Moses

For other uses, see Moses (disambiguation).

Prophet
Moses
מֹשֶׁה
Moses Breaking the Tablets of the Law by Rembrandt, 1659
Born
Goshen, Lower Egypt, Ancient Egypt
Died
Mount Nebo, Moab, Transjordan
NationalityIsraelite
Egyptian
Known forMosaic covenant and law under the Torah
Important prophet in Abrahamic religions: including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Baháʼí Faith, Druze Faith, Rastafari, and Samaritanism
Spouse(s)Zipporah, unnamed Cushite woman[1]
Children
Parents
Relatives

In Abrahamic religions, Moses[a] was a prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the Exodus.[b] He is considered the most important prophet in Judaism and Samaritanism, and one of the most important prophets in Christianity, Islam, the Baháʼí Faith, and other Abrahamic religions. According to both the Bible and the Quran, God dictated the Mosaic Law to Moses, which he wrote down in the five books of the Torah.

According to the Book of Exodus, Moses was born in a time when his people, the Israelites, an enslaved minority, were increasing in population and, as a result, the Egyptian Pharaoh worried that they might ally themselves with Egypt's enemies. Moses' Hebrew mother, Jochebed, secretly hid him when Pharaoh ordered all newborn Hebrew boys to be killed in order to reduce the population of the Israelites. Through Pharaoh's daughter, the child was adopted as a foundling from the Nile and grew up with the Egyptian royal family. After killing an Egyptian slave-master who was beating a Hebrew, Moses fled across the Red Sea to Midian, where he encountered the Angel of the Lord, speaking to him from within a burning bush on Mount Horeb.

God sent Moses back to Egypt to demand the release of the Israelites from slavery. Moses said that he could not speak eloquently,[6] so God allowed Aaron, his elder brother,[7] to become his spokesperson. After the Ten Plagues, Moses led the Exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt and across the Red Sea, after which they based themselves at Mount Sinai, where Moses received the Ten Commandments. After 40 years of wandering in the desert, Moses died on Mount Nebo at the age of 120, within sight of the Promised Land.[8]

The majority of scholars see the biblical Moses as a legendary figure, while retaining the possibility that Moses or a Moses-like figure existed in the 13th century BCE.[9][10][11][12][13] Rabbinical Judaism calculated a lifespan of Moses corresponding to 1391–1271 BCE;[14] Jerome suggested 1592 BCE,[15] and James Ussher suggested 1571 BCE as his birth year.[16][c] The Egyptian name "Moses" is mentioned in ancient Egyptian literature.[19][20] In the writing of Jewish historian Josephus, ancient Egyptian historian Manetho is quoted writing of a treasonous ancient Egyptian priest, Osarseph, who renamed himself Moses and led a successful coup against the presiding pharaoh, subsequently ruling Egypt for years until the pharaoh regained power and expelled Osarseph and his supporters.[21][22][23]

Moses has often been portrayed in Christian art and literature, for instance in Michelangelo's Moses and in works at a number of US government buildings. In the medieval and Renaissance period, he is frequently shown as having small horns, as the result of a mistranslation in the Latin Vulgate bible, which nevertheless at times could reflect Christian ambivalence or have overtly antisemitic connotations.

  1. ^ Filler, Elad. "Moses and the Kushite Woman: Classic Interpretations and Philo's Allegory". TheTorah.com. Retrieved 11 May 2019.
  2. ^ Beegle, Dewey M. "Moses". Britannica Online. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. ISSN 1085-9721. Retrieved 2024-11-23.
  3. ^ "Moses". The Oxford Dictionary of Islam (1 ed.). Oxford University Press. 2003-01-01. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195125580.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-512558-0.
  4. ^ Abrahams, Israel (2007). "Moses". In Berenbaum, Michael; Skolnik, Fred (eds.). Encyclopaedia Judaica. Vol. 14 (2nd ed.). Detroit: Macmillan Reference. p. 522. ISBN 978-0-02-866097-4.
  5. ^ Hayes, John H. (1993). "Moses". In Metzger, Bruce M.; Coogan, Michael D. (eds.). The Oxford Companion to the Bible. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195046458.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-504645-8. Retrieved 2024-11-23.
  6. ^ Exodus 4:10
  7. ^ Exodus 7:7
  8. ^ Kugler, Gili (December 2018). Shepherd, David; Tiemeyer, Lena-Sofia (eds.). "Moses died and the people moved on: A hidden narrative in Deuteronomy". Journal for the Study of the Old Testament. 43 (2). SAGE Publications: 191–204. doi:10.1177/0309089217711030. ISSN 1476-6728. S2CID 171688935.
  9. ^ Nigosian, S.A. (1993). "Moses as They Saw Him". Vetus Testamentum. 43 (3): 339–350. doi:10.1163/156853393X00160. ISSN 0042-4935. Three views, based on source analysis or historical-critical method, seem to prevail among biblical scholars. First, a number of scholars, such as Meyer and Holscher, aim to deprive Moses all the prerogatives attributed to him by denying anything historical value about his person or the role he played in Israelite religion. Second, other scholars,.... diametrically oppose the first view and strive to anchor Moses the decisive role he played in Israelite religion in a firm setting. And third, those who take the middle position... delineate the solidly historical identification of Moses from the superstructure of later legendary accretions….Needless to say, these issues are hotly debated unresolved matters among scholars. Thus, the attempt to separate the historical from unhistorical elements in the Torah has yielded few, if any, positive results regarding the figure of Moses or the role he played on Israelite religion. No wonder J. Van Seters concluded that "the quest for the historical Moses is a futile exercise. He now belongs only to legend
  10. ^ Dever, William G. (2001). What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It?: What Archeology Can Tell Us About the Reality of Ancient Israel. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-8028-2126-3. A Moses-like figure may have existed somewhere in southern Transjordan in the mid-late 13th century s.c., where many scholars think the biblical traditions concerning the god Yahweh arose.
  11. ^ Beegle, Dewey (5 July 2023). "Moses". Encyclopædia Britannica.
  12. ^ "Moses". Oxford Biblical Studies Online.
  13. ^ Miller II, Robert D. (25 November 2013). Illuminating Moses: A History of Reception from Exodus to the Renaissance. BRILL. pp. 21, 24. ISBN 978-90-04-25854-9. Van Seters concluded, 'The quest for the historical Moses is a futile exercise. He now belongs only to legend.' ... "None of this means that there is not a historical Moses and that the tales do not include historical information. But in the Pentateuch, history has become memorial. Memorial revises history, reifies memory, and makes myth out of history.
  14. ^ Seder Olam Rabbah[full citation needed]
  15. ^ Jerome's Chronicon (4th century) gives 1592 for the birth of Moses
  16. ^ The 17th-century Ussher chronology calculates 1571 BCE (Annals of the World, 1658 paragraph 164)
  17. ^ St Augustine. The City of God. Book XVIII. Chapter 8 - Who Were Kings When Moses Was Born, And What Gods Began To Be Worshipped Then.
  18. ^ Hoeh, Herman L (1967), Compendium of World History (dissertation), vol. 1, The Faculty of the Ambassador College, Graduate School of Theology, 1962.
  19. ^ "Let's Hear It From The Pharaohs: The Egyptian Story of Moses". Museum of the Jewish People. April 7, 2020. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
  20. ^ Cite error: The named reference Knohl was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  21. ^ Gruen, Erich S. (1998). "The Use and Abuse of the Exodus Story". Jewish History. 12 (1). Springer: 93–122. doi:10.1007/BF02335457. ISSN 0334-701X. JSTOR 20101326. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
  22. ^ Feldman, Louis H. (1998). "Responses: Did Jews Reshape the Tale of the Exodus?". Jewish History. 12 (1). Springer: 123–127. doi:10.1007/BF02335458. ISSN 0334-701X. JSTOR 20101327. Retrieved June 8, 2024.
  23. ^ "MOSES IS CURED OF LEPROSY". Jewish Bible Quarterly. September 12, 2016. Retrieved June 8, 2024.


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