 16
  4. ^ Ex. 17:1-7
  5. ^ Ex. 17:8-13
  6. ^ Ex. 18
  7. ^ Ex. 19:1-2
  8. ^ Exodus 19:10-25
  9. ^ Ex. 20-23
  10. ^ Exodus 24:9-10
  11. ^ Exodus 24:14
  12. ^ Exodus 32
  13. ^ Josephus explains the marriage of Moses to this Ethiopian in the Antiquities of the Jews (see either the section on Moses in The Antiquities of the Jews or http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?pageno=61&fk_files=2359
  14. ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers%2012:1-15;&version=9; Numbers 12:1-15
  15. ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers%2012:16;&version=9; Numbers 12:16
  16. ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers%2013-14;&version=9; Numbers 13-14
  17. ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=4&chapter=16&version=9 Numbers 16
  18. ^ http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers%2017:1-8;&version=9; Numbers 17:1-8
  19. ^ Num. 20:1-13
  20. ^ Num. 21:4-9
  21. ^ 2 Kings 18:1-4
  22. ^ Num. 25:1-13
  23. ^ Num. 31:1-11
  24. ^ Num. 27:15-23
  25. ^ Deut. 34:7
  26. ^ Who Were the Early Israelites? by William G. Dever (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, MI, 2003
  27. ^ The Bible Unearthed by Neil A. Silberman and Israel Finkelstein (Simon and Schuster, New York, 2001
  28. ^ The Geography, Book XVI, Chapter 2, Paragraphs 34-36
  29. ^ Histories, Book 5, Paragraphs 2 & 3
  30. ^ http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?pageno=61&fk_files=2359
  31. ^ http://custance.org/old/hidden/4ch2.html
  32. ^ Acts 7:22
  33. ^ Antiquities of the Jews, Book IV, Chapter VI, Paragraphs 6-12
  34. ^ Carol Redmount, 'Bitter Lives: Israel in and out of Egypt' in "The Oxford History of the Biblical World," ed: Michael D. Coogan, (Oxford University Press: 1999), paperback, p.97
  35. ^ possibly see http://custance.org/old/hidden/4ch2.html
  36. ^ Transformations of Myth Through Time, Joseph Campbell, p. 87-90, Harper & Row
  37. ^ See Did the Exodus Really Happen? by Rabbi David Wolpe
  38. ^ Jan Assmann. "Moses the Egyptian: The Memory of Egypt in Western Monotheism". Harvard University Press, 1997. ISBN 0-674-58738-3
  39. ^ http://www.atenism.org/
  40. ^ Jan Assmann, op. cit.
  41. ^ James E. Atwell, "An Egyptian Source for Genesis 1" , The Journal of Theological Studies 2000 51(2), 441-477.
  42. ^ "Relief Portraits of Lawgivers: Moses." Architect of the Capitol. [1]
  43. ^ "Courtroom Friezes: North and South Walls: Information Sheet." Supreme Court of the United States. [2]

Further reading

  • Asch, Sholem. Moses. New York: Putnam, 1951. ISBN 999740629X
  • Buber, Martin. Moses: The Revelation and the Covenant. New York: Harper, 1958.
  • Card, Orson Scott. Stone Tables. Deseret Book Co., 1998. ISBN 1-57345-115-0.
  • Daiches, David. Moses: The Man and his Vision. New York: Praeger, 1975. ISBN 0-275-33740-5.
  • Freud, Sigmund. Moses and Monotheism. New York: Vintage, 1967. ISBN 0-394-70014-7
  • Kirsch, Jonathan. Moses: A Life. New York: Ballantine, 1998. ISBN 0-345-41269-9.
  • Mann, Thomas. "Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me" in The Ten Commandments, 3-70. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1943.
  • Wiesel, Elie. "Moses: Portrait of a Leader" in Messengers of God, 174-205. New York: Random House, 1976. ISBN 0-671-54134-X.
  • Jan Assmann. "Moses the Egyptian: The Memory of Egypt in Western Monotheism". Harvard University Press, 1997. ISBN 0-674-58738-3 .


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