Moses Archetypal Hero

“But Moses, you are just one man.” This is what was said to Moses when he is told by God that he is the one who will guide the Hebrews to freedom. In ancient Egyptian times, the Hebrew people were used as slaves. In order to save her newborn son, a Hebrew slave named Yocheved placed him in a basket and sent it floating into the Nile River. The basket floats up to the pharaoh’s wife, Queen Tuya, and she names him Moses. Moses, the Prince of Egypt is a good example of an archetypal hero because he experiences a separation, testing, and a return, all of which are the attributes of a situational archetypal hero.

The separation or departure is one of the biggest changes that Moses goes through in order to become an archetypal hero. Moses’s initial separation in his life began when his sister Miriam told him that he was a Hebrew and not related to the pharaoh. His brother, Aaron tried to silence Miriam, but she continued to tell Moses. Aaron

did not want to make his life harder than it already is, still Miriam believed that Moses had to know the reality about his earlier life. At first, when he heard this, Moses refused to believe the truth about his past. He threatened to give the Jewish slaves double their workload because he thought that Miriam was disrespecting him. However, Miriam convinced Moses to believe her by singing a lullaby that Yocheved sang for him on the day she sent him to freedom. After he realizes who he is, Moses’s attitude towards the Hebrews changes. He feels that he cannot hurt his own people. This change in Moses is the departure from his life as an Egyptian and into a new life of a Hebrew.
The testing and transformation of Moses shows how strong he is and how much he trusts in God. Moses’s transformation begins when God talks to him through the Burning Bush. God tells Moses that he is the one who will lead the Hebrews to freedom and also instructs him to lead the Jews from Egypt to the promised land of Canaan. Moses is given a staff that has the power of God in it and it is this staff that Moses eventually uses later in life to part the Red Sea. Moses then journeys back to Egypt on his own, as one man, to complete the task of freeing all of his people. This is the testing of Moses. He is chosen and entrusted by God to free all of the people in Egypt. It is all up to him to do this by himself and without the help of others. Moses is also transformed into a new person with a changed outlook towards the Hebrews. When he was the prince of Egypt, he looked down on the Hebrews and did not think about the conditions they endured. Because of his experience with God and his awakening to his true identity, Moses was willing to risk his life in order to free his people.
The most important aspect of a situational archetypal hero is the return or reintegration into a new life.

Moses is gradually reintegrated back into the life of the Hebrew people. Initially however, Moses faced opposition from the Hebrew people. They did not want Moses to be their leader because of how he had treated them in the past when he was Egyptian royalty. After the Jews are allowed to leave Egypt, Moses leads them to the promised land. Along the journey to freedom, the Jews are chased by Egyptian soldiers. With the help from God, Moses parts the Red Sea with the staff God gave him, and he leads the Jews to safety. They eventually reach Canaan and Moses is a hero. He is finally accepted by the Hebrews because of what he did for them and he becomes the leader of his people. The Hebrews recognize the sacrifices that Moses made for them, which overcame the negative views that they had about him before. Moses’s acceptance by the Hebrews shows his final reintegration and the last aspect of being an situational archetypal

hero.