Difference between revisions of "Moses"

<p> The life of [[Moses]] divides conveniently into three periods of forty years each. The first period ended with his flight from [[Egypt]] to [[Midian]] (&nbsp;Acts 7:23-29), the second with his return from Midian to liberate his people from [[Egyptian]] power (&nbsp;Acts 7:30-36; &nbsp;Exodus 7:7), and the third with his death just before [[Israel]] entered [[Canaan]] (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 34:7). </p> <p> As the leader God chose to establish Israel as a nation, Moses had absolute rule over Israel. God spoke to the people through him (&nbsp;Exodus 3:10-12; &nbsp;Exodus 24:12; &nbsp;Exodus 25:22). Moses’ position was unique. No other person of his time, and no leader after him, had the face-to-face relationship with God that Moses had (&nbsp;Exodus 24:1-2; &nbsp;Exodus 33:11; &nbsp;Numbers 12:6-8; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 34:10). </p> <p> &nbsp;Relations with Egypt </p> <p> Moses was the third child of [[Amram]] and Jochabed, and belonged to the tribe of Levi. His older sister was [[Miriam]] and his older brother [[Aaron]] (&nbsp;Exodus 6:20; &nbsp;1 Chronicles 6:1-3). Through a series of remarkable events, the young child Moses was adopted into the Egyptian royal family but grew up under the influence of his godly [[Israelite]] mother (&nbsp;Exodus 2:8-10; &nbsp;Hebrews 11:23). From his mother he learnt about the true and living God who had chosen Israel as his people, and from the [[Egyptians]] he received the best secular education available (&nbsp;Acts 7:22). </p> <p> By the time he was forty, Moses was convinced God had chosen him to rescue Israel from Egypt. But his rash killing of an Egyptian slave-driver showed he was not yet ready for the job. To save his life he fled from Egypt to live among the Midianites, a nomadic people who inhabited a barren region that spread from the [[Sinai]] Peninsular around the [[Gulf]] of Aqabah into the western part of the [[Arabian]] Desert. By such a decisive act, Moses demonstrated his total rejection of his Egyptian status (&nbsp;Exodus 2:11-15; &nbsp;Acts 7:23-29; &nbsp;Hebrews 11:24-25). </p> <p> In Midian Moses lived with a local chief named [[Jethro]] (or Reuel), from whom he probably learnt much about desert life and tribal administration. He married one of Jethro’s daughters, and from her had two sons (&nbsp;Exodus 2:16-22; &nbsp;Exodus 18:1-3). </p> <p> During Moses’ forty years in Midian, Israel’s sufferings in Egypt increased. God’s time to deliver Israel from bondage had now come, and the person he would use as the deliverer was Moses (&nbsp;Exodus 2:23-25; &nbsp;Exodus 3:1-12). Because the [[Israelites]] had only a vague understanding of God, Moses had to explain to them the character of this one who would be their redeemer. He, the [[Eternal]] One, would prove himself able to meet every need of his people, but they had to learn to trust in him (&nbsp;Exodus 3:13-15; &nbsp;Exodus 6:2-8; see &nbsp;YAHWEH). </p> <p> In response to Moses’ complaint that the Israelites would not believe him, God gave him three signs (&nbsp;Exodus 4:1-9; &nbsp;Exodus 4:30). In response to his excuse that he was not a good speaker, God gave him Aaron as a spokesman (&nbsp;Exodus 4:10-16; &nbsp;Exodus 7:1-2). Moses then returned to Egypt, where the elders of Israel welcomed him (&nbsp;Exodus 4:20; &nbsp;Exodus 4:29; &nbsp;Exodus 4:31). </p> <p> God warned Moses that his job would be difficult and that [[Pharaoh]] would not listen to his pleas for freedom for the Israelites (&nbsp;Exodus 4:21-23). Pharaoh’s response to Moses’ initial meeting was to increase the Israelites’ suffering, with the result that they turned bitterly against Moses (&nbsp;Exodus 5:1-21). God gave Moses further assurance that Pharaoh would be defeated, but when Moses told the people, they were too disheartened to listen (&nbsp;Exodus 6:1; &nbsp;Exodus 6:9). </p> <p> Moses again put his request to Pharaoh, and again Pharaoh refused (&nbsp;Exodus 7:1-13). God therefore worked through Moses and Aaron to send a series of plagues upon Egypt, resulting in the overthrow of Egypt and the release of Israel (&nbsp;Exodus 7:14-25; Exodus 8; Exodus 9; Exodus 10; Exodus 11; Exodus 12; Exodus 13; Exodus 14; &nbsp;Exodus 15:1-21; see &nbsp;PHARAOH; &nbsp;PLAGUE). </p> <p> &nbsp;Israel’s lawgiver </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, &nbsp;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," &nbsp;Exodus 2:1-10; &nbsp;Acts 7:20-22; &nbsp;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, &nbsp;Exodus 2:11-21; &nbsp;Exodus 3:1; &nbsp;Exodus 18:5; &nbsp;Numbers 10:29; &nbsp;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, &nbsp;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> &nbsp;Genesis 15:14; &nbsp;Exodus 2:23-25; &nbsp;Exodus 3:2-22; &nbsp;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, &nbsp; 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, &nbsp;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, &nbsp;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, &nbsp;Exodus 5:20-23; &nbsp;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, &nbsp;ויעשו כ&nbsp;ן , "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," &nbsp;Exodus 8:18 . And, indeed, the original term, &nbsp;להטיהם , rendered "their enchantments," as derived from the root &nbsp;לאט , or &nbsp;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, &nbsp; 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, &nbsp;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, &nbsp;Exodus 6:10-11; &nbsp;Exodus 7:8-13 . For the conduct of Moses as the deliverer and lawgiver of the Israelites, See &nbsp;PLAGUES OF EGYPT , See &nbsp;RED SEA , and See &nbsp;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," &nbsp;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, &nbsp;Deuteronomy 34:10-12; and to whom God, at his transfiguration, required the world to hearken, &nbsp;Matthew 17:5 . [[Whence]] our Lord's frequent admonition to the Jewish church, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear," &nbsp;Matthew 13:9 , &c; which is addressed, also, by the Spirit to the Christian churches of Asia Minor, &nbsp;Revelation 3:22 . </p> <p> In the affair of the <em> [[Golden]] Calf, </em> ( See &nbsp;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, &nbsp;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, &nbsp;Exodus 34:1-35; &nbsp;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," &nbsp;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, &nbsp;Deuteronomy 1:22-23; &nbsp;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, &nbsp;Numbers 14:1-10;. &nbsp;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, &nbsp;Numbers 14:11-37; &nbsp;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, &nbsp;Numbers 14:39-45; &nbsp;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, &nbsp;Numbers 14:25; &nbsp;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 &nbsp;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, &nbsp;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," &nbsp;Numbers 20:1-13; and afterward in stronger terms: "Because ye rebelled against my commandment," &c. </p> <p> &nbsp;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, &nbsp; 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," &nbsp; 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," &nbsp;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, &nbsp;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," &nbsp;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," &nbsp;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, &nbsp;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, &nbsp;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, &nbsp;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, &nbsp;Luke 24:50; &nbsp;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," &nbsp;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, &nbsp; 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, &nbsp;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? &nbsp; 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? &nbsp;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, &nbsp; Exodus 4:10; his own want of faith, which prevented him from entering the promised land, &nbsp;Numbers 20:12; the idolatry of Aaron his brother, &nbsp;Exodus 32:21; the profaneness of [[Nadab]] and Abihu, his nephews, Leviticus 10; the disaffection and punishment of Miriam, his sister, &nbsp;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? &nbsp; Exodus 3:14; &nbsp;Exodus 20:3-17; &nbsp;Leviticus 19:2; &nbsp;Leviticus 19:18; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 6:4; &nbsp;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," &nbsp;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> 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’ (&nbsp;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: &nbsp;Romans 10:5 (‘Moses writeth’); cf. &nbsp;Acts 3:22; &nbsp;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’ (&nbsp;Acts 15:21, &nbsp;2 Corinthians 3:15 [cf. &nbsp;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 &nbsp;Acts 15:21 and &nbsp;2 Corinthians 3:15 (cf. &nbsp;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> &nbsp;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. &nbsp;Acts 7:37; &nbsp;Acts 3:22 (‘Moses said’) with &nbsp;John 5:46 (&nbsp;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. &nbsp;Acts 3:22; &nbsp;Acts 7:37; &nbsp;Acts 26:22; &nbsp;Acts 28:23, &nbsp;Luke 24:27; &nbsp;Luke 24:44, &nbsp;John 5:45-47 (&nbsp;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 (&nbsp;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 (&nbsp;Acts 7:23-29), then exalted by God to be their leader and deliverer (&nbsp;Acts 7:35), and at length once more rejected by them (&nbsp;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 (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 10:2); and in &nbsp;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]] (&nbsp;Hebrews 8:6; &nbsp;Hebrews 12:24) doubtless presupposes that Moses was the mediator of the Old (cf. &nbsp;Acts 7:38, &nbsp;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 &nbsp;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 (&nbsp;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 (&nbsp;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 (&nbsp;2 Corinthians 3:7-18, &nbsp;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 (&nbsp;Hebrews 3:3-5). In the fading away of the dazzling glory on the face of Moses (&nbsp;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 (&nbsp;2 Corinthians 3:12-18; cf. &nbsp;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, &nbsp;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 (&nbsp;Matthew 5:17-20, &nbsp;Luke 16:17; cf. &nbsp;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.*&nbsp; &nbsp;[Note: A detailed explanation of this development is given in the art. Law.]&nbsp; 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’ (&nbsp;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 (&nbsp;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. &nbsp;1 Corinthians 7:18, &nbsp;Galatians 5:3; see also article&nbsp; Law, 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 (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 9:8 f.; cf. &nbsp;1 Timothy 5:18, where the same OT passage-&nbsp;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 (&nbsp;1 Corinthians 2:14 f.), and that nothing is to be enforced according to the letter which killeth (&nbsp;2 Corinthians 3:5), the regulative canon being that the external statutes, ‘the commandments in ordinances’ (&nbsp;Ephesians 2:15), are merely the shadow of things to come, while the body is Christ’s (&nbsp;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 &nbsp;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 &nbsp;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’ (&nbsp;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. &nbsp;Acts 15:29). But while this collocation has certainly an appearance of arbitrariness, a glance at &nbsp;Revelation 2:20-24 (where we undoubtedly hear an echo of the Apostolic Decree), as also a comparison with &nbsp;1 Corinthians 10:7 f., shows us that abstinence from idolatrous sacrifices and abstinence from sexual immorality are closely related, and that &nbsp;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. &nbsp;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 &nbsp;πνικτοῦ in the textual tradition. Here, however, another consideration arises. In the Western text, which omits &nbsp;καὶ πνικτοῦ (&nbsp;πνικτῶν), we find an addition which points to an entirely different conception of the Apostolic Decree, viz. &nbsp;καὶ ὅσα μὴ θέλουσιν ἑαυτοῖς γίνεσθαι ἑτέροις μὴ ποιεῖν (&nbsp;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 (&nbsp;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 &nbsp;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 &nbsp;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 (&nbsp;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&nbsp; , 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&nbsp; , 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> &nbsp;Mo'ses. &nbsp;(Hebrew, &nbsp;Mosheh. &nbsp;"drawn", that is, &nbsp;from the water; in the Coptic, it means, &nbsp;"saved from the water"). The legislator of the Jewish people, and, in a certain sense, the founder of the Jewish religion. The immediate pedigree of Moses is as follows: </p> <p> Levi was the father of: Gershon, Kohath, [[Merari]] </p> <p> [[Kohath]] was the father of: Amram = Jochebed </p> <p> Amram = Jochebed was the father of: Hur = Miriam, Aaron = Elisheba, Moses = Zipporah </p> <p> Aaron = [[Elisheba]] was the father of: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, [[Ithamar]] </p> <p> Eleazar was the father of: Phineas </p> <p> Moses = Zipporah was the father of: Gershom, Eliezer </p> <p> Gershom was the father of: Jonathan. </p> <p> &nbsp;The history of Moses. Naturally. Divides itself into three periods of 40 years each. Moses was born at Goshen, in Egypt, B.C. 1571. The story of his birth is thoroughly Egyptian in its scene. His mother made extraordinary efforts for his preservation, from the general destruction, of the male children of Israel. For three months, the child was concealed in the house. Then, his mother placed him in a small boat or basket of papyrus, closed against the water by bitumen. This was placed among the aquatic vegetation, by the side of one of the canals, of the Nile. The sister lingered to watch her brother's fate. </p> <p> The Egyptian princess, who, tradition says, was a childless wife, came down to bathe in the sacred river. Her attendant slaves followed her. She saw the basket in the flags, and despatched divers, who brought it. It was opened, and the cry of the child moved the princess to compassion. She determined to rear it as her own. The sister was at hand to recommend a Hebrew nurse, the child's own mother. </p> <p> Here was the &nbsp;first part of Moses' training, - a training, at home, in the true religion, in faith in God, in the promises to his nation, in the life of a saint, - a training which he never forgot, even amid the splendors and gilded sin of Pharaoh's court. The child was adopted by the princess. </p> <p> From this time, for many years, Moses must be considered as an Egyptian. In the Pentateuch, this period is a blank, but in the New Testament, he is represented as "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," and as "mighty in words and deeds;" &nbsp;Acts 7:22; this was the &nbsp;second part of Moses' training. </p> <p> The second period of Moses' life began when he was forty years old. Seeing the sufferings of his people, Moses determined to go to them as their helper, and made his great life-choice, "choosing rather to suffer affliction, with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of &nbsp;Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt." &nbsp;Hebrews 11:25-26. </p> <p> Seeing an Israelite suffering the bastinado [A sound beating with a stick or cudgel; the blows given with a stick or staff. This name is given to a punishment in use among the Turks, of beating an offender on the soles of his feet] from an Egyptian, and thinking that they were alone, he slew the Egyptian, and buried the corpse in the sand. But the people soon showed themselves unfitted as yet to obtain their freedom, nor was Moses yet fitted to be their leader. </p> <p> He was compelled to leave Egypt, when the slaying of the Egyptian became known, and he fled to the land of Midian, in the southern and southeastern part of the Sinai peninsula. There was a famous well, ("the well,"). &nbsp;Exodus 2:15, surrounded by tanks for the watering of the flocks of the Bedouin herdsmen. By this well, the fugitive seated himself and watched the gathering of the sheep. There were the Arabian shepherds, and there were also seven maidens, whom the shepherds rudely drove away from the water. </p> <p> The chivalrous spirit, which had already broken forth in behalf of his oppressed countrymen, broke forth again in behalf of the distressed maidens. They returned unusually soon to their father, Jethro, and told him of their adventure. Moses, who up to this time had been "an Egyptian," &nbsp;Exodus 2:19, now became for a time an Arabian. He married Zipporah, daughter of his host, to whom he also became the slave and shepherd. &nbsp;Exodus 2:21; &nbsp;Exodus 3:1. </p> <p> Here, for forty years, Moses communed with God and with nature, escaping from the false ideas taught him in Egypt, and sifting out the truths that were there. This was the &nbsp;third process of his training for his work; and from this training, he learned infinitely more than from Egypt. Stanely well says, after enumerating what the Israelites derived from Egypt, that the contrast was always greater than the likeness. This process was completed when God met him on Horeb, appearing in a burning bush, and, communicating with him, appointed him to be the leader and deliverer of his people. </p> <p> Now, begins the third period of forty years in Moses' life. He meets Aaron, his next younger brother, whom God permitted to be the spokesman, and together, they return to [[Goshen]] in Egypt. From this time, the history of Moses is the history of Israel, for the next forty years. Aaron spoke and acted for Moses, and was the permanent inheritor of the sacred staff of power. But Moses was the inspiring soul behind. He is, incontestably, the chief personage of the history, in a sense in which, no one else is described before or since. He was led into a closer communion with the invisible world, than was vouchsafed to any other in the Old Testament. </p> <p> There are two main characters in which he appears - as a leader and as a prophet. </p> <p> (1) &nbsp;As a leader, his life divides itself into the three epochs - the march to Sinai; the march from Sinai to Kadesh, and the conquest of the TransJordanic kingdoms. On approaching Palestine, the office of the leader becomes blended with that of the general or the conqueror. By Moses, the spies were sent to explore the country. Against his advice, took place the first disastrous battle at hormah. To his guidance is ascribed the circuitous route by which the nation approached Palestine from the east, and to his generalship, the two successful campaigns in which Sihon and [[Og]] were defeated. The narrative is told so briefly that we are in danger of forgetting that, at this last stage of his life, Moses must have been as much a conqueror and victorious soldier as was Joshua. </p> <p> (2) &nbsp;His character as a prophet is, from the nature of the case, more distinctly brought out. He is the first, as he is the greatest example of a prophet in the Old Testament. His brother and sister were both endowed with prophetic gifts. The seventy elders, and Eldad and [[Medad]] also, all "prophesied." &nbsp;Numbers 11:25-27. But Moses rose high above all these. With him, the divine revelations were made "mouth to mouth." &nbsp;Numbers 12:8. Of the special modes of this more direct communication, four great examples are given, corresponding to four critical epochs in his historical career. </p> <p> (a) The appearance of the divine presence in the flaming acacia tree. &nbsp;Exodus 3:2-6. </p> <p> (b) In the giving of the law from Mount Sinai, the outward form of the revelation was a thick darkness as of a thunder-cloud, out of which proceeded a voice. &nbsp;Exodus 19:19; &nbsp;Exodus 20:21. On two occasions, he is described as having penetrated, within the darkness. &nbsp;Exodus 24:18; &nbsp;Exodus 34:28. </p> <p> (c) It was nearly at the close of these communications in the mountains of Sinai, that an especial revelation of God was made to him personally. &nbsp;Exodus 33:2-22; &nbsp;Exodus 34:5-7. God passed before him. </p> <p> (d) The fourth mode of divine manifestation was that which is described as beginning at this juncture, and which was maintained with more or less continuity through the rest of his career. &nbsp;Exodus 33:7. It was the communication with God in the Tabernacle, from out the pillar of cloud and fire. There is another form of Moses' prophetic gift, namely, the poetical form of composition, which characterizes the Jewish prophecy generally. These poetical utterances are - </p> <p> i. "The song which Moses and the children of Israel sung," (after the passage of the Red Sea). &nbsp;Exodus 15:1-19. </p> <p> ii. A fragment of the war-song against Amalek. &nbsp;Exodus 17:16. </p> <p> iii. A fragment of lyrical burst of indignation. &nbsp;Exodus 32:18. </p> <p> iv. The fragments of war-songs, probably from either him or his immediate prophetic followers, in &nbsp;Numbers 21:14-15; &nbsp;Numbers 21:27-30, preserved in the "book of the wars of &nbsp;Jehovah," &nbsp;Numbers 21:14, and the address to the well. &nbsp;Numbers 21:16-18. </p> <p> v. The song of Moses, &nbsp;Deuteronomy 32:1-43, setting forth the greatness and the failings of Israel. </p> <p> vi. The blessing of Moses on the tribes, &nbsp;Deuteronomy 33:1-29. </p> <p> vii. The 90th Psalm, "A prayer of Moses, the man of God." The title, like all the titles of the psalms, is of doubtful authority, and the psalm has often been referred to a later author. </p> <p> &nbsp;Character. - The prophetic office of Moses can only be fully considered in connection with his whole character and appearance. &nbsp;Hosea 12:13. He was, in a sense peculiar to himself, the founder and representative of his people; and in accordance, with this complete identification of himself with his nation, is the only strong personal trait which we are able to gather from his history. &nbsp;Numbers 12:3. The word "meek" is hardly an adequate reading of the Hebrew term, which should be rather "much enduring." It represents what we should now designate by the word "disinterested." </p> <p> All that is told of him indicates a withdrawal of himself, a preference of the cause of his nation to his own interests, which makes him the most complete example of Jewish patriotism. (He was especially a man of prayer and of faith, of wisdom, courage and patience). In exact conformity with his life is the account of his end. </p> <p> The book of Deuteronomy describes, and is, the long last farewell of the prophet to his people. This takes place on the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year of the wanderings, in the plains of Moab. &nbsp;Deuteronomy 1:3; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 1:5. Moses is described as 120 years of age, but with his sight and his freshness of strength unabated. &nbsp;Deuteronomy 34:7. Joshua is appointed his successor. The law is written out and ordered to be deposited in the ark. Deuteronomy 31. The song and the blessing of the tribes conclude the farewell. Deuteronomy 32; Deuteronomy 33. </p> <p> And then comes the mysterious close. He is told that he is to &nbsp;see the good land beyond the Jordan, but not to possess it himself. He ascends the mount of Pisgah and stands on Nebo, one of its summits, and surveys the four great masses of Palestine west of the Jordan, so far as it can be discerned from that height. The view has passesd into a proverb for all nations. </p> <p> "So Moses, the servant of &nbsp;Jehovah, died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of &nbsp;Jehovah. And he buried him in a 'ravine' in the land of Moab, 'before' Beth-peor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day. And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days." &nbsp;Deuteronomy 34:6; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 34:8. </p> <p> This is all that is said in the sacred record. (This burial was thus hidden probably - </p> <p> (1) To preserve his grave from idolatrous worship or superstitious reverence; and </p> <p> (2) Because it may be that God did not intend to leave his body to corruption, but to prepare it, as he did the body of Elijah, so that Moses could, in his spiritual body, meet &nbsp;Christ, together with Elijah, on the mount of transfiguration). </p> <p> Moses is spoken of as a likeness of &nbsp;Christ; and as this is a point of view which has been almost lost in the Church, compared with the more familiar comparisons of &nbsp;Christ to Adam, David, Joshua, and yet, has as firm a basis in fact, as any of them, it may be well to draw it out in detail. </p> <p> (1) Moses is, as it would seem, the only character, of the Old Testament, to whom &nbsp;Christ expressly likens himself: "Moses wrote of me." &nbsp;John 5:46. It suggests three main points of likeness: </p> <p> (a) &nbsp;Christ was, like Moses, the great prophet of the people - the last, as Moses was the first. </p> <p> (b) &nbsp;Christ, like Moses, is a lawgiver: "Him shall ye hear." </p> <p> (c) &nbsp;Christ, like Moses, was a prophet out of the midst of the nation, "from their brethren." As Moses was the entire representative of his people, feeling for them more than for himself, absorbed in their interests, hopes and fears, so, with reverence, be it said, was &nbsp;Christ. </p> <p> (2) In &nbsp;Hebrews 3:1-19; &nbsp;Hebrews 12:24-29; &nbsp;Acts 7:37, &nbsp;Christ is described, though more obscurely, as the Moses of the new dispensation - as the apostle or messenger or mediator of God to the people - as the controller and leader of the flock or household of God. </p> <p> (3) The details of their lives are sometimes, though not often, compared. &nbsp;Acts 7:24-28; &nbsp;Acts 7:35. In &nbsp;Judges 1:9, is an allusion to an altercation between Michael and Satan over the body of Moses. It probably refers to a lost apocryphal book, mentioned by Origen, called the "Ascension" or "Assumption of Moses." Respecting the books of Moses, &nbsp;see The Pentateuch&nbsp;. </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]] (&nbsp;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 (&nbsp;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 &nbsp;Exodus 2:10 , the name given to him by the princess is connected with a Hebrew verb meaning "to draw out" (cf. &nbsp;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. &nbsp;Acts 7:21-22 ). The second phase occurs in Midian, where he fled for refuge after murdering an Egyptian (&nbsp;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 (&nbsp;Exodus 19:6 ). </p> <p> While Moses may have learned about his ancestral God from Jethro, his father-in-law, the "priest of Midian" (&nbsp;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]] (&nbsp;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 (&nbsp;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 (&nbsp;Exodus 19:6; &nbsp;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 (&nbsp;Exodus 34:6-7 ). Moses Acts on behalf of God at the covenant ratification ceremony (&nbsp;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 (&nbsp;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 (&nbsp;Exodus 33:12-16; &nbsp;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 (&nbsp;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 (&nbsp;Numbers 11:1-25 ) and feels the crushing weight of his responsibilities (&nbsp;Numbers 11:14 ). When he is overwhelmed by the numbers of people coming to him for legal decisions (&nbsp;Exodus 18:13 ), he willingly follows the advice of Jethro as to how he should conduct his judicial responsibilities (&nbsp;Exodus 18:24-26 ). Under obvious stress he goes beyond God's instructions in dealing with the complaining Israelites (&nbsp;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" (&nbsp;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 (&nbsp;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 (&nbsp;Mark 9:4 ). The sermon of Stephen before the [[Sanhedrin]] quotes Moses several times (&nbsp;Acts 7:20-44 ). Moses is referred to authoritatively in the Epistles, and is celebrated as a man who lived by faith (&nbsp;Hebrews 11:23-29 ). In Revelation, the victorious saints chant the song of Moses (&nbsp;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>

&nbsp;Genesis 45:17-25 <p> Thus favoured, the Israelites began to "multiply exceedingly" (&nbsp;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" (&nbsp;Genesis 15:13 ) commenced. They were sorely oppressed. They continued, however, to increase in numbers, and "the land was filled with them" (&nbsp;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" (&nbsp;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" (&nbsp; 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" (&nbsp;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 (&nbsp;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]] (&nbsp;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 &nbsp;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" (&nbsp;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" (&nbsp;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" (&nbsp;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 (&nbsp;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" (&nbsp;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 (&nbsp;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 (&nbsp;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 (&nbsp; Deuteronomy 1:1-4; &nbsp;5:1-26:19;; &nbsp;27:11-30:20 ),), and gives the people his last counsels, and then rehearses the great song (&nbsp;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" (&nbsp;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" (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 33:1; &nbsp;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" (&nbsp;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 (&nbsp;John 1:17; &nbsp;2 co &nbsp;3:13-18; &nbsp;Hebrews 3:5,6 ). Moses is the only character in the Old Testament to whom Christ likens himself (&nbsp;John 5:46; Compare &nbsp;Deuteronomy 18:15,18,19; &nbsp;Acts 7:37 ). In &nbsp;Hebrews 3:1-19 this likeness to Moses is set forth in various particulars. </p> <p> In &nbsp; 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>

<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. &nbsp;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. &nbsp;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." &nbsp;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. &nbsp;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), &nbsp;Deuteronomy 33:5; and was a prophet of a unique type. &nbsp;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.' &nbsp; 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." &nbsp;Deuteronomy 3:25-27; &nbsp;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. &nbsp;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." &nbsp;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?" &nbsp;Mark 12:26; "If they hear not Moses and the prophets," &nbsp;Luke 16:31; &nbsp;Luke 24:27; "When Moses is read," &nbsp;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> &nbsp;Moses (&nbsp;mo'zez), &nbsp;from the water, i.e., &nbsp;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. &nbsp;Exodus 2:1; &nbsp;Exodus 2:10; &nbsp;Exodus 6:16-20; &nbsp;Joshua 1:1-2; &nbsp;Joshua 1:15; &nbsp;1 Kings 8:53; &nbsp;1 Kings 8:56; &nbsp;2 Chronicles 1:3; &nbsp;Daniel 9:11; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 34:5; &nbsp;Psalms 90:1-17 : title; &nbsp;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." &nbsp;Exodus 2:1-10; &nbsp;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." &nbsp;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." &nbsp;Deuteronomy 34:10-12. </p>

<p> <b> Moses (3) </b> ( <i> Moyses </i> ), [[Roman]] presbyter (? of Jewish origin), a leading member of an influential group of confessors in the time of Cyprian, about the commencement of the Novatianist schism. The others were Maximus, Nicostratus, Rufinus, Urbanus, Sidonius, Macarius, and Celerinus. They wrote early in the persecution, urging the claims of discipline on the Carthaginian confessors ( <i> Ep. </i> 27) (cf. Tillem. t. iii. Notes s. Moyse, t. iv., S. Cyp. a. xv., Lipsius, <i> Chr. d. röm. Bisch. </i> p. 200), and Moyses signed the second letter of the Roman clerus (viz. <i> Ep. </i> 30), drawn up by [[Novatian]] according to [[Cyprian]] ( <i> Ep. </i> 55, iv.), and he wrote with the other confessors <i> Ep. </i> 31 to Cyprian ( <i> Ep. </i> 32). When they had been a year in prison ( <i> Ep. </i> 37), or more accurately 11 months and days (Liberian Catalogue, Mommsen, <i> Chronogr. </i> v. Jahre 354, p. 635). <i> i.e. c. </i> Jan. 1, 251, Moyses died and was accounted a confessor and martyr ( <i> Ep. </i> 55). [[Shortly]] before his death he refused to communicate with <i> Novatian and the five presbyters </i> who sided with him (&nbsp; ἀποσχίσασιν ) because he saw the tendency of his stern dogma (Cornelius to Fabius of Antioch, Eus. vi. 43, &nbsp;κατιδών ). </p> <p> Moyses' severance was not because Novatian had already left the Catholics, which he did not do till June 4, after the election of Cornelius; and Novatus, who induced it, did not leave [[Carthage]] for Rome until April or May (Rettberg, p. 109). Moyses' great authority remained a strong point in Cornelius's favour, when the rest of the confessors ( <i> Ep. </i> 51) after their release threw their influence on the side of Novatian as representing the stricter discipline against Cornelius. The headship of the party belonged after Moyses' death to MAXIMUS (3). </p> <p> [E.W.B.] </p>

<p> The name (as the margin of our Bibles states) means drawn out The illustrious history of Moses forms so large a page in the sacred volume of the Old Testament, that it supersedes the necessity of saying much about him here. He was a faithful servant in the house of the Lord: this is the character given of him by the Holy Ghost. (&nbsp;&nbsp;Hebrews 3:2.) And a blessed testimony it is! But the same testimony gives him no higher a character than a servant of Christ; and Moses himself thought this an honour high enough. He was a type himself of the law which he was commissioned to deliver; for as he was not permitted to enter into the promised land, so he thereby represented that the law could not bring God's people into Canaan, and consequently not into heaven, of which Canaan was a type. It is Jesus alone that can do this; "The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." (&nbsp;&nbsp;John 1:17.) </p>

<p> &nbsp;Exodus 2:10 (c) He is sometimes considered as a type of CHRIST in that he was the mediator between GOD and Israel. He was rejected and repudiated by Israel the same number of times that JESUS was rejected while on earth. He was somewhat clothed with glory on Mount Simi, as JESUS was clothed with glory on the Mount of Transfiguration. (See also &nbsp;Deuteronomy 18:15 which indicates this truth). </p>