How many years did Moses live. Wandering in the Sinai desert. The Covenants Moses Received at Mount Sinai

Moshe (in Russian, Moses) is the leader of the Jewish people who led them out of Egyptian slavery.

In the Jewish people it is often called "Moshe Rabbeinu"("Moshe, our teacher").

Through Moshe, the Almighty on Mount Sinai gave the Jews the Torah, which is called - "Torat Moshe"("Torah of Moses").

Born in Egypt on the 7th Adar 2368 from the Creation of the world (1392 BC).

He died on Mount Nebo, on the east bank of the Jordan River, on Adar 7, 2488 (1272 BC), without entering the Holy Land.

Moshe - younger brother prophetess Miriam and Aaron, the founder of the family of kohens - high priests.

Birth and childhood in the palace

On 15 Iyar, the stocks of bread taken from Egypt ran out ( Shabbat 87b, Rashi; Seder olam Rabbah 5; Rashi Shemot 16:1). The people murmured, rebuking Moses and Aaron. But already at dawn on the 16th of Iyar, manna (manna from heaven) fell on the camp. From then on, mana fell out every morning until Moshe's death.

On the day when mana fell for the first time, Moshe established ( Brachot 48b; Seder adorot).

On the 28th of Iyar, the army of the Amalekites attacked the camp. Moses appointed Yehoshua bin Nun of the tribe of Ephraim as commander, and he himself went up to the hill and prayed there with his hands uplifted to heaven.

The giving of the Torah

The children of Israel came to Mount Horev, which is also Mount Sinai.

Earlier, on the same mountain, Moses saw a burning bush and for the first time was rewarded with a prophecy.

6 Sivan 2448 g. all experienced the revelation at Mount Sinai.

Moshe went up the mountain to receive the Torah there and stayed there for forty days.

According to the midrash, Moshe Rabbeinu during this time reached an unprecedented spiritual level.

But besides him, the Almighty revealed himself to all the people of Israel - each of the hundreds of thousands of Jews present there.

The giving of the Torah was an unprecedented event, and the holiday of Shavuot is celebrated in his honor.

Forty days later, Moses descended from Mount Sinai on fire, carrying in his hand the stone Tablets of the Covenant with the 10 Commandments inscribed on them.

Sin and redemption

Aaron and the elders who went out to meet Moses saw that his face was shining brightly, but he himself did not notice it.

In a desert

Following the advice of his father-in-law, Yitro, Moshe appointed judges and organized the legal system.

In addition, Moshe began teaching the children of Israel the Torah daily.

He also conveyed the command of G-d to build the Mishkan - a portable Tent of Revelation, so that Shekinah - Divine Presence. (Shemot 25:8-9, 35:4-19; Rashi, Shemot 35:1).

The construction of the portable Mishkan was entrusted to the young Bezalel.

In addition, it was necessary to prepare everything for serving in the portable Temple, including the altar, the Mentor and the robes for the kohanim.

By the will of G-d, Moses appointed Aaron and his sons as priests, and the tribe of Levi as the servants of the Tabernacle ( Shemot 28:1-43; Shemot of a servant 37:1).

1 Nissan 2449 of the year Shekinah found a permanent home on earth in the Holy of Holies Tabernacle of Revelation.

The Mishkan, built by Moshe in the desert, became the prototype of the Jerusalem Temple, built later by King Shlomo (Solomon).

As the midrash says, because of the sins of the first generations Shekinah moved away from the earth to the seventh level of Heaven. Our forefathers Abraham, Yitzhak and Yaakov managed to “return” her from the seventh level to the fourth, Levi to the third, Keat to the second, Amram to the first, and Moshe built a permanent abode for the Shekinah - the Tent of Revelation ( Genesis servant 19:7; Bemidbar Raba 13:2).

During the stay of the Jews in the desert, the Almighty spoke to Moshe from the Holy of Holies in the Tent of Revelation, taught him the Torah and passed on the commandments through him.

After some time, the camp of the Jews set off from the place on the road - to the Land of Israel.

After the first crossing, the people began to grumble and complain ( Bemidbar 11:1, Rashi).

G-d commanded that 70 elders be chosen to help Moshe ( Bemidbar 11:16-17, 24-25).

Two of the elders, Eldad and Meidad, began to prophesy in the camp of the children of Israel ( Bemidbar 11:26-27, Rashi). They said: "Moshe will die, and Joshua will lead the people into the land" ( Sanhedrin 17a; Rashi, Bemidbar 11:28).

Moshe's disciple Yehoshua bin Nun asked: "My lord, Moshe, stop them!" But Moshe replied: “Are you jealous for me?! May all the people become prophets, so that G-d will overshadow them with His spirit!” ( Bemidbar 11:28-29).

When Israel approached the border of the Holy Land, the people came up with a proposal to send scouts to "scout out the country and tell us about the road we should take and the cities we should enter" ( Devarim 1:20-22).

12 scouts were sent, one from each tribe. Returning, 10 scouts

intimidated the Jews and dissuaded them from entering the land of Israel. Only two, Yehoshua bin Nun and Kalev, came out in support of the conquest.

The people began to weep, saying: “It would be better if we died in Egypt or in this desert! Why is G-d leading us to this country?…” and “Let us appoint a new leader and return to Egypt!” It happened on the night of the 9th of Av - the date on which many sad events took place in the subsequent history of the Jews.

Due to the sin of the spies, the Almighty made a decision: this generation will not enter the Holy Land, but will wander in the wilderness for 40 years. And only the children of those who came out of Egypt will enter the land of Israel and conquer it.

Korach, one of the leaders of the Levites, revolted against Moses and Aaron. Korach and his accomplices accused Moshe and Aaron of usurping power, and that Moshe distributes all the most important appointments as he sees fit.

The Torah says that “the earth opened up” under the feet of the leaders of the rebels and swallowed them up, “and fire came out from G-d and devoured two hundred and fifty accomplices of Korach” ( Bemidbar 16:20-35).

But the next day, the people began to accuse Moshe and Aaron of deliberately contributing to the death of 250 leaders of the community.

Then a destructive plague began among the people. And Moshe ordered Aaron to burn incense, "to atone for them, for the wrath of God is poured out" ( Bemidbar 17:9-11). As Scripture says, Aaron "stands between the dead and the living" - and the pestilence ceased (Bamidbar 17:12-13).

Test with staff and rock

In the fortieth year of wandering in the desert, Moshe's sister, the prophetess Miriam, died.

The Midrash says that it was Miriam's merit that every campsite of the children of Israel had a source of water. Miriam left - “left” and the source.

People languishing in the desert from thirst surrounded Moshe and Aaron, reproaching them and asking for water.

Gd told Moshe to take a staff and turn to the rock to extract water from it for the children of Israel with a word.

Moshe and Aaron again went out to the people, and Moshe said: “Listen, you rebels! Is it not from this rock that we draw water for you?!” - and he struck the rock twice with his staff, from which streams of water gushed abundantly ( Bemidbar 20:7-11, Rashbam and Khizkuni).

And then the Almighty said to Moses and Aaron: “Because you did not believe Me and did not sanctify Me before the eyes of the children of Israel, you will not bring this community into the land that I give them” ( Bemidbar 20:12).

According to the Midrash, they were punished because Moshe did not limit himself to words, but struck the rock. After all, if they turned to the rock and water poured out, then the Name of the Most High would be consecrated in front of the whole people, and people would begin to say: “If the rock, devoid of hearing and speech, fulfills the command of G-d, so we the more it should be done!” ( Midrash Haggadah 67; Rashi, Bemidbar 20:11-12). And the staff should not have been taken to strike the rock with it, but to remind the children of Israel of past rebellions, as well as of the miracles that were performed for them ( Rashbam, Bemidbar 20:8).

According to another explanation, Moses and Aaron were punished for saying, “Will we draw water for you from this rock?!” - but it should have been said: "... God will draw water for you." Indeed, because of these words, the people could mistakenly conclude that the miracle was performed by the power of their magical art, and not by the Almighty ( R. Hananel, see Ramban, Bemidbar 20:8-13; Shalmei Nahum).

Connoisseurs of the secret teaching point out: if Moses himself had led the people into the Land of Israel, he would have built the Temple, which would never have been destroyed, but for this, the entire people of Israel had to be at the level of the highest righteousness. And since that generation of the sons of Israel was not ready for the accession of Moshiach, they would continue to violate the will of G-d in the Holy Land, just as they did in the wilderness. And then the entire force of the wrath of the Almighty would have fallen not on the Temple, which was not subject to destruction, but on the sinning people - until its complete extermination, God forbid. And so the Almighty said to Moses: “You will not bring this community into the land that I give them” - “you will not enter”, because the spiritual level of the generation does not correspond to the highest holiness of this land ( Ohr hachaim, Bemidbar 20:8, Devarim 1:37; Mihtav meEliyahu 2, p. 279-280).

At the same time, with his blows on the rock, Moshe saved the sons of Israel from the complete extermination threatening them in the future - because now the story has turned out completely differently: the people entered the Holy Land under the leadership of Joshua bin Nun, the Temple was built by King Shlomo, and when the cup of sins of the sons of Israel overflowed, G-d "destroyed in His wrath the logs and stones (of which the Temple was built)" ( Shokher tov 79), - and the people were sent into saving exile.

However, another possibility remained open: Moshe could have acted without any objective calculations, relying only on the mercy of the Almighty. And if he, taking into account only the merits of the sons of Israel, and not their vices and shortcomings, limited himself to words addressed to the rock - perhaps the Almighty approached the sins of the people of Israel only with His Measure of Mercy, and not with the Measure of Judgment, and the people Israel would have been honored to enter the Holy Land under the leadership of Moshe and settle there forever (Oel Yehoshua 2; Mihtav meEliyahu 2, p. 280).

Completion of wanderings

On the night of the first Av 2487 year G-d informed Moses about imminent death Aaron ( Yalkut Shimoni, Khukat 764).

At dawn, Moshe met his brother at the Tent of Revelation. In front of the whole community, he led Aaron to the top of Mount Hor, where he died ( Bemidbar 20:27).

All the people of Israel mourned for Aaron ( Bemidbar 20:28-29, Targum Jonathan).

A few months later, the Jewish people moved towards the borders of the Holy Land. 40 years of wandering in the desert were coming to an end.

Their path lay through the kingdom of Sihon, king of the Amorites. But in response to a request to let them pass, Sihon went out to meet the army. In the ensuing battle, the Jews won, and, pursuing the enemy, captured their capital and their entire country - from the Arnon River to the Yabok River, where the lines of Og, King of Bashan, began ( Bemidbar 21:21-26; Devarim 2:18, 2:26-36; Seder olam Rabbah 9; Yagellibeynu).

Og stepped forward to meet them. Under the leadership of Moshe, the Jews defeated his army, and then took possession of his country ( Bemidbar 21:33-35; Devarim 3:1-11; Yagellibeynu).

The tribes of Reuben and Gad turned to Moshe with a request to give them possession of the lands of Sihon and Og - east bank of the Jordan, rich in pastures. Moshe set a condition: if the tribes of Reuven and Gad go together with all the people to conquer Canaan on the other side of the river, then they will get to the eastern bank ( Bemidbar 32:1-33).

The two tribes were joined by part of the tribe of Menashe, which also had many herds ( Ramban, Bemidbar 32:33).

Moshe divided the east coast between them, assigning each of them a special allotment ( Bemidbar 32:33; Devarim 3:12-16; Yehoshua 13:15-32).

Moshe also singled out three cities of refuge on this shore, in which the perpetrators of manslaughter were supposed to hide ( Devarim 4:41-43).

Before Moshe's death

First Shevat 2488 Moshe gathered all the sons of Israel and began to prepare them for the crossing of the Jordan.

At first, he reminded them of the entire path traveled in forty years - from the exodus from Egypt to this day ( Devarim 1:1-3:29).

In his speech, Moshe gave the children of Israel harsh instructions, predicting what would happen to them in the distant future. Following this, Moshe repeated once again all the basic laws of the Torah ( ibid 4:1-28-69). This training continued day after day for five weeks - until the sixth Adar ( Seder olam Rabbah 10; Seder adorot).

At the same time, from the beginning of the month of Adar, Moshe again persistently prayed to the Almighty to let him live and allow him to enter the country of Canaan ( Vayikra Rabbah 11:6). The reason for his passionate desire for the Holy Land was that many commandments can only be performed there - and Moshe tried to fulfill all the commandments of the Torah ( Honeycomb 14a).

Finally, on the sixth of Adar, G-d said to Moses: “Behold, your days have drawn near to death. Call on Yehoshua - stand in the Tent of Revelation, and I will give him orders" ( Deuteronomy 31:14; Seder olam Rabbah 10; Seder adorot).

Moshe put Yehoshua before all the people and admonished him as God inspired him ( Bemidbar 27:22-23; Devarim 31:7-8). Moses then placed his disciple on the throne, and as Yehoshua spoke to the people, Moses stood by his side ( Beit Amidrash 1, 122; Otzar Ishey HaTanakh, Moshe 48).

Bidding farewell to the tribes of Israel, Moshe gave them his blessings ( Deuteronomy 31:1, 33:1-25; Seder olam Rabbah 10; Ibn Ezra, Devarim 31:1).

For 40 years, Moshe wrote down the commandments and individual sections of the Torah on sheets of parchment. According to legend, before his death, he sewed them into a single scroll ( Gitin 60a, Rashi).

In addition, he left behind eleven psalms (Tehilim) written by him.

According to one version, Moshe also handed over to the people of Israel the book he wrote Job: in it he outlined the tragic story of the righteous Job, which began on the day when the waters of the Reed Sea split before the sons of Israel ( Bava batra 14b; see above in ch. 5 Exodus).

Toward evening, the Creator ordered Moshe to climb Mount Nebo.

On the top of the mountain, the Creator showed him the whole land of Canaan: Moshe's prophetic vision overcame spatial limitations, and he was able to see the northern and southern borders of the country, as well as the distant Mediterranean Sea, which serves as the western border of the Holy Land ( Deuteronomy 34:1-3; Sifri, Pinchas 135-136). Together with the G-d showed Moses the future of the Jewish people: all its leaders from entering Canaan to the resurrection of the dead ( Sifri, Pinchas 139).

Moshe ben Amram was called to the Heavenly Yeshiva on the seventh of Adar 2488 year / 1272 BC. e. / - in the same month and on the same day that he was born ( Seder olam Rabbah 10; Megillah 13b; Tankhuma, Vaetkhanan 6; Seder adorot). He was exactly one hundred and twenty years old (and King David ( Sukkah 52b).

He was the first person to achieve absolute perfection, and the next will be Mashiach ( Zohar 3, 260b; Otsar Ishey aTanakh p. 405).

Connoisseurs of the secret teaching point out that the Mashiach King, who will lead the people of Israel to final deliverance, will be a new incarnation of the soul of Moshe, because it is written: “As in the days of your exodus from the land of Egypt, I will show you miracles” ( Micah 7:15) - i.e. the last deliverance will largely repeat the events of the Exodus from Egypt.

To the question of how many years Moses led the Jews in the desert, today, probably, every cultured person will be able to answer, regardless of what place religion occupies in his life. But the details of the life of this man, whose historicity is believed by the followers of the three main religions of the world - Christianity, Islam and Judaism - are not known to everyone. We will try to fill this gap.

Books about the life of the prophet Moses

The story of Moses covers the period from the 16th to the 12th centuries BC. e. He lived one hundred and twenty years, and one should not be surprised at such amazing longevity - in biblical times this was by no means a rare occurrence. We learn about the amazing events of that time from four books of the Old Testament, called "Exodus", "Leviticus", "Numbers" and "Deuteronomy". Together they make up the epic of the exodus of the Jewish people from Egyptian slavery. Their authorship, according to Hebrew tradition, is attributed to Moses himself.

Slavery of the children of Israel

According to these ancient texts, Moses - the prophet and leader of the Jewish people - was born in Egypt, in difficult times for his brothers. Having settled on the banks of the Nile in the years when, thanks to their compatriot Joseph, the mind managed to win the favor of the former pharaoh, these people fell into cruel disgrace under his successor, and from full-fledged citizens turned into slaves.

In relation to them, the Egyptian ruler pursued a policy that today we would rightfully call genocide. It was pointless to fight, and the only way of salvation was to go to the boundless expanses of the Sinai desert, beyond which the Jews dreamed of the land promised by God, "flowing with milk and honey." At this difficult moment, the Lord sent Moses, a prophet who delivered his long-suffering people from slavery.

adopted son of the pharaoh

The newborn son, who became the first-born in the family of Amram and his wife Yocheved, was doomed to death from the moment of birth, since the pharaoh ordered the destruction of all Jewish male babies. To save the child's life, the mother resorted to a trick - knowing that the pharaoh's daughter had a good heart, she managed to throw her child to her.

Putting it in a basket smeared with pitch, the unfortunate mother let it into the waters of the Nile, where the princess used to bathe. She was not mistaken in her hopes, and since then the boy grew up and was brought up in the palace chambers as the adopted son of the pharaoh.

The story of Moses, rising before us from the pages of the Old Testament, creates the image of a young man who remained faithful to his people, despite all the vicissitudes of his fate. Having once interceded for his fellow tribesman, and, unfortunately, having caused the death of his Egyptian offender, he was forced to flee to the land of Mediam, where he pastured the cattle of a local priest, whose daughter he took as his wife.

Chosen One of God and Savior of the Jewish People

There, in the wild and desert expanses, God's revelation was given to the exile, in which the Almighty informed Moses of his highest destiny - to become the deliverer of the Jewish people from slavery, the only person capable of leading him out of Egyptian captivity.

Returning to the banks of the Nile and embarking on his mission, Moses faced the stubbornness of the pharaoh, who did not want to deprive his country of such a large number of slaves. But, being the executor of the Lord's will, the chosen one of God always remained under His protection. By great and terrible miracles, known today as the Ten Plagues of Egypt, God forced the wicked Pharaoh to allow the Jews to leave the country.

He did not leave his messiah even at the critical moment, when the Pharaoh's army, sent after the Jews, began to overtake them off the coast of the Red Sea. By the will of God, at the wave of the rod of Moses, the waters parted, letting the fugitives through to the opposite side, and then closed, swallowing up their pursuers. When the danger had passed, the grateful people sang a song of praise to God the Redeemer. From this episode began his many years of wandering.

What desert did Moses lead the Jews through?

The path of the Jews to the Promised Land ran through the expanses of the Sinai desert scorched by the sun. It is hard to even imagine what incredible hardships this people faced, who were once nomadic, but over the years of their stay in Egypt, who had lost the habit of living among wildlife. The Holy Scripture, testifying to how many years Moses led the Jews in the desert, fully tells about the suffering they experienced.

But, the pledge of the salvation of the chosen people was the word of God given once to Moses. Throughout the forty years of wandering, the Lord was inseparably among them. During the day He walked in front of the procession in a pillar of cloud, and when night fell on the desert, He was transformed into a fire that illuminated their path. By this visible evidence of His presence, the Lord strengthened the strength and spirit of His people.

Miracles in the Desert

But besides moral support, He gave them practical help, working miracles through His servant Moses. This is exactly what happened when, by the will of God, the prophet delivered his fellow tribesmen from the pangs of thirst, turning the bitter dead water into clean and drinkable. The same thing happened when they ran out of food, and the Lord sent them countless flocks of quails. In addition, for how many years Moses led the Jews in the wilderness, for so many years He cast down sweet manna on them from heaven, which became their daily food. She even acquired the character of a popular expression - "manna from heaven", used in cases where it is about some kind of unexpectedly sent good luck.

Undoubted evidence of God's patronage of the people brought out of Egypt are the miracles of Moses in the wilderness, and, in particular, those performed by him at one of their camps, called Rephidim. At first, according to the Bible, Moses delivered the tribesmen from thirst for the second time, this time, with a blow of a rod, vomiting water from a rock. And soon, raising his hands to God, he fervently asked Him for victory over the treacherous Amalekites who had attacked their camp.

Moses on the sacred mountain

But the culmination of everything was the events associated with the ascent of Moses to Mount Sinai. He brought his people to its foot at the end of the third month of the journey. Rising to the top and standing among the clouds that surrounded him, the prophet spoke with God for forty days, listened to His instructions and received as a gift stone tablets with the Ten Commandments carved on them, the immutable law of the life of His chosen people.

Below, however, he was bitterly disappointed. At the time when Moses was talking with the Lord on Mount Sinai, his compatriots, exhausted by the forty-day wait, demanded from his brother Aaron, who performed the duties of the high priest, to finally show them the true God who brought them out of Egypt. Fearing the unbridled temper of his compatriots, Aaron was forced out of the gold ornaments gathered among Jewish women, cast an idol in the form of a calf and point to it as the universal savior.

Moses' wrath and God's mercy

Descending from the mountain, Moses witnessed a wild festival of idol worship. Having broken in anger the tablets given to him by God, and crushing the figure of a calf with a hammer, he severely punished the instigators of the madness that was happening in his absence, and fell before the Lord, praying for His forgiveness.

Ascending by His grace to the spiritual weakness of the people, who had barely emerged from slavery, the Lord granted them forgiveness, and Moses, who again ascended to the top, commanded to carve new tablets from stone and inscribe the former commandments on them. In addition, the prophet received from God an extensive code of laws, which forever went down in history as Old Testament. "The Commandments of Moses" is another frequently used term, it is nothing more than a literal retelling of God's words heard by him at the top of Sinai.

Rays of holiness that caused misunderstanding

Having ascended Mount Sinai for the second time, Moses also stayed on its top for forty days, not eating food, and not closing his eyes. The Bible tells that when he finally appeared before his compatriots, rays of Divine Glory emanated from his brow, the sight of which made even the most notorious skeptics believe.

By the way, with the mention of these rays in the text, there is a misconception that has existed for many centuries. The fact is that the original Bible was written in the Hebrew language - Aramite. In it, the words "rays" and "horns" sound the same - "karnaym" (קרנים), which caused confusion when translating the text into Greek language. As a result, Michelangelo created his famous sculpture of Moses not with rays, but with horns on his head. The same ambiguous decoration is found on many other images of Moses.

The answer to this question, as well as to many others related to the life of Moses, who became the will of God the greatest prophet and leader of Israel, we find on the pages of the Old Testament. The reason for this is the lack of faith of the people, expressed in the apostasy from the true God, and the worship of the Golden Calf. When, after forty years of travel, the Jews finally reached the borders of the Promised Land, not a single participant of those shameful events remained alive among them. They were already a completely different people, living according to God's Laws received on Mount Sinai, and forever shaking off the bonds of slavery.

The Lord is omnipotent and in the twinkling of an eye could transfer His chosen ones to the land promised by Him to the forefather Abraham, but in this case people would enter into it, remaining slaves until the end of their days, and a slave cannot be betrayed by soul and is only able to obey under fear retribution. When a real or imaginary feeling of impunity arises, he easily betrays the one whom he worshiped yesterday. Having gone a long way in the struggle for survival, and having repeatedly convinced himself of his own impotence to win the world without the help of his Creator, the Jews could no longer imagine themselves without God. This is why Moses led the Jews in the wilderness for 40 years.

The sin of the prophet Moses

Moses himself was not destined to enter the Promised Land. Together with his brother the high priest Aaron, he angered the Lord. This unfortunate incident took place in Kadesh, where the Jews had taken the road of wanderings. Experiencing pangs of thirst, they once again grumbled. To give them drink, the Lord, wishing to repeat the miracle He once performed, commanded Moses to order the rock to flow with life-giving moisture.

But this time, His faithful servant so far doubted the omnipotence of God and, without limiting himself to words, hit the rock twice with his staff. Water, of course, flowed, and quenched the thirst of the afflicted. But the lack of faith shown that day by Moses and his brother Aaron brought the wrath of God on them, as a result of which the Promised Land was closed to them forever, and the Jewish people entered it without their leader.

Moses' walk in the wilderness ended at the very border of the land, to which he had been striving for forty years. The Lord brought him to the top of the Avarim mountain range and from there showed him the whole country that He had prepared for his people. Having surveyed it from end to end, Moses died. The Lord hid from posterity the burial place of one of His greatest prophets, making it unknown to this day.

The image of Moses in the main religions of the world

In modern Judaism, Moses is revered as the father of all subsequent prophets, since the level of his prophecies is considered to be the highest. The laws he received on the top of Mount Sinai formed the basis of the Torah - Divine revelation that regulates the life of a religious Jew. Since ancient times, it has become a tradition to add the word "teacher" to the name of Moses. Moses is also considered the greatest prophet and interlocutor of Allah himself among Muslims. In Islam, his name is pronounced Musa.

In Christian culture, the biblical Moses gained fame as the greatest of the prophets. He is credited with the authorship of the first five books of the Old Testament. They are called so - "The Pentateuch of Moses." In addition, it is generally accepted that he is the main herald of Christ.

This point of view is based on the fact that just as through Moses the Lord revealed the Old Testament to the world, also through His only begotten Son Jesus and His Sermon on the Mount, He sent down the New Testament to people. How high the authority of the prophet Moses in Christianity can be judged by the fact that, according to the Gospel, it was he who was with the prophet Elijah on Mount Tabor at the moment of the famous Transfiguration of the Lord.

Great attention was paid to this biblical character in their work by the great Christian theologians of the past - Gregory of Nyssa and Philo of Alexandria. They compiled the so-called allegorical interpretation of his life, in which each individual episode was considered in the context of a common higher destiny.

Return to the spiritual roots of the people

In former years, far gone from us, when sacred history was taught in all educational institutions of pre-revolutionary Russia, the “biography” of Moses from the Bible was familiar to every person from childhood. The years of nationwide atheism, which resulted in the trampling of national culture, introduced a significant gap in this area of ​​knowledge.

Only in recent decades, thanks to the extensive work launched by the church on the basis of each particular parish, the picture began to change for the better. Today people are beginning to understand that there can be no equal sign between the religious obscurantism with which they have been frightened for many years and the primordial spiritual roots. Therefore, not knowing how many years Moses led the Jews in the wilderness is an unfortunate gap in their education.

to find

Moses

Moses
[Jewish Moshe, “bringing out”, “extracting”], the greatest of the prophets, whom the Lord commanded to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and through whom the Sinai covenant was concluded and the commandments of the Torah were granted.

I. Name "M." was named his mother Jochebed (in the Synodal translation - Jochebed, Ex 2:7-10; Ex 6:20), which, according to Jude. According to legend, she was a prophetess and gave her son a name that indicated his future calling. Name "M." explained in St. Scripture based on the meaning of the Hebrew root of the word Masha- “pull out”, “pull out” (Ex 2:10). Apparently, mother M. explained the meaning of this name to the daughter of the pharaoh by the fact that the baby was found in the water. At the same time, in the ancient Egyptian language, the consonant word mose means "son", "child" (this word is included integral part in the names of the pharaohs Thutmose, Ahmose, Ramesses, etc.), so such a name would have liked the daughter of the pharaoh.

II. M. is the son of Amram and Jochebed, a descendant of Kohath, the son of Levi. His older sister was Miriam (in the Synodal translation - Miriam), and his older brother was Aaron (Ex 6:16,18,20). M. was born in Egypt, according to Jude. traditions in 1393-1392 BC; a number of modern researchers attribute this date to approx. by 1350 or, according to a different chronological. technique, approx. by 1525 B.C. (→ Chronology). At the time of M.'s birth, the pharaoh's order was in effect to throw all newborn Jewish boys into the Nile (Ex 1:22). The mother hid the baby M. for three months, but then, trying to save him, she put the child in a basket and left it in the reeds on the banks of the Nile. The pharaoh's daughter found M., and Mariam's own mother became his nurse. When M. grew up, his mother brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, with whom he "was instead of a son" (Ex 2:1-10).

III. M. stood at the origins of the birth of Israel as independent. people. Information about his life is contained primarily in the last four books of the Pentateuch of Moses. The fact that M. is a real historical. personality, in our time already practical. no one doubts. The consonance of his name is Egyptian. mose, as well as the correspondence of the data of his biography to the ancient Egyptian realities underlie the Jewish tradition, which can only be explained historically. facts. There is no reason to consider M. as mythological. personality: without his participation, the beginning of the Jewish national history impossible to explain. His individuality, the strength of his character, his role as an intermediary in declaring God's will to the people left an indelible imprint on the history and religion not only of Israel, but of all mankind. If, despite this, some researchers do not dare to present a coherent picture of the life and work of M., then this is due to the fact that they neglect the high value of the Pentateuch of Moses as a historical. source. The study of primary sources by such scholars is accompanied by an idea of ​​the oral transmission of the historical. facts and legends for many centuries after the death of M., in the absence of fixed letters. text. However, today it is known that in the Middle East, long before Moses, there were deep traditions of writing and historiography, which makes it possible to oppose such theories convincingly. arguments testifying in favor of the writing of the Pentateuch precisely in the era of Moses, and even by himself.

Years before exodus

83 Birth of Aaron (Ex 7:7).
80 Birth of Moses (Ex 7:7)
40 Moses' flight to Midian (Acts 7:23,29)

1 Calling Moses by God (Ex 3)

The beginning → of the executions of the Egyptians was probably in the fifth month - the time of the flood of the Nile.

Days, months and years after the exodus

10: I. 1 Department of Easter. lambs from the flock to celebrate the Passover (Ex 12:3)
14:I. Passover 1 (Ex 12:6)
15:I. 1 Defeat of the firstborn (Ex 12:29)
Exodus from Rameses (Numbers 33:3)
21: I. 1 Crossing the sea (Ex 14)
15:II. 1 Israel in the wilderness of Sin (Ex 16:1)
1: III. 1 Israel at Mount Sinai (Ex 19:1,2)
6: III. 1 Epiphany at Sinai. Making the Covenant and Giving the Ten Commandments (Ex 20)
1:I. 2 Setting up the tabernacle of the covenant (Ex 40:2,17)
1:-7: I. 2 Consecration of the priests and the altar (Lev 8:33,35; Ex 29:37)
8:I. 2 Aaron's sacrifice. Glory of the Lord over the tabernacle. The death of Nadab and Abihu (Lev 9:1,23; Lev 10:1,2)
8:-19: I. 2 Sacrifices of rulers (Num 7:1,2,10)
14:I. Passover 2 (Num 9:1-5)
1:II. 2 The first number of the people (Num 1:1)
14:II. 2 "Second Passover" (Num 9:11)
20: II. 2 The children of Israel set out from the wilderness of Sinai (Numbers 10:11,12). The visit of the spies to Canaan "at the time of the ripening of the grapes" (Numbers 13:21), i.e. in the fourth month (→ Calendar)
10: VII. 2 Day of Atonement (Lev 16:29-34) Sojourn in Kadesh, suppose. up to the 3rd year (Deut 1:46; Deut 2:14) 38 years → wandering in the wilderness (II,2)
I. 40 Israel again in Kadesh. The end of Maryami (Numbers 20:1)
1:V.40 Aaron's demise (Num 33:38)
40 Crossing the stream in the valley of Zared (Deut 2:14)
1:XI. 40 Farewell speech of Moses (Deut 1:3-5) Death of Moses in the eleventh month (Deut 34:8; cf. Joshua 4:19)

Chronological data of the Pentateuch and the Jewish tradition about the life of Moses.

IV. As the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter (Heb 11:24), M. was "taught in all the wisdom of Egypt" (Acts 7:22); he was undoubtedly well acquainted with religion. traditions and legal norms of the ancient East. Perhaps in Egypt, he showed his abilities and diplomatic. field (so Jude. Traditions say). But all his brilliant future is Egypt. nobles (and perhaps even the heir to the throne) instantly collapsed when the 40-year-old M., standing up for a slave tribesman, killed the Egyptians. overseer. Fleeing from the wrath of the pharaoh, he fled from Egypt to Midian. While living there, M. married → Zipporah, daughter of the Midian priest Raguel, or → Jethro (Ex 2:11-22; Numbers 10:29). Here he lived for 40 years among a people whose genealogy, like that of the Israelites, went back to Abraham (Gen. 25:1,2) and who may have retained some religions. traditions of the descendants of Abraham, having the idea of ​​a single God (see Ex 18:10-12). M. gave his first-born the name Gershom [Jewish "a stranger (was I) there"; in the Synodal translation - Girsam], thus expressing longing for the country of the forefathers - Canaan; he named his second son Eliezer (Hebrew “God is my helper”; in the Synodal translation - Eliezer), thereby capturing the unshakable faith in the God of Abraham (Ex 18:3,4). The years spent in Midian in communion with Jethro helped M. to reach ext. maturity. And the hour came when God called him to a great mission - the liberation of His people (Ex 2:23 - Ex 4:17). The Lord revealed himself to M. in a flaming thorn bush (“burning bush”) with a name meaning “Eternal One”, or: “I Am” (“I am here”, according to the commentary of M. Buber; this name combines three tense forms of the Hebrew verb gaya - "to be" or gava - "to produce being", and, consequently, means "He who was, is and will be" or "He who produced, is producing and will produce being", Ex 3:13-15; in the Synodal translation here - "Jesus". According to the Jewish tradition, when pronounced aloud, this name is replaced by the word Adonai - "My Lord", therefore practically everywhere in the Septuagint it is translated as Curios - "Lord", "Lord", in the Synodal translation - "Lord"). However, God had to overcome in M. unpreparedness for such a high mission, because. he considered himself unworthy to carry out the orders of the Almighty. God gave M. Aaron as a collaborator - as a speaker, because. M. himself did not differ in eloquence.

v. M. and Aaron appeared together before the congregation of Israel. elders (Ex 4:28-31), and then before the pharaoh, in order to achieve the return of the people to the promised land (Ex 5). Through a series of miracles and punishments (→ Plagues of Egypt), the Lord overcame the resistance of Pharaoh, who, constantly hardening his heart, broke his promises to let the Israelites go (→ Exodus). The passage of the Jews across the parted → Red Sea and the death of the Pharaoh’s army in its waters ended the victory of God, captured in the charters of Easter and glorified in the song of Moses and Maryami (Ex 12:1 - Ex 14: 1; Ex 15: 1-21). This happened, according to Jude. tradition, in 1313-1312. BC, according to the same modern. scientists, ca. 1270 or ca. 1445 BC (→ Chronology, IV,2).

VI. The path of Israel to Canaan lay through the desert (→ Wanderings in the wilderness). Here, M.'s longsuffering, his devotion to God, his unshakable faith in Him and his love for his people were constantly manifested. The people again and again showed discontent, murmured and rebelled - in Merra (Ex 15:23,24), in the wilderness of Sin, in Massa and Meribah (Ex 16:1-15; Ex 17:1-7). In response to the murmuring, God showed miracles: he served food in the form of quails and manna, water from the rock. After the victory over Amalek (see Ex. 17:8-16), Jethro brought the M. family to the camp of the Israelites, whom M. sent to his father-in-law during the turbulent events of the exodus from Egypt. Jethro gave M. wise advice on the administration of justice (see Ex 18).

VII. The Lord descended on Mount Sinai, and M. was present, as an intermediary of the covenant, when God announced → the Ten Commandments, M. handed over to the people part of the future Torah (Pentateuch) - → the Book of the Covenant and, together with the elders of Israel, solemnly concluded a covenant with God on behalf of the people ( see Ex 19:1; Ex 20:1; Ex 24:1). Then he again ascended the mountain and remained there for forty days and nights. At this time, he received many orders regarding dispensation for the priesthood. the principles of religious and moral, social, political, economic, family and private life of the Israelis (according to Judaic tradition, 613 commandments, developing in detail the content of the ten original ones), incl. instructions for erection → tabernacle of congregation and ordinances for worship (see Ex 21-31). Descending from the mountain, M. carried to the people two → tablets of the Law with the Decalogue (Decalogue, → Ten Commandments) inscribed on them. However, while M. was on the mountain, the people, embarrassed by his long absence, forced Aaron to make a golden calf. The idol was cast, and the people began to offer sacrifices to it. M. in anger broke the tablets of the covenant, because. the people violated the condition of the covenant - not to worship other gods; after this, M. made a severe trial of the apostates. Soon, however, he appeared before God with selflessness. intercession for the people, begging to forgive the Israelites or, otherwise, to “blot out” Moses himself from the book of the Lord (i.e., obviously, M. was ready to give up eternal life for the sake of his people! Ex 32:31-33; cf. Mal 3:16,17). And God promised not to leave Israel (Ex 32-33). The Lord wrote the Decalogue on new tablets. When, having again spent forty days and nights in Sinai, M. returned to the people, his face “shone with rays,” because God spoke to him. Each time he finished delivering God's commands to the Israelites, he covered his face with a veil until he stood before God again (Ex 34:1; 2 Cor 3:7-18). The tabernacle of the covenant was erected (Ex. 35-40), M. received the prescriptions for sacrifices and ordained Aaron and his sons as priests (Lev. 8).

VIII. In the second year of wandering in the wilderness, Miriam and Aaron, jealous of M., began to reproach him for taking a wife from the Kushite tribe (Cush; in the Synodal translation - “The Ethiopian woman”, Numbers 12: 1). They tried to challenge the exclusivity of the mission and rank of M. However, God testified: “I speak mouth to mouth with him, and clearly, and not in fortune-telling, and he sees the image of the Lord” (Numbers 12:8). As a punishment for sin, Miriam was stricken with leprosy and was healed only thanks to the prayer of M. Under Moses, “the wife of the Ethiopian”, obviously, Zipporah is meant, and not k.-l. another woman (see the names in Genesis 10:6-8, some of which indicate belonging to the Arabian tribes). Later, when the scouts sent to survey Canaan returned to Kadesh and incited the people to revolt with their story, M. again prevented its destruction by intercession with God for the people (Numbers 13-14). He again, as in Sinai, rejected the offer of God to make his descendants numerous. and a mighty people who would take the place of the Israelites who sinned (Numbers 14:12; cf. Ex 32:10). During the uprising → Korea (3), → Dathan and → Aviron M. and Aaron managed to avert the most severe punishment from the people (Number 16). But after that, they themselves sinned, turning to the people in Kadesh with reproaches from their own, and not from God's name (Numbers 20:10). In addition, instead of using a word to draw water out of the rock, as the Lord commanded him, M. struck it twice with a rod (Numbers 20:8, 11-13). For this disobedience, M. and Aaron were deprived of the right to enter the promised land. But M. and further, until his death, remained the leader of the people and the mediator between God and Israel. Bringing the Jews to Transjordan, he transferred the rights of the high priesthood of Aaron to his son Eleazar (Numbers 20:23-29), and then erected a bronze serpent as a type of salvation by faith (Numbers 21:6-9; cf. John 3:14-16). Punishment against the Midianites, who united with the Moabites for joint action against Israel, was also carried out under the leadership of M. (Numbers 31).

IX. The book of Deuteronomy contains M.'s farewell appeal to the people, with whom he spoke in Shittim, beyond the Jordan. He said amaze. accurate prophecy about the future fate of Israel (see Deuteronomy 28-30), proclaimed Joshua as his successor, left the Israelites a memorial Song, and also blessed them (Deut. 31:7,8; 32-33). M. died at the age of 120, and before last day“His eyesight was not dimmed, and the strength in him was not exhausted” (Deuteronomy 34:7). Before his death, the Lord showed him the promised land from the top of Mount Nebo. God Himself took care of the burial of M., and the place of his burial remained unknown. For 30 days, the people mourned their leader, mediator of the covenant, prophet, legislator and author of St. history (Deut. 34). According to some traditions, the echoes of which are preserved in Jude 1:9, the body of M. did not undergo decay and was soon resurrected and transfigured (see Mt 17:1-4, where M., along with Elijah taken alive to heaven, talks with Jesus).

x. A number of places in the Pentateuch testify to Lit. activities of M. himself in connection with his recording of the text of the Torah. He will follow. lists the camps of the Israelites in the wilderness (Numbers 33:1-49); writes down the circumstances of the battle with Amalek (Ex 17:14); having completed the Book of the Covenant, containing the words of the Law of God (Ex 24:4,7), he hands it over to the Levites at the end of his life (Deut. 31:24-26). If you mean directly. influence from above, which constantly accompanied the writing of the Pentateuch (see Ex 17:14; Deut 31:19), as well as the education received by M. in Egypt, it becomes clear how he managed to record such a grandiose set of information about the universe and about the Holy. stories, as are the books that bear his name. At the same time, the question remains to what extent M., when compiling the book of Genesis, used the most ancient historical. sources. The name of M. are also some poetic. works included in the Torah (Song when crossing the Red Sea, Ex 15:1; Song of Moses and the Blessing of Moses, uttered by him before his death, Deut 32:1 - Deut 33:1), as well as Ps 89:1. According to Jude. tradition, he is the author of Ps 90:1 - Ps 99:1 and the Book of Job. There are also attributed to the authorship of M. → apocrypha, for example. The Ascension of Moses, the Apocalypse of Moses, the Book of Jubilees (the Jewish original of which was found in Qumran), etc.

XI. As a legislator (→ Law), M. handed over to the people of Israel on behalf of God the commandments, laws, courts and statutes that prescribe the norms and rules of everyday life and the order of worship. As a prophet, he announced to the people the future consequences of both obeying God and resisting His will. As the people's leader and supreme judge, M. made sure that Israel lived in accordance with the Lord's decrees. At the same time, he constantly acted as an intercessor for his rebellious people, turning away the wrath of God from them. M. refused to become the progenitor of a new people, because. then the sinning Israelites would have perished, and chose to sacrifice himself for this people (Ex. 32:32). His work was concurrent. and priest and prophet. Hot-tempered, prone to anger in his youth, he worked with patience and love for the good of his people in his years of maturity, and in his old age he was rewarded with such a testimony: “Moses was the meekest man of all people on earth” (Numbers 12: 3). He was a man of prayer with whom the Lord spoke "face to face, as a man speaks to his friend" (Ex 33:11). He, being the messenger of the Lord, opposed both the power of the pharaoh and the rebellious people. After 80 years of life, during which God spiritually raised and taught M., his selfless and selfless. the ministry served to ensure that from the many descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, a new united people of God was formed. In the NT, M., as the mediator of the OT, is compared with Jesus Christ; at the same time, both M. himself and his deeds are declared to be typical in relation to the events of the NT (John 3:14,15; Acts 3:22-24). The mission of the Son of God is seen as the completion and culmination of the mission of M., and the teachings of Jesus as a revelation of the spiritual meaning of the teachings of M. (Mt 5:17-20; Jn 1:17; Rom 3:21; 2 Cor 3:12-18). In the same "house of God" where M. was a faithful servant, Christ is the Son (Heb 3:2-6).

Moses is the greatest Old Testament prophet, the founder of Judaism, who brought the Jews out of Egypt, where they were in slavery, received the Ten Commandments from God on Mount Sinai and rallied the Israelite tribes into one 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.

The name "Moses" (in Hebrew - Moshe), presumably of Egyptian origin and means "child". According to other indications - “extracted or saved from the water” (this name was given to him by the Egyptian princess who found him on the river bank).

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

Birth of Moses

According to the biblical account, Moses was born in Egypt to a Jewish family at a time when the Jews were in bondage to the Egyptians, about 1570 B.C. (according to other estimates, about 1250 B.C.). 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 founder 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. Because of all the tribes of Israel, the Levites were the only tribe not endowed with land, they were dependent on their brethren.

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

2 Jacob,orJacob (Israel) - the third of the biblical patriarchs, the youngest of the twin sons of the patriarch Isaac and Rebekah. From his sons came 12 tribes of the people of Israel. In rabbinical 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. In the end, there were so many Jews that it began to inspire fear in the new pharaoh. He said to his people: "Here the tribe of Israel is multiplying and can become stronger than us. If we have a war with another state, then the Israelis can unite with our enemies." So that the tribe of Israel would not grow stronger, it was decided to turn it into slavery. The pharaohs and their officials began to oppress the Israelites like strangers, and then they began to treat them like a subjugated tribe, like masters with slaves. The Egyptians began to force the Israelites to the hardest work in favor of the state: they were forced to dig the earth, build cities, palaces and monuments for the kings, prepare clay and brick for these buildings. Special overseers were appointed who strictly monitored the execution of all these forced labors.

But no matter how oppressed the Israelites, they still continued to multiply. Then the pharaoh ordered that all newborn Israelite boys be drowned in the river, and only girls were left alive. This order was carried out with merciless severity. The people of Israel were threatened with total extermination.

In this troubled time, 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 infant 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 a thicket on the banks of the Nile.

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

At this time, the Pharaoh's daughter went to the river to bathe, accompanied by her attendants. Seeing a basket in the reeds, she ordered to open it. There was a tiny boy in the basket, crying. Pharaoh's daughter said, "It must be from the Hebrew children." She took pity on crying baby and on the advice of the sister of Moses Miriam, who approached her, who was observing what was happening from afar, agreed to call the Israelite 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 brought him up as her own son (Ex. 2:10). The daughter of the pharaoh gave him the name Moses, which means "taken out of the water."

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

Childhood and youth of Moses. Escape to 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 tells that he served as commander of the Egyptian army and helped the pharaoh defeat the Ethiopians who attacked him.

Although Moses grew up freely, he still never forgot his Jewish roots. Once he wished to see how his fellow tribesmen live. Seeing how the Egyptian overseer beats 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. Escape was the only way to escape. And Moses fled from Egypt to the wilderness of Sinai, 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 Moses

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

The thorn bush or the "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 was 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, that the people be released from the "house of bondage." But Moses is aware of his weakness: he is not ready for a feat, he is deprived of the gift of words, he is sure that neither Pharaoh nor the people will believe him. Only after persistently repeating the call and signs does he agree. God said that Moses had a brother in Egypt, Aaron, who, if necessary, would speak for him, and God himself would teach both of them what to do. To convince unbelievers, God gives Moses the ability to perform miracles. Immediately, by His command, Moses threw his rod (shepherd's stick) on the ground - and suddenly this rod turned into a snake. Moses caught the snake by the tail - and again he had 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 again put his hand in his bosom and took it out, she became healthy. “If they don’t believe this miracle,- said the Lord, - then you shall take water from the river and pour it out on dry land, and the water shall become blood on the dry land.”

Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh

In obedience to God, Moses set out on the road. Along the way, he met his brother Aaron, whom God ordered to go out into the wilderness to meet Moses, and together they went 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 country flowing with milk and honey. However, they did not immediately believe him. They were afraid of the revenge of the pharaoh, they were afraid of the way through the waterless desert. Moses performed several miracles, and the people of Israel believed in him and in the fact that the hour of liberation from slavery had come. Nevertheless, the murmuring against the prophet, which began even before the exodus, broke out then repeatedly. Like Adam, who was free to submit to or reject a higher Will, the newly created people of God experienced temptations and falls.

After that, Moses and Aron appeared to Pharaoh and announced to him the will of the God of Israel, so that he would let the Jews go into the wilderness to serve this God: "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 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 let the Israelites go, then God would send various "executions" (misfortunes, disasters) to Egypt. The king did not listen - and the threats of the messenger of God came true.

The Ten Plagues and the Establishment of the Feast of Passover

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

However, executions only further harden the pharaoh.

Then the angry Moses came to Pharaoh for the last time and warned: “Thus says the Lord: At midnight I will pass through the midst of Egypt. And every firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh ... to the firstborn of the slave ... and all the firstborn of cattle. It was the last most fierce 10th plague (Ex. 11:1-10 - Ex. 12:1-36).

Then Moses warned the Jews to slaughter a one-year-old lamb in each family and anoint the doorposts and the door frame with its blood: according to this blood, God will distinguish the dwellings of the Jews and will not touch them. Lamb meat had to be baked on fire and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. The Jews must be ready to set off immediately.

During the night, Egypt suffered a terrible disaster. “And Pharaoh arose in the night, himself 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 to him and ordered them, along with all their people, to go into the wilderness and perform worship so that God would have mercy on the Egyptians.

Since then, the Jews every year on the 14th day of the month of Nisan (the day that falls on the full moon of the vernal equinox) make Easter holiday . The word "Passover" means "to pass by," because the Angel that struck down the firstborn passed by the Jewish houses.

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

Exodus. Crossing the Red Sea.

That same night, all the people of Israel left Egypt forever. The Bible indicates the number of departed "600 thousand Jews" (not counting women, children and livestock). The Jews left empty handed: before fleeing, Moses told them to ask their Egyptian neighbors for gold and silver things, as well as rich clothes. They also brought with them the mummy of Joseph, which Moses searched for three days while his tribesmen collected property from the Egyptians. God himself led them, being by day in a pillar of cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire, so that the fugitives walked day and night until they came to the seashore.

Meanwhile, the pharaoh realized that the Jews had deceived him, and rushed after them in pursuit. 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 stretched out his hand to the sea, hit the water with his rod, and the sea parted, clearing the way. The Israelites went along the seabed, 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. The 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 got to the opposite bank. The Egyptian soldiers 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 the Pharaoh's army...

The passage through the Red (now Red) Sea, which took place in the face of imminent mortal danger, becomes the culmination of a saving miracle. The waters separated the saved from the "house of bondage." Therefore, the transition became a type of the sacrament of baptism. A new passage through the water is also the way 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 will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; he threw his horse and rider into the sea…” This solemn song of the Israelites to the Lord underlies the first of the nine sacred songs that make up the canon of 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 the calculations of Egyptologists, around 1250 BC. However, according to the traditional view, the Exodus took place in the 15th century. BC e., 480 years (~5 centuries) before the construction of the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem (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 points of view.

Miracles of Moses

The road to the Promised Land ran through the harsh and vast Arabian Desert. At first, for 3 days they walked through the Shur desert and did not find water, except bitter (Merah) (Ex. 15: 22-26), but God sweetened this water by commanding Moses to throw a piece of some special tree into the water.

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

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

Manna from heaven

The collection of manna took place in the morning, as by noon it melted under the rays of the sun. “The manna was like coriander seed, looking like bdolakh”(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 butter.

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

Here the Jews were attacked by a wild tribe of Amalekites, but they were defeated at 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 encamped against the mountain. Moses went up the mountain first, and God warned him that he would appear before the people on the third day.

And then this day came. Terrible phenomena accompanied the phenomenon in Sinai: clouds, smoke, lightning, thunder, flames, earthquakes, trumpets. This fellowship 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, from the house of bondage; Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.

2. Do not make for yourself an idol or any image of what is in heaven above, and what is on the earth below, and what is in the water below the earth; do not worship them and do not serve them, for I am the Lord your God. God is jealous, punishing the children for the guilt of the fathers to the third and fourth generation, who hate me, and showing mercy to a thousand generations who love Me and keep My commandments.

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

4. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy; work for six days and do (in them) all your works, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God: do not do any work on it, neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your servant, nor your maidservant, nor (ox yours, not your donkey, not any) your livestock, nor the stranger that is in your dwellings; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

5. Honor your father and your mother (that you may be well and) that your days may be long in the land which 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. Do not covet your neighbor's house; Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, (neither his field), nor his male servant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, (nor any of his cattle) anything that is with your neighbor.

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 love for God. Finally, the law of the Old Testament prepared mankind 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 spoke about how the people of Israel should live. Thus the Children of Israel became a people, Jews .

Moses' wrath. The establishment of the tabernacle of the covenant.

Moses climbed Mount Sinai twice, staying 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 brought them out of Egypt. Frightened by their wildness, he collected golden earrings and made a golden calf, in front of which the Jews began to serve and have fun.

Descending 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 apostasy, killing about 3 thousand people, but asked God not to punish them. God had mercy and revealed His glory to him, showing him a cleft in which he could see God from behind, because it is impossible for a 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 on the construction of the Tabernacle, the laws of worship and the establishment of the priesthood.It is believed that in the book of Exodus the commandments are listed, on the first broken tablets, and in Deuteronomy - what was inscribed a second time. From there he returned with God's face shone with the light and was forced to hide his face under a veil so that the people would not be blinded.

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 overlaid with gold with images of cherubim on top. In the ark lay the tablets of the covenant brought by Moses, the golden stave with manna, and the prosperous rod of Aaron.

Tabernacle

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

Moses' brother, Aaron, was ordained as a high priest, and other members of the tribe of Levi were ordained as priests and "Levites" (we call them deacons). Since that time, the Jews began to perform regular worship 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 wandering, the people again became cowardly and grumbled. In punishment, God sent poisonous snakes, and when they repented, he ordered Moses to erect a copper image of a snake on a pole so that everyone who looked at him with faith would remain unharmed. The serpent ascended in the wilderness, - in the words of 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 instructed his people. He arranged their future, but he 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 hit the rock twice with his rod, and water flowed from the stone, although once was enough - and God, angry, announced that neither he nor his brother Aaron would enter the Promised Land.

By nature, Moses was impatient and prone to anger, but through divine training 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 wilderness 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 made you see it with your eyes, but you will not enter it.”

He was 120 years old, but neither his eyesight was dulled, nor his strength was exhausted. He spent 40 years in the palace of the Egyptian pharaoh, the other 40 with flocks of sheep in the land of Midian, and the last 40 in wandering at the head of the Israelite people in the Sinai desert. The Israelites honored the death of Moses with 30 days of lamentation. His 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.

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 left Egypt with Moses, and who doubted God and bowed to the golden calf at Horeb. Thus a truly new people was created, living under the law, given by God in 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

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

Birth and childhood

There are suggestions that this good princess was Termutis, daughter of Ramses II, or, according to another assumption, Hat-asu (Hatshepsut??), daughter of Thotmes I, later the famous independent ruler of Egypt from the XVIII dynasty.

Moses was dedicated in all the wisdom of Egypt”, that is, into all the secrets of the religious and political worldview of Egypt. Tradition tells that he, at the head of the Egyptian army, made a brilliant campaign in Ethiopia and married the Ethiopian princess Farbis.

It is only known from the Bible that Moses, deeply upset by the slavish condition of his people, once in a fit of rage killed an Egyptian overseer who treated Israelite slaves cruelly, and, fearing punishment, “ran away from Pharaoh and stopped in the land of Midian” Ex. 2:15 at the priest Jethro (Jitro), Ex. 2:18, or (second name) Reguel 3:1. There he marries his daughter Zipporah (Tzipporah) and grazes his father-in-law's cattle.

Revelation and Exodus

The stubbornness of the pharaoh subjected the country to the horrors of 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.

The children of Israel set off, miraculously crossed the sea. In the third month after leaving Egypt, the Israelites approached Mount Sinai, where Moses received from God the Tablets of the Covenant with the Ten Commandments, which became the basis of the Mosaic legislation (Torah). Mosaic legislation and especially the famous "Decathogue" formed the basis of the moral code of all civilized mankind. So the Sons of Israel became a real people - the Jews. Here, on the mountain, he received instructions about the construction of the Tabernacle and the laws of worship.

Moses ascended Mount Sinai twice, staying there for 40 days, and "saw" God face to face. During his first absence, the people sinned terribly: they made the Golden Calf, in front of which the Jews began to serve and have fun. Moses in anger broke the Tablets and destroyed the calf.

Future life

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 Israeli people in the Sinai desert, which was associated with many hardships for Moses. Despite great difficulties, Moses remained a servant of God, continued to lead the people chosen by God, to teach and instruct them. He announced the future of the tribes of Israel, but did not enter the promised land, like Aaron, because of the sin they committed at the waters of Meribah in Kadesh (they did not show sufficient faith to show the holiness of God). Moses died just before entering the Promised Land and was buried on Mount Nebo. His 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 in world religions

In Judaism

In Christianity

Moses is the great prophet of Israel, according to legend, the author of the books of the Bible (the so-called Pentateuch of Moses in the Old Testament). On Mount Sinai, he received the Ten Commandments from God.

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

The memory of the prophet Moses is celebrated in Russian Orthodox Church September 17 (new style).

In Islam

In Muslim tradition, the name Moses sounds like Musa (arab. موسى ‎‎). He is a prophet in Islam to whom Taurat was sent down.

Musa's call for prophecy

Musa is one of the descendants of the prophet Yakub. He was born and lived for some time in Egypt. At that time, a pharaoh ruled there, who was an unbeliever. Musa fled from the pharaoh to the prophet Shuaib, who at that time owned Madyan.

One day, Musa was moving along the road, heading to Egypt, past Mount Al-Tur. At night, when it got colder, he and his wife were sitting in a tent and suddenly saw a fire in the distance. Musa said to his wife: - Wait here, I'll go and see what kind of fire it is and bring fire to kindle the hearth and keep warm.

Approaching the place where he saw the fire, Musa did not find anything, but suddenly he heard a voice addressed to him: “O Musa! Verily, I am I, your Lord. Therefore take off your shoes, for you are in the sacred valley of Tuva.

I have chosen you; so, listen to the revelation. Verily, I am I - Allah; there is no god but Me. Therefore worship Me and observe the Prayer in remembrance of Me.

Go to Pharaoh and politely tell him that maybe he will remember Allah and stop being cruel and unjust. And so that he believes you, show him this miracle.

Musa was afraid to return to Egypt because the pharaoh would capture and execute him for the man whom Musa had once killed.

Musa was tongue-tied and it was difficult for him to speak. He was afraid that he would not be able to say anything to the pharaoh. In Egypt, Musa had a brother, Harun, who was a righteous man. Musa called to his Lord:

“My lord, I am afraid that they will accuse me of lying. My breath will be taken away, and I will not be able to utter a word. Send Haruna with me, for I am guilty before them and I fear that they will kill me."

Allah said to him: “O Musa, do not be afraid and remember that I saved you when you were a baby. Walk with Our signs. I am with you and will not leave you. Go you and your brother Harun. So, go both of you to the pharaoh and tell him: - We are the Messengers of our Lord, the Lord of the Worlds. Ask him to deliver the children of Israel from torment and humiliation.”

So Allah Almighty granted Musa and his brother Harun, peace be upon them, a revelation, and they became the Messengers of Allah. Allah sent them to the pharaoh, urging him to accept Islam.

Musa's death

Prophet Musa moved with his people to the Holy Land, where hostile polytheistic tribes lived. The people told Prophet Musa, "We will not go there until they leave it." Others said, “As long as they live there, we will never go there. You yourself go and fight with them, and we will stay here. Prophet Musa got angry and called them sinners.

Allah Almighty punished the people of Musa, peace be upon him. They wandered the earth day and night for forty years.

Prophet Musa continued to call people to faith in the One God. And so he taught people until his death. First, his brother Harun died, and after a while, the Angel of Death Azrael took the spirit of the prophet Musa, peace be upon them.

ancient tradition

In art

• poem by I. Ya. Franko "Moses"

see also

Notes

Links

• Article " Moses» in the Electronic Jewish Encyclopedia
• Thematic collections about Moses from The Urantia Book (Russian). Retrieved October 15, 2008.

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See what "Prophet Moses" is in other dictionaries:

This term has other meanings, see Moses (meanings). Prophet Moses: Leader Liberator Moses ... Wikipedia

- (משֶׁה Moshe) sculpture by Michelangelo Jewish legislator who rallied ... Wikipedia

I, husband; simple. to Moses2, I. Father: Moiseevich, Moiseevna; unfold Moiseich. Derivatives: Moiseyka; Mosia; Moseyka; Mosyak; Monya; Monyuka; Mulya; Munya; Musya. Origin: (Ancient Hebrew personal name Mose (Jewish legislator)) Name day: January 27, February 7, 8 ... ... Dictionary of personal names

- (extracted or saved from the water) (Ex. 2:10, etc.) the leader and legislator of the Jewish people, the prophet and the first sacred chronicler. He was born in Egypt 1574 or 1576 B.C. and was the son of Amram and Jochebed. When Moses was born, his mother, ... ... Bible. Old and New Testaments. Synodal translation. Bible encyclopedia arch. Nicephorus.