I.

Introduction

Moses, Hebrew prophet and lawgiver and founder of Israel, or the Jewish people. The story of his life is set forth principally in the Old Testament books of Exodus and Deuteronomy. According to this account, he was born in Goshen, a part of ancient Egypt. At that time the Hebrews lived in Egypt and were oppressed by the Egyptian ruler, Pharaoh. Just before the birth of Moses, Pharaoh had ordered that all Hebrew male infants be put to death. To save her child, Moses's mother placed him in a basket made of papyrus and set it floating on the Nile River in the view of his sister, Miriam (see Exodus 2:4; Numbers 26:59). He was rescued by the daughter of Pharaoh, who brought the infant up as her own child. When an adult, Moses killed an Egyptian who had murdered a Hebrew; he then fled from Egypt. Moses was a shepherd until he was 80 years of age. At this time the god of the Hebrews, Yahweh, or Jehovah, appeared to him in a burning bush and commanded him to go back to Egypt and deliver his people from their bondage; he was to lead them out of Egypt to the land of Canaan, in what was later Palestine, where they were to settle permanently. To assist him in this project Yahweh gave Moses the power to perform miracles.