When the prophet Moses lived. bible story of moses story of prophet moses

Moses- the great unifying figure of the Jewish nation and the Old Testament of Christians, who on Mount Sinai received the Ten Commandments from God. The five books of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), the "Pentateuch", are revered by the Jews under the name Torah (law). They were not written by one person, but have from four to five main sources, which are called by critics of the Bible "the first and second Yahvist", "Elohist", as well as the authors of Deuteronomy and the code of clergy. As a result of continuous editorial activity, these five books took shape in the coherent whole that we have today. These books represent the first part of the Old Testament Canon.

Moses is certainly a historical figure. His name is Egyptian and means "son" or "child; child "(cf. Thoth - Mosis, Thot - Mosis, Pa - Mosis, or Ramses (Ramses), that is, the son of Thoth, the son of Ra). According to the Egyptian priest and historian Manetho, he was a priest of Osiris and was called by the Egyptians Osarsif. Manetho claims that Moses was the son of Princess Termutis, sister of Pharaoh Ramses II (Termutis is the name of a poisonous snake sacred to the goddess Isis). The Hebrew interpretation of "pulled out of the water" seems implausible. Jewish sources believe that Moses was the son of Amram and Jochebed from the tribe of Levi, a caste of priests who once served the snake cult of Canaitic origin.

Since by the time of the birth of Moses, all newborn children of Jews were thrown into the water by the order of the pharaoh, the parents wove for him "a basket of reeds and pitched it with asphalt and pitch, and putting the baby in it, they placed it in the reeds near the river bank." The pharaoh's daughter, who came to this place to bathe, found him and raised him as her own son...

Perhaps the truth is somewhere in the middle: the story of a baby put in a basket and "accidentally" found should make the common love story of an Egyptian woman and a Jew more acceptable. Moses lived according to the most probable chronological calculations approx. 1450 BC The "Egyptian darkness" before the exodus of the Jews from Egypt (see Frog, Locust) is associated with the volcanic eruption of Thira (Santorina), the dusty masses of which darkened the sun.

When Moses, already at the age of 80, turned to the pharaoh with a request to free the Jewish people from slavery and allow them to be taken to Palestine, the pharaoh opposed, but Moses forced him to do it by magic.

Moses united the Jews who left Egypt as a people thanks to the conclusion of an alliance with the one God Yahweh (“Thou shalt have no other gods before Me”, Exodus 20, 3) and simultaneously with religion received the right and moral law. For all the miracles he performed, Moses used the "serpent's rod", which was later especially revered by the Jews. He gives an additional indication that Moses was first brought up as an Egyptian priest, since the snake rod and leopard skin belonged to the usual cult attributes of the priest of Osiris.

Now it is difficult for us to judge whether the miracles of Moses, which the Bible tells about, can be taken literally. Much speaks, for example, in favor of the fact that events described as separated in time, say, the speeches of Moses and Aaron before the pharaoh, are actually parts of one long session, individual fragments of which were painted by later narrators more and more fabulously.

When Moses met Pharaoh, he came from the Sinai desert, where, as the Bible says, he spent several decades among the nomadic people at the priest Jethro: Moses married his black-haired daughter Zipporah (the Bible calls her a Moorish).

Probably, then Moses perfected his magical art in communication with Jethro and Zipporah, it is no coincidence that he subsequently repeatedly entered into an argument with his brother Aaron, also experienced in magic, and his wife Miriam.

The high priest of Osiris with a snake rod and a leopard skin, while performing the ritual of the "third eye", Moses knocks water out of the rock with Aaron's rod. From the point of view of deeper symbolism, here we are talking about a symbol - the “water of true knowledge” thirsty for adepts (from the book: “Kes mysleres de la science”, 1893).

The most outstanding feat of Moses was that, after he brought the Jews out of Egypt, in the melting pot of the desert, through which he led them for many years (the Bible says 40 years, other sources - 3 years), make them those what they think they are even to this day, namely: the chosen people!

Moses consistently affirmed Abraham's idea of the existence of a single God.

In the religion he founded, Moses so skillfully intertwined all sorts of prohibitions, instructions and prescriptions with practical and social conditions that his teaching turns into a universal law of everyday life.

Moses also used the years in the desert to achieve a certain genetic composition in the people; he re-divided the Jews into genera, clans and families, and he assigned a special place to his tribe of priests.

One rather obscure passage in the Bible, which tells that all the men who were of mature age when they left Egypt perished in the wilderness, should be understood, perhaps symbolically, in the sense that Moses took their former self from them and filled them with their new knowledge of their identity and their being as Jews.

the well-known place in the Bible, where Moses again, with the help of a rod, knocks out a source of water in the rock, should be understood in the sense that he opened the source of another, deeper knowledge to his retinue, thirsting for true knowledge. It is noteworthy that today little is known that, in addition to making various cult objects, Moses called on the Jews to make bronze snakes - these “sculptures” two centuries later were again taken out of the temple by orthodox Jews.

However, Moses was not (according to O. Schilling, edition of J. B. Bauer, 1967) “neither a member of the clergy caste, nor an officer, he did not belong to people easily falling into ecstasy, and also could not rely on the ancient aristocracy ... he was a prophet and a man of God,” who, because of his anger at the waters of Meribah, where “the sons of Israel entered into strife with the Lord” (Numbers 20:10-13), lost the opportunity to enter the “Promised Land” and died on Mount Nebo, “and no one knows the place of his burial even to this day” (Deuteronomy 34:6). For the perception of religion by the Israelis, in general, it is characteristic that in connection with his personality a cult could not arise. However, for a long time they were in the power of legend and transferred to him features taken from ancient oriental tales and legends, which in the books named after him, like lush vegetation, closed the true description of his life for us (Helicopter, 1985). Without the main religious experience at the thorn bush on Mount Horeb (Exodus, 3), it is impossible to imagine his work, towering above the outside world and exceeding the boundaries of human capabilities ”(O. Schilling, ibid.). (See Horns.)

Moses is the greatest Old Testament prophet, the founder of Judaism, who brought the Jews out of Egypt, where they were in slavery, accepted 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 the crying baby and, on the advice of Moses' sister Miriam, who approached her, who watched 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 the 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 did not leave empty-handed: before fleeing, Moses ordered them to ask their Egyptian neighbors for gold and silver items, as well as rich clothes. They also 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 rod.

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 desert of paganism, brought the people of Israel to the New Testament and froze on its threshold. Moses died at the end of forty years of wandering on the top of Mount Nebo, from which he could see from afar 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 wilderness, 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 according to the law given by God at Sinai.

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

Svetlana Finogenova

28.04.2015

Prophet Moses is known to Christians as the author of five parts of the Bible. Initially, only one book was compiled from his manuscripts. Now it is the main manuscript of the Jewish people called "Torah". Orthodox and Catholics have divided the creation of Saint Moses into several episodes. As a result, the five parts of the Old Testament were named Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Four of them are devoted to the life and work of the prophet.

Biography of the saint

Based on the Biblical narratives, Moses was born in Egypt, at a time when the Jews were in slavery to the Egyptians. His family belonged to the descendants of Levi's brother Joseph, who became famous for his deeds for the good of Egypt and his people. At that time, a large number of Jews lived in this country. Fearing that the Jews would revolt or become allies of the enemy in a possible war, the pharaoh ordered to reduce the number of this people through hard labor.

In addition, there was a prophecy that God would send a deliverer to the Jews who would lead them out of slavery. The times when the conquerors actively patronized the Jews have passed. Their descendants no longer remembered the merits of the Jews and had their own opinion about their living in Egypt. As a result of the hostility of the Egyptians towards the people of Israel, the order to kill Jewish male infants did not cause much indignation.

At this time, the future prophet was born. His parents managed to hide his birth. But this only lasted for three months. There was no way to hide the child further, and the mother left him in a basket on the river bank. The childless daughter of Pharaoh noticed the baby and took pity on him. As the Bible says, the boy grew up for the time being with his real mother, who was his nurse.

How many years he lived with her is not known, but the scriptures state that it helped him remember to which lineage he belonged. At a certain age, Moses was returned to the daughter of Pharaoh, with whom he replaced his son. Thanks to this, the boy received, at that time, a very good education and a wonderful future awaited him. As an adult, he kept in touch with his parents and fellow tribesmen. The result of a loyal attitude towards the Jews, their protection and patronage was the indignation of the pharaoh. As a result, Moses fled from Egypt.

As for the personal life of the prophet, according to the Old Testament, he had one wife named Zipporah and two sons. Although the Bible mentions a woman, an Ethiopian by nationality, she could be the second wife of Moses. Zipporah was the daughter of the owner, to whom Moses got a job as a shepherd, after escaping.

Once, while grazing cattle, the prophet was instructed by God to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt. The result was forty years of wandering of the Jews in the desert. He died without ever reaching the Promised Land.

How the Bible characterizes Moses

In the Pentateuch, the prophet is represented as a leader who is obsessed with the calling assigned to him. Against his own will, he is devoted to his mission and strictly follows it until the end of his life. The Holy Book claims that God entrusted Moses with the task of leading the Jews out of slavery, re-educating and uniting the disparate people, and bringing the descendants of the Jews to the country of their ancestors.

The Biblical image of Moses is characterized by doubts and hesitations. He does not have any power, but his spiritual power makes him a leader that thousands of people have followed. In the process of constant alternation of successes and failures, the prophet himself changes. His attitude towards his people is somewhat transformed. From a charismatic personality, he turns into an institutional leader, which often manifests itself in a refusal to accept his authority.

The prophet understands that it is impossible to correct the psychology of people who have lived in slavery for so long. And it takes time to educate a new generation. His instructions serve the future. The descendants of the slaves who left Egypt are brought up on the canons of the new faith, which is fundamentally different from the existing religions.

Personality of Moses in religions

In Judaism, he is considered the main prophet who gave the Jews the "Torah" - the law of God. The Jews consider him a teacher of the Israeli people and call him Moshe Rabbeinu.
Orthodox and Catholics regard Moses as the great prophet of Israel, through whom the Old Testament was given to the world.

In Islam, Moses is identified with the greatest prophet Musa, whose biography is similar to the Jewish interpretation.

Was Moses in real life

The real existence of this prophet has always been debated. Ancient Egyptian sources and archaeological finds do not confirm the presence of this person in the early history of Israel.

Regarding the fact that he is credited with the authorship of the Old Testament, there is also no exact information about this. Moreover, historians argue that the five parts of the Bible could not have been compiled before the 5th century BC. But still, scientists suggest that before the personality of Moses appeared in the Biblical commandments, there were oral traditions about a certain person, which for many centuries were modified, distorted, supplemented by some facts. It has not yet been possible to establish the time of its activity. Since all attempts to find out during the reign of which pharaoh Moses led the Jews out of Egypt did not lead to anything concrete.

Most historians - religious scholars agree that this happened in the region of the 16th-12th centuries BC. It is also not entirely clear why the Old Testament does not mention the name of the pharaoh under whom the prophet lived. Although the book pays a lot of attention to names.

Those stories that describe the atmosphere of the life of Moses give reason to attribute events to the era of the New Kingdom. Some scholars argue that in the Exodus one can see the religious trends that existed in this area in the 14th century BC.

Conclusion

The Bible presents the prophet Moses as a great servant of God who led the Jews out of slavery, taught them and instructed them. None of the heroes of this book is given as much attention as Saint Moses. In the stories of the Pentateuch, this is the only mediator between God and people. His personality is contradictory, for hundreds of years it has acquired myths and legends, but to this day, different religions use the "God's Ten Commandments", which the prophet presented to his people.

The exact meaning of the name Aaron is not known, there are only assumptions according to which it refers to Egyptian origin, and possibly translates as "Great Name". According to legend, the Saint was the son of Amram, and also ...

Saint Nicholas, or, as he was called during his lifetime, Nicholas of Tolentinsky was born in 1245. He is considered an Augustinian monk, in addition, he was canonized by the Catholic Church. According to various sources...

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 a single people.

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

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 himself. 2 (XVII century BC), fleeing hunger. 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: “Behold, 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.

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, "this must be from the Jewish children." She took pity on the crying baby and, on the advice of Moses' sister Miriam, who approached her, who watched 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 the Pharaoh's daughter, and she brought him up as her son ( Exod. 2:10 ). The daughter of the pharaoh gave him the name Moses, which means "taken out of the water."

Finding Moses. F. Goodall, 1862

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

Childhood and youth of Moses. Escape to the desert.

Calling Moses

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

God said that he chose Moses to save the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. Moses 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 order, 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 a stick was 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, the Lord said, 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

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 obey - 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.

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 who 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.

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

Exodus of Jews from Egypt

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.

Manna from heaven

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

Moses opens a spring in the rock

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

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.

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.

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.

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. So the Children of Israel became a people - Jews .

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

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

Moses Breaks the Tablets of the Law

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, gold-studded chest with images of cherubs 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.

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 high priest, and other members of the tribe of Levi were ordained 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 desert, according to St. Gregory of Nyssa, is the sign of the sacrament of the cross.

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 desert of paganism, brought the people of Israel to the New Testament and froze on its threshold. Moses died at the end of forty years of wandering on the top of Mount Nebo, from which he could see the promised land, Palestine, from afar. 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.”

After Moses, the Jewish people, spiritually renewed in the wilderness, were led by his disciple Joshua who brought 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 according to the law given by God at Sinai.

Svetlana Finogenova

Moses(Hebrew מֹשֶׁה‏‎, Moshe, "taken (saved) from the water"; Arab. موسىٰ‎ Musa, other Greek Mωυσής, lat. Moyses) (XIII century BC), in the Pentateuch - a Jewish prophet and legislator, the founder of Judaism, organized the Exodus of the Jews from Ancient Egypt, rallied the Israelite tribes into a single people. He is the most important prophet in Judaism.

According to the Book of Exodus, Moses was born at a time when his people were growing in numbers and the Egyptian pharaoh was concerned that the Israelites might help Egypt's enemies. When Pharaoh ordered the killing of all newborn boys, Moses' mother, Jochebed, hid him in a basket and let it float on the waters of the Nile. The basket was soon discovered by the pharaoh's daughter, who decided to adopt the child.

When Moses grew up, he saw the oppression of his fellow tribesmen. He killed the Egyptian overseer, who severely punished the Israelite, and fled from Egypt to the land of Midian. Here, from a burning but unburned bush (Burning Bush), God spoke to him, who commanded Moses to return back to Egypt and ask for the release of the Israelites. After ten plagues, Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt across the Red Sea, after which they stopped at Mount Sinai, where Moses received the Ten Commandments. After forty years of wandering in the wilderness and the long-awaited arrival of the people of Israel in the land of Canaan, Moses died on the banks of the Jordan River.

The existence of Moses, as well as the reliability of his life story in the Bible, is the subject of controversy among biblical scholars and historians. Biblical scholars usually date his life to the 16th-12th centuries. BC e., mainly associated with the pharaohs of the New Kingdom.

Name

According to the Bible, the meaning of the name Moses is associated with salvation from the waters of the Nile (“stretched out”). This name was given to Moses by Pharaoh's daughter (Ex. 2:10). Here the play on words may also be an allusion to the role of Moses who led the Israelites out of Egypt. The ancient historian Josephus reiterates the biblical interpretation, arguing that the name Moses consists of two words: "saved" and the Egyptian word "My", meaning water. Semitologists deduce the origin of the name from the Egyptian root msy meaning "son" or "beget".

biography

bible story

The main source of information about Moses is the biblical narrative in Hebrew. 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.

The book of Exodus tells that Moses' parents belonged to the tribe of Levi (Ex. 2:1). Moses was born in Egypt (Ex. 2:2) in the reign of Pharaoh, who “ did not know Joseph”(Ex. 1:8), who was the first noble under one of his predecessors. The ruler doubted the loyalty to Egypt of the descendants of Joseph and his brothers and turned the Jews into slaves.

But hard labor did not reduce the number of Jews, and the pharaoh ordered all newborn Jewish male babies to be drowned in the Nile. At that time, a son was born into Amram's family (Ex. 2:2). Moses' mother Jochebed (Yocheved) managed to hide the baby in her home for three months (Ex. 2:3). No longer able to hide him, she put the baby in a reed basket, smeared on the outside with asphalt and pitch, and left it in the reed beds on the banks of the Nile, where Pharaoh's daughter found him, who came there to bathe (Ex. 2:5).

Paolo Veronese. Finding Moses. 2nd third of the 16th century Art Gallery. Dresden

Realizing that in front of her was one “of the Jewish children” (Ex. 2:6), she, however, took pity on the crying baby and, on the advice of Moses’ sister Miriam (Ex. 15:20), who was watching what was happening from afar, agreed to call the nurse - Israeli. Miriam called Jochebed, and Moses was given to his mother, who nursed him (Ex. 2:7-9). Pharaoh's daughter named the child Moses ("drawn out of the water") "because, she said, I took him out of the water" (Ex. 2:10). The Bible does not mention how long Moses lived with his own father and mother, presumably he stayed with them for two or three years (The wife conceived and gave birth to a son, and seeing that he was very handsome, hid him for three months Ex. 2:2 ). The book of Exodus says that "the baby grew up" in the parents, but it is not known how old he reached. And the child grew up, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and she had him instead of her son.» (Ex. 2:10). The mother, hired by the daughter of Pharaoh, nursed her own son Moses. And when I took it from my chest, I gave it back. And Moses was like the son of Pharaoh's daughter (Ex. 2:10).

According to the New Testament book The Acts of the Apostles, when Moses was given to Pharaoh's daughter, he was taught "all the wisdom of the Egyptians" (Acts 7:22).

Moses grew up as an adopted son in the Pharaoh's family. Once Moses left the royal chambers to the common people. He was deeply upset by the slavish position of his native people. Seeing an Egyptian who was beating a Jew, Moses killed the warrior and buried him in the sand, and the next offended one told all the Jews about this incident the next day. Then Moses tried to reconcile the two Jews quarreling among themselves. But the Jew, who offended another Jew, said to Moses: “Who has made you a ruler and a judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian? Soon the Jews brought the information to the Egyptians. Pharaoh found out about this and sought to kill his adopted son. Moses, fearing for his life, fled from Egypt to the land of Midian. So the author of the Torah left the comfort of the royal house, his homeland, and wandered for some time.

Family

Moses, having fled from Egypt to the land of Midian, stopped at the priest Jethro (Raguel). Lived at Jethro, tended his cattle and married his daughter Zipporah. She bore him sons Girsama(Ex. 2:22; Ex. 18:3) and Eliezer. After the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt, Moses gathered an army of many thousands and exterminated the Midianites (the people of his wife).

The book of Numbers mentions reproaches by his sister Miriam and brother Aaron for the fact that his wife is an Ethiopian (Cushite) by nationality. According to biblical scholars, it could not be Zipporah, but another wife, whom he took after the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt.

Revelation

While grazing cattle near Mount Horeb (Sinai), he received from the burning bush the call of God, who revealed his Name to him (Yahweh (Heb. יהוה), “I am who am”) to liberate his people. Moses asked what he should do if the Israelites did not believe him. In response, God gave Moses the ability to perform signs: he turned the staff of Moses into a snake, and the snake into a staff again; then Moses put his hand into his bosom, and the 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 the hand was healthy.

Returning to the banks of the Nile, together with his brother Aaron (whom God chose as his assistant to serve as “his mouth” (Ex. 4:16), since Moses referred to his tongue-tied tongue), he interceded with the pharaoh for the release of the sons of Israel from Egypt. And at first, Moses and Aaron, on behalf of Yahweh, asked the pharaoh to let the Jews go into the desert for three days to make sacrifices.

The stubbornness of the pharaoh subjected the country to the horrors of the Ten Plagues of Egypt: the turning of the waters of the Nile into blood; toad invasion; the invasion of midges; the invasion of dog flies; sea of cattle; disease in humans and livestock, expressed in inflammations with abscesses; hail and fire between hail; locust invasion; darkness; the death of the firstborn in the families of the Egyptians, and of all the firstborn of the cattle. Finally, Pharaoh allowed them to leave for three days (Ex. 12:31), and the Jews, taking the cattle and the remains of Jacob and Joseph the Handsome, left Egypt for the desert of Sur.

Exodus

Jews crossing the Red Sea. I. K. Aivazovsky. 1891

God showed the fugitives the way: he walked before them in a pillar of cloud during the day, and at night in a pillar of fire, lighting the way (Ex. 13:21-22). The sons of Israel crossed the Red Sea, which parted before them, but sank Pharaoh's army, which pursued the Israelites. On the seashore, Moses and all the people, including his sister Miriam, solemnly sang a song of thanksgiving to God (Ex. 15:1-21).

Moses led his people to the Promised Land through the Sinai desert. At first, for three days they walked through the wilderness of Shur and did not find water but bitter, but God sweetened this water by commanding Moses to throw the tree he indicated into it (Ex. 15:24-25). In the wilderness of Sin, God sent them many quails, and then (and for the next forty years of wandering) daily sent them manna from heaven.

In Rephidim, Moses, at the command of God, brought water out of the rock of Mount Horeb by striking it with his rod. Here the Jews were attacked by the Amalekites, but were defeated at the prayer of Moses, who during the battle was praying on the mountain, raising his hands to God (Ex. 17:11-12).

In the third month after leaving Egypt, the Israelites approached Mount Sinai, where God gave Moses rules on how the Sons of Israel should live, and then Moses received from God the stone Tablets of the Covenant with the Ten Commandments, which became the basis of Moses' legislation (Torah). Thus was the covenant made between God and the chosen people. Here, on the mountain, he received instructions on the construction of the Tabernacle and on the laws of worship.

Moses climbed Mount Sinai twice, staying there for forty days. During his first absence, the people sinned by violating the newly concluded covenant: they made the Golden Calf, which the Jews began to worship as the God who brought them out of Egypt. Moses in anger broke the Tablets and destroyed the calf (Seventeenth Tamuz). After that, again for forty days, he returned to the mountain and prayed to God for the forgiveness of the people. From there he returned with a face illumined by the light of God, 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.

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 - God instructed to say words to the rock, but out of lack of faith they hit the rock twice.

At the end of the wandering, the people again became cowardly and grumbled. As a punishment, God sent poisonous snakes, and when the Jews repented, he ordered Moses to raise up a copper serpent for their healing.

Death

Moses died just before entering the Promised Land. The Lord before his death called him to the ridge of Avarim: “And Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, and the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead even to Dan”(Deut. 34:1). There he died. “He was buried in the valley in the land of Moab against Beth Pegor, and no one knows [the place] of his burial even to this day”(Deut. 34:6).

He appointed Joshua as his successor at the direction of God.

Moses lived 120 years. Of which he spent forty years wandering in the Sinai desert.

ancient tradition

Moses was mentioned by Greek and Latin authors.

According to the testimony of the Roman historian Joseph Flavius, the Egyptian historian Manetho (4th-3rd centuries BC) reported that the pharaoh ordered all lepers and those suffering from other diseases to be relocated to the quarries. The lepers chose as their leader the Heliopolis priest Osarsif (a name in honor of the god Osiris), who after the exile changed his name to Moses. Osarsif (Moses) established laws for the community of the exiled and commanded that they should not enter into communication with anyone except those who were bound by a single oath. He also led the war against the pharaoh. However, in the war, the settlers were defeated, and the army of the pharaoh pursued the defeated enemies to the borders of Syria. However, Josephus Flavius calls Manetho's information "absurd and deceitful." According to Flavius, Moses was made in command of the Egyptian army against the Ethiopians who invaded Egypt as far as Memphis, and successfully defeated them.

According to Chaeremon, Moses' name was Tisiphen, he was a contemporary of Joseph, whose name was Petesef. Tacitus calls him the legislator of the Jews. The source used by Pompey Trogus calls Moses the son of Joseph and the father of Arruas, the king of the Jews.

Egyptian sources

Ancient Egyptian written sources and archaeological finds do not contain any information about Moses.

Moses in Abrahamic religions

In Judaism

Moses (Hebrew מֹשֶׁה‎, “Moshe”) is the main prophet in Judaism, who received the Torah from God on the top of Mount Sinai. He is considered the "father" of all subsequent prophets, since the level of his prophecy is the highest possible. So in the book of Deuteronomy it says: "And there was no more among Israel such a prophet as Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face" (Deut. 34:10). It is also said about him: “If you have a prophet, then I, the Lord, reveal myself to him in a vision, I speak to him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moshe, he is entrusted in all My house. Mouth to mouth I speak with him, and clearly, and not in riddles, and he sees the face of the Lord. (Num. 12:6-8). However, in the Book of Exodus, Moses is forbidden to see the face of God: “And then He said, You cannot see My face, because no man can see Me and live” (Ex. 33:20).

Based on the narrative of the Book of Exodus, the Jews believe that the code of religious laws of Judaism (torah) was given to Moses by God on Mount Sinai. However, when Moses came down from the mountain and saw the Jews worshiping the golden calf, he smashed the tablets in anger. After that, Moses returned to the top of the mountain and wrote the commandments with his hand.

Kabbalah reveals the correspondence between Moses (Moshe) and the Sephirah Netzah. And also the fact that Moses is the circuit (gilgul) of the soul of Abel.

Usually Jews refer to Moses as Moshe Rabbeinu, that is, "our teacher."

In Christianity

Moses is the great prophet of Israel, according to legend, the author of the books of the Bible (the 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 was revealed to the world, so through Christ in the Sermon on the Mount - the New Testament.

According to the synoptic gospels, during the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, the prophets Moses and Elijah were with Jesus.

The icon of Moses is included in the prophetic rank of the Russian iconostasis.

Philo of Alexandria and Gregory of Nyssa compiled detailed allegorical interpretations of the life of the prophet.

In Islam

In Muslim tradition, the name Moses sounds like Musa (arab. موسى‎). He is one of the greatest prophets, the interlocutor of Allah, to whom Taurat (Torah) was revealed. Musa (Moses) is mentioned 136 times in the Qur'an. Sura 28 of the Quran tells about the birth and rescue of Musa from the waters of the Nile (Quran, 28: 3 - 45, etc.)

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

Historicity of Moses

The existence of Moses and his role in the early history of Israel has been a subject of longstanding controversy. The first doubts about the historicity of Moses and the authenticity of his biography were expressed back in modern times. In the modern era, a number of historians and biblical scholars argue for Moses as a legendary figure. They note that ancient Eastern (including ancient Egyptian) written sources and archaeological sites do not contain any information about Moses or the events of the Exodus. Their opponents point to the lack of historical monuments and argue that the events of the Exodus associated with Moses have minimal chances of being reflected in the monuments of the Bronze and Early Iron Ages. However, both of them admit that the recording of the stories about Moses was preceded by a long oral tradition, which could modify, alter, distort or supplement the original traditions. These points of view are opposed by supporters of the school of "biblical minimalism", who believe that the Old Testament was written by Jewish priests around the 4th-2nd centuries BC. e. and the vast majority of the events and figures in this part of the Bible are fictitious.

Proponents of the documentary hypothesis view the Pentateuch as the result of a compilation of several sources, four of which (Yahwist, Elochist, Priestly Code and Deuteronomist) form the main body of the text. They note that the figure of Moses and his role in each source is different. So in Yahvist Moses is the undisputed leader of the exodus. The Priestly Code seeks to downplay the role of Moses and focuses on the role of Moses' brother Aaron, to whom the Jerusalem priests traced their genealogy. The Elohist, in contrast to Aaron, emphasizes the role of Joshua, who was more faithful to the word of God than Moses. Finally, the Deuteronomist emphasizes the role of Moses as a prophet and legislator. From these observations, it is concluded that the legends about Moses developed gradually and their versions differed in different traditions. These findings have been disputed by critics of the documentary hypothesis.

Biblical scholars also note that Moses is not mentioned in texts about the exodus, which are considered earlier than the main body of the Pentateuch (early prophets, psalms, "song of the sea"). On this basis, it is suggested that in the early oral traditions, Moses was either not a hero of the exodus or had a minor role. And only later the compilers of the written tradition built the whole story around the figure of Moses, from whom they traced their genealogy. Such conclusions are also disputed on the grounds that the alleged references to the Exodus are brief and that Moses may have been left out at the authors' wish.

Moses and Pharaoh: Versions

Many attempts have been made to establish to what period of the history of ancient Egypt the Bible refers the events of the exodus of the Jews, and which pharaoh it speaks of. There are several versions of when the exodus of the Jews supposedly took place, and therefore when Moses lived. Most versions link the exodus to the pharaohs of the New Kingdom. This implies that the activity of Moses falls on the period of the 16th-12th centuries BC. e.

The Bible does not name the pharaoh mentioned, although names are often emphasized in the Bible. So, in Exodus the names of two midwives whom the pharaoh called to himself are mentioned, but not the name of the pharaoh (Ex. 1:15). According to Exodus, after the flight of Moses from Egypt to Midian, Pharaoh died (“after a long time, the king of Egypt died”) (Ex. 2:23). Thus, at least two pharaohs appear in Exodus.

Various biblical scholars have attempted to identify the pharaoh of the Book of Exodus with the following pharaohs:

Ahmose I (1550-1525 BC)
Thutmose III (1479-1425 BC)
Ramesses II (1279-1213 BC)
Merneptah (1212-1202 BC)
Setnakht (1189-1186 BC)

Ahmose I was pointed out by those who believed that the Israelites left Egypt after the expulsion of the Hyksos. Ahmose I successfully fought against the Hyksos and captured their capital - Avaris. Those who tried to establish the date of the exodus on the basis of the biblical reckoning came to the conclusion that the exodus falls on the reign of Thutmose III. Ramesses II, who carried out extensive construction work involving a large number of people, was seen as an oppressor pharaoh. Under Merneptah, son of Ramesses II, Egypt began to weaken, so the reign of Merneptah was considered a more likely time for an exodus. The absence of this pharaoh's mummy was also a source of speculation until the time when the mummy was discovered.

Moses and Akhenaten

In 1939, in his work Moses and Monotheism, Sigmund Freud connected the teachings of Moses with the religion that Pharaoh Akhenaten (reigned approximately 1351-1334 BC) planted in Egypt during his reign. This religion assumed the worship of only one deity - the disk of the sun Aton. In the monotheism (or henotheism) of Akhenaten, Freud saw the origins of the monotheism of Judaism. Based on the information of Manetho, Freud conjectures that after the failure of this religion in Egypt, one of the disciples of Akhenaten (Osarsif) made an attempt to unite another people under its auspices, having escaped from Egypt with him. This places the date of the Exodus just after the date of Akhenaten's death, i.e. after 1358 BC. e.

To date, Freud's conjecture is of interest only to historians of psychoanalysis.

In art

art:

Moses (Michelangelo)
Moses (fountain in Bern)
Death and Testament of Moses

literature:

Poem by I. Ya. Franko "Moses"
Sigmund Freud wrote the book "Moses and Monotheism" (S. Freud: This Man Moses), dedicated to the psychoanalytic study of the life path of Moses and his relationship with the people.

music:

opera by Gioacchino Rossini;
opera by Arnold Schoenberg;
opera by Miroslav Skorik;
American Negro spiritual "Go Down Moses".

cinema:

Character on imdb.com
Cartoon "Prince of Egypt" (1998)
The film The Ten Commandments (1923) and its remake of the same name (1956)
Film "Moses" (1974)
The film "The Prophet Moses: The Leader-Liberator" (1995)
Film "Exodus: Gods and Kings" (2014)

iconography

The icon-painting originals give the following description of the appearance of the prophet Moses:

Great old man 120 years old, Jewish type, well-behaved, meek. Bald, with a medium-sized beard in strands, he is very handsome, his body is courageous and strong. He wore a lower tunic of blue color, with a slit in front and belted (cf.: Ex. 39:12 et seq.); on top - an ephod, that is, a long canvas with a slit in the middle for the head; on the head - a veil, on the legs - boots. In his hands is a rod and two tablets with 10 commandments.

In addition to the tablets, they also depicted a scroll with the inscription:

“Who am I, that I may go to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and that I may bring the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt.”(Ex. 3:11).
Sometimes other text is given: “Help and patron be to my salvation; This is my God, and I will glorify him, the God of my Father, and I will exalt him.”(Ex. 15:1).

There is also a tradition to portray the prophet as still quite young (“medieval”): these are icons depicting the prophet under the Burning Bush, digging his boots from his feet (Ex. 3:5), or receiving tablets from the Lord.

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