Moses Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Biblical narrative== [[File:SyriacBibleParisFolio8rrMosesBeforePharaoh.jpg|thumb|left|Moses before the [[Pharaohs in the Bible#In the Book of Exodus|Pharaoh]], a 6th-century miniature from the [[Syriac Bible of Paris]]]] ===Prophet and deliverer of Israel=== {{Further|The Exodus}} The [[Israelites]] had settled in the [[Land of Goshen]] in the time of [[Joseph (Genesis)|Joseph]] and [[Jacob]], but a new [[Pharaohs in the Bible#In the Book of Exodus|Pharaoh]] arose who oppressed the children of [[Israel]]. At this time Moses was born to his father [[Amram]], son (or descendant) of [[Kehath]] the [[Levite]], who entered Egypt with Jacob's household; his mother was [[Jochebed]] (also Yocheved), who was kin to Kehath. Moses had one older (by seven years) sister, [[Miriam]], and one older (by three years) brother, [[Aaron]].{{refn|According to [[Manetho]] the place of his birth was at the ancient city of [[Heliopolis (Ancient Egypt)|Heliopolis]].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |author1-link=John McClintock (theologian) |first1=John |last1=McClintock |author2-link=James Strong (theologian) |last2=James |first2=Strong |title=Moses |encyclopedia=Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature |volume=VI. ME-NEV |place=New York |publisher=Harper & Brothers |year=1882 |pages=677β87 |title-link=Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature}}</ref>}} Pharaoh had commanded that all male Hebrew children born would be drowned in the river [[Nile]], but Moses' mother placed him in an [[Ark of bulrushes|ark]] and concealed the ark in the [[bulrush]]es by the riverbank, where [[Finding of Moses|the baby was discovered]] and adopted by [[Bithiah|Pharaoh's daughter]], and raised as an Egyptian. One day, after Moses had reached adulthood, he killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew. Moses, in order to escape Pharaoh's [[Capital punishment|death penalty]], fled to [[Midian]] (a desert country south of Judah), where he married [[Zipporah]].<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus|2:21|HE}}</ref> There, on [[Mount Horeb]], [[God]] appeared to Moses as a [[burning bush]], revealed to Moses his name [[Tetragrammaton|YHWH]] (probably pronounced [[Yahweh]])<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus|3:14|HE}}</ref> and commanded him to return to Egypt and bring his [[Jews as the chosen people|chosen people]] (Israel) out of bondage and into the [[Promised Land]] ([[Canaan]]).<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus|8:1|HE}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | quote = It was the prophet's call. It was a real ecstatic experience, like that of David under the baka-tree, Elijah on the mountain, Isaiah in the temple, Ezekiel on the Khebar, Jesus in the Jordan, Paul on the Damascus road. It was the perpetual mystery of the divine touching the human. | last = Schmidt | first = Nathaniel | author-link = Nathaniel Schmidt | title = Moses: His Age and His Work. II | journal = The Biblical World | volume = 7 | number = 2 | date = February 1896 | pages = 105β19 [108]| doi = 10.1086/471808 | s2cid = 222445896 }}</ref> During the journey, God tried to kill Moses for failing to circumcise his son,<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus|4:24β26|HE}}</ref> but [[Zipporah at the inn|Zipporah saved his life]]. Moses returned to carry out God's command, but God caused the Pharaoh to refuse, and only after God had subjected Egypt to [[plagues of Egypt|ten plagues]] did Pharaoh relent. Moses led the Israelites to the border of Egypt, but their God hardened the Pharaoh's heart once more, so that he could destroy Pharaoh and his army at the [[Crossing the Red Sea|Red Sea Crossing]] as a sign of his power to Israel and the nations.<ref>Ginzberg, Louis (1909). ''[[Legends of the Jews|The Legends of the Jews]] [http://www.swartzentrover.com/cotor/e-books/misc/Legends/Legends%20of%20the%20Jews.pdf Vol III : Chapter I]'' (Translated by Henrietta Szold) Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society.</ref> [[File:VictoryOLord.JPG|thumb|''[[Victory O Lord!]]'', 1871 painting by [[John Everett Millais]], depicts Moses holding his [[Staff of Moses|staff]], assisted by [[Aaron]] and [[Hur (Bible)|Hur]], holding up his arms during the battle against [[Amalek]].]] After defeating the [[Amalekites]] in [[Rephidim]],<ref>{{cite journal |author-last=Trimm |author-first=Charlie |date=September 2019 |title=God's staff and Moses' hand(s): The battle against the Amalekites as a turning point in the role of the divine warrior |editor1-last=Shepherd |editor1-first=David |editor2-last=Tiemeyer |editor2-first=Lena-Sofia |journal=[[Journal for the Study of the Old Testament]] |publisher=[[SAGE Publications]] |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=198β214 |doi=10.1177/0309089218778588 |doi-access=free |issn=1476-6728}}</ref> Moses [[The Exodus|led the Israelites]] to [[Mount Sinai (Bible)|Mount Sinai]], where he was given the [[Ten Commandments]] from God, written on [[Stele|stone tablets]]. However, since Moses remained a long time on the mountain, some of the people feared that he might be dead, so they made a statue of a [[golden calf]] and [[Sacred bull|worshipped it]], thus disobeying and angering God and Moses. Moses, out of anger, broke the tablets, and later ordered the elimination of those who had worshiped the golden statue, which was melted down and fed to the [[Idolatry|idolaters]].<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = James Clarke| isbn = 978-0-227-17379-4| last1 = Rad| first1 = Gerhard von| last2 = Hanson| first2 = K. C. | last3 = Neill| first3 = Stephen| title = Moses| location = Cambridge| access-date = 2017-06-09| year= 2012| url = http://site.ebrary.com/id/10634121}}</ref> He also wrote the ten commandments on a new set of tablets. Later at [[Mount Sinai]], Moses and the elders entered into a covenant, by which Israel would become the people of YHWH, obeying his laws, and YHWH would be their god. Moses delivered the laws of God to Israel, instituted [[Kohen|the priesthood]] under the sons of Moses' brother [[Aaron]], and destroyed those Israelites who fell away from his worship. In his final act at Sinai, God gave Moses instructions for the [[Tabernacle]], the mobile shrine by which he would travel with Israel to the Promised Land.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ginzberg |first=Louis |year=1909 |title=The Legends of the Jews |series=Vol. III: The Symbolical Significance of the Tabernacle |translator-first=Henrietta |translator-last=Szold |location=Philadelphia |publisher=Jewish Publication Society |url=http://www.swartzentrover.com/cotor/e-books/misc/Legends/Legends%20of%20the%20Jews.pdf}}</ref> From Sinai, Moses led the Israelites to the [[Desert of Paran]] on the border of Canaan. From there he sent [[The Twelve Spies|twelve spies]] into the land. The spies returned with samples of the land's fertility but warned that its inhabitants were [[Nephilim|giants]]. The people were afraid and wanted to return to Egypt, and some rebelled against Moses and against God. Moses told the Israelites that they were not worthy to inherit the land, and would wander the wilderness for forty years until the generation who had refused to enter Canaan had died, so that it would be their children who would possess the land.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ginzberg |first=Louis |year=1909 |url=http://www.swartzentrover.com/cotor/e-books/misc/Legends/Legends%20of%20the%20Jews.pdf |title=The Legends of the Jews |volume=III: Ingratitude Punished |translator-first=Henrietta |translator-last=Szold |location=Philadelphia |publisher=Jewish Publication Society}}</ref> Later on, [[Korah]] was punished for leading a revolt against Moses. When the forty years had passed, Moses led the Israelites east around the [[Dead Sea]] to the territories of [[Edom]] and [[Moab]]. There they escaped the temptation of idolatry, conquered the lands of [[Og]] and [[Sihon]] in [[Transjordan (region)|Transjordan]], received God's blessing through [[Balaam]] the prophet, and massacred the [[Midian]]ites, who by the end of the Exodus journey had become the enemies of the Israelites due to their notorious role in [[Heresy of Peor|enticing the Israelites to sin against God]]. Moses was twice given notice that he would die before entry to the Promised Land: in [[Book of Numbers|Numbers]] 27:13,<ref>{{bibleverse|Numbers|27:13|HE}}</ref> once he had seen the Promised Land from a viewpoint on [[Abarim|Mount Abarim]], and again in Numbers 31:1<ref>{{bibleverse|Numbers|31:1|HE}}</ref> once battle with the Midianites had been won. On the banks of the [[Jordan River]], in sight of the land, Moses assembled the [[Twelve Tribes of Israel|tribes]]. After recalling their wanderings, he delivered God's laws by which they must live in the land, sang a [[Song of Moses|song]] of praise and pronounced a [[Blessing of Moses|blessing]] on the people, and passed his authority to [[Joshua]], under whom they would possess the land. Moses then went up [[Mount Nebo]], looked over the [[Promised Land]] spread out before him, and died, at the age of one hundred and twenty: {{blockquote| So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab according to the word of the LORD. And He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor; but no man knows his burial place to this day. (Deuteronomy 34:5β6, [[Amplified Bible]])}} ===Lawgiver of Israel=== {{Further|Law of Moses|Mosaic authorship|Deuteronomist|Book of Deuteronomy#Deuteronomic code|613 Mitzvot}} [[File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 079.jpg|thumb|''[[Moses Breaking the Tablets of the Law]]'' by [[Rembrandt]], 1659]] Moses is honoured among [[Jews]] today as the "lawgiver of Israel", and he delivers several sets of laws in the course of the four books. The first is the [[Covenant Code]],<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus|20:19β23:33|HE}}</ref> the terms of the [[Mosaic covenant|covenant]] which God offers to the Israelites at Mount Sinai. Embedded in the covenant are the [[Decalogue]] (the [[Ten Commandments]], Exodus 20:1β17),<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus|20:1β17|HE}}</ref> and the Book of the Covenant (Exodus 20:22β23:19).<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus|20:22β23:19|HE}}</ref>{{sfn|Hamilton|2011|p=xxv}} The entire [[Book of Leviticus]] constitutes a second body of law, the [[Book of Numbers]] begins with yet another set, and the [[Book of Deuteronomy]] another.{{citation needed|reason=What is the primary source for this?|date=June 2016}} Moses has traditionally been regarded as [[Mosaic authorship|the author of those four books]] and the [[Book of Genesis]], which together comprise the [[Torah]], the first section of the [[Hebrew Bible]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Robinson |first1=George |title=Essential Torah: A Complete Guide to the Five Books of Moses |date=2008 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-307-48437-6 |pages=97 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X54NS-Lc-OcC&q=%22dictated+to+Moshe+by+God%22%22under+the+inspiration+of+God%22&pg=PA97 |language=en}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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