According to the book of Exodus, he was born in Egypt to Hebrew parents, who set him afloat on the Nile in a reed basket to save him from an edict calling for the death of all newborn Hebrew males. Found by the pharaoh's daughter, while bathing in the river, Pharaoh's daughter discovered the basket. She saw the helpless Israelite baby crying and wanted to raise him as her own child.
While growing up, Moses lived the carefree life of a prince. He was lively, rakish, and fun-loving. He was also very loving towards his "mother", Queen Tuya, his "father", Pharaoh Seti, and his "older brother", Rameses. However, Moses was also very privileged and insensitive towards those "beneath" him.
For though the author of Hebrews says that Moses was not afraid, it appears in Exodus 2:11–15 that Moses fled from Pharaoh out of fear. The Exodus story reads, One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people.
He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
After killing an Egyptian slave-master who was beating a Hebrew, Moses fled across the Red Sea to Midian, where he encountered the Angel of the Lord, speaking to him from within a burning bush on Mount Horeb, which he regarded as the Mountain of God.
There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, 'I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.
And God said, "I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain."
So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake. Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs.
Moses performs a miracle, turning his staff into a snake, but Pharaoh is unimpressed and only increases the workload for the Israelites.
Moses asked the Pharaoh to let them return to their homelands in Canaan, but he refused. As a consequence, 10 plagues were inflicted on the Egyptians in a divine demonstration of power and displeasure designed to persuade the Pharaoh to reverse his decision.
The plagues are: water turning to blood, frogs, lice, flies, livestock pestilence, boils, hail, locusts, darkness and the killing.
When the Israelites reached the Red Sea Moses stretched out his hand and the waters divided, allowing his followers safe passage. The Egyptians followed them but God again commanded Moses to stretch out his hand and the sea engulfed the army. This story is recounted in the Old Testament (Exodus 14: 19-31).
The pillars of cloud and fire are first mentioned in chapter 13 of the Book of Exodus, shortly after Moses leads the Israelites out of their captivity in Egypt. The narrative states that the pillar of cloud went ahead of them by day to guide their way, and the pillar of fire by night, to give them light.
During the journey the Israelites murmured because of a lack of food. The Lord blessed them with manna and instructed them to gather it every morning except on the Sabbath. The children of Israel also murmured because of thirst. The Lord commanded Moses to strike a rock in Horeb so that water would come forth.
When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. That is why the place is called Marah. So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?” He cried out to the Lord; and the Lord showed him a piece of wood; he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.
Even after witnessing these miracles people started murmuring against GOD.
Why did the Lord send fiery serpents (poisonous snakes) to bite the Israelites? (Numbers 21:5–6; even though the Lord had provided food for the Israelites, they complained because they had been in the wilderness for so long and were tired of eating manna.)
The people then acknowledged their sin and asked Moses to pray to the LORD that He remove the serpents from them. Instead, God commanded Moses to make a serpent and lift it up on a pole so that anyone bitten by the serpents could look at the serpent on the pole and live rather than die.
On the sixth day of Sivan 6, some 3,500 years ago, Moses climbed up Mount Sinai. During his 40-day stay on the mountain, according to popular Jewish tradition, God dictated to him not only the Ten Commandments but the whole Torah, as well as the Oral Law.
The Ten Commandments
1. You shall have no other gods before Me.
2. You shall not make for yourself a carved image.
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
4. You shall remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet.
After the Ten Plagues, Moses led the Exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt and across the Red Sea, after which they based themselves at Mount Sinai, where Moses received the Ten Commandments. After 40 years of wandering in the desert, Moses died on Mount Nebo at the age of 120, within sight of the Promised Land.
All that is said, in Deut. 34 is that Moses died in the land of Moab, that God buried him in the valley, and no one knows his burial place to this day.
Moses saw God face-to-face upon an unknown mountain sometime after he spoke to the Lord in the burning bush but before he went to free the children of Israel from Egypt.
God had a plan for Moses' life. God wanted him to be raised in Pharaoh's family to prepare him for the future. It was all part of God's purpose for Moses.
The Bible sketches an ambitious list of leadership traits ascribed to Moses, including humility, empathy and heroism, but also patience, self-reflection, charisma and wisdom, among others. Although few can emulate all of these traits, humility is one that stands out.
The five books of Moses are referred to as the Pentateuch, and encompasses the first five books of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. These books give the foundation for Jewish law and religion, and outlined the covenants given to Jewish people by their God.
What can we learn from Moses leadership?
Moses faced opposition with courage and confidence—not in himself but in the Lord. Not every leader will face an antagonizer like Pharaoh, but every leader will face opposition. I love Moses' honesty in his prayer to the Lord when the Israelites were treated more severely.
A perfect servant of GOD. Hence GOF himself buried MOSES.
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