Federico
Cantú 1907-1989
According
to the Book of Exodus, Moses was born in a time when his people, the
Israelites, an enslaved minority, were increasing in numbers and the Egyptian
Pharaoh was worried that they might ally themselves with Egypt's enemies.Moses'
Hebrew mother, Jochebed, secretly hid him when the Pharaoh ordered all newborn
Hebrew boys to be killed in order to reduce the population of the
Israelites. Through the Pharaoh's daughter (identified as Queen Bithia in the
Midrash), the child was adopted as a foundling from the Nile river and grew up
with the Egyptian royal family. After killing an Egyptian slavemaster (because
the slavemaster was smiting a Hebrew to death), Moses fled across the Red Sea
to Midian, where he encountered The Angel of the Lord,speaking to him from
within a burning bush on Mount Horeb (which he regarded as the Mountain of
God).
God sent Moses back to Egypt to demand the release of the Israelites
from slavery. Moses said that he could not speak with assurance or eloquence,
so God allowed Aaron, his brother, to become his spokesperson. After the Ten
Plagues, Moses led the Exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt and across the Red
Sea, after which they based themselves at Mount Sinai, where Moses received the
Ten Commandments. After 40 years of wandering in the desert, Moses died within
sight of the Promised Land on Mount Nebo.
