Moses, Aaron and Miriam
Level: Basic |
Moses, Aaron and Miriam were the leaders of the Children of Israel at a pivotal
time in our history: the Exodus from Egypt and the forty years of wandering
in the desert before the people entered the
Promised Land.
An entire book could be written on the stories of these three people. Indeed,
four books have already been written: the biblical books of Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers and Deuteronomy, which tell the story of their life and times. This
page can only begin to scratch the surface.
The history below is derived from written Torah,
Talmud, Midrash
and other sources. Where information comes directly from the
Bible, I have provided citations.
As with the stories of the patriarchs,
modern scholars question the historical accuracy of this information; however,
scholars also claimed that the Torah could not
have been written at that time because
alphabetic writing did not exist … and
then archaeologists dug up 4000 year old samples of alphabetic writing.
Moses was the greatest prophet, leader and
teacher that Judaism has ever known. In fact, one of
Rambam's 13 Principles
of Faith is the belief that Moses' prophecies are true, and that he was
the greatest of the prophets. He is called "Moshe Rabbeinu," that is, Moses,
Our Teacher/Rabbi. Interestingly, the
numerical value of "Moshe Rabbeinu" is 613:
the number of mitzvot that Moses taught the
Children of Israel! He is described as the only person who ever knew
G-d face-to-face (Deut. 34:10) and mouth-to-mouth
(Num. 12:8), which means that G-d spoke to Moses directly, in plain language,
not through visions and dreams, as G-d communicated with other prophets.
Moses was born on 7 Adar in the year 2368 from
Creation (circa 1400 BCE), the son of Amram, a
member of the tribe of Levi, and Yocheved, Levi's
daughter (Ex. 6:16-20). Unlike the heroes of many other ancient cultures,
Moses did not have a miraculous birth. Amram married Yocheved, and she conceived,
and she gave birth (Ex. 2:1-2). The only unusual thing about his birth is
Yocheved's advanced age: Yocheved was born while
Jacob and his family were entering Egypt, so
she was 130 when Moses was born. His father named him Chaver, and his grandfather
called him Avigdor, but he is known to history as Moses, a name given to
him by Pharaoh's daughter.
The name "Moses" comes from a root meaning "take
out," because Moses was taken out of the river (Ex. 2:10). Some modern scholars
point out that the root M-S-S in Egyptian means "son of" as in the name Ramases
(son of Ra), but it is worth noting that Moses' name in Hebrew is M-Sh-H,
not M-S-S. According to one Jewish source, Pharaoh's daughter actually named
him Minios, which means "drawn out" in Egyptian, and the name Moshe (Moses)
was a Hebrew translation of that name, just as a Russian immigrant named
Ivan might change his name to the English equivalent, John.
Moses was born in a very difficult time: Pharaoh had ordered that all male
children born to the Hebrew slaves should be drowned in the river (Ex. 1:22).
Yocheved hid Moses for three months, and when she could no longer hide him,
she put him in a little ark and placed it on the river where Pharaoh's daughter
bathed (Ex. 2:2-3). Pharaoh's daughter found the child and had compassion
on him (Ex. 2:6). At the suggestion of Moses' sister
Miriam, Pharaoh's daughter hired Yocheved to
nurse Moses until he was weaned (Ex. 2:7-10). Yocheved instilled in Moses
a knowledge of his heritage and a love of his people that could not be erased
by the 40 years he spent in the antisemitic court of Pharaoh.
Little is known about Moses' youth. The biblical narrative skips from his
adoption by Pharaoh's daughter to his killing of an Egyptian taskmaster some
40 years later. One traditional story tells that when he was a child, sitting
on Pharaoh's knee, Moses took the crown off of Pharaoh's head and put it
on. The court magicians took this as a bad sign and demanded that he be tested:
they put a brazier full of gold and a brazier full of hot coals before him
to see which he would take. If Moses took the gold, he would have to be killed.
An angel guided Moses' hand to the coal, and he put it into his mouth, leaving
him with a life-long speech impediment (Ex. 4:10).
Although Moses was raised by Egyptians, his compassion for his people was
so great that he could not bear to see them beaten by Pharaoh's taskmasters.
One day, when Moses was about 40 years old, he saw an Egyptian beating a
Hebrew slave, and he was so outraged that he struck and killed the Egyptian
(Ex. 2:11-12). But when both his fellow Hebrews and the Pharaoh condemned
him for this action, Moses was forced to flee from Egypt (Ex. 2:14-15).
He fled to Midian, where he met and married Zipporah, the daughter of a Midianite
priest (Ex. 2:16-21). They had a son, Gershom (Ex. 2:22). Moses spent 40
years in Midian tending his father-in-law's sheep. A midrash tells that Moses
was chosen to lead the Children of Israel because of his
kindness to animals. When he was bringing
the sheep to a river for water, one lamb did not come. Moses went to the
little lamb and carried it to the water so it could drink. Like
G-d, Moses cared about each individual in the
group, and not just about the group as a whole. This showed that he was a
worthy shepherd for G-d's flock.
I'm sure everyone knows what happened next - if you haven't read the book,
then you've certainly seen the movie. G-d appeared to Moses and chose him
to lead the people out of Egyptian slavery and to the
Promised Land (Ex. Chs. 3-4). With the help
of his brother Aaron, Moses spoke to Pharaoh
and triggered the plagues against Egypt (Ex. Chs. 4-12). He then led the
people out of Egypt and across the sea to freedom, and brought them to Mount
Sinai, where G-d gave the people the Torah and
the people accepted it (Ex. Chs. 12-24).
G-d revealed the entire Torah to Moses. The entire Torah includes the first
five books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers and Deuteronomy) that Moses himself wrote as G-d instructed him.
It also includes all of the remaining prophecies and history that would later
be written down in the remaining books of
scripture, and the entire
Oral Torah, the oral tradition for interpreting
the Torah, that would later be written down in the
Talmud. Moses spent the rest of his life writing
the first five books, essentially taking dictation from G-d.
After Moses received instruction from G-d about the Law and how to interpret
it, he came back down to the people and started hearing cases and judging
them for the people, but this quickly became too much for one man. Upon the
advice of his father-in-law, Yitro, Moses instituted a judicial system (Ex.
18:13-26).
Moses was not perfect. Like any man, he had his flaws and his moments of
weakness, and the Bible faithfully records these shortcomings. In fact, Moses
was not permitted to enter the Promised Land
because of a transgression (Deut. 32:48-52). Moses was told to speak to a
rock to get water from it, but instead he struck the rock repeatedly with
a rod, showing improper anger and a lack of faith (Num. 20:7-13).
Moses died in the year 2488, just before the people crossed over into the
Promised Land (Deut. 32:51). He completed writing the first five books of
the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) before he
died. There is some dispute as to who physically wrote the last few verses
of Deuteronomy: according to some, Moses wrote these last few verses from
a vision of the future, but according to others, the last few verses were
added by Joshua after Moses' death. In any case, these verses, like everything
else in the Torah, were written by G-d, and the actual identity of the
transcriber is not important.
Moses' position as leader of Israel was not hereditary. His son, Gershom,
did not inherit the leadership of Israel. Moses' chosen successor was Joshua,
son of Nun (Deut. 34:9).
Moses was 120 years old at the time that he died (Deut. 34:7). That lifespan
is considered to be ideal, and has become proverbial: one way to wish a person
well in Jewish tradition is to say, "May you live to be 120!"
As important as Moses was to the Children of Israel, it is always important
to remember that Moses himself was not the deliverer or redeemer of Israel.
It was G-d who redeemed Israel, not Moses. Moses was merely G-d's
prophet, His spokesman. The traditional text
of the Pesach
haggadah does not even mention Moses' name.
In order to prevent people from idolatrously worshipping Moses, his grave
was left unmarked (Deut. 34:6).
Aaron was Moses' older brother. He was born
in 2365, three years before Moses, before the Pharaoh's edict requiring the
death of male Hebrew children. He was the ancestor of all
koheins, the founder of the
priesthood, and the first Kohein Gadol (High
Priest). Aaron and his descendants tended the altar and offered
sacrifices. Aaron's role, unlike Moses',
was inherited; his sons continued the priesthood after him (Num. 20:26).
Aaron served as Moses' spokesman. As discussed above, Moses was not eloquent
and had a speech impediment, so Aaron spoke for him (Ex. 4:10-16). Contrary
to popular belief, it was Aaron, not Moses, who cast down the staff that
became a snake before Pharaoh (Ex. 7:10-12). It was Aaron, not Moses, who
held out his staff to trigger the first three plagues against Egypt (Ex.
7:19-20; Ex. 8:1-2 or 8:5-6; Ex. 8:12-13 or 8:16-17). According to Jewish
tradition, it was also Aaron who performed the signs for the elders before
they went to Pharaoh (Ex. 4:30).
Aaron's most notable personal quality is that he was a peacemaker. His love
of peace is proverbial; Rabbi Hillel said,
"Be disciples of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving people and
drawing them near the Torah." According to
tradition, when Aaron heard that two people were arguing, he would go to
each of them and tell them how much the other regretted his actions, until
the two people agreed to face each other as friends.
In fact, Aaron loved peace so much that he participated in the incident of
the Golden Calf (Ex. 32), constructing the idol in order to prevent dissension
among the people. Aaron intended to buy time until Moses returned from Mount
Sinai (he was late, and the people were worried), to discourage the people
by asking them to give up their precious jewelry in order to make the idol,
and to teach them the error of their ways in time (Ex. 32:22).
Aaron, like Moses, died in the desert shortly before the people entered the
Promised Land (Num. 20).
Miriam was Aaron and
Moses' older sister. According to some sources,
she was seven years older than Moses, but other sources seem to indicate
that she was older than that. Some sources indicate that Miriam was Puah,
one of the midwives who rescued Hebrew babies from Pharaoh's edict against
them (Ex. 1:15-19).
Miriam was a prophetess in her own right (Ex.
15:20), the first woman described that way in scripture (although
Sarah is also considered to be a prophetess,
that word is not applied to her in scripture). According to tradition, she
prophesied before Moses' birth that her parents would give birth to the person
who would bring about their people's redemption.
Miriam waited among the bulrushes while Moses' ark was in the river, watching
over him to make sure he was all right (Ex. 2:4). When the Pharaoh's daughter
drew Moses out of the water, Miriam arranged for their mother, Yocheved,
to nurse Moses and raise him until he was weaned (Ex. 2:7-9).
Miriam led the women of Israel in a song and dance of celebration after the
Pharaoh's men were drowned in the sea (Ex. 15:20-21). She is said to be the
ancestress of other creative geniuses in Israel's history: Bezalel, the architect
of the mishkan (the portable sanctuary used in the desert) (Ex. 31:1-3) and
King David.
According to tradition, because of Miriam's righteousness, a well followed
the people through the desert throughout their wanderings, and that well
remained with them until the day of Miriam's death.
Like her brothers, Miriam was not perfect. She led her brother Aaron to speak
against Moses over a matter involving a Cushite woman he had married (Zipporah,
or possibly a second wife) (Num. 12:1). They also objected to his leadership,
noting that he had no monopoly on Divine Communication (Num 12:2). For this,
Miriam was punished with tzaaras (an affliction generally translated as leprosy)
(Num. 12:10). However, Aaron pled on her behalf, and she was cured (Num.
12:11).
Like her brothers, Miriam died in the desert before the people reached the
Promised Land (Num. 20:1).
© Copyright 5760 (1999), Tracey R
Rich
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