Moses

Main focus will be on Moses. He was the greatest prophet, leader, and teacher of Judaism. By focusing on Moses, I'll incorporate the importance of certain passages that prove the Old Testament; and show how Moses' role was significant and essential to the Hebrews.

Moses 1400 B.C.E

In a nutshellÐ'...

Moses was born in a very difficult time: Pharaoh had ordered that all male children born to Hebrew slaves should be drowned in the river (Exodus. 1:22). Moses' mother hid him for three months, and when she could no longer hide him, she put him in an ark and placed it on the river where Pharaoh's daughter bathed (Ex. 2:2-3). Pharaoh's daughter found the child and had compassion for him (Exodus. 2:6).

Although Egyptians raised Moses, the compassion he felt toward his people (the Hebrews) was so great that he could not bear to see them beaten by Pharaoh's taskmasters. One day, when Moses was about 40 years old, he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave, and he was so outraged that he struck and killed the Egyptian (Exodus. 2:11-12). Both the Hebrews and Pharaoh condemned him for this actions, and Moses was forced to flee from Egypt (Ex. 2:14-15).

G-d appeared to Moses and chose him to lead the Hebrews out of Egyptian slavery and to the Promised Land, Israel (Ex. Chs. 3-4). With the help of his brother Aaron, Moses spoke to Pharaoh and triggered the plagues against Egypt (Ex. Chs. 4-12). He then led the people out of Egypt and across the sea to freedom, and brought them to Mount Sinai, where G-d gave the people the Torah; and the people accepted it (Ex. Chs. 12-24).

G-d revealed the entire Torah to Moses. The Torah includes the first five books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) that Moses wrote as G-d instructed him. It also includes all of the remaining prophecies that would later be written down in the remaining books of scripture. Furthermore, it contains the entire Oral Torah the oral tradition for interpreting the Torah, which would later be written down in the Talmud. Moses spent the rest of his life writing the first five books, essentially taking dictation of G-d.

After Moses received instruction from G-d about the Law and how to interpret it, he came back down to the people. There he found the Hebrews idolizing a golden calf.

This is a very significant story in the Bible. It shows how the important one god was to the Hebrews, and a commitment to one god was what made the ancient Jews unique. People of Mesopotamia, Egypt, India accepted various gods. However descendents of Abraham who traveled through the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers [from Abrahams Native Ur to Egypt] came in contact with many different religious beliefs.

In the Hebrew bible, the golden calf was an idol made by Aaron for the Israelites during Moses' unexpectedly long absence. It is first mentioned in Exodus 32:4.

When Moses went up onto Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments (Exodus 19:20), he left the Israelites for forty days and forty nights (Exodus 24:18). The Israelites feared that he would not return, and asked Aaron to make a god for them (Exodus 32:1). The Bible does not note Aaron's opinion of this request; merely that he complied, and gathered up the Israelites' golden earrings. He melted them to construct the golden calf. He also built an altar before the calf, and the next day, the Israelites made offerings and celebrated.

G-d told Moses that his people had corrupted themselves, and that he planned to eliminate them, but Moses argued and pleaded that they should be spared (Exodus 32:11); G-d relented. Moses came down from the mountain, but upon seeing the calf, he became very angry; and as a result threw down the tablets upon which G-d's law had been written causing them to break. He ground up the golden calf, mixed its powder with water, and forced the Israelites to drink it. Then he gathered the tribe of Levi, (Moses was Levi's great-grandchildren. Their tribe