The Paradox Of Moses’ Image In The Epic Of Exodus

In the narrative of the Old Testament, Moses is a pivotal figure under whose leading the people of Israel were able to be free from Egyptian bondage by going out of Egypt, make the covenant with God, enact legislations and establish Judaism, which constitutes the context of the Epic of Exodus. Moses is also one of the most fieshed-out and attractive characters throughout the entire Bible, including the Old and New Testament literature. He went through countless ups and downs in his lifetime and his identity as well as personality contains several levels of paradox. Although Moses is a God-like human, we still can gain insight into not only people’s bravery, loyalty, but also people’s cowardice and divergence from the saints Moses, which shapes the paradox of Moses’image.Moreover, the paradox is an important issue discussed in the logic, philosophy, basic mathematics and linguistics. When researching the paradoxical image of Moses, the article mainly refers to the first form of the paradox theory:The same statement contains two seemingly contradictory or even absurd meanings, but it does keep the real conflicts in harmony, which also means that the two meanings of the same statement form the unity of opposites. Additionally, all the three aspects of Moses’identity, character and destiny have the seemingly contradictory opposites which can be unified harmoniously. Furthermore, it is the paradox of Moses’image that converts biblical literature from mythology of god to mythology of human being, due to which the Bible become imbued with the charm of humanities, leaving literary space for readers and believers to imagine and follow.The paradox of Moses’image is basically reflected in the epic of Exodus story, which mainly includes:"exodus"--first to the twentieth chapters and the thirty-second to thirty-fourth chapters;"numbers"--tenth to fourteenth, sixteenth to seventeenth chapters, and twentieth to twenty-fourth chapters;"the book of Deuteronomy"--thirty-second to thirty-fourth chapters. The paper explicates paradoxical characteristics of Moses from the following three aspects:1. The paradoxical identities of Moses. According to the division of time and space, the life of Moses is divided into three stages respectively with three groups of paradoxical identities:the Israel slave and the Egyptian Prince in the early40years in Egypt; the exile like a tramp with loss of direction and the shepherd symbolizing a guide and a patron saint during40years in Midian; the late40years when Moses was called by God to return to Egypt and was forced to drift in wilderness to death, he acted as the elect of God, serving as the first greatest prophet and spokesman of Israel speaking with God face to face; but as the king of Israel people, he had to repeatedly plead before God and even act against the will of God sometimes. Through these paradoxical identities the unique image characteristics possessed by the soul figure Moses in the Bible could be displayed more clearly.2. The contradictory characters of Moses. Moses had a courageous and perseverant side, but as a national hero Moses was initially so timid and coward that he even shrunk back in the face of God’s calling, though in the end he bravely shouldered the responsibility of a leader; being confronted with tremendous difficulties in the process, sometimes he had felt backward and helpless; nonetheless he still completed this mission tenaciously. Additionally, Moses was a very humble man, which was apparent from his tolerant attitude towards the complaints of Israelites and betrayal of his kinsfolk, despite which he could not conceal his grumpy side; in the golden calf incident Moses ordered people to kill each other to punish their betrayal of God at any price; in the Miliba water event, Moses failed to control his irritability, smoting the rock twice which irritated God. Finally, Moses was God’s most loyal servant, the most faithful leader of the Israel. Even in the face of death he did not forget how to continue the national forces; however, deviating from God and being argumentative are his styles of behavior, which are the manifestations of Moses’arrogance and untamed side.3. The tragicomic fates of Moses. This paper focuses on the tragic and comic hues of the fate of Moses respectively as an individual, a leader and a prophet. The first section reveals the evolution of Moses’fate from the individual perspective in a series of alternating joy and sorrow:from an Israelite slave, a Prince of Egypt, an exile, a husband, a father to a lonely old man facing death. The second section analyzes Moses’ selfless spirit as a great leader and his mistakes as well as the betrayal he suffered in his political career from the perspective of his varied relationship with Israelites from good to bad, and the third section investigates the tragic and comic elements of Moses’fate as a prophet, in Moses’relationship with God of continuous alternation of separation and combination.Through the above analysis, on one hand, it could be concluded that Moses’image involves many levels of paradox, namely the opposite conversion of his identities, the inherent conflict of his character as well as the ups and downs of his fate, which fully shapes Moses’vivid and complex image as a person; through shaping the character of Moses, the paper aims to strike a responsive chord in the hearts of its readers and enlighten readers on their own faith and fate; on the other hand, it reiterates that it is Moses who became the immortal leader of the Jewish people; his great achievements lie in not only the fact that he made great contribution to the liberty of Israelites and prayed before the Lord for the crimes of the people, but also the fact that he enacted a set of basic law systems and appointed a reliable successor as the Jewish leader while he was dying; what Moses considered for his people was not their safety in a short time, but the nation’s stability and prosperity forever. The event that he led the Israelites out of Egypt has been integrated into the historical consciousness of the Jews, becoming a true history in their hearts.