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Essay moses role in the old testament
Why is the story of Moses so important to Jewish people
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MOSES In the Old Testament, there were multiple prophets; including Jacob, Abraham, David, and more. One of the most significant prophets was a past Egyptian prince who later became a lawgiver in addition to a religious leader. His name was Moses. Some label him as the best or most imperative prophet in Judaism. Moses is also perceived as an essential prophet in Islam, Christianity and other faiths as well. Moses is an important and essential prophet because he showcases what happens when you obey and comply with the directions and instructions of God. It demonstrates that even though every now and then things may not portray improvement, there is always a plan in the very end. Even though it may sound cliché, this is a significant idea in believing and having confidence in God and Moses does an excellent job in representing that. Moses received his name from the Pharaoh’s daughter after being found in the Nile River. Most scholars believed the name originated from an Moses spent years on top of the mountain receiving what we know as the Ten Commandments. Moses received these from God and craved them into stone for the Israelites to abide by. When Moses returned from the mountain, he returned to mayhem. Since Moses spent so much time on the mountain, the Israelites assumed that he died while there. This led to the construction of a golden sculpture of a calf. They proceeded to worship the calf as their own God. With no rules, the Israelites ran amok and going senseless. This disobedience caused Moses and God to be angered. Out of frustration, Moses broke the tablets the Ten Commandments were written on and ordered the eradication of the people who worshipped the golden statue. He then proceeded to carve a new set of the Ten Commandments. Later on, Moses and Elders made an arrangement that Israel would turn out to be the people of Yahweh and they shall comply with his laws as
Moses was a major character in the fact that he was the reason his son, Adam, became the man that he had become. “If just once in all my born days you’d say a good thing to me” (Fast 3), Moses stated. Moses wanted Adam to be raised the way that Moses was raised and respect it. Adam did not like how strict his father was to him and did not want to be raised like he was. “Maybe it’s time I just went and did something without my father”
Not only does the book relate to the movement of the Israelites, but also to the legendary man who lead them: Moses. Christians, Jews, and Muslims consider Moses a great prophet. One reference to Moses comes when Uncle John puts Rose of Sharon’s baby in the river. This is much like the life of Moses, when he is sent down the Nile River as a child.
A most interesting film detailing the history and role of the prophet in the Jewish tradition. The first question we must explore is what a prophet is. A prophet by definition is a person who speaks by divine inspiration. Others will say that a prophet is one whose eye is open. A person who can see things that others cannot. In order to understand the prophets and their appearance in history we must first understand the politics of the times.
Moses was a Hebrew who was raised with Egyptian upbringing and education. As he grew he either knew that he was an Israelite or simply sympathized with Israelites in bondage. We know this by the action he took when he saw an Egyptian guard beating on a Hebrew slave. Moses interfered, killed the guard, and buried him. So Moses fled Egypt to Mount Sinai out of fear. This is the location in which God revealed his personal name to Moses and called upon him to lead his people out of the land of Egypt.
When God first approaches Moses in the form of a burning bush, God says “I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers, so I know well what they are suffering. Therefore I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land,” (Exodus 3:7). Moses however, questioned God’s judgement, saying, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of Egypt?” (Exodus 3:11). Moses continues to question God throughout the rest of the chapter, but eventually begins his journey to rescue his
Like Odysseus, Moses was at one with the gods. In Moses' case it was only
...nnel for the message to the Israelites. This serves God's ultimately purpose of setting his chosen people free. Although Moses does not seem like a worthy candidate for the task, God gives him the power to overcome his flaws. Moses was successful in communicating and obeying God's word throughout his journey, because he never sought to control or possess the land or the people, unlike Pharaoh. In the end, the journey of the spiritual hero can finish in either one of these two paths. It is up to the individual whether or not they will succumb to temptation and be led down into hell and remain there forever.
Following the creation story of the book of Genesis is the book of Exodus. In Genesis, God promised Abraham a “great nation from which all nations of the earth will be blessed (Gen 12:1-3)” and in Exodus God completes this promise through the creation of the holy nation, Israel. Exodus tells the story of the God who rescued his people out of Egypt because of the promise he had made to Abraham. God calls to Moses to complete his promise. God’s call to Moses is not only important because he liberates the Israelites but also because God reveals His name(s) along with His true Nature. God calls upon Moses and tells him that He’s back to help the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and that Moses is to lead them. God then gives him full instructions on what to tell the Pharaoh and, more importantly, the Israelites, who are promised, land “flowing with milk and honey”.
Moses never truly achieved his goals to free his people from persecution and establish a safe and secure homeland, but he did appoint people to lead after him and left them with the Book of Deuteronomy. In these sermons, Moses recalls the trials and tribulations of 40 years in the wilderness to show the struggles his people have made so far. He also demands that they follow his teachings and, more importantly, the Ten Commandments. He leaves them by telling them to observe one and only one God, his God. Shortly thereafter, Moses died at the age of 120 and paved the foundation for the creation of Israel.
The Ten Commandments is a movie about the book of Exodus and Moses. The movie began with the first order to kill all Hebrews under the age of two. Here Moses is cast off into the Nile and the story begins. It ends with the end of Moses’s life and Joshua taking over. The movie, for the most part, stayed true to the book of Exodus, but some details and major plotlines were different.
Abraham Joshua Heschel was a Polish-born American Rabbi and author whose most prestigious book was The Prophets. In this book Heschel explains his point of view on who prophets are, what they do, and how they act. He states that “The prophet is a lonely man. He alienates the wicked as well as the pious, the cynics as well as the believers, the priests and the princes, the judges and the false prophets. But to be a prophet means to challenge and to defy and to cast out fear” (Heschel, 22).
Moses who was a direct descendant from the twelve tribes of Israel is also considered to be a founder of Judaism. His story starts with his mother an Israelite/Hebrew was fearful that the King Pharaoh would have him killed so she put him in a basket and sent him downstream. Pharaoh’s daughter found him and she had a servant who was actually his mother nurse him until he was older then she took him and raised him as her own. One day when Moses was a young man he was out and saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew he killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand. Fearing that Pharaoh knew what happened he fled and lived in Mid’ian where he married and had...
God gave the Mitzvot (commandments) to the Jewish people in the Torah. The Mitzvot is the main sacred text of the Jews; it discusses a multitude of daily life rules and regulations, that reference the Bible: Torah (ex. To honor the old and the wise (Lev. 19:32) , Signs and Symbols (ex.To circumcise the male offspring (Gen. 17:12; Lev. 12:3) , Prayer and Blessings (ex. To read the Shema in the morning and at night (Deut. 6:7) , Love and Brotherhood (ex. Not to cherish hatred in one's heart (Lev. 19:17) , The Poor and Unfortunate (ex. To leave the...
Moses is a great figure in both the Quran and the Bible. Both holy books have a similar account of most aspects of Moses, and view him as a great man who was protected by God even before his birth. In addition, God allowed Moses be raised in the palace and getting the best education to prepare him for greatness and leadership.
In the Pentateuch, Aaron and Miriam are the only two other individuals who are called prophet and prophetess. In Exodus 7:1, the Lord says to Moses that Aaron would be his prophet and would help him talk to Pharaoh in order to ask him to let the Israelites go. In Exodus 15:20, Miriam, Aaron’s sister, is also looked upon as a prophetess. When the people were crossing the Red Sea, Miriam leads all the women with timbrels and with dancing while she praised the Lord for what he had done. Another place where someone is quickly referred to as a prophet is in Genesis 20:7, when Abram is given this title by God, but it does not seem to be as relevant as the previous latter instances where Aaron and Miriam are given these titles.