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Towering Figures of the Old Testament |
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Moses |
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The life of the author of the first five
books of the Bible starts indeed eventfully.
Moses is a son of Amram, a member of the
tribe of Levi who is one of the twelve
sons of Jacob, and his wife Jochabed.
Jochabed is also the sister of Amram's
father Kohath. Kohath immigrated to Egypt
(Genesis 46:11) with 70 of Jacob's
household, making Moses part of the second
generation of Israelites born during their
time in Egypt. Moses has an older brother
Aaron, and Miriam is the older sister of
Aaron and Moses. |
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Saving the Goodly Child |
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At the time when Moses
is born, the Pharaoh decrees the drowning of
every new male offspring among the Israelites
enslaved in Egypt. To save the “goodly child”
Moses, his mother, Jochabed, puts him in a
basket and sent him afloat in the Nile, while
being watch from a distance by Miriam. Later
when Miriam sees the Pharaoh’s daughter rescue
Moses from the river, she convinces the
princess to entrust Moses to a Hebrew nurse.
The princess then summons Jochabed to raise
Moses. When Moses grows up he is brought to
Pharaoh's daughter and becomes her son. |
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Little is known about his youth, but tradition
tells us that that while sitting on Pharaoh's
knee as a child, Moses takes the crown off of
Pharaoh's head and puts it on, an act that the
court magicians takes as a bad sign. They
demand that Moses be tested by making him
choose between a brazier full of gold and a
brazier full of hot coals that they place
before him. If Moses takes the gold, he would
have to be killed. An angel guides the hand of Moses
and he chooses the hot coal, and puts it into his
mouth, leaving him with a life-long speech
impediment (Ex. 4:10).
The Escape to Midian
Three incidents foretells the kind of man
Moses was going to be - one with almost obsessive
commitment to fighting injustice.
Although Moses grows up in all the wisdom of
the Egyptians, his compassion for his people
does not diminish. When he is about 40 years
old Moses sees an Egyptian beating an Israeli
slave. This angers Moses that he kills the
Egyptian (Ex. 2:11-12). The next day, he tries
to make peace between two Israelis who are
fighting but the aggressor accuses Moses: "Do
you mean to kill me as you killed the
Egyptian?" Moses understands then that he is
in danger.
When he learns the Moses killed the Egyptian
soldier the Pharaoh condemns Moses to death.
This forces Moses to flee from Egypt (Ex.
2:14-15) to Midian. At Midian he sees the
daughters of the priest Jethro being abused by
Midianite male shepherds (Exodus 2:11-22) and
Moses rises to defend them. Eventually Moses
marries Sephora, one of the seven daughters of
Jethro. For the next forty years Moses becomes
the shepherd for his father-in-law's flock,
during which time his son Gersam is born.
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The Burning Bush
While tending to a herd at Mount Horeb, east of
Midian, Moses saw a bush that appeared to be on
fire, and yet is not
consumed by its fire. Wanting to investigate
Moses goes closer but a miraculous voice forbids
his approach. The voice declares the ground so holy
that to approach he must first remove his shoes.
The voice who identifies himself as the God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, reveals himself as
Yahweh. Over his great objections,
God commands Moses to deliver the Jews from
bondage of Egypt and to bring his people to the
"land of milk and honey." Next, God also
appoints Aaron as Moses' "prophet," and Moses,
so to speak, as Aaron's God (Exodus 4:16). |
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The
Ten Plagues
With the "rod of God" in his hands Moses went to
Egypt with Aaron to demand from the Pharaoh to let
the Israelites be set
free. When the Pharaoh refused, God unleashed
through Moses the ten plagues upon Egypt. In the
first plague the Nile turns to blood. In the second
frogs comes out from the Nile. Pestilence comes in
the third with lice, gnats, and flies. Wild beasts
attack in the fourth. In the fifth diseases come
upon the Egyptians' cattle, oxen, goats, sheep,
camels, and horses. In the sixth boils is inflicted
on Egyptians. Fiery hail and thunder strike Egypt in
the seventh and locusts covers Egypt in the eighth
plague. Egypt is thrown into total darkness in the
ninth plague. The Pharaoh only consents after God
passes through the land and kills every first-born
of man and beast of Egypt. The final plague is
commemorated as Passover, referring to how the
plague "passed over" the houses of the Israelites.
The
Flight from Egypt
When the Pharaoh consents for the Israelites to
leave Egypt, Moses, heading up 600,000 men, besides
women and children, starts the great exodus Eastward
to Canaan. He follows a way through the desert
indicated by an advancing pillar of alternating
cloud and fire. The progress is slow and they make
camp a few times, and the last one at the northern
tip of the Red Sea. Meanwhile, Pharaoh changes his
mind and sends a large army behind Moses and the
Israelites to kill them.
Caught in between the Pharaoh’s army and the Red
Sea, the Israelites despair. Through Moses God
divides the waters so that they pass safely across
on dry ground. When the Egyptian army attempt to
follow, God makes the waters return and drown them. |
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The Ten
Commandments
After the deliverance at the Red Sea, Moses leads
his people to Marah, but the water is bitter,
causing the people to complain loudly against
Moses. Moses casts a tree into the water, and
the water becomes sweet. Food runs low later in
the journey and again the people complain
loudly against Moses and Aaron. For this God
provides manna from the sky in the morning and
quail in the evening. In one camp the people
found there is no water, so once again the people
complain. God tells Moses to "order the rock
to yield its water." Out of frustration from the
constant complaining, in an act of
disobedience to the Lord, instead ordering the
rock to yield water Moses strikes the rock with his staff, and
water gushes out.
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Moses with the Tablets, 1659, by Rembrandt |
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For months
Moses and the Israelites continue their journey. In
the Sinai Desert Moses climbs Mount Sinai, and stays
there for several days. Here he receives the Ten
Commandments from God. Moses returns from the
mountain only to find the Israelites regress to
worshiping a golden calf that the Israelites had
Aaron make for them and revert to amoral and
immoral. Moses convinces God not to destroy his
people, but upon seeing what his people has done
Moses destroys the calf and rebukes Aaron for the
sin he had brought upon the people.
Seeing that
the people becoming uncontrollable, Moses goes to
the entrance of the camp and said, "Who is on the
Lord's side? Let him come unto me." All the sons of
Levi rallied around Moses, who ordered them to go
from gate to gate slaying the idolators, and Moses
demands zeal for the purity of Divine Worship. Later
he returns to the mountain and when he returns to
the camp the second time he inspires the deepest awe
because his face appears with horns of light.
Forty Years in the Desert
After this Moses builds the
tabernacle, ordains priests and arranges and
encampment for the Levites and the non-priestly
tribes, consecrates the Tabernacle and orders a
census. Later Moses sends twelve spies into Canaan,
including Joshua and Caleb. After forty days the
spies return bringing back samples of the fruits of
the region. However, the
spies, except Joshua and Caleb, refuse to enter
Canaan to conquer it because they see difficult
battles with giants, among other things. This throws
the people into discontent and rebellion. Joshua and
Caleb plead with the people to enter Canaan and
conquer it but the people reject and stone them. Moses prays
for guidance and God intervenes but only to condemn
the present generation to die in the wilderness and
not to enter Canaan. On
the next morning, the Israelites change their mind
and decide to invade Canaan. Although Moses tells
them not to attempt it the Israelites chose to
disobey Moses and invade Canaan. The Amalekites and
Canaanites drive them back.
Here starts the wandering the desert for forty
years. Moses writes most of the Pentateuch at this time. When that generation
who refuse to enter Canaan and conquer it die Moses
starts the march around Edom and Moab to the Arnon.
After the death of Aaron and the victory over Arad,
"fiery serpents" comes to the camp as punishment for
renewed complaining. Moses sets up the brazen
serpent, "which when they that were bitten looked
upon, they were healed." From then on, the
Israelites fight and win great battles and soon
conquered Canaan.
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Moses and the Transfiguration
Moses, however, dies before the Israelites enter
Canaan, at the age of 120 years. He is buried
somewhere in the valley of Moab over against Phogor.
The life of this holy man of God is a model
that shines through exceptionally that he and
Elijah appear to witness the Transfiguration
of Jesus twelve hundred years after his death.
Read more about this towering figure of the
Old Testament. |
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Moses Great Lives Series: Volume 4 ,
by Charles R. Swindoll. This book presents the Bible's real Moses-the
Moses who tried to decline his assignment from God; the Moses who dazzled Pharoh;
the Moses who received the Ten Commandments; the Moses who was disobedient and
weak; the Moses who was the greatest leader of God's people in all of history.
Through his faith and selfless dedication, Moses continually chose to follow
God's will through difficult and seemingly impossible situations.
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The Sunday Readings |
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February 4, 2007: The
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time |
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First Reading From the Book of
Isaiah: |
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Is 6:1-2a, 3-8 |
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In the year King Uzziah died,
I saw the Lord seated on a high and lofty throne,
with the train of his garment filling the temple.
Seraphim were stationed above.
They cried one to the other,
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!
All the earth is filled with his glory!”
At the sound of that cry, the frame of the door
shook
and the house was filled with smoke.
Then I said, “Woe is me, I am doomed!
For I am a man of unclean lips,
living among a people of unclean lips;
yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of
hosts!”
Then one of the seraphim flew to me,
holding an ember that he had taken with tongs from
the altar.
He touched my mouth with it, and said,
“See, now that this has touched your lips,
your wickedness is removed, your sin purged.”
Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying,
“Whom shall I send? Who will
go for us?”
“Here I am,” I said; “send me!” |
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Temple: the holy
place, just in front of the holy of holies.
Seraphim: literally "the burning ones," are
celestial beings who surround the throne of
God. Each has six wings. Reverence for the
divine majesty causes them to veil their faces
with two wings; modesty, to veil their
extremities in similar fashion; alacrity in
God's service, to extend two wings in
preparation for flight. Holy, holy, holy:
God's perfect interior holiness whose exterior
manifestation is his glory. These words are
found in the Roman liturgy just before the
Canon of the Mass. |
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Responsorial From the Book of
Psalms: |
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Ps 138:1-2, 2-3,
4-5, 7-8 |
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R. In the sight of the angels I will sing
your praises, Lord.
I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with all
my heart,
for you have heard the words of my mouth;
in the presence of the angels I will sing
your praise;
I will worship at your holy temple
and give thanks to your name.
R. In the sight of the angels I will sing
your praises, Lord.
Because of your kindness and your truth;
for you have made great above all things
your name and your promise.
When I called, you answered me;
you built up strength within me.
R. In the sight of the angels I will sing
your praises, Lord.
All the kings of the earth shall give thanks
to you, O LORD,
when they hear the words of your mouth;
and they shall sing of the ways of the LORD:
“Great is the glory of the LORD.”
R. In the sight of the angels I will sing
your praises, Lord.
Your right hand saves me.
The LORD will complete what he has done for
me;
your kindness, O LORD,
endures forever;
forsake not the work of your hands.
R. In the sight of the angels I will sing
your praises, Lord. |
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Second Reading
From
the Letter to the Corinthians: |
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1 Cor 15:1-11 or 15:3-8,
11 |
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I am reminding you, brothers
and sisters,
of the gospel I preached to you,
which you indeed received and in which you also
stand.
Through it you are also being saved,
if you hold fast to the word I preached to you,
unless you believed in vain.
For I handed on to you as of first importance what
I also received:
that Christ died for our sins
in accordance with the Scriptures;
that he was buried;
that he was raised on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures;
that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.
After that, Christ appeared
to more
than five hundred brothers at once,
most of whom are still living,
though some have fallen asleep.
After that he appeared to James,
then to all the apostles.
Last of all, as to one born abnormally,
he appeared to me.
For I am the least of the apostles,
not fit to be called an apostle,
because I persecuted the church of God.
But by the grace of God I am what I am,
and his grace to me has not been ineffective.
Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them;
not I, however, but the grace of God that is with
me.
Therefore, whether it be I or they,
so we preach and so you believed. |
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Brothers and sisters,
I handed on to you as of first importance what I
also received:
that Christ died for our sins
in accordance with the Scriptures;
that he was buried;
that he was raised on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures;
that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.
After that, he appeared to more
than five hundred brothers at once,
most of whom are still living,
though some have fallen asleep.
After that he appeared to James,
then to all the apostles.
Last of all, as to one abnormally born,
he appeared to me.
Therefore, whether it be I or they,
so we preach and so you believed. |
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Notes: |
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Some consider
this chapter an earlier Pauline composition
inserted into the present letter. The problem
that Paul treats is clear to a degree: some of
the Corinthians are denying the resurrection
of the dead (1 Cor 15:12), apparently because
of their inability to imagine how any kind of
bodily existence could be possible after death
(1 Cor 15:35). It is plausibly supposed that
their attitude stems from Greek anthropology,
which looks with contempt upon matter and
would be content with the survival of the
soul, and perhaps also from an overrealized
eschatology of gnostic coloration, such as
that reflected in 2 Tim 2:18, which considers
the resurrection a purely spiritual experience
already achieved in baptism and in the
forgiveness of sins. Paul, on the other hand,
will affirm both the essential corporeity of
the resurrection and its futurity. His
response moves through three steps: a recall
of the basic kerygma about Jesus' resurrection
(1 Cor 15:1-11), an assertion of the logical
inconsistencies involved in denial of the
resurrection (1 Cor 15:12-34), and an attempt
to perceive theologically what the properties
of the resurrected body must be (1 Cor
15:35-58).
Paul recalls the tradition (1 Cor 15:3-7),
which he can presuppose as common ground and
which provides a starting point for his
argument. This is the fundamental content of
all Christian preaching and belief (1 Cor
15:1-2, 11).
The language by which Paul expresses the
essence of the "gospel" (1 Cor 15:1) is not
his own but is drawn from older credal
formulas. This credo highlights Jesus' death
for our sins (confirmed by his burial) and
Jesus' resurrection (confirmed by his
appearances) and presents both of them as
fulfillment of prophecy. In accordance with
the scriptures: conformity of Jesus' passion
with the scriptures is asserted in Matthew
16:1; Luke 24:25-27, 32, 44-46. Application of
some Old Testament texts (Psalm 2:7; 16:8-11)
to his resurrection is illustrated by Acts
2:27-31; 13:29-39; and Isaiah 52:13-53:12 and
Hosea 6:2 may also have been envisaged. |
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The Gospel
From the Gospel
of Luke:
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Lk 5:1-11 |
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While the crowd was pressing
in on Jesus and listening
to the word of God,
he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret.
He saw two boats there alongside the lake;
the fishermen had disembarked and were washing
their nets.
Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging
to Simon,
he asked him to put out a short distance from the
shore.
Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the
boat.
After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,
“Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a
catch.”
Simon said in reply,
“Master, we have worked hard all night and have
caught nothing,
but at your command I will lower the nets.”
When they had done this, they caught a great
number of fish
and their nets were tearing.
They signaled to their partners in the other boat
to come to help them.
They came and filled both boats
so that the boats were in danger of sinking.
When Simon Peter saw this, he
fell at the knees of Jesus and said,
“Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”
For astonishment at the catch of fish they had
made seized him
and all those with him,
and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
who were partners of Simon.
Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid;
from now on you will be catching men.”
When they brought their boats to the shore,
they left everything and followed him. |
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This incident
has been transposed from his source, Mark
1:16-20, which places it immediately after
Jesus makes his appearance in Galilee. By this
transposition Luke uses this example of
Simon's acceptance of Jesus to counter the
earlier rejection of him by his hometown
people, and since several incidents dealing
with Jesus' power and authority have already
been narrated, Luke creates a plausible
context for the acceptance of Jesus by Simon
and his partners. Many commentators have noted
the similarity between the wondrous catch of
fish reported here (Luke 4:4-9) and the post-resurrectional
appearance of Jesus in John 21:1-11. There are
traces in Luke's story that the post-resurrectional
context is the original one: in Luke 4:8 Simon
addresses Jesus as Lord (a post-resurrectional
title for Jesus--see Luke 24:34; Acts
2:36--that has been read back into the
historical ministry of Jesus) and recognizes
himself as a sinner (an appropriate
recognition for one who has denied knowing
Jesus--Luke 22:54-62). As used by Luke, the
incident looks forward to Peter's leadership
in Luke--Acts (Luke 6:14; 9:20; 22:31-32;
24:34; Acts 1:15; 2:14-40; 10:11-18; 15:7-12)
and symbolizes the future success of Peter as
fisherman (Acts 2:41). |
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Coming Soon! |
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