moses Summary and Overview

drawn (or Egypt. mesu, "son;" hence Rameses, royal son). On the invitation of Pharaoh (Gen. 45:17-25), Jacob and his sons went down into Egypt. This immigration took place probably about 350 years before the birth of Moses. Some centuries before Joseph, Egypt had been conquered by a pastoral Semitic race from Asia, the Hyksos, who brought into cruel subjection the native Egyptians, who were an African race. Jacob and his retinue were accustomed to a shepherd's life, and on their arrival in Egypt were received with favour by the king, who assigned them the "best of the land", the land of Goshen, to dwell in. The Hyksos or "shepherd" king who thus showed favour to Joseph and his family was in all probability the Pharaoh Apopi (or Apopis). Thus favoured, the Israelites began to "multiply exceedingly" (Gen. 47:27), and extended to the west and south. At length the supremacy of the Hyksos came to an end. The descendants of Jacob were allowed to retain their possession of Goshen undisturbed, but after the death of Joseph their position was not so favourable. The Egyptians began to despise them, and the period of their "affliction" (Gen. 15:13) commenced. They were sorely oppressed. They continued, however, to increase in numbers, and "the land was filled with them" (Ex. 1:7). The native Egyptians regarded them with suspicion, so that they felt all the hardship of a struggle for existence. In process of time "a king [probably Seti I.] arose who knew not Joseph" (Ex. 1:8). (See PHARAOH T0002923.) The circumstances of the country were such that this king thought it necessary to weaken his Israelite subjects by oppressing them, and by degrees reducing their number. They were accordingly made public slaves, and were employed in connection with his numerous buildings, especially in the erection of store-cities, temples, and palaces. The children of Israel were made to serve with rigour. Their lives were made bitter with hard bondage, and "all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour" (Ex. 1:13, 14). But this cruel oppression had not the result expected of reducing their number. On the contrary, "the more the Egyptians afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew" (Ex. 1:12). The king next tried, through a compact secretly made with the guild of midwives, to bring about the destruction of all the Hebrew male children that might be born. But the king's wish was not rigorously enforced; the male children were spared by the midwives, so that "the people multiplied" more than ever. Thus baffled, the king issued a public proclamation calling on the people to put to death all the Hebrew male children by casting them into the river (Ex. 1:22). But neither by this edict was the king's purpose effected. One of the Hebrew households into which this cruel edict of the king brought great alarm was that of Amram, of the family of the Kohathites (Ex. 6:16-20), who with his wife Jochebed and two children, Miriam, a girl of perhaps fifteen years of age, and Aaron, a boy of three years, resided in or near Memphis, the capital city of that time. In this quiet home a male child was born (B.C. 1571). His mother concealed him in the house for three months from the knowledge of the civic authorities. But when the task of concealment became difficult, Jochebed contrived to bring her child under the notice of the daughter of the king by constructing for him an ark of bulrushes, which she laid among the flags which grew on the edge of the river at the spot where the princess was wont to come down and bathe. Her plan was successful. The king's daughter "saw the child; and behold the child wept." The princess (see PHARAOH'S DAUGHTER T0002924 [1]) sent Miriam, who was standing by, to fetch a nurse. She went and brought the mother of the child, to whom the princess said, "Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages." Thus Jochebed's child, whom the princess called "Moses", i.e., "Saved from the water" (Ex. 2:10), was ultimately restored to her. As soon as the natural time for weaning the child had come, he was transferred from the humble abode of his father to the royal palace, where he was brought up as the adopted son of the princess, his mother probably accompanying him and caring still for him. He grew up amid all the grandeur and excitement of the Egyptian court, maintaining, however, probably a constant fellowship with his mother, which was of the highest importance as to his religious belief and his interest in his "brethren." His education would doubtless be carefully attended to, and he would enjoy all the advantages of training both as to his body and his mind. He at length became "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians" (Acts 7:22). Egypt had then two chief seats of learning, or universities, at one of which, probably that of Heliopolis, his education was completed. Moses, being now about twenty years of age, spent over twenty more before he came into prominence in Bible history. These twenty years were probably spent in military service. There is a tradition recorded by Josephus that he took a lead in the war which was then waged between Egypt and Ethiopia, in which he gained renown as a skilful general, and became "mighty in deeds" (Acts 7:22). After the termination of the war in Ethiopia, Moses returned to the Egyptian court, where he might reasonably have expected to be loaded with honours and enriched with wealth. But "beneath the smooth current of his life hitherto, a life of alternate luxury at the court and comparative hardness in the camp and in the discharge of his military duties, there had lurked from childhood to youth, and from youth to manhood, a secret discontent, perhaps a secret ambition. Moses, amid all his Egyptian surroundings, had never forgotten, had never wished to forget, that he was a Hebrew." He now resolved to make himself acquainted with the condition of his countrymen, and "went out unto his brethren, and looked upon their burdens" (Ex. 2:11). This tour of inspection revealed to him the cruel oppression and bondage under which they everywhere groaned, and could not fail to press on him the serious consideration of his duty regarding them. The time had arrived for his making common cause with them, that he might thereby help to break their yoke of bondage. He made his choice accordingly (Heb. 11:25-27), assured that God would bless his resolution for the welfare of his people. He now left the palace of the king and took up his abode, probably in his father's house, as one of the Hebrew people who had for forty years been suffering cruel wrong at the hands of the Egyptians. He could not remain indifferent to the state of things around him, and going out one day among the people, his indignation was roused against an Egyptian who was maltreating a Hebrew. He rashly lifted up his hand and slew the Egyptian, and hid his body in the sand. Next day he went out again and found two Hebrews striving together. He speedily found that the deed of the previous day was known. It reached the ears of Pharaoh (the "great Rameses," Rameses II.), who "sought to slay Moses" (Ex. 2:15). Moved by fear, Moses fled from Egypt, and betook himself to the land of Midian, the southern part of the peninsula of Sinai, probably by much the same route as that by which, forty years afterwards, he led the Israelites to Sinai. He was providentially led to find a new home with the family of Reuel, where he remained for forty years (Acts 7:30), under training unconsciously for his great life's work. Suddenly the angel of the Lord appeared to him in the burning bush (Ex. 3), and commissioned him to go down to Egypt and "bring forth the children of Israel" out of bondage. He was at first unwilling to go, but at length he was obedient to the heavenly vision, and left the land of Midian (4:18-26). On the way he was met by Aaron (q.v.) and the elders of Israel (27-31). He and Aaron had a hard task before them; but the Lord was with them (ch. 7-12), and the ransomed host went forth in triumph. (See EXODUS T0001283.) After an eventful journey to and fro in the wilderness, we see them at length encamped in the plains of Moab, ready to cross over the Jordan into the Promised Land. There Moses addressed the assembled elders (Deut. 1:1-4; 5:1-26:19; 27:11-30:20), and gives the people his last counsels, and then rehearses the great song (Deut. 32), clothing in fitting words the deep emotions of his heart at such a time, and in review of such a marvellous history as that in which he had acted so conspicious a part. Then, after blessing the tribes (33), he ascends to "the mountain of Nebo (q.v.), to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho" (34:1), and from thence he surveys the land. "Jehovah shewed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan, and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea, and the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar" (Deut. 34:2-3), the magnificient inheritance of the tribes of whom he had been so long the leader; and there he died, being one hundred and twenty years old, according to the word of the Lord, and was buried by the Lord "in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor" (34:6). The people mourned for him during thirty days. Thus died "Moses the man of God" (Deut. 33:1; Josh. 14:6). He was distinguished for his meekness and patience and firmness, and "he endured as seeing him who is invisible." "There arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and the wonders, which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, and in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses shewed in the sight of all Israel" (Deut. 34:10-12). The name of Moses occurs frequently in the Psalms and Prophets as the chief of the prophets. In the New Testament he is referred to as the representative of the law and as a type of Christ (John 1:17; 2 Cor. 3:13-18; Heb. 3:5, 6). Moses is the only character in the Old Testament to whom Christ likens himself (John 5:46; compare Deut. 18:15, 18, 19; Acts 7:37). In Heb. 3:1-19 this likeness to Moses is set forth in various particulars. In Jude 1:9 mention is made of a contention between Michael and the devil about the body of Moses. This dispute is supposed to have had reference to the concealment of the body of Moses so as to prevent idolatry.

(Heb. Mosheh, "drawn," i.e. from the water; in the Coptic it means "saved from the water"), the legislator of the Jewish people, and in a certain sense the founder of the Jewish religion. The immediate pedigree of Moses is as follows: Levi was the father of: 1. "The song which Moses and the children of Israel sung" (after the passage of the Red Sea). #Ex 15:1-19| 2. A fragment of the war-song against Amalek. #Ex 17:16| 3. A fragment of lyrical burst of indignation. #Ex 32:18| 4. The fragments of war-songs, probably from either him or his immediate prophetic followers, in #Nu 21:14,15,27-30| preserved in the "book of the wars of Jehovah," #Nu 21:14| and the address to the well. ch. #Nu 21:14| and the address to the well. ch. #Nu 21:16,17,18| 5. The song of Moses, #De 32:1-43| setting forth the greatness and the failings of Israel. 6. The blessing of Moses on the tribes, #De 33:1-29| 7. The 90th Psalm, "A prayer of Moses, the man of God." The title, like all the titles of the psalms, is of doubtful authority, and the psalm has often been referred to a later author. Character. --The prophetic office of Moses can only be fully considered in connection with his whole character and appearance. #Ho 12:13| He was in a sense peculiar to himself the founder and representative of his people; and in accordance with this complete identification of himself with his nation is the only strong personal trait which we are able to gather from his history. #Nu 12:3| The word "meek" is hardly an adequate reading of the Hebrew term, which should be rather "much enduring." It represents what we should now designate by the word "disinterested." All that is told of him indicates a withdrawal of himself, a preference of the cause of his nation to his own interests, which makes him the most complete example of Jewish patriotism. (He was especially a man of prayer and of faith, of wisdom, courage and patience.) In exact conformity with his life is the account of his end. The book of Deuteronomy describes, and is, the long last farewell of the prophet to his people. This takes place on the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year of the wanderings, in the plains of Moab. #De 1:3,5| Moses is described as 120 years of age, but with his sight and his freshness of strength unabated. #De 34:7| Joshua is appointed his successor. The law is written out and ordered to be deposited in the ark. ch. 31. The song and the blessing of the tribes conclude the farewell. chs. 32,33. And then comes the mysterious close. He is told that he is to see the good land beyond the Jordan, but not to possess it himself. He ascends the mount of Pisgah and stands on Nebo, one of its summits, and surveys the four great masses of Israel west of the Jordan, so far as it can be discerned from that height. The view has passes into a proverb for all nations. "So Moses the servant of Jehovah died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of Jehovah. And he buried him in a 'ravine' in the land of Moab, 'before' Beth-peor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day... And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days." #De 34:5,6,8| This is all that is said in the sacred record. (This burial was thus hidden probably -- (1) To preserve his grave from idolatrous worship or superstitious reverence; and (2) Because it may be that God did not intend to leave his body to corruption, but to prepare it, as he did the body of Elijah, so that Moses could in his spiritual body meet Christ, together with Elijah, on the mount of transfiguration.) Moses is spoken of as a likeness of Christ; and as this is a point of view which has been almost lost in the Church, compared with the more familiar comparisons of Christ to Adam, David, Joshua, and yet has as firm a basis in fact as any of them, it may be well to draw it out in detail. (1) Moses is, as it would seem, the only character of the Old Testament to whom Christ expressly likens himself: "Moses wrote of me." #Joh 5:46| It suggests three main points of likeness: (a) Christ was, like Moses, the great prophet of the people --the last, as Moses was the first. (b) Christ, like Moses, is a lawgiver: "Him shall ye hear." (c) Christ, like Moses, was a prophet out of the midst of the nation, "from their brethren." As Moses was the entire representative of his people, feeling for them more than for himself, absorbed in their interests, hopes and fears, so, with reverence be it said, was Christ. (2) In #Heb 3:1-19; 12:24-29; Ac 7:37| Christ is described, though more obscurely, as the Moses of the new dispensation --as the apostle or messenger or mediator of God to the people --as the controller and leader of the flock or household of God. (3) The details of their lives are sometimes, though not often, compared. #Ac 7:24-28, 35| In #Jude 1:9| is an allusion to an altercation between Michael and Satan over the body of Moses. It probably refers to a lost apocryphal book, mentioned by Origen, called the "Ascension" or "Assumption of Moses." Respecting the books of Moses, see PENTATEUCH.

MOS'ES (Heb. Mosheh, *drawn out - i.e. of the water; Coptic Mo-use, watersaved), the leader and creator of the Jewish nation. This table shows the pedigree of Moses: His life falls naturally into three divisions, of forty years each, according to the account preserved in Stephen's speech. Acts 7:23, 1 Kgs 20:30, Eze 23:36. 1. Moses was born in the dark hour of Hebrew story when a son was an object of the murderous search of the Egyptian spies. His father was Amram, his mother Jochebed, his tribe was Levi, and this fact may have determined the choice of Levi for the priesthood. Moses was the youngest child of the family; Miriam was the oldest, and Aaron came between. For three months his parents hid the babe, but at last it was no longer possible, and Jochebed, with a trembling heart, but it may be with a dim consciousness that God had great things in store for him, laid him in the little basket of papyrus she had deftly woven, pitched with bitumen within and without, and, carrying it down to the brink of one of the canals of the Nile, she hid it among the flags. The child was tenderly watched "afar off" by Miriam, who, less open to suspicion than the mother would be, stood to see what would be done to him. The daughter of the Pharaoh, the oppressor, came to the sacred river to bathe, attended by her maidens, who, surprised to find the basket, which had providentially floated down to the princess' bathing-place - or had Jochebed purposely put it there? - call the attention of their mistress to the discovery. The basket is fetched by one of them, and when opened a little babe, evidently one of the Hebrews' children, but exceedingly fair, is revealed to view. The woman-heart of the princess, who was a childless wife according to tradition, yearned over the little one. Her yearning was of God. Then Miriam drew near, gathered from the conversation that the child's life was to be spared, proposed to get a nurse for him among the Hebrew women, and thus it came to pass that Jochebed again had her child at her breast, but this time as his hired nurse. The biblical history of this period closes with the child Moses in the palace under tutors and governors, and increasing in wisdom and in stature, and in the favor of God and of man. There is a break in this history, as in that of the greater than Moses, between the infancy and the manhood. 2. The second division of Moses' life was totally different in its character from the first. Moses, at the age of forty, is learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. The adopted grandson of the Pharaoh, initiated in the secrets of the priests, to whose order he belonged, he had a brilliant and useful worldly career before him. Had he remained in his advantageous surroundings, he would have been one of the great Egyptian sages - probably the greatest of them all. But God intended him to occupy a much more exalted position. There was needed by him a period of meditation. He must be cut off from books, and by direct contact with Nature in all her moods learn what books cannot give. The providential occasion of this violent change was Moses' slaying of an Egyptian taskmaster who had ill-treated a Hebrew. This was no secret, as he hoped it would be. The news, indeed, had been carried to Pharaoh, and so Moses was compelled to flee. It is probable that the murder was intended to impress upon the Hebrews his desire to help them - that he, the king's son, would be their deliverer; for it seems impossible to resist the conclusion that the pious teachings of his mother had not been forgotten, and that many prayers had been put up by him as he determined to be his brethren's saviour. But we see now that it was no wonder that this attempt at an insurrection proved abortive, and likewise that Moses had much to learn before he could properly lead the great Exodus. Moses fled from the prominence, the refinement, and the luxury of the court to the obscurity, the roughness, and the poverty of the wilderness. He became the shepherd of Jethro and the husband of his daughter Zipporah. Ex 2. This second period lasted forty years, and again a wondrous transformation took place. The transition was made at Horeb when one day he saw a "bush" - probably an acacia tree - which was said to be on fire and yet was unconsumed. He drew near to examine the wondrous sight, and the Angel of the Lord appeared to him and gave him his prophetic call. But now the would-be leader of forty years agone was full of excuses, deprecated his abilities, and disparaged his appearance. Accordingly, God appointed Aaron as his spokesman and brought about their meeting. Ex 3-4. Thus informed of the divine name, Ex 3:14, promised divine aid, and strengthened by miracles, Ex 4:1-7, Moses, at the age of eighty, now both a scholar and a practical man of affairs, starts out upon the deliverance of his people. On his way to Egypt his son Gershom was smitten by a mysterious illness, Zipporah thought because circumcision had not been performed. Accordingly, although loath to do it, she herself circumcised Gershom. Ex 4:24-26. The child recovered. 1. Arrived at Goshen, Moses and Aaron at once began the discharge of their commission. But their primary efforts only increased the subject people's burdens, and the two brothers were well nigh in despair. Then began the series of miraculous visitations recounted in Ex 7-12. The last of the plagues so stunned the Egyptians that they precipitately drove the Israelites out. See Plagues, Exodus. The Israelites were prepared and went ready for the journey, which, instead of being one of three days into the desert, Ex 5:3, was one of forty years. Through all this time the Israelites were miraculously protected, fed, and led. Moses went in and out before them to the divine satisfaction, although his conduct by no means pleased every one. Nor had Moses always the proper control over himself. He flung down the God-engraven tables of the Law, enraged at the idolatry of the frivolous people while he was for forty days in the Mount with God. Ex 32:19. But the most damaging act of this nature was at Kadesh-meribah. The people murmured for water. Moses was commanded to speak to the rock; instead, he struck the rock twice with his rod. It was because on this occasion God was not honored that Moses and Aaron were forbidden to enter the Promised Land. Num 20:11-12. But to counterbalance this evil trait there were many good ones. He makes mention of one of these - viz., his meekness. Num 12:3. Besides, he was characterized by disinterestedness, impartiality, faithfulness, and courage. When he had risen superior to the fears which daunted him when he received the divine call, he was unwavering. The people might murmur or break out into rebellion, he was ready to plead with God for them; yea, when they had so grievously sinned that God declared he would destroy them, Moses asked that his name might be blotted out of the book of God rather than behold their destruction. Ex 32:32. In addition must be mentioned his eminent services as lawgiver. It is indeed a vexed question how much credit should be given to him as the publisher of a code marked throughout by "Thus saith the Lord." We are safe in saying that the Law, as we have it recorded in the Scriptures, was divinely inspired, and that Moses made the record as directed of the Lord. The Decalogue is a moral miracle in ancient legislation, and retains its power to this day in all Christian lands. See Law. As an historian Moses also is to be honored. The five books commonly called the Pentateuch, which he wrote, contain the only reliable history of the creation of man and the beginning of the human as well as of the Jewish race. See Pentateuch. But there are also other compositions attributed to him - namely, Ps 90 and the book of Job. In regard to these there is no certainty, but the ninetieth Psalm seems to fit in well with the circumstances of the Wandering, and the book of Job is perhaps his in its first draft; the Talmud makes him the author, and several commentators have adopted this view. See Job. We know Moses to have had the poetic gift, for in the Pentateuch there are several exhibitions of it: 1. "The song which Moses and the children of Israel sung" (after the passage of the Red Sea, Ex 15:1-19). 2. A fragment of a war-song against Amalek, Ex 17:16: "As the hand is on the throne of Jehovah, So will Jehovah war with Amalek From generation to generation." 1. A fragment of a lyrical burst of indignation, Ex 32:18: "Not the voice of them that shout for mastery, Nor the voice of them that cry for being overcome, But the noise of them that sing do I hear." 1. The song of Moses, composed on the east side of Jordan. Deut 32:1-43. 2. The prophetic blessing of Moses upon the tribes. Deut 33:1-29. As a leader and as a prophet Moses comes before us. As the former "his life," says Dean Stanley in Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, "divides itself into the three epochs of the march to Sinai, the march from Sinai to Kadesh, and the conquest of the Transjordanic kingdoms. Of his natural gifts in this capacity we have but few means of judging. The two main difficulties which he encountered were the reluctance of the people to submit to his guidance and the impracticable nature of the country which they had to traverse. The incidents with which his name was specially connected, both in the sacred narrative and in the Jewish, Arabian, and heathen traditions, were those of supplying water when most wanted. In the Pentateuch these supplies of water take place at Marah, at Horeb, at Kadesh, and in the land of Moab. Of the first three of these incidents, traditional sites bearing his name are shown in the desert at the present day, though most of them are rejected by modern travellers. The route through the wilderness is described as having been made under his guidance. The particular spot of the encampment is fixed by the cloudy pillar. But the direction of the people, first to the Red Sea and then to Mount Sinai, is communicated through Moses or given by him. On approaching Palestine the office of the leader becomes blended with that of the general or the conqueror. By Moses the spies were sent to explore the country. Against his advice took place the first disastrous battle at Hormah. To his guidance is ascribed the circuitous route by which the nation approached Palestine from the east, and to his generalship the two successful campaigns in which Sihon and Og were defeated. The narrative is told so shortly that we are in danger of forgetting that at this last stage of his life Moses must have been as much a conqueror and victorious soldier as Joshua." But as a prophet Moses is evidently the revealer of the will of God, and preeminent because with him the divine revelations were made "mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches," and he beheld "the similitude of Jehovah." Num 12:8. He saw the flame in the bush; for two periods of forty days each he was in the thick darkness with God, Ex 24:18; Ex 34:28; and above all was he favored with the vision of the trailing garments of the Almighty, and he heard a voice which "proclaimed the two immutable attributes of God, justice and love," in words which became part of the religious creed of Israel and of the world. Ex 34:6-7. But perhaps the most remarkable fact is yet to be mentioned. Moses frequently met God in the tent of the congregation, which he removed outside the camp.Ex 33:9. No wonder that the subject of so many and so familiar interviews with God should be regarded with peculiar veneration by the Hebrews, the Mohammedans, and the Christians. When Moses was one hundred and twenty years old his eye was not dim nor his natural force abated. Deut 34:7. He was able, on the day of his death, to stand on Nebo, a height of the Pisgah range, and thence look across the Jordan and up and down the Promised Land. Bitter was his disappointment at not being allowed to enter, but meekly he submitted to the will of God. He had been so much with God that to die was simply to be always with Him whose voice he had heard and whose glory he had seen. But since his death would make a great change to his people, he prepared the way for it. He addressed the people and warned them against apostasy. He then gave a public charge to Joshua, his successor. He then uttered the song, Deut 32, and blessed the people. Deut 33. Quietly, it would appear, unattended, perhaps secretly, the aged yet strong man climbed the Pisgah range, stood on the height of Nebo, and viewed the extensive prospect. "As he gazed upon it the words fell upon his ears, 'This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed; I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes;' and then, not in sternness or in anger, but in utmost love, like a mother lifting her boy into her arms, the Lord added, 'But thou shalt not go over thither,' and in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, the soul of Moses had passed within the veil and was at home with God." - Rev. W. M. Taylor, D.D., Moses the Lawgiver, N.Y., 1879, p. 439. "And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor; but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day." Deut 34:6. In the words of the Rabbins, "Jehovah kissed him to death" (or rather into life eternal). His remains were removed from all reach of idolatry - the sin of sins, forbidden in the first commandment. As Thomas Fuller quaintly says, "God buried also his grave." Vainly have men sought to find it. The familiar lines of Mrs. C. F. Alexander's ode, "The Death of Moses," may be appropriately quoted here: "And had he not high honor? The hillside for his pall, To lie in state while angels wait, With stars for tapers tall; And the dark rock-pines,like tossing plumes, Over his bier to wave; And God's own hand, in that lonely land, To lay him in his grave." Centuries passed on. The land had witnessed many changes; the promised One stood upon the Promised Land when once more Moses is seen by mortal sight. Upon the slopes of Hermon he appeared in company with Elijah to talk with Jesus of the decease Jesus should accomplish at Jerusalem. Luke 9:31. Thus was the type brought face to face with the Pattern. And this resurrection leads to the conclusion which some hold - that Moses, like Christ, was raised from the dead after a brief sleep in the grave. Moses was of God's special preparation, the resultant of many forces. Wrought upon by inspiration, he was able to be legislator, statesman, leader, poet, saint, because he was so variedly trained. An exceptional man in original gifts, he was equally exceptional in his opportunities. To be of Hebrew extraction, and therefore by descent to share in the glorious hopes of his race, was to have a grand start Godward. To be the adopted child of Pharaoh's daughter, to breathe "the atmosphere of courts," to be acquainted as an equal with the nobility of the land, was to gain an intimate knowledge of statecraft from the best exponents of it. To be trained for the priesthood, initiated into the holy mysteries, learned in all the learning of the Egyptians, was to be thoroughly furnished unto religious service. To be exiled and compelled through many years to eat "the bread of carefulness," to be a keeper of sheep and a dweller in tents amid the sublimity of Sinaitic scenery, was to have time for reflection and for communion with God. Thus, when at eighty he returned to Egypt, he was able to debate with scholars and to sympathize with slaves. He towered above all his brethren. He was alone in the loneliness of genius. He was accessible in his feeling for the oppressed. But Moses was unique in other ways. He alone has held friendly converse with Jehovah. What though he was slow of speech? He was lofty of thought. What though he was timid? He had the promise of divine strength. And the good qualities he showed during the Wandering are such as come from fellowship with the Highest, while his bad qualities - his occasional infirmity of temper, for example - are mere spots upon the sun or temporary obscurations of the light, the times he forgot God. But when he fell all observed it, just as all notice the fallen monarch of the forest; when he stood firm few marked it, as few remark the upright tree. The above article is a mere sketch. To write fully the life of Moses would be to write the history of Israel during the Exodus. The reader will refer to the separate articles incidentally mentioned. We close by a brief study of the character of Moses, following the Rev. Dr. W.M. Taylor in his book above quoted. Three qualities give him immortal interest and prominence. 1st. Faith. By faith he esteemed "the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt." Heb 11:26. "Never more alluring prospects opened up before any man than those which the world held out to him. The throne of the greatest monarchy of his age was within his reach. All that wealth could procure, or pleasure bestow, or the greatest earthly power command, was easily at his call. But the glory of these things paled in his view before the more excellent character of those invisible honors which God set before him. This faith sustained him in the solitudes of Midian and animated him amidst all the conflicts attendant on the Exodus and all the difficulties that confronted him in the wilderness. This faith gave him courage in the hour of danger and calmness in the time of trial." (pp. 459, 460.) 2d. Prayerfnlness. "In every time of emergency his immediate resort was to Jehovah. He was not speaking to a stranger, but was like a son making application to his father; and so he never pleaded in vain." (p. 461.) His was the prayer of faith. 3d. Humility. "He coveted no distinction and sought no prominence; his greatness came to him, he did not go after it. And his humility was allied with or flowed naturally out into two other qualities, disinterestedness and meekness. (See Num 11:29 and 1 Chr 12:3 for striking illustrations.) He gave up his own ease and comfort to secure the emancipation of his people; and while laboring night and day for them, he had no thought whatever of his own interests. His office brought him no emolument." In this he was like Nehemiah. He was free from all charge of nepotism. His meekness was shown in silently listening to complaints against himself. He appealed unto God. (pp. 462-3.) The only blot upon this beautiful character is a lack of patience or self-control, but this was more evident in the earlier portion of his life, nor was it prominent enough to belie his eulogy. Moses was a type of Christ. The parallel is readily traced. "As Moses, in the early part of his career, refused the Egyptian monarchy because it could be gained to him only by disloyalty to, God, so Jesus turned away from the kingdoms of the world because they were offered on condition that he would worship Satan; as Moses became the emancipator of his people, so was Jesus; as Moses, penetrating to the soul of the symbolism of idolatry, introduced a new dispensation wherein symbolism was allied to spirituality of worship, so Jesus, seizing the spirituality of the Mosaic system, freed it from its national restrictions, and ushered in the day when the true worshipper would worship the Father anywhere; as Moses was pre-eminently a lawgiver, so Jesus, in his Sermon on the Mount, laid down a code which not only expounds but fulfils the Decalogue; as Moses was a prophet, so Jesus is the great Prophet of his Church; as Moses was a mediator, so Jesus is the Mediator of the new covenant, standing between God and man, and bridging, by his atonement and intercession, the gulf between the two. We cannot wonder, therefore, that in the vision of the Apocalypse they who have gotten the victory over the beast and his image are represented as singing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. Rev 15:3." (p. 466.) God buried Moses. It was fitting, therefore, that he too should write his epitaph. Here it is given by his inspiration, and, though written only in a book, having a permanence as great as if it had been graven with an iron pen in the rock for ever: "And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and the wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, and in all that mighty land, and in all the great terror which Moses showed in the sight of all Israel." Deut 34:10-12. (p. 468.) Moses, Song of. This wonderful ode celebrates more fitly the miraculous deliverance of the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage. It is the national anthem, the Te Deum of the Hebrews. It sounds through the psalms of Israel, through the thanksgiving hymns of the Christian Church, through the touching songs of liberated slaves, and it will swell the harmony of the saints in heaven. Allusion to it is made in Rev 15:2-3; "They stand on the sea of glass mingled with fire . . . and sing the song of Moses the servant of God."

(See AARON; EGYPT; EXODUS.) Hebrew Mosheh, from an Egyptian root, "son" or "brought forth," namely, out of the water. The name was also borne by an Egyptian prince, viceroy of Nubia under the 19th dynasty. In the part of the Exodus narrative which deals with Egypt, words are used purely Egyptian or common to Hebrew and Egyptian. Manetho in Josephus (contrast Apion 1:26, 28, 31) calls him Osarsiph, i.e. "sword of Osiris or saved by Osiris". "The man of God" in the title Psalm 90, for as Moses gave in the Pentateuch the key note to all succeeding prophets so also to inspired psalmody in that the oldest psalm. "Jehovah's slave" (Numbers 12:7; Deuteronomy 34:5; Joshua 1:2; Psalm 105:26; Hebrews 3:5). "Jehovah's chosen" (Psalm 106:23). "The man of God" (1 Chronicles 23:14). Besides the Pentateuch, the Prophets and Psalms and New Testament (Acts 7:9; Acts 7:20-38; 2 Timothy 3:8-9; Hebrews 11:20-28; Judges 1:9) give details concerning him. His Egyptian rearing and life occupy 40 years, his exile in the Arabian desert 40, and his leadership of Israel from Egypt to Moab 40 (Acts 7:23; Acts 7:30; Acts 7:36). Son of Amram (a later one than Kohath's father) and Jochebed (whose name, derived from Jehovah, shows the family hereditary devotion); Miriam, married to Hur, was oldest; Aaron, married to Elisheba, three years older (Exodus 7:7, compare Exodus 2:7); next Moses, youngest. (See AMRAM; MIRIAM.) By Zipporah, Reuel's daughter, he had two sons: Gershom, father of Jonathan, and Eliezer (1 Chronicles 23:14-15); these took no prominent place in their tribe. A mark of genuineness; a forger would have made them prominent. Moses showed no self-seeking or nepotism. His tribe Levi was the priestly one, and naturally rallied round him in support of the truth with characteristic enthusiasm (Exodus 32:27-28). Born at Heliopolis (Josephus, Ap. 1:9, 6; 2:9), at the time of Israel's deepest depression, from whence the proverb, "when the tale of bricks is doubled then comes Moses." Magicians foretold to Pharaoh his birth as a destroyer; a dream announced to Amram his coming as the deliverer (Josephus, Ant. 2:9, section 2-3). Some prophecies probably accompanied his birth. These explain the parents' "faith" which laid hold of God's promise contained in those prophecies; the parents took his good looks as a pledge of the fulfillment. Hebrews 11:23, "by faith Moses when he was born was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper (good-looking: Acts 7:20, Greek 'fair to God') child, and they were not afraid of the king's commandment" to slay all the males. For three months Jochebed hid him. Then she placed him in an ark of papyrus, secured with bitumen, and laid it in the "flags" (tufi, less in size than the other papyrus) by the river's brink, and went away unable to bear longer the sight. (H. F. Talbot Transact. Bibl. Archrael., i., pt. 9, translates a fragment of Assyrian mythology: "I am Sargina the great king, king of Agani. My mother gave birth to me in a secret place. She placed me in an ark of bulrushes and closed up the door with slime and pitch. She cast me into the river," etc. A curious parallel.) Miriam lingered to watch what would happen. Pharaoh's daughter (holding an independent position and separate household under the ancient empire; childless herself, therefore ready to adopt Moses; Thermutis according to Josephus) coming down to bathe in the sacred and life giving Nile (as it was regarded) saw the ark and sent her maidens to fetch it. The babe's tears touched her womanly heart, and on Miriam's offer to fetch a Hebrew nurse she gave the order enabling his sister to call his mother. Tunis (now San), Zoan, or Avaris near the sea was the place, where crocodiles are never found; and so the infant would run no risk in that respect. Aahmes I, the expeller of the shepherd kings, had taken it. Here best the Pharaohs could repel the attacks of Asiatic nomads and crush the Israelite serfs. "The field of Zoan" was the scene of God's miracles in Israel's behalf (Psalm 78:43). She adopted Moses as "her son, and trained him "in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," Providence thus qualifying him with the erudition needed for the predestined leader and instructor of Israel, and "he was mighty in words and in deeds." This last may hint at what Josephus states, namely, that Moses led a successful campaign against Ethiopia, and named Saba the capital Meroe (Artapanus in Eusebius 9:27), from his adopted mother Merrhis, and brought away as his wife Tharbis daughter of the Ethiopian king, who falling in love with him had shown him the way to gain the swamp surrounding the city (Josephus Ant. 2:10, section 2; compare Numbers 12:1). However, his marriage to the Ethiopian must have been at a later period than Josephus states, namely, after Zipporah's death in the wilderness wanderings. An inscription by Thothmes I, who reigned in Moses' early life, commemorates the "conqueror of the nine bows," i.e. Libya. A statistical tablet of Karnak (Birch says) states that Chebron and Thothmes I overran Ethiopia. Moses may have continued the war and in it wrought the "mighty deeds" ascribed to him. When Moses was 40 years old, in no fit of youthful enthusiasm but deliberately, Moses "chose" (Hebrews 11:23-28) what are the last things men choose, loss of social status as son of Pharaoh's daughter, "affliction," and "reproach." Faith made him prefer the "adoption" of the King of kings. He felt the worst of religion is better than the best of the world; if the world offers "pleasure" it is but "for a season." Contrast Esau (Hebrews 12:16-17). If religion brings "affliction" it too is but for a season, its pleasures are "forevermore at God's right hand" (Psalm 16:11). Israel's "reproach" "Christ" regards as His own (2 Corinthians 1:5; Colossians 1:24), it will soon be the true Israel's glory (Isaiah 25:8). "Moses had respect unto" (Greek apeblepen), or turned his eyes from all worldly considerations to fix them on, the eternal "recompense." His "going out unto his brethren when he was grown and looking on their burdens" was his open declaration of his taking his portion with the oppressed serfs on the ground of their adoption by God and inheritance of the promises. "It came into his heart (from God's Spirit, Proverbs 16:1) to visit his brethren, the children of Israel" (Acts 7:23). An Egyptian overseer, armed probably with one of the long heavy scourges of tough pliant Syrian wood (Chabas' "Voyage du Egyptien," 119, 136), was smiting an Hebrew, one of those with whom Moses identified himself as his "brethren." Giving way to impulsive hastiness under provocation, without regard to self when wrong was done to a brother, Moses took the law into his own hands, and slew and hid the Egyptian in the sand. Stephen (Acts 7:25; Acts 7:35) implies that Moses meant by the act to awaken in the Hebrew a thirst for the freedom and nationality which God had promised and to offer himself as their deliverer. But on his striving to reconcile two quarreling Hebrew the wrong doer, when reproved, replied: "who made thee a prince (with the power) and a judge (with the right of interfering) over us? (Luke 19:14, the Antitype.) Intendest thou to kill me as thou killedst the Egyptian?" Slavery had debased them, and Moses dispirited gave up as hopeless the enterprise which he had undertaken in too hasty and self-relying a spirit. His impetuous violence retarded instead of expedited their deliverance. He still needed 40 more years of discipline, in meek self-control and humble dependence on Jehovah, in order to qualify him for his appointed work. A proof of the genuineness of the Pentateuch is the absence of personal details which later tradition would have been sure to give. Moses' object was not a personal biography but a history of God's dealings with Israel. Pharaoh, on hearing of his killing the Egyptian overseer, "sought to slay him," a phrase implying that Moses' high position made necessary special measures to bring him under the king's power. Moses fled, leaving his exalted prospects to wait God's time and God's way. Epistle to the Hebrew (Hebrews 11:27) writes, "by faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king." Moses "feared" (Exodus 2:14-15) lest by staying he should sacrifice his divinely intimated destiny to be Israel's deliverer, which was his great aim. But he did "not fear" the king's wrath which would be aggravated by his fleeing without Pharaoh's leave. He did "not fear the king" so as to shrink from returning at all risks when God commanded. "Faith" God saw to be the ruling motive of his flight more than fear of personal safety; "he endured as seeing (through faith) Him who is invisible" (Luke 12:4-5). Despondency, when commissioned at last by God to arouse the people, was his first feeling on his return, from past disappointment in not having been able to inspire Israel with those high hopes for which he had sacrificed all earthly prospects (Exodus 3:15; Exodus 4:1; Exodus 4:10-12). He dwells not on Pharaoh's cruelty and power, but on the hopelessness of his appeals to Israel and on his want of the "eloquence" needed to move their stubborn hearts. He fled from Egypt to southern Midian because Reuel (his name "friend of God" implies he worshipped EL) or Raguel there still maintained the worship of the true God as king-priest or imam (Arabic version) before Israel's call, even as Melchizedek did at Jerusalem before Abraham's call. The northern people of Midian through contact with Canaan were already idolaters. Reuel's daughters, in telling of Moses' help to them in watering their flocks, called him "an Egyptian," judging from his costume and language, for he had not yet been long enough living with Israelites to be known as one; an undesigned coincidence and mark of genuineness. Moses "was content to live with Reuel" as in a congenial home, marrying Zipporah his daughter. From him probably Moses learned the traditions of Abraham's family in connection with Keturah (Genesis 25:2). Zipporah bore him Gershom and Eliezer whose names ("stranger," "God is my help") intimate how keenly he felt his exile (Exodus 18:3-4). The alliance between Israel and the Kenite Midianites continued permanently. Horab, Moses' brother-in-law, was subsequently Israel's guide through the desert. (See HOBAB.) In the 40 years' retirement Moses learned that self discipline which was needed for leading a nation under such unparalleled circumstances. An interval of solitude is needed especially by men of fervor and vehemence; so Paul in Arabia (Acts 24:27; Galatians 1:17). He who first attempted the great undertaking without God's call, expecting success from his own powers, in the end never undertook anything without God's guidance. His hasty impetuosity of spirit in a right cause, and his abandonment of that cause as hopeless on the first rebuff, gave place to a meekness, patience, tenderness, long suffering under wearing provocation and trials from the stiff-necked people, and persevering endurance, never surpassed (Numbers 12:3; Numbers 27:16). To appreciate this meekness, e.g. under Miriam's provocation, and apparent insensibility where his own honor alone was concerned, contrast his vigorous action, holy boldness for the Lord's honor, and passionate earnestness of intercession for his people, even to the verge of unlawful excess, in self sacrifice. (See MIRIAM; ANATHEMA.) He would not "let God alone," "standing before God in the breach to turn away His wrath" from Israel (Psalm 106:23). His intercessions restored Miriam, stayed plagues and serpents, and procured water out of the rock (Exodus 32:10-11; Exodus 32:20-25, Exodus 32:31-32). His was the reverse of a phlegmatic temper, but divine grace subdued and sanctified the natural defects of a man of strong feelings and impetuous character. His entire freedom from Miriam's charge of unduly exalting his office appears beautifully in his gentle reproof of Joshua's zeal for his honor: "enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the Lord's people were prophets!" etc. (Numbers 11:29.) His recording his own praises (Numbers 12:3-7) is as much the part of the faithful servant of Jehovah, writing under His inspiration, as his recording his own demerits (Exodus 2:12; Exodus 3:11; Exodus 4:10-14; Numbers 20:10-12). Instead of vindicating himself in the case of Korah (Numbers 16) and Miriam (Numbers 12) he leaves his cause with God, and tenderly intercedes for Miriam. He is linked with Samuel in after ages as an instance of the power of intercessory prayer (Jeremiah 15:1). He might have established his dynasty over Israel, but he assumed no princely honor and sought no preeminence for his sons (Deuteronomy 9:13-19). The spiritual progress in Moses between his first appearance and his second is very marked. The same spirit prompted him to avenge his injured countryman, and to rescue the Midianite women from the shepherds' violence, as afterward led him to confront Pharaoh; but in the first instance he was an illustration of the truth that "the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God" (James 1:20). The traditional site of his call by the divine "Angel of Jehovah" (the uncreated Shekinah, "the Word" of John 1, "the form like the Son of God" with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the furnace, Daniel 3:25) is in the valley of Shoayb or Hobab, on the northern side of jebel Musa. Moses led Jethro's flock to the W. ("the back side") of the desert or open pasture. The district of Sherim on the Red Sea, Jethro's abode, was barren; four days N.W. of it lies the Sinai region with good pasturage and water. He came to "the mountain of God" (Sinai, called so by anticipation of God's giving the law there) on his way toward Horeb. The altar of Catherine's convent is said to occupy the site of the (the article is in the Hebrew,: the well known) burning bush. The vision is generally made to typify Israel afflicted yet not consumed (2 Corinthians 4:8-10); but the flame was in the bush, not the bush in the flame; rather, Israel was the lowly acacia, the thorn bush of the desert, yet God deigned to abide in the midst of her (Zechariah 2:5). So Israel's Antitype, Messiah, has "all the fullness of the Godhead dwelling in Him bodily" (John 1:14; Colossians 2:9). Jehovah gave Moses two signs as credentials to assure him of his mission: the transformation of his long "rod" of authority (as on Egyptian monuments) or pastoral rod into a "serpent," the basilisk or cobra, the symbol of royal and divine power on the Pharaoh's diadem; a pledge of victory over the king and gods of Egypt (compare Mark 16:18; Moses' humble but wonder working crook typifies Christ's despised but allpowerful cross). (On Zipporah's [see] CIRCUMCISION of her son.) The hand made leprous, then restored, represents the nation of lepers (as Egyptian tradition made them, and as spiritually they had become in Egypt) with whom Moses linked himself, divinely healed through his instrumentality. No patriarch before wrought a miracle. Had the Pentateuch been mythical, it would have attributed supernatural wonders to the first fathers of the church and founders of the race. As it is, Moses first begins the new era in the history of the world with signs from God by man unknown before. To Moses' disinterested and humble pleadings of inability to speak, and desire that some other should be sent, Jehovah answers: "Aaron shall be thy spokesman ... even he shall be to thee a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God." Aaron, when he heard of Moses leaving Midian, of his own accord went to meet him; Jehovah further directed him what way to go in order to meet him, namely, by the desert (Exodus 4:14; Exodus 4:27). The two meeting and kissing on the mountain of God typify the law and the sacrificing priesthood meeting in Christ (Exodus 4:27; Psalm 85:10). Nothing short of divine interposition could have enabled Moses to lead an unwarlike people of serfs out of a powerful nation like Egypt, to give them the law with their acceptance of it though so contrary to their corrupt inclinations, to keep them together for 40 years in the wilderness, and finally to lead them to their conquest of the eastern part of Canaan. Moses had neither eloquence nor military prowess (as appears Exodus 4:10; Exodus 17:8-12), qualities so needful for an ordinary popular leader. He had passed in rural life the 40 years constituting the prime of his vigor. He had seemingly long given up all hopes of being Israel's deliverer, and settled himself in Midian. Nothing but God's extraordinary call could have urged him, against his judgment, reluctantly at fourscore to resume the project of rousing a debased people which in the rigor of manhood he had been forced to give up as hopeless. Nothing but such plagues as Scripture records could have induced the most powerful monarchy then in the world to allow their unarmed serfs to pass away voluntarily. His first efforts only aggravated Pharaoh's oppression and Israel's bondage (Exodus 5:2-9). Nor could magical feats derived from Egyptian education have enabled Moses to gain his point, for he was watched and opposed by the masters of this art, who had the king and the state on their side, while Moses had not a single associate save Aaron. Yet in a few months, without Israel's drawing sword, Pharaoh and the Egyptians urge their departure, and Israel "demands" (not "borrows," shaal) as a right from their former masters, and receives, gold, silver, and jewels (Exodus 12:85-39). Not even does Moses lead them the way of Philistia which, as being near, wisdom would suggest, but knowing their unwarlike character avoids it; Moses guides them into a defile with mountains on either side and the Red Sea in front, from whence escape from the Egyptian disciplined pursuers, who repented of letting them go, seemed hopeless, especially as Israel consisted of spiritless men, encumbered with women and with children. Nothing but the miracle recorded can account for the issue; Egypt's king and splendid host perish in the waters, Israel passes through in triumph (Exodus 13:17; Exodus 14:3; Exodus 14:5; Exodus 14:9; Exodus 14:11-12; Exodus 14:14). Again Moses with undoubting assurance of success on the borders of Canaan tells Israel "go up and possess the land" (Deuteronomy 1:20-21). By the people's desire spies searched the land; they reported the goodness of the land but yet more the strength and tallness of its inhabitants. The timid Israelites were daunted, and even proposed to stone the two faithful spies, to depose Moses, and choose a captain to lead them back to Egypt. Moses, instead of animating them to enter Canaan, now will neither suffer them to proceed, nor yet to return to Egypt; they must march and counter-march in the wilderness for 40 years until every adult but two shall have perished; but their little ones, who they said should be a prey, God will bring in. Only a divine direction, manifested with miracle, can account for such an unparalleled command and for its being obeyed by so disobedient a people. Too late they repented of their unbelieving cowardice, when Moses announced God's sentence, and in spite of Moses' warning presumed to go, but were chased by the Amalekites to Hormah (Deuteronomy 1:45-46; Deuteronomy 2:14; Numbers 14:39). The sustenance of 600,000 men besides women and children, 40 years, in a comparative desert could only be by miracle; as the Pentateuch records, they were fed with manna from heaven until they ate the grain of Canaan, on the morrow after which the manna ceased (Exodus 16; Joshua 5:12). Graves, Pentateuch, 1:1, section 5. Aaron and Hur supported Moses in the battle with Amalek (Exodus 17:12); Joshua was his minister. The localities of the desert commemorate his name, "the wells of Moses," Ayun Moses on the Red Sea, jebel Musa, the mountain of Moses, and the ravine of Moses near the Catherine convent. At once the prophet (foremost and greatest, Deuteronomy 34:10-11), lawgiver, and leader of Israel, Moses typifies and resembles Messiah (Numbers 21:18; Deuteronomy 33:21; especially Deuteronomy 18:15-19, compare Acts 3:22; Acts 7:37; Acts 7:25; Acts 7:35; John 1:17). Israel's rejection of Moses prefigures their rejection of Christ. His mediatorship in giving the law answers to Christ's; also Exodus 17:11; Exodus 32:10-14; Exodus 32:31-34; Exodus 33:18-16; Galatians 3:19, compare 1 Timothy 2:5. Moses was the only prophet to whom Jehovah spoke "face to face," "as a man speaketh unto his friend" (Exodus 33:11; Numbers 12:8; Deuteronomy 34:10): so at Horeb (Exodus 33:18-23); compare as to Christ John 1:18. For the contrast between "Christ the Son over His own house" and "Moses the servant faithful in all God's house" see Hebrews 3:1-6. Pharaoh's murder of the innocents answers to Herod's; Christ like Moses sojourned in Egypt, His 40 days' fast answers to that of Moses. Moses stands at the head of the legal dispensation, so that Israel is said to have been "baptized unto Moses" (initiated into the Mosaic covenant) as Christians are into Christ. Moses after the calf worship removed the temporary tabernacle (preparatory to the permanent one, subsequently described) outside the camp; and as he disappeared in this "tent of meeting" (rather than "tabernacle of congregation") the people wistfully gazed after him (Exodus 33:7-10). On his last descent from Sinai "his face shone"; and he put on a veil as the people "could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away," a type of the transitory dispensation which he represented, in contrast to the abiding Christian dispensation (Exodus 34:30; Exodus 34:38; 2 Corinthians 3:13-14; 2 Corinthians 3:7; 2 Corinthians 3:11). "They were afraid to come nigh him": Alford's explanation based on the Septuagint is disproved by Exodus 34:30; 2 Corinthians 3:7, namely, that Moses not until he had done speaking to the people put on the veil "that they might not look on the end (the fading) of his transitory glory." Paul implies, "Moses put on the veil that (God's judicial giving them up to their willful blindness: Isaiah 6:10; Acts 28:26-27) they might not look steadfastly at (Christ, Romans 10:4; the Spirit, 2 Corinthians 3:17) the end of that (law in its mere letter) which (like Moses' glory) is done away." The evangelical glory of Moses' law, like the shining of Moses' face, cannot be borne by a carnal people, and therefore remains veiled to them until the Spirit takes away the veil (2 Corinthians 14-17; John 5:45-47). There is a coincidence between the song of Moses (Deuteronomy 32; 33) and his Psalm 90; thus Deuteronomy 33:27 compare Psalm 90:1; Psalm 32:4; Psalm 32:36 with Psalm 90:13; Psalm 90:16. The time of the psalm was probably toward the close of the 40 years' wandering in the desert. The people after long chastisement beg mercy (Psalm 90:15-17). The limitation of life to 70 or 80 years harmonizes with the dying of all that generation at about that age; 20 to 40 at the Exodus, to which the 40 in the wilderness being added make 60 to 80. Kimchi says the older rabbis ascribed Psalm 91 also to Moses Israel's exemption from Egypt's plagues, especially the death stroke on the firstborn, which surrounded but did not touch God's people, in Exodus 8:22; Exodus 10:28; Exodus 11:7; Exodus 12:23, corresponds to Psalm 91:3-10. His song in Exodus 15 abounds in incidents marked by the freshness and simplicity which we should expect from an eye-witness: he anticipates the dismay of the Philistines and Edomites through whose territories Israel's path lay to the promised land. The final song (Deuteronomy 32) and blessing (Deuteronomy 33) have the same characteristics. These songs gave atone to Israel's poetry in each succeeding age. They are the earnest of the church's final "song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb" (Revelation 15:3), the song which shall unite in triumph the Old Testament church and the New Testament church, after their conflicts shall have been past. Like the Antitype, his parting word was blessing (Deuteronomy 33:29; Luke 24:51). His exclusion from Canaan teaches symbolically the law cannot bring us into the heavenly Canaan, the antitypical Joshua must do that. Two months before his death (Numbers 31), just before his closing addresses, the successful expedition, by God's command to Moses, against Midian was undertaken. Preparatory to that expedition was the census and mustering of the tribes on the plains of Moab (Numbers 26). The numbers were taken according to the families, so as equitably to allot the land. Moses among his last acts wrote the law and delivered it to the priests to be put in the side of the ark for a witness against Israel (Deuteronomy 31:9-12; Deuteronomy 31:22-27) and gave a charge to Joshua. In Exodus 24:12 "I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and the commandment" (Hebrew), the reference is to the ten commandments on the two stone tables, the Pentateuch "law," and the ceremonial commandment. However, Knobel translated it as "the tables of stone with the law, even the commandment." His death accorded with his life. He was sentenced (for "unbelievingly not sanctifying the Lord" and "speaking unadvisedly with his lips," to the people, though told to address the rock, in a harsh unsympathetic spirit which God calls rebellion, Numbers 20:8-13; Numbers 27:14, through the people's "provocation of his spirit," his original infirmity of a hasty impetuous temper recurring) to see yet not enter the good land. Meekly submitting to the stroke, he thought to the last only of God's glory and Israel's good, not of self: "let Jehovah, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation" (Numbers 27:12-16). Yet how earnestly he had longed to go over into the good land appears in Deuteronomy 3:24-27. Ascending to Nebo, a height on the western slope of the range of Pisgah, so-called from a neighboring town, he was showed by Jehovah "all Gilead unto Dan, Naphtali, Ephraim, Manasseh, all Judah, unto the Mediterranean, the S. and the plain of Jericho unto Zoar" (N. according to Tristram, rather S. of the Dead Sea); like Christ's view of the world kingdoms (Luke 4:5), it was supernatural, effected probably by an extraordinary intensification of Moses' powers of vision. (See ZOAR.) Then he died there "according to the word of Jehovah," Hebrew "on the mouth of Jehovah," which the rabbis explain "by a kiss of the Lord" (Song of Solomon 1:2); but Genesis 45:21 margin supports KJV (compare Deuteronomy 32:51.) Buried by Jehovah himself in a valley in Moab over against Bethpeor, Moses was probably translated soon after; for he afterward appears with the translated Elijah and Jesus at the transfiguration, when the law and the prophets in Moses' and Elijah's persons gave place to the Son whose servants and fore witnesses they had been: "hear ye Him" answers to "unto Him ye shall hearken" (Deuteronomy 18; Matthew 17:1-10; compare Judges 1:9). His sepulchre therefore could not be found by man. The term "decease," Exodus, found in Luke 9:31, and with the undesigned coincidence of truth repeated by Peter an eye-witness of the transfiguration (2 Peter 1:15), was suggested by the Exodus from Egypt, the type of Jesus' death and resurrection. Josephus (Ant. 4:8) thought God hid Moses' body lest it should be idolized. Satan (Hebrews 2:14) contended with Michael, that it should not be raised again on the ground of Moses' sin (Judges 1:9, compare Zechariah 3:2). "His eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated" before death. Israel mourned him for 30 days. The remembrance of Moses ages after shall be a reason for Jehovah's mercy awaiting Israel (Isaiah 63:11). "And had he not high honor? The hillside for his pall, To lie in state while angels wait, With stars for tapers tall; And the dark rock pines, like tossing plumes, Over his bier to wave, And God's own hand, in that lonely land To lay him in the grave." -C. F. Alexander.