The Birth of Moses and the Buddha - Report Example

Since the creation of this world, God Almighty has kept sending his messengers and messiahs to guide the humanity to the righteous path. He the creator of all, did not only create us but also revealed the complete code of life following which we can lead a virtuous life and will also be rewarded by Him in this world and hereafter. In the following writing, life of Moses will be discussed, the Gods messenger and the great leader of Israel. Birth of Moses Moses was born in a Hebrew family during the time when every boy born was killed in Israel following the Pharaoh’s orders. His birth was kept a secret until 3 months, afterwards Jochebed; Moses’ mother wrapped the baby in a basket and left him to be taken care of God by the reeds of River Nile. Baby Moses was found by Pharaoh’s daughter who brought him and raised him in the palace. She named him Moses saying: “Because I drew him out of the water.” 1 When he grew up, he started helping his brethren until one day when an Egyptian was killed by his hand as he was beating an innocent Hebrew. Fearing the punishment, he slipped away and lived in desert for forty years until God called upon him. During his stay in the desert, he worked for a man named Jethro, helped him looking after his herd, later, he was married to Jethro’s daughter.2 God Calls Upon Moses. It has been stated in the Bible that God appeared in the form of a burning bush in front of Moses. “But concerning the dead, that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the burning bush passage, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?” 3 God instructed Moses to go to the Pharaoh and convince him to let the people live in harmony and to let them move to the land of Canaanites and Hittites, which is the land of flowing milk and honey and the land of prosperity and happiness. He then told him that if he does not agree God will strike Egypt with all his wonders. Moses was gifted a few miracles by God which included the following: Miracles bestowed on Moses God tells Moses to grab the rod that he was carrying and drop it to the ground. The rod turned into a snake. Then, He tells Moses to pick it up from his tail, the snake transformed into the rod again. And He said, “Cast it on the ground.” So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it.4 God instructed Moses to put his hand into his bosom which miraculously turned into snow. He then told Moses to place his hand again to his bosom; the hand was back to the original condition. Despite of these miracles Moses questioned God again if he was the right person to be called upon for the people as he found himself not fluent enough in speech. “But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” 5 Moses was still perplexed if he was the right person for such a great task. God then ordered him to take his brother Aaron with him who will help him in calling upon the people of Egypt. God says: And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” 6 God’s Strike: the ten plagues in Egypt The Bible says Moses was 80 years old when he went into Egypt. When they appeared in front of the Pharaoh and asked him to let the people go and live in tranquility. “Afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.’”7 On refusal, Aaron dropped the rod of Moses in front of the Pharaoh which then turned into a snake. However, the magicians of Pharaoh did the same. God then showed his power by ordering the snake from Moses’ rod to demolish all other snakes formed by the vicious magicians and sorcerers. Pharaoh refused again to let the children of Israel go which resulted in God’s fury and He strike Egypt with ten different plagues.8 1. Water turned into blood 2. Swarming frogs 3. Biting insects 4. Flies spreading diseases. 5. Diseased cattle 6. Eruption of boils on skin 7. Hails that destroyed the crops 8. Locusts that damaged crops 9. Excessive darkness 10. The most terrible one being, the death of the first member of every generation as retribution of the killings of innocent Hebrew babies. Parting of the Red Sea The children of Israel were ready to leave Egypt to the land that God has promised them, when the Pharaoh changed his mind and tried to stop them and get them with the power of his army. 9The people were then stuck by the Red Sea. They were at the verge of the sea; on one hand was the deep roaring sea which could drown them whereas on the other hand there was Pharaoh’s malicious army which would kill them or bring them back to slavery. The bible says: “Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided.” 10 And the Red Sea was parted creating a pathway of land, through which the Israelites passed through easily. The bible says: “So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; then they went out into the Wilderness of Shur. And they went three days in the wilderness and found no water.”11 After all the innocent people passed through the miraculously created pathway, when the Egyptian Army followed them through the dry land God instructed Moses to stretch out his hand to the sea so that the waters may come back devastating the cruel army men. Moses did as instructed and all the horsemen and chariots were drowned in the sea12. The Ten Commandments On their way to the Promised Land, God decided to test their patience by making their journey longer to see if they will still abide by the conventions of God. He told Moses that he will come down himself to talk to him on Mount Sinai. The bible says: “Now the glory of the LORD rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.13 It was then, when God called Moses on top of the mountain to have a conversation, and gave the 10 commandments engraved on a piece of stone. These 10 commandments comprised of principles related to equity and justice to all and proscription against murder, theft, blasphemy, injustice and worshipping false idols. Moses remained on the mountain top with God for forty years. Following is a brief outline of what those Ten Commandments were: 1. Thou Shalt Have No Gods Before Me 2. Thou Shalt Not Make Graven Images 3. Thou Shalt Not Take the Lords Name in Vain 4. Remember to Keep Holy the Sabbath 5. Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother 6. Thou Shalt Not Kill 7. Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery 8. Thou Shalt Not Steal 9. Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness 10. Thou Shalt Not Covet14 During this time, the Israelites became intolerant and made a calf of gold and started worshipping it. God knowing what they were doing warned them. Moses stood between and pleads to God to forgive the people. He then came back to his people and got furious watching them worshiping a false idol. He crushed the golden calf into pieces and asked the people to choose for themselves which side they want to go: God’s side or their own side. All the rebellions were killed that day. Moses got back to Mount Sinai to talk to God again. In this meeting God told Moses that he will now show Himself to Moses literally. God instructed Moses that he would not be able to bear the Almighty’s presence so ordered him to stand in a gap between the rocks. It was no doubt an experience of his life to see and talk to God face to face. The Bible says: “And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.”15 Moses also instructed his followers to build up a worshipping place for God. Direct and specific instructions were given by God to Moses as how the tabernacle should look like. The Bible says that there was a cloud covering the tabernacle during the day and fire during night time to guide the Israelites. Wherever the cloud used to go, the people followed thus, God was apparently guiding the people in their journey to the Promised Land. It has been stated that their journey lasted for forty years and towards the end of their journey God brought the Israelites up to the borders of the land of Canaan. In disbelief, the people sent 12 spies to see what the place looked like.16 The spies came back with a disturbing report that the land is owned by large and strong people. They got in despair that they would not be able to conquer the people living in the land of Canaan. Knowing that these people still do not believe in God Almighty, God said: “Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in.”17 Joshua and Caleb were the true followers among them, who later lead the younger generation of Israelites to the land of Canaan where God gave them courage and glory. However, Moses was not allowed to enter the Promised Land with his people and he died on Mount Nebo at the age of 120. The reason why he was refrained to enter the land of Canaan was that once God has ordered Moses to speak to the rock to bring out water for the Israelites which would be used for them as well as their cattle but, Moses on the other hand hit the rock with his rod two times. Violating God’s direct orders made Moses stay out of the Promised Land. This is an incredible story of Moses with God which made him a hero. No other man on earth has ever experienced what he did. Bibliography BibleGateway.com: A searchable online Bible in over 100 versions and 50 languages.. 2012. BibleGateway.com: A searchable online Bible in over 100 versions and 50 languages.. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.biblegateway.com/. [Accessed 25 April 2012]. Charles R. Swindoll, 2009. Great Lives: Moses: A Man of Selfless Dedication (Great Lives Series). Thomas Nelson., 2009. . Holy Bible: King James Version. American Bible Society, 1980. , 1980. . Nahum M. Sarna, 1996. Exploring Exodus: The Origins of Biblical Israel. Schocken, 1996. . Timothy Schehr, 2007. The Bible Made Easy: A Book-by-book Introduction. St. Anthony Messenger Press., 2007. . Vanessa R. Sasson, 2007. The Birth of Moses and the Buddha: A Paradigm for the Comparative Study of Religions (Hebrew Bible Monographs,). Sheffield Phoenix Press Ltd., 2007. Read More