Adult Bible Studies Supplemental Resources September 5, 2010  To print, click on "Print Page." Moses Moses was the leader of the Hebrew tribes in their exodus from Egypt and during their consolidation prior to the invasion of Canaan. The exodus from Egypt is the creative center of the OT. In countless ways the literature of Israel reveals the magnetic power of this event for generations far removed from it in time. The Exodus is the hour of Israel's birth as a people. It is this moment which remains decisive even when the family tree is traced back through the ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whose lives God orders in anticipation of the deliverance from Egypt. The Exodus also maintains its creative priority over the circumstances of Israel's life in Canaan. The OT does not consistently attempt to conceal the significant changes Israel undergoes on account of its situation in Canaan. The defining marks of Israel's identity, the delineation of common responsibility and destiny, the ethnic complexion of the Israelite folk, and the forms for ordering its varied life, all change with time and circumstance. Yet, throughout the centuries of Israelite life which the OT mirrors, the Exodus remains the symbol by which subsequent events are interpreted. It persists as the judge and corrective of this newness. Witness to this can be found in the OT in narrative, poetry, legal formulation, cultic rubric, prophetic oracle, and eschatological rhapsody. The only source of information for the life and work of Moses is the Bible. Archaeological evidence may confirm the essential credibility of biblical events to which Moses is related, such as the enslavement of Hebrews in Egypt and the assault upon Canaan. But it affords no specific confirmation of either the existence or the work of Moses. Within the Bible some retrospective deductions about Moses' influence may be drawn from the faith and practices of post-Mosaic Israel, but hope of reconstructing any coherent career of Moses depends mainly upon the oldest versions of Israel's traditions related by the Yahwist and Elohist historians. Although Deuteronomic and Priestly accounts add details to the picture, they are of more significance in indicating the impact of Mosaic religion upon their respective circumstances. Nativity story. The story of Moses' birth employs folklore to introduce the future deliverer (Exod. 2:1). Folkloristic themes suggest dimensions of meaning and mystery for which the reader should be alert. Appropriate portents, e.g., announce a man of extraordinary powers and suggest an ominous future. In spite of its own edict, the Egyptian throne gives shelter to the powerless infant who will one day humiliate it and face it with death. Such themes do not need to be originally Israelite. The story of the baby set afloat in a basket of bulrushes, e.g., resembles the birth story of Sargon of Agade, who was rescued from the Euphrates and became, in his adulthood, the founder of the great Babylonian city-state of Akkad. Moses is thus introduced in imagery common to ancient Near Eastern expectations of extraordinary achievement and deliverance. Levite ancestry. The connection of Moses' ancestry with the house of Levi (Exod. 2:1) may reflect tendencies of another sort. The contradiction between Exod. 2:1-2, where Moses appears as the first-born of his parents, and references implying that Miriam and Aaron are older than he (cf. Exod. 2:7; 6:20; 7:7; Num. 26:59), suggests the possibility that Moses' Levite connection is not original. If not, it would have originated with interests eager to attach Moses to a priestly family. Although Moses performs sacerdotal functions, he is not pictured in the bulk of the traditions primarily or exclusively as a priest. Priestly actions are undertaken by others--by Aaron and the Levites (Exod. 32:5, 29), and by young men, apparently laymen, who offer the sacrifices at the ratification of the covenant (24:5). Egyptian influence. The tradition of Moses' connection with Egyptian circles seems authentic, however. His name is apparently the old perfective of the Egyptian verb "to be born," which is frequently combined with divine titles to form personal names, as in Ra-meses. The derivation attributed to Pharaoh's daughter: "She named him Moses, ... 'Because I drew him out of the water'" (Exod. 2:10), represents popular etymology based upon assonance. The use of names of Egyptian derivation like Phinehas, Hophni, and Merari (probably also Aaron and Miriam) for several generations in Levitical genealogies (Exod. 6:16, 25; I Sam. 1:3) is additional evidence of Egyptian connection, although not certain proof that either Moses or the Levites have an Egyptian background. Apart from the birth stow, there is no indication of Moses' connection with the Egyptian court. No reference is made to it in Moses' negotiations with Pharaoh, although the absence of a language barrier between the two might have been understood against this feature of the narrative. Attempts to connect Moses with the learning of Egypt and the religious reform of the so-called monotheistic pharaoh, AKH-EN-ATON, have not been noticeably successful (cf. Acts 7:22). Egyptian influences of many sorts may have touched Moses, but the evidence is not available to establish or refute such connection. What is certain is that Moses' awesome energy and power stem from another source. Midianite influence. Moses' connection with MIDIAN is well attested. Tradition is not likely to have invented such involvement in view of the later hostility between Israelites and Midianites (cf. Judg. 6:2; Isa. 9:4--H 9:3). Tradition pictures Moses as finding refuge in Midian after fleeing from Egypt. Here he also finds employment as a shepherd, and Zipporah, daughter of Jethro, becomes his wife (Exod. 2:15-3:1). Zipporah is perhaps to be identified with the "Cushite woman," whom Moses marries according to another narrative (Num. 12:1). Whether Moses and Mosaic Yahwism are more deeply indebted to Jethro, the "priest of Midian," for cultic and cultural instruction and forms is a question long debated. One aspect of the question involves the possible origin of the divine name Yahweh among the Kenite clan to which Jethro belonged. Apart from this highly specialized problem, it is likely that in its earliest days, as all through its history, Israel borrowed both cultic and cultural forms from its environment in order to express its life as the community of Yahweh. Mission. The account which Israel preserves of its founder's call reveals a perspective about itself and its own vocation (Exod. 3:1-4). Moses is called to bring a people to Yahweh, and this mission which thus constitutes him Yahweh's servant also constitutes the people whom he serves. In this regard, the limited character of the task assigned to Moses appears to be a crucial feature in his call. He is called to engage himself at the outset of Israel's life only, not to make himself the enduring center of that life. No timeless significance is to be attached to his person. No words of his are to be transmitted as the sacred lore about God. Moses is to bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt under a sign that points them to the future; the guarantee of God's presence is simply that "when you have brought forth the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God upon this mountain" (Exod. 3:12). The religion with which Moses is to be involved will be able to survive without him (although it may also rediscover him), just as the entrance into the Promised Land will occur without his presence or direction (Deut. 34:4). Israel is thus free to meet the future instructed, but not shackled, by the past. Commissioning. Moses does not volunteer to be the liberator of Israel. Although he appears in the vicinity of Mount Sinai as a sequel to his concern for the oppressed Hebrews in Egypt (Exod. 2:11-15), little else suggests him to be a firebrand in the cause of liberty. Nor is Moses a man of unusual piety. He does not come to the "mountain of God" (Exod. 3:1) as a religious exercise. He stumbles unsuspectingly upon what proves to be a holy place, and he does this in the course of his duties as a shepherd. Perhaps the mountain was already a shrine of the Kenites. This seems unlikely, however, in view of Moses' failure to mention his experience there when he requests leave from Jethro to return to Egypt (Exod. 4:18). In short, Moses is drafted for his job. Moses is certainly no tabula rasa prior to the encounter with Yahweh at the burning bush. What turns him into a man of destiny, however, is the convergence of a concrete, historical task and the new knowledge of God which grasps him. This galvanizes the extraordinary and diverse powers of the man in an endeavor which will henceforth dominate him utterly. He is a man set apart under God's election and endowment, charismatically empowered, for a particular task in a moment of time. He can misconstrue his calling as though it were a summons to eloquence, which he lacks (Exod. 4:10). But in fact his calling is to obey Him in whose purposes Moses' inability will prove adequate: "Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak" (vs. 12). Yahweh's disclosure of himself to Moses is portrayed through the magnificent symbols of the burning bush, the holy ground, and the divine name. In revealing himself, what Yahweh discloses is that he is involved in the plight of the Hebrews in Egypt and that he intends to act in this setting. This is tantamount, in the biblical idiom, to communicating one's name or character, and explicit disclosure of the divine name climaxes Yahweh's meeting with Moses. Both the E and the P historians indicate that the proper divine name Yahweh was not known prior to its disclosure to Moses, although, in effect, it was Yahweh whom the patriarchs knew under another name (Exod. 3:13-15; 6:2-3). J makes this latter identification explicit by employing the name Yahweh from earliest times (Gen. 4:26). The significance of the divine name for the story of Moses, however, is not to be judged in terms of its novelty. The name does not conceal esoteric religious information but proclaims a God who has openly declared his intention to act in the affairs of Egypt. What Moses has to convey to his kinsmen in Egypt, therefore, is not secret learning about divine mysteries, but the character of the times in which they live. Since God is the primary actor in human events, to read the times aright will be to disclose him. Whatever the previous history of the name Yahweh may have been, its derivation from the verb hwh in Exod. 3:14 underscores the intensive and enduring nature of Yahweh's presence in the events of every age. "But I will be with you" (vs. 12), is the dynamic explication of Yahweh's name and also the promise which fashions Israel's destiny from beginning to end (cf. the elaboration of this theme in Isa. 43:1-13). The Priestly account of the call of Moses is placed after Moses' return to Egypt (Exod. 6:2-7:13). It serves as divine reassurance after Moses' initial audience with the Pharaoh has failed. The theme of God's action in the historical situation is still present, although the Exodus is now viewed as a less epochal divine disclosure. For P it is the covenant God made with the patriarchs which warrants his present action in Egypt (Exod. 2:24). For P the role of the priest at the founding of the nation is also of great interest. Hence, Aaron stands alongside Moses and executes the word which the latter has received from God (7:2). But as genealogy testifies, it is now Aaron's descendants, not Moses', who constitute the living continuation of the Levite line and the current extension of the work of Moses (6:25). Task in Egypt. Moses is sent from Sinai to Egypt. He is to interpret what occurred to him at Sinai in its impact upon those who are in Egypt, Egyptian as well as Hebrew. He is the mediator who bears what has happened to himself to the people for whom it has happened. He is singled out in such extraordinary fashion that no one else is like him. But all this occurs so that Yahweh may create a community of his own from a motley group, bearing almost no marks of communal identity. Thus, Moses' task is defined by the scope of Yahweh's intention. It involves more than religious instruction, for ideas alone do not create a community. It involves leading a group into and through a common experience that will be new and perilous. This experience will then have to be given enduring form in the social, economic, legal, and cultic structures necessary for communal living in the world. And although these structures may be formally patterned upon those of Israel's neighbors, they must also be able to bear the meaning appropriate to a community created by a unique historical experience. The initial task of Moses is to win the allegiance of the "mixed multitude" (Exod. 12:38) in Egypt and to devise a strategy for their departure. The biblical account of Moses' efforts is cast in highly dramatic form, for the ultimate protagonists are Yahweh and Pharaoh. Behind Pharaoh is arrayed the entire power of the Egyptian state, marshaled in its magicians and armies as well as in its embodiment of divinity, the crown. Although the gods of Egypt are mentioned only once as Yahweh's opponents (vs. 12), their power is at stake in the contest. It underlies the occult arts of the magicians of Egypt, as well as the presumptuous arrogance of the Pharaoh, who means to show that there is none like himself in all the earth (5:2; 9:16-17). Moses is equipped with extraordinary powers which are intended to validate him before his people and win Pharaoh's compliance with the divine order: "Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness" (Exod. 4:30-5:1). The essentially dramatic and symbolic character of the Mosaic signs and plagues is indicated by their failure to carry conviction. They are schematized in the seesaw battle between faith and doubt, obedience and defiance; and their ability to persuade can give way before Israel's doubts or Pharaoh's obstinacy (8:15--H 8:11; 14:11-12). From these stories it is impossible, then, to reconstruct the methods by which Moses rallied his people and accomplished their departure from Egypt. The Israelites are pictured as murmuring frequently against his leadership (Exod. 14:11-12; 16:3; Num. 11:4-5), but against this view must be set prophetic traditions which picture the exodus period as the time of Israel's fidelity (Jer. 2:1-3; Hos. 9:10a-b). The account of tension between Moses and his people may have been colored by the tension between prophet and people characteristic of a later time. This may also be true of the P representation that the people initially did not trust Moses (Exod. 6:9), a view contrary to that in the older J source (3:18; 4:31). Tendencies to explain Moses' power by categorizing him as an exhibitionist wonder-worker, adept in the secrets of magic, do not succeed. The power wielded by Moses in the plague stories or in the war against Amalek (Exod. 17:1) or in the erection of the brazen serpent (Num. 21:9) is not glorified as fundamental to his mission. The strength of the man--not to mention his weakness--is too diversified to allow such a development. He cannot be explained as a wizard. He is unable to alter circumstances at will. His followers can disbelieve him and even struggle with him for power (Num. 12:1; 16). He dies without setting foot on the land which is the goal of his labors. And quite appropriately, his grave is unknown and cannot be made into a cultic site (Deut. 34:6). Thus, although the account of how Moses rallies his people may be illuminated by features of magic provenance, it cannot be explained by them. The negotiations between Moses and the Pharaoh must be judged in similar fashion. Since Yahweh claims obedience from every aspect of his world, the throne of Egypt, as well as men and nature, must bow before him. In order to accomplish his purposes, he will do as he wills with what he has made, "that you may know that the earth is the LORD'S" (Exod. 9:29). As long as Pharaoh's consent to the demands of Moses is given with reservations or may be revoked, the issue between him and Moses can never be concluded. Yahweh demands total surrender from the world, as he will from his covenant people (20:3), and the scenes at Pharaoh's court are described accordingly. Consequently, there is little in the biblical narrative upon which to reconstruct Moses' strategy in Egypt. In itself the tradition that the Pharaoh granted audiences to the Israelite leader is not implausible. If the Exodus is to be dated in the early thirteenth century B.C., as much evidence now suggests, the Egyptian dynasty involved would be that of the Ramessides (Nineteenth Dynasty, ca. 1308-1216), who are known to have permitted appeals to the royal court from their slaves. In the same period the Egyptian capital was relocated in the Delta area at Avaris, the vicinity of the Hebrew settlement (Gen. 46:28-34; Exod. 2:5-10). Hence such features of the biblical story as Moses' movements between the palace and the Hebrew enclave or the labor of the Hebrew slaves on the Ramesside building projects in the Delta (Exod. 1:11) would be possible. R. F. JOHNSON Adapted from The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible http://www.cokesburylibraries.com/NXT/gateway.dll?f=templates$fn=default.htm$vid=colr:ipreach