Moses: The Prophet Whom Yahweh Knew Face to Face

A Levite of Egypt and the Wilderness

Moses (Hebrew מֹשֶׁה) was a man of the tribe of Levi, son of Amram and Jochebed, brother of Aaron and Miriam, husband of Zipporah, father of Gershom and Eliezer. According to Ussher, Annals of the World (1650), he was born 1571 BC and died 1451 BC (120 years). His era is Egypt and the wilderness. His footprint in Scripture is enormous: 786 verses across 207 passages in thirty-one books, first named at Exodus 2:10 and last in Revelation. Exodus carries 261 of those verses, Numbers 216, Leviticus 80, Joshua 51, Deuteronomy 35. He is the one name that runs from the law through the prophets, the Gospels, Acts, the letters, and into the final book.

"How Shall Pharaoh Listen to Me?"

The man who fills those books did not want the assignment. Exodus 6:26-30 pauses the narrative to identify him twice over: "These are that Aaron and Moses to whom Yahweh said, 'Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their armies.' These are those who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt." Then, in the same breath, comes his objection: "Moses said before Yahweh, 'Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh listen to me?'" The commission and the protest sit side by side in one paragraph. Scripture does not tidy that up.

The same commissioning and confrontation are recorded at Exodus 3:13-15, Exodus 4:18-21, Exodus 4:27-30, Exodus 7:6-8, Exodus 8:29-31 and Exodus 9:10-13.

The Rock in Horeb

At Exodus 17:2-6 the pressure turns on him from below. "Therefore the people quarreled with Moses, and said, 'Give us water to drink.' Moses said to them, 'Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test Yahweh?'" They murmured that he had brought them out of Egypt to kill them and their children and their livestock with thirst. Moses cried to Yahweh: "What shall I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me." The answer sent him ahead of the people with the elders of Israel and with the rod with which he struck the Nile: "Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb. You shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink." The scene ends without drama: "Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel."

Silence Before the Sanctuary

Leviticus 10:3-7 shows him at the hardest kind of duty. "Then Moses said to Aaron, 'This is what Yahweh spoke of, saying, "I will show myself holy to those who come near me, and before all the people I will be glorified."' Aaron held his peace." Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, to carry their brothers from before the sanctuary out of the camp, and they did. He then forbade Aaron and Eleazar and Ithamar to loose their hair or tear their clothes, "so that you don't die, and so that he will not be angry with all the congregation." The chapter closes: "They did according to the word of Moses." He is priest-maker and undertaker in the same hour, and the text gives him no visible emotion at all.

Accused of Killing Yahweh's People

Numbers 16:40-44 records the accusation that followed the judgment on Korah and his company: "But on the next day all the congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and against Aaron, saying, 'You have killed Yahweh's people!'" When the congregation assembled against the two brothers, the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting and Yahweh's glory appeared. Moses and Aaron came to the front of the Tent of Meeting.

Numbers 17:6-12 answers the quarrel with almonds. Moses collected twelve rods, one for each prince according to their fathers' houses, Aaron's among them, and laid them before Yahweh in the Tent of the Testimony. "On the next day, Moses went into the Tent of the Testimony; and behold, Aaron's rod for the house of Levi had sprouted, budded, produced blossoms, and bore ripe almonds." The rod was to be kept "for a token against the children of rebellion; that you may make an end of their complaining against me, that they not die."

Where the Record Shows Him Failing

The quoted texts do not flatter him. He argues with his commission at Exodus 6:30. Under the quarrel at Horeb he tells Yahweh the people are nearly ready to stone him rather than answering them. And the record of his death, Deuteronomy 34:7-10, does not put him in the land. Further scenes bearing on his conduct are listed in the dossier at Numbers 12:1-4, Numbers 20:9-12 and Exodus 32:28-31; their wording is not before us here, so nothing is added to them.

One Hundred Twenty Years

"Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died. His eye was not dim, nor his strength gone. The children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the days of weeping in the mourning for Moses were ended. Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. The children of Israel listened to him, and did as Yahweh commanded Moses. Since then, there has not arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom Yahweh knew face to face" (Deuteronomy 34:7-10). The succession is cited again at Joshua 1:1-3 and Joshua 1:13-15.

What We Are Not Told Here

The dossier flags no unknowns, but the passages quoted here do not describe his burial, and they give no cause of death beyond the fact that his eye was not dim and his strength was not gone. That silence belongs to the text.

The Line to Christ

The New Testament references listed for Moses are many, and they carry the line. He stands in the Gospels at John 1:17, John 1:45, John 3:14, John 5:45-46, John 6:32, John 7:19, John 7:22-23, John 8:5, John 9:28-29, Matthew 8:4, Matthew 17:3-4, Matthew 19:7-8, Matthew 22:24, Matthew 23:2, Mark 1:44, Mark 7:10, Mark 9:4-5, Mark 10:3-4, Mark 12:19, Mark 12:26, Luke 2:22, Luke 5:14, Luke 9:30, Luke 9:33, Luke 16:29, Luke 16:31, Luke 20:28, Luke 20:37, Luke 24:27 and Luke 24:44. He is preached in Acts 3:22, Acts 6:11, Acts 6:14, Acts 7:20, Acts 7:22, Acts 7:29, Acts 7:31-32, Acts 7:35, Acts 7:37, Acts 7:40, Acts 7:44, Acts 13:38-39, Acts 15:1, Acts 15:5, Acts 15:21, Acts 21:21, Acts 26:22 and Acts 28:23. Paul names him at Romans 5:14, Romans 9:15, Romans 10:5, Romans 10:19, 1 Corinthians 9:9, 1 Corinthians 10:2, 2 Corinthians 3:7, 2 Corinthians 3:13, 2 Corinthians 3:15 and 2 Timothy 3:8. Hebrews returns to him at 3:2-3, 3:5, 3:16, 7:14, 8:5, 9:19, 10:28, 11:23-24 and 12:21, Jude at 1:9, and the last word falls at Revelation 15:3. The wording of these verses is not before us, so they are given as they stand: the places where the apostolic writers set the name of Moses next to the name of Christ.