MOISES, MOYSES. Moses, son of Amram and Jochebed, exposed in the bullrushes on the order of Pharoah, was saved by the Pharoah's daughter and brought up as an Egyptian prince. The Lord called him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, and after many plagues and disasters Pharoah agreed to allow the Hebrews to leave the country. Moses led them into the Sinai desert, where he received the commandments from the Lord (Exodus 2-20). Scholars calculate that he lived during the first half of the thirteenth century before our era (EJ XIII: 371). During the medieval period Moses was regarded as somewhat of a magician; Peter Comestor wrote that he possessed two rings: one conferred remembrance and the other oblivion (Historia scholastica 114; PL 198: 1144). R.A. Pratt points out that Trevet, Les Cronicles fols. 8r-8v, says that Moses gave his wife two rings carved with great quaintness, one called Memory and the other Forgetfulness.
Moses fasted for forty days and nights before he spoke with the Lord on Mount Sinai, SumT 1885. The magic rings of Moses and Solomon appear in SqT 247-251. The Virgin is the burning bush that Moses saw, PrT 467-473, ABC 89-96. The Parson quotes Moses from Deuteronomy, 32:24, 33, ParsT 195. The quotation from ParsT 354 has not been identified. [Marie1]
Moises, the OF variant, occurs once, medially, ABC 89; Moyses, a spelling variant, appears five times in medial positions, SumT 1885; SqT 250; PrT 1658; ABC 93; ParsT 195, 354.