Moses (Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה, Standard Moshe Tiberian Mōšeh; Greek Mωυσής in both the Septuagint and the New Testament; Arabic: موسىٰ, Mūsa; Ge'ez: ሙሴ, Musse) was a 13th century BCE^[1] Biblical Hebrew religious leader, lawgiver, prophet, and military leader, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed. Tiberian Hebrew is an extinct (yet very well documented Oral tradition of pronunciation for ancient Hebrew, especially the Hebrew of the Tanakh, that was Koine Greek (Κοινὴ Ἑλληνική, "common Greek" or, ciˈni ðiˈale̞kto̞s "the common dialect" is the popular form of Greek which emerged in The Septuagint (ˈsɛptuədʒɪnt or simply " LXX " is the Koine Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, translated in stages between the Arabic (ar الْعَرَبيّة (informally ar عَرَبيْ) in terms of the number of speakers is the largest living member of the Semitic language Ge'ez (ግዕዝ, ɡɨʕɨz also transliterated Gi'iz, and referred to as Ethiopic) is an ancient South Semitic Language The term Hebrew Bible is a generic reference to those books of the Bible originally written in Biblical Hebrew (and the related Biblical Aramaic Hebrews (or Hebertes, Eberites, Hebreians, " Habiru " or " Habiri " Hebrew: עברים In Religion, a prophet (or prophetess) is a person who has encountered the Supernatural or the divine and serves as an intermediary Mosaic authorship is the traditional ascription to Moses of the authorship of the five books of the Torah or Pentateuch - Genesis, term " Torah " ( Hebrew: תּוֹרָה "teaching" or "instruction" sometimes translated as "Law" most commonly refers to He is also an important prophet in Judaism,^[2] Christianity,^[2] Islam,^[3] the Bahá'í Faith,^[3] Mormonism,^[2] Rastafari,^[2] Raëlism,^[4][5][6] Chrislam^[3][2] and many other faiths. Judaism (from the Greek Ioudaïsmos, derived from the Hebrew יהודה Yehudah, " Judah " in Hebrew יַהֲדוּת Yahedut Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings For other meanings including people named 'Islam' see Islam (disambiguation. The Bahá'í Faith is a Religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in nineteenth-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind Mormonism is a term used to describe the religious, ideological and cultural elements of certain branches of the Latter Day Saint movement The Rastafari movement (also known as Rastafari, Rastafarianism or simply Rasta) is a monotheistic, Abrahamic, New Testament Raëlism or Raëlian Church consists of the practitioners of a UFO religion founded by a former French sports-car journalist and test driver named Claude Chrislam, or the The Will of God Mission or Ifeoluwa Mission (Ifeoluwa is a Yoruba word meaning "God's Love" is a Nigerian syncretic According to the book of Exodus, Moses was born to a Hebrew mother who hid him when a Pharaoh ordered all newborn Hebrew boys to be killed, and ended up being adopted into the Egyptian royal family. Exodus ( Greek: έξοδος eksodos = "departure" is the second book of the Jewish Torah and of the Christian Old Testament. Hebrews (or Hebertes, Eberites, Hebreians, " Habiru " or " Habiri " Hebrew: עברים Pharaoh is the title given in modern parlance to the ancient Egyptian kings of all periods Ancient Egypt was an Ancient Civilization in eastern North Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now After killing an Egyptian slave master, he fled and became a shepherd, and was later commanded by God to deliver the Hebrews from slavery. God is the principal or sole Deity in Religions and other belief systems that worship one deity. After the Ten Plagues were unleashed on Egypt, he led the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, where they wandered in the desert for 40 years. The Plagues of Egypt ( the Biblical Plagues or the Ten Plagues ( are the ten calamities imposed upon Egypt by God in the Bible This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. The Red Sea is a Salt water Inlet of the Indian Ocean between Africa and Asia. Despite living to 120, he did not enter the Land of Israel, as he disobeyed God when God instructed him on how to bring forth water from a rock in the desert. For other uses see Israel (disambiguation The Land of Israel ( Hebrew: אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל Eretz Yisrael) is

Contents 1 Bible 1.1 Life 1.1.1 Names 1.2 Shepherd in Midian 1.3 Leader of the Hebrews 1.4 Death 2 Religious views 2.1 Judaism 2.2 Christianity 2.2.1 Mormonism 2.3 Islam 2.4 In other religions 3 Academic view 4 Historiography 4.1 Artapanus of Alexandria 4.2 In Strabo 4.3 In Tacitus 4.4 The Antiquities of the Jews 4.5 Date of the Exodus 5 Challenges to his historicity 6 In Freud's historical psychoanalysis 7 Criticism 8 Depictions 8.1 Horned Moses 8.2 Portrayals in popular culture 8.2.1 Dramatic portrayals 8.2.2 Parodies 9 See also 10 Notes 11 Further reading 12 External links

Bible

Life

The Book of Exodus takes up the narrative many years after the close of the Book of Genesis, at the end of which the Israelites were dwelling in relative harmony with the native Egyptians in the Land of Goshen, the eastern part of the Nile Delta. Exodus ( Greek: έξοδος eksodos = "departure" is the second book of the Jewish Torah and of the Christian Old Testament. See also History of ancient Israel and Judah According to the Bible, the Israelites were the dominant group living in the Land of Israel. This article is about the contemporary North African ethnic group The Land of Goshen ( Hebrew: גֹּשֶׁן, Tiberian: ɡoːʃɛn is a place-name mentioned in the biblical story of Joseph. The Nile Delta ( Arabic: دلتا النيل) is the delta formed in Northern Egypt ( Lower Egypt) where the Nile River spreads Sometime during the interval, the Egyptians became hostile to the Israelites and enslaved them.

According to the Book of Exodus, Moses was a son of Amram, a member of the Levite tribe of Israel, having descended from Jacob, and his wife Jochebed. In the Book of Exodus, Amram ( Arabic عَمْرَام: ʿAmrām) (Anrão is the father of Aaron, Moses, and In the Jewish tradition a Levite ( is a member of the Hebrew tribe of Levi. Jacob ( Hebrew: יַעֲקֹב, Standard   Yaʿaqov Tiberian   Yaʿăqōḇ; According to the Torah, Jochebed ( was the mother of Aaron, Moses, and Miriam, and the wife of Amram. ^[7] Jochebed (also Yocheved) was kin to Amram's father Kohath (Exodus 6:20). According to the Torah, Kohath was one of the sons of Levi, and the patriarchal founder of the Kohathites, one of the four main divisions among the Moses had one older (by seven years) sister, Miriam, and one older (by three years) brother, Aaron. Miriam ( but it might be derived originally from an Egyptian name myr "beloved" or mr "Love" or even Meryamun "beloved of Amun" This article is about Aaron the Levite in the Hebrew Bible, the Qu'ran, and other sources ^[7] According to Genesis 46:11, Amram's father Kohath immigrated to Egypt with 70 of Jacob's household, making Moses part of the second generation of Israelites born during their time in Egypt.

In the Exodus account, the birth of Moses (dated by the Talmud to 7 Adar 2368, or 1393 BCE)^[8] occurred at a time when the current Egyptian Pharaoh had commanded that all male Hebrew children born be killed by drowning in the river Nile. Haydar Hatemi (born March 3 1945, Alamdar city in Iranian Azerbaijan is a Artist of Azeri origin whose work is The Talmud ( Hebrew: he תַּלְמוּד is a record of Rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, customs and history Pharaoh is the title given in modern parlance to the ancient Egyptian kings of all periods The Nile (النيل, Ancient Egyptian iteru or Ḥ'pī, Coptic piaro or phiaro) is a major north-flowing River The Torah and Flavius Josephus leave the identity of this Pharaoh unstated. ^[9]

Jochebed, the wife of the Levite Amram, bore a son and kept him concealed for three months. See also Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo (or Giandomenico Tiepolo) or Lorenzo Baldissera Tiepolo, both sons of Giovanni Battista ^[10][11][7] When she could keep him hidden no longer, rather than deliver him to be killed, she set him adrift on the Nile River in a small craft of bulrushes coated in pitch. ^[10] In the Biblical account, Moses' sister Miriam observed the progress of the tiny boat until it reached a place where Pharaoh's daughter Thermuthis^[12][7] was bathing with her handmaidens. Miriam ( but it might be derived originally from an Egyptian name myr "beloved" or mr "Love" or even Meryamun "beloved of Amun" It is said that she spotted the baby in the basket and had her handmaiden fetch it for her. After several women had unsuccessfully attempted to nurse the child,^[13] Miriam came forward and asked Pharaoh's daughter if she would like a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby. ^[7] Thereafter, Jochebed was employed as the child's nurse, and he grew and was brought to Pharaoh's daughter and became her son, as she had no other children at the time of her adoption of Moses. ^[14] Exodus and Flavius Josephus do not mention whether this daughter of Pharaoh was an only child or, if she was not an only child, whether she was an eldest child or an eldest daughter. Nor do they mention whether Thermuthis later had other natural or adopted children. If Ramesses II is the Pharaoh of the Oppression as is traditionally thought, identifying her would be extremely difficult as Rameses II is thought to have fathered over a hundred children. The daughter of Pharaoh named him Mosheh, similar to the Hebrew word mashah, "to draw out". Historical Bithiah, in Hebrew Bitya (בִּתְיָה literally daughter of God) was the daughter of a Pharaoh of Egypt In the Greek translation, Mosheh was Hellenized as Moses.

Names

• Moses was one of seven men who were called by various names. Edwin Longsden Long RA (1829 &ndash 1891 was an English painter ^[15] The others were: Jekuthiel (by his mother), Heber (by his father), Jered (by Miriam), Avi Zanoah (by Aaron), Kehath, Avi Soco (his wet-nurse), Shemaiah ben Nethanel (by people of Israel). ^[16] Moses is also attributed the names Toviah (as a first name), and Levi (as a family name) (Vayikra Rabbah 1:3), Heman ^[17], Mechoqeiq (lawgiver)^[18] and Ehl Gav Ish (Numbers 12:3)^[19]
• According to the Hebrew Bible, the name Moses comes from the Hebrew word meaning "to pull out of water", so named by Bithiah. Historical Bithiah, in Hebrew Bitya (בִּתְיָה literally daughter of God) was the daughter of a Pharaoh of Egypt ^[20] Moses also led the Israelites across the Red Sea, which would also show deliverance out of water.
• Some medieval Jewish scholars had suggested that Moses' actual name was the Egyptian translation of "to draw out", and that it was translated into Hebrew, either by the Bible, or by Moses himself later in his lifetime.
• Some modern scholars had suggested that the daughter of the pharaoh might have derived his name from the Egyptian word moses, which means "son" or "formed of" or "has provided"; for example, "Thutmose" means "son of Thoth", and Rameses means "Ra has provided (a son)". For other meanings of "Thoth" or of "Djehuti" and similar see Thoth (disambiguation. Ra (pronounced Rah and sometimes as Rê, is an Ancient Egyptian sun god.
• A growing number of critical scholars believe that Moses actually had a full Egyptian name, consisting of the root word moses and the name of a god (similar to Rameses), but the name of the god was later dropped, either when he assimilated into Hebrew culture or by later scribes who were dismayed that their greatest prophet had such an Egyptian name.
• In ancient Egyptian language, the word "Mo" meant "water" while the word "Sa" meant "son". His complete name "Mosa" would mean "the son of water" as he was found in a basket in water. If this were the etymology, however, it would likely have been transcribed as Samo.
• A more likely justification from the Egyptian language is the preposition "m" means from or with. The Egyptian word "sh" means lake or pool, thus "Moshe," the biblical name would be translated as "from the lake or pool. " It is important when using this justification to understand that Ancient Egyptian, like modern Hebrew had no vowels in the written form, so the consonant cluster m-sh,which could be understood as "from the pool" could very well have been spoken as "Moshe" in Moses' time.
• Amongst the Aramaeans and Neo-Hittites of the northern Sam'al Yaudi state there is mention of an ancestral culture hero Moschos, linked to the Greek hero Mopsus (whose name means "calf"), who has certain similarities to parts of the Moses^[21] these similarities are only being in a similar location and having a similar name. The Aramaeans (also Arameans) ( Aramaic / Syriac: ܐܪܡܝܐ, Ārāmāye' were a Semitic (West Semitic language group The states that are called Neo-Hittite, or more recently Syro-Hittite, were Luwian, Aramaic and Phoenician -speaking political entities of In Greek mythology, Mopsus or Mopsos ( Greek) was the name of two famous seers

Shepherd in Midian

After Moses had reached adulthood, he went to see how his brethren who were enslaved to the Egyptians were faring. Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (July 15 1606 &ndash October 4 1669 was a Dutch painter and etcher. This article is about the contemporary North African ethnic group ^[10] Seeing an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, he killed the Egyptian and buried the body in the sand, supposing that no one who knew about the incident would be disposed to talk about it. Sand is a naturally occurring Granular material composed of finely divided rock and Mineral particles ^[10] The next day, seeing two Hebrews quarreling, he endeavored to separate them, whereupon the Hebrew who was wronging the other taunted Moses for slaying the Egyptian. Hebrews (or Hebertes, Eberites, Hebreians, " Habiru " or " Habiri " Hebrew: עברים ^[22] Moses soon discovered from a higher source that the affair was known, and that Pharaoh was likely to put him to death for it; he therefore made his escape over the Sinai Peninsula. The Sinai Peninsula or Sinai ( Coptic: sina; Egyptian Arabic: sina سينا Arabic, sina'a سيناء ^[10] He stopped at a well, where he protected seven shepherdesses from a band of rude shepherds. The shepherdesses' father Hobab (also known as Raguel and Jethro^[23]), a priest of Midian^[24] was immensely grateful for this assistance Moses had given his daughters, and adopted him as his son, gave his daughter Zipporah to him in marriage, and made him the superintendent of his herds. In the Hebrew Bible, Jethro (יִתְרוֹ Standard Yitro Tiberian Yiṯrô; "His Excellence/Posterity" Zipporah or Tzipora (; Greek: Sephora; Arabic: Safura or Safrawa; "bird" mentioned in the Book of ^[25][10][26] There he sojourned forty years, following the occupation of a shepherd, during which time his son Gershom was born. This page is about the firstborn son of Moses For the son of Levi see Gersho'''n'''. ^[27][10] One day, Moses led his flock to Mount Horeb (Exodus 3), usually identified with Mount Sinai — a mountain that was thought in the Middle Ages to be located on the Sinai Peninsula, but that many scholars now believe was further east, towards Moses' home of Midian. Mount Horeb, Hebrew he חֹרֵב Greek in the Septuagint grc χωρηβ Latin in the Vulgate la Horeb, is the place For other places named Mount Sinai see Mount Sinai (disambiguation Mount Sinai (Arabic طور سيناء, Hebrew הר סיני also The Sinai Peninsula or Sinai ( Coptic: sina; Egyptian Arabic: sina سينا Arabic, sina'a سيناء At Mount Horeb, he saw a burning bush that would not be consumed. The burning bush is an object described by the Book of Exodus as being located on Mount Horeb; according to the narrative the bush was on fire but was not consumed ^[10] When he turned aside to look more closely at the marvel, God spoke to him from the bush, revealing his name to Moses. God is the principal or sole Deity in Religions and other belief systems that worship one deity. I am that I am ( Hebrew: אהיה אשר אהיה pronounced Ehyeh asher ehyeh) is a common English translation ( King James Bible and others of the ^[10]

Leader of the Hebrews

God commissioned Moses to go to Egypt and deliver his fellow Hebrews from bondage. God had Moses practice transforming his rod into a serpent and inflicting and healing leprosy, and told him that he could also pour river water on dry land to change the water to blood. ^[28][29] Moses then set off for Egypt, was nearly killed by God because his son was not circumcised (The meaning of this latter obscure passage is debatable, because of the ambiguous nature of the Hebrew and its abrupt presence in the narrative. Several interpretations are therefore possible. ), was met on the way by his elder brother, Aaron, and gained a hearing with his oppressed kindred after they returned to Egypt, who believed Moses and Aaron after they saw the signs that were performed in the midst of the Israelite assembly. ^[30] It is also revealed that during Moses' absence, the Pharaoh of the Oppression (sometimes identified with Ramesses II) had died, and been replaced by a new Pharaoh, known as the Pharaoh of the Exodus. If Rameses II is the Pharaoh of the Oppression, then this new Pharaoh would be Merneptah. Merneptah (or Merenptah) was the fourth ruler of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt. Because the story the book of Exodus describes is catastrophic for the Egyptians — involving horrible plagues, the loss of thousands of slaves, and many deaths (possibly including the death of Pharaoh himself, although that matter is unclear in Exodus) — it is conspicuous that no Egyptian records speaking of Israelites in Egypt have ever been found. However, Merneptah, is indeed, historically known to have been a mediocre ruler, and certainly one weaker than Rameses II. Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and told him that the Lord God of Israel wanted Pharaoh to permit the Israelites to celebrate a feast in the wilderness. Pharaoh replied that he did not know their God and would not permit them to go celebrate the feast. Pharaoh upbraided Moses and Aaron and made the Israelites find their own straw besides meeting the same daily quota of bricks. ^[31] Moses and Aaron gained a second hearing with Pharaoh and changed Moses' rod into a serpent, but Pharaoh's magicians did the same with their rods. Moses and Aaron had a third opportunity when they went to meet the Pharaoh at the Nile riverbank, and Moses had Aaron turn the river to blood, but Pharaoh's magicians could do the same. Moses obtained a fourth meeting, and had Aaron bring frogs from the Nile to overrun Egypt, but Pharaoh's magicians were able to do the same thing. Apparently Pharaoh eventually got annoyed by the frogs and asked Moses to remove the frogs and promised to let the Israelites go observe their feast in the wilderness in return. The next day all the frogs died leaving a horrible stench and an enormous mess, which angered Pharaoh and decide against letting the Israelites leave to observe the feast. Eventually Pharaoh let the Hebrews depart after Moses's God sent ten plagues upon the Egyptians. The Plagues of Egypt ( the Biblical Plagues or the Ten Plagues ( are the ten calamities imposed upon Egypt by God in the Bible The third was lice, gnats, and flies. Lice (singular louse) ( order Phthiraptera) are an order of over 3000 Species of wingless Insects three of which are classified GNAT is a free-software Compiler for the Ada programming language which forms part of the GNU Compiler Collection. True flies are Insects of the Order Diptera ( Greek: di = two and pteron = wing possessing a single pair of The fourth was attacking of wild beasts. The fifth was the invasion of diseases on the Egyptians' cattle, oxen, goats, sheep, camels, and horses. Sixth were boils on the skins of Egyptians. Seventh, fiery hail and thunder struck Egypt. Hail is a form of precipitation which consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice (hailstones Thunder is the sound made by Lightning. Depending on the nature of the lightning and distance of the listener it can range from a sharp The eighth plague was locusts encompassing Egypt. Locust is the Swarming phase of short-horned Grasshoppers of the family Acrididae. The ninth plague was total darkness. The tenth plague culminated in the slaying of the Egyptian male first-borns, whereupon such terror seized the Egyptians that they ordered the Hebrews to leave in the Exodus. The Exodus ( is the term used for the escape departure and emancipation of the enslaved Israelites freed from Ancient Egypt as described in the Hebrew The events are commemorated as Passover, referring to how the plague "passed over" the houses of the Israelites while smiting the Egyptians. Passover ( Hebrew, Yiddish: פֶּסַח Pesach, Tiberian: pɛsaħ Israeli: Pesah, Pesakh, Yiddish

And so Moses leads his people Eastward, beginning the long journey to Canaan. Francesco Bacchiacca (1494 - 1557 was a Italian painter of the Renaissance whose work is characteristic of the Florentine Mannerist style Canaanites redirects here For the 1940s social and political movement in Israel, see Canaanites (movement. The procession moved slowly, and found it necessary to encamp three times before passing the Egyptian frontier — some believe at the Great Bitter Lake, while others propose sites as far south as the northern tip of the Red Sea. The Great Bitter Lake ( Arabic: البحيرة المرة الكبرى transliterated: al-Buhayrah al-Murra al-Kubra is a salt water lake between the north and south The Red Sea is a Salt water Inlet of the Indian Ocean between Africa and Asia. Meanwhile, Pharaoh had a change of heart, and was in pursuit of them with a large army. Shut in between this army and the sea, the Israelites despaired, but Exodus records that God divided the waters so that they passed safely across on dry ground. The Passage of the Red Sea is the account of the march of Moses, leading the Hebrews ( Israelites) on their escape out of Egypt and the alleged crossing There is some contention about this passage, since an earlier incorrect translation of yam suph to Red Sea was later found to have meant Reed Sea[3]. The Red Sea is a Salt water Inlet of the Indian Ocean between Africa and Asia. The Reed Sea (or Sea of Seaweed, Sea of Reeds) is a proposed translation of the biblical phrase Yam Suph ( a phrase traditionally understood to refer When the Egyptian army attempted to follow, God permitted the waters to return upon them and drown them. Whether Pharaoh himself drowns is unclear, although Egyptian records did not chronicle such an event.

When the people arrived at Marah, the water was bitter, causing the people to murmur against Moses. Marah (מָרָה is one of the locations which the Torah identifies as having been travelled through by the Israelites, during The Exodus. Moses cast a tree into the water, and the water became sweet. ^[32] Later in the journey the people began running low on supplies and again murmured against Moses and Aaron and said they would have preferred to die in Egypt, but God's provision of manna from the sky in the morning and quail in the evening took care of the situation. Manna (sometimes or archaically spelt mana) ( Hebrew: מָ‏ן) is the name of a Food which according to the Bible, was eaten by ^[33] When the people camped in Rephidim, there was no water, so the people complained again and said, "Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?" Moses struck a rock with his staff, and water came forth. ^[34]

Amalekite raiders arrived and attacked the Israelites. Sir John Everett Millais 1st Baronet, PRA ( June 8, 1829 &ndash August 13, 1896) was an English painter In response, Moses bid Joshua lead the men to fight while he stood on a hill with the rod of God in his hand. Joshua, Jehoshuah, or Yehoshua ( 'יְהוֹשֻׁעַ, Tiberian: jə As long as Moses held the rod up, Israel dominated the fighting, but if Moses let down his hands, the tide of the battle turned in favor of the Amalekites. According to the Book of Genesis and 1 Chronicles, Amalek ( Arabic, عماليق, was the son of Eliphaz and the grandson of Because Moses was getting tired, Aaron and Hur had Moses sit on a rock. Aaron held up one arm, Hur held up the other arm, and the Israelites routed the Amalekites. ^[35]

Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came to see Moses and brought Moses' wife and two sons with him. After Moses had told Jethro how the Israelites had escaped Egypt, Jethro went to offer sacrifices to the Lord, and then ate bread with the elders. The next day Jethro observed how Moses sat from morning to night giving judgement for the people. Jethro suggested that Moses appoint judges for lesser matters, a suggestion Moses heeded. ^[36]

When the Israelites came to Sinai, they pitched camp near the mountain. See also History of ancient Israel and Judah According to the Bible, the Israelites were the dominant group living in the Land of Israel. ^[37] Moses commanded the people not to touch the mountain. ^[38] Moses received the Ten Commandments orally (but not yet in tablet form) and other moral laws. The Ten Commandments, or Decalogue, are a list of religious and moral imperatives that according to Judeo-Christian tradition were authored by God and given ^[39] Moses then went up with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders to see the God of Israel. This article is about Aaron the Levite in the Hebrew Bible, the Qu'ran, and other sources Nadab ( and Abihu ( were respectively the eldest and second oldest of the sons of Aaron. ^[40] Before Moses went up the mountain to receive the tablets, he told the elders to direct any questions that arose to Aaron or Hur. Hur was the name of one of the high-ranking commanders of the army of Omar-ibn-e-Saad who faced the grandson of the Prophet of Islam Imam Hussain ibn-e-Abi Talib (a ^[41]

While Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving instruction on the laws for the Israelite community, the Israelites went to Aaron and asked him to make gods for them. After Aaron had received golden earrings from the people, he made a golden calf and said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt. The golden calf (עגל הזהב was an idol (a Cult image) made for the Israelites during Moses ' absence as he went up to Mount Sinai " A "solemnity of the Lord" was proclaimed for the following day, which began in the morning with sacrifices and was followed by revelry. After Moses had persuaded the Lord not to destroy the people of Israel, he went down from the mountain and was met by Joshua. Moses destroyed the calf and rebuked Aaron for the sin he had brought upon the people. Seeing that the people were uncontrollable, Moses went to the entry of the camp and said, "Who is on the Lord's side? Let him come unto me. " All the sons of Levi rallied around Moses, who ordered them to go from gate to gate slaying the idolators. This article discusses the Biblical patriarch See Levi Strauss for the inventor of jeans Levites for the Biblical tribe or Matthew the Evangelist ^[42]

Following this, according to the last chapters of Exodus, the Tabernacle was constructed, the priestly law ordained, the plan of encampment arranged both for the Levites and the non-priestly tribes, and the Tabernacle consecrated. The Tabernacle is known in Hebrew as the Mishkan ( משכן "Residence" or "Dwelling Place" Moses was given eight prayer laws that were to be carried out in regards to the Tabernacle. These laws included light, incense and sacrifice.

Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses on account of his marriage to an Ethiopian, Josephus explains the marriage of Moses to this Ethiopian in the Antiquities of the Jews^[43] and about him being the only one through whom the Lord spoke. NOTE This intro is the result of careful NPOV work Please do not make potentially controversial edits to it without first discussing on the talk page Miriam was punished with leprosy for seven days. ^[44]

The people left Hazeroth and pitched camp in the wilderness of Paran. Hazeroth (חֲצֵרוֹת is one of the locations (or "stations" that the Israelites stopped at during their forty years of wandering in the wilderness The Desert of Paran or Wilderness of Paran ( Hebrew מדבר פארן Midbar Par'an) is quite likely the place where the Israelites spent part of their ^[45] (Paran is a vaguely defined region in the northern part of the Sinai peninsula, just south of Canaan) Moses sent twelve spies into Canaan as scouts, including most famously Caleb and Joshua. After forty days, they returned to the Israelite camp, bringing back grapes and other produce as samples of the regions fertility. Although all the spies agreed that the land's resources were spectacular, only two of the twelve spies (Joshua and Caleb) were willing to try to conquer it, and are nearly stoned for their unpopular opinion. For other meanings of the word Caleb or Kalev see Caleb (disambiguation Caleb ( Hebrew; Tiberian vocalization The people began weeping and wanted to return to Egypt. Moses turned down the opportunity to have the Israelites completely destroyed and a great nation made from his own offspring, and instead he told the people that they would wander the wilderness for forty years until all those twenty years or older who had refused to enter Canaan had died, and that their children would then enter and possess Canaan. Early the next morning, the Israelites said they had sinned and now wanted to take possession of Canaan. Moses told them not to attempt it, but the Israelites chose to disobey Moses and invade Canaan, but were repulsed by the Amalekites and Canaanites. ^[46]

The Tribe of Reuben, led by Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and two hundred fifty Israelite princes accused Moses and Aaron of raising themselves over the rest of the people. The Tribe of Reuben ( was one of the Tribes of Israel. At its height the territory it occupied was on the immediate east of the Dead Sea, reaching from the Korah or Kórach ( Hebrew: קֹרַח, Standard Qóraḥ Tiberian Qōraḥ "Baldness ice hail Dathan is a character in the Old Testament of the Bible. He was a Reubenite and was killed along with his brother Abiram and with Korah. Abiram (he אֲבִירָם "my father is exalted" compare Abram) also spelled Abiron, is the name of two people in the Old Testament Moses told them to come the next morning with a censer for every man. Dathan and Abiram refused to come when summoned by Moses. Moses went to the place of Dathan and Abiram's tents. After Moses spoke the ground opened up and engulfed Dathan and Abiram's tents, after which it closed again. Fire consumed the two hundred fifty men with the censers. Moses had the censers taken and made into plates to cover the altar. The following day, the Israelites came and accused Moses and Aaron of having killed his fellow Israelites. The people were struck with a plague that killed fourteen thousand seven hundred persons, and was only ended when Aaron went with his censer into the midst of the people. ^[47] To prevent further murmurings and settle the matter permanently, Moses had the chief prince of the non-Levitic tribes write his name on his staff and had them lay them in the sanctuary. He also had Aaron write his name on his staff and had it placed in the tabernacle. The next day, when Moses went into the tabernacle, Aaron's staff had budded, blossomed, and yielded almonds. ^[48]

After leaving Sinai, the Israelites camped in Kadesh. After more complaints from the Israelites, Moses struck the stone twice, and water gushed forth. However, because Moses and Aaron had not shown the Lord's holiness, they were not permitted to enter the land to be given to the Israelites. ^[49] This was the second occasion Moses struck a rock to bring forth water; however, it appears that both sites were named Meribah after these two incidents.

Now ready to enter Canaan, the Israelites abandon the idea of attacking the Canaanites head-on in Hebron, a city in the southern part of Canaan, having been informed by spies that they were too strong, it is decided that they will flank Hebron by going further East, around the Dead Sea. Hebron ( al-Ḫalīl or al-Khalīl, Standard Hebrew: Ḥevron Tiberian Hebrew: Ḥeḇrôn is the largest city in the West Bank, located in the south The Dead Sea (יָם הַ‏‏מֶ‏ּ‏לַ‏ח, "Sea of Salt"البَحْر المَيّت, "Dead Sea" is a salt lake between This requires that they pass through Edom, Moab, and Ammon. Moab (; Greek Μωάβ; Arabic مؤاب, Assyrian Mu'aba, Ma'ba, Ma'ab; Egyptian Ammon or Ammonites ( also referred to in the Bible as the "children of Ammon" were a people (also known from Assyrian and other records living east These three tribes are considered Hebrews by the Israelites as descendants of Lot, and therefore cannot be attacked. According to the Bible and the Quran, Lot ( Arabic: لوط, Lūṭ |; "Hidden covered" was the Nephew However they are also rivals, and are therefore not permissive in allowing the Israelites to openly pass through their territory. So Moses leads his people carefully along the eastern border of Edom, the southernmost of these territories. While the Israelites were making their journey around Edom, they complained about the manna. After many of the people had been bitten by serpents and died, Moses made the brass serpent and mounted it on a pole, and if those who were bitten looked at it, they did not die. The Nehushtan (or Nehustan, Hebrew: נחושתן or נחש הנחושת) was a sacred object in the form of a Bronze snake ^[50] This brass serpent remained in existence until the days of King Hezekiah, who destroyed it after persons began treating it as an idol. Hezekiah (or Ezekias) ( Hebrew: Ḥizqiyyāhu Khizkiyahu or Yəḥizqiyyāhu Y'khizkiyahu " the {{LORD}} has strengthened" compare ^[51] When they reach Moab, it is revealed that Moab has been attacked and defeated by the Amorites led by a king named Sihon. Amorite ( Sumerian MARTU, Akkadian Tidnum or Amurrūm, Egyptian Amar, Hebrew ’emōrî The Bible describes that as the Israelites in their Exodus came to the country east of the Jordan, near Heshbon, King Siḥon of the Amorites The Amorites were a non-Hebrew Canannic people that once held power in the Fertile Crescent. The Fertile Crescent is a Crescent -shaped region in the Middle East, originally incorporating the Levant and Ancient Mesopotamia, and often When Moses asks the Amorites for passage and it is refused, Moses attacks the Amorites (as non-Hebrews, the Israelites have no reservations in attacking them), presumably weakened by conflict with the Moabites, and defeats them.

The Israelites now holding the territory of the Amorites just north of Moab, desire to expand their holdings by acquiring Bashan, a fertile territory north of Ammon famous for its oak trees and cattle. Bashan ( Hebrew הבשן ha-Bashan, meaning "the light Soil " is a biblical place first mentioned in, where it is said that Chedorlaomer It is led by a king named Og. According to several books of the Old Testament, Og (ɒg or /ɔːg/ meaning "gigantic" עוג - /ʕog/ was an ancient Amorite king of Bashan Later rabbinical legends made Og a survivor of the flood, suggesting the he had sat on the ark and was fed by Noah. Rabbi (pronunciation, although in English usually) in Judaism, means a religious ‘teacher’ or more literally ‘my great one’ when addressing any master The Israelites fight with Og's forces at Edrei, on the southern border of Bashan, where the Israelites are victorious and slay every man, woman, and child of his cities and take the spoil for their bounty.

Balak, king of Moab, having heard of the Israelites conquests, fears that his territory might be next. Balak was king of Moab around 1200 BC. According to the Bible Zippor was the father of Balak and the ruler of Moab around 1350 BC Therefore he sends elders of Moab, and of Midian, to Balaam (apparently a powerful and respected prophet), son of Beor (Bible), to induce him to come and curse the Israelites. Balaam ( Hebrew: בִּלְעָם, Standard Bilʻam Tiberian Bilʻām) is a Prophet Beor is the father of Balaam and is considered a prophet by Judaism the Talmud says in Baba Bathra 15b "Seven prophets prophesied to the heathen namely Balaam and his father Job Balaam's location is unclear. Balaam sends back word that he can only do what God commands, and God has, via a dream, told him not to go. Moab consequently sends higher ranking priests and offers Balaam honours, and so God tells Balaam to go with them. Balaam thus sets out with two servants to go to Balak, but an Angel tries to prevent him. An angel is a Spiritual Supernatural being found in many Religions Although the nature of angels and the tasks given to them vary from tradition to tradition At first the Angel is seen only by the ass Balaam is riding. After Balaam starts punishing the ass for refusing to move, it is miraculously given the power to speak to Balaam, and it complains about Balaam's treatment. At this point, Balaam is allowed to see the angel, who informs him that the ass is the only reason the Angel did not kill Balaam. Balaam immediately repents, but is told to go on.

Balak meets with Balaam at Kirjath-huzoth, and they go to the high places of Baal, and offer sacrifices at seven altars, leading to Balaam being given a prophecy by God, which Balaam relates to Balak. Kirjath-huzoth - city of streets, a Moabite city which some identify with Kirjathaim. Ba'al (pronounced; Hebrew בעל (ordinarily spelled Baal in English is a Northwest Semitic title and honorific meaning "master" or "lord" However, the prophecy blesses Israel; Balak remonstrates, but Balaam reminds him that he can only speak the words put in his mouth, so Balak takes him to another high place at Pisgah, to try again. Some translators of the biblical book of Deuteronomy translate Pisgah (פִּסְגָּה as a name of a mountain usually referring to Mount Nebo Building another seven altars here, and making sacrifices on each, Balaam provides another prophecy blessing Israel. Balaam finally gets taken by a now very frustrated Balak to Peor, and, after the seven sacrifices there, decides not to seek enchantments but instead looks on the Israelites from the peak. Peor is either The name of a mountain peak (Num 2328 to which Balak led Balaam as a last effort to induce him to pronounce a curse upon Israel The spirit of God comes upon Balaam and he delivers a third positive prophecy concerning Israel. Balak's anger rises to the point where he threatens Balaam, but Balaam merely offers a prediction of fate. Balaam then looks on the Kenites, and Amalekites and offers two more predictions of fate. In the ancient Levant, the Kenites were a nomadic clan sent under Jethro to priest Midian. Balak and Balaam then simply go to their respective homes. Later, Balaam informed Balak and the Midianites that, if they wished to overcome the Israelites for a short interval, they needed to seduce the Israelites to engage in idolatry. ^[52] The Midianites sent beautiful women to the Israelite camp to seduce the young men to partake in idolatry, and the attempt proved successful. ^[53]

Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, put an end to the matter of the Midianite seduction by slaying two of the prominent offenders, but by that time a plague inflicted on the Israelites had already killed about twenty-four thousand persons. Phinehas or Pinhas ( was the grandson of Aaron, and son of Eleazar the high priest ( who distinguished himself as a youth at Shittim by his Moses was then told that because Phinehas had averted the wrath of God from the Israelites, Phinehas and his descendents were given the pledge of an everlasting priesthood. Phinehas or Pinhas ( was the grandson of Aaron, and son of Eleazar the high priest ( who distinguished himself as a youth at Shittim by his Phinehas or Pinhas ( was the grandson of Aaron, and son of Eleazar the high priest ( who distinguished himself as a youth at Shittim by his ^[54]

After Moses had taken a census of the people, he sent an army to avenge the perceived evil brought on the Israelites by the Midianites. Numbers 31 says Moses instructed the Israelite soldiers to kill every Midianite woman, boy and the non-virgin girl, although virgin girls were shared amongst the soldiers. ^[55] The Israelites killed Balaam, and the five kings of Midian: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba. ^[56]

Moses appointed Joshua, son of Nun, to succeed him as the leader of the Israelites. Joshua, Jehoshuah, or Yehoshua ( 'יְהוֹשֻׁעַ, Tiberian: jə Nun, in the Hebrew Bible, was a man from the Tribe of Ephraim, grandson of Ammihud, son of Elishama and father of Joshua. ^[57] Moses then died at the age of 120. ^[58]

Death

After all this was accomplished, Moses was warned that he would not be permitted to lead the nation of Israel across the Jordan river, but would die on its eastern shores (Num. This article is about the Jordan River and its valley in western Asia 20:12). ^[59] He therefore assembled the tribes, and delivered to them a parting address, which forms the Book of Deuteronomy. See also History of ancient Israel and Judah According to the Bible, the Israelites were the dominant group living in the Land of Israel. ^[59] In this address it is commonly accepted that he recapitulated the Law, reminding them of its most important features. term " Torah " ( Hebrew: תּוֹרָה "teaching" or "instruction" sometimes translated as "Law" most commonly refers to ^[59] When Moses finished, and he had pronounced a blessing on the people (Deut. 28:1-14), he went up Mount Nebo to the top of Pisgah, looked over the promised land of Israel spread out before him, and died, at the age of one hundred and twenty (dated by the Talmud to 7th of Adar 2488, or 1273 BCE). ^[59][60] God Himself buried him in an unknown grave (Deut. 34:6). ^[59][11] Moses was thus the human instrument in the creation of the nation of Israel by communicated to it the Torah. term " Torah " ( Hebrew: תּוֹרָה "teaching" or "instruction" sometimes translated as "Law" most commonly refers to ^[59] More humble than any other man (Num. 12:3), he enjoyed unique privileges, for "there hath not arisen a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the HaShem knew face to face" (Deut. God is the principal or sole Deity in Religions and other belief systems that worship one deity. 34:10). ^[59]

Religious views

Judaism

Main article: Moses in Rabbinic Literature

There is a wealth of stories and additional information about Moses in the Jewish genre of rabbinical exegesis known as Midrash, as well as in the primary works of the Jewish oral law, the Mishnah and the Talmud. Of all Biblical personages Moses has been chosen most frequently as the subject of later legends and his life has been recounted in full detail in the poetic Aggadah Rabbi (pronunciation, although in English usually) in Judaism, means a religious ‘teacher’ or more literally ‘my great one’ when addressing any master Midrash ( Hebrew: מדרש plural midrashim, lit "to repeat" is a Hebrew term referring to the not exact but comparative ( homiletic An oral law is a Code of conduct in use in a given Culture, Religion or community application by which a body of rules of human behaviour is transmitted The Mishnah or Mishna (he משנה "repetition" from the verb shanah he שנה or "to study and review" is a major work of Rabbinic Judaism The Talmud ( Hebrew: he תַּלְמוּד is a record of Rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, customs and history ^[61]

Jewish historians who lived at Alexandria, such as Eupolemus, attributed to Moses the feat of having taught the Phoenicians their alphabet,^[62] similar to legends of Thoth. Alexandria ( Egyptian Arabic: اسكندريه Eskendereyya; Standard Arabic: ar الإسكندرية Al-Iskandariyya; Ἀλεξάνδρεια Eupolemus was a Jewish historian whose work survives only in five fragments (or possibly six fragments in the Eusebius of Caesarea 's Praeparatio Evangelia Phoenicia ( Phoenician: Phoenician nunsvg|12px|נ]]Phoenician nun For other meanings of "Thoth" or of "Djehuti" and similar see Thoth (disambiguation. Artapanus of Alexandria explicitly identified Moses not only with Thoth / Hermes, but also with the Greek figure Musaeus (whom he calls "the teacher of Orpheus"), and ascribed to him the division of Egypt into 36 districts, each with its own liturgy. Artapanus of Alexandria was a historian of Jewish origin who lived in Alexandria during the 2nd century BCE For people surnamed Musaeus see Musäus. Musaeus is also a spider genus ( Thomisidae) Orpheus ( Greek: Ὀρφεύς ˈɔrfiəs ( OHR-fee-uhs) or /ˈɔrfjuːs/ ( OHR'-fews) in English is a figure from Greek mythology born in He names the princess who adopted Moses as Merris, wife of Pharaoh Chenephres. ^[63]

To Orthodox Jews, Moses is really Moshe Rabbenu, `Eved HaShem, Avi haNeviim zya"a. <sup>[61]</sup> He is called "Our Leader Moshe", "Servant of God", and "Father of all the Prophets". <sup>[61]</sup> In their view, Moses not only received the Torah, but also the revealed (written and oral) and the hidden (the `hokhmat nistar teachings, which gave Judaism the Zohar of the Rashbi, the Torah of the Ari haQadosh and all that is discussed in the Heavenly Yeshiva between the Ramhal and his masters). term " Torah " ( Hebrew: תּוֹרָה "teaching" or "instruction" sometimes translated as "Law" most commonly refers to Shimon bar Yohai, ( Aramaic: רבן שמעון בר יוחאי Shimon son of Yohai, Simon son of Yohai or Rashbi (רשב"י pronounced Rabbi Isaac Luria (1534 – July 25 1572) was a Jewish mystic in Safed. Moshe Chaim Luzzatto ( Hebrew: משה חיים לוצאטו, also Moses Chaim, Moses Hayyim, also Luzzato) (1707-1746 (26 Iyar ^[61] He is also considered the greatest prophet. ^[64]

Arising in part from his age, but also because 120 is elsewhere stated as the maximum age for Noah's descendants (one interpretation of Genesis 6:3), "may you live to 120" has become a common blessing among Jews. ^[61]

Christianity

Moses
An 11th century AD depiction of Moses receiving the Law before the Burning bush
Prophet, Seer, Lawgiver
Born	Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, Goshen, Egypt
Died	Mount Nebo, Moab, in modern Jordan
Venerated in	Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy
Feast	September 4
Attributes	Tablets of the Law
Saints Portal

For Christians, Moses — mentioned more often in the New Testament than any other Old Testament figure — is often a symbol of God's law, as reinforced and expounded on in the teachings of Jesus. term " Torah " ( Hebrew: תּוֹרָה "teaching" or "instruction" sometimes translated as "Law" most commonly refers to The burning bush is an object described by the Book of Exodus as being located on Mount Horeb; according to the narrative the bush was on fire but was not consumed "Amarna period" redirects here For information on Amarna see Amarna The Eighteenth Dynasty (1550-1292 BC is perhaps the best known of The Land of Goshen ( Hebrew: גֹּשֶׁן, Tiberian: ɡoːʃɛn is a place-name mentioned in the biblical story of Joseph. This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. Mount Nebo ( הַר נְבוֹ, Har Nəvō, جبل نيبو Jabal Nībū) is an elevated ridge that is approximately 817 meters (2680 feet Moab (; Greek Μωάβ; Arabic مؤاب, Assyrian Mu'aba, Ma'ba, Ma'ab; Egyptian Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (الأردنّ al-Urdunn) is an Arab country in Southwest Asia spanning the southern The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian Communion in the world Oriental Orthodoxy is the communion of Eastern Christian Churches that recognize only three Ecumenical councils — the First Council of Nicaea, the The Calendar of saints is a traditional Christian method of organizing a Liturgical year on the level of days by associating each day with one or more Saints Christianity has used symbols from its very beginnings Each Saint has a story and a reason why he or she led an exemplary life Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings In Western Christianity, the Old Testament refers to the books that form the first of the two-part Christian Biblical canon. The Expounding of the Law ( KJV: sometimes called the ''Antithesis of the Law'', is a highly structured ("Ye have heard. Jesus of Nazareth (7–2 BC / BCE —26–36 AD / CE) ^[61] New Testament writers often compared Jesus' words and deeds with Moses' to explain Jesus' mission. ^[61] In Acts 7:39–43, 51–53, for example, the rejection of Moses by the Jews that worshiped the golden calf is likened to the rejection of Jesus by the Jews that continued in traditional Judaism. The Acts of the Apostles is a book of the Bible, which now stands fifth in the New Testament. ^[61]

Moses also figures in several of Jesus' messages. ^[61] When he met the Pharisees Nicodemus at night in the third chapter of the Gospel of John, he compares Moses' lifting up of the bronze serpent in the wilderness, which any Israelite could look at and be healed, to his own lifting up (by his death and resurrection) for the people to look at and be healed. The word Pharisees ( lat. pharisæ|us, - i) comes from the Hebrew פרושים perushim from פרוש parush, meaning "separated" Nicodemus (Greek Νικόδημος was a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin, who according to the Gospel of John, showed favour to Jesus The Gospel of John (literally According to John; Greek, Κατὰ Ἰωάννην Kata Iōannēn) is the fourth Gospel in the canon This article concerns itself with Jesus Christ Christian, Islamic and other religious interpretations of resurrection in general ^[61] In the sixth chapter, Jesus responds to the people's claim that Moses provided them manna in the wilderness by saying that it was not Moses, but God, who provided. Manna (sometimes or archaically spelt mana) ( Hebrew: מָ‏ן) is the name of a Food which according to the Bible, was eaten by ^[61] Calling himself the "bread of life", Jesus states that he is now provided to feed God's people. ^[61]

He, along with Elijah, is presented as meeting with Jesus in all three Gospel accounts of the Transfiguration of Jesus in Matthew 17, Mark 9, and Luke 9, respectively. Elijah or Elias ( was a Prophet in Israel in the 9th century BC The Transfiguration of Jesus is an event reported by the Synoptic Gospels in which Jesus is transfigured upon a mountain (,) The Gospel of Matthew (Gk Κατά Ματθαίον Ευαγγέλιον is one of the four Canonical gospels in the New Testament and is a Synoptic gospel Content Authorship The gospel itself is anonymous but as early as Papias in the early 2nd century a text was attributed to Mark, a cousin The Gospel of Luke (Gk Κατά Λουκάν Ευαγγέλιον) is a synoptic Gospel, and is the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels of the Later Christians found numerous other parallels between the life of Moses and Jesus to the extent that Jesus was likened to a "second Moses. " For instance, Jesus' escape from the slaughter by Herod in Bethlehem is compared to Moses' escape from Pharaoh's designs to kill Hebrew infants. For the painting by Peter Paul Rubens see " Massacre of the Innocents (Rubens " ^[61] Such parallels, unlike those mentioned above, are not pointed out in Scripture. See the article on typology. Typology is a theological doctrine of theory of types and their antitypes found in Scripture. ^[61]

His relevance to modern Christianity has not diminished. He is considered to be a saint by several churches;^[61] and is commemorated as a prophet in the respective Calendars of Saints of the Lutheran^[61] and Eastern Orthodox Churches on September 4. Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the teachings of the sixteenth-century German reformer Martin Luther The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian Communion in the world He is commemorated as one of the Holy Forefathers in the Calendar of Saints of the Armenian Apostolic Church on July 30. Days of observance - 2007 January 1 Third Day of the Fast of the Nativity 2 Fourth Day of the Fast of the Nativity 3 Fifth Day The Armenian Apostolic Church (Հայաստանեայց Առաքելական Եկեղեցի Hayasdaneaytz Arakelagan Events 1419 - First Defenestration of Prague. 1502 - Christopher Columbus lands at Guanaja in the Bay Islands off

Mormonism

Main article: Book of Moses

Members of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also called Mormons) generally view Moses in the same way that other Christians do. The Book of Moses is a text published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is considered by those within Mormonism to be the translated The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the fourth largest Christian denomination in the United States and the largest and most well-known TalkMormon#Latter Day Saint vs Latter-day Saint --> Mormon However, in addition to accepting the Biblical account of Moses, Mormons include the Book of Moses as part of their scriptural canon. The Book of Moses is a text published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is considered by those within Mormonism to be the translated ^[65] This book is believed to be the translated writings of Moses, and is included in the LDS Church's Pearl of Great Price. The Pearl of Great Price is part of the standard works of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church see also Mormonism) and some ^[66] Latter-day Saints are also unique in believing that Moses was taken to heaven without having tasted death (translated). In the theology of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, translation refers to being physically changed by God from a mortal human being to an immortal In addition, Joseph Smith, Jr. and Oliver Cowdery stated that on April 3, 1836, Moses appeared to them in the Kirtland Temple in a glorified, immortal, physical form and bestowed upon them the "keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north. Oliver Hervy Pliny Cowdery ( 3 October 1806 – 3 March 1850) was the primary participant with Joseph Smith Jr The Kirtland Temple is a registered National Historic Landmark in Kirtland Ohio, USA, on the eastern edge of the Cleveland metropolitan area "^[67]

Islam

Main article: Islamic view of Moses

In the Qur'an, the life of Moses (Arabic: Musa) is narrated and recounted more than any other prophet recognized in Islam. See also Moses Moses ( Arabic موسى Musa) ( circa 1436/1228 BC – 1316/1108 BC is considered a prophet The Qur’an ( القرآن, literally "the recitation" also sometimes transliterated as Qur’ān, Koran, Alcoran Muslims regard as Prophets of Islam ( Arabic: نبي) those non-divine humans chosen by Allah as Prophets ^[61] The Qur'an narrates much of Moses' life in relation to God. ^[61] The Qur'an and the Bible are similar on the basic outline of Moses' life. ^[61] But some distinctive accounts, such as the story of Moses and Al-Khidr, are found only in the Qur'an. Al-Khidr (الخضر "the Green One" also transcribed Khidr Khidar Khizr Khizar; or most accurately Ĥiḍr) has a disputed status amongst scholars ^[61]

In other religions

In Mandaeism, Moses is regarded as a false prophet. Mandaeism or Mandaeanism ( Mandaic: Mandaiuta, مندائية Mandā'iyya) is a Monotheistic Religion with a strongly The God of Moses (YHWH) is said in Mandaeism to be an evil god or demon (whom they also identify with the sun). While it has been asserted that Mandaeanism is of Judaic origin, this has been disputed as they may also have had a common origin; at any rate, there are vehement polemics against Jews in Mandaean literature. ^[68]

Academic view

The German scholar Martin Noth:

• Accepts that Moses may have had some connection with the preparations for the conquest of Canaan
• Recognizes a historical core "beneath" the Exodus and Sinai traditions

But on the other hand, Noth holds that:

• Two different groups experienced the Exodus and Sinai events and each group transmitted its own stories independently of the other one. Martin Noth ( August 3, 1902 – May 30, 1968) was a German scholar of the Hebrew Bible who specialized in the pre-Exilic
• "The biblical story tracing the Hebrews from Egypt to Canaan resulted from an editor's weaving separate themes and traditions around a main character Moses, actually an obscure person from Moab. "^[1]

Other scholars such as William Foxwell Albright have a more favorable view towards the traditional views regarding Moses and accept the essence of the biblical story, as narrated between Exodus 1:8 and Deuteronomy 34:12, but recognize that impact the centuries of oral and written transmission had on the account causing it to acquire layers of accretions. ^[1]

Historiography

Known extra-Biblical references to Moses date from many centuries after his supposed lifetime, and contain significant departures from the Biblical account. In addition to the Judeo-Roman or Judeo-Hellenic historians Artapanus, Eupolemus, Josephus, and Philo, a few gentile historians including Polyhistor, Manetho, Apion, Chaeremon of Alexandria, Tacitus and Porphyry make reference to him. Artapanus of Alexandria was a historian of Jewish origin who lived in Alexandria during the 2nd century BCE Eupolemus was a Jewish historian whose work survives only in five fragments (or possibly six fragments in the Eusebius of Caesarea 's Praeparatio Evangelia Josephus (AD 37 – c 100 also known as Yosef Ben Matityahu (Joseph son of Matthias and after he became a Roman citizen, as Titus Flavius Josephus Philo (20 BC - 50 AD) known also as Philo of Alexandria (gr Φίλων ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς Philo Judaeus, Philo Judaeus of Alexandria Lucius Cornelius Alexander Polyhistor was a Greek scholar who was enslaved by the Romans during the Mithridatic War and taken to Rome as a tutor Manetho (or Manethon) was an Egyptian Historian and Priest from Sebennytos ( Ancient Egyptian: Tjebnutjer) who Chaeremon of Alexandria (first century CE was a Stoic Philosopher and Grammarian. Publius (or Gaius) Cornelius Tacitus (ca 56 &ndash ca 117 was a senator and a Historian of the Roman Empire. Porphyry of Tyre ( Greek:, c AD 233&ndashc 309 was a Phoenician Neoplatonic philosopher The extent to which any of these accounts rely on earlier sources is unknown. Moses also appears in other religious texts such as the Midrash, Mishnah and Qur'an

No other surviving written records from Egypt, Assyria, etc. Midrash ( Hebrew: מדרש plural midrashim, lit "to repeat" is a Hebrew term referring to the not exact but comparative ( homiletic The Mishnah or Mishna (he משנה "repetition" from the verb shanah he שנה or "to study and review" is a major work of Rabbinic Judaism The Qur’an ( القرآن, literally "the recitation" also sometimes transliterated as Qur’ān, Koran, Alcoran Early history The most Neolithic site in Assyria is at Tell Hassuna, the center of the Hassuna culture , indisputably referring to the stories of the Bible or its main characters before ca. 850s BC have been found,^[69][70] and there is no known physical evidence (such as pottery shards or stone tablets) to corroborate Moses' existence. ^[71][72]

Artapanus of Alexandria

This account is excerpted from the Hellenistic Jewish historian Artapanus of Alexandria (2nd century BC), as reproduced by Eusebius of Caesarea. Artapanus of Alexandria was a historian of Jewish origin who lived in Alexandria during the 2nd century BCE

“

Jealousy of Moses' excellent qualities induced Chenephres to send him with unskilled troops on a military expedition to Ethiopia, where he won great victories. NOTE This intro is the result of careful NPOV work Please do not make potentially controversial edits to it without first discussing on the talk page After having built the city of Hermopolis, he taught the people the value of the ibis as a protection against the serpents, making the bird the sacred guardian spirit of the city; then he introduced circumcision. Hermopolis Magna or simply Hermopolis ( Ammian, ii 16 or Hermopolis Megale ( Greek:, Steph The ibises (pronounced /ˈaɪbɪsɪz/ are a group of long-legged wading Birds in the family Threskiornithidae. After his return to Memphis, Moses taught the people the value of oxen for agriculture, and the consecration of the same by Moses gave rise to the cult of Apis. Memphis was the ancient capitol of the first nome of Lower Egypt, and of the Old Kingdom of Egypt from its foundation until around 2200 BC and Finally, after having escaped another plot by killing the assailant sent by the king, Moses fled to Arabia, where he married the daughter of Raguel, the ruler of the district. The Arabian Peninsula (in Arabic: شبه الجزيرة العربية šibh al-jazīra al-ʻarabīya or جزيرة العرب jazīrat al-ʻarab) In the Hebrew Bible, Jethro (יִתְרוֹ Standard Yitro Tiberian Yiṯrô; "His Excellence/Posterity" Chenephres in the meantime died from elephantiasis — a disease with which he was the first to be afflicted — because he had ordered that the Jews should wear garments that would distinguish them from the Egyptians and thereby expose them to maltreatment. Elephantiasis (/ˌɛləfənˈtaɪəsɪs -fæn-/ -fan- is a disease that is characterized by the thickening of the skin and underlying tissues especially in the legs and genitals The sufferings of Israel then caused God to appear to Moses in a flame bursting forth from the earth, and to tell him to march against Egypt for the rescue of his people. Accordingly he went to Egypt to deliberate with his brother Aaron about the plan of warfare, but was put into prison. At night, however, the doors of the prison opened of their own accord, while the guards died or fell asleep. Going to the royal palace and finding the doors open there and the guards sunk in sleep, he went straight to the king, and when scoffingly asked by the latter for the name of the God who sent him, he whispered the Ineffable Name into his ear, whereupon the king became speechless and as one dead. Then Moses wrote the name upon a tablet and sealed it up, and a priest who made sport of it died in convulsions. After this Moses performed all the wonders, striking land and people with plagues until the king let the Jews go. In remembrance of the rod with which Moses performed his miracles every Isis temple in Egypt has preserved a rod — Isis symbolizing the earth which Moses struck with his rod. Isis is a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs and is celebrated in their mythology as the ideal mother and wife patron of nature and magic friend of slaves sinners . . He was eighty-nine years old when he delivered the Jews; tall and ruddy, with long white hair, and dignified.

”

|^[73]

In Strabo

The following excerpt comes from the Roman historian Strabo (c. Strabo ( Greek: Στράβων 63/64 BC – ca AD 24 was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher. 24 AD):

“	34 As for Judaea, its western extremities towards Casius are occupied by the Idumaeans and by the lake. The Idumaeans are Nabataeans, but owing to a sedition they were banished from there, joined the Judeans, and shared in the same customs with them. The Nabataeans ( Arabic: الأنباط, Al-Anbāṭ) were an ancient Semitic people Arabs of southern Jordan, Canaan The greater part of the region near the sea is occupied by Lake Sirbonis and by the country continuous with the lake as far as Jerusalem; for this city is also near the sea; for, as I have already said, it is visible from the seaport of Iopê. This region lies towards the north; and it is inhabited in general, as is each place in particular, by mixed stocks of people from Aegyptian and Arabian and Phoenician tribes; for such are those who occupy Galilee and Hiericus and Philadelphia and Samaria, which last Herod surnamed Sebastê. "Galil" redirects here For the weapon see IMI Galil. Galilee (הגליל ha-Galil, lit the province, Samaria, or the Shomron ( שֹׁמְרוֹן, Standard Šoməron Tiberian Šōmərôn The Herodian Dynasty was a Jewish Dynasty of Idumean descent who ruled Iudaea Province between 37 BC - AD 92 But though the inhabitants mixed up thus, the most prevalent of the accredited reports in regard to the temple at Jerusalem represents the ancestors of the present Judaeans, as they are called, as Aegyptians. 35 Moses, namely, was one of the Aegyptian priests, and held a part of Lower Aegypt, as it is called, but he went away from there to Judaea, since he was displeased with the state of affairs there, and was accompanied by many people who worshipped the Divine Being. For he says, and taught, that the Aegyptians were mistaken in representing the Divine Being by the images of beasts and cattle, as were also the Libyans; and that the Greeks were also wrong in modeling gods in human form; for, according to him, God is this one thing alone that encompasses us all and encompasses land and sea — the thing which we call heaven, or universe, or the nature of all that exists. Libya ( ليبيا ar-Latn Lībiyā; Libyan vernacular: Lībya; Amazigh:) officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab What man, then, if he has sense, could be bold enough to fabricate an image of God resembling any creature amongst us? Nay, people should leave off all image-carving, and, setting apart a sacred precinct and a worthy sanctuary, should worship God without an image; and people who have good dreams should sleep in the sanctuary, not only themselves on their own behalf, but also others for the rest of the people; and those who live self-restrained and righteous lives should always expect some blessing or gift or sign from God, but no other should expect them. 36 Now Moses, saying things of this kind, persuaded not a few thoughtful men and led them away to this place where the settlement of Jerusalem now is; and he easily took possession of the place, since it was not a place that would be looked on with envy, nor yet one for which anyone would make a serious fight; for it is rocky, and, although it itself is well supplied with water, its surrounding territory is barren and waterless, and the part of the territory within a radius of sixty stadia is also rocky beneath the surface. At the same time Moses, instead of using arms, put forward as defense his sacrifices and his Divine Being, being resolved to seek a seat of worship for Him and promising to deliver to the people a kind of worship and a kind of ritual which would not oppress those who adopted them either with expenses or with divine obsessions or with other absurd troubles. Now Moses enjoyed fair repute with these people, and organized no ordinary kind of government, since the peoples all round, one and all, came over to him, because of his dealings with them and of the prospects he held out to them.	”
	— [74]

In Tacitus

The Roman historian Tacitus (ca. Publius (or Gaius) Cornelius Tacitus (ca 56 &ndash ca 117 was a senator and a Historian of the Roman Empire. 100 AD) mentions several possible origins of the Jews that were taught by those of his time.

“	As I am about to relate the last days of a famous city, it seems appropriate to throw some light on its origin. Some say that the Jews were fugitives from the island of Crete, who settled on the nearest coast of Africa about the time when Saturn was driven from his throne by the power of Jupiter. Crete ( Greek: Κρήτη transliteration: Krētē, modern transliteration Kriti) is the largest of the Greek islands and the Evidence of this is sought in the name. There is a famous mountain in Crete called Ida; the neighbouring tribe, the Idaei, came to be called Judaei by a barbarous lengthening of the national name. Others assert that in the reign of Isis the overflowing population of Egypt, led by Hierosolymus and Judas, discharged itself into the neighbouring countries. Isis is a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs and is celebrated in their mythology as the ideal mother and wife patron of nature and magic friend of slaves sinners Many, again, say that they were a race of Ethiopian origin, who in the time of king Cepheus were driven by fear and hatred of their neighbours to seek a new dwelling-place. NOTE This intro is the result of careful NPOV work Please do not make potentially controversial edits to it without first discussing on the talk page In Greek mythology, Cepheus was ruler of the Phoenician nation of Aethiopia, Ethiopia Others describe them as an Assyrian horde who, not having sufficient territory, took possession of part of Egypt, and founded cities of their own in what is called the Hebrew country, lying on the borders of Syria. Early history The most Neolithic site in Assyria is at Tell Hassuna, the center of the Hassuna culture Others, again, assign a very distinguished origin to the Jews, alleging that they were the Solymi, a nation celebrated in the poems of Homer, who called the city which they founded Hierosolyma after their own name. Homer ( Ancient Greek:, Homēros) is a legendary ancient Greek epic Poet, traditionally said to be the author of the epic poems the Most writers, however, agree in stating that once a disease, which horribly disfigured the body, broke out over Egypt; that king Bocchoris, seeking a remedy, consulted the oracle of Hammon, and was bidden to cleanse his realm, and to convey into some foreign land this race detested by the gods. Bakenranef (also known by the Greek form of his name Bocchoris) was a king of the Twenty-fourth dynasty of Egypt. Amun, reconstructed Egyptian Yamānu (also spelled Amon, Amoun, Amen, and rarely Imen, Greek Ἄμμων The people, who had been collected after diligent search, finding themselves left in a desert, sat for the most part in a stupor of grief, till one of the exiles, Moyses by name, warned them not to look for any relief from God or man, forsaken as they were of both, but to trust to themselves, taking for their heaven-sent leader that man who should first help them to be quit of their present misery. They agreed, and in utter ignorance began to advance at random. Nothing, however, distressed them so much as the scarcity of water, and they had sunk ready to perish in all directions over the plain, when a herd of wild asses was seen to retire from their pasture to a rock shaded by trees. Moyses followed them, and, guided by the appearance of a grassy spot, discovered an abundant spring of water. This furnished relief. After a continuous journey for six days, on the seventh they possessed themselves of a country, from which they expelled the inhabitants, and in which they founded a city and a temple.	”
	— [75]

The Antiquities of the Jews

Main article: Osarseph

Josephus relates several other incidents in connection with the Biblical account of Moses:

Before the incident in which Moses slew the Egyptian, Moses had led the Egyptians in a campaign against invading Ethiopians and routed them. Osarseph is a semi-mythical figure in the history of Ancient Egypt who has been equated with Moses. Josephus (AD 37 – c 100 also known as Yosef Ben Matityahu (Joseph son of Matthias and after he became a Roman citizen, as Titus Flavius Josephus While Moses was besieging one of the Ethiopians' cities, Tharbis, the daughter of the Ethiopian king, fell in love with Moses and wished to marry him. He agreed to do so if she would procure the deliverance of the city into his power. She did so immediately, and Moses promptly married her. ^[43] This marriage is also mentioned in Numbers 12:1 (Cushite meant Ethiopian; Zipporah was Midianite, definitely not Ethiopian). The account of this expedition is also mentioned by Irenaeus,^[76] and the event would explain why St. Stephen refers to Moses as "mighty in his words and in his deeds" before Moses slayed the Egyptian. Saint Irenaeus (Greek Ειρηναίος (2nd century AD - c 202 was Bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, Roman Empire (now Lyons France ^[77][78]

Flavius Josephus also gives significantly detailed accounts of the aftermath of Baalam's blessings and the events that lead to the slaying of Zimri. ^[79]

Date of the Exodus

Main article: the Exodus

There is considerable uncertainty as to what date the Bible implies for the Exodus taking place. The Exodus ( is the term used for the escape departure and emancipation of the enslaved Israelites freed from Ancient Egypt as described in the Hebrew Suggestions include:

• It may have occurred around the end of the Hyksos era (1648–1540 BC), as mentioned above;
• It may have occurred around 1400s BC, since the Amarna letters, written ca. The Hyksos ( Egyptian heqa khasewet, "foreign rulers" Greek,, Arabic,) were an Asiatic people who invaded the eastern Nile The Amarna letters (sometimes "Amarna correspondence" or "Amarna tablets" are an archive of correspondence on Clay tablets mostly diplomatic forty years later to Pharaohs Amenhotep III and Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) indicate that Canaan was being invaded by the "Habiru" — whom some scholars in the 1950s to 1970s interpret to mean "Hebrews". Amenhotep III (sometimes read as Amenophis III meaning Amun is Satisfied was the ninth Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty. Akhenaten (often alt: Akhnaten, or rarely Ikhnaton) (In English ˌɑkəˡnɑtən or approximately "AHK-en-AHT-en" his royal name Amenhotep Canaanites redirects here For the 1940s social and political movement in Israel, see Canaanites (movement. Habiru (Ha biru or Apiru or prw (Egyptianwas the name given by various Sumerian Egyptian, Akkadian Hittite, Mitanni However, the Hebrew patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are also recorded as having conducted military activities in Canaan some centuries before the Exodus. Abraham ( Ashkenazi   Avrohom or Avruhom; ابراهيم, {{Unicode|Ibrāhīm}}; Ge'ez: According to the Hebrew Bible, Isaac ( Hebrew: Yitzchak יִצְחָק, Standard Yiẓḥaq Jacob ( Hebrew: יַעֲקֹב, Standard   Yaʿaqov Tiberian   Yaʿăqōḇ; Note also that "forty years" is a common expression in the Old Testament for "a long period of time", and that many scholars today view the Habiru as members of a social underclass of people present throughout the Ancient Near East at this time, rather than a tribal group confined to Egypt.
• It may have occurred during the 13th century BC, as the pharaoh of that time, Ramesses II, is commonly considered to be the pharaoh with whom Moses squabbled — either as the 'Pharaoh of the Exodus' himself, or the preceding 'Pharaoh of the Oppression', who is said to have commissioned the Hebrews to "(build) for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. Pithom (פתם also called Per-Atum or Heroöpolis or Heroonopolis ( Greek: or, Strabo xvi Avaris ( Egyptian: ħt wʕrt Hatwaret, Greek: αυαρις Auaris) located at Tell ed-Dab'a, was the ancient capital of the " These cities are known to have been built under both Seti I and Rameses II, thus possibly making his successor Merneptah the 'Pharaoh of the Exodus. Menmaatre Seti I (also called Sethos I after the Greeks) was a Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt ( Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt) the son of Ramesses Merneptah (or Merenptah) was the fourth ruler of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt. ' This is considered plausible by those who view the famous claim of the Year 5 Merneptah Stele (ca. The Merneptah Stele (also known as the Israel Stele or Victory Stele of Merneptah) is the reverse of a large granite stele originally erected by the 1208 BC) that "Israel is wasted, bare of seed," as propaganda to cover up this king's own loss of an army in the Red Sea. Taken at face value, however, the primary intent of the stela was clearly to commemorate Merneptah's victory over the Libyans and their Sea People allies. The reference to Canaan occurs only in the final lines of the document where Israel is mentioned after the city states of Ashkelon, Gezer and Yanoam perhaps to signal Merneptah's disdain or contempt for this new entity. In Exodus, the Pharaoh of the Exodus did not cross into Canaan since his Army was destroyed at the Red Sea. Hence, the traditional view that Ramesses II was the Pharaoh of either the Oppression or the Exodus is affirmed by the basic contents of the Merneptah Stele. The Merneptah Stele (also known as the Israel Stele or Victory Stele of Merneptah) is the reverse of a large granite stele originally erected by the Under this scenario, the Israelites would have been a nation without a state of their own who existed on the fringes of Canaan in Year 5 of Merneptah. This is suggested by the determinative sign written in the stela for Israel — "a throw stick plus a man and a woman over the three vertical plural lines" — which was "typically used by the Egyptians to signify nomadic groups or peoples without a fixed city-state,"^[80] such as the Hebrew's previous life in Goshen. The Land of Goshen ( Hebrew: גֹּשֶׁן, Tiberian: ɡoːʃɛn is a place-name mentioned in the biblical story of Joseph. A more remote and unverified possibility is that the line "wasted, bare of seed" refers to the time when the infants of Israel are said to have been thrown into the Nile when Moses was born.
• An unverified theory places the birth and/or adoption of Moses during a minor oppression in the reign of Amenhotep III, which was soon lifted, and claims that the more well-known oppression occurred during the reign of Horemheb, followed by the Exodus itself during the reign of Ramesses I. Horemheb was the last Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt 's 18th Dynasty from 1319 BC to late 1292 BC Menpehtyre Ramesses I (traditional English Ramesses or Ramses) was the founding Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt 's 19th dynasty. This is supported by the Haggadah of Pesach, which suggests that they were oppressed and then re-oppressed quite a few years later by Pharaoh. The Haggadah (הגדה is a Jewish religious text that sets out the order of the Passover Seder. The Bible and Haggada suggest that the Pharaoh of the Exodus died in year 2 of his reign, matching Ramses I. The fact that Pi-Tum and Raamses were built during the reign of Ramses I also supports this view. Pithom (פתם also called Per-Atum or Heroöpolis or Heroonopolis ( Greek: or, Strabo xvi Avaris ( Egyptian: ħt wʕrt Hatwaret, Greek: αυαρις Auaris) located at Tell ed-Dab'a, was the ancient capital of the Seti I records that during his reign the Shasu warred with each other, which some see as a reference to the Midyan and Moab wars. Moab (; Greek Μωάβ; Arabic مؤاب, Assyrian Mu'aba, Ma'ba, Ma'ab; Egyptian Seti's campaigns with the Shasu have also been compared with Balaam's exploits. ^[81] However, many Egyptologists reject these comparisons as spurious.
• A more recent and non-Biblical view places Moses as a noble in the court of the Pharaoh Akhenaten (See below). Akhenaten (often alt: Akhnaten, or rarely Ikhnaton) (In English ˌɑkəˡnɑtən or approximately "AHK-en-AHT-en" his royal name Amenhotep A significant number of scholars, from Sigmund Freud to Joseph Campbell, suggest that Moses may have fled Egypt after Akhenaten's death (ca. Sigmund Freud (ˈziːkmʊnt ˈfʁɔʏt born Sigismund Shlomo Freud (May 6 1856 &ndash September 23 1939 was an Austrian Psychiatrist who founded Joseph John Campbell ( March 26, 1904 – October 30, 1987) was an American Mythology Professor, Writer 1334 BC) when many of the pharaoh's monotheistic reforms were being violently reversed. The principal ideas behind this theory are: the monotheistic religion of Akhenaten being a possible predecessor to Moses' monotheism, and the "Amarna letters", written by nobles to Akhenaten, which describe raiding bands of "Habiru" attacking the Egyptian territories in Mesopotamia. The Amarna letters (sometimes "Amarna correspondence" or "Amarna tablets" are an archive of correspondence on Clay tablets mostly diplomatic Habiru (Ha biru or Apiru or prw (Egyptianwas the name given by various Sumerian Egyptian, Akkadian Hittite, Mitanni Mesopotamia (from the Greek meaning "land between the rivers" is an area geographically located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers largely corresponding ^[82]
• David Rohl, a British historian and archaeologist, author of the book "A Test of Time", places the birth of Moses during the reign of Pharaoh Khaneferre Sobekhotep IV of the 13th Egyptian Dynasty, and the Exodus during the reign of Pharaoh Dudimose (accession to the throne around 1457–1444), when according to Manetho "a blast from God smote the Egyptians".

Challenges to his historicity

• There is also the suggestion that Moses was not a real historical figure and that the Exodus did not occur at all. Some archaeologists have claimed that surveys of ancient settlements in Sinai do not appear to show a great influx of people around the time of the Exodus (given variously as between 1500–1200 BC), as would be expected from the arrival of Joshua and the Israelites in Canaan. This suggests that the biblical Exodus may not be a literal depiction;^[83]. Archaeologists such as Israel Finkelstein, Ze'ev Herzog and William G. Dever, regard the Exodus as non-historical, at best containing a small germ of truth. Israel Finkelstein is an Israeli archaeologist and academic. He is currently the Jacob M Ze’ev Herzog (born 1941 is an Israeli Archeologist, professor of archaeology at The Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures at Tel Aviv University William G Dever is an American Archaeologist, specialising in the history of Israel and the Near East in Biblical times who was Professor of Near Eastern According to Prof. Ze'ev Herzog, Director of the Institute of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University "This is what archaeologists have learned from their excavations in the Land of Israel: the Israelites were never in Egypt, did not wander in the desert, did not conquer the land in a military campaign and did not pass it on to the 12 tribes of Israel. Ze’ev Herzog (born 1941 is an Israeli Archeologist, professor of archaeology at The Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures at Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU אוניברסיטת תל־אביב את"א is Israel 's largest on-site University, located in Tel Aviv. . . . The many Egyptian documents that we have make no mention of the Israelites' presence in Egypt and are also silent about the events of the exodus. ^[84]

• In his book, The Bible Unearthed, Finkelstein points to the appearance of settlements in the central hill country around 1200, recognized by most archaeologists as the earliest settlements of the Israelites. The Bible Unearthed, subtitled Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts is a 2001 book about the archaeology of ancient ^[85] Using evidence from earlier periods, he shows a cyclical pattern to these highland settlements, corresponding to the state of the surrounding cultures. Finkelstein suggests that the local Canaanites would adapt their way of living from an agricultural lifestyle to a nomadic one and vice versa. When Egyptian rule collapsed after the invasion of the Sea Peoples, the central hill country could no longer sustain a large nomadic population, so they went from nomadism to sedentism. The Sea Peoples is the term used for a confederacy of seafaring raiders of the second millennium BC who sailed into the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, caused political In evolutionary anthropology and archaeology, sedentism (sometimes denominated sedentariness is a term applied to the transition from Nomadic to permanent year-round ^[86] Dever agrees with the Canaanite origin of the Israelites but allows for the possibility of a Semitic tribe coming from Egyptian servitude among the early hilltop settlers and that Moses or a Moses-like figure may have existed in Transjordan ca 1250-1200. ^[87]

• Biblical minimalists, such as Philip Davies, Niels Peter Lemche and Thomas L. Thompson, regard the Exodus as ahistorical. The Copenhagen School of Biblical Studies also known as The Minimalist School is a school of biblical Exegesis, developing out of Higher Criticism Thomas L Thompson (born Jan 7, 1939 in Detroit Michigan) is a biblical theologian who lives in Denmark and is now a Danish citizen Hector Avalos, in "The End of Biblical Studies," states that an Exodus, as related in the Bible, is an idea that most biblical historians no longer support.

In Freud's historical psychoanalysis

There is also a psychoanalytical interpretation of Moses' life, put forward by Sigmund Freud in his last book, Moses and Monotheism, in 1937. Psychoanalysis is a body of ideas developed by Austrian physician Sigmund Freud and his followers which is devoted to the study of human psychological functioning and behavior Sigmund Freud (ˈziːkmʊnt ˈfʁɔʏt born Sigismund Shlomo Freud (May 6 1856 &ndash September 23 1939 was an Austrian Psychiatrist who founded Moses and Monotheism is a book by Sigmund Freud. It was first published in 1939. Freud postulated that Moses was an Egyptian nobleman who adhered to the monotheism of Akhenaten. Akhenaten (often alt: Akhnaten, or rarely Ikhnaton) (In English ˌɑkəˡnɑtən or approximately "AHK-en-AHT-en" his royal name Amenhotep Freud, a committed atheist, also believed that Moses was murdered in the wilderness, producing a collective sense of patricidal guilt that has been at the heart of Judaism ever since. Atheism "Judaism had been a religion of the father, Christianity became a religion of the son", he wrote. The possible Egyptian origin of Moses and of his message has received significant scholarly attention. ^[88] Opponents of this view observe that the religion of the Torah seems different to Atenism in everything except the central feature of devotion to a single god,^[89] although this has been countered by a variety of arguments, e. Atenism (or the Amarna heresy) is the earliest known if not well-documented Monotheistic religion associated above all with the eighteenth dynasty g. pointing out the similarities between the Hymn to Aten and Psalm 104. The Great Hymn to the Aten was found in the tomb of Ay, in the rock tombs at Amarna. Psalm 104 ( Greek numbering Psalm 103) is a Poem from the Book of Psalms in the Bible. ^[90][91] Freud's interpretation of the historical Moses is not a prominent theory among historians, and is considered pseudohistory by most. See also History An historian is an individual who studies and writes about History, and is regarded as an Authority on it Pseudohistory is a term applied to texts which purport to be historical in nature but which depart from standard historiographical conventions in a way which undermines

Criticism

Main article: Criticism of Moses

According to the Torah, Moses prescribed the death penalty for a huge range of offences, and for defeated enemies. According to the Torah, Moses prescribed the death penalty for a huge range of offences and for defeated enemies term " Torah " ( Hebrew: תּוֹרָה "teaching" or "instruction" sometimes translated as "Law" most commonly refers to As he is considered a holy figure, however, by Jews, Christians and Muslims, most criticism of his life and teachings has been left to others. PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth A Muslim (مسلم pronounced Muslim, not Muzlim) is an adherent of the Religion

In the late eighteenth century, for example, the deist Thomas Paine commented at length on Moses' Laws in The Age of Reason, and gave his view that "the character of Moses, as stated in the Bible, is the most horrid that can be imagined". Deism is the belief that a supreme God exists and created the physical universe and that religious truths can be arrived at by the application of reason alone without dependence on revelation Thomas Paine (January 29 1737 &ndash June 8 1809 was an English Pamphleteer, Revolutionary, radical, Inventor, and Intellectual The Age of Reason Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology, a Deistic treatise written by eighteenth-century British radical and American ^[92] giving the story at Numbers 31:13-18 as an example. In the nineteenth century the agnostic Robert G. Ingersoll wrote " . Agnosticism ( Greek: α- a-, without + γνώσις gnōsis, knowledge after Gnosticism) is the philosophical view that the Colonel Robert Green Ingersoll ( August 11, 1833 &ndash July 21, 1899) was a Civil War veteran American political leader . . that all the ignorant, infamous, heartless, hideous things recorded in the 'inspired' Pentateuch are not the words of God, but simply 'Some Mistakes of Moses'". ^[93] More recently the atheist Richard Dawkins referring, like Paine, to the incident at Numbers 31:13-18, concluded drily "No, Moses was not a great role model for modern moralists. Atheism Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL (born 26 March 1941 is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist, and Popular science ^[94]

Depictions

Moses is depicted in several U. S. government buildings because of his legacy as a lawgiver. Moses is one of the 23 lawgivers depicted in marble bas-reliefs in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives in the United States Capitol. Marble is a nonfoliated Metamorphic rock resulting from the Metamorphism of Limestone, composed mostly of Calcite (a crystalline form of A bas-relief (baʁəljɛf in French; French for "low relief" derived from the Italian basso rilievo) or low relief is a Sculpture The United States House of Representatives is one of the two chambers of the United States Congress; the other is the Senate. ^[95] An image of Moses holding two tablets written in Hebrew representing the Ten Commandments (and a partially visible list of commandments six through ten, the more "secular" commandments, behind his beard) is depicted on the frieze on the south wall of the U.S. Supreme Court building. In Architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an Entablature and may be plain or &ndash in the Ionic or Corinthian order &ndash The Supreme Court building is the seat of the Supreme Court of the United States. ^[96]

Horned Moses

Exodus 34:29-35 tells that after meeting with God the skin of Moses' face became radiant, frightening the Israelites and leading Moses to wear a veil. Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni Two biographies were published of him during his lifetime One of them by Giorgio Vasari, proposed that he was the pinnacle of all Jonathan Kirsch, in his book Moses: A Life, thought that, since he subsequently had to wear a veil to hide it, Moses' face was disfigured by a sort of "divine radiation burn". Jonathan Kirsch is a Biblical scholar an attorney and columnist for the Los Angeles Times.

This passage has led to one longstanding tradition that Moses grew horns. A horn is a pointed projection of the Skin on the head of various Mammals consisting of a covering of horn ( Keratin and other Proteins This is derived from a misinterpretation of the Hebrew phrase karan `ohr panav (קָרַן עֹור פָּנָיו). The root קרן Q-R-N (qoph, resh, nun) may be read as either "horn" or "ray of light", depending on vocalization. In the terminology used to discuss the grammar of the Semitic languages and some other Afro-Asiatic languages, a triliteral ( Arabic: جذر ثلاثي Qoph or Qop (In modern Hebrew Kuf, Arabic Qāf) is the nineteenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic for the town in Nepal see Resh Nepal Resh is the twentieth letter of many Semitic alphabets, including Phoenician Nun is the fourteenth letter of many Semitic Abjads including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic alphabet ar ن (in `Ohr panahv (עֹור פָּנָיו) translates to "the skin of his face". ^[97]

Interpreted correctly, these two words form an expression meaning that Moses was enlightened, that "the skin of his face shone" (as with a gloriole), as the KJV has it. A halo (ἅλως also known as a nimbus, Aureole, glory, or gloriole) is a ring of light that surrounds a person in art ^[97]

The Septuagint properly translates the Hebrew phrase as δεδόξασται ἡ ὄψις, "his face was glorified"; but Jerome translated the phrase into Latin as cornuta esset facies sua "his face was horned". The Septuagint (ˈsɛptuədʒɪnt or simply " LXX " is the Koine Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, translated in stages between the Jerome (c 347 – September 30, 420) ( Latin: Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. ^[97]

With apparent Biblical authority, and the added convenience of giving Moses a unique and easily identifiable visual attribute (something the other Old Testament prophets notably lacked), it remained standard in Western art to depict Moses with small horns until well after the mistranslation was realized by the Renaissance. An emblem is a pictorial Image, abstract or representational that epitomizes a Concept — e The Renaissance (from French Renaissance, meaning "rebirth" Italian: Rinascimento, from re- "again" and nascere Michelangelo's Moses, is probably the best-known example. The Moses is a Marble sculpture by Michelangelo Buonarroti 1513-1515 which depicts the Biblical figure Moses.

Not all the Renaissance Italian painters gave horns to Moses. The Venetian artist Tintoretto depicts Moses' face as radiating light, in his series about the life of the prophet in the San Rocco, Venice. The Chiesa di San Rocco (Church of St Roch) in Venice was built between 1489 and 1508 by Bartolomeo Bon the Younger, but was substantially

Popular artist renditions of saints include radiant light behind the head, halo, or over the crown of the head. A halo (ἅλως also known as a nimbus, Aureole, glory, or gloriole) is a ring of light that surrounds a person in art Other traditions outside of religion include an aura to show an element of the supernatural, or possible energy field of the body. In Parapsychology and many forms of spiritual practice an aura is a field of subtle luminous radiation surrounding a person or object like the Halo or

Portrayals in popular culture

Dramatic portrayals

• Moses appears as the central character in the 1956 Cecil B. DeMille movie, The Ten Commandments. Cecil Blount DeMille ( August 12, 1881 – January 21, 1959) was an Academy Award -winning American Film director The Ten Commandments is a 1956 motion picture that Dramatized the Biblical story of Moses, an adopted Egyptian He is portrayed by Charlton Heston. Charlton Heston (born John Charles Carter; October 4 1923 &ndash April 5 2008) was an American Actor of ^[98] A Ten Commandments television remake was produced in 2006. The Ten Commandments is a Miniseries that dramatizes the biblical story of Moses.
  

  Moses as depicted in South Park episode Jewbilee. " Jewbilee " is the third and final part of the Meteor Shower Story arc and the 40th episode of Comedy Central 's animated series South

Parodies

• Moses appears as the central character in the 1998 DreamWorks Pictures animated movie, The Prince of Egypt. DreamWorks LLC, also known as DreamWorks Pictures, DreamWorks SKG, or DreamWorks Studios, is a major American Film studio The Prince of Egypt is a 1998 American Animated film, the first traditionally animated film produced and released by DreamWorks He is voiced by Val Kilmer. Val Edward Kilmer (born December 31, 1959) is an American Actor. ^[99]
• In the 1981 film History of the World, Part I, Moses is portrayed by Mel Brooks. History of the World Part I is a 1981 Film written produced and directed by Mel Brooks. Mel Brooks (born Melvin Kaminsky; June 28, 1926) is an American director, Writer, Composer, Lyricist ^[100]
• Ben Kingsley portrayed Moses in the 1995 TV movie Moses. Sir Ben Kingsley, CBE (born 31 December, 1943) is an English Actor.
• The webcomic Jesus and Mo occasionally features a character called Moses. Webcomics, online comics, or Internet comics are Comics Published on a Website, often exclusively providing easy access to an Jesus and Mo is a British Webcomic created by an artist using the Pseudonym Mohammed Jones.
• Moses appears in the form of the Master Control Program from Tron in Season 3 Episode 9 of the cartoon series South Park, which first aired on 07/28/1999 in the US. South Park is an animated American television comedy series created and written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for Comedy Central The United States of America —commonly referred to as the

See also

• Moses in rabbinic literature
• Torah
• The Exodus
• Aaron
• Joshua
• List of Biblical names
• List of founders of religious traditions
• Prophets of Islam
• Passage of the Red Sea
• Ipuwer Papyrus
• Seventh of Adar
• Mosaic authorship
• Table of prophets of Abrahamic religions
• Category:Moses
• Articles on Biblical books involving Moses: Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
• Articles on Weekly Torah portions involving Moses: Va'eira, Bo, Beshalach, Yitro, Mishpatim, Terumah, Tetzaveh, Ki Tisa, Vayakhel, Pekudei, Tzav, Shemini, Tazria, Metzora, Acharei, Kedoshim, Emor, Behar, Bechukotai, Book of Numbers, Naso, Behaalotecha, Shlach, Korach, Chukat, Balak, Phinehas, Matot, Masei, Deuteronomy, Va'etchanan, Eikev, Re'eh, Shoftim, Ki Teitzei, Ki Tavo, Nitzavim, Vayelech, Haazinu, V'Zot HaBerachah

Notes

Further reading

• Asch, Sholem. Sholem Asch born Szulim Asz (שלום אש also written Shalom Asch (1 November 1880 Kutno - July 10 1957 London was a Polish -born American Moses. New York: Putnam, 1958. ISBN 0742691373
• Assmann, Jan. Jan Assmann (born July 7, 1938) is a German Egyptologist who was born in Langelsheim. Moses the Egyptian: The Memory of Egypt in Western Monotheism. Harvard University Press, 1997. ISBN 0-674-58738-3.
• Barzel, Hillel. "Moses: Tragedy and Sublimity. " In Literary Interpretations of Biblical Narratives. Edited by Kenneth R. R. Gros Louis, with James S. Ackerman & Thayer S. Warshaw, 120–40. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1974. ISBN 0-687-22131-5.
• Buber, Martin. Martin Buber ( 8 February 1878 – 13 June 1965) was an Austrian Israeli Jewish Philosopher, translator Moses: The Revelation and the Covenant. New York: Harper, 1958.
• Card, Orson Scott. Orson Scott Card (born August 24, 1951) is a bestselling American Author, Critic, political writer and speaker. Stone Tables. Deseret Book Co. , 1998. ISBN 1-57345-115-0.
• Chasidah, Yishai, Encyclopaedia of Biblical personalities: anthologized from the Talmud, Midrash and rabbinic writings, Shaar Press, Brooklyn, 2000
• Cohen, Joel. Moses: A Memoir. Mahwah, N. J. : Paulist Press, 2003. ISBN 0-8091-0558-6.
• Daiches, David. David Daiches ( September 2 1912 – July 15 2005) was a Scottish literary historian and Literary critic Moses: The Man and his Vision. New York: Praeger, 1975. ISBN 0-275-33740-5.
• Fast, Howard. Howard Melvin Fast (11 November 1914 New York City - 12 March 2003 Old Greenwich, Connecticut) was a Jewish American Novelist and Moses, Prince of Egypt. New York: Crown Pubs. , 1958.
• Freud, Sigmund. Sigmund Freud (ˈziːkmʊnt ˈfʁɔʏt born Sigismund Shlomo Freud (May 6 1856 &ndash September 23 1939 was an Austrian Psychiatrist who founded Moses and Monotheism. New York: Vintage, 1967. ISBN 0-394-70014-7.
• Gjerman, Corey. Moses: The Father I Never Knew. Portland: Biblical Fantasticals, 2007. ISBN 978-1424171132.
• Halter, Marek. Marek Halter is a French-Jewish Novelist He was born in Poland in 1936 Zipporah, Wife of Moses. New York: Crown, 2005. ISBN 1400052793.
• Ingraham, J. H.. Joseph Holt Ingraham (born January 26, 1809 in Portland, Maine; died December 18, 1860 in Holly Springs, The Pillar of Fire: Or Israel in Bondage. New York: A. L. Burt, 1859. Reprinted Ann Arbor, Mich. : Scholarly Publishing Office, University of Michigan Library, 2006. ISBN 1425564917.
• Kirsch, Jonathan. Jonathan Kirsch is a Biblical scholar an attorney and columnist for the Los Angeles Times. Moses: A Life. New York: Ballantine, 1998. ISBN 0-345-41269-9.
• Kohn, Rebecca. Seven Days to the Sea: An Epic Novel of the Exodus. New York: Rugged Land, 2006. ISBN 1-59071-049-5.
• Lehman, S. M. , rabbi Dr. , (translator), Freedman, H. , rabbi Dr. , (ed. ), Midrash Rabbah, 10 volumes, The Soncino Press, London, 1983
• Mann, Thomas. Paul Thomas Mann ( June "Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me. " In The Ten Commandments, 3–70. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1943.
• Southon, Arthur E. On Eagles' Wings. London: Cassell and Co. , 1937. Reprinted New York: McGraw-Hill, 1954.
• Wiesel, Elie. Elie Wiesel (born Eliezer Wiesel on September 30 1928 in Sighetu Marmaţiei, Romania) is a Jewish writer professor political activist “Moses: Portrait of a Leader. ” In Messengers of God: Biblical Portraits & Legends, 174–210. New York: Random House, 1976. ISBN 0-394-49740-6.
• Wildavsky, Aaron. Aaron Wildavsky ( 31 May[[ 930]] - 4 September[[ 993]] was an American political scientist known for his pioneering work in Public policy Moses as Political Leader. Jerusalem: Shalem Press, 2005. ISBN 965-7052-31-9.
• Wilson, Dorothy Clarke. Dorothy Clarke Wilson (1904-2003 was an American author and playwright Prince of Egypt. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1949

External links

• Prof. E.Anati: Archaeological discoveries at Har Karkom
• BBC: Presents a theory of a volcanic eruption causing phenomena similar to those described in Exodus
• The Geography, Book XVI, Chapter II The entire context of the cited chapter of Strabo's work

Moses Levite
Preceded by NA	Judge of Israel	Succeeded by Joshua

Persondata
NAME	Moses
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	موسى (Arabic); מֹשֶׁה (Hebrew);
SHORT DESCRIPTION	prophet
DATE OF BIRTH
PLACE OF BIRTH	Egypt
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH	Mount Nebo

In the Jewish tradition a Levite ( is a member of the Hebrew tribe of Levi. Biblical judges ( Hebrew: shoftim שופטים were leaders of the Israelites, which included the judicial and military roles Joshua, Jehoshuah, or Yehoshua ( 'יְהוֹשֻׁעַ, Tiberian: jə

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