Moses
Israel's reluctant rescuer

The great figures of history have always been subject to caricature. This has probably been the case ever since there were leaders around to give orders and followers made to obey them. For every razor-sharp revolutionary who has sliced through the status quo, dozens of jaundice-eyed observers have milled in his or her wake—half of them armed with mocking grins and ready taunts, the other half scheming up a profit.

Moses, deliverer of the fledgling nation Israel, hasn’t been immune to the caricature treatment. He’s been high-lowed by artists, commentators and entrepreneurs across the spectrum, from the epic-making Cecil B. DeMille, to the joke-cracking Mel Brooks, to an admiring Michelangelo.

What has made Moses subject to the broadest of strokes? No doubt, his association with the Ten Commandments. To some, the idea of Moses as a rigid figure of unbending principle is as carved in stone as the Decalogue itself. In his 1678 novel The Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan depicted Moses as a giant brute, pounding poor Christian’s head with the rock tablets of the Commandments. A century and a half earlier, Michelangelo sculpted Moses as an upright figure no less foreboding: ramrod-straight, lantern-jawed and set, fittingly, in stone. This was the image most Westerners came to associate not only with Israel’s law-giver, but also with the God of the Bible: long, flowing beard, eyebrows arched menacingly across a broad, square forehead, eyes blazing in eternal displeasure.

If you grew up a fan of the movies, as I did, your image of Moses was inescapably informed by such two-dimensional caricatures. You saw Moses either bronzed in stoic stature, courtesy of Charlton Heston (The Ten Commandments, 1956), or striding purposefully through desert scrub as a thunder-tongued Burt Lancaster (Moses, 1976). Not surprisingly, neither image comes close to whomever we may decipher the real Moses to be, even by the crudest standards.

Hollywood’s stabs at Old Testament casting notwithstanding, we needn’t look far for proof of Moses’ caricaturing. Even a cursory read of Moses’ life in the early books of the Bible offers a fuller, more human and at times even humorous picture of a deeply enigmatic man. Thankfully, there are people and cultures who still go back to the source for a working knowledge of who Moses was, and, to many, still is. Many have found in this Moses—the biblical Moses—a rallying figure, someone whose character cuts an inspiring, if sympathetically flawed, profile.

Moses figures prominently, for example, in the spirituals of African-Americans, whose enslavement over the centuries attuned them to his role as a freedom fighter. Perhaps for that reason, Moses’ name has long been esteemed in the black community, anointing mavericks in various arenas: actor Moses Gunn, hurdler Edwin Moses, hoopster Moses Malone (who led Philly’s Sixers to the Promised Land, winning an NBA title despite two reigning Pharaohs named Magic and Bird). Every successful “Black Moses” has cut an inroad to a particular land of promise.

In another sense, Moses might also represent the largely American trait of self-invention, or rather, personal reinvention. His fugitive status—the result of an ill-conceived act of violence—forced him into a new life, in a new land. Yet, in a dramatic twist you might find in a Shakespeare drama (or, for that matter, in any film noir), Moses couldn’t shake his past. His new life led him circuitously back to his old one, in a humbler set of clothes. It was only after he had returned to his people of origin that his character was sealed. And in the Bible, as the cinematic saying goes, action is character.

Like the messiah he was said to prefigure, Moses was born into conflict. From the very moment of his birth, we’re treated to a story that has it all: infanticide, daring escape, supernatural voices, strange rituals, a reluctant hero, a crime of passion, magicians, midwives, Pharaohs, knaves, natural disasters, unnatural disasters, rebellion, redemption, rivers of blood, calves of gold, snake bites, miracle cures, burning bushes, parting waves, war and peace—all woven together in an intricate, Dickensian plot.

Standing at the center of these swirling events and people was Moses, a living ear attuned to the voice of the God he chose to serve. Yet this was no clean-cut hero, no ascetic saint, no golden-glow matinee idol. Moses was an original yet also an everyman. The Bible is well-known for its unflinching portrayals of humankind, including its heroes, and its portrait of Moses is no exception. The man who agreed to lead Israel out of slavery was packed full of contradictions.

Early on, we’re given a picture of Moses as perhaps a hothead, inarticulate (possibly a stutterer), at times maybe a negligent husband. Yet we’re also told he was humble, “more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.” On one occasion, we’re informed, Moses saved the Israelites single-handedly by persuading God to spare them, despite their tendency to endanger themselves by continually disobeying the Lord’s commands. Yet, on another occasion, we see that Moses himself wasn’t always great at following through on divine directions. In a brief but telling scene, Israel’s leader is cowed into silence as his wife castigates him for neglecting to circumcise their son, a mandate for all Israelite males. “No small thing, Mister Big Shot,” she seems to chide, as her heedless husband stands before her slump-shouldered with guilt.

Yet, just as we find in our own lives, from between the lines of such contradictions a complex, fascinating human being begins to emerge. And along with this wondrous person comes an even deeper set of double-edged traits. We see an example in Moses’ initial reticence to take on leadership over Israel. According to the text, Moses heard God’s voice speaking to him from a burning bush. He then witnessed various supernatural signs, all demonstrated solely for his sake. Each instance was meant to convince Moses of the purpose that lay ahead for him and of the power that would be behind it. Moses’ response to these things? He barraged God with questions.

Talk about someone not easily swayed. Clearly, Moses was a deliberate man, someone who took his time before making any serious decision or commitment. At some point, of course, he stepped into the role designed for him. And, once he did, something awakened in him. He was convinced. Apparently, that’s what it took for him to leap into the fray, no matter what that might ultimately involve.

This trait of deliberateness would serve both Moses and Israel well, especially during their low points. When Moses ran into resistance from Egypt’s Pharaoh, for example, he didn’t complain to God. He just kept going back to the Lord and posing more questions, asking essentially, “Why is this happening?” Each answer he got seemed to be good enough for him, a reminder of why he’d joined up in the first place. And with each new crisis, Moses seemed to grow bolder and more assured. We see him reassuring the rest of the Israelites during the Red Sea crisis, with the elite of Pharaoh’s army bearing down on them. Then we see him encouraging them in the wilderness, reminding them that the same God who had parted the Red Sea for them surely wouldn’t abandon them now. We even see Moses having the temerity to remind God of the same, when things looked otherwise.

As we watch Moses grow in his belief, the character of Israel’s God seems to emerge more fully from between the lines as well. In this respect, then, we see that it wasn’t only a vision of a burning bush that brought Moses to faith. It was an ongoing dialog. Evidently, Moses’ particular wiring required it, and the God he followed seemed more than willing to respond.

It was this same trait of deliberateness in Moses that led him toward his destiny, both for better and for worse. You see, with deliberateness comes a slow fuse, something with which Moses was clearly blessed. Yet, once this sort of fuse burns down completely, you’d best run for cover. Moses’ anger finally emerged, after countless complaints from the Israelites about the way they thought God was treating them. At one point, Moses even broke the stone tablets he’d been given, in a fury over the people’s brazen idolatry. Amazingly, God seemed to understand, going so far as to make Moses another set. But Moses’ flashes of frustration ultimately got the better of him, preventing this otherwise compassionate man from entering the Promised Land he’d ushered God’s people to the brink of.

We have the luxury of examining Moses’ life from start to finish, more or less in the hundred pages you hold in your hand. And, although the Bible can sometimes be oblique on certain aspects we would deem important, the text nevertheless gives us a full-bodied, fully rounded character study of this compelling and bracing figure. We’re provided an all-important context—that is, the sacred context of a human life. And within such a context, we’re able to see not just Moses’ humanity more fully, but our own as well.

If you want to know about the man behind the tablets, then this book, which is taken completely from the Bible, is as close as you’ll ever get to the real thing. You’ll read a story of journey and of growth, getting to know the heart of the man who expounded the law to Israel from his deathbed—not as an angry prophet, but as a caring shepherd.

So, let the slovenly satirists send up their Curmudgeon of the Commandments. Let pandering producers eventually dress Schwarzenegger in burlap and put him on location in the Sinai. Let Israel’s law-giver continue to be both demonized and over-symbolized. Just read his story for yourself. And as you do, don’t be surprised if you find yourself caught up in all-too-real moments of self-recognition. You’ll see in Moses’ life both glory and anger, wisdom and impulsiveness, courage and reticence, adamance and tenderness. In short, you’ll find a flawed but glorious man. And, if you’re looking hard enough, you’ll behold the fully faceted humanity that you may recognize in the heart of every fellow human being, as well as in every mirror.

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From Exodus 33 & 34

Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the “tent of meeting.” Anyone inquiring of the Lord would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent. As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord spoke with Moses. Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to his tent. The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.
Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favor with me.’ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”
The Lord replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”
And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”
Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”
And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”
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The Lord said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Be ready in the morning, and then come up on Mount Sinai. Present yourself to me there on top of the mountain. No one is to come with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain; not even the flocks and herds may graze in front of the mountain.”
So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the Lord had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.”
Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped. “O Lord, if I have found favor in your eyes,” he said, “then let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”
Then the Lord said: “I am making a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world. The people you live among will see how awesome is the work that I, the Lord, will do for you. Obey what I command you today. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you are going, or they will be a snare among you. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles. Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
“Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land; for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you and you will eat their sacrifices. And when you choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters prostitute themselves to their gods, they will lead your sons to do the same.”
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. Afterward all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai.
When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. But whenever he entered the Lord’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the Lord.

Moses

David

Abraham