Difference between revisions of "Moses"

<p> <strong> MOSES </strong> </p> <p> 1. Name The [[Hebrew]] narrator regards <em> Môsheh </em> as a participle from the vb. <em> mâshâh </em> , ‘to draw’ [[Ex]] ( Exodus 2:10 ). Jos. [Note: Josephus.] and [[Philo]] derive it from the Copt, <em> mo </em> ‘water,’ and <em> ushe </em> ‘saved’; this is implied in their spelling <em> Mouses </em> , also found in LXX [Note: Septuagint.] and NT. It is more plausible to connect the name with the [[Egyptian]] <em> mes, mesu </em> , ‘son.’ Perhaps it was originally coupled with the name of an Egyp. deity cf. <em> Ra-mesu, Thoth-mes </em> , and others which was omitted under the influence of [[Israelite]] monotheism. </p> <p> <strong> 2. History </strong> </p> <p> (i.) <em> The narrative of J. </em> <em> [Note: . Jahwist.] </em> [[Moses]] killed an Egyptian, and rebuked one of two [[Israelites]] who were striving together, and then he fled to Midian. There he helped seven daughters of the priest of [[Midian]] to water their flocks, dwelt with him, married his daughter Zipporah, and had one son by her, named [[Gershom]] ( Exodus 2:11-22 ). The king of [[Egypt]] died ( Exodus 2:23 a), and at J″ [Note: Jahweh.] ’s bidding Moses returned. On the way, J″ [Note: Jahweh.] smote him because he had not been circumcised before marriage; but [[Zipporah]] saved him by circumcising the child, and thus circumcising Moses by proxy ( Exodus 4:19; Exodus 4:24-26 . These verses must be put back to this point). J″ [Note: Jahweh.] appeared in the burning bush and spoke to Moses. Moses was to gather the elders, give them J″ [Note: Jahweh.] ’s message, and demand permission from [[Pharaoh]] to sacrifice in the wilderness. Moses was given two signs to persuade the Israelites, and yet a third if the two were insufficient ( Exodus 3:2-4 a, Exodus 3:6-8 a, Exodus 3:16-18 , Exodus 4:1-9 ). J″ [Note: Jahweh.] was angry at his continued diffidence. Moses spoke to the elders and they believed; and then they made their demand to Pharaoh, which led to his increased severity ( Exodus 4:10-12; Exodus 4:29-31 , Exodus 5:3; Exodus 5:6; Exodus 5:23 , Exodus 6:1 ). [[Plagues]] were sent, the death of the fish in the river ( Exodus 7:14; Exodus 7:16-17 a, Exodus 7:21 Exodus 7:21 a, Exodus 7:24 f.), frogs ( Exodus 8:1-4; Exodus 8:8-15 a), flies ( Exodus 8:20-32 ), murrain ( Exodus 9:1-7 ), hail ( Exodus 9:18; Exodus 9:17 f., Exodus 9:23 b, Exodus 9:24 b, Exodus 9:25-34 ), locusts ( Exodus 10:1 a, Exodus 10:13 Exodus 10:13 b, Exodus 10:14 b, Exodus 10:16 a, c, Exodus 10:16-19 ). See Plagues of Egypt. Pharaoh bade [[Israel]] go with their families, but refused to allow them animals for sacrifice; so Moses announced the death of the firstborn ( Exodus 10:24-26; Exodus 10:28 f., Exodus 11:4-8 ). At a later time Israelite thought connected with the Exodus certain existing institutions. The ordinances relating to them were preserved by [[J]] [Note: Jahwist.] , but their present position is due to redaction, and the result is a tangled combination in chs. 12, 13 of ordinance and narrative: the ritual of the [[Passover]] ( Exodus 12:21-23; Exodus 12:27 b), the death of the firstborn and the hurried flight of the Israelites ( Exodus 12:29-34; Exodus 12:37-39 ), commands concerning the [[Feast]] of [[Unleavened]] [[Cakes]] ( Exodus 13:3 a, Exodus 13:4 , Exodus 13:6 f., Exodus 13:10 ), and the offering of firstlings ( Exodus 13:11-13 ). J″ [Note: Jahweh.] went before the people in a pillar of cloud and fire ( Exodus 13:21 f.), the water was crossed ( Exodus 14:5 f., Exodus 14:7 b, Exodus 14:10 a, Exodus 14:18 Exodus 14:18 b, Exodus 14:21 b, Exodus 14:26 Exodus 14:26 b, Exodus 14:27 b, Exodus 14:28 b, Exodus 14:30 ), (and Moses sang praise ( Exodus 15:1 ). Moses made the water at [[Marah]] fresh ( Exodus 15:22-25 a), and thence they moved to [[Elim]] ( Exodus 15:27 ). [[Fragments]] of [[J]] [Note: Jahwist.] ’s story of [[Massah]] are preserved ( Exodus 17:3; Exodus 17:2 c, Exodus 17:7 a, c), and parts of the account of the visit of Moses’ father-in-law, which it is difficult to separate from E [Note: Elohist.] ( Exodus 18:7-11 ). The narratives attached to the delivery of the laws of [[Sinai]] are in an extraordinarily confused state, but with a few exceptions the parts which are due to [[J]] [Note: Jahwist.] can be recognized with some confidence. The theophany occurred ( Exodus 19:18 ), and Moses was bidden to ascend the mountain, where J″ [Note: Jahweh.] gave him directions respecting precautions to be taken ( Exodus 19:20-22; Exodus 19:24; Exodus 19:11-13; Exodus 19:25 ) [ Exodus 19:23 is a redactional addition of a remarkable character; due to Exodus 19:11-13 having been misplaced]. Moses stayed forty days and nights on the mountain ( Exodus 34:28 a); J″ [Note: Jahweh.] descended, and Moses ‘invoked the name of J″ [Note: Jahweh.] ’ (6). The laws given to him are fragmentarily preserved ( Exodus 34:10-26 ). J″ [Note: Jahweh.] commanded him to write them down ( Exodus 34:27 ), and he obeyed ( Exodus 34:28 b). </p> <p> The reason for the insertion of the laws so late in the book was that the compiler of JE [Note: [[Jewish]] Encyclopedia.] , finding laws in both [[J]] [Note: Jahwist.] and E [Note: Elohist.] , and noticing the strong similarity between them, considered the [[J]] [Note: Jahwist.] laws to be the <em> renewal </em> of the covenant broken by the people’s apostasy. Hence the editorial additions in Exodus 34:1 (from ‘like unto the first’) and in Exodus 34:4 (‘like unto the first’). </p> <p> A solemn ceremony sealed the covenant (Exodus 24:1 f., Exodus 24:9-11 ). [[Something]] then occurred which roused the wrath of J″ [Note: Jahweh.]; it is doubtful if the original narrative has been preserved; but [[J]] [Note: Jahwist.] has inserted a narrative which apparently explains the reason for the choice of [[Levites]] for [[Divine]] service ( Exodus 32:25-29 ). Moses interceded for the people (the vv. to he read in the following order, Exodus 33:1-4 a, Exodus 33:12 Exodus 33:12 f., Exodus 33:18-23 , Exodus 34:6-9 , Exodus 33:14-16 ). J″ [Note: Jahweh.] having been propitiated, Israel left the mountain, and Moses asked [[Hobah]] to accompany them ( Numbers 10:29-36 ). Being weary of manna, they were given quails, which caused a plague ( Numbers 11:4-15; Numbers 11:18-24 a, Numbers 11:31-35 ), [[Dathan]] and [[Ahiram]] rebelled (ascribed by different comm. to [[J]] [Note: Jahwist.] and to E [Note: Elohist.] , Numbers 16:1 b, Numbers 16:2 a, Numbers 16:26 Numbers 16:26 f., Numbers 16:27-32 a, Numbers 16:33 f.). Fragments of the [[Meribah]] narrative at [[Kadesh]] appear to belong to [[J]] [Note: Jahwist.] ( Numbers 20:3 a, Numbers 20:5 , Numbers 20:8 b). Moses sent spies through the S. of [[Palestine]] as far as Hebron. [[Caleb]] alone encouraged the people, and he alone was allowed to enter [[Canaan]] ( Numbers 13:17 b, Numbers 13:18 b, Numbers 13:27 Numbers 13:27 a, Numbers 13:30-31 Numbers 13:30-31 , Numbers 14:1 b, Numbers 14:8-9; Numbers 14:11-24; Numbers 14:31 ). Moses promised that [[Hebron]] should be Caleb’s possession ( Joshua 14:8-14 ). The [[Canaanites]] were defeated at [[Hormah]] (perh. a later stratum of [[J]] [Note: Jahwist.] , Numbers 21:1-3 ). Israel marched by [[Edom]] to Moab, and conquered [[Heshbon]] and other cities ( Numbers 21:16-20; Numbers 21:24 b, Numbers 21:25; Numbers 21:31-32 ). The story of [[Balaam]] (parts of Numbers 21:22-24 ). Israel sinned with the [[Moabite]] women, and Moses hanged the chiefs ( Numbers 25:1 b, Numbers 25:2-3 b, Numbers 25:4 ). Moses viewed the land from the top of Pisgah, and was buried in [[Moab]] (parts of Deuteronomy 34:1-6 ). </p> <p> (ii.) <em> The narrative of E </em> <em> [Note: Elohist.] </em> . The mid wives rescued Israelite [[Infants]] ( Exodus 1:15-20 a, Exodus 1:21 ). Moses’ birth; his discovery and adoption by Pharaoh’s daughter ( Exodus 2:1-10 ). Moses was feeding Jethro’s sheep in Midian, when [[God]] called to him from a bush at Horeb, and told him to deliver Israel. He revealed His name ‘Ehyeh,’ and promised that Israel should triumphantly leave Egypt ( Exodus 3:1; Exodus 3:4 b, Exodus 3:9-13 Exodus 3:9-13 f., Exodus 3:21 f.). Moses returned to Egypt, meeting [[Aaron]] on the way; they made their demand to Pharaoh, and were refused ( Exodus 4:17 f., Exodus 4:20 b, Exodus 4:27 f., Exodus 5:1 f., Exodus 5:4 ). Moses, by means of his Divinely given staff, brought plagues the turning of the river to blood ( Exodus 7:16-17 b, Exodus 7:20 b, Exodus 7:23 ), the hail ( Exodus 9:22-23 a, Exodus 9:24 a, Exodus 9:25 a), the locusts ( Exodus 10:12-13 a, Exodus 10:14 a, Exodus 10:16 b, Exodus 10:20 ), the darkness ( Exodus 10:21-23; Exodus 10:27 ). Moses was bidden to advise the Israelites to obtain gold, etc., from the [[Egyptians]] ( Exodus 11:1-3 ), which they did ( Exodus 12:35 f.). They departed, taking with them Joseph’s mummy ( Exodus 13:17-19 ). They crossed the water (fragments are preserved from E [Note: Elohist.] ’s account, Exodus 13:7 a, c, Exodus 13:10 b, Exodus 13:16 a, Exodus 13:16 a, Exodus 13:19 a), and [[Miriam]] sang praise ( Exodus 15:20-21 ). On emerging into the desert, they were given manna; it is possible that E [Note: Elohist.] originally connected this event with the name <em> massah </em> , ‘proving’ ( Exodus 15:25 b, Exodus 16:4; Exodus 16:16 ) Then follows E [Note: Elohist.] ’s Meribah narrative, combined with [[J]] [Note: Jahwist.] ’s Massah narrative ( Exodus 17:1 b, Exodus 17:2 a, Exodus 17:4-7 b). Israel fought with [[Amalek]] under Joshua’s leadership, while Aaron and [[Hur]] held up Moses’ hands with the sacred staff ( Exodus 17:8-16 ). [[Jethro]] visited the Israelites with Moses’ wife and two sons; he arranged sacrifices, and a sacrificial feast, in which the elders of Israel took part ( Exodus 18:1 a, Exodus 18:6 f., Exodus 18:12 ). [[Seeing]] Moses overburdened with the duty of giving decisions, he advised him to delegate smaller matters to inferior officers; and Moses followed his advice. Jethro departed to his own home ( Exodus 18:12-27 ). Preparations were made for the theophany ( Exodus 19:2 b, Exodus 19:3 a, Exodus 19:8 a, Exodus 19:10-11 a, Exodus 19:14 f.), which then took place ( Exodus 19:16 f., Exodus 19:19 , Exodus 20:18-21 ). Laws preserved by E [Note: Elohist.] and later members of his school of thought are grouped together in chs, 20 23 (see Exodus, Law), in the narratives in which the laws are set, two strata, E [Note: Elohist.] and E2, are perceptible, the latter supplying the narrative portions connected with the [[Ten]] Words of Exodus 20:1-17 , E [Note: Elohist.] relates the ceremony which sealed the covenant ( Exodus 24:3-8 ); the usual practice of Moses with regard to the ‘Tent of Tryst,’ where God used to meet with any one who wished to inquire of Him ( Exodus 33:7-11 ); and the people’s act of repentance for some sin which E [Note: Elohist.] has not preserved ( Exodus 33:6 ), E2 relates as follows: Moses told the people the Ten Words, and they promised obedience ( Exodus 19:7 f.; this must follow Exodus 20:1-17 ), Moses ascended the mountain to receive the written Words, leaving the people in the charge of Aaron and Hur ( Exodus 24:13-15 a, Exodus 31:18 b), During his absence Aaron made the golden bull, and Moses, when he saw it, brake the tablets of stone and destroyed the imags; Aaron offered a feeble excuse, and J″ [Note: Jahweh.] smote the people ( Exodus 32:1-6; Exodus 32:16 a, Exodus 32:16-24; Exodus 32:35 ), Moses’ intercession has not been preserved in E [Note: Elohist.] , but it is supplied by a late hand in Exodus 32:30-34 . We here resume the narrative of E. [Note: . Elohist.] After the departure from [[Horeb]] a fire from J″ [Note: Jahweh.] punished the people for murmuring ( Numbers 11:1-8 ). At the ‘Tent of Tryst’ J″ [Note: Jahweh.] took of Moses’ spirit and put it upon 70 elders who prophesied, including [[Eldad]] and Medad, who did not leave the camp; Joshua objected to the two being thus favoured, but was rebuked by Moses ( Numbers 11:18 f., Numbers 11:24-30 ). Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses for having married a foreign woman and then for claiming to have received Divine revelations; Miriam became leprous, but was healed at Moses’ intercession ( Numbers 11:12 ). On Dathan and [[Abiram]] ( Numbers 11:16 ) see above, under J. Miriam died at Kadesh ( Numbers 20:1 ). Twelve spies were sent, who brought back a large cluster of grapes, but said that the natives were numerous and powerful ( Numbers 13:13 a, c, Numbers 13:23 Numbers 13:23 f., Numbers 13:26 b, Numbers 13:27 b, Numbers 13:29; Numbers 13:33 ). The people determined to return to Egypt under another captain ( Numbers 14:1 b, Numbers 14:8 f.). [Here occurs a lacuna, which is partially supplied by Deuteronomy 1:19-46 , probably based on E. [Note: . Elohist.] ] Against Moses’ wish the people advanced towards Canaan, but were routed by the [[Amalekites]] and other natives ( Numbers 14:39-45 ). Edom refused passage through their territory ( Numbers 20:14-20 ). Aaron died at Moserah, and was succeeded by [[Eleazar]] ( Numbers 10:5 ). [[Serpents]] plagued the people for their murmuring, and Moses made the serpent of bronze ( Numbers 21:4-9 ). Israel marched by Edom to Moab, and vanquished [[Sihon]] ( Numbers 21:21-24 Numbers 21:21-24 a, Numbers 21:27-30 ); the story of Balaam (part Numbers 21:22-24 ). Israel worshipped Baal-peor, and Moses bade the judges hang the offenders ( Numbers 25:1 a, Numbers 25:8 a, Numbers 25:5 ). J″ [Note: Jahweh.] warned Moses that he was about to die, and Moses appointed Joshua to succeed him ( Deuteronomy 31:14 f., Deuteronomy 31:23 ). Moses died in Moab, and his tomb was unknown. He was the greatest prophet in Israel ( Deuteronomy 34:5; Deuteronomy 34:8 b, Deuteronomy 34:10 ). </p> <p> (iii.) <em> The narrative of D </em> <em> [Note: Deuteronomist.] </em> is based upon the earlier sources, which it treats in a hortatory manner, dwelling upon the religious meaning of history, and its bearing upon life and morals, and Israel’s attitude to God. There are a few additional details, such as are suitable to a retrospect ( <em> e.g </em> . Deuteronomy 1:6-8; Deuteronomy 1:16 f., Deuteronomy 1:20 f., Deuteronomy 1:29-31 , Deuteronomy 3:21 f., Deuteronomy 3:23-28 ), and there are certain points on which the tradition differs more or less widely from those of JE [Note: Jewish Encyclopedia.]; see Driver, <em> Deut </em> . p. xxxv f. But D [Note: Deuteronomist.] supplies nothing of importance to our knowledge of Moses’ life and character. </p> <p> (iv.) <em> The narrative of P </em> <em> [Note: Priestly Narrative.] </em> . Israel was made to serve the Egyptians ‘with rigour’ ( Exodus 1:7; Exodus 1:16; Exodus 1:14 b). When the king died, J″ [Note: Jahweh.] heard their sighing, and remembered His covenant ( Exodus 2:23-25 ). He revealed to Moses His name Jahweh, and bade him tell the Israelites that they were to be delivered ( Exodus 6:2-9 ). Moses being diffident, Aaron his brother was given to be his ‘prophet’ ( Exodus 6:10-12 , Exodus 7:1-7 ). [The genealogy of Moses and Aaron is given in a later stratum of P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] , Exodus 6:14-25 .] Aaron turned his staff into a ‘reptile’ before Pharaoh ( Exodus 7:8-18 ). By Aaron’s instrumentality with Moses plagues were sent all the water in Egypt turned into blood ( Exodus 7:19-20 a, Exodus 7:21 b, Exodus 7:22 ); frogs ( Exodus 8:5-7; Exodus 8:15 b); gnats or mosquitoes ( Exodus 8:16-19 ); boils ( Exodus 9:8-12 ). [As in [[J]] [Note: Jahwist.] , commands respecting religious institutions are inserted in connexion with the Exodus: Passover ( Exodus 12:1-18; Exodus 12:24; Exodus 12:28; Exodus 12:43-50 ), Unleavened cakes ( Exodus 12:14-20 ), [[Dedication]] of firstborn ( Exodus 13:1 f.).] The Israelites went to [[Etham]] ( Exodus 13:20 ) and thence to the [[Red]] Sea. The marvel of the crosslng is heightened, the waters standing up in a double wall ( Exodus 14:1-4; Exodus 14:8 f., Exodus 14:15 b, Exodus 14:13-18 , Exodus 14:21 a, c, Exodus 14:22 f., Exodus 14:26-27 a, Exodus 14:28 a). in the wilderness of [[Sin]] the people murmured, and manna was sent; embedded in the narrative are fragments of P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] ’s story of the quails (16, exc. Exodus 14:4; Exodus 14:15 ). They moved to [[Rephidim]] ( Exodus 17:1 a), and thence to Sinai ( Exodus 19:1-2 a). After seven days J″ [Note: Jahweh.] called Moses into the cloud ( Exodus 24:15-18 a) and gave him instructions with regard to the [[Tabernacle]] and its worship ( Exodus 25:1 to Exodus 31:17 ), and also gave him the [[Tablets]] of the [[Testimony]] ( Exodus 31:18 a). [Other laws ascribed to Divine communication with Moses are collected in Lev. and parts of Num.] When Moses descended, his face shone, so that he veiled it when he was not alone in J″ [Note: Jahweh.] ’s presence ( Exodus 34:29-35 ). A census was taken of the fighting men preparatory to the march, and the writer takes occasion to enlarge upon the organization of the priestly and [[Levitical]] families ( Numbers 1:1-54; Numbers 2:1-34; Numbers 3:1-51; Numbers 4:1-49 ). The cloud which descended upon the Tabernacle was the signal for marching and camping ( Numbers 9:15-23 ), and the journey began ( Numbers 10:11-28 ). With the story of Dathan and Abiram (see above) there are entwined two versions of a priestly story of rebellion (1) <em> [[Korah]] </em> and 250 princes, all of them laymen, spoke against Moses and Aaron for claiming, in their capacity of Levites, a sanctity superior to that of the rest of the congregation. (2) <em> Korah </em> and the princes were Levites, and they attacked Aaron for exalting priests above Levites (parts of 16). The former version has its sequel in 17; Moses and Aaron were vindicated by the budding of the staff for the tribe of Levi. In the wilderness of [[Zin]] Moses struck the rock, with an angry exclamation to the murmuring people, and water flowed; Moses and Aaron were rebuked for <em> lack of faith </em> [the fragments of the story do not make it clear wherein this consisted], and they were forbidden to enter Canaan (parts of Numbers 20:1-13 ). Joshua, Caleb, and ten other spies were sent from the wilderness of Paran; the two former alone brought a good account of the land, and they alone were permitted to enter Canaan; the other ten died by a plague (parts of 13, 14; see above under [[J]] and E). Aaron died at Mt. [[Hor]] ( Numbers 20:22-29 ). Israel marched by Edom to Moab ( Numbers 20:22 , Numbers 21:4 a, Numbers 21:10-11 a). [[Phinehas]] was promised ‘an everlasting priesthood’ for his zeal in punishing an Israelite who had brought a [[Midianite]] woman into the camp ( Numbers 25:6-16 ). All the last generation having died except Joshua and Caleb, a second census was taken by Moses and Eleazar (26). Moses appointed Joshua to succeed hi m (27). T he [[Midianites]] were defeated and Balaam was slain (31). Moses died on Mt. Nebo, aged 120 ( Deuteronomy 34:1 a, Deuteronomy 34:7-9 ). </p> <p> <strong> 3. Historicity </strong> . In the OT, there are presented to us the varying fortunes of a Semitic people who found their way into Palestine, and were strong enough to settle in the country in defiance of the native population. Although the Invaders were greatly in the minority as regards numbers, they were knit together by an <em> esprit de corps </em> which made them formidable. And this was the outcome of a strong religious belief which was common to all the branches of the tribe the belief that every member of the tribe was under the protection of the same God, Jahweh. And when it is asked from what source they gained this united belief, the analogy of other religions suggests that it probably resulted from the influence of some strong personality. <em> The existence and character of the Hebrew race require such a person as Moses to account for them </em> . But while the denial that Moses was a real person is scarcely within the bounds of sober criticism, it does not follow that all the <em> details </em> related of him are literally true to history. What Prof. Driver says of the patriarchs in [[Genesis]] is equally true of Moses in Ex., Nu.: ‘The basis of the narratives in Genesis is in fact <em> popular oral tradition </em> ; and that being so, we may expect them to display the characteristics which popular oral tradition does in other cases. They may well include a substantial historical nucleus; but details may be due to the involuntary action of popular invention or imagination, operating during a long period of time; characteristic anecdotes, reflecting the feelings, and explaining the relations, of a later age may thus have become attached to the patriarchs; phraseology and expression will nearly always be ascribed rightly to the narrators who cast these traditions into their present literary shape’ (art. ‘Jacob’ in <em> DB </em> <em> [Note: Dictionary of the Bible.] </em> ii. 534 b ). </p> <p> Moses is portrayed under three chief aspects as (i.) a Leader, (ii.) the Promoter of the religion of J″ [Note: Jahweh.] , (iii.) Lawgiver, and ‘Prophet’ or moral teacher. </p> <p> (i.) <em> Moses as [[Leader]] </em> . Some writers think that there is evidence which shows that the Israelites who went to Egypt at the time of the famine did not comprise the whole nation. [[Whether]] this be so or not, however, there is no sufficient reason for doubting the Hebrew tradition of an emigration to Egypt. Again, if Israelites obtained permission as foreign tribes are known to have done to occupy pasture land within the Egyptian frontier, there could be nothing surprising if some of them were pressed into compulsory building labour; for it was a common practice to employ foreigners and prisoners in this manner. But in order to rouse them, and knit them together, and persuade them to escape, a leader was necessary. If, therefore, it is an historical fact that they were in Egypt, and partially enslaved, it is more likely than not that the account of their deliverance by Moses also has an historical basis. It is impossible, in a short article, to discuss the evidence in detail. It is in the last degree unsafe to dogmatize on the extent to which the narratives of Moses’ life are historically accurate. In each particular the decision resolves itself into a balance of probabilities. But that Moses was not an individual, but stands for a tribe or group of tribes, and that the narratives which centre round him are entirely legendary, are to the present writer pure assumptions, unscientific and uncritical. The minuteness of personal details, the picturesqueness of the scenes described, the true touches of character, and the necessity of accounting for the emergence of Israel from a state of scattered nomads into that of an organized tribal community, are all on the side of those who maintain that <em> in its broad outlines </em> the account of Moses’ leadership is based upon fact. </p> <p> (ii.) <em> Moses as the Promoter of the religion of [[Jahweh]] </em> . [[Throughout]] the OT, with the exception of Ezekiel 40:1-49; Ezekiel 41:1-26; Ezekiel 42:1-20; Ezekiel 43:1-27; Ezekiel 44:1-31; Ezekiel 45:1-25; Ezekiel 46:1-24; Ezekiel 47:1-23; Ezekiel 48:1-35 , the forms and ceremonies of J″ [Note: Jahweh.] worship observed in every age are attributed to the teaching of Moses. It is to be noticed that the earliest writer (J [Note: Jahwist.] ) uses the name ‘Jahweh’ from his very first sentence ( Genesis 2:4 b) and onwards, and assumes that J″ [Note: Jahweh.] was known and worshipped by the ancestors of the race; and in Ex. he frequently employs the expression ‘J″ [Note: Jahweh.] the God of the Hebrews’ ( Genesis 3:18 , Genesis 5:3 , Genesis 7:16 , Genesis 9:1; Genesis 9:13 , Genesis 10:3 ). But, in agreement with E [Note: Elohist.] and P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] , he ascribes to Moses a new departure in J″ [Note: Jahweh.] worship inaugurated at Sinai. E [Note: Elohist.] and P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] relate that the Name was a new revelation to Moses when he was exiled in Midian, and that he taught it to the Israelites in Egypt. And yet in Genesis 3:6 E [Note: Elohist.] represents J″ [Note: Jahweh.] as saying to Moses, ‘I am the God of thy father’ [the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of [[Jacob]] (unless this clause is a later insertion, as in Genesis 3:15 f., Genesis 4:5 )]. And in Genesis 6:3 P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] states categorically that God appeared unto Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but He was not known to them by His name ‘Jahweh.’ All the sources, therefore, imply that Moses did not teach a totally new religion; but he put before the Israelites a new aspect of their religion; he defined more clearly the relation in which they were to stand to God: they were to think of Him in a peculiar sense as <em> their </em> God. When we go further and inquire whence Moses derived the name ‘ <strong> Jahweh </strong> ,’ we are landed in the region of conjectures. Two points, however, are clear: (1) that the God whose name was ‘Jahweh’ had, before Moses’ time, been conceived of as dwelling on the sacred mountain Horeb or Sinai ( Genesis 3:1-5; Genesis 3:12; Genesis 19:4 ); (2) that He was worshipped by a branch of the Midianites named [[Kenites]] ( Judges 1:16; Judges 4:11 ), of whom Jethro was a priest ( Exodus 3:1; Exodus 18:1 ). From these facts two conjectures have been made. Some have supposed that Moses learned the name ‘Jahweh’ from the Midianites; that He was therefore a foreign God as far as the Israelites were concerned; and that, after hearing His name for the first time from Moses in Egypt, they journeyed to the sacred mountain and were there admitted by Jethro into the [[Kenite]] worship by a sacrificial feast at which Jethro officiated. But it is hardly likely that the Israelites, enslaved in Egypt, could have been so rapidly roused and convinced by Moses’ proclamation of an entirely new and foreign deity. The action taken by Jethro in organizing the sacrifice might easily arise from the fact that he was in his own territory, and naturally acted as host towards the strangers. The other conjecture, which can claim a certain plausibility, is that J″ [Note: Jahweh.] was a God recognized by Moses’ own tribe of Levi. From Exodus 4:24; Exodus 4:27 it is possible to suppose that Aaron was not in Egypt, but in the vicinity of Horeb, which he already knew as the ‘mountain of God.’ If Moses’ family, or the tribe of Levi, and perhaps (as some conjecture) the [[Rachel]] tribes, together with the Midianite branch of Semites, were already worshippers of J″ [Note: Jahweh.] , Moses’ work would consist in proclaiming as the God of the whole body of Israelites Him whose help and guidance a small portion of them had already experienced. If either of these conjectures is valid, it only puts back a stage the question as to the ultimate origin of the name ‘Jahweh.’ But whatever the origin may have been, it is difficult to deny to Moses the glory of having united the whole body of Israelites in the single cult which excluded all other deities. </p> <p> (iii.) <em> Moses as [[Prophet]] and [[Lawgiver]] </em> . If Moses taught the Israelites to worship J″ [Note: Jahweh.] , it may safely be assumed that he laid down some rules as to the method and ritual of His worship. But there is abundant justification for the belief that he also gave them injunctions which were not merely ritual. It is quite arbitrary to assume that the prophets of the 8th cent. and onwards, who preached an ethical standard of religion, preached something entirely new, though it is probable enough that their own ethical feeling was purer and deeper than any to which the nation had hitherto attained. The prophets always held up a lofty ideal as something which the nation had <em> failed to reach </em> , and proclaimed that for this failure the sinful people were answerable to a holy God. And since human nature is alike in all ages, there must have been at least isolated individuals, more high-souled than the masses around them, who strove to live up to the light they possessed. And as the national history of Israel postulates a leader, and their religion postulates a great personality who drew them, as a body, into the acceptance of it, so the ethical morality which appears in the laws of Exodus, and in a deeper and intenser form in the prophets, postulates a teacher who instilled into the nucleus of the nation the germs of social justice, purity, and honour. Moses would have been below the standard of an ordinary sheik if he had not given decisions on social matters, and Exodus 18:1-27 pictures him as so doing, and Exodus 33:7-11 shows that it was usual for the people to go to him for oracular answers from God. It is in itself probable that the man who founded the nation and taught them their religion, would plant in them the seeds of social morality. But the question whether any of the codified laws, as we have them, were directly due to Moses is quite another matter. In the life of a nomad tribe the controlling factor is not a <em> corpus </em> of specific prescriptions, but the power of custom. An immoral act is condemned because ‘it is not wont so to be done’ ( Genesis 34:7 , 2 Samuel 13:12 ). The stereotyping of custom in written codes is the product of a comparatively late stage in national life. And a study of the history and development of the Hebrew laws leads unavoidably to the conclusion that while some few elements in them are very ancient, it is impossible to say of any particular detail that it is certainly derived from Moses himself; and it is further clear that many are certainly later than his time. </p> <p> <strong> 4. Moses in the NT </strong> . (i.) All [[Jews]] and [[Christians]] in [[Apostolic]] times (including our Lord Himself) held that Moses was the <em> author </em> of the Pentateuch. Besides such expressions as ‘The law of Moses’ ( Luke 2:22 ), ‘Moses enjoined’ ( Matthew 8:4 ), ‘Moses commanded’ ( Matthew 19:7 ), ‘Moses wrote’ ( Mark 12:19 ), ‘Moses said’ ( Mark 7:10 ), and so on, his name could be used alone as synonymous with that which he wrote ( Luke 16:20; Luke 16:31; Luke 24:27 ). </p> <p> (ii.) But because Moses was the representative of the Old Dispensation, [[Jesus]] and the NT writers thought of him as something more. He was an historical personage of such unique prominence in Israel’s history, that his whole career appeared to them to afford parallels to spiritual factors in the New Covenant. The following form an interesting study, as illustrating points which cover a wide range of [[Christian]] truth: The ‘glory’ on Moses’ face (2 Corinthians 3:7-18 ), the brazen serpent ( John 3:14 ), the Passover ( John 19:36 , Heb 11:28 , 1 Corinthians 5:7 f.), the covenant sacrifice at Horeb ( Matthew 26:28 , Mark 14:24 , Luke 22:20 , 1 Corinthians 11:25; see also Hebrews 9:18-20 , 1 Peter 1:2 with Hort’s note), the terrors of the Sinai covenant ( Hebrews 12:18-24 ), the crossing of the sea ( 1 Corinthians 10:2 ), the manna ( John 6:30-35; John 6:41-58 ), the water from the rock ( 1 Corinthians 10:3-4 ), Moses as a prophet ( Acts 3:22; Acts 7:37 , John 1:21-23; and see John 6:14; John 7:40 [ Luke 7:39 ]), the magicians of Egypt ( 2 Timothy 3:8 ), the plagues ( Revelation 8:5; Revelation 8:7-8; Revelation 9:2-4; Revelation 15:6-8; Revelation 16:2-4; Revelation 16:10; Revelation 16:13; Revelation 16:18; Revelation 16:21 ), and ‘the song of Moses the servant of God’ ( Revelation 15:3 ). </p> <p> A. H. M‘Neile. </p>

<p> This illustrious legislator of the [[Israelites]] was of the tribe of Levi, in the line of Koath and of Amram, whose son he was, and therefore in the fourth generation after the settlement of the Israelites in Egypt. The time of his birth is ascertained by the exode of the Israelites, when [[Moses]] was eighty years old, Exodus 7:7 . By a singular providence, the infant Moses, when exposed on the river Nile, through fear of the royal decree, after his mother had hid him three months, because he was a goodly child, was taken up and adopted by Pharaoh's daughter, and nursed by his own mother, whom she hired at the suggestion of his sister Miriam. Thus did he find an asylum in the very palace of his intended destroyer; while his intercourse with his own family and nation was still most naturally, though unexpectedly, maintained: so mysterious are the ways of heaven. And while he was instructed "in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," and bred up in the midst of a luxurious court, he acquired at home the knowledge of the promised redemption of Israel; and, "by faith" in the [[Redeemer]] Christ, "refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ," or persecution for Christ's sake, "greater riches than the treasures of Egypt: for he had respect to the recompense of reward," Exodus 2:1-10; Acts 7:20-22; Hebrews 11:23-26; or looked forward to a future state. </p> <p> When Moses was grown to manhood, and was full forty years old, he was moved by a divine intimation, as it seems, to undertake the deliverance of his countrymen; "for he supposed that his brethren would have understood how that God, by his hand, would give them deliverance; but they understood not." For when, in the excess of his zeal to redress their grievances, he had slain an Egyptian, who injured one of them, in which he probably went beyond his commission, and afterward endeavoured to reconcile two of them that were at variance, they rejected his mediation; and "the man who had done wrong said, Who made thee a judge and a ruler over us? Intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the [[Egyptian]] yesterday?" So Moses, finding it was known, and that [[Pharaoh]] sought to slay him, fled for his life to the land of Midian, in [[Arabia]] Petraea, where he married Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro, or Reuel, prince and priest of Midian; and, as a shepherd, kept his flocks in the vicinity of Mount Horeb, or Sinai, for forty years, Exodus 2:11-21; Exodus 3:1; Exodus 18:5; Numbers 10:29; Acts 7:23-30 . During this long exile Moses was trained in the school of humble circumstances for that arduous mission which he had prematurely anticipated; and, instead of the unthinking zeal which at first actuated him, learned to distrust himself. His backwardness, afterward, to undertake that mission for which he was destined from the womb, was no less remarkable than his forwardness before, Exodus 4:10-13 . </p> <p> At length, when the oppression of the Israelites was come to the full, and they cried to [[God]] for succour, and the king was dead, and all the men in [[Egypt]] that sought his life, "the God of glory" appeared to Moses in a flame of fire, from the midst of a bush, and announced himself as "the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob," under the titles of <em> Jahoh </em> and <em> AEhjeh, </em> expressive of his unity and sameness; and commissioned him first to make known to the Israelites the divine will for their deliverance; and next to go with the elders of [[Israel]] to Pharaoh, requiring him, in the name of "the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, to suffer the people to go three, days' journey into the wilderness, to sacrifice unto the Lord their God," after such sacrifices had been long intermitted during their bondage; for the [[Egyptians]] had sunk into bestial polytheism, and would have stoned them, had they attempted to sacrifice to their principal divinities, the apis, or bull, &c, in the land itself: foretelling, also, the opposition they would meet with from the king, the mighty signs and wonders that would finally compel his assent, and their spoiling of the Egyptians, by asking or demanding of them (not borrowing) jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, (by way of wages or compensation for their services,) as originally declared to Abraham, that "they should go out from thence with great substance," </p> <p> [[Genesis]] 15:14; Exodus 2:23-25; Exodus 3:2-22; Exodus 8:25-26 . </p> <p> To vouch his divine commission to the Israelites, God enabled Moses to work three signal miracles: </p> <p> <strong> 1. </strong> [[Turning]] his rod into a serpent, and restoring it again: </p> <p> <strong> 2. </strong> [[Making]] his hand leprous as snow, when he first drew it out of his bosom, and restoring it sound as before when he next drew it out: and, </p> <p> <strong> 3. </strong> Turning the water of the river into blood. And the people believed the signs, and the promised deliverance, and worshipped. To assist him, also, in his arduous mission, when Moses had represented that he was "not eloquent, but slow of speech," and of a slow or stammering tongue, God inspired Aaron, his elder brother, to go and meet Moses in the wilderness, to be his spokesman to the people, Exodus 4:1-31 , and his prophet to Pharaoh; while Moses was to be a god to both, as speaking to them in the name, or by the authority, of God himself, Exodus 7:1-2 . At their first interview with Pharaoh, they declared, "Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, [[Let]] my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not," or regard not, "the Lord, neither will I let Israel go." In answer to this haughty tyrant, they styled the Lord by a more ancient title, which the Egyptians ought to have known and respected, from Abraham's days, when he plagued them in the matter of Sarah: "The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: Let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the Lord our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword:" plainly intimating to Pharaoh, also, not to incur his indignation, by refusing to comply with his desire. But the king not only refused, but increased the burdens of the people, Exodus 5:1-19; and the people murmured, and hearkened not unto Moses, when he repeated from the Lord his assurances of deliverance and protection, for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage, Exodus 5:20-23; Exodus 6:1-9 . </p> <p> At their second interview with Pharaoh, in obedience to the divine command, again requiring him to let the children of Israel go out of his land; Pharaoh, as foretold, demanded of them to show a miracle for themselves, in proof of their commission, when [[Aaron]] cast down his rod, and it became a serpent before Pharaoh and before his servants, or officers of his court. The king then called upon his wise men and magicians, to know if they could do as much by the power of their gods, "and they did so with their enchantments; for they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents; but Aaron's rod swallowed up their serpents." Here the original phrase, ויעשו כן , "and they did so," or "in like manner," may only indicate the attempt, and not the deed; as afterward, in the plague of lice, "when they did so with their enchantments, but could not," Exodus 8:18 . And, indeed, the original term, להטיהם , rendered "their enchantments," as derived from the root לאט , or לוט , to <em> hide </em> or <em> cover, </em> fitly expresses the secret deceptions of legerdemain, or sleight-of-hand, to impose on spectators: and the remark of the magicians, when unable to imitate the production of lice, which was beyond their skill and dexterity, on account of their minuteness,— "This is the finger of a God!"—seems to strengthen the supposition; especially as the Egyptians were famous for legerdemain and for charming serpents: and the magicians, having had notice of the miracle they were expected to imitate, might make provision accordingly, and bring live serpents, which they might have substituted for their rods. And though Aaron's serpent swallowed up their serpents, showing the superiority of the true miracle over the false, 2 Thessalonians 2:9 , it might only lead the king to conclude, that Moses and Aaron were more expert jugglers than [[Jannes]] and Jambres, who opposed them, 2 Timothy 3:8 . And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, so that he "hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had said," or foretold, Exodus 6:10-11; Exodus 7:8-13 . For the conduct of Moses as the deliverer and lawgiver of the Israelites, See PLAGUES OF EGYPT , See RED SEA , and See LAW . </p> <p> At Mount [[Sinai]] the Lord was pleased to make Moses, the redeemer of Israel, an eminent type of the Redeemer of the world. "I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him: and it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words, which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him:" which Moses communicated to the people. "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet, from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me: unto him shall ye hearken," Deuteronomy 18:15-19 . This prophet like unto Moses was our Lord [[Jesus]] Christ, who was by birth a Jew, of the middle class of the people, and resembled his predecessor, in personal intercourse with God, miracles, and legislation, which no other prophet did, Deuteronomy 34:10-12; and to whom God, at his transfiguration, required the world to hearken, Matthew 17:5 . [[Whence]] our Lord's frequent admonition to the [[Jewish]] church, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear," Matthew 13:9 , &c; which is addressed, also, by the [[Spirit]] to the [[Christian]] churches of [[Asia]] Minor, Revelation 3:22 . </p> <p> In the affair of the <em> [[Golden]] Calf, </em> ( See CALF ,) the conduct of Moses showed the greatest zeal for God's honour, and a holy indignation against the sin of Aaron and the people. And when Moses drew nigh, and saw their proceedings, his anger waxed hot, and he cast away the tables of the covenant, or stone tablets on which were engraven the ten commandments by the finger of God himself, and brake them beneath the mount, in the presence of the people; in token that the covenant between God and them was now rescinded on his part, in consequence of their transgression. He then took the golden calf, and burned it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and mixed it with water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. After thus destroying their idol, he inflicted punishment on the idolaters themselves; for he summoned all that were on the Lord's side to attend him; and all the [[Levites]] having obeyed the call, he sent them, in the name of the Lord, to slay all the idolaters, from one end of the camp to the other, without favour or affection either to their neighbour or to their brother; and they slew about three thousand men. The Lord also sent a grievous plague among them for their idolatry, Exodus 32:2-35 , on which occasion Moses gave a signal proof of his love for his people, by interceding for them with the Lord; and of his own disinterestedness, in refusing the offer of the [[Almighty]] to adopt his family in their room, and make of them "a great nation." He prayed that God would blot him out of his book, that is, take away his life, if he would not forgive "the great sin of his people;" and prevailed with God to alter his determination of withdrawing his presence from them, and sending an inferior angel to conduct them to the land of promise. So wonderful was the condescension of God to the voice of a man, and so mighty the power of prayer. </p> <p> When the Lord had pardoned the people, and taken them again into favour, he commanded Moses to hew two tablets of stone, like the former which were broken, and to present them to him on the top of the mount; and on these the Lord wrote again the ten commandments, for a renewal of the covenant between him and his people. To reward and strengthen the faith of Moses, God was pleased, at his request, to grant him a fuller view of the divine glory, or presence, than he had hitherto done. And, to confirm his authority with the people on his return, after the second conference of forty days, he imparted to him a portion of that glory or light by which his immediate presence was manifested: for the face of Moses shone so that Aaron and all the people were afraid to come nigh him, until he had put a veil on his face, to hide its brightness. This was an honour never vouchsafed to mortal before nor afterward till Christ, the [[Prophet]] like Moses, in his transfiguration also, appeared arrayed in a larger measure of the same lustre. Then Moses again beheld the glory of the Word made flesh, and ministered thereto in a glorified form himself, Exodus 34:1-35; Matthew 17:1-8 . </p> <p> At Kibroth Hataavah, when the people loathed the manna, and longed for flesh, Moses betrayed great impatience, and wished for death. He was also reproved for unbelief. At Kadesh-barnea, Moses having encouraged the people to proceed, saying, "Behold, the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee, go up and possess it, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath said unto you: fear not," Deuteronomy 1:19-21; they betrayed great diffidence, and proposed to Moses to send spies to search out the land, and point out to them the way they should enter, and the course they should take. And the proposal "pleased him well," and with the consent of the Lord he sent twelve men, one out of each tribe, to spy out the land, Deuteronomy 1:22-23; Numbers 13:1-20 . All these, except [[Caleb]] and Joshua, having brought "an evil report," so discouraged the people, that they murmured against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, "Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt; or would God that we had died in the wilderness! And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children shall be a prey? Were it not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another, let us make a captain, and return into Egypt." They even went so far as to propose to stone Joshua and Caleb, because they exhorted the people not to rebel against the Lord, nor to fear the people of the land, Numbers 14:1-10;. Deuteronomy 1:26-28 . Here again the noble patriotism of Moses was signally displayed. He again refused the divine offer to disinherit the Israelites, and make of him and his family a "greater and mightier nation than they." He urged the most persuasive motives with their offended God, not to destroy them with the threatened pestilence, lest the [[Heathen]] might say, "that the Lord was not able to bring them into the land which he sware unto them." He powerfully appealed to the long-tried mercies and forgivenesses they had experienced ever since their departure from Egypt; and his energetic supplication prevailed; for the Lord graciously said, "I have pardoned, according to thy word: but verily, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord;" or shall adore him for his righteous judgments; "for all these men which, have seen my glory and my miracles which I did in Egypt, and in the wilderness, and have tempted me these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice, surely shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers: neither shall any of them that provoked me see it. As ye have spoken in my ears, so will I do unto you," by a righteous retaliation: "your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness. But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in; and they shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, after the number of the days in which ye searched the land, each day for a year, until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness." And immediately after this sentence, as the earnest of its full accomplishment, all the spies, except Caleb and Joshua, were cut off, and died by the plague before the Lord, Numbers 14:11-37; Deuteronomy 1:34-39 . </p> <p> The people now, to repair their fault, contrary to the advice of Moses, presumptuously went to invade the [[Amalekites]] and [[Canaanites]] of Mount Seir, or Hor; who defeated them, and chased them as bees to Hormah, Numbers 14:39-45; Deuteronomy 1:41-44 . On the morrow they were ordered to turn away from the promised land, and to take their journey south-westward, toward the way of the [[Red]] Sea: and they abode in the wilderness of [[Kadesh]] many days, or years, Numbers 14:25; Deuteronomy 1:40-46 . The ill success of the expedition against the Amalekites, according to Josephus, occasioned the rebellion of Korah, which broke out shortly after, against Moses and Aaron, with greater violence than any of the foregoing, under Korah, the ringleader, who drew into it [[Dathan]] and Abiram, the heads of the senior tribe of Reuben, and two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, among whom were even several of the Levites. ( See KORAH. ) But although "all Israel round about had fled at the cry of the devoted families of Dathan and Abiram, for fear that the earth should swallow them up also;" yet, on the morrow, they returned to their rebellious spirit, and murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying, "Ye have killed the people of the Lord." On this occasion also, the Lord threatened to consume them as in a moment; but, on the intercession of Moses, only smote them with a plague, which was stayed by an atonement made by Aaron, after the destruction of fourteen thousand seven hundred souls, Numbers 16:41-50 . </p> <p> On the return of the Israelites, after many years' wandering, to the same disastrous station of Kadesh-barnea, even Moses himself was guilty of an offence, in which his brother Aaron was involved, and for which both were excluded, as a punishment, from entering the promised land. At [[Meribah]] Kadesh the congregation murmured against Moses, for bringing them into a barren wilderness without water; when the Lord commanded Moses to take his rod, which had been laid up before the Lord, and with Aaron to assemble the congregation together, and to speak to the rock before their eyes; which should supply water for the congregation and their cattle. "But Moses said unto the congregation, when they were assembled, [[Hear]] now, ye rebels, must we fetch you water out of this rock? And he smote the rock twice with his rod, and the water came out abundantly; and the congregation drank, and their cattle also. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel; therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them," Numbers 20:1-13; and afterward in stronger terms: "Because ye rebelled against my commandment," &c. </p> <p> Numbers 27:14 . </p> <p> The offence of Moses, as far as may be collected from so concise an account, seems to have been, </p> <p> <strong> 1. </strong> He distrusted or disbelieved that water could be produced from the rock only by speaking to it; which was a higher miracle than he had performed before at Rephidim, Exodus 17:6 . </p> <p> <strong> 2. </strong> He unnecessarily smote the rock twice; thereby betraying an unwarrantable impatience. </p> <p> <strong> 3. </strong> He did not, at least in the phrase he used, ascribe the glory of the miracle wholly to God, but rather to himself and his brother: "Must we fetch you water out of this rock?" And he denominated them "rebels" against his and his brother's authority, which although an implied act of rebellion against God, ought to have been stated, as on a former occasion, "Ye have been rebels against the Lord, from the day that I knew you," Deuteronomy 9:24 , which he spake without blame. For want of more caution on this occasion, "he spake unadvisedly with his lips, because they provoked his spirit," Psalms 106:33 . Thus "was God sanctified at the waters of Meribah," by his impartial justice, in punishing his greatest favourites when they did amiss, Numbers 20:13 . How severely Moses felt his deprivation, appears from his humble, and it should seem repeated, supplications to the Lord to reverse the sentence: "O Lord of gods, thou hast begun to show thy servant thy greatness, and thy mighty hand; for what god is there in heaven or in earth that can do according to thy works, and according to thy might? I pray thee let me go over and see the good land beyond Jordan, even that goodly mountain Lebanon," or the whole breadth of the land. "But the Lord was wroth with me for your sakes, and would not hear me: and he said unto me, Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of this matter. Get thee up unto the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with thine eyes: for thou shalt not go over this Jordan," Deuteronomy 3:23-27 . </p> <p> The faculties of this illustrious legislator, both of mind and body, were not impaired at the age of a hundred and twenty years, when he died. "His eye was not dim, nor his natural strength abated," Deuteronomy 34:7 : and the noblest of all his compositions was his Song, or the [[Divine]] Ode, which [[Bishop]] Lowth elegantly styles, <em> Cycnea Oratio, </em> "the [[Dying]] Swan's Oration." His death took place after the Lord had shown him, from the top of Pisgah, a distant view of the promised land, throughout its whole extent. "He then buried his body in a valley opposite Beth-peor, in the land of Moab; but no man knoweth his sepulchre unto this day," observes the sacred historian, who annexed the circumstances of his death to the book of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy 34:6 . From an obscure passage in the New Testament, in which [[Michael]] the archangel is said to have contended with the devil about the body of Moses, Judges 1:9 , some have thought that he was buried by the ministry of angels, near the scene of the idolatry of the Israelites; but that the spot was purposely concealed, lest his tomb might also be converted into an object of idolatrous worship among the Israelites, like the brazen serpent. Beth-peor lay in the lot of the Reubenites, Joshua 13:20 . But on so obscure a passage nothing can be built. The "body of Moses," may figuratively mean the Jewish church; or the whole may be an allusion to a received tradition which, without affirming or denying its truth, might be made the basis of a moral lesson. </p> <p> Josephus, who frequently attempts to embellish the simple narrative of [[Holy]] Writ, represents Moses as attended to the top of [[Pisgah]] by Joshua, his successor, Eleazar, the high priest, and the whole senate; and that, after he had dismissed the senate, while he was conversing with Joshua and Eleazar, and embracing them, a cloud suddenly came over and enveloped him; and he vanished from their sight, and he was taken away to a certain valley. "In the sacred books," says he, "it is written, that he died; fearing to say that on account of his transcendent virtue, he had departed to the Deity." The Jewish historian has here, perhaps, imitated the account of our Lord's ascension, furnished by the evangelist, Luke 24:50; Acts 1:9; wishing to raise Moses to a level with Christ. The preeminence of Moses's character is briefly described by the sacred historian, Samuel or Ezra: "And there arose not a prophet since, in Israel, like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face; in all the signs and the wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and all his servants, and all his land; and in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses showed in the sight of all Israel," Deuteronomy 34:10-12 . </p> <p> So marked and hallowed is the character of this, the most eminent of mere men, that it has often been successfully made the basis of an irresistible argument for the truth of his divine mission. Thus Cellerier observes, Every imposture has an object in view, and an aim more or less selfish. Men practice deceit for money, for pleasure, or for glory. If, by a strange combination, the love of mankind ever entered into the mind of an impostor, doubtless, even then, he has contrived to reconcile, at least, his own selfish interests with those of the human race. If men deceive others, for the sake of causing their own opinions or their own party to triumph, they may sometimes, perhaps, forget their own interests during the struggle, but they again remember them when the victory is achieved. It is a general rule, that no impostor forgets himself long. But Moses forgot himself, and forgot himself to the last. Yet there is no middle supposition. If Moses was not a divinely inspired messenger, he was an impostor in the strongest sense of the term. It is not, as in the case of Numa, a slight and single fraud, designed to secure some good end, that we have to charge him with, but a series of deceits, many of which were gross; a profound dishonest, perfidious, sanguinary dissimulation, continued for the space of forty years. If Moses was not a divinely commissioned prophet, he was not the saviour of the people, but their tyrant and their murderer. Still, we repeat, this barbarous impostor always forgot himself; and his disinterestedness, as regarded himself personally, his family, and his tribe, is one of the most extraordinary features in his administration. As to himself personally: He is destined to die in the wilderness; he is never to taste the tranquillity, the plenty, and the delight, the possession of which he promises to his countrymen; he shares with them only their fatigues and privations; he has more anxieties than they, on their account, in their acts of disobedience, and in their perpetual murmurings. As to his family: He does not nominate his sons as his successors; he places them, without any privileges or distinctions, among the obscure sons of Levi; they are not even admitted into the sacerdotal authority. Unlike all other fathers, Moses withdraws them from public view, and deprives them of the means of obtaining glory and favour. Samuel and [[Eli]] assign a part of their paternal authority to their sons, and permit them even to abuse it; but the sons of Moses, in the wilderness, are only the simple servants of the tabernacle; like all the other sons of Kohath, if they even dare to raise the veil which covers the sacred furniture, the burden, of which they carry, death is denounced against them. Where can we find more complete disinterestedness than in Moses? Is not his the character of an upright man, who has the general good, not his own interests, at heart; of a man who submissively acquiesces in the commands of God, without resistance and without demur? When we consider these several things; when we reflect on all the ministry of Moses, on his life, on his death, on his character, on his abilities, and his success; we are powerfully convinced that he was the messenger of God. If we consider him only as an able legislator, as a Lycurgus, as a Numa, his actions are inexplicable: we find not in him the affections, the interests, the views which usually belong to the human heart. The simplicity, the harmony, the verity of his natural character are gone; they give place to an incoherent union of ardour and imposture; of daring and of timidity, of incapacity and genius, of cruelty and sensibility. No! Moses was inspired by God: he received from God the law which he left his countrymen. </p> <p> To Moses we owe that important portion of Holy Scripture, the Pentateuch, which brings us acquainted with the creation of the world, the entrance of sin and death, the first promises of redemption, the flood, the peopling of the postdiluvian earth, and the origin of nations, the call of Abraham, and the giving of the law. We have, indeed, in it the early history of religion, and a key to all the subsequent dispensations of God to man. The genuineness and authenticity of these most venerable and important books have been established by various writers; but the following remarks upon the veracity of the writings of Moses have the merit of compressing much argument into few words:— </p> <p> <strong> 1. </strong> There is a <em> minuteness </em> in the details of the [[Mosaic]] writings, which bespeaks their truth; for it often bespeaks the eye-witness, as in the adventures of the wilderness; and often seems intended to supply directions to the artificer, as in the construction of the tabernacle. </p> <p> <strong> 2. </strong> There are <em> touches of nature </em> in the narrative which bespeak its truth, for it is not easy to regard them otherwise than as strokes from the life; as where "the mixed multitude," whether half-castes or Egyptians, are the first to sigh for the cucumbers and melons of Egypt, and to spread discontent through the camp, Numbers 11:4; as the miserable exculpation of himself, which Aaron attempts, with all the cowardice of conscious guilt, "I cast into the fire, and there came out this calf:" the fire, to be sure, being in the fault, Exodus 32:24 . </p> <p> <strong> 3. </strong> There are certain little <em> inconveniences </em> represented as turning up unexpectedly, that bespeak truth in the story; for they are just such accidents as are characteristic of the working of a new system and untried machinery. What is to be done with the man who is found gathering sticks on the [[Sabbath]] day? Numbers 15:32 . (Could an impostor have devised such a trifle?) How is the inheritance of the daughters of [[Zelophehad]] to be disposed of, there being no heir male? Numbers 36:2 . [[Either]] of them inconsiderable matters in themselves, but both giving occasion to very important laws; the one touching life, and the other property. </p> <p> <strong> 4. </strong> There is a <em> simplicity </em> in the manner of Moses, when telling his tale, which bespeaks its truth: no parade of language, no pomp of circumstance even in his miracles, a modesty and dignity throughout all. Let us but compare him in any trying scene with Josephus; his description, for instance, of the passage through the Red Sea, Exodus 14, of the murmuring of the Israelites and the supply of quails and manna, with the same as given by the Jewish historian, or rhetorician we might rather say, and the force of the observation will be felt. </p> <p> <strong> 5. </strong> There is a <em> candour </em> in the treatment of his subject by Moses, which bespeaks his truth; as when he tells of his own want of eloquence, which unfitted him for a leader, Exodus 4:10; his own want of faith, which prevented him from entering the promised land, Numbers 20:12; the idolatry of Aaron his brother, Exodus 32:21; the profaneness of [[Nadab]] and Abihu, his nephews, Leviticus 10; the disaffection and punishment of Miriam, his sister, Numbers 12:1 . </p> <p> <strong> 6. </strong> There is a <em> disinterestedness </em> in his conduct, which bespeaks him to be a man of truth; for though he had sons, he apparently takes no measures during his life to give them offices of trust or profit; and at his death he appoints as his successor one who had no claims upon him, either of alliance, of clanship, or of blood. </p> <p> <strong> 7. </strong> There are certain <em> prophetical </em> passages in the writings of Moses, which bespeak their truth; as, several respecting the future Messiah, and the very sublime and literal one respecting the final fall of Jerusalem, Deuteronomy 28. </p> <p> <strong> 8. </strong> There is a <em> simple key </em> supplied by these writings, to the meaning of many ancient traditions current among the Heathens, though greatly disguised, which is another circumstance that bespeaks their truth: as, the golden age; the garden of the Hesperides; the fruit tree in the midst of the garden which the dragon guarded; the destruction of mankind by a flood, all except two persons, and those righteous persons, </p> <p> <strong> <em> Innocuos ambos, cultores numinis ambos; [Both innocent, both worshippers of Deity;] </em> </strong> </p> <p> the rainbow, "which [[Jupiter]] set in the cloud, a sign to men;" the seventh day a sacred day; with many others, all conspiring to establish the reality of the facts which Moses relates, because tending to show that vestiges of the like present themselves in the traditional history of the world at large. </p> <p> <strong> 9. </strong> The concurrence which is found between the writings of Moses and those of the New [[Testament]] bespeaks their truth: the latter constantly appealing to them, being indeed but the completion of the system which the others are the first to put forth. Nor is this an illogical argument; for, though the credibility of the New Testament itself may certainly be reasoned out from the truth of the [[Pentateuch]] once established, it is still very far from depending on that circumstance exclusively, or even principally. The New Testament demands acceptance on its own merits, on merits distinct from those on which the books of Moses rest, therefore (so far as it does so) it may fairly give its suffrage for their veracity, <em> valcat quantum valet: </em> [it may avail as far as it goes;] and surely it is a very improbable thing, that two dispensations, separated by an interval of some fifteen hundred years, each exhibiting prophecies of its own, since fulfilled; each asserting miracles of its own, on strong evidence of its own; that two dispensations, with such individual claims to be believed, should also be found to stand in the closest relation to one another, and yet both turn out impostures after all. </p> <p> <strong> 10. </strong> Above all, there is a comparative <em> purity </em> in the theology and morality of the Pentateuch, which argues not only its truth, but its high original; for how else are we to account for a system like that of Moses, in such an age and among such a people; that the doctrine of the unity, the self-existence, the providence, the perfections of the great God of heaven and earth, should thus have blazed forth (how far more brightly than even in the vaunted schools of [[Athens]] at its most refined era!) from the midst of a nation, of themselves ever plunging into gross and grovelling idolatry; and that principles of social duty, of benevolence, and of self-restraint, extending even to the thoughts of the heart, should have been the produce of an age which the very provisions of the [[Levitical]] law itself show to have been full of savage and licentious abominations? Exodus 3:14; Exodus 20:3-17; Leviticus 19:2; Leviticus 19:18; Deuteronomy 6:4; Deuteronomy 30:6 . Such are some of the internal evidences for the veracity of the books of Moses. </p> <p> <strong> 11. </strong> Then the situation in which the [[Jews]] actually found themselves placed, as a matter of fact, is no slight argument for the truth of the Mosaic accounts; reminded, as they were, by certain memorials observed from year to year, of the great events of their early history, just as they are recorded in the writings of Moses, memorials universally recognized both in their object and in their authority. The passover, for instance, celebrated by all, no man doubting its meaning, no man in all Israel assigning to it any other origin than one, viz. that of being a contemporary monument of a miracle displayed in favour of the people of Israel; by right of which credentials, and no other, it summoned from all quarters of the world, at great cost, and inconvenience, and danger, the dispersed Jews, none disputing the obligation to obey the summons. </p> <p> <strong> 12. </strong> Then the heroic <em> devotion </em> with which the Israelites continued to regard the law, even long after they had ceased to cultivate the better part of it, even when that very law only served to condemn its worshippers, so that they would offer themselves up by thousands, with their children and wives, as martyrs to the honour of their temple, in which no image, even of an emperor, who could scourge them with scorpions for their disobedience, should be suffered to stand, and they live: so that rather than violate the sanctity of the Sabbath day, the bravest men in arms would lay down their lives as tamely as sheep, and allow themselves to be burned in the holes where they had taken refuge from their cruel and cowardly pursuers. All this points to their law, as having been at first promulgated under circumstances too awful to be forgotten even after the lapse of ages. </p> <p> <strong> 13. </strong> Then again, the extraordinary degree of <em> national pride </em> with which the Jews boasted themselves to be God's peculiar people, as if no nation ever was or ever could be so nigh to him; a feeling which the early teachers of [[Christianity]] found an insuperable obstacle to the progress of the [[Gospel]] among them, and which actually did effect its ultimate rejection, this may well seem to be founded upon a strong traditional sense of uncommon tokens of the Almighty's regard for them above all other nations of the earth, which they had heard with their ears, or their fathers had declared unto them, even the noble works that he had done in the old time before them. </p> <p> <strong> 14. </strong> Then again, the constant craving after "a sign," which beset them in the latter days of their history, as a lively certificate of the prophet; and not after a sign only, but after such a one as they would themselves prescribe: </p> <p> "What sign showest thou, that we may see, and believe? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert," John 6:31 . This desire, so frequently expressed, and with which they are so frequently reproached, looks like the relic of an appetite engendered in other times, when they had enjoyed the privilege of more intimate communion with God; it seems the wake, as it were, of miracles departed. </p> <p> <strong> 15. </strong> Lastly, the very <em> onerous </em> nature of the law; so studiously meddling with all the occupations of life, great and small;—this yoke would scarcely have been endured, without the strongest assurance, on the part of those who were galled by it, of the authority by which it was imposed. For it met them with some restraint or other at every turn. [[Would]] they plough? then it must not be with an ox and an ass. Would they sow? then must not the seed be mixed. Would they reap? then must they not reap clean. Would they make bread? then must they set apart dough enough for the consecrated loaf. Did they find a bird's nest? then must they let the old bird fly away. Did they hunt? then they must shed the blood of their game, and cover it with dust. Did they plant a fruit tree? for three years was the fruit to be uncircumcised. Did they shave their beards? they were not to cut the corners. Did they weave a garment? then must it be only with threads prescribed. Did they build a house? they must put rails and battlements on the roof. Did they buy an estate? at the year of jubilee, back it must go to its owner. All these (and how many more of the same kind might be named!) are enactments which it must have required extraordinary influence in the lawgiver, to enjoin, and extraordinary reverence for his powers to perpetuate. </p> <p> Still, after all, says Mr. Blunt, unbelievers may start difficulties,—this I dispute not; difficulties, too, which we may not always be able to answer, though I think we may be always able to neutralize them. It may be a part of our trial, that such difficulties should exist and be encountered; for there can be no reason why temptations should not be provided for the natural pride of our understanding, as well as for the natural lusts of our flesh. To many, indeed, they would be the more formidable of the two, perhaps to the angels who kept not their first estate they proved so. With such facts, however, before me, as these which I have submitted to my readers, I can come to no conclusion but one,—that when we read the writings of Moses, we read no cunningly devised fables, but solemn and safe records of great and marvellous events, which court examination, and sustain it; records of such apparent veracity and faithfulness, that I can understand our Lord to have spoken almost without a figure, when he said, that he who believed not Moses, neither would he be persuaded though one rose from the dead. </p>

<p> (See AARON; EGYPT; EXODUS.) [[Hebrew]] Μosheh , from an [[Egyptian]] root, "son" or "brought forth," namely, out of the water. The name was also borne by an Egyptian prince, viceroy of [[Nubia]] under the 19th dynasty. In the part of the Exodus narrative which deals with Egypt, words are used purely Egyptian or common to Hebrew and Egyptian. [[Manetho]] in [[Josephus]] (contrast [[Apion]] 1:26, 28, 31) calls him Οsarsiph , i.e. "sword of [[Osiris]] or saved by Osiris". "The man of God" in the title [[Psalm]] 90, for as [[Moses]] gave in the [[Pentateuch]] the key note to all succeeding prophets so also to inspired psalmody in that the oldest psalm. "Jehovah's slave" (Numbers 12:7; Deuteronomy 34:5; Joshua 1:2; Psalms 105:26; Hebrews 3:5). "Jehovah's chosen" (Psalms 106:23). "The man of God" (1 Chronicles 23:14). Besides the Pentateuch, the [[Prophets]] and Psalms and New [[Testament]] (Acts 7:9; Acts 7:20-38; 2 Timothy 3:8-9; Hebrews 11:20-28; Judges 1:9) give details concerning him. His Egyptian rearing and life occupy 40 years, his exile in the [[Arabian]] desert 40, and his leadership of [[Israel]] from [[Egypt]] to [[Moab]] 40 (Acts 7:23; Acts 7:30; Acts 7:36). </p> <p> [[Son]] of [[Amram]] (a later one than Kohath's father) and [[Jochebed]] (whose name, derived from Jehovah, shows the family hereditary devotion); Miriam, married to Hur, was oldest; Aaron, married to Elisheba, three years older (Exodus 7:7, compare Exodus 2:7); next Moses, youngest. (See AMRAM; MIRIAM.) By Zipporah, Reuel's daughter, he had two sons: Gershom, father of Jonathan, and [[Eliezer]] (1 Chronicles 23:14-15); these took no prominent place in their tribe. A mark of genuineness; a forger would have made them prominent. Moses showed no self-seeking or nepotism. His tribe [[Levi]] was the priestly one, and naturally rallied round him in support of the truth with characteristic enthusiasm (Exodus 32:27-28). [[Born]] at [[Heliopolis]] (Josephus, Ap. 1:9, 6; 2:9), at the time of Israel's deepest depression, from whence the proverb, "when the tale of bricks is doubled then comes Moses." [[Magicians]] foretold to [[Pharaoh]] his birth as a destroyer; a dream announced to Amram his coming as the deliverer (Josephus, Ant. 2:9, section 2-3). </p> <p> Some prophecies probably accompanied his birth. These explain the parents' "faith" which laid hold of God's promise contained in those prophecies; the parents took his good looks as a pledge of the fulfillment. Hebrews 11:23, "by faith Moses when he was born was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper (good-looking: Acts 7:20, [[Greek]] 'fair to God') child, and they were not afraid of the king's commandment" to slay all the males. For three months Jochebed hid him. Then she placed him in an ark of papyrus, secured with bitumen, and laid it in the "flags" (tufi , less in size than the other papyrus) by the river's brink, and went away unable to bear longer the sight. (H. F. Talbot Transact. Bibl. Archrael., i., pt. 9, translates a fragment of [[Assyrian]] mythology: "I am Sargina the great king, king of Agani. My mother gave birth to me in a secret place. She placed me in an ark of bulrushes and closed up the door with slime and pitch. She cast me into the river," etc. A curious parallel.) [[Miriam]] lingered to watch what would happen. </p> <p> Pharaoh's daughter (holding an independent position and separate household under the ancient empire; childless herself, therefore ready to adopt Moses; Thermutis according to Josephus) coming down to bathe in the sacred and life giving [[Nile]] (as it was regarded) saw the ark and sent her maidens to fetch it. The babe's tears touched her womanly heart, and on Miriam's offer to fetch a Hebrew nurse she gave the order enabling his sister to call his mother. [[Tunis]] (now San), Zoan, or [[Avaris]] near the sea was the place, where crocodiles are never found; and so the infant would run no risk in that respect. Aahmes I, the expeller of the shepherd kings, had taken it. Here best the Pharaohs could repel the attacks of Asiatic nomads and crush the [[Israelite]] serfs. "The field of Zoan" was the scene of God's miracles in Israel's behalf (Psalms 78:43). She adopted Moses as "her son, and trained him "in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," [[Providence]] thus qualifying him with the erudition needed for the predestined leader and instructor of Israel, and "he was mighty in words and in deeds." </p> <p> This last may hint at what Josephus states, namely, that Moses led a successful campaign against Ethiopia, and named Saba the capital Meroe (Artapanus in [[Eusebius]] 9:27), from his adopted mother Merrhis, and brought away as his wife Tharbis daughter of the [[Ethiopian]] king, who falling in love with him had shown him the way to gain the swamp surrounding the city (Josephus Ant. 2:10, section 2; compare Numbers 12:1). However, his marriage to the Ethiopian must have been at a later period than Josephus states, namely, after Zipporah's death in the wilderness wanderings. An inscription by Thothmes I, who reigned in Moses' early life, commemorates the "conqueror of the nine bows," i.e. Libya. A statistical tablet of Karnak (Birch says) states that Chebron and Thothmes I overran Ethiopia. Moses may have continued the war and in it wrought the "mighty deeds" ascribed to him. </p> <p> When Moses was 40 years old, in no fit of youthful enthusiasm but deliberately, Moses "chose" (Hebrews 11:23-28) what are the last things men choose, loss of social status as son of Pharaoh's daughter, "affliction," and "reproach." [[Faith]] made him prefer the "adoption" of the King of kings. He felt the worst of religion is better than the best of the world; if the world offers "pleasure" it is but "for a season." Contrast [[Esau]] (Hebrews 12:16-17). If religion brings "affliction" it too is but for a season, its pleasures are "forevermore at God's right hand" (Psalms 16:11). Israel's "reproach" "Christ" regards as His own (2 Corinthians 1:5; Colossians 1:24), it will soon be the true Israel's glory (Isaiah 25:8). "Moses had respect unto" (Greek apeblepen ), or turned his eyes from all worldly considerations to fix them on, the eternal "recompense." His "going out unto his brethren when he was grown and looking on their burdens" was his open declaration of his taking his portion with the oppressed serfs on the ground of their adoption by [[God]] and inheritance of the promises. </p> <p> "It came into his heart (from God's Spirit, Proverbs 16:1) to visit his brethren, the children of Israel" (Acts 7:23). An Egyptian overseer, armed probably with one of the long heavy scourges of tough pliant [[Syrian]] wood (Chabas' "Voyage du Egyptien," 119, 136), was smiting an Hebrew, one of those with whom Moses identified himself as his "brethren." [[Giving]] way to impulsive hastiness under provocation, without regard to self when wrong was done to a brother, Moses took the law into his own hands, and slew and hid the Egyptian in the sand. [[Stephen]] (Acts 7:25; Acts 7:35) implies that Moses meant by the act to awaken in the Hebrew a thirst for the freedom and nationality which God had promised and to offer himself as their deliverer. But on his striving to reconcile two quarreling Hebrew the wrong doer, when reproved, replied: "who made thee a prince (with the power) and a judge (with the right of interfering) over us? (Luke 19:14, the Antitype.) Intendest thou to kill me as thou killedst the Egyptian?" </p> <p> Slavery had debased them, and Moses dispirited gave up as hopeless the enterprise which he had undertaken in too hasty and self-relying a spirit. His impetuous violence retarded instead of expedited their deliverance. He still needed 40 more years of discipline, in meek self-control and humble dependence on Jehovah, in order to qualify him for his appointed work. A proof of the genuineness of the Pentateuch is the absence of personal details which later tradition would have been sure to give. Moses' object was not a personal biography but a history of God's dealings with Israel. Pharaoh, on hearing of his killing the Egyptian overseer, "sought to slay him," a phrase implying that Moses' high position made necessary special measures to bring him under the king's power. Moses fled, leaving his exalted prospects to wait God's time and God's way. [[Epistle]] to the Hebrew (Hebrews 11:27) writes, "by faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king." Moses "feared" (Exodus 2:14-15) lest by staying he should sacrifice his divinely intimated destiny to be Israel's deliverer, which was his great aim. </p> <p> But he did "not fear" the king's wrath which would be aggravated by his fleeing without Pharaoh's leave. He did "not fear the king" so as to shrink from returning at all risks when God commanded. "Faith" God saw to be the ruling motive of his flight more than fear of personal safety; "he endured as seeing (through faith) Him who is invisible" (Luke 12:4-5). Despondency, when commissioned at last by God to arouse the people, was his first feeling on his return, from past disappointment in not having been able to inspire Israel with those high hopes for which he had sacrificed all earthly prospects (Exodus 3:15; Exodus 4:1; Exodus 4:10-12). He dwells not on Pharaoh's cruelty and power, but on the hopelessness of his appeals to Israel and on his want of the "eloquence" needed to move their stubborn hearts. He fled from Egypt to southern [[Midian]] because [[Reuel]] (his name "friend of God" implies he worshipped ΕL ) or [[Raguel]] there still maintained the worship of the true God as king-priest or imam (Arabic version) before Israel's call, even as [[Melchizedek]] did at [[Jerusalem]] before Abraham's call. </p> <p> The northern people of Midian through contact with [[Canaan]] were already idolaters. Reuel's daughters, in telling of Moses' help to them in watering their flocks, called him "an Egyptian," judging from his costume and language, for he had not yet been long enough living with [[Israelites]] to be known as one; an undesigned coincidence and mark of genuineness. Moses "was content to live with Reuel" as in a congenial home, marrying [[Zipporah]] his daughter. From him probably Moses learned the traditions of Abraham's family in connection with [[Keturah]] (Genesis 25:2). Zipporah bore him [[Gershom]] and Eliezer whose names ("stranger," "God is my help") intimate how keenly he felt his exile (Exodus 18:3-4). The alliance between Israel and the [[Kenite]] [[Midianites]] continued permanently. Horab, Moses' brother-in-law, was subsequently Israel's guide through the desert. (See HOBAB.) In the 40 years' retirement Moses learned that self discipline which was needed for leading a nation under such unparalleled circumstances. </p> <p> An interval of solitude is needed especially by men of fervor and vehemence; so [[Paul]] in [[Arabia]] (Acts 24:27; Galatians 1:17). He who first attempted the great undertaking without God's call, expecting success from his own powers, in the end never undertook anything without God's guidance. His hasty impetuosity of spirit in a right cause, and his abandonment of that cause as hopeless on the first rebuff, gave place to a meekness, patience, tenderness, long suffering under wearing provocation and trials from the stiff-necked people, and persevering endurance, never surpassed (Numbers 12:3; Numbers 27:16). To appreciate this meekness, e.g. under Miriam's provocation, and apparent insensibility where his own honor alone was concerned, contrast his vigorous action, holy boldness for the Lord's honor, and passionate earnestness of intercession for his people, even to the verge of unlawful excess, in self sacrifice. (See MIRIAM; ANATHEMA.) He would not "let God alone," "standing before God in the breach to turn away His wrath" from Israel (Psalms 106:23). </p> <p> His intercessions restored Miriam, stayed plagues and serpents, and procured water out of the rock (Exodus 32:10-11; Exodus 32:20-25, Exodus 32:31-32). His was the reverse of a phlegmatic temper, but divine grace subdued and sanctified the natural defects of a man of strong feelings and impetuous character. His entire freedom from Miriam's charge of unduly exalting his office appears beautifully in his gentle reproof of Joshua's zeal for his honor: "enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the Lord's people were prophets!" etc. (Numbers 11:29.) His recording his own praises (Numbers 12:3-7) is as much the part of the faithful servant of Jehovah, writing under His inspiration, as his recording his own demerits (Exodus 2:12; Exodus 3:11; Exodus 4:10-14; Numbers 20:10-12). Instead of vindicating himself in the case of [[Korah]] (Numbers 16) and Miriam (Numbers 12) he leaves his cause with God, and tenderly intercedes for Miriam. He is linked with Samuel in after ages as an instance of the power of intercessory prayer (Jeremiah 15:1). </p> <p> He might have established his dynasty over Israel, but he assumed no princely honor and sought no preeminence for his sons (Deuteronomy 9:13-19). The spiritual progress in Moses between his first appearance and his second is very marked. The same spirit prompted him to avenge his injured countryman, and to rescue the [[Midianite]] women from the shepherds' violence, as afterward led him to confront Pharaoh; but in the first instance he was an illustration of the truth that "the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God" (James 1:20). The traditional site of his call by the divine "Angel of Jehovah" (the uncreated [[Shekinah]] , "the Word" of John 1, "the form like the Son of God" with Shadrach, Meshach, and [[Abednego]] in the furnace, Daniel 3:25) is in the valley of Shoayb or Hobab, on the northern side of jebel Musa. Moses led Jethro's flock to the W. ("the back side") of the desert or open pasture. The district of Sherim on the [[Red]] Sea, Jethro's abode, was barren; four days N.W. of it lies the [[Sinai]] region with good pasturage and water. </p> <p> He came to "the mountain of God" (Sinai, called so by anticipation of God's giving the law there) on his way toward Horeb. The altar of Catherine's convent is said to occupy the site of the (the article is in the Hebrew,: the well known) burning bush. The vision is generally made to typify Israel afflicted yet not consumed (2 Corinthians 4:8-10); but the flame was in the bush, not the bush in the flame; rather, Israel was the lowly acacia, the thorn bush of the desert, yet God deigned to abide in the midst of her (Zechariah 2:5). So Israel's Antitype, Messiah, has "all the fullness of the [[Godhead]] dwelling in Him bodily" (John 1:14; Colossians 2:9). [[Jehovah]] gave Moses two signs as credentials to assure him of his mission: the transformation of his long "rod" of authority (as on Egyptian monuments) or pastoral rod into a "serpent," the basilisk or cobra, the symbol of royal and divine power on the Pharaoh's diadem; a pledge of victory over the king and gods of Egypt (compare Mark 16:18; Moses' humble but wonder working crook typifies Christ's despised but allpowerful cross). (On Zipporah's [see] CIRCUMCISION of her son.) </p> <p> The hand made leprous, then restored, represents the nation of lepers (as Egyptian tradition made them, and as spiritually they had become in Egypt) with whom Moses linked himself, divinely healed through his instrumentality. No patriarch before wrought a miracle. Had the Pentateuch been mythical, it would have attributed supernatural wonders to the first fathers of the church and founders of the race. As it is, Moses first begins the new era in the history of the world with signs from God by man unknown before. To Moses' disinterested and humble pleadings of inability to speak, and desire that some other should be sent, Jehovah answers: "Aaron shall be thy spokesman ... even he shall be to thee a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God." Aaron, when he heard of Moses leaving Midian, of his own accord went to meet him; Jehovah further directed him what way to go in order to meet him, namely, by the desert (Exodus 4:14; Exodus 4:27). The two meeting and kissing on the mountain of God typify the law and the sacrificing priesthood meeting in [[Christ]] (Exodus 4:27; Psalms 85:10). </p> <p> Nothing short of divine interposition could have enabled Moses to lead an unwarlike people of serfs out of a powerful nation like Egypt, to give them the law with their acceptance of it though so contrary to their corrupt inclinations, to keep them together for 40 years in the wilderness, and finally to lead them to their conquest of the eastern part of Canaan. Moses had neither eloquence nor military prowess (as appears Exodus 4:10; Exodus 17:8-12), qualities so needful for an ordinary popular leader. He had passed in rural life the 40 years constituting the prime of his vigor. He had seemingly long given up all hopes of being Israel's deliverer, and settled himself in Midian. Nothing but God's extraordinary call could have urged him, against his judgment, reluctantly at fourscore to resume the project of rousing a debased people which in the rigor of manhood he had been forced to give up as hopeless. Nothing but such plagues as [[Scripture]] records could have induced the most powerful monarchy then in the world to allow their unarmed serfs to pass away voluntarily. </p> <p> His first efforts only aggravated Pharaoh's oppression and Israel's bondage (Exodus 5:2-9). Nor could magical feats derived from Egyptian education have enabled Moses to gain his point, for he was watched and opposed by the masters of this art, who had the king and the state on their side, while Moses had not a single associate save Aaron. Yet in a few months, without Israel's drawing sword, Pharaoh and the [[Egyptians]] urge their departure, and Israel "demands" (not "borrows," shaal ) as a right from their former masters, and receives, gold, silver, and jewels (Exodus 12:85-39). Not even does Moses lead them the way of [[Philistia]] which, as being near, wisdom would suggest, but knowing their unwarlike character avoids it; Moses guides them into a defile with mountains on either side and the Red [[Sea]] in front, from whence escape from the Egyptian disciplined pursuers, who repented of letting them go, seemed hopeless, especially as Israel consisted of spiritless men, encumbered with women and with children. </p> <p> Nothing but the miracle recorded can account for the issue; Egypt's king and splendid host perish in the waters, Israel passes through in triumph (Exodus 13:17; Exodus 14:3; Exodus 14:5; Exodus 14:9; Exodus 14:11-12; Exodus 14:14). Again Moses with undoubting assurance of success on the borders of Canaan tells Israel "go up and possess the land" (Deuteronomy 1:20-21). By the people's desire spies searched the land; they reported the goodness of the land but yet more the strength and tallness of its inhabitants. The timid Israelites were daunted, and even proposed to stone the two faithful spies, to depose Moses, and choose a captain to lead them back to Egypt. Moses, instead of animating them to enter Canaan, now will neither suffer them to proceed, nor yet to return to Egypt; they must march and counter-march in the wilderness for 40 years until every adult but two shall have perished; but their little ones, who they said should be a prey, God will bring in. Only a divine direction, manifested with miracle, can account for such an unparalleled command and for its being obeyed by so disobedient a people. </p> <p> Too late they repented of their unbelieving cowardice, when Moses announced God's sentence, and in spite of Moses' warning presumed to go, but were chased by the [[Amalekites]] to [[Hormah]] (Deuteronomy 1:45-46; Deuteronomy 2:14; Numbers 14:39). The sustenance of 600,000 men besides women and children, 40 years, in a comparative desert could only be by miracle; as the Pentateuch records, they were fed with manna from heaven until they ate the grain of Canaan, on the morrow after which the manna ceased (Exodus 16; Joshua 5:12). Graves, Pentateuch, 1:1, section 5. [[Aaron]] and [[Hur]] supported Moses in the battle with [[Amalek]] (Exodus 17:12); Joshua was his minister. The localities of the desert commemorate his name, "the wells of Moses," Ayun Moses on the Red Sea, jebel Musa, the mountain of Moses, and the ravine of Moses near the Catherine convent. At once the prophet (foremost and greatest, Deuteronomy 34:10-11), lawgiver, and leader of Israel, Moses typifies and resembles [[Messiah]] (Numbers 21:18; Deuteronomy 33:21; especially Deuteronomy 18:15-19, compare Acts 3:22; Acts 7:37; Acts 7:25; Acts 7:35; John 1:17). </p> <p> Israel's rejection of Moses prefigures their rejection of Christ. His mediatorship in giving the law answers to Christ's; also Exodus 17:11; Exodus 32:10-14; Exodus 32:31-34; Exodus 33:18-16; Galatians 3:19, compare 1 Timothy 2:5. Moses was the only prophet to whom Jehovah spoke "face to face," "as a man speaketh unto his friend" (Exodus 33:11; Numbers 12:8; Deuteronomy 34:10): so at [[Horeb]] (Exodus 33:18-23); compare as to Christ John 1:18. For the contrast between "Christ the Son over His own house" and "Moses the servant faithful in all God's house" see Hebrews 3:1-6. Pharaoh's murder of the innocents answers to Herod's; Christ like Moses sojourned in Egypt, His 40 days' fast answers to that of Moses. Moses stands at the head of the legal dispensation, so that Israel is said to have been "baptized unto Moses" (initiated into the [[Mosaic]] covenant) as [[Christians]] are into Christ. </p> <p> Moses after the calf worship removed the temporary tabernacle (preparatory to the permanent one, subsequently described) outside the camp; and as he disappeared in this "tent of meeting" (rather than "tabernacle of congregation") the people wistfully gazed after him (Exodus 33:7-10). On his last descent from Sinai "his face shone"; and he put on a veil as the people "could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away," a type of the transitory dispensation which he represented, in contrast to the abiding [[Christian]] dispensation (Exodus 34:30; Exodus 34:38; 2 Corinthians 3:13-14; 2 Corinthians 3:7; 2 Corinthians 3:11). "They were afraid to come nigh him": Alford's explanation based on the [[Septuagint]] is disproved by Exodus 34:30; 2 Corinthians 3:7, namely, that Moses not until he had done speaking to the people put on the veil "that they might not look on the end (the fading) of his transitory glory." Paul implies, "Moses put on the veil that (God's judicial giving them up to their willful blindness: Isaiah 6:10; Acts 28:26-27) they might not look steadfastly at (Christ, Romans 10:4; the Spirit, 2 Corinthians 3:17) the end of that (law in its mere letter) which (like Moses' glory) is done away." </p> <p> The evangelical glory of Moses' law, like the shining of Moses' face, cannot be borne by a carnal people, and therefore remains veiled to them until the [[Spirit]] takes away the veil (2 Corinthians 14-17; John 5:45-47). There is a coincidence between the song of Moses (Deuteronomy 32; 33) and his Psalm 90; thus Deuteronomy 33:27 compare Psalms 90:1; Psalms 32:4; Psalms 32:36 with Psalms 90:13; Psalms 90:16. The time of the psalm was probably toward the close of the 40 years' wandering in the desert. The people after long chastisement beg mercy (Psalms 90:15-17). The limitation of life to 70 or 80 years harmonizes with the dying of all that generation at about that age; 20 to 40 at the Exodus, to which the 40 in the wilderness being added make 60 to 80. Kimchi says the older rabbis ascribed Psalm 91 also to Moses Israel's exemption from Egypt's plagues, especially the death stroke on the firstborn, which surrounded but did not touch God's people, in Exodus 8:22; Exodus 10:28; Exodus 11:7; Exodus 12:23, corresponds to Psalms 91:3-10. </p> <p> His song in Exodus 15 abounds in incidents marked by the freshness and simplicity which we should expect from an eye-witness: he anticipates the dismay of the [[Philistines]] and [[Edomites]] through whose territories Israel's path lay to the promised land. The final song (Deuteronomy 32) and blessing (Deuteronomy 33) have the same characteristics. These songs gave atone to Israel's poetry in each succeeding age. They are the earnest of the church's final "song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb" (Revelation 15:3), the song which shall unite in triumph the Old Testament church and the New Testament church, after their conflicts shall have been past. Like the Antitype, his parting word was blessing (Deuteronomy 33:29; Luke 24:51). His exclusion from Canaan teaches symbolically the law cannot bring us into the heavenly Canaan, the antitypical Joshua must do that. Two months before his death (Numbers 31), just before his closing addresses, the successful expedition, by God's command to Moses, against Midian was undertaken. </p> <p> Preparatory to that expedition was the census and mustering of the tribes on the plains of Moab (Numbers 26). The numbers were taken according to the families, so as equitably to allot the land. Moses among his last acts wrote the law and delivered it to the priests to be put in the side of the ark for a witness against Israel (Deuteronomy 31:9-12; Deuteronomy 31:22-27) and gave a charge to Joshua. In Exodus 24:12 "I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and the commandment" (Hebrew), the reference is to the ten commandments on the two stone tables, the Pentateuch "law," and the ceremonial commandment. However, Knobel translated it as "the tables of stone with the law, even the commandment." His death accorded with his life. He was sentenced (for "unbelievingly not sanctifying the Lord" and "speaking unadvisedly with his lips," to the people, though told to address the rock, in a harsh unsympathetic spirit which God calls rebellion, Numbers 20:8-13; Numbers 27:14, through the people's "provocation of his spirit," his original infirmity of a hasty impetuous temper recurring) to see yet not enter the good land. </p> <p> Meekly submitting to the stroke, he thought to the last only of God's glory and Israel's good, not of self: "let Jehovah, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation" (Numbers 27:12-16). Yet how earnestly he had longed to go over into the good land appears in Deuteronomy 3:24-27. [[Ascending]] to Nebo, a height on the western slope of the range of Pisgah, so-called from a neighboring town, he was showed by Jehovah "all [[Gilead]] unto Dan, Naphtali, Ephraim, Manasseh, all Judah, unto the Mediterranean, the S. and the plain of [[Jericho]] unto Zoar" (N. according to Tristram, rather S. of the [[Dead]] Sea); like Christ's view of the world kingdoms (Luke 4:5), it was supernatural, effected probably by an extraordinary intensification of Moses' powers of vision. (See ZOAR.) </p> <p> Then he died there "according to the word of Jehovah," Hebrew "on the mouth of Jehovah," which the rabbis explain "by a kiss of the Lord" (Song of [[Solomon]] 1:2); but [[Genesis]] 45:21 margin supports KJV (compare Deuteronomy 32:51.) Buried by Jehovah himself in a valley in Moab over against Bethpeor, Moses was probably translated soon after; for he afterward appears with the translated [[Elijah]] and [[Jesus]] at the transfiguration, when the law and the prophets in Moses' and Elijah's persons gave place to the Son whose servants and fore witnesses they had been: "hear ye Him" answers to "unto Him ye shall hearken" (Deuteronomy 18; Matthew 17:1-10; compare Judges 1:9). His sepulchre therefore could not be found by man. </p> <p> The term "decease," Exodus, found in Luke 9:31, and with the undesigned coincidence of truth repeated by Peter an eye-witness of the transfiguration (2 Peter 1:15), was suggested by the Exodus from Egypt, the type of Jesus' death and resurrection. Josephus (Ant. 4:8) thought God hid Moses' body lest it should be idolized. [[Satan]] (Hebrews 2:14) contended with Michael, that it should not be raised again on the ground of Moses' sin (Judges 1:9, compare Zechariah 3:2). "His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated" before death. Israel mourned him for 30 days. The remembrance of Moses ages after shall be a reason for Jehovah's mercy awaiting Israel (Isaiah 63:11). </p> <p> "And had he not high honor? The hillside for his pall, To lie in state while angels wait, With stars for tapers tall; And the dark rock pines, like tossing plumes, Over his bier to wave, And God's own hand, in that lonely land To lay him in the grave." - C. F. Alexander. </p>

<p> Just as, in the Synagogue, the Law (the Torah), was accounted the most important division of the Canon, and as [[Holy]] [[Scripture]] in its entirety might thus <i> a parte potiori </i> be designated the ‘Law’ (ὁ νόμος, the <i> tôrâh </i> ), so in the primitive [[Church]] [[Moses]] was regarded as the supreme figure of the OT. </p> <p> <b> 1. Moses as the author of the Pentateuch. </b> -Moses was honoured as the author of the ‘Law,’ <i> i.e. </i> the Pentateuch: Romans 10:5 (‘Moses writeth’); cf. Acts 3:22; Acts 7:37. His name had become so closely identified with the books of the [[Torah]] that we even find it said, ‘Moses is read’ (Acts 15:21, 2 Corinthians 3:15 [cf. 2 Corinthians 3:14]). The [[Mosaic]] origin of the [[Pentateuch]] was an assumption of [[Jewish]] tradition and, as such, seems to have been taken over by [[Jesus]] and His apostles without criticism of any sort. It is to be noted, however, that they attached no special importance to the belief that Moses himself wrote the Pentateuch. This is in no sense the point of the above references, as the name ‘Moses’ is used either metonymically for the Law (‘the Old Covenant’) as in Acts 15:21 and 2 Corinthians 3:15 (cf. 2 Corinthians 3:14), or as a designation of the correlative, <i> i.e. </i> the first, portion of Holy Scripture or [[Divine]] revelation; cf. <i> e.g. </i> Romans 10:19 (where Moses is referred to only as the mouth-piece of God, exactly like ‘Isaiah’ in the next verse). Occasionally, however, special emphasis is laid upon the fact that Moses, as a prophet, gave utterance to certain sayings, since, as the recognized representative of Judaism, he forms in some sense a contrast to Jesus; cf. Acts 7:37; Acts 3:22 (‘Moses said’) with John 5:46 (Romans 10:5). </p> <p> <b> 2. Moses as a prophet. </b> -Among the early [[Christians]] generally Moses was honoured as preeminently a prophet. While the religion of the OT revolved around the two foci, Law and Promise, primitive Christianity-in contrast to later Judaism-laid the chief emphasis upon the Promise; and, if the [[Jews]] exploited Moses in their controversies with the Christians, the latter could always appeal to his Messianic prediction; cf. Acts 3:22; Acts 7:37; Acts 26:22; Acts 28:23, Luke 24:27; Luke 24:44, John 5:45-47 (Deuteronomy 18:15 : ‘The Lord thy [[God]] will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me’). More especially in the speech of [[Stephen]] a strong emphasis is laid upon the prophetic character of Moses (Acts 7:37); here, moreover, Moses does not merely foretell the coming of Christ, but in his calling, and even in his experiences, he is also, as indicated in the passage cited from Dt., a prototype of Christ, having been first of all disowned by his people (Acts 7:23-29), then exalted by God to be their leader and deliverer (Acts 7:35), and at length once more rejected by them (Acts 7:39-41). St. Paul, too, uses the figure of Moses as a type of Christ: the [[Israelites]] in their exodus from [[Egypt]] ‘were all baptized unto Moses’ in the [[Red]] [[Sea]] (1 Corinthians 10:2); and in Hebrews 3:2 Moses is spoken of as typifying Christ’s faithfulness in the service of God’s house. That [[Christ]] is called the [[Mediator]] of the New [[Covenant]] (Hebrews 8:6; Hebrews 12:24) doubtless presupposes that Moses was the mediator of the Old (cf. Acts 7:38, Galatians 3:19). In the speech of Stephen the life of Moses is sketched at some length, and is furnished with certain particulars which were derived from the oral tradition of the [[Synagogue]] (the Haggâdâ), as <i> e.g. </i> in Acts 7:22 (‘instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians’)-just as the names of the [[Egyptian]] magicians, [[Jannes]] and Jambres, are given by St. [[Paul]] (2 Timothy 3:8). Further, among the heroes of the faith enumerated in Hebrews 11, Moses wins more than a passing reference as a pattern of faith (Hebrews 11:24-26). </p> <p> High as Moses stands in the Old Covenant, however, his glory pales before that of Christ, as the transient and the material gives place to the permanent and the spiritual (2 Corinthians 3:7-18, Hebrews 3:3-5). Moses was but the servant of God, while Jesus Christ is God’s Son, who not merely superintends, but actually governs God’s house, and was in fact its builder (Hebrews 3:3-5). In the fading away of the dazzling glory on the face of Moses (Exodus 34:33-35) St. Paul finds a symbol of the transient glory of the Old Covenant mediated by Moses, while the glory of the Lord ( <i> i.e. </i> Christ), and thus also of the New Covenant, is imperishable (2 Corinthians 3:12-18; cf. 2 Corinthians 3:7-11). </p> <p> <b> 3. Moses as the law-giver. </b> -This brings us to the function of Moses as the law-giver. As [[Judaism]] became more and more definitely legalistic, an ever higher position was assigned to the great intermediary of the Law. He towered above every other character in the OT, and Judaism became neither more nor less than Mosaism. To impugn the Law in any way was to speak blasphemy, not only against Moses, but even against God (cf. the charge against Stephen, Acts 6:11). The primitive Church, on the other hand-as was said above-laid great stress upon the prophetic and prototypic character of Moses, as also upon his subordinate position in relation to Christ. But as long as Moses remained the great canonical standard, the Church could not renounce his legislative authority. Even the Lord Jesus Himself had sanctioned the Law of Moses, and co-ordinated it with the [[Prophets]] (Matthew 5:17-20, Luke 16:17; cf. Luke 16:29-31), and the primitive community in [[Jerusalem]] could never have entertained the thought of disparaging the authority of Moses for Christians as well as Jews. Still, the relation of the disciples of Jesus to the Mosaic Law could not permanently remain the same as that of the unbelieving Jews; the differentiating factor of belief in Jesus was felt more and more to be paramount, and at length it was fully realized that salvation could be secured not by the Law but by faith, or grace, and that it came not from Moses, but from Jesus Christ. </p> <p> Thus too had come the time when the believing [[Gentiles]] must be fully recognized as brethren, and received into the Church without circumcision.*[Note: A detailed explanation of this development is given in the art. Law.]Yet this does not in any sense imply that the mother church in Jerusalem and the rest of the Jewish Christians believed themselves to be exempt from the obligation of the Law. On the contrary, we are told in Acts that the many thousands of Jewish Christians continued to be ‘zealous for the law’ (Acts 21:20), and in a continuation of the passage we are shown that the rumour of St. Paul’s having taught the Jewish Christians in his churches to forsake Moses was without foundation (Acts 21:21-26), while we learn from St. Paul’s own letters that within certain limits he desired the distinction made by Moses between [[Jew]] and [[Gentile]] to be maintained in his churches (cf. 1 Corinthians 7:18, Galatians 5:3; see also articleLaw, p. 690). Furthermore, even as regards a Gentile [[Christian]] community, the [[Apostle]] could appeal to particular regulations of the Mosaic Law as expressions of the Divine will in contrast to the dictates of human reason (1 Corinthians 9:8 f.; cf. 1 Timothy 5:18, where the same OT passage-Deuteronomy 25:4 -is placed side by side with a saying of Jesus)-just as elsewhere he frequently refers to special provisions of the Law, or to the Law as a whole. Yet this in no way detracts from the validity of the principle that all things are spiritually judged (1 Corinthians 2:14 f.), and that nothing is to be enforced according to the letter which killeth (2 Corinthians 3:5), the regulative canon being that the external statutes, ‘the commandments in ordinances’ (Ephesians 2:15), are merely the shadow of things to come, while the body is Christ’s (Colossians 2:17)-whence it follows that the outward regulations of the Law are to be applied in a typological (or allegorical) way. A further result was a certain relaxation of the Mosaic ordinances relating to practical life, enabling the Jewish Christians to live in brotherly intercourse with the believing Gentiles. </p> <p> In this connexion, however, certain difficulties arose which seemed actually to necessitate some limitation of Gentile Christian liberty, and it was this state of things that led the primitive Church to promulgate the ‘Apostolic Decree.’ According to Acts 15:19-21, St. James, the brother of the Lord, justified his proposal regarding the [[Decree]] by the circumstance that ‘Moses from generations of old hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath.’ The point of this statement is much debated. Does St. James mean thereby that the apostles do not need to trouble regarding the dissemination of the Mosaic legislation, and that they should therefore lay upon the Gentile Christians nothing beyond the four prohibitions specified by him, since Moses had from of old been sufficiently represented throughout the [[Diaspora]] (so <i> e.g. </i> Zahn)? If this be the true interpretation, the statement of St. James fails to explain why these particular prohibitions were fixed upon. We must thus rather look for an interpretation according to which Acts 15:21 provides a reason why precisely these four injunctions were laid upon the Gentile churches. Such a reading of the passage would be as follows: Since, not only in the Holy Land, but also in heathen lands, the doctrines of Moses are every [[Sabbath]] inculcated upon those who attend the Synagogue, it is necessary that the believing Gentiles-like the so-called ‘God-fearing’ (οἱσεβόμενοιτὸν θεόν)-should give some consideration to the Mosaic Law, and should at least abstain from taking part in those heathen practices which were most revolting to the Jewish mind. The prohibitions of the [[Apostolic]] Decree, which resemble those imposed upon Jewish proselytes, were probably framed in conformity with Leviticus 17, 18, which contain, <i> inter alia </i> , laws to be observed by aliens resident in the land of Israel. They seem at first sight to be a strange mingling of moral and purely ritual laws, the prohibition of sexual immorality being conjoined with three interdicts about food (cf. Acts 15:29). But while this collocation has certainly an appearance of arbitrariness, a glance at Revelation 2:20-24 (where we undoubtedly hear an echo of the Apostolic Decree), as also a comparison with 1 Corinthians 10:7 f., shows us that abstinence from idolatrous sacrifices and abstinence from sexual immorality are closely related, and that πορνεία here refers not merely to the forbidden degrees of marriage but also to ceremonial prostitution; the Gentile Christians must abstain both from taking part in the sacrificial meals of the heathen world and from the immoralities connected therewith, <i> i.e. </i> from practices regarded among the heathen as <i> adiaphora </i> (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:12). As regards the other two restrictions, it is clear that they converge upon a single point-the supreme necessity of maintaining the sacredness of blood in every form, as already recognized in the so-called Noachian dispensation: the believing Gentiles must no longer partake of blood either in the flesh or by itself ( <i> e.g. </i> mixed with wine, as drunk by the heathen in their sacrificial feasts); in other words, only the flesh of ritually slaughtered animals may be eaten. </p> <p> The essential equivalence of these two prohibitions might also explain the uncertainty attaching to the reading πνικτοῦ in the textual tradition. Here, however, another consideration arises. In the [[Western]] text, which omits καὶ πνικτοῦ (πνικτῶν), we find an addition which points to an entirely different conception of the Apostolic Decree, viz. καὶ ὅσα μὴ θέλουσιν ἑαυτοῖς γίνεσθαι ἑτέροις μὴ ποιεῖν (1 Corinthians 15:20; so D, Iren., Tert., Cypr., some Minuscules, and the Sahidic). The ‘golden rule’ being thus added to the prohibitions of idolatrous sacrifices, fornication, and blood, the Decree is transformed into a short moral catechism, in which are forbidden the three cardinal vices-idolatry, fornication, and murder (αἶμα = ‘shedding of blood’). But although the genuineness of this form of the text is defended by able scholars, such as Blass and Harnack, it should in all probability be rejected as of secondary origin. For not only is the golden rule introduced most inaptly in a formal respect, but the purely ethical character of the decree as thus transformed presupposes the conditions of a later time-a time when the Church was no longer concerned with the specific problem that had called for the attention of the Apostolic Council; in the West, where the ‘ethical’ form of the Decree took its rise, Jewish [[Christianity]] was a relatively insignificant force, and what was wanted there was a brief compendium of the anti-heathen morality of Christianity. At the same time, however, the altered form of the Decree shows that the Church never regarded it as an inviolable law, but thought of it simply as a provisional arrangement which might be varied to suit local and temporary circumstances. </p> <p> In Revelation 2 the prohibitions of idolatrous sacrifices and (ritual) immorality are once more brought to view, while in 1 Corinthians 6:8-10 St. Paul urges the same restrictions, though without appealing to the Apostolic Decree. Nor, strangely enough, does he mention the Decree in Galatians 2:1-10; this, however, would be sufficiently explained on the ground that the Apostle had emphasized its provisions (which, be it remembered, were not new, but had already found a regular place in the Jewish propaganda) in his missionary labours in the [[Galatian]] region (Acts 16:6). In that case it was not necessary that he should complicate the deliverance of the [[Council]] as to the recognition of his gospel and his apostolic status by mentioning the Decree, and all the less so because the account in Acts 15 does not imply that St. Paul himself was charged with the duty of enforcing its provisions in his missionary sphere. </p> <p> We may sum up the whole by saying that while primitive Christianity originally set Moses and Jesus side by side, it came at length, in the process of development, to contrast them with each other, and St. John, in the [[Prologue]] to his Gospel, gives expression to this result in his great saying: ‘The law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ’ (1:17). </p> <p> Literature.-H. H. Wendt, <i> Apostelgeschichte </i> 8, in Meyer’s <i> Kommentar </i> , 1899; G. Hoennicke, <i> Apostelgeschichte </i> , Leipzig, 1913; text-books of <i> NT [[Theology]] </i> , by B. Weiss (Eng. translation, 1882-83), H. J. Holtzmann (21911), P. Feine (1910), G. B. Stevens (1899); E. B. Reuss, <i> Hist. of Christian Theology in the Apostolic [[Age]] </i> , Eng. translation, 1872-74, i. 139, 205, etc.; J. R. Cohu, <i> St. Paul </i> , 1911, p. 40 ff.; A. E. Garvie, <i> Studies of Paul and his [[Gospel]] </i> , 1911, p. 192 ff. </p> <p> Olaf Moe. </p>

<p> This godly man towers above all other persons in the Old [[Testament]] period because he was God's instrument for the introduction of covenant law in Israel. In his long life he also acted on behalf of [[God]] to bring into being an enduring nation, while functioning as a prophet, judge, recorder of God's pronouncements, intercessor, military leader, worker of miracles, and tireless shepherd of the unruly [[Israelite]] tribes. By the time of his death he had welded his people into a highly efficient military force that would occupy the land promised by God to [[Abraham]] (Genesis 12:7 ). </p> <p> All that is known about [[Moses]] is found in the Bible. There are no surviving monuments to him, although some may have existed prior to his abrupt departure from [[Egypt]] (Exodus 2:15 ). It is therefore impossible to prove that he ever lived, as far as evidence from statues and inscriptions is concerned. But his existence cannot be disproved, either, since other prominent Old Testament figures have neither names nor monuments, as, for example, the [[Pharaoh]] with whom Moses contended, and the [[Egyptian]] princess who rescued the infant Moses from the Nile. </p> <p> Moses is so strongly interwoven with the religious tradition involving God's plan for human salvation through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and ultimately the Davidic Messiah, and attested to as an authoritative figure for [[Hebrew]] culture even in the New Testament period, that he could not possibly have been an invention or a fictional character used as an object of religious or social propaganda. Unquestionably he stood head and shoulders above all other Hebrews, and was for the Old Testament period what [[Paul]] was for the New. </p> <p> Perhaps out of deference to his stature there was nobody else in the Old Testament named Moses. There has been some debate about the meaning of his name, with some scholars relating it to a root "to bear, " and found in such Egyptian names as Ahmose and Thutmose. In Exodus 2:10 , the name given to him by the princess is connected with a Hebrew verb meaning "to draw out" (cf. 2 Samuel 22:17 ), but it could also have come from an Egyptian term meaning "son." </p> <p> The [[Book]] of Exodus divides Moses' life into three periods of forty years each. The first of these deals with his birth in Egypt and his education as a prince of the royal harem (cf. Acts 7:21-22 ). The second phase occurs in Midian, where he fled for refuge after murdering an Egyptian (Exodus 2:15 ). The final stage involves him liberating the enslaved Hebrews, establishing God's covenant with them in the [[Sinai]] desert and leading them to the borders of the promised land. The [[Scriptures]] indicate that two-thirds of Moses' life served as a preparation for the crucial final third, which was so important for the divine plan of salvation. [[Accordingly]] we will focus on Moses' ministry as a mediator and teacher of God's revealed Word, since theology was henceforth to be the basis of Israelite life (Exodus 19:6 ). </p> <p> While Moses may have learned about his ancestral God from Jethro, his father-in-law, the "priest of Midian" (Exodus 3:1 ), his first encounter with the Lord is at Mount Horeb, where he observes a bush burning with fire, and hears God's announcement that he is the God of Moses' ancestors. Moses is given a commission to return to Egypt and lead out the captive Hebrew people. God reveals to him the new name by which God will become known: "I am who I am." Moses is to say to the Hebrews that "I am" had sent him, and this name is to empower all subsequent pronouncements. Not surprisingly it has also been a matter of debate, and many explanations of its meaning have been advanced. It certainly points to God's eternal existence, self-sufficiency, and continued activity in human history. Intensely dynamic in nature, it transcends and fulfills all other forms of being. </p> <p> This description of the divine name is supplemented by an additional revelation of his name as [[Yahweh]] (Exodus 6:3 ). So sacred is this designation that its pronunciation has not survived; the Hebrew consonants have been vocalized from another word, "lord, " to produce the classic "Jehovah." Modern attempts to vocalize the original consonants are uncertain at best. Nevertheless, this mysterious Name and its power sustain Moses as he struggles with Pharaoh for the liberation of the Hebrew slaves. The conflict ends with the first [[Passover]] celebration, which coincides with the death of Egypt's firstborn (Exodus 12:29 ). </p> <p> Dramatic though the crossing of the Re(e)d [[Sea]] is for the destiny of the Hebrews, the peak of Moses' career is attained on Mount Sinai, when God appears to him and delivers the celebrated [[Ten]] [[Commandments]] as the basis of Israel's covenant law. In conjunction with this revelation, God enters into a binding agreement with the twelve tribes that in effect welds them into one nation. God promises to provide for all their needs and give them the land promised long ago to Abraham if they, for their part, worship him as their one and only true God. </p> <p> God's purpose for his newly created nation is that the [[Israelites]] should be visible among their contemporaries as a priestly kingdom and a holy people (Exodus 19:6; Leviticus 11:44 ). Every man in [[Israel]] is to live as though he has been consecrated to the high and sacred office of a priest in God's service, and be holy and pure in all his doings. He is to abstain from the iniquitous ways of pagan neighboring nations, and be to them an example of what God himself is by nature (Exodus 34:6-7 ). Moses Acts on behalf of God at the covenant ratification ceremony (Exodus 24:6-8 ) and thereafter is the recipient of instructions concerning the building of a sacred national shrine known as the tabernacle. </p> <p> Of high theological significance for the Israelites, this structure was rectangular in shape and contained a tent where the cultic structure known as the covenant ark was housed. God's presence rested upon the ark, which was so sacred that the Israelites were prohibited from even seeing it. When the Israelite tribes were camped in order around the tabernacle, God's presence was indeed in their midst. </p> <p> During the wilderness period Moses receives from God other laws dealing with sacrifices and offerings, rules governing social behavior, prohibitions against idolatry and immorality, and positive promises of God's blessings upon the Israelites, provided always that they keep the covenant obligations that they had assumed under oath. </p> <p> From what has been said already it will be clear that Israelite life under Moses and his successors was grounded upon divine revelation and its accompanying theology. Distinctiveness in society as God's people, strictness of living in obedience to his laws, and unswerving trust in his power to save and keep were to be the hallmarks of Hebrew life. God's people were to be holy as he is holy (Leviticus 11:44 ), and any deviations from these requirements would result in severe punishment. In mediating this theology and setting an example of it in his own life of dedication to God and fellowship with him, Moses serves as the exemplar of spirituality for all Israel to observe. </p> <p> In dealing with the chosen people, Moses periodically Acts as an intercessor with God, so as to avert divine displeasure with Israel (Exodus 33:12-16; Numbers 12:13 ). The call that he had received from God involves his acting in the capacity of prophet to the nation, wherein he serves as God's spokesperson to Israel. So effective is he in this function that God promises to raise up other prophets after his death who will also serve as spokespersons (Deuteronomy 18:15-18 ), thus indicating that God regards Moses as the standard by which his successors will be judged. </p> <p> Yet despite his deeply spiritual life and his sense of commitment to covenantal ideals, Moses is still a human being. The task of organizing community living among people of a seminomadic disposition is formidable. In the wilderness he bears the brunt of complaints (Numbers 11:1-25 ) and feels the crushing weight of his responsibilities (Numbers 11:14 ). When he is overwhelmed by the numbers of people coming to him for legal decisions (Exodus 18:13 ), he willingly follows the advice of [[Jethro]] as to how he should conduct his judicial responsibilities (Exodus 18:24-26 ). Under obvious stress he goes beyond God's instructions in dealing with the complaining Israelites (Numbers 20:10-12 ), and is forbidden to lead the conquering Israelites into the promised land. Yet he is recognized as being "a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth" (Numbers 12:3 ), which has been urged commonly as a testimony to his humility in the service of Israel's most holy God. It is probable, however, that the term rendered "meek" actually means "more long-suffering than, " "more tolerant than, " which places a rather different construction upon the explanatory phrase. </p> <p> In New Testament times the law of Moses constituted the standard of faith and conduct for the [[Christian]] church, which was commanded to observe Old Testament obligations of holiness (1 Peter 1:16 ). At the transfiguration of Christ, Moses appears with [[Elijah]] and converses with Jesus, signifying the harmony of law, prophecy, and the gospel (Mark 9:4 ). The sermon of [[Stephen]] before the [[Sanhedrin]] quotes Moses several times (Acts 7:20-44 ). Moses is referred to authoritatively in the Epistles, and is celebrated as a man who lived by faith (Hebrews 11:23-29 ). In Revelation, the victorious saints chant the song of Moses (Exodus 15:1-19 ). </p> <p> R. K. Harrison </p> <p> <i> See also </i> [[Theology Of Exodus]]; [[Israel]] </p> <p> <i> Bibliography </i> . O. T. Allis, <i> God [[Spake]] by Moses </i> ; M. Buber, <i> Moses </i> ; R. A. Cole, <i> Exodus </i> ; R. K. Harrison, <i> Numbers </i> ; F. B. Meyer, <i> Moses the [[Servant]] of God </i> . </p>

[[Genesis]] 45:17-25 <p> Thus favoured, the [[Israelites]] began to "multiply exceedingly" (Genesis 47:27 ), and extended to the west and south. At length the supremacy of the [[Hyksos]] came to an end. The descendants of [[Jacob]] were allowed to retain their possession of [[Goshen]] undisturbed, but after the death of [[Joseph]] their position was not so favourable. The [[Egyptians]] began to despise them, and the period of their "affliction" (Genesis 15:13 ) commenced. They were sorely oppressed. They continued, however, to increase in numbers, and "the land was filled with them" (Exodus 1:7 ). The native Egyptians regarded them with suspicion, so that they felt all the hardship of a struggle for existence. </p> <p> In process of time "a king [probably Seti I.] arose who knew not Joseph" (Exodus 1:8 ). (See [[Pharaoh]] .) The circumstances of the country were such that this king thought it necessary to weaken his [[Israelite]] subjects by oppressing them, and by degrees reducing their number. They were accordingly made public slaves, and were employed in connection with his numerous buildings, especially in the erection of store-cities, temples, and palaces. The children of [[Israel]] were made to serve with rigour. Their lives were made bitter with hard bondage, and "all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour" ( Exodus 1:13,14 ). But this cruel oppression had not the result expected of reducing their number. On the contrary, "the more the Egyptians afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew" (Exodus 1:12 ). </p> <p> The king next tried, through a compact secretly made with the guild of midwives, to bring about the destruction of all the [[Hebrew]] male children that might be born. But the king's wish was not rigorously enforced; the male children were spared by the midwives, so that "the people multiplied" more than ever. Thus baffled, the king issued a public proclamation calling on the people to put to death all the Hebrew male children by casting them into the river (Exodus 1:22 ). But neither by this edict was the king's purpose effected. </p> <p> One of the Hebrew households into which this cruel edict of the king brought great alarm was that of Amram, of the family of the [[Kohathites]] (Exodus 6:16-20 ), who with his wife [[Jochebed]] and two children, Miriam, a girl of perhaps fifteen years of age, and Aaron, a boy of three years, resided in or near Memphis, the capital city of that time. In this quiet home a male child was born (B.C. 1571). His mother concealed him in the house for three months from the knowledge of the civic authorities. But when the task of concealment became difficult, Jochebed contrived to bring her child under the notice of the daughter of the king by constructing for him an ark of bulrushes, which she laid among the flags which grew on the edge of the river at the spot where the princess was wont to come down and bathe. Her plan was successful. The king's daughter "saw the child; and behold the child wept." The princess (see Exodus 2:10 ), was ultimately restored to her. </p> <p> As soon as the natural time for weaning the child had come, he was transferred from the humble abode of his father to the royal palace, where he was brought up as the adopted son of the princess, his mother probably accompanying him and caring still for him. He grew up amid all the grandeur and excitement of the [[Egyptian]] court, maintaining, however, probably a constant fellowship with his mother, which was of the highest importance as to his religious belief and his interest in his "brethren." His education would doubtless be carefully attended to, and he would enjoy all the advantages of training both as to his body and his mind. He at length became "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians" (Acts 7:22 ). [[Egypt]] had then two chief seats of learning, or universities, at one of which, probably that of Heliopolis, his education was completed. Moses, being now about twenty years of age, spent over twenty more before he came into prominence in [[Bible]] history. These twenty years were probably spent in military service. There is a tradition recorded by [[Josephus]] that he took a lead in the war which was then waged between Egypt and Ethiopia, in which he gained renown as a skilful general, and became "mighty in deeds" (Acts 7:22 ). </p> <p> After the termination of the war in Ethiopia, [[Moses]] returned to the Egyptian court, where he might reasonably have expected to be loaded with honours and enriched with wealth. But "beneath the smooth current of his life hitherto, a life of alternate luxury at the court and comparative hardness in the camp and in the discharge of his military duties, there had lurked from childhood to youth, and from youth to manhood, a secret discontent, perhaps a secret ambition. Moses, amid all his Egyptian surroundings, had never forgotten, had never wished to forget, that he was a Hebrew." He now resolved to make himself acquainted with the condition of his countrymen, and "went out unto his brethren, and looked upon their burdens" (Exodus 2:11 ). This tour of inspection revealed to him the cruel oppression and bondage under which they everywhere groaned, and could not fail to press on him the serious consideration of his duty regarding them. The time had arrived for his making common cause with them, that he might thereby help to break their yoke of bondage. He made his choice accordingly (Hebrews 11:25-27 ), assured that [[God]] would bless his resolution for the welfare of his people. He now left the palace of the king and took up his abode, probably in his father's house, as one of the Hebrew people who had for forty years been suffering cruel wrong at the hands of the Egyptians. </p> <p> He could not remain indifferent to the state of things around him, and going out one day among the people, his indignation was roused against an Egyptian who was maltreating a Hebrew. He rashly lifted up his hand and slew the Egyptian, and hid his body in the sand. [[Next]] day he went out again and found two Hebrews striving together. He speedily found that the deed of the previous day was known. It reached the ears of [[Pharaoh]] (the "great Rameses," [[Rameses]] II.), who "sought to slay Moses" (Exodus 2:15 ). [[Moved]] by fear, Moses fled from Egypt, and betook himself to the land of Midian, the southern part of the peninsula of Sinai, probably by much the same route as that by which, forty years afterwards, he led the Israelites to Sinai. He was providentially led to find a new home with the family of Reuel, where he remained for forty years (Acts 7:30 ), under training unconsciously for his great life's work. </p> <p> [[Suddenly]] the angel of the Lord appeared to him in the burning bush (Exodus 3 ), and commissioned him to go down to Egypt and "bring forth the children of Israel" out of bondage. He was at first unwilling to go, but at length he was obedient to the heavenly vision, and left the land of [[Midian]] (4:18-26). On the way he was met by [[Aaron]] (q.v.) and the elders of Israel (27-31). He and Aaron had a hard task before them; but the Lord was with them (ch. 7-12), and the ransomed host went forth in triumph. (See [[Exodus]] .) After an eventful journey to and fro in the wilderness, we see them at length encamped in the plains of Moab, ready to cross over the [[Jordan]] into the [[Promised]] Land. There Moses addressed the assembled elders ( Deuteronomy 1:1-4; 5:1-26:19;; 27:11-30:20 ),), and gives the people his last counsels, and then rehearses the great song (Deuteronomy 32 ), clothing in fitting words the deep emotions of his heart at such a time, and in review of such a marvellous history as that in which he had acted so conspicious a part. Then, after blessing the tribes (33), he ascends to "the mountain of [[Nebo]] (q.v.), to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho" (34:1), and from thence he surveys the land. "Jehovah shewed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan, and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea, and the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar" (Deuteronomy 34:2-3 ), the magnificient inheritance of the tribes of whom he had been so long the leader; and there he died, being one hundred and twenty years old, according to the word of the Lord, and was buried by the Lord "in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor" (34:6). The people mourned for him during thirty days. </p> <p> Thus died "Moses the man of God" (Deuteronomy 33:1; Joshua 14:6 ). He was distinguished for his meekness and patience and firmness, and "he endured as seeing him who is invisible." "There arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and the wonders, which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, and in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses shewed in the sight of all Israel" (Deuteronomy 34:10-12 ). </p> <p> The name of Moses occurs frequently in the Psalms and [[Prophets]] as the chief of the prophets. </p> <p> In the New [[Testament]] he is referred to as the representative of the law and as a type of [[Christ]] (John 1:17; 2 co 3:13-18; Hebrews 3:5,6 ). Moses is the only character in the Old Testament to whom Christ likens himself (John 5:46; Compare Deuteronomy 18:15,18,19; Acts 7:37 ). In Hebrews 3:1-19 this likeness to Moses is set forth in various particulars. </p> <p> In Jude 1:9 mention is made of a contention between [[Michael]] and the devil about the body of Moses. This dispute is supposed to have had reference to the concealment of the body of Moses so as to prevent idolatry. </p>

<i> [[Moses]] </i> <p> The Old [[Testament]] describes Moses as a heroic leader of the people and as a man of [[God]] who brought the people into their special relationship with God. The story about Moses in the Old Testament, found in the extensive narratives from Exodus 1:1 through Deuteronomy 34:1 , can be described as a heroic saga. It is more than simply a biography of Moses, an historical document that records the events of his life. It is a special kind of ancient art form. To understand its content, the reader must appreciate its special brand of truth as beauty in the story itself. </p> <p> The artistic narrative begins in Exodus 1:1 , not with data about Moses, but with an account of events in [[Egypt]] that affected Moses' people. Since the [[Israelites]] had grown to be a large people, the [[Egyptian]] [[Pharaoh]] feared their power. To control them, he launched an official policy of oppression against them. When the oppression failed to curb the population growth of the Israelites, the [[Pharoah]] announced a new policy for limiting that growth. “Every boy that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every girl live” (Exodus 1:22 , NRSV). The very next line announces the birth of Moses. Moses' life began under the Pharoah's judgment of death. </p> <p> The mother, however, acted to protect the baby Moses from the Pharaoh's death decree. When the baby could no longer be hidden, the mother constructed an ark, a basket of bulrushes made waterproof with bitumen and pitch. She placed the child in the basket and the basket in the river. A sister stood watch over the basket to know what might happen. She witnessed an apparently terrible twist of fate, however, when the Pharaoh's own daughter came to the river. She found the ark, opened it, and recognized the child as a Hebrew. Rather than killing the child as her father had commanded, however, the woman showed compassion on the child, made the proper preparations, and, with the help of the baby's sister, established a procedure for adopting the baby as her own child. As a part of that process, the princess committed the child to a wet nurse suggested by the girl watching the ark. Of course, the wet nurse was the child's own mother. </p> <p> After the baby had been weaned, the mother delivered the child to the princess. As a part of the adoption procedure, the princess named the child Moses. The young hero grew to maturity in the palace of the king who had sought to kill him. The mature Moses became concerned about the oppression of his people. The storyteller emphasized the identity between the oppressed people and Moses. “He went out to <i> his </i> people. . ., and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, <i> one of his kinsfolk </i> ” (Exodus 2:11 NRSV, author's italics). Moses responded to the particular act of oppression against his people by killing the Egyptian. </p> <p> In the wake of his violent act against the Egyptian taskmaster, Moses fled from Egypt and from his own people to the land of Midian. Again he intervened in the face of oppression, inviting danger and risk. [[Sitting]] at a well, the typical meeting place for the culture (see also [[Genesis]] 29:2 ), Moses witnessed the violent aggression of male shepherds against female shepherds who had already drawn water for their sheep. Moses saved the oppressed shepherds, whose father, the priest of Midian, invited him to live and work under the protection of the Midianite's hospitality. Eventually one of the Midianite's daughters became—Moses' wife. In the idyllic peace of the Midianite's hospitality, Moses took care of Jethro's sheep, fathered a child, and lived at a distance from his own people. </p> <p> The event at the burning bush while Moses worked as a shepherd introduced him to the critical character of his heroic work. The burning bush caught Moses' attention. There Moses met the God of the fathers who offered Moses a distinctive name as the essential key for Moses' authority—”I am who I am.” This strange formulation played on God's promise to Moses to be present with him in his special commission. God sent Moses back to the Pharaoh to secure the release of his people from their oppression. The divine speech of commission has a double character. (1) As the heroic leader of Israel, he would initiate events that would lead to Israel's Exodus from Egypt. (2) As the man of God, he would represent God in delivering the people from their Egyptian slavery. With the authority of that double commission, Moses returned to the Pharaoh to negotiate the freedom of his people. </p> <p> The negotiation narratives depict Moses, the hero, in one scene of failure after the other. Moses posed his demands to the Pharaoh, announced a sign that undergirded the demand, secured some concession from the Pharaoh on the basis of the negotiations, but failed to win the release of the people. The final scene is hardly a new stage in the negotiations. To the contrary, God killed the firstborn of every Egyptian family, passing over the [[Israelite]] families. In the agony of this death scene, the [[Egyptians]] drove the Israelites out of Egypt (Exodus 12:30-36 ). [[Behind]] this dominant scene of violence and death lies a different interpretation of the Exodus event. The Pharaoh closed negotiations with Moses by refusing permission for the Israelites to leave in accordance with—Moses' proposition (Exodus 10:28 ). In the wake of this failure, Moses returned to the people with a plan for escaping Egypt without the knowledge of the Pharaoh. The people borrowed silver, gold, and clothing from the Egyptians in preparation for the event. When they escaped, they took the silver, gold, and clothing with them. They despoiled the Egyptians, a sign of victory over the Egyptians. Thus in leaving Egypt, [[Israel]] robbed the most powerful nation of their time of its firstborn sons and of it wealth. </p> <p> Moses led the people into the wilderness, where the pursuing Egyptians trapped the Israelites at the [[Red]] Sea. God who had promised divine presence for the people defeated the enemy at the Sea. The God proved His presence with His people. He met their needs for food and water in the hostile wilderness. Even the fiery serpents and the [[Amalekites]] failed to thwart the wilderness journey of the Israelites under Moses' leadership. </p> <p> Exodus 17:8-13 shows Moses to be faithful in the execution of his leadership responsibilities. Numbers 12:1-16 shows Moses to be meek, a leader of integrity who fulfilled the duties of his office despite opposition from members of his own family. </p> <p> The center of the Moses traditions emerges with clarity in the events at Mount Sinai/Horeb. The law at Sinai/Horeb constitutes God's gift for Israel. The law showed Israel how to respond to God's saving act in the Exodus. The law at Sinai/Horeb showed each new generation how to follow Moses' teaching in a new setting in the life of the people. The laws carried the name of Moses as an affirmation of their authority. The law of Moses became a model for Israelite society. Indeed, Israel's historians told the entire story of Israel under the influence of the Moses model and suggested that the Davidic kings should have constructed their leadership for Israel under the influence of the Moses model (Joshua—Kings). Only the good king [[Josiah]] and, to a lesser extent, [[Hezekiah]] matched that model. </p> <p> The death of Moses is marked by tragic loneliness, yet graced with God's presence. Because of Moses' sin (Numbers 20:1 ), God denied Moses the privilege of entering the [[Promised]] Land. Deuteronomy 34:1 reports the death scene. Central to the report is the presence of God with Moses at the time of his death. Moses left his people to climb another mountain. Atop that mountain, away from the people whom he served so long, Moses died. God attended this servant at his death. Indeed, God buried him. Only God knows where the burial place is. </p> <p> The Moses saga serves as a model for subsequent leaders in Israel. [[Jeroboam]] I created a new kingdom, distinct from the Davidic kingdom centered in Jerusalem. The sign of his kingship included the golden calves of Aaron. Josiah modeled a reformation in [[Jerusalem]] on the basis of the [[Mosaic]] model. As the new Moses, he almost succeeded in uniting the people of the south with the people of the north. Perhaps the most important Old testament figure that must be interpreted as a new Moses is the servant of the Isaiah 40-66 , the model for understanding [[Jesus]] in the New Testament. </p> <p> [[George]] W. Coats </p>

<p> [[Son]] of [[Amram]] and Jochebed, of the tribe of Levi, brother of [[Aaron]] and Miriam. He was born after the mandate by the king that all male children of the Hebrews were to be killed, but his parents by faith hid him three months, and when he could no longer be hidden he was put in an ark of bulrushes and placed among the reeds in the river. Being found there by Pharaoh's daughter he was named by her MOSES, signifying 'drawn out,' and adopted as her son, being nursed for her by his own mother. He became learned in all the wisdom of Egypt, and was mighty in words and deeds. </p> <p> When forty years of age he visited his brethren, and seeing one ill-used he defended him, and slew the Egyptian; but the next day, on seeing two of the [[Israelites]] contending, he reminded them that they were brethren, and would have judged between them; but the wrong-doer repulsed him, and asked whether he would kill him as he had killed the Egyptian. Moses, finding that his deed was known, feared the wrath of the king, and fled from Egypt. He had acted with zeal, but without divine direction, and had thereforeto become a fugitive for forty years (being the <i> second </i> period of forty years of his life, as the forty years in the wilderness was the <i> third </i> ). In the land of [[Midian]] he married Zipporah, daughter of Jethro, the priest of Midian, by whom he had two sons. </p> <p> At the end of the forty years [[God]] spoke to him out of the burning bush, telling him to go and deliver [[Israel]] out of the hand of the Egyptians. He who had once used an arm of flesh is now conscious of his own nothingness, but learns that God would be with him. He is to make known to the people the name of Jehovah, and to attest his mission, as sent by the God of their fathers, by doing certain signs in their sight. </p> <p> No trace of timidity is apparent in his dealings with Pharaoh, he boldly requests him to let the people go into the wilderness to sacrifice to Jehovah; but [[Pharaoh]] refused and made the burdens of the Israelites greater. [[Ten]] plagues followed, when the [[Egyptians]] themselves, on the death of all their firstborn, were anxious for them to depart. </p> <p> God constantly spoke to [[Moses]] and gave him instructions in all things. Though Aaron was the elder brother, Moses had the place of leader and apostle. He conducted them out of Egypt, and through the [[Red]] Sea. He led the song of triumph when they saw their enemies dead on the sea shore. The N.T. declares that it was by faith he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God. He forsook Egypt, not now fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible. Hebrews 11:24-27 . </p> <p> Moses needed such faith, for the murmurings and rebellion of the people were great, and they charged him with causing their trials: why had <i> he </i> brought them out to perish in the wilderness? When God's anger was kindled against them, he pleaded for them. When God spake of consuming all the people, and making a great nation of Moses, he besought God to turn from His anger, urging what a reproach it would be forthe Egyptians to say that He had led them out only to slay them; and he reminded God of what He had sworn to His servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He thus acted as intercessor with God for the people. Exodus 32:7-13 . </p> <p> When [[Miriam]] and Aaron complained of Moses because he had married an [[Ethiopian]] woman, and said, "Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us?" it does not appear that Moses rebuked them; but on that very occasion it is recorded, "Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth." God had, however, heard them, and He defended Moses, and declared, He "is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches." Numbers 12:1-8 . </p> <p> When Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and their company rose against Moses and Aaron, 'he fell on his face,' and left the matter in God's hands. "Even to-morrow the Lord will show who are his and who is holy;" and they were all consumed. Numbers 16:1-35 . God also called Moses up into the mount, dictated to him the law, gave him the ten commandments written on stone by the finger of God, and showed him the pattern of the tabernacle. He was the mediator, that is, he received all communications from God for the people. He was also called 'King in Jeshurun' (or Israel), Deuteronomy 33:5; and was a prophet of a unique type. Deuteronomy 34:10 . </p> <p> In one instance Moses failed. When without water, God told him to take the rod (namely, that of priesthood), and <i> speak </i> to the rock, and water would come forth. Moses took "the rod from before the Lord as he commanded him," and with Aaron said unto the people, "Hear now, ye rebels; must <i> we </i> fetch you water out of this rock? And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly." Moses then had to hear the voice of God saying "Because ye believed me not, to sanctify <i> me </i> in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them." It was called the water of Meribah, that is 'strife.' Numbers 20:7-13 . After this Moses besought the Lord saying "I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon." But the Lord told him to speak no more to Him of that matter. He was to go up to the top of Pisgah, and view the land. There the Lord showed him all the land: after which he died in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor; but no man knew where. He "was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated." Deuteronomy 3:25-27; Deuteronomy 34:1-7 . </p> <p> In the N.T. it is said respecting the body of Moses that Michael, the archangel, contended with the devil about it, the object of [[Satan]] probably being to make his tomb to be regarded as a holy place, to which the people would go for blessing, as people do still to the tombs of saints. Jude 9 . </p> <p> The law having been given through Moses, his name is often used where the law is alluded to; and Moses is mentioned by the [[Apostle]] John when contrasting the dispensations of the law and the gospel: "The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by [[Jesus]] Christ." John 1:17 . The fact of the two dispensations being entirely different furnishes the reason why Moses was not allowed to enter into Canaan. That being a type of the heavenly blessings of Christianity, it would not have agreed with Moses, as the dispenser of the law, leading the Israelites into the land: that must be done by JOSHUA, type of [[Christ]] risen. Moses had his proper line of service, and was greatly honoured of God. He was faithful in that service amid great discouragements and trials; he was faithful in all God's house. On the mount of transfiguration Moses still represented the law, as [[Elias]] did the prophets. </p> <p> That Moses was the writer of the first five books of the O.T., called the Pentateuch, there are many proofs in scripture; such as "have ye not read in the book of Moses?" Mark 12:26; "If they hear not Moses and the prophets," Luke 16:31; Luke 24:27; "When Moses is read," 2 Corinthians 3:15 . Of course the section where his death is recorded was added by a later hand. When the inspiration of scripture is fully held, God is known as the author of His word, and it becomes a secondary question <i> who </i> was the instrument that God used to write down what He wished to be recorded. Respecting some of the books of scripture we know not who wrote them; but that in no way touches their inspiration. It is plain, however, from the above and other passages that Moses was the writer of the Pentateuch, which is often called "the law of Moses." </p>

<p> The name of the illustrious prophet and legislator of the Hebrews, who led them from [[Egypt]] to the [[Promised]] Land. Having been originally imposed by a native [[Egyptian]] princess, the word is no doubt Egyptian in its origin, and [[Josephus]] gives its true derivationfrom the two Egyptian words, MO, water, and USE, saved. With this accords the [[Septuagint]] form, MOUSES. The Hebrews by a slight change accommodated it to their own language, as they did also in the case of some other foreign words; calling it MOSHIE, from the verb MASHA, to draw. See Exodus 2:10 . [[Moses]] was born about 15.71 B. C., the son of [[Amram]] and Jochebed, of the tribe of Levi, and the younger brother of [[Miriam]] and Aaron. His history is too extensive to permit insertion here, and in general too well known to need it. It is enough simply to remark, that it is divided into three periods, each of forty years. The first extends from his infancy, when he was exposed in the Nile, and found and adopted y the daughter of Pharaoh, to his flight to Midian. </p> <p> During this time he lived at the Egyptian court, and "was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was nightly in words and in deeds," Acts 7:22 . This is no unmeaning praise; the "wisdom" of the Egyptians, and especially of their priests, was then the profoundest in the world. The second period was from his flight till his return to Egypt, Acts 7:30 , during the whole of which interval he appears to have lived in Midian, it may be much after the manner of the Bedaween sheikhs of the present day. Here he married Zipporah, daughter of the wise and pious Jethro, and became familiar with life in the desert. What a contrast between the former period, spent amid the splendors and learning of a court, and this lonely nomadic life. Still it was in this way that [[God]] prepared him to be the instrument of deliverance to His people during the third period of his life, which extends from the exodus out of Egypt to his death on mount Nebo. In this interval how much did he accomplish, as the immediate agent of the Most High. </p> <p> The life and institutions of Moses present one of the finest subjects for the pen of a [[Christian]] historian, who is at the same time a competent biblical antiquary. His institutions breathe a spirit of freedom, purity, intelligence, justice, and humanity, elsewhere unknown; and above all, of supreme love, honor, and obedience to God. </p> <p> They molded the character of the Hebrews, and transformed them from a nation of shepherds into a people of fixed residence and agricultural habits. Through that people, and through the Bible, the influence of these institutions has been extended over the world; and often where the letter has not been observed, the spirit of them has been adopted. Thus it was in the laws established by the pilgrim fathers of New England; and no small part of what is of most value in the institutions which they founded, is to be ascribed to the influence of the [[Hebrew]] legislator. </p> <p> The name of this servant of God occurs repeatedly in [[Greek]] and [[Latin]] writings, and still more frequently in those of the Arabs and the rabbinical Jews. Many of their statements, however, are mere legends without foundation, or else distortions of the [[Scripture]] narrative. By the [[Jews]] he has always been especially honored, as the most illustrious personage in all their annals, and as the founder of their whole system of laws and institutions. Numerous passages both in the Old and New [[Testament]] show how exalted a position they gave him, [[Psalm]] 103:7 105:26 106:16 Isaiah 63:12 Jeremiah 15:1 Daniel 9:11 Matthew 8:4 John 5:45 9:28 Acts 7:20,37 Romans 10:5,19 Hebrews 3:1-19 11:23 . </p> <p> In all that he wrought and taught, he was but the agent of the Most High; and yet in all his own character stands honorably revealed. Though naturally liable to anger and impatience, he so far subdued himself as to be termed the meekest of men, Numbers 12:3; and his piety, humility, and forbearance, the wisdom and vigor of his administration, his unfailing zeal and faith in God, and his disinterested patriotism are worthy of all imitation. Many features of his character and life furnish admirable illustrations of the work of Christas the deliver, ruler, and guide of his people, bearing them on his heart, interceding for them, rescuing, teaching, and nourishing them even to the promised land. All the religious institutions of Moses pointed to Christ; and he himself, on the mount, two thousand years after his death, paid his homage to the [[Prophet]] he had foretold, Deuteronomy 18:15-19 , beheld "that goodly mountain and Lebanon," Deuteronomy 3:25 , and was admitted to commune with the [[Savior]] on the most glorious of themes, the death He should accomplish at Jerusalem, Luke 9:31 . </p> <p> Moses was the author of the Pentateuch, as it is called, or the first five books of the Bible. In the composition of them he was probably assisted by Aaron, who kept a register of public transactions, Exodus 17:14 24:4,7 34:27 Numbers 33:1,2 Deuteronomy 31:24 , etc. Some things were added by a later inspired hand; as for example, Deuteronomy 34:1-12 Psalm 90:1-17 also is ascribed to him; and its noble and devout sentiments acquire a new significance, if received as from his pen near the close of his pilgrimage. </p>

<p> [[Moses]] (mo'zez), from the water, i.e., drawn from the water. The prophet and legislator of the Hebrews and the son of [[Amram]] and Jochebed, and of the tribe of Levi, the son of Jacob. Exodus 2:1; Exodus 2:10; Exodus 6:16-20; Joshua 1:1-2; Joshua 1:15; 1 Kings 8:53; 1 Kings 8:56; 2 Chronicles 1:3; Daniel 9:11; Deuteronomy 34:5; Psalms 90:1-17 : title; Ezra 3:2. He was born in Egypt, about b.c. 1571. In his infancy, because of the cruel edict of Pharaoh, he was hid in a boat-cradle in the Nile; but was found and adopted by the daughter of Pharaoh. He was educated at the [[Egyptian]] court, and "was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds." Exodus 2:1-10; Acts 7:20-22. When Moses had grown up, he resolved to deliver his people. Having slain an Egyptian, however, he fled into the land of Midian, where he was a shepherd chief. Among the Midians, the Minni, who we now know were a cultured and literary people, [[God]] further prepared him to be the deliverer of his chosen people. By a succession of miracles, which God wrought by his hand, Moses brought the Hebrews out of Egypt, and through the wilderness, unto the borders of Canaan. See Sinai. He was only allowed to behold, not to enter the [[Promised]] Land. Having accomplished his mission and attained to the age of 120 years, with the faculties of mind and body unimpaired, the legislator transferred his authority to Joshua; and, ascending the summit of Pisgah, he gazed on the magnificent prospect of the "goodly Land." There he died, and "the Lord buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor; but no man knoweth of Ms sepulchre unto this day." Deuteronomy 34:1-7. God buried Moses. It was fitting, therefore, that he too should write his epitaph. "And there arose not a prophet since in [[Israel]] like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and the wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, and in all that mighty land, and in all the great terror which Moses showed in the sight of all Israel." Deuteronomy 34:10-12. </p>

<p> ''''' mō´zez ''''' , ''''' mō´ziz ''''' ( משׁה , <i> ''''' mōsheh ''''' </i> ; [[Egyptian]] <i> ''''' mēs ''''' </i> , "drawn out," "born"; [[Septuagint]] Μωυσῆ ( ρ Ο2 ςπ ), <i> ''''' Mōusḗ ''''' </i> ( <i> ''''' s ''''' </i> )). The great [[Hebrew]] national hero, leader, author, law-giver and prophet. </p> <p> I. [[Life]] </p> <p> 1. [[Son]] of [[Levi]] </p> <p> 2. Foundling Prince </p> <p> 3. Friend of the People </p> <p> 4. [[Refuge]] in [[Midian]] </p> <p> 5. [[Leader]] of [[Israel]] </p> <p> II. [[Work]] And Character </p> <p> 1. The [[Author]] </p> <p> 2. The [[Lawgiver]] </p> <p> 3. The [[Prophet]] </p> <p> [[Literature]] </p> <p> The traditional view of the [[Jewish]] church and of the [[Christian]] church, that [[Moses]] was a person and that the narrative with which his life-story is interwoven is real history, is in the main sustained by commentators and critics of all classes. </p> <p> It is needless to mention the old writers among whom these questions were hardly under discussion. Among the advocates of the current radical criticism may be mentioned [[Stade]] and Renan, who minimize the historicity of the [[Bible]] narrative at this point. Renan thinks the narrative "may be very probable." Ewald, Wellhausen, Robertson Smith, and Driver, while finding many flaws in the story, make much generally of the historicity of the narrative. </p> <p> The critical analysis of the [[Pentateuch]] divides this life-story of Moses into three main parts, J, E, and P, with a fourth, D, made up mainly from the others. Also some small portions here and there are given to R, especially the account of Aaron's part in the plagues of Egypt, where his presence in a J-document is very troublesome for the analytical theory. It is unnecessary to encumber this biography with constant cross-references to the strange story of Moses pieced together out of the rearranged fragments into which the critical analysis of the Pentateuch breaks up the narrative. It is recognized that there are difficulties in the story of Moses. In what ancient life-story are there not difficulties? If we can conceive of the ancients being obliged to ponder over a modern life-story, we can easily believe that they would have still more difficulty with it. But it seems to very many that the critical analysis creates more difficulties in the narrative than it relieves. It is a little thing to explain by such analysis some apparent discrepancy between two laws or two events or two similar incidents which we do not clearly understand. It is a far greater thing so to confuse, by rearranging, a beautiful, well-articulated biography that it becomes disconnected - indeed, in parts, scarcely makes sense. </p> <p> The biographical narrative of the Hebrew national hero, Moses, is a continuous thread of history in the Pentateuch. That story in all its simplicity and symmetry, but with acknowledgment of its difficulties as they arise, is here to be followed. </p> I. Life. <p> The recorded story of Moses' life falls naturally into five rather unequal parts: </p> <p> <b> 1. Son of Levi </b> </p> <p> "And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi" Exodus 2:1 . The son of Levi born of that union became the greatest man among mere men in the whole history of the world. How far he was removed in genealogy from Levi it is impossible to know. The genealogical lists [[Genesis]] 46:11; Exodus 6:16-20; Numbers 3:14-28; Numbers 26:57-59; 1 Chronicles 6:1-3 show only 4 generations from Levi to Moses, while the account given of the numbers of Israel at the exodus Exodus 12:37; Exodus 38:26; Numbers 1:46; Numbers 11:21 imperatively demand at least 10 or 12 generations. The males alone of the sons of [[Kohath]] "from a month old and upward" numbered at [[Sinai]] 8,600 Numbers 3:27-28 . It is evident that the extract from the genealogy here, as in many other places (1 Chronicles 23:15; 1 Chronicles 26:24; Ezra 7:1-5; Ezra 8:1-2; compare 1 Chronicles 6:3-14; Mt 1:1-17; Lk 3:23-38) is not complete, but follows the common method of giving important heads of families. The statement concerning Jochebed: "And she bare unto [[Amram]] [[Aaron]] and Moses, and [[Miriam]] their sister" Numbers 26:59 really creates no difficulty, as it is likewise said of Zilpah, after the mention of her grandsons, "And these she bare unto Jacob" ( Genesis 46:17-18; compare Genesis 46:24-25 ). </p> <p> The names of the immediate father and mother of Moses are not certainly known. The mother "saw him that he was a goodly child" Exodus 2:2 . So they defied the commandment of the king Exodus 1:22 , and for 3 months hid him instead of throwing him into the river. </p> <p> <b> 2. Foundling Prince </b> </p> <p> The time soon came when it was impossible longer to hide the child (Josephus, <i> Ant. </i> , II, ix, 3-6). The mother resolved upon a plan which was at once a pathetic imitation of obedience to the commandment of the king, an adroit appeal to womanly sympathy, and, if it succeeded, a subtle scheme to bring the cruelty of the king home to his own attention. Her faith succeeded. She took an ark of bulrushes ( Exodus 2:3-4; compare [[Ark Of Bulrushes]] ), daubed it with bitumen mixed with the sticky slime of the river, placed in this floating vessel the child of her love and faith, and put it into the river at a place among the sedge in the shallow water where the royal ladies from the palace would be likely to come down to bathe. A sister, probably Miriam, stood afar off to watch Exodus 2:3-4 . The daughter of [[Pharaoh]] came down with her great ladies to the river Exodus 2:5-10 . The princess saw the ark among the sedge and sent a maid to fetch it. The expectation of the mother was not disappointed. The womanly sympathy of the princess was touched. She resolved to save this child by adopting him. Through the intervention of the watching sister, he was given to his own mother to be nursed Exodus 2:7-9 . "And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son" Exodus 2:10 . Thus, he would receive her family name. </p> <p> [[Royal]] family names in [[Egypt]] then were usually compounded of some expression of reverence or faith or submission and the name of a god, e.g. "loved of," "chosen of," "born of," Thoth, Ptah, Ra or Amon. At this period of Egyptian history, "born of" (Egyptian <i> ''''' mēs ''''' </i> , "drawn out") was joined sometimes to Ah, the name of the moon-god, making Ahmes, or Thoth, the scribe-god, so Thothmes, but usually with Ra, the sun-god, giving Rames, usually anglicized [[Rameses]] or Ramoses. </p> <p> It was the time of the Ramesside dynasty, and the king on the throne was Rameses II. Thus the foundling adopted by Pharaoh's daughter would have the family name Mes or Moses. That it would be joined in the Egyptian to the name of the sungod Ra is practically certain. His name at court would be Ramoses. But to the oriental mind a name must mean something. The usual meaning of this royal name was that the child was "born of" a princess through the intervention of the god Ra. But this child was not "born of" the princess, so falling back upon the primary meaning of the word, "drawn out," she said, "because I drew him out of the water" Exodus 2:10 . Thus, Moses received his name. Pharaoh's daughter may have been the eldest daughter of Rameses II, but more probably was the daughter and eldest child of Seti Merenptah I, and sister of the king on the throne. She would be lineal heir to the crown but debarred by her sex. Instead, she bore the title "Pharaoh's Daughter," and, according to Egyptian custom, retained the right to the crown for her first-born son. A not improbable tradition (Josephus, <i> Ant. </i> , II, ix, 7) relates that she had no natural son, and Moses thus became heir to the throne, not with the right to supplant the reigning Pharaoh, but to supersede any of his sons. </p> <p> Very little is known of Moses' youth and early manhood at the court of Pharaoh. He would certainly be educated as a prince, whose right it probably was to be initiated into the mysteries. Thus he was "instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians" Acts 7:22 , included in which, according to many Egyptologists, was the doctrine of one [[Supreme]] God. </p> <p> Many curious things, whose value is doubtful, are told of Moses by [[Josephus]] and other ancient writers (Josephus, <i> Ant. </i> , II, ix, 3; <i> [[Apion]] </i> , I, 31; compare <i> Smith, Dictionary of the Bible </i> ; for Mohammedan legends, see Palmer, <i> The [[Desert]] of the Exodus </i> , Appendix; for rabbinical legends, see <i> Jewish Encyclopedia </i> ). Some of these traditions are not incredible but lack authentication. Others are absurd. Egyptologists have searched with very indifferent success for some notice of the great Hebrew at the Egyptian court. </p> <p> <b> 3. Friend of the People </b> </p> <p> But the faith of which the [[Epistle]] to the Hebrews speaks Hebrews 11:23-28 was at work. Moses "refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter" Exodus 2:11-14; Acts 7:24 . [[Whether]] he did so in word, by definite renunciation, or by his espousal of the cause of the slave against the oppressive policy of Pharaoh is of little importance. In either case he became practically a traitor, and greatly imperiled his throne rights and probably his civil rights as well. During some intervention to ameliorate the condition of the state slaves, an altercation arose and he slew an Egyptian Exodus 2:11-12 . Thus, his constructive treason became an overt act. [[Discovering]] through the ungrateful reproaches of his own kinsmen Acts 7:25 that his act was known, he quickly made decision, "choosing rather to share ill treatment with the people of God," casting in his lot with slaves of the empire, rather than "to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season," amid the riotous living of the young princes at the Egyptian court; "accounting the reproach of Christ" his humiliation, being accounted a nobody ("Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?") As "greater riches than the treasures of Egypt" Hebrews 11:25-26; Acts 7:25-28 . He thought to be a nobody and do right better than to be a tyrant and rule Egypt. </p> <p> <b> 4. Refuge in Midian </b> </p> <p> Moses fled, "not fearing the wrath of the king" Hebrews 11:27 , not cringing before it or submitting to it, but defying it and braving all that it could bring upon him, degradation from his high position, deprivation of the privileges and comforts of the Egyptian court. He went out a poor wanderer Exodus 2:15 . We are told nothing of the escape and the journey, how he eluded the vigilance of the court guards and of the frontier-line of sentinels. The friend of slaves is strangely safe while within their territory. At last he reached the Sinaitic province of the empire and hid himself away among its mountain fastnesses Exodus 2:15 . The romance of the well and the shepherdesses and the grateful father and the future wife is all quite in accord with the simplicity of desert life Exodus 2:16-22 . The "Egyptian" saw the rude, selfish herdsmen of the desert imposing upon the helpless shepherd girls, and, partly by the authority of a manly man, partly, doubtless, by the authority of his Egyptian appearance in an age when "Egypt" was a word with which to frighten men in all that part of the world, he compelled them to give way. The "Egyptian" was called, thanked, given a home and eventually a wife. There in Midian, while the anguish of Israel continued under the taskmaster's lash, and the weakening of Israel's strength by the destruction of the male children went on, with what more or less rigor we know not, Moses was left by [[Providence]] to mellow and mature, that the haughty, impetuous prince, "instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," might be transformed into the wise, well-poised, masterful leader, statesman, lawgiver, poet and prophet. [[God]] usually prepares His great ones in the countryside or about some of the quiet places of earth, farthest away from the busy haunts of men and nearest to the "secret place of the Most High." [[David]] keeping his father's flocks, [[Elijah]] on the mountain slopes of Gilead, the [[Baptist]] in the wilderness of Judaea, [[Jesus]] in the shop of a [[Galilean]] carpenter; so Moses a shepherd in the Bedouin country, in the "waste, howling wilderness." </p> <p> <b> 5. Leader of Israel </b> </p> (1) The [[Commission]] <p> One day Moses led the flocks to "the back of the wilderness" (Exodus 3:1-12; see [[Burning Bush]] ). Moses received his commission, the most appalling commission ever given to a mere man Exodus 3:10 - a commission to a solitary man, and he a refugee - to go back home and deliver his kinsmen from a dreadful slavery at the hand of the most powerful nation on earth. [[Let]] not those who halt and stumble over the little difficulties of most ordinary lives think hardly of the faltering of Moses' faith before such a task Exodus 3:11-13; Exodus 4:1 , Exodus 4:10-13 . "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, [[I Am]] hath sent me unto you" Exodus 3:14 , was the encouragement God gave him. He gave him also Aaron for a spokesman Exodus 4:14-16 , the return to the Mount of God as a sign Exodus 3:12 , and the rod of power for working wonders Exodus 4:17 . </p> <p> One of the curious necessities into which the critical analysis drives its advocates is the opinion concerning Aaron that "he scarcely seems to have been a brother and almost equal partner of Moses, perhaps not even a priest" (Bennett, <i> Hastings, Dictionary of the Bible </i> (five volumes), III, 441). Interesting and curious speculations have been instituted concerning the way in which Israel and especially Pharaoh were to understand the message, "I Am hath sent me unto you" (Exodus 3:13-14; compare Exodus 6:3 ). They were evidently expected to understand this message. Were they to so do by translating or by transliterating it into Egyptian? Some day Egyptologists may be able to answer positively, but not yet. </p> <p> With the signs for identification Exodus 4:1-10 , Moses was ready for his mission. He went down from the "holy ground" to obey the high summons and fulfil the great commission Exodus 4:18-23 . After the perplexing controversy with his wife, a controversy of stormy ending Exodus 4:24-26 , he seems to have left his family to his father-in-law's care while he went to respond to the call of God Exodus 18:6 . He met Aaron, his brother, at the Mount of God Exodus 4:27-28 , and together they returned to Egypt to collect the elders of Israel Exodus 4:29-31 , who were easily won over to the scheme of emancipation. Was ever a slave people not ready to listen to plans for freedom? </p> (2) The [[Conflict]] with Pharaoh <p> The next move was the bold request to the king to allow the people to go into the wilderness to hold a feast unto [[Yahweh]] Exodus 5:1 . How did Moses gain admittance past the jealous guards of an Egyptian court to the presence of the Pharaoh himself? And why was not the former traitorous refugee at once arrested? [[Egyptology]] affords a not too distinct answer. Rameses Ii was dead Exodus 4:19; Merenptah Ii was on the throne with an insecure tenure, for the times were troublous. Did some remember the "son of Pharaoh's daughter" who, had he remained loyal, would have been the Pharaoh? Probably so. Thus he would gain admittance, and thus, too, in the precarious condition of the throne, it might well not be safe to molest him. The original form of the request made to the king, with some slight modification, was continued throughout Exodus 8:27; Exodus 10:9 , though God promised that the [[Egyptians]] should thrust them out altogether when the end should come, and it was so Exodus 11:1; Exodus 12:31 , Exodus 12:33 , Exodus 12:39 . Yet Pharaoh remembered the form of their request and bestirred himself when it was reported that they had indeed gone "from serving" them Exodus 14:5 . The request for temporary departure upon which the contest was made put Pharaoh's call to duty in the easiest form and thus, also, his obstinacy appears as the greater heinousness. Then came the challenge of Pharaoh in his contemptuous demand, "Who is Yahweh?" Exodus 5:2 , and Moses' prompt acceptance of the challenge, in the beginning of the long series of plagues (see [[Plagues]] ) (Exodus 8:1 ff; Exodus 12:29-36; Exodus 14:31 ). Pharaoh, having made the issue, was justly required to afford full presentation of it. So Pharaoh's heart was "hardened" (Exodus 4:21; Exodus 7:3 , Exodus 7:13; Exodus 9:12 , Exodus 9:35; Exodus 10:1; Exodus 14:8; see [[Plagues]] ) until the vindication of Yahweh as God of all the earth was complete. This proving of Yahweh was so conducted that the gods of Egypt were shown to be of no avail against Him, but that He is God of all the earth, and until the faith of the people of Israel was confirmed Exodus 14:31 . </p> (3) [[Institution]] of the [[Passover]] <p> It was now time for the next step in revelation Exodus 12; 13:1-16 . At the burning bush God had declared His purpose to be a saviour, not a destroyer. In this contest in Egypt, His absolute sovereignty was being established; and now the method of deliverance by Him, that He might not be a destroyer, was to be revealed. Moses called together the elders Exodus 12:21-28 and instituted the Passover feast. As God always in revelation chooses the known and the familiar - the tree, the bow, circumcision, baptism, and the [[Supper]] - by which to convey the unknown, so the Passover was a combination of the household feast with the widespread idea of safety through blood-sacrifice, which, however it may have come into the world, was not new at that time. Some think there is evidence of an old Semitic festival at that season which was utilized for the institution of the Passover. </p> <p> The lamb was chosen and its use was kept up Exodus 12:3-6 . On the appointed night it was killed and "roasted with fire" and eaten with bitter herbs Exodus 12:8 , while they all stood ready girded, with their shoes on their feet and their staff in hand Exodus 12:11 . They ate in safety and in hope, because the blood of the lamb was on the door Exodus 12:23 . That night the firstborn of Egypt were slain. Among the Egyptians "there was not a house where there was not one dead" Exodus 12:30 , from the house of the maid-servant, who sat with her handmill before her, to the palace of the king that "sat on the throne," and even among the cattle in the pasture. If the plague was employed as the agency of the angel of Yahweh, as some think, its peculiarity is that it takes the strongest and the best and culminates in one great stunning blow and then immediately subsides (see [[Plagues]] ). Who can tell the horror of that night when the [[Israelites]] were thrust out of the terror-stricken land Exodus 12:39 ? </p> <p> As they went out, they "asked," after the fashion of departing servants in the East, and God gave them favor in the sight of the over-awed Egyptians that they lavished gifts upon them in extravagance. Thus "they despoiled the Egyptians" Exodus 12:36 . "Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants, and in the sight of the people" Exodus 11:3; Exodus 12:35-36 . </p> (4) The Exodus <p> "At the end of 430 years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of Yahweh went out from the land of Egypt" Exodus 12:41 . The great oppressor was Rameses II, and the culmination and the revolution came, most probably, in connection with the building of [[Pithom]] and Raamses, as these are the works of Israel mentioned in the Bible narrative Exodus 1:11 . Rameses said that he built Pithom at the "mouth of the east" (Budge, <i> History of Exodus </i> , V, 123). All efforts to overthrow that statement have failed and for the present, at least, it must stand. Israel built Pithom, Rameses built Pithom; there is a synchronism that cannot in the present knowledge of Egyptian history even be doubted, much less separated. The troublous times which came to Egypt with the beginning of the reign of Merenptah Ii afforded the psychological moment for the return of the "son of Pharaoh's daughter" and his access to the royal court. The presence and power of Yahweh vindicated His claim to be the Lord of all the earth, and Merenptah let the children of Israel go. </p> <p> A little later when Israel turned back from the border of Khar (Palestine) into the wilderness and disappeared, and Merenptah's affairs were somewhat settled in the empire, he set up the usual boastful tablet claiming as his own many of the victories of his royal ancestors, added a few which he himself could truly boast, and inserted, near the end, an exultation over Israel's discomfiture, accounting himself as having finally won the victory: </p> <p> "Tehennu is devastation, Kheta peace, the [[Canaan]] the prisoner of all ills; </p> <p> "Asgalon led out, taken with Gezer, Yenoamam made naught; </p> <p> "The People of Israel is ruined, his posterity is not; Khar is become as the widows of Egypt." </p> <p> The synchronisms of this period are well established and must stand until, if it should ever be, other facts of Egyptian history shall be obtained to change them. Yet it is impossible to determine with certainty the precise event from which the descent into Egypt should be reckoned, or to fix the date Bc of Moses, Rameses and Merenptah, and the building of Pithom, and so, likewise, the date of the exodus and of all the patriarchal movements. The ancients were more concerned about the order of events, their perspective and their synchronisms than about any epochal date. For the present we must be content with these chronological uncertainties. Astronomical science may sometimes fix the epochal dates for these events; otherwise there is little likelihood that they will ever be known. </p> <p> They went out from [[Succoth]] (Egyptian "Thuku," Budge, <i> History of Egypt </i> , V, 122,129), carrying the bones of [[Joseph]] with them as he had commanded Exodus 13:19; Genesis 50:25 . The northeast route was the direct way to the promised land, but it was guarded. Pithom itself was built at "the mouth of the East," as a part of the great frontier defenses (Budge, op. cit., V, 123). The "wall" on this frontier was well guarded Exo 14, and attempts might be made to stop them. So they went not "by the way of the land of the [[Philistines]] ... lest peradventure the people repent when they see war" Exodus 13:17 . The Lord Himself took the leadership and went ahead of the host of Israel in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night Exodus 13:21 . He led them by "the way of the wilderness by the [[Red]] Sea" Exodus 13:18 . They pitched before Pi-hahiroth, over against Baal-zephon between [[Migdol]] and the sea Exodus 14:2 . Not one of these places has been positively identified. But the Journeys before and after the crossing, the time, and the configuration of the land and the coast-line of the sea, together with all the necessities imposed by the narrative, are best met by a crossing near the modern town of [[Suez]] (Naville, <i> Route of the Exodus </i> ; Palmer, <i> The Desert of the Exodus </i> ), where <i> '''''Ras''''' </i> <i> '''''‛Ataka''''' </i> comes down to the sea, upon whose heights a <i> '''''migdhōl''''' </i> or "watch-tower," as the southern outpost of the eastern line of Egyptian defenses, would most probably be erected. </p> <p> Word was carried from the frontier to Pharaoh, probably at Tanis, that the Israelites had "fled" Exodus 14:5 , had taken the impassioned thrusting out by the frenzied people of Egypt in good faith and had gone never to return. Pharaoh took immediate steps to arrest and bring back the fugitives. The troops at hand Exodus 14:6 and the chariot corps, including 600 "chosen chariots," were sent at once in pursuit, Pharaoh going out in person at least to start the expedition Exodus 14:6-7 . The Israelites seemed to be "entangled in the land," and, since "the wilderness (had) shut them in" Exodus 4:3 , must easily fall a prey to the Egyptian army. The Israelites, terror-stricken, cried to Moses. God answered and commanded the pillar of cloud to turn back from its place before the host of Israel and stand between them and the approaching Egyptians, so that while the Egyptians were in the darkness Israel had the light Exodus 14:19-20 . </p> <p> The mountain came down on their right, the sea on the left to meet the foot of the mountain in front of them; the Egyptians were hastening on after them and the pillar of cloud and fire was their rearward. Moses with the rod of God stood at the head of the fleeing host. Then God wrought. Moses stretched out the rod of God over the sea and "Yahweh caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all the night" Exodus 14:16-21 . A pathway was before them and the sea on the right hand, and on the left was a "wall unto them," and they passed through Exodus 14:21-22 . Such heaping up of the waters by the wind is well known and sometimes amounts to 7 or 8 ft. in [[Lake]] Erie (Wright, <i> Scientific Confirmations of the Old [[Testament]] </i> , 106). No clearer statement could possibly be made of the means used and of the miraculous timing of God's providence with the obedience of the people to His command to Moses. </p> <p> The host of Israel passed over on the hard, sandy bottom of the sea. The Egyptians coming up in the dark and finding it impossible to tell exactly where the coastline had been on this beach, and where the point of safety would lie when the wind should abate and the tide come in again, impetuously rushed on after the fleeing slaves. In the morning, Yahweh looked forth and troubled the Egyptians "and took off their chariot wheels, and they drove them heavily" Exodus 14:24-25 . The wind had abated, the tide was returning and the infiltration that goes before the tide made the beach like a quicksand. The Egyptians found that they had gone too far and tried to escape Exodus 14:27 , but it was too late. The rushing tide caught them Exodus 14:28 . When the day had come, "horse and rider" were but the subject of a minstrel's song of triumph Exo 15:1-19; [[Psalm]] 106:9-12 which Miriam led with her timbrel Exodus 15:20 . The Bible does not say, and there is no reason to believe, that Pharaoh led the Egyptian hosts in person further than at the setting off and for the giving of general direction to the campaign Exodus 15:4 . Pharaoh and his host were overthrown in the Red [[Sea]] Psalm 136:15 . So Napoleon and his host were overthrown at Waterloo, but Napoleon lived to die at St. Helena. And Merenptah lived to erect his boastful inscription concerning the failure of Israel, when turned back from Kadesh-barnea, and their disappearance in the wilderness of Paran. His mummy, identified by the lamented Professor Groff, lies among the royal mummies in the [[Cairo]] Museum. Thus at the Red Sea was wrought the final victory of Yahweh over Pharaoh; and the people believed Exodus 14:31 . </p> (5) [[Special]] Providences <p> Now proceeded that long course of special providences, miraculous timing of events, and multiplying of natural agencies which began with the crossing of the Red Sea and ended only when they "did eat of the fruit of the land" Joshua 5:12 . God promised freedom from the diseases of the Egyptians Exodus 15:26 at the bitter waters of Marah, on the condition of obedience. Moses was directed to a tree, the wood of which should counteract the alkaline character of the water Exodus 15:23-25 . A little later they were at [[Elim]] ( <i> '''''Wâdy''''' </i> <i> '''''Gharandel''''' </i> , in present-day geography), where were "twelve springs of water and three score and ten palm trees" Exodus 15:27 . The enumeration of the trees signifies nothing but their scarcity, and is understood by everyone who has traveled in that desert and counted, again and again, every little clump of trees that has appeared. The course of least resistance here is to turn a little to the right and come out again at the Red Sea in order to pass around the point of the plateau into the wilderness of Sin. This is the course travel takes now, and it took the same course then Exodus 16:1 . Here Israel murmured Exodus 16:2 , and every traveler who crosses this blistering, dusty, wearisome, hungry wilderness joins in the murmuring, and wishes, at least a little, that he had stayed in the land of Egypt Exodus 16:3 . Provisions brought from Egypt were about exhausted and the land supplied but little. [[Judging]] from the complaints of the people about the barrenness of the land, it was not much different then from what it is now Numbers 20:1-6 . Now special providential provision began. "At even ... the quails came up, and covered the camp," and in the morning, after the dew, the manna was found (Exo 16:4-36; see [[Manna]]; [[Quails]] ). </p> <p> At [[Rephidim]] was the first of the instances when Moses was called upon to help the people to some water. He smote the rock with the rod of God, and there came forth an abundant supply of water Exodus 17:1-6 . There is plenty of water in the wady near this point now. The Amalekites, considering the events immediately following, had probably shut the Israelites off from the springs, so God opened some hidden source in the mountain side. "Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel" Exodus 17:8 . Whether the hand which Moses lifted up during the battle was his own hand or a symbolical hand Exodus 17:9-12 , thought to have been carried in battle then, as sometimes even yet by the Bedouin, is of no importance. It was in either case a hand stretched up to God in prayer and allegiance, and the battle with Amalek, then as now, fluctuates according as the hand is lifted up or lowered Exodus 17:8-16 . </p> <p> Here Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, met him and brought his wife and children to him (Exodus 18:5-6; compare Numbers 10:29 ). A sacrificial feast was held with the distinguished guest Exodus 18:7-12 . In the wise counsel of this great desert-priest we see one of the many natural sources of supply for Moses' legal lore and statesmanship. A suggestion of [[Jethro]] gave rise to one of the wisest and most far-reaching elements in the civil institutions of Israel, the elaborate system of civil courts Exodus 18:13-26 . </p> (6) [[Receiving]] the Law <p> At Sinai Moses reached the pinnacle of his career, though perhaps not the pinnacle of his faith. (For a discussion of the location of Sinai, see [[Sinai]]; [[Exodus]] .) It is useless to speculate about the nature of the flames in the theophany by fire at Sinai. Some say there was a thunderstorm ( <i> Hastings, Dictionary of the Bible </i> (five volumes)); others think a volcanic eruption. The time, the stages of the journey, the description of the way, the topography of this place, especially its admirable adaptability to be the cathedral of Yahweh upon earth, and, above all, the collocation of all the events of the narrative along this route to this spot and to no other - all these exercise an overwhelming influence upon one (compare Palmer, <i> The Desert of the Exodus </i> ). If they do not conclusively prove, they convincingly persuade, that here the greatest event between [[Creation]] and [[Calvary]] took place </p> <p> Here the people assembled. "And Mount Sinai, the whole of it, smoked," and above appeared the glory of God. [[Bounds]] were set about the mountain to keep the people back Exodus 19:12-13 . God was upon the mountain: "Under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the very heaven for clearness" Exodus 19:16-19; Exodus 24:10 . 16-17, "and God spake all these words" Exo 20:1-17. Back over the summit of the plain between these two mountain ridges in front, the people fled in terror to the place "afar off" Exodus 20:18 , and somewhere about the foot of this mountain a little later the tabernacle of grace was set up Exodus 40:17 . At this place the affairs of Moses mounted up to such a pinnacle of greatness in the religious history of the world as none other among men has attained unto. He gave formal announcement of the perfect law of God as a rule of life, and the redeeming mercy of God as the hope through repentance for a world of sinners that "fall short." Other men have sought God and taught men to seek God, some by the works of the Law and some by the way of propitiation, but where else in the history of the world has any one man caught sight of both great truths and given them out? </p> <p> Moses gathered the people together to make the covenant Exodus 24:1-8 , and the nobles of Israel ate a covenant meal there before God Exodus 24:11 . God called Moses again to the mountain with the elders of Israel Exodus 24:12 . There Moses was with God, fasting 40 days Exodus 34:28 . Joshua probably accompanied Moses into the mount Exodus 24:13 . There God gave directions concerning the plan of the tabernacle: "See ... that thou make all things according to the pattern that was showed thee in the mount" (Hebrews 8:5-12 , summing up Exodus 25:40; Exodus 26:30; Exodus 27:8 ). This was the statement of the architect to the builder. We can only learn what the pattern was by studying the tabernacle (see [[Tabernacle]] ). It was an Egyptian plan (compare <i> Bible Student </i> , January, 1902). While Moses was engaged in his study of the things of the tabernacle on the mount, the people grew restless and appealed to Aaron Exodus 32:1 . In weakness Aaron yielded to them and made them a golden calf and they said, "These are thy gods, O I srael, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt" (Exodus 32:2-6; compare [[Calf]] , [[Golden]] ). This was probably, like the later calf-worship at [[Bethel]] and Dan, ancient Semitic bull-worship and a violation of the second commandment Exodus 20:5; compare <i> Bible Student </i> , August, 1902). The judgment of God was swift and terrible 32:7-35, and Levi was made the [[Divine]] agent Exodus 32:25-29 . Here first the "tent of meeting" comes into prominence as the official headquarters of the leader of Israel Exodus 33:7-11 . [[Henceforth]] independent and distinct from the tabernacle, though on account of the similarity of names liable to be confused with that building, it holds its place and purpose all through the wanderings to the plain of [[Moab]] by [[Jordan]] Deuteronomy 31:14 . Moses is given a vision of God to strengthen his own faith Exodus 33:12-23; 34:1-35. On his return from communion with God, he had such glory within that it shone out through his face to the terror of the multitude, an adumbration of that other and more glorious transfiguration at which Moses should also appear, and that reflection of it which is sometimes seen in the life of many godly persons Matthew 17:1-13; Mark 9:2-10; Luke 9:28-36 . </p> <p> Rationalistic attempts to account for the phenomena at Sinai have been frequent, but usually along certain lines. The favorite hypothesis is that of volcanic action. God has often used natural agencies in His revelation and in His miracles, and there is no necessary obstacle to His doing so here. But there are two seemingly insuperable difficulties in the way of this naturalistic explanation: one, that since geologic time this has not been a volcanic region; the other, that volcanic eruptions are not conducive to literary inspiration. It is almost impossible to get a sane account from the beholders of an eruption, much less has it a tendency to result in the greatest literature, the most perfect code of laws and the profoundest statesmanship in the world. The human mind can easily believe that God could so speak from Sinai and direct the preparation of such works of wisdom as the [[Book]] of the Covenant. Not many will be able to think that Moses could do so during a volcanic eruption at Sinai. For it must be kept in mind that the historical character of the narrative at this point, and the [[Mosaic]] authorship of the Book of the Covenant, are generally admitted by those who put forward this naturalistic explanation. </p> (7) Uncertainties of History <p> From this time on to the end of Moses' life, the materials are scant, there are long stretches of silence, and a biographer may well hesitate. The tabernacle was set up at the foot of the "mountain of the law" Exodus 40:17-19 , and the world from that day to this has been able to find a mercy-seat at the foot of the mountain of the law. [[Nadab]] and [[Abihu]] presumptuously offered strange fire and were smitten Leviticus 10:1-7 . The people were numbered (Numbers 1:1 ff). The Passover was kept Numbers 9:1-5 . </p> (8) [[Journey]] to Canaan Resumed <p> The journey to Canaan began again Numbers 10:11-13 . From this time until near the close of the life of Moses the events associated with his name belong for the most part to the story of the wanderings in the wilderness and other subjects, rather than to a biography of Moses. (compare Wanderings; [[Aaron]]; [[Miriam]]; [[Joshua]]; [[Caleb]]; [[Brazen Serpent]] , etc.). The subjects and references are as follows: </p> <p> The March Num (Numbers 2:10-18; Numbers 9:15-23 ) </p> <p> The [[Complaining]] (Numbers 11:1-3 ) </p> <p> The [[Lusting]] (Numbers 11:4-6 , 18-35) </p> <p> The [[Prophets]] (Numbers 11:16 ) </p> <p> [[Leprosy]] of Miriam (Numbers 12:1-16 </p> (9) The [[Border]] of the Land <p> Kadesh-barnea (Numbers 13:3-26 ) </p> <p> The [[Spies]] (Deuteronomy 1:22; Numbers 13:2 , Numbers 13:21; Numbers 23:27-28 -33; 14:1-38) </p> <p> The [[Plagues]] (Numbers 14:36-37 , Numbers 14:40-45 </p> (10) The Wanderings <p> Korah, [[Dathan]] and [[Abiram]] (Numbers 16:1-35 ) </p> <p> The [[Plague]] (Numbers 16:41-50; Numbers 17:1-13 ) </p> <p> Death of Miriam (Numbers 20:1 ) </p> <p> [[Sin]] of Moses and Aaron (Numbers 20:2-13; Psalm 106:32 ) </p> <p> Unfriendliness of [[Edom]] (Numbers 20:14-21 ) </p> <p> Death of Aaron (Numbers 20:22-29 ) </p> <p> [[Arad]] (Numbers 21:1-3 ) </p> <p> [[Compassing]] of Edom (Numbers 21:4 ) </p> <p> [[Murmuring]] (Numbers 21:5-7 ) </p> <p> Brazen [[Serpent]] (Numbers 21:8-9; John 3:14 </p> (11) Edom <p> The Jordan (Numbers 21:10-20 ) </p> <p> [[Sihon]] (Numbers 21:21-32 ) </p> <p> [[Og]] (Numbers 21:33-35 ) </p> <p> [[Balak]] and [[Balaam]] (Numbers 22:4; Numbers 24:25 ) </p> <p> [[Pollution]] of the People (Numbers 25:6-15 ) </p> <p> [[Numbering]] of the People (Numbers 26 ) </p> <p> Joshua [[Chosen]] (Numbers 27:15-23 ) </p> <p> [[Midianites]] [[Punished]] (Numbers 31 ) </p> (12) [[Tribes]] East of Jordan <p> (Numbers 32 ) </p> (13) Moses' Final Acts <p> Moses was now ready for the final instruction of the people. They were assembled and a great farewell address was given Deuteronomy 1-30:20 . Joshua was formally inducted into office Deuteronomy 31:1-8 , and to the priests was delivered a written copy of this last announcement of the Law now adapted to the progress made during 40 years (Deuteronomy 31:9-13; compare Deuteronomy 31:24-29 ). Moses then called Joshua into the tabernacle for a final charge Deuteronomy 31:14-23 , gave to the assembled elders of the people "the words of this song" Deuteronomy 31:30; 32:1-43 and blessed the people Deut 33. And then Moses, who "by faith" had triumphed in Egypt, had been the great revelator at Sinai, had turned back to walk with the people of little faith for 40 years, reached the greatest triumph of his faith, when, from the top of Nebo, the towering pinnacle of Pisgah, he lifted up his eyes to the goodly land of promise and gave way to Joshua to lead the people in Deuteronomy 34:1-12 . And there Moses died and was buried, "but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day" Deuteronomy 34:5-6 , "and Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died" Deuteronomy 34:7 . </p> <p> This biography of Moses is the binding-thread of the Pentateuch from the beginning of Exodus to the end of Deuteronomy, without disastrous breaks or disturbing repetitions. There are, indeed, silences, but they occur where nothing great or important in the narrative is to be expected. And there are, in the eyes of some, repetitions, so-called doublets, but they do not seem to be any more real than may be expected in any biography that is only incidental to the main purpose of the writer. No man can break apart this narrative of the books without putting into confusion this life-story; the one cannot be treated as independent of the other; any more than the narrative of the English [[Commonwealth]] and the story of Cromwell, or the story of the American [[Revolution]] and the career of Washington. </p> <p> [[Later]] references to Moses as leader, lawgiver and prophet run all through the Bible; only the most important will be mentioned: Joshua 8:30-35; Joshua 24:5; 1 Samuel 12:6-8; 1 Chronicles 23:14-17; Psalm 77:20; Psalm 99:6; 105; 106; Isaiah 63:11-12; Jeremiah 15:1; Daniel 9:11-13; Hosea 12:13; Micah 6:4; Malachi 4:4 . </p> <p> The place held by Moses in the New Testament is as unique as in the Old Testament, though far less prominent. Indeed, he holds the same place, though presented in a different light. In the Old Testament he is the type of the Prophet to be raised up "like unto" him. It is the time of types, and Moses, the type, is most conspicuous. In the New Testament the Prophet "like unto Moses" has come. He now stands out the greatest One in human history, while Moses, the type, fades away in the shadow. It is thus he appears in Christ's remarkable reference to him: "He wrote of me" John 5:46 . The principal thing which Moses wrote specifically of [[Christ]] is this passage: "Yahweh thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me" (Deuteronomy 18:15 , Deuteronomy 18:18 ). Again in the Epistle to the Hebrews, which is the formal passing over from the types of the Old Testament to the fulfilment in the New Testament, Jesus is made to stand out as the Moses of the new dispensation Heb 3; 12. 24-29. Other most important New Testament references to Moses are Matthew 17:3; Mark 9:4; Luke 9:30; John 1:17 , John 1:45; John 3:14; Romans 5:14; Judges 1:9; Revelation 15:3 . </p> II. Work and Character <p> So little is known of the private life of Moses that his personal character can scarcely be separated from the part which he bore in public affairs. It is the work he wrought for Israel and for mankind which fixes his place among the great ones of earth. The life which we have just sketched as the life of the leader of Israel is also the life of the author, the lawgiver, and the prophet. </p> <p> <b> 1. The Author </b> </p> <p> It is not within the province of this article to discuss in full the great critical controversies concerning the authorship of Moses which have been summed up against him thus: "It is doubtful whether we can regard Moses as an author in the literary sense" ( <i> Hastings, Dictionary of the Bible </i> (five volumes), III, 446; see [[Pentateuch]]; [[Deuteronomy]] ). It will only be in place here to present a brief statement of the evidence in the case for Moses. There is no longer any question concerning the literary character of the age in which Moses lived. That Moses might have written is indisputable. But did he write, and how much? What evidence bears at these points? </p> (1) "Moses wrote" <p> The idea of writing or of writings is found 60 times in the Pentateuch It is definitely recorded in writing purporting to be by Moses. 7 times that Moses wrote or was commanded to write Exodus 17:14; Exodus 34:27; Exodus 39:30; Numbers 17:2-3; Deuteronomy 10:4; Deuteronomy 31:24 and frequently of others in his times Deuteronomy 6:9; Deuteronomy 27:3; Deuteronomy 31:19; Joshua 8:32 . Joshua at the great convocation at [[Shechem]] for the taking of the covenant wrote "these words in the book of the law of God" Joshua 24:26 . Thus is declared the existence of such a book but 25 years after the death of Moses (compare <i> Bible Student </i> , 1901, 269-74). It is thus clearly asserted by the [[Scriptures]] as a fact that Moses in the wilderness a little after the exodus was "writing" "books." </p> (2) Moses' [[Library]] <p> There are many library marks in the Pentateuch, even in those portions which by nearly all, even the most radical, critics are allowed to be probably the writings of Moses. The Pentateuch as a whole has such library marks all over it. </p> <p> On the one hand this is entirely consistent with the known literary character of the age in which Moses lived. One who was "instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians" might have had in his possession Egyptian records. And the author of this article is of that class to whom Professor [[Clay]] refers, who believe "that Hebraic (or Amoraic) literature, as well as Aramaic, has a great antiquity prior to the 1st millennium BC" (Clay, <i> Amurru </i> , 32). </p> <p> On the other hand, the use of a library to the extent indicated by the abiding marks upon the Pentateuch does not in the least militate against the claim of Moses for authorship of the same. The real library marks, aside from the passages which are assigned by the critics to go with them, are far less numerous and narrower in scope than in Gibbon or in Kurtz. The use of a library no more necessarily endangers authorship in the one case than in the other. </p> (3) The Moses-Tradition <p> A tradition from the beginning universally held, and for a long time and without inherent absurdity, has very great weight. Such has been the Moses-tradition of authorship. Since Moses is believed to have been such a person living in such an age and under such circumstances as might suitably provide the situation and the occasion for such historical records, so that common sense does not question whether he could have written "a" Pentateuch, but only whether he did write "the" Pentateuch which we have, it is easier to believe the tradition concerning his authorship than to believe that such a tradition arose with nothing so known concerning his ability and circumstances. But such a tradition did arise concerning Moses. It existed in the days of Josiah. [[Without]] it, by no possibility could the people have been persuaded to receive with authority a book purporting to be by him. The question of the truthfulness of the claim of actually finding the Book of the Law altogether aside, there must ha </p>