FREE ESSAY ON MOSES

MOSES

Moses 
There have been many individuals who could be considered leaders, but some stand out
among the others. An example of a superb leader is Moses. Moses is viewed as a righteous
man in God's eyes and is chosen to lead the Hebrews out of oppression in Egypt. Contained
in the story of Exodus are many examples of Moses' sacrifices and the hardships he
endured while freeing the Hebrews. The faith of Moses was tested numerous times
throughout the story, and, in some instances, it seemed that Moses had lost faith,
however, being the righteous man that he was, he stuck it out until the end. Moses is a
pillar of faith for surviving his tests and for being the perfect tool for God's plans. 
The Old Testament, model of a great patriarch, is one who possesses faith coupled with
voluntary obedience to God's wishes and gratitude. These things combine to make up God's
standard of moral goodness. If the person obeys God's laws and meets His standards, the
individual may obtain happiness. The ultimate model of a great patriarch is Moses. The
book of Exodus, begins with the Egyptian's decision to oppress the Hebrews who lived in
the land of Egypt for 400 years. (The descendants of Joseph and his brothers) Although
Moses was born a Hebrew, Moses grew up in the Pharaoh's court and the Hebrews were
jealous of him. The Egyptians didn't trust him as well. This is one of the main reasons
why Moses was such a great leader. He didn't really have any strong ties to either the
Hebrews of the Egyptians. This is why he can be harsh and use force to make the people
understand what God wants. He has the guts to order his own people to their death for
freedom. Moses was willing to risk his life for his people and one day Moses saw an
Egyptian beating a Hebrew in the work-yard, and hastily killed the Egyptian with his bare
hands. He then fled from Egypt to Midian, and found a wife with whom he had a son. Yet,
Moses knew he would not settle down until he returned to Egypt to fulfill A God's
prophecy. Important to Moses' development into a great leader was the time he was tending
his father-in-law's flock up on the mountain of Horeb. Here, at the mountain of God, he
came across a burning bush. Moses was amazed by the phenomenon and God spoke to him
through this medium. Moses was commanded to go to the Pharaoh and request that the
Hebrews be set free to worship their God. Now, Moses was not well liked by either the
Egyptians or the Hebrews at the time, so he was in no position to tell anyone what to do.
When Moses, through Aaron, proposes to the Pharaoh to let the Hebrews go free, the
Pharaoh gets mad and just makes the workload for the Hebrews more demanding than it ever
was before. This made the Pharaoh furious and the Hebrew labor force despised Moses for
burdening them with more work. Moses was discouraged because the people he was commanded
to free did not want to be freed, and, even if they did, Moses is the last person that
they wanted to be freed by. As slaves, the Hebrews accept themselves to be powerless. At
this point Moses had to be rather confused. He has no friends to turn to; all he has is a
burning bush up on a mountain, and faith. On his conscience are the hardships of an
entire people and a huge sense of failure. Moses returns to the bush and says to God, O
Lord, why did You bring harm upon this people? Why did You send me? Ever since I came to
Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has dealt worse with this people, and still You have
not delivered Your people (Exodus 5:22). This is an example of Moses' doubt and confusion
about his mission. God supplies Moses with many different tricks, and supernatural
powers, yet the first few times Moses went back to Pharaoh, his magicians could match
Moses' illusions. As a result, the Pharaoh thought nothing of it and kept the Hebrews
working. Then God commanded Moses to order gnats to swarm Egyptians and the Pharaoh's
magicians could not match the power of Moses. Pharaoh's heart remained cold and he would
not let the people go, so Moses ordered progressively crueler plagues on the Egyptians.
God hardens Pharaoh's heart many times to test the faith and commitment of Moses. Moses
didn't know God was doing this and was absolutely frustrated. He gives up everything he
knows to perform this task and he keeps getting rejected. The last plague was what made
the Pharaoh change his mind about the Hebrew's freedom. The Angel of Death took the first
born of every living thing in Egypt, including the son of Pharaoh. Moses suffered great
frustration because of his continual confrontations with Pharaoh, but finally God's
bidding was reality. Moses gained some respect from the Hebrew people, but they didn't
want to change the ways of the past. The Hebrews bore witness to the acts of violence
Moses performed on the Egyptians; so naturally, the Hebrews would fear the power of
Moses. 
Moses had an incredibly hard task in that he had to lead an incoherent mass of people out
of oppression. His faith, and trust in God, is why Moses succeeded and that which made
him the ultimate model of a patriarch. Moses did everything that God told him to do and
he did it with all his might. He firmly believed that God would see him through the hard
times. God wants the people to know that he is the one Lord, and that there are no humans
that compare. This is why he goes through all the trials with Pharaoh. Moses' faith
delivered him through all the questions and doubts of the Hebrew people as they proceeded
on the forty-year journey to the Promised Land of milk and honey. Faith and trust in God
helped him to be a leader for the people. 
However, Moses was not the perfect, sin-free prophet, in the sense he murdered a man
directly and was the cause of the death of thousands of Egyptians. To top it off, he
ordered all the people who built the golden calf to worship on the bottom of Mount Sinai
to be killed. 
What God wanted done was done through Moses. I believe that Moses was justified in what
he did at Mount Sinai, but I'm sure that, if I were one of the Hebrews, I wouldn't be
able to believe what was going through Moses' head. I respect the character of Moses and
I feel that his shrewdness was one of the key elements in the success of Exodus. In the
end, with God on his side, Moses and God's following servants, led the Lord's people with
great strength and courage, and delivered them safely into the awaited Holy Land.