Moses Healing Oil

Description

Moses Healing Oil

Moses healing oil is dedicated to  arguably the greatest figure in Judaism other than God.

He helps bring the Israelites out of slavery.  Moses leads them for the next four decades, until his death just before they enter the Land of Israel. In addition to being a major character in the Torah Moses is traditionally regarded as its author. Hence the Torah’s alternate name: the Five Books of Moses.

Born into slavery

Moses is born in Egypt at a time when the Pharaoh has ordered all newborn Israelite boys to be murdered.  He is hidden by his mother. When that becomes infeasible, sent in a basket down the Nile River. Pharaoh’s daughter finds him and raises him.  He lives happily as an Egyptian until he kills an overseer who he sees abusing an Israelite. He then flees to Midian, where he marries Zipporah and lives as a shepherd until God appears before him in the form of a burning bush.  God orders him to return to Egypt to secure the freedom of the Israelites.

Moses becomes prophet and leader

Reluctantly, Moses follows God’s command.  He teams up with his brother Aaron. He repeatedly approaches the Pharaoh and asks him to free the Israelites. Pharaoh refuses, even as God rains down increasingly horrific plagues, until the 10th plague, the killing of the first born. From then on, Moses (accompanied by Aaron and their sister Miriam) remains the leader of the Israelites until his death, guiding them across the Sea of Reeds,  through the desert, bringing down the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai, staving off challenges to his authority and telling the Israelites what God expects of them. Moses dies before the Israelites enter the Land of Israel, and his hand-appointed successor, Joshua, becomes the new leader.

Moses, as Moshe Rabbenu, “Moses our Teacher,” is the subject of much discussion in Jewish texts.

According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, there are more legends about Moses than about any other biblical figure. A cycle of legends has been woven around nearly every trait of his character and every event of his life; and groups of different and often contradictory stories have been connected with his career.