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{{Short description|Abrahamic prophet}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Pp-vandalism|small=yes}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2013}}
{{Infobox religious person
| name               = Moses
| image              = Guido Reni - Moses with the Tables of the Law - WGA19289.jpg
| caption            = ''Moses with the Tablets of the Law'' (1624), by [[Guido Reni]]
| birth_place        = [[Land of Goshen|Goshen]], [[Lower Egypt]], [[Ancient Egypt]]
| death_place        = [[Mount Nebo (Jordan)|Mount Nebo]], [[Moab]], [[Transjordan (region)|Transjordan]]
| nationality        = [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]]<br>[[Israelite]]
| known_for          = Most important prophet in [[Judaism]]<br>Major prophet in [[Christianity]], [[Islam]], [[Baháʼí Faith]], [[Druze Faith]], [[Rastafari]], and [[Samaritanism]]
| children           = {{plainlist|
* [[Gershom]]
* [[Eliezer#The son of Moses|Eliezer]]
}}
| parents            = {{plainlist|
* [[Amram]] (father)
* [[Jochebed]] (mother)
* [[Pharaoh's daughter (Exodus)|Pharaoh's daughter]] (adoptive mother)
 }}
| relatives          = {{Plainlist|
* [[Levi]] (great-grandfather)
* [[Aaron]] (brother)
* [[Miriam]] (sister)
 }}
| spouse             = [[Zipporah]]<br>{{ill|Unnamed Cushite woman|he|האישה הכושית}}<ref>{{cite web |last1=Filler |first1=Elad |title=Moses and the Kushite Woman: Classic Interpretations and Philo's Allegory |url=https://thetorah.com/moses-and-the-kushite-woman-classic-interpretations-and-philos-allegory/ |website=TheTorah.com |access-date=11 May 2019}}</ref>
| native_name        = מֹשֶׁה
| native_name_lang   = hbo
| religion           = see [[Moses#Abrahamic religions|Abrahamic religions section]]
| honorific prefix   = [[Prophet]]
}}

'''Moses'''<ref group="note">{{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|oʊ|z|ᵻ|z|,_|-|z|ᵻ|s}}; {{lang-hbo|מֹשֶׁה|Mōše}}; also known as '''Moshe''' or '''Moshe Rabbeinu''' ([[Mishnaic Hebrew]]: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, {{lit|Moshe our Teacher}}); {{lang-syr|ܡܘܫܐ|Mūše}}; {{lang-ar|مُوسَىٰ|Mūsā}}; {{lang-grc|Mωϋσῆς|Mōÿsēs}}</ref> was a [[Hebrews|Hebrew]] prophet, teacher and leader,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Beegle |first=Dewey M. |date=2024 |orig-date=1999 |title=Moses |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Moses-Hebrew-prophet |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]}}</ref> according to [[Abrahamic religions|Abrahamic]] tradition. He is considered the most important [[Prophets in Judaism|prophet in Judaism]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Deuteronomy 34:10 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.34.10 |access-date=2024-05-22 |website=www.sefaria.org}}</ref><ref>{{Citation | author= Maimonides | author-link = Maimonides | title = 13 principles of faith | at = 7th principle| title-link = Maimonedes#The 13 principles of faith }}.</ref> and [[Samaritanism]], and one of the most important [[Prophets of Christianity|prophets in Christianity]], [[Prophets and messengers in Islam|Islam]], the [[Baháʼí Faith]], and [[Table of prophets of Abrahamic religions|other Abrahamic religions]]. According to both the [[Bible]] and the [[Quran]],<ref name="oxism">{{cite web |title=Moses |url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e1551 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417012515/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e1551 |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 17, 2021 |website=Oxford Islamic Studies |access-date=6 December 2020}}</ref> Moses was the leader of the [[Israelites]] and [[Law of Moses|lawgiver]] to whom the [[Mosaic authorship|prophetic authorship]] of the [[Torah]] (the first five books of the Bible) is attributed.<ref name="Dever 2001">{{cite book |last=Dever |first=William G. |author-link=William G. Dever |year=2001 |chapter=Getting at the "History behind the History" |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6-VxwC5rQtwC&pg=PA97 |title=[[What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It?|What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It?: What Archeology Can Tell Us About the Reality of Ancient Israel]] |location=[[Grand Rapids, Michigan]] and [[Cambridge|Cambridge, U.K.]] |publisher=[[Wm. B. Eerdmans]] |pages=97–102 |isbn=978-0-8028-2126-3 |oclc=46394298}}</ref>

According to the [[Book of Exodus]], Moses was born in a time when his people, the Israelites, an enslaved minority, were increasing in population and, as a result, the [[Pharaohs in the Bible#In the Book of Exodus|Egyptian Pharaoh]] worried that they might ally themselves with Egypt's enemies.<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus|1:10|HE}}</ref> Moses' [[Hebrews|Hebrew]] mother, [[Jochebed]], secretly hid him when Pharaoh ordered all newborn Hebrew boys to be killed in order to reduce the population of the Israelites. Through [[Pharaoh's daughter (Exodus)|Pharaoh's daughter]], the child was adopted as a [[Child abandonment|foundling]] from the [[Nile]] and grew up with the Egyptian royal family. After killing an Egyptian slave-master who was beating a Hebrew, Moses fled across the [[Red Sea]] to [[Midian]], where he encountered the [[Angel of the Lord]],<ref>{{cite book |author=Douglas K. Stuart |year=2006 |title=Exodus: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture |publisher=B&H Publishing Group |pages=110–13 }}</ref> speaking to him from within a [[burning bush]] on [[Mount Horeb]], which he regarded as the Mountain of God.

[[God in Judaism|God]] sent Moses back to [[Egypt]] to demand the release of the Israelites from slavery. Moses said that he could not speak eloquently,<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus|4:10|HE}}</ref> so God allowed [[Aaron]], his elder brother,<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus|7:7|HE}}</ref> to become his spokesperson. After the [[Plagues of Egypt|Ten Plagues]], Moses led the [[The Exodus|Exodus of the Israelites]] out of Egypt and [[Crossing the Red Sea|across the Red Sea]], after which they based themselves at [[Mount Sinai (Bible)|Mount Sinai]], where Moses received the [[Ten Commandments]]. After 40 years of wandering in the desert, Moses died on [[Mount Nebo]] at the age of 120, within sight of the [[Promised Land]].<ref>{{cite journal |author-last=Kugler |author-first=Gili |date=December 2018 |title=Moses died and the people moved on: A hidden narrative in Deuteronomy |editor1-last=Shepherd |editor1-first=David |editor2-last=Tiemeyer |editor2-first=Lena-Sofia |journal=[[Journal for the Study of the Old Testament]] |publisher=[[SAGE Publications]] |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=191–204 |doi=10.1177/0309089217711030 |s2cid=171688935 |issn=1476-6728}}</ref>

The majority of scholars see the biblical Moses as a [[legend]]ary figure, while retaining the possibility that Moses or a Moses-like figure existed in the 13th century&nbsp;BCE.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nigosian |first1=S.A. |title=Moses as They Saw Him |journal=Vetus Testamentum |date=1993 |volume=43 |issue=3 |pages=339–350 |doi=10.1163/156853393X00160|quote= "Three views, based on source analysis or historical-critical method, seem to prevail among biblical scholars. First, a number of scholars, such as Meyer and Holscher, aim to deprive Moses all the prerogatives attributed to him by denying anything historical value about his person or the role he played in Israelite religion. Second, other scholars,.... diametrically oppose the first view and strive to anchor Moses the decisive role he played in Israelite religion in a firm setting. And third, those who take the middle position... delineate the solidly historical identification of Moses from the superstructure of later legendary accretions….Needless to say, these issues are hotly debated unresolved matters among scholars. Thus, the attempt to separate the historical from unhistorical elements in the Torah has yielded few, if any, positive results regarding the figure of Moses or the role he played on Israelite religion. No wonder J. Van Seters concluded that "the quest for the historical Moses is a futile exercise. He now belongs only to legend"}}</ref><ref name="Dever2001">{{cite book|first=William G.|last=Dever|title=What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It?: What Archeology Can Tell Us About the Reality of Ancient Israel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6-VxwC5rQtwC&pg=PA99|year=2001|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=978-0-8028-2126-3|page=99|quote=A Moses-like figure may have existed somewhere in southern Transjordan in the mid-late 13th century s.c., where many scholars think the biblical traditions concerning the god Yahweh arose.}}</ref><ref name="Enclyc Brit Moses">{{cite web |last1=Beegle |first1=Dewey |title=Moses |date=5 July 2023 |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Moses-Hebrew-prophet |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica}}</ref><ref name="Ox1">{{cite web |title=Moses |url=http://www.oxfordbiblicalstudies.com/article/opr/t94/e1284 |website=Oxford Biblical Studies Online}}</ref><ref name="Miller">{{cite book|first=Robert D.|last=Miller II|title=Illuminating Moses: A History of Reception from Exodus to the Renaissance|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bXZfAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA21|date=25 November 2013|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-25854-9|pages=21, 24|quote=Van Seters concluded, 'The quest for the historical Moses is a futile exercise. He now belongs only to legend.' ... "None of this means that there is not a historical Moses and that the tales do not include historical information. But in the Pentateuch, history has become memorial. Memorial revises history, reifies memory, and makes myth out of history.}}</ref> [[Rabbinical Judaism]] calculated a lifespan of Moses corresponding to 1391–1271&nbsp;BCE;<ref>''[[Seder Olam Rabbah]]''{{full citation needed|date=November 2012}}</ref> [[Jerome]] suggested 1592&nbsp;BCE,<ref>[[Jerome]]'s ''[[Chronicon (Jerome)|Chronicon]]'' (4th century) gives 1592 for the birth of Moses</ref> and [[James Ussher]] suggested 1571&nbsp;BCE as his birth year.<ref>The 17th-century [[Ussher chronology]] calculates 1571&nbsp;BCE (''Annals of the World'', 1658 paragraph 164)</ref>{{Refn|group="note"|Saint [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]] records the names of the kings when Moses was born in the ''[[City of God (book)|City of God]]'':

{{blockquote|When Saphrus reigned as the fourteenth king of [[Assyria]], and Orthopolis as the twelfth of [[Sicyon]], and [[Criasus]] as the fifth of [[Argos, Peloponnese|Argos]], Moses was born in Egypt,...|<ref>St [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]]. ''[[City of God (book)|The City of God]]. Book XVIII. Chapter 8 - Who Were Kings When Moses Was Born, And What Gods Began To Be Worshipped Then.''</ref>}}

Orthopolis reigned as the 12th King of Sicyon for 63 years, from 1596 to 1533&nbsp;BCE; and Criasus reigned as the 5th King of Argos for 54 years, from 1637 to 1583&nbsp;BCE.<ref>{{Citation | first = Herman L | last = Hoeh | url = http://cgca.net/coglinks/wcglit/hh_cmpndm1.txt | title = Compendium of World History | volume = 1 | type = dissertation | publisher = The Faculty of the Ambassador College, Graduate School of Theology, 1962 | year = 1967}}.</ref>}} The Egyptian name "Moses" is mentioned in [[ancient Egyptian literature]].<ref name="i851">{{cite web | title=Let's Hear It From The Pharaohs: The Egyptian Story of Moses | website=Museum of the Jewish People | date=April 7, 2020 | url=https://www.anumuseum.org.il/blog/egyptian-story/ | access-date=June 8, 2024}}</ref><ref name="Knohl" /> In the writing of Jewish historian [[Josephus]], ancient Egyptian historian [[Manetho]] is quoted writing of a [[treasonous]] ancient Egyptian priest, [[Osarseph]], who renamed himself Moses and led a successful [[coup]] against the presiding [[pharaoh]], subsequently ruling Egypt for years until the pharaoh regained power and expelled Osarseph and his supporters.<ref name="g777">{{cite journal | last=Gruen | first=Erich S. | title=The Use and Abuse of the Exodus Story | journal=Jewish History | publisher=Springer | volume=12 | issue=1 | year=1998 | issn=0334701X | jstor=20101326 | pages=93–122 | url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/20101326 | access-date=June 8, 2024}}</ref><ref name="z582">{{cite journal | last=Feldman | first=Louis H. | title=Responses: Did Jews Reshape the Tale of the Exodus? | journal=Jewish History | publisher=Springer | volume=12 | issue=1 | year=1998 | issn=0334701X | jstor=20101327 | pages=123–127 | url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/20101327 | access-date=June 8, 2024|ref=z582}}</ref><ref name="t730">{{cite web | title=MOSES IS CURED OF LEPROSY | website=Jewish Bible Quarterly | date=September 12, 2016 | url=https://jbqnew.jewishbible.org/jbq-past-issues/2016/443-july-september-2016/moses-cured-leprosy/ | access-date=June 8, 2024}}</ref>

Moses has often been portrayed in Christian art and literature, for instance in Michelangelo's ''[[Moses (Michelangelo)|Moses]]'' and in works at a number of US government buildings. In the medieval and Renaissance period, he is frequently shown as having [[Horns of Moses|small horns]], as the result of a mistranslation in the Latin [[Vulgate]] bible, which nevertheless at times could reflect Christian ambivalence or have overtly antisemitic connotations.

==Etymology of name==
[[File:Moses - Alta-Tadema.jpg|thumb|upright=1.15|[[The Finding of Moses (Alma-Tadema painting)|''The Finding of Moses'']], painting by [[Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema]], 1904]]

The [[Egyptian language|Egyptian]] root {{transliteration|egy|[[wikt:msj|msy]]}} ('child of') or ''mose'' has been considered as a possible etymology,{{sfn|Davies|2020|p=181}} arguably an abbreviation of a [[theophoric name]] with the god’s name omitted. The suffix mose appears in Egyptian pharaohs’ names like [[Thutmose]] ('born of [[Thoth]]') and [[Ramose]] ('born of [[<span class="ltr">Ra</span>]]').<ref name="Hays">{{cite book |title=Hidden Riches: A Sourcebook for the Comparative Study of the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near East |last=Hays |first=Christopher B. |publisher=[[Presbyterian Publishing Corporation|Presbyterian Publishing Corp]] |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-664-23701-1 |page=116 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r5W7BwAAQBAJ&pg=PA116}}</ref> One of the Egyptian names of [[Ramesses II|Ramesses]] was ''Ra-mesesu mari-Amon'', meaning “born of Ra, beloved of Amon” (he was also called ''Usermaatre [[Setepenre]],'' meaning “Keeper of light and harmony, strong in light, elect of Re”). Linguist [[Abraham Yahuda]], based on the spelling given in the [[Tanakh]], argues that it combines "water" or "seed" and "pond, expanse of water," thus yielding the sense of "child of the [[Nile]]" ({{transliteration|egy|[[wikt:mw|mw]]-[[wikt:š|š]]}}).<ref>Ulmer, Rivka. 2009. [https://books.google.com/books?id=wKH3qsGzlb0C&pg=PA269 ''Egyptian Cultural Icons in Midrash'']. [[Walter de Gruyter|de Gruyter]]. p. 269.</ref>

The biblical account of Moses' birth provides him with a [[folk etymology]] to explain the ostensible meaning of his name.<ref name="Hays"/><ref>Naomi E. Pasachoff, Robert J. Littman (2005), [https://books.google.com/books?id=z4eaj09hscAC&pg=PA5 ''A Concise History of the Jewish People''], Rowman & Littlefield, p. 5.</ref> He is said to have received it from the [[Pharaoh's daughter (Exodus)|Pharaoh's daughter]]: "he became her son. She named him Moses [{{lang|hbo|מֹשֶׁה}}, {{transliteration|hbo|Mōše}}], saying, 'I drew him out [{{lang|hbo|מְשִׁיתִֽהוּ}}, {{transliteration|hbo|mǝšīṯīhū}}] of the water'."<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus|2:10|HE}}</ref><ref name="Maciá">Maciá, Lorena Miralles. 2014. [https://books.google.com/books?id=AWMIBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA155 "Judaizing a Gentile Biblical Character through Fictive Biographical Reports: The Case of Bityah, Pharaoh's Daughter, Moses' Mother, according to Rabbinic Interpretations"]. pp. 145–175 in C. Cordoni and G. Langer (eds.), ''Narratology, Hermeneutics, and Midrash: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Narratives from Late Antiquity through to Modern Times''. [[Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht]].</ref> This explanation links it to the [[Semitic languages|Semitic]] root {{lang|sem|משׁה}}, {{transliteration|sem|m-š-h}}, meaning "to draw out".<ref name="Maciá"/>{{sfn|Dozeman|2009|pp=81–82}} The eleventh-century [[Tosafot|Tosafist]] [[Isaac ben Asher ha-Levi|Isaac b. Asher haLevi]] noted that the princess names him the active participle 'drawer-out' ({{lang|hbo|מֹשֶׁה}}, {{transliteration|hbo|mōše}}), not the passive participle 'drawn-out' ({{lang|hbo|נִמְשֶׁה}}, {{transliteration|hbo|nīmše}}), in effect prophesying that Moses would draw others out (of Egypt); this has been accepted by some scholars.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Riva on Torah, Exodus 2:10:1|url=https://www.sefaria.org/Riva_on_Torah,_Exodus.2.10.1|access-date=2021-03-14|website=Sefaria}}</ref><ref name="Greifenhagen" />

The [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] etymology in the Biblical story may reflect an attempt to cancel out traces of Moses' [[Egyptians|Egyptian origins]].<ref name="Greifenhagen" /> The Egyptian character of his name was recognized as such by ancient Jewish writers like [[Philo]] and [[Josephus]].<ref name="Greifenhagen">Greifenhagen, Franz V. 2003. [https://books.google.com/books?id=r1evAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA63 ''Egypt on the Pentateuch's Ideological Map: Constructing Biblical Israel's Identity'']. Bloomsbury. pp. 60ff [<span class="ltr">62</span>] n.65. [<span class="ltr">63</span>].</ref> Philo linked Moses' name ({{Lang-grc|Μωϋσῆς|translit=Mōysēs|lit=Mōusês}}) to the Egyptian ([[Coptic language|Coptic]]) word for 'water' ({{transliteration|cop|môu}}, {{lang|cop|μῶυ}}), in reference to his finding in the Nile and the biblical [[folk etymology]].<ref group="note">{{Verse translation|lang=grc|εἶτα δίδωσιν ὄνομα θεμένη Μωυσῆν ἐτύμως διὰ τὸ ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος αὐτὸν ἀνελέσθαι· τὸ γὰρ ὕδωρ μῶυ ὀνομάζουσιν Αἰγύπτιοι|"Since he had been taken up from the water, the princess gave him a name derived from this, and called him Moses, for Môu is the Egyptian word for water."|attr1=[[Philo of Alexandria]], ''De Vita Mosis'', I:4:17.|attr2=Colson, F. H., trans. 1935. ''On Abraham. On Joseph. On Moses'', (''[[Loeb Classical Library]]'' 289). Cambridge, Massachusetts: [[Harvard University Press]]. pp. 284–85.}}</ref> Josephus, in his ''[[Antiquities of the Jews]]'', claims that the second element, {{transliteration|hbo|-esês}}, meant 'those who are saved'. The problem of how an Egyptian princess (who, according to the Biblical account found in the book of [[Book of Exodus|Exodus]], gave him the name "Moses") could have known Hebrew puzzled medieval Jewish commentators like [[Abraham ibn Ezra]] and [[Hezekiah ben Manoah]]. Hezekiah suggested she either converted to the [[Judaism|Jewish]] religion or took a tip from [[Jochebed]] (Moses' mother).<ref name="Shurpin">Shurpin, Yehuda. [https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/5753263/jewish/Is-Moses-a-Jewish-or-Egyptian-Name.htm ''Is Moses a Jewish or Egyptian Name?'']. [[Chabad.org]].</ref><ref name="Salkin">Salkin, Jeffrey K. (2008). [https://books.google.com/books?id=-dzNOFuoEigC&pg=PA54 ''Righteous Gentiles in the Hebrew Bible: Ancient Role Models for Sacred Relationships'']. [[Jewish Lights Publishing|Jewish Lights]]. pp. 47ff [<span class="ltr">54</span>].</ref><ref>Harris, Maurice D. 2012. [https://books.google.com/books?id=AhNNAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA23 ''Moses: A Stranger Among Us'']. [[Wipf and Stock]]. pp. 22–24.</ref> The Egyptian princess who named Moses is not named in the book of Exodus. However, she was known to Josephus as Thermutis (identified as Tharmuth),<ref name="Maciá"/> and some within Jewish tradition have tried to identify her with a "daughter of Pharaoh" in [[1 Chronicles]] 4:17 named [[Bithiah]],<ref name=scolnic>[[Benjamin Scolnic|Scolnic, Benjamin Edidin]]. 2005. [https://books.google.com/books?id=1afWPqclgHYC&pg=PA82 ''If the Egyptians Drowned in the Red Sea where are Pharaoh's Chariots?: Exploring the Historical Dimension of the Bible'']. [[University Press of America]]. p. 82.</ref> but others note that this is unlikely since there is no textual indication that this daughter of Pharaoh is the same one who named Moses.<ref name=scolnic />

Ibn Ezra gave two possibilities for the name of Moses: he believed that it was either a translation of the Egyptian name instead of a transliteration or that the Pharaoh's daughter was able to speak Hebrew.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Did Pharaoh's Daughter Name Moses? In Hebrew? |url=https://www.thetorah.com/article/did-pharaohs-daughter-name-moses-in-hebrew |access-date=2022-04-18 |website=TheTorah.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=What Was Moshe's Real Name? |url=https://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/627663/jewish/What-Was-Moshes-Real-Name.htm |first=Y. Eliezer |last=Danzinger |work=Chabad.org |date=2008-01-20<!-- Based on YAML metadata --> |access-date=5 May 2022}}</ref>

[[Kenneth Kitchen]] argues that the Hebrew etymology is most likely correct, as the sounds in the Hebrew {{transliteration|hbo|m-š-h}} do not correspond to the pronunciation of Egyptian {{transliteration|egy|[[wikt:msj|msy]]}} in the relevant time period.<ref>Kenneth A. Kitchen, ''On the Reliability of the Old Testament'' (2003), pp. 296–97: "His name is widely held to be Egyptian, and its form is too often misinterpreted by biblical scholars. It is frequently equated with the Egyptian word 'ms' (Mose) meaning 'child', and stated to be an abbreviation of a name compounded with that of a deity whose name has been omitted. And indeed we have many Egyptians called Amen-mose, Ptah-mose, Ra-mose, Hor-mose, and so on. But this explanation is wrong. We also have very many Egyptians who were actually called just 'Mose', without omission of any particular deity. Most famous because of his family's long lawsuit in the middle-class scribe Mose (of the temple of Ptah at Memphis), under Ramesses II; but he had many homonyms. So, the omission-of-deity explanation is to be dismissed as wrong&nbsp;... There is worse. The name of Moses is most likely not Egyptian in the first place! The sibilants do not match as they should, and this cannot be explained away. Overwhelmingly, Egyptian 's' appears as 's' (samekh) in Hebrew and West Semitic, while Hebrew and West Semitic 's' (samekh) appears as 'tj' in Egyptian. Conversely, Egyptian 'sh' = Hebrew 'sh', and vice versa. It is better to admit that the child was named (Exod 2:10b) by his own mother, in a form originally vocalized 'Mashu', 'one drawn out' (which became 'Moshe', 'he who draws out', i.e., his people from slavery, when he led them forth). In fourteenth/thirteenth-century Egypt, 'Mose' was actually pronounced 'Masu', and so it is perfectly possible that a young Hebrew Mashu was nicknamed Masu by his Egyptian companions; but this is a verbal pun, not a borrowing either way."</ref>

==Biblical narrative==
[[File:SyriacBibleParisFolio8rrMosesBeforePharaoh.jpg|thumb|left|Moses before the [[Pharaohs in the Bible#In the Book of Exodus|Pharaoh]], a 6th-century miniature from the [[Syriac Bible of Paris]]]]

===Prophet and deliverer of Israel===
{{Further|The Exodus}}

The [[Israelites]] had settled in the [[Land of Goshen]] in the time of [[Joseph (Genesis)|Joseph]] and [[Jacob]], but a new [[Pharaohs in the Bible#In the Book of Exodus|Pharaoh]] arose who oppressed the children of [[Israel]]. At this time Moses was born to his father [[Amram]], son (or descendant) of [[Kehath]] the [[Levite]], who entered Egypt with Jacob's household; his mother was [[Jochebed]] (also Yocheved), who was kin to Kehath. Moses had one older (by seven years) sister, [[Miriam]], and one older (by three years) brother, [[Aaron]].{{refn|According to [[Manetho]] the place of his birth was at the ancient city of [[Heliopolis (Ancient Egypt)|Heliopolis]].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |author1-link=John McClintock (theologian) |first1=John |last1=McClintock |author2-link=James Strong (theologian) |last2=James |first2=Strong |title=Moses |encyclopedia=Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature |volume=VI. ME-NEV |place=New York |publisher=Harper & Brothers |year=1882 |pages=677–87 |title-link=Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature}}</ref>}} Pharaoh had commanded that all male Hebrew children born would be drowned in the river [[Nile]], but Moses' mother placed him in an [[Ark of bulrushes|ark]] and concealed the ark in the [[bulrush]]es by the riverbank, where [[Finding of Moses|the baby was discovered]] and adopted by [[Bithiah|Pharaoh's daughter]], and raised as an Egyptian. One day, after Moses had reached adulthood, he killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew. Moses, in order to escape Pharaoh's [[Capital punishment|death penalty]], fled to [[Midian]] (a desert country south of Judah), where he married [[Zipporah]].<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus|2:21|HE}}</ref>

There, on [[Mount Horeb]], [[God]] appeared to Moses as a [[burning bush]], revealed to Moses his name [[Tetragrammaton|YHWH]] (probably pronounced [[Yahweh]])<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus|3:14|HE}}</ref> and commanded him to return to Egypt and bring his [[Jews as the chosen people|chosen people]] (Israel) out of bondage and into the [[Promised Land]] ([[Canaan]]).<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus|8:1|HE}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | quote = 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. | last = Schmidt | first = Nathaniel | author-link = Nathaniel Schmidt | title = Moses: His Age and His Work. II | journal = The Biblical World | volume = 7 | number = 2 | date = February 1896 | pages = 105–19 [108]| doi = 10.1086/471808 | s2cid = 222445896 }}</ref> During the journey, God tried to kill Moses for failing to circumcise his son,<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus|4:24–26|HE}}</ref> but [[Zipporah at the inn|Zipporah saved his life]]. Moses returned to carry out God's command, but God caused the Pharaoh to refuse, and only after God had subjected Egypt to [[plagues of Egypt|ten plagues]] did Pharaoh relent. Moses led the Israelites to the border of Egypt, but their God hardened the Pharaoh's heart once more, so that he could destroy Pharaoh and his army at the [[Crossing the Red Sea|Red Sea Crossing]] as a sign of his power to Israel and the nations.<ref>Ginzberg, Louis (1909). ''[[Legends of the Jews|The Legends of the Jews]] [http://www.swartzentrover.com/cotor/e-books/misc/Legends/Legends%20of%20the%20Jews.pdf Vol III : Chapter I]'' (Translated by Henrietta Szold) Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society.</ref>
[[File:VictoryOLord.JPG|thumb|''[[Victory O Lord!]]'', 1871 painting by [[John Everett Millais]], depicts Moses holding his [[Staff of Moses|staff]], assisted by [[Aaron]] and [[Hur (Bible)|Hur]], holding up his arms during the battle against [[Amalek]].]]
After defeating the [[Amalekites]] in [[Rephidim]],<ref>{{cite journal |author-last=Trimm |author-first=Charlie |date=September 2019 |title=God's staff and Moses' hand(<span class="ltr">s</span>): The battle against the Amalekites as a turning point in the role of the divine warrior |editor1-last=Shepherd |editor1-first=David |editor2-last=Tiemeyer |editor2-first=Lena-Sofia |journal=[[Journal for the Study of the Old Testament]] |publisher=[[SAGE Publications]] |volume=44 |issue=1 |pages=198–214 |doi=10.1177/0309089218778588 |doi-access=free |issn=1476-6728}}</ref> Moses [[The Exodus|led the Israelites]] to [[Mount Sinai (Bible)|Mount Sinai]], where he was given the [[Ten Commandments]] from God, written on [[Stele|stone tablets]]. However, since Moses remained a long time on the mountain, some of the people feared that he might be dead, so they made a statue of a [[golden calf]] and [[Sacred bull|worshipped it]], thus disobeying and angering God and Moses. Moses, out of anger, broke the tablets, and later ordered the elimination of those who had worshiped the golden statue, which was melted down and fed to the [[Idolatry|idolaters]].<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = James Clarke| isbn = 978-0-227-17379-4| last1 = Rad| first1 = Gerhard von| last2 = Hanson| first2 = K. C. | last3 = Neill| first3 = Stephen| title = Moses| location = Cambridge| access-date = 2017-06-09| year= 2012| url = http://site.ebrary.com/id/10634121}}</ref> He also wrote the ten commandments on a new set of tablets. Later at [[Mount Sinai]], Moses and the elders entered into a covenant, by which Israel would become the people of YHWH, obeying his laws, and YHWH would be their god. Moses delivered the laws of God to Israel, instituted [[Kohen|the priesthood]] under the sons of Moses' brother [[Aaron]], and destroyed those Israelites who fell away from his worship. In his final act at Sinai, God gave Moses instructions for the [[Tabernacle]], the mobile shrine by which he would travel with Israel to the Promised Land.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ginzberg |first=Louis |year=1909 |title=The Legends of the Jews |series=Vol. III: The Symbolical Significance of the Tabernacle |translator-first=Henrietta |translator-last=Szold |location=Philadelphia |publisher=Jewish Publication Society |url=http://www.swartzentrover.com/cotor/e-books/misc/Legends/Legends%20of%20the%20Jews.pdf}}</ref>

From Sinai, Moses led the Israelites to the [[Desert of Paran]] on the border of Canaan. From there he sent [[The Twelve Spies|twelve spies]] into the land. The spies returned with samples of the land's fertility but warned that its inhabitants were [[Nephilim|giants]]. The people were afraid and wanted to return to Egypt, and some rebelled against Moses and against God. Moses told the Israelites that they were not worthy to inherit the land, and would wander the wilderness for forty years until the generation who had refused to enter Canaan had died, so that it would be their children who would possess the land.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ginzberg |first=Louis |year=1909 |url=http://www.swartzentrover.com/cotor/e-books/misc/Legends/Legends%20of%20the%20Jews.pdf |title=The Legends of the Jews |volume=III: Ingratitude Punished |translator-first=Henrietta |translator-last=Szold |location=Philadelphia |publisher=Jewish Publication Society}}</ref> Later on, [[Korah]] was punished for leading a revolt against Moses.

When the forty years had passed, Moses led the Israelites east around the [[Dead Sea]] to the territories of [[Edom]] and [[Moab]]. There they escaped the temptation of idolatry, conquered the lands of [[<span class="ltr">Og</span>]] and [[Sihon]] in [[Transjordan (region)|Transjordan]], received God's blessing through [[Balaam]] the prophet, and massacred the [[Midian]]ites, who by the end of the Exodus journey had become the enemies of the Israelites due to their notorious role in [[Heresy of Peor|enticing the Israelites to sin against God]]. Moses was twice given notice that he would die before entry to the Promised Land: in [[Book of Numbers|Numbers]] 27:13,<ref>{{bibleverse|Numbers|27:13|HE}}</ref> once he had seen the Promised Land from a viewpoint on [[Abarim|Mount Abarim]], and again in Numbers 31:1<ref>{{bibleverse|Numbers|31:1|HE}}</ref> once battle with the Midianites had been won.

On the banks of the [[Jordan River]], in sight of the land, Moses assembled the [[Twelve Tribes of Israel|tribes]]. After recalling their wanderings, he delivered God's laws by which they must live in the land, sang a [[Song of Moses|song]] of praise and pronounced a [[Blessing of Moses|blessing]] on the people, and passed his authority to [[Joshua]], under whom they would possess the land. Moses then went up [[Mount Nebo]], looked over the [[Promised Land]] spread out before him, and died, at the age of one hundred and twenty:
{{blockquote| So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab according to the word of the LORD. And He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor; but no man knows his burial place to this day. (Deuteronomy 34:5–6, [[Amplified Bible]])}}

===Lawgiver of Israel===
{{Further|Law of Moses|Mosaic authorship|Deuteronomist|Book of Deuteronomy#Deuteronomic code|613 Mitzvot}}
[[File:Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn 079.jpg|thumb|''[[Moses Breaking the Tablets of the Law]]'' by [[Rembrandt]], 1659]]

Moses is honoured among [[Jews]] today as the "lawgiver of Israel", and he delivers several sets of laws in the course of the four books. The first is the [[Covenant Code]],<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus|20:19–23:33|HE}}</ref> the terms of the [[Mosaic covenant|covenant]] which God offers to the Israelites at Mount Sinai. Embedded in the covenant are the [[Decalogue]] (the [[Ten Commandments]], Exodus 20:1–17),<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus|20:1–17|HE}}</ref> and the Book of the Covenant (Exodus 20:22–23:19).<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus|20:22–23:19|HE}}</ref>{{sfn|Hamilton|2011|p=xxv}} The entire [[Book of Leviticus]] constitutes a second body of law, the [[Book of Numbers]] begins with yet another set, and the [[Book of Deuteronomy]] another.{{citation needed|reason=What is the primary source for this?|date=June 2016}}

Moses has traditionally been regarded as [[Mosaic authorship|the author of those four books]] and the [[Book of Genesis]], which together comprise the [[Torah]], the first section of the [[Hebrew Bible]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Robinson |first1=George |title=Essential Torah: A Complete Guide to the Five Books of Moses |date=2008 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-307-48437-6 |pages=97 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X54NS-Lc-OcC&q=%22dictated+to+Moshe+by+God%22%22under+the+inspiration+of+God%22&pg=PA97 |language=en}}</ref>

==Historicity==
[[File:Moses_Dura_Europos.jpg|thumb|260x260px|Moses and the [[burning bush]]. Painting from [[Dura-Europos synagogue]], third century CE]]
Scholars hold different opinions on the historicity of Moses.<ref name="Nigo1993">{{cite journal|last1=Nigosian|first1=S. A.|date=1993|title=Moses as They Saw Him|journal=Vetus Testamentum|volume=43|issue=3|pages=339–350|doi=10.1163/156853393X00160|quote=Three views, based on source analysis or historical-critical method, seem to prevail among biblical scholars. First, a number of scholars, such as Meyer and Holscher, aim to deprive Moses all the prerogatives attributed to him by denying anything historical value about his person or the role he played in Israelite religion. Second, other scholars,&nbsp;... diametrically oppose the first view and strive to anchor Moses the decisive role he played in Israelite religion in a firm setting. And third, those who take the middle position&nbsp;... delineate the solidly historical identification of Moses from the superstructure of later legendary accretions&nbsp;... Needless to say, these issues are hotly debated unresolved matters among scholars. Thus, the attempt to separate the historical from unhistorical elements in the Torah has yielded few, if any, positive results regarding the figure of Moses or the role he played on Israelite religion. No wonder J. Van Seters concluded that 'the quest for the historical Moses is a futile exercise. He now belongs only to legend.'}}</ref><ref name="Archaeo" /> For instance, according to [[William G. Dever]], the modern scholarly consensus is that the biblical person of Moses is largely mythical while also holding that "a Moses-like figure may have existed somewhere in the southern [[Transjordan (Bible)|Transjordan]] in the mid-late 13th century B.C." and that "archeology can do nothing" to prove or confirm either way.<ref name=Archaeo>{{cite journal | last=Dever | first=William G. | title=What Remains of the House That Albright Built? | journal=The Biblical Archaeologist | publisher=University of Chicago Press | volume=56 | issue=1 | year=1993 | issn=0006-0895 | doi=10.2307/3210358 | pages=25–35| quote=the overwhelming scholarly consensus today is that Moses is a mythical figure| jstor=3210358 | s2cid=166003641 }}</ref><ref name="Dever2001" /> Some scholars, such as [[Konrad Schmid (theologian)|Konrad Schmid]] and Jens Schröter consider Moses a historical figure.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Making of the Bible: From the First Fragments to Sacred Scripture |last1=Schmid |first1=Konrad |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2021 |isbn=978-0-674-24838-0 |pages=44 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0AlBEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA44 |last2=Schröter |first2=Jens |quote=Moses was in all likelihood a historical figure}}</ref> According to Solomon Nigosian, there are actually three prevailing views among biblical scholars: one is that Moses is not a historical figure, another view strives to anchor the decisive role he played in Israelite religion, and a third that argues there are elements of both history and legend from which "these issues are hotly debated unresolved matters among scholars".<ref name="Nigo1993"/> According to Brian Britt, there is divide amongst scholars when discussing matters on Moses that threatens gridlock.<ref name="Britt">{{cite web |last1=Britt |first1=Brian |title=The Moses Myth, Beyond Biblical History |url=https://bibleinterp.arizona.edu/articles/Britt-Moses_Myth |website=The Bible and Interpretation |publisher=University of Arizona |date=2004}}</ref> According to the official Torah commentary for Conservative Judaism, it is irrelevant if the historical Moses existed, calling him "the folkloristic, national hero".<ref name="Lieber Dorff Harlow Dorff 2001 p.">{{cite book | first=Stephen | last=Garfinkel | editor-last1=Lieber | editor-first1=David L. | editor-last2=Dorff |editor-first2=Elliot N. |editor-last3=Harlow |editor-first3=Jules |editor-last4=Dorff |editor-first4=R.P.P.E.N. |editor-last5=Fishbane |editor-first5=Michael A. | editor6=Jewish Publication Society | editor7=United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism | editor8=Rabbinical Assembly | editor-last9=Grossman | editor-first9=Susan | editor-last10=Kushner | editor-first10=Harold S. | editor-last11=Potok | editor-first11=Chaim | title=עץ חיים: Torah and Commentary | publisher=Jewish Publication Society | series=The JPS Bible Commentary Series | year=2001 | isbn=978-0-8276-0712-5 | chapter=Moses: Man of Israel, Man of God | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i1gKAQAAMAAJ | language=he | access-date=13 January 2022 | page=1414 | quote=So the question to ask in understanding the Torah on its own terms is not when, or even if, Moses lived, but what his life conveys in Israel's saga. [...] Typical of the folkloristic, national hero, Moses successfully withstands [...]}}</ref><ref name="The New York Times 2002">{{cite web | first=Michael | last=Massing | title=New Torah For Modern Minds | website=The New York Times | date=9 March 2002 | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/09/books/new-torah-for-modern-minds.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100327132240/https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/09/books/new-torah-for-modern-minds.html | archive-date=27 March 2010 | url-status=live | access-date=1 September 2022}}</ref>

[[Jan Assmann]] argues that it cannot be known if Moses ever lived because there are no traces of him outside tradition.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Assmann|first=Jan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nJv0oyQ-9_AC|title=Moses the Egyptian|date=1998-10-15|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-58739-7|pages=2, 11|quote=We cannot be sure Moses ever lived because there are not traces of his existence outside the tradition [p. 2] ... I shall not even ask the question—let alone, answer it—whether Moses was an Egyptian, or a Hebrew, or a Midianite. This question concerns the historical Moses and thus pertains to history. I am concerned with Moses as a figure of memory. As a figure of memory, Moses the Egyptian is radically different from Moses the Hebrew or the Biblical Moses.}}</ref> Though the names of Moses and others in the biblical narratives are Egyptian and contain genuine Egyptian elements, no extrabiblical sources point clearly to Moses.<ref name="Dever 2008">{{cite web|last1=Dever|first1=William|date=November 17, 2008|title=Archeology of the Hebrew Bible|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/archeology-hebrew-bible/|website=Nova|publisher=PBS|quote="Moses" is an Egyptian name. Some of the other names in the narratives are Egyptian, and there are genuine Egyptian elements. But no one has found a text or an artifact in Egypt itself or even in the Sinai that has any direct connection. That doesn't mean it didn't happen. But I think it does mean what happened was rather more modest. And the biblical writers have enlarged the story.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Moore|first1=Megan Bishop|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qjkz_8EMoaUC|title=Biblical History and Israel's Past: The Changing Study of the Bible and History|last2=Kelle|first2=Brad E.|date=2011-05-17|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=978-0-8028-6260-0|pages=92–93|quote=...&nbsp;no extrabiblical source point clearly to Moses,&nbsp;...}}</ref><ref name="Ox1">{{cite web |title=Moses |url=http://www.oxfordbiblicalstudies.com/article/opr/t94/e1284 |website=Oxford Biblical Studies Online}}</ref> No references to Moses appear in any Egyptian sources prior to the 4th century&nbsp;BCE, long after he is believed to have lived. No contemporary Egyptian sources mention Moses, or the events of Exodus–Deuteronomy, nor has any archaeological evidence been discovered in Egypt or the [[Sinai Peninsula|Sinai wilderness]] to support the story in which he is the central figure.{{sfn|Meyers|2005|pp=5–6}} [[David Adams Leeming]] states that Moses is a mythic hero and the central figure in Hebrew mythology.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Leeming|first1=David|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kQFtlva3HaYC&q=+moses+central+figure|title=The Oxford Companion to World Mythology|date=2005-11-17|publisher=Oxford University Press USA |isbn=978-0-19-515669-0|language=en}}</ref>
The ''Oxford Companion to the Bible'' states that the historicity of Moses is the most reasonable (albeit not unbiased) assumption to be made about him as his absence would leave a vacuum that cannot be explained away.<ref>{{cite book |title=Exodus, The Book of |chapter = Exodus, the|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195046458.001.0001/acref-9780195046458-e-0245?rskey=QKB1cM&result=17 |via=www.oxfordreference.com |publisher=Oxford University Press |format=Online |date=2004 |isbn = 978-0-19-504645-8|quote=The historicity of Moses is the most reasonable assumption to be made about him. There is no viable argument why Moses should be regarded as a fiction of pious necessity. His removal from the scene of Israel's beginnings as a theocratic community would leave a vacuum that simply could not be explained away.}}</ref> ''Oxford Biblical Studies'' states that although few modern scholars are willing to support the traditional view that Moses himself wrote the five books of the [[Torah]], there are certainly those who regard the leadership of Moses as too firmly based in Israel's corporate memory to be dismissed as [[pious fiction]].<ref name="Ox1" />

The story of Moses' discovery follows a familiar motif in [[ancient Near East]]ern [[Mythology|mythological accounts]] of the ruler who rises from humble origins.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Coogan|first1=Michael David|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4DVHJRFW3mYC&q=michael+d+coogan&pg=PR5|title=The Oxford History of the Biblical World|last2=Coogan|first2=Michael D.|date=2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-513937-2|quote=Many of these forms are not, and should not be considered, historically based; Moses’ birth narrative, for example, is built on folkloric motifs found throughout the ancient world.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Text, Artifact, and Image: Revealing Ancient Israelite Religion |last=Rendsburg |first=Gary A. |publisher=Brown Judaic Studies |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-930675-28-5 |page=204 |editor-last=Beckman |editor-first=Gary M. |chapter=Moses as Equal to Pharaoh |editor-last2=Lewis |editor-first2=Theodore J. |chapter-url=https://jewishstudies.rutgers.edu/docman/rendsburg/118-moses-as-equal-to-pharaoh/file}}</ref> For example, in the account of the origin of [[Sargon of Akkad]] (23rd century&nbsp;BCE):

{{poemquote|My mother, the high priestess, conceived; in secret she bore me
She set me in a basket of rushes, with bitumen she sealed my lid
She cast me into the river which rose over me.<ref>{{cite book |first=Timothy D. |last=Finlay |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pOigG8qtC8oC&pg=PA236 |title=The Birth Report Genre in the Hebrew Bible |series=Forschungen zum Alten Testament |volume=12 |publisher=Mohr Siebeck |year=2005 |page=236 |isbn= 978-3-16-148745-3}}</ref>}}

Moses' story, like those of the other [[Patriarchs (Bible)|patriarchs]], most likely had a substantial oral prehistory<ref>{{cite book |last=Pitard |first=Wayne T. |date=2001 |editor-last=Coogan |editor-first=Michael D. |title=The Oxford History of the Biblical World|publisher=Oxford University Press |page=27 |chapter=Before Israel: Syria-Palestine in the Bronze Age |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4DVHJRFW3mYC&pg=PA27 |isbn=9780195139372}}</ref>{{failed verification|date=March 2024|reason=source supports this statement for the patriarchs, but doesn't mention Moses}} (he is mentioned in the [[Book of Jeremiah]]<ref>{{Bibleverse|Jeremiah|15:1|HE}}</ref> and the [[Book of Isaiah]]<ref>{{Bibleverse|Isaiah|63:11-12|HE}}</ref>). The earliest mention of him is vague, in the [[Book of Hosea]]<ref>{{bibleverse|Hosea|12:13}}</ref> and his name is apparently ancient, as the tradition found in Exodus gives it a folk etymology.<ref name="Hays"/>{{sfn|Dozeman|2009|pp=81–82}} Nevertheless, the Torah was completed by combining older traditional texts with newly-written ones.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Carr |first1=David M. |last2=Conway |first2=Colleen M. |title=An Introduction to the Bible: Sacred Texts and Imperial Contexts |date=2010 |publisher=[[Wiley (publisher)|Wiley]] |location=New York |isbn=9781405167383 |page=193 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dJerjvlxCHsC&pg=PA193}}</ref> [[Book of Isaiah|Isaiah]],<ref>{{bibleverse|Isaiah|63:16|HE}}</ref> written during the Exile (i.e., in the first half of the 6th century&nbsp;BCE), testifies to tension between the people of Judah and the returning post-Exilic Jews (the "[[Golah|gôlâ]]"), stating that God is the father of Israel and that Israel's history begins with the Exodus and not with [[Abraham]].{{sfn|Ska|2009|p=44}} The conclusion to be inferred from this and similar evidence (e.g., the [[Book of Ezra]] and the [[Book of Nehemiah]]) is that the figure of Moses and the story of the Exodus must have been preeminent among the people of Judah at the time of the Exile and after, serving to support their claims to the land in opposition to those of the returning exiles.{{sfn|Ska|2009|p=44}}
[[File:Ms. 33 (88.MP.70) Moses Killing an Egyptian cropping.jpg|thumb|Moses Killing an Egyptian, early 15th century depiction]]
[[Kenite hypothesis|A theory]] developed by [[Cornelis Tiele]] in 1872, which has proved influential, argued that [[Yahweh]] was a [[Midian]]ite god, introduced to the Israelites by Moses, whose father-in-law [[Jethro (Bible)|Jethro]] was a Midianite priest.<ref>{{Bibleverse|Judges|1:16-3:11|HE}}; {{Bibleverse|Numbers|10:29|HE}}; {{Bibleverse|Exodus|6:2-3|HE}}</ref> It was to such a Moses that Yahweh reveals his real name, hidden from the [[Patriarchs (Bible)|Patriarchs]] who knew him only as [[El Shaddai]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Mark S. |last=Smith |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1yM3AuBh4AsC&pg=PA34 |title=The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans |year=2002 |page=34 |isbn=978-0-8028-3972-5 }}</ref> Against this view is the modern consensus that most of the Israelites were native to [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]].<ref>{{cite book |editor-first=Karel |editor-last=van der Toorn |editor2-first=Bob |editor2-last=Becking |editor3-first=Pieter Willem |editor3-last=van der Horst |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yCkRz5pfxz0C&pg=PA912 |title=Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans |edition=2nd |year=1999 |page=912 |isbn=978-0-8028-2491-2 }}</ref><ref name="Grabbe2017">{{cite book|first=Lester L.|last=Grabbe|title=Ancient Israel: What Do We Know and How Do We Know It?: Revised Edition|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4lzyDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA36|date=23 February 2017|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-0-567-67044-1|page=36|quote=The impression one has now is that the debate has settled down. Although they do not seem to admit it, the minimalists have triumphed in many ways. That is, most scholars reject the historicity of the 'patriarchal period', see the settlement as mostly made up of indigenous inhabitants of Canaan and are cautious about the early monarchy. The exodus is rejected or assumed to be based on an event much different from the biblical account. On the other hand, there is not the widespread rejection of the biblical text as a historical source that one finds among the main minimalists. There are few, if any, maximalists (defined as those who accept the biblical text unless it can be absolutely disproved) in mainstream scholarship, only on the more fundamentalist fringes.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Oxford Handbook of the Historical Books of the Hebrew Bible |last=Killebrew |first=Ann E. |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2020 |isbn=978-0-19-007411-1 |page=86 |editor-last=Kelle |editor-first=Brad E. |chapter=Early Israel’s Origins, Settlement, and Ethnogenesis |editor-last2=Strawn |editor-first2=Brent A. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T_kFEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA79 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Oxford History of the Holy Land |last=Faust |first=Avraham |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2023 |isbn=978-0-19-288687-3 |editor-last=Hoyland |editor-first=Robert G. |page=28 |chapter=The Birth of Israel |editor-last2=Williamson |editor-first2=H. G. M. |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pyG3EAAAQBAJ&pg=PA5|quote=}}</ref> [[Martin Noth]] argued that the [[Torah|Pentateuch]] uses the figure of Moses, originally linked to legends of a Transjordan conquest, as a narrative bracket or late redactional device to weld together four of the five, originally independent, themes of that work.<ref name="Coats">{{cite book|last=Coats|first=George W.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bk7_CMIAQOsC&pg=PA10|title=Moses: Heroic Man, Man of God|publisher=A&C Black|year=1988|pages=10ff (p. 11 Albright; pp. 29–30, Noth)|isbn=9780567594204}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Eckart |last=Otto |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LtqjahTUkdQC&pg=PA25 |title=Mose: Geschichte und Legende |trans-title=Moses: history and legend |publisher=C. H. Beck |year=2006 |pages=25–27 |isbn=978-3-406-53600-7 |language=de }}</ref> {{ill|Manfred Görg|de}}<ref>{{cite book |first=Manfred |last=Görg |chapter=Mose – Name und Namensträger. Versuch einer historischen Annäherung |title=Mose. Ägypten und das Alte Testament |editor-first=E. |editor-last=Otto |publisher=Verlag Katholisches Bibelwerk |location=Stuttgart |year=2000 |language=de }}</ref> and {{ill|Rolf Krauss (egyptologist)|de|Rolf Krauss|lt=Rolf Krauss}},<ref>{{cite book |first=Rolf |last=Krauss |title=Das Moses-Rätsel: Auf den Spuren einer biblischen Erfindung |publisher=Ullstein |location=Munich |year=2001 |language=de }}</ref> the latter in a somewhat [[Sensationalism|sensationalist]] manner,<ref>{{cite news |first=Jan |last=Assmann |author-link=Jan Assmann |url=https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/buecher/rezension-sachbuch-tagsueber-parliert-er-als-aegyptologe-nachts-reisst-er-die-bibel-auf-11283521.html |title=Tagsüber parliert er als Ägyptologe, nachts reißt er die Bibel auf |newspaper=[[Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung]] |date=2 February 2002 |language=de }}</ref> have suggested that the Moses story is a distortion or transmogrification of the historical pharaoh [[Amenmesse|Amenmose]] ({{c.|1200 BCE}}), who was dismissed from office and whose name was later simplified to {{transliteration|egy|msy}} (Mose). [[Aidan Dodson]] regards this hypothesis as "intriguing, but beyond proof".<ref>{{cite book |first=Aidan |last=Dodson |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DBnN9I8EvjsC&pg=PA72 |title=Poisoned Legacy: The Fall of the 19th Egyptian Dynasty |publisher=American University in Cairo Press |year=2010 |page=72 |isbn=978-1-61797-071-9 }}</ref> Rudolf Smend argues that the two details about Moses that were most likely to be historical are his name, of Egyptian origin, and his marriage to a Midianite woman, details which seem unlikely to have been invented by the Israelites; in Smend's view, all other details given in the biblical narrative are too mythically charged to be seen as accurate data.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Smend |first=Rudolf |title=Mose als geschichtliche Gestalt |trans-title=Moses as historical figure |journal=Historische Zeitschrift |volume=260 |year=1995 |pages=1–19|doi=10.1524/hzhz.1995.260.jg.1 |s2cid=164459862 |url=https://www.historischeskolleg.de/fileadmin/pdf/dokumentationen_pdf/dok11_smend.pdf }}</ref>

The name [[Mesha|King Mesha]] of [[Moab]] has been linked to that of Moses. Mesha also is associated with narratives of an exodus and a conquest, and several motifs in stories about him are shared with the Exodus tale and that regarding Israel's war with Moab ([[2 Kings 3]]). Moab rebels against oppression, like Moses, leads his people out of Israel, as Moses does from Egypt, and his first-born son is slaughtered at the wall of [[Kir of Moab|Kir-hareseth]] as the firstborn of Israel are condemned to slaughter in the Exodus story, in what Calvinist theologian [[Peter Leithart]] described as "an infernal Passover that delivers Mesha while wrath burns against his enemies".<ref>{{cite book |first=Peter J. |last=Leithart |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z_gvin9G7LgC&pg=PA181 |title=1 & 2 Kings |publisher=Brazos Press |year=2006 |pages=178ff [181–82] |isbn=9781587431258 }}</ref>

An Egyptian version of the tale that crosses over with the Moses story is found in [[Manetho]] who, according to the summary in [[Josephus]], wrote that a certain [[Osarseph]], a [[Heliopolis (Ancient Egypt)|Heliopolitan]] priest, became overseer of a band of [[Leprosy|lepers]], when [[Amenhotep III|Amenophis]], following indications by [[Amenhotep, son of Hapu]], had all the lepers in Egypt quarantined in order to cleanse the land so that he might see the gods. The lepers are bundled into [[Avaris]], the former capital of the [[Hyksos]], where Osarseph prescribes for them everything forbidden in Egypt, while proscribing everything permitted in Egypt. They invite the Hyksos to reinvade Egypt, rule with them for 13 years – Osarseph then assumes the name Moses – and are then driven out.<ref>{{cite book |first=Jan |last=Assmann |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IjUiie30Z9cC&pg=PA33 |title=Moses the Egyptian: The Memory of Egypt in Western Monotheism |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=2009 |pages=31–34 |isbn= 978-0-674-02030-6}}</ref>

Other Egyptian figures which have been postulated as candidates for a historical Moses-like figure include the princes [[Ahmose-ankh]] and [[Ramose (prince)|Ramose]], who were sons of pharaoh [[Ahmose I]], or a figure associated with the family of pharaoh [[Thutmose III]].<ref>{{cite journal |last= Samaan |first=Marla |title='House of Bondage': Can We Reconcile the Biblical Account of Hebrew Slavery with Egyptian Historical Records? |journal=Senior Research Projects |volume=59 |year=2002 |url=https://knowledge.e.southern.edu/senior_research/59}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Billauer |first=Barbara |title=Moses, the Tutmoses and the Exodus |journal=SSRN |year=2014 |doi=10.2139/ssrn.2429297}}</ref> Israel Knohl has proposed to identify Moses with [[Irsu]], a [[Shasu]] who, according to [[Papyrus Harris I]] and the Elephantine Stele, took power in Egypt with the support of "Asiatics" (people from the [[Levant]]) after the death of Queen [[Twosret]]; after coming to power, Irsu and his supporters disrupted Egyptian rituals, "treating the gods like the people" and halting offerings to the Egyptian deities. They were eventually defeated and expelled by the new Pharaoh [[Setnakhte]] and, while fleeing, they abandoned large quantities of gold and silver they had stolen from the temples.<ref name="Knohl">{{Cite web|title=Exodus: The History Behind the Story - TheTorah.com|url=https://www.thetorah.com/article/exodus-the-history-behind-the-story|access-date=2021-07-01|website=TheTorah.com}}</ref>

==Hellenistic literature==
{{Further|Moses in Judeo-Hellenistic literature}}
[[File:Memorial of Moses, Mt. Nebo.jpg|thumb|Memorial of Moses, [[Mount Nebo]], Jordan]]

Non-biblical writings about Jews, with references to the role of Moses, first appear at the beginning of the [[Hellenistic period]], from 323&nbsp;BCE to about 146&nbsp;BCE. Shmuel notes that "a characteristic of this literature is the high honour in which it holds the peoples of the East in general and some specific groups among these peoples."{{Sfn | Shmuel | 1976 | p = 1102}}

In addition to the Judeo-Roman or Judeo-Hellenic historians [[Artapanus of Alexandria|Artapanus]], [[Eupolemus]], [[Josephus]], and [[Philo]], a few non-Jewish historians including [[Hecataeus of Abdera]] (quoted by [[Diodorus Siculus]]), [[Alexander Polyhistor]], [[Manetho]], [[Apion]], [[Chaeremon of Alexandria]], [[Tacitus]] and [[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]] also make reference to him. The extent to which any of these accounts rely on earlier sources is unknown.{{Sfn | Shmuel | 1976 | p = 1103}} Moses also appears in other religious texts such as the [[Mishnah]] (c.&nbsp;200&nbsp;CE) and the [[Midrash]] (200–1200&nbsp;CE).<ref>{{Citation | last = Hammer | first = Reuven | title = The Classic Midrash: Tannaitic Commentaries on the Bible | publisher = Paulist Press | year = 1995 | page = 15}}.</ref>

The figure of [[Osarseph]] in [[Greek historiography|Hellenistic historiography]] is a renegade Egyptian priest who leads an army of [[lepers]] against the pharaoh and is finally expelled from Egypt, changing his name to Moses.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DPzZTN74jAcC&q=Osarseph|title=The Jewish People in the First Century: Historical Geography, Political History, Social, Cultural and Religious Life and Institutions|first1=Shemuel|last1=Safrai|first2=M.|last2=Stern|first3=David|last3=Flusser|first4=Willem Cornelis|last4=Unnik|date=November 19, 1974|publisher=Uitgeverij Van Gorcum|isbn=9789023214366|via=Google Books}}</ref>

===Hecataeus===
The earliest existing reference to Moses in Greek literature occurs in the Egyptian history of Hecataeus of Abdera (4th century BCE). All that remains of his description of Moses are two references made by Diodorus Siculus, wherein, writes historian Arthur Droge, he "describes Moses as a wise and courageous leader who left Egypt and colonized [[Judea|Judaea]]".{{Sfn|Droge |1989 |p=18}} Among the many accomplishments described by Hecataeus, Moses had founded cities, established a temple and religious cult, and issued laws:

{{Blockquote |After the establishment of settled life in Egypt in early times, which took place, according to the mythical account, in the period of the gods and heroes, the first&nbsp;... to persuade the multitudes to use written laws was Mneves, a man not only great of soul but also in his life the most public-spirited of all lawgivers whose names are recorded.{{Sfn | Droge | 1989 | p = 18}}}}

Droge also points out that this statement by Hecataeus was similar to statements made subsequently by Eupolemus.{{Sfn| Droge |1989 |p=18}}

===Artapanus===
[[File:The Knesset Menorah P5200010 Moses.JPG|thumb|right|Depiction of Moses on the [[Knesset Menorah]] raising his arms during the battle against the Amalekites]]
The Jewish historian [[Artapanus of Alexandria]] (2nd century&nbsp;BCE) portrayed Moses as a cultural hero, alien to the Pharaonic court. According to theologian John Barclay, the Moses of Artapanus "clearly bears the destiny of the Jews, and in his personal, cultural and military splendor, brings credit to the whole Jewish people".<ref>{{cite book |last=Barclay |first=John M. G. |title=Jews in the Mediterranean Diaspora: From Alexander to Trajan (323&nbsp;BCE – 117&nbsp;CE) |publisher=University of California Press |year=1996 |page=130 |isbn=0-520-21843-4 }}</ref>

{{Blockquote | Jealousy of Moses' excellent qualities induced Chenephres to send him with unskilled troops on a military expedition to [[Ethiopia]], where he won great victories. After having built the city of [[Hermopolis]], he taught the people the value of the [[ibis]] as a protection against the serpents, making the bird the sacred guardian spirit of the city; then he introduced [[circumcision]]. After his return to [[Memphis, Egypt|Memphis]], Moses taught the people the value of oxen for agriculture, and the consecration of the same by Moses gave rise to the cult of [[Apis (deity)|Apis]]. Finally, after having escaped another plot by killing the assailant sent by the king, Moses fled to [[Arabian Peninsula|Arabia]], where he married the daughter of [[Jethro (Bible)|Raguel]] [Jethro], the ruler of the district.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=830&letter=M&search=moses#3 |title=Moses |website=Jewish Encyclopedia |access-date= 2010-03-02}}</ref>}}

Artapanus goes on to relate how Moses returns to Egypt with Aaron, and is imprisoned, but miraculously escapes through the name of [[YHWH]] in order to lead the Exodus. This account further testifies that all Egyptian [[Egyptian temple|temples]] of [[Isis]] thereafter contained a rod, in remembrance of that used for Moses' miracles. He describes Moses as 80 years old, "tall and ruddy, with long white hair, and dignified".<ref>{{cite web |author=Eusebius of Caesarea |title=Praeparatio Evangelica |trans-title=Preparation for the Gospel |translator-first=E. H. |translator-last=Gifford |year=1903 |at=Book 9 |url=http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/eusebius_pe_09_book9.htm |via=tertullian.org |access-date=30 April 2021}}</ref>

Some historians, however, point out the "[[Apologetics|apologetic]] nature of much of Artapanus' work",{{Sfn | Feldman | 1998 | p = 40}} with his addition of extra-biblical details, such as his references to Jethro: the non-Jewish Jethro expresses admiration for Moses' gallantry in helping his daughters, and chooses to adopt Moses as his son.{{Sfn | Feldman | 1998 | p = 133}}

===Strabo===
[[File:Rosso Fiorentino - Moses defending the Daughters of Jethro - Web Gallery of Art.jpg|thumb|''[[Moses Defends Jethro's Daughters]]'' by [[Rosso Fiorentino]], c. 1523-1524]]
[[Strabo]], a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher, in his ''[[Geographica]]'' (c.&nbsp;24&nbsp;CE), wrote in detail about Moses, whom he considered to be an Egyptian who deplored the situation in his homeland, and thereby attracted many followers who respected the deity. He writes, for example, that Moses opposed the picturing of the deity in the form of man or animal, and was convinced that the deity was an entity which encompassed everything – land and sea:{{Sfn | Shmuel | 1976 | p = 1132}}
{{blockquote|
35. An Egyptian priest named Moses, who possessed a portion of the country called the [[Lower Egypt]], being dissatisfied with the established institutions there, left it and came to Judaea with a large body of people who worshipped the Divinity. He declared and taught that the Egyptians and Africans entertained erroneous sentiments, in representing the Divinity under the likeness of wild beasts and cattle of the field; that the [[Greeks]] also were in error in making images of their gods after the human form. For God [said he] may be this one thing which encompasses us all, land and sea, which we call heaven, or the universe, or the nature of things....

36. By such doctrine Moses persuaded a large body of right-minded persons to accompany him to the place where [[Jerusalem]] now stands.<ref name=Strabo>Strabo. ''The Geography'', [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0239%3Abook%3D16%3Achapter%3D2%3Asection%3D35 16.2.35–36], Translated by H. C. Hamilton and W. Falconer in 1854, pp. 177–78.</ref>}}

In Strabo's writings of the history of [[Judaism]] as he understood it, he describes various stages in its development: from the first stage, including Moses and his direct heirs; to the final stage where "the [[Temple of Jerusalem]] continued to be surrounded by an aura of sanctity". Strabo's "positive and unequivocal appreciation of Moses' personality is among the most sympathetic in all ancient literature."{{Sfn | Shmuel | 1976 | p = 1133}} His portrayal of Moses is said to be similar to the writing of [[Hecataeus of Abdera|Hecataeus]] who "described Moses as a man who excelled in wisdom and courage".{{Sfn | Shmuel | 1976 | p = 1133}}

Egyptologist [[Jan Assmann]] concludes that Strabo was the historian "who came closest to a construction of Moses' religion as [[monotheism|monotheistic]] and as a pronounced counter-religion." It recognized "only one divine being whom no image can represent&nbsp;... [and] the only way to approach this god is to live in virtue and in justice."{{Sfn | Assmann | 1997 | p = 38}}

===Tacitus===
The Roman historian [[Tacitus]] (c. 56–120&nbsp;CE) refers to Moses by noting that the Jewish religion was monotheistic and without a clear image. His primary work, wherein he describes [[Jewish philosophy]], is his ''[[Histories (Tacitus)|Histories]]'' ({{circa|100}}), where, according to 18th-century translator and Irish dramatist [[Arthur Murphy (writer)|Arthur Murphy]], as a result of the Jewish worship of one God, "[[paganism|pagan]] mythology fell into contempt".<ref>Tacitus, Cornelius. ''The works of Cornelius Tacitus: With an essay on his life and genius'' by Arthur Murphy, Thomas Wardle Publ. (1842) p. 499</ref> Tacitus states that, despite various opinions current in his day regarding the Jews' ethnicity, most of his sources are in agreement that there was an Exodus from Egypt. By his account, the Pharaoh [[Bakenranef|Bocchoris]], suffering from a [[Plague (disease)|plague]], banished the Jews in response to an oracle of the god [[Zeus]]-[[Amun]].

{{Blockquote | A motley crowd was thus collected and abandoned in the desert. While all the other outcasts lay idly lamenting, one of them, named Moses, advised them not to look for help to gods or men, since both had deserted them, but to trust rather in themselves, and accept as divine the guidance of the first being, by whose aid they should get out of their present plight.<ref name=Tacitus />}}

In this version, Moses and the Jews wander through the desert for only six days, capturing the [[Holy Land]] on the seventh.<ref name=Tacitus>Tacitus, Cornelius. ''Tacitus, The Histories, Volume 2'', Book V. Chapters 5, 6 p. 208.</ref>

===Longinus===
[[File:The Brazen Serpent.jpg|thumb|Moses lifts up the [[Nehushtan|brass serpent]], curing the Israelites from poisonous snake bites in a painting by [[Benjamin West]].]]
The [[Septuagint]], the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, impressed the pagan author of the famous classical book of literary criticism, ''[[On the Sublime]]'', traditionally attributed to [[Longinus (literature)|Longinus]]. The date of composition is unknown, but it is commonly assigned to the late 1st century C.E.<ref>Henry J. M. Day, [https://books.google.com/books?id=qIkgAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA12 ''Lucan and the Sublime: Power, Representation and Aesthetic Experience,''] Cambridge University Press, 2013 p. 12.</ref>

The writer quotes [[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] in a "style which presents the nature of the deity in a manner suitable to his pure and great being", but he does not mention Moses by name, calling him 'no chance person' ({{lang|grc|οὐχ ὁ τυχὼν ἀνήρ}}) but "the Lawgiver" ({{lang|grc|θεσμοθέτης}}, [[Archon#Ancient Greece|thesmothete]]) of the Jews, a term that puts him on a par with [[Lycurgus of Sparta|Lycurgus]] and [[Minos]].<ref>Louis H. Felkdman, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Kbgf52KNsLQC&pg=PA239 ''Jew and Gentile in the Ancient World: Attitudes and Interactions from Alexander to Justinian''], Princeton University Press 1996 p. 239.</ref> Aside from a reference to [[Cicero]], Moses is the only non-Greek writer quoted in the work; contextually he is put on a par with [[Homer]]{{sfn | Feldman | 1998 | p = 133}} and he is described "with far more admiration than even Greek writers who treated Moses with respect, such as [[Hecataeus of Abdera|Hecataeus]] and [[Strabo]]".{{Sfn | Shmuel | 1976 | p = 1140}}

===Josephus===
In [[Josephus]]' (37 – c.&nbsp;100 CE) ''Antiquities of the Jews'', Moses is mentioned throughout. For example, Book VIII Ch. IV, describes [[Solomon's Temple]], also known as the First Temple, at the time the [[Ark of the Covenant]] was first moved into the newly built temple:

{{blockquote |When [[Solomon|King Solomon]] had finished these works, these large and beautiful buildings, and had laid up his donations in the temple, and all this in the interval of seven years, and had given a demonstration of his riches and alacrity therein; ... he also wrote to the rulers and elders of the Hebrews, and ordered all the people to gather themselves together to Jerusalem, both to see the temple which he had built, and to remove the ark of God into it; and when this invitation of the whole body of the people to come to Jerusalem was everywhere carried abroad, ... The [[Sukkot|Feast of Tabernacles]] happened to fall at the same time, which was kept by the Hebrews as a most holy and most eminent feast. So they carried the ark and the tabernacle which Moses had pitched, and all the vessels that were for ministration to the sacrifices of God, and removed them to the temple. ... Now the ark contained nothing else but those two tables of stone that preserved the ten commandments, which God spake to Moses in Mount Sinai, and which were engraved upon them&nbsp;...<ref>{{Citation | last = Josephus | first = Flavius | title = The works: Comprising the Antiquities of the Jews | others = trans. by William Whiston | year = 1854 | volume = VIII | chapter = IV | pages = 254–55}}.</ref>}}

According to Feldman, Josephus also attaches particular significance to Moses' possession of the "cardinal virtues of wisdom, courage, temperance, and justice". He also includes piety as an added fifth virtue. In addition, he "stresses Moses' willingness to undergo toil and his careful avoidance of bribery. Like [[Plato]]'s [[Philosopher king|philosopher-king]], Moses excels as an educator."{{Sfn | Feldman | 1998 | p = 130}}

===Numenius===
[[Numenius of Apamea|Numenius]], a Greek philosopher who was a native of [[Apamea, Syria|Apamea]], in Syria, wrote during the latter half of the 2nd century&nbsp;CE. Historian Kennieth Guthrie writes that "Numenius is perhaps the only recognized Greek philosopher who explicitly studied Moses, the prophets, and the life of [[Jesus]]".{{Sfn | Guthrie | 1917 | p = 194}} He describes his background:

{{blockquote |Numenius was a man of the world; he was not limited to [[Greco-Roman mysteries|Greek and Egyptian mysteries]], but talked familiarly of the myths of [[Brahmin]]s and [[Magi]]. It is however his knowledge and use of the Hebrew scriptures which distinguished him from other Greek philosophers. He refers to Moses simply as "the prophet", exactly as for him Homer is the poet. Plato is described as a Greek Moses.{{Sfn | Guthrie | 1917 | p = 101}}}}

===Justin Martyr===
The Christian saint and religious philosopher [[Justin Martyr]] (103–165&nbsp;CE) drew the same conclusion as [[Numenius of Apamea|Numenius]], according to other experts. Theologian Paul Blackham notes that Justin considered Moses to be "more trustworthy, profound and truthful because he is ''older'' than the [[Ancient Greek philosophy|Greek philosophers]]."{{Sfn | Blackham | 2005 | p = 39}} He quotes him:

{{blockquote |I will begin, then, with our first prophet and lawgiver, Moses&nbsp;... that you may know that, of all your teachers, whether sages, poets, historians, philosophers, or lawgivers, by far the oldest, as the Greek histories show us, was Moses, who was our first religious teacher.{{Sfn | Blackham | 2005 | p = 39}}}}

==Abrahamic religions==
{{Infobox saint
|name=Moses
|feast_day= September 4, July 20 and April 14 in [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] and [[Catholic Church]]
|venerated_in=[[Christianity]]<br>[[Islam]]<br>[[Judaism]]<br>[[Baháʼí Faith]]<br>[[Druze Faith]]<br>[[Rastafari]]<br>[[Samaritanism]]
|image=MosesStrikingTheRock GREBBER.jpg
|imagesize=230px
|caption=Moses striking the rock, 1630 by [[Pieter de Grebber]]
|birth_place= [[Land of Goshen|Goshen]], [[Lower Egypt]]
|death_place= [[Mount Nebo (Jordan)|Mount Nebo]], [[Moab]]
|titles=Prophet, Saint, Seer, Lawgiver, Apostle to Pharaoh, Reformer, God-seer
|attributes= [[Ten Commandments]] (in Christianity and Judaism)
}}

===Judaism===
{{Main|Moses in rabbinic literature}}
Most of what is known about Moses from the Bible comes from the books of [[book of Exodus|Exodus]], [[Book of Leviticus|Leviticus]], [[book of Numbers|Numbers]], and [[Book of Deuteronomy|Deuteronomy]].{{sfn |Van Seters |2004|p=194}} The majority of scholars consider the compilation of these books to go back to the [[Yehud Medinata|Persian period]], 538–332&nbsp;BCE, but based on earlier written and oral traditions.{{sfn|Finkelstein|Silberman|2001|p=68}}{{sfn|Ska|2009|p=260}} There is a wealth of stories and additional information about Moses in the [[Jewish apocrypha]] and in the genre of [[rabbi]]nical [[exegesis]] known as [[Midrash]], as well as in the primary works of the Jewish [[oral law]], the [[Mishnah]] and the [[Talmud]]. Moses is also given a number of bynames in Jewish tradition. The [[Midrash]] identifies Moses as one of seven biblical personalities who were called by various names.<ref>Midrash Rabbah, Ki Thissa, XL. 3–3, Lehrman, p. 463</ref>{{clarify|Unclear what this source is|date=May 2022}} Moses' other names were Jekuthiel (by his mother), Heber (by [[Amram|his father]]), Jered (by [[Miriam]]), Avi Zanoah (by Aaron), [[Avigdor (name)|Avi Gedor]] (by [[Kohath]]), Avi Soco (by his wet-nurse), Shemaiah ben Nethanel (by people of Israel).<ref>Yalkut Shimoni, Shemot 166 to Chronicles I 4:18, 24:6; also see Vayikra Rabbah 1:3; Chasidah p. 345</ref> Moses is also attributed the names Toviah (as a first name), and Levi (as a family name) (Vayikra Rabbah 1:3), Heman,<ref>Rashi to Bava Batra 15s, Chasidah p. 345</ref> Mechoqeiq (lawgiver),<ref>Bava Batra 15a on Deuteronomy 33:21, Chasidah p. 345</ref> and Ehl Gav Ish (Numbers 12:3).<ref>Rashi to Berachot 54a, Chasidah p. 345</ref> In another [[exegesis]], Moses had ascended to the first heaven until the [[Seven Heavens|seventh]], even visited [[Paradise]] and [[Hell]] alive, after he saw the [[burning bush|divine vision]] in Mount Horeb.<ref name="Ginzberg 1909">{{cite book |last=Ginzberg |first=Louis |year=1909 |url=http://www.swartzentrover.com/cotor/e-books/misc/Legends/Legends%20of%20the%20Jews.pdf |title=The Legends of the Jews |volume=II: The Ascension of Moses; Moses Visits Paradise and Hell |translator-first=Henrietta |translator-last=Szold |location=Philadelphia |publisher=Jewish Publication Society}}</ref>

Jewish historians who lived at [[Alexandria]], such as [[Eupolemus]], attributed to Moses the feat of having taught the [[Phoenicia]]ns [[Phoenician alphabet|their alphabet]],<ref>[[Eusebius]], ''[[Praeparatio evangelica]]'' ix. 26</ref> similar to legends of [[Thoth]]. [[Artapanus of Alexandria]] explicitly identified Moses not only with Thoth/[[Hermes]], but also with the Greek figure [[Musaeus of Athens|Musaeus]] (whom he called "the teacher of [[Orpheus]]") and ascribed to him the division of Egypt into 36 districts, each with its own liturgy. He named the princess who adopted Moses as Merris, wife of Pharaoh Chenephres.<ref>Eusebius, l.c. ix. 27</ref>

Jewish tradition considers Moses to be the greatest prophet who ever lived.<ref name="Ginzberg 1909"/><ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.jewfaq.org/moshe.htm |title= Judaism 101: Moses, Aaron and Miriam |website=Jew FAQ |access-date= 2010-03-02}}</ref> Despite his importance, Judaism stresses that Moses was a human being, and is therefore not to be worshipped.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}} Only God is worthy of worship in Judaism.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

To [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jews]], Moses is called ''Moshe Rabbenu, 'Eved HaShem, Avi haNeviim zya"a'': "Our Leader Moshe, Servant of God, Father of all the Prophets (may his merit shield us, amen)". In the orthodox view, Moses received not only the Torah, but also the revealed (written and oral) and the hidden (the ''{{'}}hokhmat nistar'') teachings, which gave Judaism the [[Zohar]] of the [[Shimon bar Yochai|Rashbi]], the Torah of the [[Isaac Luria|Ari haQadosh]] and all that is discussed in the Heavenly Yeshiva between the [[Moshe Chaim Luzzatto|Ramhal]] and his masters.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

Arising in part from his age of death (120 years, according to Deuteronomy 34:7) and that "his eye had not dimmed, and his vigor had not diminished", the phrase "[[Live until 120|may you live to 120]]" has become a common blessing among Jews (120 is stated as the maximum age for all of [[Noah]]'s descendants in Genesis 6:3).

===Christianity===
[[File:The-Transfiguration-1480-xx-Giovanni-Bellini.JPG|thumb|upright=1.15|[[Transfiguration of Christ (Bellini)|Moses, to the left of Jesus]], at the [[Transfiguration of Jesus]], by [[Giovanni Bellini]], {{circa|1480}}]]
Moses is mentioned more often in the [[New Testament]] than any other [[Old Testament]] figure. For [[Christianity|Christians]], Moses is often a symbol of [[Divine law|God's law]], as reinforced and [[Expounding of the Law|expounded on]] in the teachings of [[Jesus]]. New Testament writers often compared Jesus' words and deeds with Moses' to explain Jesus' mission. In [[Acts of the Apostles|Acts]] 7:39–43, 51–53, for example, the rejection of Moses by the Jews who worshipped the [[golden calf]] is likened to the rejection of Jesus by the Jews that continued in traditional Judaism.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Acts |series=IVP New Testament Commentary Series|last=Larkin|first=William J.|publisher=Intervarsity Press Academic|year=1995|isbn=978-0-8308-1805-1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+7&version=NIV|title=Bible Gateway passage: Acts 7 – New International Version|website=Bible Gateway|access-date=2017-01-08}}</ref>

Moses also figures in several of Jesus' messages. When he met the [[Pharisees|Pharisee]] [[Nicodemus]] at night in the third chapter of the [[Gospel of John]], he compared Moses' lifting up of the [[Nehushtan|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 Discourse|bread of life]]", Jesus stated that he was provided to feed God's people.<ref>{{cite web |title=John 6:35 (KJV) |url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+6%3A35&version=KJV |website=www.biblegateway.com |access-date=4 January 2020 |quote=And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.}}</ref>

Moses, along with [[Elijah]], is presented as meeting with Jesus in all three [[Synoptic Gospels]] of the [[Transfiguration of Jesus]] in [[Matthew 17]], [[Mark 9]], and [[Luke 9]]. In [[Matthew 23]], in what is the first attested use of a phrase referring to this rabbinical usage (the Graeco-Aramaic {{lang|he|קתדרא דמשה}}), Jesus refers to the scribes and the Pharisees, in a passage critical of them, as having seated themselves "on the chair of Moses" ({{lang-gr|Ἐπὶ τῆς Μωϋσέως καθέδρας }}, ''epì tēs Mōüséōs kathédras'')<ref>{{bibleverse||Matthew|23:2|HCSB}}</ref><ref name="Tomson2019">{{cite book|first=Peter J.|last=Tomson|title=Studies on Jews and Christians in the First and Second Centuries|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z1mHDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA501|date=11 February 2019|publisher=Mohr Siebeck|isbn=978-3-16-154619-8|page=517}}</ref>

His relevance to modern Christianity has not diminished. Moses is considered to be a [[saint]] by several churches; and is commemorated as a prophet in the respective [[Calendar of saints|Calendars of Saints]] of the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], the [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic Church]], and the [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] churches on September 4. In [[September 4 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)|Eastern Orthodox liturgics]] for September 4, Moses is commemorated as the "Holy Prophet and God-seer Moses, on Mount Nebo".<ref>Great [[Synaxarium|Synaxaristes]]: {{in lang|el}} ''[http://www.synaxarion.gr/gr/sid/552/sxsaintinfo.aspx Ὁ Προφήτης Μωϋσῆς].'' 4 Σεπτεμβρίου. μεγασ συναξαριστης.</ref><ref>[http://oca.org/saints/lives/2016/09/04/102490-holy-prophet-and-god-seer-moses "Holy Prophet and God-seer Moses"]. ''Lives of the Saints''. OCA.</ref>{{refn|According to the Orthodox [[Menaion]], September 4 was the day that Moses saw the [[Promised Land|Land of Promise]].<ref>"September 4: The Holy God-seer Moses the Prophet and Aaron His Brother". In: ''The Menaion'', Volume 1, The Month of September. Translated from the Greek by the Holy Transfiguration Monastery. Boston, Massachusetts, 2005. p.&nbsp;67.</ref>|group="note"}} The Orthodox Church also commemorates him on the [[Nativity Fast#Sunday of the Forefathers|Sunday of the Forefathers]], two Sundays before the [[Nativity of Jesus|Nativity]].<ref>[http://www.orthodoxengland.org.uk/sermhff.htm ''The Sunday of the Holy Forefathers'']. St John's Orthodox Church, Colchester, Essex, England.</ref> Moses is also commemorated on July 20 with [[Aaron]], [[Elijah|Elias]] (Elijah) and [[Elisha|Eliseus]] (Elisha)<ref>{{Cite web|title=Mojżesz|url=https://deon.pl/imiona-swietych/mojzesz,6365|access-date=2021-09-03|website=DEON.pl|language=pl}}</ref> and on April 14 with all saint [[Sinaia Monastery|Sinai]] monks.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Пророк Моисе́й Боговидец|url=https://azbyka.ru/days/sv-moisej-bogovidec|access-date=2021-09-03|website=azbyka.ru|language=ru}}</ref>

The [[Armenian Apostolic Church]] commemorates him as one of the Holy Forefathers in their [[Calendar of Saints (Armenian Apostolic Church)|Calendar of Saints]] on July 30.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.armenianchurch.org/index.jsp?sid=1&id=1904&pid=33|script-title=hy:Տոնական օրեր|language=hy|website=Armenian Church|access-date=31 August 2017}}</ref>

====Catholicism====
In Catholicism Moses is seen as a [[Typology (theology)|type]] of [[Jesus Christ]]. [[Justus Knecht]] writes:

{{Blockquote|Through Moses God instituted the Old Law, on which account he is called the mediator of the Old Law. As such, Moses was a striking type of Jesus Christ, who instituted the New Law. Moses, as a child, was condemned to death by a [[Herod the Great|cruel king]], and was saved in a wonderful way; Jesus Christ was condemned by Herod, and also wonderfully saved. Moses forsook the king's court so as to help his persecuted brethren; the Son of God left the glory of heaven to save us sinners. Moses prepared himself in the desert for his vocation, freed his people from slavery, and proved his divine mission by great miracles; Jesus Christ proved by still greater miracles that He was the only begotten Son of God. Moses was the advocate of his people; Jesus was our advocate with His Father on the Cross, and is eternally so in heaven. Moses was the law-giver of his people and announced to them the word of God: Jesus Christ is the supreme law-giver, and not only announced God's word, but is Himself the Eternal Word made flesh. Moses was the leader of the people to the [[Promised Land]]: Jesus is our leader on our journey to heaven.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=[[s:A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture/XXXVII. The Golden Calf|XXXVII. The Golden Calf]]|title=A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture|year=1910|publisher=B. Herder|first=Friedrich Justus|last=Knecht|author-link=Justus Knecht}}</ref>}}

====Mormonism====
{{Main|Book of Moses}}
Members of [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (colloquially called [[Mormons]]) generally view Moses in the same way that other Christians do. However, in addition to accepting the biblical account of Moses, Mormons include [[Book of Moses|Selections from the Book of Moses]] as part of their scriptural canon.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Skinner |first=Andrew C. |author-link=Andrew C. Skinner |title=Moses |contribution-url=http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/EoM/id/3959 |pages=958–59 |editor1-last=Ludlow |editor1-first=Daniel H. |editor1-link=Daniel H. Ludlow |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia of Mormonism]] |location=New York |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishing]] |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-02-879602-4 |oclc=24502140}}</ref> This book is believed to be the translated writings of Moses and is included in the [[Pearl of Great Price (Mormonism)|Pearl of Great Price]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Taylor |first=Bruce T. |title=Book of Moses |pages=216–217 |editor1-last=Ludlow |editor1-first=Daniel H |editor1-link=Daniel H. Ludlow |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia of Mormonism]] |location=New York |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishing]] |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-02-879602-4 |oclc=24502140 |contribution-url=http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/EoM/id/5555}}</ref>

Latter-day Saints are also unique in believing that Moses was taken to heaven without having tasted death ([[Translation (LDS Church)|translated]]). In addition, [[Joseph Smith]] and [[Oliver Cowdery]] stated that on April 3, 1836, Moses appeared to them in the [[Kirtland Temple]] (located in [[Kirtland, Ohio]]) in a glorified, immortal, physical form and bestowed upon them the "keys of the gathering of Israel from the four parts of the earth, and the leading of the [[Ten Lost Tribes#Latter-day Saint Movement|ten tribes]] from the land of the north".<ref>The [[Doctrine and Covenants]] [https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/110.11?lang=eng 110:11]</ref>

===Islam===
{{Main|Moses in Islam}}
{{See also|Biblical narratives and the Qur'an#Moses (Mūsā موسى)}}
{{Musa}}
Moses is mentioned more in the [[Quran]] than any other individual and his life is narrated and recounted more than that of any other [[Prophets of Islam|Islamic prophet]].{{Sfn | Keeler | 2005 | pp = 55–66}} Islamically, Moses is described in ways which parallel the Islamic prophet [[Muhammad]].{{Sfn | Keeler | 2005 | pp = 55–56 | ps =, describes Moses from the Muslim perspective:
{{blockquote|Among prophets, Moses has been described as the one "whose career as a messenger of God, lawgiver and leader of his community most closely parallels and foreshadows that of Muhammad", and as "the figure that in the Koran was presented to Muhammad above all others as the supreme model of saviour and ruler of a community, the man chosen to present both knowledge of the one God, and a divinely revealed system of law".  We find him clearly in this role of Muhammad's forebear in a well-known tradition of the miraculous ascension of the Prophet, where Moses advises Muhammad from his own experience as messenger and lawgiver.}}}} Like Muhammad, Moses is defined in the Quran as both prophet (''nabi'') and messenger (''[[Prophets and messengers in Islam|rasul]]''), the latter term indicating that he was one of those prophets who brought a book and law to his people.<ref>{{cite book |last=Azadpur |first=M. |year=2009 |chapter=Charity and the Good Life: On Islamic Prophetic Ethics |title=Crisis, Call, and Leadership in the Abrahamic Traditions |pages=153–167 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=New York}}</ref>{{Sfn | Keeler | 2005 | p = 55}}

[[File:Nabi Musa jerico-Jerusalam.jpg|left|thumb|[[Nabi Musa|Maqam El-Nabi Musa]], [[Jericho]]]]
Most of the key events in Moses' life which are narrated in the Bible are to be found dispersed through the different chapters (''[[suwar]]'') of the Quran, with a story about meeting the Quranic figure [[Khidr]] which is not found in the Bible.{{Sfn | Keeler | 2005 | pp = 55–66}}

In the Moses' story narrated by the Quran, Jochebed is commanded by God to place Moses in a coffin<ref>{{qref|20|39|b=y}}</ref> and cast him on the waters of the Nile, thus abandoning him completely to God's protection.{{Sfn | Keeler | 2005 | pp = 55–66}}<ref>{{qref|28|7|b=y}}</ref> The Pharaoh's wife [[Asiya]], not his daughter, found Moses floating in the waters of the Nile. She convinced the Pharaoh to keep him as their son because they were not blessed with any children.<ref>{{qref|28|9|b=y}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Prophets in the Quran: an introduction to the Quran and Muslim exegesis|last=Wheeler|first=Brannon M.|publisher=Continuum |year=2002|isbn=0-8264-4957-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Noble Women of Faith: Asiya, Mary, Khadija, Fatima|author=Shahada Sharelle Abdul Haqq|edition=illustrated|publisher=Tughra Books|year=2012|isbn=978-1-59784-268-6}}</ref>

The Quran's account emphasizes Moses' mission to invite the Pharaoh to accept God's divine message<ref>{{qref |79|17-19|b=y}}</ref> as well as give salvation to the Israelites.{{Sfn | Keeler | 2005 | pp = 55–66}}<ref>{{qref |20|47-48|b=y}}</ref> According to the Quran, Moses encourages the Israelites to enter Canaan, but they are unwilling to fight the Canaanites, fearing certain defeat. Moses responds by pleading to Allah that he and his brother Aaron be separated from the rebellious Israelites, after which the Israelites are made to wander for 40 years.<ref>{{qref|5|20|b=y}}</ref>

One of the [[hadith]], or traditional narratives about Muhammad's life, describes a meeting in heaven between Moses and Muhammad, which resulted in Muslims observing [[Salah|5 daily prayers]].<ref>{{Href|bukhari|7517|b=y}}</ref> [[Huston Smith]] says this was "one of the crucial events in Muhammad's life".<ref>{{Citation | last = Smith | first = Huston | author-link = Huston Smith | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=eDMIwLHwKOcC | title = The World's Religions | publisher = Harper Collins | year = 1991 | page = 245| isbn = 978-0-06-250811-9 }}.</ref>

According to some Islamic tradition, Moses is buried at [[Nabi Musa|Maqam El-Nabi Musa]], near [[Jericho]].<ref>{{cite book |title= Primitive Semitic Religion Today |author= Samuel Curtiss |year= 2005 |publisher= Kessinger |isbn=1-4179-7346-3 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=qMTRCuk3gD0C&q=%22nebi+musa%22 |pages= 163–4}}</ref>

===Baháʼí Faith===
Moses is one of the most important of God's messengers in the [[Baháʼí Faith]], being designated a [[Manifestation of God (Baháʼí Faith)|Manifestation of God]].<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.bahai.org/beliefs/god-his-creation | title = God and His Creation | publisher = Baháʼí International Community}}</ref> An epithet of Moses in Baháʼí scriptures is the "One Who Conversed with God".<ref>{{Cite book|title = Epistle to the Son of the Wolf|author = Bahá'u'lláh|publisher = Baháʼí Publishing Trust|year = 1988|isbn = 978-0-87743-048-3|location = Wilmette, Illinois|page = 104|url = https://www.bahai.org/r/952445237}}</ref>

According to the Baháʼí Faith, [[Bahá'u'lláh]], the founder of the faith, is the one who spoke to Moses from the [[burning bush]].<ref>{{cite letter |author=Universal House of Justice: Department of the Secretariat |recipient=[An Individual]|subject=Issues raised within letter|language=en|date=15 October 1992 |url=https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/the-universal-house-of-justice/messages/19921015_001/1#202319491 |access-date= 10 June 2019}}</ref>

[[ʻAbdu'l-Bahá]] has highlighted the fact that Moses, like [[Abraham]], had none of the makings of a [[Great Man theory|great man of history]], but through God's assistance he was able to achieve many great things. He is described as having been "for a long time a shepherd in the wilderness", of having had a [[Stuttering|stammer]], and of being "much hated and detested" by Pharaoh and the ancient Egyptians of his time. He is said to have been raised in an oppressive household, and to have been known, in Egypt, as a man who had committed murder – though he had done so in order to prevent an act of cruelty.<ref name="Answered Questions">{{Cite book|title = Some Answered Questions|author = ʻAbdu'l-Bahá |author-link=ʻAbdu'l-Bahá |translator-last=Barney |translator-first = Laura Clifford |publisher = Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Ltd. |year = 1908|location = London |pages = 17–18 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.21877/page/n35/mode/2up}}</ref>

Nevertheless, like Abraham, through the assistance of God, he achieved great things and gained renown even beyond the [[Levant]]. Chief among these achievements was the freeing of his people, the Hebrews, from bondage in Egypt and leading "them to the Holy Land". He is viewed as the one who bestowed on Israel "the religious and the civil law" which gave them "honour among all nations",<!--"By virtue of that which He established, they so progressed as to be singled outamong [sic]  all  nations" which is essentially what the direct quote is saying but not exactly, so consider rewording.--> and which spread their fame to different parts of the world.<ref name="Answered Questions"/>

Furthermore, through the law, Moses is believed to have led the Hebrews "to the highest possible degree of [[civilization]] at that period".<!-- This is in the source.--> 'Abdul'l-Bahá asserts that the ancient Greek philosophers regarded "the illustrious men of Israel as models of perfection". Chief among these philosophers, he says, was [[Socrates]] who "visited Syria, and took from the children of Israel the teachings of the Unity of God and of the immortality of the soul".<ref name="Answered Questions"/>

Moses is further seen as paving the way for [[Bahá'u'lláh]] and his ultimate revelation, and as a teacher of truth, whose teachings were in line with the customs of his time.<ref>{{Citation | title = The Baháʼí: The Religious Construction of a Global Identity | page = 246 | first = Michael | last = McMullen | year = 2000}}.</ref>

=== Druze faith ===
Moses is considered an important prophet of God in the [[Druze faith]], being among the seven prophets who appeared in different periods of history.<ref name="Hitti 1928 37">{{cite book|title=The Origins of the Druze People and Religion: With Extracts from Their Sacred Writings| first= Philip K.|last= Hitti|year= 1928| isbn= 9781465546623| page =37 |publisher=Library of Alexandria}}</ref><ref name="Dana 2008 17">{{cite book|title=The Druze in the Middle East: Their Faith, Leadership, Identity and Status| first= Nissim |last= Dana|year= 2008| isbn= 9781903900369| page =17 |publisher=Michigan University press}}</ref>

==Legacy in politics and law==
{{globalize|date=May 2018}}
[[File:Moses LOC.jpg|thumb|Statue of Moses at the [[Library of Congress]]]]
In a metaphorical sense in the Christian tradition, a "Moses" has been referred to as the leader who delivers the people from a terrible situation. Among the [[List of Presidents of the United States|Presidents of the United States]] known to have used the symbolism of Moses were [[Harry S. Truman]], [[Jimmy Carter]], [[Ronald Reagan]], [[Bill Clinton]], [[George W. Bush]] and [[Barack Obama]], who referred to his supporters as "the Moses generation".<ref>{{cite book | last = Ifil | first = Gwen | title = The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama | publisher = Random House | year = 2009 | page = 58}}</ref>

In subsequent years, theologians linked the Ten Commandments with the formation of early [[democracy]]. Scottish theologian [[William Barclay (theologian)|William Barclay]] described them as "the universal foundation of all things&nbsp;... the law without which [[nation]]hood is impossible. ... Our society is founded upon it."<ref>{{cite book | last = Barclay | first = William | title = The Ten Commandments | publisher = Westminster John Knox Press | orig-year = 1973 | year = 1998 | page = 4}}</ref> [[Pope Francis]] addressed the [[United States Congress]] in 2015 stating that all people need to "keep alive their sense of unity by means of just legislation&nbsp;... [and] the figure of Moses leads us directly to God and thus to the transcendent dignity of the human being".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.vox.com/2015/9/24/9391549/pope-remarks-full-text |title=Pope Francis addresses Congress |first=Jonathan |last=Allen |work=Vox |date=September 24, 2015 |access-date=May 5, 2022}}</ref>

===In United States history===

====Pilgrims====
[[File:Embarkation of the Pilgrims.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|left|Pilgrims [[John Carver (Mayflower passenger)|John Carver]], [[William Bradford (Plymouth Colony governor)|William Bradford]], and [[Miles Standish]], at prayer during their voyage to North America. 1844 painting by [[Robert Walter Weir]]]]
References to Moses were used by the [[Puritans]], who relied on the story of Moses to give meaning and hope to the lives of [[Pilgrim Fathers|Pilgrims]] seeking [[Freedom of religion|religious]] and [[Civil liberties|personal freedom]] in North America. [[John Carver (Plymouth Colony governor)|John Carver]] was the first governor of [[Plymouth colony]] and first signer of the [[Mayflower Compact]], which he wrote in 1620 during the ship ''[[Mayflower]]'''s three-month voyage. He inspired the Pilgrims with a "sense of earthly grandeur and divine purpose", notes historian [[Jon Meacham]],{{Sfn | Meacham | 2006 | p = 40}} and was called the "Moses of the Pilgrims".<ref>{{Citation | last = Talbot | first = Archie Lee | title = A New Plymouth Colony at Kennebeck | place = Brunswick | year = 1930 | url = http://catalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&BBID=7810528&v3=1 | publisher = Library of Congress}}.</ref> Early American writer [[James Russell Lowell]] noted the similarity of the founding of America by the Pilgrims to that of [[History of ancient Israel and Judah|ancient Israel]] by Moses:

{{blockquote |Next to the fugitives whom Moses led out of Egypt, the little shipload of outcasts who landed at Plymouth are destined to influence the future of the world. The spiritual thirst of mankind has for ages been quenched at Hebrew fountains; but the embodiment in human institutions of truths uttered by the [[Son of man|Son of Man]] eighteen centuries ago was to be mainly the work of Puritan thought and Puritan self-devotion. ... If their municipal regulations smack somewhat of Judaism, yet there can be no nobler aim or more practical wisdom than theirs; for it was to make the law of man a living counterpart of the law of God, in their highest conception of it.<ref name= Lowell>{{Citation | last = Lowell | first = James Russell | title = The Round Table | publisher = Gorham Press | place = Boston | year = 1913 | pages = 217–18}}</ref>}}

Following Carver's death the following year, [[William Bradford (Plymouth Colony governor)|William Bradford]] was made governor. He feared that the remaining Pilgrims would not survive the hardships of the new land, with half their people having already died within months of arriving. Bradford evoked the symbol of Moses to the weakened and desperate Pilgrims to help calm them and give them hope: "Violence will break all. Where is the meek and humble spirit of Moses?"<ref>{{cite book | last = Arber | first = Edward | title = The Story of the Pilgrim Fathers | publisher = Houghton Mifflin | year = 1897 | page = 345}}</ref> [[William G. Dever]] explains the attitude of the Pilgrims: "We considered ourselves the 'New Israel', particularly we in America. And for that reason, we knew who we were, what we believed in and valued, and what our '[[manifest destiny]]' was."{{Sfn | Dever | 2006 | pp = ix, 234}}<ref>{{cite book | quote = [The pilgrims were clearly] animated by the true spirit of the Hebrew prophets and law-givers. They walked by the light of the [[Religious text|Scriptures]], and were resolved to form a Commonwealth in accordance with the social laws and ideas of the [[Bible]]. ... they were themselves the true descendants of Israel, spiritual children of the prophets. | last = Moses | first = Adolph | title = Yahvism and Other Discourses | publisher = Louisville Council of Jewish Women | year = 1903 | page = 93}}</ref>

====Founding Fathers of the United States====
[[File:FirstCommitteeGreatSealReverseLossingDrawing.jpg|thumb|First proposed seal of the United States, 1776]]

On July 4, 1776, immediately after the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]] was officially passed, the [[Continental Congress]] asked [[John Adams]], [[Thomas Jefferson]], and [[Benjamin Franklin]] to design a seal that would clearly represent a symbol for the new United States. They chose the symbol of Moses leading the Israelites to freedom.{{Sfn | Feiler | 2009 | p = 35}}

After the death of [[George Washington]] in 1799, two thirds of his eulogies referred to him as "America's Moses", with one orator saying that "Washington has been the same to us as Moses was to the Children of Israel."{{Sfn | Feiler | 2009 | p = 102}}

Benjamin Franklin, in 1788, saw the difficulties that some of the newly independent [[U.S. state|American states]] were having in forming a government, and proposed that until a new code of laws could be agreed to, they should be governed by "the laws of Moses", as contained in the Old Testament.{{Sfn | Franklin | 1834 |p = 504}} He justified his proposal by explaining that the laws had worked in biblical times: "The [[God|Supreme Being]]&nbsp;... having rescued them from bondage by many miracles, performed by his servant Moses, he personally delivered to that chosen servant, in the presence of the whole nation, a constitution and code of laws for their observance."{{Sfn | Franklin | 1834 | p = 211}}

[[John Adams]], 2nd [[List of Presidents of the United States|President of the United States]], stated why he relied on the laws of Moses over [[Ancient Greek philosophy|Greek philosophy]] for establishing the [[United States Constitution]]: "As much as I love, esteem, and admire the Greeks, I believe the Hebrews have done more to enlighten and civilize the world. Moses did more than all their legislators and philosophers."{{Sfn | Meacham | 2006 | p = 40}} Swedish historian [[Hugo Valentin]] credited Moses as the "first to proclaim the [[Human rights|rights of man]]".<ref name= Shuldiner>{{cite book | last = Shuldiner | first = David Philip | title = Of Moses and Marx | publisher = Greenwood | year = 1999 | page = 35}}.</ref>

====Slavery and civil rights====
[[Underground Railroad]] conductor and [[American Civil War]] veteran [[Harriet Tubman]] was nicknamed "Moses" due to her various missions in freeing and ferrying escaped enslaved persons to freedom in the free states of the [[United States]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Clinton |first=Catherine |author-link=Catherine Clinton |year=2004 |title=Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom |location=New York |publisher=Little, Brown and Company |isbn=0-316-14492-4 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/harriettubmanroa00clin }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | first1 = Joyce Stokes | last1 = Jones | first2 = Michele Jones | last2 = Galvin | title = Beyond the Underground: Aunt Harriet, Moses of Her People | year = 1999–2012 | publisher = Sankofa Media | isbn = 9780989575508 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=2-asngEACAAJ}}</ref>

Historian Gladys L. Knight describes how leaders who emerged during and after the period in which [[slavery in the United States|slavery]] was legal often personified the Moses symbol. "The symbol of Moses was empowering in that it served to amplify a need for freedom."<ref>{{cite book |last=Knight |first=Gladys L. |title=Icons of African American Protest |volume=I |publisher=Greenwood |year=2009 |page=183}}</ref> Therefore, when [[Abraham Lincoln]] was [[Assassination of Abraham Lincoln|assassinated in 1865]] after the passage of the [[Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|amendment to the Constitution outlawing slavery]], [[African Americans|Black Americans]] said they had lost "their Moses".<ref>{{cite book| first =Martha | last = Hodes|title=Mourning Lincoln|url= https://archive.org/details/mourninglincoln0000hode | url-access =registration |year=2015 |publisher=Yale University Press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/mourninglincoln0000hode/page/164 164], 237| isbn = 978-0-300-21356-0}}</ref> Lincoln biographer [[Charles Carleton Coffin]] writes, "The millions whom Abraham Lincoln delivered from slavery will ever liken him to Moses, the deliverer of Israel."<ref>{{cite book | last = Coffin | first = Charles Carleton | title = Abraham Lincoln | publisher = Ulan Press | type = reprint | orig-year = 1893 | year = 2012 | page = 534}}</ref>

In the 1960s, a leading figure in the [[civil rights movement]] was [[Martin Luther King Jr.]], who was called "a modern Moses", and often referred to Moses in his speeches: "The struggle of Moses, the struggle of his devoted followers as they sought to get out of Egypt. This is something of the story of every people struggling for freedom."<ref>{{cite book | orig-year = 1957, 1968 | quote =I want to preach this morning from the subject, 'The Birth of a New Nation'  And I would like to use as a basis for our thinking together, a story that has long since been stenciled on the mental sheets of succeeding generations. It is the story of the Exodus, the story of the flight of the Hebrew people from the bondage of Egypt, through the wilderness and finally, to the Promised Land. ... The struggle of Moses, the struggle of his devoted followers as they sought to get out of Egypt.<p>And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land.</p> | last = King | first = Martin Luther Jr. | title = The Papers | publisher = University of California Press | year = 2000 | page = 155}}</ref>

==Cultural portrayals and references==
===Art===
[[File:'Moses' by Michelangelo JBU160.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Moses (Michelangelo)|Moses]]'', [[Horns of Moses|with horns]], by [[Michelangelo]], 1513–1515, [[San Pietro in Vincoli]], Rome]]
Moses often appears in Christian art, and the Pope's private chapel, the [[Sistine Chapel]], has a [[Sistine Chapel#Southern wall|large sequence of six fresco]]s of the ''life of Moses'' on the southern wall, opposite a set with the ''[[Life of Christ in art|Life of Christ]]''. They were painted in 1481–82 by a group of mostly Florentine artists including [[Sandro Botticelli]] and [[Pietro Perugino]].

Because of an ambiguity in the Hebrew word קֶרֶן (keren) meaning both horn and ray or beam, in [[Jerome]]'s [[Latin Vulgate]] translation of the Bible Moses' face is described as {{lang|la|cornutam}} ("horned") when descending from Mount Sinai with the tablets, Moses is usually shown in Western art until the Renaissance [[Horns of Moses|with small horns]], which at least served as a convenient identifying attribute.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hall |first=James |title=Hall's Dictionary of Subjects and Symbols in Art |page=213 |year=1996 |edition=2nd |publisher=John Murray |isbn=0-7195-4147-6}}</ref> In at least some of these depictions, an antisemitic meaning is likely to have been intended,<ref>{{cite book|first1=Ruth |last1=Mellinkoff |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=44DCt8_1QCAC |title=The Horned Moses in Medieval Art and Thought |series=California Studies in the History of Art |volume=14 |publisher=University of California Press |date=1970 |isbn=0520017056|pages=136–7}}</ref> for example on the [[Hereford Mappa Mundi]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Strickland |first1=Debra Higgs |title=Edward I, Exodus, and England on the Hereford World Map |journal=[[Speculum (journal)|Speculum]]|url=https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/130830/1/130830.pdf |date=2018 |volume=93 |issue=2 |doi=10.1086/696540|pages=436–7}}</ref>

With the prophet [[Elijah]], he is a necessary figure in the [[Transfiguration of Jesus in Christian art]], a subject with a long history in Eastern Orthodox art. It appears in the art of the Western Church from the 10th century, and was especially popular between about 1475 and 1535.<ref>{{cite book |last=Schiller |first=Gertud |title=Iconography of Christian Art |volume=I |pages=146–152 |year=1971 |publisher=Lund Humphries |location=London |isbn=0-85331-270-2}}</ref>

====Michelangelo's statue====
{{main|Moses (Michelangelo)}}
[[Michelangelo]]'s [[Moses (Michelangelo)|statue of Moses]] (1513–1515), in the Church of [[San Pietro in Vincoli]], [[Rome]], is one of the most familiar statues in the world. The horns the sculptor included on Moses' head are the result of a mistranslation of the Hebrew Bible into the Latin [[Vulgate|Vulgate Bible]] with which Michelangelo was familiar. The Hebrew word taken from ''Exodus'' means either a "horn" or an "irradiation". Experts at the [[Archaeological Institute of America]] show that the term was used when Moses "returned to his people after seeing as much of the Glory of the Lord as human eye could stand", and his face "reflected radiance".<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=MacLean |editor-first=Margaret |title=Art and Archaeology |volume=VI |publisher=Archaeological Institute of America |year=1917 |page=97}}</ref> In early [[Jewish culture#Visual arts and architecture|Jewish art]], moreover, Moses is often "shown with rays coming out of his head".<ref>{{cite book |last= Devore |first= Gary M. |title=Walking Tours of Ancient Rome: A Secular Guidebook to the Eternal City | publisher=Mercury Guides |year=2008 |page=126 |isbn= 978-0-615-19497-4}}</ref>

====Depiction on U.S. government buildings====
[[File:Moses bas-relief in the U.S. House of Representatives chamber.jpg|thumb|Sculpture in the [[U.S. House of Representatives]]]]
Moses is depicted in several U.S. government buildings because of his legacy as a lawgiver. In the [[Library of Congress]] stands a large statue of Moses alongside a statue of [[Paul the Apostle]]. Moses is one of the twenty-three lawgivers depicted in [[marble]] [[bas-relief]]s in the [[United States Capitol#House Chamber|chamber]] of the [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]] in the [[United States Capitol]]. The plaque's overview states: "Moses (c.&nbsp;1350–1250&nbsp;B.C.) Hebrew prophet and lawgiver; transformed a wandering people into a nation; received the Ten Commandments."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aoc.gov/capitol-hill/relief-portrait-plaques-lawgivers/moses |title=Moses, Relief Portrait |publisher=Architect of the Capitol |access-date=May 5, 2022}}</ref>

The other 22 figures have their profiles turned to Moses, which is the only forward-facing bas-relief.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aoc.gov/cc/art/lawgivers/moses.cfm |title=Relief Portraits of Lawgivers: Moses |publisher=Architect of the Capitol |date=2009-02-13 |access-date=2010-03-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100302060556/http://www.aoc.gov/cc/art/lawgivers/moses.cfm |archive-date=2010-03-02 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = Courtroom Friezes: North and South Walls: Information Sheet | publisher = Supreme Court of the United States | url = https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/north%26southwalls.pdf | access-date = 2015-09-29 | archive-date = 2010-06-01 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100601113942/http://www.supremecourt.gov/about/north%26southwalls.pdf | url-status = dead }}.</ref>

Moses appears eight times in carvings that ring the [[United States Supreme Court Building|Supreme Court Great Hall]] ceiling. His face is presented along with other ancient figures such as [[Solomon]], the Greek god [[Zeus]], and the Roman goddess of wisdom, [[Minerva]]. The Supreme Court Building's east pediment depicts Moses holding two tablets. Tablets representing the Ten Commandments can be found carved in the oak courtroom doors, on the support frame of the courtroom's bronze gates, and in the library woodwork. A controversial image is one that sits directly above the [[Chief Justice of the United States]]' head. In the center of the 40-foot-long Spanish marble carving is a tablet displaying [[Roman numerals]] I through X, with some numbers partially hidden.<ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.christianindex.org/1087.article | title = In the Supreme Court itself, Moses and his law on display | newspaper = Religion News Service | publisher = Christian Index | url-status=dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091207024525/http://www.christianindex.org/1087.article | archive-date = 2009-12-07 }}</ref>

===Literature===
* [[Sigmund Freud]], in his last book, ''[[Moses and Monotheism]]'' in 1939, postulated that Moses was an Egyptian nobleman who adhered to the [[monotheism]] of [[Akhenaten]]. Following a theory proposed by a contemporary [[Biblical criticism|biblical critic]], Freud believed that Moses was murdered in the wilderness, producing a collective sense of [[Patricide|patricidal]] guilt that has been at the heart of Judaism ever since. "Judaism had been a religion of the father, Christianity became a religion of the son", he wrote. The possible Egyptian origin of Moses and of his message has received significant scholarly attention.{{Sfn | Assmann | 1997}}{{Page needed |date=September 2015}}<ref>{{cite book | first = Y. | last = Yerushalmi | type = monograph | title = Freud's Moses}}</ref>{{full citation needed|reason=publisher? date?|date=May 2022}} Opponents of this view observe that the religion of the Torah seems different from [[Atenism]] in everything except the central feature of devotion to a single god,<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.atenism.org/ |publisher= Atenism |title= Order of the Aten Temple |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060901060412/http://atenism.org/ |archive-date= 2006-09-01 }}</ref> although this has been countered by a variety of arguments, e.g. pointing out the similarities between the [[Great Hymn to the Aten|Hymn to Aten]] and [[Psalm 104]].{{Sfn | Assmann | 1997}}{{Page needed |date=September 2015}}<ref>{{cite journal |first=James E. |last=Atwell |title= An Egyptian Source for Genesis 1 |journal=[[Journal of Theological Studies]] |year=2000 |volume=51 |issue= 2 |pages= 441–77 |doi=10.1093/jts/51.2.441 }}</ref> Freud's interpretation of the historical Moses is not well accepted among [[historian]]s, and is considered [[pseudohistory]] by many.<ref>{{cite book |title=Freud and the Legacy of Moses |author-link=Richard J. Bernstein |first=Richard J. |last=Bernstein |location=New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-521-63096-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/freudlegacyofmos00bern }}</ref>{{Page needed |date=September 2015}}
* [[Thomas Mann]]'s novella ''[[The Tables of the Law]]'' (1944) is a retelling of the story of the Exodus from Egypt, with Moses as its main character.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ch0SyirgZDgC&q=%22The+Tables+of+the+Law+depicts%22|title=Rewriting Moses: The Narrative Eclipse of the Text|first=Brian|last=Britt|year=2004|page=28|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|via=Google Books|isbn=978-0-567-38116-3}}</ref>
* [[W. G. Hardy]]'s novel ''All the Trumpets Sounded'' (1942) tells a fictionalized life of Moses.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1942/07/26/archives/moses-reconstructed-all-the-trumpets-sounded-by-wg-hardy-501-pp-new.html|title=Moses Reconstructed; All the Trumpets Sounded. By W. G. Hardy |last=Cournos |first=John |date=July 26, 1942 |work=The New York Times |access-date=2019-12-22}}</ref>
*[[Orson Scott Card]]'s novel ''[[Stone Tables]]'' (1997) is a novelization of the life of Moses.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Books By Orson Scott Card – Stone Tables|url=http://www.hatrack.com/osc/books/stonetables.shtml|access-date=2021-03-23|website=Hatrack}}</ref>

===Film and television===
[[File:Charlton Heston in The Ten Commandments film trailer.jpg|thumb|[[Charlton Heston]] in ''[[The Ten Commandments (1956 film)|The Ten Commandments]]'', 1956]]
* Moses was portrayed by [[Theodore Roberts]] in [[Cecil B. DeMille]]'s 1923 [[silent film]] ''[[The Ten Commandments (1923 film)|The Ten Commandments]]''. Moses also appeared as the central character in the 1956 remake, also directed by DeMille and called ''[[The Ten Commandments (1956 film)|The Ten Commandments]]'', in which he was portrayed by [[Charlton Heston]], who had a noted resemblance to Michelangelo's statue. A [[The Ten Commandments (miniseries)|television remake]] was produced in 2006.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/09/AR2006040901298.html | newspaper=The Washington Post | title='The Ten Commandments': Exodus Comes to ABC | first=Tom | last=Shales | date=April 10, 2006 | accessdate=May 25, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Ross |first1=Steven J. |title=Hollywood Left and Right: How Movie Stars Shaped American Politics |date=1 August 2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-972048-4 |page=277 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-OHQCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA277 |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Burt Lancaster]] played ''Moses'' in the 1975 television [[miniseries]] ''[[Moses the Lawgiver]]''.<!-- see article for sources. IMDb is not reliable -->
* In the 1981 [[comedy film]] ''[[History of the World, Part I]]'', Moses was portrayed by [[Mel Brooks]].<!-- see article for sources. IMDb is not reliable -->
*In 1995, Sir [[Ben Kingsley]] portrayed Moses in the 1995 TV film [[Moses (miniseries)|''Moses'']], produced by British and Italian production companies.
* Moses appeared as the central character in the 1998 [[DreamWorks Pictures]] animated film ''[[The Prince of Egypt]]''. His speaking voice was provided by [[Val Kilmer]], with American gospel singer and tenor [[Amick Byram]] providing his singing voice.
* [[Ben Kingsley]] was the narrator of the 2007 animated film ''[[The Ten Commandments (2007 film)|The Ten Commandments]]''.<!-- see article for sources. IMDb is not reliable -->
* In the 2009 [[miniseries]] ''[[Battles BC]]'', Moses was portrayed by [[Cazzey Louis Cereghino]].<!-- see article for sources. IMDb is not reliable -->
* In the 2013 television miniseries ''[[The Bible (miniseries)|The Bible]]'', Moses was portrayed by [[William Houston (actor)|William Houston]].<!-- see article for sources. IMDb is not reliable -->
* In [[Seder-Masochism]], the 2018 animated film by [[Nina Paley]], Moses appears as one of the key characters in the reinterpretation the [[Book of Exodus]].<ref>{{Citation |title=Seder-Masochism (2018) - Plot - IMDb |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8328612/plotsummary/ |access-date=2023-12-21 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-07-14 |title=Seder-Masochism – A new animated feature from the creator of Sita Sings the Blues |url=https://sedermasochism.com/ |access-date=2023-12-21 |language=en-US}}</ref>
* [[Christian Bale]] portrayed Moses in [[Ridley Scott]]'s 2014 film ''[[Exodus: Gods and Kings]]''<!-- see article for sources. IMDb is not reliable --> which portrayed Moses and [[Rameses II]] as being raised by [[Seti I]] as cousins.<!-- see article for sources. IMDb is not reliable -->
* The 2016 Brazilian Biblical telenovela ''[[Os Dez Mandamentos]]'' features Brazilian actor [[Guilherme Winter]] portraying Moses.

==Criticism of Moses==
[[File:Tissot The Women of Midian Led Captive by the Hebrews.jpg|thumb|''The Women of Midian Led Captive by the Hebrews,'' [[James Tissot]] {{circa|1900}}]]
In the late eighteenth century, the deist [[Thomas Paine]] commented at length on Moses' Laws in ''[[The Age of Reason]]'' (1794, 1795, and 1807). Paine considered Moses to be a "detestable [[villain]]", and cited [[Numbers 31]] as an example of his "unexampled atrocities".<ref>Paine, Thomas (1796) ''[[The Age of Reason]], part II''.</ref> In the passage, after the Israelite army returned from [[Midian war|conquering Midian]], Moses orders the killing of the Midianites with the exception of the virgin girls who were to be kept for the Israelites.

{{blockquote |Have ye saved all the women alive? behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of [[Balaam]], to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of [[Peor]], and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord. Now, therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known a man by lying with him; but all the women-children, that [[Virginity|have not known a man by lying with him]], keep alive for yourselves.|author=|title=|source=Numbers 31<ref>{{bibleverse ||Numbers|31:13–18|KJV}}</ref>}}

Rabbi Joel Grossman argued that the story is a "powerful [[fable]] of [[lust]] and [[betrayal]]", and that Moses' execution of the women was a symbolic condemnation of those who seek to turn sex and desire to evil purposes.<ref name=":0">Grossman, Joel (2008), [http://libraryminyan.org/divreitorah/Jole%20Grossman%20-%20Matot.htm "Matot"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304101001/http://libraryminyan.org/divreitorah/Jole%20Grossman%20-%20Matot.htm|date=2016-03-04}}. Temple Beth Am Library Minyan.</ref> He says that the Midianite women "used their sexual attractiveness to turn the Israelite men away from [Yahweh] God and toward the worship of Baal Peor [another Canaanite god]".<ref name=":0"/> Rabbi Grossman argues that the genocide of all the Midianite non-virgin women, including those that did not seduce Jewish men, was fair because some of them had sex for "improper reasons".<ref name=":0"/> Alan Levin, an educational specialist with the [[Reform Judaism|Reform]] movement, has similarly suggested that the story should be taken as a [[cautionary tale]], to "warn successive generations of Jews to watch their own idolatrous behavior".<ref>Levin, Alan J. [http://www.myjewishlearning.com/texts/Bible/Weekly_Torah_Portion/mattot_uahc.shtml "Some messages are hard to deliver"]. My Jewish Learning.</ref> [[Moses Sofer|Chasam Sofer]] emphasizes that this war was not fought at Moses' behest, but was commanded by God as an act of revenge against the Midianite women,<ref>{{Citation | url = http://www.ou.org/torah/tt/5763/matmas63/aliya.htm | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20030802230201/http://www.ou.org/torah/tt/5763/matmas63/aliya.htm | url-status=dead | archive-date = 2003-08-02 | title = Aliya-by-Aliya Sedra Summary | series = Torah Tidbits | publisher = OU }}.</ref> who, according to the Biblical account, had seduced the Israelites and led them to sin. Linguist [[Keith Allan (linguist)|Keith Allan]] remarked: "God's work or not, this is military behaviour that would be tabooed today and might lead to a [[war crime]]s trial."<ref>Allan, Keith (2019). ''The Oxford Handbook of Taboo Words and Language''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 15. {{ISBN|9780198808190}}. Retrieved 14 March 2021.</ref>

Moses has also been the subject of much feminist criticism. [[Womanist theology|Womanist Biblical]] scholar [[Nyasha Junior]] has argued that Moses can be the object of feminist inquiry.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sherwood|first=Yvonne|title=The Bible and Feminism: Remapping the Field|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2017|isbn=978-0-19-103419-0|pages=228}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses]]
* [[Table of prophets of Abrahamic religions]]
* [[Tharbis]], according to [[Josephus]], a wife of Moses
* [[Jewish mythology]]
* [[Children of Moses]]
* [[Slavery in ancient Egypt]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group="note"}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
* {{JewishEncyclopedia|article=Moses|url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=830&letter=M}}
* {{Citation | last = Assmann | first = Jan | author-link = Jan Assmann| year = 1997 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=IjUiie30Z9cC | title = Moses the Egyptian: The Memory of Egypt in Western Monotheism | publisher = Harvard University Press | isbn = 978-0-674-58738-0}}.
* {{Citation | last = Blackham | first = Paul | editor-first = Paul Louis | editor-last = Metzger | title = Trinitarian Soundings in Systematic Theology | type = essay | contribution = The Trinity in the Hebrew Scriptures | publisher = Continuum International | year = 2005}}.
* {{Citation |title=Exodus 1-18: A Critical and Exegetical Commentary: Volume 1: Chapters 1-10 |last=Davies |first=Graham I. |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |year=2020 |isbn=978-0-567-68869-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mkzODwAAQBAJ&pg=PA181 |series=International Critical Commentary}}
* {{Citation | last = Dever | first = William G | title = Who Were the Early Israelites, and Where Did They Come From? | publisher = William B. Eerdmans | year = 2006 | orig-year = 2003 | author-mask = 3 | place = Grand Rapids, MI}}
* {{Citation |last = Dozeman |first = Thomas B |title = Commentary on Exodus |publisher = William B Eerdmans |year = 2009 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=fRXjfa6RWPwC&pg=PA81 |isbn = 978-0-8028-2617-6 }}
* {{Citation | last = Droge | first = Arthur J | title = Homer or Moses?: Early Christian Interpretations of the History of Culture | publisher = Mohr Siebeck | year = 1989}}.
* {{Citation | last = Feiler | first = Bruce | title = America's Prophet: Moses and the American Story | publisher = William Morrow | year = 2009}}.
* {{Citation | last = Feldman | first = Louis H | title = Josephus's Interpretation of the Bible | publisher = University of California Press | year = 1998}}.
* {{Citation | last1 =Finkelstein | first1 = Israel | author1-link = Israel Finkelstein | last2 = Silberman | first2 = Neil Asher | author2-link = Neil Asher Silberman | title= The Bible Unearthed | place = New York | publisher = Free Press |year= 2001 |isbn= 978-0-684-86912-4}}.
* {{Citation | last1 = Franklin | first1 = Benjamin | editor-last = Franklin | editor-first = William Temple | title = Memoirs | volume = 2 | publisher = McCarty & Davis | place = Philadelphia | type = ebook | year = 1834}}.
* {{Citation | last = Guthrie | first = Kenneth Sylvan | title = Numenius of Apamea: The Father of Neo-Platonism | publisher = George Bell & Sons | year = 1917}}
* {{Citation | last = Hamilton |first = Victor |title = Exodus: An Exegetical Commentary |publisher = Baker Books |year = 2011 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=vUry0cGNR_IC|isbn = 978-1-4412-4009-5 }}.
* {{Citation | first = Annabel | last = Keeler | contribution = Moses from a Muslim Perspective | editor1-last = Solomon | editor1-first = Norman | editor2-last = Harries | editor2-first = Richard | editor3-last = Winter | editor3-first = Tim | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=9A4JZ8CSJJwC&pg=PA55 | title = Abraham's Children: Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Conversation | publisher = T&T Clark | year = 2005 | pages = 55–66| isbn = 978-0-567-08171-1 }}.
* {{Citation | last = Meacham | first = Jon | title = American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation | publisher = Random House | year = 2006}}.
* {{Cite book|last=Meyers|first=Carol|author-link=Carol Meyers|title=Exodus|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2005|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0QHHITXsyskC&q=Carol+Meyers+Exodus|isbn=978-0-521-00291-2}}
* {{Citation | last = Shmuel | first = Safrai | editor-first = M | editor-last = Stern | title = The Jewish People in the First Century | publisher = Van Gorcum Fortress Press | year = 1976}}
* {{Citation | last = Ska |first = Jean Louis |title = The Exegesis of the Pentateuch: Exegetical Studies and Basic Questions |year = 2009 |publisher = Mohr Siebeck |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=7g4yqsv0S0cC&pg=PA260 |isbn = 978-3-16-149905-0 |pages=30–31, 260}}
* {{Citation | last = Van Seters |first = John |chapter = Moses |editor1-last = Barton |editor1-first = John |title = The Biblical World |publisher = Taylor & Francis |year = 2004 |chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=LtD4Xomh4XgC&pg=PA194|isbn = 978-0-415-35091-4 }}

==Further reading==
{{Refbegin|40em}}
* {{Citation | last = Asch | first = Sholem | author-link = Sholem Asch| year = 1958 | title = Moses | place = New York | publisher = Putnam | isbn = 978-0-7426-9137-7}}.
* Peter Barenboim, [http://www.florentine-society.ru/pdf/Biblical_Roots_of_Separation_of_Powers.pdf "Biblical Roots of Separation of Powers", Moscow, 2005], {{ISBN|5-94381-123-0}},
* {{Citation | last = Barzel | first = Hillel | contribution = Moses: Tragedy and Sublimity | title = Literary Interpretations of Biblical Narratives | editor1-first = Kenneth RR | editor1-last = Gros Louis | editor2-first = James S | editor2-last = Ackerman | editor3-first = Thayer S | editor3-last = Warshaw | pages = 120–40 | place = Nashville | publisher = Abingdon Press | year = 1974 | isbn = 978-0-687-22131-8}}.
* {{Citation | last = Buber | first = Martin | author-link = Martin Buber | year = 1958 | title = Moses: The Revelation and the Covenant | place = New York | publisher = Harper}}.
* {{Citation | author-link = Orson Scott Card | last = Card | first = Orson Scott | title = Stone Tables | publisher = Deseret Book Co | year = 1998 | isbn = 978-1-57345-115-4 | url = https://archive.org/details/stonetablesnovel00card }}.
* {{Citation | last = Chasidah | first = Yishai | contribution = Moses | title = Encyclopedia of Biblical Personalities: Anthologized from the Talmud, Midrash and Rabbinic Writings | pages = 340–99 | place = Brooklyn | publisher = Shaar Press | year = 1994}}.
* {{Citation | last = Cohen | first = Joel | title = Moses: A Memoir | place = Mahwah, NJ | publisher = Paulist Press | year = 2003 | isbn = 978-0-8091-0558-8}}.
* {{Citation | url = https://www.nationalchurchillmuseum.org/blog/winstonwednesdays-moses/ | publisher = National Churchill Museum | last = Churchill | first = Winston | date = November 8, 1931 | title = Moses | newspaper = Sunday Chronicle | at = Thoughts, 205}}.
* {{Citation | author-link = David Daiches | last = Daiches | first = David | title = Moses: The Man and his Vision | place = New York | publisher = Praeger | year = 1975 | isbn = 978-0-275-33740-7 | url = https://archive.org/details/mosesmanhisvisio00daic }}.
* {{Citation | last = Dever | first = William G | title = What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It? |publisher= William B. Eerdmans |year= 2002 |isbn= 978-0-8028-2126-3 | author-link = William G. Dever}}.
* {{Citation | author-link = Howard Fast| last = Fast | first = Howard | title = Moses, Prince of Egypt | place = New York | publisher = Crown | year = 1958}}.
* {{Citation | last1 =Finkelstein | first1 = Israel | author1-mask = 3 | last2 = Silberman | first2 = Neil Asher | author2-mask = 3 | title= The Bible Unearthed | place = New York | publisher = Simon & Schuster |year= 2001b}}.
* {{Citation | last = Freud | first = Sigmund | author-link = Sigmund Freud| year = 1967 | title = Moses and Monotheism | place = New York | publisher = Vintage | isbn = 978-0-394-70014-4}}.
* {{Citation | author = Gregory of Nyssa | author-link = Gregory of Nyssa | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=wAJ6fwFAligC | title = The Life of Moses | others = Transl. Abraham J. Malherbe and Everett Ferguson. Preface by [[John Meyendorff]] | series = The Classics of Western Spirituality | publisher = Paulist Press | year = 1978 | isbn = 978-0-8091-2112-0}}. 208 pp.
* {{Citation | author-link = Marek Halter | last = Halter | first = Marek | title = Zipporah, Wife of Moses | place = New York | publisher = Crown | year = 2005 | isbn = 978-1-4000-5279-0 | url = https://archive.org/details/zipporahwifeofmo00halt_0 }}.
* {{Citation | last = Hoffmeier | first = James K | contribution = Moses and the ''Exodus'' | title = Israel in Egypt: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Exodus Tradition | pages = 135–63 | place = New York | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1996}}.
* {{Citation | author-link = Joseph Holt Ingraham (writer)| last = Ingraham | first = Joseph Holt | title = The Pillar of Fire: Or Israel in Bondage | orig-year = New York: [[A. L. Burt]], 1859 | type = reprint | place = Ann Arbor, MI | publisher = Scholarly Publishing Office, University of Michigan Library | year = 2006 | isbn = 978-1-4255-6491-9}}.
* [[Jonathan Kirsch|Kirsch, Jonathan]]. ''Moses: A Life.'' New York: Ballantine, 1998. {{ISBN|0-345-41269-9}}.
* Kohn, Rebecca. ''Seven Days to the Sea: An Epic Novel of the Exodus''. New York: Rugged Land, 2006. {{ISBN|1-59071-049-5}}.
* {{Citation | others = Lehman, S.M. (translator) | editor-last = Freedman | editor-first = H | title = Midrash Rabbah | type = 10 volumes | publisher = The Soncino Press | place = London | year = 1983}}.
* {{Citation | author-link = Thomas Mann| last = Mann | first = Thomas | contribution = Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me | title = The Ten Commandments | pages = 3–70 | place = New York | publisher = Simon & Schuster | year = 1943}}.
* {{Citation | last = Salibi | first = Kamal | title = The Bible Came from Arabia | place = London | work = Jonathan Cape | year = 1985}}.
* {{Citation | last = Sandmel | first = Samuel | title = Alone Atop the Mountain | place = Garden City, NY | publisher = Doubleday | year = 1973 | isbn = 978-0-385-03877-5 | url = https://archive.org/details/aloneatopmountai00sand }}.
* {{Citation | last = Van Seters |first = John |title = The Life of Moses: The Yahwist as Historian in Exodus-Numbers |publisher = Peeters Publishers |year = 1994 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=qOOZgbPQlxUC | author-mask = 3 | isbn = 978-90-390-0112-7}}.
* {{Citation | last = Smith | first = Huston | author-link = Huston Smith | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=eDMIwLHwKOcC | title = The World's Religions | publisher = Harper Collins | year = 1991| isbn = 978-0-06-250811-9 }}
* {{Citation | author-link = Arthur Eustace Southon| last = Southon | first = Arthur Eustace | title = On Eagles' Wings | orig-year = London: Cassell & Co., 1937 | type = reprint | place = New York | publisher = McGraw-Hill | year = 1954}}.
* {{Citation | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=yCkRz5pfxz0C | first1 = K. | last1 = van der Toorn | first2 = Bob | last2 = Becking | first3 = Pieter Willem | last3 = van der Horst | title = Dictionary of deities and demons in the Bible| isbn = 978-0-8028-2491-2 | year = 1999 | publisher = Wm. B. Eerdmans }}.
* {{Citation | author-link = Elie Wiesel | last = Wiesel | first = Elie | contribution = Moses: Portrait of a Leader | title = Messengers of God: Biblical Portraits & Legends | pages = [https://archive.org/details/messengersofgodb00wies/page/174 174–210] | place = New York | publisher = Random House | year = 1976 | isbn = 978-0-394-49740-2 | url = https://archive.org/details/messengersofgodb00wies/page/174 }}.
* {{Citation | author-link = Aaron Wildavsky| last = Wildavsky | first = Aaron | title = Moses as Political Leader | place = Jerusalem | publisher = Shalem Press | year = 2005 | isbn = 978-965-7052-31-0}}.
* {{Citation | author-link = Dorothy Clarke Wilson| last = Wilson | first = Dorothy Clarke | title = Prince of Egypt | place = Philadelphia | publisher = [[Westminster John Knox|Westminster Press]] | year = 1949}}.
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{sister project links|d=Q9077|n=no|voy=no|species=no|mw=no|wikt=משה|m=no|q=Moses|b=no|v=no|s=}}
* [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/16B*.html Book XVI, Chapter II] in ''[[Geographica]]'' by [[Strabo]], 1st century, 1932 translation. Moses is mentioned

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{{S-ttl|title=[[Prophet|Lawgiver]]}}
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