Moses

About Moses

Moses is one of the most significant figures in biblical history, the great prophet and lawgiver through whom God delivered the Israelites from Egyptian slavery and gave them the Torah. He was born to Israelite parents from the tribe of Levi during a time when Pharaoh had ordered all Hebrew baby boys to be killed.

His mother, Jochebed, hid him for three months and then placed him in a papyrus basket among the reeds of the Nile River. Pharaoh’s daughter discovered the child, had compassion on him, and adopted him as her own son. In a remarkable turn of events, Moses’ own mother became his nurse. Moses was raised in Pharaoh’s palace and educated in all the wisdom of Egypt, enjoying the privileges of royal life.

When Moses was forty years old, he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave and killed the Egyptian, hiding the body in the sand. When his action became known, Moses fled to Midian. There he married Zipporah, the daughter of the priest Jethro, and spent forty years working as a shepherd.

At the age of eighty, while tending his father-in-law’s flock near Mount Horeb, Moses encountered God in a burning bush that was not consumed by the flames. God revealed His name as “I AM WHO I AM” and commissioned Moses to return to Egypt and demand the release of the Israelites. Though Moses protested his lack of eloquence and feelings of inadequacy, God appointed his brother Aaron to speak on his behalf and promised to be with them.

Moses returned to Egypt and, through Aaron, performed miraculous signs before Pharaoh. When Pharaoh refused to let the people go, God sent ten devastating plagues upon Egypt, culminating in the death of every firstborn son. The Israelites were spared by marking their doorposts with lamb’s blood, an event commemorated in the Passover.

After the final plague, Pharaoh released the Israelites but soon pursued them with his army. God parted the Red Sea, allowing the Israelites to cross on dry ground, and then brought the waters back to destroy the Egyptian forces. Moses led the people into the wilderness, where they would journey for forty years.

At Mount Sinai, Moses received the Ten Commandments and the Law directly from God, spending forty days and nights on the mountain. When he descended and found the people worshiping a golden calf, he smashed the tablets in anger and then interceded for the people when God threatened to destroy them. Moses later received a second set of tablets and oversaw the construction of the Tabernacle according to God’s instructions.

Throughout the wilderness journey, Moses repeatedly interceded for the rebellious people, enduring their complaints and challenges to his leadership. On one occasion, he struck a rock to bring forth water. Later, however, he dishonored God by striking the rock in anger instead of speaking to it as commanded, an act that cost him entry into the Promised Land.

Moses sent twelve spies into Canaan, but when ten returned with a fearful report, the people refused to enter the land. As a result, Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years until that generation had died.

Before his death, Moses appointed Joshua as his successor, blessed the twelve tribes, and climbed Mount Nebo to view the Promised Land from afar. He died there at the age of 120, and God Himself buried him in an unknown location. Moses is revered as the greatest of the prophets, one who spoke with God face to face and through whom God revealed His law and character to His people.