Moses is a biblical figure in the Old Testament. Hobbes repeatedly refers to Moses at Mount Sinai, where Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt on God’s command, after which the Israelites entered into a covenant with God via Moses to be God’s “peculiar people” on Earth. According to Hobbes, the Israelites were “peculiar” because they accepted God as their civil sovereign, over and above the spiritual power God already claims over all of humankind. Hobbes refers to Moses as God’s “first Lieutenant,” which gives Moses the authority to speak God’s words. In Hobbes’s opinion, Moses was a true prophet, and the work he did on God’s behalf in Egypt, like the parting of the Red Sea, can rightly be considered miracles. Moses is the prophet who spoke to God most directly, but, Hobbes points out, even Moses’s communication with God was mediated through an angel, which supports Hobbes’s argument that the voice of God cannot be comprehended by human ears.
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Moses Character Timeline in Leviathan
The timeline below shows where the character Moses appears in Leviathan. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 20: Of Dominion PATERNALL, and DESPOTICALL
...concerning the rights of a monarch and sovereign power. The children of Israel said to Moses: “Speak thou to us, and we will heare thee; but let not God speak to...
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Chapter 35: Of the Signification in Scripture of KINGDOME OF GOD, of HOLY, SACRED, and SACRAMENT
This covenant is again seen in the Book of Exodus with Moses at the Foot of Mount Sinai, in which God commands Moses to say to the...
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Chapter 36: Of the WORD of GOD, and of PROPHETS
...be all scripture, since all scripture is about God. For instance, when God says to Moses: “I am the Lord thy God,” these words are considered the “Word of God.” And,...
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A prophet is someone who speaks God’s words, like Moses, Samuel, Isaiah, and Elijah. The Prophets made certain predictions as the name suggests, but they...
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...he saw a ladder,” and Lot was visited by the ghost of two angels. Only Moses spoke more directly to God, and even that was mediated by angels.
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...prophets in the Old Testament, some are “supreme” and others are “subordinate.” The supreme is Moses, and everyone else follows down a subordinate line. As the supreme, Moses is the prophet...
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Chapter 37: Of MIRACLES, and their Use
...While a solar eclipse is decidedly not a miracle, God’s works in Egypt done by Moses’s hand “were properly Miracles.” By definition, a miracle “is a work of God, […] done...
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...ghostly spirit. In Holy Scripture, there is magic that seems like miracles. For instance, when Moses’s rod hits the ground in the Book of Exodus, it becomes a serpent. This seems...
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...are likely to believe in “false Miracles.” Hobbes again points out what God says to Moses in Deuteronomy. Through Moses, God warns the people not to accept those prophets who teach...
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Chapter 40: Of the RIGHTS of the Kingdome of God, in Abraham, Moses, the High Priests, and the Kings of Judah
...not renewed again after that until the Israelites were freed. Then, the covenant was with Moses at the Foot of Mount Sinai. This contract between God and Moses marks the beginning...
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According to Hobbes, the people were not required to take Moses as God’s Lieutenant. As God spoke to Moses, not the people, the people were not...
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In Moses’s time, there were no false prophets, as every prophet was authorized by Moses and had...
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Chapter 41: Of the OFFICE of our BLESSED SAVIOUR
...according to his works.” Thus, Hobbes argues, Christ represents God to the people, just as Moses did, and every Lieutenant thereafter.
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Chapter 42: Of POWER ECCLESIASTICALL
...one, and in this case, the Trinity more rightly signifies “three Persons.” God represented by Moses is one person, and God represented by Christ is another. God represented by the Apostles...
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...piece of Holy Scripture to become law was the Ten Commandments, which God gave to Moses on tablets of stone. God delivered the Commandments to Moses, and Moses delivered them to...
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Moses added different laws as the Israelites readied themselves for the land of Promise, and these...
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...until after the captivity of the Jews, after which they entered into a covenant with Moses to accept the “Law of God.” The Old Testament was not law until this covenant,...
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...in which they belong. This can be seen in Numbers 11, in which God commands Moses to select 70 Elders and infuse them with Moses’s spirit. As God’s Lieutenant, Moses was...
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Chapter 43: Of what is NECESSARY for a Mans Reception into the Kingdome of Heaven
Next, Hobbes considers whom Christians must have faith in to ensure their salvation. Moses and the other prophets had faith in God, and the Apostles and the Disciples had...
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Chapter 45: Of DÆMONOLOGY, and other Reliques of the Religion of the Gentiles
Hobbes also considers the worshiping of images not instituted by Moses in the Old Testament or by Christ in the New Testament as another relic of...
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...the Golden Calf for religious use and presented it to the people without God or Moses’s authority, this, too, was idolatry. Gentiles throughout history have worshiped Jupiter and others as gods,...
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A REVIEW, and CONCLUSION
...Earth because God ruled them by consent, not by his natural power. In God’s Kingdome, Moses was Lieutenant on Earth and was appointed by God to punish those who broke the...
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In Chapter 36, Hobbes says it is not known in what manner God spoke to Moses. However, Hobbes does not mean to say that God did not speak to Moses through...
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