Moses was the principal leader and teacher of the Israelites and one of the most important characters in the Bible. He led his people out of slavery in Egypt to their homeland in Canaan. Canaan consisted roughly an area that extended from east of the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. At Mount Sinai, Moses declared the Ten Commandments as the law for his people. There, the Israelites were established as a nation under Moses’s leadership.
Moses was a political organizer, a military chief, a diplomat, a lawmaker, and a judge as well as a religious leader. He kept the Israelite nation united during its years of wandering in the desert between Egypt and Canaan. The Bible pays tribute to Moses in the following passage: “And there arose not a prophet 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…” (Deuteronomy 34:10).
The first five books of the Bible—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy—are called the “Five Books of Moses,” or the Pentateuch. The story of Moses’s life is in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. However, the books do not mention Moses as the author. Biblical scholars believe that the stories in the Five Books of Moses were passed orally from generation to generation until they were written down between about 1000 and 400 B.C.
Early life.
Moses was born in Egypt near the end of the 1300’s B.C. He was the descendant of Hebrew slaves who had migrated from Canaan to Egypt hundreds of years earlier. The Egyptians had enslaved the Hebrews and forced them to build large cities and palaces.
According to the Bible, the population of the Hebrews eventually grew so large that the Egyptian pharaoh feared they could not be controlled. Therefore, at about the time of Moses’s birth, the pharaoh ordered all male Hebrew children killed. Moses’s mother hid the baby in a basket in the rushes on the bank of the Nile River. The pharaoh’s daughter found the infant and raised him, with the help of Moses’s own mother. This account of Moses’s escape from death shows that he would become a great man.
Moses was given an Egyptian name and received an Egyptian education, but he retained his Hebrew identity. As an adult, Moses saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew. He killed the Egyptian and fled into the desert. While living there, he married Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro, a priest of the Midianite tribe. They had two sons, Gershom and Eliezer.
Moses settled in the land of Midian. There, he lived as a shepherd. One day, according to the Bible, God spoke to him from a burning bush. He commanded Moses to return to Egypt and lead the Hebrews to the land that had been promised to Abraham, the ancestor of the Hebrews (see Abraham ). Moses argued that he could not perform such a difficult project. However, Moses accepted God’s commandment to lead the Hebrews from Egypt.
The Exodus.
Moses joined his older brother, Aaron, while returning to Egypt, and they met with the pharaoh. Moses reportedly told the pharaoh, “Let my people go” (Exodus 5:1), but the Egyptian ruler refused to do so. He punished the Hebrews by increasing their workload.
According to the Bible, the Egyptians were then afflicted with nine terrible plagues. But after each one, the pharaoh continued to refuse to let the Hebrews leave. The 10th and final plague killed the pharaoh’s oldest son and all first-born Egyptian sons. But the Hebrews remained unharmed.
The 10th plague caused the pharaoh and the Egyptian people great grief. The pharaoh finally agreed to let the Hebrews leave Egypt. Their flight from Egypt is called the Exodus. The pharaoh soon regretted losing so many slaves and sent his army to recapture them. According to the Book of Exodus, God led the Hebrews through the wilderness to a body of water traditionally identified as the Red Sea. However, because the Hebrew text actually says “sea of reeds,” most modern scholars believe the body of water was actually the marshy lands east of the Nile Delta, well north of the Red Sea. As the pursuing Egyptians drew closer, God commanded Moses to lift a rod and stretch his hand over the sea to divide the waters. The parting of the waters enabled his people to cross safely. The Egyptian soldiers followed the Hebrews but drowned when the waters flowed back into place.
The covenant with God.
Moses led the Hebrews across the Red Sea into the desert. They journeyed to Mount Sinai, where they entered into a covenant (agreement) with God. Under the terms of the covenant, the Hebrews became the new nation of Israel. The covenant provided that all the Israelites would live under God’s eternal love and protection. In exchange, they would be ruled by God and obey His laws.
The basis of the covenant consisted of the Ten Commandments and laws found in the “Book of the Covenant,” a set of God-given rules and guidelines. According to the Bible, Moses received the Ten Commandments and other laws from God on Mount Sinai. The Ten Commandments and the laws of the “Book of the Covenant” became part of what is known as the “Torah of Moses.” These laws defined the Israelites’ relationship with one another and with God. Moses also established an administrative and legal system for the Israelites to help carry out the laws of the covenant.
While Moses was receiving the Ten Commandments, the Israelites became impatient. They wanted a god that they could see. As a result, the Israelites built a golden calf and began to worship it. The Israelites thought the golden calf represented the God who had led them out of Egypt.
After Moses came down from the mountain, he found his people dancing before the idol. He became so angry that he smashed the stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments had been inscribed. Many Israelites died soon afterward, and the people believed that the deaths were a punishment for their sin. God later gave Moses a new copy of the Ten Commandments on other stone tablets.
The Biblical story also describes how Moses organized the nation’s official forms of worship. The Israelites’ religious activities centered on a movable structure called the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle served as an official meeting place for God and the people, and it symbolized His relationship with the Israelites (see Tabernacle ). The people reestablished the old Hebrew holidays as national celebrations. The Exodus became a theme of the renewed festivals. The springtime holiday Passover celebrates the Israelites’ escape from Egypt (see Passover ).
Journey to Canaan.
The Israelites are reported to have spent 40 years wandering in the desert between Egypt and Canaan. They lived under harsh conditions and often complained to Moses. The people also became impatient and frustrated, and they challenged Moses’s authority as a religious and political leader. In addition, they questioned their faith in a God they could not see.
Moses often asked for God’s help to care for his people. He frequently obtained food and water for the Israelites under God’s direction. Throughout their long wanderings in the desert, Moses served as an intermediary between God and the Israelite people.
Hostile tribes apparently attacked the Israelites several times in the desert, but Moses always led his people to victory. He also foresaw the many difficulties that the Israelites would encounter in Canaan.
When the Israelites reached Canaan, God allowed Moses to see the new land but not to enter it. According to the Bible, Moses did not cross the Jordan River into Canaan because he had not followed one of God’s instructions (Numbers 20:1-13). God had told Moses to obtain water for the Israelites by speaking to a rock. Water would then flow from the rock. But instead of speaking to the rock, Moses struck it. Since God would not allow Moses to enter Canaan, Joshua, an assistant of Moses, led the people into Canaan.
Moses died in God’s favor at an advanced age. According to the Book of Deuteronomy, God buried Moses on Mount Nebo in the desert.
