Statue of Moses by Michelangelo
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| Pieta(1.95m) Moses(2.35m) David(5.17) |
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| Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel(Fresco, 1508~1512, 41.2m×13.2m) |
To decorate the Wall Tomb of Pope Julius II, Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564, Italy) carved Moses statue (1513-1515, 2.35 m, Rome, Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli) holding the second two stone tablets between Moses' armpits. Before this, when Moses climbed the mountain Sinai and received the first two stone tablets from God and came down the mountain, he saw the Israelites dancing with the golden calf under the mountain and threw the two stone tablets down the mountain in anger and broke them. After climbing up the mountain Sinai again, Moses came down with the second two stone tablets, his face lit up, but Moses did not recognize the light(horn) on his face.
On Wednesday night (early April in the solar calendar), before the sunset of Nisan 14th, the Israelites slaughtered a 12-month-old (one year) lamb and painted the blood of the lamb with hyssop bundles on the left(east), right(west) and upper lintels (north / מַשְׁקוֹף 4947 Mashkov-the crossbar on the upper part of the door or window) doorposts in a ∩(Triclinium) shape(except the south). On the night of the 14th (Starting the 15th of the Jewish calendar), the people of Israel eat roasted lambs, unleavened bread with bitter herbs and rush out of Egypt. The Jewish Sabbath was originally derived from the fact that God created the heavens and the earth for six days and rested on the seventh day. Their concept of a week starts on Sunday, not Monday. So, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and the seventh day is the Sabbath, which is Saturday. Judaism places great importance on the Sabbath, which is the seventh day, to the extent that it is called the religion of the Sabbath. Of course, this does not mean that they divided our current week system into seven names, such as 'Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday'. Jews refer to each day as the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth day after the Sabbath.
It is known that the day was Sunday(the first day after the Sabbath) when the Israelites who had left Egypt ate the lamb on the evening of 14th of Nisan(Starting the 15th of the Jewish calendar), and arrived in the wilderness of Mount Sinai on 1st of Sivan, 46 days after leaving Ramesses. It was because God had specified the Sabbath day while the Israelites were coming to Mount Sinai. So, by counting backwards, we could see that 14 of Nisan, Passover lamb was slaughtered before the Exodus, is today's Wednesday (the fourth day after the Sabbath) When the Israelites who came out of Egypt arrived at Sin Wilderness where they set up their 8th camp on Iyar 14th (Jewish calendar 15), 30 days after their exodus from Egypt, God said that tomorrow was the Sabbath. So 1/10, 1/17, 1/24, 2/1, 2/8, 2/15, 2/15, 2/22, 2/29, and 3/7 are respectively the regular Sabbaths.The Jews call it the High(Feast) Sabbath even if the feast comes during the week.
None of these people thought that they would enter Canaan until they had spent 40 years in the wilderness, tentatively encamped in 42 places. The Israelites arrived in the wilderness of Mount Sinai where they set up the 12th camp (12/42) on 1st of Sivan(early June in the solar calendar), 46th day of their exodus from Egypt. However, the statue of Moses sculpted by Michelangelo are the second two stone tablets that Moses brought down from Mount Sinai on July 10 (early October in the solar calendar) of Tishri, 127th day after Moses and the Israelites arrived at Mount Sinai.Prior to this, Moses, the 7th generation descendant of Abraham, arrived at Mount Sinai and came down from Mount Sinai with the first two stone tablets he received from God on 17 of Tamuz (early July in the solar calendar), 47th day of his arrival on Mount Sinai. But when Moses saw the people serving the golden calf at the bottom of the mountain, he was enraged and broke the first two tablets of stone that he had received from God on that very day. And on 10 of Tishri(early October in the solar calendar), 127th day after arriving at Mount Sinai, he came down this mountain with the second two stone tablets.In addition to the statue of Moses,
Michelangelo has several other works such as 'Pieta (Have mercy, 1.95 m, 1498-1499, St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City)' and 'David (5.17 m, 1501-1504, Accademia Gallery, Florence, Italy)'. As well as a sculptor who sculpted the work, he was also a painter who painted the Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel inside the Vatican Museums(painted in fresco, 41.2m X13.2m, 1508-1512), which is known to us as 'The Creation of Adam'.
The Latin Bible, Vulgata, believed to have been referenced by Michelangelo when carving the statue of Moses, was the first Latin Bible officially translated in more than 20 years. It was ordered by Pope Damasus I at the time by Hieronymus, better known to us as Jerome (347-420). Referring to the Septuagint, translated from Hebrew to Greek around the 2nd century BC, and the original Hebrew Bible, which is believed to have existed in the 4th century when Jerome was alive, but disappeared in modern times, Jerome translated the Old Testament named 'Vulgata', which means 'Latin Bible for the General Public'.
Translated into a popular language by Jerome in the 4th century, the Vulgate was ignored by the Roman nobles who enjoyed ancient Latin at the time, and was widely used in the 6th century by general citizens.
In 1590, after the death of Michelangelo in the 16th century, the first revision of the Mulgate Bible began to appear, so we can figure out that the Bible referenced during the carving is Jerome's original Vulgate, not the revised version.
The Hebrew root קרן used for 'shine’ in Exodus 34:29 can be קֶרֶן (Qeren) meaning 'horn' or Qaran (קָרַן) meaning 'to shine', depending on the characteristics of the Hebrew word written only with consonants. in Deuteronomy 33:17, when Moses blesses the 12 tribes before his death, he uses the same root קרן again when comparing the bison to Joseph. Therefore It can be seen that Moses is referring to this root קרן as קֶרֶן (Qeren), which obviously means horn in this verse.
The Greek word Paul mentioned about the horn of Moses in the New Testament(2 Corinthians 3:13) is referred to as 'radiance' in some English translations. However, there is no word for 'radiance' in the Greek manuscripts, the language in which the New Testament was written.
Moreover, even in the Septuagint, which was translated from the original Hebrew Bible and written in Greek, The appearance, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the second two stone tablets, was not recorded as a horn or radiance but as a ‘Doxa’ a Greek notation for ‘to be glorious,’ a state in which a certain essence is sufficiently exposed to the outside.
Looking at the posture of the Moses statue sculpted by Michelangelo around 500 years ago, Jewish psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud (1856-1939, Austria) and later generations thought a lot. We generally think of Moses angry at the people of Israel who worshiped idols under the mountain, but if you read the Bible carefully, you will see the time when Moses’ face glowed when he descended from Mount Sinai on the Day of Atonement (July 10 of Tishri). It was his last 8th climb (EX34:29 And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.(KJV) So the second two stone tablets of Moses statue are not the first two tablets that Moses broke when he saw the people worshiping idols from under the mountain (the first two tablets were gotten from his 6th Mount Sinai) When Moses came down the mountain with the first two stone tablets, it wasn't when his face was glowing. <horn>.
Moses descended from Mount Sinai the seventh time (From 18 of Tamuz to 29 of Ab), who went up to ask forgiveness for the Israelites' idolatry of the golden calf, and this time he made two stone tablets himself and climbed Mount Sinai again for the last eighth time. Meanwhile, the people of Israel under the mountain spent a rather 'month of prayer of forgiveness (Selihot- from 1 of Elul to 29 of Elul)’ after Moses climbed Mount Sinai, waiting for God's forgiveness from the day after Moses climbed Mt.Sinai. Then, the people of Israel spent Days of Returning, or Yamim Noraim, reflecting on themselves, from Tishri 1st to Tishri 10th.
So, some thought about the meaning of his long beard and fingers, and the inclination and angle of the two stone tablets, which he held with his right hand, with his blood vessels clearly visible. Others noticed statue of David (5.17m, 1501-1504, Accademia Museum, Florence, Italy), who knocked Goliath down with five pebbles, looking to the left without his underwear, and observing statue Moses, who was looking to the left equally, recalling the meaning of the left (north and east) and right (south and west) in the Bible. Some even observed Moses holding the second two stone tablets with the force applied to his right thumb and ring finger🤙 because they can watch the veins in a particular area of the forearm muscle of Moses..
Or, while observing Moses' the two stone tablets engraved with God's writings indifferently holding them on his right arm, some might have supposed God’s words that Moses should die on the cross for His people. It’s because His people died after eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge(of good and of evil) in the center of the garden and they can live again only after eating the fruit of life meaning Moses' death on the cross. Some people may have remembered the fourth word saying 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?' located in the center out of the seven words Jesus spoke on the cross. They may also have remembered that the fruit of good and evil and the fruit of life were placed in the center of the garden. Thinking deeply about the seven words of Jesus on the cross, like the two crosses erected for robbers on either side of Jesus with open arms in the middle of Golgotha Hill, some might notice that Jesus was abandoned twice (my God, my God / from 9 am to 12 pm for brightness and from 12pm to 3pm for darkness). Recognizing Jesus with bright eyes on the cross, there may be some who understood the meaning of the Moses figure, who seemed indifferent and anxious.
Even modern people who travel here, insert one Euro coin and see the light shining on the horn of Moses for about 30 seconds on the slightly dark statue. Peter's confession that Jesus was the Messiah, the 'Son of God', and the confessions of James and John asking to sit on the throne on the right and left sides of Jesus might have revealed the prepared truth hidden unknowingly in the glory of the Lord. Perhaps even among us who travel far away in the 21st century from the time of Jesus, there may be some who see the truth revealed by looking at the horn and light of Moses.
I don't want to say that the shining is right and the horn is wrong or the horn is right and the shining is wrong. Or, much less to claim that it is both a horn and a shining. If one day we can look back at ourselves, who admitted that Jesus, who said you would believe me if you believed in Moses, came as a lamb in place of our sins, but did not recognize the horns of a year (12 months) of a lamb born with horn buds on its head, someone could stop going and look back at ourselves.(Teshuvah) At that time, as in the Exodus, we may not eat in a hurry and we may sit and calmly reflect on the word in a hut that blocks the heat of the sun during the day and let the stars and moonlight seep through the leaves of the branches on the roof at night.
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