Moses
missing image!
- Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 079.jpg -
Moses with the Tablets, 1659, by Rembrandt.
{{about|the Biblical figure}}
Moses (
Latin:
Moyses, {{Hebrew Name|מֹשֶׁה|Moshe|Mōšeh}};
Greek: in both the
Septuagint and the
New Testament;
Arabic:
,
{{unicode|Mūsa}};
Ge'ez: ,
Musse) is a
Biblical Hebrew religious leader, lawgiver,
prophet, and military leader, to whom the
authorship of the
Torah is traditionally attributed. He is also an important prophet in
Judaism,
(1) Christianity,
(2) the
Bahá'í Faith,
(3) Mormonism,
(4)(5)(6) Chrislam(7)Religious texts
{{Primarysources|date=July 2008}}The main source of Moses' life is the
Torah. In the Torah, the narratives of Moses are in
Exodus,
Leviticus,
Numbers, and
Deuteronomy.
Life
The Book of
Exodus takes up the narrative many years after the close of the
Book of Genesis, at the end of which the
Israelites were dwelling in relative harmony with the native
Egyptians in the
Land of Goshen, the eastern part of the
Nile Delta. Sometime during the interval, a new pharaoh came to power who was hostile to the Israelites and enslaved them.
(8)According to the Book of Exodus, Moses was a son of
Amram, a member of the
Levite tribe of
Israel, having descended from
Jacob, and his wife
Jochebed.
(9) Jochebed (also Yocheved) was kin to Amram's father
Kohath (Exodus 6:20). Moses had one older (by seven years) sister,
Miriam, and one older (by three years) brother,
Aaron.
(10)
In the Exodus account, the birth of Moses (dated by the
Talmud to 7 Adar 2368, or 1393 BCE)
(11){{Primary source claim|date=July 2008}} occurred at a time when the current Egyptian
Pharaoh had commanded that all male Hebrew children born be killed by drowning in the river
Nile. The Torah and Flavius Josephus leave the identity of this Pharaoh unstated.
(12)Jochebed, the wife of the Levite Amram, bore a son and kept him concealed for three months.
(13)(14)(15)(16)(17){{Primary source claim|date=July 2008}} This birth legend is in many respects similar
(18) to the
7th century BCE Neo-Assyrian version of the birth of the king
Sargon of Akkad in the 24th century BCE
(19) who, being born of modest means, was set in the Euphrates river in a basket of bulrushes and discovered by a member of the Akkadian royalty who reared him as their own. Professor
Eric H. Cline refers to the story of the birth of Moses as a 'foundation myth', similar to those of Sargon,
Cyrus the Great and
Romulus and Remus.
(20)Exodus and Flavius Josephus do not mention whether this daughter of Pharaoh was an only child or, if she was not an only child, whether she was an eldest child or an eldest daughter. Nor do they mention whether Thermuthis later had other natural or adopted children. If
Ramesses II is the Pharaoh of the Oppression as is traditionally thought, identifying her would be extremely difficult as Rameses II is thought to have fathered over a hundred children. The
daughter of Pharaoh named him
Mosheh, similar to the Hebrew word
mashah, "to draw out". In the Greek translation,
Mosheh was Hellenized as
Moses.
(21)(22)missing image!
- Edwin Long 002.jpg -
The finding of Moses, by Edwin Long
Names
- The Classical Rabbis in the Midrash identify Moses as one of seven biblical characters who were called by various names.(23) Moses' other names were: Jekuthiel (by his mother), Heber (by his father), Jered (by Miriam), Avi Zanoah (by Aaron), Kehath, Avi Soco (his wet-nurse), Shemaiah ben Nethanel (by people of Israel).(24) Moses is also attributed the names Toviah (as a first name), and Levi (as a family name) (Vayikra Rabbah 1:3), Heman (25), Mechoqeiq (lawgiver)(26) and Ehl Gav Ish (Numbers 12:3)(27)
- According to the Torah, the name "Moses" comes from the (Hebrew) verb meaning "to pull/draw out" [of water], so named by Pharaoh's daughter (identified by the Midrash as Bithiah from I Chr; or (Thermuthis) ) after she had pulled the infant from the banks of the river.(28) Further, Moses led the Israelites across the Red Sea, which would also shows deliverance out of water. Josephus also cites this etymology.
- Some medieval Jewish scholars had suggested that Moses' actual name was the Egyptian translation of "to draw out", and that it was translated into Hebrew, either by the Bible, or by Moses himself later in his lifetime.
- Some modern scholars had suggested that the daughter of the pharaoh might have derived his name from the Egyptian word moses, which means "son" or "formed of" or "has provided"; for example, "Thutmose" means "son of Thoth", and Rameses means "Ra has provided (a son)".(29)
- According to Islamic tradition, his name, Mūsā, is derived from two Egyptian words: Mū which means water and shā meaning tree (or reeds), in reference to the fact that the basket in which the infant Moses floated came to rest by trees close to Pharaoh's residence.(30)
- A growing number of critical scholars believe that Moses actually had a full Egyptian name, consisting of the root word moses and the name of a god (similar to Rameses), but the name of the god was later dropped, either when he assimilated into Hebrew culture or by later scribes who were dismayed that their greatest prophet had such an Egyptian name.(31)
- Amongst the Aramaeans and Neo-Hittites of the northern Sam'al Yaudi state there is mention of an ancestral culture hero Moschos, linked to the Greek hero Mopsus (whose name means "calf"), who has certain similarities to parts of the Moses(32){{Primary source claim|date=July 2008}} these similarities are only being in a similar location and having a similar name.
Shepherd in Midian
After Moses had reached adulthood, he went to see how his brethren who were enslaved to the
Egyptians were faring.
(33) Moses soon discovered from a higher source that the affair was known, and that Pharaoh was likely to put him to death for it; he therefore made his escape over the
Sinai Peninsula.
(34){{Primary source claim|date=July 2008}}, and
Shoaib according to Qur'an
(35)), a priest of
Midian(36) was immensely grateful for this assistance Moses had given his daughters, and adopted him as his son, gave his daughter
Zipporah to him in marriage, and made him the superintendent of his herds.
(37)(38) There he sojourned forty years, following the occupation of a shepherd, during which time his son
Gershom was born.
(39)(40)(41)(42) Quran's account has emphasized Moses' mission to invite the Pharaoh to accept God's divine message
(43) as well as give salvation to the Israelites.
(44)(45)(46) It is also revealed that during Moses' absence, the Pharaoh of the Oppression (sometimes identified with
Ramesses II) had died, and been replaced by a new Pharaoh, known as the Pharaoh of the Exodus. If Rameses II is the Pharaoh of the Oppression, then this new Pharaoh would be
Merneptah. Because the story the book of Exodus describes is catastrophic for the Egyptians — involving horrible plagues, the loss of thousands of slaves, and many deaths (possibly including the death of Pharaoh himself, although that matter is unclear in Exodus) — it is conspicuous that no Egyptian records speaking of Israelites in Egypt have ever been found. However, Merneptah, is indeed, historically known to have been a mediocre ruler, and certainly one weaker than Rameses II. Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and told him that the Lord God of Israel wanted Pharaoh to permit the Israelites to celebrate a feast in the wilderness. Pharaoh replied that he did not know their God and would not permit them to go celebrate the feast. Pharaoh upbraided Moses and Aaron and made the Israelites find their own straw besides meeting the same daily quota of bricks.
(47)(48) Moses and Aaron gained a second hearing with Pharaoh and changed Moses' rod into a serpent, but Pharaoh's magicians did the same with their rods. Moses and Aaron had a third opportunity when they went to meet the Pharaoh at the Nile riverbank, and Moses had Aaron turn the river to blood, but Pharaoh's magicians could do the same. Moses obtained a fourth meeting, and had Aaron bring frogs from the Nile to overrun Egypt, but Pharaoh's magicians were able to do the same thing. Apparently Pharaoh eventually got annoyed by the frogs and asked Moses to remove the frogs and promised to let the Israelites go observe their feast in the wilderness in return. The next day all the frogs died leaving a horrible stench and an enormous mess, which angered Pharaoh and decide against letting the Israelites leave to observe the feast. Eventually Pharaoh let the Hebrews depart after Moses's God sent
ten plagues upon the Egyptians. The third was
lice,
gnats, and
flies. The fourth was attacking of wild beasts. The fifth was the invasion of diseases on the Egyptians' cattle, oxen, goats, sheep, camels, and horses. Sixth were boils on the skins of Egyptians. Seventh, fiery
hail and
thunder struck Egypt. The eighth plague was
locusts encompassing Egypt. The ninth plague was total darkness. The tenth plague culminated in the slaying of the Egyptian male first-borns, whereupon such terror seized the Egyptians that they ordered the Hebrews to leave in
the Exodus. The events are commemorated as
Passover, referring to how the plague "passed over" the houses of the Israelites while smiting the Egyptians.
(49) The crossing of the Sea of Reeds
And so Moses lead his people Eastward, beginning the long journey to
Canaan. The procession moved slowly, and found it necessary to encamp three times before passing the Egyptian frontier — some believe at the
Great Bitter Lake, while others propose sites as far south as the northern tip of the
Red Sea. Meanwhile, Pharaoh had a change of heart, and was in pursuit of them with a large army. Shut in between this army and the sea, the Israelites despaired, but Exodus records that God
divided the waters so that they passed safely across on dry ground. There is some contention about this passage, since an earlier incorrect translation of
Yam Suph to
Red Sea was later found to have meant
Reed Sea(50). When the Egyptian army attempted to follow, God permitted the waters to return upon them and drown them.According to the Quran the Pharaoh was leading the Egyptian army himself, and drowned along with his army, and in his last words before drowning he asks God for forgiveness - (قَالَ آمَنتُ أَنَّهُ لا إِلِـهَ إِلاَّ الَّذِي آمَنَتْ بِهِ بَنُو إِسْرَائِيلَ وَأَنَاْ مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ) - , however God made him die with his body in perfect shape, so he would be an example for every tyrant who defies the prophets - surat Yunis:92 (يونس:92) -.
The years in the wilderness
When the people arrived at
Marah, the water was bitter, causing the people to murmur against Moses. Moses cast a tree into the water, and the water became sweet.
(51)(52) Later in the journey the people began running low on supplies and again murmured against Moses and Aaron and said they would have preferred to die in Egypt, but God's provision of
manna from the sky in the morning and quail in the evening took care of the situation.
(53)(54) When the people camped in Rephidim, there was no water, so the people complained again and said, "Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?" Moses struck a rock with his staff, and water came forth.
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- VictoryOLord.JPG -
Moses holding up his arms during the battle, assisted by Aaron and Hur. Painting by John Everett Millais
Amalekite raiders arrived and attacked the Israelites. In response, Moses bid
Joshua lead the men to fight while he stood on a hill with the rod of God in his hand. As long as Moses held the rod up, Israel dominated the fighting, but if Moses let down his hands, the tide of the battle turned in favor of the
Amalekites. Because Moses was getting tired, Aaron and Hur had Moses sit on a rock. Aaron held up one arm, Hur held up the other arm, and the Israelites routed the Amalekites.
(57)(58) Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came to see Moses and brought Moses' wife and two sons with him. After Moses had told Jethro how the Israelites had escaped Egypt, Jethro went to offer sacrifices to the Lord, and then ate bread with the elders. The next day Jethro observed how Moses sat from morning to night giving judgement for the people. Jethro suggested that Moses appoint judges for lesser matters, a suggestion Moses heeded.
(59)When the
Israelites came to Sinai, they pitched camp near the mountain. Moses commanded the people not to touch the mountain. Moses received the
Ten Commandments orally (but not yet in tablet form) and other moral laws. Moses then went up with
Aaron,
Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders to see the God of Israel. Before Moses went up the mountain to receive the tablets, he told the elders to direct any questions that arose to Aaron or
Hur. While Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving instruction on the laws for the Israelite community, the Israelites went to Aaron and asked him to make gods for them. After Aaron had received golden earrings from the people, he made a
golden calf and said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt." A "solemnity of the Lord" was proclaimed for the following day, which began in the morning with sacrifices and was followed by revelry. After Moses had persuaded the Lord not to destroy the people of Israel, he went down from the mountain and was met by Joshua. Moses destroyed the calf and rebuked Aaron for the sin he had brought upon the people. Seeing that the people were uncontrollable, Moses went to the entry of the camp and said, "Who is on the Lord's side? Let him come unto me." All the sons of
Levi rallied around Moses, who ordered them to go from gate to gate slaying the idolators.
(60)(61) Following this, according to the last chapters of
Exodus, the
Tabernacle was constructed, the priestly law ordained, the plan of encampment arranged both for the Levites and the non-priestly tribes, and the Tabernacle consecrated. Moses was given eight prayer laws that were to be carried out in regards to the Tabernacle. These laws included light, incense and sacrifice.
(62)Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses on account of his marriage to an
Ethiopian, Josephus explains the marriage of Moses to this Ethiopian in the
Antiquities of the Jews(63)The people left
Hazeroth and pitched camp in the wilderness of
Paran.
(64) (Paran is a vaguely defined region in the northern part of the Sinai peninsula, just south of Canaan) Moses sent twelve spies into Canaan as scouts, including most famously Caleb and Joshua. After forty days, they returned to the Israelite camp, bringing back grapes and other produce as samples of the regions fertility. Although all the spies agreed that the land's resources were spectacular, only two of the twelve spies (Joshua and
Caleb) were willing to try to conquer it, and are nearly stoned for their unpopular opinion. The people began weeping and wanted to return to Egypt. Moses turned down the opportunity to have the Israelites completely destroyed and a great nation made from his own offspring, and instead he told the people that they would wander the wilderness for forty years until all those twenty years or older who had refused to enter Canaan had died, and that their children would then enter and possess Canaan. Early the next morning, the Israelites said they had sinned and now wanted to take possession of Canaan. Moses told them not to attempt it, but the Israelites chose to disobey Moses and invade Canaan, but were repulsed by the Amalekites and Canaanites.
(65) According to the Quran, Moses encourages the Israelites to enter Canaan, but they are unwilling to fight the Canaanites, fearing certain defeat. Moses responds by pleading to Allah that he and his brother Aaron be separated from the rebellious Israelites.
(66)The
Tribe of Reuben, led by
Korah,
Dathan,
Abiram, and two hundred fifty Israelite princes accused Moses and Aaron of raising themselves over the rest of the people. Moses told them to come the next morning with a censer for every man. Dathan and Abiram refused to come when summoned by Moses. Moses went to the place of Dathan and Abiram's tents. After Moses spoke the ground opened up and engulfed Dathan and Abiram's tents, after which it closed again. Fire consumed the two hundred fifty men with the censers. Moses had the censers taken and made into plates to cover the altar. The following day, the Israelites came and accused Moses and Aaron of having killed his fellow Israelites. The people were struck with a plague that killed fourteen thousand seven hundred persons, and was only ended when Aaron went with his censer into the midst of the people.
(67) To prevent further murmurings and settle the matter permanently, Moses had the chief prince of the non-Levitic tribes write his name on his staff and had them lay them in the sanctuary. He also had Aaron write his name on his staff and had it placed in the tabernacle. The next day, when Moses went into the tabernacle, Aaron's staff had budded, blossomed, and yielded almonds.
(68)After leaving Sinai, the Israelites camped in Kadesh. After more complaints from the Israelites, Moses struck the stone twice, and water gushed forth. However, because Moses and Aaron had not shown the Lord's holiness, they were not permitted to enter the land to be given to the Israelites.
(69) This was the second occasion Moses struck a rock to bring forth water; however, it appears that both sites were named Meribah after these two incidents.
missing image!
- The Brazen Serpent.jpg -
Moses lifts up the brass serpent, curing the Israelites from poisonous snake bites.
Now ready to enter Canaan, the Israelites abandon the idea of attacking the Canaanites head-on in
Hebron, a city in the southern part of Canaan, having been informed by spies that they were too strong, it is decided that they will flank Hebron by going further East, around the
Dead Sea. This requires that they pass through
Edom,
Moab, and
Ammon. These three tribes are considered Hebrews by the Israelites as descendants of
Lot, and therefore cannot be attacked. However they are also rivals, and are therefore not permissive in allowing the Israelites to openly pass through their territory. So Moses leads his people carefully along the eastern border of Edom, the southernmost of these territories. While the Israelites were making their journey around Edom, they complained about the
manna. After many of the people had been bitten by serpents and died, Moses made the
brass serpent and mounted it on a pole, and if those who were bitten looked at it, they did not die.
(70) According to the Biblical
Book of Kings this brass serpent remained in existence until the days of King
Hezekiah, who destroyed it after persons began treating it as an idol.
(71) When they reach Moab, it is revealed that Moab has been attacked and defeated by the
Amorites led by a king named
Sihon. The Amorites were a non-Hebrew Canannic people that once held power in the
Fertile Crescent. When Moses asks the Amorites for passage and it is refused, Moses attacks the Amorites (as non-Hebrews, the Israelites have no reservations in attacking them), presumably weakened by conflict with the Moabites, and defeats them.
(72)The Israelites now holding the territory of the Amorites just north of Moab, desire to expand their holdings by acquiring
Bashan, a fertile territory north of Ammon famous for its oak trees and cattle. It is led by a king named
Og. Later
rabbinical legends made Og a survivor of the flood, suggesting the he had sat on the ark and was fed by Noah. The Israelites fight with Og's forces at
Edrei, on the southern border of Bashan, where the Israelites are victorious and slay every man, woman, and child of his cities and take the spoil for their bounty.
(73)
Balak meets with Balaam at
Kirjath-huzoth, and they go to the high places of
Baal, and offer sacrifices at seven altars, leading to Balaam being given a prophecy by God, which Balaam relates to Balak. However, the prophecy blesses Israel; Balak remonstrates, but Balaam reminds him that he can only speak the words put in his mouth, so Balak takes him to another high place at
Pisgah, to try again. Building another seven altars here, and making sacrifices on each, Balaam provides another prophecy blessing Israel. Balaam finally gets taken by a now very frustrated Balak to
Peor, and, after the seven sacrifices there, decides not to seek enchantments but instead looks on the Israelites from the peak. The spirit of God comes upon Balaam and he delivers a third positive prophecy concerning Israel. Balak's anger rises to the point where he threatens Balaam, but Balaam merely offers a prediction of fate. Balaam then looks on the
Kenites, and Amalekites and offers two more predictions of fate. Balak and Balaam then simply go to their respective homes. Later, Balaam informed Balak and the Midianites that, if they wished to overcome the Israelites for a short interval, they needed to seduce the Israelites to engage in idolatry.
(74){{Primary source claim|date=July 2008}} The Midianites sent beautiful women to the Israelite camp to seduce the young men to partake in idolatry, and the attempt proved successful.
(75)Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, put an end to the matter of the Midianite seduction by slaying two of the prominent offenders, but by that time a plague inflicted on the Israelites had already killed about twenty-four thousand persons. Moses was then told that because
Phinehas had averted the wrath of God from the Israelites,
Phinehas and his descendents were given the pledge of an everlasting priesthood.
(76)After Moses had taken a census of the people, he sent an army to avenge the perceived evil brought on the Israelites by the Midianites. Numbers 31 says Moses instructed the Israelite soldiers to kill every Midianite woman, boy and the non-virgin girl, although virgin girls were shared amongst the soldiers.
(77) The Israelites killed Balaam, and the five kings of Midian: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba.
(78)Moses appointed
Joshua, son of
Nun, to succeed him as the leader of the Israelites.
(79) Moses then died at the age of 120.
(80)Death
After all this was accomplished, Moses was warned that he would not be permitted to lead the nation of Israel across the
Jordan river, but would die on its eastern shores (Num. 20:12).
(81) God Himself buried him in an unknown grave (Deut. 34:6).
(82)Religious views
Judaism
There is a wealth of stories and additional information about Moses in the
Jewish apocrypha and in the genre of
rabbinical exegesis known as
Midrash, as well as in the primary works of the Jewish
oral law, the
Mishnah and the
Talmud.
(83) similar to legends of
Thoth.
Artapanus of Alexandria explicitly identified Moses not only with Thoth / Hermes, but also with the Greek figure
Musaeus (whom he calls "the teacher of
Orpheus"), and ascribed to him the division of Egypt into 36 districts, each with its own liturgy. He names the princess who adopted Moses as Merris, wife of Pharaoh Chenephres.
(84)Ancient sources mention an Assumption of Moses and a Testimony of Moses. A Latin text was found in
Milan in the 19th century by
Antonio Ceriani who called it the
Assumption of Moses, even though it does not refer to an assumption of Moses or contain portions of the Assumption which are cited by ancient authors, and it is apparently actually the Testimony. The incident which the ancient authors cite is also mentioned in the
Epistle of Jude.To Orthodox Jews, Moses is really
Moshe Rabbenu, `Eved HaShem, Avi haNeviim zya"a.
(85)Arising in part from his age, but also because 120 is elsewhere stated as the maximum age for Noah's descendants (one interpretation of {{bibleverse||Genesis|6:3|JP}}), "may you live to 120" has become a common blessing among Jews.
(86)Christianity
|death_date= |feast_day= September 4|venerated_in=
Eastern Orthodoxy,
Oriental Orthodoxy|image=MosesMosaic.jpg|imagesize=156px|caption=
Mosaic of Moses at the
Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis|birth_place=
Goshen,
Egypt|death_place=
Mount Nebo,
Moab, in modern
Jordan|titles=Prophet, Seer, Lawgiver|attributes= Tablets of the Law}}For
Christians, Moses — mentioned more often in the
New Testament than any other
Old Testament figure — is often a symbol of God's law, as reinforced and
expounded on in the teachings of
Jesus.
(87) This book is believed to be the translated writings of Moses, and is included in the LDS Church's
Pearl of Great Price.
(88) Latter-day Saints are also unique in believing that Moses was taken to heaven without having tasted death (
translated). In addition,
Joseph Smith, Jr. and
Oliver Cowdery stated that on April 3, 1836, Moses appeared to them in the
Kirtland Temple in a glorified, immortal, physical form and bestowed upon them the "keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north."
(89)Islam
{{seealso|Biblical narratives and the Qur'an#Moses (Mūsā موسى)}}In the
Qur'an, the life of Moses (Arabic: Musa) is narrated and recounted more than any other
prophet recognized in Islam.
(90) The Bible and Qur'an have different angles of view. The Bible has focused on Moses and the rescue of
Israelites, while the Qur'an emphasized on the relation between Moses and God.
(91)Mandaeism
In
Mandaeism, Moses is regarded as a false prophet. The God of Moses (YHWH) is said in Mandaeism to be an evil god or demon (whom they also identify with the sun). While it has been asserted that Mandaeanism is of Judaic origin, this has been disputed as they may also have had a common origin; at any rate, there are vehement polemics against Jews in Mandaean literature.
(92)Scientology
L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of
Scientology, maintained that
ancient Egypt was "a battleground between two space groups" who infiltrated humanity and become integral to Egyptian culture. (What is Knowable to the PC, 1961) In
Responsibility and the State of OT, he claimed that Moses had a "disintegrator pistol".
Academic view
The German scholar
Martin Noth:
- Accepts that Moses may have had some connection with the preparations for the conquest of Canaan
- Recognizes a historical core "beneath" the Exodus and Sinai traditions
But on the other hand, Noth holds that:
- Two different groups experienced the Exodus and Sinai events and each group transmitted its own stories independently of the other one.
- "The biblical story tracing the Hebrews from Egypt to Canaan resulted from an editor's weaving separate themes and traditions around a main character Moses, actually an obscure person from Moab."(93)
Other scholars such as William Foxwell Albright have a more favorable view towards the traditional views regarding Moses and accept the essence of the biblical story, as narrated between Exodus 1:8 and Deuteronomy 34:12, but recognize that impact the centuries of oral and written transmission had on the account causing it to acquire layers of accretions.
(94)(95) and there is no known physical evidence (such as pottery shards or stone tablets) to corroborate Moses' existence.
(96)(97) Artapanus of Alexandria
This account is excerpted from the Hellenistic Jewish historian
Artapanus of Alexandria (2nd century BCE), as reproduced by
Eusebius of Caesarea.{{cquote2|
Jealousy of Moses' excellent qualities induced Chenephres to send him with unskilled troops on a military expedition to Ethiopia, where he won great victories. After having built the city of Hermopolis, he taught the people the value of the ibis as a protection against the serpents, making the bird the sacred guardian spirit of the city; then he introduced circumcision. After his return to Memphis, Moses taught the people the value of oxen for agriculture, and the consecration of the same by Moses gave rise to the cult of Apis. Finally, after having escaped another plot by killing the assailant sent by the king, Moses fled to Arabia, where he married the daughter of Raguel, the ruler of the district. Chenephres in the meantime died from elephantiasis — a disease with which he was the first to be afflicted — because he had ordered that the Jews should wear garments that would distinguish them from the Egyptians and thereby expose them to maltreatment. The sufferings of Israel then caused God to appear to Moses in a flame bursting forth from the earth, and to tell him to march against Egypt for the rescue of his people. Accordingly he went to Egypt to deliberate with his brother Aaron about the plan of warfare, but was put into prison. At night, however, the doors of the prison opened of their own accord, while the guards died or fell asleep. Going to the royal palace and finding the doors open there and the guards sunk in sleep, he went straight to the king, and when scoffingly asked by the latter for the name of the God who sent him, he whispered the Ineffable Name into his ear, whereupon the king became speechless and as one dead. Then Moses wrote the name upon a tablet and sealed it up, and a priest who made sport of it died in convulsions. After this Moses performed all the wonders, striking land and people with plagues until the king let the Jews go. In remembrance of the rod with which Moses performed his miracles every Isis temple in Egypt has preserved a rod — Isis symbolizing the earth which Moses struck with his rod... He was eighty-nine years old when he delivered the Jews; tall and ruddy, with long white hair, and dignified.}}
(98)In Strabo
The following excerpt comes from the Roman historian
Strabo (c. 24 AD):{{cquote2|
34 As for Judaea, its western extremities towards Casius are occupied by the Idumaeans and by the lake. The Idumaeans are Nabataeans, but owing to a sedition they were banished from there, joined the Judeans, and shared in the same customs with them. The greater part of the region near the sea is occupied by Lake Sirbonis and by the country continuous with the lake as far as Jerusalem; for this city is also near the sea; for, as I have already said, it is visible from the seaport of Iopê. This region lies towards the north; and it is inhabited in general, as is each place in particular, by mixed stocks of people from Aegyptian and Arabian and Phoenician tribes; for such are those who occupy Galilee and Hiericus and Philadelphia and Samaria, which last Herod surnamed Sebastê
. But though the inhabitants mixed up thus, the most prevalent of the accredited reports in regard to the temple at Jerusalem represents the ancestors of the present Judaeans, as they are called, as Aegyptians.35 Moses, namely, was one of the Aegyptian priests, and held a part of Lower Aegypt, as it is called, but he went away from there to Judaea, since he was displeased with the state of affairs there, and was accompanied by many people who worshipped the Divine Being. For he says, and taught, that the Aegyptians were mistaken in representing the Divine Being by the images of beasts and cattle, as were also the
Libyans; and that the Greeks were also wrong in modeling gods in human form; for, according to him, God is this one thing alone that encompasses us all and encompasses land and sea — the thing which we call heaven, or universe, or the nature of all that exists. What man, then, if he has sense, could be bold enough to fabricate an image of God resembling any creature amongst us? Nay, people should leave off all image-carving, and, setting apart a sacred precinct and a worthy sanctuary, should worship God without an image; and people who have good dreams should sleep in the sanctuary, not only themselves on their own behalf, but also others for the rest of the people; and those who live self-restrained and righteous lives should always expect some blessing or gift or sign from God, but no other should expect them.
36 Now Moses, saying things of this kind, persuaded not a few thoughtful men and led them away to this place where the settlement of Jerusalem now is; and he easily took possession of the place, since it was not a place that would be looked on with envy, nor yet one for which anyone would make a serious fight; for it is rocky, and, although it itself is well supplied with water, its surrounding territory is barren and waterless, and the part of the territory within a radius of sixty stadia is also rocky beneath the surface. At the same time Moses, instead of using arms, put forward as defense his sacrifices and his Divine Being, being resolved to seek a seat of worship for Him and promising to deliver to the people a kind of worship and a kind of ritual which would not oppress those who adopted them either with expenses or with divine obsessions or with other absurd troubles. Now Moses enjoyed fair repute with these people, and organized no ordinary kind of government, since the peoples all round, one and all, came over to him, because of his dealings with them and of the prospects he held out to them.}}
(99)In Tacitus
The Roman historian
Tacitus (ca. 100 AD) mentions several possible origins of the Jews that were taught by those of his time.{{cquote2|
As I am about to relate the last days of a famous city, it seems appropriate to throw some light on its origin. Some say that the Jews were fugitives from the island of Crete, who settled on the nearest coast of Africa about the time when Saturn was driven from his throne by the power of Jupiter. Evidence of this is sought in the name. There is a famous mountain in Crete called Ida
; the neighbouring tribe, the Idaei
, came to be called Judaei
by a barbarous lengthening of the national name. Others assert that in the reign of Isis the overflowing population of Egypt, led by Hierosolymus and Judas, discharged itself into the neighbouring countries. Many, again, say that they were a race of Ethiopian origin, who in the time of king Cepheus were driven by fear and hatred of their neighbours to seek a new dwelling-place. Others describe them as an Assyrian horde who, not having sufficient territory, took possession of part of Egypt, and founded cities of their own in what is called the Hebrew country, lying on the borders of Syria. Others, again, assign a very distinguished origin to the Jews, alleging that they were the Solymi, a nation celebrated in the poems of Homer, who called the city which they founded Hierosolyma
after their own name.Most writers, however, agree in stating that once a disease, which horribly disfigured the body, broke out over Egypt; that king Bocchoris, seeking a remedy, consulted the oracle of Hammon, and was bidden to cleanse his realm, and to convey into some foreign land this race detested by the gods. The people, who had been collected after diligent search, finding themselves left in a desert, sat for the most part in a stupor of grief, till one of the exiles, Moyses by name, warned them not to look for any relief from God or man, forsaken as they were of both, but to trust to themselves, taking for their heaven-sent leader that man who should first help them to be quit of their present misery. They agreed, and in utter ignorance began to advance at random. Nothing, however, distressed them so much as the scarcity of water, and they had sunk ready to perish in all directions over the plain, when a herd of wild asses was seen to retire from their pasture to a rock shaded by trees. Moyses followed them, and, guided by the appearance of a grassy spot, discovered an abundant spring of water. This furnished relief. After a continuous journey for six days, on the seventh they possessed themselves of a country, from which they expelled the inhabitants, and in which they founded a city and a temple.|
(100)}}
The Antiquities of the Jews
Josephus relates several other incidents in connection with the Biblical account of Moses:Before the incident in which Moses slew the Egyptian, Moses had led the Egyptians in a campaign against invading Ethiopians and routed them. While Moses was besieging one of the Ethiopians' cities, Tharbis, the daughter of the Ethiopian king, fell in love with Moses and wished to marry him. He agreed to do so if she would procure the deliverance of the city into his power. She did so immediately, and Moses promptly married her.
(101){{Primary source claim|date=July 2008}} This marriage is also mentioned in Numbers 12:1. The account of this expedition is also mentioned by
Irenaeus,
(102) and the event would explain why
St. Stephen refers to Moses as "mighty in his words and in his deeds"
before Moses slayed the Egyptian.
(103)(104)Flavius Josephus also gives significantly detailed accounts of the aftermath of Baalam's blessings and the events that lead to the slaying of Zimri.
(105){{Primary source claim|date=July 2008}}
Date of the Exodus
There is considerable uncertainty as to what date the Bible implies for the Exodus taking place. Suggestions include:
- It may have occurred around the end of the Hyksos era (1648–1540 BCE), as mentioned above;(106)
- It may have occurred around 1400s BCE, since the Amarna letters, written ca. forty years later to Pharaohs Amenhotep III and Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) indicate that Canaan was being invaded by the "Habiru" — whom some scholars in the 1950s to 1970s interpret to mean "Hebrews". However, the Hebrew patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are also recorded as having conducted military activities in Canaan some centuries before the Exodus. Note also that "forty years" is a common expression in the Old Testament for "a long period of time", and that many scholars today view the Habiru as members of a social underclass of people present throughout the Ancient Near East at this time, rather than a tribal group confined to Egypt.{{fact|date=July 2008}}
- It may have occurred during the 13th century BCE, as the pharaoh of that time, Ramesses II, is commonly considered to be the pharaoh with whom Moses squabbled — either as the 'Pharaoh of the Exodus' himself, or the preceding 'Pharaoh of the Oppression', who is said to have commissioned the Hebrews to "(build) for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses." These cities are known to have been built under both Seti I and Rameses II, thus possibly making his successor Merneptah the 'Pharaoh of the Exodus.' This is considered plausible by those who view the famous claim of the Year 5 Merneptah Stele (ca. 1208 BCE) that "Israel is wasted, bare of seed," as propaganda to cover up this king's own loss of an army in the Red Sea. Taken at face value, however, the primary intent of the stela was clearly to commemorate Merneptah's victory over the Libyans and their Sea People allies. The reference to Canaan occurs only in the final lines of the document where Israel is mentioned after the city states of Ashkelon, Gezer and Yanoam perhaps to signal Merneptah's disdain or contempt for this new entity. In Exodus, the Pharaoh of the Exodus did not cross into Canaan since his Army was destroyed at the Red Sea. Hence, the traditional view that Ramesses II was the Pharaoh of either the Oppression or the Exodus is affirmed by the basic contents of the Merneptah Stele. Under this scenario, the Israelites would have been a nation without a state of their own who existed on the fringes of Canaan in Year 5 of Merneptah. This is suggested by the determinative sign written in the stela for Israel — "a throw stick plus a man and a woman over the three vertical plural lines" — which was "typically used by the Egyptians to signify nomadic groups or peoples without a fixed city-state,"(107) such as the Hebrew's previous life in Goshen.
- An unverified theory places the birth and/or adoption of Moses during a minor oppression in the reign of Amenhotep III, which was soon lifted, and claims that the more well-known oppression occurred during the reign of Horemheb, followed by the Exodus itself during the reign of Ramesses I. This is supported by the Haggadah of Pesach, which suggests that they were oppressed and then re-oppressed quite a few years later by Pharaoh. The Bible and Haggada suggest that the Pharaoh of the Exodus died in year 2 of his reign, matching Ramses I. The fact that Pi-Tum and Raamses were built during the reign of Ramses I also supports this view. Seti I records that during his reign the Shasu warred with each other, which some see as a reference to the Midyan and Moab wars. Seti's campaigns with the Shasu have also been compared with Balaam's exploits.(108) However, many Egyptologists reject these comparisons as spurious.{{fact|date=July 2008}}
- A more recent and non-Biblical view places Moses as a noble in the court of the Pharaoh Akhenaten (See below). A significant number of scholars, from Sigmund Freud to Joseph Campbell, suggest that Moses may have fled Egypt after Akhenaten's death (ca. 1334 BCE) when many of the pharaoh's monotheistic reforms were being violently reversed. The principal ideas behind this theory are: the monotheistic religion of Akhenaten being a possible predecessor to Moses' monotheism, and the "Amarna letters", written by nobles to Akhenaten, which describe raiding bands of "Habiru" attacking the Egyptian territories in Mesopotamia.(109)
- David Rohl, a British historian and archaeologist, author of the book "A Test of Time", places the birth of Moses during the reign of Pharaoh Khaneferre Sobekhotep IV of the 13th Egyptian Dynasty, and the Exodus during the reign of Pharaoh Dudimose (accession to the throne around 1457–1444), when according to Manetho "a blast from God smote the Egyptians".(110)
Challenges to his historicity
- There is also the suggestion that Moses was not a real historical figure and that the Exodus did not occur at all. Some archaeologists have claimed that surveys of ancient settlements in Sinai do not appear to show a great influx of people around the time of the Exodus (given variously as between 1500–1200 BCE), as would be expected from the arrival of Joshua and the Israelites in Canaan. This suggests that the biblical Exodus may not be a literal depiction;(111). Archaeologists such as Israel Finkelstein, Ze'ev Herzog and William G. Dever, regard the Exodus as non-historical, at best containing a small germ of truth. According to Prof. Ze'ev Herzog, Director of the Institute of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University "This is what archaeologists have learned from their excavations in the Land of Israel: the Israelites were never in Egypt, did not wander in the desert, did not conquer the land in a military campaign and did not pass it on to the 12 tribes of Israel.... The many Egyptian documents that we have make no mention of the Israelites' presence in Egypt and are also silent about the events of the exodus. (112)
- In his book, The Bible Unearthed, Finkelstein points to the appearance of settlements in the central hill country around 1200, recognized by most archaeologists as the earliest settlements of the Israelites.(113) Using evidence from earlier periods, he shows a cyclical pattern to these highland settlements, corresponding to the state of the surrounding cultures. Finkelstein suggests that the local Canaanites would adapt their way of living from an agricultural lifestyle to a nomadic one and vice versa. When Egyptian rule collapsed after the invasion of the Sea Peoples, the central hill country could no longer sustain a large nomadic population, so they went from nomadism to sedentism.(114) Dever agrees with the Canaanite origin of the Israelites but allows for the possibility of a Semitic tribe coming from Egyptian servitude among the early hilltop settlers and that Moses or a Moses-like figure may have existed in Transjordan ca 1250-1200.(115)
- Biblical minimalists, such as Philip Davies, Niels Peter Lemche and Thomas L. Thompson, regard the Exodus as ahistorical. Hector Avalos, in "The End of Biblical Studies," states that the Exodus, as depicted in the Bible, is an idea that most biblical historians no longer support.(116)
In Freud's historical psychoanalysis
There is also a
psychoanalytical interpretation of Moses' life, put forward by
Sigmund Freud in his last book,
Moses and Monotheism, in 1937. Freud postulated that Moses was an Egyptian nobleman who adhered to the monotheism of
Akhenaten. Following a theory proposed by a contemporary biblical critic, Freud, a committed
atheist, believed that Moses was murdered in the wilderness, producing a collective sense of patricidal guilt that has been at the heart of Judaism ever since. "Judaism had been a religion of the father, Christianity became a religion of the son", he wrote. The possible Egyptian origin of Moses and of his message has received significant scholarly attention.
(117) Opponents of this view observe that the religion of the Torah seems different to
Atenism in everything except the central feature of devotion to a single god,
(118) although this has been countered by a variety of arguments, e.g. pointing out the similarities between the
Hymn to Aten and
Psalm 104.
(119)(120) Freud's interpretation of the historical Moses is not a prominent theory among
historians, and is considered
pseudohistory by most.{{Fact|date=January 2008}}
Criticism
According to the
Torah, Moses prescribed the death penalty for a huge range of offences, and for defeated enemies. As he is considered a holy figure, however, by
Jews,
Christians and
Muslims, most criticism of his life and teachings has been left to others.In the late eighteenth century, for example, the
deist Thomas Paine commented at length on Moses' Laws in
The Age of Reason, and gave his view that "the character of Moses, as stated in the Bible, is the most horrid that can be imagined".
(121) giving the story at {{bibleverse||Numbers|31:13-18}} as an example.In the nineteenth century the
agnostic Robert G. Ingersoll wrote " ...that all the ignorant, infamous, heartless, hideous things recorded in the 'inspired' Pentateuch are not the words of God, but simply 'Some Mistakes of Moses'".
(122)More recently the
atheist Richard Dawkins referring, like Paine, to the incident at {{bibleverse||Numbers|31:13-18}}, concluded drily "No, Moses was not a great role model for modern moralists.
(123)Depictions
missing image!
- Moses bas-relief in the U.S. House of Representatives chamber.jpg -
Bas-relief of Moses in the U.S. House of Representatives chamber.
Moses is depicted in several U.S. government buildings because of his legacy as a lawgiver. Moses is one of the 23 lawgivers depicted in
marble bas-reliefs in the
chamber of the
U.S. House of Representatives in the
United States Capitol.
(124) An image of Moses holding two tablets written in Hebrew representing the Ten Commandments (and a partially visible list of commandments six through ten, the more "secular" commandments, behind his beard) is depicted on the
frieze on the south wall of the
U.S. Supreme Court building.
(125)missing image!
- MichaelangeloMoses20020315.jpg -
Moses with horns, by Michelangelo
missing image!
- Germany Bad-Urach Moses-Font.jpg -
Moses on 1518 baptismal font by Christoph von Urach
Horned Moses
{{bibleverse||Exodus|34:29-35|HE}} tells that after meeting with God the skin of Moses' face became radiant, frightening the Israelites and leading Moses to wear a veil.
Jonathan Kirsch, in his book
Moses: A Life, thought that, since he subsequently had to wear a veil to hide it, Moses' face was disfigured by a sort of "divine radiation burn".This passage has led to one longstanding tradition that Moses grew
horns. This is derived from a misinterpretation of the Hebrew phrase
{{transl|sem|karan `ohr panav}} (). The
root {{transl|sem|Q-R-N}} (
qoph,
resh,
nun) may be read as either "horn" or "ray
of light", depending on vocalization.
{{transl|sem|`Ohr panahv}} () translates to "the skin of his face".
(126)Interpreted correctly, these two words form an expression meaning that Moses was enlightened, that "the skin of his face shone" (as with a
gloriole), as the
KJV has it.
The
Septuagint properly translates the Hebrew phrase as , "his face was glorified"; but
Jerome translated the phrase into
Latin as
cornuta esset facies sua "his face was horned".
With apparent Biblical authority, and the added convenience of giving Moses a unique and easily identifiable visual
attribute (something the other Old Testament prophets notably lacked), it remained standard in Western art to depict Moses with small horns until well after the mistranslation was realized by the
Renaissance.
Michelangelo's Moses, is probably the best-known example.Not all the Renaissance Italian painters gave horns to Moses. The Venetian artist Tintoretto depicts Moses' face as radiating light, in his series about the life of the prophet in the
San Rocco, Venice.Popular artist renditions of saints include radiant light behind the head,
halo, or over the crown of the head. Other traditions outside of religion include an
aura to show an element of the supernatural, or possible energy field of the body.
Portrayals in popular culture
Dramatic portrayals
Parodies
See also
- Moses in rabbinic literature
- Torah
- The Exodus
- Aaron
- Joshua
- List of Biblical names
- List of founders of religious traditions
- Prophets of Islam
- Passage of the Red Sea
- Ipuwer Papyrus
- Seventh of Adar
- Mosaic authorship
- Table of prophets of Abrahamic religions
- (:Category:Moses)
- Articles on Biblical books involving Moses: Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
- Articles on Weekly Torah portions involving Moses: Va'eira, Bo, Beshalach, Yitro, Mishpatim, Terumah, Tetzaveh, Ki Tisa, Vayakhel, Pekudei, Tzav, Shemini, Tazria, Metzora, Acharei, Kedoshim, Emor, Behar, Bechukotai, Book of Numbers, Naso, Behaalotecha, Shlach, Korach, Chukat, Balak, Phinehas, Matot, Masei, Deuteronomy, Va'etchanan, Eikev, Re'eh, Shoftim, Ki Teitzei, Ki Tavo, Nitzavim, Vayelech, Haazinu, V'Zot HaBerachah
Notes
-
[{{Bibleref|Deuteronomy|34:10|KJV}}]
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[ Islam,][QURAN, 19, 51, 51, ref, ]
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[WEB,weblink Baha'u'llah on the Life of Jesus, 2008-08-11, Juan R.I. Cole, 7/10/98, ]
-
[ Rastafari,][ Raëlism,][BOOK, Rael, Claude Vorilhon, Intelligent Design: Message from the Designers, 2005, Nova Distribution, English, 2-940252-20-3, 114, ]
-
[BOOK, Rael, Claude Vorilhon, Intelligent Design: Message from the Designers, 2005, Nova Distribution, English, 2-940252-20-3, 312, ]
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[BOOK, Rael, Claude Vorilhon, Intelligent Design: Message from the Designers, 2005, Nova Distribution, English, 2-940252-20-3, 324, ]
-
[ and many other faiths.According to the book of Exodus, Moses was born to a Hebrew mother, Jochebed, who hid him when a Pharaoh (Feraun, as mentioned in the Qu'ran), ordered all newborn Hebrew boys to be killed, and he ended up being adopted into the Egyptian royal family. After killing an Egyptian slave-master, Moses fled and became a shepherd, and was later commanded by God/ Allah to deliver the Hebrews from slavery. After the Ten Plagues were unleashed on Egypt, he led the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, where they wandered in the desert for 40 years, during which time, according to the Bible, Moses received the Ten Commandments. Despite living to 120, Moses died before reaching the Land of Israel. According to the Torah, Moses was denied entrance to that destination because he himself disobeyed God's instructions about how to retrieve water from a stone.According to the Qu'ran the reason for the wandering in the desert was the disobedience of his Israelite followers during the Exodus. In Islamic perspective, Moses [Hazrat Musa (A.)] and the obedient Israelites weren't punished, but got rewards for their patience during the wandering years. ][QURAN, 5, 26, 51, ref, ]
-
[BOOK, Teaching Torah: A Treasury of Insights and Activities, Leob, Sorel Goldburg et al, Sorel Goldburgh Leob, 1990, Behrman House, Inc, ]
-
[BOOK, Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Easton, Matthew George, Matthew George Easton, 1897, T. Nelson, London ; New York, "Moses", ]
-
[{{bibleverse||Genesis|46||HE}}]
-
[Talmud, in b.Sotah 12b]
-
[see Reference Halley's Bible Handbook]
-
[WEB,weblink Biblical data on Moses, ]
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[{{CathEncy|title=Moses|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10596a.htm}}]
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[QURAN, 28, 7, ref, ]
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[WEB,weblink Antiquities of the Jews, Book II, Chapter 8, Paragraph 5, ]
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[WEB,weblink Antiquities of the Jews, Book II, Chapter 8, Paragraph 7, ]
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[WEB,weblink BBC: Moses' Beginnings, ]
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[WEB,weblink Akkad and Sargon the Great, ]
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[ Cline, Eric H. (2007), From Eden to Exile: Unravelling Mysteries of the Bible, National Geographic Society, ISBN 978-1426200847 p.71]
-
[WEB,weblink Meaning, origin and etymology of the name Moses, ]
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[WEB,weblink Moses' Egyptian Name, ]
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[Midrash Rabbah, Ki Thissa, XL. 3-3, Lehrman, P.463]
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[Yalkut Shimoni, Shemot 166 to Chrinicles I 4:18, 24:6; also see Vayikra Rabbah 1:3; Chasidah p.345]
-
[Rashi to Bava Batra 15s, Chasidah p.345]
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[Bava Batra 15a on Deuteronomy 33:21, Chasidah p.345]
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[Rashi to Berachot 54a), Chasidah p.345]
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[Shemot Rabbah 1:26, Chasidah p.345]
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[WEB, Moses' Egyptian Name, ]
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[Keeler (2006) p.55]
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[WEB,weblink Moses' Egyptian Name, ]
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[ storyweblink]
-
[Flavius Josephus does not mention this incident in his account, so it is uncertain as to its chronological relationship to Moses' expedition against the Ethiopians.]
-
[WEB,weblink Antiquities of the Jews, Book II, Chapter 12, Paragraph 1, ]
-
[Mukarram Ahmed (2005), p.100]
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[A region just East of the gulf of Aqaba]
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[WEB,weblink Antiquities of the Jews, Book II, Chapter 11, Paragraph 2, ]
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[No further mention is made of Moses' first wife Tharbis in either Exodus or Flavius Josephus except in the case where Aaron and Miriam taunted Moses about it.]
-
[WEB,weblink Exodus 2:16–22, ]
-
Egypt: the Plagues and the Exodus
missing image!
- SyriacBibleParisFolio8rrMosesBeforePharaoh.jpg -
Moses before the Pharaoh, a 6th century miniature from the Syriac Bible of Paris.
God commissioned Moses to go to Egypt and deliver his fellow Hebrews from bondage. God had Moses practice transforming his rod into a serpent and inflicting and healing leprosy, and told him that he could also pour river water on dry land to change the water to blood.[WEB,weblink Exodus 4:2–9, ]
-
[Flavius Josephus mentions that Moses also practiced the pouring of the river water in Antiquities of the Jews, Book II, Chapter 12, Paragraph 3, but it appears that this might be a mistake on Josephus' part]
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[WEB, Mordechai Kamenetzky, Project Genesis: Parshas Shemos - Pushing the Envelope,weblink 16 July 2008, ]
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[QURAN, 79, 17, 19, ref, ]
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[QURAN, 20, 47, 48, ref, ]
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[WEB,weblink Exodus 4:20–31, ]
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[WEB, Mordechai Kamenetzky, Project Genesis: Parshas Shemos - Balance of Power,weblink 16 July 2008, ]
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[WEB,weblink Exodus 5:1–9, ]
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[WEB, Mordechai Kamenetzky, Project Genesis: Parshas Vaera - Guts and Glory,weblink 16 July 2008, ]
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[WEB,weblink Judaism 101: Pesach; Passover, ]
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[weblink]
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[WEB,weblink Exodus 15:23–25, ]
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[WEB, Chaim Dovid Green, Project Genesis: Parshas B'Shalach - Rough Beginnings,weblink 16 July 2008, ]
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[WEB,weblink Ex. 16, ]
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[WEB, Eliyahu Hoffmann, Project Genesis: Parshas Beshalach - Man or Mon?,weblink 16 July 2008, ]
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[WEB,weblink Ex. 17:1–7, ]
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[WEB, Pinchas Avruch, Project Genesis: Parshas Beshalach - Never Forget,weblink 16 July 2008, ]
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[WEB,weblink Ex. 17:8–13, ]
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[WEB, Dovid Rosenfeld, Project Genesis: Pirkei Avos – Exhilarating Fear,weblink 16 July 2008, ]
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[WEB,weblink Ex. 18, ]
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[WEB,weblink Exodus 32, ]
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[WEB, Mordechai Kamenetzky, Project Genesis: Parshas Ki Sisa - Masked Emotions,weblink 16 July 2008, ]
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[WEB,weblink The Tabernacle of Israel; Court, ]
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[WEB,weblink Numbers 12:1–15, ]
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[WEB,weblink Numbers 12:16, ]
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[WEB,weblink Numbers 13–14, ]
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[QURAN, 5, 20, ref, ]
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[WEB,weblink Numbers 16, ]
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[WEB,weblink Numbers 17:1–8, ]
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[WEB,weblink Num. 20:1–13, ]
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[WEB,weblink Num. 21:4–9, ]
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[WEB,weblink 2 Kings 18:1–4, ]
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[BOOK, Tromp, Johnannes, The Assumption of Moses: A Critical Edition with Commentary, Brill, 1993, ]
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[WEB,weblink The Story of Balaam, ]
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[WEB,weblink Antiquities of the Jews, Book IV, Chapter VI, Paragraph 6, ]
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[Deuteronomy 23:3–6 summarises these incidents, and further states that the Ammonites were associated with the Moabites. Joshua, in his farewell speech, also makes reference to it. Nehemiah, Micah, and Joshua continue in the historical account of Balaam, who next advises the Midianites how to bring disaster on the Israelites by seducing the people with idols and beautiful women, which proves partly successful.]
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[WEB,weblink Num. 25:1–13, ]
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[WEB,weblink Num. 31:17-18, ]
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[WEB,weblink Num. 31:8, ]
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[WEB,weblink Num. 27:15–23, ]
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[{{Bibleverse|Deuteronomy|34|7}}]
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[Talmud Bavli Megillah 13b; Kiddushin 38a; Sotah 12b]
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[WEB,weblink Death of Moses, ]
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[Eusebius, Præparatio Evangelica ix. 26]
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[Eusebius, l.c. ix. 27]
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[WEB,weblink Judaism 101: Moses, Aaron and Miriam, ]
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[WEB,weblink Religious views of Moses, ]
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Mormonism
Members of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also called Mormons) generally view Moses in the same way that other Christians do. However, in addition to accepting the Biblical account of Moses, Mormons include the Book of Moses as part of their scriptural canon.[WEB,weblink About Mormons, ]
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[WEB,weblink The Book of Moses, ]
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[the Doctrine and Covenants 110:11]
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