Moses in biblical and historical tradition

Moses is one of the preeminent men in the bible. His life is a testament to the faithfulness of God and the power of his anointed. The purpose of this discussion is to focus on the life of Moses. We will discuss the circumstances surrounding his birth and upbringing. The discussion will also focus on how Moses guided the children of Israel. Finally we will discuss the correlation between and New Testament Faith.

The Life of Moses

According to the first chapter of Exodus Moses was conceived and born in Israel after the death of Joseph. A book entitled Moses and Egypt: The Documentation to the Motion Picture the Ten Commandments explains that the bible does not give a clear date of the time of the birth of Moses or the exodus. The authors explain "Nor did they give us the name of the pharaoh of the oppression. The new ruler of Egypt "which knew not Joseph" and the one who led his mighty host of chariots in pursuit of the Israelites have remained nameless in these texts." However, the work of Archbishop James Ussher

1561-1656), asserts that the creation of the world occurred in 4004 B.C. In fact (many editions of the Bible have the Ussher chronology printed on the margin of the corresponding text. Thus, the birth of Moses was placed in the year 1571 B.C. And the Exodus dated 1491 B.C. This chronology is based on the Hebrew text. "

In any case, when the new king of Egypt came to power, he saw that the people of Israel were great and mightier than his own people. Therefore the king believed that he must "deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us and so get them up out of land." The Old Testament reports that with this declaration, the king of Egypt forced the people of Israel to take on the burdens of building for the Pharoah the treasure cities of Pithom and Raamses. However, the people of Israel continued to multiply and the Egyptians were angered by this. Eventually the people of Israel were enslaved by the Egyptians and their lives were made difficult. Finally, the King of Egypt ordered the midwives to kill the sons of Hebrew women. However, the midwives feared God and refused to kill the sons of Israel. The Pharoah odered "all his people, saying, every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and ecery daughter ye shall save alive."

The parents of Moses were Levis and once his mother conceived him, she did not cast him into the river right away but she hid him for three months. The Old Testament explains that once she could no longer hide him, she placed him into an ark of bulrushes. His sister stood watching him to see what would become of him. Ferguson and Malherbe (1978) assert that Guided by some divine power, the basket moved to a certain place along the sloping bank where it was washed up naturally by the lapping of the waves. As the king's daughter happened to come to that grassy bank where the basket washed up, she discovered him when he gave a childlike cry in the ark. When she saw the outward grace evident in him, the princess out of her good will immediately adopted him and took him as her son. But when he instinctively refused a stranger's nourishment, he was nursed at his mother's breast through the contrivance of his close relatives."

Eventually the child was returned to the Pharaoh's daughter and she named him Moses because she had drawn him out of the water (Ex. 2:10). According to Ferguson and Malherbe (1978), Moses had a Royal upbringing and was educated in Pagan learning. However, Moses rejected the things that were considered glorious by the Pagans. In addition, he rejected that the Pharaoh's daughter was his mother and embraced his natural mother and the Hebrew people.

When Moses came to the realization of the plight of the Hebrews, he was dismayed. The Old Testament explains that Moses encountered a fight between a Hebrew and a Egyptian when Moses saw that there were no other men around he killed the Egyptian and placed his body in the sand. When the Pharaoh found out what Moses had done, he was going to kill him. Therefore, Moses fled to Midian and lived in the land. One day when Moses was resting near a well the daughters of the priest of Midian came to draw water for their father's troughs. While they were there, a group of shepherds also came to the well and began to mistreat the women. The movie "The Ten Commandments" gives a clear depiction of this event; showing how Moses intervened and got the shepherds away form the women.

According to the Old testament, when the priest of Midian heard about the bravery of Moses he invited him to break bread with him. The priest of Midian also allowed Moses to marry one of his daughters, Zipporah. She gave birth to a son named Gershom.

Eventually the king of Egypt died and the people of Israel were growing weary because of their enslavement. God heard the prayers of his people and was moved because of the covenant that he made with Abraham Isaac and Jacob. During this time, Moses was attending the flock of his fathering law when the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire. Ferguson and Malherbe (1978) assert that Moses experienced an awe-inspiring theophany occurred. At high noon a light brighter than the sunlight dazzled his eyes. Astonished at the strange sight, he looked up at the mountain and saw a bush from which this light was flaming up like a fire. When he saw the branches of the bush sprouting up in flame as they were in pure water, he said to himself, "I will go and see this great sight." As soon as he said this, he no longer received the marvel of the light with his sight alone, but (which is most astounding of all) his hearing too was illuminated by the rays of light. The light's grace was distributed to both senses, illuminating the sight with flashing rays and lighting the way for the hearing with undefiled teachings. The voice from the light forbade Moses to approach the mountain burdened with lifeless sandals. He removed the sandals from his feet, and so stood on that ground on which the divine light was shining."

The Old Testament explains that during this experiences Gold told Moses that he heard the cries of his people because of their enslavement (the Bible). God told Moses that He would deliver his people out of the land of Egypt and place them in a land flowing with milk and honey.

He then ordered Moses to go to the Pharaoh and tell him to free the Hebrew people. Moses was concerned that the Hebrew people would not receive him. Therefore, God told Moses to inform the people of Israel that the God of their forefathers sent Him. God also told Moses to refer to him as I AM (the Bible). Moses was further instructed to gather the elders of Israel together and share with them the revelation of God that was given to him. God told Moses that the elders would yield to this revelation, He also told Moses that the Pharaoh would not easily free the Hebrews and that He would perform great miracles and smite the Egyptians. He further instructed Moses to tell the people of Israel to spoil the Egyptians of their fine Jewels and Gold.

Moses still feared that the Hebrew people would not believe that he had heard from God. So then God placed a rod in Moses hands and turned the rod into a snake and then God turned it back into a rod. God then told Moses to place the Rod against his chest and the rod turned his hand leprous. God instructed Moses these signs that they might believe and follow the instructions of Moses. God also instructed Moses to take Aaron with him has his spokesperson. Finally, Moses asked his father in law if he could return to Egypt to carry out what the Lord had revealed to him.

Moses went back to Egypt with his wife and sons. Ferguson and Malherbe (1978) assert that during this journey "an angel encountered him and threatened death. His wife appeased the angel by the blood of the child's circumcision. Then he met Aaron, who had himself been brought by God to this meeting."

Moses met Aaron in the wilderness and together they gathered the elders and revealed to them the plan of the Lord. The people believed that the men had heard from God and began to worship the Lord. The Old Testament asserts that Moses and Aaron them went to the Pharaoh and told him to let the people of Israel go. However, Pharaoh's heart was heartened and he refused. Because of this, Aaron was instructed to lay down the rod in front of the Pharaoh and it became a snake. The pharaoh then ordered his sorcerers to throw down their rods and they also became snakes but Aarons snake ate the other snakes and the Pharaoh's heart was hardened and he would not release the children of Israel. Then the Lord turn to River into blood and there was no water for seven days.

Pharaoh's heart continued to be hardened and several other plagues followed. According to the Old Testament these plagues included frogs, flies, lice, the death of cattle, boils, hail, locust, the plague of darkness. Finally, the Lord killed the entire first born of Egypt. He instructed the people of Israel to cover their doors with the sacrificial blood of a lamb so that death would pass over them. The bible asserts that on that night, one child died in every Egyptian household. The Pharaoh was dismayed by this and he told Moses to take the Hebrews out from among his people. As the Lord had instructed him, Moses told the Hebrew people to borrow from the Egyptians gold silver and raiment. Six thousand Israelites left Egypt with Moses and traveled into the land of Succoth. The Lord established Passover to commemorate God bringing the Hebrew people out of Israel.

However, the Pharaoh again hardened his heart and decided to go after the Israelites. The Israelites saw that the Pharaoh and the Egyptian Army was after them and they took up their camps and attempted to escape the Egyptians. However, the children of Israel came upon the Red Sea, which was too deep to cross. Therefore, the Lord instructed Moses to stretch his hand over the sea, the waters were parted, and the people of Israel walked through the Red Sea. When the waters receded the Pharaoh, his armies were swallowed up, and Israel was astonished at the work of the Lord and worshipped him.

It is written in the Old Testament that after these things had taken place, the people of Israel were traveling through the wilderness without any water and they began to complain against the Lord. When they found water, it was bitter, so the Lord instructed Moses to put a tree into the water and the water became sweet. Moses then instructed to people to obey the Lord's statutes so that they would not suffer from the diseases that the Egyptians suffered from. After the Lord had done great things for the Israelites, they began to complain that there was no food, so the Lord sent quails and manna from heaven. Moses instructed the people only to take the amount of food they needed each day. Some of the people let the manna, quails sit in the sun, and it began to rot a put forth an odor. In addition, after awhile the people became greedy and began to exploit the food that God had given to them. God then instructed Moses to tell the people of Israel to gather only the food for six days and to rest on the seventh day but they disobeyed and this angered God.

After three months of traveling out of the land of Egypt, the Hebrew people came to the wilderness of Sinai. There the lord instructed Moses and gave him the Ten Commandments to give to his people.

Moses was once again setting into motion the statutes or laws (the Torah) that would become known as the Jewish faith. According to Freedman, Kung, and Mcclymond (2001),

The unique status of Moses in the development of Judaism is encapsulated at the beginning of the talmudic tractate Avot: "Moses received the Torah at Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua, Joshua to the Elders, and the Elders to the Prophets, and the Prophets to the men of the Great Synagogue." In this passage the compiler of this beloved collection of pithy rabbinic sayings is attempting to establish an unbroken line of authority from Moses, the beginning of the unbroken chain of Jewish tradition, down to the time of his own spiritual progenitors. The figure of Moses serves, hence, as the ultimate authority to whom recourse is made in establishing one's own Jewish credentials. Not only was Moses the instrument through whom the divine laws were revealed, and not only did he liberate his people from bondage, but as his biblical epitaph makes clear, "Never again did there arise in Israel a prophet like Moses -- whom YHWH www.questia.com/PM.qst?action=getPage&docId=102109095&offset=1" 8. singled out, face-to-face" (Deut. 34:10). "