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 of and  (see these articles, also  and articles referred to therein). The purpose of this line, the separate forts of which command the relatively few lines of advance from upper Alsace through the Vosges, is to deflect a possible German invasion from Alsace either towards Belfort or towards the open gap between Épinal and Toul called the Trouée d’Épinal.

 MOSEN, JULIUS (1803–1867), German poet and author, was born at Marieney in the Saxon Vogtland on the 8th of July, 1803. He studied law at Jena, and, after two years in Italy, at Leipzig. In 1834 he settled in Dresden as an advocate. He had meanwhile shown great literary promise by his Lied vom Ritter Wahn (1831). This was followed by the more philosophical Ahasver (1838), and by a volume of poems, Gedichte (1836, 2nd ed., 1843), among which Andreas Hofer and Die letzten Zehn vom vierten Regiment have become popular. He wrote the historical plays Heinrich der Finkler (Leipzig, 1836), Cola Rienzi, Die Bräute von Florenz, Wendelin und Helene and Kaiser Otto III. (the four last being published in his Theater 1842), and a politico-historical novel, Der Kongress von Verona (1842), which was followed by a charming collection of short stories (Bilder im Moose, 1846). In 1844 Mosen accepted the appointment of dramaturge at the Court Theatre in Oldenburg, but he was soon afterwards stricken with paralysis, and after remaining an invalid for many years, died at Oldenburg on the 10th of October 1867. Of his later works may be mentioned Die Dresdner Gemäldegallerie (1844), and the tragedies Herzog Bernhard (1855) and Der Sohn des Fürsten (1858).

MOSER, JOHANN JAKOB (1701–1785), German jurist, was born at Stuttgart on the 18th of January 1701. He studied at the university of Tübingen, where, at the early age of nineteen, he was appointed extraordinary professor of law. In 1729 he became ordinary professor, and in 1736 he accepted a chair and directorship in the university of Frankfort-on-the-Oder. On account, however, of differences with King Frederick William I. of Prussia, he resigned these offices in 1739 and retired to Ebersdorf, a village in the principality of Reuss, where for several years he devoted himself wholly to study, and especially to the production of his Deutsches Staatsrecht. In 1751 he was recalled to Würtemberg as district counsellor, and in 1759 was imprisoned at Hohentwiel on account of the steps he had taken in connexion with this office against certain tyrannical proceedings of the duke. In 1764 he received his liberty and was restored to office. He died on the 30th of September 1785. Moser was the first to discuss in an adequate form the subject of European international law. He wrote more than 500 volumes, his principal works being Deutsches Staatsrecht (1737–1754), Neues deutsches Staatsrecht (1766–1775), Deutsches Staatsarchiv (1751–1757), Grundriss der heutigen Staatsverfassung von Deutschland (1754).

MOSER, JUSTUS (1720–1794), German publicist and statesman, was born at Osnabrück on the 14th of December, 1720. Having studied jurisprudence at the universities of Jena and Göttingen, he settled in his native town as a lawyer. The confidence he inspired among his fellow citizens soon led to his being appointed advocatus patriae (state attorney). On the appointment of the duke of York (son of George III. of England) to the lay Protestant bishopric of Osnabrück, he was attached to the person of the new ruler as legal adviser, and continued in this office of trust for twenty years. From 1762 to 1768 he was justiciarius (chief justice) of the criminal court in Osnabrück; and in 1768 was made Geheimer Referendar (privy councillor of justice). He died at Osnabrück on the 8th of January 1794. Not only as a statesman and administrator, but also as a publicist, Moser occupied a leading position among the men of his time. His history of Osnabrück (1768; 2nd ed. 1780; 3rd ed. 1819) is a masterly work. In his Patriotische Phantasien (1775–1786; and ed. by his daughter, I. W. J. von Voigts, 1804; new ed. by R. Zöllner, 1871) he shows himself in advance of his times, pleading as he does for a national organic development of a state in the place of arbitrary laws imposed by the sovereign. His Vermischte Schriften (published by F. Nicolai with a biography, 1797–1798) also display a deep insight into human nature and sparkle with humour and witty sallies. Moser was also a poet of some repute and wrote a tragedy, Arminius (1749). A statue of him by Drake was unveiled in Osnabrück in 1836.

MOSES (Gr.  ), the great Jewish lawgiver, prophet and mediator, and leader of the Israelites from Egypt to the eastern borders of the promised land. The records of his life and work are noticed in the articles, , , where the several sources of the narratives are described. He appears in Midian at the “Mount of God” (Horeb) dwelling with its priest (q.v.), one of whose seven daughters he married, thus becoming the father of Gershom and Eliezer. Of his earlier life it was said that he was born in Egypt of Levite parents, and when the Pharaoh commanded that every new-born male child of the Hebrews should be killed, he was put into a chest and cast upon the Nile. He was found by Pharaoh’s daughter, and his (step-)sister Miriam contrived that he should be nursed by his mother; on growing up he killed an Egyptian who was oppressing an Israelite, and this becoming known, he sought refuge in flight.

The story of the youth of Moses is, as is commonly the case with great heroes, of secondary origin; moreover, the circumstances of his birth as related in Exod. ii. find numerous parallels in legend elsewhere, e.g. in the story of the historical Sargon (L. W. King, Early Bab. Kings, ii. 87 sqq.), in the myths of Osiris and many others (see, at length, A. Jeremias’s Das Alte Test. im Lichte des alten Orients, 1906, pp. 408 sqq.; Bab. im N. Test. p. 30 seq.). The story of the adoption of Moses by the Egyptian princess appealed to later imagination (Josephus, Ant. ii. 9, 10; Acts vii. 20–22), and many fanciful fables grew up around this and the other biblical statements. The name Mosheh, explained by the fact that the princess “drew him” (māshāh) out of the waters, means properly “one who draws”; a derivation from Eg. mes(u), “child,” finds more favour, but is not certain.

At the holy mount, Moses received the divine revelation and was commissioned to bring the people a three-days’ journey out of Egypt to sacrifice at this spot (Exod. iii. 12, 18; v. 3; viii. 27). The deity revealed himself in a new name, Yahweh, and with signs and wonders fortified Moses for his task. On his return he experienced a remarkable incident which is obscurely associated with the rite of circumcision. The plagues with which the reluctant Pharaoh was coerced culminated in the destruction of all the first-born, and Israel escaped to the Red Sea. The pursuing Egyptians were drowned, and the miraculous preservation of the chosen people at the critical moment marks the first stage in the national history. (See .)

The other events need not be detailed. Kadesh (holy) was