Moses

:(See also the Exodus)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Moses or Móshe (מֹשֶׁה, Standard Hebrew Móše, Tiberian Hebrew Mōšeh, Arabic موسى Musa), son of Amram and his wife, Jochebed, a Levite. Legendary Hebrew liberator, leader, lawgiver, prophet, and historian.

Related Topics:
Standard Hebrew - Tiberian Hebrew - Arabic - Amram - Jochebed - Levite - Hebrew - Prophet

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

According to the Hebrew Bible, Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, and received the Torah of Judaism from God on Mount Sinai. The Torah contains the life story of Moses and his people until his death at the age of 120 years, according to some calculations in the year 2488, or 1272 BC/BCE. Consequently, "may you live to 120" has become a common blessing among Jews.

Related Topics:
Hebrew Bible - Israelites - Egypt - God - Mount Sinai - Torah - Death

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Moses's greatest legacy was probably expounding the doctrine of monotheism, which was not widely accepted at the time, codifying it in Jewish religion with the 1st Commandment, and punishing polytheists. He is revered as a prophet in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Related Topics:
Monotheism - Jewish - Religion - Commandment - Polytheists - Judaism - Christianity - Islam

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The birth of Moses occurred at a time when the current Egyptian monarch had commanded that all male children born to Hebrew captives should be killed by drowning in the Nile River. The Torah leaves the identity of this Pharaoh unstated, but he is widely believed to be Ramses II; other, earlier pharaohs have also been suggested including a Hyksos pharaoh or one shortly after the Hyksos had been expelled.

Related Topics:
Ramses II - Hyksos

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jochebed, the wife (and paternal aunt) 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. The daughter of Pharaoh discovered the baby and adopted him as her son, and named him "Moses" (Which means "to draw out"). By Biblical account, Moses' sister Miriam observed the progress of the tiny boat. Miriam then asked Pharoah'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.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When Moses grew to manhood, he went one day to see how his brethren, slaves to the Egyptians, fared. Seeing an Egyptian mistreating a Hebrew, he killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand, supposing that no one who 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 his brother taunted Moses with 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 to the Sinai peninsula and settled with Hobab, or Jethro, priest of Midian, 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, as Moses led his flock to Mount Horeb, he saw a burning bush without being consumed. When he turned aside to look more closely at the marvel, God spoke to him from the bush revealing his name to Moses.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the time of Emperor Constantine, Mount Horeb was identified with Mount Sinai but most scholars think it was located much farther north.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

God also commissioned him to go to Egypt and deliver his brethren from their bondage. He then returned to Egypt. Moses was met on his arrival in Egypt by his elder brother, Aaron, and gained a hearing with his oppressed brethren.It was a more difficult matter, however, to persuade Pharaoh to let the Hebrews depart. This was not accomplished until God sent ten plagues upon the Egyptians. These plagues culminated in the slaying of the Egyptian first-born whereupon such terror seized the Egyptians that they ordered the Hebrews to leave.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The long 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 as far south as the northern tip of the Red Sea (a common mistranslation of the Hebrew Yam Suf, meaning Sea of Reeds). Meanwhile Pharaoh had a change of heart and was in pursuit of them with a large army. Shut in between this army and the Red Sea, the Israelites despaired, but God divided the waters of the sea so that they passed safely across on dry ground. When the Egyptians attempted to follow, God permitted the waters to return upon them and drown them.

Related Topics:
Great Bitter Lake - Red Sea - Sea of Reeds

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It is probable that the Pharaoh did not have a change of heart because the Hebrews only asked to be allowed to worship their God on a religious pilgrimage in the desert. It took a while for the Pharaoh to let them do this but he pursued them not actually because he wanted them back due to a change of heart (as is widely believed) but because they violated the agreement to return to Egypt because they were lost.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

As a result of these the Tabernacle, according to the last chapters of Exodus, was constructed, the priestly law ordained, the plan of encampment arranged both for the Levites and the non-priestly tribes and the Tabernacle consecrated.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~