In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Moses is a renowned and well-respected figure due to his leadership role among the Israelites in Egypt and the wilderness.
In the Bible, Moses is known for courage, commitment, and trust in God to save and deliver his people. And he stands out on the list of biblical characters, relatively next to Christ Jesus.
The story of Moses in the Bible is worth studying and starts from the book Exodus to Deuteronomy.
In this message, we will look at Moses in the Bible, dwelling on the first few chapters of Exodus through the last few chapters of Deuteronomy. You do not want to miss this!
Meanwhile, have you seen the message on The Tower Of Babel In The Bible? You should give it a read!
Who Was Moses In The Bible?
Assuming you heard about Moses in the Bible for the first time, I know you would be asking, Who was he? There are indeed people who know a thing or two about Moses but are lacking in the basics concerning the character.
Here is something you should have at the back of your mind: Moses is the Bible figure who was pulled out by an Egyptian but sent out by the Lord to deliver the Israelites from slavery in Egypt with signs and wonders.
According to the Old Testament, Moses was the only Prophet in Israel who related with the Lord face to face. He was known as the custodian of The Law and the Leader of the people of Israel from the land of Egypt to that which God promised their forefathers.
But the story of Moses ended sadly, as he did not enter the promised Land but only saw it. We will see why in the course of this study.
The Story Of Moses In The Bible
The story of Moses in the Bible has a background in the book of Exodus chapter 1, where Joseph (the Israelite who became number one after the King of Egypt in his time) was reported dead.
Along the line, a new King rose with jealousy and fear against the Israelites who had increased in the land of Egypt. The Egyptians began to show hatred towards the Israelites and enslaved them.
The taskmasters in Egypt put the people of Israel into forced labor and made them build two treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses, for the King, Pharaoh. But that did not stop the children of Israel from multiplying, and they remained a threat to the Egyptians.
Therefore, the Egyptians put the children of Israel through hard labor, in mortar and bricks, and made them do all services ruthlessly. Their King introduced a new command that required the midwives to kill all male children of the children of Israel at birth, but it did not work out as expected.
The Bible records that the midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, feared the Lord and refused to do as the King commanded. Instead, they kept the baby boys alive.
When it was known to the King of Egypt, he ended up ordering his people to cast the male children of the Hebrew women into the river and keep only the daughters alive.
It was during that time that the child called Moses came forth. As we continue with the story of Moses in the Bible, we will consider his birth, name, and life. It could take quite a long time, but I believe this study will be worth the time. So, let us enjoy this one!
The Birth Of Moses (Exodus 2:1–10 Explained)
The first time Moses appeared in the Bible was in Exodus 2 and had to do with his birth. According to Exodus 2:1 to 3, two Levites (man and woman) met and married. The woman conceived and gave birth to a son, but when she saw his beauty, she decided to hide him.
She later got tired of hiding the boy, so she put him in a papyrus basket and dropped him in the reeds by the bank of the Nile River. Then, a new figure showed up! It was the sister of the child. She followed the basket to see what would become of him.
The birth of Moses was gracious, but whether he would survive was yet another thing to consider. So this was what happened according to the scripture:
“Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe at the river. Her maidens walked along by the riverside. She saw the basket among the reeds, and sent her handmaid to get it.
She opened it, and saw the child, and behold, the baby cried. She had compassion on him, and said, ‘This is one of the Hebrews’ children.’” Exodus 2:5–6 WEB.
The moment Pharaoh’s daughter was said to have compassion for him, it was definite that he would survive this one like he did the first tragedy of being cast into the river. His sister, who was watching, took advantage of the moment and asked if she could get a nun for him. And the King’s daughter gave her the go-ahead!
She went and brought his mother, and the daughter of King Pharaoh handed her the child to take care of for her with wages. The woman took the child and took care of him.
The scriptures said in Exodus 2:10 WEB, “The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, and said, ‘Because I drew him out of the water.’”
Before we move on, some characters showed up along the line, and you could be asking, Who were the parents of Moses? Who was the sister of Moses? Or what was the name of the daughter of Pharaoh who rescued and became Moses’ second mother? Let me take a few moments to address all of that.
According to the Old Testament genealogies, Amram, the son of Kohath, was the father of Moses. In line with Exodus 6:20 and Numbers 26:59, Amram married a Levite named Jochebed, the mother of Moses, his sister Miriam, and his brother Aaron.
And according to 1 Chronicles 4:17 and 18, the name of Pharaoh’s daughter was Bithiah, transliterated as Batyah. It means daughter of God or worshipper of God. I learned that she left Egypt after Moses did, was married by Mered, and bore him a daughter named Miriam and two sons, Shammai and Ishbah.
Here comes the question of where and when Moses was born. He was born in Goshen, in Ancient Egypt. A generally acceptable calculation of when he was born would be in the 13th century Before the Christian Era, around 1391 to 1271 BCE (or BC – Before Christ).
Hebrew Meaning Of The Name Of Moses
Before we look at the early life of Moses, did you know that the Hebrew word for Moses is also transliterated as mō-šeh, Moishe, and Moshe, especially?
There is an assumption that the name Moses, having a similar pronunciation to the names of the Egyptian Kings as Ramesses (Son of Ra) and Thutmose (son of Thot), would mean son in the Egyptian language.
Some suggest that if there was a longer name for Moses, or if Moses were to be a short form of his longer name, it would be Ramose.
For those wondering what the Hebrew meaning of Moses is, the name comes from the term מֹשֶׁ֔ה, commonly translated as Moshe. It means Savior or Deliverer, and according to the scriptures, Moses referred to the one saved from, pulled out of, or drawn out of water.
Also, let me highlight that the name is masculine and verbal in its origin. In addition, it was unique as Bithiah, a princess of Egypt, gave the name to the man (while he was a child).
The Life Of Moses (Exodus 2:11–22)
The Life of Moses as an Israelite in Egypt was in Exodus 2:11 through 15, where he ran away from the land of Egypt. But why?
First, Moses came out of his Royal domain to visit the state of the Israelites in Egypt. He saw their burdens and the hard labor they went through. One would wonder what he was thinking, but something else happened!
Moses saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave, and swiftly, he killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand, having noticed no one in sight. Unfortunately for him, nothing was hidden under the sun.
The next day, when he went to visit the Israelites, it dawned on him that people saw what he did, and news of it soon reached King Pharaoh, who ordered his arrest and execution. Therefore, he fled!
In the early adulthood of Moses, he was known for murder and probably exposed by the people he was trying to protect. So he left Egypt and went to Midian and sat beside a well, where he helped the daughters of the priest of Midian.
In Exodus 2:15–22, the life of Moses took a new turn as he found a wife in the house of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. He begat a son and called him Gershom because he was a stranger in a foreign land. His wife’s name was Zipporah.
According to Exodus 18:3–4 and 1 Chronicles 23:15, Moses had two sons, Gershom and the second one called Eliezer (which means God is help or God was my help) because God helped Moses and delivered him from the sword of Pharaoh.
The Commission Of Moses And The Promise Land
From the last three verses of Exodus 2, the King of Pharaoh at that time died. But the children of Israel cried to the Lord because of their bondage. And as the scripture said, God saw the children of Israel and was concerned about them.
Exodus 3 opens up with Moses as a Shepherd of the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law. He led the flock into the wilderness, even to Mount Horeb (the mountain of God). It was on that mountain that he got commissioned to deliver the Israelites from their captivity in Egypt.
In Exodus 3:2–10 WEB, the scriptures revealed:
“Yahweh’s angel appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
Moses said, ‘I will turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.’
When Yahweh saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said, ‘Moses! Moses!’ He said, ‘Here I am.’
He said, ‘Don’t come close. Take your sandals off of your feet, for the place you are standing on is holy ground.’
Moreover he said, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look at God.
Yahweh said, ‘I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.
I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
Now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me. Moreover I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.
Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.’”
There are two points I want to bring out from the narration:
- An angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in the burning bush in the name of the Lord and commissioned him to go to Egypt and lead the people of Israel out of body to the promised land.
- The promised land was spoken of as a land already occupied by different groups of people, though it was a fertile land.
The following verses revealed more communications that led to Moses going to Egypt, including the revelation of the name of God as YHWH. Moses had Aaron, his brother, with him, and Miriam, the prophetess, was also a supportive sister in the commission.
However, I want to drive forward the story of Moses in the Bible with the two points I listed above. That is to say, Moses went to Egypt and delivered the message of the Lord to Pharaoh to let the people of God go, with signs and wonders.
After several refusals on the part of the King of Egypt, he finally decided to let them go, though he later changed his mind and went against them on their way. But the Lord gave them victory, delivering them through the Red Sea by making them walk on dry land.
With all that and more, the Lord used Moses as an instrument of honor. And under the leadership of Moses, the children of Israel went through the wilderness for 40 years on their way to the promised Land.
In the wilderness, it was on record that Moses received the Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue in Exodus 20:1–17, from the Lord. He also gave laws for the nation of Israel with punishments for defaulters. So we can see that under Moses, Israel was already becoming a great nation as they moved to occupy the Land that the Lord promised their forefathers.
The Law Of Moses In The Bible
Have you ever heard of the phrase Law of Moses, and wondered, What is the law of Moses? Sometimes, it is referred to as Moses and generally described as The Mosaic Law.
The Law Of Moses in the Bible was in two main parts: the enlisted laws and the Pentateuch (Torah). The enlisted laws refer to the commandments given by Moses to the people of Israel, and the Pentateuch (Torah) refers to the first five books of the Old Testament, arguably written by Moses. The books include Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
More simply, one can understand the Law of Moses as a reference to the books and the commandments given by Moses in the books.
In the Law of Moses, there are laws identified in three different groups: ceremonial laws, moral laws, and civil laws.
The Ceremonial Laws
The Ceremonial Laws also called the sacrificial Laws refers to the rules or instructions that coordinated the mode of worship, festive activities, and offering of sacrifices in the Old Testament. These laws specified what was clean or unclean and acceptable or unacceptable to offer to the Lord.
The Ceremonial Laws can be seen today as religious laws as they have to do with sacrifices, both sin offerings, burnt offerings, and every other offering in the worship of God or a god.
The book of Leviticus 1–27 embodies all these laws: the laws on burnt offerings to the ones on vow keeping or dedication concerning the Israelites.
The Moral Laws
The moral laws were God’s ordinances identified in the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:1 through 17.
These laws included instructions against worshipping other gods, dishonoring parents, murder, committing adultery, theft, false witnessing, and covetousness.
The Moral Laws promoted love for God and love for others as oneself. And Jesus showed up to set a practical example when he offered Himself for the world.
The Civil Laws
The Civil Laws also known as Judicial Laws referred to the precepts that governed the nation of Israel – its relationship between citizens and foreigners.
The Civil Laws were also used to enforce the moral laws through due process and punishment of defaulters. It played out in cases of marriage and divorce, property possessions, lending and borrowing, and other conducts.
While the Judicial laws could be in and across the Torah, the lists of those instructions are located in Deuteronomy 19–24, etc.
Furthermore, the Law of Moses was generally acceptable to be around 613 commandments, given to the people of Israel to keep them in the land until Christ.
Now, let us see some of the things Paul and John said concerning the above. Beginning with Paul, he said;
“Now I say this. A covenant confirmed beforehand by God in Christ, the law, which came four hundred thirty years after, does not annul, so as to make the promise of no effect.
For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no more of promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by promise.
What then is the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the seed should come to whom the promise has been made. It was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator.
Now a mediator is not between one, but God is one.
Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could make alive, most certainly righteousness would have been of the law.
But the Scriptures imprisoned all things under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, confined for the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
So that the law has become our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
For you are all children of God, through faith in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:17–26 WEB.
To those in Rome, he said:
“For what the law couldn’t do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh;
that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Romans 8:3–4 WEB.
John said in his epistle:
“This is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as he commanded.
He who keeps his commandments remains in him, and he in him. By this we know that he remains in us, by the Spirit which he gave us.” 1 John 3:23–24 WEB.
However, Paul continued:
“Give therefore to everyone what you owe: taxes to whom taxes are due; customs to whom customs; respect to whom respect; honor to whom honor.
Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not covet,’ and whatever other commandments there are, are all summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
Love doesn’t harm a neighbor. Love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.” Romans 13:7–10 WEB.
The Death Of Moses In The Bible
In this section, we will address two main questions: How did Moses die? and How old was Moses when he died?
The death of Moses in the Bible raises some controversies, and we will see why in the course of this study.
“Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Behold, your days approach that you must die. Call Joshua, and present yourselves in the Tent of Meeting, that I may commission him.’ Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the Tent of Meeting.
Yahweh appeared in the Tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood over the Tent’s door.
Yahweh said to Moses, Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers. This people will rise up, and play the prostitute after the strange gods of the land, where they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.
Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall come on them; so that they will say in that day, ‘Haven’t these evils come on us because our God is not among us?’
I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evil which they have done, in that they have turned to other gods.
‘Now therefore write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the children of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel.
For when I have brought them into the land which I swore to their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they have eaten and filled themselves, and grown fat; then they will turn to other gods, and serve them, and despise me, and break my covenant.
It will happen, when many evils and troubles have come on them, that this song will testify before them as a witness; for it will not be forgotten out of the mouths of their descendants; for I know their ways and what they are doing this day, before I have brought them into the land which I swore.’
So Moses wrote this song the same day, and taught it the children of Israel.
He commissioned Joshua the son of Nun, and said, ‘Be strong and courageous; for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land which I swore to them. I will be with you.’
When Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a book, until they were finished,
Moses commanded the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, saying,
‘Take this book of the law, and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of Yahweh your God, that it may be there for a witness against you.
For I know your rebellion, and your stiff neck. Behold, while I am yet alive with you this day, you have been rebellious against Yahweh. How much more after my death?
Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth to witness against them.
For I know that after my death you will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will happen to you in the latter days; because you will do that which is evil in the sight of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.’
Moses spoke in the ears of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song, until they were finished.” Deuteronomy 31:14–30 WEB.
In chapter 32 of the same book, Moses recited the song in the book of the law before the people of Israel from verses 1 to 43. But in verses 48 to 52, how Moses would die was foretold.
How Did Moses Die?
According to Deuteronomy 32:48–52 WEB:
“Yahweh spoke to Moses that same day, saying,
‘Go up into this mountain of Abarim, to Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is across from Jericho; and see the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel for a possession.
Die on the mountain where you go up, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor, and was gathered to his people;
because you trespassed against me in the midst of the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah of Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because you didn’t uphold my holiness in the midst of the children of Israel.
For you shall see the land from a distance; but you shall not go there into the land which I give the children of Israel.’”
How Moses would die was compared to how Aaron, his brother, died on a mountain. Aaron died on Mount Hor, and Moses was to die on Mount Nebo. The reason for that shown in the scripture was because they did not commit to the commandment of the Lord and dishonored God before the people at the Waters of Meribah. (See Numbers 20:7–13.)
In Chapter 33, Moses blessed the people of Israel. And in Deuteronomy 34:1–6 WEB, his death was reported in this manner:
“Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. Yahweh showed him all the land of Gilead, to Dan,
and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, to the western sea,
and the south, and the Plain of the valley of Jericho the city of palm trees, to Zoar.
Yahweh said to him, This is the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your seed.’ I have caused you to see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.
So Moses the servant of Yahweh died there in the land of Moab, according to Yahweh’s word.
He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth Peor, but no man knows where his tomb is to this day.”
Three takeaways from the details include:
- Moses went up Mount Nebo and saw the promised Land according to the word of the Lord.
- He died or gave up the ghost in the land of Moab according to the word of the Lord.
- The Lord buried him in the valley of Moab, opposite Beth Poer. However, no one knows the exact location where his body was.
This third point, in particular, raises eyebrows as to what happened to the body of Moses after he died or gave up the ghost.
There are two additional sides to what happened to the body of Moses. But before we look at each of them, let us attend to the second question for this discussion.
How Old Was Moses When He Died?
“Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died. His eye was not dim, nor his strength gone.” Deuteronomy 34:7 WEB.
The description that followed how old Moses was when he died showed the evidence of a healthy man at an advanced age. His eyes were seeing clearly, and his strength was intact.
However, Moses died at 120 years old, and the people mourned his death for thirty days. Then, Joshua took over as the leader of the people of Israel in the sted of Moses.
To the circumstances surrounding the body of Moses, the common question would be, What happened to the body of Moses?
Some people assume that since the body of Moses was undiscovered and no one could identify his tomb, God took him like Elijah and Enoch. A scripture taken as support to this perspective is Matthew 17:1–8, where Moses and Elijah appeared in verse 4.
As fascinating as that may sound, I do not think that would be the case as the scriptures from where we read about the death of Moses spelled out that he died and the Lord buried him. Therefore, the second perspective.
Here, we have a scripture suggesting what happened to the body of Moses but in an unclear manner. Jude 1:9 WEB says:
“But Michael, the archangel, when contending with the devil and arguing about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him an abusive condemnation, but said, ‘May the Lord rebuke you!’”
Jude wrote that in his letter alongside other things, but when he made the statement, it was to note that the archangel while contending with the devil over the body of Moses, showed some respect to the devil by saying, The Lord rebuke you. He said that in connection with the people he accused of slandering celestial beings in verse 8.
However, his statement opened up a new face of discussion over the body of Moses. And one would ask, why the dispute over the body of Moses? Or what was the devil going to do with it?
The common assumption is that he was going to make the body available to the Israelites to tempt them to idolize it. But the location was unknown to the public, so the devil failed to achieve his aim. Sounds ideal and fitting, right?
However, the last chapter of Deuteronomy, which told about the death of Moses, concluded this about Moses:
“Since then, there has not arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom Yahweh knew face to face,
in all the signs and the wonders, which Yahweh sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land,
and in all the mighty hand, and in all the awesome deeds, which Moses did in the sight of all Israel.” Deuteronomy 34:10–12 WEB.
