Moses

Statue of Moses by Michelangelo

Detail of Moses.

Moses ( Latin Hebrew Arabic is, according to tradition, the founder of Judaism - the Judaism , which is sometimes called, for this reason Mosaic is to say the religion of Moses.

For the Jewish and Christian monotheism, Moses is both the author and main character of the Hebrew Bible (his prophetic role is also recognized in the Islam , religion in which Moses is elevated to a major prophet and is considered one of the messengers Biblical narrative

Moses' life described in the Bible is divided into three parts of four decades:

• "Savior of the waters" and adopted by Bithiah , the daughter of Pharaoh, he discovers the misery of her native people and kills an Egyptian foreman who was beating a Hebrew. He has no choice but to flee into the desert.
• Moses lends a hand to the girls of the priest of Midian , Jethro (Yitro or). He married one of them, Zipporah ( Zipporah ), and leads a life of a shepherd, "by grazing his sheep in the desert away."
• At age 80, God reveals Himself to him and reveals his mission: "The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a bush while he was herding sheep in his stepfather. He then led the "Children of Israel "from Egypt to the" Promised Land "the land of Canaan , on the threshold of which he died at 120 years, according to tradition, on 7 Adar in the In the year 2488 of Creation du Monde (1272 BCE).

Youth of Moses

Finding of Moses, painted by Sbastien Bourdon (1650).

Moses Defending the Daughters of Jethro by Rosso Fiorentino.

Moses' parents, Amram and Jocabed (Hebrew Jocheved), are both from the house of Levi (who will be dedicated later in the service of God after the episode of the golden calf ). Amram is the son and grandson Kehat son of Levi. They are the first generation of Jews born in Egypt. Moses is the second generation will be born in Egypt. It was during this generation that Pharaoh gave orders to his people to remove the new-born males and not let the girls live.

After birth (7 Adar in the traditional ), his mother Jocheved hides the child for three months and then abandoned in a basket on the Nile , near the shore (6 Sivan ). The daughter of Pharaoh ( Bithiah - Hebrew Batya - in the Midrash ), which is bathed with courtesans, the child and decides to adopt (in this gesture inspired by the angel Gabriel , as the Midrash ), although immediately suspecting that the child was Jewish.

She then asked a young girl who observes the scene to find a nurse among the Hebrews to raise him. This young girl, Miriam , who is none other than the elder sister of Moses, he has his mother.

A famous midrash tells Moses one day playing on the knees of the pharaoh's crown eludes him. Seeing a bad omen, the wizards of the monarch to suggest the latter the immediate killing of the child. However, Jethro , priest of Midian , proposed to test what was perhaps easy, and Moses had placed in front of a tray of diamonds and glowing embers. Moses rushes to the plateau of diamonds, but stumbles (following the intervention of Gabriel ) to the embers. In his fright, he brings his fingers to his mouth and burns the tongue and lips. That's where I got the stuttering Moses.

As an adult, Moses realizes the difficult living conditions of his blood brothers. Seeing an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, he makes sure he is alone and kills the Egyptian and buried. (Exodus 2, 12.)

The following days, noting that the case was noised abroad, he fled from Egypt to the land of Midian. Reached a well, it defends against the shepherds of Midian other shepherds. They offered him hospitality in appreciation. Moses finds herself in Midian, where the priest, Jethro (), also called Reuel (), gives him his daughter Zipporah () in marriage.

Etymology of the name of Moses' When the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter who treated him like a son and named him Moses (, MSH, because, she said, water I saved "(MSYTHW, (Exodus 2, 10). Beyond this etymology traditional, it was noted that the ms hieroglyph meaning "rise", "derived from", "born", compared with Ramses ( Ra has generated " ) and Tuthmosis (born of Thoth ") or Hermes' made from the light." And could be translated equally well by Moses "Whoever is born of water", which is an elegant metaphor for the "insider", which we know must die to be reborn.

The Call of God (Exodus 3)

Moses and the burning bush, by Dirk Bouts.

While he is a refugee in Midian , and it keeps the flocks of his stepfather, Moses has a particular experience, that the Bible describes as a vocation : God's calling from inside a bush that burns without burn, which had attracted his attention.

• Its mission is to liberate the people of Hebrew that he suffers from slavery in Egypt.
• To accredit the Hebrews, God revealed himself to his name, in continuity with the tradition of his fathers, Abraham , Isaac and Jacob. This name seems to be the tetragrammaton (YHWH), viewed in context with a formula that seems to explain: "I am who I am," which may mean that he refuses to name himself, or his name is precisely the order of the Supreme Being , and indeterminable elusive, ever present and faithful to his people. In the tradition of Jewish , it refuses to pronounce the name of respect. In the Greek translation of this passage, the language opens the door to an interpretation of a metaphysical : "I am being." Given the context, the least we can remember is that He who is revealed both the elusive and extremely loyal.
• Moses begins by apologizing for his mission, providing the difficulties of having to confront Pharaoh. It then receives the means and a sign that does not absolve him from walking in faith through the challenges: how to order the supernatural , which will be deployed in the series of plagues of Egypt (see below), but also natural order, as the help of his brother Aaron , a sign consisting future in announcing his return to the same place with the people.

After this event, Moses gave up his position as shepherd and returns to Egypt.

The Ten Plagues of Egypt

Moses and his brother Aaron are trying to persuade Pharaoh to let the Hebrews leave Egypt by threatening terrible scourges that come true every time. Pharaoh will not yield until after the tenth plague. (Exodus, chapters 7 to 12 .)

1. Nile Waters become blood;
2. Frogs invade Egypt;
3. Flies and mosquitoes attack the population;
4. Vermin appear;
5. An outbreak of plague attack livestock;
6. The people catch boils (leprosy);
7. The hail destroyed crops;
8. The locusts devour vegetation;
9. Darkness reigns for three days;
10. The first-born (men and animals) Egyptian die overnight.

The exodus into the desert and the ten commandments

Moses breaking the Tablets of the Law, by Rembrandt.

After leaving Egypt, God made the people cross the Red Sea which then closed on the Egyptian army who tried to catch up, then took him to the foot of Mount Sinai , where Moses goes up to receive the Ten Commandments , the tablets of the Act. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, he saw the Hebrews, led by his brother Aaron , worshiping a golden calf (the idol worship was forbidden by the Third Commandment). It was assumed an anger so great that he smashed the Tablets of the Law on a rock. Moses then had to return to the top of Mount Sinai to receive new tables ( Exodus, 34, 18 ).

Through miracles, God strengthens the authority of Moses over the people, proving that he was her sent. Yet the people have ceased to murmur against Moses and against God repeating at least he lived in Egypt better. Then the people coming to the Promised Land and Moses sends twelve spies to reconnoiter the country. Ten of them discourage people from attacking the country despite the support of the Lord. God gets angry and decides to run in the desert for another forty years, so that none of those who came out of Egypt enters the Promised Land except Joshua and Caleb , the two spies in favor of the conquest .

Death of Moses

According to Numbers , 20, 7-13 , Moses, who, to water the Hebrew people, struck with his staff twice the rock of Meribah - drawing attention to himself and Aaron instead of God of Israel - is not allowed to enter the Promised Land . However, it is allowed to kiss her gaze from the top of Mount Nebo where he died at 120 years ( Deuteronomy , 34, 1-9). Before dying, he appointed Joshua as successor to conquer the Promised Land.

Other stories

At the Transfiguration ( New Testament )

At the Transfiguration of Christ , Moses and Elijah appeared with him in the eyes of the apostles Peter , Jacques and Jean. This episode appears in the three synoptic gospels , Matthew , Mark and Luke.

In Islam

Moses is called Moussa ( Arabic : ) in the Qur'an. There is a prophet major, one of those who received God's book. The story of Moses is told several times in the Koran.

Performance

• The best known is the sculpture of Michelangelo (circa 1515 ) belonging to the tomb of Pope Julius II in the Basilica of St. Peter in Chains in Rome. This work was the subject of analysis by Sigmund Freud. The statue in Moses with horns, and this representation has also been debate about a possible misinterpretation of biblical texts on an aura or radiation . It seems that the translation of Jerome is correct and that the horns of Moses expresses its very special status .
• The great mural The Events of Moses painted by Botticelli in the Sistine Chapel in 1482.
• Moses receiving the Tablets of the Law, Marc Chagall. 1960-1966, oil on canvas 238x234 cm, Musee Marc Chagall , Nice.
• Moses set out on the water, Nicolas Poussin , (1654), oil on canvas, 149.5 x 204.5 cm, Ashmolean Museum , Oxford.
• Moses trampling on Pharaoh's crown, Jan Steen , (v.1670), oil on canvas, 78 x 79 cm, private collection, the Netherlands.
• The Israelites gathering manna in the desert, Nicolas Poussin (1639), oil on canvas, 149 x 200 cm, Muse du Louvre , Paris.
• Moses making water gush from the rock, Jan Steen, (v.1660-1661), oil on canvas, 95 x 98.5 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art , Philadelphia.
• Triptych of the Adoration of the golden calf, Lucas van Leyden (c.1530), oil on wood, Rijksmuseum , Amsterdam.
• Moses and the Brazen Serpent, Anthony van Dyck (v.1620), oil on canvas, 205 x 235 cm, Museo del Prado , Madrid.
• The film The Ten Commandments of Cecil B. Thousand of 1956 , with Charlton Heston in the lead role, tells his life.
• The cartoon The Prince of Egypt , by the studios DreamWorks , which covers Chapters 1 through 20 of Exodus. This film was banned in Muslim-majority countries like the Maldives or Malaysia , for Moses, as a messenger of God recognized by Islam , can not be represented.
• The musical The Ten Commandments of Elie Chouraqui , Lionel Florence and Pascal Obispo.
• The Ancient and Modern Poetry Collection of Alfred de Vigny , Moses in the mystical book, written in 1822
• Saved from the Waters: the child rescued from the water recalls strangely the story of Sargon of Akkad ( -2334 to -2279 ) rescued from the water, ten centuries before Moses.

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Jan Assmann , The Price of monotheism, Aubier, Paris, 2007
• Martin Buber , Moses, Presses Universitaires de France, 1957
• Sigmund Freud , Moses and Monotheism, Gallimard, 1986
• Szlakmann Charles , Moses, Gallimard , coll. "Folio Biographies", Paris, 2009, 280 p. ( ISBN 978-2-07-035681-2 )
• Jacques Gruot, Moses, a literal approach, Yvelindition , 2009, ( ISBN 9782846682275 )

Related articles

• Archaeological data on the Exodus and Moses

External Links

• Joseph Salvador History of Institutions of Moses and the Hebrew people
• Moses crossing the Red Sea and the Exodus
• Moses and the Exodus in terms of history, between Nile and Jordan by Andre Lemaire, director of studies at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes.

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