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MosesAid to Bible Understanding
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They had failed of their primary responsibility, namely, to magnify His name. They “acted undutifully” toward Jehovah, and Moses had ‘spoken rashly with his lips.’ Later Jehovah decreed: “Because you did not show faith in me to sanctify me before the eyes of the sons of Israel, therefore you will not bring this congregation into the land that I shall certainly give them.”—Num. 20:1-13; Deut. 32:50-52; Ps. 106:32, 33.
A WRITER
Moses was the writer of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, namely, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. His writership has been acknowledged by the Jews throughout their history, this section of the Bible being known by them as the Torah, or Law. Jesus and the Christian writers frequently speak of Moses as giving the law. He is generally credited with writing the book of Job, also one of the Psalms (90) and possibly another (91).—Matt. 8:4; Luke 16:29; 24:27; Rom. 10:5; 1 Cor. 9:9; 2 Cor. 3:15; Heb. 10:28.
HIS DEATH AND BURIAL
Moses’ brother Aaron died at the age of 123 years while Israel was encamped at Mount Hor, on the frontier of Edom, in the fifth month of the fortieth year of their journey. Moses took Aaron into the mountain, stripped off Aaron’s priestly garments and clothed Eleazar with them, as Aaron’s oldest living son and successor. (Num. 20:22-29; 33:37-39) About six months later, Israel arrived at the plains of Moab. Here Moses, in a series of discourses, explained the Law to the assembled nation, enlarging upon it with adjustments that would be necessary when Israel changed from a nomadic camp life to a settled one in their own land. In the twelfth month of the fortieth year (in the spring of 1473 B.C.E.), he announced to the people that, according to Jehovah’s appointment, Joshua would succeed him as leader. Joshua was then commissioned and exhorted to be courageous. (Deut. 31:1-3, 23) Finally, after reciting a song and blessing the people, Moses went up into Mount Nebo according to Jehovah’s command, first to view the Promised Land from this mountain vantage point, then to die.—Deut. 32:48-51; 34:1-6.
Moses was 120 years of age at the time of his death. Testifying to his natural strength, the Bible comments: “His eye had not grown dim, and his vital strength had not fled.” He was buried by Jehovah in a location never since discovered. (Deut. 34:5-7) Likely, this was to prevent the Israelites from being ensnared into false worship by making a shrine of his grave. Evidently the Devil desired to use Moses’ body for some such purpose, for Jude, the Christian disciple and half brother of Jesus Christ, writes: “When Michael the archangel had a difference with the Devil and was disputing about Moses’ body, he did not dare to bring a judgment against him in abusive terms, but said: ‘May Jehovah rebuke you.’” (Jude 9) Before crossing over into Canaan under the leadership of Joshua, Israel observed a thirty-day mourning period for Moses.—Deut. 34:8.
A PROPHET JEHOVAH KNEW “FACE TO FACE”
When Miriam and Aaron challenged Moses’ authority Jehovah told them: “If there came to be a prophet of yours for Jehovah, it would be in a vision I would make myself known to him. In a dream I would speak to him. Not so my servant Moses! He is being entrusted with all my house. Mouth to mouth I speak to him, thus showing him, and not by riddles; and the appearance of Jehovah is what he beholds. Why, then, did you not fear to speak against my servant, against Moses?” (Num. 12:6-8) The conclusion of the book of Deuteronomy describes Moses’ privileged standing with Jehovah: “But there has never yet risen up a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom Jehovah knew face to face, as respects all the signs and the miracles that Jehovah sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and all his land, and as regards all the strong hand and all the great awesomeness that Moses exercised before the eyes of all Israel.”—Deut. 34:10-12.
According to Jehovah’s words, Moses, though he never literally saw the very person of Jehovah, as mentioned in the foregoing, had a more direct, constant, intimate relationship with Jehovah than any prophet prior to Jesus Christ. Jehovah’s statement: “Mouth to mouth I speak to him,” revealed that Moses had personal audience with God (by means of angels, who have access to the very presence of God [Matt. 18:10]). As Israel’s mediator he enjoyed a virtually continuous two-way conversational communication arrangement. He was able at any time to present problems of national importance and to receive God’s answer. Jehovah entrusted Moses ‘with all His house,’ using Moses as his intimate representative in organizing the nation. (Heb. 3:2, 5) The later prophets simply continued to build on the foundation that had been laid through Moses.
The manner in which Jehovah dealt with Moses was so impressive that it was as if Moses actually had beheld God with his own eyes, instead of merely having a mental vision or a dream in which he heard God speak, which was the usual way in which God communicated with his prophets. Jehovah’s dealings with Moses were so real that Moses reacted as if he had seen “the One who is invisible.” (Heb. 11:27) Evidently the impression made on Moses was similar to the effect of the transfiguration vision on Peter centuries later. As he, with James and John, observed, the vision was so real to Peter that he began to participate in it, speaking but not realizing what he was saying. (Luke 9:28-36) And the apostle Paul likewise experienced a vision that was so real that he later said of himself: “Whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know; God knows.”—2 Cor. 12:1-4.
No doubt Joshua’s extraordinary success in establishing Israel in the Promised Land came, to an extent, by reason of the fine qualities inculcated in him by Moses’ training and example. Joshua was Moses’ minister “from his young manhood on.” (Num. 11:28) Evidently he was army commander under Moses (Ex. 17:9, 10) and was close to Moses as his attendant in many experiences.—Ex. 24:13; 33:11; Deut. 3:21.
PREFIGURED JESUS CHRIST
Jesus Christ made clear that Moses had written about him, for on one occasion he told his opponents: “If you believed Moses you would believe me, for that one wrote about me.” (John 5:46) “Commencing at Moses and all the Prophets,” when in the company of his disciples, Jesus “interpreted to them things pertaining to himself in all the Scriptures.”—Luke 24:27, 44; see also John 1:45.
Among the things Moses wrote concerning Christ Jesus are Jehovah’s words: “A prophet I shall raise up for them from the midst of their brothers, like you; and I shall indeed put my words in his mouth, and he will certainly speak to them all that I shall command him.” (Deut. 18:18, 19) The apostle Peter in quoting this prophecy left no doubt that it referred to Jesus Christ.—Acts 3:19-23.
In the transfiguration scene that Peter, James and John were permitted to view, Moses and Elijah were seen talking with Jesus. In Moses, the three apostles would see represented the Law covenant, the theocratic arrangement of the congregation, the deliverance of the nation and its being safely transferred to the Promised Land. Thus the vision indicated that Jesus Christ would do a work like Moses did, but greater; also the visionary appearance of Elijah showed that he would do a work like Elijah accomplished, but in a larger way. It was there plainly manifested that the Son of God was indeed the ‘prophet greater than Moses,’ and worthy of the title Messiah.—Matt. 17:1-3; see TRANSFIGURATION.
In many ways there was pictorial correspondency between these two great prophets, Moses and Jesus Christ. Both in infancy escaped the wholesale slaughter ordered by the respective rulers of their time. (Ex. 1:22; 2:1-10; Matt. 2:13-18) Moses was called out of Egypt with Jehovah’s “first-born,” the nation of Israel, Moses being the nation’s leader. Jesus was called out of Egypt as God’s firstborn Son. (Ex. 4:22, 23; Hos. 11:1; Matt. 2:15, 19-21) Both fasted for forty days in wilderness places. (Ex. 34:28; Matt. 4:1, 2) Both came in the name of Jehovah, Jesus’ name itself meaning “Salvation (or Help) of Jehovah.” (Ex. 3:13-16; Matt. 1:21; John 5:43) Jesus, like Moses, ‘declared the name of Jehovah.’ (Deut. 32:3; John 17:6, 26) Both were exceptional in meekness and humility. (Num. 12:3; Matt. 11:28-30) Both had the most convincing credentials that they were sent by God—astounding miracles of many sorts, Jesus Christ going farther than Moses by raising dead persons to life.—Ex. 14:21-31; Ps. 78:12-54; Matt. 11:5; Mark 5:38-43; Luke 7:11-15, 18-23.
Moses was mediator of the Law covenant between God and the nation of Israel. Jesus was Mediator of the new covenant between God and the “holy nation,” the spiritual “Israel of God.” (1 Pet. 2:9; Gal. 6:16; Ex. 19:3-9; Luke 22:20; Heb. 8:6; 9:15) Both served as judges and lawgivers. (Ex. 18:13; Mal. 4:4; John 5:22, 23; 13:34; 15:10) Moses was entrusted with and proved faithful to his stewardship in the ‘house of God.’ Jesus likewise showed faithfulness in God’s house; Moses, however, did so as an attendant, Christ as a Son. (Num. 12:7; Heb. 3:2-6) And even in death there was a parallel, God disposing of the bodies of both Moses and Jesus.—Deut. 34:5, 6; Acts 2:31; Jude 9.
After Moses took his stand as being a Hebrew rather than an Egyptian, Jehovah God anointed, that is to say, appointed Moses to be his prophet, and as such Moses was “the Christ” or “the Anointed (Appointed) One.” Jehovah’s spirit, of course, was upon Moses as a prophet. (Num. 11:16, 17, 24, 25) In that way Moses was “the Christ” of that time; but in order to come into that privileged position he had to give up the “treasures of Egypt” and let himself “be ill-treated with the people of God” and thus suffer reproach. But to Moses such “reproach of the Christ” was riches greater than all of Egypt’s wealth.—Heb. 11:24-26.
A parallel to this is found in Jesus Christ. According to the angel’s announcement at his birth in Bethlehem he was to become a “Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” He became Christ or “Anointed One” after the prophet John baptized him in the Jordan River. (Luke 2:10, 11; 3:21-23; 4:16-21) Thereafter he acknowledged that he was “the Christ” or Messiah. (Matt. 16:16, 17; Mark 14:61, 62; John 4:25, 26) Jesus Christ also kept his eye on the prize and despised the shame, as Moses had done. (Phil. 2:8, 9; Heb. 12:2) It is into this Greater Moses that the Christian congregation is baptized—into Jesus Christ, the foretold Prophet Liberator and Leader.—1 Cor 10:1, 2.
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MosquitoAid to Bible Understanding
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MOSQUITO
Any of a great variety of two-winged insects having a round head and long, slender five-jointed legs. Female mosquitoes are equipped with a strong proboscis that enables them to pierce the skin of man and animals, and to suck their blood. The Hebrew word qeʹrets, rendered “mosquito” (NW), appears as a noun only at Jeremiah 46:20, where it is used to represent the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar, the enemy to the north that would come against Egypt, the “pretty heifer.”
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Most HighAid to Bible Understanding
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MOST HIGH
The Hebrew word ʽel·yohnʹ (Most High), used with reference to Jehovah, is also applied to other persons or things: King David, as above the other earthly kings (Ps. 89:20, 27), the place above the nations promised to Israel (Deut. 26:18, 19), the topmost basket (Gen. 40:17), the upper gate (2 Ki. 15:35), the upper pool (2 Ki. 18:17), the upper courtyard (Jer. 36:10), the uppermost story (Ezek. 41:7), the uppermost dining rooms (Ezek. 42:5), Upper Beth-horon (Josh. 16:5) and the upper source of the waters of Gihon. (2 Chron. 32:30) These uses illustrate that ʽel·yohnʹ denotes position rather than power.
When applied to Jehovah, “Most High” emphasizes his supreme position above all others. (Ps. 83:18) The title first appears at Genesis 14:18-20 with ʼEl (God), where Melchizedek is called “priest of the Most High God” and, in that capacity, blesses Abraham as well as the Most High God. “Most High” is used in combination with the divine name Jehovah (Gen. 14:22; Ps. 7:17) and the plural of excellence ʼElo·himʹ (God) (Ps. 78:56), and also appears alone.—Deut. 32:8; Ps. 9:2; Isa. 14:14.
The plural Aramaic form ʽel·yoh·ninʹ occurs at Daniel 7:18, 22, 25, 27, where it may be translated “Supreme One” (NW), the plural being the plural of excellence, majesty. The Aramaic form in the singular number, ʽil·layʹ (Most High) is used at Daniel 7:25.
The Greek word hyʹpsi·stos (Most High), as applying to Jehovah, is employed mainly by Luke, in his Gospel (twice in Gabriel’s announcement to Mary about the birth of Jesus) and in the Acts. (Luke 1:32, 35, 76; 6:35; 8:28; Acts 7:48; 16:17) The other occurrences are at Mark 5:7 and Hebrews 7:1.
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Most HolyAid to Bible Understanding
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MOST HOLY
The innermost room of the tabernacle and, later, of the temple. This compartment in the tabernacle was apparently cubical, each of its three dimensions being ten cubits (c. 14.6 feet or c. 4.4 meters); the dimensions of the Most Holy in the temple built by Solomon were twice those of the tabernacle, so that it was eight times as large in volume.—Ex. 26:15, 16, 18, 22, 23; 1 Ki. 6:16, 17, 20; 2 Chron. 3:8.
The high priest entered the Most Holy only on the annual Day of Atonement; at no time could any other person go beyond the curtain that hung between this room and the Holy Place. (Lev. 16:2) In the Most Holy the high priest was surrounded by the colorful embroidered cherubs on the tabernacle’s inner covering and on the curtain. (Ex. 26:1, 31, 33) In Solomon’s temple the walls and ceiling were of cedarwood covered with gold, and cherubs, palm-tree figures, gourd-shaped ornaments and blossoms were engraved on the walls.—1 Ki. 6:16-18, 29; 2 Chron. 3:7, 8.
The Scriptures outline three entries of the high priest into the Most Holy on atonement day, first with the golden censer of perfumed incense, fired by coals from off the altar, a second time with the blood of the bull, the sin offering for the priestly tribe, and finally with the blood of the goat, the sin offering for the people. (Lev. 16:11-15; Heb. 9:6, 7, 25) He sprinkled the blood of the animals on the ground before the golden ark of the covenant, on the cover of which were golden cherubs between which Jehovah figuratively was said to dwell. (Ex. 25:17-22; Lev. 16:14, 15) Jehovah’s presence was symbolized by a cloud that evidently shone as a bright light, being the sole light for this compartment of the tabernacle, which had no lampstand in it. While the tabernacle was in the wilderness, above the Most Holy resided a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, visible to the entire camp of Israel.—Ex. 13:22; 40:38; Num. 9:15; compare Psalm 80:1.
NO ARK IN LATER TEMPLES
Just when and under what circumstances the ark of the covenant disappeared is not known. Apparently the Babylonians did not capture it when they pillaged and destroyed the temple in 607 B.C.E., for the Ark is not listed among the temple articles carried off. (2 Ki. 25:13-17; Ezra 1:7-11) In the second temple, built by Zerubbabel, and in the more elaborate temple of Herod there was no Ark in the Most Holy. At the time of Jesus’ death God expressed his anger by causing the thick, heavy curtain that separated the Most Holy from the Holy Place to be ripped in two from top to bottom. The priests who were carrying
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