Moses

In short

The first leader of Israel as a nation.

Why he is important

God gave him the laws that the Jews would live by for the next 1500 years or so. At least 22 times in the Bible, that law is called “the Law of Moses.”

Some defining stories about Moses

Moses is literally synonymous with “The Old Testament,” and yet for me, his vindication is in the New Testament. Moses is just in a class by himself.

• He has an archangel fighting on his side with the devil (Jude 9)
• He is praised for his faith that even looked forward to Christ (Heb 11:25-26)
• But above all of that, he is chosen to appear to Jesus Christ (along with Elijah) at the transfiguration (Matt 17:1-3)

The saddest moment of Moses’ life is in Numbers 20, when Moses disobeys God and is told that he won’t get to go into the promised land. He apparently still remained faithful to God (the previous points prove that, I think) and was given grace to see the land at least (Deut 34:4).

Otherwise, there are four books of the Bible (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) flowing with amazing, encouraging stories of Moses. He endured slavery when he was not bound; he opposed an evil king; he rescued a nation; he saw and spoke with God; he put up with a nation of miserable people wandering through the desert; he trained Joshua; and he lived 120 years.

“And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.”

Deuteronomy 34:10-12

A short biography

1. Parents: Amram and Jochebed (Ex 6:20)
2. Siblings: Aaron and Miriam (Num 26:59)
   1. Moses is the youngest (Ex 7:7; 2:4)
3. Wife: Zipporah; father-in-law was Jethro (Ex 2:21, 3:1)
4. Born when Egypt was conducting a genocide against Jewish babies (Ex 1:22)
5. Yet ironically, he grew up in Pharaoh’s household (Ex 2:10)
6. At age 40 he killed a man and fled to Midian – because Pharaoh was trying to kill him (Ex 2:15)
7. At age 80 he leads the Jews out of Egypt (Ex 7:7)
8. In between those events, he sees God in the burning bush (Ex 3) and he and Aaron (Ex 4:13-15) confront Pharaoh (a different pharaoh than before, Ex 4:19)
9. Died at age 120, as youthful as ever (Deut 34:7)
10. Moses had two children, Gershom and Eliezer (Ex 18:3-4)
    • And I could be wrong, but I don’t see much else said of Moses’ descendants
    • 1Ch 23:16-17 list Moses’ grandchildren
    • 1Ch 26:24-28 – descendants from both lines are mentioned as being “in charge of the treasuries” of the house of God. I’d say that’s mighty commendable.
    • 1Ch 23:14 says that Moses’ sons “were named among the tribe of Levi.” (NIV has “were counted as part of the tribe of Levi,” which is a little clearer.) It’s on the heels of explaining the specialness of Aaron’s line (verse 13) and is jarring in its contrast to that. It seems to imply that Moses’ descendants were respectable, honest, faithful men but perhaps not ones pursuing recognition. They just did their jobs.