Moses

Moses is presented in the Pentateuch as the Levite leader who led Israel out of Egypt (the Exodus), received the Ten Commandments and wider Torah at Sinai, and guided the people for forty years in the wilderness until his death on Mount Nebo. The narrative spans Exodus through Deuteronomy. He is described as the unique prophet "whom the LORD knew face to face" (Deuteronomy 34:10). Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions all honor him as a central prophetic figure. The historical dating of the Exodus is debated: traditional biblical chronology places it in the mid-15th century BCE based on 1 Kings 6:1; a "late-date" scholarly view places it in the 13th century BCE under Rameses II. The reference works cited below discuss both. Moses is the traditional author of the Pentateuch in Jewish and Christian tradition; modern critical scholarship debates the composition (documentary hypothesis and alternatives). These disputes are named here so a reader knows where the scholarly fault lines run.