Moses

Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt and guided them through the wilderness. He delivered God’s law to the people and commissioned Joshua before they entered the promised land. Exodus begins his story with the oppression of Israel in Egypt at the time of his birth.

A new king who did not know Joseph feared that the growing Israelite population might join Egypt’s enemies in war. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, imposed harsh labor. He ordered Hebrew midwives to kill newborn boys, but they feared God and kept them alive. He then commanded all his people to throw newborn boys into the river.

A couple from the house of Levi had a son. A later genealogy in Exodus names them Amram and Jochebed. The mother hid her child for three months. When she could no longer hide him, she coated a papyrus basket with tar and pitch, placed him inside, and left it among the reeds by the riverbank. His sister watched from a distance.

Pharaoh’s daughter found the basket when she came to bathe. She recognized the crying baby as a Hebrew child and had compassion on him. His sister offered to find a Hebrew nurse, and his own mother was given the work. When the child grew, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, who adopted him and named him Moses because she had drawn him out of the water.

As an adult, Moses went out to see his people’s burdens and saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew. After checking that no one was nearby, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. The next day he intervened in a fight between two Hebrews, but the man in the wrong mentioned the killing. Moses feared that the deed was known. When Pharaoh sought to kill him, he fled to Midian.

At a well in Midian, Moses saw shepherds drive away a priest’s seven daughters. He helped the women and watered their flock. After hearing their account, their father invited Moses into his home. Moses stayed, married Zipporah, and had a son named Gershom. He explained the name by saying that he had become a foreigner in a foreign land.

Many days passed and the king of Egypt died, but the Israelites still groaned and cried under their bondage. God heard them and remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Moses, tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, came to Horeb, God’s mountain.

Moses saw a bush burning without being consumed. As he approached, God called his name and told him to remove his sandals because the ground was holy. God had seen Israel’s suffering and would bring them out of Egypt to a good land. Moses was to go to Pharaoh and lead the people out.

Moses asked who he was to undertake the task. God promised to be with him. When Moses asked what name to give the people, God answered, “I AM WHO I AM.” He also told Moses to identify the one who sent him as the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Moses said that the people would not believe him, and God gave him signs. His staff became a snake and then a staff again; his hand turned white with disease and was restored. If the people would not believe those two signs, he was to pour river water onto dry ground, where it would become blood.

Moses said that he was not eloquent. God answered that he had made the human mouth and would teach Moses what to say. When Moses still asked for someone else to be sent, God became angry and appointed his brother Aaron as spokesman. Moses said goodbye to his father-in-law and returned to Egypt with his family.

After meeting at God’s mountain, Moses and Aaron gathered Israel’s elders. Aaron spoke the words God had given Moses and performed the signs before the people. Hearing that God had seen their suffering, the people believed and bowed in worship.

Moses and Aaron asked Pharaoh to release the people to hold a feast for God in the wilderness. Pharaoh said that he did not know the Lord and would not release Israel. Instead, he withheld straw for brickmaking while demanding the same quota. Israelite officers who were beaten blamed Moses and Aaron.

Moses asked God why he had been sent when the people’s oppression had only increased. God remembered his covenant with their ancestors and promised to rescue the people from bondage. But the Israelites did not listen to Moses because of their anguish and cruel labor.

As Pharaoh refused to release them, plagues struck Egypt. River water became blood; frogs, lice, and flies appeared. Livestock died, boils broke out, and hail, locusts, and darkness followed. Pharaoh sometimes promised to release the people but refused again when relief came. Exodus describes both Pharaoh hardening his own heart and God hardening it.

Before the final plague, God gave Moses and Aaron the Passover instructions. The people were to choose an unblemished year-old male from the sheep or goats, kill it, and mark the doorposts and lintel with its blood. They were to roast the meat and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. God would recognize the blood as a sign and pass over those houses.

That night, Egypt’s firstborn people and animals died, and a great cry arose. Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron by night and told them to leave with the people and their livestock. They carried their dough away before it rose. Driven out without time to delay, they baked unleavened bread.

Pharaoh later changed his mind and sent his army in pursuit. The Israelites, camped by the sea, saw the approaching force and were afraid. They complained to Moses, who told them to stand and see God’s deliverance. God directed the people to move forward and Moses to lift his staff and stretch his hand over the sea.

As Moses stretched out his hand, God drove the water back with a strong east wind through the night. The people crossed on dry ground, with water like walls on either side. The Egyptian army followed, but the water returned over its chariots and horsemen. Seeing the Egyptians dead on the shore, the Israelites feared God and believed in him and Moses.

Moses and the people sang praise to God. Miriam the prophetess took a tambourine, and the women followed her with tambourines and dancing. Later, at Marah, the water was too bitter to drink. Moses cried out to God, who showed him a tree. When he threw it into the water, it became sweet.

In the wilderness of Sin, the people complained about food. God gave them quail in the evening and food on the ground in the morning. When they asked what it was, Moses explained that it was the bread God had provided. They named it manna. At Rephidim, when there was no water, Moses struck a rock at God’s command, and water came out.

When Amalek attacked at Rephidim, Moses told Joshua to choose men and fight. Moses went up the hill with Aaron and Hur. When he raised his hand, Israel prevailed; when he lowered it, Amalek prevailed. Aaron and Hur seated the weary Moses on a stone and supported his hands until sunset. Joshua defeated Amalek.

Jethro saw Moses judging cases alone from morning to evening and advised him to share the work. He should choose able men who feared God, were truthful, and hated unjust gain, appointing them over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. Difficult cases would come to Moses; they would decide the easier ones. Jethro said that if God commanded this arrangement, Moses could endure the work. Moses listened and appointed leaders.

At Sinai, the people stood below the mountain, and Moses went up at God’s call. God commanded them to worship no other gods or idols, not to misuse his name, to keep the Sabbath, and to honor their parents. He also prohibited murder, adultery, theft, false testimony, and coveting. Frightened by the thunder, lightning, trumpet, and smoke, the people asked Moses to speak to them instead.

God instructed Moses to build the tabernacle, a sanctuary where he would dwell among the people. He explained the making of the ark and furnishings and the priestly service of Aaron and his sons. When he finished speaking, he gave Moses two inscribed stone tablets.

When Moses delayed returning, the people asked Aaron to make gods to lead them. Aaron collected gold earrings and made a calf. The people sacrificed, ate, drank, and rose to play. When God said he would consume the people, Moses pleaded for him to remember the promises to their ancestors. God turned away from the destruction he had announced.

Moses came down, saw the calf and dancing, and broke the tablets in anger. He burned the calf, ground it into powder, scattered it on water, and made the people drink it. At his command, the Levites took swords and went through the camp killing people. About three thousand died that day.

The next day, Moses pleaded for forgiveness and asked to be blotted from God’s book if the people could not be forgiven. God said that those who sinned would be blotted out and that their sin would be punished. Later, Moses cut two new tablets and returned to the mountain. When he came down, his face shone and the people feared to approach. After delivering God’s words, he covered his face with a veil.

After the tabernacle was set up, the people traveled when the cloud lifted and stayed when it did not. From Paran, Moses sent twelve leaders, one from each tribe, to explore Canaan. On their return, Caleb and Joshua urged the people not to rebel against God or fear the inhabitants. Other spies gave a bad report, and the people wept and proposed returning to Egypt.

God declared that those counted from twenty years old upward who had complained against him would die in the wilderness. None of them would enter the land except Caleb and Joshua. Their children would enter, but would first wander in the wilderness. The forty days spent exploring the land were counted as forty years, one year for each day.

At Kadesh, the people again lacked water and quarreled with Moses and Aaron. God told them to take the staff, gather the assembly, and speak to the rock to bring out water. Instead, Moses rebuked the people and struck it twice. Water poured out for the people and livestock. God said that Moses and Aaron had not believed in him or upheld his holiness and would not bring the assembly into the promised land.

On Mount Hor, Moses removed Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar at God’s command. Aaron died there, and Eleazar took up his priestly office. On the journey around Edom, the people complained against God and Moses; snakes bit them and many died. Moses prayed and, at God’s command, made a bronze serpent on a pole. Those bitten who looked at it lived.

Israel fought the forces of Sihon and Og, king of Bashan, and took their lands. In Moab, Moses explained the law and urged the people to remember their rescue from Egypt and their wilderness journey. Even when they had plenty to eat in the land, they must not forget God or follow other gods.

At God’s command, Moses brought Joshua before Eleazar and the assembly, laid his hands on him, and commissioned him. He told the people that Joshua would lead them across the Jordan. He urged Joshua to be strong and courageous because God would accompany him and would not forsake him.

Moses went up Mount Nebo to the top of Pisgah and saw the promised land. God showed him the land promised to their ancestors and descendants, but said that Moses would not cross into it. He died in Moab at one hundred twenty. Deuteronomy says that his eyes were not dim and his strength had not gone. He was buried in a valley opposite Beth Peor, but the book says that no one knew his grave. The people mourned for thirty days and listened to Joshua, on whom Moses had laid his hands.

Deuteronomy says that God knew Moses face to face and that no prophet like him had since arisen in Israel. The book ends his story by recalling the signs and mighty deeds he performed in Egypt and before all Israel.