Exodus: Gods and Kings - Who was Moses?
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| Moses with the tablets of the Ten Commandments, painting by Rembrandt (1659) (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
MOSES [mōˊzəz] (Heb. mōšeh; cf. Egyp. mśy “to be born” or “son”). † The first great leader of the Hebrew people, regarded as author of the first five books of the Old Testament. Moses is revered by Jews, Christians, and Muslims for his daring leadership and diplomacy as well as his promulgation of the divine law.
According to the biblical record, Moses was born in Egypt when the Hebrews were enslaved to Pharaoh, apparently during the early to middle centuries of the New Kingdom period (ca. 1550–1085 B.C.). His parents (or perhaps ancestors) were Amram and Jochebed of the tribe of Levi (Exod. 2:1; 6:20).
The account of Moses’ birth and his rescue from the drowning decreed by Pharaoh is presented at Exod. 2:1–10.
Believing that God had chosen him (cf. Heb. 11:23), Moses’ parents hid him for three months and then placed him in a papyrus basket among the reeds at a bathing spot in the Nile river. Moses was found and, although his mother was permitted to rear him for a time, later adopted by a daughter of Pharaoh.
The narrative associates his name with being “drawn out” (Heb. māšâ) of the water. Similarities to birth accounts of other ancient Near Eastern figures have been noted (e.g., Sargon of Akkad).
Accordingly, Moses was raised in the royal household and received all the
benefits of education and luxury then available; he was well-trained, eloquent, and powerful (Acts 7:22). Yet he was aware of his roots and the plight of his fellow Hebrews, and thus seemed to be conscious of a divine calling to aid and deliver them. When he was forty years old he witnessed an Egyptian beating a Hebrew and avenged the attack by killing the Egyptian (Exod. 2:11–12). Yet his fellow Hebrews resented what appeared to them an arrogant usurpation of power (v. 14).
Fearing reprisal by Pharaoh, Moses fled to Midian (v. 15).
In Midian Moses again assumed the role of deliverer, rescuing the seven daughters of the priest Reuel (also called Jethro and Hobab) from hostile shepherds (vv. 16–17). Subsequently he sojourned with Reuel, marrying his daughter Zipporah. Together they had two sons, Gershom and ELIEZER (2) (v. 22; 18:3–4; 1 Chr. 23:15).
Moses’ call and commission came while he was tending Jethro’s sheep in the desert near Horeb. He was attracted to a burning bush that was not consumed by the fire, where the angel of the Lord and then God spoke to him and at length convinced him to become the deliverer who would lead the Hebrews out of Egypt (Exod. 3:1–4:17). It was in this setting that God revealed to Moses the name Yahweh (3:14ff). Moreover, God chose Moses’ brother Aaron to assist as spokesman (some suggest because Moses had a speech impediment; cf. 4:10).
Yahweh had instructed Moses to perform miracles before Pharaoh and to request the people’s release, but he also promised to harden Pharaoh’s heart so he would not let them go. When Moses sought a three-day release for the Hebrews to offer sacrifices to Yahweh their plight became even more intolerable; Pharaoh refused and commanded them to gather their own straw and yet produce the same quantity of bricks (5:1–19).
Moses became discouraged, but God again promised to bring the Israelites out from under the Egyptian yoke with mighty acts of judgment, thereby making them his own miraculously redeemed people and giving them the promised land (5:22–6:8).
Through a series of ten miraculous plagues Yahweh did indeed crush the Egyptians and liberate the Hebrews from slavery. Each time Moses and Aaron asked Pharaoh to release the people the Egyptian refused. Ten times Moses stretched out his hand and brought a devastating plague (7:8–11:10; 12:29–32).
The occasion of the final plague, the death of the firstborn of Egypt, is associated in the biblical account with the institution of the feast of Passover commemorating God’s mercy in “passing over” the Israelites (vv. 1–28).
The deliverance from Pharaoh and the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea (or Sea of Reeds; chs. 14–15) marked only the beginning of the Israelites’ arduous journey to the promised land led by Moses.
When the people grumbled against Moses and God at Marah because of the bitter water, Moses made the water sweet (vv. 22–25). Yet because of their continued resistance (e.g., 17:1–4; Num. 14:1–4), this entire generation of Israelites, including Moses, were destined to die in the wilderness without entering the promised land (vv. 26–35; cf. Heb. 3:7–19).
Of particular importance is Moses’ role as Israel’s law giver. It was at “the mountain of the Lord,” Sinai or Horeb, that he experienced a theophany and received from Yahweh the TEN COMMANDMENTS or Decalog (Exod. 19:1–20:17; Deut. 5). It is traditionally held that at this time he also received the diverse laws of the Covenant Code (Exod. 20:22–23:33), the cultic regulations contained in the book of Leviticus (cf. Num. 5:1–6:21; ch. 15, 18–19), the so-called Deuteronomic legislation (e.g., Deut. 12–26), and the oral laws contained in the Mishnah and Talmud.
Although Moses was not allowed to enter the promised land, he was permitted to view it from atop Mt. Nebo (Deut. 34:1–4). He died in Moab at the age of 120 and was buried at an unknown site opposite Bethpeor (vv. 5–7).
Apparently because of his role as intercessor between Yahweh and the Israelites Moses is regarded as the first and one of the greatest Hebrew prophets (v. 10; 18:15–18; cf. Exod. 20:19; Num. 11:25; 12:7–8). Moreover, he interceded among the Israelites themselves as judge (e.g., Exod. 18:13–16; cf. Num. 27:1–11; 36:1–12). Moses is also credited with military leadership (e.g., Exod. 17:8–13; Num. 31), conducting various censuses (chs. 1, 4, 26), the allotment of tribal territories (e.g., ch. 32), and construction of the tabernacle (Exod. 25–31).
Two of the oldest examples of Hebrew poetry, the Song of Moses (Deut. 32:1–43; variously dated to the eleventh-ninth centuries; cf. 2 Macc. 7:6) and the Blessing (or Testament) of Moses (33:2–29; eleventh century), are attributed to Moses; Exod. 15:1–18, the Song of the Sea (or, according to some scholars, the Song of Miriam) also is occasionally called the Song of Moses (cf. Rev. 15:3). For other references to Moses’ writing activity.
In addition to numerous references to Moses, his activities, and particularly the “law of Moses” throughout the Old Testament, he is frequently mentioned in later writings. Many of his deeds are recounted and embellished in intertestamental literature (e.g., 1 En. 89:16–40; As. Mos.), the Dead Sea Scrolls, and such Jewish writers as Philo and Josephus.
In the New Testament Moses is frequently presented as a forerunner or “type” of Christ, the “second Moses” (e. g., John 1:17; Heb. 3:1–6; 11:23–28) and the events of the Exodus compared to the redemption through Christ (cf. Acts 7:17–44; 1 Cor. 10:1–10).
Bibliography. D. M. Beegle, Moses, the Servant of Yahweh (Grand Rapids: 1972; J. G. Gager, Moses in Greco-Roman Paganism. SBL Monograph 16 (Nashville: 1972); H. M. Teeple, The Mosaic Eschatological Prophet. JBL Monograph 10 (Philadelphia: 1957). Myers, A. C. (1987). In The Eerdmans Bible dictionary (pp. 731–732). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
