Letter of Consolation: On Moses

Do you know the dignity of him who was sent to you, and of the message with which he was sent, for it is indeed great? For if you knew but a portion of the majesty which God bestowed on him, and how he favored him above all mankind, your faith in him would be sound, and through your faith in him you would be fair in the sight of God.

Moses was a prophet in whose creation there was the evidence of the strength of God, for God created him in the most beautiful form, as the Scriptures bear testimony. [ . . . ] Besides being created beautiful in form, the light of God was clear in his face from the very first. [ . . . ] Wherever he went, his light increased until a great fire was kindled, and in the time that the Lord passed by before him (Exodus 34:6), the light of his face grew stronger than the light of the sun, but more brilliant than it, and it was impossible that the light of the sun should be like the light of his face, because the sun is created from a light which God created, whereas the light of the face of our master Moses was from the light of the glory of God, which is uncreated; and that light was so terrible that no man was bold enough to approach it, and would only look upon him when he veiled his face, and nought but a part of the inside of his eyelids could be seen. How magnificent were the eyes which gave forth a light which not Michael, or Gabriel, or the holy ḥayot [living creatures; a type of angelic being] could look upon. [ . . . ]

Moses was a prophet whose body was purified till it became as the body of Michael and Gabriel, but stronger, for those were of light, not of flesh or of blood, or of sinew or matter; but this mortal man entered among thousands and tens of thousands of angels of fire, one of whom would have put the earth in flames, how much more all of them? And he entered among them in accordance with God’s word. The most exalted one revealed himself to Moses, accompanied by all these. He cleared his way among them, ascended above them, and beheld the light of God in ways which if I were to describe even approximately no intellect could grasp. [ . . . ]

And this is also sufficient proof for you of the sublime position of Moses, that when Moses placed his hands upon the head of Joshua, God caused instantly to pass into his brain such deep knowledge of the law that he understood in six months [from the time of the imposing of the hands of Moses on the head of Joshua until the time of the departure of Moses from life was six months] more than those who had learned from him during the previous thirty-nine years and six months. [ . . . ]

Moses was a prophet in whom was the strength of God. The stature of every ordinary human being is four cubits, measured in accordance with his arm, but the stature of Moses was ten cubits, as Scripture bears testimony when it says: And he spread the tent over the tabernacle (Exodus 40:19), and the height of the sanctuary was ten cubits, as it is said: Ten cubits shall be the length of a board (Exodus 26:16).

Moses was a physically powerful prophet, because he was able to remain without food one hundred and twenty days. During the first forty days, the first two tables were revealed to him; during the second, he interceded with God that the destruction of the nation might be averted; and the last forty, he interceded that God might forgive those who were left of his people, and not take away his light from their midst, and God accepted his intercession.

If anyone doubted the apostleship of Moses, his life was consumed, and he perished while his body remained untouched, as it happened to the erring Korah and his two hundred and fifty followers [ . . . ]

And when we say his “death,” we must not liken it to the death of other mortal men. His corpse remained pure even in death. His eye did not grow dim, and its moisture did not abate. He was as if he were in a sleep, for God appeared to him as usual. The light of God kissed the pure mouth with which he had so often been addressed and the pure words of which he made binding even upon himself. He thereby made our prophet a light to teach us his words. His spirit was taken from him in such a manner as God willed, not as the spirit is taken from the bodies of other men, but without the bitterness of death, and it was at once united with the angels and clothed with the body of angels like Michael and Gabriel, and he in his turn sang praises and thanksgiving to God even as they did. And even when he was among the angels, his power was not less than theirs. It was not less when he was clothed in bodily form, surely it was not less when he was clothed in the form of angels.