20 Things You Didn't Know about Moses in the Bible

hehehe.....Moses was famous long before Charlton Heston raised his profile in the 1956 Cecile B. DeMille movie, The Ten Commandments. Universally recognized as the deliverer of his people, the Israelites, from slavery in Egypt, biblical and human history also credit him with establishing Israel’s judicial and religious systems.
But there’s much more to Israel’s mighty leader than what makes the headlines. In the list below, I’ve collected 20 fascinating but little known details about this great hero of the faith.

1. Moses was the first abandoned child mentioned in the Bible. Moses’ godly parents hid him for three months to protect him from the Egyptian edict that said all male Hebrew babies must be killed. When they could no longer hide him, they set him afloat in a basket on the Nile River (Ex. 2:3).
2. Moses’ name, according to the website, Behind the Name, “comes from the Hebrew name מֹשֶׁה (Mosheh) and is most likely derived from Egyptian mes meaning ‘son,’ but could also possibly mean ‘deliver’ in Hebrew.”
3. Pharaoh’s daughter paid Moses’ mother to nurse him after she rescued him from the Nile River (Ex. 2:8-9).

4. Moses was the baby of the family. He had an older sister, Miriam, and an older brother, Aaron.
5. Moses was a murderer. Seeing an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave, Moses intervened and killed the Egyptian (Ex. 2:12). To hide his crime, he buried his victim in the sand.
6. Moses worked as shepherd while “on the lam.” More than just a play on words, when Moses ran from the murder charge, he fled to the desert of Midian where he met Zipporah, the daughter of a shepherd, and began working with her father, Jethro. He married Zipporah and had two sons.
7. During the burning bush episode, Moses gave God five lame excuses for why he couldn’t be Israel’s deliverer (Ex. 3-4). Not surprisingly, God rebutted every one.

8. Moses probably stuttered. The New Living Translation of the Bible records Moses’s response to God’s call in Exodus 4:10: "O Lord, I'm not very good with words. I never have been, and I'm not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled."
9. When Moses insisted he couldn’t be Israel’s spokesperson, God agreed to allow his older brother, Aaron to speak for him. After the first assignment, however, Moses was front and center, and Aaron takes a backseat to his little brother.
10. Not your typical octogenarian, Moses was 80 years old when he led the children of Israel out of Egypt. Today most people his age would be firmly ensconced in their rocking chairs, but not Moses. His first 40 years in Pharaoh’s court had prepared him to lead, and his second 40 years had given him  knowledge of the desert through which he and the Israelites would travel. Moses was fully prepared for God’s mission at the age of 80; the best was yet to come.
11. Moses was the original snake handler. Three times during his tenure as leader, he used snakes to demonstrate God’s power. The first time God turned Moses’ rod into a snake, it scared him so much he turned tail and ran (Ex. 4:3).

12. Moses had leprosy. Briefly. After demonstrating his power by turning Moses’ rod into a snake, God told Moses to place his hand in his cloak. When he withdrew it, his hand was covered in leprosy. Thankfully, God cured the incurable disease almost immediately (Ex. 4:6-7).
13. Concerned, I’m sure, for his family’s safety and aware of his inability to care for them well while orchestrating the biggest exodus in human history, Moses sent his wife and sons back to his father-in-law’s house. They were reunited after the exodus as the Israelites camped at the base of Mt. Sinai. (Ex. 18:7).
14. Moses was a songwriter. Or, more accurately, he was a musical collaborator. After the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea on dry land, the waters closed up, drowning the mighty Egyptian army. To celebrate their deliverance, God composed a song and instructed Moses to write it down and teach it to the congregation. It became known as “The Song of Moses” (Deu. 32:1-43).
15. Moses didn’t write the Ten Commandments, God did. “The LORD said to Moses, ‘Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commands I have written for their instruction’” (Ex. 24:12). Moses did, however, transcribe the law as given to him by God. These writings compose part of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament. (Ex. 24:4).
16. Moses saw God. Along with brother Aaron, nephews Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel, Moses saw God on Mt. Sinai. “Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself. But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank” (Ex. 24:9-11).
17. Moses was extraordinarily humble. God recognized him in the canon of Scripture as “a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth” (Num. 12:3).
18. Moses lived to be 120 years old. His long and varied life can be divided into three parts, each 40 years long. The first as the son of an Egyptian pharaoh, the second as a shepherd, and the third as the esteemed leader of Israel. At the time of his death, he still had perfect eyesight and incredible strength (Deu. 34:7).
19. Moses knew in advance the day of his death (Deut. 31:14). God instructed him to commission Joshua as his replacement, then climb Mt. Nebo. There he showed him the Promised Land, and there he died.
20. God buried Moses on the mountain, and his grave was never found. All we know is that somewhere in Moab, in the valley of Peor, lie the bones of one of the greatest heroes of the faith. (Deu. 34:5-6).
This collection of facts about Moses is like a grain of sand in the desert of Sinai. It’s no wonder the movie that brought Moses to life for millions, The Ten Commandments, became Cecile B. DeMille’s most successful work.
If this peek into Moses’ life has piqued your interest, you can read all the glorious details in the Old Testament books of Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

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Moses

Born: c. 1392 b.c.e.
Egypt
Died: c. 1272 b.c.e.
Moab, Syria
Egyptian prophet
The Old Testament prophet Moses was chosen to lead Israel out of Egyptian slavery. He created Israel's nationhood and delivered the Ten Commandments.

Childhood years

Moses was the son of Amram and Yochebed of the tribe of Levi. Miriam and Aaron were his brother and sister. He was born in Egypt during the period in which the Israelites (Hebrews) had become a threat to the Egyptians simply because of their large population. The Pharaoh had ordered that all newborn male Hebrew children be cast into the Nile to drown. Amram and Yochebed took their newborn son and placed him in a waterproof basket and hid him in the tall grasses of the Nile. Meanwhile, his sister Miriam hid and watched over the baby from a distance. A group of women and servants were bathing nearby. The Pharaoh's daughter, hearing the baby cry, found and rescued him. She named him "Moses," meaning "drawn from the water." Her desire for a son fulfilled, she made certain that he had the best of everything, including education.
Moses was brought up in the splendor of the Egyptian court as the Pharaoh's daughter's adopted son. Grown to manhood, he was aware of his Hebraic roots and shared a deep compassion for his confined kinsmen. He became furious while witnessing an Egyptian master brutally beating a Hebrew slave, and he impulsively killed the Egyptian. Fearing the Pharaoh's punishment, he fled into the desert of Midian, becoming a shepherd for Jethro, a Midianite priest whose daughter Zipporah he later married. While tending the flocks on Horeb Mountain in the wilderness, he saw a bush burning yet not turning to ash. He heard a voice from within the bush telling him that he had been chosen to serve as one to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. He was also told to declare the unity of God to his people. At that time most Israelites were worshipping many gods. Moses was to tell them that there was only one God.
The tremendous responsibility of Moses's task, his shyness, and his own feeling of unworthiness brought forth a hesitancy and lack of confidence. The Divine answer was "Who made your tongue?" He was then assured that Aaron, his more talkative brother, would serve as his spokesman both to the children of Israel and to the Pharaoh. The promised destination for the Israelites' journey was a "land rich with milk and honey."
Moses returned to Egypt and persuaded the Hebrews to organize for a quick trip from their Egyptian slave drivers. With Aaron, Moses informed the Pharaoh that the God of the Hebrews demanded that Pharaoh free God's people. The Pharaoh refused to obey, bringing upon himself and his people nine terrible plagues (diseases that spread rapidly and can cause death) that Moses produced upon Egypt by using the miraculous staff he had received from God as a sign of his authority. The Egyptians suffered under the plagues of water turned into blood, frogs, gnats, flies, disease to their cattle, boils, hail, locusts, and darkness. Each plague was severe to the Egyptians but left the Israelites untouched. The tenth plague is now the Hebrew story of Passover. God sent the Angel of Death to kill the firstborn sons of the Egyptians—a proof of His immense strength and power. The Israelites protected their households by putting lamb's blood on their doorway, so that the Angel of Death would know to pass over their homes. This last plague broke the Pharaoh's resistance and moved him to grant the Hebrews permission to leave immediately. Moses thus found himself the leader of an undisciplined collection of slaves, Hebrew as well as non-Hebrew, escaping from Egyptian territory toward freedom.

Exodus

Moses' immediate goal was Mt. Horeb, called Mt. Sinai, where God had first revealed Himself to Moses. The Hebrews came to the sacred mountain encouraged by the power they sensed in Moses. Summoned by God, Moses ascended the mountain and received the tablets of stone while the children of Israel heard the thundering forth of the Ten Commandments. Inspired, the people agreed to the conditions of the Covenant (agreement made between people and God).
Through forty years in the wilderness of Sinai, overcoming many obstacles, Moses led the horde of former slaves, shaping them into a nation. Many miracles happened along the way. When the Israelites stopped in front of the Red Sea with the Egyptian soldiers at their heels, it was Moses' raised staff that parted the Red Sea so that they could cross. Once they had safely crossed, the sea crashed down, drowning many of their pursuers. When food supplies ran out, God sent down what was called "manna" (spiritual food) everyday for the nourishment of the Israelites. Moses had to hear the Israelites complain about the food, the climate, and the slowness of their progress. Moses even had to hear the Israelites claim that Egypt had been better than this wilderness trip. When the people were in need of water, God told Moses to speak to a rock and water would spring from it. Moses' character was apparently worn down because, instead of following directions, he struck the rock with his staff. That was to have lasting impact on Moses's final days.

Covenant

With the help of his brother Aaron, Moses was able to hold together his ragtag band of exslaves for forty years. Only a man with tremendous will, patience, compassion, humility, and great faith could have forged the bickering and scheming groups who constantly challenged his wisdom and authority into a nation. Throughout the forty years Moses was in constant communication with his Lord, the God of Israel. This God added to the Ten Commandments through Moses by giving a code of law regulating the social and religious lives of the people. This collection of instructions, read to and confirmed by the people, was called the Book of the Covenant. These were protected in a specially designed box called the Ark of the Covenant. All of the specific details were spoken through Moses by the God of the Israelites.
Under Moses's leadership, most of the land east of the Jordan was conquered and given to the tribes of Reuben and Gad and to half of the tribe of Menashe. Moses, however, was not permitted to lead the children of Israel into Canaan, the Promised Land, because he had been disobedient to God during the period of wandering in the desert. His regular meetings with God had fulfilled him in ways that even his fellow Israelites could detect. His face was always radiant when he exited any interview with his Almighty. Moses, 120 years old, died in the land of Moab and was buried opposite Bet Peor.