Bangladesh University of

Professionals

Course code : ALD1202

Course title : Business Leadership

Submitted to:

Dr. Ziaur Rahman,

Associate Professor,
Faculty of Business Studies
Term Paper on “Leaders
Throughout History”
Submitted by:

Raiyan Shahryar
Roll: B18231082
Section: B
BBA18

Submission Date: 23.10.2018

Letter of Transmittal

23rd October, 2018

Dr.Ziaur Rahman

Associate Professor

FBS

Bangladesh University of Professionals

Subject: Submission of Term Paper on “Leaders throughout History”

Dear Sir,

With due respect and great pleasure, I am submitting my term paper on “Leaders
throughout History” and have chosen to write on the Prophet Moses. I have prepared my
term paper based on secondary sources such as different websites and historical books
and have also given my own thought and derived certain leadership lessons.

The term paper contains information about the Prophet Moses, his vision, legacy,
lifestyle and his teachings. I hope that you would be kind enough to accept my term paper
which might have shortcomings and mistakes.

Sincerely,

Raiyan Shahryar
B18231082
Section- B, BBA18

Bangladesh University of Professionals

Table of Contents
1. Introduction…………………………………………………………….4
2. Early Years……………………………………………………………...4
3. Vision and Legacy………………………………………………………5
4. Lawgiver of Israel……………………………………………………….7
5. Historicity……………………………………………………………….7
6. Moses in Hellenistic literature…………………………………………..9
7. Moses in different religions……………………………………………14
8. Moses in Islam…………………………………………………………19
9. Splitting of the sea……………………………………………………..20
10. Revelation of the Torah………………………………………………..21
11. The Israelites and the Cow…………………………………………….22
12. Meeting with Khidr……………………………………………………22
13. Death and Martyrdom…………………………………………………25
14. Lessons from the life of Moses………………………………………..26
The Prophet Moses (Mûsâ ibn 'Imran)

Moses (c. 1400 BCE) is considered one of the most important religious leaders in world
history. He is claimed by the religions of Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Bahai as an
important prophet of God and the founder of monotheistic belief. The story of Moses is
told in the biblical books of Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and Numbers but he
continues to be referenced throughout the Bible and is the prophet most often cited in the
New Testament. In the Quran he also plays an important role and, again, is the most often
cited religious figure who is mentioned 115 times as opposed to Muhammad (PBUH)
who is referred to by name only four times in the text. As in the Bible, in the Quran
Moses is a figure who alternately stands for divine or human understanding.

Early Years
Rabbinic Judaism calculated a lifespan of Moses corresponding to 1391–1271 BCE. The
Biblical account of Moses' birth provides him with a folk etymology to explain the
ostensible meaning of his name. He is said to have received it from the Pharaoh's
daughter: "he became her son. She named him Moses (Moshe), saying, 'I drew him out
(meshitihu) of the water.' This explanation links it to a verb mashah, meaning "to draw
out", which makes the Pharaoh's daughter's declaration a play on words. The princess
made a grammatical mistake which is prophetic of his future role in legend, as someone
who will "draw the people of Israel out of Egypt through the waters of the Red Sea."

Several etymologies have been proposed. An Egyptian root msy, "child of", has been
considered as a possible etymology, arguably an abbreviation of a theophoric name, as
for example in Egyptian names like Thutmoses (Thoth created him) and Ramesses (Ra
created him), with the god's name omitted. 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" (mw-še).

The Hebrew etymology in the Biblical story may reflect an attempt to cancel out traces of
Moses' Egyptian origins. The Egyptian character of his name was recognized as such by
ancient Jewish writers like Philo of Alexandria and Josephus. Philo linked Mōēsēs
(Μωησής) to the Egyptian (Coptic) word for water (mou/μῶυ), while Josephus, in his
Antiquities of the Jews, claimed that the second element, -esês, meant 'those who are
saved'. The problem of how an Egyptian princess, known to Josephus as Thermutis
(identified as Tharmuth) and in later Jewish tradition as Bithiah, could have known
Hebrew puzzled medieval Jewish commentators like Abraham ibn Ezra and Hezekiah
ben Manoah, known also as Hizkuni. Hizkuni suggested she either converted or took a tip
from Jochebed.

Moses was brought up in the splendor of the Egyptian court as the Pharaoh's daughter's
adopted son. Grown to manhood, he was aware of his Hebraic roots and shared a deep
compassion for his confined kinsmen. He became furious while witnessing an Egyptian
master brutally beating a Hebrew slave, and he impulsively killed the Egyptian. Fearing
the Pharaoh's punishment, he fled into the desert of Midian, becoming a shepherd for
Jethro, a Midianite priest whose daughter Zipporah he later married. While tending the
flocks on Horeb Mountain in the wilderness, he saw a bush burning yet not turning to
ash. He heard a voice from within the bush telling him that he had been chosen to serve
as one to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. He was also told to declare the unity of
God to his people. At that time most Israelites were worshipping many gods. Moses was
to tell them that there was only one God.

The tremendous responsibility of Moses's task, his shyness, and his own feeling of
unworthiness brought forth a hesitancy and lack of confidence. The Divine answer was
"Who made your tongue?" He was then assured that Aaron, his more talkative brother,
would serve as his spokesman both to the children of Israel and to the Pharaoh. The
promised destination for the Israelites' journey was a "land rich with milk and honey."

His Vision and Legacy

The Israelites had settled in the Land of Goshen in the time of Joseph and Jacob, but a
new pharaoh arose who oppressed the children of Israel. At this time Moses was born to
his father Amram, son 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. The
Pharaoh had commanded that all male Hebrew children born would be drowned in the
river Nile, but Moses' mother placed him in an ark and concealed the ark in the bulrushes
by the riverbank, where the baby was discovered and adopted by 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 the Pharaoh's death penalty, fled to
Midian (a desert country south of Judah), where he married Zipporah. There, on Mount
Horeb, God appeared to Moses as a burning bush revealed to Moses his name YHWH
(probably pronounced Yahweh) and commanded him to return to Egypt and bring his
chosen people (Israel) out of bondage and into the Promised Land (Canaan). During the
journey, God tried to kill Moses because he did not circumcised his son, but Zipporah
saved his life.

Moses returned to Egypt and persuaded the Hebrews to organize for a quick trip from
their Egyptian slave drivers. With Aaron, Moses informed the Pharaoh that the God of
the Hebrews demanded that Pharaoh free God's people. The Pharaoh refused to obey,
bringing upon himself and his people nine terrible plagues (diseases that spread rapidly
and can cause death) that Moses produced upon Egypt by using the miraculous staff he
had received from God as a sign of his authority. The Egyptians suffered under the
plagues of water turned into blood, frogs, gnats, flies, disease to their cattle, boils, hail,
locusts, and darkness. Each plague was severe to the Egyptians but left the Israelites
untouched. The tenth plague is now the Hebrew story of Passover. God sent the Angel of
Death to kill the firstborn sons of the Egyptians—a proof of His immense strength and
power. The Israelites protected their households by putting lamb's blood on their
doorway, so that the Angel of Death would know to pass over their homes. This last
plague broke the Pharaoh's resistance and moved him to grant the Hebrews permission to
leave immediately. Moses thus found himself the leader of an undisciplined collection of
slaves, Hebrew as well as non-Hebrew, escaping from Egyptian territory toward freedom.
Moses led the Israelites to the border of Egypt, but there God hardened the Pharaoh's
heart once more, so that he could destroy the Pharaoh and his army at the Red Sea
Crossing as a sign of his power to Israel and the nations.

From Egypt, Moses led the Israelites to biblical Mount Sinai, where he was given the Ten
Commandments from God, written on 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 worshiped 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 idolaters.
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 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.

From Sinai, Moses led the Israelites to the Desert of Paran on the border of Canaan. From
there he sent twelve spies into the land. The spies returned with samples of the land's
fertility, but warned that its inhabitants were 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.

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 Og and Sihon in Transjordan, received God's blessing through Balaam the
prophet, and massacred the Midianites, who by the end of the Exodus journey had
become the enemies of the Israelites. Moses was twice given notice that he would die
before entry to the Promised Land: in Numbers 27:13, once he had seen the Promised
Land from a viewpoint on Mount Abarim, and again in Numbers 31:1 once battle with
the Midianites had been won.

On the banks of the Jordan River, in sight of the land, Moses assembled the tribes. After
recalling their wanderings he delivered God's laws by which they must live in the land,
sang a song of praise and pronounced a blessing on the people, and passed his authority
to Joshua, under whom they would possess the land. Moses then went up Mount Nebo to
the top of Pisgah, looked over the promised land of Israel spread out before him, and
died, at the age of one hundred and twenty. More humble than any other man (Num.
12:3), "there hath not arisen a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom YHWH
knew face to face" (Deuteronomy 34:10). The New Testament states that after Moses'
death, Michael the Archangel and the Devil disputed over his body (Epistle of Jude 1:9).

Lawgiver of Israel
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 (Exodus
20:19–23:33), the terms of the covenant which God offers to the Israelites at biblical
Mount Sinai. Embedded in the covenant are the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments,
Exodus 20:1–17) and the Book of the Covenant (Exodus 20:22–23:19). 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.

Moses has traditionally been regarded as the author of those four books and the Book of
Genesis, which together comprise the Torah, the first and most revered section of the
Hebrew Bible.

Historicity
The modern scholarly consensus is that the figure of Moses is legendary, and not
historical, although a "Moses-like figure may have existed somewhere in the southern
Transjordan in the mid-late 13th century B.C." Certainly no Egyptian sources mention
Moses or the events of Exodus-Deuteronomy, nor has any archaeological evidence been
discovered in Egypt or the Sinai wilderness to support the story in which he is the central
figure. The story of his discovery picks up a familiar motif in ancient Near Eastern
mythological accounts of the ruler who rises from humble origins: Thus Sargon of
Akkad's Akkadian account of his origins runs;

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.

The tradition of Moses as a lawgiver and culture hero of the Israelites may go back to the
7th-century BCE sources of the Deuteronomist, which might conserve earlier traditions.
Kenneth Kitchen, described as a distinguished but lonely voice among British
Egyptologists on the subject, argues that there is an historic core behind the Exodus, with
Egyptian corvée labour exacted from Hebrews during the imperialist control exercised by
the Egyptian Empire over Canaan from the time of the Thutmosides down to the revolt
against Merneptah and Rameses III. Kitchen argued that there is a lack of factual
evidence to deny his existence. Martin Noth called the Deuteronomic description of
Moses' burial a ″lone historical tradition.″ William Albright believed in the essential
historicity of the biblical tales of Moses and the Exodus, accepting however that the core
narrative had been overlaid by legendary accretions. Biblical minimalists such as Philip
R. Davies and Niels Peter Lemche regard all biblical books, and the stories of an Exodus,
united monarchy, exile and return as fictions composed by a social elite in Yehud in the
Persian period or even later, the purpose being to legitimize a return to indigenous roots.

Despite the imposing fame associated with Moses, no source mentions him until he
emerges in texts associated with the Babylonian exile. A theory developed by Cornelius
Tiele in 1872, which had proved influential, argued that Yahweh was a Midianite god,
introduced to the Israelites by Moses, whose father-in-law Jethro was a Midianite priest.
It was to such a Moses that Yahweh reveals his real name, hidden from the Patriarchs
who knew him only as El Shaddai. Against this view is the modern consensus that most
of the Israelites were native to Palestine. Martin Noth argued that the Pentateuch uses the
figure of Moses, originally linked to legends of a Transjordan conquest, as a narrative
bracket or late reductional device to weld together 4 of the 5, originally independent,
themes of that work. Manfred Görg and Rolf Krauss, the latter in a somewhat
sensationalist manner, have suggested that the Moses story is a distortion or
transmogrification of the historical pharaoh Amenmose (ca. 1200 BCE), who was
dismissed from office and whose name was later simplified to msy (Mose). Aidan
Dodson regards this hypothesis as "intriguing, but beyond proof."

The name 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-hareseth
as the firstborn of Israel are condemned to slaughter in the Exodus story, "an infernal
passover that delivers Mesha while wrath burns against his enemies".

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
Heliopolitan priest, became overseer of a band of lepers, when 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.

Moses in Hellenistic Literature

Non-biblical writings about Jews, with references to the role of Moses, first appear at the
beginning of the Hellenistic period, from 323 BCE to about 146 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.”

In addition to the Judeo-Roman or Judeo-Hellenic historians 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 also make reference to him. The extent to which any of these
accounts rely on earlier sources is unknown. Moses also appears in other religious texts
such as the Mishnah (c. 200 CE), Midrash (200–1200 CE), and the Quran (c. 610–53).
The figure of Osarseph in 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.

In 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 Judaea."
Among the many accomplishments described by Hecataeus, Moses had founded cities,
established a temple and religious cult, and issued laws.

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... to persuade the
multitudes to use written laws was Mneves [Moses], a man not only great of soul but also
in his life the most public-spirited of all lawgivers whose names are recorded.

Droge also points out that this statement by Hecataeus was similar to statements made
subsequently by Eupolemus.

In Artapanus
The Jewish historian Artapanus of Alexandria (2nd century 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."

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, 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. Finally, after having escaped another plot by killing the assailant sent by the king,
Moses fled to Arabia, where he married the daughter of Raguel [Jethro], the ruler of the
district.

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 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."
Some historians, however, point out the "apologetic nature of much of Artapanus' work,"
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.

In Strabo
Strabo, a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher, in his Geographica (c. 24 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.

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.

By such doctrine Moses persuaded a large body of right-minded persons to accompany

him to the place where Jerusalem now stands.

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." His portrayal of Moses is said to be similar
to the writing of Hecataeus who "described Moses as a man who excelled in wisdom and
courage."

Egyptologist Jan Assmann concludes that Strabo was the historian "who came closest to a
construction of Moses' religion as monotheistic and as a pronounced counter-religion." It
recognized "only one divine being whom no image can represent... [and] the only way to
approach this god is to live in virtue and in justice."
In Tacitus
The Roman historian Tacitus (c. 56–120 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 (c. 100), where, according to Arthur
Murphy, as a result of the Jewish worship of one God, "pagan mythology fell into
contempt." 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 Bocchoris, suffering from a plague, banished the
Jews in response to an oracle of the god Zeus-Amun.

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.

In this version, Moses and the Jews wander through the desert for only six days,
capturing the Holy Land on the seventh.

In Longinus
The Septuagint, the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, influenced Longinus, who may
have been the author of the great book of literary criticism, On the Sublime. The date of
composition is unknown, but it is commonly assigned to the late Ist century C.E.

The writer quotes Genesis in a "style which presents the nature of the deity in a manner
suitable to his pure and great being," however he does not mention Moses by name,
calling him 'no chance person' (οὐχ ὁ τυχὼν ἀνήρ) but "the Lawgiver" (θεσμοθέτης,
thesmothete) of the Jews," a term that puts him on a par with Lycurgus and Minos.[68]
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, and he is described "with far more admiration
than even Greek writers who treated Moses with respect, such as Hecataeus and Strabo.

In Josephus
n Josephus' (37 – c. 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:
When 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 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...

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, Moses
excels as an educator."

In Numenius
Numenius, a Greek philosopher who was a native of Apamea, in Syria, wrote during the
latter half of the 2nd century 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..." He describes his background:

Numenius was a man of the world; he was not limited to Greek and Egyptian mysteries,
but talked familiarly of the myths of Brahmins 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.

In Justin Martyr

The Christian saint and religious philosopher Justin Martyr (103–165 CE) drew the same
conclusion as 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 Greek philosophers." He quotes him:

“I will begin, then, with our first prophet and lawgiver, Moses... 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.”
Moses in Different Religions

Judaism

Most of what is known about Moses from the Bible comes from the books of Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The majority of scholars consider the compilation
of these books to go back to the Persian period, 538–332 BCE, but based on earlier
written and oral traditions. There is a wealth of stories and additional information about
Moses in the Jewish apocrypha and in the genre of rabbinical 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.
Moses' other names were: Jekuthiel (by his mother), Heber (by his father), Jered (by
Miriam), Avi Zanoah (by Aaron), Avi Gedor (by Kohath), Avi Soco (by his wet-nurse),
Shemaiah ben Nethanel (by people of Israel). Moses is also attributed the names Toviah
(as a first name), and Levi (as a family name) (Vayikra Rabbah 1:3), Heman, Mechoqeiq
(lawgiver) and Ehl Gav Ish (Numbers 12:3). In another exegesis, Moses had ascended to
the first heaven until the seventh, even visited Paradise and Hell alive, after he saw the
Divine vision in Mount Horeb.

Jewish historians who lived at Alexandria, such as Eupolemus, attributed to Moses the
feat of having taught the Phoenicians their alphabet, similar to legends of Thoth.
Artapanus of Alexandria explicitly identified Moses not only with Thoth/Hermes, but
also with the Greek figure 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.

Jewish tradition considers Moses to be the greatest prophet who ever lived. Despite his
importance, Judaism stresses that Moses was a human being, and is therefore not to be
worshipped. Only God is worthy of worship in Judaism.

To 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 Rashbi, the Torah of the Ari haQadosh and all that is discussed
in the Heavenly Yeshiva between the Ramhal and his masters).

Arising in part from his age of death (120 according to Deut. 34:7) and that "his eye had
not dimmed, and his vigor had not diminished," the phrase "may you live to 120" has
become a common blessing among Jews, especially since 120 is elsewhere stated as the
maximum age for Noah's descendants (one interpretation of Genesis 6:3
Christianity

Moses is mentioned more often in the New Testament than any other Old Testament
figure. For Christians, Moses is often a symbol of God's law, as reinforced and
expounded on in the teachings of Jesus. New Testament writers often compared Jesus'
words and deeds with Moses' to explain Jesus' mission. In 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.

Moses also figures in several of Jesus' messages. When he met the Pharisee Nicodemus at
night in the third chapter of the Gospel of John, he compared Moses' lifting up of the
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", Jesus stated that He was provided to feed God's people.

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, respectively. Jesus
refers to the scribes and the Pharisees of the Temple as "seated in the chair of Moses"

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 Calendars
of Saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Lutheran
churches on September 4. In Eastern Orthodox liturgics for September 4, Moses is
commemorated as the "Holy Prophet and God-seer Moses, on Mount Nebo". The
Orthodox Church also commemorates him on the Sunday of the Forefathers, two
Sundays before the Nativity.

The Armenian Apostolic Church commemorates him as one of the Holy Forefathers in
their Calendar of Saints on July 30.

Mormonism
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 Selections from
the Book of Moses as part of their scriptural canon. This book is believed to be the
translated writings of Moses, and is included in the Pearl of Great Price.

Latter-day Saints are also unique in believing that Moses was taken to heaven without
having tasted death (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 tribes from
the land of the north."

Moses in Islam
Mûsâ ibn 'Imran (Arabic: ٰ‫ ُمو َسى‬, translit. Mūsā) known as Moses in the Hebrew Bible,
considered a prophet, messenger, and leader in Islam, is the most frequently mentioned
individual in the Quran. The Quran states that Moses was sent by God to the Pharaoh of
Egypt and his establishments and the Israelites for guidance and warning. Moses is
mentioned more in the Quran than any other individual, and his life is narrated and
recounted more than that of any other prophet. Moses is mentioned 502 times in the
Quran; passages mentioning Moses include 2.49–61, 7.103–160, 10.75–93, 17.101–104,
20.9–97, 26.10–66, 27.7–14, 28.3–46, 40.23–30, 43.46–55, 44.17–31, and 79.15–25. and
many others. Most of the key events in Moses' life which are narrated in the Bible are to
be found dispersed through the different Surahs of the Quran, with a story about meeting
Khidr which is not found in the Bible. According to Islam, all Muslims must have faith in
every prophet (nabi) and messenger (rasul) which includes Moses and his brother Aaron
(Harun). The Quran states:

Also mention in the Book (the story of) Moses: for he was specially chosen, and he was a
messenger (and) a prophet.
And we called him from the right side of Mount (Sinai), and made him draw near to Us,
for mystic (converse).
And, out of Our Mercy, We gave him his brother Aaron, (also) a prophet.

— Quran, sura 19 (Maryam), ayat 51–53

Moses is considered to be a prophetic predecessor to Muhammad. The tale of Moses is

generally seen as a spiritual parallel to the life of Muhammad, and Muslims consider
many aspects of their lives to be shared. Islamic literature also describes a parallel
between their believers and the incidents which occurred in their lifetimes. The exodus of
the Israelites from Egypt is considered similar to the (migration) from Mecca made by the
followers of Muhammad.

Youth

According to Islamic tradition, Musa was born into a family of Israelites living in Egypt.
Of his family, Islamic tradition generally names his father 'Imran, corresponding to the
Amram of the Hebrew Bible, and traditional genealogies name Levi as his ancestor.
Islam states that Moses was born in a time when the ruling Pharaoh had enslaved the
Israelites after the time of the prophet Joseph (Yusuf). Around the time of Moses' birth,
Islamic literature states that the Pharaoh had a dream, in which he saw fire coming from
the city of Jerusalem, which burnt everything in his kingdom except that of the Israelites.
(other stories said that the Pharaoh dreamt of a little boy who caught the Pharaoh's crown
and destroyed it) Islamic tradition states that when the Pharaoh was informed that one of
the male children would grow up to overthrow him, he ordered the killing of all new-born
Israelite males in order to prevent the prediction from occurring. Islamic literature further
states that the experts of economics in Pharaoh's court advised him that killing the male
infants of the Israelites, would result in loss of manpower. Therefore, they suggested that
the male infants should be killed in one year but spared the next. Aaron was born in the
year in which infants were spared, while Moses was born in the year in which infants
were to be killed.

On the Nile
According to Islamic tradition, Moses' mother suckled him secretly during this period.
The Qur'an states that when they were in danger of being caught; Allah inspired her to
put him in a basket and set him adrift on the Nile. She instructed her daughter to follow
the course of the ark and to report back to her. As the daughter followed the ark along the
riverbank, Moses was discovered by the Pharaoh's wife, Asiya, who convinced the
Pharaoh to adopt him. The Qur'an states that when Asiya ordered wet nurses for Moses,
Moses refused to be breastfed. Islamic tradition states that this was because God had
forbidden Moses from being fed by any wet nurse as to reunite his mother with him. His
sister worried that Moses had not been fed for some time, therefore, she appeared to the
Pharaoh and informed him that she knew someone who could feed him. Islamic tradition
states that after being questioned, she was ordered to bring the woman being discussed.
The sister brought their mother who fed Moses and thereafter she was appointed as the
wet nurse of Moses.

Test of Prophecy
According to Isra'iliyat hadith, during his childhood when Moses was playing on
Pharaoh's lap. He grabbed the Pharaoh's beard, and also slapped him in his face. This
action prompted the Pharaoh, to consider Moses as the Israelite who would overthrow
him. In turn the Pharaoh wanted to kill Moses. The Pharaoh's wife persuaded him not to,
because he was an infant. Instead he decided to test Moses. Two plates were set before
young Moses, one contained rubies and the other held glowing coals. Moses reached out
for the rubies, but the angel Gabriel directed his hand to the coals. Moses grabbed a
glowing coal and put it in his mouth, burning his tongue. After the incident Moses
suffered from a speech defect, but was spared by the Pharaoh.
Escape to Midian
After having reached adulthood, the Qur'an states that when Moses was passing through a
city, he came across an Egyptian fighting with an Israelite. The Israelite asked for his
assistance against the Egyptian. Moses attempted to intervene and became involved in the
dispute. In Islamic tradition, Moses struck the Egyptian in a state of anger which resulted
in his death. Moses repented to God and the following day, he again came across the
same Israelite fighting with another Egyptian. The Israelite again asked Moses for help,
and as Moses approached the Israelite, he reminded Moses of his manslaughter, and
asked if Moses intended to kill him. Moses was reported and the Pharaoh ordered Moses
to be killed. However, Moses fled to the desert after being alerted to his punishment.
According to Islamic tradition, after Moses arrived in Midian, he witnessed two female
shepherds driving back their flocks from a well. Moses approached them and inquired
about their work as shepherds and their retreat from the well. Upon hearing their answers
and the old age of their father, Moses watered their flocks for them. The two females
returned to their home and informed their father of the incident. The Quran states that
Moses was invited by them for a feast. At that feast, their father asked Moses to work for
him for a period of eight or ten years, in return for marriage to one of his daughters.
Moses consented and worked for him during the period.

Call to Prophethood
According to the Quran, Moses departed for Egypt along with his family after completing
the time period. The Qur'an states that during their travel, as they stopped near the Tur,
Moses observed a fire and instructed the family to wait until he returned with fire for
them. When Moses reached the Valley of Tuwa, God called out to him from the right side
of the valley from a tree, on what is revered as Al-Buq‘ah Al-Mubārakah (Arabic: ‫الـبُـقـ َعـة‬
‫الـ ُمـبَـا َر َكـة‬, "The Blessed Ground") in the Qur'an. Moses was commanded by God to
remove his shoes and was informed of his selection as a prophet, his obligation of prayer
and the Day of Judgment. Moses was then ordered to throw his rod which turned into a
snake and later instructed to hold it. The Qur'an then narrates Moses being ordered to
insert his hand into his clothes and upon revealing it would shine a bright light. God
states that these are signs for the Pharaoh, and orders Moses to invite Pharaoh to the
worship of one God. Moses states his fear of Pharaoh and requests God to heal his speech
impediment, and grant him his brother Aaron (Harun) as a helper. According to Islamic
tradition, both of them stated their fear of Pharaoh but were assured by God that He
would be observing them and commands them to inform the Pharaoh to free the
Israelites. Therefore, they depart to preach to the Pharaoh.
Arrival at the Pharaoh’s court
When Moses and Aaron arrived in the court of Pharaoh and proclaimed their
prophethood to the Pharaoh, the Pharaoh began questioning Moses about the God he
followed. The Quran narrates Moses answering the Pharaoh, by stating that he followed
the God who gave everything its form and guided them. The Pharaoh then inquires about
the generations who passed before them and Moses answers that knowledge of the
previous generations was with God. The Qur'an also mentions the Pharaoh questioning
Moses: “And what is the Lord of the worlds?” Moses replies that God is the lord of the
heavens, the earth and what is between them. The Pharaoh then reminds Moses of his
childhood with them and the killing of the man he had done. Moses admitted that he had
committed the deed in ignorance, but insisted that he was now forgiven and guided by
God. Pharaoh accused him of being mad and threatened to imprison him if he continued
to proclaim that the Pharaoh was not the true God. Moses informed him that he had come
with manifest signs from God. In response, the Pharaoh demanded to see the signs.
Moses threw his staff to the floor and it turned into a serpent. He then drew out his hand
and it shined a bright white light. The Pharaoh's counselors advised him that this was
sorcery and on their advice he summoned the best sorcerers in the kingdom. Pharaoh
challenged him to a battle between him and the Pharaoh's magicians, asking him to
choose the day. Moses chose the day of a festival.

Confrontation with Sorcerers

When the sorcerers came to the Pharaoh, he promised them that they would be amongst
the honored among his assembly if they won. On the day of the festival of Egypt, Moses
granted the sorcerers the chance to perform first and warned them that God would expose
their tricks. The Qur'an states that the sorcerers bewitched the eyes of the observing
people and caused terror into them. The summoned sorcerers threw their rods on the floor
and they appeared to change into snakes by the effect of their magic. At first, Moses
became concerned witnessing the tricks of the magicians, but was assured by God to not
be worried. When Moses reacted likewise with his rod, the serpent devoured all the
snakes. The sorcerers realized that they had witnessed a miracle. They proclaimed belief
in the message of Moses and fell onto their knees in prostration despite threats from the
Pharaoh. Pharaoh was enraged by this and accused them of working under Moses. He
warned them that if they insisted in believing in Moses, that he would cut their hands and
feet on opposite sides, and crucify them on the trunks of palm trees for their firmness in
their faith. The magicians, however, remained steadfast to their newfound faith and were
killed by Pharaoh.
Exodus
Plagues in Egypt- After losing to Moses, the Pharaoh continued to plan against Moses
and the Israelites, and ordered meetings of the ministers, princes and priests. According
to the Quran, the Pharaoh is reported to have ordered his minister, Haman, to build a
tower so that he "may look at the God of Moses". Gradually, Pharaoh began to fear that
Moses may convince the people that he was not the true God, and wanted to have Moses
killed. After this threat, a man from the family of Pharaoh, who had years ago warned
Moses, came forth and warned the people of the punishment of God for the wrongdoers
and reward for the righteous. The Pharaoh defiantly refused to allow the Israelites to
leave Egypt. The Quran states that God decreed punishments over him and his people.
These punishments came in the form of floods that demolished their dwellings, swarms
of locust that destroyed the crops, pestilence of lice that made their life miserable, toads
that croaked and sprang everywhere, and the turning of all drinking water into blood.
Each time the Pharaoh was subjected to humiliation, his defiance became greater. The
Quran mentions that God instructed Moses to travel at night with the Israelites, and
warned them that they would be pursued. The Pharaoh chased the Israelites with his army
after realizing that they had left during the night.

Splitting of the sea

Having escaped and then being pursued by the Egyptians, the Israelites stopped when
they reached the seafront. The Israelites exclaimed to Moses that they would be
overtaken by Pharaoh and his army. The Quran narrates God commanding Moses to
strike the sea with his staff, instructing them not to fear being overtaken or drowning.
Upon striking the sea, it divided into two parts that allowed the Israelites to pass through.
The Pharaoh witnessed the sea splitting alongside his army, but as they also tried to pass
through, the sea closed in on them. As he was about to die, Pharaoh claimed belief in the
God of Moses and the Israelites, but his belief was rejected by God. The Quran states that
the body of the Pharaoh was made a sign and warning for all future generations.
Pharaoh's body resurfaced in 1897. As the Israelites continued their journey to the
Promised Land, they came upon a people who were worshipping idols. The Israelites
requested to have an idol to worship, but Moses refused and stated that the polytheists
would be destroyed by God. They were granted manna and quail as sustenance from God,
but the Israelites asked Moses to pray to God for the earth to grow lentils, onions, herbs
and cucumbers for their sustenance. When they stopped in their travel to a promised land
due to their lack of water, Moses was commanded by God to strike a stone, and upon its
impact twelve springs came forth, each for a specific tribe of the Israelites.
Revelation of the Torah
After leaving the promised land, Moses led the Israelites to Mount Sinai (the Tur). Upon
arrival, Moses left the people, instructing them that Aaron was to be their leader during
his absence. Moses was commanded by God to fast for thirty days and to then proceed to
the valley of Tuwa for guidance. God ordered Moses to fast again for ten days before
returning. After completing his fasts, Moses returned to the spot where he had first
received his miracles from God. He took off his shoes as before and went down into
prostration. Moses prayed to God for guidance, and he begged God to reveal himself to
him. It is narrated in the Qur'an that God told him that it would not be possible for Moses
to perceive God, but that He would reveal himself to the mountain stating: "By no means
canst thou see Me (direct); But look upon the mount; if it abide in its place, then shalt
thou see Me." When God revealed himself to the mountain, it instantaneously turned into
ashes, and Moses lost consciousness. When he recovered, he went down in total
submission and asked forgiveness of God.

Moses was then given the Ten Commandments by God as Guidance and as Mercy.
Meanwhile, in his absence, a man named Samiri had created a Golden Calf, proclaiming
it to be the God of Moses. The people began to worship it. Aaron attempted to guide
them away from the Golden Calf, but the Israelites refused to do so until Moses had
returned. Moses, having thus received the scriptures for his people, was informed by God
that the Israelites had been tested in his absence and they had gone astray by worshiping
the Golden Calf. Moses came down from the mountain and returned to his people. The
Quran states that Moses, in his anger, grabbed hold of Aaron by his beard and
admonished him for doing nothing to stop them. But when Aaron told Moses of his
fruitless attempt to stop them, Moses understood his helplessness and they both prayed to
God for forgiveness. Moses then questioned Samiri for creating the Golden Calf. Samiri
replied that it had occurred to him and he had done so. Samiri was exiled and the Golden
Calf was burned to ashes, and the ashes were thrown into the sea. The wrong-doers who
had worshipped the Calf were ordered to be killed for their crime.

Moses then chose seventy elites from among the Israelites and ordered them to pray for
forgiveness. Shortly thereafter, the elders traveled alongside Moses to witness the speech
between Moses and God. Despite witnessing the speech between them, they refused to
believe until they saw God with their own eyes, so as punishment, a thunderbolt killed
them. Moses prayed for their forgiveness, and they were resurrected and returned to camp
and set up a tent dedicated to worshiping God as Aaron had taught them from the Torah.
They resumed their journey towards the promised land.
The Israelites and the Cow
Islamic exegesis narrates the incident of an old and pious man who lived among the
Israelites and earned his living honestly. As he was dying, he placed his wife, his little
son, and his only possession, a calf in God's care, instructing his wife to take the calf and
leave it in a forest. His wife did as she was told, and after a few years when the son had
grown up, she informed him about the calf. The son traveled to the forest with a rope. He
prostrated and prayed to God to return the calf to him. As the son prayed, the now-grown
cow stopped beside him. The son took the cow with him. The son was also pious and
earned his living as a lumberjack.

One wealthy man among the Israelites died and left his wealth to his son. The relatives of
the wealthy son secretly murdered the son in order to inherit his wealth. The other
relatives of the son came to Moses and asked his help in tracing the killers. Moses
instructed them to slaughter a cow and cut out its tongue, and then place it on the corpse,
and that this would reveal the killers. This confused the relatives who did not believe
Moses, and did not understand why they were instructed to slaughter a cow when they
were trying to find the killers. They accused Moses of joking, but Moses managed to
convince them that he was serious.

Hoping to delay the process, the relatives asked the type and age of the cow they should
slaughter, but Moses told them that it was neither old nor young but in-between the two
ages. Instead of searching for the cow described, they inquired about its colour, to which
Moses replied that it was yellow. They asked Moses for more details, and he informed
them that it was unyoked, and did not plow the soil nor did it water the tilth. The relatives
and Moses searched for the described cow, but the only cow that they found to fit the
description belonged to the orphaned youth. The youth refused to sell the cow without
consulting his mother. All of them traveled together to the youth's home. The mother
refused to sell the cow, despite the relatives constantly increasing the price. They urged
the orphaned son to tell his mother to be more reasonable. However, the son refused to
sell the cow without his mother's agreement, claiming that he would not sell it even if
they offered to fill its skin with gold. At this the mother agreed to sell it for its skin filled
with gold. The relatives and Moses consented, and the cow was slaughtered and the
corpse was touched by the tongue. The corpse rose back to life and revealed the identity
of the killers.

Meeting with Khidr

According to a hadith, once when Moses delivered an impressive sermon, an Israelite
inquired if there was anyone more knowledgeable than him. When Moses denied any
such person existed, he received a revelation from God, which admonished Moses for not
attributing absolute knowledge to God and informed Moses that there was someone
named Khidr who was more knowledgeable than him. Upon inquiry, God informed
Moses that Khidr would be found at the junction of two seas. God instructed Moses to
take a live fish and at the location where it would escape, Khidr would be found.
Afterwards Moses departed and traveled alongside with Joshua (Yeshua bin Nun), until
they stopped near a rock where Moses rested. While Moses was asleep, the fish escaped
from the basket. When Moses woke up, they continued until they stopped for eating. At
that moment, Joshua remembered that the fish had slipped from the basket at the rock. He
informed Moses about the fish, and Moses remembered God's statement, so they retraced
their steps back to the rock. There they saw Khidr. Moses approached Khidr and greeted
him. Khidr instead asked Moses how people were greeted in their land. Moses introduced
himself, and Khidr identified him as the prophet of the Israelites. According to the Quran,
Moses asked Khidr "shall I closely follow you on condition that you teach me of what
you have been taught". Khidr warned that he would not be able to remain patient and
consented on the condition that Moses would not question his actions.

They walked on the seashore and passed by a ship. The crew of the ship recognized
Khidr and offered them to come aboard their ship without any price. When they were on
the boat, Khidr took an adze and pulled up a plank. When Moses noticed what Khidr was
doing, he was astonished and stopped him. Moses reminded Khidr that the crew had
taken them aboard freely. Khidr admonished Moses for forgetting his promise of not
asking. Moses stated that he had forgotten and asked to be forgiven. When they left the
seashore, they passed by a boy playing with others. Khidr took a hold of the boy's head
and killed him. Moses was again astonished by this action and questioned Khidr
regarding what he had done. Khidr admonished Moses again for not keeping his promise,
and Moses apologized and asked Khidr to leave him if he again questioned Khidr. Both
of them traveled on until they came along some people of a village. They asked the
villagers for food, but the inhabitants refused to entertain them as guests. They saw
therein a wall which was about to collapse, and Khidr repaired the wall. Moses asked
Khidr why he had repaired the wall when the inhabitants had refused to entertain them as
guests and had not given them food. Moses stated that Khidr could have taken wages for
his work.

Khidr informed Moses that they were now to part as Moses had broken his promise.
Khidr then explained each of his actions. He informed Moses that he had broken the ship
with the adze because a ruler who reigned in those parts took all functional ships by
force, Khidr had created a defect in order to prevent their ship from being taken by force.
Khidr then explained that he had killed the child because he was disobedient to his
parents and Khidr feared that the child would overburden them with his disobedience,
and explained that God would replace him with a better one who was more obedient and
had more affection. Khidr then explained that he had fixed the wall because it belonged
to two hapless children whose father was pious. God wished to reward them for their
piety. Khidr stated that there was a treasure hidden underneath the wall and by repairing
the wall now, the wall would break in the future and when dealing with the broken wall,
the orphans would find the treasure.

Other Incidents
The sayings of Muhammad (hadith), Islamic literature and Quranic exegesis also narrate
some incidents of the life of Moses. Moses used to bathe apart from the other Israelites
who all bathed together. This led the Bani Israel to say that Moses did so due to a scrotal
hernia. One day when Moses was bathing in seclusion, he put his clothes on a stone
which then fled with his clothes. Moses rushed after the stone and the Bani Israel saw
him and said, 'By Allah, Moses has got no defect in his body." Moses then beat the stone
with his cloths, and Abu Huraira stated, "By Allah! There are still six or seven marks
present on the stone from that excessive beating." In a hadith, Muhammad states that the
stone still had three to five marks due to Moses hitting it.

In the sayings of Muhammad, another incident is mentioned regarding Moses. Moses is

mentioned to have requested God for a confrontation with the prophet Adam, who
brought them out of Paradise (Jannah). When God showed him Adam, Moses questioned
Adam if he was their ancestor. Adam replied in the affirmative. Moses then asked Adam
whether he was the person whom God taught the names of all things, blew His spirit into
and ordered his angels to prostrate before. Adam again replied in the affirmative and
Moses questioned him as to what led him out of Paradise. Adam asked Moses about his
identity. When Moses revealed himself, Adam questioned Moses regarding whether he
was the prophet of the Israelites, to whom God spoke from behind a veil and chose to be
a messenger. Moses replied he was, and Adam asked Moses if he did not find his
accident written in the Book of God. Moses replied that it was, and Adam then
questioned Moses as to why he reproached him for something that was decreed by God
forty years before his creation.

Isra and Mi’raj

During his Night Journey (Isra), Muhammad is known to have led Moses along with
Jesus, Abraham and all other prophets in prayer. Moses is mentioned to be among the
prophets which Muhammad met during his ascension to heaven (Mi'raj) alongside
Gabriel.

According to the Sunni view: Moses and Muhammad are reported to have exchanged
greeting with each other and he is reported to have cried due to the fact that the followers
of Muhammad were going to enter Heaven in greater numbers than his followers. When
God enjoined fifty prayers to the community to Muhammad and his followers,
Muhammad once again encountered Moses, who asked what had been commanded by
God. When Moses was told about the fifty prayers, he advised Muhammad to ask a
reduction in prayers for his followers. When Muhammad returned to God and asked for a
reduction, he was granted his request. Once again he met Moses, who again inquired
about the command of God. Despite the reduction, Moses again urged Muhammad to ask
for a reduction. Muhammad again returned and asked for a reduction. This continued
until only five prayers were remaining. When Moses again told Muhammad to ask for a
reduction, Muhammad replied that he was shy of asking again. Therefore, the five
prayers were finally enjoined upon the Muslim community.

Kalimullah
Moses is given the title Kalimullah (Arabic: ‫ )كليم هللا‬Meaning: The one who talked to
Allah) in Islam.

Burial Place
Muslims believe that the grave of Moses is located at Maqam El-Nabi Musa, which lies
11 km (6.8 mi) south of Jericho and 20 km (12 mi) east of Jerusalem in the Judean
wilderness. A side road to the right of the main Jerusalem-Jericho road, about 2 km (1.2
mi) beyond the sign indicating sea level, leads to the site. The Fatimid, Taiyabi and
Dawoodi Bohra sects also believe in the same. The main body of the present shrine,
mosque, minaret and some rooms were built during the reign of Baibars, a Mamluk
Sultan, in 1270 AD. Over the years Nebi Musa was expanded,[118] protected by walls,
and includes 120 rooms in its two levels which hosted the visitors.

Death and Martyrdom

Aaron died shortly before Moses. It is reported in a Sunni Hadith that when the angel of
death, came to Moses, Moses slapped him in the eye. The angel returned to God and told
him that Moses did not want to die. God told the angel to return and tell Moses to put his
hand on the back of an ox and for every hair that came under his hand he would be
granted a year of life. When Moses asked God what would happen after the granted time,
God informed him that he would die after the period. Moses, therefore, requested God for
death at his current age near the Promised Land "at a distance of a stone's throw from it."

It is also stated in the Qur'an, that the scriptures in which Moses brought forth from Allah
to the Children of Israel were seen as the light and guidance of Allah, himself (Qur'an
6:91). This strongly indicates that Moses died as a martyr: Moses died being a witness to
Allah; Moses died giving his sacrifice to the worldly views of Allah; and Moses died in
the act of conveying the message of Allah to the Children of Israel. Although his death
remains a mystery and even though he did not act in a religious battle, he did in fact die
for the causation of a Religious War, a war that showcased the messages of Allah through
scripture.

Lessons from the life of Moses

1: God uses the humble, not the proud

Number 12:3 tells us, “Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who
were on the face of the earth”. How would you like that to be said about you? The Bible
records that Moses is the meekest man on Earth. Because of this, God chose Moses to be
the physical leader of the Israelites. But how did Moses develope this kind of humility?
What are the circumstances that had led him to be humble?

We know that Moses belongs to the tribe of Levi. He was born during the slavery of the
Israelite people. When the Israelites grew in number, the Pharaoh commanded that every
newly born male child shall be cast into the river and drown (Exodus 1:22).

Jochebed, the mother of Moses, put everything in the hands of God rather than letting his
son die a certain death. Moses’ mother laid him in a small, woven, and waterproof basket
and set adrift in the Nile River.

Little the parents of Moses did know that this Moses will change the course of history.
God spared the life of Moses and was found by the Pharaoh’s daughter. Moses was then
raised as a prince of Egypt.

During the first 40 years of his life, Moses enjoyed the life and benefits of being part of
the royal family – the same family that ruled the world’s greatest empire at that time. God
blessed Moses with good looks (Acts 7:20) and the natural charisma to find favor in the
sight of men.

“True humility is finding your confidence in God, rather than in yourself.”

Moses has grown to be very popular among his people and according to Josephus, a
Jewish historian, he could have been a general who have led the Egyptian army. Not only
that, “Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words
and deeds” (Acts 7:22).

With all these attributes, it is very easy for Moses to gain the illusion of grandeur and
become proud in his own eyes. Certainly, God cannot use him in this state. God needs to
humble Moses before He can use him. Moses, at some point, would have even thought
that he is the chosen one who will deliver the Hebrew people out from the clutches of the
Egyptians (Acts 7:35). As this might be true, he acted rashly and have taken things into
his hands. This has led him to kill an Egyptian and became a fugitive.

This is when God started working with Moses. He fled in the land of Midian where he
became a shepherd, a lowly job that even the Egyptian despised (Genesis 46:31-34).
From being a might general of the Egyptian army, he was reduced to a mere shepherd.
Instead of leading an army, he is now leading a flock of sheep. Instead of speaking to a
great audience, he is now talking to sheep.

As days turns to weeks, weeks turn to months, and months turn to years, his confidence
in himself started to fade away. Little by little, the proud and mighty Moses become a
humble and meek shepherd.

Moses learned a lot during the 40 years he spent in the land of Midian. He learned to be
loving, caring, and most importantly, humble before the sight of God. Though he became
a fugitive, God used this circumstance to turn his life around.

2: With great power comes great accountability

As humble and submissive Moses to God’s commandments, he was still human and
bound to commit mistakes. One of the biggest mistakes of Moses is his rebellious act
against God in Kadesh. The Israelite people are hard-headed and proven to be naturally
hostile against the commandments of God. Because of this, God has told them that they
will wander in the wilderness for 40 years. When the right time comes, they arrived at the
land called Kadesh, the same place where the Israelites rebelled against God 40 years
ago.

These four decades have been very difficult for Moses as the leader of the Israelites.
Now, the Israelites have not changed even after 40 years wandering in the wilderness.
They gathered together and complained to Moses that they had no water.

We will never come to a point in our life that we are too perfect and we don’t have
anything to learn.

God gave a very specific and easy instruction to Moses. God commanded Moses to
simply take the rod, gather the assembly, and speak to the rock so the people will see
(Numbers 20:8). However, Moses, at this time, did not follow the specific instructions of
God. Instead of speaking to the rock, he struck the rock not once, but twice! In essence,
Moses was striking Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 10:4).

After so many years of enduring the rebellious and stiff-necked attitude of the Israelites,
Moses finally had it. He was fed up with their habitual complaining to the point that he
went down to their level.
This incident has cost Moses his chance of entering the Promised Land. God said to him
and Aaron, “Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of
Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them”
(Numbers 20:12). God is very particular with the instructions and warnings He gave to
His people. It is not that Moses did not have faith that God is not able to bring water out,
but he might not have believed the seriousness of God’s instructions. He might have
thought that his closeness to God and his position give him some leeway.

We must realize that those who are in leadership position are held in a stricter
accountability. It doesn’t mean that if you are a leader, you have the right not to follow
the law of God. Leaders in the church, family, and community are expected to set the
right example for everyone else to follow.

Because Moses let his anger and emotion got the best of him, he became a bad example
to the congregation of God. This should also tell us something: we are never too old to be
tested. We will never come to a point in our life that we are too perfect and we don’t have
anything to learn. No matter who you are and no matter what position you are in, no one
is exempted in obeying God’s commandments.

3: It is never wrong to seek help or advice

Moses sought and accepted advice. Whenever the people were becoming difficult to
manage, he went to God for advice. In addition, it was through his father-in-law Jethro,
that he received the advice to delegate functions, and by doing this he received the help
he needed to supervise and attend to all of his responsibilities. (Exodus 18:24)

4: Stay true to your principles and values

Moses knew very well who he obeyed and whom he believed. If God said he was going
to do something, he trusted him. He was the leader of the people, but he was subordinated
to the will of God, and he obeyed in everything. (Hebrews 11: 24-27)

5: Do not be influenced by what people say

Moses was never intimidated by gossip and also interceded for people who spoke ill of
him. When his brothers, Aaron and Mary “spoke” against him and God was going to
punish them, it was Moses himself who “interceded” for them before God so that they
would not be punished (Numbers 12: 1-13). This also happened when the people
murmured against him, and once again he interceded before God for them (Numbers 16:
41-46).
6: Have a clear objective and work towards it

Moses had to take the Israelites, with the whining and all, to the place where God had
told him. He was clear in what was the final result that was expected of him, so much so
that when Pharaoh “negotiated” with him and set him conditions to let some go, he stood
firm on his objective. (Exodus 10: 8-11)

7: Always persevere

Moses appeared before Pharaoh 9 times before Pharaoh agreed to let them go when he
appeared the tenth time. He did not faint in his purpose, he insisted, was persevering and
insistent, because he had a clear objective. (Exodus 5: 1-2)

8: A true leader knows how to delegate work to his subordinates

When it was necessary to do so, he appointed leaders for groups of people who had
principles and values similar to his own, in order to help him with the task of managing
the people and to be able to optimize his time and energy to fulfill the objective that had
been set before him. (Exodus 18: 13-27)