The Holy Prophet Moses the God-Seer
September 4th
Like a new star suddenly blazing in the firmament, his name burst upon the ancient world in a flash of dazzling radiance: Moses.
The extraordinary life of this revered holy man – one of the greatest prophets to appear before the arrival of Christ – began somewhere around 1500 B.C., while his Hebrew people struggled in the anguish of slavery at the hands of the Egyptian Pharaoh. Moses was born to a man of the tribe of Levi, Amram, and his wife Jochebed, who had already been blessed with a son (Aaron) and a daughter (Miriam).
Like everything else in his life, the events surrounding Moses’ birth were nothing less than spectacular. He came upon the scene during a period in which the infant sons of the Hebrews were being systematically murdered by the Egyptians, and he would barely survive half a dozen close brushes with death, first as an infant and then as a youth growing up under the yoke of slavery in Egypt.
The dramatic story of Moses’ birth is well known but worth repeating. Soon after his arrival, his terrified mother realized that the Pharaoh’s brutal campaign of drowning every Israelite newborn in the Nile River would quickly end her baby’s life. Desperate for a way to save him, she hit upon an inventive plan. After hurrying down to the riverbank, she built a tiny boat by weaving bulrushes together and then daubing them with sticky pitch. Once the infant’s frail craft had been carefully assembled, she launched it upon the waters and prayed for the child’s safety. Meanwhile, the baby’s devoted sister Miriam watched from a hidden place, hoping to observe the outcome.TAKEN FROM
How could a helpless infant hope to survive such a journey along the mighty Nile? That question was answered by Providence – which made sure that the Pharaoh’s own daughter, accompanied by her handmaidens, would be bathing in the stream at the very moment when the escape-basket came floating by! Amazed by the child’s beauty and full of compassion, the Egyptian princess carried the child home. Miriam, watching carefully from her hiding place, did not fail to notice what had happened to her baby brother.
Once safely home with the babe, the princess began looking around for a wet nurse who could feed it. According to the great Jewish historian Josephus, however, that plan failed when the baby refused to accept milk from every Egyptian nurse who attempted to feed him. No matter how often the attempt was made, the squalling baby always refused to suckle at an alien breast!
At her wit’s end, the princess commanded Miriam (who had slipped into the palace in order to observe the treatment of her baby brother, after his miraculous escape): “Go and summon a Hebrew woman!” Miriam didn’t hesitate . . . and hurried straight home to recruit the child’s mother for the life-saving task. Immensely relieved when the Hebrew wet nurse finally appeared, the princess thrust the baby into Jochebed’s arms, while uttering the unforgettable command: “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages!”
And so it began – the life of one of the world’s great prophets, who would actually be named by an Egyptian princess (“Moses” means “drawn from the water”). In the decades that followed, this obscure shepherd and son of a slave would become a major figure in the Old Testament, after leading the Israelites from enslavement to freedom in their own restored land. He would also take part in one of the greatest events in the long journey of God and man together: The dissemination of the Ten Commandments via the inscribed stone tablets that were presented to him on Mt. Sinai.
The destiny of Moses could be observed clearly a few years later, during an incident in which the father of the princess – the Egyptian Pharaoh, himself – placed a golden, idol-bearing crown upon his youthful head . . . and then watched in horror while the youth suddenly trampled it underfoot. Appalled by the incident, the Pharaoh’s priests urged him to have the child killed, while warning him that this behavior reminded them of an ancient Egyptian prophecy about an Israelite leader who would someday send terrible plagues upon the people of Egypt.
Was the threat real? To test the intelligence of the growing child, the Pharaoh’s advisors tricked him into swallowing red-hot coals. The incident left him with a lifelong speech defect; it was one of a hundred abuses he endured at the hands of his enemies. But the young man would not be denied his destiny.
Taught by some of the wisest scholars in Egypt, he soon began to surpass them in learning. Later still, after winning military fame by leading the Egyptians to victory over their Ethiopian enemies, he one day witnessed a Hebrew slave being beaten by his master. Moses quickly killed the abuser and buried him in the sand. But when news of his revolt reached the Pharaoh’s ears, Moses was forced to flee the country. For weeks at a time, he fled his pursuers like a solitary shadow. At last, arriving in distant Midian after many struggles, he settled down to what he hoped would be a peaceful, bucolic life.
But Moses could never tolerate ill treatment of those around him. All too soon, he became embroiled in another deadly quarrel – after he defended the daughter of the local priest, Jethro, against some bullying shepherds at a water-well.
Thrilled by the young man’s courage, Jethro permitted him to marry his daughter, Zipporah, and she eventually bore him two sons: Gershom and Eliezer. Moses settled into the life of a common shepherd, but destiny soon came calling again. One day as he wandered the harsh, hilly landscape, he was startled to see a large, tangled bush explode in flame. Transfixed, Moses watched the flames soar skyward, but without consuming the branches on which they fed.
Imagine his awestruck wonder, when a voice rumbled from the burning vegetation:
Moses, Moses!
Here I am!
Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.
And the LORD said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” (Exodus 3: 4-10)
Stunned and half-paralyzed with fear, Moses stammered back: “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (Moses 3: 11) But the Lord had spoken; the die was cast. And it wasn’t long before Moses wound up standing in front of the Pharaoh, along with his brother, Aaron, and telling the amazed monarch: Let my people go!
What followed, of course, was a key moment in the history of the Israelites. When the Pharaoh refused, Aaron cast the rod he was carrying on the ground and it became a serpent. But the Egyptians remained unimpressed . . . until Moses warned that the nation would experience a series of horrific plagues, if the slaves weren’t released. And those plagues would be more horrifying than anything the human mind could ever imagine. When the Pharaoh remained adamant, the plagues began with a dramatic transformation – the rivers of Egypt ran with blood instead of water!
In rapid succession, then, the notorious plagues unfolded one by one. First a swarm of frogs fell from the sky, and their stinking corpses made life unbearable. These noxious creatures were followed by lice, then by flies, then by an epidemic in which farm animals died everywhere. Soon the Egyptian landscape was a vast terrain littered with the rotting bodies of sheep, cattle and horses. Next came boils that leaked pus, and fiery hail, and locusts that descended in clouds and ate every living plant. The land was ravaged now; the crops were utterly annihilated. And at last total darkness descended on the Pharaoh’s realm.
But when this ninth plague still failed to move him, the Lord sent a terrible event, indeed; the Angel of Death visited each household and took every firstborn child. Yet God spared the Hebrews, who were advised to smear the blood of lambs on their doors, so that the Angel would be able to identify them as Jews and avoid their children. (To this day, the Jews still celebrate this “Passover” as one of their most important holidays. On this holiday, they eat lamb in memory of the lamb’s blood they employed as a means of protecting their children and ensuring that the Angel would “pass over” their homes during his flight.)
Crazed with grief after so many innocents had perished, the Egyptians finally relented and told Moses that he should take the Hebrews away and lead them toward their “Promised Land.” But the Pharaoh soon changed his mind and regretted his decision. Enraged once again, he sent a vast army to pursue the fleeing Moses and his people, who were being led by God through the desert in the form of a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night.
When the Pharaoh’s troops caught up with the prophet and his 600,000 Israelis, a great battle loomed. But at the last moment, God divided the waters of the Red Sea and allowed the Hebrews to escape . . . while the furious Egyptians, caught in headlong pursuit, were drowned to the last man when the waters rushed together again and rolled over their heads in an unstoppable tidal wave.
After that extraordinary miracle, Moses led his people to the foot of Mt. Sinai, where God spoke to him and presented him with the Ten Commandments. Captured in the Book of Exodus, the story of this crucially important moment in human history could not be more dramatic, or thrilling.
And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice. Then the LORD came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. (Exodus 19: 17-20)
It was then that the Lord presented the prophet with the Ten Commandments, and also gave him key instructions on how to build a place for proper worship, called the “Tabernacle.” And in addition the Lord gave the Prophet instructions on sacrifices, what foods to eat and how to live according to His law.
Moses then led his people through the Wilderness between Egypt and Israel for forty long and grueling years. Ironically enough, however, he himself never saw the Promised Land – having died just outside its boundaries, in the Kingdom of Moab, which is located today in the modern country of Jordan. According to tradition, Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
Upon the death of this extraordinary spiritual leader, the people he had led to freedom experienced an immense outpouring of grief. Tearing their clothes and pouring ashes on their heads, they wept for thirty days in memory of one of the very greatest figures of the Old Testament.
Revered throughout the world for more than two millennia, Moses has become a mighty father figure and a shining symbol of obedience to Almighty God. His extraordinary life offers us a thrilling example of the wondrous things that can happen when ordinary human beings listen carefully to their supremely loving God. The obstacles that Moses and his people faced seemed insurmountable at times – yet they never stopped believing that their loving Father would bring them home safely to Him at last!
Apolytikion in the Second Tone
As we celebrate the memory of Thy Prophets Moses and Aaron, O Lord, through them we beseech Thee to save our souls.
Kontakion in the Fourth Tone
With the divine and righteous Moses and Aaron, the Prophets' choir today rejoiceth with gladness, seeing their prophecy fulfilled now in our midst; for Thy Cross, O Christ our God, whereby Thou hast redeemed us, shineth in the sight of all as the end and fulfillment of that which they foretold in ancient times. By their entreaties, have mercy upon us all.
