Moses led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, following the will of God. The life of Moses is recorded in the book of Exodus and in the book of Numbers in the Bible. Leaving his splendid life in the Egyptian royal palace behind, he became the leader of the Israelites and lived a life of suffering together with them. He heard God’s voice directly and delivered the message to the people, and awakened them to God’s power and glory so that they could enter Canaan, the promised land.
Birth of Moses and God’s Calling
After Jacob (Israel) settled down with his family in the region of Goshen of Egypt at Joseph’s recommendation, the Israelites (the Hebrews) multiplied day by day (Ex 1:7). As time passed by, all the people who lived in the days of Joseph died, and a new Pharaoh who did not know about Joseph came to power. Pharaoh was worried that if war broke out, the Hebrew people in his country would join his enemies and attack Egypt. So he put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor. However, the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied. Pharaoh gave an order to all his people that every Hebrew boy that was born had to be thrown into the Nile, but that every girl could live.
Meanwhile, a son was born to Amram and Jochebed, who were the Levites. Jochebed hid him for three months. As she could hide him no longer, she placed him in a papyrus basket and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. Then, Pharaoh’s daughter came to the Nile to bathe and discovered the child. Although she knew that it was a Hebrew baby, she felt sorry for him and took him as her son, naming him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.” Since then, Moses lived as a son of Pharaoh’s daughter until he was forty years old (Ac 7:21–23).
One day, after Moses grew up, he went out and saw his own people suffering hard labor. Then he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Enraged, he killed the Egyptian. When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian. In Midian he married Zipporah, the daughter of Reuel the priest, and settled there.
Moses lived as a shepherd, tending the flock of his father-in-law. One day, he led the flock to Horeb, the mountain of God (Ex 3:1). There he saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. He went over to take a closer look at this strange site. Then God spoke to Moses from within the bush. Saying that He saw the misery of His people in Egypt and heard them crying out, He entrusted Moses with the mission to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. At first, Moses was reluctant to accept the mission from God. However, he soon realized the power and help of God, and he left for Egypt with his family to obey God’s words, bidding farewell to his father-in-law. Moses was eighty years old when this took place (Ac 7:30–34).
Ten Plagues and the Passover
Afterward, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and told him that God demanded him to let His people go. Pharaoh refused, saying, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey Him?” Moses and Aaron made the request again, but Pharaoh still refused it. Rather, he increased the intensity of the labor of the Hebrews. The Israelites were in trouble and grumbled against Moses and Aaron. Moses appealed to God, telling Him that Pharaoh brought more trouble upon the Israelites ever since he went to Pharaoh to deliver God’s words.
God brought ten great plagues upon Egypt one after another. Starting with the first plague in which all the water of the Nile in Egypt was changed into blood, the plague of frogs, the plague of gnats, the plague of flies, the plague on livestock, the plague of boils, the plague of hail, the plague of locusts, and the plague of darkness affected the whole Egypt. However, only the land of Goshen, where the Israelites dwelled, was free of the plagues. Whenever a plague was brought, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and asked him to let the Israelites go. The afflicted king would promise to let them go, but whenever the plague was withdrawn, his heart became even more hardened and he broke his promise.
The tenth plague was the death of all the firstborn. God called Moses and Aaron and told them how to be protected from the plague. It was to celebrate the Passover. God said that the blood of the Passover lamb would be a sign and the plague would pass over any house with the blood on it. Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and delivered God’s words. The Israelites did as God had commanded them.
On the night of the Passover, God killed all the firstborn of all the Egyptians and of their livestock, and there was a loud wailing in Egypt. As Pharaoh could no longer bear up, he quickly summoned Moses and Aaron during the night and told them to leave Egypt with all the Israelites and their livestock and worship God. The Egyptians, too, urged the Israelites to hurry to leave the country. Moses and the Israelites finally left Egypt after their long slavery on the fifteenth day of the first month, the day after the Passover (Nu 33:3). God commanded the Israelites to commemorate the Passover as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come, for it is the day of His power when they were freed from slavery in Egypt (Ex 12:1–14). He also appointed the Feast of Unleavened Bread as a feast to remember the sufferings the Israelites went through from the day after the Passover until they crossed the Red Sea.
The Miracle of the Red Sea and the Proclamation of the Ten Commandments
The Israelites left Egypt and arrived in front of the Red Sea (Ex 14:1–2). Pharaoh changed his mind and pursued them with all the chariots and his army. Frightened, the people cried out to God and grumbled against Moses. Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea as God commanded him, and the sea turned into dry land as the waters were divided. The people went through the sea all night, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.
At daybreak, the people landed safely on the opposite side of the sea. Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea went back to its place. The water covered the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived. Witnessing God’s great power, the Israelites finally feared God and put their trust in Moses, giving thanks and glory to God. The day when they crossed the Red Sea and landed on the opposite side was appointed as the Day of Firstfruits, and God had the people celebrate it every year.
The Israelites arrived in the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month by the sacred calendar, which was a month after they had left Egypt. When they ran out of food, they grumbled against Moses and Aaron again, saying that they were causing them to starve to death in the desert. God sent down manna from heaven. On the sixth day, God gave twice as much manna for the people to prepare for the Sabbath day.
On the first day of the third month by the sacred calendar, the fortieth day after crossing the Red Sea, the Israelites arrived in the Desert of Sinai and camped in front of Mount Sinai. Moses was called by God and went up Mount Sinai. On the third day, God descended on Mount Sinai in fire and proclaimed the Ten Commandments. The people trembled with fear when they saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke. They asked Moses to deliver God’s words to them, saying that they were afraid they would die. So God had the people return to their tents and called Moses to give all His commands, decrees, and laws, including the Feasts in Three Times, and had him teach the people to obey them.
When Moses returned and delivered everything God had said, the people replied with one voice that they would obey it. The next morning, Moses built an altar at the foot of the mountain and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. God told Moses to come up on Mount Sinai again and receive the tablets of stone with the law and commands—the Ten Commandments—He had written for their instruction. On the fiftieth day after crossing the Red Sea, Moses went up on the mountain. The cloud covered the mountain, and the glory of God settled on it. He stayed on Mount Sinai forty days and forty nights (Ex 24:18). God showed him the structure and size of the sanctuary, and told him to build it exactly as He showed him (Ex 25:1–9). God also gave Moses the two tablets of the Testimony inscribed by His finger. The day Moses went up to Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments became the origin of the Feast of Weeks.
Worshiping the Golden Calf and Building the Tabernacle
The people made an idol of a golden calf and worshiped it because Moses was not coming down from the mountain for forty days. While coming down from the mountain, Moses saw the people worshiping the idol and his anger burned. He threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. As the people ran wild, Moses ordered the Levites to kill those who worshiped the golden calf. That day, about 3,000 people were killed.
Then, Moses repented of their sins on behalf of them and asked God for forgiveness. The people mourned, stripped off their ornaments, purified their hearts, and worshiped God outside the camp. Moses pitched a tent outside the camp some distance away, asking God to go with the Israelites. At his earnest prayer, God told him to chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones and come up on Mount Sinai. On the first day of the sixth month by the sacred calendar, Moses went up Mount Sinai with two tablets of stone, and God wrote the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments—on the tablets. Forty days later, on the tenth day of the seventh month, Moses came down the mountain with the Ten Commandments and delivered God’s word to all the Israelites (Ex 34:32). God appointed the day when Moses came down with the second set of the Ten Commandments as the Day of Atonement, and the first day of the seventh month, ten days before the Day of Atonement, as the Feast of Trumpets.
Afterward, Moses began to build the tabernacle to store the tablets of the Ten Commandments, as God commanded. He gathered the Israelites and told them that they needed various offerings and wise men to build the sanctuary and make the furnishings. Everyone who was willing and whose heart moved him joyfully brought offerings (Ex 35:1–29). The people made every effort to offer the materials for the tabernacle for about a week. Moses appointed Bezalel and Oholiab to be in charge of the construction of the tabernacle, and all who were willing were allowed to come and do the work. To commemorate how the people gathered the materials and built the tabernacle, God appointed the Feast of Tabernacles and had the Israelites keep it. On the first day of the first month of the following year, the tabernacle was completed. Then the cloud settled upon the tabernacle, and the glory of God filled it.
At twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month by the sacred calendar, the Israelites celebrated the Passover in the Desert of Sinai, in obedience to God’s word. On the first day of the second month, God commanded Moses to take a census (Nu 1:1–2).
After the Exploration of Canaan
Moses and the Israelites reached Kadesh Barnea in the Desert of Paran and camped there (Dt 1:19). Moses selected twelve men one from each tribe, to serve as representatives, and sent them out to explore the land of Canaan as God instructed him. Ten of the spies who returned after exploring Canaan for forty days gave a bad report about the land, saying that the inhabitants of that land were too strong for Israel to defeat them. The discouraged people raised their voices and wept aloud, grumbling against Moses and Aaron. However, Joshua and Caleb, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes, and said to the assembly, “God will give us the land because He is with us. We will swallow up the people of Canaan.” The people that were consumed by their own fear did not listen to Joshua or Caleb, but instead tried to stone them. God, whose anger burned against the Israelite community, rebuked the people and said that none of the men twenty years old or more, who had grumbled against Him, would enter the promised land, except Joshua and Caleb. After this happened, the Israelites wandered in the desert.
Korah, who belonged to the tribe of Levi, alongside certain Reubenites—Dathan, Abiram, and On coveted the priesthood and became insolent. They rose up against Moses and Aaron with 250 Israelite leaders (Nu 16:1–2). Moses rebuked them for taking their positions lightly and coveting the priesthood and rebelling against God. However, they did not listen. As a result, the earth opened its mouth and swallowed Korah with all of his men, alongside their households and all their possessions. The 250 leaders who conspired with Korah were consumed by God’s fire. The next day, the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed God’s people.” Enraged, God brought a plague upon them and 14,700 people died from the plague.
The Israelites wandered in the desert until they arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh (Nu 20:1; 33:36–37). As the community found no water to drink, the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. God then told Moses and Aaron to strike a chosen rock with the staff to get water. They gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and said, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” Then Moses struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank. Sadly enough, this statement of Moses was a mistake. Although it was God who brought water out of the rock, Moses, who had suffered from the people’s constant complaints, spoke as if he were giving the water. God said to Moses and Aaron, “You did not honor Me as holy in the sight of the Israelites. Therefore, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”
The Bronze Snake Incident and Idolatry
When the Israelites left Mount Hor, they were forced to take a long way around Edom because the king of Edom did not allow them to pass through his land. Then the people grew impatient and grumbled against God and Moses again (Nu 21:4-5). In response to their grumbling, God sent venomous snakes to bite the people, and many began to die.
The people came to Moses and asked him to pray to God that the snakes would be taken away, acknowledging that they had sinned by grumbling against both God and Moses. When Moses prayed for the people, God instructed Moses, “Make a bronze snake and put it up on a pole; tell anyone who has been bitten to look at it, and they will live.” Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.
While Israel was staying in Shittim, Moabite women seduced the men, causing them to indulge in sexual immorality with them. They invited them to the sacrifices to their gods, making them eat and bow down before these gods together with them. Israel joined in worshiping the Baal of Peor, an idol.
God’s anger burned against them. So He sent a plague on Israel, and many people died in the plague. Moses told Israel’s judges to put to death all those who had joined in worshiping the Baal of Peor, and the people wept at the entrance to the tabernacle. At that time, the leader of a Simeonite family brought a Midianite woman to his tent right in front of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel. When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, his anger was aroused. So he took a spear in his hand and followed the man into the tent and killed them. Then the plague was stopped. Those who died in the plague totaled 24,000. After the plague was over, God ordered Moses and Eleazar the priest to take a census again on the plains of Moab (Nu 26:1–2). It was the second census to take place, about 40 years after the census that was previously conducted in the Desert of Sinai.
Moses’ Death
After about 40 years of life in the desert, God told Moses to go up to Mount Nebo, and view Canaan, the land He was giving the Israelites. But then He told him that he would be unable to enter the promised land because he did not uphold His holiness when the people grumbled about not having water at Kadesh in the Desert of Zin. He also gave him an instruction to take Joshua, son of Nun, and lay his hand on him to appoint him as Israel’s leader. Moses did as God commanded him. He took Joshua and had him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole assembly. Then he laid his hands on him and appointed him as leader.
God declared that Moses would join his ancestors in death after taking vengeance on the Midianites for causing Israel to fall into sexual immorality and idolatry. Thus, Moses selected a thousand men from each tribe, 12,000 in total, which he armed and sent into battle. Israel defeated the Midianites and destroyed them as God had commanded them. Then the Reubenites and Gadites came to Moses and Eleazar the priest and to the leaders of the community, and asked them to give them the land east of the Jordan. When Moses heard this, he was angry at first, but then he accepted the offer when they said that the men of their tribes would fight together and not return to their homes until every other tribe conquered the land west of the Jordan (Canaan).
On the first day of the eleventh month, forty years after the Israelites came out of Egypt, Moses and the Israelites arrived in the plains of Moab, east of the Jordan. This is where Moses spoke to the Israelites for the last time (Dt 1:5). After explaining their 40-year-long journey to this place from Egypt, he reminded them that God is the source of life and death, and that obedience brings blessings and disobedience leads to curses, and he also encouraged them to continue to keep the law. After that, Moses blessed the Israelites and climbed Mount Nebo and died there where he could view the promised land, and he was buried in its valley. Moses was 120 years old when he died.
Evaluation on Moses
Moses was “a humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth” (Nu 12:3). He cherished and loved the Israelites although they always complained and grumbled against him. He prayed to God to forgive their sins and devoted himself to leading them to Canaan. This is why the Bible describes Moses as “a faithful servant in all God’s house” (Heb 3:5). Moses was the only prophet, whom God spoke with face to face, and since his death, there was no other prophet in Israel like him.
Moses also represented Christ who was to come (Dt 18:17–18; Ac 3:20–22). The work of Moses was a copy and shadow of what Jesus Christ would do. For example, the history of Moses lifting up a bronze snake in the desert was a prophecy that Jesus would be lifted up on the cross (Jn 3:14–15). The Seven Feasts in Three Times, established according to the work of Moses, were also prophecies of what Jesus would fulfill.