Moses

The Holy Prophet and Lawgiver Moses, the God-seer and faithful servant of God receiving the Law Before the Burning Bush (Mt. Sinai, ca.1050–1100)

The glorious Prophet and God-seer Moses ((Hebrew)

מֹשֶׁה Mōsheh, Mōsheh ben Amram; (Greek)

Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs in both the Septuagint and the New Testament; (Arabic)

موسىٰ , Mūsā), meaning one who draws forth, is drawn out, or is saved from the water, ca.1570 BC - ca.1450 BC, was the deliverer, prophet, legislator, judge, and leader of the Israelites from the period of the Exodus of Israel from slavery in Egypt, to their arrival on the doorstep of Canaan near the Jordan River. He is best known for leading the Israelites out of Egypt, bringing the Ten Commandments (Decalogue) down from Mount Sinai, establishing the Mosaic Covenant and founding the religious community known as Israel.

His life is narrated in the Septuagint from Exodus 2 through to Deuteronomy 34:10-12. Considered something more than a prophet, for God spoke face-to-face with Moses (Exodus 33:11), he was a true servant of the Lord in every sense of the word and is the supremely wise Lawgiver ((Greek)

Ο Νομοθέτης), the most ancient historian of all to whom the authorship of the Pentateuch is traditionally attributed (ca.1491-1451 BC), and through whom the Seven Old Testament Feasts of Lord were instituted by God's command as described in Leviticus Chapter 23.

The Holy Prophet and Lawgiver Moses, the God-seer and faithful servant of God.

For forty years, Moses lived at the court of the Pharaoh (his Egyptian training); for the next forty years, he lived as a shepherd in contemplation of God and the world (his exile in Arabia); and for his remaining forty years, he led the people through the wilderness to the Promised Land (his government of the Israelite nation). He beheld the Promised Land, but was not allowed to enter it, for he had once sinned against God (Numbers 20:12). Thus Moses reposed at the age of 120.

As a miracle-worker, he was a prefiguration of Christ, according to St. Basil the Great, and is looked upon as a precursor to Christ (1 Corinthians 10:1-4) and as a witness to him (John 1:45) in the seamless, unified history of God's relationship to and interaction with humanity throughout the ages. Moses' influence continues to be felt in the religious life, moral concerns, and social ethics of civilization today.

The Orthodox Church commemorates his sacred memory annually on September 4/17, the day that Moses saw the Land of Promise, as well as on the Sunday of the Forefathers.

He is likewise commemorated on September 4 in the respective Calendars of Saints of the Roman Catholic Church, and Lutheran (LCMS) churches.

In the Coptic Orthodox Calendar his feast day is observed on Thout 8 (September 18), and in the Ethiopian Orthodox Calendar on Mäskäräm 8 (September 18) as well.

In the Armenian Apostolic Church Moses is commemorated together with the The Holy Forefathers of the Old Testament on July 26.

Sources

The life of the Holy Prophet and God-Seer Moses is narrated in the Septuagint in the Books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, which provides the chief authentic account of his luminous life. In addition he is mentioned in the Jewish traditions preserved throughout the New Testament, in particular in Acts 7:20-44, and Heb. 11:23-28.

In non-biblical writings, references to the role of Moses first appear at the beginning of the Hellenistic period, the zenith of Greek influence in the ancient world, from 323 BC to about 146 BC. Judeo-Hellenic or Judeo-Roman historians who mention him include Artapanus, Eupolemus, Josephus, and Philo.

A few non-Jewish historians also make reference to him including Hecataeus of Abdera (quoted by Diodorus Siculus), Alexander Polyhistor, Manetho, Apion, Chaeremon of Alexandria, Tacitus and Porphyry. The extent to which any of these accounts rely on earlier sources is unknown.

Several Church Fathers refer to Moses including Clement of Alexandria, Basil the Great, Ambrose of Milan, Augustine of Hippo, Cyril of Jerusalem, Athanasius of Alexandria, Justin Martyr, Hilary of Poitiers, John Cassian, Cyprian of Carthage, Lactantius, Aphrahat the Persian Sage, Ephrem the Syrian (Nisibene Hymns; Fifteen Hymns for the Feast of Epiphany), and Gregory of Nyssa (Life of Moses).

Moses also appears in other religious literature such as the Mishnah (ca.200 AD) and Midrash (second century onwards) of Rabbinic Judaism.

Included among the Jewish pseudepigraphical group of writings attributed to Moses are the Apocalypse of Moses, and the Ascension of Moses.

Life

Birth

Illuminated manuscript with a conflation of events from Moses' life: Left: the basket is taken from the Nile River by the daughter of Pharaoh; Right: the death of Moses on Mt. Nebo overlooking the Jordan River. (Menologion of Basil II)

Moses was born of the Levite tribe of Israel, the son of Amram and Jochabed (Exodus 6:20). According to Genesis 46:11, Amram's father Kohath had immigrated to Egypt with 70 of Jacob's household, making Moses part of the second generation of Israelites born during their time in Egypt. The name of his mother, Jochebed implies the knowledge of the name of Jehovah in the bosom of the family. It is its first distinct appearance in the sacred history.

Moses was born around 1570 BC, having one older sister, Miriam (by seven years), and one older brother, Aaron (by three years). According to Manetho the place of his birth was at the ancient city of Heliopolis. He was born at a time when an unnamed Egyptian Pharaoh had commanded that all the male Hebrew children born be killed by drowning in the river Nile (Exodus 1:22).

The Finding of Moses by Pharaoh's Daughter. (Edwin Long, 1886).

His mother Jochebed kept the baby Moses concealed for three months, but when she could keep him hidden no longer, rather than deliver him to be killed, she set him adrift on the Nile River in a small craft of bulrushes coated in pitch.

The daughter of Pharaoh (Bithiah, Thermuthis), coming opportunely to the river to bathe, discovered the babe, was attracted to him, adopted him as her son, and named him "Moses." His sister Miriam, who had observed the progress of the tiny craft until it had reached the Pharaoh's daughter, came forward and asked Pharaoh's daughter if she would like a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby. According to Josephus the child had refused the milk of Egyptian nurses, and thereafter, Jochebed was employed as the child's nurse.

Thus it came about that the future deliverer of Israel was reared as the son of an Egyptian princess (Exodus 2:1-10).

Prince of Egypt

In the Pentateuch this period is unrecorded, however in the New Testament it states that in his new surroundings Moses was schooled "in all the wisdom of the Egyptians", and was "mighty in words and deeds" (Acts 7:22).

According to non-biblical literature, he was educated at Heliopolis and grew up there as a priest, under his Egyptian name of Osarsiph (according to Manetho) or Tisithen (according to Chaeremon).

In his adulthood, Flavius Josephus suggests that Moses commanded Egyptian troops and led them to victory against the forces of neighboring Ethiopia. According to that account, the Ethiopians were raiding the Egyptians, and the Pharaoh ordered Moses to lead an army to stop the raiders once and for all. Moses then used a remarkable tactic to take the Ethiopians by surprise. The Ethiopians were expecting Moses to attack by marching along the river, rather than by land, because the land between the two armies was so thick with snakes that it was impassable. For that very reason, Moses was determined to march over land. He ordered his artificers to construct cages and to carry Ibis birds (a sacred bird in Egypt) with them. The ibis is a natural enemy of snakes, and so they scattered the snakes, and the army was safe. Thus the army crossed the land, surprised the enemy, and defeated them.

According to Artapanus he founded the city of Hermopolis in Lower Egypt to commemorate his victory, and advanced to Saba (Sheba), the capital of Ethiopia, and gave it the name of Meroë, from his adopted mother Merrhis, whom he buried there. Tharbis, the daughter of the king of Ethiopia, fell in love with him, and he returned in triumph to Egypt with her as his wife.

Yet, the adult Moses did not forget his origins. The nurture of his mother is probably the unmentioned link which bound him to his own people, and the time had at last arrived when he was resolved to reclaim his nationality. Here again the New Testament preserves the tradition in a more distinct form than the account in the Pentateuch:

"By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward." (Hebrews 11:24-26)

One day when he was about 40 years old, Moses had gone to see how it fared with his brethren, bondservants to the Egyptians. Upon seeing an Egyptian maltreating a Hebrew, he killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand. Moses soon discovered that the affair was known, and that Pharaoh was likely to put him to death for it. He then fled in exile from Egypt across the Sinai Peninsula and went to Midian (Exodus 2:1-15, Acts 7:23-29).

In this regard, it is worth noting that the ancient historians of the Pharaohs tended to exaggerate minor events that favoured reigning monarchs, and dismissed as "border incidents" such monumental achievements as the flight from Egyptian slavery under Moses. As a common practice, the names of opponents were wiped out from the temples and public works, in an attempt to erase their memory from history. Despite this practice however, the shining truth has emerged of God's prophet Moses, the legislator, judge, and leader of the Israelites.

Shepherd in Midian

When he first arrived in Midian he stopped at a well where he protected seven shepherdesses from a band of rude shepherds. He settled with the shepherdesses' father Hobab, or Jethro (Raguel), a Kenite shepherd and priest of Midian, whose daughter Zipporah he married in due time. As descendants of Abraham and his second wife, Keturah, the Midianites were distantly related to the Israelites. The alliance between Israel and the Kenite-branch of the Midianites, now first formed, was never broken.

Moses sojourned there for forty years, following the occupation of a shepherd, during which time his first son Gershom was born (Exodus 2:11-22). Moses' second son was named Eliezer (Exodus 18:4), named in commemoration of his successful flight from Pharaoh.

The chief effect of his stay in Arabia was on Moses himself. It was in the seclusion and simplicity of his shepherd-life that he received his call as a prophet. During this period in Moses' life we see a man who was a desperately thirsting God-Seeker, long before he was a God-Seer — forty years — in the desert, before God first began to reveal Himself to him, reminding us of the faithful early Desert Fathers of the Christian dispensation. This was four decades of intense ascetical suffering, and it was a penance endured willingly by Moses for his sin — having killed a man in anger while still in Egypt. Moses’ long years of exile in the desolate desert were used by him for purification, first of his sins, then of his passions, so that, in this terrible crucible of heat and suffering, he could be made ready to have his astonishing encounter with the Living God.

The Burning Bush

The Holy Prophet Moses before the Burning Bush.
(Byzantine mosaic).

One day, Moses led his flock to Mount Horeb (Exodus 3), the Mountain of God, usually identified with Mount Sinai. There was already some recognition of the sacredness of Sinai both by Israel and by the Arabs at this time. There he saw a bush that burned, but was not consumed.

"Upon the Sinaitic mountain tops, his home, Yahweh revealed himself to Moses. He saw his glory in the heavenly fire; he heard his voice in the thunder; the storm-clouds were his Kerubim, the lightnings were his seraphim. At last there came to him on Horeb, by some sacred tree, illumined strangely by the fire from heaven, a message to his inmost soul to go back into Goshen on the twofold errand of making Yahweh known and delivering his people. It was the prophet's call. It was a real ecstatic experience, like that of David under the baka-tree, Elijah on the mountain, Isaiah in the temple, Ezekiel on the Khebar, Jesus in the Jordan, Paul on the Damascus road. It was the perpetual mystery of the divine touching the human."

The location, in the desert solitude, was appropriate as a sign that the divine protection was not confined either to the sanctuaries of Egypt or to the Holy Land, but was to be found with any faithful worshiper, fugitive and solitary though he might be.

When Moses approached to look more closely, God spoke to him from the bush saying: "Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground" (Exodus 3:4-5).

The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob then designated Moses to deliver the Hebrews from the Egyptian yoke of bondage, and to conduct them into the "land of milk and honey", the region long since promised to the seed of Abraham. Moses argued that he was not worthy of such responsibility, did not know the Lord's true name, and could not persuade the Hebrews to follow him. God then revealed his name to Moses, the Tetragrammaton, referring to the Hebrew written form of YHWH ((Hebrew)

יהוה‎), as a "memorial unto all generations":

"So Moses said to God, "Indeed, when I go to the children of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is His name?' what shall I tell them? Then God said to Moses, "I AM the Existing One." He also said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: 'The Existing One sent me to you.' " "

Moses and the Burning Bush
(Mt. Sinai, 12th c.)

Although it was at this time that the name of YHWH was revealed, nevertheless it is frequently used throughout the patriarchal narratives, from the second chapter of Genesis. According to Very Rev. Fr. George Poulos, Moses was a protagonist of monotheism, and brought together the two sects that worshipped "Yahweh" and "Jehovah" since the names applied to the living God.. In Deuteronomy 6:4 he instructs them: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!...” (Shema Yisrael).

In Orthodox Christian tradition, as defined by the Church Fathers and the Ecumenical councils, the flame Moses saw was in fact God's Uncreated Energies/Glory, manifested as light, thus explaining why the bush was not consumed. It is not interpreted as a miracle in the sense of an event, which only temporarily exists, but is instead viewed as Moses being permitted to see these Uncreated Energies/Glory, which are considered to be eternal things. The Orthodox definition of salvation is this vision of the Uncreated Energies/Glory, and it is a recurring theme in the works of Greek Orthodox theologians such as John S. Romanides. In addition, Moses saw foreshadowed the great mystery of our Savior’s virginal Conception and of his coming in the flesh, which has overturned the laws of nature at the same time as preserving them.

Armed with this new name, and carrying in his hand the "rod of God" to attest to his mission, he returned to Egypt (Exodus 4:1-9,20). In the transformation of his shepherd's staff is the glorification of the simple pastoral life, of which that staff was the symbol, into the great career which lay before it. The humble yet wonder-working crook is, in the history of Moses, what the despised cross is in the first history of Christianity. In this call of Moses, as of the Apostles afterwards, the man is swallowed up in the cause.

On the way Moses was nearly killed by God because his son was not circumcised, but Zipporah, Moses' wife, circumcised her son and threw the foreskin at Moses' feet, saying that Moses had become a "bridegroom of blood" to her, and God's anger abated (Exodus 4:24-26).

Pharaoh, the Plagues of Egypt and Passover

Moses was met and assisted on his arrival in Egypt by his elder brother, Aaron, and readily gained a hearing with his oppressed brethren (Exodus 4:27-31), who believed Moses and Aaron after they saw the signs that were performed in the midst of the Israelite assembly.

Moses Speaks to Pharaoh (James Tissot, ca.1896-1902).

It was a more difficult matter, however, to persuade Pharaoh to let the Hebrews depart. When Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and told him that the Lord God of Israel wanted him to permit the Israelites to celebrate a feast in the wilderness (Exodus 5:3), Pharaoh, who was himself considered a deity in an official state religion with numerous gods, replied that he did not know their God and would not permit them to go. Worse, he added to their burdens by increasing their work quotas and decreeing that they would henceforth have to gather their own straw for making bricks.

Although they gained a second hearing with Pharaoh, the Lord had already disclosed that the king would not yield, declaring:

“I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh will not heed you, so that I may lay My hand on Egypt and bring My armies and My people, the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them.” (Exodus 7:3-5)

The firstborn of the Egyptians are slain (Exodus 12:29-30), with death "passing over" the houses of the Israelites.
(Gustave Doré, 19th c.)

When Aaron's rod was changed into a serpent, and Pharaoh's magicians did the same with their rods, Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods. When the people were still not freed, Moses caused a series of Divine manifestations to come upon the Egyptians, described as ten in number, in which he humiliates the sun and river gods, afflicts man and beast, and displays such extraordinary control over the earth and heavens that even the magicians are forced to recognize in his prodigies "the finger of God" (Exodus 7-12). These took place in the last year of the enslavement of the Israelite people in that land, and included:

1. The Plague Upon the River (Plague of blood) - (Exodus 7:14–25)
2. The Plague of Frogs - (Exodus 7:25–8:11)
3. The Plague of Lice or Gnats - (Exodus 8:16–19)
4. The Plague of Flies - (Exodus 8:20–32)
5. The Plague Upon the Cattle (Plague of pestilence) - (Exodus 9:1–7)
6. The Plague of Sores (Plague of boils) - (Exodus 9:8–12)
7. The Plague of Hail and Fire - (Exodus 9:13–35)
8. The Plague of Locusts - (Exodus 10:1–20)
9. The Plague of Darkness - (Exodus 10:21–29)
10. The Plague Upon the First-born (Death of the firstborn) - (Exodus 11:1–12:36)

These plagues culminated in the slaying of the Egyptian first-born (Exodus 12:29), whereupon such terror seized the Egyptians that they urged the Hebrews to leave. The events are commemorated as Passover (Pesach), referring to how the plague "passed over" the houses of the Israelites while smiting the Egyptians.

Thus the formidable power of paganism, in its conflict with the theocracy, was obliged to bow before the apparently weak people of the Lord.

The Exodus and Parting of the Red Sea

The Israelites Leaving Egypt, by Orientalist painter David Roberts (1828).

The Exodus ((Hebrew)

יציאת מצרים, Yetsi'at Mitzrayim "[the] exit [from] Egypt"; (Greek)

ἔξοδος, exodos "way out") is the story of the departure of the Israelites from ancient Egypt as described in the Bible. After 430 years in a foreign land, the Israelites trekked northeastward toward their spiritual home in Canaan. According to Exodus 12:37-38, the Israelites numbered "about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children," plus many non-Israelites and livestock. Numbers 1:46 gives a more precise total of 603,550.

Before the Israelites departed from Egypt, they acquired a great store of precious metal, gemstones, linens, and other stuffs of luxury, which would later be used to furnish the material for the Tabernacle. Although some of these items also furnished the material for the golden calf.

Moses and the Israelites pass through the Red Sea and the army of Pharaoh is drowned.
(Paris Psalter, mid-10th c.)

Thus the children of Israel, with their flocks and herds, started toward the eastern border at the southern part of the Isthmus of Suez. The long procession moved slowly, and found it necessary to encamp three times before passing the Egyptian frontier — some believe at the Great Bitter Lake, while others propose sites as far south as the northern tip of the Red Sea.

By day the Lord went ahead of them in a Pillar of Cloud to guide them on their way, and by night in a Pillar of Fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the Pillar of Cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people (Exodus 13:21-22).

Passage of the Red Sea
(Jerusalem, Armenian Patriarchate Library, 1266 AD).

Meanwhile Pharaoh had repented of freeing them, and was in pursuit of them with a large army (Exodus 14:5-9). Shut in between this army and the Red Sea (or "Sea of Reeds"), or the Bitter Lakes, which were then connected with it, the Israelites despaired, but God divided the waters of the sea so that they passed safely across on dry ground.

Map showing the 3 standard alternative possible routes for the first part of the Israelite Exodus.

When the Egyptians attempted to follow, God permitted the waters to return upon them and drown them (Exodus 14:10-31). The charioteers, horses, and foot soldiers of the king were drowned beneath the surging waves. The event furnishes the theme of the thrilling "Canticle of Moses" , one of the most magnificent Psalms recorded in the Scriptures, where Moses and his sister Miriam led the people in a victory song of praise to Yahweh (Exodus 15:1–21), chanting: “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”

The people then continued to Marah marching for three days along the wilderness of the Shur, without finding water; Moses cast a tree into the water, and the water became sweet (Exodus 15:23-25). Later in the journey the people began running low on supplies and again murmured against Moses and Aaron and said they would have preferred to die in Egypt, but God's provision of manna from the sky in the morning and quail in the evening took care of the situation (Exodus 16). Then they came to Elim where twelve water springs and 70 Palm trees greeted them.

From Elim they set out again and after 45 days they reached the Wilderness of Sin between Elim and Sinai. From there they reached the plain of Rephidim, completing the crossing of the Red Sea, and camping before the Holy Mountain of God (Exodus 19:1-2).

The route of the Hebrews is contested by scholars, but the most likely possibility is the southern route to Jabal Mūsā, the traditional location of Mt. Sinai (Horeb), in the granite range at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula.

In the meantime Joshua of Navi had become general of the armies of Israel and the special minister, or assistant, of Moses (Exodus 17:9). When Amalekites arrived and attacked the Israelites, in response, Moses bade Joshua to lead the men to fight while he stood on a hill with the rod of God in his hand. As long as Moses held the rod up, Israel dominated the fighting, but if Moses let down his hands, the tide of the battle turned in favor of the Amalekites. Because Moses was getting tired, Aaron and Hur had Moses sit on a rock. Aaron held up one arm, Hur held up the other arm, and the Israelites routed the Amalekites (Exodus 17:8-13).

At Mount Sinai — The Ten Commandments

Moses hears the call of God and receives the Tablets of the Law
(Paris Psalter, mid-10th c).

In the third month of their journey, the Israelites reached Mount Sinai, the site divinely chosen for the ultimate goal of their liberation from Egypt, sealing the covenant that formed the religious and ethical foundation of the nation of Israel. By the instrumentality of Moses, they were appointed to enter into intimate communion with God through a sacred covenant, and to be firmly bound to him by a new legislation.

Thus Moses led the Hebrews to Sinai, or Horeb, where Jethro celebrated their coming by a great sacrifice in the presence of Moses, Aaron, and the elders of Israel (Exodus 18). The meeting with Jethro ends in an alliance with Madian, and the appointment of a corps of Judges subordinate to Moses, to attend to minor decisions.

First Ascent

God summoned Moses upon the sacred mountain and talked with him face to face. Moses stayed on the mountain for 40 days and nights (Exodus 24:12-18), a period in which he received the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17) directly from God.

While Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving instruction on the laws for the Israelite community, the Israelites went to Aaron and asked him to make gods for them. After Aaron had received golden earrings from the people, he made a golden calf and said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt." A "solemnity of the Lord" was proclaimed for the following day, which began in the morning with sacrifices and was followed by revelry.

The Israelites Worship the Golden Calf and Moses Breaks the Tablets
(William de Brailes, ca.1250).

When Moses descended from the mountain with intent to deliver the commandments to the people, but upon his arrival he saw that the people were involved in the sin of the Golden Calf (Exodus 32). In terrible anger, Moses broke the commandment tablets because of the idolatry of the people (Exodus 32:19), and ordered his own tribe, the Levites, to go through the camp and kill everyone, including family and friends (Exodus 32:27), upon which the Levites killed about 3,000 people (Exodus 32:28). The event itself is described as a crisis in the life of Moses, almost equal to that in which he received his first call. In an agony of rage and disappointment he destroyed the monument of his first revelation, and threw up his sacred mission.

Despite this event, one of Moses' most remarkable characteristics was his concern for the Hebrews, in spite of their stubborn, rebellious ways. When Yahweh was ready to disown them after they reverted to worshipping the golden calf, and to begin anew with Moses and his descendants, Moses rejected the offer. And later, when pleading for the forgiveness of the people, he even asked to have his own name blotted out of Yahweh's Book of Remembrance if the Lord would not forgive them.

All that is told of him indicates a withdrawal of himself, a preference of the cause of his nation to his own interests...He joins his countrymen in their degrading servitude. He forgets himself to avenge their wrongs. He desires that his brother may take the lead instead of himself. He wishes that not he only, but that all the nation were gifted alike...(Numbers 11:29). When the offer is made that the people should be destroyed, and that he should be made "a great nation" (Exodus 32:10) he prays that they they be forgiven — "if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written" (32:32). His sons were not raised to honor. The leadership of the people passed, after his death, to another tribe. In the books which bear his name, Abraham, and not himself, appears as the real father of the nation. In spite of his great pre-eminence, they are never "the children of Moses."

Second Ascent

God later commanded Moses to inscribe two other tablets, to replace the ones Moses smashed (Exodus 34:1; 34:27-28) so Moses went to the mountain again, for another second period of 40 days and nights, and when he returned, the commandments were finally given, and God entered into a Covenant with Israel through him, by the observance of which Israel was to be moulded into a theocratic nation. Moses had received these heavenly revelations within a darkness brighter than the light of this world, and he went down the Mountain with the Law graven by God on two tablets of stone. The divine light had streamed into his heart to overflowing, making his countenance shine with a brightness that the people, uninitiated into the mysteries of God, could not bear to look upon, so that Moses had to veil his face when he spoke to them.

On Moses' first descent, he exhibits an all-consuming zeal for the purity of Divine worship, by causing to perish those who had indulged in the idolatrous orgies about the Golden Calf; on his second, he inspires the deepest awe because his face is emblazoned with luminous horns.

Moses with a New Testament summary of the Old Testament Law: the two commandments (tablets) read: "Love The Lord Thy God" , and "Love Thy Neighbor" .

The Decalogue

The text of the Commandments is preserved in the Old Testament in two versions, one in Exodus 20:1-17, and the other in Deuteronomy 5:6-22. The Commandments, apart from the prohibition regarding images and the precept of observing the Sabbath, contain rules of life that are the common property of mankind, as a basic moral code of discipline toward God and toward men. As such, the commandments have been deepened by our Lord's teachings in the Sermon on the Mount and summed up by Him in the precepts of love toward God and one's neighbor, as it is mentioned in Mark 12:29-31:

• "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might" (cf. Deuteronomy 6:4-5); and
• "thou shalt love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandments greater than these" (cf. Leviticus 19:18).

Tertullian, an early Christian writer, asserted that the Ten Commandments were engraved on the hearts of men even before being written on the tables of stone.

The Content of the Ten Commandments is given in the negative approach, teaching us not to do what is forbidden. It is an excellent teaching and guide in its sphere of negative dominion, opposing evil in its external influence. The Decalogue is considered the "schoolmaster (custodian) to bring us unto Christ" (Galatians 3:24). When the Christian faithful ascend the steps of the Decalogue, they are urged to follow the new steps of Christian ideals toward Almighty God and toward their neighbors. Our Lord Jesus Christ stressed the point and said I have come not to abolish them (the law) but fulfill them (Matthew 5:17). The Decalogue is the law which has been fulfilled by the Grace of God through the Person of Jesus Christ as the Head of the Church and the Author of our Faith.

Evidence suggests the Commandments were used in Christian education in the Early Church and throughout the Middle Ages, but with inconsistent emphasis.

The Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle

Moses and the Israelites sojourned at Sinai for about a year (Numbers 10:11-13), during which time Moses had frequent communications from God.

According to the Book of Exodus, God instructed Moses on Mount Sinai during his 40-day stay upon the mountain within the thick cloud and darkness where God was (Exodus 19:20; 24:18) and he was shown the pattern for the Tabernacle and furnishings of the Ark of the Covenant to be made of shittim-wood, to house the Tablets of Stone. Moses instructed Bezalel and Oholiab to construct the Ark (Exodus 31).

As a result, the Tabernacle was constructed according to the last chapters of Exodus, the priestly law was ordained, the plan of encampment was arranged for both the Levites and the non-priestly tribes, and the Tabernacle was consecrated.

Moses and Joshua in the Tabernacle
(Tissot, ca.1896-1902)

Immediately after the catastrophe of the worship of the calf, and apparently in consequence of it, Moses removed the chief tent outside the camp, and invested it with a sacred character under the name of "the Tent or Tabernacle of the Congregation" (Exodus 33:7). This tent became henceforth the chief scene of his communications with God. The communications within the tent are described as being still more intimate than those on the mountain. "Jehovah spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend" (Exodus 33:11). He was apparently accompanied on these mysterious visits by his attendant Hoshea (or Joshua), who remained in the tent after his master had left it. All the revelations contained in the books of Leviticus and Numbers seem to have been made in this manner (Leviticus 1:1; Numbers 1:1).

The Tabernacle was to be the symbol of the Lord's ongoing presence, "for throughout all their journeys the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel" (Exodus 40:38).

Thus the Covenant with Israel bound God to be Israel's God, if Israel would keep His commandments. In Judaism, "Mosaic law" came to refer to the entire legal content of the Pentateuch, not just the Ten Commandments explicitly connected to Moses in the biblical narrative. The content of this law was excerpted and codified in Rabbinical Judaism as the 613 commandments (613 Mitzvot). By Late Antiquity, the tradition of Moses as being the source of the law in the Pentateuch also gave rise to the tradition of Mosaic authorship and the interpretation of the entire Torah as the work of Moses.

Wandering in the Wilderness for Forty Years

The erection of the Tabernacle and the Sacred vessels, as in Exodus 40:17-19
(Figures de la Bible, 1728).

It is during this period that tradition places the composition of a large part of the Pentateuch. He is also traditionally connected with the first draft at least of the book of Job, and the 90th Psalm is titled "A prayer of Moses, the man of God."

After instituting the priesthood and erecting the Tabernacle, Moses ordered a census which showed an army of 603,550 fighting men. These with the Levites, women, and children, duly celebrated the first anniversary of the Pascha (Passover), and, carrying the Ark of the Covenant, shortly entered on the second stage of their migration.

Seventy elders — a conjectural origin of the Sanhedrin — are then appointed to assist Moses (Numbers 11:16,25).

Miriam and Aaron then spoke against Moses on account of his marriage to an Ethiopian (Cushite) woman as his second wife, and about him being the only one through whom the Lord spoke. Miriam was punished with leprosy for seven days (Numbers 12:1-15).

From Sinai Moses led the people to Kadesh, from where twelve spies were sent into Canaan as scouts, including most famously Caleb and Joshua. After forty days, they returned to the Israelite camp, bringing back grapes and other produce as samples of the regions fertility. Although all the spies agreed that the land's resources were spectacular, the majority of them gave a pessimistic report, and only two of the twelve spies (Joshua and Caleb) were willing to try to conquer it, and were nearly stoned for their unpopular opinion. Here again, according to tradition, Moses interceded for the people with Yahweh, who threatened to destroy them and raise up another and greater nation. Ultimately since the people were discouraged and refused to go forward, wanting to return to Egypt, they were condemned to remain in the wilderness until that generation had passed away (Numbers 13-14).

The subsequent uprising led by the Tribe of Reuben under Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and 250 Israelite princes suggests that during the thirty-eight years spent in the Badiet et-Tih ("Desert of the Wandering"), habitual discontent continued. They accused Moses and Aaron of raising themselves over the rest of the people. Moses told them to come the next morning with a censer for every man, although Dathan and Abiram refused to come when summoned by Moses. Then Moses went to the place of Dathan and Abiram's tents and after he spoke the ground opened up and engulfed Dathan and Abiram's tents, after which it closed again, and fire consumed the 250 men with the censers. Moses had the censers taken and made into plates to cover the altar. The following day, the Israelites came and accused Moses and Aaron of having killed his fellow Israelites, and the people were struck with a plague that killed 14,700 persons, that was only ended when Aaron went with his censer into the midst of the people (Numbers 16).

Prophet "Aaron the Priest" (אֵהֲרֹן הֵכֹּהֵן), the older brother of Moses and first High Priest of the Israelites.

To prevent further murmurings and settle the matter permanently, Moses had each of the chief princes of the non-Levitic tribes write his name on his staff and had them lay them in the sanctuary. He also had Aaron write his name on his staff and had it placed in the tabernacle. The next day, when Moses went into the tabernacle, Aaron's staff had budded, blossomed, and yielded almonds (Numbers 17:1-8).

After leaving Sinai, the Israelites camped in Kadesh. After more complaints from the Israelites, Moses struck the stone twice, and water gushed forth. However, because Moses and Aaron had not shown the Lord's holiness, they were not permitted to enter the land to be given to the Israelites (Numbers 20:1-13).

When the old generation, including Mary, the prophet's sister, was no more, Moses inaugurated the onward march around Edom and Moab to the Arnon (Wadi Mujib), from the area of Kadesh towards the Promised Land.

The Bronze Serpent of Numbers 21:8.
(Gustav Doré, 19th c.)

While the Israelites were making their journey around Edom, they complained about the manna, upon which the Lord sent "fiery serpents" among the people, as a chastisement for renewed murmurings, and many of the people of Israel died. Moses then set up the brazen serpent and set it on a pole, "and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived" (Numbers 21).

Thus after the lapse of thirty-eight years Moses led the people eastward. Having gained friendly permission to do so, they passed through the territory of Esau (where Aaron died, on Mount Hor; Numbers 20:22-29), and then, by a similar arrangement, through the land of Moab.

At this point two Transjordan kings, Og and Sihon refused them passage. Sihon, king of the Amorites, whose capital was at Heshbon, refused them passage, and was conquered by Moses, who allotted his territory to the tribes of Reuben and Gad. Next, Og, King of Bashan, was similarly overthrown (Numbers 21), and his territory assigned to the half-tribe of Manasseh. The Israelites fought with Og's forces at Edrei, on the southern border of Bashan, where the Israelites were victorious and slew every man, woman, and child of his cities and took spoil for their bounty.

When Balak, king of Moab, heard of the Israelites' conquests over Sihon of the Amorites and Og of Bashan, he feared that his territory might be next. He sent elders of Moab, and of Midian, to Balaam (a powerful and respected prophet), son of Beor), to induce him to come and curse the Israelites. Ultimately Balaam informed Balak and the Midianites that if they wished to overcome the Israelites for a short interval, they needed to seduce the Israelites to engage in idolatry. The Midianites sent beautiful women to the Israelite camp to seduce the young men to partake in idolatry, and the attempt proved successful. Due to the scandalous intercourse with the idolatrous Moabites, God then commanded Moses to kill and hang the heads of everyone who had engaged in idolatry, and Moses ordered the judges to carry out the mass execution, resulting in the slaughter of 24,000 offenders (Numbers 25).

At the same time, one of the Israelites brought home a Midianitish woman in the sight of the congregation. Upon seeing this, Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron, took a javelin in his hand and thrust through both the Israelite and the Midianitish woman, which turned away the wrath of God. Moses was then told that because Phinehas had averted the wrath of God from the Israelites, Phinehas and his descendents were given the pledge of an everlasting priesthood (Numbers 25:1-13).

After Moses had taken a census of the people, which showed that the army still numbered 601,730, excluding 23,000 Levites, he sent an army to avenge the perceived evil brought on the Israelites by the Midianites. Numbers 31 says Moses instructed the Israelite soldiers to kill every Midianite woman, boy, and non-virgin girl (Numbers 31:17-18). Thus the Israelites killed Balaam, and the five kings of Midian: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba (Numbers 31:8).

Moses then appointed Joshua, son of Nun, to succeed him as the leader of the Israelites (Numbers 27:15-23). At the end of the Book of Numbers the Israelites are on the plains of Moab opposite Jericho ready to enter the land.

Seeing the Promised Land and Moses' Departure

Nabi Musa, the traditional site of Moses' Tomb in the Judean desert.

After all this was accomplished, arriving in the land of Moab, Moses was warned that he would not be permitted to lead Israel across the Jordan into the Promised Land, but would die on the eastern side (Numbers 20:12). He therefore assembled the tribes and delivered to them a parting address, which forms the Book of Deuteronomy. In this last official act, it is commonly supposed that Moses recapitulated the Law, renewing the Sinai Covenant with those who had survived the wilderness wanderings.

When this was finished, and he had pronounced a blessing upon the people, he went up Mount Nebo to the top of Pisgah (Phasga) (Deuteronomy 32:49), looked over the country spread out before him, and died, at the age of one hundred and twenty (120). God Himself buried him in an unknown grave, in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor (Deuteronomy 34:5-8). God kept the location secret so that the Israelites would not make the religious error of turning the site into a shrine of worship.

In Jude 1:9 there is an allusion to an altercation between the Archangel Michael and Satan over the body of Moses.

Legacy

The epitaph for Moses, who was more meek than any other man (Numbers 12:3), and the summation of traditional Jewish reverence for him and his accomplishments, appears at the very end of the Pentateuch, for: "there hath not arisen a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face" (Deuteronomy 34:10). Moses is the ultimate 'Man of Faith' who in fact rejects being the 'Majestic Man'. It is the everlasting glory of Moses that he should have been the messenger of God. The thundering words of God: "I AM THAT I AM" were echoed by Moses for all time, and will burn in the minds of men as did the bush in the eyes of Moses.

Stained glass window depicting the three stages in Moses' life (Washington National Cathedral)

"In the narrative, the phrase is constantly recurring, "The Lord spake unto Moses," "Moses spake unto the children of Israel." In the traditions of the desert, whether late or early, his name predominates over that of every one else: "The Wells of Moses" — on the shores of the Red Sea; "the Mountain of Moses" (Jebel Mūsá) — near the convent of St. Catharine; the Ravine of Moses (Shuk Mūsá) — at Mount St. Catharine; the Valley of Moses (Wady Mūsá) — at Petra. "The Books of Moses" are so called (as afterwards the Books of Samuel), in all probability, from his being the chief subject of them. The very word "Mosaism" has been in later times applied (as the proper name of no other saint of the O.T.) to the whole religion. Even as applied to tessellated pavement ("Mosaic," Musiuum, μουσειον, μουσαικον) there is some probability that the expression is derived from the variegated pavement of the later Temple, which had then become the representative of the religion of Moses...

It has sometimes been attempted to reduce this great character into a mere passive instrument of the divine Will, as though he had himself borne no conscious part in the actions in which he figures, or the messages which he delivers. This, however, is as incompatible with the general tenor of the scriptural account as it is with the common language in which he has been described by the Church in all ages. The frequent addresses of the Divinity to him no more contravene his personal activity and intelligence than in the case of Elijah, Isaiah, or Paul. In the N.T. the Mosaic legislation is expressly ascribed to him : "Moses gave you circumcision" (John vii, 22). "'Moses', because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered you" (Matt. xix, 8). "Did not Moses give you the law?" (John vii, 19). "'Moses' accuseth you" (John v, 45). Paul goes so far as to speak of him as the founder of the Jewish religion: "They were all baptized unto Moses" (1 Cor. x,2). He is constantly called "a prophet." In the poetical language of the O.T. (Numb. xxi,18; Deut. xxxiii,21), and in the popular language both of Jews and Christians, he is known as "the Lawgiver." The terms in which his legislation is described by Philo (V.M. ii,1-4) are decisive as to the ancient Jewish view. He must be considered, like all the saints and heroes of the Bible, as a man of marvellous gifts, raised up by divine Providence for a special purpose; but as led, both by his own disposition and by the peculiarity of the revelation which he received, into a closer communion with the invisible world than was vouchsafed to any other in the Old Testament."

It is the constant teaching of the Holy Fathers that what Moses encountered on Mt. Sinai was the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, in pre-incarnate state, for God the Father has never at any time made contact with or revealed Himself, except through the Son, And it is the Son who makes the Father known to us. It is only after the Incarnation of Christ that it becomes again permissible to make images of Christ God, and the saints and angels, not in order to worship them, as did pagans and idolaters, but as a reminder to us of heavenly realities.

When Exodus 33:11 states that God "...spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend", the phrase "face to face" is not used to refer to their physical position in relation to one another, but to the intimate nature of the Lord’s discourse with Moses. Deuteronomy 34:10 again states that the Lord "knew" Moses "face to face"; and again, the phrase is not being used of physical position, but of their relationship – that is:

"In all the signs and the wonders, which the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, and in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses showed in the sight of all Israel." (34:11-12).

The first two Biblical Odes are attributed to Moses:

1. "Let us sing to the Lord…" (Exodus 15:1-9), which was sung on the shores of the Red Sea after the Hebrews had crossed it. And:
2. "Attend, O heaven…" (Deuteronomy 32:1-43), which was sung in the land of Moab, a few days before Moses' death.

Apparitions of Moses

The Transfiguration (Theophanes the Greek, 15th c.)

The holy Prophet Moses performed many miracles during his lifetime, and also after his death. He appeared on Mount Tabor with the Prophet Elijah at the Transfiguration of the Lord (August 6).

"Jewish-minded Peter, when he saw the ancient worthies about to pass away (Luke 9:33), was troubled, and proposed to build three tabernacles to keep the Christ and Moses and Elijah on the same equality; but a cloud overshadowed him while he spoke, and "a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my Son, my chosen, hear ye him (rather than Moses and the prophets). And when the voice was past, Jesus was found alone." Let us not misapprehend the far-reaching significance of that heavenly vision. Moses and Elijah remain in the picture in a glory of their own, as old schoolmasters of blessed memory who led the way to Christ. But we should be like the three disciples who, after they heard the voice out of the cloud, "suddenly looking round about, saw no one any more save Jesus only with themselves" (Mark 9:8). He remains with us in all his glory still. He is the end of the law and the fulfilment of prophecy for the Christian ages. He is now sitting on his heavenly throne, and he saith: "Behold, I make all things new."

In addition, on the day that St John of the Ladder (March 30) was installed as abbot of Mt. Sinai (late 6th century AD), the Prophet Moses was seen going around St. Catherine's Monastery during the feast and giving orders to the cooks, stewards, and servants. When the guests had gone and the monks were sitting at table, they wondered what had become of the stranger who had been giving orders. St John said, "Our Lord Moses does nothing strange by serving in the place which belongs to him."

There is also an apparition of Moses recorded in the hagiography of Saint Gregentios of Himyaritia, the missionary Bishop of Himyaritia in Sourthern Arabia, in the sixth century. During a debate on faith that was held between the Jews of that region and the Orthodox Christians, the leading Rabbi among the Jews, named Ervan (Herban, Ervas) beheld the holy Prophet Moses, who worshipped the Lord Jesus Christ; the prophet Moses told Ervan that he (Ervan) was in opposition to the truth and would be defeated.

Furthermore, it has been considered that Moses will be one of the Two Witnesses, together with Elijah, who will appear during the Second woe in the Book of Revelation 11:1-14. In a homily given by Protopresbyter Thomas Hopko on the Apocalypse: The Book of Revelation Within Orthodox Christian Tradition, in discussing the mystagogical and liturgical character of the Book of Revelation, he posits that the two witnesses will be Moses and Elijah because they represent or symbolize the whole of the Hebrew religion; Moses symbolizes the Law and Elijah the Prophets; Moses represents the earth because he is buried and Elijah the heavens because He is taken-up; Moses represents the dead because he died and Elijah represents the living because he did not die; they represent the totality / economia / plan of God; and at the Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus to show that He is the fulfillment of the whole history of Israel.

Theological considerations

Prefiguring Jesus

Moses' role as a prophet is complex and diverse, but one of the predominant themes of relevance to the Early Church is prefigured in Deut 18:15, his chief utterance relating to a future Prophet, like to himself, whom the people are to receive. He is often in Jewish tradition known as the 'Redeemer'. This symbolized two things. He did redeem the Jews from Egypt, but he is also seen as the model of the 'Redeemed Man', a forerunner of the Davidic Messianic model.

As the author of the Law, he is contrasted with Christ, the Author of the Gospel. The Gospel writers make an effort at several points to highlight the role of Jesus as the "new Moses," the fulfillment of the prophecy. The New Testament's view goes beyond paralleling that of the Old Testament, in that Moses is looked upon as a precursor to Christ (1 Corinthians 10:1-4) and as a witness to him (John 1:45), in the seamless, unified history of God's relationship to and interaction with humankind throughout the ages.

"During his whole life and ministry Jesus showed a becoming respect for the rites of the Mosaic law. He himself was "born under the law" (Gal. 4:4), and after having been circumcised he was formally presented at the temple with the appropriate offerings required by the law (Luke 2:21-24). He submitted to John's baptism, declaring that thus it became him "to fulfil all righteousness." When he cleansed a leper, he bade him go to the priest and "offer the gift that Moses commanded" (Matt. 8:4). He admonished his disciples that "the scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat," and their teachings were therefore to be duly observed. He even represented father Abraham as speaking to the rich man in Hades about "Moses and the prophets" (Luke 16: 29). He enjoined upon those who asked him what they must do to inherit eternal life, to keep the commandments of the Decalogue; and he condensed them into the two great commandments of love (Matt. 19:16-19; Luke 10:26-28). These two commandments are found in Deut. 6:5 and Lev. 19:18; but the superior wisdom of our Lord is seen in the discrimination which assigns to these two the substance of "the whole law and the prophets." The Lord's Prayer is made up of petitions which had probably been uttered in substance and in separate parts a thousand times before, but only the wisdom of Jesus was sufficient to collect and combine them into one short universal prayer."

Furthermore, the Law of Moses is contrasted with and fulfilled by the grace of Christ (John 1:17). Although Jesus declared that he came not to destroy but to fulfil the law and the prophets, his fulfilling the law and the prophets, as contradistinguished from destroying them, has been strangely misunderstood.

"(Jesus') fulfilling the content and purport of the Old Testament involves the complete displacement of the statutes and rites of the old covenant as a norm of religious life in Christ. His saying that "one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law till all things be accomplished" (Matt. 5:I8) does not mean or imply that the law in all its parts is to remain in force forever. On the contrary the great Teacher made it very clear and positive that he himself is the end of the law; and his fulfillment, accomplishing, or consummation of the law and the prophets is a making of all things new in the gospel of a new and better covenant. Law and prophets are swallowed up and superseded by the gospel of the kingdom of heaven. The distinction between destroying and fulfilling is illustrated by the obvious impropriety of putting a piece of new undressed cloth upon an old garment, and of putting new wine into old wineskins. It is equally incongruous for an invited guest to be found fasting at the time of the wedding-feast when the bridegroom and his friends are expected to rejoice together (Matt. 9:14-17). And so we are taught that the gospel carries with it a new spirit and a new life. It is not a dispensation of partial reforms, with the omission or modification of a number of old customs, but a deep, radical, and permanent uplift from the bondage of the letter to a glorious freedom of the Spirit. Jesus came not to set aside an indefinite portion of the Old Testament regulations, and to institute a sort of eclectic system in which the old law and the prophets were, with a few exceptions, to remain as the authoritative guides of Christian life and thought. He came as the Mediator of a new and better covenant, enacted upon better promises (Heb. 8:6). He made the old things pass away in order that all things might become new (cf. 2 Cor. 5:17 and Rev. 21:5). The old is not destroyed; it remains as an invaluable object-lesson, showing how God did at sundry times and in divers ways reveal himself of old. But every jot and tittle of the former revelations have been taken up, as by a process of living growth, and incorporated by the power of a new and higher life into the gospel of our Lord."

Therefore while Moses is looked upon as a precursor to Christ, we are also reminded of his humanity, as influential writer Franz Kafka writes in his Diaries :

"He is on the track of Canaan all his life; it is incredible that he should see the land only when he is on the verge of death. This dying vision of it can only be intended to illustrate how incomplete a moment is human life, incomplete because a life like this could last forever and still be nothing but a moment. Moses fails to enter Canaan not because his life was too short but because it is a human life."

Typologies

Moses — mentioned more often in the New Testament than any other Old Testament figure — is often a symbol of God's law, as reinforced and expounded on in the teachings of Jesus.

New Testament writers often compared Jesus' words and deeds with Moses' to explain Jesus' mission. In Acts 7:39–43, 51–53, for example, the rejection of Moses by the Jews who worshiped the golden calf is likened to the rejection of Jesus by the Jews that continued in traditional Judaism.

Stone armchair at Chorazin, Israel, an exemplary illustration of the “seat of Moses” mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 23.

Moses also figures in several of Jesus' messages. When he met the Pharisees Nicodemus at night in the third chapter of the Gospel of John, he compared Moses' lifting up of the bronze serpent in the wilderness, which any Israelite could look at and be healed, to his own lifting up (by his death and resurrection) for the people to look at and be healed.

In the sixth chapter, Jesus responded to the people's claim that Moses provided them manna in the wilderness by saying that it was not Moses, but God, who provided. Calling himself the "bread of life", Jesus stated that He was provided to feed God's people.

Moses, along with Elijah, is presented as meeting with Jesus in all three Gospel accounts of the Transfiguration of Jesus in Matthew 17, Mark 9, and Luke 9, respectively.

Later Christians found numerous other typological parallels between the life of Moses and Jesus to the extent that Jesus was likened to a "second Moses." For instance, Jesus' escape from the slaughter by Herod in Bethlehem (December 29) is compared to Moses' escape from Pharaoh's designs to kill Hebrew infants.

Moses' Seat

It is unknown whether the roots of the “seat of Moses” are Israelite, pagan, or Christian. Nothing alike to this is found described in the Old Testament. The best of archaeological evidence indicates more that it was a Jewish adoption of a pagan practice and possibly a Christian one. The earliest account of "Moses' seat" is found in the New Testament] (Matthew 23), and whether this was a literal or metaphorical description of authority provides fodder for perennial debate. Hence, the question becomes not whether Christians derived the "bishop chair" from the synagogue, but whether both synagogue and church communities alike appropriated the notion from pagan buildings. However that may be, in terms of "Moses' seat" one may conclude that the unity that the synagogal community saw and today sees in Mosheh Rabbenu ("Moses our teacher"), so the Orthodox churches see in its overseer, the bishop (Episkopos).

Gallery

The Finding of Moses

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  The finding of Moses (Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1904).

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  Pharaoh's daughter finding baby Moses (Russian painter Konstantin Flavitsky, 1830–1866).

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  The Finding of Moses (Frederick Goodall, 1862).

The Burning Bush

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  The Burning Bush, at St. Catherine's Monastery, Sinai.

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  Speaking from the Burning Bush, God tells Moses to remove his shoes because he is standing on hallowed ground. (Ingeborg Psalter, 12th c. illuminated Psalter).

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  Moses and the Burning Bush. Attributed to Dieric Bouts, ca.1450-1475.

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  Moses before the Burning Bush, as an extension of the Tree of Jesse (Cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris. Adolphe Napoleon Didron, 1864).

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  Moses at the Burning Bush. By Gerhard von Kügelgen (1772-1820).

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  "Moses and the Burning Bush", by Arnold Friberg (1953). Commissioned by Cecil B. DeMille for The Ten Commandments (1956 film).

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  Mosaic of the Burning Bush, by Jonathan Mandell.

The Burning Bush as the Theotokos

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  The Burning Bush - Icon of Mother of God (Damaskinos, 16th c.).

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  Burning Bush - Icon of Mother of God (Russian icon of Virgin Mary "Neopalimaya Kupina").

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  Triptych of the Burning Bush, middle panel. Cathédrale St. Sauveur, Aix-en-Provence. By Nicolas Froment, ca 1475/1476.

The Tablets of Stone

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  Moses receiving the Ten Commandments (St. Catherine's Monastery (Sinai), ca.6th c.).

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  Moses receives the tables of the law from God - (one of the ten scenes/panels from: The Gates of Paradise , gilded bronze doors of the Florence Baptistery, by Lorenzo Ghiberti, ca.1425-1452).

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  Moses and the Tablets of Law (José de Ribera, 1638).

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  Plaque of Moses with the Ten Commandments. (Anonymous).

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  Moses with the Ten Commandments (Gustave Doré, 1865).

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  Screenshot of actor Charlton Heston as Moses, holding the Two Tablets of the Ten Commandments (1956 film).

Worship of The Golden Calf

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  Worshipping the golden calf. Fresco from the Dura Europos synagogue (ca.244-256 AD).

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  Worship of the Golden Calf (Ingeborg Psalter, 12th c. illuminated Psalter).

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  The Adoration of the Golden Calf (Nicolas Poussin, 1633-36).

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  Fresco from the Ipatiev (Hypatian) Monastery showing the Golden Calf (ca.1913).

Hymns

Apolytikion (Tone 3)

The memory of Your prophet Moses,

We celebrate today, O Lord.

By his prayers, we beseech You,

O Christ God, save our souls!

The Holy Prophet and Lawgiver Moses the God-seer.

Troparion (Tone 2)

You ascended to the heights of the virtues, Prophet Moses;

therefore, you were deemed worthy to see the glory of God.

Having received the grace-filled tablets of the Law,

and bearing the grace of the writing within yourself,

you were the honorable praise of prophets,

and a great mystery of piety.

Kontakion (Tone 2)

The choir of prophets rejoices with Moses and Aaron today,

for the fulfillment of their prophecy is in our midst.

The Cross, by which You have saved us, shines forth today.

By their prayers, O Christ God, have mercy on us.

Moses in the Pentecostarion

Ode 1: Canon in the Fourth Tone.
Heirmos:

Covered by the divine cloud,

he that was slow of tongue Proclaimed the Law written by God;

For having shaken off the impurity from the eye of his mind,

He beholdeth Him, That Is, and he is initiated into the knowledge of the Spririt,

While giving praise with God-inspired songs.

Ode 8: Canon in the Grave (7th) Tone.
Heirmos:

The bush that was unconsumed by fire on Sinai

spake unto the tardiloquent and inarticulate Moses,

and made God know unto him;

and zeal for God showed forth the three Children

who chanted hymns to be unconsumed by fire.

O all ye His works, praise ye the Lord

and supremely exalt Him unto all the ages.

Service for the Prophet Moses in the Menaion

Following the typicon of the service for the Prophet Moses that is used in the Monastery of Mount Sinai, the three Vespers prosomia of the Menaion have been moved to the Praises, and those of the service of Sinai have been included for Vespers; the Doxastica, Readings, Entreaty, Aposticha, and Exapostilaria used in the Mount Sinai edition have been added.

Vespers

Of the Prophet. First Tone. O strange wonder
O strange wonder, great and marvellous!
For the wondrous Moses, God's most sacred minister,
is counted among the dead, death having taken him.
But he doth disturb and shake the bitter kingdom of death with a boundless fear,
proclaiming there the divine and dread appearance of God the Artificer.
Wherefore, he doth ask forgiveness and great mercy for us all,
as we honour with longing his translation from the things of earth.

O strange wonder, great and marvellous!
He whose face shone brightly with the splendour of the Lord,
the right fair and comely Moses doth go forth this day down into the bitter grave,
but is not hid by the stone of oblivion; for like a bright-beaming sun,
he shineth still with the power and grace of God.
Wherefore, he doth ask forgiveness and great mercy for us all,
who with longing sing praise of his translation from the things of earth.

O strange wonder!
He who verily was in all things faithful in the holy house of grace;
the minister and fulfiller of God's mysteries;
who took full authority o'er all creation for Egypt's just chastening
and then stirred it up against accursed Pharaoh, afflicting him as was meet:
even he is seen a dead man, hid beneath the earth this day,
yet doth ask that great mercy might be granted to all faithful men.

Glory. Plagal of Second Tone
The all-venerable festival of Moses, the Prophet and seer of God, is come,
bringing salvation unto us all.
Wherefore, let us mystically clap our hands and say unto him:
Rejoice, O marvellous luminary of the spiritual Sun, who shinest on those in darkness.
Rejoice, initiate of the mysteries of God, worker of strange marvels, and divine habitation of the Creator.
Be thou present invisibly in our midst,
granting the gifts of grace unto all who now acclaim thy most festive memorial.

Both now. Second Tone
The shadow of the Law is passed away with the coming of grace;
for as the bush was not consumed when it was burning,
thus as a virgin didst thou give birth, and a virgin didst thou remain.
In the stead of a pillar of fire, there hath arisen the Sun of Righteousness;
in the stead of Moses, Christ, the salvation of our souls.

Then the Entrance, O Joyous Light, the Prokeimenon of the day, and the following Readings:

The Reading is from the Book of Exodus (2:5-10)
The daughter of Pharaoh came down to the river to wash herself; and her maids walked by the river's side; and when she saw the basket in the marsh, she sent her maid, and took it up. And when she had opened it, she seeth the babe weeping in the basket; and the daughter of Pharaoh had compassion on it, and said: This is one of the Hebrews' children. And his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter: Wilt thou that I call to thee a nurse of the Hebrews, and she shall suckle the child for thee? And Pharaoh's daughter said to her: Go; and the young woman went, and called the mother of the child. And Pharaoh's daughter said to her: Take care of this child for me, and suckle it for me, and I will give thee the wages; and the woman took the child, and suckled it. And when the boy was grown, she brought him to Pharoah's daughter, and he became her son; and she called his name Moses, saying: I took him out of the water.

The Reading is from the Book of Exodus (3:1-8)
Moses came to the mountain of God, even Horeb. And the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, the Lord called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, What is it, Lord? And He said, Draw not nigh hither; put off thy sandals from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses turned away his face; for he was afraid to look upon God. And the Lord said unto Moses, I have surely seen the affliction of My people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrow; and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land and lead them into a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.

The Reading is from the Book of Exodus (33:11-23; 34:4,5-6,8)
The Lord spake to Moses face to face, as if one should speak to his friend; and he retired into the camp; but his servant Jesus the son of Navi, a young man, departed not forth from the tabernacle. And Moses said to the Lord, Lo! Thou sayest to me, Lead on this people; but Thou hast not showed me whom Thou wilt send with me, but Thou hast said to me, I know thee above all, and thou hast grace with Me. If then I have found Grace in Thy sight, reveal Thyself to me, that I may evidently see Thee; that I may find grace in Thy sight, and that I may know that this great nation is Thy people. And the Lord saith to him, I Myself will go before thee, and give thee rest. And he saith to him, If Thou go not up with us Thyself, bring me not up hence. And how shall it be evidently known , that both I and and this people have found grace with Thee, except only if Thou go with us? So both I and Thy people shall be glorified beyond all the nations, as many as are upon the earth. And the Lord said to Moses, I will also do for thee this thing, which thou hast spoken; for thou hast found grace before Me, and I know thee above all. And Moses saith, Show me Thy glory. And He said, I will pass by before thee with My glory, and I will call by My Name, the Lord before thee; and I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and will have pity on whom I will have pity. And He said, Thou shalt not be able to see My face; for no man shall see My face, and live. And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by Me; stand Thou upon the rock; and when My glory shall pass by, then I will put thee into a cleft of the rock; and I will cover thee over with My hand, until I shall have passed by. And I will remove My hand, and then shalt thou see My back parts; but My face shall not appear to thee. And Moses having arisen early, went up to Mount Sinai, as the Lord appointed him. And the Lord descended in a cloud, and stood near him there, and called by the Name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before his face, and proclaimed: The Lord God, compassionate and merciful, long-suffering and plenteous in mercy, and true. And Moses hasted, and bowed to the earth and worshipped the Lord.

For the Entreaty. Second Tone.
Rejoice, O venerable Prophets Moses and Aaron,
who have commendably established the Law of the Lord,
and by faith have appeared as indestructible and immovable pillars;
for ye also are seen to be mediators of the New Testament of Christ.
Since ye have been translated to Heaven,
entreat Him that he grant peace unto the world, and that he save our souls.

Same Tone
Thou didst prefer the divine and heavenly philosophy to the teaching of the Egyptians.
For thou didst disdain the one as vain and abhorrent, and the instructor of superstitious error;
but thou didst embrace the other as an initiator into mystical visions.
Becoming an enamoured beholder of these visions, O excellent Prophet,
thou didst declare unto all the creative power of the Master.

Fourth Tone
Having purged thy mind of material darkness, O all-blessed Moses, seer of God,
thou didst soar to the height of divine vision.
Wherefore, in the cleft of the rock, covered by the hand of the Lord, thou foresawest God's coming unto us;
for this was the significance of the back parts which God promised He would show thee, when thou besoughtest Him.
And now, as thou standest in His presence and beholdest His countenance more clearly, intercede for thy flock,
that we be delivered from every assault of visible and invisible enemies, O all-famed Prophet.

Plagal of Second Tone
Today the whole world is made bright with the rays of the lawgiver;
and the Church of God, adorned with garlands, crieth out in gladness:
O Moses, servant of the only God, cease not to intercede for thy flock.

Glory. Same Tone
With songs of praise, let us, the assembly of the faithful,
crown the most renowned first-fruits of the elect choir of God-inspired Prophets,
the fraternal pair of like discipline, the notable Aaron, and Moses,
great in the vision of God; the surpassingly illustrious Prophets of God,
who shone forth as most sublime priests; and let us cry unto them:
Rejoice, O eye-witnesses and workers of the supernatural and dread wonders of God;
ye are stentorian heralds of the Ineffable Incarnation.
Rejoice, o all-venerable Aaron, who wast truly shown to be the elect among priests;
for through the budding of thy barren rod, thou wast manifestly preferred;
for thereby He that inexpressibly createth and transformeth all things,
symbolically gave a certain proof of His own seedless conception of a Maiden in the last days.
Rejoice, O exceedingly wondrous Moses, who wast cleansed in mind of all affinity with material things,
and wast instructed on Mount Sinai concerning the all-pure and unwedded Maiden's undefiled childbearing,
which wast made manifest unto thee through the flaming, ever-verdant, and unburning bush.
Wherefore, since ye have boldness with God,
entreat Him that He deliver from every assault of the enemy this divinely gathered flock,
which honoureth you with love.

Both now. Theotokion
O Thetokos, thou art the true vine that hath blossomed forth the Fruit of Life. Thee do we supplicate:
Intercede, O Lady, together with the Prophets and all the Saints that our souls find mercy.

For the Aposticha, the following Stichera:

Of the Prophet. First Tone. O all-lauded Martyrs

O Moses, blest Prophet of the Lord,
thou beheldest the immaculate and all-holy Virgin
in the bush that thou didst see swaddled in divine fire,
but remaining unconsumed by virtue of the grace and divine might of our Fashioner and God.
Thus, O God-seer, intercede with Him that He grant peace and great mercy to out souls.

Verse: Touch not Mine anointed ones, and to My prophets do no evil.

With plagues thou didst lay all Egypt low
and didst sore amaze her prince with many terrible wonders,
being as a God to him, altering the nature of the very elements,
as bidden by the Sovereign of all,
Who in His foresight and His love taketh care for all the race of man
as the only Friend of man, O seer of God.

Verse: Thou art a priest for ever, after the order of Melchisedek.

No more in dark sayings as of old, nor in shaddows nor a looking-glass
dost thou look upon Him for Whom thou didst greatly yearn, O lawgiver Moses;
but thou seest face to face, where semblances and images all are ended,
O inspired of God. Wherefore, pray to Him
to grant Thy flock His great mercy and release from sufferings.

Glory. Fourth Tone
Come, O Company of the Orthodox, let us joyously extol the pinnacle of the Prophets,
Moses, the verily far-famed, the true friend of the Master, and the minister of His precepts,
who by manifold signs and mighty deeds scourged Egypt, terrifying pestilential Pharaoh.
He guided the ancient Israel, and divided the great gulf of the Red Sea in twain
with the cross-shaped rod given him by God;
he led God's own people through the midst of the sea,
but drowned the adversary tyrant therein, together with his hosts, both chariots and charioteers.
Wherefore, arising above the grovelling passions,
he became an unspotted looking-glass of the All-holy Spirit, and a genuine companion of the Angels.
Going up into the mountain, he entered the innermost darkness,
and beheld as far as is possible Him Who is unapproachable,
and spake with Him face to face as a true friend.
He was made glorious by Him both in his heart and his countenance, and was called a God by adoption.
He was seen to be a bearer of the Spirit, and worthily held in his hands the God-graven tablets of the commandments;
and as a God-inspired initiate, he made clear the nature of things that be.
Wherefore, he was also present when God, having become flesh for His tender compassion's sake,
was transfigured on Tabor in a manner befitting His Divinity.
And he doth intercede with Him unceasingly that we also may be deemed worthy of his divine glory.

Both now. Theotokion
From divers dangers, O blessed Theotokos,
do thou preserve thy servants,
that we may glorify thee, the hope of our souls.

DISMISSAL HYMNS
Of the Prophet. Fourth Tone
By Thy manifestation in the fire and Thine appearance in the flesh,
Thou didst make glorious the countenance of Moses.
And by Aaron's priesthood according to the Law,
Thou didst show forth the figure of the new dispensation of grace:
By the prayers of Thy holy Prophets, O Christ God, save our souls.

Theotokion
The mystery hidden from eternity and unknown to the Angels
is made manifest through thee, O Theotokos, to those on earth.
God became incarnate in an unmingled union
and for our sake hath submitted willingly to the Cross,
whereby He hath raised up the first-fashioned man
and hath saved our souls from death.

Matins

After the First Reading from the Psalter, the following Sessional Hymns:

First Tone. The soldiers standing guard
With longing, let us honour in song Prophet Moses,
the God-seer who excelled the whole choir of the Prophets,
the Law's wise expounder, great both in myst'ries and miracles,
who shone out upon the world with marvellous splendour,
cheering with his light the hearts and minds of the faithful by means of the Spirit's might.

Glory. Third Tone. Awed by the beauty
God the Invisible, thou didst in truth behold on Sinai anciently as far as possible,
vouchsafed to speak unto Him face to face, O most blessed Moses,
as a friend doth speak with friend:
O what dread and unheard-of grace thou hast been deemed worthy of,
O divine Prophet of the Lord!
O God-seer and the first of the Prophets,
entreat Him to save us who extol thee.

Both now. Theotokion
Moses the seer of God, the Prophet great in grace,
beheld thy bringing-forth prefigured in the bush that burned on Sinai unconsumed
and bearing the mystic tokens of the Godhead's shining light while remaining inviolate;
for before thou gavest birth, yea, and after thy bringing-forth,
thou truly hast remained perfect Virgin, in bearing the Brightness of the Godhead.

After the Second Reading from the Psalter, the following Sessional Hymns:
Fourth Tone. Be quick to anticipate
In truth didst thou bodily enter the dark divine cloud,
receiving the Law writ with the letters of grace divine,
O Moses divinely blest;
thou on Sinai heardest God speak with thee aforetime
and on Tabor sawest His unspeakable glory.
And now by thine entreaties with Him, save us, thy faithful flock.

Glory. Same Tone. Joseph was amazed
Going up to Sinai's peak, O Moses,
God-befittingly thou didst enter that dark cloud,
seeing the glory of the Lord,
and thou in fear didst receive the Law of the Spirit;
thou in the bush didst see the Incarnation of Christ figured forth in fire,
which thou in latter times beheldest openly on Tabor,
seeing Thy Maker's dread majesty.
Implore Him warmly, O mighty Moses, to redeem us who laud thee.

Both now. Theotokion. The Original Melody.
Joseph was amazed to see that which transcended nature's bounds,
for without seed, thou, O Maid, didst both conceive and bear a Child.
And he remembered the blossoming rod of Aaron,
the dew upon the fleece,
and the unburning bush which was not consumed, though it was all aflame.
Thus, thy protector and betrothed cried, as he bare witness before the priests:
A Virgin beareth, and after childbirth, still remaineth a Virgin.

After the usual Reading from the Psalter, we say one Canon of the Octoechos and the following of the Saint.
Before the Troparia, we say, "O Prophet of Christ, intercede in our behalf" for the Canon of Saint Moses.

THE CANON OF THE PROPHET
A Composition of Clement
Fouth Tone

ODE ONE
When Israel of old
Let Moses the first of the Prophets be praised,
as the first to speak manifestly face to face with God,
not in the figures of dark sayings,
but beholding Him as it were in fleshly form.

Foretelling thy birth by the word of the promise
given to thy father as he prayed, O Moses, divine seer,
God gave thee as a divine leader of the people
and a deliverer of thy kinsmen Israel.

The principal virtues found thee to be a treasury of wisdom
hidden in the knowledge of God as in an ark, O God-seer Moses.
Therefore, the queen and divine providence nurtured thee.

As befit a God-seer,
from thine infancy thou didst deny thyself the breast,
O all-laudable Prophet; and nourished on true milk,
thou didst clearly manifest thine exceeding worthiness
of nearness to God.

Theotokion
Moses was astonished seeing that singularly marvellous spectacle,
the bush and the flame prefiguring the strange and uncorrupted intertwining,
even God come forth of a Virgin Mother,
Whom he saw in the flesh after the passage of many years.

ODE THREE
Of the Prophet. The bow of the mighty
O seer of God, thou wast completely filled with ineffable knowledge;
for through an Angel, the All-holy Spirit initiated thee clearly
into the knowledge of things that had been in the beginning.

Shining with divine rays seen from afar,
thou didst astonish Egypt with divine signs,
wondrously transforming the nature of the elements,
O all-wise Moses.

Thy fair beauty shone with the splendid refinement of divine brightness;
and thou drewest all men to the divine beauty, whereof there is no satiety.

Theotokion
Thou wast led from the dread vision unto ecstatic perception, O most wise Moses;
but thou wast held by the voice of the Lord, Who was born in the flesh of a Virgin.

Heirmos
There in none holy as Thou, O Lord my God,
Who hast exalted the horn of Thy faithful,
O Good One,
and hast established us upon the rock of Thy confession.

SESSIONAL HYMNS
Of the Prophet. Fourth Tone
On this day Thou hast appeared

Knowing Thee to be the first of all the Prophets,
we the faithful piously laud and extol thee as is meet;
for thou wast first to behold our God as far,
O Moses, as He can be seen by man.

Theotokion
On becoming flesh in thy most pure womb,
God was not divided from His Godhead,
but became very man while remaining God;
and thee, His Mother, He kept in virginity,
as undefiled after childbearing as before.
Intercede with Him with fervour,
Who is the only Lord,
to grant great mercy unto us, O blameless one.

ODE FOUR
Of the Prophet. When the Church beheld Thee
When the stammering of thy tongue and voice was changed by divine providence, O God-seer,
thou wast revealed as a minister of the dread mysteries of God, and didst scourge Egypt with plagues.

How marvellous is thy calling, O God-Seer;
how terrible are the works of thy mighty signs!
For He Who Is, even God, appeared to Thee,
and exalting thee in glory, He sent thee as a saviour to Israel.

While praising thee with faith
as the legislator of the marvellous and difficult teachings of God,
O God-seer Moses, we cry:
Ask for the gracious divine power of God in our behalf.

Thou smotest every first-born of Egypt,
even as Christ slew the dominion of the demons;
for the things that were wrought of thee
were verily a type of that which was to come,
O celebrated Moses.

Theotokion
When Moses heard the voice of God crying from the flame and the bush:
Draw not nigh hither, for the place is holy,
Christ's birth in the flesh from the pure Virgin was befittingly prefigured.

ODE FIVE
Of the Prophet. Thou, my Lord, art come
Thou smitest the Red Sea and demonstratest God's strength with thy rod, O God-seer;
and with it thou dost mark out the divine power of the Cross.

O daring of affection!
O simplicity of a pure soul!
If Thou knowest me above all others,
saith the God-seer unto God,
manifest Thyself evidently unto me.

Sheltered in the rock,
thou beheldest not the face of God,
since it is hidden, O God-seer,
but thou learnest of the Word's Incarnation,
as it were His back parts.

It is Moses the God-seer who once rained down manna in the stead of a rain of water,
and gave quails as food unto Israel by his prayer.

Theotokion
O seer of God thou didst enter perceptibly into the darkness and learntest ineffable things,
even that God would afterwards be born in the flesh from a Virgin.

ODE SIX
Of the Prophet. I will sacrifice unto Thee
Having Israel as the mighty army of God,
thou dost utterly destroy the seven nations of the wickedness of the Canaanites,
and givest their land for an inheritance to thy people.

Ineffably entering into the divine darkness where God was calling thee, O Moses,
as His great servant thou didst receive the tablets of the Law written by His finger.

God setteth Moses the God-Seer to hear His voice manifestly in the presence of the people,
that He might show His initiate to be dread with glory.

Being lawful children of Grace,
we reap blessings in lauding thee, O blessed Moses,
and we supplant the Hebrews now as Jacob did Esau in time past.

Theotokion
By divine command, the renowned Moses prefigureth thee as an ark
covered on all sides with the splendours of the Spirit as with gold,
unto the glory of God, O Theotokos.

Heirmos
Beholding the sea of life rising with the tempest of temptations,
I flee to Thy calm haven and cry unto Thee:
Raise my life up out of corruption, O Most Merciful One.

KONTAKION OF THE PROPHETS
Fourth Tone. Thou Who wast raised up
With the divine and righteous Moses and Aaron,
the Prophets choir today rejoiceth with gladness,
seeing their prophecy fulfilled now in our midst;
for Thy Cross, O Christ our God, whereby Thou hast redeemed us,
shineth in the sight of all as the end and fulfillment of that which they foretold in ancient times.
By their entreaties, have mercy upon us all.

OIKOS
Grant me grace O God, to extol Thy venerable Prophet Moses,
whom Thou foundest worthy to prefigure Thine inconceivable conception from a Virgin.
Born amidst the destruction of the first-born,
he foreshadowed the slaughter of the Infants at Thy Birth;
and raising his arms in the form of the Cross,
he showed how Thou wouldst overcome the invisible Amalek.
And Aaron his brother was chosen priest when his barren rod budded,
signifying the Great High Priest that would appear from a Virgin.
By their entreaties, have mercy upon us all.

SYNAXARION
On the fourth of this month we commemorate the holy Prophet and God-seer Moses and his brother Aaron the Priest.

Verses

Not out of a rock, nor on the back parts, O Moses,

But now thou seest God face to face in His fulness.

On the fourth Moses saw the Land of Promise.

Verses

O Lord, to foreshow the womb not burnt by Thy Godhead,

Thou showest the bush burning unconsumed to Moses.

By the intercessions of Thy Saints, O God, have mercy on us.

ODE SEVEN
Of the Prophet. Aflame with love of piety
Becoming a divine scribe of ineffable things seen in divine visions, O Moses,
thou didst devise the whole skilful pattern of the Tabernacle in word,
and didst commit the doing of it to Beseleel the master-builder.

In time past when Core spake audaciously against thee, O Moses,
that he might minister as a priest,
he went down alive into Hades with all his possessions,
while God reserved for thee the venerable office of both kingship and priesthood.

Michael, the prince of the Heavens,
once showed himself to be thy fellow commander over the nation of the Jews,
and the divine guardian of thy body, O Moses;
for he put to shame the author of evil when he withstood him.

Theotokion
When Aaron's divine rod budded,
it declared thee to all as the loosing of sins, O Theotokos;
for Thou becamest forgiveness for mortals
and the deliverance from God's dreadful threatening against us.

ODE EIGHT
Of the Prophet. When Daniel stretched out his hands
Since thou wast meek, thou didst fittingly hearken unto God, and becamest His servant by thy deeds.
Therefore, the Lord was made known unto thee above all the Prophets, O Moses;
and making His dwelling place in thee, He taught thee to chant with faith:
O all ye works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord.

Shown to be God's initiate and minister and the king of Israel, O God-Seer Moses,
thou didst proclaim that Christ was to come in the flesh,
prefiguring His fearful and divine coming unto men,
whereof thou wast clearly seen to be a living type and faithful Prophet.

Thou faithfully leddest the people by the word of prophecy and the commandments of the Law,
guiding them aright with marvellous signs and the display of miracles;
and when thou wast summoned by God, O God-seer,
in the land of Moab thou wast gathered unto thy fathers with great glory.

When thou wentest up into the mountain as into Heaven at God's command, o all-wise Moses,
thou beheldest in spirit the land of the meek,
but didst perceive with thy senses the delight of the promise;
and when thou wast translated from the earth,
thy tabernacle, by the dispensation of God, remained concealed.

Theotokion
No God-seer before thee heard what thou heardest, O glorious Moses, servant of Christ;
for thou beheldest all the symbols of the Virgin and didst describe beforehand her divine giving of birth;
for in the flame of the bush, thou sawest the form of Him that is invisible.

Heirmos
The youths in the flame were moved to sing of God,
the Father and Creator,
the consubstantial Son,
and the Divine Spirit,
and they sang:
O all ye creation, bless the Lord,
and supremely exalt Him unto all ages.

ODE NINE
Of the Prophet. When Christ, the chief corner-stone
Even after thy death, O seer of God, thou becamest an eye-witness of the Lord,
looking upon Christ not in dark symbols as in the cleft of the rock aforetime,
but in a human body, glittering with the light of Divinity.

Mount Tabor hath been made glorious far above Sinai;
for there Moses, from among the dead,
and the Thesbite, from the land of the living,
together with the Apostles
beheld Christ transfigured as very God.

With thy compassionate intercession and thy boldness of prayer,
save from bitter straits and suffering and every harm
the plenitude of Christians who praise thee,
even as thou didst save Israel from perils, O Moses, seer of God.

Theotokion
When Moses first prefigured thee as a golden vessel and tablet and divine table, O Virgin,
he openly showed that God would be born of thee; and seeing Him in a body,
we faithfully complete the hymn for thee.

Heirmos
It is not possible for man to see God,
upon Whom the orders of Angels dare not gaze.
But through thee, O all-pure one,
the incarnate Word appeared unto mortals;
as we magnify Him, together with the heavenly hosts,
we call thee blessed.

EXAPOSTILARIA Of the Prophet. Third Tone. O Changeless Light
Thou didst rain down in the desert the bread of Heaven, o Moses,
being the servant and steward of holy fare, O thou God-seer;
and now by thine intercessions, make us partakers of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Another. Same Melody
Through thy sublime conversation and way of life most exalted,
thou hast found rest, O God-bearer, now in the heavenly portion;
wherefore, lead us in the right way unto the havens of our true lot and possession.

Theotokion. O Changeless Light
The burning bush on Mount Sinai prefigured thee, O pure Virgin,
for thou wast not burnt when bearing the Fire Divine in thy chaste womb;
hence, do thou grant us, thy servants, to be the dwellings of God the All-holy Spirit.

For the Praises we allow for four verses and chant the following Stichera, repeating the first one:
Of the Prophet. Fourth Tone. As one valiant
In a whirlwind didst thou behold Him Who is incorporeal,
and in cloud and darkness, the Immaterial, as much as thou couldst endure;
and on becoming like unto God with a higher glory,
thou wast made lawgiver governing fleshly Israel;
yet, O Moses, no earthly mind can walk 'midst things divine,
for grace is given to such as look to far higher things. (Twice)

Thou wast shown forth a lawful priest and a leader most brave in war,
in the provocation against them that provoked,
while scourging Egypt and sund'ring the Red Sea with the rod of God,
drowning the destroyer king, haughty Pharaoh with all his men, captains and their host;
and thou leddest forth Israel the thankless and intractable, O Moses,
sustaining them in thew wilderness.

Come, O Moses, and speedily loose the sandals from off thy feet,
for the place whereon thou dost stand is holy ground;
and let no mark of mortality or deadness cleave to thee.
For within the bush and fire shall the marvellous mysteries
of the Child of God and pure Maiden be shown to thee now mystically;
so heard the Prophet Moses upon Mount Horeb from Him Who Is.

Glory. Plagal of Fourth Tone
With hymns, O ye faithful, let us honour Moses the Lawgiver,
the pinnacle of Prophets and exceedingly brilliant star of the whole world,
and let us cry out in song unto Christ:
O compassionate Lord, by the entreaties of Thy Prophet,
grant Thy people forgiveness of sins and great mercy.

Both now. Theotokion
Lady, do thou receive the supplications of thy slaves,
and deliver us from every affliction and necessity.

The Great Doxology, and the remainder of Matins.

See also

• Israel
• Burning Bush
• Theotokos the Unburnt Bush icon
• Exodus
• Mount Sinai
• Passover
• Pentateuch
• Judaism
• Judaism and Early Christianity
• Sabbath
• St. Catherine's Monastery (Sinai)
• Tabernacle (biblical)
• Typology

Wikipedia

• Christian views on the old covenant
• Roman Catholic doctrine regarding the Ten Commandments
• Aaron's rod
• Plagues of Egypt (Ten Plagues)
• The Exodus
• Pillar of Fire (theophany)
• Pillar of Cloud (theophany)
• Crossing the Red Sea
• Manna
• Burning bush
• Golden calf
• Ki Tisa
• Tablets of Stone
• Proto-Sinaitic script
• Ten Commandments (Decalogue)
• Ritual Decalogue
• Covenant Code
• 613 commandments (613 Mitzvot)
• Great Commandment
• Law of Moses
• Mosaic covenant (Sinaitic Covenant)
• Mosaic authorship
• Nehushtan
• Midian war
• Three Pilgrimage Festivals (Pesach (Passover); Shavuot (Weeks/Pentecost); Sukkot (Tents or Booths))
• The Ten Commandments (1956 film).

Sources

Orthodox Sources

• "September 4: The Holy God-seer Moses the Prophet and Aaron His Brother". In: The Menaion: Volume 1, The Month of September. Transl. from the Greek by the Holy Transfiguration Monastery. Boston, Massachusetts, 2005. pp.61-70. ISBN 9780943405124
• The Pentecostarion. Transl. from the Greek by the Holy Transfiguration Monastery. Boston, Mass.: Holy Transfiguration Monastery, 1990. 487pp. ISBN: 0-943405-02-5 Library of Congress No. (LCCN): 90-080886.
• Fr. George Mastrantonis. The Ten Commandments. Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, 1990-1996.
• Fr. George Poulos. "September 4 - Moses". In: Orthodox Saints: Spiritual Profiles for Modern Man: July 1 to September 30. Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 1991. pp.169-170.
• Nikolai Velimirovic. Prologue from Ohrid: Lives of Saints, Hymns, Reflections and Homilies for Every Day of the Year. 1928.
• Fr. Ambrose Young. 12th Sunday of Mathew - The Feast of the Holy and Righteous Prophet Moses the God-seer. Entrance of the Theotokos Skete, September 4, 2011.
• Moses the Prophet & Godseer. Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.
• Holy Prophet and God-seer Moses. OCA - Feasts and Saints.
• Synaxarium: The Book of the Saints of The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Transl. Sir E. A. Wallis Budge. Printed by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Debre Meheret St. Michael Church, Garland, TX USA. pp.17-18.
• Coptic Orthodox Church Network (CopticChurch.net). 2. The Departure of Moses the Prophet. St. Mark Coptic Church, Jersey City, NJ. Retrieved: 2012-12-10.

Non-Orthodox Sources

• "Moses". In: Who's Who in the Bible: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary. Reader's Digest Association, 1994. pp.300-311. ISBN 0895776189
• "Moses". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica 2009 Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2009.
• Reilly, Thomas à Kempis. "Moses." The Catholic Encyclopedia (New Advent). Vol. 10. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911.
• MOSES. Jewish Encyclopedia (The unedited full-text of the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia).
• Rev. John McClintock, D.D., and Dr. James Strong, S.T.D.. "Mo'ses." In: Cyclopædia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. Vol. VI.— ME-NEV. New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1882. pp.677-687.
• The Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine's Abbey, Ramsgate (Comp.). The Book of Saints: A Dictionary of Servants of God Canonised by the Catholic Church: Extracted from the Roman & Other Martyrologies. London: A & C. Black Ltd., 1921. 275 pp.
• The Roman Martyrology. Transl. by the Archbishop of Baltimore. Last Edition, According to the Copy Printed at Rome in 1914. Revised Edition, with the Imprimatur of His Eminence Cardinal Gibbons. Baltimore: John Murphy Company, 1916.
• Rev. Professor Nathaniel Schmidt, Ph.D.. "Moses: His Age and His Work. II." The Biblical World. Vol. 7, No. 2 (Feb., 1896), pp. 105-119.
• Professor Milton S. Terry, D.D., LL.D.. "The Old Testament and the Christ." The American Journal of Theology. Vol. 10, No. 2 (Apr., 1906), pp.233-250.
• Moses. Wikipedia.
• Moses. Conservapedia.
• Moses. Creation Wiki.

Other Languages

• Great Synaxaristes: (Greek)

Ὁ Προφήτης Μωϋσῆς. 4 Σεπτεμβρίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.

• (Greek)

Μωυσής. Greek Wikipedia.

• (Russian)

Моисей. Russian Wikipedia.

External Links

• Icon of Prophet Moses. Come and See Icons.
• Icon of the Passing Through the Red Sea. Come and See Icons.

Further Reading

Orthodox

• Gregory of Nyssa. The Life of Moses. Transl. Abraham J. Malherbe and Everett Ferguson. Preface by John Meyendorff. The Classics of Western Spirituality. Paulist Press, 1978. 208 pp. ISBN 9780809121120

Gregory frames an immensely significant synthesis of the earlier Hellenistic and Jewish traditions in this work. He describes the spiritual ascent as taking place in three stages, symbolized by the Lord's revelation of Himself to Moses, first in light, then in the cloud and, finally, in the dark.

Heterodox - Moses in the New Testament

• Allison, Dale C.. The New Moses: A Matthean Typology. Fortress Press, 1993. ISBN 9780800626990

• D'Angelo, Mary Rose. Moses in the Letter to the Hebrews. Issue 42 of Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series. Scholars Press, 1979. ISBN 9780891303336

A study of how Christology has influenced the interpretation of Moses.

• Donaldson, Terence L. Moses Typology in the Proclamation and Polemic of the Early Church: A Study in Rhetoric of Church-synagogue Separation. Thesis (Th.M.) - Wycliffe College and Toronto School of Theology, 1978.

• Harris, W. Hall. The Descent of Christ: Ephesians 4:7-11 and Traditional Hebrew Imagery. Volume 32 of Arbeiten Zur Geschichte Des Antiken Judentums Und Des Urchristentums. BRILL, 1996. ISBN 9789004103108

The central portion of the book deals with the ascent-descent imagery associating Ps. 68:19 with Moses as found in Targum Psalms, the rabbinic literature, and other early sources.

• Lierman, John. The New Testament Moses: Christian Perceptions of Moses and Israël in the Setting of Jewish Religion. Mohr Siebeck, 2004. ISBN 9783161482021

A study of the NT witness to how Jews and Jewish Christians perceived the relationship of Moses with Israel and with the Jewish people.

• Ponessa, Fr. Joseph (S.S.D.) and Laurie Watson Manhardt (Ph.D.). Moses and The Torah: Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Come and See: Catholic Bible Study. Emmaus Road Publishing, 2007. ISBN 9781931018456

• Theophilos, Michael P.. Jesus as New Moses in Matthew 8-9: Jewish Typology in First Century Greek Literature. Volume 4 of Gorgias Studies in Philosophy and Theology. Gorgias PressLlc, 2012. ISBN 9781463200862

Articles

• Bruns, J. Edgar. “The "Agreement of Moses and Jesus" in the 'Demonstratio Evangelica' of Eusebius”. Vigiliae Christianae. Vol. 31, No. 2 (Jun., 1977), pp. 117-125.

• Skeel, David & Tremper Longman. "The Mosaic Law in Christian Perspective." U of Penn Law School, Public Law Research Paper No. 11-25. June 30, 2011.

Heterodox - Moses in the Old Testament

• Albright, William Foxwell. From the Stone Age to Christianity - Monotheism and the Historical Process. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1940. 2nd Ed. 1957. pp.11–17, 200–272.

A classic synthesis of Israel's history and religion in the setting of the ancient Middle East.

• Albright, William Foxwell. The Biblical Period from Abraham to Ezra. Harper & Row, 1963. pp.1–23.

A popular historical survey.

• Albright, William Foxwell. Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan: A Historical Analysis of Two Contrasting Faiths. Volume 7 of Jordan lectures in comparative religion. Eisenbrauns, 1968. pp.64–109, 153–182. ISBN 9780931464010

A technical analysis contrasting Israelite and Canaanite religion. Reissued 1990.

• Alt, Albrecht. “The God of the Fathers.” In his Essays on Old Testament History and Religion. Blackwell, 1966. pp.1–86.

A classic article. Originally published in German, 1953–59.

• Assmann, Jan. Moses the Egyptian: The Memory of Egypt in Western Monotheism. Harvard University Press, 1997. ISBN 9780674587397

• Auerbach, Elias. Moses. Wayne State University Press, 1975.

Originally published in German, 1953. A search for the historic Moses.

• Beegle, Dewey M.. Moses, the Servant of Yahweh. Eerdmans, 1972. ISBN 9780802834065

A wide-ranging account both for the general reader and for students.

• Beyerlin, Walter. Origins and History of the Oldest Sinaitic Traditions. Blackwell, 1965.

Originally published in German, 1961. A technical study of biblical sources in Exodus 19–20, 24, 32–34.

• Bright, John. A History of Israel. 4th ed. Westminster aids to the study of the Scriptures. Westminster J. Knox Press, 2000. ISBN 9780664220686

A standard work mediating scholarly extremes.

• Buber, Martin. Moses. East and West Library, 1946.

Reissued as: Moses: The Revelation and the Covenant. Humanities Press International, 1988.

A sympathetic treatment with philosophical emphasis but weak in details of the ancient Middle East.

• Coats, George W.. Rebellion in the wilderness: The Murmuring Motif in the Wilderness, Traditions of the Old Testament. Abingdon Press, 1968.

• Coats, George W.. Moses: Heroic Man, Man of God. Volume 57 of Journal for the Study of the Old Testament: Supplement Series. Continuum International Publishing Group, 1988. ISBN 9781850750956

• Cohen, Jonathan, (Rabbi). The Origins and Evolution of the Moses Nativity Story. Volume 58 of Studies in the History of Religions. Numen Book Series. BRILL, 1993. ISBN 9789004096523

Traces the development of the Moses nativity story from pre-Biblical sources through its Biblical formulation, and continues to trace its evolution in post-Biblical literature, from the Apocrypha, Pseudepigrapha, and Jewish Hellenistic writings, through Rabbinic literature, and up to Medieval Jewish exegesis.

• Cross, Frank Moore, Jr.. “Yahweh and the God of Patriarchs.” Harvard Theological Review, 55:225–259 (1962).

A scholarly treatment of issues raised by Alt's classic article cited above.

• Daiches, David. Moses: The Man and his Vision. New York: Praeger, 1975. ISBN 9780275337407

• Hillers, Delbert R.. Covenant: The History of a Biblical Idea. Johns Hopkins Press, 1969.

An excellent popular study.

• Hort, Greta. “The Plagues of Egypt.” Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft. 69(1957):84–103; and 70(1958):48–59.

A landmark study. The historical basis of the plagues.

• Kaufmann, Yehezkel. The Religion of Israel, from its Beginnings to the Babylonian Exile. University of Chicago Press, 1960.

• Kirsch, Jonathan. Moses: A Life. Random House Digital, Inc., 1999. ISBN 9780345412706

• Mendenhall, George E.. “The Mask of Yahweh.” In: The Tenth Generation: The Origins of the Biblical Tradition. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1973. ISBN 9780801812675

• Newmann, Murray Lee. The People of the Covenant: A Study of Israel from Moses to the Monarchy. Abingdon Press, 1962. pp.13–101.

• Noth, Martin. The History of Israel. 2nd ed. Harper, 1960. pp.110–138.

Originally published in German, 1950. A basic study but with radical treatment of Hebrew history prior to the conquest.

• Noth, Martin. A History of Pentateuchal Traditions. Prentice-Hall, 1972. pp.156–188. ISBN 9780133912357

Originally published in German, 1948. A technical study of the biblical sources in the Pentateuch that doubts its accuracy.

• Rowley, Harold Henry. From Joseph to Joshua: Biblical traditions in the Light of Archaeology. The Schweich lectures of the British Academy. Published for the British Academy by Oxford University Press, 1950.

• Silver, Daniel Jeremy. Images of Moses. Basic Books, 1982. ISBN 9780465032013

An examination of literary, artistic, and historical treatments of Moses.

• Southon, Arthur E.. On Eagles' Wings. London: Cassell and Co., 1937. (Reprinted New York: McGraw-Hill, 1954).

An English minister in the Methodist Church, this book was used as the basis for the 1956 movie The Ten Commandments.

• Stamm, Johann J. and M.E. Andrew. The Ten Commandments in Recent Research. 2nd Ed. Rev. and Enlarged. S.C.M. Press, 1967.

Originally published in German, 1958.

• Suomala, Karla R.. Moses and God in Dialogue: Exodus 32-34 in Postbiblical Literature. Volume 61 of Studies in Biblical Literature. Peter Lang, 2004. ISBN 9780820469058

Discusses the relationship between Moses and God, as well as the extent to which the Divine could be swayed by human reason and passion.

• Van Seters, John. The Life of Moses: The Yahwist as Historian in Exodus-Numbers. Volume 10 of Contributions to Biblical Exegesis and Theology. Peeters Publishers, 1994. 524 pp. ISBN 9789039001127

• Wiesel, Élie. “Moses: Portrait of a Leader.” In: Messengers of God: Biblical Portraits & Legends. New York: Random House, 1976. pp.174–210. ISBN 9780671541347

• Wildavsky, Aaron. The Nursing Father: Moses as a Political Leader. University of Alabama Press, 1984. ISBN 9780817301682

• Zeligs, Dorothy F.. Moses: A Psychodynamic Study. Human Sciences Press, 1986. ISBN 9780898852363

Articles

• Feldman, Louis H.. “Josephus' Portrait of Moses”. The Jewish Quarterly Review. New Series, Vol. 82, No. 3/4 (Jan. - Apr., 1992), pp.285-328.

• Martin, Jerry. "The Scandal of Divine Presence." University of Colorado at Boulder, National Endowment for the Humanities. December 20, 2011.

• Rapoport. David C.. “Moses, Charisma, and Covenant”. The Western Political Quarterly. Vol. 32, No. 2 (Jun., 1979), pp. 123-143.

• Reiss, Moshe (Rabbi). "Moses." Messengers of God: A Theological And Psychological Perspective. Retrieved: 2012-07-07.

• Ullendorff, Edward. “The 'Death of Moses' in the Literature of the Falashas”. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Vol. 24, No. 3 (1961), pp. 419-443.

(Apocryphal / Pseudepigraphal Literature)

• Watts, James W.. “The Legal Characterization of Moses in the Rhetoric of the Pentateuch”. Journal of Biblical Literature. Vol. 117, No. 3 (Autumn, 1998), pp. 415-426.

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