(fl. ?13th cent BCE)
Lawgiver, leader of the Israelites. He was born in Egypt to Amram and Jochebed, who hid him in a basket among the reeds of the Nile to escape Pharaoh's decree to slaughter all newborn Jewish males. He was found by Pharaoh's daughter, who raised him in the royal household. In early manhood he killed an Egyptian whom he discovered beating a Hebrew. He fled to Midian and became a shepherd to the local priest Jethro, whose daughter, Zipporah, he married; she bore him two sons. While keeping Jethro's sheep on Mount Horeb he encountered God, who spoke to him from the burning bush and commanded him to free the Hebrew slaves. He interceded with Pharaoh who eventually released the Hebrews after ten plagues had afflicted Egypt. Moses led the people across the Red Sea, which miraculously parted to let them pass, and guided them for 40 years in the desert. On Mount Sinai he received God's revelation of the law, embodied in the ten commandments written on tablets of stone. Before his death he appointed Joshua his successor.
Dictionary of Jewish Biography. Dan Cohn-Sherbok.