Избранные места из священной истории Ветхого Завета

At the beginning of all time, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth, based on its insignificance, was completely empty - without trees, without fruits, without any decoration; darkness was over the abyss of waters, with which the earth was, as it were, swallowed up, and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters, preparing them for the production of the creatures that the Creator wished to bring forth from them. God of Rivers: “Let there be light!” - and the light appeared: God separated the light from the darkness and called it day, and the darkness night. This is the first day of creation! Then the God of the Rivers said: “Let the firmament appear, and let it separate the waters that are under the firmament from the waters that are above the firmament!” – the firmament appeared, and God called it heaven. - Day two. God of the Rivers: “Let the waters of heaven be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear!” - and dry land appeared, and God called it earth, and the collection of waters - sea. God of the Rivers: “Let the earth produce grass that yields seed, and trees that yield fruit according to their kind!” - it came true. - Day three. The God of the Rivers: “Let the lights appear in the firmament of heaven, let them divide day from night, and let them be a sign to indicate times, days and years; may they shine in the firmament, illuminating the earth!” - and two great luminaries appeared: one larger - the sun - God set to rule the day, the other smaller - the moon - to rule the night; God also created the stars in the firmament so that they illuminate the earth. - Day four. God of the Rivers: “Let the waters destroy the animals that swim in them and the birds that fly over the earth!” - and large fish and all the animals living in the waters appeared; All kinds of birds also appeared. God blessed the created animals, saying: “Be fruitful, multiply and fill the waters of the sea, and let the birds multiply on the earth!” - Day five. Then the God of the Rivers: “Let the earth produce animals of various kinds, livestock, reptiles and beasts!” - it came true. God finally said: “Let us create man in our image and likeness, with a rational, immortal soul, capable of knowing and loving; let him have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the livestock, over the wild beasts, and over all the creeping things that live on the earth, and over all the earth.” “And God created man in His own image: He formed his body from the dust of the earth, breathed into his face the breath of life, and thus united an immortal, rational soul with the mortal body. The first man's name was Adam. And God said: “It is not good for man to be alone; let us create for him a helper like him, so that, with his help, he may multiply on earth.” And so God created a wife: He brought Adam into a deep sleep and, during sleep, took a rib from him, filled its place with flesh and from this rib created a wife. When Adam woke up, God brought his wife to him. Adam said: “Behold, bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she will be called woman - let her very name show that she was taken from man. Therefore a man will leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife; husband and wife will be so closely united with each other that the two will be one flesh.” God blessed the first couple and said: “Grow, multiply and dominate the earth; Possess the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, and all the animals that live on the earth.” And God looked at everything created, and saw that everything was beautiful - consistent with the purposes of His Wisdom and Goodness. - Day six. Edifying Reflections How absurd are all the systems which have been invented by philosophers to explain, or even to replace, the account of the creation of the world which the book of Genesis gives us! Some, refusing to accept with faith what seems to us so consistent with reason, fell into ridiculous assumptions. Others, with their unnecessary explanations, weakened the concept of the omnipotence of God and turned it into some kind of ghost, not allowing the Creator, even at the beginning of creation, to act independently of the laws that His Divine Wisdom subsequently established in nature for its preservation. The Fall of the Forefathers and its First Consequences The Lord planted a beautiful garden in the east and in it grew kinds of trees, beautiful to look at, with fruits pleasing to the taste. In the midst of this earthly paradise He also brought forth the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In this paradise of joy the Lord settled the first man so that he could cultivate and preserve it; allowed him to enjoy the fruits of all the trees that grew there, but forbade him to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, telling him that on the day on which he ate the forbidden fruit, he would be struck with death. Adam and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed, because they were innocent. But the devil, jealous of their bliss, decided to deprive them of it, enticing them to disobedience to the will of God. To do this, he took on the form of a serpent, the most cunning of animals, and said to his wife: “Why did God forbid you to eat the fruits of all the trees of paradise?” The wife answered him: “We eat the fruits of the trees growing in paradise; God forbade us to eat and even touch the fruit of this one tree growing in the middle of paradise, so that we would not die.” The devil answered his wife: “No, you will not die; but God knows that as soon as you eat this fruit, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil.” The wife found the fruit pleasant to taste and beautiful to look at - she picked it, tasted it and served it to her husband, who also tasted it. Immediately their eyes were both opened - they saw that they were naked, and they made themselves girdles from fig leaves. Hearing the voice of the Lord God who walked in paradise, tormented by remorse, Adam and his wife hastened to hide among the trees of paradise. Then God, in order to bring Adam to repentance, called out to him: “Adam, where are you?” Adam answered: “I heard Your voice, O Lord, and I was afraid to appear to You, because I was naked.” “How did you know that you were naked and that you should be ashamed of it? Have you not eaten the fruit that I forbade you to eat?” Adam, instead of humbly confessing his sin, wanted to justify himself, placing the blame on God Himself, and answered Him: “The wife whom You gave me as a helper gave me the fruit of this tree, and I ate it.” The Lord then said to his wife: “Why did you do this?” “She, also wanting to justify herself, answered: “The serpent deceived me, and I ate this fruit.” Then the Lord God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, you are cursed among all the animals of the earth; You will crawl on your belly and eat the ring. I will put enmity between you and the woman, between her seed and your seed; The Redeemer who will be born of her will blot out your head, and you will keep his heel.” Then He said to his wife: “In serious illnesses you will give birth to your children and, as punishment for the fact that you have disobeyed your Creator, you will be subject to your husband: he will rule over you.” Finally, he said to Adam: “Because you obeyed your wife and ate the fruit forbidden by Me, the earth will be cursed for your deeds, and throughout your entire life you will receive food from her in no other way than through exhausting labor. She will bring forth thorns and thistles for you; You will till it and by the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread until you return to the ground from which you were taken.” Adam named his wife Eve, which means life: because she was to become the mother of all living on earth. The Lord God created clothing of skins for Adam and Eve and clothed them with it; they were supposed to remind the ancestors that, having been created in order to become like God by the holiness of life, by their sin they became like dumb animals. The Lord expelled the first people from paradise, so that they could no longer enjoy the life-giving fruits of the tree of life, but, cultivating the land from which they were taken, they ate their bread by the sweat of their brow. A cherub with a flaming weapon is assigned to guard the path to the tree of life. Adam and Eve had two sons. When they came of age, they both made sacrifices to God. Cain, who was engaged in farming, brought the fruits of the earth to the Lord, and Abel brought the firstborn from his flock: the Lord looked with a merciful eye on Abel and his gifts, but did not look on Cain and his gifts. Cain became indignant and looked down. The Lord denounced him: but he, insensitive to the words of the Lord and consumed by envy, called his brother Abel into the field and there he rushed at him and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain: “Where is your brother Abel?” “He answered: “I don’t know!” Am I my brother’s guardian?” The Lord said to him: “What have you done? Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground! From this moment, you will be cursed on the earth that drank the blood shed by your fratricidal hand; the earth will not give you fruit when you cultivate it; you will be an exile and a stranger on earth.” Original sin is the stumbling block against which the pride of wickedness is crushed; and yet there is no truth more obvious in the eyes of reason, more solid for faith, than the unfortunate fall of our first parents. Everything in us and around us reminds us of him; but, especially, it is felt in the vicissitudes of our life, in the transitions from happiness to unhappiness, from health to illness, from joy to suffering, in a word - from life to death. We feel that our soul is weak, especially when it is forced to endure a terrible struggle, making a choice between duty and pleasure, virtue and vice, love and hatred. Hence those countless crimes that, since the death of Abel, have horrified, burdened and desecrated humanity. The world lies in evil. But what a disastrous triumph of evil when a person considers himself to have the right to create his own religion and moral rules, and wants to be the supreme judge of his conscience and his actions! And this is what they preach, this is what they want, this is what philosophers without God, mad thinkers, are leading to. When Noah built the ark and did everything that he was commanded from the Lord, God said to him: “Enter into the ark with all your family; because of all those living on earth, I see you alone as righteous before Me. Take also a pair of all the animals and all the birds, one male and one female, and seven of the clean animals, to preserve their race on the earth: because after seven days I will bring rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy everything that I have created on it.” Noah fulfilled the command of the Lord: he entered the ark, and with him his sons - Shem, Ham and Japheth, his wife and his sons' wives; he also took, by the command of God, a pair of all the animals; The Lord himself closed the door of the ark. Seven days later - on the seventeenth day of the second month, in the six hundredth year of Noah's life, all the sources of the abyss of water opened up, the clouds of heaven opened up. The rain continued for forty days and forty nights, and the rising waters raised the ark high above the earth; Soon the tops of all the mountains were covered with water, which rose 15 cubits above the highest of them. Everything living on earth - from man to livestock - perished: only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained. Water covered the earth for one hundred and fifty days. Let us have the fear of God, we will be blameless in the eyes of the Lord - that’s all that a person needs! – Let’s put aside worrying about everything else! The Lord is watching over us. His Providence takes care of our needs, unexpectedly gives us help, delivers us from dangers, supports our desire for good, eases the burden of disasters inseparable from life, delights our sorrows, consoles us in despondency, fills us with holy hopes!... May His Divine hand guide our steps; let us obey His commands, then, with a feeling of living gratitude, let us exclaim along with the royal prophet: “The Lord shepherds me and will deprive me of nothing. In a more fertile place, they settled me there” (Ps. 23:1-2). In vain does the wickedness of the world, like a devastating torrent, threaten the righteous, faithful Christian; in vain do temptations strike his eyes, his ears and all his senses; in vain the enemy of salvation throws the most poisonous arrows of his malice at him, in vain he places the most cunning intrigues around him. “The Lord protects all who love Him,” says the Holy King David, “and all sinners will consume... His baldness will overshadow you, and you will hope under His wing; His truth will surround you with weapons. Thousands will fall from your country, and darkness will be at your right hand; He will not come close to you: look at your eyes, and you will see the reward of sinners. For You, Lord, are my hope: You have made the Most High Your refuge.” (Psalm 144:20, 90:4, 7–10). For Noah and several righteous people who were on earth during the flood in his time, the ark was a refuge. For us, in the midst of the corruption and error that flood the world, the refuge which the Lord has blessed to give us in His mercy is the Church of Jesus Christ, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, Eastern, of which the ark was the only image. There was only one family of Noah in the ark: only those belonging to the blessed family of Jesus Christ by grace-filled regeneration constitute the Church. Outside the ark, everything on earth perished: outside the Church there is no salvation. Everything in the ark was in order; at the command of God, for the preservation and maintenance of living beings who were supposed to avoid the general flood: in the Church, everything necessary for the undoubted grant of peace and eternal glory to everyone who wants to be saved is amazingly prepared: the sacraments are an inexhaustible source of grace, according to all occasions of life; the bread of the word of God, which converts the sinner, strengthens the weak, strengthens the righteous; the tender care of the incomparable Mother, who does not cease to pray for her children from the moment of their rebirth through baptism in Christ Jesus, and continues the saving effect of her saving prayers beyond the grave. The Ark is also a symbol of the cross. "Human! - exclaims Bl. Augustine. - Heaven is your fatherland; you must strive for it alone: ​​but between heaven and you lies the sea of ​​life, full of dangers, storms and pitfalls. You did not have the means to stay on these deep waters, constantly ready to swallow you up: and behold, the Savior came to you to bring you to your fatherland, and He Himself became the path along which you must go: I am the way. The only way through the sea can be a tree that floats on water and resists storms: this tree is the tree of the cross. This sacred ark, this sacred ship that saves souls, is made of this tree. Is it difficult for you to enter this ark? Are you ashamed of the tree of the cross of the Son of God, the tree of His Divine humiliation, which alone could heal us from the dangerous wound of our pride? Are you ashamed of this tree, which shames the proud and saves them, making them humble? Madman! Ungrateful! You must swim across the sea, but you despise the tree!” (Bl. Aug. On John. Tr. 2.) Finally, the ark depicts to us the Most Holy Virgin, blessed among women, who found grace from God both for herself and for us; The Most Pure Mother of God, the Mother of Mercy, on whom all the children of Eve place all their hope, the joy of all who mourn, the refuge of Christians. Finally, God remembered Noah and the animals that were with him in the ark, commanded the wind to blow on the earth, and the waters began to subside. The sources of the deep and the clouds of heaven closed, the rains stopped: the water began to subside from the earth after one hundred and fifty days, and, on the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the ark stopped on the mountains of Ararat; The water kept decreasing, and on the first day of the tenth month, the tops of the mountains appeared. Forty days later, Noah opened the window of the ark and released a raven - it flew out and did not return. After seven days he released a dove, wanting to know if the land was dry; but the dove could not find a single dry place to sit, and returned to it: Noah again took the dove into the ark. After another seven days, he released the dove again - the dove returned to him in the evening with an olive branch covered with green leaves. Thus Noah knew that the land was dry; but, after another seven days, he again released the dove, which never returned to him. And so, in the six hundred and first year of Noah’s life, on the first day of the first month, the surface of the earth was already completely free from the waters that drowned it, and Noah, opening the roof of the ark, looked and saw that the earth was completely dry; on the twenty-seventh day of the second month it could already be inhabited. Then God said to Noah: “Come out of the ark with your wife, with your sons, and with your sons’ wives; also release all the animals that were with you: grow and multiply and fill the earth!” Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking from all the clean animals, he offered them on it as a burnt offering; God, knowing Noah’s heartfelt disposition, accepted his sacrifice with a fragrant aroma, and said: “I will no longer curse the earth for the sins of men; for the heart of man from youth is directed towards evil. I will not strike every living thing, as I did: sowing and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter will not be interrupted as long as the earth exists.” Then God blessed Noah and his children, saying: “Grow and multiply, and fill the earth!” He also confirmed man’s dominion over the earth: “Let all the beasts of the earth, the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and everything that moves on the earth tremble before you: I give you all this for food, as well as everything that the earth produces.” God made a covenant with Noah and his descendants, promising him that there would be no more flood; The visible sign of this covenant is the rainbow: “My arc,” said the Lord, “I set in the cloud, and you will be a sign of the everlasting covenant between Me and the earth” (Gen. 9:13). Saint Cyprian in the raven of which Moses speaks sees a striking image of a sinner seduced by addiction to the world. His passions are idols to which he sacrifices himself; his soul, which has become completely carnal, loves only corruption and is consoled by what defiles and kills it. At the cost of his eternal salvation, having purchased a short-term and disastrous satisfaction of his unclean lusts, he calms his conscience by simply performing some external rites of religion, as much as public decency and his own interests require. The dove, according to the explanation of the Holy Fathers, depicts holy, pure souls, who, among the external activities required by the order of society, do not find a place in the whole world where their hearts would find true peace. Fearing the infection of this age, they are burning with the desire to return to the ark, to the true Noah - Jesus Christ, the Divine Comforter in sorrows, inseparable from the disasters of this life, which, like a flood, overwhelm the Christian from everywhere. The olive branch brought by the dove signifies the unspeakable peace with which the Holy Spirit fills the faithful soul, fleeing the spirit of this world. Was Noah's sacrifice in itself acceptable to God? - No: she was pleasing to Him because His eyes, penetrating into the innermost corners of the heart, saw in her a sincere tribute to the obedience and gratitude of this worthy Patriarch. We, who live in the New Testament and are more blessed than Noah, must offer God the most perfect sacrifice, according to the instructions of the Apostle: “present your body as a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, your verbal service; ... be built in a spiritual church, holy holiness, offer spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God, Jesus Christ" (Rom. 12:1; 1 Peter 2:5.) To satisfy our spiritual needs there is a sacred act that is superior to the sacrifices of the Old Testament, repeated daily in the Divine Liturgy - the sacrifice of the cross. Let us make sure that we receive this incomparable gift of God’s mercy with dignity! While Abraham was still living in the land of Ur, in Chaldea, the Lord called to him: “Leave your fatherland, your relatives and your father’s house and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you and glorify your name; I will bless those who bless you, I will curse those who curse you, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him who will be born of you.” Abraham went as the Lord commanded him; he was then 75 years old. He took with him his wife Sarah and his nephew Lot, everything that belonged to them, and the household members who were born to them in Haran. Arriving in the land of Canaan, Abraham walked through it to a place called Shechem and to the oak grove of Mamre. Here the Lord appeared to him and said: “I will give this land to your descendants.” Abraham built an altar in the place where the Lord appeared to him. Reflecting on the holiness of Abraham, which shines in all the circumstances of his life, is it possible with the great Apostle, who gave praise to the greatest of the Patriarchs, not to marvel at how much of a Christian spirit he had even before the coming of Christ, and how much height of evangelical perfection existed in his life before the Gospel was preached? Rightly, the saints loved to look, as an example, at this obedience of faith of Abraham, who, at the mere voice of the Lord, leaves everything that is most precious to a person, that constitutes the joy of life - his homeland, dear friends, home - in order, like an exile, to go to a foreign country, not even knowing where the Lord wanted to lead him. All thoughts inspired by human weakness fell silent before the courage of this great soul, whose faithfulness constantly received new signs of blessing from the Holy Spirit. He could not help but hear the voice of nature - and the saint is not completely free from these heavy shackles that bind humanity in this low world; but a person always receives enough strength from above to withstand the weight of temptation, to drown out the unjust cry of a rebellious nature, to allow the grace of God to triumph within himself. And what do the blessings of this world mean to a person who has only eternity in his thoughts, only God in his heart! God treats Abraham from the very beginning as a perfect man who will serve as an example for all those whom God calls to perfection. His command to leave relatives, fatherland and follow Him is the advice of Jesus Christ to those who want to be perfect. Being indebted to God for all blessings, both spiritual and material, we must render Him complete love and obedience; leaving everything for God, preferring Him to everything that is most lovable - this is the most perfect fulfillment of our duties in relation to Him! God does not tell Abraham the land to which he must go, He only promises to show him it: Abraham, for his part, is not embarrassed by this uncertainty, because he acts by faith, which is simple and does not tolerate inquisitiveness. - When you hear the voice of God commanding you to leave the world and everything that you love in it, obey Him, as Abraham obeyed, and then pray earnestly that the Lord will show you the holy refuge that He appoints for you and which should be for you the Promised Land. The great blessing of God announced to Abraham regarding his descendants is the blessing that has overshadowed the earth since the incarnation of God the Word. The Holy Apostle Peter, in his second sermon to the Jews, said: “You are the sons of the prophet and covenant, which God commanded to your fathers, saying to Abraham: and through your seed the whole earthly fatherland will be blessed. For you first God raised up his servant Jesus, his messenger, blessing you, so that you may turn away from your evils” (Acts 3:25, 26). The mystery is completed: all that remains for us now is to renounce worldly lusts and be zealous for good deeds, which the holiness of our calling to faith requires of us. A little after Abraham received the first promise that Sarah would bear him a son Isaac, and after he had circumcised himself and all the males in his house, the Lord again appeared to him at the oak grove of Mamre, when he was sitting at the door of his tent during the midday heat. Abraham saw three men standing not far from him, immediately ran to meet them and, bowing to the ground, said to the one who stood closer to him: “Sir! If I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by the house of your servant: I will bring water and wash your feet; then you will rest here under the tree, and in the meantime I will bring you bread to strengthen your strength, and then you will go on your way.” They stayed and settled down under a tree. Abraham hastily entered his tent and ordered Sarah to bake bread, and he ran to the herd, chose the best calf and ordered the slave to cook it for food. Having offered food to the strangers, he himself served them, standing in front of them. After dinner they asked him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” He answered them: “In the tent” (Sarah’s modesty did not allow her to appear before the men). Then the Lord, through the mouth of one of the strangers, said to Abraham: “I will come to you again in a year at this same hour, and then Sarah your wife will have a son.” Hearing this, Sarah, who was standing outside the door of the tent, laughed, saying to herself: “Should I and my husband give birth to children at such an old age?” But the Lord, from Whom Sarah’s thoughts did not hide, said to Abraham: “Why did Sarah laugh? Is there anything difficult for God?” And again he confirmed that in a year, at the same time, she would have a son. Then the strangers stood up and headed their way to Sodom, and Abraham went to accompany them. And the Lord said: “Shall I hide what I want to do from Abraham, who is to be the founder of a great and mighty tribe, and in whom all the nations of the earth will be blessed? The cry of the iniquities of Sodom and Gomorrah has increased, and their sins are grievous.” Meanwhile, two Angels went to Sodom, and Abraham remained with the third - it was the Lord himself. Abraham said to Him: “Will You destroy both the righteous and the wicked? If there are fifty righteous people in this city, will they really perish along with the others? Will You really not spare a city if there are fifty Righteous Ones in it? No! You won't do this; You will not destroy the righteous along with the wicked, You will not compare the good with the evil! Will the judge of all the earth act unjustly?” “The Lord answered him: “If I find fifty righteous people in all of Sodom, then for their sake I will spare the whole city.” Abraham said: “I still dare to ask my Lord, although I am nothing more than dust and ashes, if you find no more than forty-five righteous people, will you destroy the city?” “The Lord answered every time that he would have mercy. “Lord,” Abraham finally said, “do not be angry if I ask You again: what will happen if You find only ten righteous people in this city?” - “And then I will not destroy” - Abraham did not dare to ask anymore: the Lord departed, and Abraham returned to his dwelling. The Holy Fathers of the Church, and especially Bl. Augustine (De Trin. lib. 20), see in these three Angels who appeared to Abraham an excellent image of the sacrament of the Most Holy Trinity: the Holy Patriarch saw three, but worshiped the One. Great virtue - hospitable! “Do not forget to love strangers,” says the Apostle, “for there are some ignorant angels who are strangers” (Heb. 13:2). The pilgrim Patriarch was honored to receive the Lord Himself. Abraham's intercession for the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah can serve as a lesson for us in prudence and mercy. There is nothing more common in the world than the rashness with which unfavorable and immodest judgments are made about others - just based on appearance, based on rumors, based on untrue stories. How often, based on suspicions that are completely unfounded, they accuse an innocent person and doubt their virtue! May the example of Abraham teach us to be lenient towards human weakness, to be merciful to those who sin! The Lord, according to His promise, visited Sarah and fulfilled on her what was told to her: in her old age she conceived and gave birth to a son at the very time that God had appointed for her. Abraham named his son Isaac and, on the eighth day, circumcised him, as God commanded him. Then Abraham was already a hundred years old. Sarah herself fed her son with her milk and, making an allusion to the name of Isaac, which means laughter, said: “Behold, the Lord has sent me an object of laughter and joy; everyone who knows about this will rejoice with me. And who could believe that they ever told Abraham that Sarah in her old age would bear him a son and feed him?” The child grew up and was weaned: on this occasion Abraham made a great feast. Abraham also had a son with Hagar, an Egyptian woman. Sarah, having once seen that he was offending him while playing with Isaac, said to Abraham: “Cast this servant and her son out of your house: he should not be the heir after you along with my son Isaac.” A newborn child is an object of joy in the Christian family: with the living faith of the Patriarchs, they look at him as a gift from God, as a heavenly blessing, remembering the words of the Psalmist: “Bear the fruits of your labors, blessed are you, and good will come to you: your wife is like a fruitful vine in the lands of your house, your sons are like new olive trees around your table: behold, a man will be blessed. fearing the Lord" (Ps. 127:2-5). For a person without religion, for an egoist who sacrifices everything to ambition, luxury or debauchery, children are only a burden with which he does not know what to do: this is the source of so much disorder in society and temptations in families. However, God does not always give numerous offspring to virtuous people: Abraham had only one son from Sarah, and he waited for this son of promise for a long time. The most pious fathers do not always have children who follow in their footsteps in the path of wisdom: Eli and David had the misfortune of seeing their children as unworthy successors to themselves. Finally, the New Testament revealed the most perfect path - the path of virginity, following which a person, barren in the flesh, can be wonderfully fruitful in spirit. A soul that has gone deep into itself, is faithful to God, striving to please him - this is the spouse who will make up the happiness of our life; its fruit will be countless good deeds; She will fill our entire inner world with holy thoughts, which will be like our children, she will not allow them to scatter outside and become infected with the ulcer of the world; her thoughts will have peace and anointing as their companions, for they are born from the love of God. Let us set a good example for each other: let us edify our brothers with our humility, sincere fulfillment of the duties prescribed by Religion with the fiery word of love; Let us fervently pray for the spread and establishment of faith in souls, for the eradication of heresies, for the conversion of sinners: in this way we will give birth to Jesus Christ countless offspring - offspring that we may not know on earth, since they will not know us either, but which we will find, and which will be the crown of our glory in heaven. Circumcision is a rite that God commanded Abraham to perform, as a seal of His covenant with this Patriarch, as a sign by which the chosen people were to be distinguished from all nations. In the New Testament there is “circumcision made without hands in putting off the body of sin from the flesh” (Colossians 2:11) - the Holy Sacrament of baptism, which cleanses our soul from original sin and makes us children of God - heirs of God, heirs of Christ: “while we suffer with him, we will also be glorified with him” (Rom. 8:17). This is a high title, this is the high purpose of a Christian! Christian! With reverence and gratitude to God, with a readiness to serve Him more diligently than before, remember the sacred day of your baptism and the great vows you made to God at the mystical font; Reflect with deep respect on the name given to you - this is the name of the Saint: with the thought of it, let the desire to imitate his virtues be aroused in your soul. The saint whose name you bear is your patron, your intercessor before God: call on him with faith, and he will give you gracious help for the worthy performance of your duties. Holy Scripture says that Sarah considered it an honor, a pleasure, a duty to feed her son with her own milk. Saint Ambrose of Milan strictly condemns mothers who, without important reasons, deny their children and themselves the consolation so natural and so Christian. These are half-mothers, or even not mothers of their children at all: entrusting them to a strange woman, they do not even always care enough to choose a kind and honest nurse; and experience shows that nurses who have bad habits pass on to their children with their milk the seeds of vices, which subsequently poison them throughout their lives. Happy is the child nursed by a Christian mother! “I wish,” says one clever writer (De Laurentie Letres sur 1 education), “I wish that the child rests for a long time on his mother’s lap, not in order to receive caresses that pamper him, but in order to benefit from advice and care that strengthens him.” Happy child! His mother will tenderly guide the first steps of his life and console him in his first sorrows; she will put the first thoughts into his mind, and awaken the first movements in his heart; she will be the first to tell him about God; she will open his eyes to the contemplation of this vast universe... she will interpret to him some of the wonders of creation. Look at this child praying on her knees with deep attention! Where does this power come from? Prayer is the ascension of the soul to God: and this child, whose worries are limited only to toys, is capable of ascending to heaven? Yes! And such a miracle was done by the mother, or better to say, this thought about God is innate to man, and one gentle voice is enough to awaken it. The child still doesn’t know anything, but God, the Incomprehensible Being, is inherent in him. Oh, Philosophers! Have you ever thought about this miracle? Abraham accepted with regret Sarah’s demand to expel Hagar: it was hard for him to part with his son Ishmael. But God said to him: “Do not be upset by the words of Sarah your wife, and do what she told you about the son of the slave, because your descendant will come from Isaac: in him my promises must be fulfilled. But I will also make the son of this slave woman the founder of a great nation, because He too is your son.” Abraham, obeying the command of God, got up early in the morning, took bread and a skin of water, put it on Hagar’s shoulders and ordered her to leave her house with her son. Everything is amazing in this story of the exile of Hagar and Ishmael. Sarah's severity towards Hagar and her son; God's command to Abraham to fulfill her desire; the way in which Abraham fulfills it, expulsion forever from the house of his mother with a weak baby: everything seems contrary to decency, philanthropy, justice and, finally, everything that we know about the high character and generosity of Abraham; Meanwhile, the very extraordinary nature of these circumstances convinces us that they hide a secret. – St. Apostle Paul explains this mystery to us, presenting it as a symbol of the different characters of the Old and New Testaments, the Synagogue and the Church. “It is written,” says the Apostle in the Epistle to the Galatians, “that Abraham had two sons: one born of a bondwoman according to the flesh, and one of a freewoman according to the promise. This is allegorical: for these are two testaments" (Galat. 4, 22–24): Ishmael typifies the slaves, the children of the Old Testament, the Jews, who, being in the flesh the children of Abraham, are not animated, like himself, by the spirit of faith and love: their heart is the heart of slaves, occupied only with earthly goods and obeying God only out of fear of punishment. This is the character of the synagogue, which the Apostle Paul calls the present Jerusalem; Jerusalem is on high, heavenly - the Orthodox Church, typified by Sarah, is the blessed mother of Christians, the children of promise, typified by Isaac. Indeed, in the bosom of the Church we receive a wonderful spiritual birth through the power of the Sacraments and the Word of God. “The same brothers,” adds the Apostle, “are not bondservants, but free” (Galatians 4:31), because we serve God out of love, spirit and truth. This is freedom, with which Christ freed us! “But even as then was he born according to the flesh as a pursuer of the spiritual, so is he now” (Galatians 4:29). The Jews hated and persecuted the true Isaac, Jesus Christ and His Disciples - and until the end of the world, “all who want to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12) by carnal people. To devote oneself to virtue and to wish so as not to encounter contradictions outside oneself from the world and within oneself from unclean lusts is a real dream! We constantly have before our eyes examples of how the obedience of a Christian, a simple righteous person, and, finally, everything that is the highest in religion - how all this serves as an object of ridicule and insults for the wicked and depraved. “But what does the scripture say? Marry the slave and her son, so that the son of a slave should not inherit with the son of a free woman” (Galatians 4:30): having been born of a free mother, can we agree to mingle with the crowd of slaves? Meanwhile, what do we do when, bored with fulfilling the duties imposed on us by our holy religion, we envy the world in its stupid pleasures and dangerous pleasures? Let us use the freedom that Jesus Christ acquired for us by the power of His grace and His example: we must, we can do it. Let us throw off the yoke of our sins and passions; This is the only freedom of the children of God, which they can cherish and which they can seek on earth. Just as Abraham casts out the servant and her son, giving them only a little bread and water, so the Jewish people, who do not have a share in the freedom of the children of God, are expelled from the house of the Lord with inexorable severity and condemned to die of hunger and thirst, because they did not accept the One who is “animal bread” and “a fountain of water flowing into an eternal belly” (John 6:35, 4:14). Hagar, leaving Abraham's house, got lost in the desert. Finally, she had no more water in her skin: she and her son were exhausted from thirst and heat, and death threatened them. In desperation, Hagar laid her son under a tree, walked away from him one shot from her bow, saying: “I don’t want to see my son die,” and began to moan loudly; the boy also cried and screamed. The Lord heard his cry, and an Angel called from heaven to Hagar: “What are you doing, Hagar? Do not be afraid - God heard the cry of the youth. Stand up and take it; take care of him - I will make him the ancestor of a great people.” At that same moment, God opened her eyes, and she saw a source of water in front of her, and she went and filled her bottle and gave her son a drink. God was with the boy: he grew up, began to live in the desert and was skilled in archery. His mother took him an Egyptian wife. Hagar and her son, wandering in the desert without a guide, without a road, without a goal and tired in vain, represent the current Jewish people, who, having rejected the Gospel, have lost light, wisdom, hope and the fruit of all their labors. There is nothing more miserable than a Jew, there is nothing more desolate than Judea: the church, the Priesthood, Jerusalem, royal dignity, even the fatherland itself, everything has been taken away from the Jews. Hagar and Ishmael wander for a long time near the source and do not see it: the Jews could see Jesus Christ in all the Holy Scriptures, the light of His Cross shines everywhere, they are in the midst of His kingdom, but the darkness with which they are surrounded in their pitiful blindness hides Him from them. Hagar and her son sit near a bountiful spring and die of thirst; it was necessary for God to send an Angel to miraculously open Hagar’s eyes and show her the source, while it was easy to see it, and she needed it: having seen it, she hurries to quench the thirst of her son and rejoices, as if with this life-giving water she had found everything. In this one can see a living image of a sinner, whom sinful habits remove from God and force him to wander in the desert of passions, where he is soon driven to the most terrible extreme. If, at a time when heaven is hidden from his eyes, darkened by sin, he, feeling the difficult situation into which he is brought by his sins, begins to groan and cry out to God, like Hagar, about the deplorable fate of his soul: then God suddenly blesses his tears and in the sacred waters of repentance indicates a cure for the despondency and sorrow that devours him. Let us note, by the way, that Abraham sent Hagar away alone with her son, without giving her either a slave to carry the small travel supply that she took with her, or a guide to show the way in the desert, while he had so many slaves. This gives us the opportunity to notice a very commendable feature in the morals of the ancient patriarchs: despite the fact that they had many slaves, the most famous of them did not neglect the occupations that we now consider the lot of workers and servants; learned to do everything to be able, in case of need, to use their knowledge and skills. Thus, then the need did not take anyone by surprise. – How pitiful are the young people of our time, who, due to false concepts of education, often neglect the means of educating themselves, with which the Providence of God has abundantly endowed them, and appear in the world with only one reserve of vanity and ignorance! God tempted Abraham and said to him: “Take your only and beloved son Isaac, go with him to the land of Moriah and sacrifice him to Me on the mountain that I will show you.” Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, took with him two slaves and Isaac his son, chopped wood for the sacrifice and went where the Lord commanded him to go. They walked for two days; on the third, Abraham saw from afar the place indicated to him by the Lord, and said to his servants: “Stay here with the donkey and wait for me; “And I and my son will go there, worship the Lord and return to you.” Abraham put the wood on the shoulders of his son Isaac, and he himself took the fire and the knife, and they both went together. On the way, Isaac said to his father: “Father! Here we have fire and wood: where is the lamb for the burnt offering? - Abraham answered: “The Lord Himself prepared a lamb as a burnt offering for Himself.” Arriving at the place indicated by the Lord, Abraham built an altar, laid out the wood, then tied Isaac and laid him on the wood: Isaac did not resist this. But as soon as Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son, at that moment the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said: “Abraham! Abraham! Do not lay your hand against your son. Now I know that you fear God, because you obeyed Me and did not spare your only son.” Abraham raised his eyes and saw a ram whose horns were entangled in a bush; taking him and, as a sacrifice sent by God Himself, offered him as a burnt offering in place of his son. The angel of the Lord called to Abraham another time and said to him: “I swear by myself,” says the Lord, “because you did this and did not spare your only son, then I will bless you and multiply your seed like the stars of heaven and like the sand of the sea; Your descendants will one day possess the cities of their enemies, and through your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.” After this, Abraham returned to the servants who were waiting for him. In Holy Scripture the word tempt is taken in two different meanings: to incite to evil and to test fidelity. It is impossible for God to tempt by instilling evil - “God is not the tempter of the evil,” says the Apostle James (James 1:13): but He often tests the virtue of His servants - either for their correction, or in order to give them an opportunity to earn a greater reward, or in order to prepare them to accept more abundant gifts of grace, if they know how to correspond to this and be worthy of it. Alas! Very often a person does not know himself, does not try to distinguish strength from weakness in himself: temptation gives him the opportunity to hear a voice teaching him. At the sight of danger, prudence prompts him to vigilance and prayer, vigilance keeps him ready to avert the blow, and prayer gives him courage and strength. At first glance, it seems that the emergency command given by God to Abraham is unworthy of God. But the Supreme Lord of life and death can continue or shorten our days as he pleases. If, by His will, Isaac’s life had been cut short due to illness or some accident, would Abraham have the right to grumble? God did not allow Abraham to sacrifice his son - for Him, one readiness for obedience, which this Holy Patriarch proved, was enough: He only wanted to test him. But they will say, God, Who knows the depth of the heart, Who foresees our future feelings with the same clarity as He sees our present heart dispositions, had no need for Himself to test Abraham. - This is true; but Abraham needed to be tested, and the human race needed this example, in order to know that God has the right to demand from us, when He pleases, sacrifices, which we must make willingly and with unshakable complacency: because He, as the All-Powerful, will reward us for them. The command of God was all the more difficult for Abraham to fulfill because it dealt a blow to his most important affections, his most just hopes: that is why the Holy Scripture extols with praise the faith and courage of Abraham. “He thought,” writes Ap. Paul to the Jews, “for God is able to raise even from the dead” (Heb. 11:19), and would rather perform a miracle than not fulfill His Promise. Abraham in this case appeared more as an Angel than as a man, and grace in him completely triumphed over nature. He lived by faith and knew how, when necessary, to impose silence on the mind in order to listen only to faith alone. “Righteous,” says Bl. Augustine, “receives the voice of God like thunder from heaven, and when the Lord speaks to him, he does not think, but obeys” (De civit. Dei lib.XVI cap. XXXII). There is a striking relationship between the sacrifice of Isaac and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Both of them were sacrificed to God on the mountain, and even, according to some of the Holy Fathers, Isaac was sacrificed on Calvary - the same place where Jesus Christ was crucified two thousand years later. Isaac himself carries the wood on which he is to be sacrificed; Jesus Christ Himself carries the cross on which he breathed his last. Abraham himself must slay his only son Isaac: the heavenly Father “spared not his only begotten Son, but gave him up for us all” (Rom. 8:32). Isaac does not resist his slaughter, but is ready to die voluntarily and willingly: Christ suffered and died because he wanted to suffer and die. Isaac was still, according to St. John Chrysostom, an excellent depiction of the sacrifice of our altars - a bloodless sacrifice, but serving as a living memory of the sacrifice performed on Calvary. Abraham, having reached a ripe old age and endowed with all the blessings from the Lord, set out to marry his son Isaac. He called the eldest of his servants, Eliezer, who ruled his entire household, and said to him: “Swear to me by the Lord God of heaven and earth that you will faithfully fulfill the commission that I entrust to you, and you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I live, but you will go to my homeland, where my relatives live, and there you will take a wife for Isaac. The Lord God of heaven and earth, who brought me out of my father’s house and promised with an oath to give this country to my descendants. The Lord Himself will send His Angel before you and help you there to take a wife for my son Isaac.” Eliezer swore to his master to fulfill his order: he took ten camels, loaded them with the most expensive things for gifts and headed his way to Mesopotamia, to the city of Harran, where Nahor lived. In the evening, arriving at a well located outside the city, where the girls usually came for water, Eliezer stopped and cried out to the Lord: “Lord, God of Abraham my master! Send now Thy help to me and mercy to Abraham, my lord! “Make sure that the girl to whom I say: “Tilt down your waterpot and give me something to drink,” and who answers me: “Drink, and I will give water to your camels,” - make sure that this girl is the same one whom you have destined to be the wife of Isaac your servant.” He had not yet had time to finish these words in his mind - and here comes Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel, son of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with a waterpot on her shoulders - a maiden of rare beauty: she had already managed to fill her waterpot and was returning home. Eliezer approached her and said, “Give me a little drink from your waterpot!” She answered: “Drink, my Lord!” - and with these words she hurried to lower the waterpot from her shoulders and gave it to Eliezer to drink; then she poured the water she had into the camels’ trough, ran to the well and brought them more water. Meanwhile, Eliezer looked at her silently, wanting to know whether the Lord had blessed his journey or not. When all the camels had drunk, he gave her gold earrings and two wrists and said to her: “Whose daughter are you? Is there a place in your father’s house for us to sleep for the night?” She answered: “I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Melchi and Nahor; we have plenty of straw and hay and a spacious place to sleep.” Eliezer bowed and gave thanks to the Lord. Meanwhile, Rebekah hurried home and told her mother about what had happened: her parents saw in this the secret ways of Providence. Eliezer was respectfully received into the family of Nahor, along with everyone who was with him, and fulfilled the assignment entrusted to him: he asked Rebekah to be Isaac's wife and hastened to go with her to his master. It is not without reason that the Holy Scriptures show us how Abraham was concerned about choosing a wife for his son Isaac. Here is an example for Christian parents who cannot help but care about what decides the fate of their children! This is a matter of the greatest importance for them: they cannot be at peace until they see it safely brought to an end. And anyone who wants to buy a house does not take the seller’s word for it, but carefully examines it himself: and marriage is a great matter. - Entering into marriage! You are united with a woman for life - think carefully about what Ap. Paul (Eph. 5) wrote about the high importance of marriage and the responsibilities of spouses; consult with experienced and well-meaning people whose opinions are worthy of your respect. Wealth, beauty and talents can only be an adornment to a girl when her upbringing is carried out in the spirit of Christian piety. Only education based on the Orthodox faith and piety can prepare truly virtuous women, women capable of everything that home improvement requires, hardworking women, comfort to their husbands, true mothers of the family, and decoration of the hearth. Young man! If you, entering into an indissoluble union of marriage, want to find happiness, do not be carried away by a seductive appearance: in a woman, Christian principles, simplicity, hard work - these are the first conditions that can guarantee you future happiness. Isaac blesses Jacob Having reached old age, Isaac almost completely lost his sight. He called his eldest son Esau to him and said to him: “My son! You see that I am already old, and I do not know when my death will come; take your bow and quiver, go hunting and from your catch prepare for me my favorite dish: I want to bless you before my death.” Rebekah heard these words and, when Esau went into the field, she called her youngest son Jacob and said to him: “I heard that your father said to your brother Esau: bring me something from your catch and prepare me my favorite dish - I want to bless you before I die. So, my son, follow my advice: go, bring me two of the best kids from the herd: I will prepare your father’s favorite dish from them, you will serve it to him, and he will bless you.” Jacob answered her: “You know that my brother Esau’s body is covered with hair, but mine is not: I am afraid that my father, feeling my hands, will think that I want to deceive him, and will curse me.” Then his mother said to him: “My son! I take upon myself this curse that you fear; follow my advice - go and do what I told you.” He went and brought two kids and gave them to their mother. Rebekah prepared food from them, then dressed Jacob in Esau's best dress, wrapped his neck and arms in the skin of these kids, and gave him the prepared food to carry to Isaac. Having brought food to Isaac, Jacob said to him: “Father!” “Who are you, my son?” Isaac asked him. Jacob, thinking that he would not lie if he called himself Esau, because God gave him the right of his primacy, and because Esau himself sold it to him for a dish of lentil stew, answered him: “I am Esau, your firstborn; I did what you commanded me.” Isaac again asked him: “Is it you, my son Esau?” “I am,” answered Jacob. Then, having felt it and said: “The voice of Jacob, and the hands of Esau,” Isaac ordered Jacob to serve himself the prepared food; Having finished the meal, he called Jacob, kissed him and, hearing the aroma from his clothes, said, blessing him: “The aroma of my son is like the aroma of the field that the Lord blessed. May the Lord give you an abundance of wheat and wine, the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth. May nations submit to you and nations worship you; be lord of your brothers, and let your mother’s children bow down before you; May those who curse you be cursed, and may there be blessing on those who bless you.” To justify the act of Rebekah and Jacob, we must remember that Esau himself gave up his birthright to Jacob, and that God predicted to Rebekah that of the two twins she was carrying in her womb, the larger one would work for the smaller one. Saint Chrysostom talks about the blessing of Esau and Jacob: “Beloved! Observe here the ineffable wisdom of God. The Father, wanting to express natural love, gives an order to Esau, and the inventive Lord, through Rebekah, carries out His prophecy, teaching us how great the power of virtue and meekness of morals is. For he, who dreamed of having primacy both by birthright and by parental disposition towards him, suddenly lost everything, because he did not want to use diligence on his part to be worthy of it; and this one, since he had virtue in himself and was helped by God’s decree from above, contrary to the wishes of his father, delighted his blessing... Rebekah acted not only of her own will, but also served as an instrument for the fulfillment of God’s prophecy... Look how everything here was a matter of divine grace... Well, would you say, God helped such lies? - Beloved, not only examine what is being done, but delve into the purpose: this was done not to acquire any earthly gain, but out of a desire to gain the blessing of the father. Do not look at the fact that Jacob’s words were a lie, but keep in mind that God arranged everything this way in order to fulfill His prophecy. And in order for you to be convinced that God has made all this easier and made the difficult things easy to do, see how the righteous man could not penetrate the deception, but believes the words of Jacob and, having tasted the food, pays him for it with a blessing. And Esau did not return from fishing before everything had already been done, so that we would know from all this that what happened was according to the will of God.” On Genesis. Conversation.LIII Jacob receiving the blessing of primacy, and Esau losing it, according to the explanation of Ap. Paul (Rom. 9), depict the mystery of God's determination about the calling of the Gentiles and the rejection of the Jews. The words of the Savior also point to this mystery: “I tell you that many from the east and the west will come and sit with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; the sons of the kingdom will be driven out into utter darkness” (Matthew 8:11-12). Return of Jacob from Mesopotamia When the blessing sent by God on Jacob and on everything that belonged to him during his stay with Laban aroused envy in the latter and in his sons, the holy patriarch saw that prudence required him to leave Mesopotamia, just as he had once left the land of Canaan in order to avoid the wrath of Esau. But, fearing to act of his own free will, he hesitated for a long time to fulfill his intentions; Finally, the Lord appeared to him and said: “Return to the land of your fathers, to your homeland: I will be with you.” Then Jacob revealed his intention to his wives Rachel and Leah: they approved of him and agreed to follow him. So Jacob put his wives and children on camels and fled with them from the house of his father-in-law Laban, taking with him his flocks and everything he had acquired in Mesopotamia, and went to the land of Canaan to his father Isaac. Laban was busy shearing sheep at this time; Taking advantage of his absence, Rachel carried away his idols and took them with her. Jacob, deciding to leave his father-in-law's house as quickly as possible, did not notify him of his departure, fearing that he would hold him back. He had already crossed the Euphrates - then only, already on the third day, Laban found out about his flight and immediately went in pursuit of him with his sons and relatives and with all his slaves, chased him for seven days and finally caught up with him, intending to take revenge on him for his flight: but God appeared to him in a dream and forbade him to insult Jacob. Having seen Jacob, Laban said to him: “Why did you leave me secretly and take my daughters with you as captives? Why did you hide your departure from me? I would send you away with joy and songs, with the sound of tympanums and harp! You did not let me kiss my daughters and grandchildren for the last time; You acted recklessly, and I could now repay you with evil for evil, but the God of your father told me yesterday: “Do not offend Jacob with anything. But even if you left because you wanted to return to your father’s house, why did you steal my gods?” Jacob answered him: “I secretly left you because I was afraid that you would take your daughters from me; As for the theft of which you accuse me, then let, in the presence of our relatives, the one who is caught in it be punished with death: search and, if you find anything here that belongs to you, take it.” “He didn’t know that Rachel had idols.” – Laban began to look for his idols, but did not find them in the tents of either Jacob, Leah, or the two maidservants, and finally entered Rachel’s tent, but she hastened to put the idols under the camel’s saddle and sat on it: having examined the tent, Laban did not find them here either. Then Jacob angrily said to him: “What have I done to you? Why did you chase after me and now with your searches you have thrown all my property into disorder? What did you find here that belongs to you? Then did I spend twenty years with you? Here Jacob showed in strong terms Laban’s stinginess and his loyalty and zeal for him, which he had so many occasions to prove... But, finally, they made peace and parted, swearing to each other to live in friendship. Was it permissible for Rachel to steal her father's idols? - Some interpreters of Holy Scripture, in excuse of her act, present that the idols, which were probably gold or silver, were taken by her as a reward for the injustice of Laban, who did not give a dowry to either her or her sister Leah and did not sufficiently reward Jacob for his services. Some believe that Rachel wanted to take away the object of idolatry from her father through this. True, in this case Rachel acted, prompted by just jealousy; but an action in itself contrary to the law of God cannot be justified by a good goal: “It should not,” says Ap. Paul, “do evil, that good may come” (Rom. 3:8). Sometimes ingratitude and oblivion, or even more, injustice and oppression, are rewards for the most diligent, honest and useful labors: but should the worker therefore lose heart and become despondent? - No! The best weapons against injustice are patience and invincible courage. Returning from Mesopotamia, Jacob settled in the land of Canaan, where his father lived. He had 12 sons, and the youngest of them, Joseph, was his favorite; such a preference brought upon him the hatred of his brothers, which especially intensified on the next occasion. “Listen,” he told them one day, “what a dream I had: we were knitting sheaves in the field, and now my sheaf stood up and stood upright, and your sheaves surrounded it and bowed to it.” “Will you really reign over us, and we will be your subjects”? - the brothers answered him with annoyance. He also saw another dream, which he also told to his father and brothers. “I saw in a dream,” he said, “that the sun, the moon and eleven stars bowed to me.” Hearing this, his father reprimanded him, saying: “What kind of dream is this that you saw? Will your mother, your brothers and I really come to bow to the ground before you? The brothers were annoyed with Joseph, but the father retained what he had told him in his mind, reflecting on God’s intentions regarding this youth. One day Joseph's brothers went with their father's flocks to Shechem, and Jacob sent him to visit them. Seeing Joseph approaching them from afar, the brothers decided to take advantage of this opportunity to satisfy their anger, set out to kill him and said to each other: “Here comes this dreamer! Let’s go, kill him, throw him into some well, and then say that he was torn to pieces by a fierce beast: then we will see what will happen from his dreams.” Hearing this, Reuben said to his brothers: “Do not shed his blood, but throw him here in the desert - into this well.” He said this with the intention of delivering Joseph from their hands and returning him to his father. As soon as Joseph approached his brothers, they took off his beautiful multi-colored clothes, which his father had made for him in contrast to his brothers and which, together with other signs of the elderly father’s love for Joseph, was the cause of their envy, and threw him into a waterless well in order to starve him to death there. Soon they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites who were bringing various incense to Egypt, and Judah said to the brothers: “What good is it for us to kill our brother and hide his death? It’s better that we sell him to these Ishmaelites and not stain our hands with his blood, for he is our brother.” The brothers agreed to this and, when the Midian merchants passed by, they pulled Joseph out of the well and sold them to them for twenty shekels of silver. When the brothers left, Reuben, who was not with them at the time when they sold Joseph, came to the well with the intention of saving the boy; not finding him there, in despair he tore his clothes and, coming to the brothers, said to them: “The lad is gone: what should I do now?” “The brothers took Joseph’s dress and, having stained it with the blood of the killed kid, they sent it to their father and said to him: “Here we have found clothes: look, are these clothes your son’s?” Recognizing his son’s dress, Jacob said: “A fierce beast tore him to pieces,” tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned his son for a long time; in vain the children tried to console him - he told them: “I will not stop crying until I go to the grave and unite with my son.” Meanwhile, the Midianites took Joseph to Egypt and sold him to Pentephria, Pharaoh’s eunuch and chief of his bodyguard. The Lord was with Joseph, who was successful in his affairs and, living in his master’s house, enjoyed his full trust. But, having been slandered, he was imprisoned, where he soon had the opportunity to show his wisdom by explaining the dreams of the king’s baker and cupbearer, who were in prison with him. Thus, in the midst of malicious intent, in slavery and the deepest humiliation to which the envy of his brothers led Joseph, the Lord turned human malice to his exaltation and glorification. We should not think that there was anything accidental in these events, anything that depended only on human reasons: God forces the very enemies and the very obstacles to serve His plans in order to show us that no one can interfere with the fulfillment of His will. So, when you are persecuted, do not despair, do not complain, do not wait for the end of the temptation, and be sure that God can turn the persecution itself in your favor. All that He requires of us in this case is unwavering patience. Joseph explains Pharaoh's dreams Two years after Joseph explained the dreams of the butler and the baker, Pharaoh himself had two dreams. He saw that he was standing on the bank of the Nile, and seven beautiful and extremely fat cows came out of this river and grazed on the bank; then seven ugly and extremely skinny cows came out from there and also grazed on the shore: the skinny cows devoured the fat ones. Then Pharaoh woke up, fell asleep again and saw another dream: he saw that seven beautiful and full ears of corn came out of one stalk, and after them came seven others, very skinny and withered by the scorching wind: the last ones were eaten. Pharaoh was frightened and, having summoned all the dream interpreters and wise men of Egypt in the morning, he told them his dreams: but not one could explain them. Then the cupbearer remembered Joseph and reported about him to the king, telling him: “I sinned, I forgot about my benefactor: at the time when, together with the baker, having fallen under the king’s wrath, we were imprisoned, we both saw dreams in one night that foreshadowed our future fate; we told our dreams to a Jewish youth, a servant of your military commander, who was with us in prison - he explained them to us and the events completely confirmed his explanations; just as he said, I was returned to my position and the baker was hanged.” Immediately Joseph, by order of the king, was released from prison; he was shaved, dressed decently and presented to the king. Pharaoh told him: “I saw dreams and I cannot find a person who could explain them to me - they told me that you can interpret dreams.” Joseph answered: “It is not I, but God who gives the king a saving answer.” Pharaoh told him his dreams, and Joseph answered: “Both of the king’s dreams mean one thing: seven fat cows coming out of the Nile, and seven full ears of grain - these are seven years of fertility, which will be a consequence of the successful flooding of the Nile; seven skinny cows that later came out of the river, and seven skinny ears of corn burned by the scorching wind, mean seven years of famine. This will be fulfilled in this way: first there will be seven years of extraordinary harvest throughout Egypt, and then it will be followed by seven other years of such poor harvest that during their continuation even the memory of the previous fertility will disappear; famine will destroy the fruits of the entire land of Egypt and the lands neighboring it, and the former extraordinary fertility will be, as it were, absorbed by the extreme poverty that will follow it. And that another time you saw a dream, which means the same as the first, this shows that the word of God will definitely be fulfilled, immediately. Choose a wise man and place him over all Egypt, so that he will send officials to all regions and collect a fifth of the fruits of the earth into the public granaries during the seven coming harvest years; let all this wheat be placed at the disposal of the king and stored in the cities; this will be a supply for Egypt for seven years of famine.” Pharaoh and his advisers liked this advice, and he said to them: “Where will we find such a person who would be filled with the spirit of God?” “So he placed Joseph over all of Egypt and showered him with honors. Looking at this long series of misfortunes that weighed on Joseph for so many years, but did not shake his faith and trust in God, we learn that not only temporary well-being is not always the reward of virtue, and misfortunes are not always a punishment for sin, but also the most severe suffering and sorrow, which sometimes, according to the inscrutable destinies of God's Providence, the virtuous endure, are for them the path to glory. In the adventures of Joseph, we also see an instructive experience of how the eternal Wisdom of God is able to direct the most criminal and shameful actions of human passions in order to exalt the dignity of the Saints, just as a skilled painter uses the darkest colors in order to give more appearance and shine to the most important features in the paintings, God in significant dreams announces that Joseph will once be great: this brings upon Joseph hatred of brothers and severe suffering, and God puts suffering itself as the basis of his greatness. The Holy Fathers, who are surprised to see in Joseph one of the most amazing transformations of Jesus Christ, point out the relationship between the exaltation of the Savior of Egypt and the glory of the Savior of the world. Joseph, brought out of prison, rises and receives from the king himself unlimited power over all the peoples of Egypt: Jesus Christ, coming from the tomb as the conqueror of death, receives from His Father dominion over heaven and earth. Joseph, by inspiration from above, explains the mysteries of God and prepares a rich supply of wheat to save the people from destruction during famine: Jesus Christ reveals to the world the treasures of heavenly wisdom and establishes the Sacraments as grace-filled streams to spread throughout the universe the abundance of the merits of His suffering and death and the fire of Divine love. Joseph's meeting with his brothers Joseph, thirty years old, having received great power from Pharaoh and being named first king, turned all his concerns to making the people entrusted to him prosperous. The king gave him Asenath as his wife, and he had two sons by her. The seven years of fertility have arrived; By the command of Joseph, throughout all of Egypt, a fifth of the bread was annually left in the granaries as a reserve for the famine years, and when, as Joseph predicted, these last came, and there was famine everywhere, there was bread in all of Egypt. Famine also struck the land of Canaan, where Jacob lived. Hearing that wheat was being sold in Egypt, he ordered his sons to go to Egypt for bread, and left the youngest of them, Benjamin, with him, fearing that some misfortune would happen to him on the road. Joseph then ruled all of Egypt, and grain was sold to the people only with his permission. And so his brothers, having arrived in Egypt, appeared to him and bowed down with their faces to the ground: seeing the brothers, he immediately recognized them, but did not reveal himself to them and, perhaps, thinking that they had not treated young Benjamin as they had treated him, he treated them harshly, as if they were strangers, showing that he took them for spies. They tried to justify themselves, frankly explaining to him the purpose of their journey. “No,” said Joseph, “you are certainly spies, as I told you. I will test whether you are telling the truth.” “He put them in custody for three days, and then, calling them to him, said: “If you are peaceful people, then let one of you remain in custody, and let the others return to their country, take the purchased bread and then bring their younger brother to me, as proof that you are not deceiving me; then you will remain alive." They decided to do what they were ordered to do. So, Joseph held Simeon hostage and released the other brothers, ordering their bags to be filled with wheat and the money they had brought in payment for it to be placed there. They set off and soon saw that their money was with them. Returning to their father Jacob, they told what had happened to them. Jacob came into inconsolable grief when he learned that they had given their word to take Benjamin from his arms. He remembered the sadness that the loss of Joseph had once caused him, and resolutely said that he would not let the last, most beloved of his children, go with them. Meanwhile, when all the purchased wheat had come out, it had to go to Egypt again, and since the sons of Jacob did not dare to appear to the ruler of this country without their younger brother, then, finally, Jacob had to decide to let Benjamin go with them. So they set off, taking gifts for Joseph. Seeing them return with their younger brother, Joseph ordered his steward to bring them into his house and prepare a feast for them. They did not understand the reason for this favorable reception and, moreover, were afraid that they would be blamed for the money they had taken, which they found in their bags: in order to avoid the threatening danger, they announced to Joseph’s steward that they had brought that money too, but he reassured them and freed Simeon from prison. Joseph graciously accepted their gifts and asked if their father was well. Seeing Benjamin, who, like him, was the son of Rachel, he could not hold back his tears and withdrew from his brothers to cry in freedom; then he came to them again, sat down at the table and made them sit with him. When they were ready for the return journey, he again ordered their bags to be filled with wheat and their money to be placed in them, as the first time, and he also ordered his cup to be placed in Benjamin’s bag. As soon as they left, he sent for them in pursuit and ordered his manager to reproach them for stealing the cup: they all assured of their innocence and said that they agreed that whoever was caught stealing would remain imprisoned: they examined the bags and found the cup with Benjamin - this led them to great horror. God was pleased to allow the hatred of his brothers to serve as a means for the glorification of Joseph, in order to thereby show the unbelievers that people cannot prevent the fulfillment of His will, that there is no wisdom or strength in the world that could resist Him, and that He turns the very resistance of people to the fulfillment of His intentions, so that without any difficulty, against their will and through them, He can accomplish what He pleases. Man is gifted with freedom, and yet his duty is, with the help of God’s grace, to give glory to God, subordinating his will to His will, but when he does the opposite, God reveals the triumph of His Wisdom and Holiness, forcing evil itself to serve as a means to achieving good goals. Jacob's meeting with Joseph When Joseph announced to his brothers that Benjamin, who had his cup found in his sack, should remain his slave in Egypt, then Judah began to beg him to let Benjamin go, agreeing to remain his slave instead and to represent to him that he had promised his father that he would certainly bring back his younger brother unharmed, and that the elderly father would not survive the loss of his beloved son. Then Joseph could no longer resist and ordered everyone who was there to come out and leave him alone with his brothers, not wanting any of the strangers to witness how he would reveal himself to his brothers; then with tears he said to them: “I am Joseph. Is my father alive? “The brothers were embarrassed and could not answer out of fear. He ordered them to come to him and said with meekness: “I am Joseph your brother, sold by you into Egypt; Do not be afraid and do not be sad because you acted cruelly in selling me: for to save you from hunger, God sent me before you to Egypt. God brought me here and made me ruler of the entire house of Pharaoh and ruler of all Egypt. Hurry to my father and tell him: “This is what your son Joseph commanded us to tell you: God has made me lord over all Egypt: hasten to me; You will settle in the land of Goshen, and you will live near me with all your children and grandchildren, with all your herds and with all your property: I will feed you here, for there are still five years of famine left. Tell your father about all my glory and about everything that you saw in Egypt, and hasten to bring him to me! Then he hugged and kissed his half-brother Benjamin and the other brothers: Joseph and the brothers shed tears. Pharaoh, having learned about this, sent rich gifts to Joseph's brothers, both for themselves and to give to their father, and gave them chariots to transport Jacob with all his family and property to Egypt. So, Joseph's brothers returned to Egypt to the land of Canaan to Jacob their father, and told him that his son Joseph was alive and ruled over all the land of Egypt. - With this news, Jacob seemed to awaken from a deep sleep and did not believe what they were telling him; but when they still told him everything that had happened to them, and showed him the chariots and everything that had been sent. Pharaoh, then his heart came to life and he said: “My son Joseph is alive - now I have nothing more to desire: I will go and see him before I die.” Israel went to Egypt with all their possessions and, having come to the Well of the Oath, made a sacrifice to the God of their father Isaac: here God appeared to him in a night vision and said: “I am the God of your father: do not be afraid, go to Egypt, for I will make you the ancestor of a great people; I will go there with you, and someday I will bring your descendants out of there again.” Jacob moved to Egypt with his entire family, which included seventy-five souls. When he arrived there, Joseph went to meet him in Goshen and, seeing him, fell on his neck, shedding tears. Jacob said to Joseph, “Now I will die with joy, because I have seen your face.” Jacob was introduced by Joseph to Pharaoh and received from him the land of Goshen, the most fruitful in all of Egypt, for his habitation. According to the Holy Fathers, Joseph, in his suffering and in the glory that followed, prefigured Jesus Christ, who rose in glory after His suffering and death. In the meekness and love of Joseph’s behavior towards the brothers who so inhumanly betrayed him, we are presented with a touching image of the boundless mercy of Jesus Christ towards the Jews, many of whom first demanded His death from Pilate, and then were converted by the first sermon of the Apostle Peter and formed themselves into a young church, whose ardent piety in such edifying features is presented to us by the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. Joseph put his brothers to the test, brought them to repentance of their crime and forgave them their guilt. Likewise, God’s mercy calls sinners to repentance and salvation. Good for the one who, having sinned, is not ashamed to repent of his sin and make amends for it! May he flow with hope to the Lord, Who knows our weakness, and whose mercy overcomes the multitude and severity of human sins. Jacob blesses Joseph's children Jacob, sensing the approach of his death, called Joseph to him and took a promise from him with an oath that he would not bury him in Egypt, but would take his bones to the land of Canaan and lay them in the tomb of his fathers: Joseph swore to do his will. After some time, Joseph was told that his father was very sick, and he went to him with his sons Manasseh and Ephraim. When he entered, Jacob, gathering his last strength, sat down on his bed, then, seeing his sons, asked: “Who is this?” Joseph answered him: “These are the children whom God gave me here.” “Bring them to me,” Jacob said, “I will bless them.” His vision was weak from old age, and he could not see clearly. Manasseh and Ephraim bowed down to him to the ground, and Joseph placed Manasseh against his father's right hand, and Ephraim against his left, so that he would bless them; but the aged Jacob, stretching out his hands in a cross shape, placed his right hand on the head of Ephraim (the younger), and the left on the head of Manasseh (the elder) and, blessing the children of Joseph, said to them: “God, whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac pleased, the God who nourished me from my youth to this day, the Angel who delivers me from all evils, bless these youths; may they bear my name and that of my fathers, and may their descendants be multiplied on earth”! Joseph, seeing that his father had laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, thought that he was mistaken, and wanted to put it on the head of Manasseh, saying: “Not so, my father - here is my eldest son: lay your right hand on his head.” But Jacob answered him: “I know, my son, I know; and this one also will be the founder of the people, and his tribe will be multiplied; but his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will be the most numerous and the strongest of the nations.” Then he said to Joseph: “I am dying: God will be with you and will bring you back to the land of your fathers.” St. John Chrysostom, discussing the blessing of Jacob, says: “Imitate this righteous man, and try to leave such an inheritance to your children, which would not suffer damage from anything. Let us not worry about collecting money and leaving it as an inheritance to our children: for we will teach them virtue and ask them for blessings from God. - This is the most precious acquisition! Here is wealth beyond words, inexhaustible, and bringing new income every day! Nothing can compare with virtue, there is nothing more powerful than it! So, let us all direct our thoughts to this, and let us teach our children to prefer virtue to everything and to regard wealth as nothing (Conversation on the book of Genesis LXVI). Job was born in the country of Hus, between Idumea and Arabia, 1700 years before the birth of Christ. He was a righteous man, raised his children in piety and diligently served the true God. To test his faith, the Lord allowed him to lose all his property; even his children were crushed during the feast by the ruins of their house. All these misfortunes happened at the same time, and Job accepted the news of them with amazing patience. “The Lord gave: the Lord took away,” said the righteous man, “as the Lord willed, so quickly: blessed be the name of the Lord forever” (Job 1:21). Finally, by God's permission, the devil struck Job himself with a serious illness: his body was covered with scabs from his feet to his head; sitting outside the gates of the city, he cleaned with a shard the pus that flowed from his wounds. His wife herself not only did not console him, but also increased his suffering with her murmuring and reproaches; she mocked his faith and cursed his patience; but Job answered her: “You speak like a foolish woman: if good things are received from the hand of the Lord, will we not endure evil ones?” Even his friends, Eliphaz, Baldad and Zophar, who came to visit him, did not bring him any consolation: they expressed suspicion that he himself deserved his misfortunes by his sins. Finally, God had mercy on His faithful servant: He restored his health and rewarded him with property twice as large as before, and the Lord gave him more children than before: - he also had seven sons and three daughters. He lived after this for one hundred and forty years and had the consolation of seeing his descendants up to the fourth generation. It cannot be denied, says Blessed Augustine (De Civitata Dei.XVIII, p. 47.), that there were faithful among the pagan nations who could be counted among the true Jews, citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem; and whoever denies this will be refuted by the example of Job, this man so holy and amazing, who was not one of the Israelites, but came from the people who lived in Idumea, where he was born and died. The very word of God so exalts this righteous man that, speaking about his piety and righteousness, he states, “as if there was none like him from those who are on the earth” (Job 2:3). Moreover, although the chronicles of the Jewish people do not indicate to us the time when he lived; but from what is read in the book bearing his name, and accepted by the Jews as canonical, we can conclude that he lived in the third generation after Jacob. There is no doubt that Divine Providence arranged this in order to convince us by the example of this righteous man that even among the pagan nations there could be saints who lived according to the law of God, pleasing to God and belonging to the heavenly Jerusalem. But, at the same time, we must believe that only those who were foreshadowed by the one Intercessor of God and men - Jesus Christ - were worthy of this. God raised Job up to give an example of patience to all times, as the Holy Scripture says in the book of Tobit. The Lord raised him up among nations alien to the Holy Testament, as if to give the pagans a guarantee of their future joining the Church of Jesus Christ. In the person of Job we see how powerful unshakable virtue is both in the most brilliant happiness and in the most severe disasters. The righteous man, who passed the test with unshakable firmness in both happiness and misfortune, is an example for people of all conditions. In his happiness, Job teaches us not to rely on wealth, the possession of which is so wrong, not to despise the poor or the strange, to judge without partiality, to work tirelessly for the cause of our salvation. In adversity, Job gives us an example of humility and patience in enduring the most severe suffering. Having lost his property, deprived of his children, offended by the reproaches of those who most should take part in the sorrows, he does not show impatience in a single word. Struck by a terrible disease and having become a victim of all the evils that the evil of the devil can invent, and which can only befall a person, he retains the most perfect devotion to the will of his Creator; blesses His strong right hand, glorifies His greatness and reveres His destinies. If in his grief he expresses any complaints and some words expressing intense grief, then he immediately humbles himself before God and brings repentance. His friends want to prove to him that he is a sinner and a hypocrite: but his piety, his humility and knowledge of the ways of God, and the judgment of God himself serve as his defense against these reproaches. Turning to the ways of God's Providence, which appears in this world in the fate of the good and the evil, he proves that beyond this life there is eternal torment for the wicked and eternal reward for the righteous. He proves that God, due to His unlimited power over creation, can send it short-term suffering in this world for reasons incomprehensible to human wisdom. Finally, he proves by his example that the Almighty sometimes sends disasters to His servants both in order to test their virtue and increase their merit. Rescue of Moses from the waters of the Nile The descendants of Jacob, who settled in Egypt under Joseph, multiplied greatly in this country and lived happily. Meanwhile, fifty-four years after the death of Joseph, a new king reigned in Egypt, to whom the great merits of the son of Jacob were unknown. Fearing the multiplication of the Jews and fearing that they would someday join his enemies in case of war, he began to burden them with heavy taxes and oppress them with all measures: but the Lord miraculously preserved them, and the more cruelly they were oppressed, the more they multiplied; which further increased the hatred of the Egyptians towards them. Then the king gave an order to the Egyptian midwives to kill all Jewish male babies immediately at birth: however, they did not do this, and Pharaoh gave an even more cruel command to all his people - to throw all newborn Hebrew male babies into the river. At this time, Jochebed, the wife of Amram, from the tribe of Levi, gave birth to a son - a baby of extraordinary beauty; She hid it for three months, but then, seeing that she could not hide it for long, she wove a basket of reeds, tarred it and put the child in it in the reeds near the bank of the Nile, leaving her daughter to watch what would happen to the baby. Then Pharaoh's daughter and her maids came to the river to wash: noticing a basket in the reeds, she ordered one of her maids to take it and bring it, and, seeing a crying Jewish baby in it, took pity on him and wanted to raise him with her. Noticing this, the baby's sister approached her and offered to bring her a Jewish nurse: when the princess agreed to this, she brought the baby's mother, who was entrusted with feeding him. When the child grew up, Jochebed brought him to the princess, who adopted him and named him Moses, which means taken from the water. Moses was raised at court by Pharaoh, was taught all the wisdom of Egypt and was strong in words and deeds. What a lofty feeling is the tender love for children that God places in the hearts of mothers, especially when this natural feeling is enlivened and ennobled by living faith, as in the mother of Moses! How much courage, how much heroism there is in the heart of a Christian mother when her child’s life is in danger! How many worries, how many precautions to avert the danger that threatens his innocence! Child! Bless, thank the Lord, who gave you a kind, caring mother; try to match this tender love with perfect obedience and be the joy of your mother! It was not enough for the Lord God to save the life of Moses against the will of the cruel King; In order to demonstrate His power in greater brilliance, He arranged it so that Pharaoh himself saved the baby with the hands of his daughter, he himself served the destinies of God by raising this child, he himself prepared an avenger for the Israelites whom he oppressed, and an executor of God’s righteous judgment over Egypt. Thus the Lord often defeats his enemies with their own hands. Flight of Moses from Egypt to the land of Midian Moses, in the fortieth year of his life, left the court of Pharaoh to visit his brothers the Israelites in the oppression they were suffering. Once he saw an Egyptian who was beating a Jew: knowing that the Lord had chosen him to deliver his people from the hands of the Egyptians, he looked around and, not seeing anyone, stood up for the Jew and killed the Egyptian, and buried the body of the murdered man in the sand. The next day he saw two Jews quarreling and fighting among themselves, and said to the one who offended him: “Why are you beating your brother?” And this one answered him: “Who made you prince and judge over us? Or do you want to kill me too, like you killed the Egyptian yesterday? Moses was frightened and surprised, for he thought that no one had seen him kill the Egyptian. Meanwhile, Pharaoh learned about this and ordered to pursue Moses, and he, in order to save himself, withdrew from Egypt to Rocky Arabia, to the land of Midian. Arriving there, he sat down to rest at the well; at that very time, seven daughters of the priest of Midian, named Raguel or Jethro, came for water and wanted to water their flocks; but the shepherds drove them away from the well: Moses stood up for the girls and helped them water their flocks. When they returned to their father, he asked them: “Why did you return earlier than usual today?” “They answered him: “Some Egyptian protected us from the shepherds, drew water for us and watered our sheep.” “Where is he? - asked Ragiul, - why did you let him go? Come and invite him to eat bread with us.” Moses came to Raguel's house and stayed with him. Some time later, he married his daughter Zipporah and had two sons from her: one he named Gersham, and the other Eliezer. From the fact that Ap. Paul in the letter to the Hebrews speaks of Moses leaving the court of Pharaoh, the spirit that animated him is clearly visible, and how he prepared to fulfill God's decree about him. “By faith,” says the Apostle, “Moses became great, having denied himself the son of the daughter of Pharaoh; rather, he was pleased to suffer with the people of God, rather than to have the temporary sweetness of sin, and the greater wealth of the Egyptian treasures was imputed to the reproach of Christ: for he looked upon the reward” (Heb. 11:24-26). Moses, guided by the lamp faith, knows that this poor, despised people, burdened with misfortunes, are the people of God, and that luxurious court in which they were raised is a society of wicked people and enemies of God. He understands that the joys of the pagan court are fleeting, and eternal torment will follow; looking at suffering and humiliation, endured with meekness, as a sure guarantee of eternal bliss, he chooses them with all his heart and tramples under foot all the riches of Egypt. Perishing wealth is true wealth only to the extent that we, by renouncing it, achieve eternal treasure. It is not surprising that reproach and poverty seem terrible when considered in themselves, or by human judgment: but Moses discovered treasure in them, turning his eyes to heaven, and we should judge and value them, looking at Jesus Christ in poverty and humiliation. St. Apostle Paul, calling the humiliating position in which Moses voluntarily puts himself as a reproach of Christ, shows us, firstly, that this herald of the Old Testament was only a transformation of Jesus Christ, the creator of the New Testament; what Moses does, leaving the splendor of his court to go to free his brothers, or to suffer with them, may be considered as a type of what the Son of God subsequently did, leaving the glory of His Father to save us and suffer for us. Secondly, St. Apostle Paul makes it clear to us that the Holy Patriarchs and Prophets of the Old Testament were, by God's revelation, aware of the mystery of the incarnation of the Son of God. How now God gives justification only to those who believe in His Son who came to earth and trust in Him; so even then, grace-filled justification was the property of only those who, with the same faith and the same hope, looked to His coming Son. God demands from us that we participate in the suffering and humiliation of Jesus Christ - He has always demanded this from the righteous of all times. True piety has always been and will be inseparable from faith in the Redeemer, the enemy of human passions and the all-powerful Healer of those suffering from the disease of sin, the Intercessor who is compassionate towards the needs of fallen humanity and almighty in satisfying them. Moses avenges the insult inflicted on the Jew by the Egyptian, who kills the offender. If Moses had killed this man out of his own motive, it would have been impossible to excuse him. But the words of St. Archdeacon Stephen to the Jews leave us no doubt, as Blaj notes. Augustine (Contra Faust lib. XXII.), that he acted in this case by inspiration from above. “Let your brethren know,” says the First Martyr, “that God will give them salvation by his hand” (Acts 7:25). So Moses knew that he was destined to deliver Israel. God put a sword in his hand against the people who oppressed His people: by killing the Egyptian who beat the Jew, Moses wanted to set an example of the punishment that should befall Egypt. This was supposed to serve as an omen for the Jews of his future high service and their deliverance: but this people, whose character has always been unbelief, did not want to recognize the messenger of Moses, just as his descendants later rejected the Son of God. The children of Israel, on the fifteenth day after leaving Egypt, came to the desert of Sin; not finding food for themselves there, they began to grumble against Moses and Aaron and regretted leaving Egypt. Then the Lord said to Moses: “I will rain bread from heaven for you: let everyone gather it as much as he needs for one day, no more; on the sixth day, let them collect it twice as much as the other days, in order to leave it in reserve for the seventh day - Saturday.” Moses and Aaron said to the Israelites: “Tonight you will receive proof that the Lord Almighty brought us out of Egypt, and we are only doers of His will; Tomorrow morning you will see the glory of the Lord, for he has heard your murmuring against him. Why are you complaining about us? Your murmuring does not apply to us, but to God! Today you will receive meat for your food, and tomorrow you will have bread in abundance.” While Aaron was still speaking to the people, the glory of God appeared in the cloud. In the evening, a great variety of dyes covered the entire camp, and in the morning the entire surface of the earth around it was covered with some white substance like snow. When the Israelites saw this, they said to each other: “Mann gu”? What did it mean in their language: “What is this”? for they knew not what it was. Moses said to them, “This is the bread that the Lord is giving you; He commanded that each of you collect as much as he needs for food for one day.” The Israelites did this and gathered some more, and others less: but neither those who collected more had any excess, nor those who collected less had any shortage: those who had more than they needed gave the excess to those who had a deficiency. Moses forbade leaving the manna for the next day, but some did not listen - and the manna, which they wanted to save until the next morning, turned out to be completely spoiled and filled with worms: Moses was angry with them for their disobedience and disbelief in the Lord, who gave them this food and promised to send it daily. After this, each person collected in the morning no more than what he needed for the day's food; what remained behind this on the earth melted from the rays of the sun. On the sixth day they collected twice as much manna as usual, so that they would not have to collect it on the Sabbath day, dedicated to the Lord, and the manna would not spoil. Some disobedient people went out to gather it on the seventh day, but did not find it. The manna looked as white as snow, and tasted like the purest flour mixed with honey. The care of God's Providence for man is marvelous: “The eyes of all trust in You, O Lord,” says the royal Prophet, “and You give them food in due season: You open Your hand, and do every good pleasure of animals” (Ps. 144:15-16). Divine Providence is constantly at work. It grows fruits in the fields, it clothes the sheep with a wave: and yet how often those who benefit from these benefits are ungrateful and do not think about that hand that every day brings the sun to the horizon in order to shower them with benefits again! The wonderful manna, with which the Lord was pleased to feed His people in the wilderness, is an amazing image of the varied spiritual food that the Lord Jesus Christ gives in abundance to the believing soul for its sanctification. Jesus Christ commanded us to seek and ask for this food from God, saying: “Do not do what is worthless that perishes, but do what is worthless for the eternal life that the Son of Man will give you” (John 6:27). Manna is also a symbol of the word of God, which, according to Bl. Augustine, it should be for our souls in terms of God’s providence for us what manna in the desert was for the body. He who walks along the paths of God listens to Him with eagerness and thirst and feels within himself His hidden power, which supports and comforts him, according to his various spiritual needs and his condition. Finally, manna, according to the Savior’s explanation, is an image of the Holy Eucharist, this meal of excellence, which is for us the source of grace and the guarantee of immortality: this is desert food - it is tasted by the soul that has withdrawn from the world with its feelings and here places its greatest bliss in sighing for the promised land - for heaven, our true and eternal fatherland (John 6, 47–50 ). Moses draws water from a stone In the first month of the fourth year, after the exodus from Egypt, the Israelites came to the desert of Sin and stopped at Cadiz. There was a shortage of water, and the people were indignant, gathered in displeasure to Moses and Aaron and said to them: “It would be better for us to perish from the wrath of the Lord along with our brothers (those slain in Paran) (Num. 11). Did you bring the people of God into this desert so that we, along with our flocks, would die of thirst? Why did you take us out of Egypt and bring us to this wretched place where we cannot sow, where there are no fig trees, no grapevines, no apple trees, and where there is not even water to drink?” Moses and Aaron, having dismissed the people, entered the Tabernacle of the Testimony and, falling on their faces, cried out to the Lord: “Lord God, hear the cry of this people and open to them your treasure; Bring out a stream of living water so that he can quench his thirst and stop grumbling.” Then the glory of God appeared to them, and the Lord said to Moses: “Take your staff, go with your brother Aaron, gather the people and command the stone that is in front of him, and it will bring out water for you: let the people and all their flocks drink it.” So, Moses, at the command of God, took Aaron’s rod, which was kept in the tabernacle, gathered the people in front of the stone and said to him: “Listen, rebellious people of little faith, can we bring you water from this stone, after you have become so unworthy of such a miracle”? Then Moses raised his hand and struck the stone twice with his rod (instead of, as the Lord commanded, just saying the word to him) - and water flowed out of it in such abundance that it was enough to quench the thirst of the people and all their flocks. The Lord was angry with Moses and Aaron and said to them: “Because you did not believe in Me and did not glorify Me before the children of Israel, because you did not consider one word sufficient to bring water out of the stone, for this you will not bring this people into the land that I will give them.” The place where the children of Israel murmured against the Lord, and where the Lord miraculously brought water out of the stone showed them His glory, and declared His wrath and punishment to Moses and Aaron, is called the water of wrath. Here is an excellent example for us of caution in our judgments! Judge not, Jesus Christ tells us, lest you be judged: this is the truth worthy of careful reflection! One seems guilty to us and yet, in fact, is completely innocent, or at least his sin is very excusable; the other seems blameless to us, but he is not so in the eyes of Him, before Whom alone the most intimate secrets of conscience are revealed. Reading the story of the miraculous bringing out of water from a stone by the blow of Moses’ rod, we do not notice anything in this case that Moses and Aaron could have done to anger God: but we cannot help but believe that there was some kind of guilt on their part in this case, when God Himself reproached the leaders of His people for their lack of faith and severely punished them for it. The example of Moses, who fell into sin, is very instructive for us; This incident presents us with a new experience of human weakness and an urge to vigilantly watch over ourselves, not relying on our wisdom and virtue, and pray to the Lord to save us from falling. A similar instructive example of human weakness is the life of David, one of the most famous ancestors of the Messiah, Peter, the supreme Apostle, who even expressed his readiness to sacrifice his life. “In the same way,” - on the advice of Ap. Paul, “Be sure to stand, so that you will be careful, so that you will not fall” (1 Cor. 10:12). The stone from which so much water flowed represented Jesus Christ, as Ap explains. Paul (1 Cop. 10, 4). The abundance of water flowing from the stone depicts the grace poured out from the Messiah Christ, as indicated by the words of the Prophet Isaiah: “draw water with joy from the fountain of salvation” (Is. 12:3); the rod with which Moses strikes the stone represents the Cross of the Lord; the behavior of the Jews contemporary with Moses, who “wrathed God on the waters of discord... and made His spirit bitter” (Ps. 105:32–33), depicts the unbelief and stubbornness that the Jews of subsequent times contrasted with the preaching of Jesus Christ and the apostles; God's judgment over the Jews, who angered God with their unbelief and murmuring and for this were not worthy to enter the Promised Land, is an image of God's judgment over those who, by unbelief in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, block their own path to the true promised land - to heaven, eternal salvation and bliss. Pointing to this, says Ap. Paul: “Beware, brethren, lest any of you have a deceitful heart, full of unbelief, so as to depart from God. Let us be afraid, lest when I leave the promise to bring Him into His rest, someone who has been deprived of you will appear. For we have the gospel preached to us, even as we have not heard it: but the word of hearing did not come to them, not dissolved in the faith of those who heard it. For we enter into rest having believed” (Heb. 3:12, 4:1–3). On the fortieth day after leaving Egypt, the Israelites came to the Sinai desert. Moses ascended the mountain, and God called to him from its height, saying: “Say to the children of Israel: you have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I carried you, just as an eagle carries its chicks on its wings, and brought you to Me; Therefore, if you obey My voice and are faithful to My law, you will be My people pre-eminently, chosen from all nations; For the whole earth is Mine, and you will be a royal priesthood and a holy nation.” Moses returned to the people and, having gathered the elders, told them what the Lord had commanded him: all the people answered unanimously: “We will do everything that the Lord has commanded.” Moses presented the people's response to the Lord. God commanded Moses to prepare the people for two days to accept the law, which he was pleased to give them on Mount Sinai. On the third day thunder was heard and lightning flashed; a thick cloud covered the mountain, a trumpet sound was heard, and the people were in awe. The Lord descended on Mount Sinai, called Moses to the top of the smoking mountain and commanded him to tell the people to listen to His words with reverence. Moses announced the will of God to the people and returned to the mountain. The Lord spoke the law consisting of ten commandments: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from the house of work. May you not be blessed except Me.” “Thou shalt not make for thee an idol or any likeness, even the tree in heaven, and the tree below on earth, and the tree in the waters under the earth: thou shalt not bow down to them, nor serve them: for I am the Lord thy God, a jealous God: the father passed on the sins of his children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me, and show mercy in thousands to them that love Me and keep the commandments Mine." “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; For the Lord will not cleanse him who takes His name in vain.” “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy: work six days and do (in them) all your works; And on the seventh day, the Sabbath of the Lord Thy God; Thou shalt not do any work against him, thou, thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and thy ox, and thy donkey, and all thy cattle, and the stranger that sojourneth with thee. In six days the Lord created heaven and earth, the sea and everything in them, and rested on the seventh day: for this sake God bless the seventh day and sanctify it.” “Honor your father and your mother, may it be good for you, and may you live long in the blessings that the Lord your God will give you.” “Do not listen to your friend’s false testimony.” “Thou shalt not covet thy true wife, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, nor his village, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor any of his livestock, nor any of his neighbor’s trees” (Ex. 20:2-17). Then Moses received instructions from God about the construction of the Tabernacle of the Testimony with its accessories and two tablets of stone on which the law was written by the finger of God. Jesus Christ said in the Gospel that He came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it. Both natural and written law are equally unchangeable; Jesus Christ improved them, giving them greater scope and new strength than before: thus the Divine Teacher, forbidding anger and turning unclean glances on a woman, prevents murder and adultery incomparably better than the commandment itself prohibiting them. If the natural law did not help, says St. John Chrysostom (on Epistle to Romans, discourse VII), the written law did no more, but on the contrary, both of them served as a burden for people who did not use them as they should, and discovered that they deserve greater punishment: then there is no other means of salvation except grace. Natural law, powerless to give a good direction to morality, could not save the pagan sages from the absurdities of idolatry and from all the vices of debauchery; written could not justify itself, did not prevent the Jews from indulging in the same errors as the pagans, as the Prophets whom God sent to them constantly reproached them for, and therefore, in some way, only served to make them even more guilty: He proclaimed the commandment, but did not prevent its violation; He revealed sin, but did not provide the means to avoid it: it was a sacred law, but damaged by unfaithful guardians. So, it was necessary for new grace to replace the natural law and complement the written law, correcting the first and perfecting the second: all the peoples of the world expected this from the paternal goodness of God, who created them all and in whose sight there is neither Jew, nor Scythian, nor barbarian. This Divine grace was given to us by the Mediator of the New Testament - we call it the law of grace: by it we are justified without the works of the law. The law has not been destroyed: faith in Jesus Christ not only does not ruin it, but also gives it firmness. While Moses was on Mount Sinai to receive from God the law that He was pleased to give to his people, the Jews, seeing that their leader was not returning from the mountain for a long time, approached Aaron and said: “Make us gods who would go before us; We don’t know what happened to Moses who brought us out of Egypt.” Aaron ordered them to collect and bring to them the gold earrings of their wives and daughters and, having melted them, poured them into a calf like an Egyptian idol. Then the Jews exclaimed: “Behold, O Israel, your gods who brought you out of Egypt!” Aaron built an altar in front of the calf and, the next day, gathering all the people, offered a sacrifice to the calf; After the sacrifice, the people sat around the altar to eat and drink, and the meal offered to idols was followed by fun and games. Then the Lord said to Moses: “Get down from the mountain: the people you brought out of Egypt have fallen into sin. He soon departed from the path that you showed him, poured himself a calf, worshiped him, made sacrifices to him and said: Behold, Israel, the gods who brought you out of Egypt. I see that the Israelites have abandoned Me; I will pour out My wrath on them, I will destroy them, and I will make you the founder of a great nation.” Moses begged the Lord for mercy on the Jews and cried out to him: “Lord, why is Your anger kindled against this people, which You brought out of Egypt with strong strength and a high arm? Let the Egyptians not think, let them not say: He brought them out of Egypt with cunning intent in order to destroy them in the mountains and destroy them from the face of the earth. Satisfy Your anger, be merciful and forgive the sin of Your people! Remember Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, your servants, to whom you swore by yourself, saying: “I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and I will give all this land to your descendants for an everlasting possession.” The Lord relented and did not do what He threatened His people with. Moses came down from the mountain, holding in his hands two stone Tablets of the Covenant, on which the law given by God to the Israelites was written by the hand of God; these tablets were the work of God, as was the law written on them. When Moses approached the camp, Joshua, hearing the noise and screams of the people, told Moses that cries of war could be heard in the camp. But Moses answered him: “These are not the cries of the conquerors, nor the cries of those who have turned to flight; I hear the sound of those drinking wine.” Approaching the camp, they saw a calf and dancing in his honor: in great anger, he threw and broke the tablets at the foot of the mountain, turned the calf into powder and, pouring it into the water, forced the people to drink it; then he reproached Aaron for his unworthy obsequiousness to the people, stopped at the gates of the camp and, wanting to severely punish the guilty, cried out: “Gather to me, true worshipers of the Lord!” The descendants of Levina, who did not take part in the wickedness of others, gathered around him, and he gave them the command to arm themselves with the sword and kill the guilty: about three thousand men fell from their sword that day. After the Jewish people proved unfaithful before God, we should not be surprised that they showed themselves several times disobedient and ungrateful before Moses. The same thing happens to a whole people as to one person: deviating towards the path of misfortune, he plunges into the depths of evil to the destruction of himself and others. Whoever moves away from God is abandoned by God and betrayed “into an unskilled mind to do inappropriate things” (Rom. 1:28). That Aaron, the brother of Moses, destined to be the high priest of the people of God, could go so far as not only by his silence and consent to allow such terrible wickedness, but even to make an idol himself, this should serve for us as proof of the weakness of human nature and an exposure of the arrogance of those who rely on their wisdom, prudence, and strength. After such an example of human weakness, who can rely on his own strength? The Lord threatens to destroy the people who have become unfaithful to Him, but forgives them their sin, being appeased by the prayer of Moses. Let us learn from this how powerful the prayer of the righteous is before God and how powerful the intercession of the Saints is to avert the terrible blows of God’s wrath! How much love and mercy for people! What high self-sacrifice in Moses! He, like a father to whom nothing is sweet without his children, renounces the glory of being the ancestor of numerous offspring and prefers the salvation of his people to his personal glory. The time appointed by the Lord for the entry of the children of Israel into the promised land was approaching; they were already on the border of the land of Canaan and were preparing to enter it. To shorten the path, they had to pass through the land of the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, and therefore Moses sent to the king of Edom to ask permission to pass through his land, promising, as the Lord commanded, not to stop in it, not to make any disorder and to pay for everything that would be taken: but the king, fearing to allow such a large number of armed people into his land, rejected the request of the Israelites and marched against them with a large and strong army. So, the Israelites had to bypass the kingdom of Edom: they should not have taken by force what they could not obtain by asking, for the Lord forbade them to fight with the Edomites, their brothers (Deut. 2:4). Meanwhile, the king of Arad, hearing about the approach of the Israelites, also came out against them with an army, attacked them and at first gained the upper hand, but was soon defeated by them: they destroyed his cities and took rich booty. The incessant campaigns and battles, the length and difficulty of the journey began to lead the people into despondency: they grumbled at Moses and said to him: “Why did you bring us out of Egypt to perish in the desert? We have neither bread nor water, and we are tired of this meager food (manna)!” Hearing the grumbling of the Israelites, the Lord sent snakes against them, whose stings were deadly. When many died from them, the people repented and, coming to Moses, said to him: “We have sinned by murmuring against God and against you: pray to Him that He will deliver us from the snakes.” Moses prayed to the Lord and the Lord said to him: “Make a serpent out of copper and hang it on a banner before the people: whoever of those bitten by snakes looks at it will receive healing.” Moses fulfilled the command of the Lord - he placed a copper image of a serpent in front of the people, and those bitten by snakes were immediately healed when they looked at the image. The murmuring of the Israelites and their complaints about the difficulty of the long journey can be looked upon as one of the most dangerous temptations that can befall a Christian. Whoever does not try to arouse in himself faith and hope in God is often in danger of falling under the weight of sorrows and difficulties on the narrow path of life, especially when God’s Providence is pleased to continue the test. In these moments of sorrow, a person must remember the goodness of God, who “will not offend us, but punishes those who approach Him as a lesson” (Judith. 8:27), and humble himself in the consciousness of his sins, which would deserve incomparably greater punishment if the Lord listened only to his justice; he must resort to God with love and devotion, repeating the words of the Psalmist: “It is good for me, for you have humbled me... It is good for me to cleave to God, to place my trust in the Lord” (Ps. 119:71, 73:28). Just as Moses was the only mediator through whom God spoke to the Jewish people, denounced them or had mercy on them: so the Orthodox Catholic Apostolic Church is the only one established by the Lord Jesus Christ, the interpreter of eternal truths, the treasury of His mercy and the proclaimer of His righteousness. The sacred Old Testament Writer also discusses the healing power of the copper serpent and its meaning: “When I found the wrath of the beasts cruel, and was destroyed by the remorse of the fierce serpents, but Thy wrath did not abide completely: but in punishment they were troubled for a little while, a sign of salvation to the remembrance of the commandment of Thy law: for he who turned not to things I aim at the visible sight, but at You, the Savior of all. And in this you showed our enemies that You are the One who delivers from all evil” (Wis. 16:5–8). Medicine was the only one, but powerful, for it was Divine; it helped everyone - poor, rich, slaves, masters, strangers, and there was no preference for anyone: the wounds of everyone were equally incurable by any other means. In the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament, the meaning of the brass serpent is revealed even more clearly. The snakes, whose bite was accompanied by a feeling of unbearable heat in the body, depicted demons and the ancient serpent, their prince (Apoc. 12:9): they mortally sting us and ignite a scorching thirst in our hearts, which cannot be quenched by anything and ends in death. Their poison, penetrating our entire being, turns us ourselves into snakes, for what Jesus Christ and His Forerunner said about the Jews applies to all sinners: “serpents are a generation of vipers” (Matthew 3:7, 23:33). Jesus Christ, sinless/to heal us and deliver us from death, appeared “in the likeness of the flesh of sin” (Rom. 8:3). Just as the serpent hanging on the cross healed those who approached him and looked at him, so Jesus Christ, crucified on the cross, saves those who approach him with a contrite heart and look at him with faith and hope: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so it is fitting for the Son of man to be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish, but he will live.” eternal” (John 3:14–16). Jesus Christ on the cross is the only, highest medicine, necessary for everyone and healing everyone: whoever, feeling the burden of his spiritual illness, looks at Him with living faith, who only expects from him and with full confidence dares to ask for healing, no matter how old and numerous his illnesses may be, he will not perish, but will live. When the Israelites, on their way to the promised land, were already at its borders in Cadiz-Barnea, God commanded Moses to select one person from the twelve tribes and send them to inspect the land of Canaan and to collect information about the abundance of fruits it produced, about the number and strength of its inhabitants and about the cities and fortified places that were in it. These spies, with their stories about the extraordinary power of the peoples who lived in the land of Canaan, led the Israelites into despondency and confusion; The Israelites rebelled against Moses and Aaron, and wanted to return to Egypt, choosing another leader instead of Moses. In vain did Joshua and Caleb, who were among the spies, try to calm the people with assurances of the undoubted help and protection of Almighty God - they wanted to stone them. Angered by this, the Lord declared that none of those who came out of Egypt would enter the Promised Land, except Joshua and Caleb. When, after the death of Moses, the Israelites, as commanded by the Lord, divided the land of Canaan among themselves, Caleb said to Joshua: “You know what the Lord said about me and about you to Moses, when Moses sent us from Cadiz-Barnea to inspect the promised land, and when I gave him the most fair report, while my brothers who were with me, with their unfounded story, led the people into indignation. “Then Moses said to me with an oath: “The land on which you stood will forever be the inheritance of you and your children, for you have served the Lord my God. The Lord has preserved my life to this day; Forty-five years have passed since that time, and I am now eighty-five; but I am still as strong now as when I was sent to inspect the country. So, give me this mountain, which the Lord promised me, as you heard yourself: all the giants live on it in strong cities, and I want to test whether the Lord will be with me, and whether I can destroy them.” Joshua blessed Caleb and gave him Hebron as his possession. The God of truth loves a right heart, one that turns away from lies and double-mindedness and is ready to endure any misfortune rather than betray the frank and noble character of a true servant of God, and especially when it comes to religion and the glory of God. See how Caleb is rewarded for his faithfulness, and remember that courageous struggle in defense of truth and justice sooner or later bears good fruit. He who serves God with a pure heart will not lose his reward. Caleb's actions in relation to obtaining the land that was promised to him and his descendants are worthy of imitation: he does not use any twists or tricks, but directly, with a fair consciousness of his dignity, declares his right to what belongs to him. In Joshua we see a man of God: he hastens to give due credit to true merit. The Lord gave the fortified city of Jerechon, the king of Jerechon and everything that was in the city into the hands of the Israelites; the walls of the city, after seven days of walking around them with the Icon of the Covenant, were supposed to fall by themselves, with the exclamation of the people and the sound of a trumpet. Then Joshua said to the people, “The Lord has given you Jericho. Let this city be cursed, let only Rahab alone be spared with everything in her house, because she hid in her house the spies we sent. Be careful not to take anything from what you find in the city, lest you bring the wrath of God upon the entire army of Israel: all the gold and silver, all the vessels of copper and iron that are found, shall be dedicated to the Lord and shall be placed in the treasury of the Tabernacle.” There was a cry of the people and a trumpet sound - and the walls fell: the Israelites invaded the city, took it and killed everyone who was in it - husbands, wives, children, elders; There was no mercy for animals either. Only the house was spared, according to the command of Joshua, the house of Rahab with everything that was in it. Then Jesus pronounced a curse on the city: “Cursed before the Lord is the man who dares to rebuild the city of Jerechon; let his firstborn die at the time when he lays the foundation for it, and let the last of his children perish when he builds its gates.” Some of the Israelites transgressed the prohibition and concealed part of what they were forbidden to take under an oath: among these was Achar from the tribe of Judah. This brought the wrath of the Lord upon the Israelites, which was soon revealed when they attacked the city of Ai: as this city seemed insignificant, the spies reported to Joshua that the entire Jewish people did not need to go against it, but three thousand people were enough to take it; Joshua carried out this advice - but the army, instead of the usual victory, was defeated and fled. Jesus tore his clothes and stayed with all the elders of Israel until evening, falling on his face before the Lord and throwing ashes on his heads; he cried out to the Lord: “Lord! Is this why You brought Your people across the Jordan in order to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites and destroy us? Why didn’t we stay beyond the Jordan to settle there? “Now the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of this land, having heard about our defeat and flight, will unite among themselves, surround us and destroy our name on earth, and what will then happen to the glory of Your name?” The Lord answered Jesus: “Get up! The Israelites sinned and transgressed My Covenant: they concealed and hid among their property part of the treasures of Jericho, which were forbidden to be taken with an oath. For this reason Israel will not stand against its enemies and will flee from them; I will no longer be with you until you destroy oaths from among you.” Jesus gathered the people, at the command of God, and announced that those guilty of the crime should be burned. To find him, they first cast lots across the knees; and he fell on the tribe of Judah, then they cast lots for the hosts and houses of this tribe, and he fell on the host of Zara and on the house of Zamri, and pointed in it to Achar. Then Jesus said to Ahar, “My son, give glory to the Lord and confess what you have done.” Achar answered him: “Truly, I have sinned before the Lord God of Israel! This is my offense: when I saw among the spoils a beautiful purple robe, two hundred shekels of silver and a golden vessel of fifty shekels, I wanted to have them, took them and buried them in the ground under my tent.” Jesus sent to find the silver, the vessel and the clothing - and everything was found in the place that Achar indicated: all this was brought before Jesus and before the Israelites. Achar and his entire family were stoned and burned with all their property, and a pile of stones was thrown over the bodies of him, his daughters and sons. In the fall of Jericho one can see an image of the action of God's grace in the soul of a sinner. Through the word of truth, the strongholds of the kingdom of sin are destroyed, just as the impregnable walls of a city fell at the sound of trumpets. But woe to the sinner if, after the kingdom of sin in his heart has been destroyed, he again, through his negligence, falls under the power of his cruel enemy! The Gospel says that an evil spirit, expelled from a person, taking advantage of his negligence, returns and “takes with him seven other spirits that are most cruel to himself, and they enter and live, and the last will be worse than the first to that man” (Matthew 12:45). “If someone hides himself in the hidden, and I will not see him? Says the Lord... My eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hidden from My presence, and the essence of their iniquity is not hidden from My sight” (Jer. 23:24, 16:17). Nothing can be hidden from the omniscience of God! Lawlessness committed in secret is exposed by God and punished openly: a striking example of this appears at Achar. “God is loving,” and, as He often says in the Holy Scriptures, He does not want the sinner to die, but “to turn and live in his being.” But at the same time, we must not forget that God is also infinite justice. When sending punishment to a sinner, He always wants evil to serve good, if not directly, then at least indirectly, as an example: He wants the punishment He sends for sin to inspire holy horror in those who are insensitive and ungrateful to His goodness. For disobedience and ingratitude to God, into which the Israelites fell many times after Joshua, the Lord was angry with them and delivered them into the hands of the Philistines and Ammonites, who cruelly oppressed them for several years. Enlightened by this disaster, they came to repentance, turned to the Lord, overthrew the pagan idols in their land and began to worship the Lord God again, and He had mercy on them. To free them from enslavement, God chose Jephthah, a native of Gilead. Having been expelled from his father's house by his brothers, he became the leader of a crowd of idle people who were engaged in robbery. When the Ammonites took up arms against the Israelites, the elders of Gilead came to Jephthah and begged him to come to their aid, offering him leadership over them: Jephthah, reproaching them for the way they had previously treated him, and making them promise to make him the leader of the people in case of victory over the Ammonites, he went with them, and all the people chose him as their leader. Jephthah twice sent ambassadors to the king of Ammon to present to him the injustice of his actions and to persuade him to leave the people of Israel alone: ​​but the king did not come to his senses. The Spirit of God filled Jephthah: he set out with an army against the Ammonites and, setting out on a campaign, made a vow to the Lord, in case of victory, to dedicate to him, or bring as a burnt offering, the first thing that would come out of his house to meet him upon his return. The Lord delivered the enemies into his hands: he took and destroyed many of their cities and devastated their country; The Ammonites had to submit to the Israelites. When he returned from the campaign and was approaching his home, his only begotten daughter came out to meet him. Seeing her, Jephthah tore his clothes: his heart was in a difficult struggle between the consciousness of the obligation to fulfill the vow given to God, and parental love for his daughter. But his daughter said to him: “My parent! If you have made a vow to the Lord, fulfill it; I ask you only one thing: let me go to the mountains for two months to mourn my virginity.” Jephthah granted his daughter's wish; after two months, she returned to him and, according to his vow, devoted herself to serving the Lord, remaining a virgin throughout her life. The Lord in His anger often punishes nations, families, and individuals separately. Misfortunes and blows from the hand of God, whatever they may be, can and indeed are means of salvation, which Providence sends to people in order to force them to come to their senses, humble themselves and through repentance earn forgiveness and mercy. How many souls, by their conversion, have been subjected to misfortunes, with which God, in His goodness, punished their sins! This is proven by the experience of the Israelites: “When I have killed,” the Psalmist says about them, “then I sought Him, and turned, and gave the morning service to God: and they were remembered, for God is their helper, and God on high is their deliverer” (Ps. 77:34, 35). O ineffable miracle of Your infinite wisdom, Lord! You punish those you love! What the world calls misfortune, with our repentance, with our submission to Your holy will, becomes a true source of peace, consolation and bliss. Jephthah's vow seems to some to be rash and its fulfillment cruel and contrary to the law of God. But to prevent any unfavorable judgment about Jephthah and his vow, it should be noted: firstly, that the Apostle Paul testifies to the faith of Jephthah and ranks him among the righteous of the Old Testament, zealots of piety and righteousness (Heb. 11:32-33); secondly, the book of Judges presents him as a man filled with the Spirit of God: “and the Spirit of God came upon Jephthah” (Judges 11:29); thirdly, from the same book of Judges we can conclude that Jephthah did not bring his daughter as a burnt offering, which was contrary to the Law of God, but only dedicated him to serving God, so that she would remain a virgin all her life - “and make your vow on her, as promised to them; and this has not known a man” (Judges 11:39). Sampson, the twelfth of the judges of Israel, was distinguished by extraordinary strength. Once he came to the Philistine city of Gaza: having learned about this, the Philistines placed a secret guard at the city gates in order to seize and kill him when he left the city. But Sampson rose at midnight and went out of the city; Having reached the city gates and finding them locked, he took them off with ropes and locks, put them on his shoulders, and, going to one of the nearby mountains, left them there, in mockery of the tricks of the Philistines. He was blinded by passion for a certain woman, Dalida, who lived in the Sorek valley. Having learned about this, the Philistine leaders came to her and said to her: “Try to find out from Sampson what his great strength depends on, and how we can take possession of him: for this you will receive from each of us one thousand and one hundred pieces of silver.” Delilah tried to find out from Sampson the secret of his extraordinary strength; he deceived her three times, and the Philistines tried in vain to take him three times; Finally he said to her: “Iron has never touched my hair; for I am a Nazarite, dedicated to God from my mother’s womb! If they shave my head, then my strength will leave me, and I will become as weak as other people.” Delilah called the princes of the Philistines to her, revealed the secret to them and received the promised money for it. Then she hid the Philistines in her house and put Sampson to sleep on her lap; Calling the barber, she ordered Sampson's head to be shaved and, after that, knowing that his strength had left him, she woke him up, saying: “Sampson! The Philistines are attacking you!” Waking up, Sampson did not know that the Lord had left him, and he still wanted to free himself from his enemies, but he could no longer do this. The Philistines took him, gouged out his eyes and, burdening him with chains, took him to Gaza: there they imprisoned him and put him to a millstone. Sampson's fate is instructive. The one in which such a fortress lived, and which alone all the Philistines could not resist, was defeated by the cunning of a depraved woman. Such is the power of criminal passion, so disastrous are its actions when it takes possession of a person’s heart! So the devil, gradually weakening the faith and fear of God in the heart, drags him into the abyss of sin. Sampson, blinded by passion, did not see the nets laid out for him by the one to whom he was attached by criminal love; he is confident in his invincible strength, and this confidence gives rise to carelessness in him, which destroys him: Sampson is “exhausted even to the point of death” (Judges 16:16). But, on the other hand, the saving fruit of repentance, to which God calls, awakens and leads the sinner through sorrow and temporary suffering. Sampson is deprived of sight, imprisoned in chains, condemned to hard and humiliating work, and in the midst of this suffering his spiritual eyes were opened, he recognized his spiritual slavery, turned to the Lord, and the Lord turned to him; with this, his bodily strength returned to him, and he fulfilled his purpose, took revenge on the Philistines for his humiliation and oppression of his fatherland: “The dead that Sampson killed at his death were more numerous than those that he killed in his belly” (Judges 16:30). Noammin, the wife of Elimelech, from the tribe of Judah, who followed her husband to the land of Moab, lost him in this country. Having married her two sons Heleon and Maalon to the Moabite women Orpheus and Ruth, she remained to live with them; but when they died, not finding any means of subsistence in the land of Moab, she decided to return to Judea. Ruth did not want to part with her mother-in-law, and they went together to this country and came to Bethlehem during the harvest. One day, Ruth, by order of Noemmini, went to the field of Boaz, a very rich man and close relative of Elimelech, to gather the ears of corn left by the reapers. Noticing her, Boaz asked one of the reapers: “Who is this girl?” He answered him: “This is the Moabite woman who came with Naomi from her land; she asked us for permission to follow the reapers and pick up the ears of corn that they left behind, and she worked in the field without rest from morning until evening.” Boaz said to Ruth: “Listen, my daughter! Do not go to anyone else’s field to gather ears of corn, but stay in this field with my maids and follow the reapers: I ordered my servants not to offend you.” Ruth, bowing to him to the ground, said: “Where does this happiness come from! What have I done to deserve such mercy from you? You speak favorably to me, even though I am a foreigner!” Boaz answered her: “They told me everything that you did for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband, and how you left your relatives and your fatherland to go and settle among a people unknown to you. May the Lord reward you for the good you have done! May the Lord God of Israel, to whom you came and under whose wings you sought refuge, reward you!” “I have found favor in your sight,” Ruth said to him, “be blessed, my lord, for you have comforted me: I will now be like one of your handmaids.” After the meal, Ruth began to continue gathering ears of grain, and Boaz said to his servants: “Do not hinder her from gathering, and even deliberately leave her more ears of grain.” She worked in the field until evening, then threshed the collected ears of corn and brought the grain to her mother-in-law along with the leftovers from dinner, which she had saved for her. Noemmin said to her: “Where did you gather today and where did you work? Blessed be the one who took pity on you!” Ruth told her that she was gathering ears of corn in the field of a rich man named Boaz, and Noammin revealed to her daughter-in-law that he was a close relative of theirs. According to Jewish custom, a widow who remained childless had to marry her husband’s closest relative to continue the tribe: therefore, Ruth became the wife of Boaz and had a son, Obed, who was one of the ancestors of the Messiah. The story of Ruth is the subject of a special book of Holy Scripture, which aims not only to explain to us the genealogy of David, and therefore of Jesus Christ Himself, but also to show us the amazing care of God for the virtuous. It shows the good consequences of a strong attachment to true religion, the consolation that piety brings in sorrows, the beneficial consequences of modesty and good reputation. Noemmini's prudence and commitment to her, Ruth's humility and meekness, Boaz's generosity are beautiful, touching and instructive. Finally, the great reward that God sent to the stranger for her generosity shows Christians what they should expect from the goodness of God when they renounce everything, like her, to serve the Lord with self-denial and submission. What is most worthy of attention in Ruth is the spirit of dependence and humility that guides her in relation to her mother-in-law: she does nothing without her full consent, has no secrets from her, and in all circumstances proves her respect and love for her in the most commendable way. Under the High Priest Elijah, a descendant of Ithamar, the second son of Aaron, a certain Elkanah lived in the small town of Armathem. His wife, pious Anna, was barren for a long time, but finally, through her fiery prayer, God gave her a son as a reward for her piety and faith. She dedicated her child, as a gift of God’s special mercy to herself, to God, according to the vow she had made even before his birth, and the youth Samuel became a servant of the Lord under Elijah the High Priest. Eli had two sons: Hophni and Phinehas - wicked men. Being priests, they negligently fulfilled the duties of their office and even by their actions offended and seduced the people who came to the Tabernacle for sacrifices, and cooled their zeal for worship. Due to excessive love for his sons, or due to weakness stemming from his advanced years, Eli did not take quite decisive and strict measures to stop the unrest, and God announced to him that, as punishment for this, the right of the priesthood would be taken away from his tribe. One day Samuel fell asleep in the Church of the Lord, where the Icon of the Covenant was, and the Lord called to him at night: “Samuel! Samuel!" Thinking that Eli was calling him, Samuel hurried to him and asked what he wanted: Eli replied that he had not called him and told him to go to bed. But when the voice calling Samuel was repeated twice more, Eli said to him: “Go, sleep, and if you hear that they will call you again, answer: say, Lord! Your servant hears." Samuel fell asleep again, and the Lord again appeared and called to him - he answered as Eli had taught him, and the Lord told him about the terrible disasters that were to befall Eli and his entire family, and with which He had already threatened the high priest for not curbing the unworthy behavior of his children. In the morning, Samuel went, as usual, to open the doors of the house of the Lord and was afraid to tell Elijah about his vision: but Elijah called him and convinced him to tell him what the Lord had revealed to him. Samuel told him everything exactly and did not hide anything from him: Eli, with humble submission to the justice of God and with a willingness to endure the punishment that he deserved for the bad upbringing of his children, answered: “The will of the Lord be done.” Samuel grew and God was with him: everything he said was fulfilled, and all Israel recognized him as the Prophet of the Lord. Happy are the mothers who, like Hannah, the mother of Samuel, are confident that their children belong to God and not to them; that they are entrusted to them as a precious deposit, in which they will have to give an account to God, and for this reason they must raise them in the fear of God and the love of God, trying to direct them from infancy to the path of virtue. “Youth,” says St. Basil the Great, “is like soft and delicate wax, which takes on any form that one wants to give it, and easily yields to external action.” One pious mother constantly repeated to her son: “My son! I love you more than myself: but I would rather see you dead than defiled by some mortal sin.” – Education based on such principles brings rich fruits. It is not enough that the father himself be virtuous; he must try to make his children the same, correct their vices with meekness and firmness and take precautions to protect them from the dangers that are encountered at every step in the world. Those who neglect the education of their children become their destroyers rather than their fathers. “So be,” exclaims St. Cyprian, “true fathers to your children, and not traitors who deliver them into the power of the devil.” All that the Holy Scripture tells us about the infancy and youth of Samuel is an important moral lesson for children - they find in Samuel excellent examples of all the virtues appropriate to their age: unfailing fidelity to duty, willing obedience, perfect submission, simplicity and innocence, progress in virtue as they grow. The Holy Scriptures present to us the youth of Christ in almost the same terms. We should not blame religion for the vices of some of its ministers and the temptation produced by bad Christians: Isn’t the Church, out of maternal care, the first to remind each of her children about their responsibilities? Look how she constantly exhorts them, encourages them and, if necessary, threatens them with punishment! She, in the name of their peace in this and bliss in the future life, conjures them to repent if they had the misfortune of falling, convinces them to remain in prayer, trying to become saints and edify others with good examples. Overthrow of the Idol of Dagon The Philistines attacked the Israelites and defeated them: the sons of the high priest Eli, who were in the army with the Ark of the Covenant, were killed, and the Ark of the Covenant itself was taken by the Philistines; Eli, struck by the news of this, fell from his seat and died. Thus, Samuel’s prediction about this unfortunate family was fulfilled. The ark of the Covenant, taken by the Philistines, was carried to their capital Azoth and placed in the church of Dagon, next to this idol: but the next day they saw Dagon prostrate on the ground in front of the ark. They picked him up and put him in his original place, but the next day the same thing happened; moreover, the head, arms and legs of the idol, separated from the body, lay on the threshold of the church. The Lord sent various disasters to the inhabitants of Azoth: the whole city fell into confusion, and the elders decided to remove the Kivot from the city. Thus, the Icon was transported from one city to another, and in each its presence was marked by the destructive illness of the inhabitants, so that, finally, the Philistines had to recognize the finger of God in the disasters that beset them, and return the Holy Place to the Jews. The victory of the Philistines over the Israelites, the taking of the Icon of the Covenant, the punishment of Eli and his children represent great lessons, both for entire nations and for each person. The Israelites, by their ingratitude to God, became unworthy to possess the Holy Icon of the Lord. The Philistines had a high idea of ​​the holiness of the Icon and the power of the God of Israel, whose Throne it was: they accepted it with joy and placed it in the church, but this church was desecrated by the presence of an idol in it; they placed him next to this idol, intending to unite together the service of the true God and the false deities. But they did not think that the God of Israel is a jealous God, who does not tolerate partners, and for this they were struck by the sword of His justice. Here is a true image of those half-Christians who in their souls admire the height of religion, extol the purity of the moral rules it preaches, consider themselves happy that they possess truths, the knowledge of which is not given either to the Jews or to many other peoples not illuminated by the light of faith: but, nevertheless, they place this shrine in the church of an idol and, instead of sincerely renouncing everything that is not in harmony with the spirit of the Gospel, they want to agree Jesus Christ and Beliaa, belief in the sublime mysteries of the Orthodox Church with the absurd wisdom of false wisdom. God, as punishment for this, allows them to be enslaved by vices and shameful passions, just as, according to the Apostle Paul, the pagan philosophers, because “having changed the truth of God into a lie and blasphemy, and served the creature more than the Creator,” were betrayed “in the passion of dishonor” and “in an unskilled mind to do things that are not like that” (Rom. 1:25, 26, 28). But how did God allow the Irk of the Covenant to pass into the power of the enemies of His people in this way? – The Lord wanted to disgrace the vain hope in the Israelites of pleasing Him with mere outward worship, alien to the spirit of faith and love, and at the same time to reveal the glory of His power before the pagans. The ark of the Covenant, the throne of God, is brought to the land of the Philistines as if defeated and captive, and at the same time forces them to honor themselves as a conqueror and ruler; like spoils of war, he is delivered to the church of Dagon, and forces the idol itself to worship him; the fallen idol is restored, but the power of the Holy Place of God again throws it down and crushes it. He forces himself to be carried from city to city with triumph, so that the inhabitants of the entire land of the Philistines would know that the God of Israel is the One God, great and terrible: indeed they knew this and, having experienced the weight of His hand, were forced to honorably let go of the Icon and lead him to the borders of the land of Israel. David plays the harp to drive away Saul's melancholy From the time David was anointed king, the Spirit of the Lord rested on him and retreated from Saul, who from that time on, according to the righteous judgment of God, began to be tormented by the evil spirit. Then Saul’s courtiers said to him: “You see that the evil spirit sent from the Lord is troubling you; if you wish, then we, your servants, will look for a person skilled in playing the harp, so that he can play in front of you and calm you with his playing when the evil spirit troubles you.” Saul ordered them to find and imagine such a person, and then one of them answered him: “I saw David, the son of Jesse, from Bethlehem: he is skilled in playing the harp, and, moreover, a strong and strong young man, capable of military service, strong in speech, beautiful in appearance, and the Lord is with him.” So, Saul ordered to say to Jesse: “Release to me your son David, who is with your flock.” - Jesse immediately took the donkey, put bread, wine, and a kid on it, and sent all this with his son David as a gift to Saul. The king fell in love with the young man, made him his squire and kept him with him. Every time the evil spirit took possession of Saul, David began to play the harp in front of him, and Saul received relief - the evil spirit left him “It is through me that kings reign and the mighty write the truth,” says the Lord (Proverbs 8:15). “There is no power except from God; But the powers that exist are established by God,” teaches the Apostle (Rom. 13:1). So the Lord chose and anointed David to be king, “and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day even after” (1 Samuel 16:13). The power of Kings comes from above - from the King of Kings and Lord of Lords; The Spirit of God, from the moment of the most sacred anointing, incessantly rests on them and through them controls the destinies of nations. – Here is a high, undeniably strong Christian urge to obey the authorities! This is the only unshakable foundation for the improvement of kingdoms and peoples! “Submit every man to the authorities for the Lord’s sake; Fear God, honor the king” (1 Peter 2:13, 17): in the person of the king, fear and honor God. Forgetting this great lesson, neglecting this great commandment, according to the terrible judgment of God, is severely punished by the terrible consequences that entail blindness, into which peoples fall into a rampage by the evil spirit of false wisdom, insane pride and self-will. When God withdraws from a soul that uses His infinite mercy for evil, is it left only to itself? – Truly, in this case her condition is already very grave, but her fate is even more terrible: where God, as a father, does not reign with his grace, there the devil rages through sin. But as the word of God says, “the gifts and the calling of God are unrepentant” (Rom. 11:29), the gifts of grace sent by God cannot remain without fruit for His glory: so, what does the Lord do? – Rejecting a proud and self-loving heart, He calls to the inheritance of His blessings a humble heart, aware of its weakness and the insignificance of creatures and placing all its trust only in the help of the Most High. Saul's melancholy was not an ordinary illness; it was the suffering of a soul that had withdrawn from God through disobedience to His will and fallen under the power of the evil spirit. This is evident both from the clear testimony of the word of God, and from the fact that the means of healing was the music of a singer filled with the Spirit of God and who dedicated his inspired song to the praise of the name of God. This is the high service of music - to be a herald of the glory of God and an instrument for arousing in the soul high thoughts and the feelings of saints! What an insult, what a humiliation for this sacred gift, when, having become the language of impure passions, it serves as an instrument for spreading the poison of sin throughout the palaces of the rich and the huts of the poor! Music speaks to the mind and heart: but what it sometimes expresses both in public meetings and in the peaceful circle of family conversations, does not it serve to expel the beneficial spirit of modesty and chastity from society? Victory of David over Goliath About eight years after the anointing of young David, war broke out between the Philistines and the Israelites; both peoples gathered all their forces, took up arms and camped against each other so close that only the valley separated them. And then from the Philistine camp came a giant named Goliath, six cubits and one span (5 arshins) in height; he wore a copper helmet on his head and was dressed in a coat of mail that weighed about 5,000 shekels (1,500 lb); he had copper legguards on his feet, and a copper shield covered his shoulders; the iron tip of his spear weighed 600 shekels. “This giant appeared in front of the Israeli regiments and shouted to them: “Why did you come here and take up arms against us? - Let's end the war without shedding the blood of many: choose from among you a man who would come out with me to single combat; if he defeats me, then we will be your slaves, but if I defeat him, then let you be our slaves.” Hearing this, Saul and all the Israelites were horrified and could not find anyone who would dare to fight Goliath; Meanwhile, for forty days he went out morning and evening and repeated his challenge. David the son of Jesse was not with Saul at that time; he returned to Bethlehem to feed his father's sheep. It happened that at this very time his father sent him to Saul’s camp to see his brothers who were in the army and to take them some supplies. As soon as he arrived at the camp, Goliath left his camp and repeated his challenge to the Israelites. Meanwhile the Israelites said: “How this man reviles Israel! “Whoever kills him, the king will shower him with treasures, give him his daughter as a wife, and free his father’s house from taxes.” Hearing this, David began to ask about the reward assigned for killing the Philistine, and everyone he asked repeated to him what was said: but his elder brother Eliab, hearing his conversation, became angry with him and said to him: “Why did you come here and why did you leave a small flock of our sheep unattended in the desert? I know your pride and your wickedness: you came here only to watch the battle.” - David tried to justify himself to his brother and, leaving him, continued to question, and again heard the same thing that was said to him before. Then, being called to the king, he said to him: “Do not be afraid of the threats and curses of the Philistine: I, your servant, will go out against him.” Saul answered him: “You cannot fight him, for you are still young and inexperienced, but he is accustomed to battles from his youth.” David objected to him: “When your servant was tending his father’s flock, it happened that a lion or a bear came and stole the sheep; I caught up with them and snatched prey from their mouths; and if they rushed at me, then I grabbed them by the throat and strangled them. So, I, your servant, killed the lion and the bear; - The same will happen to this Philistine: I will go and kill him and remove the shame from Israel. “Who is this uncircumcised man who dares to mock the army of the living God?” The Lord, who saved me from the claws of the lion and from the mouth of the bear, will save me from his hand.” After this, Saul said to David: “Go, and may the Lord be with you!” and ordered to give him weapons. Having armed himself, David had barely taken a few steps when he saw that the weapon, helmet and armor were too unusual for him, and hastened to put them off. Taking his shepherd's crook, he collected five smooth stones in his hand, put them in his shepherd's bag, took a sling in his hand and went out against the Philistine. “Goliath mocked David, but he put his hope in God: “The Lord,” he said to the giant, “will deliver you into my hands, so that the whole earth will understand that there is a Lord God in Israel, and may all this multitude of people see that the Lord saves us neither by sword nor by spear; He decides the fate of the war and will deliver you into our hands.” David took one stone from his knapsack and threw it from a sling at the giant: the stone pierced his forehead under his helmet - he fell and died; David cut off his head with his own sword. Seeing this, the frightened Philistines fled; The Israelites pursued them and plundered their camp. David triumphantly carried the head of Goliath into Jerusalem amid exclamations and rejoicing of the people. God's providence always acts with the same wisdom; but his highest wisdom is most revealed when he uses means, apparently the most insignificant and small, to destroy the plans of pride, which dares to resist the Lord God, and thus forces wickedness to confess its insignificance. Thus, the arrogant giant was struck down by the hand of young David, armed with a sling. Thus, through twelve poor fishermen, the whole world was subjugated to Jesus Christ by the weapon of the cross. David fell into sin - one sin led to another. He wanted the wife of Uriah, one of his military leaders, to become his wife, and in order to achieve this, he gave Joab the command, during the war with the Ammonites, to place Uriah in a place where his death would be inevitable: Uriah was killed, and his wife Bathsheba became the wife of David and bore him a son. The Lord, angered by David’s sin, sent him the prophet Nathan, and this one, coming to the king, said to him: “King! In one city there lived two people - one rich and the other poor; The rich man had many sheep and oxen, but the poor man had one sheep, which grew up with his children, ate the same bread with him, drank from his cup, slept on his lap - he loved her like a daughter. Once a stranger came to a rich man, and he, not wanting to take anything from his flocks to treat him, took the poor man’s sheep and ordered him to make dinner for the guest from it.” – David became angry with the rich man and exclaimed: “As the Lord lives!” The one who did this deserves death; he will pay four times for the sheep, for having offended the poor man.” Then Nathan said to him: “You are the man. “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: “I have anointed you king over Israel and delivered you from the hand of Saul; I have given you the house and your master's wives; I have made you ruler of the people of Israel and Judah, and if this is not enough, I will add new mercies. Why have you despised My word and done evil in My sight? You struck Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife as your wife: for this the sword will never depart from your house, and, as a punishment for your crime, I will cause troubles for you in your very house. You have sinned in secret, but I will execute My judgment on you in the presence of all Israel.” David, with a feeling of deep repentance, said to Nathan: “I have sinned before the Lord!” - and the prophet answered him: “The Lord, who sees the sincerity of your repentance, will forgive you your sin: you will not die; but your son, born of your transgression, will not live.” Nathan left David, and according to his prediction, the baby - the fruit of David's crime - died. “Providence,” says St. Ambrose, sometimes allows the Saints to fall into sin. Setting them up as models for us, it allows them to fall, so that we may be edified not only by their integrity and holiness, but also by their repentance. This also has another goal - to enlighten the Saints, so that they do not attribute to their own power the good that the grace of God accomplishes in them, but they themselves learn from their own experience its necessity for salvation. If we only saw how they walk with firm feet amid the dangers of this age, we, far from their perfection, might think that their nature is higher than ours and inaccessible to the infirmities of humanity: this error would lead us to the false conviction that it is impossible to become like them. But, reading the stories about their sins, we learn that they were not free from our weaknesses, and from here we conclude that we can imitate their virtues.” How passion darkens the most beautiful souls! David is a soul so lofty and enlightened - David, beloved by God and the people, and does not know about his sin: it is necessary that God send him His Prophet to reveal his sin. Nathan first covers up the purpose of his messengership and introduces David himself to David in a beautiful parable. The image of the crime is so vivid and strong that David cannot resist condemning the culprit to death; but, blinded by sin, he does not recognize himself in the criminal, and only direct reproof opens his eyes. “King,” the Prophet tells him, “you are this man!” David, as it were, awakens from a deep sleep, recognizes his sin and confesses it before God. – Here is an example of true zeal, which knows how to combine fearlessness in reproof with respect for the person being rebuked! Here is an example of true repentance, which knows how to humble itself in the midst of greatness! David sinned as a man, but with humility he turned to God. How sincere was David’s repentance and decisive conversion, his Psalms serve as evidence of this. What a living feeling of contrition breathes in them! What a fiery desire to make amends for the sin he has committed, which he mourns! What touching submission in the purifying sorrows that are sent to him by the mercy and justice of God! What hope for God’s endless mercy! What heights of spirit in humiliation! What courage in misfortune! You! There is no one among us who would not have to reproach himself for something! We, sinners like David, will imitate him in repentance! The same gifts await us, flowing from the abundant grace of Jesus Christ: let us show ourselves faithful in using them - and blessedness will be our reward. David, pursued by Saul, had to seek salvation in flight and withdrew into the Paran desert. Near Paran, in the desert of Maon, there lived one very rich man named Nabal - a rude and evil man; on the contrary, his wife named Abigail was a prudent and beautiful woman. Nabal's flocks grazed on Mount Carmel, and David's soldiers not only did not cause him any insult, but also rendered him a service by guarding his flocks. David, being in need, sent a friendly embassy to him expressing his respect and asking for assistance to support himself and his people: but Nabal answered the messengers insolently and insultingly and drove them away from him. They told David his answer, and David decided to punish him for this and went to him with four hundred armed men, leaving two hundred to guard his baggage train. One of Nabal’s servants revealed to Abigail how her husband had received those sent from David, who had rendered them great services, and what unfortunate consequences were likely to occur from this reckless act: she immediately ordered several donkeys to be loaded with various food supplies and, without saying anything to Nabal, she sent all this with the servants to David, and she herself went after them. Descending from the mountain, she met David, who was going in anger with his people to punish Nabal and destroy his entire house. Seeing David, Abigail got off her donkey and fell prostrate at his feet, saying: “My lord! Let the guilt of the insult inflicted upon you fall on me: let your servant say a few words to you and do not refuse to listen to her.” “She begged him to forgive Nabal for his daring act, tried to excuse this act by his recklessness and asked David to accept what she brought. - David answered her: “Blessed be the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me; Blessed be you too, who did not allow me to shed blood and take vengeance with my hand: I swear by the Lord God of Israel, who did not allow me to do evil, if you had not met me here now, tomorrow morning neither man nor beast would have been left alive in the house of Nabal.” David accepted everything she brought and said: “Go in peace to your house: I am ready to fulfill your request.” Abigail returned to her house and found Nabal at a luxurious feast, already drunk in joy, and until the morning she did not tell him anything about what had happened. The next day, when he sobered up, she told him everything that had happened, and he seemed petrified with horror; ten days later the Lord struck him and he died. Upon learning of this, David said: “Blessed is the Lord, who repaid Nabal for the insult inflicted on me, who preserved His servant from the evil that he was ready to do, and who turned the injustice against the head of Nabal.” He sent to Abigail to ask her to be his wife: hearing this, she fell on her face and ordered the messengers to tell him: “Your servant would consider it a blessing to even wash the feet of your servants.” She went with her five female slaves to David and became his wife. The story of Nabal shows us how God hates those who are cruel and proud, who do not heed the cry of the poor, or who oppress him. Sooner or later, the Lord himself takes revenge for him: “The poor is left to Him, He is the sire... a helper” (Psalm 9:35). Let those who suffer injustice and insults learn from David to curb anger, which makes a person quick to take revenge! The example of Abigail shows how much good a meek, caring and prudent wife can do in home improvement. The Kingdom of Judah fully enjoyed internal and external peace, and King David, in a reverent song, sang gratitude to the Lord for liberation from his enemies. But suddenly the wrath of God flared up again against the Jewish people. Amid the general calm, David fell into vanity and arrogance: this inspired him with the idea of ​​counting the people, and he ordered his military commander Joab and the Jewish leaders to list the entire people and report on the number of subjects. Joab tried to dissuade him from this and said to him: “May the Lord God multiply your people a hundredfold! What need do you have to count it? The Lord would not have counted this a sin on Israel!” But David did not respect his ideas, and he had to fulfill the king’s command: he went along with other Jewish military leaders, carried out a census and, returning after nine months and twenty days, reported to the king that, in addition to the tribes of Levi and Benjamin, which he did not list, reluctantly fulfilling the king’s command, there were 1,300,000 capable of bearing arms. As soon as the number of people was completed, David felt repentance and cried out to the Lord God: “I have sinned before you, Lord, but I pray to you, forgive this sin to your servant: I acted foolishly!” “The next day, at the command of God, the prophet Gad came to him and said to him: “The Lord gives you a choice of one of three disasters as punishment for you: either famine will rage in your kingdom for three years, or your enemies will pursue you for three months, or pestilence will be over your land for three days. So, think and tell me what I must answer to Him who sent me.” David answered him: “All these disasters are terrible, and I am at a loss as to which of them to choose; but I would rather fall into the hands of the Lord than into the hands of men, for the Lord is infinitely merciful.” So the Lord sent a plague upon Israel that destroyed seventy thousand of Israel; when, finally, the striking angel stretched out his hand over Jerusalem to devastate it, the Lord was merciful and commanded him to hold back his hand. David humbled himself, brought repentance to God, erected an altar according to the command of God, announced through the prophet Gad, and offered a burnt offering to the Lord on it. The Lord turned his anger away from Israel and commanded the terrible plague to cease. When God shows a person, or an entire people, His mercy, and when the recipient of His benefits turns out to be ungrateful, then his anger flares up, and often it is enough for Him as a punishment to leave the guilty to the attraction of their own thoughts, feelings and desires: “And My people did not listen to My voice, and Israel did not heed Me, and I let them go, according to the intention of their hearts, they will go in their own undertakings” (Ps. 80, 12–13). God does not attract anyone to evil, but when He moves away from a person, the devil takes possession of the person. “The behavior of the superiors,” says St. Gregory the Great, “is consistent with the behavior of those under their control: it often happens that a virtuous king or shepherd falls into error as a result of the sins of the people under his authority. David, this great prophet, to whom God Himself gave such a glorious testimony and to whom He revealed His unknown and secret Wisdom (Psalm 50:8), fell into the sin of pride and commanded that the people be counted: the punishment for this sin fell on his subjects, who themselves were sinners in many ways" (Moral teaching book 23). In itself, population counting was not an illegal act: but it was reprehensible for the motives from which it stemmed. At first glance at this circumstance, one might think that David had no other goal than the glory of God - but, in fact, he had in mind only his own glory: thus, when we are not sufficiently vigilant over ourselves, self-love misleads our mind in various ways, so that, at the very time when it seems to us that we are making a sacrifice to God and fulfilling our duty, in fact, we are making a sacrifice to the idol of our own will, and, what is most regrettable, In this case, it is contempt for the wisest advice, persistence in fulfilling an intention, the evil consequences of which are predicted to us by prudent people. The Word of God, speaking about David's sins to warn us against the deceptions of pride and arrogance, on the other hand, presents us as an example of his humility and submission to the will of God, which shine so brightly in his repentance. The prophet sent by God offers him a choice of famine, war and pestilence - three disasters, equally capable of reminding him of the truth that he seems to have forgotten: that the multitude of his subjects and their strength, in which he was proud, are nothing before the greatness of God, who, when He pleases, in a short time devastates the most flourishing states, arming all creation against the proud whom He pleases to humble. David gave glory to God, submitting to His righteousness, and with this wise submission he disarmed, in some way, the wrath of his Judge: “But these (the Israelites) were grievous to Him with their advice, and humbled themselves in their iniquities, and the Lord saw them grieve at all times, and heard their prayer: and I will remember His covenant, and repent according to the abundance of His mercy” ( Ps.105, 43–45). Solomon, having put to death Adonijah, Joab and Shimei and expelled Abiathar, who were plotting against his father and himself, established his kingdom and entered into an alliance with Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, marrying his daughter. Solomon loved the Lord with all his heart and lived according to the instructions of his father. One day he sacrificed a thousand burnt offerings to God in Gibeon; After this sacrifice, the Lord appeared to him in a night vision and said to him: “Ask me for everything you want.” Solomon, in response to this, blessed the mercy of the Lord, which was so generously poured out on his father David and on himself, and asked only for one wisdom. The Lord accepted Solomon’s prayer with favor and said to him: “Since you did not desire long life, nor wealth, nor the destruction of your enemies, but desired one wisdom to distinguish truth from untruth, I will fulfill your desire and give you a heart so wise and intelligent that there has never been and will not be a man equal to you. But I will also give you what you did not ask from me - wealth and glory above all kings. If you walk in My way and do My will, like your father, I will give you long life.” Waking up and reflecting on what he had seen in his dream, Solomon went to Jerusalem, brought a burnt offering before the Irk of the Covenant and arranged a great feast for all his servants. At this time, two women came to him, and one of them said to him: “Sir! Do me a favor - listen to me! “We both lived in the same house, and there was no one in it except us; I gave birth to a child in the room that we occupied with this woman, and she gave birth three days after me. This woman’s son died at night - she strangled him in his sleep: taking advantage of my sleep, she got up at night, took my son, who was sleeping next to me, put him with her, and placed her dead baby on me. Getting up in the morning and taking the baby to feed him, I noticed that he was dead, and having examined him carefully, I saw that it was not my son.” Another woman answered her: “What you say is not true: my son is alive, but yours is dead.” The first objected to her on the contrary: “No, you are lying: my son is alive, and the dead one is yours.” Thus they argued before the king. Finally, Solomon ordered a sword to be brought and said: “Cut the living child in half and give them half each.” Then the woman, who actually owned the living baby, wanting to save her son, said: “Sir! I beg you, give this woman a living child and do not kill him.” Another said opposite: “I don’t want the baby to go to me or you alone: ​​divide it between us!” Hearing this, the king said: “Give her the living child, for she is his mother.” “All Israel learned about this judgment of Solomon, and everyone began to revere him, seeing that the Wisdom of God pronounced judgment through his mouth. The law forbade the Israelites from marrying foreign women: meanwhile, the Holy Scriptures do not blame Solomon for marrying the daughter of the king of Egypt. The reason for this can be believed that the daughter of Pharaoh, entering into marriage with Solomon, accepted faith in the true God, and, thus, ceased to be a foreigner. Examples of such marriages are presented in the Sacred History in ancient times: thus Moses married Zipporah the Midianite, Boaz married Ruth the Moabite, David married the daughter of the king of Geshur. The wisdom that the Lord bestowed on Solomon in a short time became the subject of wonder among the nations, and many of the foreign kings wanted to see him in person and talk with him. So the Queen of Sheba, in order to personally verify the truth of what she had heard about Solomon, arrived in Jerusalem and brought with her a lot of jewelry: her camels were loaded with spices and countless amounts of gold and precious stones. She proposed various difficult questions for Solomon to solve and received thoughtful answers from him. Convinced of his wisdom, having seen his brilliant palace, the splendor of his court, the luxurious table, the magnificent worship in the church he created, she was beside herself with surprise and said to the king: “It is true that I heard about your greatness and your wisdom in my land; I don’t want to believe the rumors, but now I see that what I heard is not even half of what I saw with my own eyes. Your treasures and wisdom far exceed what rumors say about them! Happy are your subjects! Happy are your servants who are constantly in front of you! Blessed be the Lord your God, who has raised you to the throne of Israel and made you king in His image! “God loved Israel, and in order to preserve it forever, He appointed you to rule over it and pronounce fair judgment on it.” She presented Solomon with a gift of one hundred and twenty talents of gold and many aromas and precious stones: such excellent aromas were never seen as those that the Queen of Sheba brought as a gift to Solomon. “King Solomon gave her as a gift everything she could wish for, incomparably more than she brought to him. After this, she returned to her kingdom with all her retinue. The Holy Scripture presents to us Solomon as the richest king who has ever been, and yet the Lord tells us in the Gospel: “Look at the villagers, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; “I say to you, that Solomon was clothed with all his glory, as if he were one of these” (Matthew 6:28–29). Jesus Christ wanted in this way to divert our eyes and hearts from everything that may seem beautiful and magnificent to us in the world; comparing the splendor of the king, the most glorious of all who have ever been in the world, with a plant, “today and in the morning swept into the cave” (Matthew 6:30), and placing him below the luxurious decoration of this latter. He teaches us to correctly judge the glory of this world and at the same time shows us how foolish it is to prefer the creature to the Creator. Solomon himself, being enlightened from above, knew the value of earthly treasures: having tasted all the glory and tasted all the pleasures of the world, he testifies that they are “vanity of vanities,” and that it is not in them that man should seek the bliss for which he sighs here on earth. This wise king despised earthly blessings in the depths of his heart and asked God for other blessings, more capable of satisfying the needs of his soul. Wisdom is a divine treasure, which “neither a worm nor an aphid decays,” which is not afraid of the all-crushing hand of time - wisdom, together with peace - its inseparable companion, was the first object of his ardent desires: it, more than wealth, made him both strong and glorious; it showers the one who possesses it with precious blessings and delivers him from all evils. Here is the wonderful prayer that Solomon sent to the Lord in the midst of the splendor of his surroundings: “God of the fathers and Lord of Thy mercy, having created all things by Thy word, and by Thy wisdom hath formed man, may he rule over the creatures created by Thee, and may the world rule in honor and in truth, and in the righteousness of the soul, let judgment judge: grant me to sit upon Thy throne wisdom and do not cast me away from Your servants. For I am Thy servant and the son of Thy handmaid, a man weak and of short duration, and diminished in the understanding of judgment and laws: even if any one be perfect in the sons of men, Thy existing wisdom shall not be counted as anything... Send me from the holy heavens and from the throne of Thy glory: let them that be labor with me, and let us know that there is good pleasure in Thy sight. For she understands all the news, and will instruct me more chastely in my deeds, and preserve me in her glory: and my deeds will be acceptable, and I will judge Your people more righteously, and I will be worthy of the thrones of my father. What man can know the counsel of God, or who can understand what God wants? The thoughts of mortals are fearful and our thoughts are sinful: the corruptible body burdens the soul, and the earthly dwelling burdens the overzealous mind. And we barely understand, even on earth, even in heaven, who will search? Who knows your will, if You had not given Wisdom, and sent Your Holy Spirit from on high? And thus the paths of those on earth were straightened, and I am pleasing to You, having learned men. And through wisdom I was saved” (Wisdom 9:1–6, 10–19). Let us also use the example of Solomon, and let us not cleave to what blinds our eyes in this world; for all this soon passes, leaving only emptiness in the mind and heart; but let us love wisdom and will try with all our might to gain this precious gift! Let us approach her with prayer for her, with the Holy Sacraments, with aversion from sin! Only she can quench the thirst of the soul, she is a sure guarantee of bliss in this life and the future! Solomon became addicted to many pagan women who came from the nations about which the Lord told the Israelites: “You must not take wives from these countries and your daughters must not marry their inhabitants, for they will corrupt your hearts and lead you into idolatry! Solomon forgot the commandment of God and gave himself up to these women: he had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines - they corrupted his heart, and in his old age he clung to alien gods. His heart was not as pure before God as the heart of David his father, and he did not follow the ways that David walked before God. He erected on the mountain opposite Jerusalem a church to Chemosh, the idol of Moab, Moloch, the idol of Ammon, and Astarte, the goddess of Sidon, and in the same way he built churches to the gods of all his wives, and they performed idolatry in them. Solomon forgot that the Lord appeared to him twice and twice confirmed to him that he should not turn aside to other gods, but would keep and fulfill His commandments. For this, the Lord was angry with him and said to him: “Because you did this and did not keep My commandments, and transgressed the commandments I gave you, I will tear and crush your kingdom, I will tear it out of your hand and give it to one of your servants; but for the sake of David your father, I will not do this during your lifetime, but I will fulfill it when the kingdom passes into the hands of your son. But I will not take away his whole kingdom, but I will give him one tribe, for the sake of David my servant and Jerusalem, which I have chosen as My dwelling place.” Here is another difficult experience to confirm how far man’s spiritual weakness extends! Is it possible without sorrow and horror to think about Solomon, the king who once amazed the nations with his wisdom and justice; who most of all asked God for wisdom and justice, as the most precious treasure; who, realizing and confessing the vanity of pleasures and wealth, in the midst of the splendor of his greatness, was the object of wonder of the universe and then suddenly fell into the abyss, became a slave of sensuality and was blinded by the delusions of idolatry! Wise! Don't be proud of your wisdom! Strong! Do not rely on your strength! – Arrogance and self-confidence are the first step to destruction; “Before contrition the heart of a man is exalted, and before glory it is humbled” (Proverbs 18:12). He is close to falling who forgets that his perfections are something other than a ray of light flowing from God - the Sun of truth and righteousness, who with sinful self-pleasure fixes his gaze on himself, instead of ascending to God, from Whom flows both wisdom and virtue, Who sends both wealth and glory. How passions blind a person! To what terrible extremes do they drive those they possess! Unbridled, they, like a stormy stream, carry a person into the abyss of sin and destruction. So Solomon, blinded by sensuality and love of women, becomes a worshiper of idols and builds churches for them! What God threatened Solomon with for his sins was fulfilled. After his death, ten tribes of the Jewish People broke away from his son Rehoboam, formed the Kingdom of Israel and at the same time fell into idolatry. The kings of Israel were all wicked; but Ahab surpassed all others in wickedness. He was married to the daughter of the King of Sidon, Jezebel, and, to please her, he built a church for Baal in Samaria itself, the capital city. To the forgetting of the true God, he added injustice to people. Next to his palace was the vineyard of one of his subjects, Naboth. Ahab wanted to have this vineyard, convinced Naboth to give it up to himself and instead offered him either another vineyard or payment. Naboth did not want to give the king the inheritance of his ancestors; Ahab, irritated by the refusal, did not want to eat in great annoyance. Perhaps a sense of justice, or the fear of God's judgment, of which some weak remnants were still in his heart, kept him from violence. But Jezebel, who surpassed her husband in iniquities, took upon herself the fulfillment of his lawless will. Through her machinations, Naboth, slandered in blasphemy against God and the king, was stoned, and his vineyard became the property of the king. Ahab, having learned about his death, expressed his sadness - he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth; but this sadness was hypocritical. He went to Naboth's vineyard to take possession of it. Here, by the command of God, the prophet Elijah met him and said to him: “You killed Naboth and took possession of his vineyard: for this, in the very place where dogs and pigs licked his blood, they will lick your blood too. Thus says the Lord: “Because of your iniquities and for the offense you have caused in Israel, I will hand over your house and all your descendants to destruction, like the descendants of your wicked kings who preceded you.” - Ahab fell into fear and repentance: shedding tears, he put on sackcloth and fasted. The Lord had mercy on him and through the Prophet Elijah revealed to him that judgment on his house would not take place during his lifetime; but he will not fail and will not be slow to be fulfilled in the presence of his son. Ahab died in the war with the Syrians; After his death, his son Ohoria became king and walked in the footsteps of his father and mother. He died from an illness resulting from a fall from the window of his palace, and after him his brother Joram ascended the throne: with him, God’s judgment was carried out on the house of Achaab. - The military leader Jehu, chosen by God and anointed by the command of God by Elisha as king of Israel, struck Joram with an arrow and ordered him to be thrown into Naboth’s vineyard, Jezebel to be thrown out of the palace window and her corpse to be given to dogs to be devoured, and the other seventy sons of Achaab who lived in Samaria to be beheaded. The destruction of the wicked house of Achaab provides instructive examples of the terrible consequences of covetousness, injustice to one's neighbor, and the lawless appropriation of other people's property. “Woe to those who join together house to house and village to village, so that they may take away something from their neighbor: food, and have fun together on earth? For this was heard in the ears of the Lord of Hosts: Even if there be many houses, the great and the good will be desolate, and those who dwell in them will not live” (Is. 5:8-9). Great is the untruth, grave is the crime of Achaav, but powerful and beneficial is the power of fasting, repentance and tears! “And the Lord spoke quickly by the hand of his servant Elijah concerning Ahab, and the Lord said, Thou hast seen how Ahab was touched at my presence: therefore I will bring no evil in his days” (1 Kings 21:28-29). The prophet Elisha once came to Soman, the city of the tribe of Issah, and there a poor woman invited him to her house to eat food; after that, whenever he passed through this city, he went to her and was treated to her. Feeling deep respect for the prophet, she said to her husband: “This wanderer, who often comes to us, truly is a man of God: we will build him and provide him with everything he needs, so that he can always stay in it.” “This was done, and Elisha, when he came to Soman, always settled down in the upper room prepared for him. Once, while resting in this upper room, he ordered Gehazi, his servant, to call for the charitable Somanite woman and said to her through Gehazi: “You serve us diligently: what should I do for you in gratitude for this? Do you have any matter on which I could intercede for you before the king or before the military commander? She answered him: “No! I live here in peace among my people." Then the Prophet said to Gehazi: “What can I do for her?” “She has no son, and her husband is old,” his servant answered him, “ask God for her son.” Then, calling her again, Elisha said to her: “In a year, at this very time, and even at this very hour, you will have a son.” “My lord! - she objected to him - man of God, do not lie to your servant! “Indeed, she gave birth to a son at the very hour the prophet appointed her. The boy grew up and, once he came to his father’s field during the harvest, he became ill: the father ordered the boy to be taken to his mother - and at noon he died on her knees. She laid him in Elisha’s upper room on his bed and, having asked her husband for one servant with a donkey, she went to the prophet on Mount Carmel, where he was then located. Arriving at the mountain, she fell at the feet of the man of God and revealed her sadness to him. Elisha said to Gehazi: “Get ready for the journey, take my staff, go to the woman’s house and lay my staff on the face of the dead lad.” And the inconsolable mother said to the prophet: “As the Lord lives and your soul lives, so I will not leave you until you follow me.” So, he followed her into the house. Meanwhile Gehazi went forward and laid his staff on the lad’s face; but the deceased remained lifeless. Elisha himself entered the house, saw the dead youth on his bed, closed the door and, left alone, offered up a prayer to the Lord; then he prostrated himself seven times over the dead man: then the youth opened his eyes, and the prophet, calling the Somanite woman, gave her her son. She fell at the feet of the prophet and thanked God. Let us learn from this touching incident the high dignity of hospitality. The Somanite woman received and calmed the wanderer Elisha. Together with the stranger, the grace of God settled in her dwelling - and the work of mercy received a rich reward. And how could it be otherwise, when those who welcome a stranger under their roof in his person accept Jesus Christ Himself according to His verb: “I was strange, and knew Me” (Matthew 25:35)! In the prayers and tears of the Somanite woman for her deceased son, there appears to be a denunciation of the insensitivity of those parents who leave their children to languish in the death of sin, without contributing to their spiritual resurrection with instruction, reproof, and, most of all, fervent prayer for them to God. In the story of the Somanite woman, and especially in the circumstances surrounding the resurrection of her son, one can see an image of God’s providence for the salvation of the human race. – The son of a Somanite woman represents the human race, stricken by spiritual death. For his spiritual revival, Moses appeared, armed with the rod of the law, but the law “was weak” (Rom. 8:3) - turned out to be powerless to justify and save man. God the Father had mercy on us, and raised us, dead in sins, and revived us with His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. He came down from heaven and by His incarnation descends to man, approaches us, inclines His greatness towards us and, by the incomprehensible miracle of love, adapts to our weakness; He takes upon Himself the mortality and weakness of our nature in order to give us life and strength. “He humbled himself... becoming obedient even to the point of death, even death on the cross” (Phil. 2:7-8), He accomplished that great work that the Heavenly Father would have Him do, and entrusted us to the care of our mother the Church. The anointing of Joash and his elevation to the kingdom Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, after the death of her son, destroyed the entire royal tribe; one of Ahaziah's sons, Joash, was saved by Jehoshabeth, his aunt, and hidden from the wrath of Athaliah in the church of the Lord, where he lived in secret until he was six years old. Athaliah at that time reigned in Judea, indulging in idolatry: she even took away sacred utensils and various things donated to it from the church of God, and gave it all to the church of Baal. Six years after the death of Ahaziah, the High Priest Jehoiada, having gathered the leaders of the army of Judah, showed them the king’s son and entrusted them and the army with his guard. Then he gathered the Levites from all the cities of Judah and the leaders of all the clans of Israel to Jerusalem, distributed weapons to them and, presenting young Joash to them, placed a crown on him, clothed him in royal purple, gave him the book of the law in his hand, proclaimed him king and anointed him king - everyone exclaimed: “Long live the king!” Hearing the cries of the people, Athaliah came to the church: seeing Joash standing on an elevated place at the entrance to the church among the jubilant people, she tore her clothes and exclaimed: “Treason! Treason! Jehoiada ordered the military leaders to take her outside the fence and kill her there. This was done immediately. Having thus restored the rightful king, Jehoiada made a promise from the king and the people to behave in such a way as to be worthy of being called the people of God. The whole people rushed to the church of Baal, destroyed it, smashed the idols and killed Mafan, the priest of Baal, in front of the altar. Jehoiada set a guard around the house of the Lord and restored in it the rituals and sacrifices according to the law of Moses and the institution of David. Together with the centurions and leaders of the people, he led the king out of the church, brought him into the royal palace and seated him on the throne. All the people rejoiced, and peace reigned in Jerusalem. In the history of nations, we often see how God’s Providence shows its power, restoring a fallen people or saving the Church in danger through one person, destroying with his hand the vain plans of His most stubborn enemies. In Joseph, freed from slavery in Egypt, in Moses, rescued from the waters of the Nile and raised at the court of Pharaoh, in Joash, preserved from the hand of Athaliah in the church, in David, in Jephthah, in many others, this Divine wisdom is revealed to us, constantly vigilant over the fate of kingdoms and peoples, protecting them from enemies and delivering them from the greatest dangers. May the peoples remember this and may they place their trust not in human wisdom and not in the hand of the mighty, but in heavenly help and the power of the Almighty! Tobit, from the tribe of Naphtali, was married to Anna, from the same tribe, and had a son, Tobiah, by her. When the Israelites were defeated by the Assyrians and taken captive to Nineveh, Tobit did not escape the fate of his brothers and was taken there with his entire family. But even in captivity, he remained an admirer of the true God, faithful to His law and the traditions of his fathers: for this God rewarded him - he earned the favor of King Shalmaneser. He used the king’s merciful disposition to relieve his captive brethren: he often visited them and gave them alms, God rewarded him for his deeds of mercy, but also sent him misfortunes to test him. The most severe test of his faith was the loss of his sight. “His acts of mercy also included the fact that he buried the bodies of his unfortunate fellow tribesmen, deprived of life by order of the cruel Sennacherib, Shalmaneser’s successor. One day, after such labor, he was resting near the wall: from a bird’s nest located on the wall, uncleanness fell into his eyes - and this caused a thorn in his eyes, and he became blind. But God, who sent a test of Tobit’s faith and virtue, granted him relief from grief and consolation. Tobit, out of his compassion for the needs of his neighbors, lent ten talents to one of his relatives, Gabael, who lived in the Median city of Ragah, without any security; Remembering this, he called his son Tobiah and ordered him to go to Gabael and receive from him the money that he owed him. “The young man immediately set off, and the Lord sent him a companion, the Angel Raphael, who took on the image of a young man like him. On the way, when he wanted to wash his feet in the Tigre River, a large fish jumped out of the river and wanted to swallow him. The angel ordered him to catch her, take out her heart, liver and bile and take them, saying that this would bring much benefit later. When they came to Ecbatana, Tobias, on the advice of an Angel, married the daughter of his relative Raguel, Sarah, who had already entered into marriage seven times, and all her husbands were strangled by a demon on the first night of marriage. The angel taught Tobias to drive away the demon by smoking fish liver. Having received money from Gavail, he, accompanied by an Angel, returned safely to his parents. As they approached their parents’ house, Raphael said to Tobiah: “As soon as you enter your house, pray to the Lord your God; then kiss your father and anoint his eyes with the fish bile you brought: his eyes will open, he will see the heavenly light and will rejoice when he sees you! Hearing about the arrival of their son, Tobit and Anna came out to meet him and kissed him with joyful tears and thanked God. Then Tobias took fish bile and anointed his father’s eyes with it; the father received his sight and, with his entire family, relatives and friends, glorified God. Tobiah's wife, Sarah, arrived seven days after her husband, who went before her; She brought with her her herds, brought a large sum of money that she received as a dowry, and ten talents received from Gabael. Tobias told his father about all the blessings of God shown to him during his journey. The holy king, the prophet David, speaking in his psalms about the righteous man who places his hope in the Lord, says: “Thou hast made the Most High your refuge. Evil will not come to you, and wound will not come close to your body. As his angel commanded about you, keep you in all your ways: they will take you up in their arms, and not when you dash your foot on a stone: step on the asp and the basilisk, and cross the lion and the serpent. For I have trusted in Me, and I will deliver; I will cover and; for you have known My name. He will call to Me, and I will hear him; I will eat with him in sorrow, I will destroy him and glorify him: I will fill him with long days, and I will show him My salvation” (Ps. 90:9-16). These comforting words of the prophet king are confirmed by many examples, especially by the examples of Tobit, his son, and Sarah, the daughter of Raguil. What an unshakable defense against despondency in misfortune is trust in the all-wise and all-good Providence of God and the testimony of an immaculate conscience! The story of Tobit shows us how alms attracts God's mercy to us: “Blessed are you who show mercy” (Matt. 5:7)! The patronage provided to Tobias by Raphael teaches us to honor the Holy Angels of God and especially the one to whom God has entrusted the guardianship of each of us. Finally, in the healing of Elder Tobit we see what God sends to us, i.e. allows illnesses, and God heals them, blessing natural medicines and giving them healing power. How often do people forget this truth! If we remembered her more often, we would not see people so ungrateful to the Lord who, from threatened death, were unexpectedly returned to life and health! Belshazzar, king of Babylon, prepared a magnificent feast for the thousand nobles of his court. Having drunk with wine, he ordered to be given gold and silver sacred vessels, taken by his father Nebuchadnezzar from the temple of Jerusalem, and drank wine from them with his nobles, praising his gods. Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote unknown words on the wall of the chamber in which Belshazzar was feasting. The king was embarrassed and his face changed; he immediately ordered the magicians and fortune-tellers to be brought to him and said to them: “Whoever of you reads and explains these words to me, he will be clothed in scarlet, receive a gold chain around his neck and will be third after me in my kingdom.” But none of the Babylonian sages could read the mysterious letters: the king became even more confused, his nobles were also in great fear. Hearing about what had happened, the queen came to the feasters and said to the king: “Live many years, king! Do not be embarrassed: there is in your kingdom a man filled with the Spirit of God; He became known for his wisdom under King Nebuchadnezzar, your father, and was made by him commander over all the wise men of Babylon, for there is no man wiser than him in explaining dreams, in revealing secrets and in resolving difficult questions. “This is Daniel, called Belshazzar: call him, he will explain these writings to you.” The king called Daniel and said to him: “Are you Daniel, one of the captive Jews brought by my father from the land of Judea? “I heard that the Spirit of God is in you, and that there is no man who can compare with you in wisdom.” The wise men of Babylon appeared before me, but not one of them could read these writings: you are reputed to be a man versed in the explanation of mysteries - explain to me the meaning of these words, and I will command you to be clothed in purple, put a gold chain around your neck, and you will be third after me in my kingdom.” Daniel answered: “I do not want your gifts - give them to the servants at your court: I will explain the mysterious words to you. Tsar! The Most High God gave kingdom, power, glory and honor to Nebuchadnezzar your father, and therefore all nations revered and trembled before him: in his hands was the life and death of all; he raised and brought down whomever he wanted. But when his heart became proud, he was dethroned and lost his kingdom and glory. He was expelled from among people, lived with wild donkeys, ate grass like an ox, and wandered homeless until he recognized the supreme power of the Most High over kingdoms and over kings. And you, his son Belshazzar, did not humble your heart, although you knew all this: you rebelled against the Lord God, the King of Heaven, ordered to bring to the feast the vessels taken from His church, drank wine from them with your nobles, at the feast you praised your soulless gods, who see and have nothing, but did not give glory to God, who holds your life on His right hand. Therefore, God sent the fingers of this hand, the writing of which you see. - This is what is written: Mani, Fekel, Peres, and this is what these words mean: Mani - God counted the days of your reign and appointed a close limit for it; Fekel - you were weighed on the scales of His justice and turned out to be too light; Peres - your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians. Then the king ordered that Daniel be dressed in purple, put a gold chain around his neck and announce throughout the entire kingdom that he was the third king. On this very night, God's judgment was fulfilled: Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, was killed, and he was succeeded by the Mede Darius. In Belshazzar we see a sensualist and blasphemer who received exemplary punishment from God. Moreover, in his final fate we are presented with the experience of this great truth, that the Most High owns the kingdom of man, “and to him he will give it” (Dan. 4:22). Artaxerxes, king of Persia, following the slander of his first nobleman, the villain Haman, ordered the extermination of all the Jews who were in his kingdom. Faithful Mordecai, the uncle of the queen's wife, the Jewish Esther, learned about this, came to her and begged her to ask the king for mercy for his brothers. “Haman, the second king,” he told her, “is plotting to destroy us. Remember the days of your orphanhood, remember how I raised you: call on the Lord for help, go to the king - and through your intercession save us from destruction.” Esther ordered him to gather all the Jews who lived in Susa, the capital of Persia, and spend three days and three nights with them in prayer and fasting, while she and her maidens put on a sad dress and spent three days in fervent prayer to the Lord. On the fourth day, Esther, in a brilliant robe, with two servants, went to the king, hiding her sadness and fear of the king’s anger under a cheerful appearance, for no one, who had not been called by him, was supposed to enter him. At this time, the king in all the splendor of his greatness was sitting on the throne; his appearance was menacing. - Seeing Esther, he cast an angry look at her, and the queen fainted and fell into the arms of her maids; Then God changed the princess’s heart to mercy - he came down from his throne and tried to encourage her. Esther said to him: “Sir! When I saw you, I thought that I was seeing an Angel of God - and my heart was confused by your greatness.” Having said this, she fell again and was again ready to faint. Then the king said to her: “What do you want, Esther, and what is your request? I am ready to give you even half of my kingdom.” She answered him: “I beg the king to come to my feast with Haman tomorrow.” The next day the king arrived at the feast with Haman. During the feast, Artaxerxes turned to Esther and again confirmed to her his readiness to fulfill her request and give her even half his kingdom. Esther answered him: “Here is my request: if I have found favor in the eyes of the king, and if he wishes to fulfill my request, then let the king, together with Haman, come to my feast tomorrow; “Then I will reveal my desire to the king.” Haman returned to his home in triumph; As he passed, he saw Marhodey, who, sitting near the royal palace, not only did not bow to him, but did not even pay attention to him at all. Hiding his annoyance, the proud nobleman returned to his home, and, calling his wife Zosara and his friends, depicted before them his wealth, his glory and the honors shown to him by the king and queen. “But all these honors are nothing for me,” added Haman, “as long as I see the Jew Mordecai sitting in the royal court.” - Zosara and his friends answered him: “Order to put up a high gallows, and ask the king tomorrow morning for an order to hang Mordecai - and then you will go to the queen’s feast with complete joy.” This advice was to Haman's heart, and he ordered the gallows to be erected. But God protected Mordecai from the wrath of his enemy, and protected Haman, so that the consequences of his envy would be brought down on his head. Esther's amazing behavior under such difficult circumstances provides us with a wonderful example of prayer before God. The prayer poured out to the Lord by this virtuous queen before she began to intercede before the king on behalf of her Jewish brothers provides us with an example of the true language of piety and fidelity to God. “My Lord, our King! You are the only one, help me, the only one who has no help except You, for my misfortune is in my hand! I have heard, O Lord, from my father, in the tribe of my fatherland, that Thou, O Lord, tookst the tongue of Israel from all, and our fathers from all their forefathers for an everlasting inheritance, and Thou hast done unto them, as Thou hast spoken, and now have sinned before Thee, and Thou hast delivered us into the hands of our enemies, having glorified their God: Thou art righteous, O Lord, and now Thou art not displeased. the sorrow of our work, but placing your hands on the idol of your hands, tearing out the commandments of Your mouth, and destroying Your inheritance, and stopping the mouths of those who glorify You, and extinguishing the glory of your church, and your altar, and opening your lips with your tongue to please the vain, and be amazed at the king of the flesh forever. Do not betray, O Lord, Thy scepter to those who are not, and let him not laugh at our fall, but turn their advice to her; put it in a parable: remember, O Lord, be known during our tribulation, and vouchsafe me with boldness, the King of the Gods and the Sustainer of all rulers, give my mouth an acceptable word before the lion, and change his heart to hate us at war, to destroy him and those who consult with him: but destroy us with your hand, and help me alone and who has no one except You, Lord: you have given all understanding and thought, for I have hated the glory of the wicked and abhorred the bed of the uncircumcised and every foreigner. You weigh my need, as I abhor the sign of my pride, which is on my head in the days of my vision, I abhor it like defiled sackcloth, and do not wear it on the day of my silence. And Thy servant did not eat from the table of Amon, and did not glorify the king's feast, lower than the wine of the idols' treasury; and Thy servant did not rejoice from the day of my change, even unto this day, even from Thee, O Lord, God of Abram; God, mighty above all! Hear the voice of the hopeless, and deliver us from the hand of the wicked and free me from my fear” (Esth. 4:17). Honors given to Mordecai On the night after the queen's feast, the Lord took away Artaxerxes' sleep, and he ordered to read to himself memorial notes about the events that happened during his reign. In them, by the way, it was mentioned that Mordecai discovered a conspiracy of two eunuchs who were plotting the royal life: hearing this, the king asked: “What was Mordecai awarded with?” And having learned that he had not received any reward, he called on Haman, who had come to the palace at that time to ask for the order to hang Mordecai, and said to him: “What should the one whom the king wants to honor with the highest honor do?” Thinking that the king had no one to glorify except him, Haman replied: “The person whom the king wants to glorify must be clothed in royal clothes, seated on the royal horse and a royal crown placed on his head. The first nobleman of the king must clothe him and lead his horse throughout the city, and proclaim: “This is the honor that the king wants to give to the one whom he wants to glorify!” Then the king said: “Then go quickly and do all this to the Judean Mordecai, who serves in my court.” Haman fulfilled the king’s command and, groaning with anger, returned to his house and told his wife and friends about what had happened. “They answered him: “If this Markhodey, before whom you had to humble yourself, is from the tribe of the Jews, then you will fall in the fight against him.” Meanwhile, messengers came to invite Haman to a feast with the queen, and he went to her along with Artaxerxes. On this day the king again said to Esther: “Tell me what you want: I am ready to give you half the kingdom.” Esther answered him: “King! If I have found favor in your sight, I beg you to grant me my own life and the life of my people, for we are condemned to destruction. There is a slanderer who seeks our destruction; this villain is not worthy to be in the royal court.” The angry king asked: “Who is this villain?” “And Esther named him Haman.” Then Artaxerxes angrily rose from the table and went into the garden. Haman threw himself on his knees before the queen, begging her to intercede before the king: but at that time Artaxerxes entered and, seeing that Haman had fallen to the queen’s bed, became even more angry at his insolence. Then one of the courtiers said to the king: “Haman set up a high gallows in the courtyard of his house for Mordecai, who saved the king’s life.” “The king immediately ordered Haman himself to be hanged on this gallows, and this was immediately carried out. And all the property of Haman was given to the queen, and Mordecai was presented to the king as her uncle. The king gave him the ring that Haman had worn, and Esther placed it over all of Haman's estate. At the request of Esther, Artaxerxes issued a decree, which not only canceled the execution to which the Jews in the kingdom of Persia were condemned, but also granted them various favors. Let the believer not be embarrassed when the wicked triumphs, persecutes his virtue, laughs at his beliefs and blasphemes his God. The wicked is a blind man who is agitated by unclean passions and cast into the abyss at the very moment when it seems to him that he has achieved everything he desired. He has blinded himself, he does not know where he is going, and at that very moment when he dreams of being on the path to glory and happiness, the All-Wise God, in His righteous anger, allows him to find punishment for himself in his very iniquity; the sword that he boldly raises over the heads of those whose whole fault is that they interfere with his ambition, greed for self-interest and carnal pleasure, falls on himself as a lesson to peoples and families that there is Providence, which listens to the cries of oppressed innocence and sees the untruths of wicked selfishness. Darius, the Mede, king of the Chaldeans, appointed one hundred and twenty satraps in his kingdom to govern the regions under the main supervision of three leaders, among whom was Daniel: the satraps had to report to them to everyone, so as not to disturb the king. Daniel was the first among the rulers, for he was filled with the Spirit of God; the king even intended to put him over his entire kingdom. This disposition of the king towards Daniel aroused envy of him among the other leaders and satraps, and they began to look for an opportunity to accuse him before the king. Unable to find anything wrong in the behavior of faithful Daniel regarding his position, they decided to blame him for his very piety and zeal for the law of God. They went to the king and told him: “King Darius! Hello many summers! All the princes, military leaders and satraps of your kingdom beg you to issue a decree so that whoever within thirty days asks anything from any god or man other than you, will be thrown into the lions’ den.” The king agreed and immediately issued a command. Daniel used to open the window facing Jerusalem and offer prayer to God three times every day, kneeling down. Despite the royal command, he continued to pray daily, and his enemies immediately reported this to Darius. Having come to the king, they said to him: “King! Have you not commanded that whoever, within thirty days, asks anything from any god or man other than you, should be thrown into the lions’ den?” - He answered them: “You say rightly: this is the command given to all the Medes and Persians, which no one dares to violate.” Then they said: “Daniel, one of the captives of the Jews, does not obey your command and prays to his God three times every day.” Hearing this, the king was very upset and tried to find a way to save Daniel: but the courtiers told him that the law given to all the Medes and Persians could not be broken with impunity, and the king was forced to give the command to throw Daniel into the lion's den, consoling him with the hope that his God would save him. So, Daniel was thrown into the lions' den and the entrance to it was blocked with a stone, which was sealed with the seals of the king and the nobles: but God closed the jaws of the lions, and they did no harm to Daniel. On this day, from grief, the king could not taste food and could not sleep at night; The next morning he got up early and went to the lion's den. Arriving at the ditch, he called Daniel in a loud voice, but interrupted by sighs, saying: “Daniel, servant of the living God! Has the God whom you serve saved you from the jaws of lions?” - Daniel answered him: “King! Hello many summers! My God sent me His Angel, who stopped the mouths of the lions, and they did me no harm, for He saw my innocence before you, and that I did not commit any crime.” Then the king rejoiced and ordered Daniel to be taken out of the lion's den, and those who accused him to be thrown there with their wives and children: they were torn to pieces by the lions before they reached the bottom of the den. After this, Darius gave a decree to all the peoples living in his kingdom, which ordered all his subjects to honor the God of Danilov with fear and trembling, for He is the living God and abides forever; His kingdom will never be destroyed and his power will endure forever; He delivers and saves, works signs and wonders in heaven and earth; He delivered Daniel from the mouth of the lions. After this, Daniel continued to rule the state during the reign of Cyrus, king of Persia. Providence elevated Daniel to the heights of honor and soon his virtue, the first reason for his glory, was tested in a brilliant manner. The highest dignity in the great state was not able to shake him and the perfect trust of his sovereign could not weaken his pure faith. But what constituted his greatness before God and the king gave people the opportunity to intrigue against him, aroused the envy of nobles against him and subjected his faith to even more severe tests: however, Daniel was unshakable in his virtue, Daniel did not stop praying - and the Lord Himself put to shame the malice of his enemies. Thus, the devil constantly manages to distract us from God, so that we cleave to the creature; happy is the one who, amid temptations, increases his vigilance and prayer: he will not perish until he departs from the source of life! Elder Eleazar and the Seven Maccabean Brothers The Jews, after the captivity of Babylon, were dependent first on the Persian, then on the Macedonian, then on the Egyptian kings; Finally they fell under the dominion of the kings of Syria. Under one of these latter, Antiochus Epiphanes, they suffered severe persecution. “He robbed and desecrated the Temple of Jerusalem, destroyed the Holy Books, forbade the Jews to celebrate the Sabbath and other holidays, and even forced them to leave the faith of their fathers and worship idols, and subjected those who remained steadfast in the faith and law of God to cruel torture. At this time there lived a pious and wise elder Eleazar from the venerable class of scribes. He was taken by the pagans and forced to eat food forbidden by God's law. The elder, preferring death to life bought by violating the law, refused, and when those who knew him begged only to show the appearance of eating meat sacrificed to idols, he answered them: “Hypocrisy is unworthy of my advanced years: the young men, seeing ninety-year-old Eleazar breaking the law, will be tempted by this example, and I, having saved my life for a short time, will disgrace my old age. What good does it do me now to get rid of human torment? I will not escape the hand of the Almighty, either in life or in death. If I now die courageously, then I will appear worthy of my old age and will set a good example for young men on how to die for the sake of God’s law.” “Such speech irritated his tormentors even more, and his firmness was crowned with a martyr’s crown. The example of Eleazar was followed by seven brothers, the young Maccabees, together with their mother: the torturer forced them to taste pork, contrary to the Law of Moses - but neither torture with whips nor other torments could shake their firmness. The eldest of them said to the king: “What do you want from us? “We are ready to die rather than break the laws of our fathers.” Irritated, Antiochus ordered his tongue to be cut off, his skin to be torn off, his arms and legs to be cut off, and him to be fried in a hot frying pan. His mother and brothers, looking at his torment, encouraged each other to die courageously. When the first gave up his breath, they took the second one to torture: having torn off the skin from his head, they asked him: does he want to fulfill the will of the king? - But he denied and suffered the fate of his brother: he gave up his ghost, confessing his trust in God and the hope of resurrection and eternal life. With his last breath, he said to the king: “You are taking away our temporary life: but the King of peace will raise us, who die for His law, in the resurrection of eternal life.” The third answered the threats of the tormentor fearlessly: “I received life from God - I am not afraid of torment for His law: from Him I hope to receive eternal life.” The king and those with him were surprised at the young man’s firmness, but nothing could shake their cruelty - and he was tortured. The fourth one suffered the same fate. With his last breath, he turned to the king and said to him: “We, who are killed by men, receive resurrection from God: but for you there will be no resurrection into eternal life.” The fifth, being given over to torment, looked at the king and said to him: “Although you are invested with power, you are a mortal man like us: do not think that God will leave us without protection and you without punishment. One day you will know His power over you, and His wrath will be revealed on you and on all your kind.” The sixth, dying, said to the king: “We suffer and die for our sins: but you, enemy of God, do not hope to remain without punishment!” Meanwhile, the mother fearlessly looked at the suffering of her sons and exhorted each of them not to faint in the faith of their fathers and to bravely go to death. “I don’t know,” she said, “how I conceived you in my womb; I did not give you soul and life, I did not form your members: but the Creator of the world, who created the human race. “Do not spare your life for the sake of His laws: He will again revive you!” Antiochus, having experienced the failure of threats and torment, wanted to persuade the youngest of the Maccabees to idolatry with flattery and promises, promising with an oath to shower him with honors for this: but the young man did not hesitate. Then the tormentor ordered his mother to try with her advice to persuade him to fulfill the royal will. “But she said to her son: “My son! Have pity on me, who carried you in my womb, fed you with my milk and raised you with such care until this age! Look at heaven, at earth and at everything that fills them - all this and the human race were created from nothing by God: do not renounce it for the sake of torment, but die fearlessly and show yourself worthy of your brothers, so that I will be honored to meet you with them in the villages of eternal joy.” She barely had time to say this when the young man turned to his tormentors and told them: “What are you waiting for? “I do not listen to the king’s commands, but I obey the law given to our fathers through Moses.” “But you, who have caused so much evil to the people of Judah and raised your hand against the servants of the Lord, will not escape the wrath of God.” Our brothers, after short-term suffering, received eternal life, according to the promise of God: and you, according to the righteous judgment of God, will be punished for your pride. Like my brothers, I betray my soul and body for the laws of my fathers, calling on the mercy of God on Israel: and one day you will be brought to consciousness through suffering and torment and confess that there is only one God. I and my brothers will bear the wrath of the Almighty against all our people.” Hearing this, the king became furious and ordered the boy to be given over to the most severe tortures. Their valiant mother followed her sons. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His many mercy begot us for a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, for an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, reserved in heaven for your sake” (1 Peter 1:3–4). And in the Old Testament, the hope of resurrection and eternal life shone like a radiant star: and we have unshakable consolation and a guarantee of it in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Blessed is he who seeks in her consolation among difficulties and sorrows, consolation and approval in feats of self-sacrifice, protection from the fear of death. Pity are the imaginary lucky ones of this world, living without the hope of eternal life and in only fleeting and impermanent blessings and joys, seeking satisfaction of the desires of the soul created for immortality! You might be interested in: