Moses

Identity

Moses is the servant of the LORD (Deuteronomy 34:5; Joshua 1:1), the man who brought Israel out of Egypt and gave them the Law on Sinai. Scripture calls him 'very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth' (Numbers 12:3). The Church reads Moses as a prefiguring of Christ — 'A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me' (Acts 3:22, citing Deuteronomy 18:15).

Name and titles

'Moses' — Moshe in Hebrew — is given by Pharaoh's daughter, who says 'Because I drew him out of the water' (Exodus 2:10; the Hebrew mashah, 'to draw out'). Titles include 'the man of God' (Deuteronomy 33:1), 'the servant of the LORD' (Deuteronomy 34:5), and 'the man Moses' (Numbers 12:3).

Historical period

• c. 1526 BC (traditional) — Born in Egypt to a Levite family; hidden three months; placed in an ark of bulrushes; drawn out by Pharaoh's daughter (Exodus 2:1-10).
• c. 1486 BC — Slays an Egyptian and flees to Midian; marries Zipporah; keeps the flock of Jethro (Exodus 2:11-22).
• c. 1446 BC (Long Chronology) — The burning bush at Horeb (Exodus 3). The Exodus from Egypt (Exodus 12-15).
• c. 1446 BC — The ten plagues; the Passover; the crossing of the Red Sea (Exodus 7-15).
• c. 1446-1445 BC — The giving of the Law at Sinai; the tabernacle constructed (Exodus 19-40).
• c. 1445-1406 BC — Forty years of wandering in the wilderness (Numbers).
• c. 1406 BC — Death on Mount Nebo, in sight of the promised land (Deuteronomy 34).

Scripture appearances

• Exodus 2 (KJV) The ark of bulrushes; the flight to Midian.
• Exodus 3-4 (KJV) The burning bush; the divine Name 'I AM THAT I AM.'
• Exodus 12 (KJV) The Passover.
• Exodus 14 (KJV) The crossing of the Red Sea.
• Exodus 19-20 (KJV) Sinai and the Ten Commandments.
• Numbers 12:3 (KJV) 'Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.'
• Deuteronomy 34 (KJV) The death of Moses on Mount Nebo.
• Matthew 17:1-8 // Mark 9:2-8 // Luke 9:28-36 (KJV) The Transfiguration — Moses appears with Elias, speaking with Christ.
• John 1:17 (KJV) 'For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.'
• Hebrews 11:24-29 (KJV) The faith of Moses commended.

Connected Places

• Egypt — the land of his birth, his flight, and the Exodus.
• Midian — the land of his forty years' shepherding.
• Mount Sinai (Horeb) — the mountain of the burning bush and of the Law.
• Mount Nebo — the mountain of his death, in sight of Canaan.
• Jordan River — the river he saw from Nebo but did not cross.

Connected People

• Aaron — his brother and the first high priest.
• Miriam — his sister and prophetess.
• Zipporah — his wife.
• Jethro — his father-in-law, priest of Midian.
• Joshua — his successor, who brought Israel over the Jordan.
• Christ Jesus — whom he prefigures, and with whom he speaks at the Transfiguration.

Salvation history role

• The lawgiver — through whom God gives the Ten Commandments and the whole Torah.
• The mediator between God and Israel (Exodus 32-34).
• The prophet like unto whom the Messiah will be (Deuteronomy 18:15; Acts 3:22).
• The type of Christ: hidden as an infant from a murderous king (cf. Matthew 2), brought out of Egypt (cf. Matthew 2:15), leads the people through the water (cf. Baptism).

Christian tradition

• Read at every Easter Vigil — the crossing of the Red Sea is a chief type of Baptism.
• The Ten Commandments have been taught to catechumens in every century of the Church.
• Icons and paintings often show Moses on the mount, veiled, or holding the tablets.
• The Fathers — Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine — all wrote on the Life of Moses as a portrait of the soul ascending to God.

Household reflection

Moses teaches the household to take off its shoes before a burning bush — that is, to know when a moment is holy and to reverence it.

When the household reads the Ten Commandments together, it is being handed the same tablets the LORD wrote with His own finger on Sinai (Exodus 31:18).

Room connections

Where this entry meets the household in the wider house of CrossAIHub.

• Read (Library) — Read Exodus 1-20 together as a household — one of the great teaching arcs of Scripture.
• Pray (Chapel) — Pray the Ten Commandments each Friday in a household examination of conscience.
• Family (Kitchen Table) — Keep a Passover meal near Holy Week — a Christian Seder that ties the Old Covenant to the New.
• Sing (Choir Room) — Sing 'Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah' — the pilgrim hymn of a household still in the wilderness.
• Learn (Workshop) — Study Gregory of Nyssa's Life of Moses — a classic of Christian spiritual formation.

Further reading

The Book of Exodus in the KJV.

Gregory of Nyssa, The Life of Moses (fourth century).

Augustine, City of God, Book XVI.

Elsewhere in the Atlas

• Christ Jesus
• David
• Jordan River
• Jerusalem
• Psalm 91 — traditionally attributed to Moses (a psalm of the wilderness).
• Genesis 1 — Creation
• Joshua — his successor
• Mount Ararat — where Noah's ark rested
• Return to the atrium — the Atlas's main room.