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Legal religion as given by God through Moses to the people of Israel “You see, I have shown you justifications and judgments, just as the Lord my God commanded me... And preserve and do, for this wisdom and understanding is yours in the sight of all nations; this great language" (Deut. 4:5-6). “Before the coming of faith, be careful under the law to close yourself in the faith that wants to be opened. The same law guides us to become in Christ, that we may be justified by faith; the faith that has come is no longer under the guidance of Esma” (Gal. 3:23-25). “At times there is a young heir, a servant who is better than none, who is Lord of all; but there are rulers and overseers even before the father’s command. Likewise, we, when we were young, under the elements of the world of enslavement" (Gal. 4: 1-3). “The end of the law is Christ for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Rom. 10:4). The Lord descends to the earth, takes “a people for Himself from among another people, with plagues, signs and great horrors” (Deut. 4:34), brings them to the foot of Sinai and talks to them. What did the Lord tell His people about Himself, what did He oblige them to, what did He bequeath? Then “the mountain burned with fire to the very heavens, and there was darkness, clouds and gloom” (Deut. 4, 11): it is true that the Lord is arranging wonderful and terrible things in His people! The people accept laws and decrees for which all other nations will say about them: only this people is wise and reasonable - and, however, these decrees and laws, protected by the fear of mortal judgment, are valid only for a time? On what does this depend? the economy of salvation and the Church itself receive a new image: why was this transformation carried out at this time and in this particular form, and not in another - God, the guardian of the Church and the educator of the elect, now places them under the supervision of teachers; who are these teachers, what and how should they teach? “That's what prompted us to look at legal religion. Religion and the Church accept new education: what is it in itself? – New decrees are given: how were the people accustomed to them and what gave moral strength to their will to fulfill them? Previously, religion and the Church had such a form, now they accept another, which has to give way to a third: why is now this particular form given to them, and not another? – Divine decrees are directed towards the education of people: what kind of people can and should be formed by a religion under the law? – Religion appears here in the form of a visible covenant, from which, as from a seed, the corresponding concepts of God, religious feelings and moral dispositions develop: all this together constitutes the spirit - the inner being of the subordinate religion. Further, this spirit is given visibility - and predominantly religiosity is clothed in ritual; This is justification, and primarily morality, given the field of exercise in the rules: these are the commandments; both are finally protected by civil laws: these are the courts. – Thus, what is subject to our consideration is primarily the composition of the subordinate religion, and in it: 1) God's covenant with the Jewish people. 2) Religious concepts corresponding to this covenant. 4) Moral dispositions. 5) Ritualism, as a vestment primarily of religiosity. 6) Practical rules as a field for exercising superior moral dispositions. 7) Civil regulations, and in general the entire structure of society in relation to religion under the law and some questions that naturally arise from this, namely: 8) How did the people get used to the new order and how did they strengthen themselves in walking along it? 9) Why did religion and the Church appear now in this particular form? 10) What kind of spirit should they form among the people? 1. God's covenant with the Jewish people This covenant was finally confirmed at Sinai, but preparation for it began with the first approach of God to Israel in Egypt. Positive religion descends from heaven, but its seat on earth is always the heart. It is implanted in it, assimilated and stored by it. Therefore, it is necessary to first form this heart according to the spirit of the new religion, to predispose it to it, so that, descending into it, it descends as if onto a thirsty land. All the actions of God in Egypt, and from Egypt to Sinai, were exclusively directed towards this: with them He introduced the soul and heart of Israel into a covenant with Himself - invisible, internal, in order to then conclude a visible, oral one. – Consequently, the opening of the heart, since it is formed under the special influence of the strong hand of God, at this time is the first and closest guide to understanding the essence and spirit of the Sinai covenant. Living among the pagans, Israel began to deviate from the faith of their fathers, and then inevitably fell in spirit. - “A fornicator in Egypt, a fornicator in his youth” (Ezek. 23:3). The Lord spoke to them with an oath, so that “everyone would put away the abomination from his own hands, and not be defiled in the creations of Egypt. But they rejected Him and did not want to listen.” Then the Lord determined to “pour out His wrath on her, and end His wrath against them in the midst of the land of Egypt” (Ezek. 20:7-8). Pharaoh, as if for his own sake, decided to outwit, embitter, and humble the race of the sons of Israel; “And the Egyptians abhorred the children of Israel, and the Egyptians committed violence against the children of Israel because of their need, and they committed a painful life in cruel deeds” (Ex. 1: 10-14). The blow of God fell deeply on the heart of Israel and humbled it. In the face of violence, an innocent soul is inspired by courage and grows in strength of spirit, taking refuge in the shadow of faith. A soul that has forgotten God and the faith of its fathers falls at their first meeting. Conscience secretly points out the angry finger of God here and thereby suppresses any internal excitement in the soul to regain freedom, destroys even the very consciousness of the right to do so. Israel fell in spirit and gave itself up to disaster. What could be expected from Israel in such an order? - It’s not enough yet - he would have mixed with the Egyptians in service and customs, and disappeared in it, just as a huge pile of earth disappears into the sea, having no internal connection. - But He was watching over him, Who, 400 years later, determined to resettle him in a land that was not his own, and here to enslave, embitter and humble him (Gen. 15, 13). Such relaxation and decline of vital forces was intentionally allowed by God so that, having revived new life, resurrected the spirit in this moral insignificance, he would then give it, as if alive from the dead, full of new energy, a new form, new laws and regulations. “And the children of Israel groaned from their works and cried out... and God was known to them” (Ex. 2:23, 25). The duration and greatness of the suffering finally justified them before themselves: the measure of sorrows was balanced with the measure of the judgment of conscience, which gave way to humble prayer, but strong and bold, ascending to the throne of God (Ex. 2:24). The spirit of piety revived, but did not revive with it the spirit of the people: faith and devotion to the will of God filled their soul, but did not revive in it the consciousness of its significance, strength and strength. And this spirit would not have come to life and this consciousness would not have been reborn if God had not approached them with a strong hand and a high arm. Awareness of one's own importance is necessary for the people, but the people of God must recognize their strength only in God. That is why he was not allowed to arise on his own to this consciousness, he was even allowed to fall in it so that, amid the excessive abundance of miracles, he very slowly ascends to it, so that the true source of his power would be all the more obvious. This is the main and primary goal of God’s orders regarding the Israelites and all the forces that were revealed to them in the land of Egypt and upon the exodus from it - to place the conviction as deeply as possible in his soul that they in themselves are completely powerless and insignificant, and, turning their hearts to Himself, strengthening their faith, in the spirit of this faith to form a consciousness of their significance, strength and strength no longer in themselves, but in God (Ex. 3, 9–10, 6:7–12, 19:4 ; Deut. 4, 35–39 ). The power of all His conversations to the Israelites in Egypt and the significance of all His deeds here can be expressed in His own words: “I am the Lord... I will destroy you... I will deliver you... I will take you away... I will accept you as My own people and I will be your God” (Exodus 6:6-7) “Be bold, stand firm” (Exodus 14:13). Moses soon comprehended God's intention; As if instantly, a spirit of humble consciousness of his strength in God was formed in him (Ex. 3:11-12) - and without a doubt, with the thought: “I can do all things in God who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13), he came from Midian to Egypt - to arouse the same spirit among the people. - “And the people believed and rejoiced” - about the possibility of deliverance (Ex. 4:31); but both their faith and their joy were nothing more than paint on the face of a dead man. Their spirit weakened even more when, after the first proposal of Moses to Pharaoh about their liberation, their fate became unbearable, they forever doomed themselves to suffering, suppressing every thought about freedom (Exodus 14:11): they did not even want to listen to Moses - “out of cowardice and cruel deeds” when he, another time, began to tell them about it (Exodus 6:9). They expressed the decline of their spirit so strongly here that Moses himself weakened his zeal to intercede for them (Ex. 6:12). The Lord now showed the people that He is in Himself, and then made him, as it were, only a spectator of His power over Pharaoh, without turning to him. – Nine miraculous signs are performed before their eyes; seven times Moses and Aaron brought them the message of freedom on behalf of Pharaoh, and seven times Pharaoh again strengthened the bonds of their slavery. At first their heart might be enlivened with joy at the promise of relief, and again frozen with sorrow and fear at the news of the cruelty of Pharaoh; it might arise in hope and again fall into despair; it might hope less and fall deeper. But when they later saw that the power of God was not diminishing, but rather increasing, when, several times giving themselves over to despair, they were pulled out of it by the strong hand of God, then the thought would inevitably arise in their souls that the series of miracles would surely never end, and the conviction should have formed that the God of their fathers, who had approached them for salvation, would not give up and would not stop defeats. The belief is beneficial. Their hearts now rested calmly, without disturbances, under the strong protection of God, which protected them from executions. God struck down their enemies in their defense, and their hearts were warmed with trustworthiness: “God is for us, who is against us?” (Rom. 8:31). With this feeling of their security under the roof of God, they obediently, without contradiction, carry out the orders given by Moses for the exodus - and, when, after the last most sensitive defeat of the Egyptians, they receive freedom, they hastily leave Ramesses for Succoth. However, this last circumstance shows quite clearly that their trustworthiness, sense of security, consciousness of their strength in God, as new in their souls, were still very weak and ready to waver at the first failure. That is why God did not lead them directly to Palestine (Ex. 13:17), and that is why he led them in the desert among various deliberate temptations in order to strengthen these feelings; often puts them in such extreme circumstances where only death remains to be expected - and then immediately gives them a quick helping hand, in the experienced and inner conviction that they themselves are nothing and that all their strength is in God. In the desert, God gave the people a charter and a law, and tested them there (Ex. 15:25); and the test, in fact, is the revelation before the consciousness of a person of his strength in God and powerlessness in himself. The first experience of such a test, in the image of which others were arranged, was at the Red Sea. “The sea is ahead, Pharaoh’s army is behind, Israel is in mortal fear: the relaxation of the spirit that had been revealed in Egypt arose again and took possession of them to an even greater extent. Not knowing what to decide, in confusion, he only grumbles (Ex. 14:10-12). “Be bold, stand firm... The Lord will fight for you,” Moses encourages him (Ex. 14:13–14)... Pharaoh’s chariots and his strength sink into the sea; “by the dry land in the midst of the sea” Israel that passed away (Exod. 15, 4, 19) sees the great hand, believes God and Moses, His saint, and sings a song of thanks, full of inspired trustworthiness, a feeling of complete security and consciousness of his strength in God: “God is highly exalted and formidable, but formidable for my enemies; His wrath burns them like stubble, and for me he churns up the waters and cleanses the deeps; He stretched out his right hand, and the earth devoured them, but he leads his people with mercy... and sees them off with strength; He is my God, the God of my father, the nations hear and tremble, but their fear and trembling is from the greatness of the arm of God, which appeared when His people, the people acquired by Him, passed by.” The people see that all the efforts of their enemies are insignificant, that all nations in comparison with them are nothing; but he acquires such power and significance only because he is the people of God, the people chosen by God. Here he is given to feel God's favor, attention to himself, his closeness to Him, and even, as it were, sonship, which, in fact, should be the basis of the consciousness of his strength in God (Ex. 15). In exactly the same spirit and with the same purpose, temptations were raised at the waters of Marrah, in Rephidim - by thirst, in the desert of Sin - by famine and before Horeb - by the attack of the Amalekites. By placing them in such circumstances and immediately providing first aid, the Lord experimentally inspired His people that He would not allow them to suffer from natural needs and oppression from the tongues, that Israel could always expect and receive contentment and security from Him, and in constant stimulation and strengthening of these feelings, He gave them manna as their constant food and commanded them to convey to their descendants His unfailing will to exterminate the first oppressors - the Amalekites. Thus aroused and strengthened in the heart of Israel is the feeling of their closeness to God and His protection, the consciousness of their strength and significance, contentment and security in Him. Despite all this, not everything has been done yet. Such feelings cannot be original, radical. They are essentially feelings that are close to the main thing and only protect it; and the main feeling or conviction should be born and nurtured even deeper in the heart already under their beneficial influence and protection - this is the conviction of the need to fulfill the will of God. Conscience will not allow a feeling of closeness to God and His protection to develop in one who transgresses the will of God; it will not give place to joy and bliss from a feeling of security and contentment in God in the heart of one who walks wrongly with God. On the other hand, whoever feels his closeness to God, who is confident in His protection and election and in Him is aware of his strength and greatness, the desire to act as if on behalf of God cannot but arise in his soul, the determination to walk only according to His instructions cannot but arise. That is why we see that this last disposition is formed in Israel immediately after the first, and even at the same time, alternately with it, so that they mutually help each other in education and growth. The spirit of Israel came to life in Egypt under the strong hand of God - and God gives it to fulfill His first will: orders regarding the exodus from Egypt and the commandment about Passover, of which only the latter is declared a permanent law. Israel for the first time tasted the feeling of freedom under the protection of God outside the bounds of its slavery in Succoth - and receives two laws: on the Feast of Unleavened Bread and on the dedication of the firstborn to God, with detailed instructions to constantly remember their meaning and with the command to pass them on to posterity (Ex. 13:9-16). After crossing the sea, Israel fully understood and felt its security, strength and greatness, its closeness to God and His special protection for itself, and three days later, by the waters of Marah, God openly provides these benefits in complete dependence on the fulfillment of His will. You will always be under My roof, - as if God were telling him so, - it will always be good for you if you listen to My voice and do what is pleasing before Me (Ex. 15:26). And the more the spirit of the people was strengthened in trustworthiness, the more strongly the Lord inculcated the conviction of the need to fulfill His will, and when the quiet life under His roof became as if ordinary from constancy and could give place to oversight and relaxation, He shows Himself vigilant over the ways of the people: “I will tempt them, if they walk in My law, or not” (Ex. 16:4), - and experienced in the most tangible way assures that no crime can hide from His eye and that His righteousness is always ready for judgment and execution (Ex. 16:20, 27-28). All this should have formed in the soul of Israel - under the feeling of security, strength and significance in God - the desire and determination to always do what is pleasing to Him and the conviction that even under His roof one cannot be at peace who does not walk in His ways. After this, the heart of Israel at the foot of Sinai is quite clear to everyone, and the feelings that filled it here are visible to everyone. Until now, one might say, they have only not been clarified for Israel itself, not revealed to understandable certainty before its consciousness, not blessed and not sanctified by God - in general, not raised to fullness and not put into law. This is done by God's covenant with the people. - God promises them what they expect from Him in feeling, or even what they already have from Him in feeling, and demands what in feeling has long been offered and delivered to Him. “You yourselves have seen,” says the Lord, “I created the tree of Egypt, and lifted you up like on the wings of eagles and brought you to Himself; and now if you listen to My voice and keep My covenant, you will be chosen by Me as a people from all people: for the whole earth is Mine; you will be a royal priesthood and a holy tongue” (Ex. 19:4-6). That is, it’s as if the Lord was saying this: in yourself you are insignificant, but you see how I strengthened and exalted you in Egypt, how I calmed you down and protected you later. And from now on you will be under My protection - I choose you for Myself from all nations - just listen to My voice. That's what the people wanted. He had already reached the feeling of his election and the special closeness of God to himself, he felt his security and strength under His roof and in his heart tasted the joy and bliss of these advantages: he now wanted one thing, that God Himself would bless and choose the order that introduced him to unearthly sensations. Previously, a desire arose in his soul to do what was pleasing to God, his patron, and grew to the point of conviction in the necessity of such a life: now he only wanted God Himself to openly accept this sacrifice of the heart, he wanted to be sure that their determination to do what was pleasing to Him was pleasing to Him. After this, the delight, the inspiration with which the Israelites repeatedly expressed their readiness to accept and fulfill the commands of God is very understandable: “all people answered with one accord and said: “Let us do everything that the Lord has spoken” (Ex. 19:8). That is, the people expressed an inspired determination to always do the will of God, in a feeling of the special closeness of God to themselves and themselves to God, of God’s special election and protection, in full confidence that, being in itself insignificant and weak, they would be glorified and exalted by God, and under His protection they would always live in contentment and security. Moses depicts this content at length in one of his last speeches to the people. “On the day of this commandment to you, the Lord your God, do all these justifications and judgments; and keep and do it with all your heart and with all your soul. You have chosen the Lord this day to be God, and to walk in all His ways, and to keep His justifications and commandments and judgments, and to obey His voice. And the Lord has chosen you this day, that you may be His chosen people, just as He spoke to you, to keep all the commandments. Him, and you will be above all the tongue, who made you eminent and praiseworthy and glorious, you will be a people holy to the Lord your God, like a verb” (Deut. 26, 16-19). This is the soul, the root mood, the innermost, fundamental disposition of Israel. It is caused by Divine influence and strengthened forever by God's blessing in the covenant and constitutes the most reliable heartfelt basis for the creation of the entire law. The soul was betrothed by the will of God and, as the law of conscience, will now accept its every determination. After this, the positive decrees of God often cease to be positive: they are joyfully accepted by the heart and oblige from the inside. Consequently, fear and trembling do not belong to the essence of the covenant and law of Sinai. They cannot belong to the covenant as a covenant, because the covenant is concluded to avoid all fear. Fear here constitutes only the outer vestment of the covenant, the outward image of the appearance of God and His law; it was made necessary by one circumstance - the age of the Jews, according to which they are ready to expect relief everywhere and hope for an apology. That is why the Lord constantly keeps the Jews in fear of His Name, so that, having this fear before their eyes, they do not sin (Ex. 20:20), but he does this as if from the outside, outwardly, not directly. The terrible executions against the Egyptians, the strict definition of the Amalekites, and especially the horrors of Sinai and the blood of the covenant are aimed at this. The first two cases from the first instilled in the Israelis the feeling of the weak under the hand of the Strong, but at the same time they made them tremble - God, the punisher of those who resist His will; the latter made it clear that the dying fear awaits the criminal in the very act of the crime and inevitable quick death after it. God revealed Himself as the greatest, unapproachable Ruler of the universe, benevolent to those submissive to Him and angry to His enemies, assured of His attention, but always kept them at a trembling distance from Himself. Anyone who obeyed the law had to maintain the conviction in the feeling of his heart: it is good for me under the roof of God, but I am afraid lest I transgress the will of God. Closer to the concept of God, more significant in relation to the covenant, more significant in its influence on life was the self-formed conviction of the immutability and inviolability of the covenant on the part of God; that is, that God will never again destroy the power of this covenant, that those who entered into a covenant with Him will forever remain His part, His inalienable property, that although they leave Him, He will not abandon them or despise them, but will only change His attitude towards them and, like a protective father, will not stop punishing until He brings them to correction, and that, therefore, they are left with one of two things - or do the will of God, or suffer. Another long series of executions over the Egyptians quite clearly assured that God would certainly do what He had determined, that there was no resistance to His will, that if He wanted to subjugate anyone to His will, He would certainly subjugate. But this teaching in someone else’s face could rarely be addressed to oneself; The Israelis understood and felt this truth in their own person after breaking the covenant before Sinai. Here God either determines the general destruction, - then with the Angel he commands to retreat from the mountain, so as not to destroy everyone, - then in the pillar of cloud, after the tabernacle of Moses, he leaves the camp, and leaves it in order to decide what to do to Israel (Ex. 32:7); Who did not feel at the same time that the terrible God was walking around, carrying with Him execution, ready to be revealed at every moment? Israel has already humbled itself, complains, repents, but God still keeps him in fear and does not decide to restore merciful relations with him until after the most sincere and decisive repentance; who is not convinced that the righteous hand of God does not fall and cannot fall until it breaks proud stubbornness and crushes the heart? The Lord determines punishments for breaking the covenant (Lev. 26), and moreover, in such a way that He promises to increase them sevenfold if they do not listen to Him (Lev. 26:18), and to add seven more blows if after this they go against Him (Lev. 26:21), - and seven more (Lev. 26:24), - and seven more (Lev. 26, 28) - until they confess their iniquity and their uncircumcised heart submits; and all this because no matter how the Israelites separate from Him, He will not despise them, will not hate them to the point of destruction, will not break His covenant with them (Lev. 26:44). That is, he who entered into a covenant with God will forever stand within the boundaries of this covenant, as if in some kind of fence, without the opportunity to step out of them - that in it he arbitrarily imposed a certain yoke on himself, which he no longer has the power to put off of himself. These are two beliefs and feelings that are not included in the essence of the covenant, but are directly close to it and serve as a necessary, albeit external, vestment and protection for corrupt hearts - and therefore, all, however, must take place between the feelings and dispositions of the one entering into a covenant with God and be part of the general mood of his heart. 2. Religious Concepts Corresponding to the Covenant In accordance with such a covenant, and especially in accordance with the revelations of God in Egypt and in the desert, a special idea of ​​God, His properties and attitude towards oneself was to be formed in the soul of Israel - an idea that determined the composition of his faith. Israel had to believe that Jehovah, who brought them out of Egypt, was the one true God: for none but the true God could do the signs and wonders that He did before their eyes. They were erected for this purpose, so that Israel, the Egyptians and all nations understand that the Lord their God “this God is... God is in heaven, above and below the earth, and there is no God except Him” (Deut. 4:35, 39); that He is the one true Creator and Ruler of the world (Ex. 20:11), the God of spirits and all flesh (Numbers 16:22, 27:16), Whose is “heaven and the heavens, the earth and all that is in it” (Deut. 10:14), the Lord independent and endless in being and dominion is He (Exod. 3, 14), Who Himself will kill and He Himself will create life: He will smite and He Himself will heal, “and there is nothing that He will put out of His hand” (Deut. 32:39), “who reigns and lives forever and ever” (Deut. 32:40; Exodus 15:18), - there is the most majestic, powerful and unapproachable God, before whom everything must humble itself and whose will nothing can resist - “the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great and mighty and awesome God” (Deut. 9:26, 10:17), whose hand is satisfied with everything (Num. 11, 23); only by special favor can one hear His voice (Deut. 4:33), but it is impossible to approach Him, much less see His face: “for no man shall see the face of God and live” (Ex. 19, 22–24, 33:20; Deut. 5, 24–26). But this most majestic God, Israel believed, is our God (Isa. 5:7), - the God of our fathers - “The God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” (Ex. 3:15), - who chose us, “not because we are many, but because we loved” us. Deut. 7, 7, 8) “the Lord took our tongue for Himself out of the midst of the tongue” (Deut. 4, 34), like “an eagle... spread out His wings, and received” us “and lifted us up... onto His frame” (Deut. 32, 11), “and brought... from the furnace of iron out of Egypt, that we might be His people as a lot” (Deut. 4, 20) - “and become the part of the Lord, his people Jacob, already his inheritance Israel” (Deut. 32:9). We understood in our hearts that “we are the sons of the Lord our God” (Deut. 8:5, 14:1); and He is our Father, who acquired us, and created us, and created us (Deut. 32:6); 32:10), and teaches as a father teaches his son (Deut. 8:5), and will never leave us, much less consume, will never forget the covenant of our fathers, “to whom they swore by” (Deut. 4:31), for there is a Lord forever, “dwell in the midst of the children of Israel” (Numbers 35:34). Jehovah - our God - is “a faithful God, keep His covenant” (Deut. 7:9), “the Lord is generous and merciful, long-suffering and abounding in mercy, and true, and keep righteousness, and show mercy to thousands” (Ex. 34:6-7; Num. 14:18-19); but together God, whose works “are true and all the ways of His judgment; God is faithful and there is no unrighteousness in Him: the Lord is righteous and holy" (Deut. 32:4), "He who does not marvel at the face will take up a gift" (Deut. 10:17) - "take away iniquities, and untruths, and sins, and will not cleanse the guilty, bring the sins of the fathers on the children, and on the children of the children, until the third and fourth generation" (Ex. 34:7), "reward those who hate Him in the face of consumption; and he will not delay those who hate, he will reward them to their face” (Deut. 7:10). The Lord our God is holy and he who sanctifies everything (Lev. 11:44, 19 - etc.): everything that He touches and that is dedicated to Him becomes holy and inviolable (Exodus 3:5; Lev. 21:6, etc.). By choosing Israel to be His people (Deut. 7:6), especially by dwelling among them (Num. 35:34), He sanctified them, therefore only a saint, pure in body and soul (Lev. 11:44–45, 19:2, 20:7–8), can be in the assembly before God. A soul that does not have such purity defiles the holy name of God (Lev. 18, 21, 19:12, 22:4), therefore sin is acceptable and must be consumed (Lev. 19:8; Num. 19:20). He is the Lord our God, who consumes everything unclean - “God is jealous” (Deut. 4:24). In general, God portrayed Himself regarding the Jews as a Father who is protective of their perfection and goodness, benevolent, merciful and generous when they obey Him; but always strictly supervising them and immediately ready to reprove and punish for any deliberate resistance to Him, ready to forgive the repentant, but not leave the stubborn one without retribution. This is how He showed Himself during all the disturbances and crimes of Israel in the wilderness. 3. Religious feelings Whoever accepted these concepts with his heart, for whom they did not remain mere ideas, but were reborn into convictions, in his soul, directly from them, corresponding religious feelings should arise and be formed, characterizing the religion of the heart of the sons of Israel. When the soul drew attention and feeling to the covenant, the first thing that was born in it was: a) a feeling of God’s special favor towards himself, revealed in election, deliverance and preservation, - God’s special closeness to himself (Num. 10, 35-36, 16:3; Deut. 4, 7), - his sonship to God (Exod. 4, 22; Deut. 1, 31, 14:1): every son of Israel, like the whole host of them, confessed: “My God , God of my father” (Ex. 15:2). b) And this feeling naturally disposed the soul to filial-grateful love for God, who resurrected, revived and renewed the fallen and frustrated spirit of Israel and made him walk with his head raised (Lev. 26:13) - and thereby obliged him to constantly remember - and, as it were, to wear before his eyes - all His good deeds (Deut. 6, 7-9, 8, etc.). To serve Him alone, to cleave to Him alone (Deut. 6, 13, 10, etc.), to love Him alone with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my strength (Deut. 6, 5, 11, etc.). – Such strong love, on the one hand (mainly as grateful), was exciting – c) fiery zeal for the glory of God, which does not allow any blasphemous thoughts about God and does not tolerate it in others, not only as deeds, but even as thoughts. God determines to destroy the entire people: Moses forgets everything - both the people and himself; one thought worries him - this is the possible diminishment of the glory of God in the eyes of other peoples: “thou shalt speak blasphemously, when the trees hear thy name, saying: The Lord cannot bring his people into the land; - “with wickedness I brought them to destruction in the mountains and to consume them from the earth” (Ex. 32:12), “and now let the hand of the Lord be lifted up.” – Such jealousy does not hesitate to stone every open blasphemer and make such a judgment a permanent law for itself (Lev. 24:10-16). d) Glorification of His name, in which the soul not only gave greatness to God (Deut. 32:3) - wonderful and great in Himself, not only glorified Him as its God or as the God of its fathers (Ex. 15:2); but she especially felt His glory in His glorious deeds and glorified Him when He glorified Himself: “Let us sing to the Lord, gloriously be glorified...Who is like You...Lord, who is like You? Glorified among the saints, wondrous in glory, performer of miracles” (Exodus 15:1,11); – and on the other (mainly as a filial one) – e) exalted faith, strengthening the heart’s conviction that all the words of God are immutably true, all promises are true, all orders are righteous and good (Deut. 32:4), - and together with this faith formed - f) filial trust, with which Moses and Aaron always turned to God in all the needs of themselves and the people in all cramped circumstances, without any doubt about emergency help; g) hope, or complete trustworthiness, convinced that the Lord will not allow His people to suffer and endure violence from other nations, but, on the contrary, will always keep them content and safe (Deut. 7:13-16) Let all nations rise up; he will not be harmed on their behalf: “for the Lord his God is with him, the great and mighty God” (Deut. 7:21), “the Lord is his refuge” (Ex. 17:15). “The Lord loves us,” Joshua and Caleb said to the people, “he will lead us into that land” (boiling with honey and milk) “and will give it to us... Do not be afraid of the people of that land, for we have food to eat: for time has departed from them, but the Lord is with us, do not fear them” (Num. 14:7-9) and - h) complete surrender of oneself to the orders of God, complete tranquility in His will, according to which Israel, without weakening in its activities, expects every success from God, and accepts every case - favorable or unfavorable - as from the hand of God, meets with complete submission, even with joy, as a source of benefits for him - and in general is convinced that everything is arranged by God, and, moreover, in the best, most beneficial way for him and for others. All Israel constantly believed that the only happiness in everything would be the one whom God blesses (Deut. 7:13, 16:10), and, on the contrary, trouble after trouble will come upon the one whom the Lord curses (Deut. 28:16-19). “Do not ascend: for the Lord is not with you, and you will fall before the face of your enemies” (Num. 14:42) - this is how Moses prophetically spoke to the people from this feeling, when he, with arrogance, wanted to overcome his enemies alone. Israel has come to the borders of Palestine. Moses really wants to be in it - and he fervently prays to God about it (Deut. 3:23-25), but the Lord said: “go up the mountain... and die” (Deut. 32, 49–50), - and, with all complacency, submitting to the determination of God, he says only: “May the Lord God choose spirits and all flesh of man over this host” (Num. 27, 16), ascends the mountain and dies there (Deut. 34, 1, 5). Disadvantages and inconveniences in wandering through the desert sometimes embarrassed part of the people, sometimes the whole host of them turned into one plaintive groan, and the pious heart was complacent under the conviction that the Lord so embitters and tempts that in the end a significant good will come from it for him and from him (Deut. 8, 16-17). The same and another series of feelings, developing from love, in their mutual totality inspired both as evidence of themselves and as reinforcement of themselves - i) pleasing God - complete submission to His will - the Savior, the Protector, the Father. This is love for God, who keeps all His words in his heart and in his soul (Deut. 6, 5-6, 11:1); he magnifies and glorifies Him as a son, who always does what is good and pleasing before Him (Deut. 13, 18, 32:3–6. Lev. 19, 12); one can hope for His special help and protection, one can be convinced that all the promised benefits will undoubtedly come to him, whoever does not rebel against the Lord (Numbers 14:8-9), and in general - only then will the Lord keep His covenant and His mercy when they preserve His decrees (Deut. 7:12), - j) humility, recognizing in the heart and confessing that Israel is strong and satisfied not with itself, but only in God and from God; - that it was not “for the sake of his righteousness, nor for the sake of the honor of his heart that he entered to inherit the earth” (Deut. 9:4-5), - that it was not his own strength, and not the strength of his hand that created great power for him; but the Lord God, “He gave... the strength to create power” (Deut. 8:17–18). Whoever forgets Jehovah and exalts himself in heart will perish (Deut. 8:11, 14, 19), - and k) prayer, as the full expression of all religious feelings and their exercise and food, strengthening and exaltation (Ex. 15, 1-18; Lev. 4, 26, 14:20; Num. 14, 19; Deut. 26, 5-9, 13-15). But when Israel pictured God in his thoughts in all the greatness in which He usually revealed himself to him, then his heart was filled - m) awestruck reverence not only for God, the greatest and most powerful, but even for the place of His appearance: Moses chews the boot from his feet - and all Israel does not dare to touch the mountain chosen for the Epiphany. “The people of the Lord feared” when they saw the “great hand” that saved them and drowned the Egyptians in the sea (Exodus 14:31) - and in trepidation they retreated from the mountain from which, between thunder and lightning, the Lord gave them the law (Exodus 20:18-19) - n) servile self-abasement falling into the dust before the great and righteous God: “The Lord is righteous, and even my people are wicked,” confessed Moses (Ex. 9:27), - and in these, no doubt, thoughts, he fell with Aaron every time before the tabernacle, - o) mortal fear of approaching God, much less seeing His face. “And now let us not die,” Israel said to Moses after listening to the Decalogue, “for this great fire will consume us, if we listen to the voice of the Lord our God, we will die” (Deut. 5:25), - and n) fearful walking before God - so fully expressed by standing on guard for the Lord (Lev. 18, 30, 22:9; Num. 1, 53 - and many others). “Let you fear the Lord your God... for the Lord your God is jealous in your midst; May the Lord your God not be angry with you and destroy you” (Deut. 6:15). Thus, in the faith under the law, love, fear, sonship, and slavery are fully expressed. And the son of Israel, walking in the spirit of his faith - in relation to God - was sometimes filled with good, joyful, pacifying and spirit-expanding heartfelt feelings, sometimes painful, tormenting, disturbing and oppressive. Passing from one to another and hesitating and being amazed in some more and in others less, depending on the state of the heart and conscience, and sobering and encouraging the first last, and belittling and softening the last first, he was at all times a reverent admirer of the wonderful in deeds, preserving the truth and always revealing His mercy, as if through wrath (Ex. 20, 5, 34: 6-71 Num. 14, 18; Deut. 7, 9-10), Jehovah his God, so that in him neither love consumed fear, nor fear suppressed love, but both feelings, to any extent, took place in his heart throughout his life. It must, however, be assumed that initially fear prevailed over love, and in the end love rose above fear, as Moses showed in his example and how one should think in relation to spiritual feelings. It was impossible not to fear God, who appeared so fearfully; but, the more this God showed mercy and good deeds and the more a person showed experiences of his submission to His will, the more this fear should have diminished, the more right and greater courage the heart and conscience gave a person - to approach God with trustworthiness and filial boldness. 4. Moral dispositions, or practical feelings In full accordance with the covenant, religious concepts and feelings, practical feelings are also prescribed - moral dispositions, or active aspirations of the will. In the first, one common foundation is laid for all of them; the latter, on the one hand, develop and diversify, on the other, excite and strengthen them in the heart. The covenant is essentially moral in nature. He excited and demanded a) an inspired “determination to walk in the will of God.” It constituted the fundamental mood of the will, which perceived with equal readiness and obligation everything that came from the will of God - “commandments, and justifications, and judgments” (Num. 36:13; Deut. 6:1, 8:11). Having once vowed to Jehovah with all his soul and with all his heart to keep all this, Israel always later realized that this was his righteousness if he tried to fulfill all the commandments of the law before the face of Jehovah his God, as He commanded (Deut. 6:25). This conscientious obligation, with the conviction of the immutability of the will of God, proven and inspired by the deed itself, initially aroused and formed - b) the feeling of appearing in the assembly of the sons of Israel - in the tabernacle. And here one general glance at the tabernacle and the triumphant brethren could not help but restore in his soul the broken union with God. The mysterious secrecy of the dwelling of God, its inviolability and sanctification should have given rise to a feeling in him of the presence of an invisible and hidden power here; the solemnity and splendor of the rituals inspired the idea of ​​a living connection with her of the ministry and employees; and the cheerful, triumphant, satisfied look of those celebrating convinced that bliss emanated from her through this service. Who wouldn’t want to taste this bliss for themselves - in a common way, visible to everyone - especially when this path may have already been explored more than once? - Not only that: he hears the book of the law and repeats in his thoughts all the blessings of God, the covenant, promises and executions. Who would not want to show gratitude to God and keep His covenant in order to be worthy of the promise and avoid execution? When, in this way, the general spirit of piety is resurrected, the religion of the heart is aroused, then it is easy for it to develop in a variety of religious feelings, both general and cherished. Rituals performed before his eyes or performed by himself will help him in this. For if they satisfy religious feelings, then in their form and accessories there must be some kind of pre-representation of them. Therefore, each ritual could arouse the feeling hidden in it - in the one who sees or performs it, just as any thought or any feeling expressed by the artist in a picture is reproduced in the soul of its observer. In this way, ritual could reveal the initially vague feeling of its close relationship to God, awakened by it, in the diversity of all feelings with which it satisfies, and then educate and strengthen each individually. It should, however, be noted that since all ritual has one certain type, it could form a certain type and spirit of piety. This is a cautious, trembling walk before God, from which, however, they undoubtedly hope to receive every good, strengthened and supported by the conviction of insignificance before Him and complete purity. We have already seen how God approached the people in rituals and how at the same time he moved away from them. Whoever walked according to these decrees could not help but be filled with a feeling of closeness to God, and hence with a sense of trustworthiness from God’s protection, and with a mortal fear that protected all worship, which, however, was more obvious than those good feelings. Sobering these last and at times even interrupting with painful shocks, he made a person a cheerful guard and, thus, inspired a spirit that reverently walked before God, to whom he was devoted with all his being. The people were fully aware and felt their insignificance, taught by slavery in Egypt and constant trials in the desert. The feeling of humility was later strengthened among the people and made it an indispensable duty by Moses in his last speech to the people, depicting before them all the untruths before God and insults to His greatness and love (Deut. 9). Humility and self-abasement are essential to maintaining a heart of piety, devotion, and unwavering fidelity to God. Therefore, the consciousness of one’s sinfulness before God, as the first of the means to self-abasement and humility, is inspired by ritual with the same force as the most religious feelings. A son or daughter is born to an Israeli: the child and the mother are both unclean themselves, and make everything they touch unclean, as if they had come out of some area of ​​uncleanness, and not before receiving the right to communicate with others, as after a certain time has brought a sacrifice, which, moreover, reminded of sin as the source of uncleanness (Lev. 12, 1-8). If someone begins to get sick or completely die, he is unclean; should not enter into communication with him or touch him (Lev. 12:13–15). And on the day of cleansing (Lev. 12:16) all Israel came before the Lord, humbled themselves, confessed themselves to be a sinner before Him, and expected cleansing from Him alone. No one is talking here about this or that sin, about this or that uncleanness; for all this there were special rituals. Here everyone only confesses that they are generally unclean, generally sinful, and unclean to the point that the very holy dwelling of God and all His holy things, being among them, become unclean and require cleansing (Lev. 16:16). Could anyone after this think that he was right and innocent before God? And so in each attentive performer of ritual could form a spirit that is humble and self-abasement, fearful and vigilant, but devoted to God with all its being, resting under His protection and patronage and blissful in this repose. 5. Ritualism as a means to education and strengthening moral dispositions The moral dispositions of Israel stand, as we have seen, in close direct connection with the covenant and religious feelings, so that they are nothing more than the application of these latter to activity, or the perception of them by the will. Therefore, ritualism, being in such a close relationship to the covenant and feelings, showing such a strong influence on them, thereby itself extends this influence to practical feelings. However, in its structure it presents methods for their direct immediate formation, and especially the most important of them, which are: aa) determination to do the will of God and bb) brotherly active love. aa) The conviction of the need to fulfill the will of God, so strongly inspired by the fact that everything in the rituals, down to the smallest detail, is placed in an unchangeable eternal law, for violation of which death, and especially by the fact that in the Church under the law there is no place for a sinner who deliberately sins or does not repent, and if there are purifying sacrifices, then only for those who sin by mistake and ignorance (Lev. 4:2, 13, etc.), - such a conviction could not but give rise to the desire to walk in the commandments of God. This desire, initially not yet confirmed and strengthened in the soul, could become more and more established later, come closer and closer to permanent moods and finally turn into the eternal character of the will of one who steadily begins to walk in the justifications of God. For here everything is sealed by the will of God: he who walks in justifications involuntarily learns to subordinate his will to the will of God and to subordinate it without reflection, because there is much here that he absolutely could not understand and had to do only because it was the will of God. This, one might say, is the primary purpose of the fact that Israel in all its ways was protected by ritual - so that, after he had taken an oath to fulfill only the will of God, on the one hand, close to him, as if at hand, to place him the means to fulfill this oath, on the other, to provide a way to erect the disposition of the will corresponding to this oath into a constant, unchangeable law of the heart and conscience, as if into the law of nature. bb) The ritual law in that it taught us to receive every good thing as if from the hand of God, eliminated any thought about exclusive property and distracted the heart from any predilection for it, and by commanding us to sacrifice so generously and, moreover, the best to God - in firstfruits, tithes and other offerings, it disposed all our brethren in general to generosity and charity, for this is the first direct fruit of impartiality. If anyone’s sense of brotherhood had weakened, this law could renew and revive it, showing that all the sons of Israel are equal before God and have an equal right to approach Him with service and sacrifice, commanding that a slave, a stranger, and a Levite be invited to his table in certain celebrations. And, especially for this purpose, establishing national holidays. Here all of Israel flocked to one place, was inspired by one feeling, filled with one memory, and thus, naturally, came to unanimity and mutual heartfelt connection. 6. Practical rules as a field for exercising superior moral dispositions According to the plan, we should now outline private moral rules, as legitimate ways of expressing practical feelings and as a field for their exercise, but we leave such an outline both because it will not add anything to what has already been said about the moral mood of Israel, and especially because these particular rules guided us to understand the most practical feelings, which are not indicated word for word in Scripture - so we usually cited them as proof and confirmation only a few rules, which forced us to assume a certain feeling at its core and could, when fulfilled, excite and form it. So, all the private rules of activity are already indicated where moral ones are spoken of. Let us only note that just as in rituals aimed specifically at the education of religious feelings, there is a place for the development of moral dispositions, so in moral rules - in fact, a field for the education of practical feelings - there are also those that represent a means of expressing and exercising religious feelings. One has only to turn to the Decalogue, which is the seed of all the moral rules scattered in the Pentateuch, to be convinced of this. In it, the first tablet expresses and exercises the confession of God as one’s God, reverence for Him and the desire to serve Him - exercises religious feelings. In addition, a whole part of the moral rules is then directed. This means that when religious and practical feelings developed from the covenant, under the influence of certain concepts about God, then all this together constituted the inner heart of Israel, its very depth. Now this invisible spirit is given a double cover - a double means of revealing and testifying about itself both before its consciousness and before others. Being not divided within itself by both kinds of feelings, this spirit here and here finds food for itself, a field for activity, here and here it is fully expressed, nourishes both its religious feelings and its moral dispositions. 7. Civil regulations and, in general, the entire structure of society in relation to religion under the law Even more clearly and firmly the protection of the moral and religious spirit lies in civil regulations. The egg contains an embryo; it is surrounded by liquid, the food it needs in its first development; both the embryo and this liquid are protected by a shell. – In a tree, the beginning of vitality is the sap; the cellular system is the field of his movements; the bark is a necessary barrier for it. Moral and religious feelings are the embryo, the beginning of life; their food and field, where they reveal their activities: - rituals and private practical rules; civil regulations are a fence, support, security for the existence of the latter, and through them, the former. Moral and religious feelings will not develop and strengthen without rules and rituals, but the latter will not survive unless they are protected by strict necessity, punishment and coercion. That is why commandments and justifications - and a) are protected from ships. It was decided to kill the prophet who would say to Israel that you will deceive them from the Lord their God (Deut. 13:5); Each Israelite had to be the first to open and the first to lay his hand on his brother, son, daughter and wife, if any of them secretly said: “Let us go and serve other gods” (Deut. 13:6-10). It was necessary to kill with the murder of the sword and to curse with a curse everything living in the city, infected with idolatry, to burn the city itself and its profit, so that it would be empty and “not rewarded for this” (Deut. 13, 15-16); it was necessary to find with all diligence the husband and wife, about whom it was announced that they worshiped “the sun, or the moon, or anything from the beauty of heaven,” and stone them “to die” (Deut. 17: 2-5); death - to those who give from their seed to Molech and to those who partake of Beelphegor (Lev. 20:2-3; Num. 25:4-5); death to the sorcerers, delusions and magicians, as well as to those who resort to them (Ex. 22, 18; Lev. 20, 6, 27). The entire host of the sons of Israel “let them stone... whoever curses their God... and calls” thus (“blaspheme” in the original) “the name of the Lord, let him die” (Lev. 24:15-16). Any soul who defiles the Sabbath by doing any work on it will be required from among his people (Exod. 31, 14, 35:2; Num. 15, 32–36), and in general death to anyone who violates any ritual decree (for example, Lev. 23, 29, 17:11–12, etc.). Thus, the entire first tablet, from moral, became civil, and its commandments became judgment. The same applies to the second tablet. Actions of disrespect for parents - blow, slander, curse - are punished by death and curse (Ex. 21, 15-17; Lev. 20, 9; Deut. 27, 16), - and a disobedient, immoral and, moreover, incorrigible son is removed from the midst of the people by the court, as evil, like their plague (Deut. 21, 18-21). The court protects life, health, the integrity of the entire body and each member in particular: “they repay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, foot for foot, hand for hand, wound for wound, burning for burning” (Ex. 21, 23–25; Lev. 24, 19–22; Deut. 19, 16–21). The strict right of retribution protects property and any even the slightest damage to it (Ex. 21, 33–36, 22: 1–11, Lev. 24, 21). The civil law protects chastity and the good name of another, and executes the unchaste in all their forms (Ex. 22, 16–17; Lev. 26, 10–21), and imposes on the false witness the same punishment as the slandered one (Deut. 19, 18, 20). Thus, accepting moral rules under its control, investing them with such severity, civil law becomes a stone fence for the religious and practical feelings moving in them: it calms, collects the soul within itself, not allowing it to diverge outside. Safe about his external condition, a person could peacefully honor God and do good to his neighbor, without worrying or tormented by suspicion: the law took upon itself everything. Even when another is a criminal precisely in relation to him, he can maintain a peaceful disposition towards him and, without getting angry against him, betray him to the laws. In this order, Israel is given full opportunity to mature in the spirit of its religion under the cover of the law, just as a chick matures under its shell. Being in such close relation to morality and religion, and serving them so favorably, civil regulations b) naturally adapt to them, become imbued with them, and, on the one hand, aa) take principles and foundations from them. That is why, when examining a criminal case, the law looks at the intention - and declares innocent the one who harmed the health or property of another, even took his life, without malice in his heart (Ex. 21: 12-14); has in mind the religious significance of the offended - and executes by death the brother who has forcibly deprived of his freedom, who must be a servant of God alone (Ex. 21:17; Deut. 24:7), and does not allow the brother to be given more than 40 blows for minor crimes, for “otherwise it is a disgrace to the brother” (Deut. 25:2-3) and bb) assimilate their spirit - the spirit of strict judgment and execution in relation to malicious criminals - and the spirit of compassion and compassion, which is expressed in the laws on slaves, aliens, the poor, and in the order to find out the intention of the criminal and the reality of leprosy in the suspected: “here they spare the confused state of a good heart, and in general the spirit of independent, prudent rightness, impartial, unselfish” (Ex. 23:1-8; Deut. 24:16, 27:18) - exactly proportioning the reward to the matter and always resolving it as a truthful heart requires; – on the other hand, c) they make a concession, sacrifice themselves to morality and religion and soften their severity with them, which is why they only do not condone, but prescribe what, according to the principles of rights in society, is inappropriate, such as: “to lend to another without growth and even expectation of return; give up some part of your harvest - in favor of the poor and the traveler" (Deut. 24, 19-22); after 6 years give slaves freedom; Of the soldiers, leave at home those who are busy with some family business. c) From here it goes without saying that they are losing their independent character. Having no goal in themselves, but in religion and morality, they become a means in relation to them, and therefore are decent and give existence to a moral-religious society, or the Church, where they come to fruition. This is what Jewish society was like. According to the covenant, Israel became a holy people, a kingdom of priests - continuous servants of the true God (Ex. 19:6; Lev. 11:44-45 Deut. 7:6, etc.) - and look at its family or public life: here and there everything is of a religious nature, life is absorbed, so to speak, by religion, and its uninterrupted chain of affairs represents continuous service to God. In food, clothing, cleanliness of body and home, in son and slave - Israel not only bears a reminder of their God, but also does His will. He lives in a beautiful land, but it is God's; he has strong cities, good houses, but God gave them to him; his firstborn or his livestock is the property of God, and he expects and receives every good thing directly from God. He begins the harvest with God's blessing, continues in the joy of the blessing, and ends with living thanksgiving: he will not eat the grain or taste the fruit before offering it to the Lord. Happy, he brings thanksgiving sacrifices and arranges a feast, where, in addition to his family, he has a widow and an orphan, a stranger and a Levite (Deut. 12:4-19): “he eats and rejoices before the Lord” (Deut. 16:11), but not for satiety, but in order to learn to fear the Lord (Deut. 14:22-29). He devotes the morning and evening of the day, the beginning of the month and the year to the Lord; all its festivals, established in remembrance of the events that confirmed its national independence, are religious festivals; and in his Sabbath years and anniversaries - times predominantly of the people - he exercises only his good will, or serves God, or learns to serve. He is filled with unanimity: “by a general court he decides the case and determines the execution” (Deut. 17:7), by the whole council and carries it out; but by doing this, he removes and destroys the evil from himself (Deut. 13:5), destroys the abomination in Israel (Deut. 17:4). His unanimous zeal for righteousness and purity is the fruit of patriotism, which does not tolerate anything that defiles or humiliates the whole society or one of its kind (Lev. 20:14, 21:9); he does not tolerate anything unclean in himself because his Holy God lives among him (Deut. 23:13-14; Lev. 13:46, 15:23). He has written laws, but these laws are from God; there are leaders and judges, but God chooses them and decides a lot for them Himself; There is an army and leaders, but God alone will always fight for them. For him everything is God. He is its King, to whom alone he pays tribute (Exodus 30:13–14), its supreme legislator, sanctifying every law with His Royal name: “I am Jehovah” (Exodus 20–23), its supreme Judge, who indirectly and directly decides his dubious matters (Num. 12:1–11; Deut. 17:8–12, etc.), and Himself executing the decisions of his courts, or miraculously (Num. 11:33–35, 12:1–15, 16:1–50), or by the invisible dispensation of Providence (Lev. 26; Deut. 28–30; Lev. 20:3–6), his leader in war, appointing whom to fight against, whom to spare and whom to destroy completely, Himself fighting in battle and receiving a portion of the spoils (Num. 31, 27–34). The Tabernacle, the dwelling place of God, is the dwelling place of his King; it stores the laws - the foundation of the state; near her, like guards of the king’s house, the Levites are located, and then all the Israelis in four regiments on four sides. Here the sound of the trumpet at the tabernacle appointed the meeting (Num. 10:2-4); the movement of the cloud over the tabernacle gave a sign to the beginning and end of the journey; people flock here to resolve their affairs and ask God about judgment (Num. 15, 32–41, 17:1–11). The tabernacle with its consecrated faces constitutes the center, the soul of the entire people. So, both inside – in the moral and religious order, and outside – in the civil order. Everything comes from there, but here everything returns to God. There, from the covenant, as from a seed, a series of religious feelings and moral dispositions develop, which are then clothed in a multitude of rituals and practical rules. Here the civil laws accept these rules and rituals under their protection, then they themselves converge in certain circles (family, society, rulers, governed) and, concentrating around the tabernacle, they themselves ascend and lead everyone to God. The fear of judgment and death penalty admonishes a person and, leading him to the tabernacle, brings him into a covenant with God. Living according to this covenant, he developed in himself a moral and religious spirit, which relies on justifications and commandments, and feeds on them, protected by judgment. If a person forgot again, these judgments again brought him to his senses and brought him to God again. In general, the cheerful guardian of the covenant either hovered freely in the spirit, in the covenant and moral and religious feelings, or obeyed accepted justifications and commandments; sometimes he lived in feeling, sometimes he passed into cold legality; sometimes he was blissful, sometimes he was afraid; but in any case it came from God and returned to God. Thus, the whole structure of regulations in the legal religion is similar to the structure of the veins and arteries in our body: the latter take good blood from the heart and carry it throughout the body in its many branches; This is how moral and religious feelings develop from the covenant; the first, with their many branches, collect from the whole body what is unnecessary and spoiled and returns it to the heart for revitalization and cleansing; This is how the courts return the wicked to God. Therefore, this device is a living and life-giving device. 8. How did the people get used to the new order and how did they strengthen themselves in walking along it? Such is the moral, religious and social order established among the Jewish people! As a purely positive order, it still stood outside of it: it was necessary to become akin to it, to master the spirit of the people with it, so that it would no longer be alien and outsider, but would consider it as its own; it was necessary to secure its presence in the heart, to give the spirit strengthening power to walk through it. The question is, how is this and that done among the Jewish people? a) How did the people get used to this order? aa) The beginning of such development, the possibility, or the mental basis, lies in the state of the Jewish people and especially in the mood of their spirit. The Jewish people had already grown in Egypt and were ready to accept a new religious and civil order. The forms of patriarchal life began to be replaced by a new order. He already has overseers (Exodus 5:13-14) and elders (Exodus 6:14) - not fathers of the family, priests - not eldest in the clan, or firstborn; but both are persons constituting a special class; rules and regulations are formed, known to everyone and accepted by everyone, the image of worship expands. He is already ripe for transformation, the traces of which are beginning to show themselves. This means that the Jewish people, in terms of the degree of their development, did not present any obstacle in themselves; they even showed themselves ready for anyone who would like to give them a new education. We already know how the Jewish people fell and became dead in spirit, and how God, with miraculous power, resurrected this spirit and revealed it as if from the dead, alive. The Jewish people, therefore, were the same as a dead mass. God took her, filled her with new life and, like an artist, could give her any education he wanted, and the new, not yet established life was able to accept it, no matter in what form it appeared. This civil-psychic foundation is strengthened later and sanctified by the religious. The people expressed an inspired determination to hear God and do His will. On such a basis, any building can be reliably erected, provided that in all its parts and details it bears one general character - the will of God. This is how it was done. Therefore, in general, the new order was accepted by the people, like dew on thirsty soil, as something expected and desired, and, therefore, could easily be adopted by them, because the people had already become akin to this order in their predisposition. bb) Despite all this, such a basis for development is not entirely reliable. As a more psychic basis, it could easily change, like the soul itself, constantly changing; and, as a general, indefinite foundation, hidden as if in a seed, it might not be sufficient for the slightest details and particulars, of which there are so many, therefore the Lord a) strengthens it with miraculous guidance and b) expands it with practice. a) This guidance, generally making one feel the closeness of God to oneself, renewed the feeling of relationship to Him, and at the same time the consciousness of the need to walk in His will. A witness to miracles will unquestioningly fulfill this will, no matter what it prescribes; especially such a disposition should be expected from him when miracles are aimed precisely at forming in his soul feelings and convictions directly directed towards a new order. Indeed, all the miracles seen by Israel at Sinai and soon after leaving it were of this nature. The very actions of God in the violation of the law by the people showed the immutability of the covenant and strict justice in God, ready for mercy, but, as if through anger, they aroused in the people left to themselves the consciousness of their insignificance and a strong desire for Divine protection, inspired that what was primarily required of them was childish unquestioning obedience, and in the end they resurrected the moral and religious Spirit in general, which after this, as twice formed - first freely, and here in the illnesses of birth, he acquired, as it were, a double strength. By other courts, the Lord more often inspired the holiness of ritual decrees, in the killing of Nadab and Abihu, then the inviolability of the Mosaic and Aaronic dignity, in the defeat of Korah, Dathan and Abiron and in the vegetation of Aaron's rod; or he strengthened the conviction that the people without Him were nothing, by betraying him to defeat at Kadesh-Barnea, and that all his help from the Lord was in eating krastel (quails) for a whole month, or he generally taught him to be on guard, expertly assuring him that He sees every crime and at every moment prepares execution for him. And the constant miracles - namely, that the Israelites were always led by a heavenly guide - a witness to the presence of God in the host of Israel, that they received food and drink in the most extraordinary way, never ran out of vestments and maintained the strength of their bodies on such a difficult journey - made everyone feel that he was under the roof of God, that, therefore, Jehovah is his God, and he is a part of Jehovah, which is why he must live in the will Him. b) However, such leadership, abundant in miracles, did not last long and, due to its extremely coercive power, could not be permanent: with it there would be no room for freedom. In its meaning, it was more of a preparation for another, more effective method of development, namely, practice, forming the moral forces necessary for it. Therefore, the Lord places the people in ordinary life in a new order, as if not disturbing them with extraordinary actions, and directs some of his special actions towards this exclusive goal - namely: aa) He does not lead them directly to Palestine, and wars, meetings with peoples, travel worries could easily lead new decisions to oblivion; and leaves them in the desert for 37 years, to lead, as he says, a shepherd’s life (Num. 14:33), where, removed from all entertainment, close to nature, to which the new institutions are so adapted, he, one might say, only had the opportunity - to make justifications, walk according to the commandments and perform courts, if there was a need; bb) with a number of his miraculous actions, he arouses in the people a special trust in the supreme rulers: Moses and Aaron, without which no society, even the smallest one, can stand, and gives 11, 70 men to help, filling them with a spirit zealous for the good of the people and the glory of God, wise and firm, similar to the spirit of Moses himself, so that under their supervision and advice all decrees are observed (Num. 11, 24); it) is intended and chosen for the new religion by a new young generation, not yet established in character. The new order, under which it was supposed to establish its rules and morals, could be as if acquired with mother’s milk, while the outdated ones are difficult to change. The Lord twice declares the necessity of such an election to Moses (at Sinai and Kadesh-Barnea), and precisely because of the stiff-necked people, moreover, in the moments when Moses fervently prayed for him: d) directs a campaign to Kadesh-Barnea, to the borders of Palestine, so that, by showing it, the greatness of the expected good will inspire the young generation to 37 years of labor, and the difficulty of achieving possession of it, shake the old with fear and, thereby weakening and, as it were, destroying in it even the desire to enter this land, force it, as it were, to silently bear the burden of 37 years of delay in the desert. After such preparations, the Lord leaves them to their usual order, to accustom themselves to new institutions and to mature in spirit under their influence. We have seen how ritualism can form a moral and religious spirit and how the civil order, through fear of judgment, led to God. Whoever subordinated himself to this and that order, naturally, this spirit had to grow and expand more and more; at the same time, demand a larger and larger field for your exercise - rituals and rules, and thus it is necessary to become close to them and in your strength to be compared with their volume. Therefore, it should be expected that after 37 years, Israel no longer considered all the decrees external, outside, but as its own, internal, as if already conscientious. cc) The last method of mastering religion was left as the only one, or preferential, for subsequent times. The sons of Israel, growing up among the order maintained by their fathers, naturally became accustomed to it and became accustomed to it even without thinking. Therefore, here, in addition to simple practice, home instructions are also added. The father had to instruct his sons and his sons' sons in the law (Deut. 4:9), constantly talk to them about it - sitting in the house and walking the path, lying down and rising (Deut. 6:7), tell them his history, the origin of all the decrees and their special purposes (Deut. 6: 20-25), explain the meaning of each holiday, each rite and in general the power of the entire law (Ex. 12:26-27, 13:8, 14–15). Thus, he could lead his son mentally among all the blessings and miracles manifested among his people, and thereby imperceptibly raise his heart to an inner covenant with God, to a secret vow - to honor Him alone, to serve Him alone, and to cleave to Him alone. a) If the father’s ignorance or negligence deprived his son of such a benefit, he himself could compensate for his lack. It was laid down in the law that the Levites, “after seven years of flight during the summer of abandonment, on the Feast of Tabernacles, when all Israel came together, appeared before the Lord... read the law in the presence of all Israel in their ears.” For this purpose, it was necessary to convene men and wives, and children, and strangers, “that they might hear and learn to fear the Lord their God and listen to do all the words of this law” (Deut. 31:10-12). b) And in order for this instruction to enter the soul more continuously, more fully, more effectively, it was commanded to learn the law (Deut. 5:1), to bind its words on one’s hand, “so that they may be unshakable before the eyes,” to write them “on the prayer of churches and gates” and on the chapels of clothing (Deut. 6:8-9). Thus, the son of Israel was reminded at every step of the objects of his religion, instruction in it came to him from everywhere, and unless through negligence he could remain ignorant of his covenant, his justifications, commandments and judgments. c) So the people became accustomed to their religion, recognized it, transferred it into the soul in all its volume and composition; the question is: what was the fear of her existence in her heart? – aa) How did the person himself a) strengthen his will in walking according to its regulations and b) how were possible deviations from it prevented? – bb) and how God Himself helped him in this. aa) The moral force of will a) inside was made up of impulses, explained with special force by Moses in his last speeches to the people - both spiritual and sensual impulses. They, arousing the fundamental demands of the heart, through them with moral necessity determined the will to obey the laws of God. The most significant of them are collected around the covenant, others are extracted from the history of the people, and others are applied to their local life. Moses binds the will to obedience to the law by the remembrance of the covenant solemnly given to God (Deut. 4, 13, 5:2–4, 26:16–19), then by God’s special election - especially His love and protection (Deut. 4:20, 37, 7:6–7, 13, 14:1–2, 10:15, 8:5, 28:9), then by the unheard-of greatness of God’s blessings in the past (Deut. 8, 15–16, 4:32–35) and the readiness of abundant blessings in the future (Deut. 28:1–6, 11, 8, 7:13), then the wisdom of the very decrees (Deut. 4:6–7), then special greatness and power (Deut. 28:13, 7, 7:22–24), then preferential exaltation above all nations in power, glory and contentment (Deut. 7:14, 28:1, 10, 15:6, 28:12), then in general a happy life in a blessed land - a cheerful, contented life, alien to illness, sorrow and danger, however, not sensual, but one in which happy Israel eats (brings sacrifices) only to God, thanksgiving sacrifices, rejoices and rejoices before Him with reverence and love (Deut. 7:15, 19, 8:7–9, 4:40, 11:8–9, 11–12, 14, 23); and he warns against evading Him with threats of all kinds of disasters, which (Deut. 28:63) the Lord will send them one after another and will not stop until the people come to their senses, but will multiply even more and more, even disrupt the social life of the people, scattering them in distant countries, and will send relaxation, illness, a trembling heart into their soul, so that they will run away from anyone, and the noise of a leaf will chase them away ( Leo 26; Deut. 28). b) The heart, protected by such impulses inside, was protected from temptations - aa) from the outside - by the decisive separation of the Jewish people from all other nations, both while they were in the desert, and during their constant stay in Palestine, both by the situation of the country in which they lived, and by the special structure, their charters and laws. He was not to enter into close relations with his neighbors, and the Palestinian tribes were to be completely destroyed with all traces of their idolatry, so that they would not be a snare for him (Deut. 12:1-3, 16:21-22). bb) The inner temptations of the heart, at its very entrance, were cut off by the fear of mortal judgment, ready for anyone who humiliates and defiles his people with wickedness, or malice, or untruth. All kinds of crimes, as we have seen, were punished by civil court: by abstaining from vicious deeds out of fear, Israel learned to abstain from vicious desires and dispositions. Such, however, moral strengthening of the will was only a preparation for its highest strengthening - heavenly, grace-filled. It is impossible that Israel would not be given such reinforcement to fulfill the terms of the covenant! – The very fact that the Jewish Church was the Church of Christ, that it was also His grace-filled kingdom, makes us think that grace was and was active there. We have seen that complete love for God is prescribed, unselfish love for neighbors and even enemies - dispositions of spirit that are produced only by the Spirit of God through the death of the human spirit. Therefore, such instructions would be completely inappropriate if grace were not at work then. God dwells in the tabernacle, apparently living among Israel. It would be an inexplicable incongruity to think that God, so close from without, did not at all approach within, did not illuminate thoughts, did not move the heart. The way in which grace was imparted was through rituals, and mostly sacrifices. Rituals in themselves are only shadows, forms of inner strength; but they are not like that if we consider them in connection with the inner disposition of the performer and with the promises of God. The Lord connected special promises with some ritual actions: it will bring you God’s favor and blessing, you will be forgiven, and so on. not because such a connection was essential, but because people inclined to the external could not be otherwise aroused and brought into communication with Himself. Therefore, whoever, through these rites, sought excitement from God and humbly surrendered his spirit to His influence, along with their performance he received, without a doubt, the very grace and sanctification from God. God does not abandon souls who are completely devoted to Him, who hope and thirst for Him; but he inclines towards them with mercy, blesses them with inner blessing, and makes them capable of every feeling and good deed - not only paving the way for the acceptance of the Spirit, but infusing it and with it produces the very thing that the soul sought through sacrifice. Thus, when a pious Jew brought an animal to offer it as a sacrifice of propitiation before the Lord, then the grace of the Spirit, descending into the heart, killed sin there, reconciled it with God, and thereby aroused the most ardent love for Him here. There is no doubt that such grace-filled strengthening was given already when the inner life was revealed and higher needs were awakened, because only under this condition is a thirst for higher help possible - the first thing needed to receive grace. You can perform rituals and walk in the commandments without special guidance; but Israel could not help but feel the need for it when it comprehended the highest spiritual demands of its religion, which it wanted to satisfy, but did not have the opportunity. On this basis, the distinctive features of the gracious actions of the Old Testament can be considered not universality and not continuity. It is difficult to determine how many ways one could then enter into communion with the Holy Spirit in order to attract His grace. You can point out the most famous ones. Education gave the grace of communication with the Church, entered into a covenant with God, cleansed from sin (Gregory of Nazianzus and Augustine) and made a member of the Kingdom of Christ; sacrifices for sins brought down the grace of pardon and reconciliation; the consecration and vestment of the high priest brought him into close communion with God; Salvation and burnt offerings attracted God's universal blessing. But it is certain that, no matter how grace was communicated, descending into the soul, it no longer just on one side, but revived it all, sanctified and warmed up everything good and holy in it. Thus, under the shadow of the law, she produced that cloud of witnesses, which the Apostle Paul set as a model for Christians in the 11th chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews. However, in the religion under the law, a special grace was more obvious, which was communicated to some selected persons for the exercise of a certain service in the Church. So the Lord gives the spirit of wisdom, understanding and knowledge for every task at the tabernacle into the soul of Bezaleel, and puts wisdom into the heart of every artist (Ex. 31, 4-6, 35:30-35, 36:1, 2) - this is, as it were, the spirit of artificiality. The spirit of Moses is taken away and given to 70 chosen elders - and the action of this spirit, conscious for the first time, is expressed in an abundant flow of moral teaching and the sayings of the rules of prudence (Num. 11, 16-27). In Moses himself there was the grace to bestow grace, as was shown by the extraordinary enlightenment of his face. This is legislative, intercessory, and governmental grace. He then gave the latter over to Joshua through anointing and ordination. And such special grace, by its very meaning, was not given to everyone indiscriminately, but according to a certain predisposition of the recipient. Thus artificial wisdom is given to those whom the heart desires (Exod. 36, 2) and who even before knew how to invent inventions (Ex. 35, 35), had, that is, natural artificiality; from Moses the spirit is transferred to the elders, but those whom he himself knows and whom he has chosen; and Joshua was a man in whom there is a spirit (Numbers 27:18). Both presuppose a natural predisposition to accept gifts from above. This is how the people became accustomed to their religion, this is what made their hearts afraid of its existence! With such motives, such help and such guidance, it could be fulfilled and could stand on its own forever, which is why everything in it is brought into eternal law. But the whole by-law arrangement might not be like this if we put it in relation to the persons who are subordinate to it. Here the same thing is possible that happens with an egg shell. The chick inside matures and tears it apart. People will mature and demand a new order, new institutions. Can we expect such a need? This will reveal itself when we consider the reasons why religion appeared among the Jewish people in this and not another form. 9. Why did religion and the church appear now in this form? Positive religion appears in one form or another depending on the age of the people to whom it is given. According to the conclusions of men most experienced in observing things, humanity, and therefore the Jewish people, at the time of Moses had only entered the age of adolescence. So, the subordinate religion and the Church are such because it was precisely this, and not another, that youth required. Another would not be for him; he would not become close to her; it would remain forever alien to him, but this one fully corresponds to a) the religious and b) moral character of the young man, and is adapted c) to the state of his mind and the needs of d) will and e) heart. a) The young man is not yet so clearly aware of the states and movements of his soul, therefore they are not so valuable to him. For him, the external is firmer and more convincing. He is more likely to disrupt and change what has been reborn in thought than what has not only been reborn, but has been affirmed in words. That is why he is always firm in his word. Having made a promise, he decides with all his soul to live and act according to the vow; he despises, even hates those who do not restrain him. Put him in extremes between the vow and other motives - he will grieve, internally torment, but will not allow himself to break the vow. He became close to him; became one of the laws of conscience that are most clearly recognized. That is why the basis of the legal religion is a visible covenant and, moreover, such a solemn one. Consent was demanded from the people, and on this consent, as an internal basis on the part of the people, all legal provisions were already established. This conscientious engagement with the law, discovered with such admiration, constituted moral strength and trustworthiness to fulfill it - the most sufficient inspiration for this. With the words “let us create and listen,” the positive law ceased to be purely positive; it passed into the heart and from that moment began to bind. For the first time, the highest demands are revealed in a young soul in all their uncertainty and, by news and special attractiveness, carry his consciousness into some lofty distance, where he loves to instill dreams and heart. That is why he thirsts for the supernatural, the miraculous; awaits a special appeal and determination from above. And whether this really happens or the young man comes to the point of becoming convinced of this out of delusion, religious inspiration then lifts him above all obstacles in action. Then he refers everything to God, in any case turns to Him and waits for permission from Him. Considering all his actions to be predetermined in the book of destinies, he will not take a step on his own, for fear of doing something that is not pleasing to God, not as he was destined to do. Therefore, by directing the Jewish people to high goals, where they must act with special enthusiasm and zeal, God apparently calls them, especially brings them closer to Himself and Himself approaches them, shows them a brilliant goal and promises to guide them towards it, establishes a home among them and gives them the means to recognize His will at all times; that is why every rule here comes from heaven: both in the family and in society, and in the house and in the church, and in feelings and rituals - everywhere he walks according to the will of God; by this will all his activity was sealed and in all his ways nothing was left to human establishment. This is the deepest basis for the standing of the law: the one acting here acts out of religious inspiration. And in order to strengthen, continue, preserve forever such inspiration, a vow is made to always be the God of Israel, always close to him, to directly lead him to his goal; which maintains the constant confidence that he is chosen, that he acts according to heavenly destiny, under the shelter and protection of God Himself. However, demanding internally such closeness to God, he does not want the Divine face to descend to the face of an ordinary person. The only thing dear to him is the conviction that he is God’s, and he wants to see God Himself in mysterious secrecy, in impregnable distance, to portray him as the most majestic, the most powerful. He wants to rest in the bosom of the great with trembling in his heart. The young man is not able to distinguish between merciful condescension towards himself and equality with himself. He is self-important, autocratic, ready to command, and only the great and strong can keep him in submission through reverence. He himself rises above the merciful without severity, no matter who he is, and would rather put him under his subordination than submit to him. This is the reason why God, approaching the Jewish people in this way, showed Himself majestic, powerful and exalted in Egypt and in the desert, why the covenant surrounded him with such terrifying manifestations of His power and why he later lived among Israel in such secrecy and inaccessibility, why he commanded to create such a magnificent dwelling for himself, established such a magnificent ministry, even established the order of the journey itself so harmonious, mysterious and solemn, and in general he sealed everything related to Himself. fear and inviolability. This sobered Israel, did not allow it to forget, kept it on guard, in strict subordination. His final image of God is: majestic, exalted, terrible, although my God; The ultimate religious feeling is reverence. b) The young man is primarily truth-loving: what is laid down by law, he recognizes as an eternal, unchangeable law, and in any case he is ready to instill it in someone else. He accepts, and therefore always maintains an important tone; he is not proud, not contemptuous, he gives his own to everyone, he inwardly honors the other; but all these feelings in him are covered by the conviction that, acting on them, he acts rightly, does not humiliate himself, maintains the dignity of his face, the dignity of a young man. His desire to be liked is the same as his husband’s ambition: to be convinced that others think well of him is the main thing. Here he learns cleanliness, neatness, and modesty. Isn’t that why purity is a distinctive feature of an Israeli? Is it depicted in such detail and prescribed in law with such severity? Is this not where the incentives to preserve the covenant are given special importance in front of other nations: they will be afraid to begin, they will run away, they will be surprised? Is it not because of this that the Jewish people acquire a patronizing tone in relation to these peoples, a tone that is not frightening and embarrassing, but supportive and attentive? He graciously accepts the stranger and gives him some rights of brotherhood. And according to the law, he treats another in strict accordance with his behavior. In general, the law both depicted and could create a noble, truthful young man, alien to cruelty, but also unforgiving. Both in the God of Israel and in Israel itself, the most obvious thing is hatred of crime and patronage of truth. c) Look at the young man’s thoughts! And because they are necessarily compiled with the help of memory and imagination - a repository of images, and because fantasy, predominantly alive and active at his age, accepts them at their first appearance and instantly clothes them in images - a young man has no thought without an image, and, on the other hand, no image without thought: his images are always the vestments of something; in them his beloved shines - his thoughts and beliefs, and more importantly his expectations and hopes. Is it possible to wish for a better adaptation to such a character as the wisdom of God presented in the construction of the tabernacle and in general in all the figurative rituals of the Old Testament? Everything here is an image and every image is permeated with thought. That which the heart of Israel loved—God, to whom he clung for mercy and covenant—is reflected in everything. Every thing has the inscription: holiness of the Lord - and the Divine permeates everything. Israel sees a thing before its eyes, and beneath it an invisible force; before his eyes, for example, is a sacrifice, and under it is the mercy of God. He who is accustomed to images lives outside and accepts the truth from outside. Therefore, the young man is convinced more by appearance and tangibility: the depth of reasonable proof is inaccessible to him. He loves the real and is finally confirmed by experience. That is why the Lord teaches the Israelites not with mental arguments, but with reality, not in word, but in deed: instilling this or that truth, assuring this or that property of His, giving this or that order, He does not say that it should be so according to this and that, but presents what is suggested before their eyes. In order to assure that He is invisible, He points to the image of His appearance - to convince Him of His greatness and power, He represented the judgments over Egypt or the forces manifested in the desert - He made sure that the judgments did not touch Him (do not hesitate), by actually executing the criminal at the scene of the crime; He said that He would dwell among the people - and presented visible evidence of such a dwelling. Wanting to make the spirit of Israel akin to the new order, He does not rely on its vow, but leads it in it for 40 whole years in order to make it love it through experience. In general, in the entire legal dispensation, not a word is said about the wisdom and expediency of Divine orders, and in the series of motives, wisdom is presented only from the outside, and not from the inside. Why, finally, is the entire by-law structure presented in such fractions that apparently have no connection? – Everywhere we meet only private rules and regulations, only cases and courts, and all this is mixed, in parts: nothing here is brought into one composition; the spirit of everything is not indicated and explained? – Israel, as a youth, was still incapable of accepting truths in their strict development from the beginnings. It was easier for him to learn rules without connection, truth without conclusions; here he still largely depended on memory and therefore loved fragmentation and particularity. Israel was offered truths only as they are, just as their sense presents them to the mind: he had to understand them in their foundations, in their mutual relationship and connection, but he was left to do all this not by mental work, but by deed; life itself, passing among the particulars, was supposed to call his thought to the whole - from lifeless details to bring his heart to a living sensation of everything. d) In adolescence, a person begins to become independent for the first time. Until now, his strength had developed on its own, in the bosom of nature; now he takes them for his own use, in order to freely impress upon them a special mood. In this regard, youth is a time of unconfirmed, unorganized movement and fluctuation of forces, from which, however, the unchangeable character of a person must degenerate. How important, therefore, is the order of life for young men—it contains the germ of his eternal destiny. On the other hand, if the character of a young man is predetermined, how important it is to bring this order into perfect agreement with him! The character may be this or that, but the people of God must also have a religious character. Israel is given such a structure, by walking in which it could become nothing other than the people of God, the Church of God. “That’s why Israel has all its legality based on religion!” In a young man, all his strength is in motion, but mainly his willpower: youth is a time of lively and strong activity. What you can mostly demand from him is action. But this activity itself requires special attention and education. How many deviations are possible in it, how changeable and fickle it is! The son becomes a living, restless and active youth from a youth. If his father wishes him well, he must increase his supervision; the former superficial pranks are now replaced by matters from the heart; it is necessary to prescribe rules, define actions, and subject it to a strict order. The Lord comes down to Israel, offers him his protection, and demands work from him and then protects all his activities with strict regularity in all ways and the smallest details. This is why Israel has a legal religion! Hitherto the passions were silent. The heart unhinderedly perceived the lessons of conscience with all its vividness and unquestioningly obeyed them. Now, in the young man, another series of suggestions arises: inclinations and passions. It is possible that the young man will not discern the legal side; it is possible that the illegal side will attract with such a force that the obligation to the law, coming from conscience alone, cannot overcome. The young man needs timely help: it is necessary to understand the law for him, it is necessary to strengthen the obligatory voice of conscience and weaken the voice of passions. This is what is being done for Israel. The dictates of conscience are transformed into moral rules, defined in writing and approved by Divine authority. The internal law was still alive and indicated what to do; but its obligation was weakened by the movement of the carnal will, which always presented some rights to obedience. With the word: “don’t do it,” all moral strength was taken away from the latter and returned to the former. This is the meaning of moral rules and the reason why they are presented mostly negatively. However, such protection of the moral law, also moral, is conditional and not entirely reliable. The will of the flesh can destroy a moral barrier, because the entire young person is on its side, and then drag the inexperienced into a constant life according to its suggestions. This will must be bound. In Israel, it is bound by civil law and the fear of judgment - not in itself - which cannot be done, but in all those actions in which it can be revealed. Even though there is movement inside, there is no outcome for it. However, by fencing external activity, bonds are also imposed on internal movements, although not directly. Without the opportunity to exercise, they naturally had to become weak and exhausted. e) The young man does not indulge too much in rough pleasures. He loves pleasures, but light, innocent ones. He does not tolerate lack, but is not partial to wealth either; in fact, he only needs contentment. He loves health, strength, liveliness, bright skies and coolness, safety and serenity; does not tolerate illness and anxiety, wants to live a cheerful, pleasant life; close to nature and loves to look at its beauty. If you want a young man to unquestioningly obey your will, promise him all this, and he will be completely devoted. Israel was promised (Lev. 26) - and with what admiration he answers: let us do and listen. The promises that were purely spiritual, heavenly, he was not able to understand correctly. Tell him about heavenly paradise, about eternal bliss, and he would begin to expect paradise with sensual pleasures; Moreover, legal activity was actually carnal activity - how can one promise spiritual benefits for it? Here he would find a reason for deep self-delusion. In such motives, however, one can see the most wise direction of the sensory towards spiritual goals. Israel, as a young man, desired a cheerful, peaceful, contented life; but, due to the liveliness of the movement of the passions, he was ready to seek such a life in satisfaction with this latter, while the passions do not give what is expected of them, and at all times interfere with the actions of grace. The Lord arranges everything here in a special way. He does not only allow, but gives the benefits that the young man seeks and desires, but demands from him the fulfillment of such rules, which in content are completely opposite to the suggestions of passions. Obeying the will of God, Israel expected and received only earthly blessings, and meanwhile imperceptibly acquired spiritual ones - in taming passions and thereby elevating themselves to the state of accepting grace-filled suggestions. Israel is not told about grace-filled help. Full of strength and life, he will not understand this suggestion. Therefore, they only reveal to him what he should be, and demand that he absolutely be like that. Experience - the usual way of persuasion for a young man - is more likely to teach him how powerless he is. With all this, however, grace acts here too, but it does not act constantly, intermittently, and as if externally. It couldn't be otherwise. The effects of grace could not then be felt constantly. From hour to hour, the young man feels a surge of mental and physical movements, which are for the spirit what clouds and fog are for the sun. Only then does the sun peek through in stormy times, when the wind disperses the thick clouds; Only then are sensations and phenomena of beneficial actions possible for a young man when the movements of the soul and body cease and noticeably subside: and this can only happen very rarely. 10. What religion under the law should form the spirit of the people? If the whole order and type of religion under the law is adapted to the age of youth, and youthful age carries within itself the germ of the higher powers of a husband, then this religion in its structure should provide ways to develop these powers, so that, living under its leadership, the young man does not remain a young man forever, but easily grows into a man. What does it mean that in legal religion, in a special way, as something primarily important and significant, there are justifications, commandments and judgments? With their strict measure, don’t they rather kill life, feelings, freedom and, in general, the higher powers of the spirit, rather than develop them? – Not at all: they constitute a necessary condition for the development of these forces. A person is made up of spirit, soul and body. The soul develops and matures at the expense of the body, the spirit - at the expense of the soul. It is necessary to curb the body so that the soul can act harmoniously; it is necessary to arrange the soul in order for the spirit to open up. This means that the spirit must be revealed there, where the body is connected and the soul is ordered - a requirement that is fully satisfied by subordinate religion. Her courts bind the body with complete necessity; its justifications and commandments subordinate the soul to regularity. Both of these are the same in meaning as the bodily activity of Christian ascetics. Under the influence of courts and legal righteousness, Israel developed its moral and religious spirit - living, free, blessed. These were for him the same as stands for a plant that was not yet solid in its stem. And in parts. – Senses love a variety of impressions; and therefore, when they subjugate the soul, they accustom it to absent-mindedness, which in it becomes the main obstacle to the development of the spirit. The Lord satisfies the desire for impressions, but in such a way that they do not entertain, but collect, do not kill, but revive - they turn the soul inward, to the source of life. This produced especially the construction of the tabernacle. With its mystery, it made one feel the presence of the Divine hidden power and thereby forced the thought to reverently immerse itself in the infinite, and with its corporeality it stood as a mediastinum between this infinite and the spirit. It means that Israel walked in the tabernacle, as if on the threshold of the infinite God. Everywhere he saw traces of Him, but not of Himself; before him is the power of Jehovah everywhere, but not Jehovah Himself; he constantly seemed to be in contact with Him, and yet he was always distant from Him. The tenderness in which the anticipation of the Divine placed the soul gave rise to a desire to approach Him more often, and constant walking in His dwelling created a thirst for continuous communication with Him - walking in His continuous light. “How beloved is Your village, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs and ends for the courts of the Lord” (Ps. 83:2-3)... When will I come and appear before Thy face?.. Do not turn Thy face away from Me... This was the only desire of the pious Israelite! - But before the Narok (time), Israel had to see God only behind the rituals, see Him as if through a window (Song 2:9), as the mind necessarily sees the Being through visible nature, and, moreover, not otherwise than through its forms. The soul is self-willed: someone else's will is an unbearable yoke for it. But, developing and intensifying, it takes away freedom from the spirit, which is self-sacrificing in essence, wanting to rest in God and His holy will. Israel is subject to strict rules in all its conduct and in all its relations. Everything is determined for him down to the smallest detail - both in rituals and in courts, and in home and public life. Nothing is left to his discretion, to his will. This death of the will itself should have resurrected, formed and strengthened the freedom of the spirit; all the more so, this should have been expected from strict legality, when it is sealed in all its composition by the will of God. Although in her circle Israel not only rejected their own will, but also rejected it for God; unaccustomed to his own will, he clung not to anyone else’s will, but to God’s will, he learned to desire it, to thirst for God’s law. “I open my mouth,” he prayed, seeking coolness, “for I thirst for Your commandments... My soul will desire Your destiny at all times... I will walk freely, for I have sought Your commandments... I am a stranger on earth: do not hide Your commandments from Me... On the path of Your testimonies we have enjoyed ourselves, as in all riches” (Ps. 119:131, 20, 45, 14, 19). Passions torment the heart - they burn out feelings and make it incapable of perceiving impressions of the spirit, of experiencing spiritual benefits. This side of our being comes to life in the extinguishing, or at least pacification, of passions. In Israel they are protected from the outside by the fear of mortal judgment; the well-intentioned one found for them, so to speak, an antidote in life according to the law, and tamed them within; and thus pacifying the soul, he gave the opportunity for the Spirit of God to act in it, even attracting Him as a reward for diligent service; and these influxes of the Spirit, illuminating the soul and producing a sensation of spiritual sweets, directed the heart to the invisible and taught it to seek bliss. Let there be no peace in the heart: the fear of judgment does not have the power to stop sinful movements, but it put the outer man with the inner man in complete contradiction - he exposed the latter first, and thereby produced melancholy, tightness, dissatisfaction with himself, the burden of life in the heart. Who wouldn't want to make themselves happy? But how to pacify passions - the source of sorrows? In extremity, Israel involuntarily turned to God, their Patron, and sought help and spiritual consolation in Him. “I seek You with all my heart,” he cried, “do not let me deviate from Your commandments. May Thy help, O Lord, come to me, Thy salvation according to Thy word. My soul is fading, desiring Thy salvation, my eyes, fixed on Thy word, disappear, I say: when will You console me? I hope for God, who saves me from the storm” (Ps. 119, 10, 41, 81–82). And these sighs were actually sighs of the spirit: his prayer for freedom from the bonds that burdened him. Whoever has developed this self-gathered spirit to any extent, thirsting for communication with God, peaceful walking in His will and grace-filled consolations, justifications and judgments will no longer be enough to satisfy him. While his spirit was not yet settled, they were for him a fortress, a support and a fence, if they did not feed, at least they guided him to where he could feed; now they have already sent their ministry and for the ripened spirit they have become sorrowful bonds; he now needs complete freedom, he longs for it, he sighs for it where he is deprived of this blessing. In general, in subordinate religion - in plain sight, in front - there are only justifications, commandments and judgments; the spirit that we depicted in religious and practical feelings was to be formed later through them. And Israel certainly at first had to walk in fear, to be constantly on guard: fear is the beginning of all his wisdom. But walking for a long time in this fear strengthened his will in the law and in some way protected it: from here trustworthiness, a feeling of pleasing God, His goodwill towards himself, protection and sonship were naturally born. Fear was the guardian of the law, behind which love was formed and matured - the union of perfection, the fulfillment of the law, its already internal guardian, under which the former became unnecessary, and at the same time the instructions that gave birth to it became unnecessary, and not only unnecessary, even offensive to a loving heart that wants to live like a son in the house. There arose a thirst for freedom from all external legality - and subordinate religion itself found the beginning of its destruction! To strengthen this thirst, and at the same time to quench the sorrow from it, the entire subordinate Church was structured in such a way that at every step it inspired the expectation of something important, some kind of perfect order, some better structure and education. The law of Israel does not patronize the sciences and arts; for him they take away land from others; he is settled in foreign cities and houses: he is a wanderer who does not need to take care of dwellings and their decoration. - God dwells among them, protects them, leads them somewhere along unknown paths: these are the people with whom the Lord wants to do wonderful things in the end. Eating Passover, Israel is ready for something, expecting something: for 7 days then it destroys all leaven in its land - through which the whole people represents something incomplete, not perfect, not complete - something only incipient, which has to ripen when everything has been leavened. The Sabbath comes - all Israel is at rest from their labors; the anniversary comes - and everything in his land returns to its own, everything is restored. The frequent repetition of such actions was supposed to revive the desire and expectation that there would once be general peace, a general restoration of order. Who will establish this new order, what it will consist of, when it will appear, under what circumstances, where - all this was hidden from Israel until the time: they have not yet grown to understand this. Let the spirit ripen, or at least be aroused first, and revive the demands of new institutions, then their revelation will be timely and even necessary. True, Israel constantly saw before itself, both in events and in justifications, images of future things; but they could be understood already by age. The latter could understand, especially from the dwelling of God among Israel, that one day a person would appear on earth in whom all the fullness of the physical Divinity would dwell, would live among people, would enter into communication with the pure and arouse the unclean to communication with Himself, Who, as the head of the host of the elect, would rule over all, as the Prophet would admonish everyone, as the High Priest would intercede for everyone and reconcile everyone with His blood to God. But for guidance in such understanding and to confirm its importance and fidelity, they also needed special Divine instruction. It was delivered in predictions and prophecies, which almost only from the time of Moses received some definition. Previously, these predictions depicted in the future only a certain desired person, especially beneficial for humanity, without indicating his deeds, life, or benefits. James was the first to show in him the universal Reconciler; then Moses - the Prophet, Balaam - the King and Lord of all; and further, the more Israel grew, the more fully the image of both the new order and the Divine person who would establish it was revealed to him. With the guidance of these instructions, the pious could undoubtedly imagine new institutions and a new Founder, and recognize the circumstances, time, place, and thus, resting in God, patiently bear the spirit that had ripened and languished under the yoke of legalities. Thus, the subordinate religion hid the internal in the external, life and feeling - in regularity, freedom - in necessity, and guided from the latter to the former. What is most visible in her is the fear of judgment, behind it there is strict regularity, in everything there is externality: here there are only justifications, commandments and judgments - this threefold veil of the inner spirit, like the threefold veils over the tabernacle. In the course of the development of human nature, it is a necessary link, but not the final one, and therefore must be replaced by another. When the plant is young, stands are placed, which become unnecessary when the plant becomes stronger; the baby grows up and is placed under the supervision of teachers; The school term will pass, and the teachers will fall behind; the embryo develops in the seed and breaks the enclosing covers on its own. The purpose of the structure of the by-law is not in itself; therefore, upon achieving this goal, it must be eliminated: the external must fall away for the internal, strict regularity must be absorbed by life and feeling, necessity must be replaced by complete freedom. “The law guides us to be in Christ, that we may be justified by faith. But the faith that has come is no longer under the guidance of Esma” (Gal. 3:24-25). “Whenever there is a young heir, there is a slave who is no better, the lord of all. But there are rulers and guardians even before the father’s command. Likewise, we, when we were young, under the elements of the world of enslavement” (Gal. 4: 1-3). Israel grew - and the elements that constrained it disintegrated. But until this point, nothing expresses the spirit and character of God’s entire subordinate view more than the following words from the Lord’s conversation with Moses: “You will see My behind, but My face will not be visible to you... for no man can see Me and live” (Ex. 33, 20, 23). There is a thirst for close communication with God, as if seeing Him; but the matter itself is not suitable for a young man. Earthiness souls, the form of reason would not have carried away the whole light of the Divine and would have been upset. Therefore, for the time being, everything is left under cover: God is visible, as if tangible, but as a hidden power. The Tabernacle of God with people was only a transfiguration of that communication about which it is said: “I will dwell in them and resemble” (2 Cor. 6:16). him, but does not communicate, keeps Himself at a distance, being close. And here all the good properties of God are revealed and the glorious name of Jehovah is proclaimed, but the secret of the Divine and the Divine view of man, the secret of God’s communication with him, is hidden. The basis of everything is shown - goodness, a root feeling is formed in the human soul - goodness-reliability, but both are the mustard seed of Christianity. The subordinate covenant is the dawn, the spring of the covenant of Christ. However, even at the same time, the first covenant is essentially equal to the last. Just as a seed is not equal to a tree only in appearance and external appearance, but essentially equal, so the Old Testament is not equal to the New in appearance, but is the same in essence, only there it is in the seed, undeveloped, hidden under the bark, in a material shell, and could be seen only by the God-enlightened eye, just as an embryo in a grain is seen only by an armed eye. How the matter of the death of the Lord Savior arose and matured among His enemies from the time He revealed Himself to the world, and how the Lord Himself related to this The wondrous events of the birth of the Lord in the flesh passed without a trace for the enemies of truth. His manifestation of wondrous wisdom before the then learned sages, in the twelfth year of his human age, could have left questions in their heads, but since nothing like this was repeated later, it was soon all forgotten; When the Forerunner appeared, the church authorities hastened to formally inquire who he was, and, making sure that he was not the Promised One, they calmed down or, perhaps, began to look out for who it would be that Wonderful One, to whom John himself was not worthy to allow the strap of his boots. Not having seen Him, they had no reason to be hostile to Him, however, from the words of John, who called them brood of vipers, they could guess that He would hardly be of the same spirit with them. Why, when the Lord, on the first Easter, drove the traders from the church with a whip, who were placed there not without their permission, they immediately approached Him with the question: “What sign are you showing that you have done this?” (John 2:18). The question sought only clarification of the matter, but the matter itself, so bold and imperious, coming from such an invisible person in appearance, could not help but give rise to suspicion. And gave birth; and from that time on they began to pursue Him with noticeable persistence. Nicodemus is already afraid of them and, fearing, hides from them and secretly comes to the Lord. And the Lord Himself, regarding their speeches that He was making disciples more than John, left Judea and perverted to Galilee, seeing in this their ill-will towards Him, the beginning of hostility (John 4:3). Here the people received Him with joy; The Pharisees and scribes immediately began to be suspicious and critical of His deeds and words. That the Nazarenes rebelled against Him (Luke 4:15-30) can also be explained by the fact that He publicly denounced their unbelief and that He preferred Capernaum to Nazareth. But when they attacked Him in the house in Caper-naum because He had forgiven the sins of the paralytic, this could only have happened because they were not monitoring Him with good intentions, although what was born in their soul on the occasion of the forgiveness of sins should have disappeared after He confirmed His power to forgive sins by healing the paralytic (Matt. 9:2-8; Luke 5, 17–26 ). Saint Luke notes that these questioners, who interpreted the deeds and words of the Lord crookedly, were Pharisees and teachers of the law who came from all over Galilee, Judea and Jerusalem. This – Jerusalem – begs the question, what brought them here? Following this, we see the Lord in the house of Matthew, who had just been called by Him to follow Him. The scribes and Pharisees did not miss the opportunity to find fault: why does the Lord eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners? Why don’t His disciples fast, as the disciples of the Pharisees and John do? The Lord explained both to them: first, that the healthy do not require a doctor, but the sick; and the second is that the time will come, and My disciples will begin to fast. But it is not clear that the objectors were satisfied with this (Matthew 9:9-17; Mark 2:13-22; Luke 5:27-39). The second Easter has arrived. The Lord came to her in Jerusalem. There He healed a thirty-eight-year-old paralytic who was lying by a sheep's font on the Sabbath. The Jews began to persecute Him and sought to kill Him because He did such things on the Sabbath, and when, in His justification, He pointed to His equality with God the Father, they sought even more strongly to kill Him (John 5:15-18). The irritation is incomprehensible if we do not admit that everything that the Lord did in Galilee was conveyed to them, and with a misinterpretation. On the way back to Galilee, when on Saturday He and his disciples walked through a sown field, the disciples, feeling hungry, began to pick the ears of grain, grind them and eat. The Pharisees reproached Him for why He allowed His disciples to do what they should not have done on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:1-8). On another Saturday the Lord entered the synagogue and taught. There was someone with withered arms there. The scribes and Pharisees watched to see if the Lord would heal him on the Sabbath; and when He healed, they became enraged, and, going out, they made a council with the Herodians on how to destroy Him (Matthew 12:14; Mark 3:6; Luke 6:11). And it was all like this: little or little was done that was not like the Pharisees, the Pharisees immediately opposed it. It seems that a flock of them was sent from Jerusalem to observe the Lord, as can be concluded from the fact that the evangelists more than once notice about the objectors who came from Jerusalem. So, when the Lord once healed the blind and dumb and the people began to interpret: “Isn’t this the Christ, the Son of David,” the Pharisees and scribes who came from Jerusalem launched the blasphemy that “He casts out demons... by the power of the prince of the demons Beelzebub, and that He has Beelzebub in Himself.” Perhaps the Jerusalem authorities ordered it to be interpreted this way, because miracles and signs could not be rejected. The Lord clearly presented the absurdity of such blasphemy, but they still continued: “about Beelzebub” (Matthew 12:23–24; Mark 3:22–27). So, when the Lord, after the resurrection of Jairus’s daughter and the healing of two blind men, cast out the dumb spirit, the people exclaimed: “No one has appeared like this in Israel,” and the Pharisees again inspired him: “The prince of demons will cast out demons” (Matthew 9:33-34). And the Lord noticed this change in the Pharisee’s speech to Him and, giving instructions to the Apostles, when soon after that he sent the Apostles to preach, he remembered: “If you have slandered the lord of Beelzebub’s house, how much more will he do to his household” (Matthew 10:25). This was before the third Easter. After the miraculous feeding of the five thousand, Saint John notices that the Lord kept walking around Galilee, but did not want to go to Judea, because the people there wanted to kill Him (John 7:1). This was noted, presumably, to explain why the Lord was not at the third Easter, for it had passed. It can be concluded that the murderous plans of the Jewish authorities became public. And again the Jerusalem spies - the scribes and Pharisees - are seen near the Lord. They reproached the Lord, why does He allow His disciples to eat food without washing their hands; and He strictly reproached them for violating the commandment in relation to their parents by virtue of human tradition, calling them hypocrites; and, convening the people, publicly gave them suggestions that were contrary to the Pharisees’ concepts and teachings. For the first time, the Lord treated the Pharisees so strictly, as if in opposition to their blasphemy: “about Beelzebub.” The Pharisees were tempted. The disciples noticed this and told the Lord, and He called them (the Pharisees) “blind leaders” (Matthew 15:12–14; Mark 7:1–23). When, after the miraculous feeding of four thousand, the Lord, having crossed the sea, entered the borders of Magdala and Dalmanutha, the Pharisees and Sadducees surrounded Him, asked questions, started disputes and demanded a sign. The Lord, calling them hypocrites and an evil generation, declared that no other sign would be given to them except the sign of the prophet Jonah. The division, hostility, and resistance of the Pharisees increased. And the Lord commanded the disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees (Matthew 16:6; Mark 8:10–15). The Lord's last walk through Galilee has begun, the Pharisees and spies are here again. The Lord cast out the demon. The people marveled, and they said, “About Beelzebub.” The Lord, calling them an evil and adulterous generation, explained to the people, as before, how senseless it is to think so (Luke 11:14-29). But when, after this, one of the Pharisees called Him to dinner and expressed some displeasure that He sat down to the meal without washing his hands, the Lord, having slandered him, showed another way (alms) to do so that everything with us would always be clean, and then pronounced a strict rebuke against the Pharisees in general, and then against the scribes. They became very irritated, got up, and began to approach the Lord, forcing answers in order to catch Him (Luke 11:37-54). For this, the Lord, when many people had gathered, said to everyone: “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees” (Luke 12:1). One Saturday the Lord healed a crumpled woman in the synagogue. The leader of the synagogue was indignant at the violation of the Sabbath and said to the people: “there are six days” for work, then come and be healed, but do not come on the Sabbath. The Lord convicted him of hypocrisy, and the people rejoiced over His glorious deeds, and his opponents were ashamed (Luke 13:10-17). The Lord's last walk through Galilee has ended. The Feast of Tabernacles has come; The Lord descended to Jerusalem and found there strong irritation of the authorities against Himself. Probably, the Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem, spies, conveyed everything to the authorities about how the Lord treated them, and, as usual, with a misinterpretation. From this, their hostility towards the Lord grew and by this time had increased to the point that the Sanhedrin decided to excommunicate from the congregation anyone who confessed Him as Christ, the Promised One (John 9:22). As a result of this, no one spoke about Him explicitly, “for fear of the Jews” (John 7:13); and rumor spread among the people that the authorities wanted to kill Him (John 7:25). The Lord appeared in the church at halfway through the holiday and, according to custom, began to teach. Between the conversation He mentioned: “Why are you seeking to kill Me?” They denied: “Who is it that seeks to kill You?” But some of the Jerusalemites immediately, when the Lord continued His conversation, said to each other: “Isn’t this the one they are looking for to kill?” But “He speaks clearly, and nothing” (John 7:19-26). And their deeds exposed this: they immediately wanted to take Him, but did not take Him, “because His hour had not come” (Jn. 7.30); servants were sent to seize Him and bring him, who, if they did not seize him, it was only because the power of the word of the Lord did not allow them to decide on this, as they themselves confessed this, saying: “Never has a man said like this, like this man” (John 7:32,46); Finally, they became irritated to the point that they “took up stones and threw down Nan,” but He became invisible and passed through their midst (John 8:59). This happened at the Feast of Tabernacles, but then, at the Feast of Renewal, a storm arose no less strong. They took “stones and may they stone Him.” When the Lord asked: “What is this for?” - they answered: “because You declare Yourself to be the Son of God” (John 10:31-36). When the Lord explained to them that His words were confirmed by deeds, saying: “My works show that the Father is in Me, and I in Him,” they “sought Him more and more,” but He “went out of their hands,” and went beyond the Jordan (John 10:38–40). Probably, their rage was revealed with such force that it left a deep mark on the souls of the disciples. For when the Lord, having stayed beyond the Jordan, said to them: “We are going back to Judea,” they reminded Him in fear: “Rabbi, now I am seeking to stone You to stone Judea, and are you still going there?” (John 11, 7, 8). – Among them, in fact, the murderous zeal was not stopped and only due to the absence of its object was not revealed. But when the Lord raised Lazarus and this miracle made an indescribable impression on the people, the bishops and Pharisees hastily gathered a crowd to decide what to do, “for this man does many signs.” And they decided through the mouth of the high priest Caiaphas: “It is not for us that one man should die for the people... And from that day they deliberated, that they should kill Him” (John 11:47-53). The decision was made irrevocably, but its implementation had to be postponed until time. For as there were still many days left before the holiday, the Lord withdrew to Ephraim for that period. Not seeing Him anymore, the Jewish authorities decreed and promulgated a command so that “whoever senses Him where he is,” would let him know, and He could be captured (John 11:57). As if in response to this decree, the Lord, upon returning from Ephraim and after the supper in Bethany, made His solemn entry into Jerusalem. The excitement of the people knew no bounds. Looking at this, the Pharisees said to each other: “You see, there is no benefit from our measures, the whole world follows Him” (John 12:19). In these words one can hear the fear that the victim might slip out of the hands. Why can it be plausibly assumed that as a result of this, they decided to watch Him more strictly in order to collect more cases with which they could find fault and expose Him. It is precisely this kind of nit-picking that is seen in their words on the occasion of the children’s cry in the church: “Have you heard what these are saying?” (Matthew 21:16), and on the occasion of His sovereign teaching in the church: “By what authority did you do this?” (Matthew 21:23) - especially in the malice with which they sought to destroy, in which, if they did not have time yet, it was only because the people relentlessly surrounded Him, listening to Him (Luke 19:47-48). For the same reason, reluctantly, on the second day after the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem, they had to listen to His strictly accusatory words for them, both in parables and in a merciless enumeration of all the bad things in the Pharisee’s behavior and actions. But, having patiently listened to this reproof, they again gathered in council, as if by cunning to take Him without the people noticing. Perhaps they would not have come up with anything to fulfill such a decision if Judas had not come to their aid. He promised to betray the Lord and give them an opportunity to take Him secretly from the people (Matthew 26:3–5, 14–16; Mark 14:1–2, 10–11; Luke 22:2–6). Judas fulfilled his evil promise when, leaving the Last Supper, he came to them and assured them that it would be convenient to take the Lord that night. They hastened to gather a multitude of people from church servants, soldiers, elders, scribes and even high priests and, entrusting them to the leadership of Judas, sent them to the Garden of Gethsemane. They moved there when the Lord was praying for the cup, and they came when the prayer was over and the Lord was waiting for them. The Lord saw all this; I also saw how it would all end. During the entire duration of the Last Supper, the cup, which was ordered by God to be drunk by our Savior, was carried before His eyes. And not only now did this happen, but throughout these last days, and before in Galilee, and from the very beginning of His revelation to the world, she appeared to Him. The holy Forerunner was the first to point this out when, after baptism, a forty-day fast and victory over the devil, the Lord came to the Jordan, saying: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world” (John 1:29). The Lord Himself announced this about Himself at the first Easter, when in response to the question of the church authorities, on the occasion of His expulsion of the traders from the church: “What sign are you showing us that you have done this?” - He answered: “Destroy this church, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:18-19), meaning by the church His body, and by its destruction - His suffering and death. And soon after this, not in a parable, but in a direct word, he taught Nicodemus: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so it is fitting for the Son of Man to be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but may have eternal life. For God loved the world, as He gave His only begotten Son to eat” (John 3:14-16). While in Galilee, the Lord did not immediately definitively announce that suffering and death awaited Him, but at first only hinted at this in parable speech. So, when the Pharisees asked him for signs, He twice refused them, saying: “No sign will be given to you except the sign of the prophet Jonah” (Matthew 12:39–40, 16:1–5). And again, when He talked about the bread of heaven, He said: “This bread ... is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51). He definitely revealed this - and then only to His disciples, secretly, after they had confessed Him as the promised savior Christ, the Son of the Living God (Matthew 16:13-20; Mark 8:27-30; Luke 9:18-21). “From then on,” the evangelists note, “Jesus began to tell His disciples that it was fitting for Him to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and the bishops and the scribes, and be killed, and rise on the third day” (Matthew 16:21; Mark 8:31; Luke 9:22). This was within the borders of Caesarea Philippi, after the third day. Easter, shortly before the Lord entered Jerusalem, where what He predicted happened. After Caesarea Philippi we see the Lord on Tabor. Here Moses and Elijah talk to Him about His exodus, and He Himself then told the Apostles that just as the Jewish authorities dealt with the New Testament Elijah (John the Baptist), so “the Son of Man must suffer from them” (Luke 9:31; Matt. 17:12). After descending from the mountain and healing the demon-possessed man, when everyone marveled, the Lord urgently inspired the disciples: “put this saying in your ears: The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hand of mankind” (Luke 9:44). And then, walking through Galilee, he again said to the disciples: “For the Son of Man will be betrayed into the hands of mankind, and they will kill Him, and having been killed, on the third day will rise again” (Mark 9:31). But the disciples, both before and now, did not understand anything... this verb was hidden from them (Luke 9:45). During His last walk through Galilee, the Lord twice mentioned His death, and publicly: the first time, when they told Him that Herod wanted to kill Him. He then said: “As you go, shout to that fox: Behold, I will cast out demons and perform healings this day and morning, and on the third day I will die. But it is fitting for Me this day and morning and to go to the neighbor, for it is impossible for a prophet to perish except in Jerusalem” (Luke 13:32-33). I mentioned it the second time when I spoke about the second coming. Having said that it will be like lightning, He added: “First of all it is fitting for the Son of Man to suffer much, and to be cut off from this generation” (Luke 17:25). “The days of the taking of the Lord from the world” (Luke 9:51) drew near, and He, after circumnavigating Galilee (as depicted by the Evangelist Luke 9–18), ascends to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. He appeared directly in the church at half the feast and began to teach. Knowing how irritated the authorities would be against Him, He inspired them that He acts and teaches not of Himself, but was sent from the Heavenly Father and His will fulfills what was suggested: “Beware, for by building hostility and murderous plans against Me, you turn out to be fighters against God.” He added to this: “I am with you for a short time, and I am going to Him who sent Me” (John 7:33), as if saying to them: you want to kill Me out of spite; On the morning after the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, the Lord again came to the church and said that He is the light of the world, that He does not teach and act alone, but that the Father who sent Him is with Him. Then he added again as before: “I am coming; and you will seek Me, and in your sin you will die” (John 8:21)... “if you do not have faith that I am (that I am what I say), you will die in your sins” (John 8:24). As those who heard clearly saw who was the One who sent Him and, not understanding where He wanted to go, interpreted it differently, He said to them: “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will understand that I am (that I am what I say about Myself), and about Myself I do nothing that is wrong, but as My Father taught Me, these things I say” (John 8, 28). This foreshadowed both death and the kind of death. In the space of time between the Feast of Tabernacles and the Feast of Renewal, the Lord, after healing the man born blind, speaking about His shepherding, again points to His death, saying: “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). “I am the good shepherd... and I lay down my life for the sheep” (John 10:14-15). Then he adds that He does this not due to any coercion or violence, but about Himself. “I lay down my soul, and again I will receive it. No one will take it from Me, but I set it for Myself; the imam will lay down the region, and the imam will accept the region again” (John 10:17-18). So all these days the Lord saw death before Him and spoke openly about it to everyone. And his enemies reminded Him of her with their impulses to stone Him. In view of this, since the time of His death had not yet come, He withdrew beyond the Jordan. Because of the Jordan, the Lord caused the death of Lazarus. Having begun his movement to Jerusalem on this occasion, for his last stay there and generally on earth, He said specifically to His disciples: “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed by the bishop and the scribe, and they will condemn Him to death, and betray Him with the tongue, and mock Him, and hurt Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him” (Mark 10:33-34). This is what was now before the eyes of the Lord! - And this, of course, prompted Him, while crossing through Jericho, to tell a parable in the house of Zacchaeus about a certain man going to a distant country - to accept the kingdom and return. For this high-class man is He Himself, His departure is His suffering and death (Luke 19:11-27). The glorious resurrection of the four-day-old Lazarus did not hide in Him the humiliating image of the death preparing for Him. And even if this incredible thing happened, the church authorities took care to pull back this veil with their definition: “unless... that one man should die for the people” (John 11:50). Then, when, having stayed in the wilderness of Ephraim for the appropriate time, He moved from there to Bethany and received a supper from those known in His honor, Mary reminded Him of this, anointing Him with myrrh, as He Himself defined the meaning of this act of hers, saying: “Make Me for burial” (Matthew 26:2). The next day, how solemn was the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem! And He cries, foreseeing His impending bitter fate for putting Him to death. In the church, by the fact that the Greeks wanted to see Him, the space of His kingdom, which was about to be established on earth, was opened, and He sees before Him His sorrowful hour, and so sorrowful that He was indignant in spirit and cried out to the Father: “Father, save Me from this hour,” although He immediately calmed down in betraying Himself to the eternal definitions of the Trinitarian God: but “for this reason I have come to this hour” (Jn. 12, 27). Because it was impossible otherwise. “Even if,” he says, “a grain of wheat falls on the ground and does not die, it remains alone; if it dies, it produces much fruit” (John 12:24)... “And if I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everything to Me. And these words were spoken, signifying by which death you would die” (John 12:32–33). In the days following this, the Lord came to the church and taught. The holy evangelists report only what the Lord said on the second day. Here, between the parables that He spoke, addressing the high priests with the scribes and elders, the parable of the vineyard and the winegrowers is all directed toward a vivid representation of His death, which would be the work of those very people to whom it was spoken. The vinedressers, having interrupted the master's servants, when they saw his son coming to them, said: this is the son and heir! - Let's go and kill him, and our inheritance will be; They grabbed him, took him out of the vineyard and killed him. The church authorities who heard this did the same to the Lord. They heard, understood, and yet, they still did as predicted (Matthew 21:38–39; Mark 12:7–8; Luke 20:14–15). Having finished the conversations in the church and then with the disciples on Olivet, the Lord concluded this day with these words: “In two days the Passover will be, and the Son of Man will be given up to death” (Matthew 26:2). Circumstances took their course and called the Lord to appropriate actions and speeches. And His thoughts were all about death, and death, which was also present during His conversations. On the third day there was a supper for Him in the house of Simon the leper in Bethany. A certain woman anointed Him with chrism. Some of those who were at the supper showed grumbling because of such a waste... The Lord said: “Leave her. She did well: for having poured this ointment on Me, she prepared Me for burial” (Matthew 26:12; Mark 14:8). The next day after this, the fourth after entering Jerusalem, the Lord had the Last Supper with his disciples. It was a farewell party, and it was very natural that the thought of death constantly entered into the conversation throughout the entire evening. They had just reclined when He, “knowing that His hour had come to pass from this world to the Father” (John 13:1), said: “I desire to eat this Passover with you, before I will not even accept torment.” For I tell you that from now on I will not eat from her” (Luke 22:15-16). After washing the feet, having said to the disciples in the course of speech: “And you are clean by nature, but not all of you,” he was troubled in spirit and testified to them: “Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you will betray Me... and behold, the hand of him who betrays Me is with Me at the table” (John 13:10, 21; Luke 22:21). And to the traitor, when he, although it was still unclear, was recognized as such by the other disciples, he was so thoroughly convicted by the words of the Lord that it was better for him to leave the supper, he said: “Whatever you do, do it quickly” (John 13:27). During the supper, establishing the sacrament of Body and Blood, what did the Lord say? - “This is My Body, which is given for you... This is My Blood, which is shed for you” (Matthew 26:26–29; Mark 14:22–25; Luke 22:19–20). The supper is over. The Lord began a farewell testamentary conversation. Much has been said; but everything that was said came from His death and returned to it. She walked as if on the threshold of death. “My children, I will not be with you for a long time” (John 13:33). “Let not your heart be troubled... I am going to prepare a place for you” (John 14:1–2) “I am going to My Father” (John 14:12). “It’s still a little while before the world sees Me, but you will see Me” (John 14:19). “Let not your heart be troubled... hear that I have spoken to you: I will go and come to you... I will come to you... I will come to the Father... Now I have spoken to you, it will not even happen before, but when it happens, you will have faith. To whom I say little to you" (John 14:27-30). “Now I go to Him who sent Me... But because these words were spoken to you, your hearts are filled with sorrow. But I tell you the truth: you have no food, but I will go. If I do not go, the Comforter will not come; If I go, I will send Him to you” (John 16:5-7). “For a little while you do not see Me, and again a little, you will see Me as I go to the Father... Amen I say to you, for you will weep, and the world will rejoice... But your sorrow will turn into joy... Again I will see you, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you” (John 16:16, 20, 22). The same thing is in His high priestly prayer to the Father, He prays for the disciples: “Holy Father, keep them in Your name... When I was with them in peace, I kept them in Your name... Now I will come to You” (John 17:11-13). Only One who did not take his eyes off the face of the death approaching Him could speak like this. He has nothing left to expect; one more step, and He will give Himself into the hands of His enemies, who will condemn Him, torture Him and put Him to a shameful death. He saw all this and, nevertheless, went to it without hesitation, saying: “Get up, let us go” (John 14:31). An hour or two later, Judas probably said a similar word to his crowd: it’s time! let's go. But let us turn to the beginning of this end of the earthly career of the Lord our Savior. This began, in fact, with the Savior’s prayer for the cup in the Garden of Gethsemane. But, judging by what was discussed on the way to the Garden of Gethsemane, the transition to this garden from the Last Supper should also be included in it. When everything was over at the supper, the Lord repeated: “Get up, let us go” (John 14:31). “And she went forth singing” (Matthew 26:30; Mark 14:26). And Jesus went out, “and went with His disciples to the half-stream of Kedrsk,” according to custom, to the Mount of Olives, “where there was a heliport.” (He is in front) “according to “He also went to His disciples” (Luke 22:39; John 18:1). The time had come when the Lord our Savior had to make a sacrifice, or sacrifice Himself, for our race, for which He came to earth. The Last Supper, at which, instead of the visible, He established His mysterious presence among the faithful in the sacrament of Body and Blood, is over; a testamentary word was offered to the students; the high priestly prayer is offered to God the Father. Now the first step is taken towards suffering and death on the cross. And with what decisiveness the Lord says: “Get up, let’s go from here.” The proclamation: “Arise, let us go from here” is given only by Saint John, and it stands with him not just before the exit, but above that. After this appeal, the conversation continued long, extending over three chapters (John 15-17). And after it it is already said: “this river came forth” (John 18:1). Consequently, before the saying of everything did not come out and, therefore, that conversation took place in the House. We must assume that when the Lord said, “Arise,” everyone stood up. But the conversation continued, as usually happens when people who love each other say goodbye, as they stand up and talk, and after taking a few steps they talk, and right before the doors they talk. The importance of the objects in question also forces us to recognize this. All the disciples should have known what was said about them, but on the road it is difficult for everyone to hear everything. Therefore, it is in vain that some in their Gospel stories place these speeches in the interval between leaving the supper house and entering the Garden of Gethsemane. You can put it this way: according to the word of the Lord, they stood up; but the Lord still spoke while standing, and the disciples listened while standing. When everything was discussed, the Lord could say: now let’s get out of here. We got out and went. This justifies why in our collection of legends about this transition it is placed: the Lord repeated: “Arise, let us go.” It’s possible without – “stand up”, like this: now let’s go from here, since they were all already standing. The conversation after the appeal begins with the words: “I am the vine” (John 15:1). Others interpret that the reason for this word was the vineyards that they passed by. With this they want to justify why they put that speech into the mouth of the Lord during the transition to Olivet. But then Zion was within the city, where vineyards had no place to be; and the city fence ran very close to the steep outskirts of Zion, so that there was no room for gardens behind it. Therefore, the grapes could not give the Lord a reason to begin speaking: “I am the vine,” and He spoke according to His internal intentions. “And she came forth singing.” “Having sung” - not “having begun to sing” in order to continue along the way, but “having sung.” You might be interested in: