Moses

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**Moses** was a Hebrew-born Egyptian, Prophet and Jewish leader. It is one of the most important figures of the Old Testament, for making out the people of Israel from Egypt and led then to the Promised Land.

All the New Testament literature considered it prefigurative of Christ, which is seen as the new Moses and which will bring its revelation to completion .

## Linguistic data

In Hebrew, the name of Moses wrote, מֹשֶׁה, Moshe , in Greek Mωϋσῆς, Moyses ; in Latin : Moises , in Arabic : موسى , Mūsa .

According to Exodus 2,10 its name means " saved from the waters "., In fact, the Hebrew Moshè has a similarity with the verb which means "to draw out", although to this day most scholars prefer to believe that the name derives from the Egyptian root Moses , which means "son of" or "generated from". In line with this thesis and lacking the name of the father Mosè simply means 'child' as a pet name for 'son'. This name was given to the prophet by the daughter of the pharaoh, when it was found by the same on the banks of the river.

The derivation from the verb which means "to draw out" would be later, and would have been invoked at the root of the work of liberation of the people from the slavery of Egypt through the Red Sea . Giuseppe Flavio cites this etymology.

The classical interpretation of the Midrash identifies Moses as one of the seven biblical characters called by different names. The other names of Moses were in fact: Jekuthiel (for his mother), Heber (for his father), Jered (for Miriam ), Avi Zanoah (for Aaron ), Avi Soco (for his nurse), Shemaiah ben Nethanel (for the people of Israel) . The names of Toviah (as first name) and Levi (as family name ), Mechoqeiq (from legislator) and Ehl Gav Ish are also attributed to Moses .

## Historical context

The dating of events concerning Moses and the Israelites is still a source of debate among scholars. The only historical reference in the biblical texts is in fact the passage from Exodus 1,11 , according to which the Pharaoh , enslaved to the people of Israel, forced him to build the deposit cities of Pitom and Ramses .

Their construction dates back to the time of Pharaoh Ramesses I , although they were extended and rebuilt also by his nephew, Ramesse II ( 1290 - 1224 BC ). Several scholars from this pose Ramesses II as the oppressor pharaoh and Merenptah (1224- 1222 BC ), his successor, as the pharaoh of the Exodus, also considering Merenptah's stele listing, among the peoples , as an exceptional proof conquered, even the Israelites.

There are those who prefer to date the episodes of the Exodus with the expulsion of the Hyksos , the Semitic pharaohs driven from Egypt by Ahmose (about 1550 - 1525 BC ).

## Biography

### Early Life

#### Hidden In Egypt

Moses was the 3 child of Amram and his wife Jochebed, both of the tribe of Levi  in Egypt, after the Israelites had become enslaved by the Egyptians,  because the Egyptian government feared the growing Hebrew population would eventually overtake them.  The hard labor, however, had not kept the Hebrew population from growing rapidly. This lead to the Egyptian government ordering all newborn Hebrew males to be drowned in the Nile. This task had been left to the Hebrew midwives, of whom at least 2 explained that women were having the babies without calling them and subsequently hiding them, as did Amram and Jochebed. The child had been extraordinarily beautiful, and was hidden for 3 months.

## Notes

1. ↑ See for example the Egyptians Thutmosis (son of Thot ) or Ramses (son of Ra )

## References

1. ↑ Exodus 3:11
2. ↑ Matthew 5:17-48
3. ↑ Exodus 2:10
4. ↑ Midrash Rabbah, Ki Thissa, XL 3-3, Lehrman, pag.463
5. ↑ See eg Rolf Rendtorff, Introduction to the Old Testament , Turin, 1990, p. 23; Yohanan Aharoni, Michael Avi-Yonah, Atlas of the Bible , Casale Monferrato, 1987, p. 44.
6. ↑ Among them Josephus and Herodotus, supporters of the theory of the Ancient Exodus
7. ↑ A minority of scholars hypothesize that the Exodus events are only a literary creation inspired by some priests at the time of the Babylonian exile to emphasize their religious characteristics. See eg Mario Liverani, Beyond the Bible .
8. ↑ Exodus 2:1
9. ↑ Exodus 1:11-14
10. ↑ Exodus 1:10
11. ↑ Exodus 1:22
12. ↑ Exodus 2:2; Acts 7:20; Hebrews 11:23