The prophetic office of Moses, however, can only be fully considered in connection with his whole character and appearance. "By a prophet Jehovah brought Is- rael out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved" (Hos. xii, 13j. He was, in a sense peculiar to himself, the founder and representative of his people; and in accordance with this, complete identification of himself with his nation is the only strong personal trait which we are able to gather from his history. "The man Moses was very meek, above all the men that were upon the face of the earth" (Numb, xii, 3). The word " meek" is hardly an adequate reading of the Hebrew terra IJl', which should be rather "much enduring;" and, in fact, his onslaught on the Egyptian, and his sud- den dashing of the tables on the ground, indicate rather the reverse of what we should call " meekness." It rep- resents what we should now designate by the word "disinterested." All that is told of him indicates a withdrawal of himself, a preference of the cause of his nation to his own interests, which makes him the most complete example of Jewish patriotism, lie jdins his countrymen in their degrading servitude (l^xdd. ii, 11 ; v, 4). He forgets himself to avenge their wnnigs (ii, 14). He desires that his brother may take the lead instead of himself (Exod. iv, 13). He wishes that not he only, but that all the nation w^ere gifted alike: "En- viest thou for my sakeV" (Numb, xi, 29). When the offer is made that the people should be destroyed, and that he should be made "a great nation" (Exod. xxxii, 10), he prays that they tna^' be forgiven — "if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast writ- ten" (xxxii, 32). His sons were not raised to honor. The leadership of the people passed, after his death, to another tribe. In the books which bear his name, Abra- ham, and not himself, appears as the real iiither of the nation. In spite of his great pre-eminence, they are never " the children of Moses."
2. In the O.T. the name of Moses does not occur so frequently after the close of the Pentateuch as might be expected. In the Judges it occurs only once — in speaking of the wandering Levite Jonathan, his grand- son. In the Hebrew copies, followed by the A. Y., it has been superseded by "Manasseh," in order to avoid throwing discredit on the family of so great a man. See Manasskh, 2. In the Psalms and the Prophets, however, he is frequently named as the chief of the pro])hets.
In the N. T. he is referred to partlj- as the represent- ative of the law — as in the numerous passages cited above — and in the vision of the transfiguration, where he appears side by side with Elijah. It is possible that the peculiar word rendered "decease" (j'^ocot,) — used
MOSES
686
MOSES
only in Luke ix, 31, and in 2 Pet. i, 15, where it may have been drawn from the context of the transfigura- tion— was suggested by tlie exodus of Moses. As the author of the Law, he is contrasted with Christ, the Au- thor of tlie Gospel: "The law was given by Moses" (John i, 17). The ambiguity and transitory nature of his glory is set against tlie jiermanence and clearness of Christianity (2 Cor. iii, 13-1«), and his mediatorial char- acter (" tlie law in the hand of a mediator") against the unbroken communication of God in Christ (Gal. iii, 19). His '• service" of God is contrasted with Christ's sonship (Heb. iii, 5, G). But he is also spoken of as a likeness of Clirist; and as this is a point of view which has been almost lost in the Church, compared with the more fa- miliar comparisons of Christ to Adam, David, Joshua, and yet has as firm a basis in fact as any of them, it may be well to draw it out in detail.
[I. j Moses is, as it would seem, the only character of the O. T. to whom Christ expressly likens himself^ "Moses wrote of me" (John v, 4G). It is uncertain to what passage our Lord alludes, but the general opinion seems to be the true one — that it is the remarkable pre- diction in Deut. xviii, 1.5, 18, 19 — "The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, from thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken. ... I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I sliall command him. And it shall come to pass that wliiisoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him." This passage is also expressly quoted by Ste])hen (Acts vii, 37), and it is probably in allusion to it that at the transfiguration, in the presence of Jloses and Elijah, the words were uttered, " Hear ye him." It suggests three main points of likeness:
((I.) Christ was, like Moses, the great Prophet of the people — the last, as jNIoses was the first. In greatness of position none came between them. Only Samuel and Elijah could by any possibility be thought to fill the place of iVIoses, and they only in a very secondary degree. Christ alone appears, like Moses, as the Keveal- er of a new name of God — of a new religious society on earth. The Israelites "were baptized unto Moses" (I Cor. X, 2). The Christians were baptized unto Christ. There is no other name in the Bible that could be used in like manner. See Pkoi'iiet.