The beginnings
Moses was the Hebrew boy raised in Pharaoh’s palace who became Israel’s leader. God spoke to him from a burning bush and sent him to bring Israel out of slavery in Egypt. At Mount Sinai he received the Ten Commandments. He led the people 40 years in the wilderness and died within sight of the promised land.
9 moments
See where Moses fits on the Bible timeline
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Pharaoh orders Hebrew baby boys killed. Moses’ mother hides him in a basket, and Pharaoh’s daughter adopts him.
Grown, he kills an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew and runs to Midian, where he marries and keeps sheep.
At Horeb, God speaks from a bush that burns and is not burned up. He gives his name and sends Moses back.
Pharaoh refuses, and ten plagues fall on Egypt. The last is the death of the firstborn, and Israel keeps the first Passover.
God parts the sea, Israel crosses on dry ground, and Pharaoh’s army is drowned.
God gives the Ten Commandments, and Moses goes up the mountain to receive the law.
While Moses is on the mountain, the people make an idol. Moses pleads with God for them.
At Kadesh the people refuse to enter the land, and God turns them back into the wilderness for 40 years.
God shows Moses the whole land from Mount Nebo. He dies there at 120, and no one knows where he is buried.
Read these first
God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” Then he said, “This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I Am has sent me to you.’”
Exodus 3:14I am who I am
Yahweh will fight for you, and you are to keep quiet.”
Exodus 14:14The Lord will fight for you
Hear, Israel: Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one. Love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
Deuteronomy 6:4-5The great command he taught
Questions people ask
Each answer is marked: in the Bible, tradition, readers disagree, or not known.
Readers disagree
Jewish and Christian tradition holds that he did, and the Bible says he wrote down parts of the law. Many scholars think the books were put together later from older material. Deuteronomy 34 tells of his death, so someone else wrote at least that.
See Exodus 24:4
Not known
No one knows for sure. Jebel Musa in the Sinai Peninsula has been honored since the 4th century. Others point to mountains in Arabia or the northern Sinai.
Not known
Exodus does not name him. Ramesses II is the most common guess for those who date the Exodus in the 1200s BC.
In the Bible
The Bible says no one knows. God buried him in a valley in Moab.
See Deuteronomy 34:6
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