And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face,
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George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Moses. No prophet ever appeared with greater dignity, in the old law, than Moses. He behaved in all respects as the envoy of God, who has been pleased to give his character and eulogium, Numbers xii. 6., and Ecclesiasticus xlv. 1. His miracles were most astonishing, performed in the presence both of friends and of enemies, not for a short time, but for a continuance of many years. (Calmet)
But when we compare Moses with the Messias, his person and law must be regarded indeed as illustrious figures, but infinitely beneath the reality. Moses was liable to failings, which caused him to be debarred from entering the land of promise; and he wore a veil, to show that his law was only the shadow of a better, and that it could bring nothing to perfection. He works miracles in the name of the Lord, and with a rod: Jesus performs all by the word of his own power, (Hebrews i. 3,) as the sovereign of the world. But though Moses must sink in a comparison with Christ, yet no other personage sustained a more exalted character, or shone with greater splendour, as lawgiver, priest, prophet, ruler of a great and ungovernable people, and a sacred writer of the highest antiquity. Hence the Jews almost adore him. The Mahometans place him next to Jesus and their false prophet. (Haydock)
The pagans have very probably ascribed many parts of his history to their idols, Bacchus, Mercury, and Typhon; and their greatest philosophers, Pythagoras, Plato, have borrowed many things from his writings. "What, said Numenius, is Plato, but Moses in the Attic language? "See Exodus xxxiv. 29.; Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 1. and 5.; Josephus, contra Apion i.; Bo chart (Calmet)
In a word, St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Ambrose, (de Cain 2,) and Philo, represent Moses as the most perfect example of a great and pious leader and legislator. (Salien, the year of the world 2583.) (Haydock)
