MOSES. — Just as, in the Synagogue, the Law (the Torah), was accounted the most important division of the Canon, and as Holy Scripture in its entirety might thus a parte potiori be designated the ' Law ' (6 vd/xoi, the tOrdh), so in the primitive Church Moses was regarded as the supreme figure of the OT.
1. Moses as the anthop of the Pentateuch. — Moses was honoured as the author of the ' Law,' i.e. the Pentateuch : Ro 10* (' Moses writeth ') ; cf. Ac 3-- 7". His name had become so closely identi- fied with the books of the Torah that we even find it said, ' Moses is read ' (Ac 15-', 2 Co 3'* [cf. v."]). The Mosaic origin of the Pentateuch was an assumption of Jewish tradition and, as such, seems to have been taken over by Jesus and His apostles without criticism of any sort. It is to be noted, liowever, that they attached no special importance to the belief that Moses himself wrote the Penta- teuch. This is in no sense the point of the above references, as the name ' Moses ' is used either metonymically for the Law ('the Old Covenant') as in Ac 15=' and 2 Co 3'* (cf. v."), or as a designa- tion of the correlative, i.e. the first, portion of Holy Scripture or Divine revelation ; cf. e.g. Ro IC (where Moses is referred to only as the mouth-piece of God, exactly like ' Isaiah ' in the next verse). Occasionally, however, special em- phasis is laid upon the fact that Moses, as a prophet, gave utterance to certain sayings, since, as the recognized representative of Judaism, he forms in some sense a contrast to Jesus ; cf. Ac 7^' and 3=2 (< Moses said ') with Jn 5*" (Ro 10=).
2. Moses as a prophet. — Among the early Christians generally Moses was honoured as pre- eminently a prophet. While the religion of the OT revolved around the two foci. Law and Promise, primitive Christianity — in contrast to later Judaism —laid the chief emphasis upon the Promise ; and, if the .Jews exploited Moses in their controversies with the Christians, the latter could always appeal to his Messianic prediction ; cf. Ac 3'^ 7'' 26=^28^, Lk 24«- ", Jn 5«-" (Dt 18'= : ' The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me'). More especially in the speech of Stephen a strong emphasis is laid upon the prophetic character of Moses (Ac 7^') ; here, moreover, Moses does not merely foretell the coming of Christ, but in his calling, and even in his experiences, he is also, as
indicated in the passage cited from Dt., a prototype of Christ, having been first of all disowned by his people (vv.^-*), then exalted by God to be their leader and deliverer (v.""), and at length once more rejected by them (vv.^-"). St. Paul, too, uses the figure of Aloses as a type of Christ : the Israelites in their exodus from Egypt ' were all baptized unto Moses' in the Red Sea (1 Co 10=); and in He 3- Moses is spoken of as typifying Christ's faithfulness in the service of God's house. That Christ is called the Mediator of the New Covenant (He 8" 1'2=*) doubtless presupposes that Moses was the mediator of the Old (cf. Ac 7^, Gal 3'"). In the speech of Stephen the life of Moses is sketched at some length, and is furnished with certain par- ticulars which were derived from the oral tradition of the Synagogue (the Haggada), as e.g. in Ac 7== (' instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians') — just as the names of the Egyptian m.agicians, Jannes and Jambres, are given by St. Paul (2 Ti 3"*). Further, among the heroes of the faith enumerated in He 11, Moses wins more than a passing reference as a pattern of faith (w.^*'-").
High as Moses stands in the Old Covenant, however, his glory pales before tliat of Christ, as the transient and the material gives place to the permanent and the spiritual (2 Co 3'-"*, He 3^'*). Moses was but the servant of God, while Jesus Christ is God's Son, who not merely superintends, but actually governs God's house, and was in fact its builder (He S^'"). In the fading away of the dazzling glory on the face of Moses (Ex 34^"*') St. Paul finds a symbol of the transient glory of the Old Covenant mediated by Moses, while the glory of the Lord (i.e. Christ), and thus also of the New Covenant, is imperishable (2 Co 3'2-i8 ; cf. vv.'"").
3. Moses as the law-givep.— This brings us to the function of Moses as the law-giver. As Judaism became more and more definitely legal- istic, an ever higher position was as.signed to the great intermediary of the Law. He towered above every other character in the OT, and Judaism became neither more nor less than Mosaism. To impugn the Law in any way was to speak blas- ])hemy, not only against Moses, but even against God (cf. the charge against Stephen, Ac 6"). The primitive Church, on the other hand — as was said above — laid great stress upon the prophetic and prototypic character of Moses, as also upon his subordinate position in relation to Christ. But as long as Moses remained the great canonical standard, the Church could not renounce his legis- lative authority. Even the Lord Jesus Himself had sanctioned the Law of Moses, and co-ordinated it with the Prophets (Mt 5"--», Lk 16" ; cf. vv.-* »>), and the primitive community in Jerusalem could never have entertained the thought of disparaging the authority of Moses for Christians as well as Jews. Still, the relation of the disciples of Jesus to the Mosaic Law could not permanently remain the same as that of the unbelieving Jews ; the difl'erentiating factor of belief in Jesus was felt more and more to be paramount, and at length it was fully realized that salvation could be secured not by the Law but by faith, or grace, and that it came not from Moses, but from Jesus Christ.