Moses

Moses
Biographical
Parents	Amram Jochebed
Offspring	Gershom Eliezer
Social
Social class	Royal Peasant (later) Priest
Occupation	Prince Shepherd Israelite Theocratic Leader Lawgiver Prophet
Nationality	Egyptian Midianite Israelite
Ethnicity	Hebrew
Religion	Yahwism
Race	Semite

Moses (meaning "drawn out") was a Hebrew-born "Egyptian" who was chosen by God to be the deliverer of Israel out of Egyptian oppression. Moses was also the agent of God, that organized Israel to be an independent people, governed by the ceremonial law and beliefs of Yahwism. God guided Moses in writing the first five books of the Bible- Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy -- known historically as the Torah, but commonly as the Pentateuch.

Biography

Early life

Hidden in Egypt

Moses was the third child of Amram and his wife Jochebed, both of the tribe of Levi in Egypt, after the Israelites had become enslaved by the Egyptians, because Egyptian government feared the growing Hebrew population would eventually overtake them. The hard labor, however, had not kept the Hebrew population from growing rapidly. This lead to the Egyptian government ordering all newborn Hebrew males to be drowned in the Nile.

This task had been left to the Hebrew midwives, of whom at least two explained that women were having the babies without calling them and subsequently hiding them, as did Amram and Jochebed. The child had been extraordinarily beautiful, and was hidden for three months.

Adopted by the royal family

But when his parents were no longer able to keep Moses hidden, a plan was devised to save him from drowning in the Nile: they constructed a waterproof basket to bear his safely among the reeds near where the Pharoah's daughter regularly bathed . His sister Miriam stood guard, awaiting her opportunity to secure her baby brother's safety.

As expected, the Princess saw the basket floating along the bank and sent a slave to get it. When the basket was opened, the baby's crying moved the Princess to feel sorry for him, even though he was obviously a Hebrew boy. Miriam respectfully approached the princess and asked if she could get a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby for her. When the Princess agreed, the child's sister went back home to get their mother.

The Princess accepted the services of the willing Hebrew slave, even offering just compensation. In this way, Jochebed was able to bond to her son for several years. After the child was weaned, he was taken to be the Princess' son, being named Moses since he was "drawn out of the water".

In this way, Moses was brought up as the son of the Princess, receiving the best education Egypt could provide in both skills and knowledge. Being trained to be a leader from a very early age, he proved to be skilled in all areas: including the ability to write.

Fleeing to Midian

Abandoning Egypt

When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit the people of his ethnic heritage, the Hebrews, who were under hard labor. While visiting, Moses saw a Hebrew being beaten by an Egyptian, and after making sure no one would see, intervened and killed the assailant, burying him in the sand. When doing this, he had shown great faith, in no longer being known as the Princess's child, thinking that his people would realize God was using him to save the Hebrew that was beaten. In this was choosing to be aiding to his fellow Hebrews, over the riches of Egypt for God's sake.

The next day, Moses tried to peaceably mediate a fight between two Hebrew men, but one of them asked Moses if he was going to kill him like he did the Egyptian. Realizing that his killing of the Egyptian had been made known, and that the Pharaoh would want him dead, Moses fled to the land of Midian. Here he became a shepherd for the priest Jethro,who gave his daughter Zipporah to him as a wife. Moses had two sons, Gershom and Eliezer, through Zipporah.

Forty years later, as Moses was tending sheep, he saw a burning bush on a mountain that surprisingly wasn't consumed in the flames. As he went to investigate, God called out to Moses and told him to take off his sandals, for he was standing on holy ground. He then told Moses that He has heard the cries of His people in Egypt and is now going to send Moses back there to deliver them. Moses felt rather unsure that he was qualified for the task and that the people would even listen to him. God enabled Moses to perform some miraculous signs with His power as proof, and also sent Aaron to meet with him so that he would be Moses' spokesperson. Moses went back to Egypt with his wife and children, but on the way the Lord met Moses to kill him until Zipporah performed a circumcision on his child and called him "a bloody husband". It is at that point most likely when Moses sent Zipporah back to Midian.

In Egypt, after convincing the people of Israel through the signs that God has sent him as their deliverer, Moses spoke to the Pharaoh to let his people go into the wilderness to worship the Lord. God hardened the Pharoah's heart and the Pharoah refused to let them go, instead choosing to punish them by not letting them be given anymore straw but rather to go find straw for themselves while making the same amount of bricks as before. This made the people of Israel angry with Moses, but God told Moses that now He's going to show the people His power.