Greater Men and Women of the Bible by James Hastings: 140. Birth and Education

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Greater Men and Women of the Bible by James Hastings: 140. Birth and Education


Subjects in this Topic:



Moses



II



Birth and Education



Literature



Bell, C. D., The Roll-Call of Faith (1886), 179, 195.

Blaikie, W. G., Heroes of Israel (1894), 288.

Brown, James, Sermons (1892), 159.

Chadwick, G. A., The Book of Exodus (Expositor's Bible) (1890), 26.

Driver, S. R., The Book of Exodus (Cambridge Bible) (1911).

Gray, W. H., Our Divine Shepherd (1903), 93.

Hitchcock, F. R. Montgomery, Hebrew Types (1913), 55.

Kittel, R., The Scientific Study of the Old Testament (1910), 164.

Maclaren, A., Expositions: Exodus, etc. (1906), 12.

McNeile, A. H., The Book of Exodus (Westminster Commentaries) (1908).

Oosterzee, J. J. van, Moses: A Biblical Study (1876), 1, 30.

Parker, J., The City Temple, ii. (1872) 2.

Pearse, M. G., Moses: His Life and its Lessons (1894), 21.

Pentecost, G. F., Bible Studies: Pentateuch and Life of Christ (1894), 156

Robertson, F. W., Sermons, iv. (1874) 250.

Robertson, F. W., The Human Race (1886), 51.

Selby, T. G., The God of the Patriarchs (1904), 163.

Biblical World, xxix. (1907) 376 (T. G. Soares).

Christian World Pulpit, lix. (1901) 198 (J. S. Maver).

Dictionary of the Bible (Single-volume, 1909), 632 (A. H. McNeile).

Expository Times, xiv. (1903) 141 (C. H. W. Johns).





Birth and Education of Moses



She saw him that he was a goodly child.- Exo_2:2.



In passing from Genesis to Exodus we pass from the story of men and families to the history of a nation. In Genesis the Canaanites and Egyptians concern us only as they affect Abraham or Joseph. In Exodus, even Moses himself concerns us only for the sake of Israel. He is in some respects a more imposing and august character than any who preceded him; but what we are told is no longer the story of a soul, nor are we pointed so much to the development of his spiritual life as to the work he did-the tyrant overthrown, the nation moulded, the law and the ritual imposed on it. When Jacob at Peniel wrestles with God and prevails, he wins for himself a new name, expressive of the higher moral elevation which he has attained. But when Moses meets God in the bush, it is to receive a commission for the public benefit; and there is no new name for Moses, but a fresh revelation of God for the nation to learn. And in all their later history we feel that the national life which it unfolds was nourished and sustained by these glorious early experiences, the most wonderful as well as the most inspiriting on record.



Yet we may well call this new age the Age of Moses. For, in that new stage which is now to be entered upon, the nation is coming under the influence of that majestic personality, that super-eminent genius, that “man of God,” with whom but few of the sons of men have vied in intellectual and moral grandeur.



The intermediate stages between the “patriarchal” period and the departure of the tribes from Egypt it is impossible to trace. What is certain is that at the period when the Hebrews invaded Palestine and drove out or subdued its Canaanitish inhabitants the tribes were united, not only by the ties of kinship, but by their common belief in a Deity called Jahveh, and that this religion possessed elements of strength which welded the loosely-organized clans into a compact nation, and ultimately gave them a decided superiority over the Canaanites who opposed their advance. We find moreover that this type of religion held its ground after the settlement of the Hebrews in the conquered territory, and that it was tenacious and vigorous enough to withstand the disintegrating influences of heathenism to which it was exposed. To what is this striking development to be attributed? The uniform tradition of the Hebrews points to certain important historical events as the occasion, and to one commanding personality as the instrument, whereby the change was brought about. According to the narratives of the Pentateuch, the tribes migrated into Egypt and were for some centuries settled in that country. Though at first they found favour with the Egyptian monarchs, yet in process of time they sank into a condition of serfdom, which lasted until they were goaded by their sufferings to rise against their oppressors and to claim their liberty. Under the leadership of Moses, of the tribe of Levi, they made their escape from Egypt, and for more than a generation wandered as nomads in the Sinaitic Peninsula. Tradition also relates that the tribes were taught by Moses the elements of a higher religion than that which they had inherited from their ancestors, and that he was the founder of a rudimentary system of law and polity. According to the earliest account, Moses was specially commissioned by God to be the liberator and lawgiver of his fellow-tribesmen; he spoke with the authority of a prophet, and acted as mediator between the Hebrews and their God in the character of a priest.1 [Note: R. L. Ottley, The Religion of Israel, 25.]