SOURCE: Hoffmeier, James K. “Moses and the Exodus.” In Israel in Egypt: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Exodus Tradition, pp. 135-63. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996.

In the following essay, Hoffmeier discusses the quest for the historical Moses and offers literary considerations of the plague narratives.

Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants and in the sight of the people

Exod. [Exodus] 11:3

I. Moses and Recent Scholarship

No figure casts a greater shadow in the pages of the Old Testament than Moses. While the Exodus narratives clearly attribute the “signs and wonders on the land of Egypt” (Exod. 7:3) to God, Moses is portrayed as the human agent through whom they were effected, resulting in the liberation of the Israelites from Pharaoh's clutches. Because of his role in Israel's exodus from Egypt and his receipt of...