Moses facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

Quick facts for kids Moses
Moses with the Ten Commandments by Philippe de Champaigne.
Born	Goshen (Lower Egypt), Ancient Egypt
Died	Mount Nebo, Moab
Nationality	Israelite
Known for	Prophet
Spouse(s)	Zipporah Cushite woman
Children	Gershom Eliezer
Parent(s)	Amram (father) Jochebed (mother)
Relatives	Aaron (brother) Miriam (sister) Ramses II (step brother)

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Judaism

Early life

Moses was born of the Levi tribe. The new Pharaoh, afraid of the ever-growing Israelite population, ordered every new-born Hebrew boy to be thrown into the Nile River, but let every girl live. Moses' mother Jochebed gave birth and kept him hidden for three months from Pharaoh's soldiers. When she could no longer keep him hidden, she fashioned a basket lined with tar and pitch, and placed him in the reeds along the riverbank, while his sister Miriam kept watch from a distance.

A princess, one of pharaoh's daughters went down to the Nile to bathe. There she discovered a crying baby and noticed he was a Hebrew child. Joining the attendants, Moses' sister offered to find a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby for the princess, who agreed. Bringing Moses' real mother, the princess asked her to be the baby's wet nurse, for which she was paid. When the child grew older, she took him to pharaoh's daughter, who named him Moses, saying, "I drew him out of the water."

Moses grew up a privileged member of the court. He was well educated academically and physically. He was taught hand-to-hand combat tactics and leadership.

Upon adulthood, he killed an Egyptian guard who was beating a Hebrew slave and had to leave Egypt because Pharaoh tried to kill him

The Burning Bush

Moses fled to Midian, where he married Jethro's daughter, Zipora. Zipora had two sons. The old Pharaoh died and the Israelites cried loudly. God heard him. One day Moses was tending his father-in-law, Jethro's, sheep and came to Mount Horeb. God's angel made a bush burn with fire, but it did not burn up. When he came nearer, God spoke to him and ordered him to remove his shoes as he was on holy land. God commanded him to be a leader for the Israelites and bring them out of Egypt. At first Moses did not want to do it and said that he was not good with words, but God commanded him and gave Aaron, his brother, to speak for him. Moses return to Egypt and told the elders what happened.

Moses and the Pharaoh

Moses then went to the Pharaoh and asked him to let the Israelites go. However the Pharaoh did not agree. Finally God inflicted ten plagues upon the Egyptians before Pharaoh agreed to release the Israelites. The last plague was the killing of all first-born, both human and animals. However, to save the Israelites, they were instructed to mark their doors with blood from a lamb, so that the avenging angel would see it and know to "pass over" that house.

The Pharaoh finally decided to let the Israelites go who then migrated in large numbers from Egypt. The Pharaoh later changed his mind and followed Moses and his people with an army to attack them. But Moses made the Red Sea to part and give way for Israelites to pass. The Israelites were safe but the Pharaoh's army was destroyed.

Journey in the Wilderness

Moses led the Israelites through the wilderness, and God gave them manna and quails to eat, and water from rocks to drink. He also caused the Amalekites to lose in a battle. When Moses came to Mount Sinai, he went up to receive the Ten Commandments and other laws from God. The Ten Commandments were written by God on two tablets. God also told him the instructions of the priests' duties. Moses was up the mountain for forty days and forty nights.

When the people waited for Moses and did not find him, they made Aaron, his brother, make a calf out of gold and worshiped it. God warned Moses about it, and when Moses came down and saw what they did, he was so angry that the tablets fell and they smashed into pieces. The people of Levi tribes are commanded to kill people who worshiped the calf.

Later on Moses asked God to forgive the people. God wrote for Moses two more tablets, and put them in the Ark. Moses also asked craftsmen to make the Tabernacle as God wanted. Moses is founder of basis of the philosophy of law as well as such modern legal doctrines as independent judiciary and separation of powers.).

Later life

While the Israelites were wandering around the wilderness, Moses was the one to whom God spoke However, the people kept complaining about the hardships. God instructed Moses to send twelve spies to scout the land God is giving to them; however some of them became afraid because the people living there looked stronger and more powerful than they. They told the others not to go there. Only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh reported the truth as God wanted. God decided because of this that the Israelites would wander forty years in the wilderness, and every one except Joshua and Caleb from that generation would die without seeing the promised land.

God gave many laws to the Israelites through Moses. Moses made Joshua take over him before he died.

Moses died before he reached Canaan, the land God was leading his people to. He was 120 years old when he died.

Today Jews around the world follow the laws of the Ten Commandments and the Torah that God gave to them through Moses. He is also believed to be a prophet by Muslims.

The Historical Moses

The Bible, the Torah, and the Quran have references to a person called Moses in them. The name they give to the person, varies. Other people also have written about Moses. These include Tacitus and Strabo. It is not known how much these descriptions have taken from earlier sources, which may now have been lost.

An existing earlier source is the Ipuwer Papyrus, which records the events of the Ten Plagues.

No other written records from countries such as Egypt or Assyria have been found, that are from before about 850 BCE and that tell about the stories of the Bible or its main characters. There is no known physical evidence (such as pottery shards or stone tablets) to say that Moses' really existed. Pharaohs have ordered the destruction of records that put them into a bad light. Several cartouches from monuments have also been destroyed in different epochs of Ancient Egyptian history.

It looks like the story written about Moses in the Bible has two different sources. There were two groups of people who told the story. The two stories were passed on separately. Only later were they combined into the version that can now be found in the Bible. Passing on the stories from one generation to the next has perhaps also introduced inaccuracies. Some people added things to the story when they told it. They also omitted other things.

Criticism

According to the Torah, Moses ordered the death penalty for many offences. He also had defeated enemies killed. Jews, Christians and Muslims consider him to be a holy figure. For this reason, criticism of these passages of the Hebrew Bible has been left to others.

In the late eighteenth century, for example, the deist Thomas Paine commented at length on Moses' Laws in The Age of Reason. Paine also gave his view that "the character of Moses, as stated in the Bible, is the most horrid that can be imagined", giving the story at Numbers 31:13-18 as an example. In the nineteenth century the agnostic Robert G. Ingersoll wrote "...that all the ignorant, infamous, heartless, hideous things recorded in the 'inspired' Pentateuch are not the words of God, but simply 'Some Mistakes of Moses'". In the 2000s, the atheist Richard Dawkins referring to the same passage like Paine, concluded, "No, Moses was not a great role model for modern moralists."

Ten Commandments

Images for kids

The Finding of Moses, painting by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1904
Moses before the Pharaoh, a 6th-century miniature from the Syriac Bible of Paris
Victory O Lord!, 1871 painting by John Everett Millais, depicts Moses holding his staff, assisted by Aaron and Hur, holding up his arms during the battle against Amalek.
Moses Breaking the Tablets of the Law by Rembrandt, 1659
Memorial of Moses, Mount Nebo, Jordan
Depiction of Moses on the Knesset Menorah raising his arms during the battle against the Amalekites
Moses lifts up the brass serpent, curing the Israelites from poisonous snake bites in a painting by Benjamin West.
Moses, to the left of Jesus, at the Transfiguration of Jesus, by Giovanni Bellini, c. 1480
Maqam El-Nabi Musa, Jericho
The Women of Midian Led Captive by the Hebrews, James Tissot c.1900