Prophets After Moses example essay topic

The Death of Moses When the saga of Moses comes to an end with the prophet's death, the narrative voice in Deuteronomy 34: 9-11 states: "Since then no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses whom the LORD knew face to face". Were the prophets that came after Moses equal to his stature? In determining the answer to this question, by researching this topic I will discuss and look at the entirety of Moses' life as recorded in the Scripture. There are certainly many unique aspects of Moses' life that were not duplicated in the lives of any of the subsequent prophets. For example, Moses was raised as an Egyptian prince. There is noting in the Bible to indicate that he knew of his Israelite heritage until adulthood.

True, his own mother was recruited by the Egyptian princess to nurse him through infancy, but there is little to suggest that Moses would have retained any memory or inclination of his heritage from this period (Neufeld, 1993). Yet, despite his acculturation as an Egyptian, he was able to not only accept, but rejoice in his relationship to the Israelite slaves of Egypt. This is certainly a unique characteristic of Moses' life that was not duplicated. Furthermore, no other prophet, save Moses, had the experience of meeting God "face to face" as Moses did on Mt. Sinai with the burning bush.

However, the Bible does clearly indicate that other prophets "spoke" to God and received guidance in their own way. As this suggests, it is also possible to argue that there were prophets after Moses equal to him in their relationship to God. This stance is supported, somewhat, in the biblical verses that describe how Moses felt on this topic of shared responsibility for leading the people. These verses describe how two men in the Hebrew camp, Eldad and Medad, felt that the spirit of God came upon them and they began to prophesize within the camp. A young man ran and told Moses what these two men were doing. Joshua, son of Nun and minister to Moses reacted quickly and implored Moses to forbid the men from doing this.

However, Moses said to him, "Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put his spirit upon them". After which, Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp (Numbers 11: 24-30). As this suggests, Moses, certainly, had no qualms about supposing that others could have a relationship with God as close as the one that inspired him. In fact, in these verses in Numbers, he indicates that this would be his fondest wish and hope for the future of Israel.

Moses obviously did not see himself in terms of superlatives, as the "greatest" or even the most important prophetic voice that the Hebrew people had ever heard. Rather, Moses was concerned for the spiritual welfare of all Israelites, therefore, in Numbers 11: 24-30, he sounds quite pleased to hear that two men feel inspired to speak and implore the people to remain righteous and follow scriptural teaching. Beck (1999) outlines additional passages that indicate much the same message. He states that "Moses had a problem with success" (Beck, 1999, p. 531).

Moses was successful in obtaining freedom from Egyptian slavery for the Hebrew people, but now he had to shoulder the responsibility of leading them, caring for them, tending to their physical needs (food, water, etc), setting their disputes and keeping up their hopes (Beck, 1999). In Exodus, the Bible relates how Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, suggests to him that judges should be appointed to share the work of settling conflicts (Beck, 1999). Subsequently, in the Book of Numbers, when the elders have gathered away from the camp, God instructs Moses and tells him that some of the spirit that has been placed on Moses shall be placed on the appointed judges. - "they shall bear the burden of the people with you so you do not bear it all by yourself" (Beck, 1999., p. 160). As this indicates, God intends the burden of service to be shared (Beck, 1999).

This perfect sense because the more people who are empowered to serve, the greater the good that will be accomplished in the world (Beck, 1999). This is why Moses refused to support Joshua's decision to forbid prophesizing from the two laymen, Eldad and Medad, as Moses recognized that this was a sign of the community's spiritual health and that it was good for the continuation of that health. Therefore, it can be seen that there are arguments on both sides of this research question. On the one hand, there are aspects of Moses' life and ministry that are unique and do not occur in other biblical account. Furthermore, the student researching this paper could easily argue t hat Moses' magnanimous attitude toward sharing the power of prophecy is one more indication of his greatness.

However, going at it from the other side, the Bible makes it clear that Moses did not wish to be regarded as higher then others who also felt God's inspiration and leadership. If Moses had regarded himself in this manner, he would have undoubtedly supported Joshua's injunction to stop others from prophesizing. In other words, he would have sent the message to the people that only he could establish such a close relationship to God. However, scripture is implicit when it indicates that Moses did not do this. Rather, he was adamant that others should cultivate this relationship, as he stated, more or less, that he would have everyone heard God's voice and feel God's inspiration.

Therefore, one can also argue that the Bible indicates that if one could ask Moses the research question, i.e. did other prophets ever equal his stature, Moses would answer unequivocally "yes" as he made it quite clear that he believed that others could have the same sort of relationship to God. As indicated in the paper, the biblical information on Moses' life can easily be interpreted either way. According how the reader depicts the paper. From hearing many different opinions of the subject matter none were a like. His life was certainly unique, but there are also plenty of biblical references that support the fact that Moses, himself, did not wish to be seen as above any one else.

It is primarily for this reason, i.e. the perception of Moses himself, that the arguments selected do tend to favor the argument against Moses being greater then other Old Testament prophets.

Bibliography

Beck, David L. (1999) Shared spirit.
Christian Century 116 (15), 531. Neufeld, Ernest (1993) The redemption of Moses.
Judaism 42 (1), 50-58. Reis, Pamela T. (1991).