Who was Moses ?

Or, more accurately, he was a musical collaborator. After the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea on dry land, the waters closed up, drowning the mighty Egyptian army. To celebrate their deliverance, God composed a song and instructed Moses to write it down and teach it to the congregation. It became known as “The Song of Moses”

God sent Moses back to Egypt to demand the release of the Israelites from slavery. Moses said that he couldn’t speak eloquently, so God allowed Aaron, his brother, to become his spokesperson.

Along with brother Aaron, nephews Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel, Moses saw God on Mt. Sinai. “Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself. But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank”

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 within sight of the Promised Land on Mount Nebo.

God recognized him in the canon of Scripture as “a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth”

Scholarly consensus sees Moses as a legendary figure and not a historical person.

His long and varied life can be divided into three parts, each 40 years long. The first as the son of an Egyptian pharaoh, the second as a shepherd, and the third as the esteemed leader of Israel. At the time of his death, he still had perfect eyesight and incredible strength

Rabbinic Judaism calculated a lifespan of Moses corresponding to 1391 to 1271 BCE; Jerome gives 1592 BCE, and James Ussher 1571 BCE as his birth year.

This collection of facts about Moses is like a grain of sand in the desert of Sinai. It’s no wonder the movie that brought Moses to life for millions, The Ten Commandments, became Cecile B. DeMille’s most successful work.

Moses was the first abandoned child mentioned in the Bible. Moses’ parents hid him for three months to protect him from the Egyptian edict that said all male Hebrew babies must be killed.

The Pharaoh’s daughter paid Moses’ mother to nurse him after she rescued him from the Nile River.

We know from Scripture that Moses lived to be 120 years old, but it wasn’t until he was 80 years old that God called him to lead His people out of Egypt. When Moses was 80 years old, God told him to return to Egypt and He would free the Israelites from slavery. God gave Moses specific directions on what to say and do. Moses was also told ahead of time that Pharaoh would not let the people go first, but finally after 10 plagues fell on the Egyptians, Pharaoh sent for Moses and told him to take the Israelites out of Egypt.

Moses was the baby of the family. He had an older sister named Miriam and an older brother named Aaron.

Moses is believed to have had leprosy, at least briefly. We can see the instance referred to in Exodus’ fourth chapter. Moses objects when God tells him to return to Egypt and confront Pharaoh. God has Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he pulls it out again, “his hand was covered with scales, like snowflakes.” When Moses again puts his hand in his cloak, it comes out clean (Exodus 4:6-7). What exactly Moses did wrong has been debated by scholars. Biblical leprosy is described in Leviticus 13 as a progressive disease that causes scabs, crusts and white patches on the skin, turns hair white and causes bald spots.

Moses worked as a shepherd while “on the lam.” When Moses ran from the murder charge, he fled to the desert of Midian where he met Zipporah, the daughter of a shepherd, and began working with her father, Jethro.

Moses most likely had a speech impediment. There are two points of interest in Exodus 4:10. The minor of the two comes at the beginning of the response in which Moses expresses his feelings of his calling of God. The major of the two comes at the end of his comment in expressing why he feels that he can’t accept his calling. The New Living Translation of the Bible records Moses’ response to God’s call in Exodus 4:10, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.”

Moses was 80 years old when he led the children of Israel out of Egypt. His first 40 years in Pharaoh’s court had prepared him to lead, and his second 40 years had given him the knowledge of the desert through which he and the Israelites would travel.

Moses is believed to have sinned by not having faith in the Lord and disobeyed a direct command from Him. That is the reason he was not allowed to enter the Promised Land. God asked Moses to speak to the rock before his eyes and water would pour out which could be used by them and their livestock to drink, but Moses went ahead and hit the rock and water poured out. But the Lord said that as he didn’t show faith in Him and instead hit the rock so he must not bring this community to the land He has given them. His punishment for disobedience and pride was that he was barred from entering the Promised Land.

He was the original snake handler. Three times during his tenure as leader, he used snakes to demonstrate God’s power. The fist time God turned Moses’ rod into a snake, it scared him so much that he ran away.

Another interesting fact about Moses is that God buried him in a location which is hidden from everybody. The tombs of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’s are known but Moses’ tomb is still unknown. God had sent back Moses to Egypt to demand the release of Hebrews into the desert. God told him that the elders will listen to him and then he can take the elders with him to the King and ask him to release the Hebrews. He died in Midian at the age of 120. The Bible tells us he was healthy and unimpaired when he died.

He had leprosy. After demonstrating his power by turning Moses’ rod into a snake, God told Moses to place his hand in his cloak. When he withdrew it, his hand was covered in leprosy.

Before Moses died, he reminded the people of all the Lord had done for them. The whole book of Deuteronomy is a record of what was said. Moses read the Ten Commandments to them again. He then went up into the mountain, looked into the Promised Land and then died as God said.

Moses was a musical collaborator. After the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea on dry land, the waters closed up, drowning the might Egyptian army. To celebrate their deliverance, God composed a song and instructed Moses to write it down and teach it to the congregation. It became known as “The Song of Moses.”

He was extraordinarily humble. God recognized him in the canon of Scripture as, “a very humble man, more human than anyone else on the face of the Earth.”