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 Encyclopedia
Judaica 2nd Edition
An essential source of information on
Jewish life, culture, history, and
religion.
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MOSES.
(print this article)
By : Joseph Jacobs George A. Barton
Wilhelm Bacher Jacob Zallel Lauterbach
Crawford Howell Toy Kaufmann Kohler
Part I:
In the Wilderness
Part II
Moses and
Israel
In the Tabernacle
Personal Qualities
His Prophetic Powers
Can Not Enter the Promised Land
Moses Strikes the Rock
At Aaron's Death
Death of Moses
Wishes to Avoid Death
Moses in the JahvistC
Critical
View:
Moses in the Elohist.
In the Priestly Code.
Moses and Sargon.
Name.
Founder of the Israelitish Nation.
In
Hellenistic Literature:
Moses' Preexistence.
Moses and Israel
Moses refused God's offer to make him the
ancestor of a great people (Ex. xxxii.
10), since he was afraid that it would be
said that the leader of Israel had sought
his own glory and advantage and not that
of the people. He, in fact, delivered
himself to death for the people (Ber.
l.c.). For love of the Israelites he went
so far as to count himself among the
sinners (comp. Isa. liii. 12), saying to
God: "This calf might be an assistant God
and help in ruling the world." When God
reproved him with having himself gone
astray and with believing in the golden
calf, he said: "Lord, why doth thy wrath
wax hot against thy people" (Ex. xxxii.
11; Num. R. ii. 14; Deut. R. i. 2). Moses
atoned for the sin of making the calf; he
even atoned for all the sins of humanity
down to his time, freeing men from their
burden of sin (Yalk, Ki Tissa, 388, from
the Tanna debe Eliyahu; this, as well as
the interpretation of Isa. liii. as
referring to Moses [Sotah 14a], must be
either ascribed to Christian influence or
regarded as a polemic against the
Christian interpretations referring to
Jesus). Moses loved the people (Men. 65a,
b), showing his affection on every
occasion. During the battle with Amalek he
sat on a stone, and not on a cushion which
he could easily have procured, because,
Israel being at that time in trouble, he
intended to show thereby that he suffered
with them (Ta'an. 11a). When he begged
God, before his death, to recall the oath
that he (Moses) should never enter
Palestine, God replied, "If I recall this
oath I will also recall the oath never to
destroy Israel," whereupon Moses said:
"Rather let Moses and a thousand like him
perish than that one of the people of
Israel should perish" (Midr. Petirat
Mosheh, in Jellinek, "B. H." i. 121).
Moses requested that the Shekinah might
rest in Israel only in order that Israel
might thereby be distinguished among all
peoples (Ber. 7a); that if they sinned and
were penitent, their intentional sins
might be regarded merely as trespasses (Yoma
36b); and that when Israel should suffer
under the yoke of the nations, God would
protect the pious and the saints of Israel
(B. B. 8a). All the injuries and slanders
heaped upon Moses by the people did not
lessen his love for them.
The words "They looked after Moses" (Ex.
xxxiii. 8) are differently interpreted.
According to one opinion the people
praised Moses, saying: "Hail to the mother
who has borne him; all the days of his
life God speaks with him; and he is
dedicated to the service of God."
According to another opinion they
repreached and reviled him: they accused
him of committing adultery with another
man's wife; and every man became jealous
and forbade his wife to speak to Moses.
They said: "See how fat and strong he has
grown; he eats and drinks what belongs to
the Jews, and everything that he has is
taken from the people. Shall a man who has
managed the building of the Tabernacle not
become rich?" (Sanh. 110a; kid. 33b; Ex.
R. li. 4; Shek. v. 13). Yet Moses was the
most conscientious of superintendents (Ber.
44a), and although he had been given sole
charge of the work, he always caused his
accounts to be examined by others (Ex. R.
li. 1). He was always among the workmen,
showing them how to do the work. |
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In the
Tabernacle
When everything was prepared Moses set
up the Tabernacle alone (Ex. R. lii. 3).
He fastened the ceiling of the tent over
it, as he was the only one able to do
so, being ten ells tall (Shab. 92a).
During the seven days of the dedication
he took the Tabernacle apart every day
and set it up again without any help.
When all was completed he gave a
detailed account of the various expenses
(Ex. R. li. 4). During the seven days of
the dedication, or, according to another
account, during the forty years of the
wandering in the desert, Moses
officiated as high priest. He was also
king during this entire period. When he
demanded these two offices for his
descendants God told him that the office
of king was destined for David and his
house, while the office of high priest
was reserved for Aaron and his
descendants (Ex. R. ii. 13; Lev. R. xi.
6; Zeb. 102a).
All the different cycles of legends
agree in saying that Moses was very
wealthy, probably on the basis of Num.
xvi. 15 (comp. Ned. 35a, where this
interpretation is regarded as
uncertain); they differ, however, as to
the source of his wealth. According to
one, he derived it from the presents and
treasures given to him by the Ethiopians
when they took the crown away from him
("D. Y." l.c.). According to another,
Jethro gave him a large sum of money as
dowry when he married Zipporah ("M. W."
l.c.). Still another story relates that
Moses received a large part of the booty
captured from Pharaoh and, later, from
Sihon and Og (Lev. R. xxviii. 4). In
contrast to these versions, according to
which Moses gained his wealth by natural
means, there are two other versions
according to which Moses became wealthy
by a miracle. One of these narratives
saysthat Moses became rich through the
breaking of the tables, which were made
of sapphires (Ned. 35a); and the other
that God showed him in his tent a pit
filled with these precious stones (Yalk.,
Ki Tissa, 39b).
Personal Qualities.
Moses was also distinguished for his
strength and beauty. He was, as stated
above, ten ells tall and very powerful.
In the battle against Og, Moses was the
only one able to kill that king (Ber.
54b; see Og in Rabbinical Literature).
His face was surrounded by a halo (comp.
Ex. xxxiv. 29-35); this was given to him
in reward for having hidden his face on
first meeting God in the burning bush (ib.
iii. 2-6; Ber. 7a), or he derived it
from the cave in the cleft of the rock
(comp. Ex. xxxiii. 22) or from the
tables, which he grasped while God was
holding one side and the angels the
other. Another legend says that a drop
of the marvelous ink with which he wrote
down the Torah remained on the pen; and
when he touched his head with the pen he
received his halo (Ex. R. xlvii. 11).
Moses was called the "father of wisdom"
on account of his great sagacity (Meg.
13a; Lev. R. i. 15). He possessed
forty-nine of the fifty divisions of
wisdom (R. H. 21b; Ned. 35a). The
question why the pious sometimes have
bad luck while the sinners are fortunate
was solved for him (Ber. 7a). He wished
to know also how good deeds are rewarded
in the future world, but this was not
revealed to him (Yalk., Ki Tissa, 395).
Piety was not burdensome to him (Ber.
33b). His prayers were immediately
answered (Gen. R. lx. 4). He was so
prominent a figure that his authority
was equal to that of an entire sanhedrin
of seventy-one members (Sanh. 16b), or
even of the whole of Israel (Mek,
Beshallah, Shir, 1 [ed. Weiss, p. 41a]).
His Prophetic Powers.
Aside from the Pentateuch, Moses wrote
also the Book of Job and some Psalms. He
also introduced many regulations and
institutions (Shab. 30a; comp. Ber. 54;
Ta'an. 27; Meg. 4; Yeb. 79; Mak. 24). On
account of the excellence of his
prophecy he is called "the father," "the
head," "the master," and "the chosen of
the Prophets" (Lev. R. i. 3; Esth. R. i.;
Ex. R. xxi. 4; Gen. R. lxxvi. 1). While
all the other prophets ceased to
prophesy after a time, Moses continued
to talk with God and to prophesy
throughout his life (Ex. R. ii. 12); and
while all the other prophets beheld
their visions as through nine spectacles
("espaklarya") or through dim ones,
Moses beheld his as through one clear,
finely ground glass (Yeb. 49b; Lev. R. i.
14). Balaam surpassed him in prophecy in
two respects: (1) Balaam always knew
when God was about to speak with him,
while Moses did not know beforehand when
God would speak with him; and (2) Balaam
could speak with God whenever he wished,
which Moses could not do. According to
another tradition (Num. R. xiv. 34),
however, Moses also could speak with God
as often as he wished. The fact that God
would speak with him unawares induced
Moses to give up domestic life, and to
live separated from his wife (Shab.
87a).
Can Not Enter the Promised Land.
Moses' modesty is illustrated by many
fine examples in the Haggadah (comp.
Num. xii. 3). When God pointed to R.
Akiba and his scholarship, Moses said:
"If Thou hast such a man, why dost Thou
reveal the Torah through me?" (Men. 29b;
see also Akiba). When Moses descended
from heaven Satan came to ask him where
the Torah was which God had given to
him. Moses said: "Who am I? Am I worthy
to receive the Torah from God?" When God
asked him why he denied that the Torah
had been given to him, he replied: "How
can I claim anything which belongs to
Thee and is Thy darling?" Then God said
to him: "As thou art so modest and
humble, the Torah shall be called after
thee, the 'Torah of Moses'" (Shab. 89a;
comp. Mal. iii. 22). Moses' modesty
never allowed him to put himself forward
(e.g., in liberating Israel, in dividing
the sea, and subsequently also in
connection with the Tabernacle) until
God said to him: "How long wilt thou
count thyself so lowly? The time is
ready for thee; thou art the man for it"
(Lev. R. i. 15). When Moses had made a
mistake, or had forgotten something, he
was not ashamed to admit it (Zeb. 101a).
In his prayers he always referred to the
merits of others, although everything
was granted to him on account of his own
merit (Ber. 10b). Whenever the cup is
handed to him during the banquet of the
pious in the other world, that he may
say grace over the meal, he declares: "I
am not worthy to say grace, as I have
not deserved to enter the land of
Israel" (Pes. 119b). The fact that
Moses, the foremost leader of Israel,
who ceaselessly prayed for it and
partook of its sorrows (Num. R. xviii.
5), and on whose account the manna was
showered down from heaven and the
protecting clouds and the marvelous well
returned after the death of Aaron and
Miriam (Ta'an. 9a), should not be
allowed to share in Israel's joys and
enter the promised land ("M. W." l.c.),
was a problem that puzzled the Haggadah,
for which it tried to find various
explanations. Moses was anxious to enter
the promised land solely because many of
the commandments given by God could be
observed only there, and he was desirous
of fulfilling all the commandments. God,
however, said that He looked upon Moses
as having fulfilled all the
commandments, and would therefore duly
reward him therefor (Sotah 14a). Moses
prayed in vain to be permitted to go
into the promised land if only for a
little while; for God had decreed that
he should not enter the country either
alive or dead. According to one opinion,
this decree was in punishment for the
words addressed by him to God:
"Wherefore hast thou so evil entreated
this people?" (Ex. v. 22; Ex. R. v. 27).
According to another version, this
punishment was inflicted upon him for
having once silently renounced his
nationality. When Moses had helped the
daughters of Jethro at the well, they
took him home, letting him wait outside
while they went into the house and told
their father that an Egyptian had
protected them (Ex. ii. 19). Moses, who
overheard this conversation, did not
correct them, concealing the fact that
he was a Hebrew ("M. W." l.c.). There is
still another explanation, to the effect
that it would not have redounded to the
glory of Moses if he who had led 600,000
persons out of Egypt had been the only
one to enter Palestine, while the entire
people were destinedto die in the desert
(comp. Num. xiv. 28-37). Again, Moses
had to die with the generation which he
took out of Egypt, in order that he
might be able to lead them again in the
future world (Num. R. xix. 6).
Moses Strikes the Rock
Denying all these reasons, another
explanation, based on Scripture, is that
Moses and Aaron were not permitted to
enter the promised land because they did
not have the proper confidence in God in
calling water from the rock (Num. xx.
12). Moses asked that this error should
be noted down in the Torah (Num. xx. 12)
in order that no other errors or faults
should be ascribed to him (Num. R.
l.c.). This story of his lack of true
confidence in God when calling forth the
water is elaborated with many details in
the legends.
Moses was careful not to provoke the
people during the forty years of
wandering in the desert, because God had
sworn that none of the generation which
had left Egypt should behold the
promised land (Deut. i. 35). When he
went to call forth the water he did not
know exactly from which rock it would
come. The people became impatient and
said that there was no difference
between the rocks, and that he ought to
be able to call forth water from any one
of them. Vexed, he replied, "Ye rebels!"
(Num. xx. 10) or, according to the
Midrash, "fools!" (=?????). God
therefore said to him: "As thou art
clever, thou shalt not enter the land
together with fools." According to
another legend, Moses became angry
because some of the people said that,
since he had been a herdsman with Jethro,
he knew, like all herdsmen, where to
find water in the desert, and that now
he was merely trying to deceive the
people and to make them believe that he
had miraculously called water from the
rock (Midr. Petirat Aharon, in Jellinek,
l.c. i. 93 et seq.; Num. R. xix. 5; Yalk.,
H.ukkat, 763).
At Aaron's Death
When Moses heard that Aaron also had to
die he grieved and wept so much as to
occasion his own death (Midr. Petirat
Aharon, l.c.). This story, as well as
the reference to his early death (Yoma
87a), was probably based on Deut. xxxiv.
7, according to which he retained all
his faculties and his full strength down
to his end; but they contradict the many
other versions of his death (see below).
When Moses took Aaron up the mountain
where the latter was to die, and
announced his death to him, he comforted
him, saying: "You, my brother, will die
and leave your office to your children;
but when I die a stranger will inherit
my office. When you die you will leave
me to look after your burial; when I die
I shall leave no brother, no sister, and
no son to bury me" (Midr. Petirat Aharon,
l.c.; Num. R. xix. 11; Yalk., Num. 763,
787)—for Moses' sons died before him
(comp. the note in "Zayit Ra'anan" to
Yalk., Num. 787). When Moses witnessed
the quiet and peaceful death of Aaron he
desired a similar death for himself (ib.).
After Aaron's death Moses was accused by
the people of having killed him through
jealousy; but God cleared him from this
suspicion by a miracle (Yalk., Num.
764).
When Moses was about to take vengeance
on Midian before his death (comp. Num.
xxxi.) he did not himself take part in
the war, because he had at one time
sojourned in Midian and had received
benefits in that country (Num. R. xxii.
4). When Zimri brought the Midianitish
woman Cozbi before Moses (Num. xxv. 6),
asking that he might marry her, and
Moses refused his request, Zimri
reproached him with having himself
married the Midianitish woman Zipporah (Sanh.
82a). Later, also, Moses was reproached
for this marriage, the Rabbis saying
that on account of it he became the
ancestor of Jonathan, the priest of
Micah's idol (Judges xviii. 30; B. B.
109b). God revealed to Moses before his
death all the coming generations, their
leaders and sages, as well as the saints
and sinners. When Moses beheld Saul and
his sons die by the sword he grieved
that the first king of Israel should
come to such a sad end (Lev. R. xxvi.
7). When God showed him hell he began to
be afraid of it; but God promised him
that he should not go thither (Num. R.
xxiii. 4). He beheld paradise also. A
detailed description of Moses'
wanderings through paradise and hell is
found in the apocalypse "Gedullat Mosheh"
(Salonica, 1727; see Jew. Encyc. i.
679).
Death of Moses.
The different legends agree in saying
that Moses died on Adar 7, the day on
which he was born, at the age of 120
years (Meg. 13b; Mek, Beshallah.,
Wayassa', 5 [ed. Weiss, p. 60a]; comp.
Josephus, l.c. iv. 8, § 49), the angel
of death not being present (B. B. 17a).
But the earlier and the later legends
differ considerably in the description
and the details of this event. The
earlier ones present the hero's death as
a worthy close to his life. It takes
place in a miraculous way; and the hero
meets it quietly and resignedly. He
ascends Mount Abarim accompanied by the
elders of the people, and Joshua and
Eleazar; and while he is talking with
them a cloud suddenly surrounds him and
he disappears. He was prompted by
modesty to say in the Torah that he died
a natural death, in order that people
should not say that God had taken him
alive into heaven on account of his
piety (Josephus, l.c.). The event is
described somewhat differently, but
equally simply, in Sifre, Deut. 305 (ed.
Friedmann, p. 129b). For the statement
that Moses did not die at all, compare
Sotah 13b. "When the angel of death,
being sent by God to Moses, appeared
before him and said, 'Give me your
soul,' Moses scolded him, saying, 'You
have not even the right to appear where
I am sitting; how dare you say to me
that I shall give you my soul?' The
angel of death took this answer back to
God. And when God said to the angel the
second time, 'Bring Me the soul of
Moses,' he went to the place where Moses
had been, but the latter had left. Then
he went to the sea to look for Moses
there. The sea said that it had not seen
Moses since the time when he had led the
children of Israel through it. Then he
went to the mountains and valleys, which
told him that God had concealed Moses,
keeping him for the life in the future
world, and no creature knew where he
was."
This simple story of the old midrash
follows the Bible closely, making the
mountains and valleys the speakers
because, according to Deut. xxxiv. 1-5,
Moses died on the mountain and was
buried in the valley. In the later
legends the death of Moses isrecounted
more fantastically, with many marvelous
details. But instead of the hero being
glorified, as was certainly intended by
these details, he is unconsciously
lowered by some traits ascribed to him.
He appears weak and fearsome, not
displaying that grandeur of soul which
he might reasonably have been expected
to exhibit at his death.
Wishes to Avoid Death
When God said to Moses that he must die
Moses replied: "Must I die now, after
all the trouble I have had with the
people? I have beheld their sufferings;
why should I not also behold their joys?
Thou hast written in the Torah: 'At his
day thou shalt give him his hire' [Deut.
xxiv. 15]; why dost thou not give me the
reward of my toil?" (Yalk., Deut. 940;
Midr. Petirat Mosheh, in Jellinek, l.c.
i. 115-129). God assured him that he
should receive his reward in the future
world. Moses then asked why he must die
at all, whereupon God enumerated some of
the sins for which he had deserved
death, one of them being the murder of
the Egyptian (Ex. ii. 12; Midr. Petirat
Mosheh, l.c.). According to another
version, Moses had to die so that he
might not be taken for a god (ib.).
Moses then began to become excited (Yalk.,
Wa'ethanan, 814), saying he would live
like the beasts of the field and the
birds, which get their daily food only
for the sake of remaining alive (Yalk.,
Deut. 940). He desired to renounce the
entry into the promised land and remain
with the tribes of Reuben and Gad in the
country east of the Jordan, if only he
might remain alive. God said that this
could not be done, since the people
would leave Joshua and return to him (Midr.
Petirat Mosheh, l.c.). Moses then begged
that one of his children or one of the
children of his brother Aaron might
succeed him (ib. and Num. R. xxi. 15).
God answered that his children had not
devoted themselves to the Law, whereas
Joshua had served Moses faithfully and
had learned from him; he therefore
deserved to succeed his teacher (ib.).
Then Moses said: "Perhaps I must die
only because the time has come for
Joshua to enter upon his office as the
leader of Israel. If Joshua shall now
become the leader, I will treat him as
my teacher and will serve him, if only I
may stay alive." Moses then began to
serve Joshua and give him the honor due
to a master from his pupil. He continued
to do this for thirty-seven days, from
the first of Shebat. to the seventh of
Adar. On the latter day he conducted
Joshua to the tent of the assembly. But
when he saw Joshua go in while he
himself had to remain outside, he became
jealous, and said that it was a hundred
times better to die than to suffer once
such pangs of jealousy. Then the
treasures of wisdom were taken away from
Moses and given to Joshua (comp. Sotah
13b). A voice ("bat kol") was heard to
say, "Learn from Joshua!" Joshua
delivered a speech of which Moses
understood nothing. Then, when the
people asked that Moses should complete
the Torah, he replied, "I do not know
how to answer you," and tottered and
fell. He then said: "Lord of the world,
until now I desired to live; but now I
am willing to die." As the angel of
death was afraid to take his soul, God
Himself, accompanied by Gabriel,
Michael, and Zagziel, the former teacher
of Moses, descended to get it. Moses
blessed the people, begged their
forgiveness for any injuries he might
have done them, and took leave of them
with the assurance that he would see
them again at the resurrection of the
dead. Gabriel arranged the couch,
Michael spread a silken cover over it,
and Zagziel put a silken pillow under
Moses' head. At God's command Moses
crossed his hands over his breast and
closed his eyes, and God took his soul
away with a kiss. Then heaven and earth
and the starry world began to weep for
Moses (Midr. Petirat Mosheh, l.c.; Yalk.,
Deut. 940; Deut. R. xi. 6). Although
Moses died in the territory of the tribe
of Reuben, he was buried in that of Gad
at a spot four miles distant from the
place of his death. He was carried this
distance by the Shekinah, while the
angels said to him that he had practised
God's justice (Deut. xxxiii. 22). At the
same time the bat kol cried out in the
camp of the people: "Moses, the great
teacher of Israel, is dead!" (Sotah
13b).
God Himself buried Moses (Sotah 14a;
Sanh. 39a) in a grave which had been
prepared for him in the dusk of Friday,
the sixth day of the Creation (Pes.
54a). This tomb is opposite Beth-peor
(Deut. xxxiv. 6), in atonement for the
sin which Israel committed with the idol
Peor (Sotah 14a). Yet it can not be
discovered; for to a person standing on
the mountain it seems to be in the
valley; and if one goes down into the
valley, it appears to be on the mountain
(ib.).
Bibliography: B. Beer, Leben Moses, nach
Auffassung der Jüdischen Sage, in Jahrb.
für Gesch. der Jud. iii. 1 et seq.;
M. Grünbaum, Neue Beiträge zur
Semitischen Sagenkunde, pp. 15-85,
Leyden, 1893.W. B. J. Z. L.
Moses in the Jahvist.
—Critical View:
In 1753 Jean Astruc, a French physician,
published at Brussels a little book in
which he advanced the theory that Moses
had employed certain documents in
composing the Book of Genesis. This work
was thought by its author to establish
the Mosaic authorship of Genesis upon a
more secure basis, but it contained the
key which, in the hands of a long line
of critics, has led to the modern view
that the Pentateuch originated from four
great documents, all of which were
written some centuries after Moses (see
Pentateuch, Critical View). The oldest
of these documents, known as J or the
Jahvist, contains in its present state
no account of the early life of Moses,
but presents him first as a fugitive in
the land of Midian. Nearly all the
after-events of the life of Moses,
enumerated above, are, however, given by
J, who has a definite and interesting
point of view. Critics differ as to
whether Aaron had any place in the
original narrative of J or not, Dillmann
and Bacon assigning to him an important
rôle, while Wellhausen, Stade,
Carpenter, and Harford Battersby hold
that such passages as Ex. iv. 13-14 are
later interpolations. Be this as it may,
J represents Moses as holding the unique
position of importance. For example, in
J's description of the plagues he
pictures Moses as announcing the plague;
then he tells how Yhwh sent it, usually
through some natural agency (comp. Ex.
viii. 20-24, the flies; x. 13, 19, the
locusts). Similarly, J tells that Yhwh
"caused the sea to go back by a strong
east windall the night, and made the sea
dry land" (Ex. xiv. 21). Thus he
explains the passage of the Red Sea.
It is J who represents Moses as alone
enjoying the privilege of intercourse
with Yhwh face to face. He gives the
account of the burning bush (Ex. iii.
2); he relates that Moses, Aaron, Nadab,
and Abihu, with seventy of the elders of
Israel, went up into the mountain, and
that Aaron and the seventy beheld Yhwh
from afar off and ate and drank in His
presence, but that Moses alone went near
unto Yhwh (Ex. xxiv. 1-2, 9-11). In Ex.
xxxiv. 5 Yhwh descended in a cloud and
stood to talk with Moses. In J the basis
of Yhwh's covenant are the ten "words"
contained in Ex. xxxiv. J, too, in Num.
xiv. 11-17, 19-24 presents one of the
most noble pictures of Moses. Yhwh was
angry, and declared that He would
destroy Israel and make of Moses a great
nation, but the unselfish leader pleaded
against his own interests for the
forgiveness of the nation which had so
often thwarted him, and the prayer
prevailed.
Moses in the Elohist.
The second prophetic document in point
of age, known as E or the Elohist,
contains the account of Moses' birth and
exposure on the Nile, together with the
incidents which led to his flight to
Midian. Aaron and Miriam also played a
part in the original E narrative. E
gives especial attention to the part of
Jethro in initiating Moses into the
worship of Yhwh and in the organization
of legal procedure (Ex. xviii. 12 et
seq.). According to E, before the Exodus
the Hebrews dwelt in the midst of the
Egyptians (not in Goshen, as in J); and
E asserts that on the advice of Moses
the Hebrews borrowed freely of the
Egyptians just before leaving. E
pictures Moses as raising the fateful
rod when he would have any plague come,
at which sign the plague came. At the
Red Sea also Moses lifted this rod and
the waters parted. In the Enarrative
Moses had a "tent of meeting" pitched at
a distance from the camp, to which he
resorted, accompanied only by Joshua,
his minister, and there he talked with
Yhwh face to face (Ex. xxxiii. 8-11). E
makes the basis of the covenant which
Moses mediated to be the code in Ex. xx.
24-xxiii. 19. This covenant, however,
was not communicated at the tent of
meeting, but on the top of the sacred
mountain, which E calls "Horeb" and J
calls "Sinai." E's narrative contains
the chief events of the life of Moses
already given. His portrait is dignified
and noble, though lacking in the touches
of highest heroism which make the
picture of J superb.
In the Priestly Code.
The writer of the Priestly Code (P),
like the two older prophetic writers,
includes in his account the chief events
in the life of Moses, but in accord with
his usual habit tells these events in a
few chronicle-like words in order to
make them the setting of his history of
the sacred institutions. P declares that
Amram was the father of Moses, and
Jochebed his mother (Ex. vi. 20), and
gives to Aaron a prominence much greater
than in the older narratives. Moses is a
god to Pharaoh, and Aaron is Moses'
prophet (Ex. vii. 1). In accord with
this view, in P's account of the
Egyptian plagues Moses communicates in
each case a command to Aaron, who then
stretches out the sacred rod to invoke
the affliction. Thus Aaron is associated
with Moses at almost every point. P
increases everywhere the miraculous
element. In his account the simple
driving back of the waters of the Red
Sea by the east wind becomes an
astounding miracle (comp. Ex. xiv. 22).
P traces to Moses the sacred
institutions; the Levitical law was
communicated by Yhwh to Moses; Moses
received on the mount the pattern of the
Tabernacle, which was constructed under
his direction; even the duties of the
Levites were arranged by him (see
Levites, Critical View).
The Deuteronomist (D) adds nothing to
the knowledge of the character of Moses.
The account of the second giving of the
Law in Moab, and various notes which
expound and interpret the older
narratives, constitute the whole
Pentateuchal product of this writer.
Moses and Sargon.
The cuneiform library of Assurbanipal
has furnished a legend of the birth of
Sargon of Agade (a Babylonian king who,
according to Nabonidos, ruled about 3800
B.C.) which is strikingly parallel to
the story of the secret birth of Moses
and of his exposure on the Nile. The
legend runs:
"Sargon, the powerful king, King of
Agade am I. My mother was of low degree;
my father I did not know. The brother of
my father dwelt in the mountain. My city
was Azupirani, which is situated on the
bank of the Euphrates. My humble mother
conceived me; in secret she bore me. She
placed me in a boat of reeds; with
bitumen my door she closed. She
entrusted me to the river, which did not
overwhelm me. The river bore me along;
to Akki the irrigator it carried me.
Akki the irrigator in goodness . . .
brought me to land. Akki the irrigator
as his son brought me up. Akki the
irrigator his gardener appointed me.
While I was gardener, Ishtar loved me .
. . four years I ruled the kingdom."
The parallelism between this narrative
and the story of the exposure of Moses
is thought by many scholars to be too
close to be accidental.
Name.
The name is explained in Ex. ii. 12 (E)
as though it were of Hebrew origin, and
from ("to draw out"). If this were its
real etymology, the name would mean
"deliverer," "savior" (comp. Ps. xviii.
17, Hebr.). As an Egyptian princess
could not have spoken Hebrew, this
etymology has been generally abandoned.
A second one dates from the time of
Josephus ("Ant." ii. 9, § 6; "Contra Ap."
i., § 31), and is built on the Greek
form of the name ??????. This, Josephus
claims, is derived from Egyptian "mo"
(water) and "uses" (saved)—a theory to
which Jablonski gave a quasi-scientific
character by comparing the Coptic "mo"
(water) and "ushe" (rescued). An
Egyptian name with such a meaning would,
however, be formed differently (see "Z.
D. M. G." xxv. 141). The etymology now
generally received regards it as from
the Egyptian "mesh" (child), often used
as a part of a theophorous name. This
view was suggested by Lepsius, and has
been accepted by Ebers, Dillmann,
Gesenius, and Buhl, by Briggs, Brown,
and Driver in their lexicon, and by
others. Guthe ("Gesch. des Volkes
Israel," p. 20) also regards it as a
fragment of a theophorous name. W. Max
Müller has objected that the vowel in
"mesh" is short, while that in "Moses"
is long, and that the sibilants are not
those which the philologicallaw would
require. Accordingly Cheyne ("Encyc.
Bibl.") proposes a Semitic origin,
regarding the name as that of a
North-Arabian tribe. One is inclined to
return to the Biblical account and
accept the etymology of E. If it may be
supposed that the part of the narrative
which attributes the naming to Pharaoh's
daughter is inaccurate, the name may
well be good Semitic, meaning
"deliverer." Possibly it was not a name
given in infancy, but an epithet which
came to him as the result of his work.
Founder of the Israelitish Nation.
It is clear from the different
representations of three of the great
Pentateuchal documents that some
allowance must be made for traditional
accretion in the narratives of the life
of Moses. But modern scholars with much
unanimity of opinion regard Moses as a
great historical character, the
emancipator of Israel, the mediator of
the covenant with Yhwh, and the real
founder of the Israelitish nation.
Though few of the laws can be traced
back to him, it is believed that he gave
to Israel, by his covenant with Yhwh,
and by his legal decisions at Kadesh,
the beginnings of religious law, and so
became the founder of the legal system
which prophets and priests developed as
time passed on. It is true that Winckler
("Gesch Israels," ii. 86 et seq.,
Leipsic, 1900) regards Moses as a Yhwh-Tammuz
myth, that Cheyne ("Encyc. Bibl.")
regards him as a personified clan, and
that two other scholars, Renan ("Hist.
of the People of Israel," i. 135 et
seq.) and Stade ("Gesch des Volkes
Israel," pp. 129 et seq.), regard his
historicity as possible only. The great
majority of modern scholars, however,
though differing in details, hold not
only to the reality of Moses as a
historical character, but to the reality
of his magnificent work as stated. This
is the position of Wellhausen ("I. J.
G." pp. 13 et seq.), W. R. Smith ("Old
Test. in the Jewish Church," 2d ed., pp.
333 et seq.), Kittel ("Hist. of the
Hebrews," i. 238 et seq.), Cornill ("Hist.
of the People of Israel," pp. 41 et
seq.), Budde ("Religion of Israel to the
Exile," pp. 12 et seq.), Guthe ("Gesch
des Volkes Israel," pp. 19 et seq.), A.
B. Davidson ("Theology of the Old Test."
p. 110), McCurdy ("History, Prophecy,
and the Monuments," ii. 92 et seq.),
Kent ("Hist. of the Hebrew People," i.
36 et seq.), Barton ("Sketch of Semitic
Origins," pp. 272, 291 et seq.), J. P.
Peters ("The Old Test. and the New
Scholarship," pp. 116 et seq., and "The
Religion of Moses," in "Jour. Bib. Lit."
1901, xx. 101 et seq.), Paton ("Early
Hist. of Syria and Palestine," pp. 137
et seq.), and H. P. Smith ("Old Test.
History," pp. 55-65). Such a consensus
of opinion is significant. See
Pentateuch J. G. A. B.
In Hellenistic Literature:
While the Pentateuch represents Moses as
the greatest of all prophets, to whom
the Lord made Himself known face to face
(Deut. xxxiv. 10; comp. Num. xii. 7),
and who, when descending Mount Sinai,
had a halo about his head which so
filled the people with awe that they
could not look at him (Ex. xxxiv. 29),
yet there is no attempt made to lift him
above the ordinary man in his nature. He
lived for forty days and forty nights on
the mount without eating and drinking
(Deut. ix. 9), but this was owing to the
power God lent him while he received the
Law; he died and was buried like any
other mortal (ib. xxxiv. 5-6). Owing to
the contact of the Jews with the Greeks
in Alexandria, Moses was made the
subject of many legends, and in many
respects lifted to supernatural heights.
Ben Sira was probably the first to
compare him with the angels—a suggestion
from Ex. xxxiv. 29 (Ecclus. xlv. 2; the
Hebrew text reads "ke-elohim," while the
Greek reads ?????= "saints"). Especially
favorable to the accretion of legends or
fictions around the life of Moses was
the fact that he was born in Egypt and
brought up by the daughter of the king.
This suggested that "he was learned in
all the wisdom of the Egyptians" (Acts
vii. 22). But the Jewish men of letters
who lived in Alexandria were by no means
satisfied with the idea that Moses
acquired the wisdom of the Egyptians;
they claimed for him the merit of having
given to Egypt, Phenicia, and Hellas all
their culture. He taught the Jews the
letters, and they then became the
teachers of the Phenicians and,
indirectly, of the Greeks, says
Eupolemus (Eusebius, "Præparatio
Evangelica," ix. 26). Artapanus, in his
history of the Jews, went so far as to
identify Moses with Tot-Hermes (the
Egyptian messenger and scribe of the
gods, who invented the letters, the
various arts of peace and of war, as
well as philosophy), and with the Greek
Musæus, "the teacher of Orpheus." He
even ascribed to him the division of the
land into its thirty-six districts, with
their various forms of worship. As the
foster-mother of Moses, Artapanus names
Merris, the wife of Chenephres, King of
Upper Egypt; being childless, she
pretended to have given birth to him and
brought him up as her own child.
(Eusebius, l.c. ix. 27).
"Jealousy of Moses' excellent qualities
induced Chenephres to send him with
unskilled troops on a military
expedition to Ethiopia, where he won
great victories. 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. 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. 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. Chenephres in
the meantime died from elephantiasis
[comp. Ex. R. i. and Targ. Yer. to Ex.
ii. 23]—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 [this is
characteristic of the age in which it
was written]. The sufferings of Israel
then caused God to appear to Moses in a
flame bursting forth from the earth [not
from the bush!], 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"
The record closes with a description of
the personalityof Moses: "He was
eighty-nine years old when he delivered
the Jews; tall and ruddy, with long
white hair, and dignified."
Fantastic and grotesque as these stories
are, they are scarcely inventions of
Artapanus only. Long contact of the Jews
of Alexandria with Egyptian men of
letters in a time of syncretism, when
all mythology was being submitted to a
rationalizing process, naturally
produced such fables (see Freudenthal, "Hellenistische
Studien," 1875, pp. 153-174), and they
have found a place in the Palestinian as
well as in the Hellenistic haggadah, in
Josephus, Philo ("De Vita Moysis"), and
the Alexandrian dramatist Ezekiel
(Eusebius, l.c. ix. 28), as well as in
the Midrash (Ex. R. i.-ii.; Tan., Shemot),
the Targum, and the "Sefer ha-Yashar,"
or the older "Chronicles of Jerahmeel"
(xliv.-l.).
Most elaborate is the haggadah from
which Josephus drew his story ("Ant."
ii. 9, § 2-ii. 10, § 2):(comp. Sanh.
101b; Ex. R. i.; Targ. Yer. to Ex. i.
14; see Jannes and Jambres).
"Egyptian priests skilled in prophesying
foretold the birth of a Hebrew who would
bring misfortune on Egypt, and thus
caused Pharaoh's edict to have every
new-born male child drowned in the
river" (see Amram; Miriam).
"Amram in his distress at the fate of
every new-born child prays to God and
receives a revelation" (comp. Ezekiel in
Eusebius, l.c. ix. 29; "Chronicles of
Jerahmeel," xliv. 8; Yalk. i. 166).
"Thermutis was the name of the princess
who saw Moses in the water-cradle and
conceived a love for him on account of
his striking beauty. The child, however,
refused to suckle from any other breast
but that of his mother." "Moses excelled
all by his tall stature and beauty of
countenance as well as by his quickness
of apprehension." "Thermutis, being
without child, brought him up as her own
son, and one day when she presented him
to her father as her own child, and heir
to the throne—a gift she had received
from the river-god—Pharaoh took the
child on his lap and placed his diadem
upon its head; whereupon it cast it down
on the ground and trampled upon it. This
was taken as an evil omen by the king,
and the priestly soothsayer, finding
Moses to be the one who would bring upon
the kingdom the misfortune predicted for
it, wished to slay him, but Thermutis
succeeded in saving his life" (comp.
"Chronicles of Jerahmeel," xlv.-xlvi.;
Yalk. i. 168).
"An attack on Egypt by the Ethiopians
caused all to look to Moses for aid, and
the king asked his daughter to permit
him to go forth as general of an army to
Ethiopia. Moses took the short road
along the desert, deemed impassable on
account of its many flying serpents ('serafim'),
and provided himself with numerous
baskets filled with ibises, the
destroyers of serpents, by the help of
which he removed the dangers of the
desert. He thus took the Ethiopians by
surprise and defeated them, driving them
back to Merve, a fortified city. While
he was besieging the city, Therbis, the
daughter of the king, saw him upon the
walls, fell in love with him, and
proposed to him to become his wife. He
accepted the offer under the condition
that the city should surrender to him;
finally he married her"
This is obviously a midrashic tale
connected with Num. xii. 1, but
disavowed at a later stage (see Sifre,
Num. 99, and Targ. ad loc.).
Philo also shows familiarity with these
legends; he refers to the beauty of the
babe Moses (l.c. i. 3) and mentions the
fact that the princess, being childless,
contrived to make Moses appear as her
own child (i. 4-5). Moses' education in
science, art, and philosophy, however,
is ascribed to Egyptian masters (i. 6);
he was grieved by the sufferings of his
Hebrew brethren, many of whom died an
untimely death and did not have even
seemly burial (i. 7); his prophetic
powers were attested at the Red Sea when
the Egyptian dead were cast up by the
waves and were actually seen by the
Israelites, as Moses had announced (iii.
34, with reference to Ex. xiv. 13, 30).
Moses' Preexistence.
The end of the great lawgiver especially
was surrounded with legends. "While,
after having taken leave of the people,
he was going to embrace Eleazar and
Joshua on Mount Nebo, a cloud suddenly
stood over him, and he disappeared,
though he wrote in Scripture that he
died, which was done from fear that
people might say that because of his
extraordinary virtue he had been turned
into a divinity" ("Ant." iv. 8, § 48).
Philo says: "He was entombed not by
mortal hands, but by immortal powers, so
that he was not placed in the tomb of
his forefathers, having obtained a
peculiar memorial [i.e., grave] which no
man ever saw" ("De Vita Moysis," iii.
39). Later on, the belief became current
that Moses did not die, but was taken up
to heaven like Elijah. This seems to
have been the chief content of the
apocryphon entitled "Assumptio Moysis,"
preserved only in fragmentary form
(comp. Charles, "The Assumption of
Moses," 1897, Introduction; Deut. R.
xi.; Jellinek, "B. H." i. 115-129, vi.
71-78; M. R. James, "Apocrypha Anecdota,"
pp. 166-173, Cambridge, 1893). No sooner
was the view maintained that Moses was
translated to heaven than the idea was
suggested that his soul was different
from that of other men. Like the
Messiah, he is said to have been
preexistent; he is thus represented in "Assumptio
Moysis" (i. 12-14); so too "He was
prepared before the foundation of the
world to be the mediator of God's
covenant, and as he was Israel's
intercessor with God during life [xi.
11, 17], so is he to be the intercessor
in all the future." While his death was
an ordinary one (i. 15, x. 14), "no
place received his body"; "his sepulcher
is from the rising of the sun to the
setting thereof, and from the south to
the confines of the north; all the world
is his sepulcher" (xi. 5-8). Philo also
calls Moses "the mediator and reconciler
of the world" (ib. iii. 19). Especially
in Essene circles was Moses
apotheosized: "Next to God," says
Josephus ("B. J." ii. 8, § 9), "they
honor the name of their legislator, and
if any one blasphemes him he meets with
capital punishment" (comp. "Ant." iii.
15, § 3). Against such excessive
adoration of a human being a reaction
set in among the Rabbis, who declared
that no man ever ascended to heaven (Suk
5a). |
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