Paper on Moses for Bible class

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Emily VanLangen
Professor Eggebrecht
The Bible
September 19, 2010
Moses
Moses is one of the Bible’s most well known characters and leaders. His story in
the Bible’s Old Testament starts in the book of Exodus and ends in the book of
Deuteronomy, otherwise known as the Torah1. These books cover many significant
stories from the life of Moses, starting with his birth and ending with his death. The
events in between include a call from God, a departure from Egypt, a giving of the Law,
and many others. Known as a prophet, Moses “was the emancipator of Israel; he created
Israel’s nationhood and founded its religion”2. Moses was not an authoritarian and
valorous individual, but instead, a “largely passive, even reactive figure who is clearly
subservient to the primary actor in the story, God”3. A proper understanding of his life is
best observed by looking at four life choices Moses was to make; each being an
examination of mentality where his actions molded not just his destiny, but also the
constitution of the people he is meant to lead, the Israelites4.
The story of baby Moses begins in Egypt, where he was born to a Levite woman5.
During this time, the leader of Egypt, the Pharaoh, claimed there to be too many Israelites
in his kingdom. His solution consisted of forced labor put upon them in order to oppress
them, however, it turned out that the more the people were persecuted, the more they
seemed to grow in numbers6. The second solution the pharaoh came up with was more

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permanent; he demanded that every Hebrew boy born must be thrown into the Nile River.
The mother of Moses kept him hidden in her presence for three months until finally she
decided to lay him in a basket and place it in the reeds of the Nile River, while his sister
kept an eye on him7. Soon afterward, the daughter of the pharaoh went down to the
riverbank to bathe, only to be halted by the sight of the basket where baby Moses lay
inside. Once she say opened the basket and saw him crying, she felt sorry for him and
concluded he must be a Hebrew child. Moses’ sister confronted the pharaoh’s daughter
and asked if she should find a Hebrew woman to take care of the baby for her; the
daughter was thrilled and replied that she should8. The sister fetched Moses’ mother, who
the princess told she would pay to take care of the baby and after many years and the
growing of Moses into a young boy, his mother returned him to the daughter of the
pharaoh who then adopted him to be his own son9. This was the moment when Moses
received his actual name from the princess, who explained because she “lifted him out of
the water”10. It is said to be highly doubtful that the pharaoh’s daughter spoke Hebrew;
Moses’ name most likely comes from the Egyptian suffix to mean, “born of”11. His first
of four life decisions came from the early years in his adulthood, a couple of decades
after this very rescue.
Once the pharaoh’s daughter adapted Moses, he spent his days growing up and
living at the pharaoh’s court. One day, Moses visited some Hebrews in town and saw
how hard they were forced to work by the pharaoh and he was appalled when he noticed
an Egyptian beating one of his own kind, a Hebrew12. This is when Moses was stuck in a
predicament and pondered whether to continue living his life of luxury and not do

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anything, or to engage in helping these suffering people that he narrowly knew. Moses
was so furious that he checked to make sure nobody was looking, and then killed the
Egyptian himself and buried his body in the sand13. However, there ended up being
somebody around to see this happen because the pharaoh was aware of it and tried to kill
Moses. Fortunately for Moses, he was able to flee the kingdom and escaped to Midian14.
It was here in this area where Moses married Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro, a
Midianite priest15. Together they had a son, naming him Gershom, which the Bible
explains as meaning “I have been a stranger in a foreign land”16. Some wordplay from the
Hebrews proposes the idea that this name came because Moses still felt divided from his
homeland, after living in exile for many years17. What happened next, however, helped
Moses to reconnect back to homeland.
One day while Moses was out supervising his flock of sheep under his new family
name, he noticed a bush on fire in the field that would not burn. As he went to take a
closer look, he heard the voice of God calling his name who asked him to help liberate
the Israeli people from Egypt and take them to a “good and spacious land, a land flowing
with milk and honey”18. This is when Moses is presented with his second life dispute,
similar to that of his first. He opted to either stay in Midian and keep on savoring the life
he has assembled with his new family or to listen to the voice with no face and discharge
a group of people who have been dominated in Egypt for countless years. Moses
hesitated and did not feel confident because of “the tremendous responsibility of his task,
his innate humility, and his own feeling of unworthiness”19. However, God assured him

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that he should receive help from his brother Aaron20. Together, these two brothers acted
as representatives to the people of Israel.
Moses and Aaron returned to Egypt and confronted the pharaoh, requesting to let
the Hebrew people go because God has called for them to be set free. The pharaoh
restrained from letting the people go and because of his refusal, the Lord puts upon ten
different plagues to the Egyptian people21. The first nine plagues consisted of: the river
being turned to blood, a mass of frogs, gnats, and flies, all livestock being killed, boils
festered on all people and animals, a hail storm, a swarm of locusts, and a deep darkness
across the land22. After all of these plagues, the pharaoh still did not allow the Israel
people to be set free. God then put the tenth plague in action, a plague of ultimate terror;
“I will go forth among the Egyptians, and every first-born in the land of Egypt shall die,
from the first-born of Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the first-born of the slave girl
who is behind the millstone”23. God told Moses that the only way for the people to avoid
this plague would be to kill a lamb and spread its blood on their front doors and eat its
flesh that night24. He told Moses that this is a “passover offering to the Lord,” meaning
that if he saw the blood on their door, he would pass over them and they would not
experience the plague25. Moses spread this word to the people of the kingdom, even the
pharaoh. The pharaoh did not listen and in the morning he found his first-born dead. This
was the last straw for the pharaoh, and he finally allowed Moses to take the Hebrew
people out of Egypt.
Moses, along with the help of Aaron, led more than six hundred thousand Israeli
people out of Egypt26. Shortly after they had left, the pharaoh changed his mind about

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letting the Hebrew go because he lost all of his services without them. He and his army
took off in search of the people and caught up with them at the Red Sea27. The Israelites
became terrified and turned to Moses, who reassured them to not be afraid because God
would fight for them. Moses stretched his hands over the sea and the waters became split,
creating a dry path between two walls of water. He led his freed people through this path,
with the Egyptians following behind them. Once all of the Hebrews were safely across
onto real land, God instructed Moses to wave his hands across the sea again. As Moses
did this, the walls of water closed into one mass of sea, crushing the pharaoh and his
army to their deaths28. From the Red Sea, Moses led his people to Mount Sinai, where
God then led Moses to the top by himself in order to hear his instructions29. God
appeared through a display of thunder and lightning and Moses returned to the bottom of
the mountain with the Ten Commandments30. The Ten Commandments “emphasize
prohibitions, saying more about what one should not do than about what one should
do”31. However, when Moses returned to his people with these laws, he found that they
had created their own Egyptian god, a golden calf, as a replacement32. God became
furious and told Moses that he would demolish the people and make Moses his own
nation. It is at this moment where Moses is irritated by yet another consequential choice;
should he rule a new group of people made in his depiction, or should he carry on with
the people in God’s reflection? Moses decided to stick with the Israelites, who are then
inspired and agree to the settings of the Commandments33. It is from here that Moses
continued to lead his people to the Promise Land to live freely.

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Upon arrival of the Promise Land, the Lord told Moses to send some men to
“scout the land of Canaan”34. The men returned after forty days and informed Moses that
the land is filled with milk and honey; however, it is empowered by sturdy people35. Of
the twelve men who went to Canaan, only two, Caleb and Joshua, believed that the land
could be captured36. The rest of the Israeli people became very angry and wanted to head
back to Egypt. God became enraged and forbade the people to enter the Promise Land for
the next forty years37. Soon after, in an act of disobeying God to properly give his thirsty
people water, the Lord told Moses “you did not trust me enough to affirm my sanctity in
the sight of the Israelite people, therefore you shall not lead this congregation into the
land that I have given to them”; not allowing him to enter the Promise Land at all38. This
is where Moses is confronted with his final decision that moreover defines his life; he
choose between standing up to God or accepting his punishment. Moses thought of his
people and their future over himself and spent “the remainder of his days teaching the
people what they must know”39. The death of Moses took place after he climbed Mount
Nebo and the Lord exclaimed to him that he allowed Moses to see the Promised Land
with his eyes, but he would not be allowed to cross onto it40. Moses died in the land of
Moab, living to be 120 years old, where the Lord buried him himself, but an exact burial
ground is unknown today41.
Moses helped to shape the Israeli people into a freed nation. He faced many
challenges, leading “the horde of former slaves” to “set them apart for a divine purpose
and consecrated them to the highest ethical and moral laws”42. The stories of Moses’ life
are often well known by many people across the world, however, what most people may

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not know is how each story came from an important decision before it. A dictionary
definition of leader says “one who shows the way,” but Moses was more than just that43.
He was a rescuer, a friend, and a selfless man whose life should be remembered by the
great accomplishments he made and the even greater feats that he broke.

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Endnotes
1 Feiler, Bruce. America’s Prophet: Moses and the American Story. New York, New
York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2009.
2 http://www.bookrags.com/biography/moses/. Book Rags. September 18th, 2010.
3 Feiler 13
4 Feiler 14
5 One Hundred Bible Stories. St Louis, Missouri: Concordia Publishing House, 1998.
6 One Hundred Bible Stories 50
7 Holy Bible. Carol Steam, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2007.
8 Holy Bible 35
9 Holy Bible 35
10 Holy Bible 35
11 Feiler 14
12 Book Rags n.pag.
13 Holy Bible 36
14 http://mb-soft.com/believe/txo/moses.htm. Believe: Religious Information
Source web-site. September 18th, 2010.
15 Book Rags n.pag.
16 Feiler 14
17 Feiler 14
18 Feiler 15
19 Book Rags n.pag.
20 Book Rags n.pag.

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21 Believe n.pag.
22 Holy Bible 38-40
23 Feiler 15
24 Holy Bible 41
25 Feiler 16
26 Believe n.pag.
27 One Hundred Bible Stories 56
28 One Hundred Bible Stories 56
29 Believe n.pag.
30 Believe n.pag.
31 Noble, Thomas. Western Civilization. Boston, Massachusetts: Wadsworth Cengage
Learning, 2011.
32 Feiler 17
33 Book Rags n.pag.
34 Feiler 17
35 Feiler 17
36 Feiler 17
37 One Hundred Bible Stories 62
38 Feiler 18
39 Feiler 18
40 One Hundred Bible Stories 64
41 Holy Bible 129

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42 Book Rags n.pag.
43 "le a d e r. " We b s t e r ' s C o n c i s e E n g l i s h D i c t i o n a r y . C a na d a :
G e d d e s & G r o s s e t , 2 0 0 5 . P r int .