II. Ilis Biography. — The materials for this are the following : a. The details preserved in the last four books of the Pentateuch, b. The allusions in the proph- ets and Psalms, which, in a few instances seem indepen- dent of the Pentateuch, c. The Jewish traditions pre- served in the N. T. (Acts vii, 20-38 ; 2 Tim. iii, 8, 9 ; Heb. xi, 23-28 ; Jude 9) ; and in Josephus (.4 nt. ii, iii, iv), Philo (Vita Moysis), and Clemens Alexandrinus (Strom.), d. The heathen traditions of Manetho, Ly- simachus, and Chseremon, preserved in Josephus (c. Ap, i, 26-32), of Artapanus and others in Eusebius (Prap. Ev. ix, 8, 26, 27), and of Hecata^us in Diod. Sic. xl ; Stra- bo, xvi, 2. €. The IMussulman traditions in the Koran (ii, vii, X, xviii, xx, xxviii, xl), and the Arabian legends, as given in Weil's Biblical Legends; D'Herbelot (s. v. Jloussa), and Lane's Selections, p. 182. f. The frag- mentary apocryphal books of Moses (Fabricius, Cod, Pseud. V. T. I, 825) : (1) Prayers of Moses, (2) Apoca- lypse of Moses, (3) Ascension of Moses, g. In modern times his career and legislation have been treated by Warburton, Michaelis, Ewald, Bunsen, and others.
The life of Moses, in the later period of the Jewish history, was divided into three equal portions of forty years each (Acts vii, 23, 30, 36). This agrees with the natural arrangement of his history into the three parts of his Egyptian training, his exile in Arabia, and his government of the Israelitish nation in the wilderness and on the confines of Palestine.
1. His Parentage, Birth, and Education, — The imme- diate pedigree of Moses is as follows :
Levi
.Ln.
Hur to Mil
AaroD to Elisheba
Moses to Ziprorah
Nadab. Abihii. El(
Ithii
Gersbom Eliezer. I I
Phinehas. Jonathan.
In this genealogy, as in all the others given of the same period, there is an interval of four to six generations (Browne, Ordo Sceclorum. p. 301 sq.). In the Koran, by a strange confusion, the family of Moses is confounded with the Holy Family of Nazareth, chiefly through the identification of Mary and Miriam, and the third chap- ter, which describes the evangelical history, bears the name of the " Family of Amram." Although little is known of the family except through its connection with this its most illustrious member, jet it was not without influence on his after-life. The fact that he was of the tribe of Levi no doubt contributed to the selection of
MOSES
C78
MOSES
that tribe as the sacred caste. The tie that bound them to Moses was one of kinship, and they thus naturally rallied around the religion which he had been the means of establishing (Kxod. xxxii, 28) with an ardor which could not have been found elsewhere. His own eager devotion is also a quality, for good or evil, characteristic of the whole tribe. The Lcvitical parentage and Egyp- tian origin both appear in the family names. Cershom, Eleazur, are both repeated in the younger generations. Moses and riiinehas (see Brugsch, Hist, de V Eijijiiie, i, 173) are Egyi)tian. The name of his mother, .Jocliebed, implies the knowledge of the name of Jehovah in the bosom of the family. It is its first distinct appearance in the sacred history. jMiriam, who must have been considerably oliler than himself, and Aaron, who was three years older (Exod. vii, 7), afterwards occupy that independence of position which their superior age would naturally give them.
Moses was born B.C. 1738, and, according to ilanetho (Josephus, Ap. i, 20 ; ii, 2), at Heliopolis, in the time of thfe deepest depression of his nation in the Egyptian servitude. Hence the Jewish proverb, " When the tale of bricks is doubled, then comes Moses." His birth (ac- cording to Josephus, Ant. ii, 9, 2, 3, 4) had been foretold to Pharaoh by the Egyjitian magicians, and to his father Amram by a dream — as respectively the future destroyer and deliverer. The pangs of his mother's labor were alleviated so as to enable her to evade the Egyptian niidwives. The story of his birth is thoroughly Egyp- tian in its scene. The beauty of the new-born babe — in the later versions of the story amplified into a beauty and size (Josephus, ih. 1, 5) almost divine (ikstuoi^ ti^ ^(({i. Acts vii, 20 ; the word aarHog is taken from the Sept. version of Exod. ii, 2, and is used again in Heb. xi, 23, and is applied to none but ]Moses in the N. T.) — induced the mother to make extraordinary efforts for its preservation from the general destruction of the male infants of Israel. For three months the child was con- cealed in the house. Then his mother placed him in a small boat or basket of papyrus — perhaps from a cur- rent Egyptian belief that the plant is a protection from crocodiles (Plutarch, Is. awl Os. p. 358) — closed against the water by bitumen. This was placed among the aquatic vegetation by the side of one of the canals of the Nile. See Nii.i:. The mother departed as if unable to bear the sight. The sister lingered to watch her broth- er's fate. The basket (Josephus, ib. 4) floated down the stream. The Egyptian princess came down (after the custom of her country, which allowed more freedom to females than is now common in the I'^ast) to bathe in the sacred river, or (Josephus, .1 nt. ii, 9, 5) to play by its side. Iler attendant slaves followed lier (see Wil- kinson,/I «r. E;/. ii, 389). Slie saw the basket in the flags, or (Josejjhus) borne down the stream, and dis- patched divers after it. Tlic divers, or one of the fe- male slaves, brouglit it. It was opened, and the cry of the child moved the princess to compassion. She' de- termined to rear it as her own. The child refused the milk of Egyi)tian luirses (Josephus). The sister was then at hand to recommend a Hebrew nurse. The child was brought np as the princess's son, and the memory of the incident was long cherished in the name given to the foundling of the water's side — whether according to its Hebrew or Egyptian form. (See above.) The child was adopted by the princess. Tradition describes its beauty as so great that passers-by stood fixed to look at it, and laborers left their work to steal a glance (Jo- se[)hus, .1/)/. ii, 9, C). His foster-mother (to whom the Jewish tradition gave the name of Tlwrmutliis, Josephus, Ant. ii. 9, 5; Artai)anus, I'nrp. Kr. ix, 27, the name of Mcnhis, and the Arabian traditions that of A suit, Jala- laddin, p. 387) was (according to Artajianus, Eusebius, Pro'p. ICv. ix, 27) the daughter of Palmanothes, wlio was reigning at Heliopolis. and the wife of Clienephres, ■who was reigning at Mempliis. In tliis tradition, and that of Philo (!'. .1/. i, 4), she has no child, and hence lier delight at finding one. Many attempts have been