This magnificent statue, part of a larger monumental montage, was created by
the Master in about 1505, when he was 30 years old. Moses the law-giver is seen
as a muscular, dominating character which he almost certainly was - probably for
a major part of his life. The famous (or infamous?), "horns" coming out of his
head are really surprising. The story is well-known, of course: we are told in
Exodus, that when Moses came down from Mount Sinai, after meeting with the Lord,
".... his skin shone" Exodus XXXIV:35. The Hebrew word 'keren' used quite
correctly in the text is translatable as either 'beam', in the sense of a
light-ray - which was really intended - or as a horn. More than that - the
grammatical structure of the sentence is such that the word is not used as a
noun! Why it should have been interpreted thus by Renaissance Italy is strange;
the context, the reaction of the Children of Israel should surely have given
sufficient indication as to the true meaning.
