My Favorite Biblical Character Essay Example

Throughout our reading of the Bible from Genesis to now Exodus, my favorite biblical figure so far would have to be Moses. From his upbringing in the house of Pharaoh, to leading his people away from slavery in Egypt and to their new home, Moses is extremely involved in God’s affairs on Earth. Because of Moses’ involvement, and the unique way his life was lived, he is my favorite character, and in this paper, I will describe to you the actions that Moses takes, and my thought process behind them, and why he is my favorite. 

Moses was born in Egypt during an extremely difficult time for the Hebrews in that area, as the Hebrews were slaves to the Egyptians. As the Egyptian Pharaoh became paranoid that the Hebrews would out-populate the Egyptians soon, a new law was enacted in which every Hebrew male that was born was to be killed in order to stop their population from growing. When Moses was born, his parents decided that they couldn’t let their son be killed by the Egyptians, so instead they hid him away for 3 months, and then set him afloat on the Nile. The Nile, being one of the most dangerous rivers in the world for fully grown adults, filled to the brim with hippopotamus’, crocodiles, deadly snakes, and terrible viruses. Against all odds, Moses, a baby, floated along the Nile River until he was found by the Pharaoh’s daughter, unscathed. Even before coming in contact with God, and performing all the good deeds he did, I knew that Moses was going to be my favorite solely for the story of his birth and upbringing in his formative years. 

After he was discovered by the Pharaoh’s daughter, he was taken into her household where he would live for all of his childhood and most of his young adult life. After years of living in the court of the Pharaoh, he went around to inspect his own people and came across an Egyptian beating a Hebrew. Moses, wanting to enact “Justice”, he proceeded to strike the Egyptian, apparently killing him instantly. Now, that is pretty gruesome, I will admit. However, I think that the way Moses saw injustice to his own people and decided to enact his own justice reminded me of Batman, which I know sounds stupid, but the parallels are there. Moses came from a wealthy family, and when faced with the disgusting way his people were being treated, he decided to do something about it. Who else comes from a wealthy family and is disgusted by the way his family was treated and decided to do something about it? Batman. Since they are similar at this point, that gives Moses another reason as to why I think that he is my favorite and why he is so unique. 

After killing the Egyptian, word quickly spreads around the community and when he comes across two Hebrews fighting this time, he tries to intervene again. However, one of the Hebrews shouts to Moses and asks if he’s going to kill him like Moses did to the Egyptian. Fearing that the word would spread to the Pharaoh, or if it already had, Moses flees to Midian to avoid punishment for his crime. In Midian, he decides to rest at a well where several women come to provide water for their father’s flock of sheep. Soon after, a group of other shepherds arrive and try to drive the women away. Again, Moses decides to intervene, showing his natural instincts to enact justice, and he prevents the women from being bullied away from the well. He follows the women home where he meets the women’s father, and because of his actions Jethro (the women’s father) allows Moses to take his daughter Zipporah’s hand in marriage and take control of Jethro’s flock of sheep. Now when looking for a pasture for the sheep and a home to build with his new wife, Moses wanders the area where he discovers a bush, set ablaze, yet not burning. This image was God communicating with Moses, and called for Moses to save the Hebrews, and move them from Egypt. Naturally, Moses expresses his doubts with the apparition, worrying that he is not qualified and such, which is another reason I like him so much. A lot of characters just accept this divine responsibility because “God” tells them to do so, however Moses not only doesn’t believe God, but he also thinks that he might not be the best person for the job. God of course reassures him and shows him how to turn his staff into a snake and turn it back into a staff. God also tells Moses to tell people that his name is “I am who am.” Moses still reluctantly asked God if his brother Aaron could be a spokesperson as Aaron is a much better speaker than Moses. God agrees, and Moses marches on the journey back to Egypt, to free his people.

Moses is by far my favorite biblical character. The way he shows us that he is ready to enact his own justice, while still being timid and fearful shows us that he is in fact just a person, not some perfect saint chosen by God to be the savior of the Hebrew people. His whole life is so interesting, and after trial after trial, he manages to prevail even in the face of certain doom. This is why Moses is my favorite.