Moses and Abraham?

Question

So I'm not big on religion and I'm reading this book that mentions both Moses and Abraham and their relationship to the 10 Commandments. I'm confsed on who actually recieved the Commanments and how they effected each persons life. Could someone clarify the stories for me preferably in simple terms? Thanks.

Also looking for someone to communicate with (via email) with any other possible questions I might have. Shoot me an email if you'd care to help. Thanks again.

Answer 1

Moses did.
According to the Book of Exodus in the Hebrew Bible, Moses was a son of Amram and his wife, Jochebed, a Levite. Moses led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and into the desert, and received the Torah from God on Mount Sinai. There are various conjectures and calculations for when this event might have occurred, ranging from the 13th to the 16th centuries BCE (see History section below). Arising in part from his age, but also because 120 is elsewhere stated as the maximum age for Noah's descendants (Genesis 6:3), "may you live to 120" has become a common blessing among Jews.

Moses's legacy was probably expounding the doctrine of monotheism, which was not widely accepted at the time, codifying it in Jewish religion with the 1st Commandment and punishing polytheists. He is considered a prophet in Judaism, Christianity, Islam and the Bahá'í Faith.

In the Exodus account, the birth of Moses occurred at a time when the current Egyptian Pharaoh had commanded that all male children born to Hebrew slaves should be killed by drowning in the Nile. The Torah leaves the identity of this Pharaoh unstated. But he is believed by some to be Thutmose III or Ramses II; other, earlier pharaohs have also been suggested including a Hyksos pharaoh or one shortly after the Hyksos had been expelled.


The finding of Moses, by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
The finding of Moses, by Edwin LongJochebed, the wife of the Levite Amram, bore a son, and kept him concealed for three months. When she could keep him hidden no longer, rather than deliver him to be killed, she set him adrift on the Nile river in a small craft of bulrushes coated in pitch. The daughter of Pharaoh discovered the baby and adopted him as her son, and named him "Moses" (considered to mean "to draw out"). By Biblical account, Moses' sister Miriam observed the progress of the tiny boat. Miriam then asked Pharaoh's daughter if she would like a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby. Thereafter, Jochebed was employed as the child's nurse, and he grew and was brought to Pharaoh's daughter and became her son.

After Moses had reached adulthood, he went to see how his brethren who were enslaved to the Egyptians were faring. Seeing an Egyptian mistreating a Hebrew, he killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand, supposing that no one who would be disposed to reveal the matter knew of it. The next day, seeing two Hebrews quarreling, he endeavored to separate them, whereupon the Hebrew who was wronging the other taunted Moses for slaying the Egyptian. Moses soon discovered from a higher source that the affair was known, and that Pharaoh was likely to put him to death for it; he therefore made his escape to the Sinai peninsula and settled with Hobab, or Jethro, priest of Midian, whose daughter Zipporah he in due time married. There he sojourned forty years, following the occupation of a shepherd, during which time his son Gershom was born. In Numbers 12, Miriam and Aaron taunt Moses for marrying a "Cushite" (literally an Ethiopian). Josephus explains the marriage of Moses to this Ethipoian in the Antiquities of the Jews (see Moses in History in the later part of this article).

One day, as Moses led his flock to Mount Horeb, he saw a burning bush that would not be consumed. When he turned aside to look more closely at the marvel, God spoke to him from the bush revealing his name to Moses. [1]

God also commissioned him to go to Egypt and deliver his fellow Hebrews from their bondage. He then returned to Egypt. Moses was met on his arrival in Egypt by his elder brother, Aaron, and gained a hearing with his oppressed brethren. It was a more difficult matter, however, to persuade Pharaoh to let the Hebrews depart. This was not accomplished until God sent ten plagues upon the Egyptians. These plagues culminated in the slaying of the Egyptian first-borns whereupon such terror seized the Egyptians that they ordered the Hebrews to leave.

The long procession moved slowly, and found it necessary to encamp three times before passing the Egyptian frontier — some believe at the Great Bitter Lake, while others propose sites as far south as the northern tip of the Red Sea. Meanwhile, Pharaoh had a change of heart, and was in pursuit of them with a large army. Shut in between this army and the sea, the Israelites despaired, but God divided the waters so that they passed safely across on dry ground. When the Egyptian army attempted to follow, God permitted the waters to return upon them and drown them.

Following this, according to the last chapters of Exodus, the Tabernacle was constructed, the priestly law ordained, the plan of encampment arranged both for the Levites and the non-priestly tribes, and the Tabernacle consecrated. Moses was given eight prayer laws that were to be carried out in regards to the Tabernacle. These laws included light, incense and sacrifice

Abraham in the Hebrew Bible
Main article: Abraham (Hebrew Bible)
The account of his life is found in the Book of Genesis, beginning in Chapter 11, at the close of a genealogy of the sons of Shem (which includes among its members Eber, the eponym of the Hebrews).

His father Terah came from Ur of the Chaldees, popularly identified since 1927 by Sir Charles Woolley with an ancient city in southern Mesopotamia which was under the rule of the Chaldeans — although Josephus, Islamic tradition, and Jewish authorities like Maimonides all concur that Ur-Of-The-Khaldis was in Northern Mesopotamia—now southeastern Turkey (identified with Urartu, Urfa, and Kutha respectively). This is in accord with the local tradition that Abraham was born in Urfa, or with the nearby Urkesh, which others identify with “Ur of the Chaldees”. They also say “Chaldees” refers to a group of gods called Khaldis. Abram migrated to Harran, apparently the classical Carrhae, on a branch of the Habor. Thence, after a short stay, he, his wife Sarai, Lot (the son of Abram's brother Haran), and all their followers, departed for Canaan. There are two cities possibly identifiable with the biblical Ur, neither far from Haran: Ura and Urfa, a northern Ur also being mentioned in tablets at Ugarit, Nuzi, and Ebla. These possibly refer to Ur, Ura, and Urau (See BAR January 2000, page 16). Moreover, the names of Abram's forefathers Peleg, Serug, Nahor, and Terah, all appear as names of cities in the region of Haran (Harper's Bible Dictionary, page 373). God called Abram to go to "the land I will show you", and promised to bless him and make him (though hitherto childless) a great nation. Trusting this promise, Abram journeyed down to Shechem, and at the sacred tree (compare Gen. 25:4, Joshua 24:26, Judges 9:6) received a new promise that the land would be given unto his seed (descendant or descendants). Having built an altar to commemorate the theophany, he removed to a spot between Bethel and Ai, where he built another altar and called upon (i.e. invoked) the name of God (Gen. 12:1-9).

Here he dwelt for some time, until strife arose between his herdsmen and those of Lot. Abram thereupon proposed to Lot that they should separate, and allowed his nephew the first choice. Lot preferred the fertile land lying east of the Jordan River, while Abram, after receiving another promise from Yahweh, moved down to the oaks of Mamre in Hebron and built an altar.

In the subsequent history of Lot and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. In Genesis 18, Abraham pleads with God not to destroy Sodom, and God agrees that he would not destroy the city if there were 50 righteous people in it, or 45, or 30, 20, even 10 righteous people. (Abraham's nephew Lot had been living in Sodom.)

Driven by a famine to take refuge in Egypt (26:11, 41:57, 42:1), Abram feared lest his wife's beauty should arouse the evil designs of the Egyptians and thus endanger his own safety, and alleged that Sarai was his sister. This did not save her from the Pharaoh, who took her into the royal harem and enriched Abram with herds and servants. But when Yahweh "plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues" Abram and Sarai left Egypt. There are two other parallel tales in Genesis of a wife confused for a sister (Genesis 20-21 and 26) describing a similar event at Gerar with the Philistine king Abimelech, though the latter attributing it to Isaac not Abraham.

As Sarai was infertile, God's promise that Abram's seed would inherit the land seemed incapable of fulfillment. His sole heir was his servant, who was over his household, a certain Eliezer of Damascus (15:2). Abraham is now promised as heir one of his own flesh. The passage recording the ratification of the promise is remarkably solemn (see Genesis 15). Sarai, in accordance with custom, gave to Abram her Egyptian handmaid Hagar, who, when she found she was with child, presumed upon her position to the extent that Sarai, unable to endure the reproach of barrenness (cf. the story of Hannah, 1 Samuel 1:6), dealt harshly with her and forced her to flee (16:1-14). Hagar is promised that her descendants will be too numerous to count, and she returns. Her son Ishmael thus was Abram's firstborn, but was not the promised child, as God made his covenant with Abram after Ishmael's birth (chapter 16-17). Hagar and Ishmael were eventually driven permanently away from Abram by Sarah (chapter 21).

The name Abraham was given to Abram (and the name Sarah to Sarai) at the same time as the covenant of circumcision (chapter 17), which is practiced in Judaism and Islam and by many Christians to this day. At this time Abraham was promised not only many descendants, but descendants through Sarah specifically, as well as the land where he was living, which was to belong to his descendants. The covenant was to be fulfilled through Isaac, though God promised that Ishmael would become a great nation as well. The covenant of circumcision (unlike the earlier promise) was two-sided and conditional: if Abraham and his descendants fulfilled their part of the covenant, Yahweh would be their God and give them the land.

The promise of a son to Abraham made Sarah "laugh," which became the name of the son of promise, Isaac. Sarah herself "laughs" at the idea, when Yahweh appears to Abraham at Mamre (18:1-15) and, when the child is born, cries "God hath made me laugh; every one that heareth will laugh at me" (21:6).

Some time after the birth of Isaac, Abraham was commanded by God to offer his son up as a sacrifice in the land of Moriah. Proceeding to obey, he was prevented by an angel as he was about to sacrifice his son, and slew a ram which he found on the spot. As a reward for his obedience he received another promise of a numerous seed and abundant prosperity (22). Then he returned to Beersheba. The near sacrifice of Isaac is one of the most challenging, and perhaps ethically troublesome, parts of the Bible. According to Josephus, Isaac is 25 years old at the time of the sacrifice or Akedah, while the Talmudic sages teach that Isaac is 37. In either case, Isaac is a fully grown man, old enough to prevent the elderly Abraham (who is 125 or 137 years old) from tying him up had he wanted to resist.

The primary interest of the narrative now turns to Isaac. To his "only son" (22:2, 12) Abraham gave all he had, and dismissed the sons of his concubines to the lands outside Canaan; they were thus regarded as less intimately related to Isaac and his descendants (25:1-6). See also: Midianites, Sheba.

Sarah died at an old age, and was buried in the Cave of Machpelah near Hebron, which Abraham had purchased, along with the adjoining field, from Ephron the Hittite (Genesis 23). Here Abraham himself was buried. Centuries later the tomb became a place of pilgrimage and Muslims later built an Islamic mosque inside the site.

Abraham is considered the father of the Jewish nation, as their first Patriarch, and having a son (Isaac), who in turn begat Jacob, and from there the Twelve Tribes. To father the nation, God "tested" Abraham with ten tests, the greatest being his willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac. God promised the land of Israel to his children, and that is the first claim of the Jews to Israel. Judaism ascribes a special trait to each Patriarch. Abraham's was kindness. Because of this, Judaism considers kindness to be an inherent Jewish trait.

According to the 1st Century Jewish Historian Flavius Josephus in his twenty-one volume Antiquities of the Jews "Nicolaus of Damascus, in the fourth book of his History, says thus: "Abraham reigned at Damascus, being a foreigner, who came with an army out of the land above Babylon, called the land of the Chaldeans: but, after a long time, he got him up, and removed from that country also, with his people, and went into the land then called the land of Canaan, but now the land of Judea, and this when his posterity were become a multitude; as to which posterity of his, we relate their history in another work. Now the name of Abraham is even still famous in the country of Damascus; and there is shown a village named from him, The Habitation of Abraham." He is an important source for studies of immediate post-Temple Judaism

Answer 2

Moses was the one that received the ten commandments from God; if you read your Bible, you will see that the first time he came down from the mountain, he had more than ten commandments. He saw what all the people were doing and destroyed the stones the commandments were written on, then he went back up the mountain and convinced God not to destroy the people. God then created the ten commandments, which Moses then took back down the mountain and gave to the people. Abraham was the most faithful man on earth besides Jesus to follow the word of God; the commandments had not been written yet . God spoke to Abraham on more than one occasion and was instrumental in saving his nephew Lot from Sodom.

Answer 3

Not sure which book you are referring. . .but there is another important factor (a Jewish perspective) that is being missed in comparing the two.

The 10 Commandments are part of the 613 Torah Commandments. And while Abraham was intimately involved with a portion of these larger number of Commandments he was not obligated to follow them (i.e., follow Torah). . .for G-d made his covenant to follow Torah with Moses. . .and yet Abraham was THE patriarch or start of the Hebrew blood line. . .G-d's "deal" or "covenant" with Abraham and his progeny. . .until the time of Moses. . .was simply the promise of land. . .what is now Israel and portions of Lebanon (not Beirut!), Jordan, and possibly Egypt. . .and the "marking" of the Hebrew blood line through the ritual circumcision of every male born within the tribe.

The irony is that, today, we may have more in common with Abraham than we do Moses, especially those of us who lack a religious training (or interest)!

Answer 4

Moses received the Ten Commandments on top of Mt. Sanai while the Isrealites were at the foot of the hill. He was the one leading Isrealites to the promised land. Abraham came long before Moses did.

Answer 5

The 10 commandants are called the law of Moses.Abraham was before Moses, Moses was sent
to Israel to deliver them from Pharaoh.The 10 commandments were for the 12 tribes of Israel that came from Abraham during Moses time and were given to them because they did not want God to talk to them,they wanted Moses to hear God and tell them.
We are under a new covenant now and it seems to me no one wants to know that.Jesus said all the law and the Prophets were until John,but since that time the Kingdom of God is preached and let every man press unto it.
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Answer 6

Moses and Abraham.....
Abraham (Ibrahim in Islam) is the father of all the prophets after him including Jesus(peace be upon him) and Mohammad(peace be upon him)......
Allah Gave Moses Torah i.e, The Old Testemen .... in which these 10 commandments were written .... one of those were that they will only worship Allah (God Alone) ....
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Answer 7

The idea of a God and laws were long before the birth of these two people, the books were compiled and the magicians of the day created an illusion to control the mass of people, they had to be very brutal so they next set of people would be taught to "walk this way"

Answer 8

Moses was the one to receive the Ten Commandments from God. He ws the chosen one to lead the israelites to freedom from slavery. God revealed Himself to Moses.

Answer 9

Moses (PBUH) recieved the Torah. We don't have the preserved message given to Abraham (PBUH). The preserved message of God which we know of are Psalms, Torah, Gospel and fiinally Qur'an.

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Answer 10

Abraham was the "father" of many nations.

Moses received the "Ten Commandments"

Answer 11

Moses did. He, you have to remember, was not afraid of magic, having been around it all of his life in Egypt. He was also chosen because to have water come out of a rock, parting the red sea, and watching manna fall from heaven would not have "freaked him out"