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Spotlight: The Prophet Moses
Moses Breaking the Tablets of the Law by Rembrandt, oil on canvas, c. 1659.
As one of the most important figures of the Bible, Moses is a central character in the story of Western Civilisation. Born at a time when the Hebrews were enslaved in Egypt, Moses was rescued as an infant from Pharaoh's decree that all Hebrew boys be killed. Raised in Pharaoh's own household yet unaware of his Hebrew heritage, he eventually fled Egypt after killing an Egyptian who was mistreating a Hebrew slave. While living in the land of Midian, Moses encountered God in a bush that was visibly on fire yet remained unconsumed by the flame. It was here that he received a Divine call to return to Egypt and lead his people to freedom.
What followed is among the Bible's most dramatic stories. Ten awful plagues were visited upon the Egyptians before Pharaoh finally agreed to let Moses’s people (the Israelites) go. Then, there was the parting of the Red Sea, where through an act of God, a path was cleared through the water and the Israelites were able to cross on dry land. This epic exodus was followed by forty years in the wilderness, where Moses resiliently guided a stubborn and often fearful people, praying for them, correcting them, and trusting that God would remain faithful even when they were not.
The defining moment of Moses's life came at Mount Sinai, where he received the Ten Commandments and the Law. More than a list of rules, these commandments expressed God's vision for a just and holy people. They have shaped Jewish worship, Christian moral teaching, and, through centuries of influence, many of the Western world's deepest convictions about justice, honesty, human dignity, and the difference between right and wrong.
In Judaism, Moses is the supreme prophet and mediator of the Law. For Christianity, he is both a central figure of the Old Testament and one whose life points toward Christ, who would fulfill the Law and brings God's plan of salvation to its completion.
Moses's legacy is significant because he is one of the most influential figures in both religious history and the development of Western moral thought. Over the centuries, paintings, operas, and movies have been made remembering this towering prophet of the Bible.
Verse: 'Fragmentary Blue’ by Robert Frost
Why make so much of fragmentary blue
In here and there a bird, or butterfly,
Or flower, or wearing-stone, or open eye,
When heaven presents in sheets the solid hue?
Since earth is earth, perhaps, not heaven (as yet)—
Though some savants make earth include the sky;
And blue so far above us comes so high,
It only gives our wish for blue a whet.
Frost is one of America’s most celebrated modern poets. ‘Fragmentary Blue’ was published in 1923.
Pensées
The Decalogue – The 10 Commandments, also known as the Decalogue are foundational to Western Civilisation. Both the English Common Law and French Civil Law are heavily indebted to these ten rules for life which were handed down to Moses on Mount Sinai. Had the dicta ‘thou shalt not murder’, ‘honour thy father and mother’ and ‘thou shalt not commit adultery’, never been encouraged, our societies would look nothing like the way they do today. The Mosaic law was mostly abandoned by Christians with the arrival of the New Covenant, yet the Ten Commandments were deemed essential and retained. Even today, they form the bedrock of Western moral law.
Q - How many of us know the Ten Commandments off by heart as our forebears did? How many of us keep them?
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Diversions
Ever wondered why there was no sequel to Master & Commander? Russell Crowe explains.
Read: While no substitute for reading Inferno, this brief guide to Dante’s 9 circles of hell will introduce you to one of the most important works in the Western canon.
If you need a refresher, here’s an historic print from the Victorian era depicting the 10 Commandments.
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