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Exodus Character Analysis

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Throughout the book of Exodus, the development of Moses’ moral, spiritual, and leadership qualities is evident. In Moses’ case, his character in all three of the aforementioned qualities progresses as he matures. A man who had once killed an Egyptian and had little faith in God progresses to the man who is willing and capable to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. While he is certainly not perfect, he is a much more capable leader in touch with God when his story ends as opposed to when it began. To properly comprehend the character of Moses, the development of his moral, spiritual, and leadership qualities must be considered, in both positive and negative contexts.
The moral qualities that Moses exhibits evolve greatly over the course of
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In addition, he punishes the Israelites by making them drink the ashes of the golden calf, and having the sons of Levi kill 3000 Israelites. In this situation, Moses engaged in several good-tempered actions. Although the punishments may seem severe, they are completely called for given the fact that the first commandment given to the Israelites is that “you shall have no other gods before me.” As the leader of the Israelites, it is Moses’ responsibility to make sure that they uphold their covenant with God and, when they don’t, he has the right to punish them as he sees fit. He was not acting irrationally or letting his anger control him in these punishments. He was rightfully angry and made the correct choices given the severity of his people’s actions.
While Moses always has some level of faith in God, his spirituality grows immensely over the course of his life. When Moses first sees God in the burning bush on Mt. Horeb, he “hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.” The action of hiding his face shows that Moses initially has at least some faith in God. However, his faith and devotion are not yet at the level they will come to be. When God first tells Moses that he is to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses responds “but suppose they do not believe me or listen to me, but say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’” This moment of doubt shows that Moses is not yet fully devoted to
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