FREE ESSAY ON THE LIFE OF MOSES

THE LIFE OF MOSES

The Life of Moses
The Bible is a compilation of historical occurrences that have been documented to confirm
all of God's miraculous works. God has performed many miracles in the Bible. They were
not only performed that his people may believe, but they were performed for the well
being of his people and as a means of his people's redemption. In the Bible, God also
appointed many people to deliver his message and to do his works. The people whom God had
chosen were not always the people man had said was fit to do his work. Most of the time
God chose the one no one would think would amount to anything, and lifted them up to his
people to bring forth his miracles, to deliver his word, and to perform his works. God
works in mysterious ways, but in the life of Moses, he not only worked mysteriously, but
also miraculously.
The birth of Moses was the first of the many miraculous events he would have experienced
throughout the duration of his life because he should have been killed according to
demands of Pharaoh. The king of Egypt ordered the midwives (caretakers) of the Hebrew
women to kill all baby boys, and let all the baby girls live. He wanted the baby boys to
be killed because he knew that the one that would be responsible for his demise was in
the midst of that new breed of the Hebrew males. Pharaoh wasn't worried about birth of
the female, Hebrew child because he knew that she was no threat to the throne, but he was
well aware that his throne was in jeopardy if he allowed the male, Hebrew child to live.
Pharaoh ordered his people, "Every boy that is born to the Hebrews, you shall throw into
the Nile but you shall let every girl live."(Exodus 1:22) Even though the king ordered
the midwives to kill the male babies, they did not kill them because they feared the
Lord, and they knew that a great leader was soon to be born. 
Moses was conceived from a man from the house of Levi and a Levite woman. After Moses was
conceived, she hid him for a period of about three months, until she could not hide him
anymore. Once she couldn't hide him anymore, she obeyed the Lord and prepared a basket
for the baby child. She then placed the child in the basket, and placed the basket among
the reeds on the bank of the river, as her sister watched it flow down the stream. Then
Pharaoh's daughter discovered the baby boy, well hidden in the basket as she was taking a
bathe in the river. She then ordered her servant to fetch the basket to see what was in
it, and when she realized that it was a Hebrew child, she took pity on it, and told her
servant to get a Hebrew nurse and tell her to care for the child for her. When the child
grew up, she took him in as her own son and named him Moses, because she said, "I drew
him out of the water."(Exodus 2:10)
Moses was raised as a member of the Egyptian court until he was exiled for the killing of
another court official. Moses experiences different events that adumbrate his future
destination. Moses intervenes into a conflict situation between an Egyptian and a Hebrew,
and in his Hebrew brother's defense, he killed the Egyptian with the idea that knows one
had seen him do it. Moses then encounters a situation between two Hebrew men, and Moses
questions them asking why are they fighting? To his astonishment one of the men replied
sarcastically, " Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?" Once Moses heard him
say that, he feared for his life because he realized that there were witnesses of the
murder of the Egyptian. Moses then hears that Pharaoh is out to kill him and he flees
Pharaoh and seeks the land of Midian. Moses meets a group of seven women, which were the
daughters of the Priest of Midian. The women tell their father how Moses helped them
against the shepherds who had driven away their father's flock, and how Moses had drew
water from the well for them. The father was truly grateful for Moses' deeds, and in
return, he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah's hand in marriage, and they bore a child
named Gershom.
Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, and as he led his flock, he departed
from the wilderness, and stumbled upon a burning bush. To his surprise, the bush was
burning, but the fire wasn't consuming the bush. It was the Angel of the Lord speaking to
Moses, and at this point, Moses receives his calling. The Lord tells him not to come any
closer, and to remove his sandals because the ground in which he is standing on is holy
ground. In this account the Lord explains to Moses that he has been chosen to deliver the
Israelites out of the hands of the Egyptian king and his men, and deliver the Israelites
into the land flowing with milk and honey. 
As Moses begins his journey into Egypt, he questions the Lord, how is he going to
convince the people that he is sent from the Lord to deliver them out of the hands of
Pharaoh. The Lord tells him that he will work miracles such as his staff turning into a
snake and changing it back, make his hand become leprous and healing it, and getting
water and causing it to become blood. Then Moses asks the Lord how is he going to speak
to the people, considering that he is not as eloquent a speaker as his brother Aaron. His
brother then is appointed to Moses to be his voice to the people, and they proceed to
Egypt to deliver the Israelites. Then Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, "Thus
says the Lord, the God of Israel, Let my people go, so that they may celebrate a festival
to me in the wilderness."(Exodus 5:1) Pharaoh does not adhere to the demands of the Lord,
and questions God, "Who is God that I should let Israel go?"(Exodus 5:2) As a result of
Pharaoh's disobedience, he and his people undergo a season of several plagues.
Theses plagues showed God's wrath upon Pharaoh because of his disobedience dealing with
letting the Israelites go.
The Israelites were able to avoid the plague of the death of the first born because the
Lord spoke through Moses and Aaron. The Israelites were told that they must keep a
year-old male lamb until the fourteenth day of that month, and that the entire
congregation of Israel shall slaughter the lamb at twilight. They were also told that
they must take some of the blood from the lamb and on the two doorposts and the lintels
of the house in which they ate of the lamb. The Israelites were protected from the last
plague, and the last plague is what made Pharaoh finally give in and let God's people go.
Then Moses gathered the Israelites and they began on their journey to the promise land. A
cloud led them by day and a pillar of fire by night. Once Pharaoh realized that the Moses
and the Israelites had fled Egypt, he summoned his men and went after them. Pharaoh's
army was nearby, and they Israelites began to fear for their lives because there was
nowhere to turn, and nowhere to hide. But Moses told his people not to be afraid and to
stand firm as the Lord saves them out of the hands of the enemy. Then the Lord told Moses
to tell the Israelites to move forward and to lift up his staff and stretch his hand
towards the sea, and as he did, the sea parted and the Israelites were able to pass. Then
the Lord spoke unto Moses to stretch his hand over the waters again to make the waters
recede to devour Pharaoh and his army. 
Now in this new land, the journey the Israelites made was intended to be forty days and
forty nights, but because of the complaining and their ungratefulness of all of what God
had delivered them from, their journey lasted for forty years. The encountered the army
of Amelek, and God also delivered them from the army of Amelek. 
They made false images and began to worship them, they complained about the food they
ate, and despite the many miracles God manifested for them, they still remained
ungrateful. The Lord proclaimed the Ten Commandments through Moses and Aaron that were
forbidden to be broken. These commandments were God's Law and they were established so
that the people were aware of what was wrong so that they would not sin. 
The people of Israel had favor with God, and despite what the Lord did for them, they
were ungrateful. The Lord delivered them from danger on two accounts. Once from the
Egyptians, and once from the Amelek's army. The complained for food, and the Lord blessed
them with manna from heaven, and when they complain about that, the Lord blessed them
with quail to eat. Moses finally gets fed up with the behavior of the Israelites, and
smites the rock in which Lord commanded him to tap in order to give the people water to
drink, and in doing so, he misses his blessing of the promise land. At this time period,
Moses is of old age, but before his death, the Lord appoints Joshua to be Moses'
successor. Before Moses dies, the Lord tells him that he shall dies on the mountain that
he ascended and that he shall be gathered to his kin as his brother Aaron did on Mount
Hor and was gathered to his kin. The Lord allowed him to see the promise land, but told
him that he would never be able to enter because he broke his faith with the Lord among
the Israelites. Then the Lord took Moses from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo to the top
of Pisgah, and showed him the promise land saying, "This is the land which I swore
Abraham, Isaac, and to Jacob, saying "I will give it to your descendants; I have let you
see it with your own eyes, but you shall not cross over there." (Deuteronomy 34:1-4) Then
Moses, the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, at the Lord's command.