The Life Of Moses Essay Research Paper

The Life of Moses

The Bible is a compilation of historical occurrences that have been documented to confirm all of God’s miraculous works. God has performed many miracles in the Bible. They were not only performed that his people may believe, but they were performed for the well being of his people and as a means of his people’s redemption. In the Bible, God also appointed many people to deliver his message and to do his works. The people whom God had chosen were not always the people man had said was fit to do his work. Most of the time God chose the one no one would think would amount to anything, and lifted them up to his people to bring forth his miracles, to deliver his word, and to perform his works. God works in mysterious ways, but in the life of Moses, he not only worked mysteriously, but also miraculously.

The birth of Moses was the first of the many miraculous events he would have experienced throughout the duration of his life because he should have been killed according to demands of Pharaoh. The king of Egypt ordered the midwives (caretakers) of the Hebrew women to kill all baby boys, and let all the baby girls live. He wanted the baby boys to be killed because he knew that the one that would be responsible for his demise was in the midst of that new breed of the Hebrew males. Pharaoh wasn’t worried about birth of the female, Hebrew child because he knew that she was no threat to the throne, but he was well aware that his throne was in jeopardy if he allowed the male, Hebrew child to live. Pharaoh ordered his people, “Every boy that is born to the Hebrews, you shall throw into the Nile but you shall let every girl live.”(Exodus 1:22) Even though the king ordered the midwives to kill the male babies, they did not kill them because they feared the Lord, and they knew that a great leader was soon to be born.

Moses was conceived from a man from the house of Levi and a Levite woman. After Moses was conceived, she hid him for a period of about three months, until she could not hide him anymore. Once she couldn’t hide him anymore, she obeyed the Lord and prepared a basket for the baby child. She then placed the child in the basket, and placed the basket among the reeds on the bank of the river, as her sister watched it flow down the stream. Then Pharaoh’s daughter discovered the baby boy, well hidden in the basket as she was taking a bathe in the river. She then ordered her servant to fetch the basket to see what was in it, and when she realized that it was a Hebrew child, she took pity on it, and told her servant to get a Hebrew nurse and tell her to care for the child for her. When the child grew up, she took him in as her own son and named him Moses, because she said, “I drew him out of the water.”(Exodus 2:10)

Moses was raised as a member of the Egyptian court until he was exiled for the killing of another court official. Moses experiences different events that adumbrate his future destination. Moses intervenes into a conflict situation between an Egyptian and a Hebrew, and in his Hebrew brother’s defense, he killed the Egyptian with the idea that knows one had seen him do it. Moses then encounters a situation between two Hebrew men, and Moses questions them asking why are they fighting? To his astonishment one of the men replied sarcastically, “ Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Once Moses heard him say that, he feared for his life because he realized that there were witnesses of the murder of the Egyptian. Moses then hears that Pharaoh is out to kill him and he flees Pharaoh and seeks the land of Midian. Moses meets a group of seven women, which were the daughters of the Priest of Midian. The women tell their father how Moses helped them against the shepherds who had driven away their father’s flock, and how Moses had drew water from the well for them. The father was truly grateful for Moses’ deeds, and in return, he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah’s hand in marriage, and they bore a child named Gershom.

Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, and as he led his flock, he departed from the wilderness, and stumbled upon a burning bush. To his surprise, the bush was burning, but the fire wasn’t consuming the bush. It was the Angel of the Lord speaking to Moses, and at this point, Moses receives his calling. The Lord tells him not to come any closer, and to remove his sandals because the ground in which he is standing on is holy ground. In this account the Lord explains to Moses that he has been chosen to deliver the Israelites out of the hands of the Egyptian king and his men, and deliver the Israelites into the land flowing with milk and honey.

As Moses begins his journey into Egypt, he questions the Lord, how is he going to convince the people that he is sent from the Lord to deliver them out of the hands of Pharaoh. The Lord tells him that he will work miracles such as his staff turning into a snake and changing it back, make his hand become leprous and healing it, and getting water and causing it to become blood. Then Moses asks the Lord how is he going to speak to the people, considering that he is not as eloquent a speaker as his brother Aaron. His brother then is appointed to Moses to be his voice to the people, and they proceed to Egypt to deliver the Israelites. Then Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, Let my people go, so that they may celebrate a festival to me in the wilderness.”(Exodus 5:1) Pharaoh does not adhere to the demands of the Lord, and questions God, “Who is God that I should let Israel go?”(Exodus 5:2) As a result of Pharaoh’s disobedience, he and his people undergo a season of several plagues.

Theses plagues showed God’s wrath upon Pharaoh because of his disobedience dealing with letting the Israelites go.

The Israelites were able to avoid the plague of the death of the first born because the Lord spoke through Moses and Aaron. The Israelites were told that they must keep a year-old male lamb until the fourteenth day of that month, and that the entire congregation of Israel shall slaughter the lamb at twilight. They were also told that they must take some of the blood from the lamb and on the two doorposts and the lintels of the house in which they ate of the lamb. The Israelites were protected from the last plague, and the last plague is what made Pharaoh finally give in and let God’s people go. Then Moses gathered the Israelites and they began on their journey to the promise land. A cloud led them by day and a pillar of fire by night. Once Pharaoh realized that the Moses and the Israelites had fled Egypt, he summoned his men and went after them. Pharaoh’s army was nearby, and they Israelites began to fear for their lives because there was nowhere to turn, and nowhere to hide. But Moses told his people not to be afraid and to stand firm as the Lord saves them out of the hands of the enemy. Then the Lord told Moses to tell the Israelites to move forward and to lift up his staff and stretch his hand towards the sea, and as he did, the sea parted and the Israelites were able to pass. Then the Lord spoke unto Moses to stretch his hand over the waters again to make the waters recede to devour Pharaoh and his army.

Now in this new land, the journey the Israelites made was intended to be forty days and forty nights, but because of the complaining and their ungratefulness of all of what God had delivered them from, their journey lasted for forty years. The encountered the army of Amelek, and God also delivered them from the army of Amelek.

They made false images and began to worship them, they complained about the food they ate, and despite the many miracles God manifested for them, they still remained ungrateful. The Lord proclaimed the Ten Commandments through Moses and Aaron that were forbidden to be broken. These commandments were God’s Law and they were established so that the people were aware of what was wrong so that they would not sin.

The people of Israel had favor with God, and despite what the Lord did for them, they were ungrateful. The Lord delivered them from danger on two accounts. Once from the Egyptians, and once from the Amelek’s army. The complained for food, and the Lord blessed them with manna from heaven, and when they complain about that, the Lord blessed them with quail to eat. Moses finally gets fed up with the behavior of the Israelites, and smites the rock in which Lord commanded him to tap in order to give the people water to drink, and in doing so, he misses his blessing of the promise land. At this time period, Moses is of old age, but before his death, the Lord appoints Joshua to be Moses’ successor. Before Moses dies, the Lord tells him that he shall dies on the mountain that he ascended and that he shall be gathered to his kin as his brother Aaron did on Mount Hor and was gathered to his kin. The Lord allowed him to see the promise land, but told him that he would never be able to enter because he broke his faith with the Lord among the Israelites. Then the Lord took Moses from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo to the top of Pisgah, and showed him the promise land saying, “This is the land which I swore Abraham, Isaac, and to Jacob, saying “I will give it to your descendants; I have let you see it with your own eyes, but you shall not cross over there.” (Deuteronomy 34:1-4) Then Moses, the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, at the Lord’s command.