Moses in the Bible Encyclopedia - ISBE

mo'-zez, mo'-ziz (mosheh; Egyptian mes, "drawn out," "born"; Septuagint Mouse(s)). The great Hebrew national hero, leader, author, law-giver and prophet. I. LIFE 1. Son of Levi 2. Foundling Prince 3. Friend of the People 4. Refuge in Midian 5. Leader of Israel II. WORK AND CHARACTER 1. The Author 2. The Lawgiver 3. The Prophet LITERATURE The traditional view of the Jewish church and of the Christian church, that Moses was a person and that the narrative with which his life-story is interwoven is real history, is in the main sustained by commentators and critics of all classes. It is needless to mention the old writers among whom these questions were hardly under discussion. Among the advocates of the current radical criticism may be mentioned Stade and Renan, who minimize the historicity of the Bible narrative at this point. Renan thinks the narrative "may be very probable." Ewald, Wellhausen, Robertson Smith, and Driver, while finding many flaws in the story, make much generally of the historicity of the narrative...