A First-Person Narrative on Moses’ Life

Childhood

When a young man from the ancient Israelite family of Levi married a beautiful girl from his own people, no one yet knew what fate was in store for me, their son. I was born strong, handsome and healthy. Mom loved me and did not want me to become another servant of the Egyptian pharaoh. She hid me for three months, after which she decided to give me a chance for a better life.¹ In desperation, she took a wicker basket, put me in it and left me in a thick reed on the bank of the Nile.

Pharaoh’s daughter loved to swim in the Nile, she saw a basket and looked in there. The girl immediately guessed that a Jewish baby was hidden in the basket. Upon reaching the age of adulthood, I was brought to live in the pharaoh’s palace, and the pharaoh’s daughter treated me like her own son. She called me Moses, which meant “taken from the water”.² I grew up among rich and noble people as if I were their equal in origin. But I always remembered where I came from. One day I saw how men from the Jewish people work and how cruel the Egyptian overseer is to them. I killed the overseer in anger and buried his body in the sand. I was threatened with death for this. That is why I was forced to flee to the desert and wander in the sands.

My Wanderings

In the land of Midian, I decided to rest by the well. There I met two girls, the daughters of Jethro, the local priest. They came to get water for their sheep. Other shepherds wanted to push the girls aside to get water for their cattle, but I stood up for the priest’s daughters.³ For this, the priest invited me to stay in their house. One of the girls (named Zipporah) was given to me as a wife, and soon our son Girsam was born.

Death of the Pharaoh

In exile I learned of Pharaoh’s death, but the new Pharaoh was no less cruel to the Israelites. Then I realized that the time had come to save the people with whom God had made a covenant in the days of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. One day, when I was herding sheep, I went into the desert with a flock and was amazed to find a burning thorn bush there.⁴ Surprisingly, the bush was burning, but the fire did not harm me. I went over to take a closer look at the miracle and heard a Voice.

It was the Lord Himself who spoke to me! He told me that, having seen the suffering of His people in Egypt, He ordered the Israelites to be brought to a land where a better life awaits them, where milk and honey flow. I was very scared and did not know how I could do it. The Lord encouraged me by telling me what would happen to me, and this gave me strength.

40 Years in the Desert

The Lord also appeared to my brother in a dream and told him to come out to meet me. Together we gathered the elders of the tribes of Israel and conveyed the words of the Lord. Then the people took a desperate step — they came to the Pharaoh and said that he should let them go — this is the will of God. Pharaoh only laughed at them and drove away those who came to him. Despite the fact that people came to him again and again, Pharaoh saw the miracles that the Lord was doing, he was adamant.

Then God sent 10 executions to Egypt. Finally, the Pharaoh gave up and allowed to leave for three days.⁵ The people went to the Sur desert. Pharaoh, realizing that his servants were not going to return, sent a chase. Wandering in the desert lasted for a long time, finally, people came to the seashore. But Pharaoh’s men were catching us up. What was to be done? I turned to the Lord for help. At his behest, I raised my rod above the water and then an incredible thing happened: the waters parted before the Israelites and converged back before the Egyptians. The Israelis were free! But the wanderings did not end there. They lasted 40 years.

Exodus Route

It is considered that we have passed through the bottom of the Red Sea. However, the Hebrew text of the Bible refers to the Reed Sea.⁶ This was the name of the area between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea where the Suez Canal is now laid. Three months after crossing the Red Sea, we reached Mount Sinai, where God gave His chosen people tablets with commandments.⁷ We lived there for a year.⁸ The ultimate goal of the exodus was Canaan, the Promised Land.

However, this land was then occupied by another people — the Canaanites. Despite all the signs of God, we doubted that we could defeat them. God has punished us for this. Only the next generation was able to enter Canaan and begin its conquest. We passed the eastern part of the Moab plateau, skirting the Dead Sea from the east, through the territory of modern Jordan. Then we reached the steppes of Moab near the Jordan, opposite of Jericho. It was there that archaeologists found the remains of a large camp.

It was there that Israeli archaeologists discovered our camp, located in the town of Khirbet el-Mastara, a few kilometers from Jericho.⁹ The discovered remains of brickwork, which they found, were not a fragment of a residential structure, but a special round-shaped pen that protected the cattle from the cold. In ancient times, such structures were widespread in the Middle East.¹⁰ In addition, there are traces of manure on the bricks.

The exodus dates from between the XV and XIII centuries BC.¹¹ There is a brief mention of Solomon’s construction of a temple in Jerusalem in the Old Testament Third Book of Kings.¹² It says that in 480, after the departure of the children of Israel from the land of Egypt, Solomon began the construction of the temple of the Lord.¹³ According to indirect data, the Jerusalem temple was built in 950 BC.; consequently, our wanderings took place in 1446 BC.¹⁴

The Tablets

A mountain is a place of conditional connection of heaven and earth, and heaven is the place farthest from our world, which is associated with the abode of God. Even the ancestors of Abraham, who lived in Mesopotamia, communicated with the gods on the hills.¹⁵ Therefore, in order to communicate with God, I decided to climb Mount Sinai. You, my descendants, know it as Jabal Musa. However, the Jews did not wait for me at the bottom of Mount Sinai. They threw their forces at the construction of the idol — the Golden Calf. Therefore, in a fit of anger, I took the tablets and broke them. Then I went up the mountain again to get the commandments.

Initially, the Ark of the Covenant with the relic was kept in the Tabernacle of the Congregation — a special tent, a kind of marching temple, which was built for the time of encampments. Later, the Ark was located in the First Temple. But I do not know where the tablets are kept now. After the destruction of the Temple, the history of the shrine ends. It is possible that the conquerors took it to Babylon. Or maybe the Israeli king Josiah hid the shrine in order to save it from being abused by foreigners.¹⁶ Many historians and archaeologists do not lose hope of discovering an Old Testament artifact and believe in its reality. Excavations are actively underway in the Holy Land.

After Death

After my death, I continue to observe the lives of people from heaven. I died peacefully at the age of 120 on the 4th day of September, so on this date the Holy Church commemorates me.¹⁷ It is gratifying to see that I continue to live in the memory of the people as a leader, legislator and prophet. My memory in the most recent times has always been blessed, never dying in the people of Israel. I continue to live among people in my sacred books, remaining the first God-inspired writer.

References

Adamo, D. T. (2018). Cushite woman whom Moses married in Numbers 12:1-10. Skriflig, 52(1), 259-268.

Bay, C. (2020). Jewish national decline and biblical figures as classical exempla: Moses, Aaron, Joshua, David, and Elisha in De Excidio 5.2.1. Journal of the Bible and its Reception, 7(2), 585-603.

Schellekens, J. J. (2022). To what extent is the Moses story modelled on other biblical stories? Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, 86(5), 130-141.

Speckmann, F., & Unkelbach, C. (2021). Moses, money, and multiple-choice: The Moses illusion in a multiple-choice format with high incentives. Memory & Cognition, 45(1), 843-862.

The Tabernacle: Its history and structure [Image]. (2018). Web.

Ugwu, H. (2020). The African identify of biblical Moses: An Igwebuike discourse. An African Journal of Arts and Humanities, 6(9), 66-97.

Footnotes

• 1. David Adamo, “Cushite Woman Whom Moses Married in Numbers 12:1-10,” Skriflig 52, no. 1 (2018): 261.
• 2. Jona Schellekens, “To What Extent Is the Moses Story Modelled on Other Biblical Stories?” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 86, no. 5 (2022): 141.
• 3. Jona Schellekens, “To What Extent Is the Moses Story Modelled on Other Biblical Stories?” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 86, no. 5 (2022): 139.
• 4. Hilary Ugwu, “The African Identify of Biblical Moses: An Igwebuike Discourse,” An African Journal of Arts and Humanities 6, no. 9 (2020): 69.
• 5. David Adamo, “Cushite Woman Whom Moses Married in Numbers 12:1-10,” Skriflig 52, no. 1 (2018): 260.
• 6. Felix Speckmann, and Christian Unkelbach. “Moses, Money, and Multiple-choice: The Moses Illusion in A Multiple-choice Format with High Incentives,” Memory & Cognition 45, no. 1 (2021): 847.
• 7. Hilary Ugwu, “The African Identify of Biblical Moses: An Igwebuike Discourse,” An African Journal of Arts and Humanities 6, no. 9 (2020): 73.
• 8. Felix Speckmann, and Christian Unkelbach. “Moses, Money, and Multiple-choice: The Moses Illusion in A Multiple-choice Format with High Incentives,” Memory & Cognition 45, no. 1 (2021): x.
• 9. Carson Bay, “Jewish National Decline and Biblical Figures as Classical Exempla: Moses, Aaron, Joshua, David, and Elisha in De Excidio 5.2.1,” Journal of the Bible and its Reception 7, no. 2 (2020): 585.
• 10. Carson Bay, “Jewish National Decline and Biblical Figures as Classical Exempla: Moses, Aaron, Joshua, David, and Elisha in De Excidio 5.2.1,” Journal of the Bible and its Reception 7, no. 2 (2020): 593.
• 11. Jona Schellekens, “To What Extent Is the Moses Story Modelled on Other Biblical Stories?” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 86, no. 5 (2022): 134.
• 12. Felix Speckmann, and Christian Unkelbach. “Moses, Money, and Multiple-choice: The Moses Illusion in A Multiple-choice Format with High Incentives,” Memory & Cognition 45, no. 1 (2021): 859.
• 13. Carson Bay, “Jewish National Decline and Biblical Figures as Classical Exempla: Moses, Aaron, Joshua, David, and Elisha in De Excidio 5.2.1,” Journal of the Bible and its Reception 7, no. 2 (2020): 602.
• 14. Jona Schellekens, “To What Extent Is the Moses Story Modelled on Other Biblical Stories?” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 86, no. 5 (2022): 132.
• 15. Jona Schellekens, “To What Extent Is the Moses Story Modelled on Other Biblical Stories?” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 86, no. 5 (2022): 138.
• 16. Jona Schellekens, “To What Extent Is the Moses Story Modelled on Other Biblical Stories?” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 86, no. 5 (2022): 138.
• 17. Carson Bay, “Jewish National Decline and Biblical Figures as Classical Exempla: Moses, Aaron, Joshua, David, and Elisha in De Excidio 5.2.1,” Journal of the Bible and its Reception 7, no. 2 (2020): 592.