Exodus from Egypt and wandering in the wilderness (1400 BC)
The call of Moses took place on Mount Horeb. God's commission was very responsible. Moses tried to refuse, referring to the fact that he did not have the ability to speak. But after the Lord revealed His Name to him, after the blood of glorified ancestors jumped in him, Moses took over this ministry and went to Egypt.
Moses was not sure that the people would listen to him, remembering the hatred towards him as an Egyptian nobleman. Moses was not sure that his half-brother, the pharaoh of Egypt, would listen to him and let such a large people go. After all, over 430 years spent in Egypt, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob reached the number of 600 thousand men aged 20 to 60 years. In total there were more than 2 million of them. But only one family of Jacob out of seventy people moved to Egypt.
Torn apart by contradictions, but led by the Lord, Moses entered Thebes, the throne city of the pharaoh. At an audience with the pharaoh, he experienced ridicule from the Magi, the exasperation of the pharaoh and the hatred that followed from the people as a result of the tightening of oppression.
But be that as it may, the Hand of the Lord prevailed over Egypt. The first plague followed - all the water in Egypt turned into blood. It was followed by the second execution - toads. All the dwellings of the Egyptians were filled with croaking slippery abominations. Pharaoh asked Moses to take the punishment away from Egypt and promised to release the people of Israel to worship in the wilderness. But every time, as soon as the execution was over, he deceived Moses. So passed more disasters: dog flies, pestilence, boils on the bodies of the Egyptians and hail, the invasion of locusts and pitch darkness that enveloped Egypt. The pharaoh persisted. Moses, guided by the Lord, did not give up.
And again Pharaoh bargains with Moses, again a stream of lies. The patience of the Lord has come to an end. Through Moses, the Lord commands that a lamb be slaughtered in every family and smeared with its blood on the door-sills. During the next night, none of the Israelis left their homes. The time has come for the tenth plague.
The angel of the Lord struck down the Egyptians, who were the firstborn in their families. Thousands of women were crying in the streets of Egypt. Weeping was heard in the palace of the pharaoh. His eldest son, heir to the throne, has died.
Frustrated with grief, Pharaoh calls Moses and orders all the Israelites to leave Egypt as quickly as possible. The descendants of Abraham are ready. They immediately leave the Egyptian cities and rush towards the Red Sea, through the desert.
A lot of Israelites gathered on a small patch of land. They are euphoric and confused at the same time. They are waiting for the full collection, waiting for the next action of Moses. Moses, by the command of God, delays. And so, in the distance appeared the vanguard of the army of the pharaoh.
Pharaoh changed his mind again. He could not accept the loss of so many slaves. He sent an army to return some of the slaves, and destroy some of them, along with his half-brother.
Seeing the vanguard, the Israelites were frightened and began to grumble against Moses. They found themselves between the sea and the Pharaoh's army. There seemed to be no escape. At that moment, Moses raised his staff and prayed to the Lord. He hit the water and the sea began to part, driven by a strong wind.
Only after the last Israelite, who entered the pit, did Moses go. Meanwhile, the army of the pharaoh approached the failure and began to pursue the fugitives. Moses was the last to reach safety and lowered his staff. The wind died down and the sea closed over the Pharaoh's army.
So the Lord brought his people out of slavery, which lasted 430 years. The people carried the remains of Jacob and Joseph to be buried in the Promised Land.
At the third biblical patriarch Jacob the Jewish people moved to Egypt, where they spent about 400 years in enslavement. The prophet Moses was destined to lead the people out of Egyptian captivity. Thus began the exodus from Egypt, which resulted in the consolidation of the Jewish people, and he came to the Promised Land, where the ancient kingdom of Israel was formed. Moses himself died on the threshold of the Promised Land on Mount Nebo (Nebo). The Old Testament story of the miraculous salvation of Moses at birth and the story of the Exodus includes many bright events that served as a source of inspiration for Russian artists.
Moses
Moses is the first prophet of Yahweh, the leader and legislator of the Jewish tribes, the author of the first five books of the Bible. The events described in the Pentateuch are attributed by historians to approximately 1300-1200. BC e. Moses, brother of Aaron, was born in Egypt, the country in which the descendants of the forefather Jacob settled. Frightened by the growth in the number of Jews in Egypt, the pharaoh ordered all newborn male babies to be drowned in the Nile. The plot of the fine arts "Finding of Moses" is connected with this. When Moses was born, his mother took a basket, put the baby in it and, to save his life, hid the basket in the reeds near the river. Pharaoh's daughter came to the river to bathe, found the baby and took pity on him. She told him to pick up a wet nurse (who turned out to be Moses' mother). And Moses was with Pharaoh's daughter "instead of a son, and she called his name Moses, because, she said, I took him out of the water" (Ex. 2:1-10).
Moses later had to flee Egypt (he killed an Egyptian overseer who was beating a Jew).
Years later, when Moses was tending sheep near Mount Horeb in Sinai, he heard a voice from a burning bush that burns and does not burn. The voice informed Moses of his mission. Obeying the command of Yahweh, Moses returns to Egypt, appears before the pharaoh and demands to release his people. Pharaoh refuses to do so. Then the almighty Yahweh, through Moses and his brother Aaron, sent a punishment on Egypt - "the plagues of Egypt." Before the eyes of the astonished pharaoh, Aaron's rod turned into a snake that swallowed the rods of the Egyptian magicians. Then ten "executions" follow: the water in the Nile becomes bloody, undrinkable. Hordes of toads fall on the country (the toad is a symbol of evil, as well as the "revival of evil"). Then midges cling to people, they are bitten by gadflies (“dog flies”), a pestilence begins, purulent abscesses appear in cattle and people, hail falls on the country, then locusts, darkness covers the whole earth (“Egyptian darkness”) and, finally, all over Egypt the firstborn are dying (Ex. 7-12). Then the pharaoh was forced to let the Jews out of Egypt, but after some time he sent a chase after them.
Coming to the shore of the Red Sea, Moses stretched out his hand, and the waters parted. “And the children of Israel went out into the midst of the sea on dry land; and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on left side» (Ex. 14:22). When the Egyptians entered the seabed, at the command of Moses, the water covered them.
Further, it is told that on the way to the Promised Land, the people begin to grumble from hunger and deprivation. Then Yahweh, through Moses, sends to the chosen people manna from heaven (heb. "ma'na?" - "What is this?"), white cereal that fell from the sky every morning. To quench the thirst of the people, Moses struck a rock with his rod, and a spring appeared in this place.
Moses receives from Yahweh on Mount Sinai the tablets of the Law (two stone tablets on which the ten commandments are carved). But while Moses spent forty days and nights on Mount Sinai, the people committed an apostasy, worshiping the golden calf, for which severe punishment followed. For forty years Moses led his people through the wilderness, but he himself was not destined to reach the Promised Land. Moses died at the age of 120.
In later interpretations, Moses is considered a type of Christ. His miraculous salvation on the banks of the Nile is interpreted as a prototype of the salvation of the Holy Family from the massacre of babies. During the battle between the Israelites and the Amalekites, Moses kept his hands up, and while they were uplifted, his people prevailed, but when Moses lowered his hands from fatigue, the Amalekites won. Until the day was over, Aaron and Hor supported the hands of Moses. The exegetes consider the movement of Moses' hands to be a prototype of the Holy Cross. Another plot of the story of Moses is associated with the symbolism of the rod, snake and cross (the plot of the "Bronze Serpent").
There is an apocrypha about the ascension of Moses to heaven (beginning of the 1st century AD).
In the allegories of classical art, the figure of Moses personifies the Law. Moses is portrayed as a gray-bearded old man, in his hands are stone tablets. Two beams of light emanate from its head, resembling small horns. At the turn of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, artists began to depict Moses not with radiance, but with small horns on his head. They can also be seen on the famous statue by Michelangelo in the church of San Pietro in Vincoli ("St. Peter in chains") in Rome. This tradition is associated with an inaccurate translation of the phrase of the ancient Greek text of the book of Exodus: “When Moses descended from Mount Sinai ... his face began to shine with rays because God spoke to him” (Ex. 34:29). AT Latin translation In the Vulgate, instead of “shine with rays”, the word cornutam (lat., horned) is mistakenly used. However, such a tradition of depiction was preserved; later on, the horns on the head of the leader of the Israelites were interpreted as a symbol of wisdom and divine power (compare the nimbus).
Saving baby Moses
A plot from the Old Testament, which tells about the miraculous finding of the baby Moses by the daughter of the Egyptian pharaoh in the reeds of the Nile.
Moses' parents.
Isaac Asknazy. 1891
State Russian Museum
Moses being lowered by his mother into the waters of the Nile.
Tyranov Alexey Vasilyevich (1808-1859). 1839–1842 Canvas, oil. 175.9x197.2 cm
On the plot of the Old Testament (Ex. 2: 1-10)
Moses in the Nile.
E. Plushard (1809-1880). 1840s Oil painting on dry plaster.
Painting attic in the northwestern part St. Isaac's Cathedral
http://www.isaac.spb.ru/photogallery?step=2&id=1125
Finding Moses by Pharaoh's daughter.
Flavitsky Konstantin Dmitrievich
Burning bush
Moses grew up in the royal court and was taught all the wisdom of Egypt. But he knew that he was a Jew and loved his people. One day Moses saw an Egyptian beating a Jew. He stood up for a Jew and killed an Egyptian. Another time, Moses saw a Jew beating another Jew. He wanted to stop him, but he boldly replied: “Don’t you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian ?!” Moses was frightened, seeing that his deed became known. Then Moses fled from Egypt, from Pharaoh to another country, to Arabia, to the land of Midian. He settled with the priest Jethro, married his daughter Zipporah, and shepherded his flocks.
Once Moses went far with the flocks and was at Mount Horeb. There he saw a bush of thorns, which burned and did not burn, that is, it was engulfed in flames, but did not burn itself. Moses decided to come closer and see why the bush was not burning. Then he heard a voice from the middle of the bush: “Moses! Moses! Don't come here; take off your shoes from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."
Moses covered his face because he was afraid to look at God. The Lord said to him: “I saw the suffering of my people in Egypt and heard their cry, and I go to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians and bring them into the land of Canaan. Go to Pharaoh and bring my people out of Egypt." At the same time, God gave Moses the power to perform miracles. And since Moses was tongue-tied, that is, he stuttered, the Lord gave him his brother Aaron to help him, who would speak instead of him.
The bush that did not burn in the fire, which Moses saw when God appeared to him, was called: "Burning Bush." He portrayed the chosen Jewish people, oppressed and not perishing. He was also a type Mother of God Whom the fire of the Divinity of the Son of God did not burn, when He descended through Her from heaven to earth, having been born of Her.
God appears to Moses in the Burning Bush
E. Plushard.
Painting of St. Isaac's Cathedral
http://www.isaac.spb.ru/isaac/ubranstvo/painting
Burning bush.
Mosaic based on the original by V. V. Belyaev.
Church of the Resurrection of Christ (Savior on Spilled Blood), St. Petersburg
Moses and the Burning Bush.
Marc Chagall. 1966 Lithography, paper. 49.7x36.9 cm
Marc Chagall Museum in Nice
Moses in front of the Burning Bush.
Marc Chagall. 1960–66 Canvas, oil.
Marc Chagall Museum in Nice
Moses in the wilderness. Moses plotting his undertaking to deliver the Israelites from the Egyptians.
I.L. Asknazy. 1885
State Tretyakov Gallery
Egyptian executions and the beginning of the Exodus
Moses unquestioningly obeyed the call of the Lord. Together with his brother Aaron, he appeared before the Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and on behalf of Jehovah they asked him to release the Jews from Egypt for three days to offer sacrifices in the wilderness. Pharaoh, as the Lord foretold Moses, denied them this. Then the Lord struck the Egyptians with terrible plagues, of which the last was the beating by an angel in one night of all the firstborn of Egypt. This terrible execution finally broke the stubbornness of the Pharaoh. He allowed the Jews to go out of Egypt into the desert for three days to pray and take their livestock, both small and large. " And the Egyptians urged the people to send them out of that land as soon as possible; for, they said, we will all die". The Jews, having celebrated Easter on the last night, at the command of God, left Egypt in the number of 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 was bequeathed by Joseph. God Himself showed them where to direct their path: He went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire, illuminating their path (Ex 13:21-22). Archimandrite Nikifor. bible encyclopedia
Moses and Aaron before Pharaoh
E. Plushard (1809-1880). 1840s Oil painting on dry plaster
Painting of the attic of the northwestern part of St. Isaac's Cathedral.
http://www.isaac.spb.ru/photogallery?step=2&id=1137
Angel Destroying the Firstborn of Egypt
N. M. Alekseev (1813-1880). 1850 Oil painting on dry plaster.
Painting above the attic in the opening between the windows in the northwestern part of St. Isaac's Cathedral.
http://www.isaac.spb.ru/photogallery?step=2&id=1140
The destruction of the firstborn of Egypt (sketch).
Nikolai Petrovich Lomtev. 1858 Oil on canvas 56 x 69.7.
State Tretyakov Gallery
The angel of death destroys the firstborn of Egypt.
Ilya Efimovich Repin. 1865 Oil on canvas.
Research Museum of the Academy of Arts
Pharaoh asks Moses to lead the Jewish people out of Egypt.
A. A. Ivanov. 1840s-late 1857 Paper, watercolor, whitewash, Italian pencil. 43.6x57.8.
Jews crossing the Red Sea
The Jews, upon leaving Egypt, headed for the Red Sea, or Red Sea. The Egyptians, having buried the dead first-born, began to regret that they had let the Jews go. Pharaoh, having gathered an army with chariots and horsemen, went in pursuit of the Jews. He caught up with them at the seashore. Seeing the formidable hordes of the pharaoh behind them, the Jews were horrified. Instead of asking God for help, they began to grumble at Moses for leading them out of Egypt. Encouraging them, Moses prayed to God in his soul. The Lord heard his prayer. A pillar of cloud stood behind the Jews and hid them from the Egyptians. The Lord said to Moses, "Take your rod, stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it." Moses stretched out his hand with the staff on the sea. And the Lord raised a strong east wind all night, and the waters parted. And the Jews went along the dry bottom, the water was their wall on the right and on the left. Hearing the Jewish movement in the camp, the Egyptians chased the Jews along the bottom of the sea and had already reached the middle of the sea. At this time, the Jews came to the other side. Moses again, at the command of God, stretched out his hand with the rod on the sea. The water of the sea merged and covered the chariots and horsemen of all Pharaoh's army, and drowned the Egyptians.
Then the people of Israel (Jews), with great joy, sang a song of thanksgiving to the Lord God, their Helper and Protector. Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hands, and all the women followed her with tambourines and rejoicing. And Miriam sang before them: "Sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted, He cast his horse and rider into the sea."
The passage of the Jews across the Red Sea, whose waters separated and delivered the Jews from wickedness and Egyptian slavery, prefigured baptism, through which we are freed from the power of the devil and slavery to sin. Law of God by Archpriest Seraphim Slobodsky
Israelites crossing the Red Sea.
N. M. Alekseev (1813-1880). 1848
Oil painting on dry plaster
http://www.isaac.spb.ru/photogallery?step=2&id=1141
A story from the Old Testament. Moses leads the people along the bottom of the Red Sea, the waters of which parted, letting the fugitives pass, and then closed over the army of the pharaoh. The picture is distinguished by a bold diagonal construction, the balance of both parts and the connection with the architectural surface.
Kotarbinsky Wilhelm Alexandrovich (1849 - 1921). Second half of the 19th century. Canvas, oil.
Rybinsk State Historical, Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve
The passage of the Israelis through the Black Sea.
Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (1817-1900). 1873 Oil on canvas. 163x322.
Feodosia Art Gallery. I. K. Aivazovsky
Jews crossing the Red Sea.
Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (1817-1900). 1891 96x160.
USA, Collection K. and E. Sogoyan
Moses' prayer after the Israelites crossed the Red Sea.
Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy (1837-1887). 1861 Oil on canvas. 142.6x105.7.
National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus, Minsk
Mariam singing a song to God.
F. S. Zavyalov (1810-1856). 1850 Oil painting on dry plaster
Painting of the attic of the northwestern part of St. Isaac's Cathedral
http://www.isaac.spb.ru/photogallery?step=2&id=1142
Miracles during the wanderings of the Israelites in the wilderness
During the journey of the Jews from Egypt to the Promised Land, the Lord performed many other miracles. One day the Jews came to a place where the water was bitter. They could not drink it and murmured against Moses. The Lord pointed Moses to a tree. As soon as he put it into the water, the water became sweet.
This tree, which took away the bitterness from the water, was a prototype of the Cross Tree of Christ, which takes away the bitterness of life - sin.
When the Jews left all the bread taken from Egypt, the Lord sent them bread from heaven - manna. It looked like small white grains, or small hail, and tasted like bread with honey. This bread got its name manna because when the Jews saw it for the first time, they asked each other: man-gu (what is it?), Moses answered: “this is the bread that the Lord gave you to eat.” The Jews called this bread manna. Manna covered the ground around the Jewish camp in the morning throughout their journey every day except Saturday.
And when the Jews in the desert came to a place called Rephidim, where there was no water at all, they again began to grumble against Moses. At the command of God, Moses struck a stone rock with his rod, and water flowed from it.
The manna in the desert and the water that flowed from the stone rock, which saved the Israelites from death, represented the true food and drink for us, that is, the Body and Blood of Christ, which the Lord gives us in Holy Communion, saving us from eternal death.
In Rephidim, the Jews were attacked by the desert dwellers, the Amalekites. Moses sent Joshua against them with an army, and he himself, with his brother Aaron and Hor, ascended the nearest mountain and began to pray, raising both hands to heaven (forming a cross). Aaron noticed that when Moses held his hands up, the Jews defeated their enemies, and when he lowered them from fatigue, then the Amalekites defeated the Jews. So Aaron and Horus made Moses sit on a rock with his hands outstretched. And the Jews defeated the Amalekites.
Moses, praying with raised hands, foreshadowed the victorious cross of Christ, by the power of which now believing Christians defeat visible and invisible enemies. Law of God by Archpriest Seraphim Slobodsky
The angel commands to be refreshed with miraculously sent food.
A. A. Ivanov. 1850s
The people collect manna from heaven.
A. A. Ivanov. 1850s 29x24.
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
The people of Israel gather manna and quail
“And the house of Israel called the name of that bread: manna; she was like a coriander seed, white, and tasted like a cake with honey. And Moses said, This is what the Lord commanded: fill [manna] gomorrah to keep for your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt. And Moses said to Aaron, Take one [golden] vessel, and put in it a full gomorrah of manna, and set it before the Lord to be kept for your generations. And Aaron set it before the ark of the testimony to keep, as the Lord commanded Moses. The children of Israel ate manna for forty years, until they came to an inhabited land; they ate the manna until they came to the borders of the land of Canaan. And gomor is a tenth of an ephah” (Ex. 16:35).
In the middle of the second month, at the exodus from Egypt, the Jews, tormented by hunger, murmured against their leaders Moses and Aaron. In response, the Lord promises Moses "bread from heaven." In the morning the surface of the desert was covered with something small, grainy, like frost on the ground.
Gomor is a measure that contained 432 eggshells, that is, exactly as much as is needed to feed a person for one day.
Moses doubts God's promise to feed the people with meat.
A. A. Ivanov. 1850s 24x39.5.
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
Receiving the Tablets of the Covenant at Mount Sinai
Sinai law. From the Red Sea, the Jews all the time walked through the desert. They camped at Mount Sinai (Sinai and Horeb are two peaks of the same mountain). Here Moses ascended the mountain, and the Lord said to him: "So tell the children of Israel: if you obey my voice, you will be my people."
When Moses came down from the mountain, he conveyed the will of God to the people. The Jews answered: "All that the Lord has said, we will do and be obedient." The Lord commanded Moses to prepare the people for the third day to receive the Law of God. The Jews were preparing for this day by fasting and prayer.
On the third day, which was the fiftieth day of the Passover, that is, the exodus of the Jews from Egypt, a thick cloud covered the top of Mount Sinai. Lightning flashed, thunder roared, and a strong trumpet sounded. Smoke rose from the mountain, and the whole of it shook violently. And the Lord spoke (that is, said) His law in ten commandments.
At the command of God, Moses went up the mountain and stayed there for forty days and forty nights, without any food. God gave him two tables, or stone tablets, on which the Ten Commandments were written. In addition, the Lord gave Moses other ecclesiastical and civil laws. He also commanded to build a tabernacle, that is, a portable temple of God.
Descending from the mountain, Moses wrote down all these laws and everything that the Lord revealed to him on Mount Sinai in books. This is how we got Holy Scripture, or the Law of God.
The Ten Commandments, or commandments, that God gave to His people, specify exactly what a person must do and what to avoid if he wants to love God and his neighbor. These are the commandments:
I. I am the Lord your God: let there not be gods and others for you, except Mene. 1. I, the Lord thy God; that you have no other gods besides Me.
This commandment commands us to love God above all else and, apart from Him, not to render Divine honor to anyone. The holy saints of God should also be revered, but not as God Himself, but as people more pleasing to God than others, as our intercessors and intercessors before Him.
II. Do not make for yourself an idol and any likeness, a fir tree in heaven, a mountain, and a fir tree on the earth below, and a fir tree in the waters under the earth: do not bow down to them, nor serve them. 2. Thou shalt not make for thyself an idol, nor any likeness of that which is in heaven above, that which is on the earth below, that which is in the waters under the earth; do not bow down and serve them.
Since everything in the world was created by God, then He alone should be worshiped and He alone should be revered as the Divine. Idols should not be made and worshipped. Worshiping a holy icon, we must imagine the one who is depicted on it, and worship him, and not consider the icons themselves to be the Deity.
III. Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. 3. Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
One should not pronounce the holy and great name of God idly, in empty conversations, and therefore this commandment forbids swearing and swearing in vain.
IV. Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy: do six days, and do all your works in them, on the seventh day, the Sabbath, to the Lord your God. 4. Remember the Sabbath day to spend it holy: work for six days and do all your work in them, and the seventh day is the day of rest (Saturday), let it be dedicated to the Lord your God.
Six everyday days of the week a person must work, work, and generally take care of everything that is needed for his earthly life. The seventh day must be dedicated to God, that is, set aside for the Lord, pray to Him, read useful books to the glory of God, help the poor, and in general, for the sake of the Lord, do as much good as possible, and not be in idleness and not behave at all. AT Old Testament this is how Sabbath was celebrated, but in the New Testament, in memory of the resurrection of Christ from the dead, Sunday is celebrated.
V. Honor your father and your mother, may it be good, and may you be long on earth. 5. Honor your father and your mother, so that you feel good and that you live long on earth.
One should love and respect parents, obey their good instructions and advice, take care of them in illnesses, be a support for them in old age and needs, and should also honor other relatives, elders, benefactors, teachers, spiritual fathers and bosses; for this, God promises to prolong earthly life.
VI. Don't kill. 6. Don't kill.
By murder is meant not only the deprivation of life of oneself or someone else, but if we allow others to kill by our order, advice, help, consent. It is also forbidden by this commandment to unbridled one's anger and offend one's neighbor with every swear word. This commandment commands to live with everyone in peace and harmony, as well as to treat animals meekly.
VII. Do not create adultery. 7. Do not commit adultery.
With this commandment, the Lord forbids a husband and wife to violate mutual fidelity and love. God commands the unmarried to observe the purity of thoughts and desires. Gluttony, drunkenness, and in general any excess and unrestraint are also forbidden by this commandment.
VIII. Don't steal. 8. Don't steal.
Do not take anything from someone else without asking either openly or secretly; do not cheat when selling; in every transaction, pay honestly; do not hide what you find; finish all work by the promised date and do it conscientiously.
IX. Do not listen to a friend, your testimony is false. 9. Do not bear false witness against another.
This commandment forbids lying, slandering, speaking badly about people, condemning them, and also believing slanderers. This commandment commands you to always keep your word honestly.
X. Thou shalt not covet thy sincere wife, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, nor his village, nor his servant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor any of his livestock, nor all that is thy neighbor's spruce. 10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, covet not thy neighbor's house, nor his field, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any of his cattle, or in general anything that belongs to your neighbor.
This commandment forbids envying someone else's good and commands to be content with what you have. Bad desires are born from envy, and all bad evil deeds are born from bad desires.
Everyone must know and fulfill the Law of God. The one who keeps the commandments creates for himself, in addition to temporary well-being, eternal salvation. In memory of the Sinai legislation, Moses established the feast of Pentecost. Law of God by Archpriest Seraphim Slobodsky
Moses and the elect see God on the mountain.
A. A. Ivanov. 1850s
Moses before God, reading the commandments to him on the tablets.
A. A. Ivanov. 1850s Paper, watercolor, Italian pencil. 22x29.
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
Moses.
Vrubel Mikhail Alexandrovich. 1884 Fresco.
St. Cyril's Church in Kyiv
Vrubel, inspired by the monuments of the past, created in many ways in his own way, and often created as an equal to the great masters of the past. Vrubel did not adhere to the official church canon, and that is why his Moses, with his spirituality, even the very type of face with huge eyes, turned out to be in tune with similar images from genuine works of Byzantine art. In Vrubel's religious compositions, as it were, the true inner essence of ancient prototypes returns: great human content, emotional expressiveness. If we compare the images of Moses Vrubel with a fragment of an ancient fresco found in Kyiv during excavations at the site of the Church of the Tithes of the 10th century, then their inner, spiritual closeness is revealed. Moses Vrubel is not so much a biblical prophet as a being full of hidden passion and emerging doubt. Moses Vrubel is a rebel in potency. This is what he evokes associations with his Demon, his very existence, challenging people. Russian painting of the first half of the 20th century. Ganyushkina T.V.
Sinai law.
F. S. Zavyalov (1810-1856). 1850 Oil painting on dry plaster.
Painting of the northwestern part of St. Isaac's Cathedral.
http://www.isaac.spb.ru/photogallery?step=2&id=1143
Tablets with commandments.
F. P. Bryullov (F. Brullo) (1793-1869). Oil painting on dry plaster.
Painting over the arch of the northern aisle of St. Alexander Nevsky St. Isaac's Cathedral
http://www.isaac.spb.ru/photogallery?step=2&id=1027
Moses walking with the tablets across Sinai.
Klavdy Vasilyevich Lebedev
Church and Archaeological Cabinet of the MDA
Golden Taurus
The golden (golden) calf is a biblical image that originally had nothing to do with exposing wealth or worshiping it. The episode detailed in the book of Exodus is one of many dealing with the eradication of idolatry as a religious error.
The Ten Commandments, given to the people of Israel, also contained the requirement “not to make an idol for yourself” in the face of the “living God”. “Do not make before me gods of silver, gods of gold” (Ex 20:4–6).
However, while Moses was talking with God on Mount Sinai, the people, left without a leader, demanded from Aaron, the brother of Moses, to make them a visible and tangible god. “When the people saw that Moses did not come down from the mountain for a long time, they gathered to Aaron and said to him: Get up and make us a god who would go before us, for with this man, with Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what's done. And Aaron said to them, Take out the golden earrings that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me. And all the people took out the golden earrings from their ears and brought them to Aaron. He took them out of their hands, and made of them a molten calf, and worked it with a chisel. And they said, Behold your God, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt! Seeing this, Aaron set up an altar before him, and proclaimed, Tomorrow is the feast of the Lord.
The next day they got up early and offered burnt offerings and offered peace offerings: and the people sat down to eat and drink, and then they rose up to play. And the Lord said to Moses, Get out of here quickly, for your people, which you brought out of the land of Egypt, have become corrupt” (Ex 32:1-7).
In anger, God was about to destroy all the people of Israel, but Moses begged Him not to do this.
“And Moses came down from the mountain; in his hand were two tablets of revelation of stone ... When he approached the camp and saw the calf and the dances, then he was inflamed with anger and threw the tablets from his hands and broke them under the mountain; And he took the calf which they had made, and burned it with fire, and ground it to dust, and scattered it on the water, and gave it to the children of Israel to drink” (Ex 32:15,19-20).
For their great sin, the idolaters were punished by death: about three thousand people, by order of Moses, were killed by their fellow tribesmen. Thus “the Lord smote the people for the calf they had made” (Ex 32:35).
In the 19th century, when the spread of Christianity made the fight against idolatry irrelevant and when capital declared itself at the top of its voice, the image of “gold”, the “golden calf” naturally became a symbol of material wealth. Bible Guide
The people of Israel worship the Golden Calf.
A. A. Ivanov. 1850s 24x39.
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
Aaron offering sacrifice to God.
The painting of the attic of the western part of the cathedral.
http://www.isaac.spb.ru/photogallery?step=2&id=1006
A plot from the Old Testament dedicated to the redemption of the sin of the golden calf. Aaron brought the sacrifices required by God in the form of a calf and, raising his hands to heaven, blessed the people. The Lord accepted the sacrifice and revealed His glory - the fire burned the sacrifice on the altar. The people looked with reverent fear at the miraculous manifestation of Divine power.
copper serpent
Once, for their murmuring against God, the Jews were punished by the appearance of many poisonous snakes, which bit the people, so that many died. The Jews repented and asked Moses to pray for them to God. The Lord commanded Moses to make a brass serpent and hang it on a banner. And whoever of the stung looked with faith at the bronze serpent, he remained alive.
copper serpent
Bruni Fedor Antonovich (1801-1875). 1841 Oil on canvas. 565x852 cm
State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, hall No. 15
The largest canvas from the collection of 19th-century paintings of the Russian Museum and the most famous work of Fyodor Bruni was created over 15 years, and ended in Rome.
The finished "Bronze Serpent" in 1841 was delivered by steamer to St. Petersburg, where it had a stunning success, comparable only to the triumph of "The Last Day of Pompeii" by Karl Bryullov, the eternal forced rival of Fyodor Bruni.
Like Bryullov's painting, the painting "The Copper Serpent" is built in a new, romantic way. There is no protagonist here - the foreground is filled with a crowd, seized by the fear of inevitable death and the hope of salvation. Bruni is close to Gogol's definition of historical painting as choosing "strong crises felt by the whole mass".
The sliding light creates a sense of the excited movement of the crowd. A subtly close range of cold blue, dull green, gray-brown tones gives unity to the rushing figures.
At the heart of the painting "The Bronze Serpent" is one of the episodes of the 40-year wandering of the people of Israel. After the Jews doubted Moses' ability to lead them out of the wilderness, God sent a rain of poisonous snakes on them. Many of the sons of Israel died of bites, and then the Lord ordered Moses to put up a bronze serpent on the banner. Everyone who looked at him with faith remained alive. bible story did not receive an unambiguous interpretation from the artist. In the depiction of the suffering of the people, one can simultaneously see both the condemnation of the cruelty of the biblical god and the rejection of the people's revolt. It can be understood that the artist himself saw a way out only in obedience to the Divine will.
The mastery of the painter, who managed to build an expressive multi-figured composition on a huge (565? 852 cm) canvas, to subordinate light and color to the drama of the plot, was undeniable, and a touch of some exaltation acted on the imagination of the audience.
However, the picture belonged to yesterday - decrepit and degenerate academism, and this, with fatal inevitability, determined the further extinction of the artist's great talent. True, Bruni's life path continued as smoothly as it began. "The Copper Serpent was purchased by the Emperor for the Hermitage collection for 70,000 rubles, and in 1897 it was transferred to the Russian Museum. www.nearyou.ru
This copper serpent served as a type of Christ the Savior, who crucified with Himself on the cross all our sins, and now, looking with faith on Him, we are healed of our sins and saved from eternal death. In The Copper Serpent, Bruni immortalized his patroness, Zinaida Volkonskaya, who helped all the poor artists, portraying her as a woman who is trying to gain faith, looking at her husband. Posing, Zinaida Alexandrovna kept asking: “What is the meaning of the plot!” “We can get rid of the bite and sting of sin,” answered Fedor Antonovich, “only by looking at the Lord Jesus Christ crucified for us and accepting Him into our heart.”
At the Promised Land
Moses himself, like Aaron, was not honored to enter the Promised Land, he asked the Lord to show him a worthy successor, which is why a successor was indicated to him in the person of Joshua, on whom he laid his hands before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation (Numbers 28: 22-23). Thus, Moses handed over to him before all Israel his title, made an order for the possession and division of the Promised Land, repeated the laws given by God at different times to the people, instructing them to keep them holy and touchingly reminding them of the many different blessings of God during their forty years of wandering.
He wrote all his exhortations, the repeated law and his final orders in a book and gave it to the priests for storage 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 it to him in a accusatory and edifying song. Finally, called to Mount Nebo on the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, seeing from a distance the Promised Land shown to him by the Lord, he died on the mountain 120 years old. His body was buried in a valley near Veffegor, but no one knows his burial place even to this day, says the chronicler (Deut. 34:6). The people honored his death with thirty days of lamentation.
The Holy Church commemorates the prophet and God-seer Moses on the 4th day of September. In book. Deuteronomy, after his death, in a prophetic spirit it is said about him (maybe this is the word of the successor of Moses, Joshua): “ And there was no longer among Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face” (Deut 34:10). St. Isaiah says that after centuries, in 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 (Is 63:11-13). As a leader, legislator and prophet, Moses lived in the memory of the people at all times. His memory in later times was always blessed, never dying among the people of Israel (Sir 45:1-6). In the New Testament, Moses, as the great legislator, and Elijah, as the representative of the prophets, are talking in glory with the Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration (Mt 17:1–3, Lk 9:30,31). The great name of Moses cannot lose its importance for all Christians and for the entire enlightened world: he lives among us in his holy books, he was the first inspired writer. Archimandrite Nikifor. bible encyclopedia
Moses' dying will.
Fedor Semyonovich Zavyalov. 1850
Painting of St. Isaac's Cathedral, St. Petersburg
Joshua Enters the Promised Land
P. M. Shamshin (1811-1893). 1850–1851 Oil painting on dry plaster
Painting of the attic of the southwestern part of St. Isaac's Cathedral.
http://www.isaac.spb.ru/photogallery?step=2&id=1131
A story from the Old Testament. The biblical commander, who after the death of Moses became the leader of the Israeli people, completed his exodus to the Promised Land. During the wanderings of the Israelites in the wilderness, Joshua was the first helper of Moses. He saw the miraculous works of God accomplished through Moses, and knew well the manners of his people. He was one of twelve spies sent to inspect the promised land, and one of two who told the people truthfully about its riches.
Prophet Moses (fragment of the fresco of the Transfiguration of the Lord).
Svedomsky Pavel Alexandrovich (1849-1904)
Vladimir Cathedral in Kyiv
Transfiguration.
Pavel Alexandrovich Svedomsky (1849-1904). Fresco.
Vladimir Cathedral, Kyiv
MOSES
Moses- great prophet Israel, according to legend, author of the books of the Bible (the Pentateuch of Moses as part of the Old Testament), produced Exodus of Jews from ancient egypt , rallied the tribes of Israel into a single nation.
Biblical scholars usually date his life to the 15th-13th centuries. BC e.
On Mount Sinai received from God Ten Commandments.
In art, the image of Moses inspired many great artists, writers and musicians. He sculpted Michelangelo, an opera by Gioacchino Rossini dedicated to him, Sigmund Freud wrote the book "Moses and Monotheism".
The name Moses is “drawn or saved from the water”, according to other indications, this is a name of Egyptian origin and means “child”.
Moses was born in Egypt. The ruler doubted the loyalty to Egypt of the descendants of Joseph and his brothers and turned the Jews into slaves. But hard labor did not reduce the number of Jews, and the pharaoh ordered all newborn Jewish male babies to be drowned in the Nile.
At that time, the son Moses was born in the family of Amram. Moses' mother Jochebed managed to hide the baby in her home for three months. No longer able to hide him, she left the baby in a basket of reeds and tarred with asphalt and tar in the reed beds on the banks of the Nile, where she found him. pharaoh's daughter who came there for a swim.
She took pity on the crying baby and, on the advice of Moses' sister Miriam, who was watching what was happening from afar, agreed to call the Israelite 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 her son."
Grazing cattle at Mount Horeb (Sinai), he burning bush received the call of God, who revealed his name to him (“I am who I am”), to liberate his people.
Returning to the banks of the Nile, together with brother Aaron (whom God chose to help him serve as "his mouth", since Moses tried to refer to his tongue-tied tongue), interceded with the Pharaoh for the release of the sons of Israel from Egypt.
The stubbornness of the pharaoh subjected the country to horrors "The Ten Plagues of Egypt" turning the waters of the Nile into blood; toad invasion; death of livestock; disease in humans and livestock, expressed in inflammations with abscesses; hail and fire between hail; locust invasion; dark; the death of the first-born in the families of the Egyptians, and of all the first-born of the cattle. Finally, Pharaoh allowed them to leave for three days, and the Jews, taking the cattle and bones of Joseph the Handsome and some other patriarchs, started the Exodus.
The children of Israel set out on their journey, miraculously crossed the red sea, which parted before them, but drowned the pursuit. God led his people to the Promised Land through the Arabian Desert. Moses by the command of God brought out the water from the rock of Mount Horeb, hitting her with his rod.
In the third month after leaving Egypt, the Israelites approached mount sinai where Moses received from God stone Tablets of the Covenant with the Ten Commandments, which became the basis of the Mosaic legislation (Torah). Moses climbed Mount Sinai twice, staying there for 40 days. During his first absence, the people sinned terribly: they made golden calf before which the Jews began to serve and have fun. Moses in anger broke the Tablets and destroyed the calf.
At the end of the wandering, the people again became cowardly and grumbled. As punishment, God sent poisonous snakes, and when they repented, he ordered Moses to raise copper serpent for their healing.
Despite great difficulties, Moses continued to teach and instruct his people. He announced the future of the tribes of Israel, but he did not enter the promised land, like Aaron, because of the sin they committed at the waters of Meribah in Kadesh - God allowed them to hit the rock with a rod and carve out a source, and due to lack of faith they hit more than 1 time, a 2.
Moses died just before entering the Promised Land. He appointed Joshua as his successor at the direction of God. Moses' grave was hidden by God so that the people of Israel, inclined at that time to paganism, would not make a cult out of it. Moses lived 120 years. He spent forty years in the palace, the other forty with flocks of sheep in the land of Midian, and the last forty in wandering at the head of the people of Israel in the Sinai desert.
In the New Testament, during the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, the prophets Moses and Elijah were with Jesus.
Eustache Lesueur - Baby Moses on the River Nile 
Poussin, Nicolas - Moses cutting water from a rock 
Champaigne, Philippe de - Prophet Moses.
Following the Pentateuch of Moses in the Old Testament is placed Book of Joshua ( The book describes the history of the Jewish people from the death of Moses to the death of Joshua) and Book of Judges of Israel The judges are the persons who ruled the Jewish people from Joshua to the reign of the first king Saul). The book of Judges also describes the history Samson and Delilah.
RUTH
Ruth (Ruth)- the famous biblical righteous woman .. Her life refers to recent years troubled period of the Judges. Born a Moabite (the Moabites are descended from Abraham's nephew, Lot), after the death of her husband, she did not want to part with her mother-in-law Naomi adopted her religion. The Book tells of how poor Ruth gathered ears in the harvest of the rich Boaz, how the latter, drawing attention to her, ordered the workers to leave more uncompressed ears. Potomona became the wife of the noble Boaz (Boaz) and thus became great-grandmother (great-mother) of King David.
Ruth has become a symbol of righteous entry into the Jewish people, so often women undergoing conversion to Judaism choose the Hebrew name Ruth.
Fabricius, Barent Peters - Ruth and Boaz
Followed by Kingshistorical books of the Old Testament. The Books of Kings cover about 600 years of life Jewish people. The first two books tell about the life of the prophet Samuel who anointed the kingdom of the first two kings - Saul and David.
Moses lived in the family of the Pharaoh, on the land in which "milk and honey flowed." Until the moment when he had to flee from Egypt because of the threat of punishment. He killed an Egyptian who was beating his fellow tribesman. It was painful for him to look at his loved ones, their poverty and humiliated position in society. He wanted to pass on to them the knowledge that the best teachers and scientists of this prosperous country, in which science and production were developed, gave him. But his people could not understand and accept them. Moses tried very hard to teach them simple things, but what he said was perceived at best as good wishes, and at worst, as elementary stupidity.
The secret lies in the fact that it is hidden behind seeming simplicity.
This is on the one hand, and on the other hand, prepared soil is needed on which the seeds of spiritual knowledge will fall. How could you convey your knowledge to the people? Moses realized that he needed to replace their faith in the idol with faith in the law, which would lead to a land filled with wealth and prosperity. Faith in an idol will not allow the people to escape from slavery and poverty, and faith in the law will lead the people to life in abundance. Moses lived surrounded by luxury and enjoyed a rich life every day, while his people died from overwork and poor nutrition. He made attempts to explain to people how to live and treat each other. But he was met with reproaches, ridicule and misunderstanding. Once he intervened in the fight of his fellow tribesmen, shouting: "Well, what are you doing, you are brothers." On another occasion, when he separated the fighters, one of them said: "Kill me too, as you killed that Egyptian." They felt distrust, envy and anger towards him - this was the result of their spiritual state. They did not understand and did not want to understand that he wanted to help them.
An illiterate person has a need and asks for help, or rather money. No money, no help. Everything is very simple and primitive. What thoughts are inside a person - such is he himself. A primitive and uneducated person cannot have bright and spiritual thoughts. His life is a reflection of his thoughts. Moses ran away in despair and thought about how he could help his people. He understood that all the wealth of Egypt rests on the knowledge, diligence and professionalism of people doing their job. Each in his place created the wealth of this great country.
But in order to find your land, you need to have something more.
The land in which “milk and honey flows” is not located at some geographical point, it is where worthy, literate and hardworking people live. Spiritual wealth was to raise the Jewish people out of savagery and poverty. Today, we can say that Moses got his way. Faith in the law brought its results.
The illiterate mass intuitively and subconsciously demands deception and receives it in full.
Present day. Several thousand years have passed and people with secondary and higher education, watching and listening to future people's choices, vote for the one who promises more. And not for someone who is trying to explain the problems and ways out of the current situation. The intellectual level of the bulk of the people is in a deplorable state. A candidate for president or deputies is forced to descend to the level of the masses and speak their language. The future chosen one cheerfully promises each student a student. One bottle for each student. Each bottle has a cork ... Each official has a cap! by the hat! The mass is happy and laughing. The candidate is also happy and laughing. Wealth awaits him. Officials are waiting for a calm and well-fed life - life in abundance. The people are waiting for karma. Everyone gets what he has earned and what he deserves.
It is not surprising that Moses had to turn to God and faith in order to convey knowledge to the people. It was the only way to reach out to his people. By violence and miracles, planting a new faith unusual for them, Moses led his people to the promised land. As soon as people's eyes are opened. They saw that they had always been in the land where milk and honey flowed. It turns out they needed to change. Why was the law given to them? In order to fulfill it, the people entered the spiritual kingdom - the kingdom of peace, prosperity and prosperity. From that time on, any land in which this people lived became a promised land for them. But a new problem arose, no less difficult than the first. That's how it always happens in life. Success creates new problems and challenges.
The Exodus is a biblical tradition about the enslavement of the Israelites in Egypt, their mass exodus from Egypt by the will of God under the leadership of Moses, the theophany at Mount Sinai, the conclusion of a covenant between God and the chosen people, and also about the wanderings of the Jews before the conquest of Canaan.
According to holy scripture, the shepherd family of Jacob-Israel, due to famine, left Canaan and moved to Egypt. After the resettlement, the Israeli settlers quickly got used to the new places. Jacob's family grew rapidly and soon turned into a whole nation, which began to be called Israeli, after the patriarch of Israel, and Jewish, after the patriarch Eber. All of them lived in the land of Goshen (the northeastern part of the Nile Delta, suitable for pastures) and were engaged in cattle breeding. The Egyptian pharaoh, fearing betrayal in the event of an attack by enemies, decided to exterminate the Jewish people. By order of the pharaoh, Jews were herded in droves to construction sites and forced to knead clay and make bricks. Then the pharaoh ordered the Jewish midwives to kill all male babies during childbirth, and when these women did not follow the order of the pharaoh, he ordered the executioners to take the newborn boys from their mothers and throw them into the Nile.
Moses was born in the tribe of Levi. To save the child from the hands of Pharaoh, the parents of Moses put the three-month-old baby in a basket and placed it in a reed by the river. Pharaoh's daughter, having come to the river, saw a basket and took it out of the water. Seeing a child in her and taking pity on him, she decided to take him under her protection, and while he was growing up, she entrusted him to the care of a Jewish nurse, who became the mother of Moses herself. When the boy was already grown up, his mother took him to the palace, and the Pharaoh's daughter adopted a little Israelite, naming him Moses. Once, in a fit of indignation, Moses killed an Egyptian overseer who severely punished an Israelite slave. He was forced to flee from Egypt to the Sinai Peninsula, to the land of Midian, where he led a quiet shepherd's life.
Forty years of Moses' life in exile passed. He is already eighty years old. One day he was tending sheep at the foot of Mount Horeb (Sinai). Not far from where he was, Moses saw a miraculous phenomenon: a bush of thorns caught fire and did not burn. Wanting to take a closer look at this mysterious phenomenon, he decided to approach the thorn bush, but suddenly from the flaming bush he heard the voice of God: “Moses! Moses... don't come here; take off your sandals from off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground” (Exodus 3:4-5). At the command of the Lord, Moses was to appear in Egypt to his fellow tribesmen and announce to the elders the Divine decree on the liberation of the people from Egyptian slavery and their resettlement in the promised land. Then Moses, together with the elders, had to come to the pharaoh and ask him for permission to let the Jewish people go into the wilderness to offer sacrifice to God. When Pharaoh permits the people of Israel to retire into the wilderness for three days, then they can take advantage of this opportunity to leave the land of slavery forever.
The Lord warned Moses that Pharaoh would not let them go voluntarily, but only after the terrible punishing miracles that would take place over Egypt. In order for the children of Israel to believe Moses, the Lord gave him the power to work miracles: from that moment on, Moses could turn a rod into a snake at will, cause and heal leprosy of his hand, and turn water into blood. And although the Lord endowed Moses with the power of miracles, he still continued to refuse such an extremely difficult mission, referring to his tongue-tied tongue and lack of eloquence, which is so necessary for the leader of a large people. The Lord was angry with Moses for his disobedience and said that he would give Moses to help his older brother, Aaron, who is very eloquent and will speak on his behalf. Finally, Moses obeyed the will of God and went to Egypt.
2 Egyptian plagues
On the border of Egypt, Moses met Aaron, whom the Lord had sent to meet him. Moses revealed to his brother the will of God and showed signs. When they came to the land of Goshen, they first of all gathered the elders of Israel and revealed to them the will of God concerning the Jewish people, backing up their words with miracles. The Jewish elders, having heard that the Lord had visited them and would grant them freedom, accepted this news with joy.
Moses went in with his brother to Pharaoh and said to him, "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Let my people go, that they may celebrate a feast for me in the wilderness." But the king of Egypt rejected Moses' request: “Who is the Lord that I should listen to His voice and let the children of Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go” (Ex. 5:1-2). With these words, the pharaoh drove the brothers away, and told his officials that the Jews had such idle thoughts from idleness, so they should be given even more work. And the Israelis were ordered not only to produce the previously established norm of bricks, but, moreover, to deliver the straw themselves for their dressing.
Then Moses and Aaron, at the command of God, again appeared to Pharaoh. To convince him that they were indeed messengers of God, Aaron threw his rod on the floor, and it turned into a crawling serpent. But Pharaoh ordered his sorcerers to be brought, and they did the same as Aaron. And although the serpent of Aaron devoured the serpents of the Egyptian magi, Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he again did not listen to his brothers.
Then Moses, at the command of God, sent ten plagues to Egypt: first, the water of the Nile turned into blood, then toads, midges and dog flies appeared in turn in a huge number, then there was a pestilence of cattle, the bodies of people were covered with festering sores, a strong hail beat everything that was in field: from man to cattle, and grass, and trees, and what else was left, locusts ate, then for three days there was darkness throughout Egypt. These executions struck only those places where the Egyptians lived; but the land of Goshen, where the Jews lived, they did not touch. Moreover, each execution began and ended according to the word of Moses. The Egyptian magicians tried to perform the same miracles with their art, but at the third execution they themselves confessed to the pharaoh that the finger of God was visible in the deeds of Moses. Each new execution terrified the pharaoh, and he agreed to let the Israelites go into the wilderness, but soon took back his promise.
Then the Lord brought the last, tenth, and most disastrous plague on Egypt - the killing of all Egyptian firstborn. The spring month of Aviv has arrived. The Lord revealed to Moses that on the night of the fifteenth day of the month, He would slay all the firstborn of Egypt, execute judgment on all their gods, and lead the descendants of Abraham out of the land of slavery. But the Jews had to celebrate their liberation that night in a worthy way. By the command of God, every family must choose from their flock a one-year-old lamb, male, without physical defects. On the evening of the fourteenth day, each family should kill a lamb, and anoint the doorposts of their houses with its blood. They should not boil the sacrificial meat of the lamb, but bake it on fire, and the lamb had to be baked whole, with the head, legs and entrails. Meat should be eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. The bones of the lamb were not allowed to be broken, and the remains of it had to be burned on fire. The Israelites were to eat the lamb standing up, wearing travel clothes, ready to leave Egypt at any moment. The Lord called this event Easter. “But this very night I will pass through the land of Egypt,” says the Lord, “and I will strike every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from man to cattle ... And your blood will be a banner on the houses where you are, and I will see the blood and I will pass over you and there will be no destructive plague among you when I strike the land of Egypt. And let this day be a memorial to you, and celebrate on this feast to the Lord in all your generations ... ”(Ex. 12.12-14). Together with Easter, the Lord commanded to unite the feast of unleavened bread. For seven days, the Jews must eat only unleavened bread and not have anything leavened in their homes.
The Lord's prediction has come true. On the night of the fifteenth day of the month of Aviv, when the Jews were celebrating the Passover of the Lord at their hearths, the Angel of Death passed through all of Egypt and struck down all the Egyptian firstborn. Horror fell on the Egyptians, for there was no house where there would not be a dead man. “And Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron at night and said to them: Get up, get out of the midst of my people, both you and the children of Israel, and go and serve the Lord your God, as you said ... And the Egyptians urged the people to quickly send him from that land; for they said: we shall all die” (Ex. 12:31,33)
3 Exodus from Egypt
The Israelites left Egypt early in the morning, heading east towards the Red Sea (commonly associated with the Red Sea). There were six hundred thousand armed men, not counting women and children. They carried with them the remains of Patriarch Joseph, as he bequeathed to them. In the desert, the fugitives, to their joy, were convinced that the Lord was leading them: during the day He went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud, and at night in a pillar of fire.
4 Crossing the sea
Meanwhile, having learned that the Jews were leaving Egypt, the enraged Pharaoh, at the head of six hundred war chariots, rushed in pursuit of the fugitives. Frightened, the Jews began to murmur against Moses: “Isn’t this the same thing we said to you in Egypt, saying: leave us, let us work for the Egyptians? For it is better for us to be in bondage to the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness” (Ex. 14:12). But Moses said to the people: “Do not be afraid, stand still, and you will see the salvation of the Lord, which He will work out for you today, for the Egyptians whom you see today, you will not see again forever; The Lord will fight for you, and you be calm” (Ex. 14:13-14).
And so the pillar of cloud that led the Israelites to the sea stood between Pharaoh's cavalry and the Jews, so that the Egyptians could not approach the fugitives in any way. The Jews, on the other hand, stopped at the very shore, further on their way was blocked by the waters of the Red Sea. But at the command of God, “Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea with a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters parted” (Ex. 14.21). As soon as the sea parted, the Israelites hastened to cross over to the other side. They were already on the opposite shore when the Egyptian army, led by the pharaoh, rushed after the fugitives into the sea. While the Egyptians were in the midst of the sea, Moses once again stretched out his hand over the sea, and at his sign the waters fell upon the pursuers. Thus, miraculously, the people of Israel forever left the land of slavery.
5 The sending down of manna from heaven
Having celebrated their miraculous transition, the people of Israel, under the leadership of Moses, moved to Mount Sinai (Horeb) to offer God a sacrifice of thanksgiving there, as the Lord commanded Moses to do. But there was no water on the road, and the Israelites were thirsty. Finally they came to the place of Merra, where there was enough water, but it turned out to be bitter. The people murmured again. And then Moses, at the command of God, threw a tree into the spring, and the water became drinkable.
Exactly six weeks after the exodus from Egypt, the Israelites stopped in the wilderness of Sin, between Elim and Sinai. The stocks of bread were exhausted, and the Jews, as before, began to grumble. Moses reassured them, saying that the Lord would not leave them and feed them to their full before they expected. And in the evening, countless flocks of quails flew in and in an instant covered the ground of the camp. There were so many birds that you could catch them with your hands.
And in the morning the whole area around the camp was covered with something gritty and white, like hoarfrost. The Israelites were surprised and asked each other: what is this? And Moses said to them, “This is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat” (Ex. 16:15). “And the house of Israel called the name of that bread: manna” (Ex. 16.31), since the word “manna” is translated from Hebrew as “what is this?”. After tasting the manna, the Israelites were convinced that it tasted like bread with honey, and began to collect it. But it turned out that the manna needed to be collected only early in the morning, because later, when the sun began to bake, the manna melted. In addition, it could only be collected as much as was necessary for food for one day. If they left the collected manna the next day, then it deteriorated. Only on the day before the Sabbath, manna could be collected in such quantity that it was enough for that day and for the Sabbath, and then the manna did not spoil. During the forty years of the Jews wandering in the desert, manna was their main food.
6 Rephidim. Battle with the Amalekites
From the desert of Sin, Moses led the people deep into the Sinai Peninsula to Mount Sinai. The last stop before Sinai was the place of Rephidim. And again the Jews had no water to drink, and again murmuring began. And Moses prayed to God: “What shall I do with this people? a little more, and they will stone me” (Ex. 17:4). And then the Lord commanded him to take his staff and strike it at the rock. Moses did as God told him, water came out of the rock, and the people quenched their thirst.
In the same Rephidim, the Israelites had to measure their weapons with the warlike tribes of the desert - the Amalekites, who decided to block the way for the Israelites and profit from booty. Moses entrusted the command of his troops to the brave and talented warrior Joshua, who quickly led his troops against the enemy. The battle continued from morning to evening with varying success. Moses, accompanied by Aaron and Hur, ascended the mountain and earnestly prayed to the Lord for the victory of the Israelite army. When Moses raised his hands and fervently prayed, the Israelites prevailed, and when he lowered his hands from fatigue, the victory passed to the Amalekites. Then Aaron and Hor began to help Moses, supporting his hands, and by the setting of the sun, Joshua defeated the Amalekites. At the place where the battle took place, Moses erected an altar of thanksgiving.
7 Bestowal of Sinai legislation
On the first day of the third month after the exodus from Egypt, the Israelites encamped in the wilderness opposite Mount Sinai. Moses went up the mountain to lift thanksgiving prayer God who chose him from this mountain to save the people of Israel. During prayer, the Lord appeared to Moses and said that he wanted to make a covenant with the people of Israel: “So say to the house of Jacob: you saw what I did to the Egyptians, and how I carried you as on eagle wings, and brought you to myself; Therefore, if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you will be my inheritance among all peoples, for all the earth is mine, and you will be with me a kingdom of priests and a holy people ... ”(Ex. 19.3-6).
Moses, descending, told the people all the words of the Lord, “And all the people answered with one voice, saying: All that the Lord has said we will do and be obedient” (Ex. 19.8). After Moses communicated Israel's decision to God, the Lord said to Moses: "Behold, I will come to you in a thick cloud, so that the people will hear how I will speak to you, and believe you forever" (Ex. 19.9). And on the third day, Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God and commanded them to stand at the foot of the mountain. Thunder rumbled over the mountain, lightning flashed, a strong sound of a trumpet was heard, and the mountain disappeared in thick clouds of smoke and fire. And the people listened with great trepidation as the Lord spoke to Moses.
No matter how beautiful the words of the Lord were, the people of Israel were weak, frightened and could not bear the special presence of God to the end. The Jews asked Moses to mediate between them and God. Then Moses dismissed the entire assembly into tents, and he himself once again climbed to the top of the holy mountain, where the Lord, in addition to the ten commandments, gave him other laws concerning both civil and religious life.
Coming down from the mountain, Moses wrote down all the commandments in the Book of the Covenant at night. In the morning, at the command of God, he built an altar of twelve stones at Mount Sinai and called all the people together for a sacrifice. During the sacrifice, Moses read the Book of the Covenant to the people. All the people unanimously promised to zealously fulfill the will of God. Then Moses poured blood into the cup and sprinkled it on the altar, the Book of the Covenant, and all the people.
After the sacrifice, having entrusted Aaron with the management of the people, Moses and Joshua, at the command of God, ascended the holy mountain, where they stayed for forty days and nights. During this time, the Lord appeared to Moses and gave him a detailed plan for building a camp temple - the tabernacle. On the fortieth day, the Lord handed Moses two stone tablets (boards), on which the ten commandments of the Covenant were written with the Divine finger.
8 Golden calf
While Moses and Joshua were on the mountain, a commotion began among the Jews. “When the people saw that Moses did not come down from the mountain for a long time, they gathered to Aaron and said to him: Get up and make us a god who would go before us, for with this man, with Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become” (Ex. 32:1). Under pressure from the demands of the people, Aaron made him a golden calf. “And they said, Behold your God, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt!” (Ex. 32.4), and they began to offer sacrifices to him and celebrate.
“And the Lord said to Moses: I see this people, and, behold, they are a stiff-necked people; leave me therefore, that my wrath be kindled against them, and I will destroy them, and I will make a great nation out of you” (Ex. 32:9-10). But Moses begged God to reverse His sentence and hurried down to the people with the tablets of the Law in his hands. However, when he saw the calf and the dancing, Moses smashed the tablets in anger. And having destroyed the calf, Moses, standing at the gate of the camp, said: “Whoever is the Lord, come to me! And all the sons of Levi gathered to him” (Ex. 32:26). And Moses ordered the sons of Levi to kill those who continued to celebrate, and about 3 thousand people were killed.
The next day, Moses returned to the mountain to make amends before God for the sin of the people. Out of love for his brothers, he asks God for forgiveness, not even caring about himself: “Forgive them their sin, and if not, then blot me out of Your book in which You wrote” (Ex. 32.32). “And the Lord said to Moses, Go, go away from here, you and the people that you brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land about which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, I will give it to your offspring; and I will send my angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Gergesites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and he will bring you into a land flowing with milk and honey; for I myself will not go among you, lest I destroy you on the way, because you are a stiff-necked people” (Exodus 33:1-3). Then Moses set up a tent for himself far from the camp, and there the Lord spoke to Moses “face to face, as a man speaks to his friend” (Exodus 33:11). And Moses begged God not to leave Israel and Himself to lead them to the land that He commanded them, because Moses had acquired favor in the sight of God. Again Moses ascended the mountain and was there for forty days and nights, and the Lord gave him new tablets with the written commandments and confirmed His covenant with Israel. And when Moses came down from the mountain, “his face began to shine with rays because God spoke to him” (Ex. 34.29), so that people were afraid to approach him, and he put his veil on his face.
9 Construction of the tabernacle
After this, Moses began to build a tabernacle in the middle of the camp, as the Lord showed him on the mountain. This was the work of all the people of Israel. They set up the tabernacle on the first day of the first month, that is, exactly one year after the exit from Egypt.
The tabernacle consisted of three parts: the Holy of Holies, the Sanctuary, and the courtyard. The Holy of Holies was the most important part of the temple. It contained the Ark of the Covenant, which was a box made of shittim wood, lined inside and out with forged gold sheets. The ark was considered the largest and main shrine of the temple. Moses, at the command of God, put the tablets into the Ark, and placed a vessel with manna in front of the Ark.
When the Tabernacle was completed, Moses consecrated it by anointing all its sacred objects with oil. At the same time, Aaron and his sons from the tribe of Levi were chosen to perform divine services at the Tabernacle. If before the giving of the law among the Jews, any head of the family could perform priestly duties, that is, make sacrifices to God, now only the descendants of Aaron could be priests. The high priest was at the head of the priests. The first high priest was Aaron, who was anointed by Moses. To help in the service of the priests at the tabernacle, the rest of the representatives of the tribe of Levi (not the descendants of Aaron) were placed - the Levites.
When the tabernacle was built, then a cloud covered it, "and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle" (Ex. 40.34). The cloud above the tabernacle was a symbol of the Lord's presence among Israel.
10 At the borders of Canaan. Sending spies
As once a pillar of cloud and fire led the Jews out of Egypt, so now the cloud of the Lord over the tabernacle indicated when the people of Israel had to set off. “When the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then the children of Israel set out on their journey all their journey; but if the cloud did not rise, then they did not set out until it was raised, for the cloud of the Lord stood over the tabernacle by day, and the fire was in it at night before the eyes of all the house of Israel throughout their journey ”(Ex. 40.36-38)
And finally, after severe trials and tribulations, the Israelites reached the southern border of Canaan and stopped in the desert of Paran, not far from the city of Kadesh. In order to cross the border and start military operations against the Canaanite principalities, Moses had to have accurate information about the military power of the country. To this end, he sends twelve spies (scouts) to Canaan, selecting one from each tribe. “Go to this southern country and go up to the mountain and look at the land, what is it like, and the people that live on it, is it strong or weak, is it few or many?” (Num. 13.19). The scouts, without encountering any obstacles, successfully completed the task entrusted to them. According to the scouts, Canaan abounded in natural resources, but its conquest was out of the question, since the country's borders were protected by powerful fortresses, the garrisons of which consisted of strong and tall warriors.
The Israelites murmured again. “Oh, that we would die in the land of Egypt, or die in this wilderness! And why does the Lord lead us into this land, so that we fall by the sword? Our wives and our children will be the prey of the enemies. Wouldn't it be better for us to return to Egypt?" (Num. 14:2-3). Joshua and Caleb, who participated in the reconnaissance, tried to calm the rebellious people and, tearing their clothes, convinced the unbelievers that with God help Canaan can be mastered, for this the Jews need only have strong faith in Him Who so miraculously brought them out of Egypt. The Israelites attacked Joshua and Caleb, about to stone them. But they hid in the courtyard of the tabernacle, and the angry crowd, surrounding the tabernacle, wanted to stone not only Jesus and Caleb, but also Moses and Aaron. Suddenly the cloud of the Lord overshadowed the tabernacle, and the Lord, turning to Moses, said: “How long will this people annoy Me? And how long will he disbelieve me in spite of all the signs that I have done in his midst? I will smite him with a plague and destroy him, and I will make from you and from your father's house a nation more numerous and stronger than he” (Numbers 14:11-12).
Again Moses prayed to God for mercy on Israel. And again, the prayer of the leader saved the Jews from inevitable death. And although, through the prayers of Moses, the Israelites were delivered from the wrath of God, the Lord commands Moses to inform the people that not a single Israelite over twenty years old will enter the promised land: “all who have seen My glory and My signs that I have done in Egypt and in the wilderness and they tempted me already ten times, and they did not listen to my voice, they will not see the land which I swore to their fathers; only to their children who are here with me, who do not know what is good and what is evil, to all the young, who understand nothing, I will give them the land, and all who provoke Me will not see it ”(Numbers 14.22-23). As a punishment for disobedience, the Israelites were to wander in the wilderness for forty years (according to the number of forty days the spies spent in the promised land), and the entire older generation ended their lives in the wilderness.
11 Entry into Canaan
After 40 years, Moses led his people to the borders of Canaan, but the Israelites entered this country already under the leadership of Joshua. There were many petty kingdoms and fortified cities in Canaan at that time. The Israelites first took possession of Jericho, and then began to move south and north, gradually establishing their control over the country. The Philistines, however, held five key cities, and many other Canaan cities were not conquered.
After the entry of the Israelites into Canaan, each tribe (tribe) received a special territory for its settlement; in the main these lands lay west of the Jordan River.
