Moses

Also known as: Abi Gedor / Abi Soco / Abi Zanoah / Jekuthiel / Jered / Shemaiah ben Nethanel · Family: Israelites · Role: son of Jochebed · First appears: Jacob Arrives In Egypt

Moses was born to Jochebed and Amram amid extraordinary radiance. After his parents concealed him for three months, Jochebed set him afloat in an ark; Thermutis rescued him, and Miriam brought their mother to nurse him. He stayed with his parents and kindred for two years, and Thermutis then adopted him and brought him to Pharaoh’s palace, naming him Moses. As a child he was slow of speech after burning his lips and tongue on a coal, and as he grew he joined the Israelites in their labor and persuaded Pharaoh to grant them a weekly day of rest.

After killing an Egyptian taskmaster, Moses was betrayed by Dathan and Abiram and fled Egypt. During the flight, Kikanos appointed him commander-in-chief; the Ethiopians later made him king and gave him Adoniah, Kikanos’s widow, as wife. He governed in justice, righteousness, and integrity, then left Ethiopia for Midian at sixty-seven. There he met Zipporah and her father, Jethro, who made him shepherd of his flocks. After Jethro gave Zipporah to him in marriage, they had Gershom (son of Moses) and a second son.

While Moses was at Horeb, God revealed Himself and commanded him to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. God instructed him in the Torah, and Zagzagel taught him its mysteries. After Moses returned to Egypt with Zipporah and their children, Aaron met him in the wilderness; Moses told him what God had taught him, and the brothers went before Pharaoh. Pharaoh refused their demand to release Israel, and Moses announced the plagues and the coming redemption. After the death of the first-born, Pharaoh released the Israelites from bondage.