This is the fifth book in the Ritchie Character Study Series. Tom Wilson has provided this very helpful study on the life of Moses, one of the greatest leaders in the Bible, renowned lawgiver, prophet and deliverer of his people. There are few men and women in the record of Scripture whose lives we are able to follow in great detail from cradle to grave. However, for one of these, Moses, we know the unusual circumstances even of the early months of his long life. We know nothing about David's early years or of Isaiah's childhood, but we do know of Moses' birth, followed three months later by his remarkable deliverance from the flags of Egypt's River Nile. Then, at the end of a long life, he was carefully buried, a task that God did not entrust to any man or woman. The first five books of our Bible are from his pen, four of which trace the varied experiences and the wide-ranging abilities of Moses himself. Modern researchers have questioned why there are no references in Egypt to Moses and the Exodus, particularly when ten devastating plagues struck that nation. However, no Pharaoh would willingly advertise a series of disasters commonly ascribed to an enslaved underclass and their God, a God that Egypt did not recognize. However, Moses features largely in both Old and New Testaments. Surgenor notes that in the Bible: - Moses' name occurs 848 times across 187 chapters of the Bible - The words "and the Lord spake unto Moses" are recorded 99 times - The words "and the Lord said unto Moses" are recorded 51 times. In the New Testament, his name occurs around 80 times, more than half of these occurrences are in the Gospels, as the Lord Jesus addressed the nation that should have been observing the Law of Moses. The words of the Saviour provide additional evidence, if any is needed, that the story of Moses as given in the Old Testament is a reliable historical record. In this short character study, the nature of the man who, under God, was the Maker of the Nation will be considered. His life is rich in teaching for the people of God in every generation.
