Founder

Moses was the founder of Judaism; the greatest of all the Israelite prophets; the deliverer of the Israelite people of Africa from the tyranny of the Egyptian Pharaoh. According to Biblical data he lived about 500 years after Abraham, and about 1,400 years before Christ. He was the lawgiving prophet; the other Israelite prophets that came after him were only followers of his system.

Moses was an Israelite who was born in the North African country of Egypt in 1533 BC. He was brought up by Egyptians, and bore a typical Egyptian name. Moses is the name "Maose," which is commonly found on the Nile River. The Egyptian word "ms" stands for "mosu," which simply means "boy-son" (Egyptian hieroglyphics used no vowels). A number of Pharaohs are called "Ahmoses," "Tuthmoses," and "Ram(o)ses." The Bible says, "he was born of the priestly house of Levi," and was called "Moses" because the Pharaoh's daughter saved him from the waters of the Nile River. In the Hebrew language "Moses" becomes "Mosheh," meaning "drawn from water."

The Pharaoh Ram(o)ses II had ordered that all Israelite male children be destroyed because the Israelites had grown exceedingly strong. Moses was saved by the Pharaoh's daughter.

Here is the Biblical account:

"Now a man from the house of Levi went and took to wife a daughter of Levi. The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. And when she could hide him no longer she took for him a basket made of bulrushes, and daubed it with bitumen and pitch; and she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds at the river's brink...

And his (Moses) sister stood at a distance, to know what would be done to him. Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, and her maidens walked beside the river; she saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to fetch it. When she opened it she saw the child, and lo, the babe was crying. She took pity on him and said, 'This is one of the Israelite's children.' Then his (Moses) sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, 'Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Israelite women to nurse the child for you?' And the Pharaoh's daughter said to her, 'Go.' So the girl went and called the child's mother...

And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, 'Take this child away, and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.' So the woman took the child and nursed him. And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son; and she named him Moses, for, she said, 'I drew him out of the water.' " (Exodus 2:1-10)
She adopted Moses, and he became her son. In this position, as the son of the great Pharaoh Ramses' daughter, he received the highest education that was possible in that wonderful land of Egypt. The Bible tells us "he was well-versed in all the wisdom of the the Egyptians." History tells us that he became a master of astrology; that he erected a great observatory at the Temple of Amun-Re, in the great Egyptian city of On (i.e., the Greek "Heliopolis").
 

When his stepmother became the Queen of Egypt, Moses became the Commander-in-Chief of her Army; as such he conquered the Ethiopians and relieved Egypt from the danger of invasion. In this moment of triumph the Queen died, and a Pharaoh came to the throne "who knew not Moses," and the Bible says that "he went unto his brethren and looked on their burdens." The "call of the blood" had come; he knew he was an Israelite, a son of the priestly tribe of Levi; "he saw an Egyptian smiting one of his brethren" (Exodus 2:11); he slew the Egyptian and took refuge in the land of Midian.

Moses was now 80 years of age (Exodus 7:7), a man of experience, great learning, and "well-versed in the wisdom of the Egyptians." Such was the man the Lord had chosen for the delivery of His people. If one could imagine the Biblical accounts of the humbling of Pharaoh by the ten plagues; the Passover night; the outward march of that multitude of men, women, children, and herds of cattle. No one but Moses, the former Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian Army, could have organized such a march.
The first great Passover march of the Israelites took place at the time of the Full Moon after the Vernal Equinox in Nisan, the first month of the Hebraic year (equivalent to "Easter" in the Western world), circa 1486 BC. If one looks at an atlas containing old Hebrew names, it is easy to see that Moses skillfully led this great multitude of people toward the most fordable part of the Red Sea (i.e., the northern end of the Gulf of Suez), at a place called "Pi-Hahiroth," as stated in Exodus 14:2.

Moses was well-acquainted with this part of the country, having passed this way on his flight to Midian and in his return to Egypt. He had observed the influx of the tides, and by his astrological calculations he knew that the southeastern monsoon winds would arrive at a certain date to aid in his plans. This is the east wind mentioned in the English version of the Bible; in the Septuagint (the Greek version of the Old Testament) it is called a strong southern wind. But in both translations the poetic description is the same:

"And the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night and made the sea dry land and the waters were divided." (Exodus 14:21)... and the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea.

The Israelites had left secretly by night, and when the Pharaoh learned of their flight he pursued them with his armies and was drowned in the Red Sea. Moses led the Israelites across the dry bed very quickly, because it was the time of the ebb tide, and the sea was receding. But when Pharaoh's army reached the sea, it was the time of the high tide, and in their zeal to overtake the Israelites, they took no notice of it, and at once jumped into the sea. It seemed that being heavily equipped with huge chariots and other heavy armaments, the progress of Pharaoh's army was greatly reduced, so that while they were yet in the midst of the sea, the high tide returned and they were all drowned.

After this came that mysterious 40 years of wandering in the desert, which was planned and designed to purge the Israelites from the teachings and customs they had partook of during their 400 years of residence among the people of Egypt. If one again looks at any Old Testament map, one cannot help but to think how short the distance would have been had Moses led his people directly across the peninsula to Palestine. Instead, they were made to traverse the whole peninsula of Sinai before they were allowed to turn their faces toward "The Promised Land."

During that 40 years of wandering a generation had passed away. Wisely and by design the older generation, which had been contaminated by their long sojourn in Egypt, had been "gathered to their fathers." Their place had been taken by the fresh blood of their sons and daughters - a younger generation more fitted to understand the teachings of the Great Lawgiver; more fitted as a chosen people later on to hand down to posterity the pages of the Holy Bible, that sacred volume which was destined to illuminate and influence the entire civilized world...