King Moses. Moses - biography, photo, personal life of the prophet. Return of Moses to Egypt. Ten Plagues

The very existence of Moses is quite controversial. For many years, historians and biblical scholars have been discussing this topic. According to biblical scholars, Moses is the author of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Jewish and Christian Bible. But historians have found some contradictions in this.

The Prophet Moses is one of the central figures in the Old Testament. He saved the Jews from the oppression of the Egyptian rulers. True, historians continue to insist on their own, because there is no evidence of these events. But the personality and life of Moses certainly deserve attention, since for Christians he is a prototype.

In Judaism

The future prophet was born in Egypt. Moses' parents belonged to the tribe of Levi. From time immemorial, the Levites had the duties of priests, so they did not have the right to own their own lands.

Estimated period of life: XV-XIII centuries. BC e. At that time, the Israeli people were resettled in Egypt due to famine. But the fact is that for the Egyptians they were strangers. And soon the pharaohs decided that the Jews could become dangerous for them, because they would side with the enemy if anyone decided to attack Egypt. The rulers began to oppress the Israelites; they literally made them slaves. Jews worked in quarries and built pyramids. And soon the pharaohs decided to kill all Jewish male babies in order to stop the growth of the Israeli population.

Moses' mother Jochebed tried to hide her son for three months, and when she realized that she could no longer do this, she put the child in a papyrus basket and sent it down the Nile River. The basket with the baby was noticed by the pharaoh's daughter, who was swimming nearby. She immediately realized that it was a Jewish child, but she spared him.

Moses' sister Mariam watched everything that happened. She told the girl that she knew a woman who could become a nurse for the boy. Thus, Moses was nursed by his own mother. Later, the pharaoh's daughter adopted the child, and he began to live in the palace and received an education. But with his mother’s milk, the boy absorbed the faith of his ancestors, and was never able to worship the Egyptian gods.

It was difficult for him to see and tolerate the cruelty to which his people were subjected. One day he witnessed a terrible beating of an Israeli. He simply could not pass by - he snatched the whip from the hands of the warden and beat him to death. And although the man believed that no one had seen what happened, soon the pharaoh ordered to find his daughter’s son and kill him. And Moses had to flee from Egypt.

Moses settled in the Sinai desert. He married the priest's daughter Zipporah and became a shepherd. Soon they had two sons - Gersham and Eliezer.

Every day a man tended a flock of sheep, but one day he saw a thorn bush that was burning with fire, but was not consumed. Approaching the bush, Moses heard a voice calling him by name and ordering him to take off his shoes, since he was standing on holy ground. It was the voice of God. He said that Moses was destined to save the Jewish people from the oppression of the Egyptian rulers. He must go to Pharaoh and demand that the Jews be made free, and in order for the people of Israel to believe him, God gave Moses the ability to perform miracles.

At that time, another pharaoh ruled Egypt, not the one from whom Moses fled. Moses was not so eloquent, so he went to the palace with his older brother Aaron, who became his voice. He asked the ruler to release the Jews to the promised lands. But Pharaoh not only did not agree, but also began to demand even more from the Israeli slaves. The Prophet did not accept his answer; he came to him with the same request more than once, but each time he was refused. And then God sent ten disasters, the so-called biblical plagues, to Egypt.

First the waters of the Nile became blood. Only for the Jews did it remain pure and drinkable. The Egyptians were able to drink only the water they bought from the Israelites. But Pharaoh considered this witchcraft, and not God’s punishment.

The second plague was an invasion of frogs. Amphibians were everywhere: on the streets, in houses, beds and food. Pharaoh told Moses that he would believe that God had sent this disaster to Egypt if he would make the frogs disappear. And he agreed to let the Jews go. But as soon as the toads disappeared, he retracted his words.

And then the Lord sent midges to attack the Egyptians. Insects crawled into my ears, eyes, nose and mouth. At this point the sorcerers began to assure Pharaoh that this was a punishment from God. But he was adamant.

And then God brought down the fourth plague on them - dog flies. Most likely, gadflies were hiding under this name. They stung people and livestock, giving no rest.

Soon the Egyptians' livestock began to die, while nothing happened to the Jews' animals. Of course, Pharaoh already understood that God was protecting the Israelites, but he again refused to give the people freedom.

And then the bodies of the Egyptians began to become covered with terrible ulcers and boils, their bodies itched and festered. The ruler was seriously frightened, but God did not want him to let the Jews go out of fear, so he sent down a hail of fire on Egypt.

The eighth punishment of the Lord was an invasion of locusts, they ate all the greenery on their way, not a single blade of grass remained on the land of Egypt.

And soon thick darkness fell over the country; not a single source of light dispelled this darkness. Therefore, the Egyptians had to move by touch. But the darkness became denser every day, and it became more and more difficult to move, until it became completely impossible. Pharaoh again called Moses to the palace, he promised to let his people go, but only if the Jews left their livestock. The Prophet did not agree to this and promised that the tenth plague would be the most terrible.

All first-born children in Egyptian families died in one night. To prevent punishment from befalling the Israelite babies, God commanded that every Jewish family slaughter a lamb and smear its blood on the doorposts of their houses. After such a terrible disaster, Pharaoh released Moses and his people.

This event came to be referred to by the Hebrew word “Pesach,” which means “passing.” After all, the wrath of God “went around” all the houses. The holiday of Passover, or Passover, is the day of the deliverance of the Israeli people from Egyptian captivity. Jews had to bake the slaughtered lamb and eat it standing with their family. It is believed that over time this Easter transformed into the one that people know now.

On the way from Egypt, another miracle happened - the waters of the Red Sea parted for the Jews. They walked along the bottom, and so they managed to cross to the other side. But Pharaoh did not expect that this path would be so easy for the Jews, so he set off in pursuit. He also followed along the bottom of the sea. But as soon as Moses’ people were on the shore, the water closed again, burying both Pharaoh and his army in the abyss.

After a three-month journey, the people found themselves at the foot of Mount Sinai. Moses climbed to its top to receive instructions from God. The dialogue with God lasted 40 days, and it was accompanied by terrible lightning, thunder and fire. God gave the prophet two stone tablets on which the main commandments were written.

At this time, the people sinned - they created the Golden Calf, which people began to worship. Coming down and seeing this, Moses broke both the tablets and the Calf. He immediately returned to the top and for 40 days atone for the sins of the Jewish people.

The Ten Commandments became God's law for people. Having accepted the commandments, the Jewish people promised to observe them, thus a sacred Covenant was concluded between God and the Jews, in which the Lord promised to be merciful to the Jews, and they, in turn, were obliged to live correctly.

In Christianity

The life story of the prophet Moses is the same in all three religions: a Jewish foundling, raised in the family of an Egyptian pharaoh, frees his people and receives the Ten Commandments from God. True, in Judaism the name of Moses sounds differently - Moshe. Also, sometimes Jews call the prophet Moshe Rabbeinu, which translated means “our teacher.”

In Christianity, the famous prophet is revered as one of the main prototypes of Jesus Christ. By analogy with how in Judaism God gives people the Old Testament through Moses, so Christ brings the New Testament to Earth.

Also considered an important episode in all branches of Christianity is the appearance of Moses together with the prophet Elijah before Jesus on Mount Tabor during the Transfiguration. And the Orthodox Church included the icon of Moses in the official Russian iconostasis and designated September 17 as the day of remembrance of the great prophet.

In Islam

In Islam, the prophet also has a different name - Musa. He was a great prophet who spoke to Allah as to a common man. And at Sinai, Allah sent down to Musa the sacred scripture - Taurat. In the Koran, the name of the prophet is mentioned more than once, his story is given as an edification and example.

Real facts

Moses is believed to be the author of the Pentateuch, the five volumes of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. For many years, right up to the seventeenth century, no one dared to doubt this. But over time, historians found more and more inconsistencies in the presentation. For example, the last part describes the death of Moses, and this contradicts the fact that he himself wrote the books. There are also a lot of repetitions in the books - the same events are interpreted differently. Historians believe that there were several authors of the Pentateuch, since different terminology is found in different parts.

Unfortunately, no physical evidence of the existence of the prophet was discovered in Egypt. There was no mention of Moses in either written sources or archaeological finds.

Over hundreds of years, his personality has become overgrown with legends and myths, there are constant disputes around the life of Moses and the “Pentateuch,” but so far no religion has abandoned the “Ten Commandments of God,” which the prophet once presented to his people.

Death

For forty years Moses led the people through the desert, and his life ended on the threshold of the promised land. God commanded him to climb Mount Nebo. And from the top Moses saw Palestine. He lay down to rest, but it was not sleep that came to him, but death.

The place of his burial was hidden by God so that the people would not begin a pilgrimage to the grave of the prophet. As a result, Moses died at 120 years old. He lived for 40 years in the palace of Pharaoh, another 40 - he lived in the desert and worked as a shepherd, and for the last 40 - he led the Israelite people out of Egypt.

Moses' brother Aaron did not even reach Palestine; he died at the age of 123 due to lack of faith in God. As a result, the follower of Moses, Joshua, brought the Jews to the promised land.

Memory

• 1482 – fresco “The Testament and Death of Moses”, Luca Signorelli and Bartolomeo della Gatta
• 1505 – Painting “The Trial of Moses by Fire”, Giorgione
• 1515 – Marble statue of Moses,
• 1610 – Paintings “Moses with the Commandments”, Reni Guido
• 1614 – Painting “Moses in front of the burning bush”, Domenico Fetti
• 1659 – Painting “Moses Breaking the Tablets of the Covenant”
• 1791 – Fountain in Bern “Moses”

• 1842 – Painting “Moses lowered by his mother onto the waters of the Nile”, Alexey Tyranov
• 1862 – Painting “The Finding of Moses”, Frederick Goodall
• 1863 – Painting “Moses pouring out water from a rock”,
• 1891 – Painting “The Crossing of the Jews through the Red Sea”,
• 1939 – Book “Moses and Monotheism”,
• 1956 – Film “The Ten Commandments”, Cecil DeMille
• 1998 – Cartoon “Prince of Egypt”, Brenda Chapman
• 2014 – Film “Exodus: Kings and Gods”,

Based on the narrative of the Pentateuch. A number of deviations from it (for example, Hosh. 12:14 or Micah 6:4) indicate, according to some researchers, traditions parallel to the story of the Pentateuch, but not entirely identical to it. Non-Jewish Near Eastern sources from the pre-Hellenistic period do not mention Moses.

Despite the contradictions caused by the fact that the biblical story includes texts from different historical periods, in the epic of Exodus the gigantic figure of Moses clearly emerges, powerful and purposeful, but not without human weaknesses, a personality often tormented by doubts and internal struggles, who left an indelible imprint not only on history , the imagination and thinking of the Jewish people, but also on the appearance of Christian and Muslim civilizations.

Moses in the Pentateuch story. The Book of Exodus tells that Moses' parents belonged to the tribe (see Tribes of Israel) of Levi (Ex. 2:1). Moses was born in Egypt during the reign of Pharaoh, who “did not know Joseph” (Ex. 1:8), who was the first nobleman under his predecessor. He doubted the loyalty of the descendants of Joseph and his brothers to Egypt and enslaved the Israelites, sending them to the king's labor. Hard labor did not reduce their numbers, however, and Pharaoh ordered all newborn male Israelite babies to be drowned in the Nile. At that time, a son, Moses, was born into Amram's family. Moses' mother Jochebed managed to hide the baby in her home for three months. No longer able to hide the child, she left him in a basket in the reed thickets on the banks of the Nile, where he was found by the Pharaoh’s daughter, who came there for a swim. Realizing that in front of her was one “of the Hebrew children” (Ex. 2:6), she, however, took pity on the crying beautiful baby and, on the advice of Moses’ sister Miriam, who was watching what was happening from afar, agreed to call the Israeli nurse. Miriam called Jochebed, and Moses was given to his mother, who nursed him. “And the child grew up, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she had him instead of a son” (Ex. 2:10).

Having matured, Moses became interested in the fate of his enslaved fellow tribesmen and “went out to his brothers.” The exhausting labor of the Israelites, the oppression and mockery of Pharaoh's taskmasters outraged him. Having once seen one of the overseers beating a Jew during construction work, Moses killed the Egyptian offender and hid his body in the sand. However, the intercession of Moses did not find the proper response in the souls of his relatives, hardened into slavery. On the contrary, when Moses came out to them again the next day, he witnessed a quarrel between two Jews that led to a fight. “And he said to the wrongdoer: Why do you strike your neighbor? And he said: Who made you a judge and ruler over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian? Moses was afraid and said: Surely, the matter has become known. And Pharaoh heard about this matter and wanted to kill Moses” (Ex. 2:13–15). Fleeing from the wrath of Pharaoh, Moses fled to the land of the Midianites, where he married the daughter of the local priest Jethro, Zipporah, who bore him sons Gershom and Eli'ezer. For many years, Moses tended his father-in-law's sheep in the Sinai desert. The turning point in his life was the theophany at Mount Horeb, to the foot of which he led his flock.

The Sinai revelation, the giving of the Law (Torah) and the conclusion of the Covenant are the culmination of the exodus and the apogee of the stormy and impetuous activity of Moses. However, this climax is almost immediately followed by a fall. Moses spends forty days on the mountain. People lose faith in Moses and demand that Aaron make a material god, “who would go before us, for we do not know what happened to this man who brought us out of the land of Egypt” (Ex. 32:1). Aaron makes a golden calf, which the people declare to be the god who brought him out of Egypt, and organize cult festivals in his honor. Moses, outraged by the gross violation of the second of the Ten Commandments (“... you will have no other gods besides Me; you shall not make for yourself a graven image or any likeness... You shall not worship or serve them”), in anger breaks the tablets handed to him by God, on which these commandments are written. As punishment for irredeemable sin, God is ready to destroy the entire nation and make the descendants of Moses a great nation. Moses rejects this offer, intercedes for the Israelites, and God reverses His decision. The people are saved, but the punishment inflicted on them is severe: “The calf was burned, ground into dust,” and the dust was scattered in the water, which the Israelites were forced to drink; three thousand of those who worshiped the idol were executed (Ex. 32).

This event becomes a turning point in the history of the Exodus. Alienation begins between Moses and the people he freed from slavery. “Moses pitched himself a tent... far from the camp and called it the tabernacle of meeting... And when Moses went out to the tabernacle, all the people rose up and stood each one at the entrance of his tent and looked after Moses until he entered the tabernacle" ( Ex. 33:7, 8).

Moses again climbs the mountain, where, at the command of God, he writes down the words of the Testament on new tablets. He is awarded not only indirect proof of the presence of God, hearing God's voice, but also partially visible theophany, after which his face is illuminated with light. When Moses descends from the mountain to convey the words of God for the second time, the people, amazed by the radiance of his face, are afraid to approach him. Since then, appearing before the people after each conversation with God, Moses covers his face with a veil (Ex. 34).

The crisis caused by the worship of the golden calf was a shock to Moses and revealed the duality of his difficult relationship with the people. Fearing the Philistines, who had settled in the south of the coastal strip of Canaan, Moses leads the people in a roundabout way. The wanderings in the desert seem endless, the hardships and hardships are insurmountable, and the Promised Land is out of reach. The murmur and latent discontent do not stop and result in open rebellion against Moses and Aaron (the latter was appointed high priest). Moses' relative Korah (Korach) from the tribe of Levi and his accomplices Datan, Abiram and He from the tribe of Reuven dispute the authority of Moses and his brother, accusing them of autocracy. They are joined by 250 “eminent people” who claim the right to be priests. Moses calls the leaders of the rebellion to him, but they categorically refuse to appear before him. “Is it not enough that you brought us out of a land flowing with milk and honey to destroy us in the desert, and you still want to rule over us? Have you brought us to a land flowing with milk and honey, and have you given us fields and vineyards to possess? Do you want to blind the eyes of these people? Will not go!" (Num. 16:13–14).

This time, God decides to punish the rebels by resorting to a miracle, which should serve as a sign and warning: the instigators are swallowed up by the earth, and their followers are burned (Num. 16:17).

But even the most brutal measures cannot calm the people. Outbursts of indignation, distrust and disobedience are repeated repeatedly (Num. 20:1-13; 21:4-8; 25:1-9). Even Moses' brother and sister, Aaron and Miriam, protest Moses' marriage to an Ethiopian woman (Num. 12:1-3), and they are both punished. In almost all of these cases, Moses tries to ward off or mitigate the punishment of God, but he himself cannot escape punishment for the fact that, contrary to the command of God, he struck the rock with a rod in order to draw water from it, when God ordered only to “say ... rock, and it will give water." According to traditional exegesis, God sees Moses' use of force as doubting His omnipotence and forbids him to enter the land of the fathers, to which he is leading the people. Moses is destined to die in the desert near the shore of the Promised Land in Transjordan (Num. 20:7–13). According to another version, Moses was punished for the sins of the people (Deut. 1:37; 3:26; 4:21).

But even more bitter disappointment befalls Moses when the scouts sent to Canaan return convinced that it is impossible to conquer this country, since its inhabitants, among whom are giants, are invincible. And although in fact the country flows with milk and honey, it “eats its inhabitants.” The indignant people rebel again and demand that he be returned to Egypt. Two of the scouts, who do not share the opinion of the others, try to exhort the people, but the crowd threatens to stone them. The angry God again decides to destroy the people of Israel, but this time Moses manages to obtain forgiveness from God and a commutation of the sentence: “All who have seen My glory and My signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted Me ten times already and have not If they listened to My voice, they will not see the land that I promised to their fathers with an oath...” (Num. 14:23-24). They will die in the desert, and only the next generation, raised in the desert, will be worthy of conquering the Promised Land and settling in it. The conquest of Canaan is entrusted to Moses' disciple Yeh hoshua bin Nun.

After forty years in the desert, the people approach Canaan. The generation of freed slaves of the “stiff-necked people” (Ex. 32:9; 33:35; 34:9; Deut. 9:6, 13) died out. Moses, despite his age (“one hundred and twenty years”; Deut. 31:2), is still full of strength (“his sight was not dull, nor his freshness exhausted”; Deut. 34:7). All his pleas and exhortations to change the fate prepared for him and to be allowed to enter the future Land of Israel are in vain: he is only allowed to look at it from the top of the Trans-Jordanian Mount Nebo.

The tragedy of Moses, deprived of the opportunity to complete the great work he began, is described in the last book of the Pentateuch - Deuteronomy. Sharply different from other books both in style and in the spirit characteristic of the period of its writing (much later than the epic of the Exodus), it is, from a compositional point of view, a brilliant epilogue to the story of the life and work of Moses. This is the testament of the leader, who with some bitterness sums up his activities, lists the successes and failures that accompanied the almost impossible mission, and gives the people a complete set of laws, largely repeating in the new edition the prescriptions of the previous code, but, unlike it, more adapted to future settled life in the newly found homeland.

Moses dies in the “land of Moab” after God himself shows him from Mount Nebo the entire Land of Israel (Deut. 34:1–5), “no one knows the place of his burial even to this day... And the children of Israel mourned him ... thirty days” (Deut. 34:6, 8).

Leader . Without going into an analysis of the various traditions and sources that together make up the epic of the Exodus, one can easily distinguish two contradictory trends in the biblical narrative of Moses. On the one hand, none of the biblical heroes are given as much space in the Bible as Moses is given, and none of them were given what Moses was awarded. God revealed His hidden name to him and entrusted him with a gigantic mission. In the story of the Pentateuch, he is the only mediator between God and the people. Only the Ten Commandments were publicly proclaimed by God (see above); all other laws, commands and regulations were given by God directly to Moses, retold to the people by him and written down by him. Moses performs signs and wonders; he even, to some extent, saw God himself. At the behest of God, he founded the most important institutions that later shaped Jewish society and lasted for many centuries: priesthood, sanctuaries, ritual services, courts. He is also credited with forming the army. He was the first to perform the duties connected with the existence of these institutions. On the other hand, in the entire epic of the Exodus, Moses is presented only as an instrument in the hands of God. The main character of the epic is God himself (see book of Exodus). At crucial moments, Moses is almost always confused, and sometimes even helpless. He waits for God's instructions and very rarely takes the initiative. Moses argues with God only by trying to evade the mission entrusted to him or by interceding for the Jewish people. In the Pentateuch, Moses is sometimes called “the servant of God” (Num. 12:7, 8; Exod. 14:31; Deut. 34:15). In other biblical books this epithet is repeated several times, especially (17 times) in the book of Yeh Hoshua bin Nun. For a minor mistake, God deprives him of the right to crown his life's work. In traditional biblical exegesis, this tendency is usually explained by fear of the deification of Moses. Such apotheosis of historical or semi-legendary heroes was a common phenomenon in the polytheistic civilizations of the Ancient East. Hence the features of an “anti-hero” in the image of Moses; therefore, to avoid worship of the tomb of Moses, the place where it is located is kept secret. Nevertheless, the demythologized image of Moses served as the prototype of the leader of different times and civilizations. The story of the birth of Moses echoes the legends of the conquering kings: the Akkadian king Sargon II and the Persian king Cyrus. Like many other leaders, Moses does not grow up among his people, but comes to them from outside. Rescued by his mother, he is raised in the palace of the pharaoh. A gulf separates him from his enslaved brothers, resulting from the different way of life and education received by Moses, apparently in the spirit of the Egyptian “wise men and sorcerers” (Ex. 7: 8–12). From a young age, Moses has a keen sense of justice: he kills a cruel Egyptian taskmaster, his willingness to stand up for the weak, his courage and physical strength impresses the daughters of Jethro, who mistake him for an Egyptian (Ex. 2:16–17).

Moses is a leader obsessed with a sense of his calling to fulfill a sacred duty, even against his own will. His mission is to: 1) free the Israelites from slavery and lead them out of Egypt; 2) re-educate the scattered enslaved tribes and turn them into a single people inspired by a new religion; 3) bring the people to the country of their fathers.

Having overcome doubts and hesitations, Moses begins to implement his plan and, not possessing any real power except spiritual power, the traits of a potential leader and deep faith in his calling, he appears before the ruler of the most powerful empire of the Ancient East, the recognized deity of the Egyptian people. The irony of Pharaoh, the decisive refusal to fulfill the request of a man posing as a messenger of an unknown god, cannot break the spirit of Moses. As a leader, he knows how to turn a chain of failures to his advantage - thus, he takes advantage of the disasters that befell the empire. Alternation of successes and failures is the share of every leader. During the persistent struggle to achieve a seemingly unattainable goal, both Moses' personality and his relationship with the people change: from a charismatic leader, he turns into an institutional one. At first, he seeks recognition from the people by immediately solving problems, overcoming obstacles and disasters: hunger, thirst, a collision with an unexpected enemy. He himself single-handedly performs all administrative, judicial and legislative functions in the spirit of the people's revolutionary leaders. During some estrangement between Moses and the people following the dramatic events associated with the promulgation of the Law and the worship of the calf (see above), Moses creates a number of new institutions. Then the new leaders apparently come into conflict with the old ones.

The people often refuse to accept the authority of Moses. Open riots break out. Moses' reaction in his new role as an institutional leader (as opposed to his behavior during the period of charismatic leadership) is invariably the same: cruel punishments. When the people, having reached the homeland of their ancestors, show cowardice and are ready to give up achieving the final goal, Moses comes to the conclusion that the psychology of the generation that emerged from Egyptian slavery is incorrigible. A long process of educating a new generation is required. It becomes clear to Moses that he himself is not destined to complete the last stage of his mission. He sees the main task in preparing the people for the future conquest of Canaan and the creation of an ideal society in it. Moses' leadership takes the form of paternalism. He is a patron, teacher, educator, preacher, for whom, unlike all the rulers of antiquity, it is not the past that serves as the norm, but the future. The descendants of former slaves become a people, the bearer of a new faith, based on the concept of God, radically different from the polytheistic religions of the surrounding civilization. Moses views the camp of the united, organized twelve tribes, whose life is regulated by a Law unprecedented in this civilization, as the model and core of a new civilization.

The biblical Moses is one of the greatest leaders of humanity, standing on the brink where history creates legends, and legends create history.

Prophet, priest, lawgiver. In the post-biblical tradition, Moses is considered the first and greatest prophet (see Prophets and prophecy; Land of Israel / Eretz Israel /. Historical outline). In the Bible itself he is rarely called a prophet. However, in the last verses of the Pentateuch, after describing the death of Moses, it is said: “And Israel had no more a prophet like Moses, whom God knew face to face. According to all the signs and wonders that the Lord sent him to do...” (Deut. 34:10, 11). The characterization of Moses in Deuteronomy, imbued with the spirit of the later, so-called written (or literary) prophets, reflects two significant aspects of the prophetic movement. Like the early prophets, Moses is endowed with miraculous powers when he fulfills a mission assigned to him or confirms the authority given to him by God. But the features of the later prophets appear more clearly in him. He is a messenger who - like almost all biblical prophets (Amos, Isaiah and others) - is entrusted with a divine mission even against their wishes. The prophets, unlike Moses, contemplate God in ecstatic visions (Ehezkel, Isaiah); they create a special genre of biblical poetry, colorfully depicting their visions and foretelling the future in sermons full of warnings against sins and promises of reward for obedience and good deeds. Following this pattern, Deuteronomy ends with two poetic works that belong to the oldest texts of biblical literature and are put into the mouth of Moses. The first of these is the Song of Moses, an eschatological poem foreshadowing the fate of the Jewish people as a drama of continuous dialectical tension between God and His chosen people. This tension is expressed in alternating loyalty to God and falling away from His covenants. Retribution follows, ultimately leading to repentance and salvation (Deut. 32). The second work is Moses' solemn blessing of each of the twelve tribes of Israel that will populate the conquered Canaan (Deut. 33).

At the first stages of the Exodus, Moses also performed some of the functions of a priest (Exodus 24:6, 8; Lev. 8), but his brother Aaron was appointed the founder of the priestly class and the dynasty of high priests (see Koch en; Sacrifice; Jewish Religion). All ritual instructions and laws of the priestly cult, according to tradition, were handed over to Moses by God. The so-called priestly literature covers the entire book of Leviticus and large parts of the books of Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Moses announces and records these laws, but, remaining a Levite (see Levi), does not classify himself as a member of the priestly class.

Historicity of Moses. The absence of any information about the life of Moses in ancient sources of the pre-Hellenistic period (except the Bible) has caused some biblical scholars to doubt his historicity. Some researchers even came to the conclusion that Moses is a fictional, legendary figure, and the story about him is the fruit of mythological creativity. Nevertheless, most scientists recognize that the basis of biblical legends was historical events in which a certain person played a decisive role, but the nature of her activities is difficult to establish with certainty due to folklore layers. However, the story about the birth of Moses (see above, the name Moses (apparently from the Egyptian ms - son), the activities of Moses in Egypt (competitions with Egyptian sorcerers; Ex. 7:10–12), work on the construction of the Egyptian cities of Pitom and Ramses (the city of Pi-ramses is mentioned in Egyptian sources) - these components of the narrative uniquely reflect the atmosphere of Egypt during the New Kingdom. The same is evidenced by some features of the ancient Egyptian story about the adventures of Sinuhe, which echo the episode of Moses’ flight from Egypt and his stay in Midian. names are found in the Bible only in the cycle of stories about Moses. According to some historians, one can trace the influence of the religious and cult tendencies that existed in Egypt in the 14th century BC on the monotheistic ideas of Moses. Pharaoh Akhenaten proclaimed the sun god Aten as the only deity of all. Egypt The monotheistic cult of Aten was very soon liquidated, but stories about it could reach Pharaoh Moses, who was raised in the palace.

Some biblical scholars offer another argument for the historicity of Moses. All institutions of the First Temple era were created by historical figures: the monarchy by Samuel and David; Temple - Solomon; religious reforms were carried out by kings (Hezkiyah u; Yoshiyah u). The introduction of the cult of Yahweh and the creation at the dawn of Jewish history of cult institutions, the memory of which was preserved in the consciousness of the people, leads by analogy to the postulate of the activity of a personality on the scale of Moses; Moreover, this personality cannot be a retrospective projection of a later time. The most compelling historical analogy is Muhammad. According to Muslim tradition, like Moses, he is a prophet, political and military leader, creator of a new cult and legislator. However, there is no doubt about the existence of Muhammad as a historical figure.

Moses in the post-biblical tradition(in Talmud, Midrash and rabbinic literature). The Talmud and Midrash continue, in hyperbolic terms, the biblical tradition of simultaneously exalting and belittling the personality of Moses.

From the time of the Talmud to the present day, Moses is usually called Rabbenu(`our teacher`). Moshe Rabbenu- great teacher of the Jewish people. He is not only the author of the Pentateuch, who gave the people the Torah, that is, the Written Law, but also the founder of the entire Oral Law. Everything that a sage or teacher of the law has ever established or will establish in the future has already been bequeathed by Moses, including such prescriptions that do not follow from the commandments of the Torah ( x Halakha le-Moshe mi-Sinai, see Halacha). The whole world exists thanks to the merits of Moses and Aaron (Hul. 89a). When Moses was born, the entire house of Amram was illuminated with light (Sotah 13b). Dying, Moses received a kiss from God himself (BB. 17a). It is even suggested that Moses did not actually die and continues to serve God, as he once did on Mount Sinai (Wed. 38a).

In Jewish art of the late 19th century. - early 20th century stands out are the paintings dedicated to Moses by I. Asknaziy “Moses in the Desert” (1885), L. Ury “Moses before the Burning Bush”, “Moses” (1910) and “Moses Departing” (1928), as well as tapestries by M. Chagall (in the building Knesset in Jerusalem), depicting Moses during the Exodus.

Since the beginning of the Renaissance, the personality of Moses and the epic of the Exodus from Egypt have inspired many composers. Oratorios, cantatas and operas were devoted to this topic. The first place in this genre, undoubtedly, is occupied by G. F. Handel’s oratorio “Israel in Egypt,” first performed in London in 1739. F. Schubert’s cantata “The Victory Hymn to Miriam” (1828) enjoyed great success. G. Rossini wrote the opera “Moses in Egypt” (1818). Many Jewish composers dedicated oratorios to Moses: A. B. Marche “Moses” (1841); A. Berlin “Moses on Mount Nebo” (1857); A. Rubinstein “Moses” (1892); M. Gast “The Death of Moses” (1897); Y. Weinberg “The Life of Moses” (1955). A. Schoenberg's opera "Moses and Aaron" (1930, unfinished) - one of the most important works of atonal music - gives an original musical interpretation of the conflict between the leader-legislator and his people. The ballet “Moses” was written by the French composer D. Milhaud (1957). "Exodus" by Israeli composer I. Tal is the first piece of electronic music in Israel.

A number of Israeli songs that have become folk songs are dedicated to Moses. Some of them are adaptations of plots from the X Haggadah. The most popular is the song of Jedidiah Admon (1894–1982) “U-Moshe hikka al-tzur” (“And Moses struck the rock”).

The African-American spiritual song “Let My People Go” has enjoyed international popularity for decades.

Already in the Hellenistic era, a number of literary works were dedicated to Moses (see above). In medieval Christian drama, the theme of the Exodus occupies an important place. In the 16th century interest in this topic is somewhat weakening; Only a few works are dedicated to her, including “The Childhood of Moses” by Mastersinger G. Sachs (1553). Although Moses was one of the biblical heroes who inspired Protestant writers in the 17th century, most of the works dedicated to him were written by Catholic authors.

From the 18th century Poetic works are increasingly being dedicated to Moses, which is associated, in particular, with the development of the musical and poetic genre of oratorio. Thus, Charles Jennens’s drama “Israel in Egypt” (circa 1738) served as a source for the libretto of G. F. Handel’s oratorio (see above). F. G. Knopstock in the poem “Messiad” (1751–73) gave the image of Moses the features of a titanic hero. F. Schiller wrote in his youth the sketch “The Messenger of Moses” (1738).

In the 19th century The image of Moses attracted many outstanding poets, including V. Hugo (“Temple”, 1859). G. Heine in “Confession” (1854) enthusiastically praises Moses (“How small Mount Sinai seems when Moses stands on it!”). Heine calls Moses a great artist who built pyramids and obelisks not from stone, but from people who made up a great, eternal people. R. M. Rilke wrote the poems “The Death of Moses” and “Moses” (1922). Ukrainian poet I. Franko wrote the poem “Moses” (1905).

In Russian poetry, poems were dedicated to Moses by I. Kozlov (“The Promised Land,” 1821), V. Benediktov (“Exodus,” 1835), L. Mey (“The Desert Key,” 1861), V. Solovyov (“The Burning Bush,” 1891), F. Sologub (“The Copper Serpent,” 1896), I. Bunin (“Torah,” 1914), V. Bryusov (“Moses,” 1909) and others. The Russian-Jewish poet S. Frug dedicated it in the 1880s–90s. A whole series of poems to Moses (“Child on the Nile”, “Broken Tablets”, “Fireproof Bush”, “On Sinai”, “Moses’ Tomb”).

The English Jewish poet Isaac Rosenberg (1890 - 1918) published the drama "Moses" (1916), in which the influence of Nietzsche's ideas about the superman is clearly felt. Dramas about Moses were written in English by I. Zangwiel (“Moses and Jesus”, 1903), in Italian by A. Orvisto (“Moses”, 1905), in Czech by E. Leda (“Moses”, 1919). The aggadic legends about Moses were processed in German by R. Kaiser (“The Death of Moses,” 1921) and in French by E. Fleg (“Moses in the Stories of the Sages of the Talmud,” 1925). Novels about the life of Moses were published in English by Lina Eckstein (“Tutankhatan: A Tale of the Past,” 1924), L. Untermeyer (“Moses,” 1928) and G. Fast Azaz in the prose poem “Hatan Damim” (“Bridegroom of Blood” , 1925) depicted the spiritual world of Moses’ wife, suffering from her husband’s preoccupation with his mission. M. Gottfried wrote the epic poem “Moshe” (“Moses”, 1919).

In Israeli literature, several works are dedicated to Moses: B. Ts. Firer “Moshe” (“Moses”, 1959); I. Shurun ​​“Halom Leil Stav” (“An Autumn Night’s Dream”, 1960); Shulamit Har’even “Sone h a-nissim” (“He who hated miracles”, 1983; Russian translation in the collection “In Search of Personality”, 1987); I. Oren “Kha-kh ar ve-kh a-‘akhbar” (“The Mountain and the Mouse”, 1972). In 1974, a dramatic poem in Russian by A. Radovsky “Exodus” was published in the Jerusalem magazine “Menorah” (No. 5, 6, 7).

KEE, volume: 5.
Col.: 404–422.
Published: 1990.

Etc.) - leader and legislator of the Jewish people, prophet and first sacred writer of everyday life. He was born in Egypt 1574 or 1576 years BC and was the son of Amram and Jochebed. When Moses was born, his mother, Jochebed, hid him for some time from the general beating of Jewish male infants by order of Pharaoh; but when it was no longer possible to hide it, she took him out to the river and placed him in a basket made of reeds and tarred with asphalt and resin near the bank of the Nile River in a reed, and Moses’ sister watched in the distance what would happen to him. Pharaoh's daughter, c. Egyptian, went out to the river to wash and here she saw a basket, heard the cry of a child, took pity on him and decided to save his life. Thus, taken from the water, he, at the suggestion of Moses' sister, was given to be raised by his mother. When the baby grew up, the mother introduced him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he was with her instead of a son, and while in the royal palace, he was taught all the Egyptian wisdom (,). According to Josephus, he was even made commander of the Egyptian army against the Ethiopians who invaded Egypt as far as Memphis, and successfully defeated them (Ancient Book II, Chapter 10). Despite, however, his advantageous position under Pharaoh, Moses, according to the word of the apostle, He wanted to suffer with the people of God better than to have temporary sinful pleasure, and he considered the reproach of Christ to be greater wealth for himself than the treasures of Egypt(). He was already 40 years old, and then one day it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the sons of Israel. Then he saw their hard work and how much the Jews suffered from the Egyptians. It happened one day that he stood up for a Jew who was being beaten by an Egyptian and, in the heat of battle, killed him, and there was no one there except the offended Jew. The next day he saw two Jews quarreling among themselves and began to convince them, like brothers, to live in harmony. But the one who offended his neighbor pushed him away: who made you a leader and judge over us? he said. Don't you want to kill me too, like you killed the Egyptian yesterday?(). Hearing this, Moses, fearing that rumors of this might reach Pharaoh, fled to the land of Midian. In the house of the Midian priest Jethro, he married his daughter Zipporah and spent 40 years here. While tending his father-in-law's flock, he walked with the flock far into the desert and came to the mountain of God, Horeb (). He saw an extraordinary phenomenon here, namely: a thorn bush all in flames, burning and not being consumed. Approaching the bush, he heard the voice of the Lord from the middle of the bush, commanding him to take off his shoes from his feet, since the place on which he stood was holy ground. Moses hastily took off his shoes and covered his face in fear. Then he was given a command from God to go to Pharaoh to free the Israelites. Fearing his unworthiness and imagining various difficulties, Moses several times renounced this great embassy, ​​but the Lord encouraged him with His presence and His help, revealing His name to him: Jehovah (Jehovah) and as proof of His power, He turned the rod that was in the hands of Moses into a serpent, and again turned the serpent into a rod; then Moses, at the command of God, put his hand in his bosom, and his hand turned white from leprosy like snow; according to the new command, he again put his hand in his bosom, took it out, and she was healthy. The Lord appointed his brother Aaron as an assistant to Moses. Then Moses unquestioningly obeyed the calling of the Lord. Together with his brother Aaron, he appeared before the face of Pharaoh, c. Egyptian, and on behalf of Jehovah they asked him to release the Jews from Egypt for three days to make sacrifices in the desert. Pharaoh, as the Lord predicted to Moses, refused them this. Then the Lord struck the Egyptians with terrible plagues, the last of which was the beating of all the firstborn of the Egyptians by an angel in one night. This terrible execution finally broke the Pharaoh’s stubbornness. He allowed the Jews to leave Egypt into the desert for three days to pray and take their livestock, both small and large. And the Egyptians urged the people to quickly send them out of that land; for, they said, we will all die. The Jews, having celebrated the Passover on the last night, at the command of God, left Egypt among 600,000 men with all their property, and, despite all the haste, they did not forget to take with them the bones of Joseph and some other patriarchs, as Joseph had bequeathed. God Himself showed them where to direct their path: He walked before them during the day in a pillar of cloud, and at night in a pillar of fire, illuminating their path (). Pharaoh and the Egyptians soon repented that they had let the Jews go, and set off with their army to catch up with them and were already approaching their camp near the Red Sea. Then the Lord commanded Moses to take his rod and divide the sea so that the children of Israel could walk through the sea on dry land. Moses acted in accordance with the command of God, and the sea was divided, and a dry bottom was revealed. The children of Israel walked through the sea on dry ground, so that the waters became a wall to them on the right and on the left. The Egyptians followed them into the middle of the sea, but, dismayed by God, they began to flee back. Then Moses, when the Israelites had already reached the shore, again stretched out his hand to the sea, and the waters returned again to their place and covered Pharaoh with all his army and his chariots and horsemen; not a single one of them remained to speak in Egypt about this terrible death. On the seashore, Moses and all the people solemnly sang a song of thanksgiving to God: I sing to the Lord, for He was exalted on high, He cast horse and rider into the sea, and Mariam and all the women, striking the timbrels, sang: Sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted (). Moses led the Jews to the Promised Land through the Arabian Desert. They walked through the desert of Sur for three days and found no water except bitter water (Merrah). God sweetened this water by commanding Moses to put the tree He indicated into it. In the desert of Sin, as a result of popular grumbling about the lack of food and their demand for meat food, God sent them many quails and from that time and for the next forty years God sent them manna from heaven every day. In Rephidim, due to a lack of water and the murmuring of the people, Moses, at the command of God, brought water out of the rock of Mount Horeb, striking it with his rod. Here the Amalekites attacked the Jews, but were defeated by the prayer of Moses, who throughout the battle prayed on the mountain, raising his hands to God (). In the third month after the exodus from Egypt, the Jews finally approached the foot of Mount Sinai and camped opposite the mountain. On the third day, at the command of God, the people were placed by Moses near the mountain, at some distance from it, with a strict prohibition not to approach it closer than a certain line. On the morning of the third day there were thunderclaps, lightning began to flash, a strong trumpet sound was heard, Mount Sinai was all smoking, because the Lord descended on it in fire and smoke rose from it like smoke from a furnace. This is how the presence of God on Sinai was marked. And at that time the Lord spoke the ten commandments of the Law of God in the hearing of all the people. Then Moses ascended the mountain, received laws from the Lord regarding church and civil improvement, and when he came down from the mountain, he reported all this to the people and wrote everything in a book. Then, after sprinkling the people with blood and reading the book of the Covenant, Moses again, at the command of God, ascended the mountain, and spent forty days and forty nights there, and received detailed instructions from God about the construction of the Tabernacle and the altar and about everything related to worship, in conclusion two stone tablets with the Ten Commandments inscribed on them (, , ,). Upon returning from the mountain, Moses saw that the people, left to their own devices, had fallen into the terrible crime of idolatry before the golden calf, idolized in Egypt. In the heat of indignation, he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them, and burned the golden calf in the fire and scattered the ashes in the water, which he gave to drink. Moreover, by the command of Moses, three thousand people, the main culprits of the crime, fell by the sword of the sons of Levi that day. After this, Moses hurried back to the mountain to beg the Lord to forgive the people for their iniquity and again stayed there forty days and forty nights, did not eat bread or drink water, and the Lord bowed to mercy. Excited by this mercy, Moses had the boldness to ask God to show him His glory in the highest way. And once again he was ordered to ascend the mountain with the prepared tablets, and he again spent 40 days there in fasting. At this time, the Lord descended in a cloud and passed before him with His glory. Moses fell to the ground in awe. The reflection of the glory of God was reflected on his face, and when he came down from the mountain, the people could not look at him; why he wore a veil over his face, which he took off when he appeared before the Lord. Six months after this, the Tabernacle was built and consecrated with all its accessories with sacred oil. Aaron and his sons were appointed to serve in the Tabernacle, and soon the entire tribe of Levi was separated to help them (,). Finally, on the twentieth day of the second month of the second year, a cloud rose from the Tabernacle, and the Jews moved on their further journey, staying at Mount Sinai for about a year (). Their further wandering was accompanied by numerous temptations, grumbling, cowardice and the death of the people, but at the same time it represented a continuous series of miracles and mercy of the Lord towards His chosen people. So, for example, in the Paran desert the people grumbled about the lack of meat and fish: Now our soul is languishing; there is nothing, only manna in our eyes , they said reproachfully to Moses. As punishment for this, part of the camp was destroyed by fire sent from God. But this did little to enlighten the dissatisfied. Soon they began to neglect manna and demanded meat food for themselves. Then the Lord raised up a strong wind, which brought huge numbers of quails from the sea. The people rushed greedily to collect quails, collected them day and night and ate until they were satiated. But this whim and satiety was the cause of the death of many of them, and the place where many people died from a terrible plague was called the tombs of lust, or whim. In the next camp, Moses experienced trouble from his own relatives, Aaron and Miriam, but God exalted him as his faithful servant throughout His entire House (). Continuing their journey further, the Jews approached the Promised Land and could soon have taken possession of it if their unbelief and cowardice had not prevented this. In the desert of Paran, in Kadesh, the most outrageous murmur occurred when from 12 spies sent to inspect the Promised Land, the Jews heard about the great power, the great growth of the inhabitants of that land and its fortified cities. With this indignation, they wanted to stone even Moses himself and Aaron with two of the spies and choose a new leader for themselves to return to Egypt. Then the Lord condemned them for this to a 40-year wandering, so that all of them had to die in the desert for over 20 years, except for Joshua and Caleb (). Then followed a new indignation of Korah, Dathan and Abiron against Moses and Aaron himself, punished by the Lord with terrible executions, and the priesthood was again confirmed for the house of Aaron (,). The Jews wandered through the desert for more than thirty years, and almost all those who left Egypt died. With the onset of the fortieth year after leaving Egypt, they appear in Kadesh, in the desert of Sin on the border of the land of Idumea. Here, due to the lack of water, the people again grumbled against Moses and Aaron, who turned to the Lord in prayer. The Lord heeded the prayer and ordered Moses and Aaron to gather the community and, with a rod in their hands, command the rock to give water. Moses struck the rock twice with his rod, and a lot of water flowed out. But since in this case Moses, as if not trusting one of his words, struck with the rod and acted contrary to the will of God, then for this he and Aaron were condemned to die outside the Promised Land (). On the further journey, Aaron died near Mount Hor, having previously transferred the high priesthood to his son, Eleazar (). At the end of the journey, the people again began to be faint-hearted and grumble. As punishment for this, God sent poisonous snakes against him and, when they repented, he commanded Moses to erect a copper serpent on a tree to heal them (,). Approaching the borders of the Amorites, the Jews defeated Sihon, c. Amorite, and Og, c. Bashan, and, having occupied their lands, they set up their camp against Jericho. For the fornication with the daughters of Moab and the idolatry in which the Jews were involved by the Moabites and Midianites, 24,000 of them died, and others were hanged by the command of God. Finally, since Moses himself, like Aaron, was not worthy to enter the Promised Land, he asked the Lord to show him a worthy successor, which is why a successor was shown to him in the person of Joshua, on whom he laid his hands before Eleazar the priest and before the whole community. own (). Thus, Moses conveyed to him his title in front of all Israel, made orders for the possession and division of the Promised Land, repeated to the people the laws given by God at different times, inspiring them to keep them sacred and touchingly reminding them of the many different benefits of God during their forty-year wandering. He wrote all his admonitions, the repeated law and his final orders in a book and gave it to the priests to keep at the Ark of the Covenant, making it a duty to read it to the people every seventh year on the Feast of Tabernacles. The last time, being called before the Tabernacle, together with his successor, he received a revelation from God about the future ingratitude of the people and conveyed this to him in an accusatory and edifying song. Finally, he was called to Mount Nebo to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, having seen from afar the Promised Land shown to him by the Lord, and died on the mountain at the age of 120. His body was buried in a valley near Bethegor, but no one knows the place of his burial even to this day, says the writer of everyday life (). The people honored his death with thirty days of mourning. The Holy Church commemorates the prophet and seer of God Moses on the 4th day of September. In the book. Deuteronomy, after his death, speaks of him in a prophetic spirit (perhaps this is the word of Moses’ successor, Joshua): And Israel no longer had a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face (). St. Isaiah says that centuries later, during the days of their tribulations, the people of God remembered with reverence before God the times of Moses, when the Lord saved Israel by his hand ( ). The great name of Moses cannot lose its importance for all Christians and for the entire enlightened world: he lives among us in his sacred books, he was the first Divinely inspired writer.

Moses is the greatest of the Old Testament, the founder of Judaism, who led the Jews from Egypt, where they were in slavery, accepted the Ten Commandments from God on Mount Sinai and united the Israelite tribes into a single people.

In Christianity, Moses is considered one of the most important prototypes of Christ: both through Moses the New Testament was revealed to the world, and through Christ the New Testament was revealed.

Then Moses announced to Pharaoh that if he did not release the Israelites, then God would send various “plagues” (misfortunes, disasters) to Egypt. The king did not listen - and the threats of the messenger of God came true.

Ten Plagues and the Establishment of Easter

Pharaoh's refusal to fulfill God's command entails 10 "plagues of Egypt", a series of terrible natural disasters:

However, the executions only embitter the pharaoh even more.

Then the angry Moses came to Pharaoh for the last time and warned: “This is what the Lord says: At midnight I will pass through the middle of Egypt. And every firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh...to the firstborn of the slave girl...and all the firstborn of livestock.” This was the last and most severe 10th plague (Exodus 11:1-10 – Exodus 12:1-36).

Then Moses warned the Jews to slaughter a one-year-old lamb in each family and anoint the doorposts and lintel with its blood: by this blood God will distinguish the homes of the Jews and will not touch them. The lamb was to be roasted over a fire and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Jews must be ready to hit the road immediately.

At night, Egypt suffered a terrible disaster. “And Pharaoh arose by night, he and all his servants, and all Egypt; and there was a great cry in the land of Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not a dead man.”

The shocked Pharaoh immediately summoned Moses and Aaron and ordered them, along with all their people, to go into the desert and make God take pity on the Egyptians.

Since then, Jews every year on the 14th day of the month of Nissan (the day falling on the full moon of the vernal equinox) Easter holiday. The word "passover" means "to pass by," because the Angel who struck the firstborn passed by Jewish houses.

From now on, Easter will mark the liberation of the People of God and their unity in a sacred meal - a prototype of the Eucharistic Meal.

Exodus. Crossing the Red Sea

That same night, the entire Israeli people left Egypt forever. The Bible indicates the number of those who left was “600 thousand Jews” (not counting women, children and livestock). The Jews did not leave empty-handed: before fleeing, Moses ordered them to ask their Egyptian neighbors for gold and silver items, as well as rich clothes. They also took with them the mummy of Joseph, which Moses searched for for three days while his fellow tribesmen collected property from the Egyptians. God himself led them, being in a pillar of cloud during the day and in a pillar of fire at night, so the fugitives walked day and night until they reached the seashore.

Meanwhile, Pharaoh realized that the Jews had deceived him and rushed after them. Six hundred war chariots and selected Egyptian cavalry quickly overtook the fugitives. There seemed to be no escape. Jews - men, women, children, old people - crowded on the seashore, preparing for inevitable death. Only Moses was calm. At the command of God, he extended his hand to the sea, struck the water with his staff, and the sea parted, clearing the way. The Israelites walked along the bottom of the sea, and the waters of the sea stood like a wall to their right and left.

Seeing this, the Egyptians chased the Jews along the bottom of the sea. Pharaoh's chariots were already in the middle of the sea when the bottom suddenly became so viscous that they could hardly move. Meanwhile, the Israelis made it to the opposite bank. The Egyptian warriors realized that things were bad and decided to turn back, but it was too late: Moses again extended his hand to the sea, and it closed over Pharaoh’s army...

The crossing of the Red (now Red) Sea, accomplished in the face of imminent mortal danger, becomes the culmination of a saving miracle. The waters separated the rescued from the “house of slavery.” Therefore, the transition became a prototype of the sacrament of baptism. A new passage through water is also a path to freedom, but to freedom in Christ. On the seashore, Moses and all the people, including his sister Miriam, solemnly sang a song of thanksgiving to God. “I sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; he threw his horse and rider into the sea..." This solemn song of the Israelis to the Lord underlies the first of the songs that make up the songs sung daily by the Orthodox Church at divine services.

According to biblical tradition, the Israelites lived in Egypt for 430 years. And the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt took place, according to Egyptologists, around 1250 BC. However, according to the traditional point of view, the Exodus occurred in the 15th century. BC e., 480 years (~5 centuries) before the construction of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem began (1 Kings 6:1). There are a significant number of alternative theories of the chronology of the Exodus, consistent to varying degrees with both religious and modern archaeological perspectives.

The road to the Promised Land ran through the harsh and vast Arabian Desert. At first they walked for 3 days through the desert of Sur and found no water except bitter water (Merrah) (Ex. 15:22-26), but God sweetened this water by commanding Moses to throw a piece of some special tree into the water.

Soon, having reached the Sin desert, the people began to grumble from hunger, remembering Egypt, when they “sat by the cauldrons of meat and ate bread to their fill!” And God heard them and sent them from heaven manna from heaven(Ex. 16).

One morning, when they woke up, they saw that the entire desert was covered with something white, like frost. We began to look: the white coating turned out to be small grains, similar to hail or grass seeds. In response to the surprised exclamations, Moses said: “This is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.” Adults and children rushed to gather manna and bake bread. From then on, every morning for 40 years they found manna from heaven and ate it.

The collection of manna took place in the morning, since by noon it melted under the rays of the sun. “The manna was like coriander seed, the appearance of bdellium.”(Num. 11:7). According to Talmudic literature, when eating manna, young men felt the taste of bread, old people - the taste of honey, children - the taste of oil.

In Rephidim, Moses, at the command of God, brought water out of the rock of Mount Horeb, striking it with his rod.

Here the Jews were attacked by a wild tribe of Amalekites, but were defeated by the prayer of Moses, who during the battle prayed on the mountain, raising his hands to God (Ex. 17).

In the 3rd month after leaving Egypt, the Israelites approached Mount Sinai and camped opposite the mountain. Moses first ascended the mountain, and God warned him that he would appear before the people on the third day.

And then this day came. The phenomenon in Sinai was accompanied by terrible phenomena: clouds, smoke, lightning, thunder, flames, earthquakes, and the sound of a trumpet. This communication lasted 40 days, and God gave Moses two tablets - stone tables on which the Law was written.

1. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; Let you have no other gods before Me.

2. Do not make for yourself an idol or any image of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth below, or that is in the water below the earth; You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I am the Lord your God. God is jealous, punishing the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, and showing mercy to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep mine.

3. Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave without punishment the one who takes His name in vain.

4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy; six days thou shalt work, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is a Sabbath unto the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, neither thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor yours, nor your donkey, nor any of your livestock, nor the stranger who is in your gates; For in six days the Lord created heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them, and rested on the seventh day; Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it.

5. Honor your father and your mother, (so that it may go well with you and) so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

6. Don't kill.

7. Do not commit adultery.

8. Don't steal.

9. Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house; Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his field, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor (any of his livestock), nor anything that is thy neighbor's.

The law that was given to ancient Israel by God had several purposes. First, he asserted public order and justice. Secondly, he singled out the Jewish people as a special religious community professing monotheism. Thirdly, he had to make an internal change in a person, morally improve a person, bring a person closer to God through instilling in a person the love of God. Finally, the law of the Old Testament prepared humanity for the adoption of the Christian faith in the future.

The Decalogue (ten commandments) formed the basis of the moral code of all cultural humanity.

In addition to the Ten Commandments, God dictated laws to Moses that outlined how the people of Israel should live. Thus the Children of Israel became a people - Jews.

The Wrath of Moses. Establishment of the tabernacle of the covenant.

Moses ascended Mount Sinai twice, remaining there for 40 days. During his first absence the people sinned terribly. The wait seemed too long to them and they demanded that Aaron make them a god who led them out of Egypt. Frightened by their unbridledness, he collected gold earrings and made a golden calf, in front of which the Jews began to serve and have fun.

Coming down from the mountain, Moses in anger broke the Tablets and destroyed the calf.

Moses severely punished the people for their apostasy, killing about 3 thousand people, but asked God not to punish them. God had mercy and showed him His glory, showing him a chasm in which he could see God from behind, because it is impossible for man to see His face.

After that, again for 40 days, he returned to the mountain and prayed to God for the forgiveness of the people. Here, on the mountain, he received instructions about the construction of the Tabernacle, the laws of worship and the establishment of the priesthood. It is believed that the book of Exodus lists the commandments on the first broken tablets, and Deuteronomy lists what was written the second time. From there he returned with God's face illuminated by the light and was forced to hide his face under a veil so that the people would not go blind.

Six months later, the Tabernacle was built and consecrated - a large, richly decorated tent. Inside the tabernacle stood the Ark of the Covenant - a wooden chest lined with gold with images of cherubim on top. In the ark lay the tablets of the covenant brought by Moses, a golden container with manna, and Aaron’s rod that flourished.

To prevent disputes about who should have the right of the priesthood, God commanded that a staff be taken from each of the twelve leaders of the tribes of Israel and placed in the tabernacle, promising that the staff of the one He had chosen would blossom. The next day Moses found that Aaron's rod had produced flowers and brought almonds. Then Moses laid Aaron's rod before the ark of the covenant for safekeeping, as a testimony to future generations of the Divine election of Aaron and his descendants to the priesthood.

Moses' brother, Aaron, was ordained high priest, and other members of the tribe of Levi were ordained priests and "Levites" (in our language - deacons). From this time on, the Jews began to perform regular religious services and animal sacrifices.

End of wandering. Death of Moses.

For another 40 years Moses led his people to the promised land - Canaan. At the end of the journey, the people again began to be faint-hearted and grumble. As punishment, God sent poisonous snakes, and when they repented, he commanded Moses to erect a copper image of a serpent on a pole so that everyone who looked at it with faith would remain unharmed. The serpent lifted up in the desert, as St. Gregory of Nyssa - is the sign of the sacrament of the cross.

Despite great difficulties, the prophet Moses remained a faithful servant of the Lord God until the end of his life. He led, taught and mentored his people. He arranged their future, but did not enter the Promised Land because of the lack of faith shown by him and his brother Aaron at the waters of Meribah in Kadesh. Moses struck the rock twice with his rod, and water flowed from the stone, although once was enough - and God became angry and declared that neither he nor his brother Aaron would enter the Promised Land.

By nature, Moses was impatient and prone to anger, but through Divine education he became so humble that he became “the meekest of all people on earth.” In all his deeds and thoughts, he was guided by faith in the Almighty. In a sense, the fate of Moses is similar to the fate of the Old Testament itself, which through the desert of paganism brought the people of Israel to the New Testament and froze on its threshold. Moses died at the end of forty years of wandering on the top of Mount Nebo, from which he could see from a distance the promised land - Palestine. God told him: “This is the land that I swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob... I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not enter it.”

He was 120 years old, but neither his vision was dull nor his strength exhausted. He spent 40 years in the palace of the Egyptian pharaoh, another 40 with flocks of sheep in the land of Midian, and the last 40 wandering at the head of the Israeli people in the Sinai desert. The Israelites commemorated the death of Moses with 30 days of mourning. His grave was hidden by God so that the Israeli people, who were inclined at that time towards paganism, would not make a cult out of it.

After Moses, the Jewish people, spiritually renewed in the desert, were led by his disciple, who led the Jews to the Promised Land. For forty years of wandering, not a single person remained alive who came out of Egypt with Moses, and who doubted God and worshiped the golden calf at Horeb. In this way, a truly new people was created, living according to the law given by God at Sinai.

Moses was also the first inspired writer. According to legend, he is the author of the books of the Bible - the Pentateuch as part of the Old Testament. Psalm 89, “The Prayer of Moses, the Man of God,” is also attributed to Moses.

Troparion of the Prophet Moses, voice 2:

In memory of Your prophet Moses, O Lord, we celebrate, / so we pray to You // save our souls.

Troparion of the Prophet Moses the Seer of God, voice 2:

You have risen to the heights of virtues, the prophet Moses:/ and for this reason you have been honored to see the glory of God,/ you have received the tablets of the gracious law,/ and you have carried the marks of grace within yourself,/ and you have been the honest praise of the prophets,/ and piety is a great sacrament.

Kontakion of the Prophet Moses, voice 2:

The prophetic face with Moses and Aaron/ is rejoicing today with joy,/ for the end of their prophecy has been fulfilled on us:/ today the Cross shines, with which you saved us;// through those prayers, O Christ God, have mercy on us.

Moses is the greatest Old Testament prophet, the founder of Judaism, who led the Jews from Egypt, where they were in slavery, accepted the Ten Commandments from God on Mount Sinai and united the Israeli tribes into a single people.

In Christianity, Moses is considered one of the most important prototypes of Christ: just as through Moses the Old Testament was revealed to the world, so through Christ the New Testament was revealed.

The name "Moses" (in Hebrew Mosheʹ) is believed to be of Egyptian origin and means "child". According to other instructions - “recovered or rescued from the water” (this name was given to him by the Egyptian princess who found him on the river bank).

The four books of the Pentateuch (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), which make up the epic of the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt, are dedicated to his life and work.

Birth of Moses

According to the biblical account, Moses was born in Egypt into a Jewish family during the time when the Jews were enslaved by the Egyptians, around 1570 BC (other estimates around 1250 BC). Moses' parents belonged to the tribe of Levi 1 (Ex. 2:1). His older sister was Miriam and his older brother was Aaron (the first of the Jewish high priests, the ancestor of the priestly caste).

1 Levi- the third son of Jacob (Israel) from his wife Leah (Gen. 29:34). The descendants of the tribe of Levi are the Levites, who were responsible for the priesthood. Since of all the tribes of Israel the Levites were the only tribe not endowed with land, they were dependent on their fellows.

As you know, the Israelis moved to Egypt during the lifetime of Jacob-Israel 2 (XVII century BC), fleeing famine. They lived in the eastern Egyptian region of Goshen, bordering the Sinai Peninsula and watered by a tributary of the Nile River. Here they had extensive pastures for their herds and could roam freely around the country.

2 Jacob,orYakov (Israel) - the third of the biblical patriarchs, the youngest of the twin sons of the patriarch Isaac and Rebekah. From his sons came the 12 tribes of the people of Israel. In rabbinic literature, Jacob is seen as a symbol of the Jewish people.

Over time, the Israelites multiplied more and more, and the more they multiplied, the more hostile the Egyptians were towards them. Eventually there were so many Jews that it began to inspire fear in the new pharaoh. He told his people: “The Israeli tribe is multiplying and can become stronger than us. If we have a war with another state, the Israelis can unite with our enemies.” To prevent the Israelite tribe from strengthening, it was decided to turn it into slavery. The pharaohs and their officials began to oppress the Israelites as strangers, and then began to treat them as a conquered tribe, like masters and slaves. The Egyptians began to force the Israelites to do the most difficult work for the benefit of the state: they were forced to dig the ground, build cities, palaces and monuments for kings, and prepare clay and bricks for these buildings. Special guards were appointed who strictly monitored the execution of all these forced labors.

But no matter how the Israelites were oppressed, they still continued to multiply. Then Pharaoh gave the order that all newborn Israeli boys should be drowned in the river, and only girls should be left alive. This order was carried out with merciless severity. The people of Israel were in danger of complete extermination.

During this time of trouble, a son was born to Amram and Jochebed, from the tribe of Levi. He was so beautiful that light emanated from him. The father of the holy prophet Amram had a vision that spoke of the great mission of this baby and of God's favor towards him. Moses' mother Jochebed managed to hide the baby in her home for three months. However, no longer able to hide him, she left the baby in a tarred reed basket in the thickets on the banks of the Nile.

Moses being lowered by his mother onto the waters of the Nile. A.V. Tyranov. 1839-42

At this time, Pharaoh's daughter went to the river to swim, accompanied by her servants. Seeing a basket among the reeds, she ordered it to be opened. A tiny boy lay in the basket and cried. Pharaoh's daughter said, "This must be one of the Hebrew children." She took pity on the crying baby and, on the advice of Moses’ sister Miriam, who approached her and was watching what was happening from afar, agreed to call the Israeli nurse. Miriam brought her mother Jochebed. Thus, Moses was given to his mother, who nursed him. When the boy grew up, he was brought to Pharaoh's daughter, and she raised him as her son (Ex. 2:10). Pharaoh's daughter gave him the name Moses, which means "taken out of the water."

There are suggestions that this good princess was Hatshepsut, daughter of Thothmes I, later the famous and only female pharaoh in the history of Egypt.

The childhood and youth of Moses. Flight into the desert.

Moses spent the first 40 years of his life in Egypt, raised in the palace as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Here he received an excellent education and was initiated into “all the wisdom of Egypt,” that is, into all the secrets of the religious and political worldview of Egypt. Tradition says that he served as commander of the Egyptian army and helped the pharaoh defeat the Ethiopians who attacked him.

Although Moses grew up free, he never forgot his Jewish roots. One day he wanted to see how his fellow tribesmen lived. Seeing an Egyptian overseer beating one of the Israelite slaves, Moses stood up for the defenseless and, in a fit of rage, accidentally killed the overseer. Pharaoh found out about this and wanted to punish Moses. The only way to escape was to escape. And Moses fled from Egypt to the Sinai desert, which is near the Red Sea, between Egypt and Canaan. He settled in the land of Midian (Ex. 2:15), located on the Sinai Peninsula, with the priest Jethro (another name is Raguel), where he became a shepherd. Moses soon married Jethro's daughter, Zipporah, and became a member of this peaceful shepherd family. So another 40 years passed.

Calling of Moses

One day Moses was tending a flock and went far into the desert. He approached Mount Horeb (Sinai), and here a wondrous vision appeared to him. He saw a thick thorn bush, which was engulfed in a bright flame and was burning, but still did not burn out.

The thorn bush or “Burning Bush” is a prototype of God-manhood and the Mother of God and symbolizes the contact of God with a created being

God said that He chose Moses to save the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. Moses had to go to Pharaoh and demand that he release the Jews. As a sign that the time has come for a new, more complete Revelation, He proclaims His Name to Moses: "I Am Who I Am"(Ex.3:14) . He sends Moses to demand, on behalf of the God of Israel, to release the people from the “house of slavery.” But Moses is aware of his weakness: he is not ready for a feat, he is deprived of the gift of speech, he is sure that neither Pharaoh nor the people will believe him. Only after persistent repetition of the call and signs does he agree. God said that Moses in Egypt had a brother Aaron, who, if necessary, would speak in his place, and God himself would teach both what to do. To convince unbelievers, God gives Moses the ability to perform miracles. Immediately, by His order, Moses threw his rod (shepherd's stick) to the ground - and suddenly this rod turned into a snake. Moses caught the snake by the tail - and again there was a stick in his hand. Another miracle: when Moses put his hand in his bosom and took it out, it became white from leprosy like snow, when he put his hand in his bosom again and took it out, it became healthy. “If they don’t believe this miracle,- said the Lord, - then take water from the river and pour it on the dry land, and the water will become blood on the dry land.”

Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh

Obeying God, Moses set out on the road. On the way, he met his brother Aaron, whom God ordered to go out into the desert to meet Moses, and they came together to Egypt. Moses was already 80 years old, no one remembered him. The daughter of the former pharaoh, the adoptive mother of Moses, also died long ago.

First of all, Moses and Aaron came to the people of Israel. Aaron told his fellow tribesmen that God would lead the Jews out of slavery and give them a land flowing with milk and honey. However, they did not immediately believe him. They were afraid of Pharaoh's revenge, they were afraid of the path through the waterless desert. Moses performed several miracles, and the people of Israel believed in him and that the hour of liberation from slavery had come. Nevertheless, the murmur against the prophet, which began even before the exodus, then flared up repeatedly. Like Adam, who was free to submit to or reject the higher Will, the newly created people of God experienced temptations and failures.

After this, Moses and Aron appeared to Pharaoh and declared to him the will of the God of Israel, so that he would release the Jews into the desert to serve this God: “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Let My people go, that they may celebrate a feast for Me in the wilderness.” But Pharaoh answered angrily: “Who is the Lord that I should listen to him? I don’t know the Lord and I won’t let the Israelites go.”(Ex.5:1-2)

Then Moses announced to Pharaoh that if he did not release the Israelites, then God would send various “plagues” (misfortunes, disasters) to Egypt. The king did not listen - and the threats of the messenger of God came true.

Ten Plagues and the Establishment of Easter

Pharaoh's refusal to fulfill God's command entails 10 "plagues of Egypt" , a series of terrible natural disasters:

However, the executions only embitter the pharaoh even more.

Then the angry Moses came to Pharaoh for the last time and warned: “This is what the Lord says: At midnight I will pass through the middle of Egypt. And every firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh...to the firstborn of the slave girl...and all the firstborn of livestock.” This was the last and most severe 10th plague (Exodus 11:1-10 - Exodus 12:1-36).

Then Moses warned the Jews to slaughter a one-year-old lamb in each family and anoint the doorposts and lintel with its blood: by this blood God will distinguish the homes of the Jews and will not touch them. The lamb was to be roasted over a fire and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Jews must be ready to hit the road immediately.

At night, Egypt suffered a terrible disaster. “And Pharaoh arose by night, he and all his servants, and all Egypt; and there was a great cry in the land of Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not a dead man.”

The shocked Pharaoh immediately summoned Moses and Aaron and ordered them, along with all their people, to go into the desert and perform worship so that God would take pity on the Egyptians.

Since then, Jews every year on the 14th day of the month of Nissan (the day falling on the full moon of the vernal equinox) Easter holiday . The word "passover" means "to pass by," because the angel who struck the firstborn passed by Jewish houses.

From now on, Easter will mark the liberation of the People of God and their unity in a sacred meal - a prototype of the Eucharistic Meal.

Exodus. Crossing the Red Sea.

That same night, the entire Israeli people left Egypt forever. The Bible indicates the number of those who left was “600 thousand Jews” (not counting women, children and livestock). The Jews did not leave empty-handed: before fleeing, Moses ordered them to ask their Egyptian neighbors for gold and silver items, as well as rich clothes. They also took with them the mummy of Joseph, which Moses searched for for three days while his fellow tribesmen collected property from the Egyptians. God himself led them, being in a pillar of cloud during the day and in a pillar of fire at night, so the fugitives walked day and night until they reached the seashore.

Meanwhile, Pharaoh realized that the Jews had deceived him and rushed after them. Six hundred war chariots and selected Egyptian cavalry quickly overtook the fugitives. There seemed to be no escape. Jews - men, women, children, old people - crowded on the seashore, preparing for inevitable death. Only Moses was calm. At the command of God, he extended his hand to the sea, struck the water with his staff, and the sea parted, clearing the way. The Israelites walked along the bottom of the sea, and the waters of the sea stood like a wall to their right and left.

Seeing this, the Egyptians chased the Jews along the bottom of the sea. Pharaoh's chariots were already in the middle of the sea when the bottom suddenly became so viscous that they could hardly move. Meanwhile, the Israelis made it to the opposite bank. The Egyptian warriors realized that things were bad and decided to turn back, but it was too late: Moses again extended his hand to the sea, and it closed over Pharaoh’s army...

The crossing of the Red (now Red) Sea, accomplished in the face of imminent mortal danger, becomes the culmination of a saving miracle. The waters separated the rescued from the “house of slavery.” Therefore, the transition became a prototype of the sacrament of baptism. A new passage through water is also a path to freedom, but to freedom in Christ. On the seashore, Moses and all the people, including his sister Miriam, solemnly sang a song of thanksgiving to God. “I sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; he threw his horse and rider into the sea..." This solemn song of the Israelis to the Lord underlies the first of the nine sacred songs that make up the canon of songs sung daily by the Orthodox Church in worship.

According to biblical tradition, the Israelites lived in Egypt for 430 years. And the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt took place, according to Egyptologists, around 1250 BC. However, according to the traditional point of view, the Exodus occurred in the 15th century. BC e., 480 years (~5 centuries) before the construction of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem began (1 Kings 6:1). There are a significant number of alternative theories of the chronology of the Exodus, consistent to varying degrees with both religious and modern archaeological perspectives.

Miracles of Moses

The road to the Promised Land ran through the harsh and vast Arabian Desert. First, they walked for 3 days through the desert of Sur and found no water except bitter water (Merrah) (Exodus 15:22-26), but God sweetened this water by commanding Moses to throw a piece of some special tree into the water.

Soon, having reached the Sin desert, the people began to grumble from hunger, remembering Egypt, when they “sat by the cauldrons of meat and ate bread to their fill!” And God heard them and sent them from heaven manna from heaven (Ex. 16).

One morning, when they woke up, they saw that the entire desert was covered with something white, like frost. We began to look: the white coating turned out to be small grains, similar to hail or grass seeds. In response to the surprised exclamations, Moses said: “This is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.” Adults and children rushed to gather manna and bake bread. From then on, every morning for 40 years they found manna from heaven and ate it.

Manna from heaven

The collection of manna took place in the morning, since by noon it melted under the rays of the sun. “The manna was like coriander seed, the appearance of bdellium.”(Num. 11:7). According to Talmudic literature, when eating manna, young men felt the taste of bread, old men - the taste of honey, children - the taste of oil.

In Rephidim, Moses, at the command of God, brought water out of the rock of Mount Horeb, striking it with his rod.

Here the Jews were attacked by a wild tribe of Amalekites, but were defeated by the prayer of Moses, who during the battle prayed on the mountain, raising his hands to God (Ex. 17).

Sinai Covenant and 10 Commandments

In the 3rd month after leaving Egypt, the Israelites approached Mount Sinai and camped opposite the mountain. Moses first ascended the mountain, and God warned him that he would appear before the people on the third day.

And then this day came. The phenomenon in Sinai was accompanied by terrible phenomena: clouds, smoke, lightning, thunder, flames, earthquakes, and the sound of a trumpet. This communication lasted 40 days, and God gave Moses two tablets - stone tablets on which the Law was written.

1. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; Let you have no other gods before Me.

2. Do not make for yourself an idol or any image of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth below, or that is in the water below the earth; You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I am the Lord your God. God is jealous, punishing the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, and showing mercy to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

3. Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave without punishment the one who takes His name in vain.

4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy; six days thou shalt work, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is a Sabbath unto the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, neither thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor yours, nor your donkey, nor any of your livestock, nor the stranger who is in your gates; For in six days the Lord created heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them, and rested on the seventh day; Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it.

5. Honor your father and your mother, (so that it may go well with you and) so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

6. Don't kill.

7. Do not commit adultery.

8. Don't steal.

9. Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house; Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his field, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor (any of his livestock), nor anything that is thy neighbor's.

The law that was given to ancient Israel by God had several purposes. First, he asserted public order and justice. Secondly, he singled out the Jewish people as a special religious community professing monotheism. Thirdly, he had to make an internal change in a person, morally improve a person, bring a person closer to God through instilling in a person the love of God. Finally, the law of the Old Testament prepared humanity for the adoption of the Christian faith in the future.

The Decalogue (ten commandments) formed the basis of the moral code of all cultural humanity.

In addition to the Ten Commandments, God dictated laws to Moses that outlined how the people of Israel should live. Thus the Children of Israel became a people - Jews .

The Wrath of Moses. Establishment of the tabernacle of the covenant.

Moses ascended Mount Sinai twice, remaining there for 40 days. During his first absence the people sinned terribly. The wait seemed too long to them and they demanded that Aaron make them a god who led them out of Egypt. Frightened by their unbridledness, he collected gold earrings and made a golden calf, in front of which the Jews began to serve and have fun.

Coming down from the mountain, Moses in anger broke the Tablets and destroyed the calf.

Moses breaks the tablets of the Law

Moses severely punished the people for their apostasy, killing about 3 thousand people, but asked God not to punish them. God had mercy and showed him His glory, showing him a chasm in which he could see God from behind, because it is impossible for man to see His face.

After that, again for 40 days, he returned to the mountain and prayed to God for the forgiveness of the people. Here, on the mountain, he received instructions about the construction of the Tabernacle, the laws of worship and the establishment of the priesthood.It is believed that the book of Exodus lists the commandments on the first broken tablets, and Deuteronomy lists what was written the second time. From there he returned with God's face illuminated by the light and was forced to hide his face under a veil so that the people would not go blind.

Six months later, the Tabernacle was built and consecrated - a large, richly decorated tent. Inside the tabernacle stood the Ark of the Covenant - a wooden chest lined with gold with images of cherubim on top. In the ark lay the tablets of the covenant brought by Moses, a golden container with manna, and Aaron’s rod that flourished.

Tabernacle

To prevent disputes about who should have the right of the priesthood, God commanded that a staff be taken from each of the twelve leaders of the tribes of Israel and placed in the tabernacle, promising that the staff of the one He had chosen would blossom. The next day Moses found that Aaron's rod had produced flowers and brought almonds. Then Moses laid Aaron's rod before the ark of the covenant for safekeeping, as a testimony to future generations of the Divine election of Aaron and his descendants to the priesthood.

Moses' brother, Aaron, was ordained high priest, and other members of the tribe of Levi were ordained priests and "Levites" (in our opinion, deacons). From this time on, the Jews began to perform regular religious services and animal sacrifices.

End of wandering. Death of Moses.

For another 40 years Moses led his people to the promised land - Canaan. At the end of the journey, the people again began to be faint-hearted and grumble. As punishment, God sent poisonous snakes, and when they repented, he commanded Moses to erect a copper image of a serpent on a pole so that everyone who looked at it with faith would remain unharmed. The serpent lifted up in the desert, as St. Gregory of Nyssa - is the sign of the sacrament of the cross.

Despite great difficulties, the prophet Moses remained a faithful servant of the Lord God until the end of his life. He led, taught and mentored his people. He arranged their future, but did not enter the Promised Land because of the lack of faith shown by him and his brother Aaron at the waters of Meribah in Kadesh. Moses struck the rock twice with his rod, and water flowed out of the rock, although once was enough - and God became angry and declared that neither he nor his brother Aaron would enter the Promised Land.

By nature, Moses was impatient and prone to anger, but through Divine education he became so humble that he became “the meekest of all people on earth.” In all his deeds and thoughts, he was guided by faith in the Almighty. In a sense, the fate of Moses is similar to the fate of the Old Testament itself, which through the desert of paganism brought the people of Israel to the New Testament and froze on its threshold. Moses died at the end of forty years of wandering on the top of Mount Nebo, from which he could see the promised land from afar - Palestine. God told him: “This is the land that I swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob... I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not enter it.”

He was 120 years old, but neither his vision was dull nor his strength exhausted. He spent 40 years in the palace of the Egyptian pharaoh, another 40 with flocks of sheep in the land of Midian, and the last 40 wandering at the head of the Israeli people in the Sinai desert. The Israelites commemorated the death of Moses with 30 days of mourning. His grave was hidden by God so that the Israeli people, who were inclined at that time towards paganism, would not make a cult out of it.

After Moses, the Jewish people, spiritually renewed in the desert, were led by his disciple, who led the Jews to the Promised Land. For forty years of wandering, not a single person remained alive who came out of Egypt with Moses, and who doubted God and worshiped the golden calf at Horeb. In this way, a truly new people was created, living according to the law given by God at Sinai.

Moses was also the first inspired writer. According to legend, he is the author of the books of the Bible - the Pentateuch as part of the Old Testament. Psalm 89, “The Prayer of Moses, the Man of God,” is also attributed to Moses.

Svetlana Finogenova