Bible Encyclopedia: Moses

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International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

MOSES

mo'-zez, mo'-ziz (mosheh; Egyptian mes, "drawn out," "born"; Septuagint Mouse(s)). The great Hebrew national hero, leader, author, law-giver and prophet.

I. LIFE

1. Son of Levi

2. Foundling Prince

3. Friend of the People

4. Refuge in Midian

5. Leader of Israel

II. WORK AND CHARACTER

1. The Author

2. The Lawgiver

3. The Prophet

LITERATURE

The traditional view of the Jewish church and of the Christian church, that Moses was a person and that the narrative with which his life-story is interwoven is real history, is in the main sustained by commentators and critics of all classes.

It is needless to mention the old writers among whom these questions were hardly under discussion. Among the advocates of the current radical criticism may be mentioned Stade and Renan, who minimize the historicity of the Bible narrative at this point. Renan thinks the narrative "may be very probable." Ewald, Wellhausen, Robertson Smith, and Driver, while finding many flaws in the story, make much generally of the historicity of the narrative.

The critical analysis of the Pentateuch divides this life-story of Moses into three main parts, J, E, and the Priestly Code (P), with a fourth, D, made up mainly from the others. Also some small portions here and there are given to R, especially the account of Aaron's part in the plagues of Egypt, where his presence in a J-document is very troublesome for the analytical theory. It is unnecessary to encumber this biography with constant cross-references to the strange story of Moses pieced together out of the rearranged fragments into which the critical analysis of the Pentateuch breaks up the narrative. It is recognized that there are difficulties in the story of Moses. In what ancient life-story are there not difficulties? If we can conceive of the ancients being obliged to ponder over a modern life-story, we can easily believe that they would have still more difficulty with it. But it seems to very many that the critical analysis creates more difficulties in the narrative than it relieves. It is a little thing to explain by such analysis some apparent discrepancy between two laws or two events or two similar incidents which we do not clearly understand. It is a far greater thing so to confuse, by rearranging, a beautiful, well-articulated biography that it becomes disconnected-indeed, in parts, scarcely makes sense.

The biographical narrative of the Hebrew national hero, Moses, is a continuous thread of history in the Pentateuch. That story in all its simplicity and symmetry, but with acknowledgment of its difficulties as they arise, is here to be followed.

I. Life.

1. Son of Levi:

The recorded story of Moses' life falls naturally into five rather unequal parts: "And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi" (Exodus 2:1). The son of Levi born of that union became the greatest man among mere men in the whole history of the world. How far he was removed in genealogy from Levi it is impossible to know. The genealogical lists (Genesis 46:11 Exodus 6:16-20 Numbers 3:14-28; Numbers 26:57-59 1 Chronicles 6:1-3) show only 4 generations from Levi to Moses, while the account given of the numbers of Israel at the exodus (Exodus 12:37; Exodus 38:26 Numbers 1:46; Numbers 11:21) imperatively demand at least 10 or 12 generations. The males alone of the sons of Kohath "from a month old and upward" numbered at Sinai 8,600 (Numbers 3:27, 28). It is evident that the extract from the genealogy here, as in many other places (1 Chronicles 23:15; 1 Chronicles 26:24 Ezra 7:1-5; Ezra 8:1, 2; compare 1 Chronicles 6:3-14 Matthew 1:1-17 Luke 3:23-38) is not complete, but follows the common method of giving important heads of families. The statement concerning Jochebed: "And she bare unto Amram Aaron and Moses, and Miriam their sister" (Numbers 26:59) really creates no difficulty, as it is likewise said of Zilpah, after the mention of her grandsons, "And these she bare unto Jacob" (Genesis 46:17, 18; compare 46:24, 25).

The names of the immediate father and mother of Moses are not certainly known. The mother "saw him that he was a goodly child" (Exodus 2:2). So they defied the commandment of the king (Exodus 1:22), and for 3 months hid him instead of throwing him into the river.

2. Foundling Prince:

The time soon came when it was impossible longer to hide the child (Josephus, Ant, II, ix, 3-6). The mother resolved upon a plan which was at once a pathetic imitation of obedience to the commandment of the king, an adroit appeal to womanly sympathy, and, if it succeeded, a subtle scheme to bring the cruelty of the king home to his own attention. Her faith succeeded. She took an ark of bulrushes (Exodus 2:3, 4; compare ARK OF BULRUSHES), daubed it with bitumen mixed with the sticky slime of the river, placed in this floating vessel the child of her love and faith, and put it into the river at a place among the sedge in the shallow water where the royal ladies from the palace would be likely to come down to bathe. A sister, probably Miriam, stood afar off to watch (Exodus 2:3, 4). The daughter of Pharaoh came down with her great ladies to the river (Exodus 2:5-10). The princess saw the ark among the sedge and sent a maid to fetch it. The expectation of the mother was not disappointed. The womanly sympathy of the princess was touched. She resolved to save this child by adopting him. Through the intervention of the watching sister, he was given to his own mother to be nursed (Exodus 2:7-9). "And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son" (Exodus 2:10). Thus, he would receive her family name.

Royal family names in Egypt then were usually compounded of some expression of reverence or faith or submission and the name of a god, e.g. "loved of," "chosen of," "born of," Thoth, Ptah, Ra or Amon. At this period of Egyptian history, "born of" (Egyptian mes, "drawn out") was joined sometimes to Ah, the name of the moon-god, making Ahmes, or Thoth, the scribe-god, so Thothmes, but usually with Ra, the sun-god, giving Rames, usually anglicized Rameses or Ramoses.

It was the time of the Ramesside dynasty, and the king on the throne was Rameses II. Thus the foundling adopted by Pharaoh's daughter would have the family name Mes or Moses. That it would be joined in the Egyptian to the name of the sungod Ra is practically certain. His name at court would be Ramoses. But to the oriental mind a name must mean something. The usual meaning of this royal name was that the child was "born of" a princess through the intervention of the god Ra. But this child was not "born of" the princess, so falling back upon the primary meaning of the word, "drawn out," she said, "because I drew him out of the water" (Exodus 2:10). Thus, Moses received his name. Pharaoh's daughter may have been the eldest daughter of Rameses II, but more probably was the daughter and eldest child of Seti Merenptah I, and sister of the king on the throne. She would be lineal heir to the crown but debarred by her sex. Instead, she bore the title "Pharaoh's Daughter," and, according to Egyptian custom, retained the right to the crown for her first-born son. A not improbable tradition (Josephus, Ant, II, ix, 7) relates that she had no natural son, and Moses thus became heir to the throne, not with the right to supplant the reigning Pharaoh, but to supersede any of his sons.

Very little is known of Moses' youth and early manhood at the court of Pharaoh. He would certainly be educated as a prince, whose right it probably was to be initiated into the mysteries. Thus he was "instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians" (Acts 7:22), included in which, according to many Egyptologists, was the doctrine of one Supreme God.

Many curious things, whose value is doubtful, are told of Moses by Josephus and other ancient writers (Josephus, Ant, II, ix, 3; xi; CAp, I, 31; compare DB; for Mohammedan legends, see Palmer, The Desert of the Exodus, Appendix; for rabbinical legends, see Jewish Encyclopedia). Some of these traditions are not incredible but lack authentication. Others are absurd. Egyptologists have searched with very indifferent success for some notice of the great Hebrew at the Egyptian court.

3. Friend of the People:

But the faith of which the Epistle to the Hebrews speaks (Hebrews 11:23-28) was at work. Moses "refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter" (Exodus 2:11-14 Acts 7:24). Whether he did so in word, by definite renunciation, or by his espousal of the cause of the slave against the oppressive policy of Pharaoh is of little importance. In either case he became practically a traitor, and greatly imperiled his throne rights and probably his civil rights as well. During some intervention to ameliorate the condition of the state slaves, an altercation arose and he slew an Egyptian (Exodus 2:11, 12). Thus, his constructive treason became an overt act. Discovering through the ungrateful reproaches of his own kinsmen (Acts 7:25) that his act was known, he quickly made decision, "choosing rather to share ill treatment with the people of God," casting in his lot with slaves of the empire, rather than "to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season," amid the riotous living of the young princes at the Egyptian court; "accounting the reproach of Christ" his humiliation, being accounted a nobody ("Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?") as "greater riches than the treasures of Egypt" (Hebrews 11:25, 26 Acts 7:25-28). He thought to be a nobody and do right better than to be a tyrant and rule Egypt.

4. Refuge in Midian:

Moses fled, "not fearing the wrath of the king" (Hebrews 11:27), not cringing before it or submitting to it, but defying it and braving all that it could bring upon him, degradation from his high position, deprivation of the privileges and comforts of the Egyptian court. He went out a poor wanderer (Exodus 2:15). We are told nothing of the escape and the journey, how he eluded the vigilance of the court guards and of the frontier-line of sentinels. The friend of slaves is strangely safe while within their territory. At last he reached the Sinaitic province of the empire and hid himself away among its mountain fastnesses (Exodus 2:15). The romance of the well and the shepherdesses and the grateful father and the future wife is all quite in accord with the simplicity of desert life (Exodus 2:16-22). The "Egyptian" saw the rude, selfish herdsmen of the desert imposing upon the helpless shepherd girls, and, partly by the authority of a manly man, partly, doubtless, by the authority of his Egyptian appearance in an age when "Egypt" was a word with which to frighten men in all that part of the world, he compelled them to give way. The "Egyptian" was called, thanked, given a home and eventually a wife. There in Midian, while the anguish of Israel continued under the taskmaster's lash, and the weakening of Israel's strength by the destruction of the male children went on, with what more or less rigor we know not, Moses was left by Providence to mellow and mature, that the haughty, impetuous prince, "instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," might be transformed into the wise, well-poised, masterful leader, statesman, lawgiver, poet and prophet. God usually prepares His great ones in the countryside or about some of the quiet places of earth, farthest away from the busy haunts of men and nearest to the "secret place of the Most High." David keeping his father's flocks, Elijah on the mountain slopes of Gilead, the Baptist in the wilderness of Judea, Jesus in the shop of a Galilean carpenter; so Moses a shepherd in the Bedouin country, in the "waste, howling wilderness."

5. Leader of Israel:

(1) The Commission.

One day Moses led the flocks to "the back of the wilderness" (Exodus 3:1-12; see BUSH, BURNING. Moses received his commission, the most appalling commission ever given to a mere man (Exodus 3:10)-a commission to a solitary man, and he a refugee-to go back home and deliver his kinsmen from a dreadful slavery at the hand of the most powerful nation on earth. Let not those who halt and stumble over the little difficulties of most ordinary lives think hardly of the faltering of Moses' faith before such a task (Exodus 3:11-13; Exodus 4:1, 10-13). "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you" (Exodus 3:14), was the encouragement God gave him. He gave him also Aaron for a spokesman (Exodus 4:14-16), the return to the Mount of God as a sign (Exodus 3:12), and the rod of power for working wonders (Exodus 4:17).

One of the curious necessities into which the critical analysis drives its advocates is the opinion concerning Aaron that "he scarcely seems to have been a brother and almost equal partner of Moses, perhaps not even a priest" (Bennett, HDB, III, 441). Interesting and curious speculations have been instituted concerning the way in which Israel and especially Pharaoh were to understand the message, "I AM hath sent me unto you" (Exodus 3:13, 14; compare 6:3). They were evidently expected to understand this message. Were they to so do by translating or by transliterating it into Egyptian? Some day Egyptologists may be able to answer positively, but not yet.

With the signs for identification (Exodus 4:1-10), Moses was ready for his mission. He went down from the "holy ground" to obey the high summons and fulfill the great commission (Exodus 4:18-23). After the perplexing controversy with his wife, a controversy of stormy ending (Exodus 4:24-26), he seems to have left his family to his father-in-law's care while he went to respond to the call of God (Exodus 18:6). He met Aaron, his brother, at the Mount of God (Exodus 4:27, 28), and together they returned to Egypt to collect the elders of Israel (Exodus 4:29-31), who were easily won over to the scheme of emancipation. Was ever a slave people not ready to listen to plans for freedom?

(2) The Conflict with Pharaoh.

The next move was the bold request to the king to allow the people to go into the wilderness to hold a feast unto Yahweh (Exodus 5:1). How did Moses gain admittance past the jealous guards of an Egyptian court to the presence of the Pharaoh himself? And why was not the former traitorous refugee at once arrested? Egyptology affords a not too distinct answer. Rameses II was dead (Exodus 4:19); Merenptah II was on the throne with an insecure tenure, for the times were troubled. Did some remember the "son of Pharaoh's daughter" who, had he remained loyal, would have been the Pharaoh? Probably so. Thus he would gain admittance, and thus, too, in the precarious condition of the throne, it might well not be safe to molest him. The original form of the request made to the king, with some slight modification, was continued throughout (Exodus 8:27; Exodus 10:9), though God promised that the Egyptians should thrust them out altogether when the end should come, and it was so (Exodus 11:1; Exodus 12:31, 33, 39). Yet Pharaoh remembered the form of their request and bestirred himself when it was reported that they had indeed gone "from serving" them (Exodus 14:5). The request for temporary departure upon which the contest was made put Pharaoh's call to duty in the easiest form and thus, also, his obstinacy appears as the greater heinousness. Then came the challenge of Pharaoh in his contemptuous demand, "Who is Yahweh?" (Exodus 5:2), and Moses' prompt acceptance of the challenge, in the beginning of the long series of plagues (see PLAGUE) (Exodus 8:1; 12:29-36; 14:31; compare Lamb, Miracle of Science). Pharaoh, having made the issue, was justly required to afford full presentation of it. So Pharaoh's heart was "hardened" (Exodus 4:21; Exodus 7:3, 13; 9:12, 35; 10:01; 14:08; see PLAGUE) until the vindication of Yahweh as God of all the earth was complete. This proving of Yahweh was so conducted that the gods of Egypt were shown to be of no avail against Him, but that He is God of all the earth, and until the faith of the people of Israel was confirmed (Exodus 14:31).

(3) Institution of the Passover.

It was now time for the next step in revelation (Exodus 12; Exodus 13:1-16). At the burning bush God had declared His purpose to be a saviour, not a destroyer. In this contest in Egypt, His absolute sovereignty was being established; and now the method of deliverance by Him, that He might not be a destroyer, was to be revealed. Moses called together the elders (Exodus 12:21-28) and instituted the Passover feast. As God always in revelation chooses the known and the familiar-the tree, the bow, circumcision, baptism, and the Supper-by which to convey the unknown, so the Passover was a combination of the household feast with the widespread idea of safety through blood-sacrifice, which, however it may have come into the world, was not new at that time. Some think there is evidence of an old Semitic festival at that season which was utilized for the institution of the Passover.

The lamb was chosen and its use was kept up (Exodus 12:3-6). On the appointed night it was killed and "roasted with fire" and eaten with bitter herbs (Exodus 12:8), while they all stood ready girded, with their shoes on their feet and their staff in hand (Exodus 12:11). They ate in safety and in hope, because the blood of the lamb was on the door (Exodus 12:23). That night the firstborn of Egypt were slain. Among the Egyptians "there was not a house where there was not one dead" (Exodus 12:30), from the house of the maid-servant, who sat with her handmill before her, to the palace of the king that "sat on the throne," and even among the cattle in the pasture. If the plague was employed as the agency of the angel of Yahweh, as some think, its peculiarity is that it takes the strongest and the best and culminates in one great stunning blow and then immediately subsides (see PLAGUE). Who can tell the horror of that night when the Israelites were thrust out of the terror-stricken land (Exodus 12:39)?

As they went out, they "asked," after the fashion of departing servants in the East, and God gave them favor in the sight of the over-awed Egyptians that they lavished gifts upon them in extravagance. Thus "they despoiled the Egyptians" (Exodus 12:36). "Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants, and in the sight of the people" (Exodus 11:3; Exodus 12:35, 36).

(4) The Exodus.

"At the end of 430 years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of Yahweh went out from the land of Egypt" (Exodus 12:41). The great oppressor was Rameses II, and the culmination and the revolution came, most probably, in connection with the building of Pithom and Raamses, as these are the works of Israel mentioned in the Bible narrative (Exodus 1:11). Rameses said that he built Pithom at the "mouth of the east" (Budge, History of Exodus, V, 123). All efforts to overthrow that statement have failed and for the present, at least, it must stand. Israel built Pithom, Rameses built Pithom; there is a synchronism that cannot in the present knowledge of Egyptian history even be doubted, much less separated. The troubled times which came to Egypt with the beginning of the reign of Merenptah II afforded the psychological moment for the return of the "son of Pharaoh's daughter" and his access to the royal court. The presence and power of Yahweh vindicated His claim to be the Lord of all the earth, and Merenptah let the children of Israel go. A little later when Israel turned back from the border of Khar (Palestine) into the wilderness and disappeared, and Merenptah's affairs were somewhat settled in the empire, he set up the usual boastful tablet claiming as his own many of the victories of his royal ancestors, added a few which he himself could truly boast, and inserted, near the end, an exultation over Israel's discomfiture, accounting himself as having finally won the victory:

"Tehennu is devastation, Kheta peace, the Canaan the prisoner of all ills;

"Asgalon led out, taken with Gezer, Yenoamam made naught;

"The People of Israel is ruined, his posterity is not; Khar is become as the widows of Egypt."

The synchronisms of this period are well established and must stand until, if it should ever be, other facts of Egyptian history shall be obtained to change them. Yet it is impossible to determine with certainty the precise event from which the descent into Egypt should be reckoned, or to fix the date B.C. of Moses, Rameses and Merenptah, and the building of Pithom, and so, likewise, the date of the exodus and of all the patriarchal movements. The ancients were more concerned about the order of events, their perspective and their synchronisms than about any epochal date. For the present we must be content with these chronological uncertainties. Astronomical science may sometimes fix the epochal dates for these events; otherwise there is little likelihood that they will ever be known.

They went out from Succoth (Egyptian "Thuku," Budge, History of Egypt, V, 122, 129), carrying the bones of Joseph with them as he had commanded (Exodus 13:19 Genesis 50:25). The northeast route was the direct way to the promised land, but it was guarded. Pithom itself was built at "the mouth of the East," as a part of the great frontier defenses (Budge, op. cit., V, 123). The "wall" on this frontier was well guarded (Exodus 14), and attempts might be made to stop them. So they went not "by the way of the land of the Philistines.... lest peradventure the people repent when they see war" (Exodus 13:17). The Lord Himself took the leadership and went ahead of the host of Israel in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:21). He led them by "the way of the wilderness by the Red Sea" (Exodus 13:18). They pitched before Pi-hahiroth, over against Baal-zephon between Migdol and the sea (Exodus 14:2). Not one of these places has been positively identified. But the Journeys before and after the crossing, the time, and the configuration of the land and the coast-line of the sea, together with all the necessities imposed by the narrative, are best met by a crossing near the modern town of Suez (Naville, Route of the Exodus; Palmer, The Desert of the Exodus), where Ras `Ataka comes down to the sea, upon whose heights a migdhol or "watch-tower," as the southern outpost of the eastern line of Egyptian defenses, would most probably be erected.

Word was carried from the frontier to Pharaoh, probably at Tanis, that the Israelites had "fled" (Exodus 14:5), had taken the impassioned thrusting out by the frenzied people of Egypt in good faith and had gone never to return. Pharaoh took immediate steps to arrest and bring back the fugitives. The troops at hand (Exodus 14:6) and the chariot corps, including 600 "chosen chariots," were sent at once in pursuit, Pharaoh going out in person at least to start the expedition (Exodus 14:6, 7). The Israelites seemed to be "entangled in the land," and, since "the wilderness (had) shut them in" (Exodus 4:3), must easily fall a prey to the Egyptian army. The Israelites, terror-stricken, cried to Moses. God answered and commanded the pillar of cloud to turn back from its place before the host of Israel and stand between them and the approaching Egyptians, so that while the Egyptians were in the darkness Israel had the light (Exodus 14:19, 20). The mountain came down on their right, the sea on the left to meet the foot of the mountain in front of them; the Egyptians were hastening on after them and the pillar of cloud and fire was their rearward. Moses with the rod of God stood at the head of the fleeing host. Then God wrought. Moses stretched out the rod of God over the sea and "Yahweh caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all the night" (Exodus 14:16-21). A pathway was before them and the sea on the right hand, and on the left was a "wall unto them," and they passed through (Exodus 14:21, 22). Such heaping up of the waters by the wind is well known and sometimes amounts to 7 or 8 ft. in Lake Erie (Wright, Scientific Confirmations of the Old Testament, 106). No clearer statement could possibly be made of the means used and of the miraculous timing of God's providence with the obedience of the people to His command to Moses. The host of Israel passed over on the hard, sandy bottom of the sea. The Egyptians coming up in the dark and finding it impossible to tell exactly where the coastline had been on this beach, and where the point of safety would lie when the wind should abate and the tide come in again, impetuously rushed on after the fleeing slaves. In the morning, Yahweh looked forth and troubled the Egyptians "and took off their chariot wheels, and they drove them heavily" (Exodus 14:24, 25). The wind had abated, the tide was returning and the infiltration that goes before the tide made the beach like a quicksand. The Egyptians found that they had gone too far and tried to escape (Exodus 14:27), but it was too late. The rushing tide caught them (Exodus 14:28). When the day had come, "horse and rider" were but the subject of a minstrel's song of triumph (Exodus 15:1-19 Psalm 106:9-12) which Miriam led with her timbrel (Exodus 15:20). The Bible does not say, and there is no reason to believe, that Pharaoh led the Egyptian hosts in person further than at the setting off and for the giving of general direction to the campaign (Exodus 15:4). Pharaoh and his host were overthrown in the Red Sea (Psalm 136:15). So Napoleon and his host were overthrown at Waterloo, but Napoleon lived to die at Helena. And Merenptah lived to erect his boastful inscription concerning the failure of Israel, when turned back from Kadesh-barnea, and their disappearance in the wilderness of Paran. His mummy, identified by the lamented Professor Groff, lies among the royal mummies in the Cairo Museum. Thus at the Red Sea was wrought the final victory of Yahweh over Pharaoh; and the people believed (Exodus 14:31).

(5) Special Providences.

Now proceeded that long course of special providences, miraculous timing of events, and multiplying of natural agencies which began with the crossing of the Red Sea and ended only when they "did eat of the fruit of the land" (Joshua 5:12). God promised freedom from the diseases of the Egyptians (Exodus 15:26) at the bitter waters of Marah, on the condition of obedience. Moses was directed to a tree, the wood of which should counteract the alkaline character of the water (Exodus 15:23-25). A little later they were at Elim (Wady Gharandel, in present-day geography), where were "twelve springs of water and three score and ten palm trees" (Exodus 15:27). The enumeration of the trees signifies nothing but their scarcity, and is understood by everyone who has traveled in that desert and counted, again and again, every little clump of trees that has appeared. The course of least resistance here is to turn a little to the right and come out again at the Red Sea in order to pass around the point of the plateau into the wilderness of Sin. This is the course travel takes now, and it took the same course then (Exodus 16:1). Here Israel murmured (Exodus 16:2)

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MOSES, SONG OF

The name given to the song of triumph sung by Moses and the Israelites after the crossing of the Red Sea and the destruction of the hosts of Pharaoh (Exodus 15:1-18). The sublimity of this noble ode is universally admitted. In magnificent strains it celebrates the deliverance just experienced, extolling the attributes of Yahweh revealed in the triumph (Exodus 15:1-12), then anticipates the astonishing effects which would flow from this deliverance in the immediate future and later (Exodus 15:13-18). There seems no reason to doubt that at least the basis of the song-possibly the whole-is genuinely Mosaic. In the allusions to the guidance of the people to God's holy habitation, and to the terror of the surrounding peoples and of the Canaanites (Exodus 15:13-18), it is thought that traces are manifest of a later revision and expansion. This, however, is by no means a necessary conclusion.

Driver, who in LOT, 8th edition, 30, goes with the critics on this point, wrote more guardedly in the 1st edition (p. 27): "Probably, however, the greater part of the song is Mosaic, and the modification or expansion is limited to the closing verses; for the general style is antique. and the triumphant tone which pervades it is just such as might naturally have been inspired by the event which it celebrates."

The song of Moses is made the model in the Apocalypse of "the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb," which those standing by the sea of glass, who have "come off victorious from the beast, and from his image, and from the number of his name," sing to God's praise, "Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God, the Almighty," etc. (Revelation 15:2-4). The church having experienced a deliverance similar to that experienced by Israel at the Red Sea, but infinitely greater, the old song is recast, and its terms are readapted to express both victories, the lower and the higher, at once.

James Orr

ASSUMPTION OF MOSES

a-sump'-shun. See APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE.

MOSES, ASSUMPTION OF

a-sump'-shun.

See APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE.

Greek

3475. Mouses -- Moses, a leader of Isr.
... 3474, 3475. Mouses. 3476 . Moses, a leader of Isr. Part of Speech: Noun,
Masculine Transliteration: Mouses Phonetic Spelling: (moce ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/3475.htm - 6k

2. Aaron -- Aaron, the brother of Moses
... Aaron, the brother of Moses. Part of Speech: Proper Noun, Indeclinable Transliteration:
Aaron Phonetic Spelling: (ah-ar-ohn') Short Definition: Aaron Definition ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/2.htm - 6k

578. apoblepo -- to look away from all else at an object
... 578 () only occurs in Heb 11:26 with Moses " (578 ) " Egypt. Moses forsook
(looked away from) the allurements of the world -- looking ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/578.htm - 8k

3086. lutrotes -- a redeemer, deliverer
... only in Ac 7:35. 3086 ("liberator") refers to God using Moses to set His people
of Egypt. See 3084 (). Word Origin from lutroo Definition ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/3086.htm - 7k

3551. nomos -- that which is assigned, hence usage, law
... out, especially food or grazing to animals); law (through the idea of prescriptive
usage), genitive case (regulation), specially, (of Moses (including the ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/3551.htm - 7k

3131. manna -- manna
... In fact, the Rabbis taught that Messiah would prove his authority by repeating
just this miracle by which, they held, Moses had proved his. ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/3131.htm - 7k

2324. therapon -- an attendant
... 2324 () refers to a faithful attendant who serves another, like a friend serving
in a tender, noble way (used only in Heb 3:5). Moses is called a faithful 2324 ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/2324.htm - 7k

1700. emou -- me, mine, my.
... 44: "Now He said to them, 'These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still
with you, that all things which are written () in the Law of Moses and the ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/1700.htm - 7k

Strong's Hebrew

2246. Chobab -- father-in-law of Moses
... 2245, 2246. Chobab. 2247 . father-in-law of Moses. Transliteration: Chobab
Phonetic Spelling: (kho-bawb') Short Definition: Hobab. ...
/hebrew/2246.htm - 6k

7467. Reuel -- "friend of God," Moses' father-in-law, also an ...
... 7466b, 7467. Reuel. 7468 . "friend of God," Moses' father-in-law, also
an Edomite, a Gadite, and a Benjamite. Transliteration: Reuel ...
/hebrew/7467.htm - 6k

175. Aharon -- an elder brother of Moses
... 174, 175. Aharon. 176 . an elder brother of Moses. Transliteration: Aharon
Phonetic Spelling: (a-har-one') Short Definition: Aaron. ...
/hebrew/175.htm - 5k

6855. Tsipporah -- "bird," Moses' wife
... 6854, 6855. Tsipporah. 6856 . "bird," Moses' wife. Transliteration: Tsipporah
Phonetic Spelling: (tsip-po-raw') Short Definition: Zipporah. ...
/hebrew/6855.htm - 6k

3503. Yithro -- Moses' father-in-law
... 3502, 3503. Yithro. 3504 . Moses' father-in-law. Transliteration: Yithro
Phonetic Spelling: (yith-ro') Short Definition: Jethro. ...
/hebrew/3503.htm - 6k

3115. Yokebed -- "the LORD is glory," mother of Moses
... 3114, 3115. Yokebed. 3116 . "the LORD is glory," mother of Moses. Transliteration:
Yokebed Phonetic Spelling: (yo-keh'-bed) Short Definition: Jochebed. ...
/hebrew/3115.htm - 6k

7345. Rechabyah -- "Yah has enlarged," grandson of Moses
... "Yah has enlarged," grandson of Moses. Transliteration: Rechabyah or Rechabyahu
Phonetic Spelling: (rekh-ab-yaw') Short Definition: Rehabiah. ...
/hebrew/7345.htm - 6k

3612. Kaleb -- a son of Jephunneh and sent by Moses to spy out the ...
... Kaleb. 3613 . a son of Jephunneh and sent by Moses to spy out the land.
Transliteration: Kaleb Phonetic Spelling: (kaw-labe') Short Definition: Caleb. ...
/hebrew/3612.htm - 6k

5180. Nechushtan -- the name of Moses' bronze serpent
... Nechushtan. 5181 . the name of Moses' bronze serpent. Transliteration: Nechushtan
Phonetic Spelling: (nekh-oosh-tawn') Short Definition: Nehushtan. ...
/hebrew/5180.htm - 6k

3500. Yether -- Moses' father-in-law, also the name of several ...
... Yether. 3501 . Moses' father-in-law, also the name of several Israelites.
Transliteration: Yether Phonetic Spelling: (yeh'-ther) Short Definition: Jether. ...
/hebrew/3500.htm - 6k

Library

Moses Despondent
... THE BOOK OF NUMBERS MOSES DESPONDENT. ... We have precisely the same necessities
as those which Moses despairingly said that they had. ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture k/moses despondent.htm

The Call of Moses
... THE BOOK OF EXODUS THE CALL OF MOSES. 'Come now therefore, and I will send
thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth My people ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture k/the call of moses.htm

Moses the Intercessor
... THE BOOK OF NUMBERS MOSES THE INTERCESSOR. 'Pardon ... conditional. This striking incident
of Moses' intercession suggests to us some thoughts as to. ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture k/moses the intercessor.htm

Moses Maimonides.
... BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF THE FATHERS OF THE REFORMATION, FOUNDERS OF SECTS, AND
OF OTHER DISTINGUISHED INDIVIDUALS MENTIONED IN THIS VOLUME. Moses Maimonides. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/hayward/the book of religions/moses maimonides.htm

The Finding of Moses.
... THE FINDING OF MOSES. Pharoah, becoming alarmed at the increasing ... was mighty
in words and deeds.". [Illustration: THE FINDING OF MOSES.]. ...
/.../anonymous/mother stories from the old testament/the finding of moses.htm

Whom Moses Saw.
... The Divine Jesus Whom Moses Saw. ... And this is the significant reference
to Moses, "He wrote of Me." Sift into that phrase a bit. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/gordon/quiet talks about jesus/whom moses saw.htm

The Story of Moses, the Child who was Found in the River
... THE STORY OF MOSES, THE CHILD WHO WAS FOUND IN THE RIVER. ... She named him "Moses,"
a word that means "drawn out," because he was drawn out of the water. ...
/.../marshall/the wonder book of bible stories/the story of moses the.htm

Moses in Midian.
... THE OLD TESTAMENT CHAPTER X. MOSES IN MIDIAN. Moses had teachers, and was taught
all the learning of the Egyptians, but his heart was with his own people. ...
/.../lathbury/childs story of the bible/chapter x moses in midian.htm

The Burial of Moses
... BIBLE STORIES AND RELIGIOUS CLASSICS THE BURIAL OF MOSES. By Nebo's lonely
mountain, On this side Jordan's wave, In a vale in the ...
/.../wells/bible stories and religious classics/the burial of moses.htm

Moses Striking the Rock.
... MOSES STRIKING THE ROCK. ... They were very thirsty, and came to Moses murmuring and
saying, "Give us water that we may drink." How could Moses do that? ...
/.../anonymous/mother stories from the old testament/moses striking the rock.htm

Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary

Moses

taken out; drawn forth

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Moses

(Heb. Mosheh , "drawn," i.e. from the water; in the Coptic it means "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: Levi was the father of: Gershon -- Kohath -- Merari Kohath was the father of: Amram = Jochebed Amram = Jochebed was the father of: Hur = Miriam -- Aaron = Elisheba -- Moses = Zipporah Aaron = Elisheba was the father of: Nadab -- Abihu -- Eleazar -- Ithamar Eleazar was the father of: Phineas Moses = Zipporah was the father of: Gershom -- Eliezer Gershom was the father of: Jonathan 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. 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. here was the 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. 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." (Acts 7:22) this was the second part of Moses' training. 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 Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt." (Hebrews 11:25,26) Seeing an Israelite suffering the bastinado 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. 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,") (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. 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," (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. (Exodus 2:21; 3:1) 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 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. 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. There are two main characters in which he appears --as a leader and as a prophet. (1) 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. (2) 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." (Numbers 11:25-27) But Moses rose high above all these. With him the divine revelations were made "mouth to mouth." (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. (a) The appearance of the divine presence in the flaming acacia tree. (Exodus 3:2-6) (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. (Exodus 19:19; 20:21) on two occasions he is described as having penetrated within the darkness. (Exodus 24:18; 34:28) (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. (Exodus 33:21,22; 34:5,6,7) God passed before him. (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. (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, viz., the poetical form of composition which characterizes the Jewish prophecy generally. These poetical utterances are --

"The song which Moses and the children of Israel sung" (after the passage of the Red Sea). (Exodus 15:1-19)
A fragment of the war-song against Amalek. (Exodus 17:16)
A fragment of lyrical burst of indignation. (Exodus 32:18)
The fragments of war-songs, probably from either him or his immediate prophetic followers, in (Numbers 21:14,15,27-30) preserved in the "book of the wars of Jehovah," (Numbers 21:14) and the address to the well. ch. (Numbers 21:14) and the address to the well. ch. (Numbers 21:16,17,18)
The song of Moses, (32:1-43) setting forth the greatness and the failings of Israel.
The blessing of Moses on the tribes, (33:1-29)
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. Character . --The prophetic office of Moses can only be fully considered in connection with his whole character and appearance. (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. (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." 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. 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. (1:3,5) Moses is described as 120 years of age, but with his sight and his freshness of strength unabated. (34:7) Joshua is appointed his successor. The law is written out and ordered to be deposited in the ark. ch. 31. The song and the blessing of the tribes conclude the farewell. chs. 32,33. And then comes the mysterious close. He is told that he is to 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 passes into a proverb for all nations. "So Moses the servant of Jehovah died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of 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." (34:5,6,8) This is all that is said in the sacred record. (This burial was thus hidden probably -- (1) To preserve his grave from idolatrous worship or superstitious reverence; and (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 Christ, together with Elijah, on the mount of transfiguration.) Moses is spoken of as a likeness of Christ; and as this is a point of view which has been almost lost in the Church, compared with the more familiar comparisons of 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. (1) Moses is, as it would seem, the only character of the Old Testament to whom Christ expressly likens himself: "Moses wrote of me." (John 5:46) It suggests three main points of likeness: (a) Christ was, like Moses, the great prophet of the people --the last, as Moses was the first. (b) Christ, like Moses, is a lawgiver: "Him shall ye hear." (c) 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 Christ. (2) In (Hebrews 3:1-19; 12:24-29; Acts 7:37) 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. (3) The details of their lives are sometimes, though not often, compared. (Acts 7:24-28; 35) In (Jude 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, see PENTATEUCH, THE.

ATS Bible Dictionary

Moses

The name of the illustrious prophet and legislator of the Hebrews, who led them from Egypt to the Promised Land. Having been originally imposed by a native Egyptian princess, the word is no doubt Egyptian in its origin, and Josephus gives its true derivation-from the two Egyptian words, MO, water, and USE, saved. With this accords the Septuagint form, MOUSES. The Hebrews by a slight change accommodated it to their own language, as they did also in the case of some other foreign words; calling it MOSHIE, from the verb MASHA, to draw. See Exodus 2:10. Moses was born about 15.71 B. C., the son of Amram and Jochebed, of the tribe of Levi, and the younger brother of Miriam and Aaron. His history is too extensive to permit insertion here, and in general too well known to need it. It is enough simply to remark, that it is divided into three periods, each of forty years. The first extends from his infancy, when he was exposed in the Nile, and found and adopted y the daughter of Pharaoh, to his flight to Midian.

During this time he lived at the Egyptian court, and "was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was nightly in words and in deeds," Acts 7:22. This is no unmeaning praise; the "wisdom" of the Egyptians, and especially of their priests, was then the profoundest in the world. The second period was from his flight till his return to Egypt, Acts 7:30, during the whole of which interval he appears to have lived in Midian, it may be much after the manner of the Bedaween sheikhs of the present day. Here he married Zipporah, daughter of the wise and pious Jethro, and became familiar with life in the desert. What a contrast between the former period, spent amid the splendors and learning of a court, and this lonely nomadic life. Still it was in this way that God prepared him to be the instrument of deliverance to His people during the third period of his life, which extends from the exodus out of Egypt to his death on mount Nebo. In this interval how much did he accomplish, as the immediate agent of the Most High.

The life and institutions of Moses present one of the finest subjects for the pen of a Christian historian, who is at the same time a competent biblical antiquary. His institutions breathe a spirit of freedom, purity, intelligence, justice, and humanity, elsewhere unknown; and above all, of supreme love, honor, and obedience to God.

They molded the character of the Hebrews, and transformed them from a nation of shepherds into a people of fixed residence and agricultural habits. Through that people, and through the Bible, the influence of these institutions has been extended over the world; and often where the letter has not been observed, the spirit of them has been adopted. Thus it was in the laws established by the pilgrim fathers of New England; and no small part of what is of most value in the institutions which they founded, is to be ascribed to the influence of the Hebrew legislator.

The name of this servant of God occurs repeatedly in Greek and Latin writings, and still more frequently in those of the Arabs and the rabbinical Jews. Many of their statements, however, are mere legends without foundation, or else distortions of the Scripture narrative. By the Jews he has always been especially honored, as the most illustrious personage in all their annals, and as the founder of their whole system of laws and institutions. Numerous passages both in the Old and New Testament show how exalted a position they gave him, Psalm 103:7 105:26 106:16 Isaiah 63:12 Jeremiah 15:1 Daniel 9:11 Matthew 8:4 John 5:45 9:28 Acts 7:20,37 Romans 10:5,19 Hebrews 3:1-19 11:23.

In all that he wrought and taught, he was but the agent of the Most High; and yet in all his own character stands honorably revealed. Though naturally liable to anger and impatience, he so far subdued himself as to be termed the meekest of men, Numbers 12:3; and his piety, humility, and forbearance, the wisdom and vigor of his administration, his unfailing zeal and faith in God, and his disinterested patriotism are worthy of all imitation. Many features of his character and life furnish admirable illustrations of the work of Christ-as the deliver, ruler, and guide of his people, bearing them on his heart, interceding for them, rescuing, teaching, and nourishing them even to the promised land. All the religious institutions of Moses pointed to Christ; and he himself, on the mount, two thousand years after his death, paid his homage to the Prophet he had foretold, De 18:15-19, beheld "that goodly mountain and Lebanon," De 3:25, and was admitted to commune with the Savior on the most glorious of themes, the death He should accomplish at Jerusalem, Luke 9:31.

Moses was the author of the Pentateuch, as it is called, or the first five books of the Bible. In the composition of them he was probably assisted by Aaron, who kept a register of public transactions, Exodus 17:14 24:4,7 34:27 Numbers 33:1,2 De 31:24, etc. Some things were added by a later inspired hand; as for example, De 34:1-12 Psalm 90:1-17 also is ascribed to him; and its noble and devout sentiments acquire a new significance, if received as from his pen near the close of his pilgrimage.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Drawn (or Egypt. mesu, "son;" hence Rameses, royal son). On the invitation of Pharaoh (Genesis 45:17-25), Jacob and his sons went down into Egypt. This immigration took place probably about 350 years before the birth of Moses. Some centuries before Joseph, Egypt had been conquered by a pastoral Semitic race from Asia, the Hyksos, who brought into cruel subjection the native Egyptians, who were an African race. Jacob and his retinue were accustomed to a shepherd's life, and on their arrival in Egypt were received with favour by the king, who assigned them the "best of the land", the land of Goshen, to dwell in. The Hyksos or "shepherd" king who thus showed favour to Joseph and his family was in all probability the Pharaoh Apopi (or Apopis).

Thus favoured, the Israelites began to "multiply exceedingly" (Genesis 47:27), and extended to the west and south. At length the supremacy of the Hyksos came to an end. The descendants of Jacob were allowed to retain their possession of Goshen undisturbed, but after the death of Joseph their position was not so favourable. The Egyptians began to despise them, and the period of their "affliction" (Genesis 15:13) commenced. They were sorely oppressed. They continued, however, to increase in numbers, and "the land was filled with them" (Exodus 1:7). The native Egyptians regarded them with suspicion, so that they felt all the hardship of a struggle for existence.

In process of time "a king [probably Seti I.] arose who knew not Joseph" (Exodus 1:8). (see PHARAOH.) The circumstances of the country were such that this king thought it necessary to weaken his Israelite subjects by oppressing them, and by degrees reducing their number. They were accordingly made public slaves, and were employed in connection with his numerous buildings, especially in the erection of store-cities, temples, and palaces. The children of Israel were made to serve with rigour. Their lives were made bitter with hard bondage, and "all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour" (Exodus 1:13, 14). But this cruel oppression had not the result expected of reducing their number. On the contrary, "the more the Egyptians afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew" (Exodus 1:12).

The king next tried, through a compact secretly made with the guild of midwives, to bring about the destruction of all the Hebrew male children that might be born. But the king's wish was not rigorously enforced; the male children were spared by the midwives, so that "the people multiplied" more than ever. Thus baffled, the king issued a public proclamation calling on the people to put to death all the Hebrew male children by casting them into the river (Exodus 1:22). But neither by this edict was the king's purpose effected.

One of the Hebrew households into which this cruel edict of the king brought great alarm was that of Amram, of the family of the Kohathites (Exodus 6:16-20), who with his wife Jochebed and two children, Miriam, a girl of perhaps fifteen years of age, and Aaron, a boy of three years, resided in or near Memphis, the capital city of that time. In this quiet home a male child was born (B.C. 1571). His mother concealed him in the house for three months from the knowledge of the civic authorities. But when the task of concealment became difficult, Jochebed contrived to bring her child under the notice of the daughter of the king by constructing for him an ark of bulrushes, which she laid among the flags which grew on the edge of the river at the spot where the princess was wont to come down and bathe. Her plan was successful. The king's daughter "saw the child; and behold the child wept." The princess (see PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER ) sent Miriam, who was standing by, to fetch a nurse. She went and brought the mother of the child, to whom the princess said, "Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages." Thus Jochebed's child, whom the princess called "Moses", i.e., "Saved from the water" (Exodus 2:10), was ultimately restored to her.

As soon as the natural time for weaning the child had come, he was transferred from the humble abode of his father to the royal palace, where he was brought up as the adopted son of the princess, his mother probably accompanying him and caring still for him. He grew up amid all the grandeur and excitement of the Egyptian court, maintaining, however, probably a constant fellowship with his mother, which was of the highest importance as to his religious belief and his interest in his "brethren." His education would doubtless be carefully attended to, and he would enjoy all the advantages of training both as to his body and his mind. He at length became "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians" (Acts 7:22). Egypt had then two chief seats of learning, or universities, at one of which, probably that of Heliopolis, his education was completed. Moses, being now about twenty years of age, spent over twenty more before he came into prominence in Bible history. These twenty years were probably spent in military service. There is a tradition recorded by Josephus that he took a lead in the war which was then waged between Egypt and Ethiopia, in which he gained renown as a skilful general, and became "mighty in deeds" (Acts 7:22).

After the termination of the war in Ethiopia, Moses returned to the Egyptian court, where he might reasonably have expected to be loaded with honours and enriched with wealth. But "beneath the smooth current of his life hitherto, a life of alternate luxury at the court and comparative hardness in the camp and in the discharge of his military duties, there had lurked from childhood to youth, and from youth to manhood, a secret discontent, perhaps a secret ambition. Moses, amid all his Egyptian surroundings, had never forgotten, had never wished to forget, that he was a Hebrew." He now resolved to make himself acquainted with the condition of his countrymen, and "went out unto his brethren, and looked upon their burdens" (Exodus 2:11). This tour of inspection revealed to him the cruel oppression and bondage under which they everywhere groaned, and could not fail to press on him the serious consideration of his duty regarding them. The time had arrived for his making common cause with them, that he might thereby help to break their yoke of bondage. He made his choice accordingly (Hebrews 11:25-27), assured that God would bless his resolution for the welfare of his people. He now left the palace of the king and took up his abode, probably in his father's house, as one of the Hebrew people who had for forty years been suffering cruel wrong at the hands of the Egyptians.

He could not remain indifferent to the state of things around him, and going out one day among the people, his indignation was roused against an Egyptian who was maltreating a Hebrew. He rashly lifted up his hand and slew the Egyptian, and hid his body in the sand. Next day he went out again and found two Hebrews striving together. He speedily found that the deed of the previous day was known. It reached the ears of Pharaoh (the "great Rameses, " Rameses II.), who "sought to slay Moses" (Exodus 2:15). Moved by fear, Moses fled from Egypt, and betook himself to the land of Midian, the southern part of the peninsula of Sinai, probably by much the same route as that by which, forty years afterwards, he led the Israelites to Sinai. He was providentially led to find a new home with the family of Reuel, where he remained for forty years (Acts 7:30), under training unconsciously for his great life's work.

Suddenly the angel of the Lord appeared to him in the burning bush (Exodus 3), and commissioned him to go down to Egypt and "bring forth the children of Israel" out of bondage. He was at first unwilling to go, but at length he was obedient to the heavenly vision, and left the land of Midian (4:18-26). On the way he was met by Aaron (q.v.) and the elders of Israel (27-31). He and Aaron had a hard task before them; but the Lord was with them (ch. 7-12), and the ransomed host went forth in triumph. (see EXODUS.) After an eventful journey to and fro in the wilderness, we see them at length encamped in the plains of Moab, ready to cross over the Jordan into the Promised Land. There Moses addressed the assembled elders (Deuteronomy 1:1-4; 5:1-26:19; 27:11-30:20), and gives the people his last counsels, and then rehearses the great song (Deuteronomy 32), clothing in fitting words the deep emotions of his heart at such a time, and in review of such a marvellous history as that in which he had acted so conspicious a part. Then, after blessing the tribes (33), he ascends to "the mountain of Nebo (q.v.), to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho" (34:1), and from thence he surveys the land. "Jehovah shewed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan, and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea, and the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar" (Deuteronomy 34:2-3), the magnificient inheritance of the tribes of whom he had been so long the leader; and there he died, being one hundred and twenty years old, according to the word of the Lord, and was buried by the Lord "in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor" (34:6). The people mourned for him during thirty days.

Thus died "Moses the man of God" (Deuteronomy 33:1; Joshua 14:6). He was distinguished for his meekness and patience and firmness, and "he endured as seeing him who is invisible." "There arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and the wonders, which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, and in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses shewed in the sight of all Israel" (Deuteronomy 34:10-12).

The name of Moses occurs frequently in the Psalms and Prophets as the chief of the prophets.

In the New Testament he is referred to as the representative of the law and as a type of Christ (John 1:17; 2 Corinthians 3:13-18; Hebrews 3:5, 6). Moses is the only character in the Old Testament to whom Christ likens himself (John 5:46; Comp. Deuteronomy 18:15, 18, 19; Acts 7:37). In Hebrews 3:1-19 this likeness to Moses is set forth in various particulars.

In Jude 1:9 mention is made of a contention between Michael and the devil about the body of Moses. This dispute is supposed to have had reference to the concealment of the body of Moses so as to prevent idolatry.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

(n.) A large flatboat, used in the West Indies for taking freight from shore to ship.

Thesaurus

Moses (9295 Occurrences)
... went down into Egypt. This immigration took place probably about 350 years
before the birth of Moses. Some centuries before Joseph ...
/m/moses.htm - 53k

Moses's (15 Occurrences)
... Multi-Version Concordance Moses's (15 Occurrences). Matthew 23:2 Saying,
The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses's seat. (WBS). ...
/m/moses's.htm - 11k

Moses'feet (1 Occurrence)
Moses'feet. Moses, Moses'feet. Moses's . Multi-Version Concordance
Moses'feet (1 Occurrence). Exodus 4:25 Then Zipporah took a flint ...
/m/moses'feet.htm - 6k

Zipporah (3 Occurrences)
... Easton's Bible Dictionary A female bird. Reuel's daughter, who became the
wife of Moses (Exodus 2:21). In consequence of the event ...
/z/zipporah.htm - 9k

Attendant (15 Occurrences)
... (WEB ASV DBY). Hebrews 3:5 and Moses indeed 'was' stedfast in all his house, as
an attendant, for a testimony of those things that were to be spoken, (YLT). ...
/a/attendant.htm - 11k

Amram (14 Occurrences)
... Levi. He married Jochebed, "his father's sister," and was the father of
Aaron, Miriam, and Moses (Exodus 6:18, 20; Numbers 3:19). ...
/a/amram.htm - 12k

Aide (7 Occurrences)
... country for food. (WEB). Exodus 24:13 Moses rose up with Joshua, his servant,
and Moses went up onto God's Mountain. (See NIV). Exodus 33 ...
/a/aide.htm - 8k

Shone (27 Occurrences)
... Exodus 34:29 It happened, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets
of the testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mountain, that ...
/s/shone.htm - 14k

Vail (44 Occurrences)
... 2 Corinthians 3:13-15). (3.) Masveh (Exodus 34:33, 35), the veil on the
face of Moses. This verse should be read, "And when Moses...
/v/vail.htm - 22k

Abiram (9 Occurrences)
... Easton's Bible Dictionary Father of height; ie, "proud.". (1.) One of the sons of
Eliab, who joined Korah in the conspiracy against Moses and Aaron. ...
/a/abiram.htm - 12k

Bible Concordance

Moses (9295 Occurrences)

Moses is found 9295 times in 12 translations.

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Subtopics

Iconoclasm: Destroyed by Moses

Miscegenation: Moses

Moses

Moses is a Herdsman for Jethro in the Desert of Horeb

Moses with Aaron Assembles the Leaders of Israel

Moses with his Wife and Sons, he Leaves Jethro to Perform his Mission in Egypt

Moses: 120 Years Old at Death