In some ancient legends, it is said that one day the daughter of Pharaoh brought Moses to her father, and he, playing with him, laid a royal crown on his head, on which there was a small statue of an idol; Moses, having torn off the crown from his head, threw it on the ground and trampled it under his feet. The pagan priest, who received a prediction from the Magi that when a leader was born to the Israelites, Egypt would suffer many executions, advised the pharaoh to kill the baby so that he, having grown up, would not cause any disaster to their country. But, according to the good will and dispensation of God, others rebelled against this, saying that the baby did it not intentionally, out of ignorance. To test his infantile ignorance, hot coals were brought, and he took them and put them into his mouth, which caused his tongue to be seared and, as a result, became tongue-tied.

When Moses came of age, the royal daughter assigned to him the most chosen wise men of Egypt to teach him all the wisdom of Egypt, and he was strong in words and deeds, surpassing his teachers in a short time and becoming the favorite of the king and all his closest dignitaries (). When he found out about his origin that he was an Israeli, and knew the One God who exists in heaven, the Creator of the universe, in whom his people believed, he began to abhor Egyptian pagan wickedness ().

Tired of the long journey, Moses sat down by the well. And behold, the seven daughters of the priest of Midian Jethro, who were pasturing their father's flocks, came to the well. They began to fill the troughs with water to water the sheep. But the shepherds of the other flocks came and drove them away. Then Moses got up and protected the maidens, drew water for them and gave water to their sheep.

The maidens, having returned home, told their father that some Egyptian had protected them from the shepherds and had even drawn water for them and watered their sheep. Jethro hurried to invite Moses to him, took him into the house and then gave him his daughter Zipporah in marriage, from whom Moses had two sons. He called the first Risam, “because,” he said, “I became a stranger in a foreign land,” and the second, Eliezer, saying: “The God of my father was my helper and delivered me from the hand of Pharaoh” ().

Later long time the king of Egypt died. And the children of Israel groaned from their work, and their cry for the heavy yoke went up to God. And he heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And God looked upon the sons of men, and desired to set them free ().

Moses was tending sheep at Jethro, his father-in-law. One day he led the flock far into the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And then the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a fiery flame from the midst of a thorn bush, and Moses saw that the thorn bush was burning with fire, but did not burn out.

Moses said:

“I’ll go and look at this great phenomenon, why doesn’t the bush burn down?”

The Lord called to him from the midst of the bush:

- Moses, Moses!

He replied:

“Here I am, Lord!”

And God said to him:

– Do not come here; put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

And he added to this:

After this, Moses returned to Jethro and said to him: "I will go to Egypt to my brothers, to see if they are still alive."

“Go in peace,” answered Jethro.

And Moses went to Egypt without fear, for the king who wanted to kill him, and all those who sought his destruction, had already died. To meet Moses, at the command of God, Aaron came out, who kissed him with joy. Moses gave Aaron all the words of the Lord. When they came to Egypt, they gathered all the elders of Israel and told them all the words that the Lord spoke to Moses, and Moses did signs and wonders before their eyes. The Israelites believed them and rejoiced that they had visited the children of Israel and looked upon their suffering.

After this, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him:

On the next day, Aaron, at the command of Moses, took his rod, struck it on the water of the river in the presence of Pharaoh and his servants, and all the water in the river turned into blood; the fish in the river died, and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink the water from the river. The second plague was frogs: Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and brought out frogs from them, which penetrated into houses, into bedrooms, on beds, in furnaces and sourdough, and on the king, and on servants, and on his people, and nowhere to anyone gave no rest. And the whole land of Egypt was covered with frogs, and when they died out at the command of Moses, the Egyptians gathered them in heaps, and the whole earth stank from the dead and rotten frogs. The third plague was snipes on people and on cattle, on Pharaoh and his house and on his servants, and the soil of the land of Egypt became all filled with snipes. The fourth plague was dog flies. The fifth plague was a very severe plague on the cattle throughout the land of Egypt. The sixth execution was purulent inflammatory abscesses on people and cattle. The seventh plague was hail and fire between the hail, and that hail killed everything that was under open sky: and grass, and trees, and cattle, and people. The eighth plague was locusts and caterpillars, which devoured all of the Egyptian vegetation. The ninth plague was a three-day darkness over all the land of Egypt, so thick that even with the fire there was no light, so that no one could see each other for three days, and no one got up from his bed during this time. The tenth and last plague was on the firstborn of the Egyptians.

And all these plagues, none of which did any harm to the Israelites, but only to the Egyptians, were inflicted by God through Moses and Aaron because Pharaoh did not want to let God's people go into the wilderness to serve God; for, although he promised several times to release them for fear of execution, but when the punishment weakened, he became hardened again and thus did not release them until the tenth execution. Before the tenth plague, the sons of Israel, in accordance with how Moses commanded them, begged from the Egyptians silver and gold vessels and expensive clothes, as much as they could carry with them.

Then Moses established for the children of Israel, in memory of their exodus from Egypt, the feast of Passover, according to the command of the Lord. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron:

According to the command of God, in every family of Israel, a lamb was separated and prepared for the appointed time. All the children of Israel had their doors anointed with blood and locked; no one left them until the morning. At midnight, the destroying angel passed through Egypt and struck down all the firstborn of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh to the firstborn of the prisoner in prison, and all the firstborn to the cattle. The Jews had everything.

In the night Pharaoh arose, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not a dead man. Immediately Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron to him and said:

“Get up, get out of the midst of my people, you and all the children of Israel, and go and serve the Lord your God, as you said; take small and large cattle. Go ahead and bless me.

The Egyptians began to urge the Israelites to get out of their land as soon as possible, because, they said, otherwise we would all die because of them.

And the people of Israel carried their dough before it was left sour; their kneaders, tied in garments, were on their shoulders, for they, compelled by the Egyptians, could not have time to prepare the brashna for the journey. They went out with silver and gold and jewels; many strangers, small and large cattle also went out with them. The number of all foot husbands, except for households and other strangers, reached 600,000 people. Moses took with him the bones of Joseph, who died in Egypt, and before, with a prophetic spirit, foreseeing the future, he cursed the children of Israel, saying: "God will visit you, and you will carry my bones out of here with you" ().

When it was announced to the king of Egypt that the people of Israel had fled, the heart of him and his servants turned against this people, and they said: “What have we done? why did they release the Israelis so that they would not work for us?” Pharaoh harnessed his chariot, and took his people with him, six hundred chosen chariots and all the other Egyptian chariots, and leaders over all of them. They pursued the Israelites and overtook them when they were encamped by the sea, but could not attack them: the Angel of God, who went before the camp of the children of Israel, went behind them, entered into the middle between the camp of the Egyptians and between the camp of the children of Israel, and was a cloud and darkness to some, and illumined the night to others, and they did not come near one another. Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea with a strong east wind that lasted all night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters parted. The Israelites went across the sea on dry land; the waters were a wall to them on their right and left side. The Egyptians pursued them, and all the horses of Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen went into the midst of the sea. After the Israelites were led through the sea, Moses, at the command of God, stretched out his hand over the sea, and by morning the water returned to its place, and the Egyptians ran towards the water. And the Lord drowned the Egyptians in the midst of the sea: the returning water covered the chariots and the horsemen of all the army of Pharaoh who went into the sea after them, so that not one of them remained. And the Lord on that day delivered the Israelites out of the hands of the Egyptians, whom they saw dead on the shore of the sea, which threw their bodies on dry land, so that not one of them was left. Then the Israelites saw in what happened the great hand that the Lord showed over the Egyptians, and the people of the Lord feared and believed Him and His servant Moses (Ex., ch. 14). Moses and the children of Israel, rejoicing and triumphant, sang a song of thanksgiving to the Lord:

– “I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; he threw his horse and rider into the sea…” ().

And Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, having gathered the wives of Israel, led the choirs with them, taking her timbrel in her hand; they all struck the tambourines and sang the same song under her direction.

After this, Moses led the Israelites from the Red Sea, and they entered into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. When they came to Marah and found a spring there, they could not drink from it, for the water was bitter. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree; he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. And Moses led the Israelites during their travels in various deserts for forty years, asking them from God everything that was necessary. When they grumbled at Moses and Aaron because of the food, remembering the meat that they ate in Egypt, Moses begged God, and the Lord showered them with manna and sent them plenty of quail. The Israelites ate this manna for forty years in the Arabian desert, until they entered the borders of the promised land of Canaan. When they murmured because of thirst, Moses brought water out of a stone for them: he struck the stone with his rod, and a fountain of water flowed out. When the Israelites were attacked by the Amalekites, Moses lifted up his hands to God in prayer, and the Israelites began to overcome and defeat the enemies, whose troops they completely destroyed with the sword. And no matter how many times they angered God in the wilderness, every time Moses implored the Lord for them, who wanted to destroy them, if Moses, His chosen one, did not stand before Him to turn away His wrath, may he not destroy them!

Meanwhile, Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, hearing what he had done for Moses and the people of Israel when they went out of Egypt, took Zipporah, the wife of Moses, and his two sons, and went with them to Mount Horeb, where the Israelites camped with their tents. Moses went out to meet him and, after a mutual greeting, told him about everything that the Lord had done with Pharaoh and with all the Egyptians for Israel, and about all the difficulties that met them on the way. Jethro rejoiced when he heard about the benefits that God had shown to Israel, glorified God, who delivered his people from the power of the Egyptians, confessed before everyone that the Lord is great, more than all gods, and offered sacrifices to Him.

The next day Moses sat down to judge the people; the people stood before him from morning until evening.

Seeing this, Jethro noticed Moses that he was in vain bothering himself and the people in this way, for this work was too hard for him alone.

“Listen to my words,” said Jethro, “be a mediator for the people before God and present their deeds to God; teach the children of Israel the ordinances of God and His laws, show them His way in which they must walk, and the works that they must do; and choose for yourselves capable people, fearing God, truthful people, hating self-interest, and put them over the people as chiefs of thousands, chiefs of hundreds, chiefs of fifty, and chiefs of tens, and clerks; let them judge the people at all times and report to you about every important matter, and judge all the small things themselves: and it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you.

Moses obeyed his father-in-law, after which Jethro soon said goodbye to him and returned to his land ().

On the very new moon of the third month, after the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, they came to the wilderness of Sinai and encamped against the mountain. Moses ascended Sinai, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, commanding him to proclaim to the Israelites on His behalf: “You saw what I did to the Egyptians, and how I carried you, as it were on eagle wings, and brought you to Me. If you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you will be my chosen people before all others, and you will be my holy kingdom and holy nation.

The people expressed their readiness to fulfill whatever God commands. Then the Lord commanded Moses to sanctify the people and prepare them for the third day with a two-day cleansing. On the third day, in the morning thunders were heard, lightning began to flash, and thick darkness surrounded the mountain; a trumpet sound was heard, which became stronger and stronger. All the people trembled. And Moses led him out of the camp to meet the Lord; everyone stopped at the foot of the mountain. The mountain was surrounded on all sides by a line, which was forbidden to cross under pain of death. The people saw that Mount Sinai was tossing from its very foundations, and smoke ascended from it, as if from a furnace; because the Lord descended on her in a thick cloud and in fire. Moses and Aaron, by the command of God, stood on the mountain in the sight of the people ().

After this, the elders of Israel stood up before Moses and said:

Meanwhile, the people, seeing that Moses did not leave the mountain for a long time, gathered to Aaron and demanded that he make them a god who would go before them, “because,” they said, “something happened to Moses.” They brought him the golden earrings of their wives and daughters, and Aaron made for them the image of a calf of gold. The people said, "This is the god who brought us out of the land of Egypt." And the next day they offered sacrifices on the altar before the calf, they began to drink, eat and play. And God was angry with them, and He told Moses that this hard-nosed people whom He had brought out of Egypt had gone astray, transgressed the commandments of God, and worshiped a false god. Moses began to pray for the people, and heeded their petition. Going down to the foot of the mountain, Moses and Joshua saw a calf and dancing. Moses was inflamed with anger, and throwing down the tablets, he broke them under the mountain in the sight of all the people. Then he took the calf that they had made, broke it and ground it into dust, which he poured into the stream flowing from the mountain, and, to the shame of the man-made deity, forced the Israelites to drink that water. Aaron, in response to the reproaches of Moses, excused himself for the unbridled and stubbornness of the violent people, and Moses saw that the people had nothing to justify themselves with. He stood at the gate of the camp and exclaimed:

- Who remained faithful to the Lord - come to me!

And all the sons of Levi gathered to him. Moses ordered each of them to go with a sword through the camp and back, and kill anyone who met. And fell up to three thousand people from among the guilty (; ).

The next day, Moses went up the mountain again, bowed down before God, and fasting for forty days and nights, pleaded for the people, saying:

- If You do not forgive their sin, then blot me out of Your book, in which you have inscribed those destined for eternal bliss.

The Lord answered that He would blot out those who sinned against Him from His book, and, commanding Moses to lead the people to the promised land, he made it clear that he would no longer accompany him with special favor. The people, having heard this threat, wept, and all put on themselves penitential garments. Moses deepened the prayers and restored His favor to the Israelites.

After this, Moses was honored at Sinai to see the glory of the Lord.

“My face,” the Lord said to him, “you cannot see, because a person cannot see Me and remain alive. But I will pass all My glory before you and I will proclaim the name: Jehovah... When My glory passes away, I will set you in a cleft of the rock and I will cover you with My hand until I have passed through. And when I remove My hand, you will see Me from behind, but My Face will not be visible to you.

At the same time, Moses received the command to write the words of the covenant in a book and again took the tablets, on which he again inscribed the same ten commandments that were written on the previous ones.

The contemplation of the glory of God left a mark on the face of Moses. When he came down from the mountain, Aaron and all the Israelites were afraid to approach him, seeing how his face was shining. Moses called them and told them everything that God commanded him. After this, he put a veil over his face, which he removed only when he stood before God (; ; ).

Moses announced to the sons of Israel the will of God about the tabernacle and proceeded to build it, entrusting it to the artists indicated by God, according to the model he had seen at Sinai during his forty-day stay on it. The Israelites, on the other hand, made generous donations of gold, silver, copper, wool, linen, leather, wood, fragrances, precious stones and to everyone who could. When the tabernacle was ready and sanctified with all the accessories with anointing oil, a cloud covered it and filled the whole tabernacle, so that Moses himself could not enter it. And Moses placed inside the tabernacle the cauldron of the covenant, bound with gold, in which he put the golden stave with manna, the prosperous rod of Aaron and the tablets of the covenant, and above the cauldron he placed the image of two golden cherubim and arranged everything necessary for sacrifices and burnt offerings. Then Moses established holidays and new moons for the Israelites and appointed them priests and Levites, choosing the entire tribe of Levi to serve God, at His command, and placing it at the disposal of Aaron and his sons.

The servant of God Moses did many other signs and wonders, he gave many cares for the Israelites, he gave them many laws and reasonable orders; all this is reported in the sacred books written by him: in the book of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy; these books describe in detail his life and the labors that he took upon himself during his reign over the children of Israel.

When the Israelites came to Mount Amorite at Cadiz-Barnea, Moses told them that the land that the Lord had given them as an inheritance was now before them; but the Israelites wanted to send spies first to inspect the land, and by the command of God, Moses chose from the leaders of Israel one person from each tribe, including Joshua, to survey the land of Canaan. Returning, the messengers told that the land was rich in fruits, pastures, cattle and bees, but some of them were afraid of the inhabitants of that country, who were distinguished by extraordinary growth and strength, and advised the Israelites to return to Egypt, so as not to perish from the Amorites; But Joshua and others who urged them to go to that beautiful land, the Israelites wanted to stone them to death. But God, through the prayer of Moses, forgave the Israelites their sin, and those guilty of indignation were struck by a sudden (; ).

On the way, the children of Israel again showed their cowardice, and began to complain and grumble against God. Then the Lord sent poisonous snakes, the stings of which were deadly, and many of the children of Israel died from them. The people humbled themselves and repented that they had sinned against God and grumbled against Moses. Then Moses prayed that the Lord would drive away the snakes from them, and the Lord said to him: “Make a snake and hang it on a pole: then, whoever is wounded, just look at him and remain alive.” Moses hung a copper image of a serpent on a pole, after which all the wounded who looked at this image with faith remained unharmed.

So Moses led the people of Israel on their way to the land of Canaan, saving them with his prayers and miracles from various disasters and punishments of God.

Moses himself was determined to die outside the promised land. When the time of his death approached, the Lord foretold him of his imminent repose and said:

Through the prayers of the holy prophet Moses, may the Lord deliver us from all sorrow, and may it settle us in eternal villages, leading us out of Egypt - this troubled world! Amen.

Troparion, tone 2:

Thou prophet Moses ascended to the height of the virtues, and for this reason thou wast worthy to see the glory of God: the tablets of the grace-filled law were received, and the inscriptions of grace were carried in oneself, and the prophets were honest praise, and piety was a great sacrament.

Kontakion, tone 2:

The face of the prophet, with Moses and Aaron, rejoicing Today is rejoicing, as if the end of their prophecy has been fulfilled on us: Today the cross shines, by which Thou hast saved us. With those prayers, Christ God, have mercy on us.

The death of Patriarch Joseph should be attributed to approximately 1923 BC. The stay of the Israelites in Egypt lasted about 398 years, starting with the resettlement of Jacob and his family there.

Flavius ​​Josephus, Jewish historian (born 37 A.D.), author of Antiquities of the Jews, where he relates some stories about Moses that are not found in the sacred biblical books.

The legend about this is transmitted by Georgy Kedrin, a Byzantine writer of the late XI or early XII in., the author of the so-called. "Historical synopsis", or a collection of annalistic tales from the creation of the world to 1059 according to R. Chr.

In ancient times, the name Magi meant wise people who had high and extensive knowledge, especially knowledge about the secret forces of nature, heavenly bodies, sacred writings, etc. They observed natural phenomena, interpreted dreams, predicted the future; for the most part they were also priests, and enjoyed great respect at the royal courts and among the people. Such were especially the magi of Egypt.

The Midianites, or Midianites, were the descendants of Midian, the fourth son of Abraham by Keturah; it was a numerous people of different Arabian tribes, who led a nomadic lifestyle. The Midian land, where they had their main residence, was a desert area near the Elanite Gulf of the Red (Red) Sea, on its eastern side, in Arabia. As a descendant of Midian, son of Abraham, Jethro and his family were worshipers of the true God.

Horeb - a mountain in the Arabian desert, the western upland of the same mountain range, eastern part which makes up Sinai.

In Slavonic: Kupina is a thorny acacia of the Arabian Peninsula, which grows especially abundantly near the mountains of Horeb and Sinai, representing small shrub with sharp spines. The burning, but not burning bush that appeared to Moses, foreshadowed by itself, according to the teachings of St. Church, the Mother of God - the Virgin, who remained incorruptible after the incarnation and the birth of the Son of God from Her.

Under the land of Canaan, in some places, they mean the vast lands lying in the west of Asia along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea - in particular, the land on this side of the Jordan, Phenicia and the land of the Philistines, and the country beyond the Jordan differs from the land of Canaan. IN modern times by the land of Canaan is usually meant the whole of the Promised Land, all the lands occupied by the Israelites on both sides of the Jordan. The land of Canaan was notable for its extraordinary fertility, an abundance of pastures suitable for cattle breeding, and in this sense it is called in Scripture the land flowing with milk and honey. The Canaanites are the original inhabitants of the land of Canaan, the descendants of Canaan, the son of Hamov, divided into 11 tribes, of which five: the Jews, the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Gergeses and the Hittites lived in the country that the Israelites later occupied, or in the proper sense the Promised Land. The Jews, a large tribe of Canaan, dwelt in the middle of the land of Canaan and partly in the south; the Amorites, the most powerful Canaanite tribe under Moses, spread widely in the very land of Canaan, on this side of the Jordan, occupied the middle of this land and the mountain of the Amorites and spread far, both to the north and to the south; the Hittites lived in the mountainous countries near the Amorites and were also a strong and numerous tribe; the Jebusites in the time of Moses occupied southern part the promised land; The Gergesites lived in the west of the Jordan. The Perizzites were a people who belonged to the ancient, natural inhabitants of Palestine, and did not come from a Canaanite tribe; lived mainly in the middle of Palestine, or the land of Canaan.

Existing, or in Hebrew Jehovah, is one of the names of God, which expresses the originality, eternity and immutability of the Being of God.

Having chosen Abraham to preserve the faith on earth and having concluded His covenant with him, he then repeated His promises to Isaac and Jacob. Hence, these patriarchs are often placed together in the Holy Scriptures, not only as the ancestors of the Jewish people, but also as the successors and keepers of the Divine covenants and promises, as great ascetics of faith and piety, and as intercessors and intercessors before God, who acquired their special faith and virtues. grace from God. Therefore, their names are repeated and mentioned in Holy Scripture and during manifestations and revelations to the people of God, and God in this sense is called the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

etc.) - the leader and legislator of the Jewish people, the prophet and the first sacred writer of everyday life. He was born in Egypt 1574 or 1576 BC and was the son of Amram and Jochebed. When Moses was born, his mother, Jochebed, hid him for some time from the general beating of Jewish male babies by order of the pharaoh; but when it was no longer possible to hide it, she carried it out to the river and put it in a basket of reeds and tarred with asphalt and pitch on the bank of the Nile River in a reed, and the sister of Moses watched from afar what would happen to him. Pharaoh's daughter, c. Egyptian, went out to the river to wash and there she saw a basket, heard the cry of a child, took pity on him and decided to save his life. Thus, taken from the water, he, at the suggestion of Moses' sister, was given over to be raised by his mother. When the baby grew up, the mother presented him to the daughter of Pharaoh, and he was with her instead of her son, and being in the royal palace, he was taught all the Egyptian wisdom (,). According to Flavius, he was even made in command of the Egyptian army against the Ethiopians who invaded Egypt as far as Memphis, and successfully defeated them (Ancient book II, ch. 10). Despite, however, his advantageous position under Pharaoh, Moses, according to the word of the apostle, he preferred to suffer with the people of God, rather than to have temporary sinful pleasure and the reproach of Christ, he considered greater wealth for himself than the Egyptian treasures(). He was already 40 years old, and one day it came to his heart to visit his brothers, the sons of Israel. Then he saw their hard work and how much the Jews suffer from the Egyptians. It happened one day that he stood up for a Jew who was beaten by an Egyptian and in the heat of the fight killed him, and there was no one except the offended Jew. The next day, he saw two Jews quarreling among themselves and began to convince them, as brothers, to live in harmony. But the one who offended his neighbor pushed him away: who made you the chief and judge over us? he said. Don't you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?(). When Moses heard this, fearing that Pharaoh might hear about it, he fled to the land of Midian. In the house of the Midian priest Jethro, he entered into marriage with his daughter Zipporah and spent 40 years there. Grazing the flock of his father-in-law, he went with the flock far into the desert and came to the mountain of God Horeb (). He saw an unusual phenomenon here, namely: a thorn bush all in flames, burning and not burning. Approaching the bush, he heard the voice of the Lord from the middle of the bush, commanding him to take off his shoes from his feet, since the place on which he stood was holy ground. Moses hurriedly took off his shoes and covered his face in fear. Then he was given the command of God to go to Pharaoh for the release of the Israelites. Fearing his unworthiness and presenting various difficulties, Moses denied this great embassy several times, but the Lord encouraged him with His presence and His help, revealed His name to him: Jehovah (Jehovah) and as a testament to his power, he turned the rod that was in the hands of Moses into a serpent, and again turned the serpent into a rod; then Moses, at the command of God, put his hand into his bosom, and his hand turned as white as snow from leprosy; according to a new command, he again put his hand in his bosom, took it out, and she was healthy. As an assistant to Moses, the Lord indicated his brother, Aaron. Then Moses unquestioningly obeyed the call of the Lord. Together with his brother Aaron, he appeared before the face of the pharaoh, c. Egyptian, 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 among 600,000 men with all their property, and, despite all their haste, they did not forget to take with them the bones of Joseph and some other patriarchs, as Joseph had bequeathed. God Himself showed them where to direct their path: He walked before them by day in a pillar of cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire, illuminating their path (Ex. XIII, 21, 22). Pharaoh and the Egyptians soon repented that they had let the Jews go, and set off with an army to catch up with them, and now they were approaching their camp at the Red Sea. Then the Lord commanded Moses to take his rod and divide the sea so that the sons of Israel could pass through the middle of the sea on dry land. Moses acted according to the command of God, and the sea parted and the dry bottom was revealed. The sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on dry land, so that the waters were a wall to them on their right and left sides. The Egyptians followed them into the middle of the sea, but, dismayed by God, they rushed back. Then Moses, after the Israelites had already reached the shore, again stretched out his hand over the sea, and the waters returned again to their place and covered Pharaoh with all the army and his chariots and horsemen; not a single one of them remained to speak in Egypt about this terrible death. On the seashore, Moses and all the people solemnly sang a song of thanksgiving to God: I will sing to the Lord, for He has exalted himself highly, He has cast horse and rider into the sea, and Miriam and all the women, striking their tambourines, sang: Sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted(). Moses led the Jews to the Promised Land of the Arabian Desert. For three days they went through the wilderness of Shur and found no water but bitter water (Merah). God sweetened this water by commanding Moses to put the tree He had indicated into it. In the wilderness of Sin, due to the people's murmuring about the lack of food and their demand for meat food, God sent them many quails, and from now on and for all the next forty years sent manna to them daily from heaven. In Rephidim, due to the lack of water and the murmuring of the people, Moses, at the command of God, brought water out of the rock of Mount Horeb, striking it with his staff. Here the Amalekites made an attack on the Jews, but were defeated at the prayer of Moses, who, during the entire duration of the battle, prayed on the mountain, raising his hands to God (). In the third month after the exodus from Egypt, the Jews finally came to the foot of Mount Sinai and encamped against the mountain. On the third day, at the command of God, the people were placed by Moses near the mountain, at some distance from it, with a strict prohibition not to come closer to it. famous feature . On the morning of the third day, thunderclaps were heard, lightning began to flash, a strong trumpet sound was heard, Mount Sinai was all smoking, because the Lord descended on it in fire and the smoke ascended from it like smoke from a furnace. Thus was the presence of God at Sinai marked. And at that time the Lord spoke the Ten Commandments of the Law of God in the ears of all the people. Then Moses went up the mountain, received laws from the Lord regarding church and civil improvement, and when he came down from the mountain, he told all this to the people and wrote everything in a book. Then, after sprinkling the people with blood and reading the book of the Testament, Moses again, at the command of God, ascended the mountain, and spent forty days and forty nights there, and received detailed instructions from God about the construction of the Tabernacle and the altar and about everything related to worship, in conclusion, two stone tablets with the ten commandments inscribed on them (). Upon returning from the mountain, Moses saw that the people, left to their own devices, had fallen into the terrible crime of idolatry before the golden calf, idolized in Egypt. In the heat of indignation, he threw the tablets from his hands and broke them, and burned the golden calf in the fire and scattered the ashes on the water, which he gave to drink. In addition, according to the command of Moses, three thousand people, the main perpetrators of the crime, fell on that day from the sword of the sons of Levi. After this, Moses hastened again to the mountain to beg the Lord to forgive the people of their iniquity, and again stayed there forty days and forty nights, did not eat bread and did not drink water, and the Lord bowed to mercy. Excited by this mercy, Moses had the boldness to ask God in the highest way to show him His glory. And once again he was ordered to ascend the mountain with the tablets prepared, and he again spent 40 days fasting there. At this time, the Lord descended in a cloud and passed before him with His glory. Moses fell to the ground in awe. The reflection of the glory of God was reflected on his face, and when he came down from the mountain, the people could not look at him; why he wore a veil over his face, which he took off when he appeared before the Lord. Six months after this, the Tabernacle was built and consecrated with all its accessories with sacred oil. Aaron and his sons were appointed to serve in the Tabernacle, and soon the whole tribe of Levi was separated to help them (,). Finally, on the twentieth day of the second month of the second year, a cloud rose from the Tabernacle, and the Jews moved on their way, staying at Mount Sinai for about a year (). Their further wandering was accompanied by numerous temptations, grumbling, cowardice and the death of the people, but at the same time it represented an uninterrupted series of miracles and mercy of the Lord to His chosen people. So, for example, in the Faran desert, people grumbled about the lack of meat and fish: now our soul is languishing; there is nothing but manna in our eyes they said rebuking Moses. As a punishment for this, part of the camp was destroyed by fire sent from God. But this did little to enlighten the dissatisfied. Soon they began to neglect the manna and demanded meat food. Then the Lord raised strong wind , which brought from the sea quails in huge numbers. The people eagerly rushed to collect quails, gathered them day and night and ate until satiety. But this whim and satiety caused the death of many of them, and the place where many people died from a terrible plague was called the coffins of lust, or whim. In the next camp, Moses experienced trouble from his relatives themselves, Aaron and Miriam, but God exalted him as his faithful servant in all His House (). Continuing further on their way, the Jews approached the Promised Land and could soon take possession of it, if their unbelief and cowardice had not prevented it. In the desert of Faran, in Kadesh, there was the most outrageous murmuring when from 12 spies sent to inspect the Promised Land, the Jews heard about the great power, the great growth of the inhabitants of that land and its fortified cities. With this indignation, they wanted to stone even Moses himself and Aaron with two of the spies and choose a new leader for themselves to return to Egypt. Then the Lord condemned them for this for 40 years of wandering, so that all of them over 20 years had to die in the wilderness, except for Joshua and Caleb (). This was followed by a new indignation of Korah, Dathan and Aviron against Moses himself and Aaron, punished by the Lord with terrible executions, and the priesthood was again established behind the house of Aaron (). For more than thirty years the Jews wandered in the desert, and almost all who came out of Egypt died. When the fortieth year comes, after leaving Egypt, they come to Kadesh, in the wilderness of Sin, on the border of the land of Edom. Here, due to the lack of water, the people again grumbled against Moses and Aaron, who turned to the Lord with a prayer. The Lord heeded the prayer and ordered Moses and Aaron to gather the company and, with a rod in their hands, order the rock to give water. Moses struck the rock twice with his rod, and much water flowed out. But since in this case Moses, as if not trusting his one word, struck with a rod, acted contrary to the will of God, for this he and Aaron were condemned to die outside the Promised Land (). On the further journey, Aaron died near Mount Hor, having previously transferred the high priesthood to his son, Eleazar (). At the end of the wandering, the people again became cowardly and grumbled. As a punishment for this, God sent poisonous snakes to him and, when they repented, ordered Moses to erect a copper serpent on a tree to heal them (,). Approaching the borders of the Amorites, the Jews struck down Sihon, c. Amorite, and Og, c. of Bashan, and having occupied their lands, they pitched their camp against Jericho. For fornication with the daughters of Moab and idolatry, in which the Jews were involved by the Moabites and Midianites, 24,000 of them died, and others were hanged at the command of God. Finally, since 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 he was indicated a successor in the person of Joshua, on whom he laid his hands before Eleazar the priest and before the whole community. own (). Thus, Moses handed over to him before all Israel his title, made an order for the possession and division of the Promised Land, repeated to the people the data given by God in different times laws, 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 to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, having seen from afar 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 the place of his burial even to this day, says the writer (). 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 a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face (). St. Isaiah says that, centuries later, 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. LXIII, 11-13). As a leader, legislator and prophet, Moses lived in the memory of the people at all times. His memory in the most recent times was always blessed, never dying among the people of Israel (Sir. XLV, 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 (,). The great name of Moses cannot lose its important and for all Christians, and for the entire enlightened world: he lives among us in his sacred books, he was the first God-inspired writer.

After the death of Patriarch Joseph, the position of the Jews changed dramatically. New king, who did not know Joseph, began to fear that the Jews, having become a numerous and strong people, in the event of war, would go over to the side of the enemy. He placed leaders over them to wear them out with hard work. Pharaoh also ordered the death of newborn Israelite boys. The very existence of the chosen people is at stake.. However, the Providence of God did not allow this plan to be carried out. God saved from death and the future leader of the people - Moses. This greatest Old Testament prophet came from the tribe of Levi. His parents were Amram and Jochebed (Ex 6:20). The future prophet was younger than his brother Aaron and sister Miriam. The baby was born when the pharaoh's order was in force to drown newborn Jewish boys in the Nile. The mother hid her child for three months, but then she was forced to hide it in a basket in the reeds on the river bank. The pharaoh's daughter saw him and took him into her house. Watching from afar, Moses' sister offered to bring a wet nurse. According to God's providence, it was so arranged that his own mother became the breadwinner for him, raising him in her house. When the boy grew up, his mother brought him to the pharaoh's daughter. While living in the royal palace as an adopted son, Moses was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in word and deed (Acts 7:22).

When he forty years old he went out to his brothers. Seeing that an Egyptian was beating a Jew, he, protecting his brother, killed the Egyptian. Fearing persecution, Moses fled to the land of Midian and was received in the house of the local priest Raguel (aka Jethro), who married his daughter Zippora to Moses.

Moses lived in Midian Fourty years. During these decades, he gained that inner maturity that made him capable of accomplishing a great feat - with the help of God, free the people from slavery. This event was perceived by the Old Testament people as central to the history of the people. It is mentioned more than sixty times in Holy Scripture. In memory of this event, the main Old Testament holiday was established - Easter. The Exodus has a spiritual and representative significance. The Egyptian captivity is an Old Testament symbol of the slavish submission of mankind to the devil until the redemptive feat of Jesus Christ. Exodus from Egypt heralds spiritual liberation through the New Testament sacrament of baptism.

The Exodus was preceded by one of the most important events in the history of the Chosen People. epiphany. Moses was tending his father-in-law's sheep in the desert. He went to Mount Horeb and saw that the thorn bush is engulfed in flames, but does not burn out. Moses began to approach him. But God called to him from the midst of the bush: don't come here; put off thy sandals from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. And he said: I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob(Ex 3:5-6).

Outer side visions - a burning, but not burning thorn bush - depicted plight of the Jews in Egypt. Fire, as a destructive force, indicated the severity of suffering. As the bush burned and did not burn out, so the Jewish people were not destroyed, but only cleansed in the crucible of disasters. This is a prototype of the Incarnation. The Holy Church adopted the symbol of the Burning Bush Mother of God . The miracle lies in the fact that this thorn bush, in which the Lord appeared to Moses, has survived to this day. It is located in the fence of the Sinai monastery of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine.

The Lord appeared to Moses and said, scream the sons of Israel suffering at the hands of the Egyptians came to him.

God sends Moses on a great mission: bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt(Ex 3:10). Moses humbly speaks of his weakness. To this indecision, God answers with clear and full of all-conquering power words: I will be with you(Ex 3:12). Moses, having received high obedience from the Lord, asks for the name of the One who sent it. God said to Moses: I am the Existing (Ex 3:14). Word Existing in the Synodal Bible, the hidden name of God is transmitted, inscribed in the Hebrew text with four consonants ( tetragram): YHWH. The place cited shows that the prohibition to pronounce this secret name appeared much later than the time of the exodus (perhaps after the Babylonian captivity).

During the reading aloud of sacred texts in the tabernacle, the temple, and later in the synagogues, instead of the tetragram, another name of God was pronounced - Adonai. In Slavic and Russian texts, the tetragram is given by the name Lord. in biblical language Existing expresses the personal principle of absolute self-sufficient being, on which the existence of the entire created world depends.

The Lord strengthened the spirit of Moses two miraculous acts. The rod turned into a snake, and Moses' hand, covered with leprosy, was healed. The miracle with the rod testified that the Lord gave Moses the authority of the leader of the people. The sudden defeat of Moses' hand with leprosy and its healing meant that God endowed His chosen one with the power of miracles to fulfill his mission.

Moses said he was tongue-tied. The Lord strengthened him: I will be with your mouth and teach you what to say(Ex 4:12). God gives the future leader as an assistant to his older brother Aaron.

Having come to Pharaoh, Moses and Aaron, on behalf of the Lord, demanded that the people be released into the wilderness to celebrate the holiday. The pharaoh was a pagan. He declared that he did not know the Lord and the people of Israel would not let him go. Pharaoh was hardened against the Jewish people. The Jews did hard work at that time - they made bricks. Pharaoh ordered that their work be made heavier. God again sends Moses and Aaron to declare His will to Pharaoh. At the same time, the Lord commanded to perform signs and wonders.

Aaron threw his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent. The wise men and sorcerers of the king and the magi of Egypt did the same with their charms: they threw down their wands, and they became snakes, but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods.

The next day, the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron to perform another miracle. When the pharaoh was going to the river, Aaron struck the water in front of the king's face and water turned to blood. All reservoirs in the country were filled with blood. The Egyptians Nile was one of the gods of their pantheon. What happened to the water was to enlighten them and show the power of the God of Israel. But this first of the ten plagues of Egypt only hardened Pharaoh's heart even more.

Second execution took place seven days later. Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and went out frogs and covered the ground. The disaster prompted Pharaoh to ask Moses to pray to the Lord to remove all the frogs. The Lord fulfilled the petitions of His saint. The toads are dead. As soon as the king felt relieved, he again fell into bitterness.

Therefore followed third execution. Aaron struck the ground with his rod, and there appeared midges and began to bite people and livestock. In the Hebrew original, these insects are named kinnim, in Greek and Slavic texts - sketches. According to the Jewish philosopher of the 1st century Philo of Alexandria and Origen, these were mosquitoes - a common scourge of Egypt during the flood period. But this time all the dust of the earth became midges throughout all the land of Egypt(Ex 8:17). The Magi could not repeat this miracle. They said to the king: this is the finger of God(Ex 8:19). But he didn't listen to them. The Lord sends Moses to Pharaoh to speak on behalf of the Lord to let the people go. If he does not comply, they will be sent to the whole country dog flies. It was fourth plague. Her tools were flies. They are named canine, apparently because they had strong bite. Philo of Alexandria writes that they were distinguished by their ferocity and persistence. The fourth plague has two features. Firstly, The Lord works a miracle without the mediation of Moses and Aaron. Secondly, the land of Goshen, where the Jews lived, was freed from disaster so that Pharaoh could clearly see the absolute power of God. The punishment worked. Pharaoh promised to let the Jews go into the desert and offer a sacrifice to the Lord God. He asked to pray for him and not to go far. Through the prayer of Moses, the Lord removed all the flies from Pharaoh and the people. Pharaoh did not let the Jews go into the desert.

Followed fifth plague - pestilence which struck all the cattle of Egypt. The Jewish cattle, however, the calamity has passed. This execution was also carried out by God directly, and not through Moses and Aaron. The stubbornness of the pharaoh remained the same.

Sixth execution was accomplished by the Lord only through Moses (when the first three were accomplished, Aaron was the mediator). Moses took a full handful of ashes and threw them into the sky. People and cattle covered abscesses. This time, the Lord Himself hardened Pharaoh's heart. He did this, apparently, in order to further reveal to the king and all the Egyptians His all-conquering power. God says to Pharaoh: I will send tomorrow, at this very time, a very strong hail, which has not been in Egypt since the day it was founded until now.(Ex 9:18). The holy writer notes that those servants of Pharaoh who were afraid of the words of the Lord, hastily gathered their servants and flocks into their houses. The hail was accompanied by thunder, which can be explained as the voice of God from heaven. Psalm 77 gives further details of this execution: They crushed their grapes with hail, and their sycamores with ice; gave up their livestock to hail and their flocks to lightning(47-48). Blessed Theodoret explains: “The Lord brought upon them hail and thunder, showing by the fact that He is the Lord of all the elements. This execution was carried out by God through Moses. The land of Goshen was not affected. It was seventh plague. Pharaoh repented: this time I sinned; The Lord is righteous, and I and my people are guilty; pray to the Lord: let the thunders of God and hail cease, and I will let you go and hold you no longer(Ex 9:27-28). But repentance was short-lived. Soon the pharaoh again fell into a state bitterness.

Eighth plague was very scary. After Moses stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt, The Lord brought a wind from the east lasting day and night. The locusts attacked all the land of Egypt and ate all the grass and all the greenery on the trees.. Pharaoh repents again, but, apparently, as before, his repentance is superficial. The Lord hardens his heart.

Peculiarity ninth plague in that it was caused by the symbolic action of Moses, who stretched out his hands to heaven. Installed for three days thick darkness. Having punished the Egyptians with darkness, God showed the insignificance of their idol Ra, the god of the sun. Pharaoh gave in again.

Tenth plague was the scariest. The month of Aviv has arrived. Before the start of the exodus, God commanded to celebrate Easter. This holiday became the main one in the Old Testament sacred calendar.

The Lord told Moses and Aaron that every family on the tenth day of Abib (after the Babylonian captivity, this month became known as Nissan) took one lamb and kept him separate until the fourteenth day of that month, and then stabbed him to death. When the lamb is slain, let them take from its blood and they will anoint on both jambs and on the crossbar of the doors in the houses where they will eat it.

At midnight on the 15th of Abib, the Lord struck in the land of Egypt all the firstborn, as well as all original livestock. The first-born Jews were not harmed. As the doorposts and beams of their houses were anointed with blood sacrificial lamb, The angel who slew the firstborn of Egypt, passed by. Established in memory of this event, the holiday was called Easter (Heb. passover; from a verb meaning jump over something).

The blood of the lamb was a type of the atoning blood of the Savior, the blood of cleansing and reconciliation. Unleavened bread (unleavened bread), which the Jews were supposed to eat on Easter days, also had a symbolic meaning: in Egypt, the Jews were in danger of becoming infected with pagan wickedness. However, God brought the Jewish people out of the country of enslavement, made them spiritually pure people, called to holiness: And you will be holy to me(Ex 22:31). He must reject the former leaven of moral corruption and start a clean life. Unleavened bread that cooks quickly symbolized that speed with which the Lord brought His people out of the land of slavery.

Easter meal expressed common unity of its participants with God and among themselves. Symbolic meaning It also had the fact that the lamb was cooked whole, with the head. Bone shouldn't have broken.

Ve-li-ki pro-rock and for-ko-no-da-tel from-ra-il-chan pro-is-ho-dil from co-le-na Le-vi-i-na. He was born in Egypt around 1570 B.C. In all his na-chi-na-ni-yah and steps, Mo-and-this was a weapon-di-em in the hands of the All-above-not-go. Mo-and-this was a man-lo-ve-com, someone-ro-mu God revealed the secrets of being: co-re-re-ing of the world and man-lo-ve-ka . On Mount Xi-nai-sky, he received from God 10 for-for-ve-dey of Him. With the power of God, she created great knowledge and miracles. Pre-sta-vil-sya 120 years in the country of Mo-avit-sky. Buried in a valley near Beth-fe-go-ra, but “no one knows the place to bury him, even to this day” ().

About the life of Mo-and-sey, the books of the Bible are in the West-woo-yut - Is-hod, Numbers-la and Vto-ro-for-ko-nie.

Kontakion of Prophet Moses

The face of the prophet with Moses and Aaron is rejoicing today, / as if the end of their prophecy has been fulfilled on us; / today the Cross shines, by which Thou hast saved us. / / With those prayers, Christ God, have mercy on us.

Translation: The meeting of the prophets with Moses and Aaron today joyfully triumphs, because the result of their prophecies has been fulfilled on us: today the Cross shines, by which we are saved. Through their prayers, Christ our God, have mercy on us.

The great prophet Moses is included in the prophetic rank of the Russian iconostasis. The God-seer, who carried out all the instructions of the Almighty on earth, received the Ten Commandments from the Lord on Mount Sinai.

The most common shrines are in Moscow, in the Church of the Ascension of the Lord on the Gorokhove Field, and in the city of Chelyabinsk, in the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God. Also, a rare fresco of the prophet adorns the church halls of the Church of the Exaltation of the Honest and Life-Giving Cross in Yaroslavl region, in a village called Igrishi.

Description of the icon

On the icon, the prophet is always depicted to the waist, in a robe that covers his shoulders. In his left hand, Moses holds the tablets of the Commandments. Right hand The prophet points to the scroll, showing that these Laws must be fulfilled and only they are true.

What helps the miraculous image

Before the icon of the prophet Moses, it is customary to thank the Lord. However, remembering the biblical story, where Moses asked the Almighty for his people, for the prudence of people and obedience, we can beg the saint to protect us from our own imperfections.

You can ask in prayer before the icon for protection from enemies, their attacks, as well as from various life problems and spiritual difficulties. The prophet is able to lead you to spiritual transformation, pointing to the path of true faith.

Even in failure life situation Moses will pick you up, intercede and help get rid of the black streak, just as the Lord once protected the people of the prophet through him, helping to get rid of the persecution and persecution of the Pharaoh's chariots.

Days of celebration

The celebration in honor of the icon of the prophet Moses falls on September 17th. On the same day, the day of remembrance of the God-seer himself is celebrated.

Prayer before the icon

“Oh, most holy Moses, prophet of God! Hear our prayers and come to our aid, protect us from our enemies, from troubles and grief, from evil and dishonor. Don't leave us unattended. Pray for us to the Lord in Heaven and ask for our protection and for the souls of our sinners. Let it be famous your name May Orthodox people praise you and bow before you! Save our souls and do not let us go astray. From now on and forever and ever. Amen".

The prophet Moses is the only one who had a chance to see the Lord in his real form. This speaks of the strength of the spirit and the faith of the God-seer. Moses is an important biblical figure who took upon himself the great responsibility of spreading the covenants of God among the people. He is the founder of religion, and they rely on his protection and patronage in moments of despair. We wish you strong faith, success and happiness. take care of yourselfand don't forget to press the buttons and

17.09.2017 04:16

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