Portal:Christianity/Selected biography/August 2007
Rembrandt, 1659
Moses was an early Biblical Hebrew religious leader, lawgiver, prophet, military leader and historian. Much of the material in the Torah is attributed to Moses.
Moses was a son of Amram, a member of the Levite tribe of Israel, and his wife Jochebed. In the Exodus account, the birth of Moses occurred at a time when the current Egyptian Pharaoh had commanded that all male Hebrew children born be killed by drowning in the river Nile. His mother hid him and he ended up being adopted into the Egyptian royal family. After killing an Egyptian slave master, he fled and became a shepherd, and was later commanded by God to deliver the Hebrews from slavery. After the Ten Plagues were unleashed on Egypt, he led the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and in the desert for 40 years. Despite living to 120, he did not enter the Land of Israel, as he disobeyed God when God instructed him on how to bring forth water from a rock in the desert.
(more)