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XIV. Israelis in Egypt 59 At the time when the Midianites sold Joseph on the slave market, Egypt was already at a high level of prosperity and power. It was led by up to fifteen royal families or dynasties, which successively controlled its destinies. Now the dynasty of the so-called shepherd kings or Hykses reigned. It belonged to a foreign people who forcibly invaded Egypt and seized the throne of the pharaohs. It is not known exactly where the conquerors came from and to which tribe they belonged; but one can think that these were nomads who lived in the Syrian steppes and Arabian deserts and constantly disturbed Egypt with their raids and attacks. Egypt had to carefully protect its northeastern border from attacks by nomadic peoples, and for this purpose several fortifications and a solid wall like the Chinese one were built there. But nomadic tribes still penetrated beyond the wall and, with the permission of the Egyptian government, settled in the northeastern corner of the country. While state power was strong, it successfully repelled external attacks and kept the foreigners who settled in the Delta in subjection; but the representatives of the last dynasties, due to their weakness, released power from their hands, the country was divided into several independent fiefs, the rulers of which weakened the state with their rivalry. The Hyxes took advantage of this, attacked Egypt and, with the help of foreigners, conquered the country and took possession of the throne. The first period of Hyx rule was marked by all sorts of manifestations of wild barbarity, robberies and murders; but little by little the enlightenment of the conquered country exerted its civilizing influence on the conquerors, they submitted to it, and the court of the new dynasty completely took on the usual Egyptian appearance with all the pomp and luxury of the pharaohs. The Hyxes had their own religion, but they also tolerated the religion of the Egyptians, and even officially patronized it. Sutekh, the national god of the conquerors, was identified with the Egyptian god Set, and churches were built to him, like other Egyptian deities. The sphinxes dating back to this time have a completely unique type of face, different from both the Egyptian and the Jewish ones, and, obviously, represent the type of this foreign people. Under one of the representatives of this dynasty, Joseph apparently ruled Egypt. Only under the pharaoh of the shepherd dynasty was it conceivable that an insignificant slave, who came from the shepherds despised by the natural Egyptians, could be appointed to the post of the supreme ruler of the country. The name of this pharaoh is Apophi or, in Greek pronunciation, Apophis. Under him, Egypt completely recovered from the turmoil and again enjoyed complete internal well-being. But at the same time, in the natural Egyptian princes, who were subordinate to the pharaoh, a political movement began to be noticed, aimed at liberating the country from foreigners. Anticipating danger, the shepherd dynasty naturally cared about strengthening its position and patronized foreigners, distributing to them the best plots of land for settlement in order to find loyal allies in them in case of need. This policy can also explain the fact that Pharaoh Apophis gave one of the richest districts of the country to the newly arrived settlers. The shepherd dynasty under Joseph reached its highest degree of prosperity and strength. But soon then, precisely towards the end of the reign of Apophis, in Thebes, the ancient capital of the country, the movement of the native princes towards independence began, and under the next pharaoh it turned into an open uprising, which set as its goal the overthrow of a foreign dynasty and nationality. A stubborn and lengthy struggle began. The Hyxes defended their position step by step, but under pressure the forces had to retreat further and further to the northeast, until they were completely expelled from Egypt. A new, eighteenth dynasty reigned, the ancestor of which was Aames or Amosis I. It chose Thebes as its residence as the center of the country's political independence, and gave Egypt a number of great pharaohs, under whom it reached the pinnacle of its external power and internal prosperity. The reign of this dynasty was especially marked by the development of military power. The military spirit, encouraged by success in the struggle for independence, did not stop at this success alone and sought satisfaction in conquests. Long oppressed by foreigners, the Egyptians now seemed to be trying to take revenge on all foreigners with their oppressions and conquests. Significant masses of Hyxes, who preferred slavery on the banks of the Nile to exile in the desert, were subjected to all kinds of oppression and had to perform heavy earthwork and construction work assigned to them by the new government as slaves. Not content with this revenge within the country, the pharaohs tried to atone for the shame of foreign rule with the splendor of conquests in the surrounding countries. Egyptian regiments bravely began to penetrate beyond the northeastern border and paved a clear road deep into Asia. Over the course of several reigns, the country resounded with military glory. War booty enriched the country, but this wealth was naturally concentrated in the hands of the government and the upper classes, where they developed extreme luxury. For the masses of the people, all these brilliant campaigns were a grave disaster, since they increased military and other state duties, which fell entirely on the lower classes of the people. The situation of the common people has always been difficult in Egypt. Long before the settlement of the sons of Israel in Egypt, the banks of the Nile were resounding with the groans of the oppressed people, and bloody uprisings against their oppressors took place more than once. Recently, many broken and disfigured statues of Pharaoh Cheops have been discovered, which, obviously, was the result of one of the similar uprisings of the oppressed people against this great builder of the pyramids. But, of course, the uprisings entailed even greater oppression. People were taken in batches to the mines, forced to dig new canals, build new pyramids. In such a depressed situation, the people could not find consolation in religion, because the best truths of the latter were carefully hidden by the priests as their exclusive property, and therefore they sought satisfaction in immorality. For all their endurance in work and neatness in life, the Egyptians were extremely incontinent in low passions. Brought up under the immoral influence of the Egyptian religious cult, which consisted of the deification of sensuality, the people themselves indulged in an immoral life. All sorts of unnatural vices were commonplace in him. Large annual religious holidays were usually marked by the wildest revelry of sensuality, which was especially distinguished by the immoral festivals in Bubasta and Dendera, and they were so popular that hundreds of thousands of people gathered at them. The Israelites lived in Egypt amid such political and social conditions. But they occupied an exceptional position in the country. As a tribe related to a high court dignitary and under the patronage of a pastoral dynasty, which gave special political privileges to the pastoral peoples inhabiting the northeastern outskirts of the country, they enjoyed a better social position than the mass of the native Egyptian population. In the free and fertile fields of Goshen they quickly grew in number and wealth. Jacob's family grew into a whole tribe, which, according to the number of its ancestors, was divided into twelve or thirteen tribes, which retained the consciousness of their blood unity. The primacy between them should rightfully belong to the tribe of Reuben, but Jacob, in his dying blessing, deprived him of his birthright, because he “went up to his father’s bed and desecrated his bed.” The primacy between them, as naturally, was occupied in Egypt by the tribes whose ancestors were the sons of Joseph - Ephraim and Manasseh, but among them the tribe of Levi especially rose, which, preserving the traditions of its fathers more than others, achieved moral primacy among its people and subsequently took the position of the priestly class in its people. Taking advantage of significant independence, the Israelis developed their own form of self-government in accordance with the characteristics of their tribal life. Each tribe had at its head a special representative or prince and was divided into several smaller groups, each of which had its own special elder. Life in a foreign country developed in them a sense of unity among themselves, and it found expression in meetings of representatives of the people. On every important event affecting their lives, the representatives or heads of the tribes and smaller groups met in conference and discussed their position under the circumstances. The Israelis enjoyed the same independence in religious terms. It must be borne in mind that from the time of the death of Patriarch Jacob, as the last great representative of the patriarchal era, all direct communication with God ceased for entire centuries: there were no revelations, no visions, no prophecies - i.e. all those ways through which the will of God was previously communicated to the chosen race. Under such circumstances, the only source of knowledge of God remained for the sons of Israel - the tradition of their fathers, which they undoubtedly adhered to. The chief manifestations of this patriarchal religion were circumcision, sacrifice, and the observance of the Sabbath, and there are traces which indicate that the Israelites firmly maintained them. We have direct evidence of the observance of the rite of circumcision by the Israelites in Egypt (Ex. 4:24–26; ​​Joshua 5:5). As for sacrifices, their observance is indicated by the very request of Moses to release the people into the desert “to offer sacrifice to the Lord God,” although at the same time there is evidence that in this regard there were subsequently serious obstacles from the idolatrous Egyptians (Ex. 8:25–28). Finally, many traces indicate the observance of the Sabbath or day of rest, so that the decree of collection e.g. manna in the desert on Fridays in double size, so that there would be enough for Saturday, as well as the very form of the law on the Sabbath in the fourth commandment (“remember the Sabbath day”) themselves suggest that the Sabbath, as an institution, already existed and was observed by the people. Then, in the Sinai legislation, many legal provisions clearly indicate the existence in the Israeli people of many of those religious and moral customs and institutions that were only confirmed and clarified in this legislation. Thus, we sufficiently see that during their stay in a foreign land the Israelites preserved the fundamental truths and institutions of the religion of their fathers. But there are also other indications that make it possible to determine the degree of vitality of faith in them, not only among the people in general, but also in individual tribes and even individuals. These are exactly the names that parents gave to their children during their long stay in Egyptian slavery. It is known what importance was generally attached to names in the patriarchal era. Every more or less important spiritual, religious-moral or family event was certainly reflected in the name given to a famous person or place. – Sometimes, in accordance with the position of one or another person in God’s economy, God himself changed people’s names (as is known from the history of Abraham, Sarah and Jacob), and for the most part, the assignment of a name, especially to children, served as a direct expression of one or another spiritual disposition of parents, who expressed in the names given to their children either recognition of the highest favor and co-presence of God, or simply their feelings, hopes and trials (as is noticeable, for example, in the names of the sons of Joseph, Moses, etc.). In view of this, the remarkable circumstance that among the representatives of the tribes such names as Eliab (God is my father), Elizur (God is my strength), Eliasaph (God is my gatherer) and others of the same kind are constantly found, clearly shows how deeply paternal traditions were rooted in the hearts of the sons of Israel, and how vividly they had the memory of the God of their fathers and His special providence for the chosen race. It is especially remarkable that such names are most often found in the tribe of Levi. These are the names: Eliasaph - God is my gatherer, Elizathan - God is my protector, Zuriel - God is my rock, Eliazar - God is my helper, Amram - kindred to the Most High, Jochebed - the Lord is her glory, etc. This circumstance alone sufficiently shows that the tribe of Levi was distinguished by its special devotion to the traditions of its fathers and especially firmly preserved the faith of its fathers, and thus deserved the fact that it became an instrument of providence in the liberation and revival of the people. Thus, both in terms of the place of settlement in a remote district, and in the nature of their entire social and religious life, the Israelites lived apart from the rest of the Egyptian population. Nevertheless, time necessarily brought them closer to the natives, and traces of this rapprochement were reflected in many aspects of their lives. The high civilization of Egypt gradually conquered the nomadic newcomers, and they gradually became accustomed to settled life and took up agriculture and crafts. At the same time, Egyptian sciences and arts penetrated their environment, traces of which clearly appear throughout their subsequent historical life. In Egypt, they borrowed knowledge of geometry and medicine, and also learned the art of making various haberdashery items from gold, silver, wood and stone, preparing expensive and multi-colored fabrics, cutting and cutting precious stones. But a particularly important acquisition for them was the art of writing, the knowledge of which is not mentioned in the patriarchal era, while Moses, upon leaving Egypt, already wrote laws for the people, which the people were obliged to read. Many Egyptian words have entered the language itself. Jewish measures are called by Egyptian names. The Nile, according to Egyptian custom, in the biblical text is simply called yeor - river; the month Adar closely resembles the Egyptian name also for the month Atyr; adon - the name of the ark of the covenant and teba - the name of the basket in which Moses was saved - are purely Egyptian, and many other words and customs reveal Egyptian influence on the Israelites. Unfortunately, the Egyptian influence on the Israelis was not limited to external life, but over time it was reflected, in part, on the internal religious and moral life. Thus, from some subsequent decrees and facts, it can be undoubtedly concluded that the Israelites, in part, succumbed to the immoral customs that distinguished the common people in Egypt, and even adopted some forms of idolatry. Of course, it was not the magnificent religious rituals that distinguished the religious life of the upper classes of Egypt that could have had a special influence on them, but those simple, often crude rituals of the Egyptian folk religion, which the Israelis often witnessed. As an example, we can point to the idolization of the golden calf in the desert, as well as the direct prohibition that took place after the sacrifices in the tabernacle to offer sacrifices to idols (Lev. 17:7), a prohibition later confirmed by Joshua, who directly said: “deny the gods whom your fathers served beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:14). Thus, being in a foreign land, which subsequently led to political slavery, threatened to plunge the Israelis into spiritual slavery. It is very difficult to determine how long the Israelites enjoyed peace and prosperity after Joseph’s death. But one can probably think that their situation changed for the worse with the accession to the throne of a new natural Egyptian dynasty. “A new king arose in Egypt who did not know Joseph,” and at the same time could not recognize the rights of his descendants to those special privileges that they enjoyed under the previous dynasty. The name of Joseph, as a dignitary of the overthrown dynasty, could be unknown to him (or he could simply not recognize his merits). At the same time, it is clear with what feelings the king in his position could relate to the Israelis. They were privileged subjects, enjoying the special favor of the overthrown dynasty, under which they owned one of the most important districts of Egypt, commanding the approach to the very heart of the country. Naturally, he transferred his hatred and enmity towards the deposed dynasty to her beloved tribe. But other, purely political circumstances could also influence the development of special hostility towards the Israelis. The struggle of the Egyptian princes with the shepherd dynasty and nationality took place primarily in the Goshen region, where the Hykses, entrenched in fortified camps, long repelled the pressure of the Egyptians. In this struggle, the Israelites also had to take some part, and it is not incredible that they supported the side of the Hykses, as a people related to them in tribal characteristics, and as a dynasty to which they owed so much. They could not expect anything from natural Egyptians, since for them every shepherd was an “abomination,” and all shepherd tribes were held in contempt by them. This alliance between them and the Hyxes made them political enemies of the Egyptians, and when the Hyxes were finally expelled from the country, the Israelites had to pay the natural pharaohs for their treason with slavery. Pharaoh's fear that the Israelites, as a numerous and strong tribe, in case of war could unite with the enemy and arm themselves against the Egyptians, had valid grounds and was confirmed by the past history of Egypt. The Hyxes conquered Egypt precisely with the help of shepherd tribes, who, like the Israelites, with the permission of the pharaohs, settled in the northeastern districts of the country and “allied with the enemies during the war.” And so, in purely state interests, a policy of pressure and oppression begins towards them. First of all, of course, the new government deprived the Israelis of the advantages and liberties that they enjoyed under the previous dynasty; but then it moved on to their positive oppression, and began to “exhaust them with hard work.” In this case, there was no need to artificially invent these works: they appeared as a natural need in the very place where the Israelis lived. After the expulsion of the Hykses from Egypt, it was necessary in the future to protect the country from the invasion of semi-savage foreigners, and therefore the government found it necessary to build several new fortifications in this outskirts, and the free labor of the Israelis was used for these heavy earthworks. The work was obviously hard labor, and the biblical historian talks about these works with bitterness. “The Egyptians with cruelty,” he says, forced the children of Israel to work and made their life bitter from hard work on clay and bricks, and from all field work, from all work to which they were forced with cruelty. So they “built Pharaoh Pithom and Rameses, cities for stores,” i.e. border fortresses with storerooms for military supplies. With each new reign, the burdens for the people increased, and not only the Israeli, but also the Egyptian. The pharaohs seemed to be trying to surpass each other with their military glory and the grandiose buildings and palaces with which they decorated their residences, and the more famous the pharaoh was, the more brilliant his reign, the more the people groaned under the yoke of backbreaking work and duties. Exhausted workers were taken in batches to the quarries, forced to cut out huge blocks of granite and drag them with incredible efforts to the construction site; they were forced to dig and lay new canals, make bricks and knead clay and lime for the buildings being erected; to raise water from the Nile into canals to irrigate the fields - as can still be seen today on the banks of the Nile, where naked workers, like machines, work all day under the scorching sun, raising water from the river to carry it through the fields. In a word, “they were forced to do all kinds of work with cruelty,” under the cane blows of the inevitable overseers. Despite, however, all the oppression on the part of the government, the young people quickly increased in number and strength, and under the impression, perhaps, of the constant military processions of the Egyptian troops through the land of Goshen, they developed a passion for belligerence, which troops of brave hunters satisfied with raids on neighboring countries. So, a party from the tribe of Ephraim raided the Philistine lands and stole livestock. It is clear that such inclinations could not but inspire fears in the government that this warlike people, embittered by oppression, could cause great political difficulties in the event of war, or could forcefully leave the country and deprive it of free labor. Seeing that work, the most backbreaking work, was powerless to undermine the growth of the young people, the cruel government of the pharaoh decided to resort to the extreme measure that Eastern despotism is capable of. First, a secret command was issued to midwives to kill newborn male babies; but when this command met a silent protest in the moral sense and conscience of the representatives of obstetrics in ancient Egypt and remained unfulfilled, the enraged Pharaoh repeated this command for the entire people and especially for the royal servants and detectives. And so, the groans and cries of mothers joined the groans of the people under the weight of work, but among these groans and cries of the Israeli people, their great deliverer, Moses, was born. XV. Moses, his upbringing in Egypt and his stay in the land of Midian. His calling at Mount Horeb 60 Among the Israelites during their stay in Egypt, the tribe of Levi, as shown above, remained especially devoted to the faith of their fathers. Among this tribe lived the humble family of Amram and Jochebed 61 . They did not stand out in anything special, except, perhaps, for the fact that they preserved the faith of their fathers stronger and more holistic than others and tried more than others to introduce it into their children - the girl Mariam and the boy Aaron. This was a difficult time for all the people. The Egyptian policy of oppression has reached its highest development. The despotism of the pharaohs sought more and more new means to retard the growth of the young people and break their moral strength, and did not stop at inhumanity. A bloodthirsty decree was even issued about the killing of newborn boys, and when this decree began to be carried out, a second son was born to Amram, bringing terrible family grief instead of family joy. The boy was unusually handsome, and the unfortunate mother hid him from the bloodthirsty gaze of the pharaoh's servants for three months. But it was impossible to hide it any longer, and she decided to take a desperate step. She made a basket out of reeds, coated it with asphalt and resin so that it would not allow water to pass through, and, placing the baby in it, with prayers and tears she lowered the precious basket into one of the canals of the Nile, overgrown with reeds, entrusting it to Providence and the easy supervision of a twelve-year-old girl, the sister of the poor boy. Papyrus reed, now found only much further south along the banks of the White Nile, at that time also grew along all the wide canals of the northern Delta, where the Israelites lived and where the summer residences of the Pharaoh's court were located in the newly built cities. With its foliage, the reed could protect the boy from the scorching rays of the sun, and at the same time, covering the river, it provided a convenient place where the court ladies could bathe, without compromising female modesty. All these circumstances served as instruments of God’s supreme providence. At this very time, Pharaoh's daughter went out to bathe and found a basket with a crying baby in the reeds. The princess's kind heart sank in pain at the sight of the unfortunate fate of the abandoned child. She realized that he was an innocent victim of her father’s cruel decree against the Israelis and, relying on the strength of her father’s love for herself, she decided to save him and even adopt him. She took a nurse from the Israeli women, who turned out to be the mother of the child Jochebed, and thus the Providence of God directed the child’s everyday basket to historical greatness and worldwide fame. When the baby grew up, the princess took him into her palace, officially adopted him and gave him the name Moses, “because, she said, I took him out of the water.” The biblical narrative gives no details of Moses' early life at Pharaoh's court, and there are only faint indications in tradition. Thus, Josephus says that even at three years old he was surprisingly tall, so that when he passed, everyone involuntarily stopped to look at him. The news of his beauty is confirmed by later biblical testimony that he was “beautiful before God” (Acts 7:20). At the same time, he was “taught in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,” i.e. received the highest education that was available to the priests and upper classes of the country, who kept all scientific and higher religious knowledge secret from the people, and in general “was strong in words and deeds” (Acts 7–22). Despite his belonging to the royal house, Moses was not constantly in close relations with members of the royal family. The time of his education in the famous school of “Egyptian wisdom” at the church of Iliopolis, if only he studied there, and the periodic moves of the court to distant Thebes for a long time and often separated him from the pharaoh’s family. But what alienated him most from this court was his deep sympathy for his suffering people. From the luxurious chambers of the pharaoh's palace, it was even more painful for him to look at the humiliation and slavery in which his half-blooded people were, and the groan of his brothers was heard more clearly. At the sight of the misfortunes of his people, the splendor of the gilded palaces became disgusting to him, and he went to the wretched hut of his parents to calm the storm of his indignant spirit. He “would rather suffer with the people of God than have temporary, sinful pleasure,” and therefore he even “refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter” (Heb. 11:25, 24). But among the people themselves, he saw their suffering even more closely, and one day, in a fit of indignation, he killed an Egyptian overseer who was cruelly punishing an Israeli worker, and buried him in the sand, trying to hide the traces of his involuntary murder. Rumor, however, managed to spread about this, and Moses was threatened with the death penalty, prescribed by Egyptian laws for murder. As a result, he had to flee the country. To more easily escape the pursuit of Pharaoh's detectives, Moses, in all likelihood, headed to Pelusium or some other border city along the line of the great fortified wall, and through it penetrated into the desert. Having left the country, he headed to the southern part of the Sinai Peninsula, which is a mountainous triangle more than 200 miles in direction from north to south. The northern part of the peninsula was occupied by the Amalekites, and the southern part by the Midianites, who descended from Abraham through Keturah. The connection of common origin gave him confidence in a ceremonial reception, and also, perhaps, aroused the hope of the possibility of an alliance against the Egyptians, if the Israelites tried to free themselves from slavery. Having reached the main camp of the tribe, which was usually located near some well or spring, he actually met a friendly welcome from the head of the tribe, to whose daughters, who tended his flock with patriarchal simplicity, he showed courtesy and help. The simplicity of the environment in which he now found himself exuded patriarchy and freedom. Its owner was both a sheikh and an emir of his tribe, i.e. its civil and religious head, who as a result bore two names - Jethro and Raguel, according to both positions. “Moses enjoyed living” here and married one of Jethro’s seven daughters, Zipporah. But the name he gave to his first son from this marriage showed that his thoughts were on the banks of the Nile, his heart there, among his oppressed and groaning people. He named his son Gersham, “because, he said, I have become a stranger in a strange land.” And only the second son was named in memory of the salvation of Moses from Egypt, Eliezer, “because, he said, the God of my father was my helper, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.” The country in which Moses had to spend many years, namely the mountainous peninsula of Sinai, was especially suitable for hiding him from the outside world with its detachment, and at the same time, with its wild desertness, setting him up for sublime thoughts and preparing him for the great service ahead of him. At its northern limits stretch white limestone hills. To the south are sandstone hills, usually of medium height, but striking in their amazing variety and brilliance of color, together with the bizarreness of their outlines. But the hills soon give way to the mountains of Sinai, which fill the southern end of the peninsula, presenting masses of primeval rocks rising at their summits 9,000 feet above the surface of the sea. Taken as a whole, the Sinai Peninsula is one of the wildest countries. The mountains rise from a distance in red and gray masses, pointed rocks of porphyry and granite. On all sides lie heaps of dark gray ash from extinct volcanoes or rock fragments. Waves of rocks, with a greenish sheen, rise naked and menacing; clumsy, wild ridges, like towers, rise above black and brown masses of stones, which seem to be deliberately broken by giant hammers of giants. The southern node of these mountains has long been considered a sanctuary. Thus, Mount Horeb, when Moses arrived to settle near it, was already called “the mountain of God.” In this sanctuary of the mountains, awaiting the time when, according to God's destined plans, Israel would be ripe to move towards its liberation, and at the same time, unconsciously preparing for the great feat ahead, Moses spent no less than forty years. During his constant marches with his father-in-law's herds, he could become familiar with every valley and path, every gorge, hill and every mountain of the whole country; with its population, both native and those who worked in the Egyptian mines; with every spring and well, and with the peculiarities of every kind presented by the terrain, which all together constituted, in the highest degree, an important preparation for leading the people, after their liberation from Egypt, to a safe haven and great sanctuary of the future long stay. In addition, during these years of spiritual peace, his own spirit, thanks to detachment from the world and close solitary communication with God and nature, gradually strengthened and purified. Moses' preparation for his great feat, as for any high goal, took place slowly and gradually. But then the time came when, according to God’s intentions, he turned out to be ready for a great work, and was rewarded with revelation 62. The first revelation took place to him in the Sinai desert, among the mountains of Horeb (“dry” mountains, as the vast heights of the Sinai group are generally called), when he was tending his father-in-law’s flock. The mountains, which, according to the testimony of I. Flavius, even in the eyes of the Arab tribes were surrounded by an aura of special holiness and were called “mountains of God,” looked at him with menacing grandeur from all sides. He followed his herd of sheep and goats, looking for vegetation along the ledges of rocks, in the gorges of narrow valleys or along the banks of random streams, thinking little about where it would lead him. Wild acacia and thorns of all kinds covered here and there the bare ledges and the hot soil of the ravines. But suddenly the heat of fire, similar to that which burned Israel in the crucible of slavery, appeared among the branches of one of the thorn bushes in front of him: Moses looks in surprise - “the thorn bush burns with fire, but the bush does not burn.” When he came closer “to look at this great phenomenon,” a voice was heard from the bush, in which he involuntarily recognized the voice of God. Commanding him to take off his sandals, for the place on which he stood was holy, a mysterious voice revealed to him a new and closest relationship between God and His chosen people and entrusted the confused shepherd with the terrible task of being His prophet and deliverer of the people from the slavery of Egypt. Having revealed to the trembling Moses his terrible name of “Jehovah” (Jehovah), the Lord sends him to the people with news of the upcoming liberation. “Go to your brothers and the children of Israel,” continued the Divine voice, “and say to them: Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever; so call Me from generation to generation.” All other gods are simply “elilim” - “nothing”, have no existence and are only the invention of man. Jehovah alone, by His very name, proclaimed Himself that He is the only Existing Living God. Moses had to announce to his brothers that this Jehovah God, remembering His covenant with Abraham, was ready to free them from slavery and lead them to the mountain where it was this Divine voice that spoke thus, and He there would give them laws as His people, and then lead them to the good land that He promised to their fathers. Involuntarily frightened by an assignment so lofty and at the same time so difficult, Moses naturally wanted to receive special assurance of God’s co-presence with him before appearing before the powerful Pharaoh or trying to awaken the oppressed people from apathy. But he is also given this assurance. The revelation was confirmed to him by two signs, which showed that he stood in the presence not only of Jehovah, but also of Almighty God, and of which each contained a special meaning. The hand, stricken with leprosy and then healed again, indicated the power with which Moses could free the people who were considered lepers by the Egyptians. The shepherd's staff, first transformed into a serpent, which was the Egyptian symbol of the evil spirit (Typhon), and again transformed into its previous state, became the rod of Moses and the rod of God, like a scepter in the management of the people entrusted to it and an instrument of miracles that contributed to the liberation of the people and defeated their enemies. True, Moses senses another obstacle to the successful completion of the great work. He is not articulate, he is tongue-tied. But even in this he is given the assurance that his brother Aaron will speak before Pharaoh instead of him, and he can only act through him as a representative of God. He will only have to lead, and Aaron will express his instructions in proper words. In relation to the people he was, so to speak, to replace God, and in relation to Aaron to be the same as God is in relation to His prophet, whom He inspires. Thus, he has a powerful Defender and Patron, who will be the main Deliverer. The people will be delivered not by the skill or intelligence of the leader, but only by the power of Jehovah. This deliverance must be so much the work of Jehovah alone, that the people must, in all subsequent ages, look upon it as a guarantee that He had chosen them as His people out of pure love and compassion for them. Then Moses decided to return to the banks of the Nile, especially since there “all who sought his soul had already died.” When Moses set off on a journey, during which he received a terrible reprimand for failing to circumcise his son, he met his brother Aaron in the desert near Mount Horeb, and this meeting of brothers who had not seen each other for so long not only mutually encouraged their spirit, but also filled their hearts with joy and hope in God. Moses told his beloved brother of the divine messenger he had received to carry out a great undertaking; for his part, Aaron conveyed the same thing. The latter, who constantly lived with his people and knew their life and mood closely, could inform Moses that the Israelites, their brethren, finally, after many years of cooling, again burned with jealousy for the faith of their fathers, so that one could hope for their assistance in the execution of any plan for their rapid liberation from Egyptian slavery and from the proximity of hated idolatry. There was no need to wait long for proof of this. All the elders of Israel, having been gathered for a meeting and having received news of the approaching event, joyfully accepted this news, and through them, with the speed of lightning, it spread across all the tribes, all the tribes and families, the people raised their heads and were filled with joy. The elders reported to the great brothers that “the people believed” them and rejoiced that “the Lord visited the children of Israel” through his chosen messengers and “bowed down” in grateful hope. Then all that remained was to communicate the will of God to Pharaoh and ask him for the liberation of the people, and the liberating brothers went before the face of the proud monarch. XVI. Intercession with Pharaoh and Egyptian executions. Preparing for the outcome. Easter 63 When Moses again appeared on the banks of the Nile, the main oppressor of the people of Israel was no longer alive and the throne passed to his heir - a spineless but cruel despot, who with his stubbornness subjected the country to terrible disasters. The most favorite residence of the pharaoh of this time was the city of Tanis or Zoan, which lay on one of the northern canals of the Nile, in the region of Goshen. It was a city of columns, statues, sphinxes and decorations of all kinds, which generally distinguished the residence of the pharaohs. The magnificent palaces were the place of constant court feasts and rejoicings, which were in stark contrast to what was happening outside their walls, where the people groaned from backbreaking work and duties. Moses and his brother Aaron came to the palace as a representative of this people. Given the state carelessness of the pharaoh, who hardly had the opportunity to know the actual state of his state and judged it only by the court pomp surrounding him and the servility of the court flatterers who extolled the glory and power of the pharaoh's throne, the appearance in the palace of some daring representatives of an insignificant, despicable foreign tribe could only cause the pharaoh to smile with contempt. To the request of Moses and Aaron to release the people of Israel into the desert to sacrifice to the Lord, Pharaoh arrogantly, although not without complacency, replied that he did not know any of their Lord and would advise them not to indulge in idle unrest among the people, but to go and mind their own business. “Why do you, Moses and Aaron, distract my people from their work? Go to your work,” he said, and with that he sent out the intercessors for the oppressed people. Pharaoh, obviously, did not yet understand the full importance of the impending event, but he saw that some kind of illegal movement had begun among the people of Israel. This movement, he thought, came from idleness, and therefore he ordered to increase work and duties. The Egyptian overseers were forbidden to give even straw for bricks to the workers, and the people themselves had to find it for themselves, wasting time, and meanwhile, they were required to make the same prescribed number of bricks, subjecting them to severe beatings and punishments for any defect in them. The people cried out even more and expressed indignation even at Moses and Aaron, considering them the direct culprits of their increased suffering. Then God, renewing His promise to lead the people into the Promised Land, gave Moses and Aaron the final commission to intercede with Pharaoh, warning them of the opposition and stubbornness of the latter, but showing at the same time that all this would only serve to reveal the omnipotence of God and force the Egyptians themselves to recognize the power of Jehovah. And so the liberating brothers again came to the palace to decisively demand the release of the people, confirming their right to do so with extraordinary signs. This time, Pharaoh was more attentive to the representatives of the Israelites, convening a court council to officially listen to their statements. To prove the truth of his claim, Aaron threw his staff on the floor, and it instantly turned into a snake, hissing and writhing. No matter how wonderful this sign was in itself, there was nothing unusual in it for Egypt. It apparently did not particularly bother the pharaoh. He called his court magicians Jannius and Jambres, and with their spells they managed to do something similar. Thus, with their first sign, Moses and his brother could not prove the extraordinary nature of their powers, and Aaron’s rod only surpassed the rods of the Egyptian magicians in that respect, that, having turned into a serpent, it devoured them. Pharaoh, obviously, only looked at this – in his opinion – “trick” of representatives of the Israeli tribe with the curiosity of an enlightened despot and was undoubtedly pleased with the similar art of his court magicians. He didn’t even want to think about releasing the people. Then a series of disasters broke out over Egypt, which in their speed and magnitude were unparalleled in the history of the country and rightly received the name of the Egyptian executions. When Pharaoh resolutely refused to satisfy Moses' just request, the first disaster befell the country; all the water turned to blood 64. All Egyptian executions are not just spontaneous in nature, but have a religious and moral meaning. They aim not only to break the stubbornness of a cruel government, but also to undermine the importance of its gods in the eyes of the people. The first execution was directly directed against the main deity of the country, Osiris, as the personification of the Nile, who turned out to be powerless to protect the country from this disaster, and his priests with their spells could only increase the disaster, also turning water into blood, and not restoring its original properties. The water turned out to be unfit for consumption, the fish died in it, and the Egyptians were forced to dig new canals so as not to die of thirst. The second plague 65, the sending of toads, was also directly aimed at undermining Egyptian idolatry, namely the cult of the goddess Hekt, “the persecutor of toads,” depicted with the head of a toad. At certain periods, toads appear in large numbers in Egypt, especially when the Nile and its canals, during a high flood, flood and flood all the swamps and lowlands that usually dry out. Toads and frogs of all kinds are born in myriads, and the ancient Egyptians turned to the goddess Hekt for help. This was the case now as a result of God’s punishment, but to an even more terrible, unprecedented degree. The “Toad Chaser” turned out to be powerless to help the trouble, and toads filled even houses and beds, which was a true disaster for such a fastidious and clean people as the Egyptians. The Magi, with their art, only intensified the disaster, which, obviously, was so unusual and severe that Pharaoh was forced to turn to Moses and Aaron for help. Here he showed the first sign of compliance, which, however, soon gave way again to the stubbornness of an arrogant despot. As punishment for this, a third execution followed, 66 and, moreover, without the warning that accompanied the first two. The soil of the banks of the Nile, like everything there, was considered sacred, and it was idolized under the name Seb or the father of the gods. Now she had to be desecrated. The whole earth turned into midges and various insects. “And there were midges on people and on livestock.” By midges (sknips), obviously, we mean not only harmless, but also poisonous insects that caused terrible suffering not only to people, but to horses and livestock in general. But, in fact, poisonous insects appeared as a result of the fourth plague 67, which brought “dog flies” to the country. These evil and poisonous flies filled the air with clouds and were a true scourge for people and animals. This was a terrible execution and, in addition to causing bodily suffering, it, together with the previous one, was also aimed at undermining Egyptian idolatry, which had special “gods of flies,” as in all the hot countries of the ancient pagan world. These gods were considered the protectors of the country from poisonous insects of all kinds, and the last two executions proved their complete powerlessness against the disaster. The country barely had time to breathe a sigh from the described disaster when it suffered the fifth plague 68, namely, a pestilence on livestock. Again, here again, the patrons of cattle in Egypt, Osiris and Isis, as well as other deities, turned out to be powerless to ward off the disaster, and it should have struck the Egyptians with all the greater horror if the bull they idolized, Apis, also died from the ulcer. In the sixth plague 69, the punishing hand of God came closer to the people themselves. The ashes thrown by Moses produced a plague that affected not only livestock, but also people. This execution was also directed against Egyptian idolatry. In various Egyptian cities dedicated to the gods Set or Typhon, red-haired people from foreign countries were sacrificed annually, and among them there were probably Israelis. After they were burned alive on the altar, their ashes were scattered by the priests in the air, as if to cleanse the atmosphere of all harmful elements. Now the ashes thrown by Moses had just the opposite effect and struck with a plague the superstitious Egyptians, and especially the priests, for whom the disaster from it was double, since according to the law it made them unclean and incapable of performing their priestly duties. No matter how severe all these disasters were, they still could not break the stubbornness of the arrogant Pharaoh and could not force him to fulfill Moses’ request. Then the seventh plague was sent. 70 This was around the month of March. The barley was earing, the flax was blooming, and the wheat, rye and spelt were still just turning green. A terrible thunderstorm swept over the fields, accompanied by devastating hail. This phenomenon was extraordinary. Although thunder and hail are not unknown in Egypt in the spring, they are rarely strong, and the current strong thunderstorm with devastating hail should have extremely increased the excitement and fear of the people of the menacing phenomena that quickly followed one after another and struck the country with various disasters. The eighth plague 71 was carried out through the introduction of locusts, the most terrible disaster for an agricultural country, especially one that had already been significantly devastated by hail. From Arabia to India and from the Red Sea and the Nile to Greece and the northern reaches of Asia Minor, the locust is the true scourge of agriculture. She flies in such clouds that she obscures the sun and completely devours all the greenery that comes her way. Unable to control her flights, she is carried by the will of the wind, and woe to the country upon which she falls. It covers the earth like snow; and even if the country had previously been a Garden of Eden, after it it will be a barren desert. Nothing can stop her flight. Fires are lit, but they go out due to the mass of her dead bodies, and the living ones continue their flight in myriads. It crowds into open doors and windows by the thousands and eats everything made of wood. Such a terrible disaster befell Egypt; and only when the locusts had done their destructive work, a strong wind from the Mediterranean carried them away and drowned them in the Red Sea. All these disasters finally seemed to shake the pharaoh. He hastily called Moses and Aaron to him and this time, with humility unusual for him, asked them to forgive him for refusing their request. But as soon as the disaster ceased, the arrogance of an eastern despot revived in him again, and he succumbed to the influence of the priests, who argued that all these disasters were simple natural phenomena, and therefore, on the basis of them, the state should not be deprived of such a large workforce as the Israelites represented for Egypt. However, other of Pharaoh’s close dignitaries, who better understood the needs and state of the country, apparently began to convince him to yield to Moses’ request, since otherwise Egypt would perish. And the pharaoh did make a concession, but with the restriction that only men would go to the festival in the desert, and the rest should all stay at home. “I’m ready to let you go, but why with the children? “You see, you have a bad intention,” he said and ordered Moses to be driven out of the palace. The execution that followed, however, forced him to become even more compliant, and he already allowed all the Israelis to go, as long as the flocks remained at home, as a guarantee that they would return from the desert. But the diplomatic negotiations, which, however, made it clear to both sides what was actually meant under the pretext of a three-day celebration in the desert in honor of Jehovah, were now supposed to take a sharper and more frank turn. Moses rejected Pharaoh's condition and said that he demanded the release of all the Israelites with all their herds to the last hoof, not to mention anything about the duration of the journey. Meanwhile, the country suffered the ninth plague 72. The sun was the supreme deity of Egypt, and it also had to reveal its powerlessness before the omnipotent and formidable Jehovah. An impenetrable darkness covered the country, lasting three days, so that people could not see each other, and all movement and all activity had to be suspended. Frightened by the terrible darkness, Pharaoh once again showed compliance. But Moses’ demand that the people take with them all their flocks again awakened the obstinacy of the enraged despot, and the audience ended with the terrible threats of Pharaoh that the daring violator of his peace would have to die if he only saw his face again. But events had already taken a completely decisive turn, and Moses could answer Pharaoh with deep irony that he would really no longer see his face. Great historical events do not happen all at once. More than a generation had passed since Moses, in an uncontrollable fit of noble indignation, killed the Egyptian overseer for his cruelty to his fellow tribesman. He thought that “his brothers will understand that God is giving them salvation by his hand” (Acts 7:25), and obviously hoped that this incident would serve as a signal for them to a general rise to the fight for freedom. But the chains of slavery ate, so to speak, into the very soul of this people, and they were deaf to the call of the liberator, who himself had to flee from the death penalty that threatened him. This, however, did not kill his hope. In the remote gorges of the Sinai Peninsula, during the hours of shepherd's leisure, he lived his great thought, but he had to wait for its implementation for many years. All his youth passed and his beard was covered with the snow of old age, and only then did he receive a divine calling to liberate the people from Egyptian slavery, and then the joyful news reached him from the banks of the Nile that his native people, under the influence of Aaron, had finally perked up and were ready to accept the liberation mission of the two brothers. It was then that the struggle described above began between representatives of the oppressed people and the despotic oppressor - a struggle in which the external disasters that struck the country in quick succession played such a formidable role. The last terrible phenomenon most of all terrified the superstitious Egyptians, and the closest dignitaries more than ever begged the pharaoh to release these despicable slaves. But the weak-willed and, at the same time, arrogant despot, agreeing to give in, at the same time again changed his mind and waited for a new disaster to befall his country, even more terrible than all the previous ones, and, moreover, one that personally affected himself pharaoh. Moses had already foreseen the inevitable outcome of the struggle and ordered everyone to prepare for action. The people had to stock up on everything they might need in the desert. Life in Egypt introduced the Israelis to the crafts and occupations of this civilized country, so that they were culturally much higher than simple nomads or shepherds, and therefore could immediately establish a well-ordered state in Palestine. But slave life, naturally, could not contribute to economic well-being. For a long time they, being free laborers, did not receive any payment for their labor, and therefore, if there were some happy exceptions of people who managed to accumulate wealth, the masses were extremely poor. Now, before leaving the country, the people had to, so to speak, immediately take payment from the Egyptians for their centuries-old labor, and everyone had to beg from their Egyptian acquaintances everything that might be necessary in the desert - clothes, jewelry, vessels and the like. The Israelis lived on friendly terms with the mass of the Egyptian people proper, since they almost equally bore the heavy share of slavery, but recent events forced the upper classes to treat the Israelis more leniently and kindly, and therefore everyone willingly gave them their things. The last fateful night has come, the last night of slavery before the dawn of freedom. Her memory needed to be perpetuated in the people's consciousness 73 . The people had to stay awake that night and perform a solemn ceremony as a sign of their liberation. Undoubtedly, the Israelites previously had annual holidays that took place in the spring. Now a new holiday was established as a sign of a great historical moment in the life of the nascent people, namely the Easter holiday, and Moses commanded to celebrate it with such rituals and in such an environment that would be forever imprinted in the people's memory. Henceforth, the new year was to begin in the month of Abib (Nisan), and Passover was to be celebrated annually on its fourteenth day. Each house must do it separately, kill a lamb and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs so that together the sweetness of freedom and the bitterness of experienced slavery are felt. Everyone had to eat it ready for departure, standing with staffs in their hands, wearing sandals, belts and bags, eating “with haste,” as required by the peculiarities of the historical moment of the liberation of the people. No one had to leave the house, but be ready - at the first sign, gather under the banners of their units to leave the country of slavery. The terrible solemnity of this night and this ritual was intensified by bloody signs on the doors, making it clear that on this night the last execution would be carried out over the despotic country. And the execution took place 74. The dawn, which shone with rays of freedom for the Israelis, illuminated for the Egyptians the terrible disaster that broke out over them that night. “And there was a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt: for there was not a house where there was not a dead man,” and in the palace itself the Pharaoh mourned his heir. The angel of death struck all the firstborn of Egypt, “from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne even to the firstborn of the prisoner, and all the firstborn of Egypt.” The pharaoh's arrogance could not withstand the final blow. Having learned about the terrible disaster that befell the country and his own home, he called Moses and Aaron at night and said to them in despair: “Get up, get out from among my people, take everything and go and bless me,” the grief-stricken Pharaoh added, as if through tears. Now the Egyptians themselves, struck by horror, hurried the Israelis to leave the country: otherwise, they said, “we will all die.” And the people set off, gathering under the banners of their elders and concentrating around the main banner, where the soul of the entire movement was located - the leader and liberator of the people, Moses. XVII. Exodus from Egypt. Crossing the Red Sea 75 The starting point of the movement was Rameses, one of those “reserve cities” that were built by the hard labor of the Israelites. Sensing freedom, the people cheerfully set off on their way. He still had plenty of everything, he had no idea about the hardships and needs that lay ahead of him, and was animated by the only thought of that promised land that flows with milk and honey, and would like to be led straight there. This last desire, apparently, was fulfilled when, after a short rest in the assembly camp, the leaders led the people straight onto the Palestinian road and, having walked towards the east about twenty-five miles along the line of a canal with fresh water leading to one of the bitter lakes, they stopped encamped at Succoth or Sukkot - “tents”, where, probably, there was a camp of some shepherd tribe. There was enough water along the entire route, but many women were probably already lagging behind, children were exhausted and sick, cattle were exhausted and died - an inevitable phenomenon in a massive and, moreover, hasty movement. In addition, apparently, timidity crept into the souls of less courageous men when they involuntarily remembered that a fortified solid wall stretched before them, and before penetrating beyond it into the free desert, they would have to meet with well-armed and disciplined troops guarding this fortified wall. The next day we had to stop in sight of the forts of Etham, one of the fortresses of this wall, “on the edge of the desert” of the same name. At the sight of the formidable bastions of the fortress, fear grew even more, and although the Israelites were still on Egyptian soil, voices were already heard among them, expressing regret that they had left Egypt: it would have been better to slave there than to die in the desert. Moses, however, knew not only the character of his people, but also what he had to meet on the way. First of all, he would be attacked by the garrisons of the Egyptian fortified border wall; but if he had managed to break through this wall, then on the other side he would not have hesitated to be attacked by the Philistine princes who were in alliance with Egypt, who would not have failed to profit from such a large booty. All this should have been avoided. Therefore, Moses, led miraculously by the pillar of cloud that preceded him by day and the pillar of fire by night, turned south from Etham and led his people parallel to the wall, at some distance from it. This movement was extremely hasty, since the fortress troops could attack at any time, and therefore during the journey they had to have less rest than they should have. Finally, not far from the Red Sea, they reached a place called Pigahiroth - “the place where the reeds grow” (“between Migdol and between the sea, before Baal-zephon”). There they could pitch tents and rest their strength among the abundant springs of fresh water and beautiful pastures. In such a movement, a deeply thought-out plan is visible. The approach to the fortress of Etham and then a quick retreat from it and disappearance into the desert could make the commanders of the fortresses assume that Moses abandoned his intention to break through the fortress wall, lost his way and got lost in the desert. When this was reported to Pharaoh, he too might have assumed that the slaves who fled from him “got lost and the desert locked them in.” News from the border fortresses at the same time should have shown Pharaoh that Moses really had the intention of finally leading his people out of Egypt, and not just temporarily staying in the desert for the purpose of performing religious rites and celebrations, as he, with his contemptuous look at the inability of the slave tribe to the sublime idea of ​​​​freedom, could assume after everything that happened between him and Moses. “What did we do?” he now said angrily to the dignitaries surrounding him. “Why did they let the Israelis go so they wouldn’t work for us?” With extreme reluctance, he even let them go into the desert for a religious holiday - he let them go only because he couldn’t help but let them go. Now, when it became known that these slaves decided to flee the country completely, we must stop them, prevent them at all costs. True, they were already quite far away; but he had cavalry that could overtake them. So he quickly ordered a pursuit. Six hundred of the best chariots were sent as an advance detachment, followed by the main forces. The Egyptian pharaohs were passionate lovers of cavalry, which was their pride and glory. Huge expenses were incurred on it, since each warrior had a special chariot drawn by a pair of beautiful, strong and fast horses. Burning with vengeance towards the despicable fugitives and anticipating the pleasure of a menacing raid by lightning-fast cavalry on the terror-stricken Israelites, Pharaoh himself set off at the head of the vanguard 76. Between the departure of the Israelis and the pursuit of them, however, of necessity a considerable amount of time had to pass. The Egyptians had such great respect for the dead that the most important state circumstances could not disrupt the entire ritual ceremony that was performed by the pharaoh in honor of his deceased son-heir. In addition, in the families of warriors, similar rituals were also performed over the deceased firstborns. According to the court ceremony, it took up to seventy-two days to mourn the son of Pharaoh, and during this time all other matters were postponed. But if the pharaoh was forced to postpone the pursuit for a long time, now all the faster he had to set off in pursuit of the fugitive slaves. He quickly equipped his formidable cavalry, and the war chariots rushed like a whirlwind with their magnificent horses, which, in the words of one ancient Egyptian monument, “were fast as jackals, with fiery eyes and with a fury like a hurricane, destroying everything.” The plight of the Israelites seemed inevitable. Meanwhile, they encamped and slowly moved towards the Red Sea. The breaking of waves on the seashore could already be heard, when suddenly clouds of dust appeared in the sky behind, making it clear that they were being pursued. Horror gripped everyone, and the desperate murmur of the cowardly against their leader began again. In view of the inevitable death, the murmur turned into accusations, in which a bitter smile of despair sounded. “Are there no tombs in Egypt because you brought us to die in the desert? the people grumbled. What did you do to us when you brought us out of Egypt? Didn't we tell you in Egypt: leave us, let us work for the Egyptians? For it is better for us to be slaves of the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” In this murmur one could hear the evil cowardice of the slaves, for whom the chains of slavery are dearer than the freedom achieved by courage and courage. One can imagine how difficult the position of Moses was. But the great leader, calm even in the presence of terrible danger, managed to calm the anxiety in time before it turned into a disastrous panic. “Don’t be afraid, stand!” - he said in a thunderous voice: “The Lord will fight for you, and you be calm.” These words had a calming effect on the masses, and they began to await their fate, which, undoubtedly, was soon to be decided. The sea was stormy ahead, and the advanced ranks of the pursuers were already appearing behind. The danger was terrible, but the Lord heard the cry of Moses and commanded the people to go forward, despite the raging waves, promising that the sea would part before them and provide a wide path for passage. And the first sign of this protection was that the Angel of the Lord and the pillar of cloud, moving in front of the camp, now stood behind it to shelter the people from the Egyptians. Night came - dark and stormy. At the direction of God, Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and a strong northeast wind began to drive the water with such fury that the sea became dry land: “and the waters parted. And the children of Israel went up into the midst of the sea on dry land; the waters were a wall to them on the right and on the left,” protecting the side approaches to the passage. The storm held up the water so much that the Israelites managed to move to the other side of the sea with all their herds, naturally hurrying under the influence of fear of the impending pursuit. Undoubtedly, it was a terrible night, as can be seen from the descriptions of it by the psalmist, who sang about this memorable event centuries later: “The clouds poured out water, the clouds made thunder, and Your arrows flew, and the voice of Your thunder was in the circle of heaven, the lightning illuminated the world; the earth shook and shook” (Psalm 76:17–19). The Israelis had just managed to move to the eastern bank when the Egyptians appeared on the western bank. What were they supposed to do? Should we immediately rush along the path that the Israelites took, or look for a workaround to take over the fugitives by land? The warriors and horses were tired from the intense march, and the night was terribly dark. But in the camp of the Israelites a pillar of fire shone, showing that they were not far away, and Pharaoh decided to immediately pursue the prey. Thinking that the storm would hold back the water for a long time and seeing the prey so close, he did not listen to prudence and with his cavalry rushed ford, following the instructions of the signal fire, which was supposed to indicate the location of the leader of the fugitives himself. Meanwhile, according to the description of Josephus, a terrible stormy downpour broke out, with thunder and lightning, and together with a gusty wind, the persecutors were involuntarily confused, who, at the same time, seeing fires lit in various places among the Israelites to indicate the path to individual units, lost their direct direction and, in confusion, somehow groped their way along the bottom. But when the army was already in the middle of the transition, the wind, by a miraculous wave of the hand of Moses, instantly changed its direction and blew with the same fury from the direction of the sea. The water that had been held back for a long time now rushed towards the shore even more violently, and foamy waves began to flood the crossing point. It was therefore impossible to go forward; but the same thing happened back, because the wheels got stuck and sown in the sand; from strong gusts of enraged horses, the axles broke and the warriors fell into the water. At the sight of the advancing waves, horror seized the Egyptians. But salvation was no longer possible. The southwest wind blew with wild force from the gorges of the neighboring mountains and furiously drove the water, which more and more flooded the crossing point. The Egyptians fought on it in despair. The desperate cries of dying people and the snoring of frightened horses, struggling helplessly in the harness of chariots stuck in the sand, presented (as one would naturally assume) a terrible picture, intensified by the impenetrable darkness of the night and the roar of the angry elements. But the struggle did not last long. The elements prevailed, and in the morning the shores were strewn with the corpses of the Egyptians who died that night, among whom, probably, was the pharaoh himself. Near the place where the Israelites reached the eastern shore of the Red Sea, a plain runs from the shore leading to a fertile oasis, still known today as Ayun Musa, “The Springs of Moses,” a quarter of an hour’s journey from the shore. This is where the Israelis probably settled down after the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea. The miraculous deliverance from terrible danger brought them into indescribable delight. This salvation could in no way be attributed to ourselves; it was truly wonderful, and the people rejoiced, glorifying Jehovah and their valiant leader Moses. Jehovah, obviously, is God above and more powerful than all gods. All hearts were filled with rapturous gratitude to God. At such great historical moments, the people's soul pours out in wondrously poetic creations, and the soul of the Israeli people was inspiredly expressed in that song of praise, which became the historical testament of the people and served as the basis for its religious and civil poetry in all subsequent centuries. Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord, I sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted, He threw his horse and rider into the sea. The Lord is my strength and glory: He is my God, and I will glorify Him, God of my father, and I will exalt Him 77. At the end of the great historical song, simple popular rejoicing and celebration began. Mariam, the worthy sister of the great liberator brothers, formed round dances and, with a tympanum in her hands, inspired women and maidens to dance, sing and play. It was the happiest day in the history of the chosen people. Such an extraordinary event, of course, could not go unnoticed in the world of that time, and legends about it were preserved for a long time among neighboring peoples. The tribes east of the Red Sea, says Diodorus Siculus, who was in Egypt shortly before the birth of Christ, “have a tradition, passed down for centuries, that one day the whole bay, during a strong low tide, was exposed to water, which stood in walls on both sides, making the bottom visible.” The Greek-Jewish writer Artapanus, who also lived shortly before the birth of Christ and wrote a book about the Jews, excerpts of which were preserved by Eusebius of Caesarea, says that “the priests of Memphis used to say that Moses carefully studied the time of ebb and flow of the Red Sea and led his people through it when the shallows were completely exposed. But the priests of Iliopolis tell this story differently. They say that when the king of Egypt was pursuing the Jews, Moses struck the waters with his rod and they parted so that the Israelites could walk on dry land. When the Egyptians decided to take this dangerous path, they were blinded by fire from the sky, the sea rushed towards them and they all died, partly from lightning, partly from waves.” The famous Egyptologist Brugsch put forward a new theory regarding the place of the exodus, which aroused considerable interest in the scientific world. He assumed that the Israelites did not take the southern route to the Red Sea, as described above, but to the northeast, towards Pelusium. Ba-al-Zephon, in his opinion, was a church on Mount Kasie, already beyond the Egyptian border wall, in the direction of Canaan. Since this road no longer leads through the Red Sea, but much to the north of it, then, according to Brugsch, instead of the biblical “Red Sea” one should read “Sea of ​​Grass”, which name was given not only to the bays of the Red Sea filled with algae, but also, mainly, to the wide and terrible swamps known as the Sirbon lakes, between Pelusium and Goshen, off the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Between these lakes and the Mediterranean Sea there is still a narrow coastal strip, which, apparently, can serve as a route of communication between Egypt and Palestine, but during storms it is flooded by the waves of the sea. It was along this path that, according to his assumption, the Israelites were led, while during the passage of Pharaoh’s army a storm arose, which began to flood the coastal strip, as a result of which the army fell into confusion and horror, lost its true direction and died in the waves. – No matter how ingenious this theory in itself is, it is impossible to accept it, and not only because it deviates far from the biblical text, but also because the latest research does not confirm it at all. The fact is that passage along this coastline is impossible, since in some places it is completely interrupted. Perhaps the coast has completely changed since that time; but even in this case it seems incredible that Moses would lead his people this way, since here he would be forced to break through the fortifications of Pelusium, which blocked the exit from the country in this place. XVIII. The Israelites' wanderings in the desert until Sin 78 Having left their camp in Ayun Musa, the people of Israel, under the protection of God and the leadership of Moses, moved towards the south - probably along the route that caravans now take from Egypt to Sinai and Arabia, not far from the sea coast, along a deserted flint road. The further we went, the more undulating and mountainous the terrain became. This was the Sur desert. For three days the people moved heavily forward, refreshed by water stored in leather skins; but the latter was finally exhausted, and the pangs of thirst began to take their toll on everyone. This was a disappointing start to a new life of freedom and was in stark contrast to what the Israelites probably expected after their miraculous deliverance from Pharaoh. Finally they arrived at the valley of Huwar, then known as Marah ("Bitterness"), and found water in it; but it turned out to be too salty and bitter 79 . Their moral education has already begun. Jehovah saved them at the Red Sea and wanted to teach them to trust in Him in the future. But this was a hard lesson and the people again burst into loud murmurs against Moses. This was truly a terrible test of their hope in the invisible Leader and Patron. But help was close, if only they had more patience and self-denial. “Moses cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet,” so that the people quenched their thirst with pleasure. Until recently they almost died of thirst; Now hunger threatened them, and in view of the new danger, the miracle that had recently been performed before them was forgotten. Fierce cries arose again against Moses and Aaron, and cries of bitter regret began to be heard from the crowd that the people did not remain in slavery on the banks of the Nile, where they sat by the cauldrons of meat and ate their fill of bread. An ungrateful and rude people, accustomed by centuries of slavery to rely on the care of their masters for their food, did not want to know that freedom required courage and initiative from them and was inseparable from trials. But he had to make sure that Moses, in any case, did not free him to starve to death in the desert and therefore soon revealed to him new, unusual for him, miraculous sources of food. In the evening of the same day, the entire area around the camp was covered with flocks of quails, and the next morning manna appeared throughout the entire area surrounding them 82. Manna henceforth served as their daily bread until they entered the Promised Land. In eternal remembrance of this wonderful bread, one measure (gomor) of manna was subsequently placed before the ark, as proof to future generations of the wonderful providence that God had for his chosen people in the wilderness 83 . The rules for collecting and using manna were supposed to teach the people not to worry much about material things, to rely on the providence of God, and the absence of its fall on Saturdays served as an indication of the need to observe the Sabbath as a day of rest, dedicated to serving God. Being fed with manna was such an unusual phenomenon that it later became synonymous with feeding with the divine word, and manna itself became a type of Christ, the Word of God, who came from heaven as the bread of life to give life to all who believe in Him. From the desert of Sin, Moses led his people away from the seaside shore. This area is even more terrible and desolate, so that the Romans, passing through it during their military campaigns, were horrified by the deserted wildness of these bare, rocky mountains. The people had to move through narrow gorges, then climb rocks, then descend into ravines - along a terrible road strewn with stones. But the hardship of the path was rewarded by the goal, the achievement of which was in mind. Nearby, near Mount Dofki, called Ta-Mafna by the Egyptians, there were the famous Egyptian mines, which served as the main source of silver, gold and other metals for Egypt. These mines were developed by the hard labor of exiles who were sent here in batches, chained and forced to perform forced labor. During the time of the oppressor pharaohs, they were overflowing with convicts and among them, undoubtedly, there were many Israelis, whom the cruel government sent here in batches to weaken the young people, who were becoming dangerous to the state. The Egyptian historian Manetho says that Pharaoh Amenophis thus exiled to the mines and quarries up to eighty thousand “lepers,” as the Israelites were undoubtedly called, who did not observe the Egyptian laws of purity. Therefore, when heading here, Moses could have in mind not only to take advantage of the Egyptian provisions and the production of gold and silver in these mines, but also, mainly, to free his suffering brothers. The small Egyptian garrison, of course, could not offer much resistance and had to leave when the people approached. From the Egyptian mines the people passed along the Mokatteb valley, where Alush was camped. This valley is known for many inscriptions on the rocks and entire images representing pictures of the wanderings of some tribe (and already an ancient legend saw the Israeli people in this tribe). The large camp was then in Rephidim, the very name of which (stopping place) indicates a long stay in it. Here again there was a murmur about the lack of water, and Moses miraculously poured it out of the rock with a blow of his rod. The miraculously discovered spring apparently became permanent, and the Israelites used water from it throughout their stay at Sinai. This source, according to the teachings of St. Paul, was a type of Christ who exudes eternal life 84. But the Israelites had to fight not only with the hardships of the journey and the shortcomings of nature, but also with hostile tribes. When they were still in Rephidim, near the Feiran Valley, the local residents intended to resist them 85. This was a Bedouin tribe known as the Amalekites, the most powerful tribe in the Sinai Peninsula at that time. In winter, they usually lived in the southern reaches of the peninsula, and in the summer they moved north, precisely to the vicinity of the Feiran Valley, where they found good pastures for their herds. Therefore, it was an extreme, vital necessity for them to drive away the newly invading people, who could take their pastures away from them. Having long been tributaries of the pharaohs, they now united with the Egyptian garrison, which had retreated from the mines of Dofki, and together attacked the newcomers. The time and place were chosen extremely well for them. The people of Israel were extremely exhausted by the hardships of the journey and adversity, and were even significantly demoralized by the grumbling and displeasure against their leader, whom they had just previously threatened to even stone. The area was squeezed by granite rocks, which made more or less correct military action difficult, and the heat was unbearable. The minute was critical. True, the Israelites were much more numerous than their enemies, but their very large number with their wives, children and herds was their main weakness, because it could most likely cause panic among the people. Moses quickly weighed all the circumstances and ordered to leave the entire convoy with their wives and children behind, and from the tribes he chose the strongest and bravest warriors who were to fight the Amalekites. The detachment was placed under the command of Joshua, whose name appears here for the first time in the annals of history. Having united with some more friendly tribes, who, in turn, sought an alliance with the Israelites against the Amalekites who oppressed them, namely the Kenites and Midianites, the Israelites inflicted complete defeat on their enemies. Moses himself stood on the mountain during the battle, observing the progress of the battle and giving miraculous strength to his soldiers by raising his hands, which signified the power of prayer and typified the power of the cross. At the site of victory, Moses erected an altar called Jehovah Nissi (the Lord is my banner), and received the promise of the final destruction of the Amalekites for their treacherous attack on the chosen people. Soon after the defeat of the Amalekites, Moses was delighted by a pleasant meeting, which was supposed to encourage him in terrible labors and trials 86. Going to Egypt, he left his wife Zipporah and two sons with his father-in-law Jethro for safety. Now that he was again near the sacred mountain, he had to see again his small family, brought to him by his father-in-law. Having learned of his approach, Moses came out to meet him, knelt down before him, touched his head to the ground, first kissed his hand, and then, rising, kissed him on both cheeks and, greeting each other according to all the rules of Eastern courtesy, they both entered the tent. Then Moses told Jethro about all the events that accompanied the deliverance of the people, and about all the difficulties that they encountered along the way. A burnt offering of thanksgiving was offered to God, a feast was arranged, at which, in the presence of Aaron and the elders, a formal alliance was concluded between the Israelites and the Midianites, linking both peoples with bonds of friendship that were rarely violated during subsequent history. Jethro's stay in the Israeli camp was marked by an important transformation in the civil structure of the people. Until this time, the people did not have a judicial system at all - for the investigation of cases and litigation that arose. All matters were directly addressed to Moses himself, who therefore had to deal with endless litigation and matters from morning to night. This order of things was extremely tiresome for the leader and inconvenient for the people. Jethro's experienced eye immediately saw the abnormality of this situation, and he proposed to Moses such a structure of the court case so that only the most important cases would reach him. He had to divide the entire people into certain parts and place a commander over each part, to whom each part turned to deal with matters arising in it. Thus, that harmonious decimal system of people's leaders appeared, which contributed so much to the correct social life of the people. And commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds, commanders of fifties, and commanders of tens were elected, who were in charge of the affairs of their units. Only major matters were submitted to the resolution of Moses, who was thus freed from petty matters and could devote himself entirely to the highest interests of the people's life. After Jethro returned to his tribe, the people of Israel moved on. In the distance one could already see the majestic heights of the Sinai mountains, where a great event was to take place not only for the Israeli people, but for all humanity, namely the proclamation and bestowal of the divine Sinai legislation. It was to these heights that Moses now led the people he had liberated. XIX. History of the granting of the Sinai legislation. Golden calf. Tabernacle. Priesthood. Number of people 87 From the Gulf of Suez, where the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, to Sinai is only about two hundred and fifty miles, counting all the twists and turns of the road, but only in the third month after leaving Egypt they could finally pitch their tents under the shade of the sacred mountain. Under the name Sinai, in fact, there is a whole group of mountains, the individual spurs of which bear different names, and determining which of them was the mountain of legislation is a difficult question of science. The most majestic of them is Mount Serbal, but in front of it there is no such plain on which the people could camp. Therefore, recently, most researchers are beginning to lean in favor of the mountain called Ras Safsafeh. It is almost as majestic as Serbal, but with the difference that in front of it lies the vast plain of Er-Raha (“Paldon”), on which the people could be located, and in general, the features of this mountain are more consistent with the details of the biblical narrative. From the plain of Er-Rakh a majestic spectacle opens up, better than which it would be difficult to choose for a great event - the moral revival of the people. In front of the camp, a sacred mountain rose in terrible majesty, the granite rocks of which rise like sheer cliffs to the heavens and from the plain appear like a gigantic altar, the impregnable throne of the Most High, whose voice could be heard far across the entire plain lying below. At its base there is an alluvial dam, exactly corresponding to the “line” that was supposed to prevent the people from “touching the base of the mountain,” and the base itself is so vertical and steep that you can really touch it like a wall. The plain is closed and constrained by mountains on all sides, but in one place it represents a large ledge, behind which the people, unable to bear the menacing phenomena on the mountain, could “retreat and stand in the distance.” A small elevation at the entrance to the plain bears the name of Aaron, and according to legend this is the very place from which Aaron watched the festival in honor of the golden calf. A path leads to the top of the mountain and it has a feature that closely corresponds to the biblical narrative, according to which Moses, descending from the mountain, heard a cry in the camp, but did not see the camp itself and what was happening in it. Indeed, anyone descending from this mountain along the path leading from it to the plain can hear sounds spreading across the silent plain, but does not see the plain itself until he finally leaves the mountain, as was precisely the case with Moses. Then there is a source nearby, which could be exactly the “stream” into which the golden calf was scattered into dust. Finally, the plain itself, which was the site of the people’s camp for almost a whole year, also abounds in pastures, which in the adjacent valleys (wadis) are particularly rich. It was here that Moses, for whom every path and every source were known here, brought his people. Among the people, this area should have aroused an all the more reverent mood because this group of mountains has long been considered sacred, and even now, religious festivals of local Arabs are held around it annually, supporting the traditions of ancient times. Having camped on this plain, the Israelites, at the inspiration of Moses, had to prepare for a great event. Jehovah delivered them from slavery, had special care for them in the wilderness, “carried them as if on eagle’s wings and brought them to Himself,” to His sanctuary, in order to sanctify them and make them His “chosen people,” “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation,” a special representative of the true religion in the world. By sanctification and strict abstinence the Israelites were to make themselves worthy and capable of accepting the covenant that Jehovah wanted to make with them. The people awaited this event with intense attention and trembling hearts. Finally, in the morning, on the third day, a thick cloud covered the top of the mountain, lightning flashed, piercing the mountain and turning it into a furnace engulfed in flames, thunderclaps rumbled, rolling from cliff to cliff and repeating themselves in multiple echoes. It seemed that all nature had come out of its usual course and was waiting for something great. “And all the people trembled,” and with bated breath they looked at the majestic and terrible sight. But no matter how majestic the spectacle itself was, even more sublime were the words that, amid the thunder and lightning on the mountain where Moses had retired, reached the ears of the people. These words were simple and publicly accessible, but filled with such deep meaning that they formed the basis of all morality and all legislation. This was the famous decalogue, those ten commandments, each of which revealed an eternal truth 88. In the first of them, Jehovah Himself was revealed to the people as God, whose miraculous leadership the Israelites already knew and whose power was manifested for their sake: it was He who led them out of Egypt, opened the way for them across the sea and overthrew the power of Pharaoh and his army. He is not a mere invention of the imagination, not a mere symbol of the forces of nature, like the idols of the pagans; not a mere distraction, like the gods of the Nile, unable to sympathize with man or lovingly descend to his needs and wants of mind and heart; no, He has already shown what a powerful helper He serves for those who rely on Him. He was now with them and spoke to them in human language. But, being so close to them and merciful, being the one living God with all the properties of personal existence, He is, however, invisible, and there is no likeness to Him either in heaven or on earth. In contrast to the idolatry of the Egyptians, to which the Israelites were also accustomed, this definition is expressed (in the second commandment) with particular expressiveness. The people should not portray Him to themselves under any idol - neither under the guise of celestial bodies, as was mostly the case in the pagan world, nor under the guise of the animal world, as in Egypt, nor under the guise of fish, as was partly the case in Palestine and Assyria. The name of Jehovah is so holy that it should not be pronounced in vain, much less should it be given to any of the vain ghostly idols or pagan gods, because in comparison with Him all other gods are mere nonentity (third commandment). The observance of the Sabbath by ceasing all work on the seventh day was an ancient custom, dating back to Adam; but now it has been confirmed by legislative force, as necessary to strengthen religious feelings, periodically restore strength and provide the necessary rest to man and animals (the fourth commandment). Respect for parents has also long been considered a moral duty of children, but this natural feeling did not yet have a higher legislative definition and therefore blatant barbarity prevailed among most peoples. Some ancient peoples even had the custom of putting their elderly parents to death or leaving them helpless. Among ancient peoples, the mother generally occupied a lower position and, upon the death of her husband, became subordinate to her eldest son. But now it was commanded that the son, even having become the head of the family, must honor his mother in the same way as he honored his father (fifth commandment). Human life was of little value in ancient times, but now the commandment was: “Thou shalt not kill.” Man is created in the image of God and therefore his life must be sacred (sixth commandment). The ancient world was drowning in lust, its entire life was poisoned by the poison of animal voluptuousness, and the gods themselves were portrayed as far from being models of chastity. Now a voice from Sinai commanded: “You shall not commit adultery” (the seventh commandment). Property is declared sacred, and theft is branded a crime (eighth commandment), as is false witness (ninth commandment). But the new law not only condemned the external evil deed, it penetrated deeper and condemned the very evil thought, commanding: “Thou shalt not covet” anything that is contrary to the basic laws of morality (tenth commandment). Sinai legislation in its basic principles was given for all future times. It laid the foundation for true morality and human dignity in the world. This was the hour of the birth of a people different from all that had previously existed in history. Simple, but deep and eternal truths about the spiritual and personal God, about reverence for parents, about chastity, about the sanctity of human life and property, about purity of conscience - all these truths were discovered or established at Sinai as a heritage to all subsequent centuries. In ancient times, of course, there were sparkles of the highest moral teaching, but they were usually the property of only a few highest minds and never reached the masses, because they were preached only in the form of abstract propositions and did not have divine approval. The Decalogue was proclaimed by God Himself with such irresistible greatness and such amazing simplicity that the truths proclaimed in it immediately became the property of the entire people, who were to spread them to all humanity. Taken as a whole, the Sinai legislation is, in its origins, extraordinary and miraculous in the history of mankind. It not only establishes the true views of the Divine and the attitude of humanity towards Him, but also establishes mutual relations between people on completely new principles. Until then, the only laws in this regard existed in which the oppressor imposed a yoke on his subordinates, the strong and rich oppressed the weak and poor. Now for the first time the laws of social equality were proclaimed. Jehovah freed all the Israelites from Egyptian slavery, made everyone free, and therefore among them all should be equal to each other. So that this legislation would not be erased from the memory of the people and would constantly be before their eyes, its main principles, namely the ten-words, were engraved on two stone tablets or tablets, which were to be preserved in the Ark of the Covenant, which was to become the main shrine of the people. A little later, however, after the conclusion of the covenant with Jehovah, an event occurred that showed how difficult it is to immediately revive a people, to elevate them to the highest level of religious life 89 . A long stay in such an idolatrous country as Egypt had the inevitable consequence that the Israelites were partly succumbed to the influence of the idolatrous cult. And not only in Egypt itself, but also in its outskirts, where various Semitic foreigners lived, the Israelites constantly saw the most gross idolatry, where the deity was constantly represented and worshiped under visible symbols, animals and idols, and there are many indications that the Israelites themselves sometimes took part in such idolatry. When the liberator of the people announced to him the sublime idea of ​​​​monotheism and called on him from now on to recognize only Jehovah, the one living personal God, then, despite the ancient belief of the fathers rooted in his consciousness, it was difficult for him to immediately rise to the height of such an abstract belief. Subsequent history was to gradually develop his religious consciousness, and those great events which he had hitherto witnessed, such as the miraculous deliverance from the powerful Pharaoh, the miraculous guidance and nourishment in the desert, and, finally, the majestic giving of the law, were to accustom the people to faith in the invisible God, who did not need any visible symbols to manifest His relationship to people. In order to draw a sharper line between idolatry and true religion, the second commandment especially expressly prohibits resorting to any images or idols to embody in them the object of worship and idolization. But among a people who for centuries had been surrounded by the crudest forms of idolatry, and after all the educational and historical events that prepared them for the highest stage of religious life, there remained a natural desire to have some visible symbol even in the worship of Jehovah. And he was not slow in fulfilling this desire, as soon as a favorable opportunity presented itself. The personal presence of Moses restrained the people from gratifying this unlawful desire; but when he retired to the sacred mountain and remained there for more than a month, then in the absence of a leader, who in the popular consciousness was perhaps identified with the invisible Deity, the people found themselves in a helpless and desperate situation. In this case, naturally, the need for some visible symbol of the deity was most strongly felt, and the people began to demand that Aaron make for them a god like those that they knew in Egypt. The people did not mean idolatry in the proper sense and wanted to idolize Jehovah, but only under some form more accessible to the people’s consciousness and familiar to them. The readiness with which the people brought gold things for this purpose shows how difficult it was for them to remain for a long time without sensual religiosity, and with what force the need for it manifested itself. Aaron, in accordance with the religious views of the people, “made a molten calf,” which was met with general rejoicing. And if Aaron had the same willpower as his younger brother, then, of course, he could easily convince the people not to take this criminal step. But he cowardly gave in to the people’s demand, and after a while the calf was ready, and a nationwide festival with a burnt offering was appointed in its honor. “And the people sat down to eat and drink, and then stood up to play.” This religious festival partly resembles the one that was usually celebrated in Egypt on the occasion of the discovery of a new Apis. After the deep mourning caused by the death of the former Apis, wild rejoicing began. Women played castanets, men played flutes, people sang and clapped their hands to the beat of the music. Voluptuous dancing began, wine was drunk without measure, and the whole celebration turned into a wild orgy of animal passions and sensuality. The camp of the Israeli people resounded with enthusiastic rejoicing, the echoes of which were heard along the gorges and cliffs of the sacred mountain of legislation, on which the great leader and legislator of the people was in sacred solitude. Having received a divine inspiration about the danger and hearing an extraordinary noise in the camp, Moses hastened to descend from the mountain. The path led from it through a closed passage, so that he could not see anything until the descent into the plain. As they descended, the noise became more and more clear, and Joshua, who was with him, expressed concern that some hostile attack might have been made on the people, but Moses clearly discerned that it was “not the cry of the conquerors and not the cry of the slain,” but “the voice of those who sing.” When he completely left the mountain and saw what was happening, he began to seethe with noble indignation. Is this people liberated to indulge in the wild revelry of idolatry? And this is after all the miracles that were performed to convince this people to believe in the invisible Jehovah as the one true God, after the majestic legislation that prohibited all idols and likenesses! After this, what significance could those tablets that he brought with him from the sacred mountain and on which were engraved the newly announced commandments, so quickly and criminally violated by the people, have had? Moses impulsively threw them away from him, and they broke. His appearance in the camp was so unexpected for the people that everyone seemed to freeze in fear and amazement. The angry appearance of the legislator and leader instantly awakened in the conscience of the Israelis a sense of their criminality, and they anxiously awaited what would happen. The moment was critical, and Moses took advantage of it to return the people to the path of true religiosity. It was necessary to tangibly show the people that the idol he made did not have any divine power in it. Therefore, Moses burned the idol on fire, ordered it to be ground into powder, and scattered it in the water that the people had to drink. He dealt with the idol as only it was possible to deal with it with the aim of humiliating it and at the same time punishing the people. But this was not enough. It was necessary to exterminate the very leaders of idolatry in the bud and bring forward the people most devoted to the new legislation in order to put them on guard over the true religion. Standing at the entrance to the camp, Moses therefore called to him all those who were zealous for Jehovah. “Whoever is the Lord’s, come to me!” he shouted. Only the tribe of Levi, the smallest among the people, responded to his call. But it was strong in spirit, and Moses commanded these faithful sons of Jehovah to destroy the idolaters. The whole camp was seized with terror, the sons of Levi passed through it, and “up to three thousand of the people fell that day.” Only through such a great sacrifice and fiery intercession of Moses did the people get rid of the complete destruction and abandonment that threatened them from Jehovah. Forty days passed after this sad event, and only then did Moses’ prayers receive an answer, in which Jehovah promised to spare Aaron’s life and again lead the people to the Promised Land. This was tantamount to renewing the covenant that had just been broken and restoring Moses to his great office as leader. He therefore resumed his former position. But just as at the burning bush he wanted to have some visible sign of divine favor and some guarantee of supreme help in a great cause, so now, with the desire for a vision of the Divine characteristic of antiquity, he asked that the renewal of the covenant be confirmed by some similar sign, and this request was granted: he was awarded a vision of the glory of the Lord. Standing in one of the clefts of Sinai, he saw the greatness of Jehovah pass by him, and heard a voice announcing His terrible presence. From this moment a new period began in the ministry of Moses. The newly hewn tablets with the decalogue carved on them served as a nationwide sign of the renewal of the covenant. Once again Moses withdrew to the sacred mountain and stayed there for forty days, but this time the people remained faithful to the covenant 90. When he again came down from the mountain, divine favor towards him appeared on him in a special mysterious grandeur and radiance that surrounded his personality. A special shine emanated from his face, so he had to wear a special veil over his face. This shine gradually faded, but it was noticed that it was renewed every time Moses returned to the camp after communicating with God on the mountain. With the restoration of the covenant, it was necessary to hasten with the establishment of a national sanctuary, which would be a place of special presence of the Divine. Until this time, such a sanctuary was the tent of Moses, but now it was necessary to build a tabernacle or a mobile church more consistent with a high purpose, adapted to the needs of a restless and wandering people 91. The tabernacle was built according to a special model, mysteriously shown to Moses on the mountain, and as a public sanctuary, it was created with all the grace and wealth that the Israelites could possess. As a movable church, it naturally could not be large in size, and was 30 cubits in length and 10 cubits in width and height. All its solid parts - pillars, beams, poles - were made of shittim wood or Sinai acacias, the only tree on the peninsula suitable for buildings and distinguished by its extraordinary strength and durability. The wooden frame was covered with various valuable fabrics, shining with the brightness of colors, as well as carefully dressed leathers, connected to each other by means of elegant golden loops and hooks. From the eastern part, an opening led inside the tabernacle, where it amazed with the richness of its decoration, among which special attention was drawn to the fabric that served as its ceiling, with cherubs embroidered on it, and where in the inner part (the Holy of Holies) was the highest shrine - the Ark of the Covenant, with the tablets of the Ten Commandments contained in it. The entire tabernacle was surrounded by a fence built from less valuable material. All the material for the construction of the sanctuary was supplied by voluntary offerings of the people. The material required was valuable and elegant, and some researchers doubt whether the Israelites could have had such a large supply of precious metals. But they forget that among the Israelites there were many rich families, and moreover, when leaving Egypt, as well as during the passage through the Egyptian mines, they could make significant seizures of the materials required for the tabernacle. The very work on the construction of the tabernacle shows that the centuries of slavery of the Israelites in Egypt did not remain culturally fruitless for them, and they took from there the knowledge of many crafts and fine arts, which later turned out to be so necessary and useful for them in religious and social-state life. The Israelites could well be proud that the elegant and luxurious work required in the construction of the tabernacle was all carried out by their own architects and craftsmen, led by the famous builders Bezaleel (from the tribe of Judah) and Aholiab (from the tribe of Dan). With the establishment of a special national sanctuary, a special priesthood was also required, as a class of special ministers of religion. This need was felt with particular insistence in view of the recent incident of the people's deviation from true worship of God. It was necessary to create a class of special zealots who would constantly guard the interests of the true religion. Until then, there was no special class of priests among the people; if “priests” are sometimes mentioned, then this name meant simply representatives of families who, according to patriarchal custom, performed divine services for the people, without having any special dedication. Now, the more strict and correct social structure of the people required the allocation of some tribe for this special service. Which tribe was most suitable for such service has already been revealed by a number of historical facts, which showed that Levino was most worthy of the honor of the priesthood; It was distinguished by the greatest devotion to the true religion, held more firmly to the covenants and traditions of its fathers, and gave the people a great liberator who led them out of the land of slavery. Finally, during the last sad event of the worship of the golden calf, it showed the greatest zeal for the covenant of Jehovah and, at the call of Moses, courageously came forward to punish the idolaters. Thus the honor of the priesthood rightfully belonged to this tribe, and it was indeed conferred upon it. The priesthood was divided into three ranks - high priest, priestly and Levitical. The first was granted directly to Aaron, the second to his sons and descendants, and the third to the entire tribe of Levi. Elevation to both ranks was carried out with special rituals and sacrifices, which were supposed to impress upon the initiates the awareness of the importance of their service. For the same purpose, they were given special sacred robes, which they had to wear during the service. The highest holiness of the new ministry, for which the family of Aaron and the entire tribe of Levi were elected, was confirmed by the terrible fate of Aaron’s sons - Nadab and Abihu, who did not treat their duties with due reverence, for which they were killed “by the fire of God” 92. The tabernacle with all its accessories, described in detail in the book of Exodus, was completed in seven months, and when the people's sanctuary was thus ready, and its solemn consecration was performed along with the dedication of Aaron and his sons to sacred service, then the work on the religious and social organization of the people was completed, and therefore the time had come to set out on their further journey. But the final weeks of this long stay were marked by two more important events. Here the Passover celebration was celebrated for the second time, and the Passover lamb was eaten according to the rules. Then, before the performance, a number of people was counted. This calculation showed that all the tribes, excluding Levi, included a total of 603,550 males from twenty years of age and above, which for the entire population would be at least two million souls. This account was based on the amount of tax collected from the people, half a shekel from each male soul, in favor of the tabernacle, while women and children were left without any census. The custom of such calculation subsequently became so ingrained among the people that an attempt by the Romans during the time of Herod to introduce a more accurate number system led to a popular uprising. A special calculation of the tribe of Levi showed that it had 22,000 male souls from one month old and above, and it was thus the smallest of all the tribes of Israel. Everything was now ready for the further journey from Sinai. On the plain of Er-Raha, almost a year before, the Israelites had camped as a simple crowd of runaway slaves, almost without any structure and only with vague religious concepts. During this stay, a huge change happened to them. They became convinced that the Egyptian gods were insignificant ghosts, and that the true God of the earth was Jehovah, the invisible and omnipotent Spirit, who was their leader and patron. When he descended onto the sacred mountain, they were overwhelmed with trepidation and horror, but among the terrible phenomena they heard words of love and benevolence, which formed the basis of the covenant they accepted. By virtue of this covenant they became a chosen people, a special kingdom of Jehovah. In accordance with this, the entire structure of people's life should have taken shape: it took the form of a “theocracy,” a government of God, in which all the basic laws came directly from Jehovah Himself and all the visible rulers of the people were only instruments and executors of the divine will in the direction of people’s life. To facilitate the actual government activities, Moses subsequently established for himself a special permanent council or senate of 70 elders, representatives of tribes and generations, which subsequently became the basis of the entire system of government of the people. Having thus been reborn morally and politically, the people of Israel, in a harmonious, specially developed order, again set out on the road - towards the Promised Land. XX. Events of a 38-year wandering in the desert. Conquest of the East Jordanian country. The last orders and admonitions of Moses; his prophetic blessing of the people and death On the twentieth day of the second month of the second year after leaving Egypt, the cloud of the presence of the Lord rose above the tabernacle as a sign of departure, and the tabernacle itself was removed from its place. The sound of two silver trumpets, prepared for this very purpose, was heard throughout the camp, and the whole camp, in the correct military order, each tribe under its own special banner, set off, as directed by the cloud. Although Moses himself knew the route along the Sinai Peninsula, to be even more confident in this regard, he invited his brother-in-law Hobab, son of Jethro, as a guide, as a native resident who thoroughly and perfectly knew the whole area, so that in this regard he could be an “eye” for the whole people (Num. 10:29–31). The Ark of the Covenant, like the highest shrine, walked in front of the camp, and its raising and stopping was accompanied by a solemn cry from Moses. “When the ark was taken up on its journey, Moses said: Arise, O Lord, and Your enemies will scatter, and those who hate You will flee from Your presence!” (Num. 10:35) And when the ark stopped, he said: “Return, O Lord, to the thousands and ten thousand times of Israel.” 93 In this order the camp moved towards the promised land. From Sinai to the southern borders of Palestine it is considered no more than three hundred miles, and therefore the Israelis could cheerfully look at the future and enjoy the hope of soon reaching the blessed land flowing with milk and honey. But this hope was not destined to come true. There is no direct route to Palestine, and it winds through the deserted gorges and valleys of the peninsula, which extremely distressed the people, forced to move along such a route with a huge train and herds. Directly to the north, the path was completely blocked by a mountain range running across the peninsula, and therefore it was possible to move only to the northeast - to the shore of the Gulf of Aqaba, which makes up the eastern branch of the Red Sea, washing the eastern part of the Sinai Peninsula 94. During their long stay near Sinai, the people had already partly forgotten about the hardships of the journey in the desert, as well as about all the miraculous signs that accompanied them on the way, and therefore, when they again saw the desert in front of them, they were again forced with incredible efforts to move forward along the rocks and sands - now climbing rocky hills, now descending into steep ravines, a faint-hearted murmur began again among them. leader. The severity of the journey, which drained strength, naturally caused a need for more nutritious and strong food than what the people could use in the desert (manna), and therefore one of the main objects of discontent was precisely the lack of meat food 95 . Murmuring first of all manifested itself among some foreigners who came out of Egypt with the Israelites, and then was transmitted to the latter. In view of the hardships they endured, they remembered Egypt. The bitterness of Egyptian slavery had already been significantly erased from their memory, and at the sight of the terrible burden of free life, they only remembered how they ate meat there from cauldrons, and in addition “fish, cucumbers and melons, and onions, and onions, and garlic.” “And now,” they cried, “our soul languishes; there is nothing but manna in our eyes.” This insane murmur caused a repetition of the miraculous supply of quails to the people, but the saturation with them was also a punishment for the dissatisfied. As a result, perhaps, of excessive consumption of meat, and also as punishment for grumbling, a terrible mortality rate began among the people. This indignation, among other things, led to the establishment of a council of seventy chosen elders, as representatives of tribes (12) and generations (58) with the aim of easing the responsibility of Moses. This camp received the name “Kibrot-Gattaa-va” - “Coffins of Lust.” In this area, the remains of an ancient camp, surrounded by an extraordinary number of graves, are still visible. A day's journey further there are traces of another large camp, where even the places of individual farms with fireplaces and devices for preparing food are visible. This place, undoubtedly, is Asirof, where the Israelis also camped: it is still called by the Arabs in ancient times “the observation point of Asirof.” At the same time, the Arabs retain a vague legend that a caravan of admirers got lost here and was forced to wander for many years in the Tikh Desert, from which the desert itself gets its name (“desert of wandering”). Since no Muslim caravan going to worship in Mecca could ever get lost here, it is quite natural to assume that the Arab tradition refers specifically to the wanderings of the Israelis here. Finally, after difficult trials and tribulations that darkened the spirit of the great leader, who was forced to endure troubles even from his sister Mariam, who was at enmity with him and reproached him for marrying an unclean Ethiopian woman, the Israelites arrived in the Paran desert. The spirit of the people kept falling, and therefore it was necessary to raise it. Therefore, Moses, at the command of God, chose twelve people and sent them as spies into the promised land, hoping that their news about the fertility of the land and wealth would awaken in the people vigor and desire to quickly move towards it to conquer it 96. They had to examine the soil, water supplies, climate, the character of the inhabitants and the strength of their cities and fortresses. It was in July or early August, when the first bunches of grapes ripen. They carried out the assignment successfully, and after six weeks they returned to the camp. But their information was far from comforting for the people. They did not deny the miraculous fertility of the land and brought huge bunches of grapes to prove it, but at the same time, they so frightened the Palestinian inhabitants with stories about the strength and gigantic growth, the inaccessibility of their cities and fortresses, that their stories plunged the entire camp into despair. This was a decisive moment in the history of the people, and the Israelis were unprepared for it. Instead of boldly and courageously moving forward, they cowardly gave in to despair and crying and were ready to elect a new leader who would lead them back to Egypt. In vain did Joshua and Caleb try to keep the people cheerful and hopeful for the successful conquest of the promised land, if only they would remain faithful to Jehovah and rely on his almighty help - the people were mad with fear, did not want to listen to any arguments and were even ready to stone the daredevils. This sad event decided the fate of the people. The Lord was angry at the cowardly unbelief of the Israelites, and only the fiery intercession of Moses saved him from destruction. But after this, Moses himself saw that the people he had liberated remained cowardly and unfaithful slaves even after liberation, and that therefore they were unworthy of the promised land and must perish in the desert. Only the next generation, already born and raised in freedom, will see and take the land that was only a dream for its ill-fated fathers. With a heavy heart, Moses was again forced to lead the people back into the depths of the Sinai deserts, in order to make them more worthy of a higher destiny through the hard school of almost forty years of wandering. “According to the number of forty days,” said the Lord, in which you searched the earth, you will bear the punishment for your sins forty years 97, a year for a day, so that you may know what it means to be forsaken by Me.” The biblical narrative provides only a little information about the history of the 38-year wandering. It was a silent school of labor and all kinds of trials, from which the people had to emerge renewed and reborn. It is easy to get an idea of ​​the life of the Israelis in the desert from the life of the Arabs now wandering on the Sinai Peninsula. Depending on the time of year, they moved with their herds to different places on the peninsula, moved from one plain to another, and partly occupied themselves with crops on small plains that were convenient for farming. The hardships of this life for such a large people were incredible. Either they were scorched by unbearable heat, or blinded by the sand of a murderous sirocco, and when winter captured them on the heights of the peninsula, their camp was often covered with drifts of snow. There must often have been a shortage of food and healthy water. All these hardships were the reason that the number of the people did not increase at all, but on the contrary, by the end of the journey there were two thousand fewer male souls than there were when setting out from Sinai. The desert, naturally, was a school of not only physical, but also moral education. During the entire journey, unusually strict laws were in force, mercilessly punishing every violator of religious or social regulations. Not only death was punished, for example. blasphemy, but even less serious crimes. So one man was stoned because he was collecting wood on the Sabbath day 98 . It was necessary to accustom the people to the exact fulfillment of the law given at Sinai, and therefore all violators of it were punished mercilessly. If individual non-followers of the law were punished in this way, then, of course, those who consciously and criminally rebelled and outraged the people against the provisions of the law should have been punished with even greater severity. This was the case in the well-known case of Korah (from the tribe of Levi), Dathan and Abiron (from the tribe of Reuben), who made an open indignation against the legislator and, especially against the establishment of the priesthood, as a special dignity assigned to only one class 99. They demanded recognition of the universal priesthood. The religious protest, as always happens, quickly turned into a political one, and they began to rebel against the leader himself, refusing to obey him. When Moses called them to his court, they boldly answered: “We won’t go. Is it not enough that you brought us out of a land flowing with milk and honey to destroy us in the wilderness? and do you still want to rule over us? This time the outrage took on enormous proportions. Two hundred and fifty elders joined the rebels. When the admonition from Moses turned out to be useless in pacifying the rebels, he appointed a nationwide test to verify the correctness of their claims. By the command of God, Moses and Aaron, on the one hand, and Korah with their accomplices, on the other, were to appear at the entrance to the tabernacle with their censers, and then the voice of God commanded the first to separate from the national assembly in order to destroy it. “And they fell on their faces and said: God, God of the spirits of all flesh. One person has sinned, and You are angry with the whole community?” Then the Lord commanded to separate only from Korah and his accomplices, and the terrible judgment of God befell them: “the earth was divided under them, and the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the people of Korah, and all their property, and they perished from the midst of the community.” Then “fire came out from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men who brought incense” with an unauthorized claim to the priesthood. When even after this the unrest did not subside among the people, who began to blame the leaders for the destruction of the people, then, as punishment for this murmur, a special defeat began among the people, from which another 14,700 people died. This incident showed that a simple establishment is not enough for the people; it must be confirmed by a visible sign, and this sign was given in the fact that of the twelve rods of the representatives of the tribes, only Aaron’s rod blossomed, which was a clear and miraculous confirmation of his high priestly dignity 100 . Decades passed in wandering through the Sinai desert. The generation brought out of Egypt gradually died out, despairing of reaching the promised land. It showed itself unworthy of it, and therefore had to give way to a new generation, brought up in the labors and hardships of the desert. Only such a generation, tempered in labor and obedience to the law, could courageously face numerous enemies and clear the promised land from them. And Moses finally led this new generation to the borders of Canaan. What a huge period separated him from the moment when for the first time, back in the brilliant palace of the pharaohs, the thought of liberating his people flashed! Then he glowed with the hope and courage of youth. For forty years he was then forced to live his great hope, until finally it came true. He brought “his brothers” out of Egypt, from a miserable crowd of runaway slaves, he transformed them into a people, gave them a law and a social structure. But alas, the generation he freed turned out to be unworthy of freedom and the land that was intended for his possession. And so the leader, already white-haired, had to wait another forty years before his hope could be realized. With numerous trials and sorrows from the obstinate and ungrateful, stiff-necked people, it is not surprising that finally the once bright and indestructible hope in Moses himself was shaken. When one day (near Kadesh, in the Qing desert) the people again began to murmur against him because of a lack of water, 101 and Moses again had to miraculously pour it out of the rock, his confidence in the possibility of a miracle had already changed, and although he really did pour out water from the rock, he did it with a feeling of irritation and despair. This incident decided his fate, and he, together with his brother Aaron and with the entire older generation of the people, had to lay down their bones in the desert. The new generation had to be led by a new leader. From the camp of Kadesh, where Moses had dashed all his hopes with his rod in irritated distrust, and where his sister Miriam had also died, 102 he led his people with a heavy heart to the borders of Palestine, which he himself was not destined to enter. And as soon as he set out on his journey, a sad event took place, which was a sad harbinger of the imminent implementation of God's judgment on himself 103. To the northwest of the rocky ruins of the city of Petra, the rocky Mount Or with its two pointed peaks rises high above the surrounding hills. On one of these peaks, the great high priest of the people of Israel, Aaron, breathed his last, in the arms of his son and successor Eleazar and in the presence of a truly loving brother, who had been a guiding star for him throughout his life. The majestic mountain was a worthy place for such a person to die. She was a symbol of the greatness of his spiritual life, which was entirely dedicated to the people. From the mountain a marvelous spectacle opened up onto the desert, which was the site of the ill-fated people’s forty-year stay, and there, to the north, in the vague blue of the distance, even the hilly soil of the promised land could be seen. The poor tomb on the top of this mountain is recognized and revered by the local Arabs as the tomb of Aaron, although there are signs of its later origin. After a thirty-day stop under the canopy of Mount Hor, which became the grave of Aaron, the people had to move south again, bypassing the land of the Edomites, who did not agree to let the Israelites pass through their possessions. This bypass, of necessity, was again difficult, and the people again began to be “cowardly” and murmur against Moses, and for this they were punished by the attack of poisonous snakes, from the bite of which many people died 104 . The only salvation from this disaster for the Israelites was in the sign of faith, depicted for them in the form of a brass serpent, which was a symbol of future deliverance, according to the words of the Savior himself: “and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:14, 15). But, starting from the eastern gulf of the Red Sea, with each camp the Israelites moved closer and closer to the borders of the promised land 105. So they passed through the lands of Edom and Moab and approached the land of the Amorites, who lived on the eastern side of the Dead Sea, in the space between the rivers Arnon and Jabbok. According to custom, an embassy was sent to them with a request to allow the Israelis to pass through their land, but the warlike Amorite king Sihon resolutely refused this and marched with an army against the new newcomers. The meeting took place at Jaaz, and Sihon was decisively defeated, so that the Israelites took possession of all his cities. The same fate befell the owner of the next land - Og, king of Bashan, whose land the Israelites also took possession of. Thus, the entire country on the eastern side of the Jordan River fell to the Israelites, and this river alone separated them from the Promised Land. But before the final possession of this land was taken, there had to be a final conflict between the chosen people and the pagan world - a collision that was to finally decide the fate of both and establish a definite relationship between true religion and paganism, as well as between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world. Israel had to learn that the pagan peoples not only represented a hostile political force towards it, but also that paganism, by its very essence, was hostile to the kingdom of God. They are incompatible with each other, and therefore Israel should not have any communication with paganism, and it cannot even tolerate its very presence on the same land. This deeply important lesson was taught to the people of Israel on the eve of their entry into the Promised Land by the remarkable story of the pagan soothsayer Balaam 106 . After decisive victories over kings Sihon and Og, the entrance to the Promised Land was completely open to the Israelites. Enemies who could have blocked the way into it were either left behind or scattered. And now “the children of Israel stopped on the plains of Moab, near the Jordan, opposite Jericho 107. But this success of Israel finally aroused extreme irritation among the Moabites, whose king Balak, after dubious neutrality, decided to oppose the newcomer people, who, in his words, “now devoured everything around, like an ox devouring the grass of the field.” But at the same time, bearing in mind the fate of kings Sihon and Og, he knew how dangerous it was to oppose the Israelites with weapons in hand. Therefore, he resorted to a new means, and in alliance with one of the Midianite tribes, he turned to the then famous soothsayer Balaam, offering him huge gifts so that he would curse Israel with his magical power and thereby weaken him against the weapon of Balak. Balaam lived in Pephora, on the Euphrates River, in the homeland of Abraham, and therefore he retained, in part, knowledge of the true religion and even the memory of the promise to Abraham and his seed. But as a soothsayer, he was a representative of the pagan world and for rich gifts, despite suggestions and warnings from above, he agreed to Balak’s proposal. Already on the very way to Valak, Balaam received a new warning from a dumb donkey, who, speaking in a human voice, “stopped the madness of the prophet.” But he “loved the wages of unrighteousness” (2 Peter 2:15,16) and was ready to disregard any warning for it. Having learned of his approach, King Balak rode out to meet him and gave a brilliant feast in his honor. Then the work of the curse began. Balak led the soothsayer to a mountain dedicated to Baal, from where there was a view of the Israeli camp. Seven altars were built there and a rich sacrifice was offered. Just before the curse, Balaam still hesitated to commit such a wrong deed and asked God, surrendering himself to His complete will. And the will of God triumphed over the lover of unrighteous reward. Instead of a curse, Balaam pronounced a solemn blessing to Israel, and concluded his first word with a sublime wish: “may my soul die the death of the righteous, and may my end be like theirs!” The astonished and angry Balak, reproaching the soothsayer, took him to another mountain, Pisgah, so that from there he would try to curse his enemies, but Balaam from this mountain again uttered a blessing to Israel. Balak tried once again to lead the soothsayer to the third mountain, to the top of Peor, but from there Balaam uttered an even more sublime blessing, containing the prediction that “the seed of the Israelite people will be like spring waters, his king will surpass Agag 108 and his kingdom will be exalted,” and concluded with the words: “He who blesses you is blessed and he who curses you is cursed.” And when the anger of the ill-fated Balak was kindled, Balaam concluded his involuntary blessings with an explicit prophecy about the coming of the Messiah. “I see Him,” said the inspired Balaam, but now not yet; I see Him, but not close. A star rises from Jacob, and a rod arises from Israel, and smite the princes of Moab and crush all the sons of Seth. He who comes from Jacob will take possession of the city" 109 . Having predicted the future fate of the historical peoples of that time, Balaam “went back to his place,” and Balak, having suffered complete failure in his insidious plan, had to find new means to fight Israel. But Balaam again helped him in this, who, having lost his “unrighteous bribe” in one case, obviously wanted to get it in another. On his advice, the Moabites tried to turn Israel away from their main fortress - Jehovah - with the temptations of sensuality, and the temptation was too great for such a fickle people 110. He completely indulged in criminal passion and began to commit fornication with the daughters of Moab (and especially with the Midianite women), and this criminal passion led him to idolatry, so that Israel “bowed down to their gods and clung to Baal-peor,” i.e. the worst form of pagan licentious idolatry. Then “the wrath of the Lord was kindled against Israel.” It was necessary to cleanse the Israeli camp from such filth. Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the high priest, the grandson of Aaron, acted as a zealot for the truth, and pierced with a spear one arrogant fornicator along with a Midianite woman, after which there followed a general beating of all the fornicators, of whom 24,000 people died. Phinehas, for his pious zeal, was given the promise of an eternal priesthood in his descendants. But soon the righteous judgment of God came upon the adviser himself for his evil deed. By command of God, the Israelites were to exterminate the Midianites, and in the ensuing massacre Balaam was killed. But before this vengeance on the seducing people, important preparations had already been made for entering the Promised Land. For this purpose, a new population census was carried out, necessary for the correctness of the upcoming division of the land. According to this calculation, it turned out that the tribe of Levi increased by seven hundred people, and all the rest decreased in number by 1,820 people, so that the entire number of the people was determined at 601,710 males fit for war. But this was already a new generation, born and raised in the desert. Of the old generation, only Joshua and Caleb survived - as a reward for their fidelity to God’s covenant. On the threshold of the promised land, Moses remembered with sadness that he himself was not destined to enter it, and God announced to him his imminent death 111. After an unheard prayer for the abolition of this decree of God, Moses asked for a successor and, at the direction of God, conferred on Joshua the title of leader of the people - in the presence of the high priest and the people. Then final orders were made for the possession and division of the promised land. Since the tribes of Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh, especially rich in livestock, asked Moses to allow them to remain in free pastures on the left bank of the Jordan, the leader deigned to their request, making them promise to help the other tribes in the fight against the common enemy. The remaining tribes, upon entering the Promised Land, had to completely cleanse it of the Canaanite idolaters and destroy their idols, and each tribe was assigned in advance a special plot for hereditary inalienable possession. Forty-eight cities were set aside for the tribe of Levi, which was not assigned a special plot of land, and of these six cities were made places of refuge for unintentional murderers. Most of these detailed orders, apparently, had already taken place under the leadership of Joshua, and Moses himself, already feeling the breath of death on himself (although “his vision was not dulled, and the strength in him was not exhausted”), calmly indulged in prophetic contemplation and that inner spiritual life, which had hitherto been constrained in him by the worries of everyday work. Before his death, he wanted to once again solemnly repeat to the people the entire law given to them by God, and also to review all the mercies and miracles that the people had received since their liberation from Egyptian slavery. After this great legislative and moralizing conversation, in order to further instill in the people the importance of God’s commandments, he commanded, after crossing the Jordan, to inscribe them on an altar-shaped monument on Mount Ebal and, at a national meeting, to pronounce curses on this mountain against the transgressors, and on Mount Gerizim, blessings on the guardians of the law. Having once again given instructions to the people, Moses “wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi,” and commanded that this book of the law be placed in the ark of the covenant as an eternal testimony to the people. After the conversation, Moses sang a prophetic song: “Listen, O heaven, I will speak; and listen, O earth, to the words of my mouth.” It depicts all the good deeds of God, to which the people so many times responded with sins and crimes, and it ends with a prediction of the coming of the time when the pagans will rejoice with the people of God and jointly glorify the wonderful works of God “with the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb” (Rev. 15:3). But now the end has come. Moses had to part with his people. Therefore, he blessed it for the last time, expressing in his blessing to each tribe its future destiny. In this blessing, special significance is attached to the tribe of Levi, as chosen for sacred service, and in general the same thing is repeated that was expressed by Jacob in his dying blessing. But before his death, he wanted to take a look at least from afar at the promised land - the subject of his many years of hopes. Therefore, from the plains of Moab he climbed to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which towered above the Jordan in front of Jericho. It offered a majestic view. To the east the hills undulated, stretching into the endless distance of the Arabian steppes. To the southwest, the Dead Sea sparkled in the gloomy depths, and to the north, the Jordan meandered like a blue ribbon. Beyond the river rose the peak of Mount Gerizim, beyond lay the plain of Esdrilon, behind which Tabor and Hermon rose like giants in different places, and directly to the west even glimpses of the great Mediterranean Sea could be seen. Here it is - the promised land, which the Lord showed him all. “And the Lord said unto him, This is the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, To thy seed will I give it. I let you see it with your eyes, but you will not enter it. And Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And he was buried in a valley in the land of Moab opposite Bethegor, and no one knows the place of his burial even to this day.” So, the Israelites lost their great leader and legislator, and they mourned this loss for thirty days. A feeling of orphanhood gripped them all. He was not only their liberator, but also their father and educator. With his legislative wisdom, he raised them to the level of a well-ordered social life, gave them laws and religion, thanks to which they became spiritually a light for the peoples of the ancient world. His love for his people was endlessly selfless. He had the right to say about himself that he cherished them as a nurse cherishes a child. His patience in governing an obstinate and ungrateful people was amazing. How many griefs and the most severe insults he had to endure from the people he liberated; but he, being “the meekest of all people,” generously consigned everything to oblivion and himself, with fiery prayers, tried to turn away the righteous wrath of Jehovah. He was a spiritual giant, with a gigantic mind and infinite kindness and meekness of heart, a great lawgiver and holy prophet. “And Israel no longer had a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, by all the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt before Pharaoh, and over all his servants, and over all his land, and by the mighty hand, and by the great wonders which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel” (Deut. 34:10–12). But Moses was only a representative of the religion of the law - a preparatory stage for the more perfect religion of grace. Therefore, he did not consider his work and his law final, but directly in his prophetic inspiration he predicted about another, higher Prophet who would replace him with the gospel of the New Testament religion of grace. “A prophet from among you, from among your brothers, as the Lord your God will raise up for you, Moses said to his people, “Listen to Him.” Pointing to this place, the Savior of the world said: “Moses wrote about Me” (John 5:46). In his life and work, Moses, as a prophet, legislator and leader of the Old Testament church, was a prototype of the great Prophet, Lawgiver and Head of the New Testament church - our Lord Jesus Christ. XXI. Law of Moses. Theocracy. Tabernacle and associated institutions During the period of biblical history described, a profoundly important change took place both in the state of the chosen race itself and in God’s attitude towards it. Before this period, the chosen race consisted of individual patriarchs, who successively transmitted to each other the promises they had received and the pledge of true religion entrusted to them, receiving at the same time explanations, confirmations and additions in the personal appearances and revelations to them of God or His holy angels. Now the chosen family has multiplied into a whole numerous people, which, partly under the influence of Egyptian slavery and the surrounding idolatry, and partly from the natural coarsening in their feelings as a result of long-term alienation from direct communication with the God of their fathers, had lost the ability to such communication, and therefore it was necessary to establish a new way of relationship. For this purpose, the Lord God, who appeared to Moses and through him aroused in the people the consciousness of true religion and the promises associated with it, after liberating the people from Egyptian slavery, again entered into a covenant with him, and the expression of this covenant with the people was the Sinai legislation. The purpose of the covenant was to set the people of Israel apart from the rest of mankind and to make them a chosen kingdom in which the seeds of salvation could be preserved and grown, destined subsequently to spread to all mankind. When the people of Israel were at the foot of the sacred mountain, the Lord spoke to them through Moses: “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I carried you as if on eagle’s wings and brought you to Me. Therefore, if you will obey My voice and keep My covenant, you will be My special possession above all nations, for the whole earth is Mine. And you will be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Ex. 19:3–6). “All of you stand today before the Lord your God, the rulers of your tribes, your elders (your judges), your overseers, all the Israelites, your children, your wives, and your strangers who are in your camp, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, to enter into the covenant of the Lord your God and the covenant with Him by oath, which the Lord your God is making with you today to make you today His people, and He shall be your God” (Deut. 29:10–13). “Let there not be among you any man or woman, or clan, or tribe, whose heart will now turn away from the Lord your God, to go serve the gods of the heathen nations” (Deut. 29:18). The main goal of establishing a special “kingdom of Jehovah” is, as can be seen from the above passages, the preservation of the true religion, the teaching of the worship of the one true God, as opposed to the idolatry of other nations. In order to preserve the true teaching of God, Jehovah enters into an agreement with the people on the conditions, so to speak, that He - the King of the whole earth - becomes primarily the king of the Israeli people, receives supreme power over them, becomes their legislator, whose decisions he is bound by accept the people and preserve them sacredly. If the Israelis voluntarily agree to recognize Jehovah as their Lord and King, will keep His covenant and fulfill the laws, recognize Him as the one true God and worship only Him, then Jehovah, being God and the supreme ruler of the whole world, of all the nations of the earth, will take the people of Israel under His special protection, will rule them with special laws, will ensure for them the use of the invaluable advantages of the true religion and will give them, as beloved and chosen to the people among all the peoples of the earth, all the blessings of freedom, peace and prosperity. The totality of such relations between Jehovah and the people is “theocracy” or “divine rule” - in the highest religious and moral meaning of the word. As the Ruler or King of His chosen people, the Lord God had to have a special place of His presence among the people, and the tabernacle became such a place. According to its structure, the tabernacle was divided into three parts: the outer court, the sanctuary and the Holy of Holies. The outer court was a regular quadrangle, with a space of 100 cubits in length and 50 in width; it was surrounded on all sides by a fence five cubits high and had an entrance door on the east side. The entrance door was twenty cubits wide and was covered with elegantly embroidered and multi-colored curtains. At the front of the courtyard was the altar of burnt offering, on which all sacrifices were offered except the sin offering, which was offered outside the camp. This altar was a box 5 square cubits wide and 3 high; it was made, like all the main accessories of the tabernacle, from shittim wood, lined with beaten copper and had a copper grate inside for firewood, and on the sides there were rings for carrying it on poles. The elevations jutting out at the corners, the so-called “horns,” were a particularly important place, holding onto which served as an expression of the desire to completely surrender to the mercy of God, as well as ensuring inviolability and security for people seeking salvation from vengeance. Between this altar and the tabernacle itself there was a copper laver, which contained water for the priests to wash. Then the door led to the tabernacle itself, precisely to its first compartment, the so-called sanctuary. It occupied two-thirds of the entire space of the tabernacle and represented the second (after the outer court) step in the gradual approach to co-presence with God. It contained three special accessories: 1) an altar of incense, located in the very middle of the sanctuary, 2) a meal on the right, and 3) a lamp on the left. The altar of incense (like a table, 2 cubits high and 1 cubit wide and long) was overlaid with gold and had rings on the sides for carrying it on poles. In it, every morning and evening, the incense of fragrant herbs was brought - first by Aaron and his sons, and then by the priests, who took turns performing their worship, and on the most important occasions - by the high priest. The incense fire was taken from the altar of burnt offering, and its lighting was a symbol of the priest’s intercession before God for the people, who at that time were praying in the courtyard of the tabernacle. Bringing “alien” fire or arbitrarily appropriating this priestly service was considered a great crime. Nadab and Abihu were killed for this very crime. The meal was an oblong table with legs - 2 cubits in length, 1 in width and 1 l/2 in height. On this table were twelve incense-strewn loaves, six in a row. These breads, which were called showbread because of their offering to Jehovah, were changed again every Saturday by the priests, who ate the old ones in the sanctuary, and no one had the right to eat from them. On the left or south side of the altar of incense stood a lamp made of cast beaten gold and weighing a whole talent. It was like a tree with six branches, which, together with the main trunk, made up seven separate lights. The lamps were lit during the evening offering, and the main lamp was unquenchable. The lamp illuminated the entire space of the sanctuary, but its light did not penetrate through the dense curtain that separated the second and holiest part of the tabernacle from the sanctuary - namely the Holy of Holies, which occupied one third of the entire space of the tabernacle. The interior of this compartment was immersed in impenetrable, mysterious darkness, and it contained only one, but the most sacred item, namely the Ark of the Covenant. It was also made of shittim wood and was a small box (1 l/2 cubits in length and 1 l/2 in width and height), which was lined with pure gold on the outside and inside. On a cover made of pure gold were two cherubim with faces bowed towards each other and wings touching, and between them was the very throne of Jehovah, “who dwelt between the cherubim.” This place was also called the place of propitiation, because there Jehovah was revealed on the great day of atonement as the God who forgives iniquity, crime and sin. Inside the ark were the tablets of the covenant, and next to them a golden vessel with manna and Aaron's rod that blossomed. Gold rings at the lower corners of the ark were used to carry it on poles while traveling. As a place of co-presence of God, the tabernacle was the church of the Old Testament church, and as a result, with its entire structure, it clearly represented the Church of Christ, as a place where humanity, redeemed by Christ, entered into the closest communication and unity with God. The very entrance to the tabernacle from the east meant that the Old Testament church was still awaiting the appearance of the sun of righteousness - Christ. Along with Jews and pagans, pagans could enter its courtyard, and this foreshadowed the future calling into the Church of Christ of all the descendants of Adam, i.e. all peoples of the earth. The altar and laver that stood in the courtyard of the tabernacle depicted: the first the universal sacrifice - Christ, who opened the entrance to the kingdom of heaven for all people, and the second served as an image of the font of baptism, through which we enter the New Testament Church. The sanctuary, in which only priests could stand, depicted true Christian believers. The lamp, the table with the showbread and the altar of incense typified Jesus Christ, who enlightens, nourishes and lifts up our prayers to God the Father. The Holy of Holies, into which only the high priest could enter once a year with sacrificial blood, meant heaven itself, where Christ the Savior entered with His blood for us before the face of God. The Ark of the Covenant with the tablets of the Ten Commandments was, as it were, the very throne of the Lord God, who spoke His holy will to people. The entire Sinai legislation served as an expression of the will of God, which in its individual decrees is divided into religious laws, moral laws and civil laws. The essence of religious laws is expressed in the first four commandments, which make up the first tablet. They define the true relationship of man to God, and to strengthen it in the popular consciousness, external institutions were established, which, grouped around the tabernacle, consisted of sacred persons, times and actions. The sacred persons were chosen from the chosen people to dedicate them to the exclusive service of God. They made up the entire tribe of Levi, and, corresponding to the three parts of the tabernacle, were divided into three degrees - Levites, priests and high priest. The Levites were simple clergymen who were appointed to correct the lower duties at the tabernacle. When moving, they had to carry the tabernacle with all its accessories, monitor the order, cleanliness and safety of sacred objects and vessels; prepare the necessary materials for the sacred ceremony and take care of the receipt of proper income for the maintenance of the tabernacle and its institutions. All male members of the tribe of Levi, except the family of Aaron, between the ages of 30 and 50 were considered Levites. They were divided into three classes, according to their ancestral origin from the three sons of Levi - Gerson, Kohath and Merari, and each class was assigned special duties in serving and especially in moving the tabernacle. They entered the ministry through a special initiation, which consisted of their purification, ordination and sacrifice. All the sons and then the descendants of Aaron, worthy of this sacred title due to their moral and physical qualities, were priests. They were dedicated to their service through sprinkling with sacred myrrh mixed with blood. They had the responsibility to offer sacrifices at certain times in the courtyard of the tabernacle and incense in the sanctuary, to light a lamp in it every evening, to change the showbread every Sabbath, to blow trumpets to convene the people, to cleanse leprosy and other filth according to a special order, and to teach the people in the law of God. As clergy, they were given a special robe in which they had to wear during the priestly service. Their attire consisted of: 1) a lower linen dress - nadrag - “to cover bodily nakedness from the loins to the legs”; 2) an outer white dress, a tunic that went down to the floor and was picked up at the waist by a white one - 3) a belt decorated with multi-colored embroidery; then a round head covering - 4) a turban - completed this vestment for the priests, who were not supposed to have shoes, since the sanctity of the place of worship required performing the service with bare feet. At the head of the sacred persons was the high priest, whose highest position was assigned personally to Aaron, and then to the eldest in his family by succession. He alone was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies, which he did once a year, on the day of atonement, for the sprinkling of blood. The dignity of his highest rank did not allow him to participate in the burial or tear his clothes as a sign of sadness. Initiation into this rank was accomplished through an abundant outpouring of the ointment stored at the tabernacle onto the head of the initiate, who at the same time put on the special clothes assigned to the high priestly rank. These clothes were much more magnificent and elaborate than those of the priests. In addition to the usual priestly clothes, they also wore a special sleeveless robe or 1) an outer chasuble, knitted from purple-blue wool with an elegantly trimmed collar and decorated at the bottom with multi-colored apples and golden bells. On top of this was worn 2) an ephod or a special short garment with gold clasps on the shoulders, of which on each there was an onyx stone with the names of the twelve tribes carved on them, six on each. The ephod was fastened with a special belt, identical in color and workmanship. Then there was a special 3) breastplate or breastplate, attached with blue laces and gold rings; twelve precious stones sparkled on it, set in gold, three in a row, with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel also carved on them. In connection with the confidant there were also the mysterious Urim and Thummim (“councils and perfections”), through which the will of God was communicated to the high priest. 4) The head turban of the high priest differed from a simple priestly one not only in its greater luxury, but especially in that on the front of it there was a gold tablet with the inscription carved on it: Holy Place of the Lord. The High Priest of the chosen people, in the height and greatness of his ministry, was a type of “the great High Priest who passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God” (Heb. 4:14). In addition to the sacred persons by office, there were also sacred persons by vow, the so-called Nazirites, i.e. dedicated to the service of God. Nazarenes were required to abstain from wine and grapes, from cutting their hair and from all defilement. The Nazarite vow was given either for life, or only for a certain time. In the latter case, it was resolved by making a threefold sacrifice and burning hair on the altar. The sacred times established by the law are divided into three categories: 1) times associated with the establishment of the Sabbath, 2) great historical holidays, and 3) the day of atonement. 1) The Sabbath, as a day of rest, is one of the most primitive institutions, dating back to the creation of the world: “And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it” (Gen. 2:3). Sinai legislation only confirmed its establishment, as the commandment itself shows: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” This is a sacred rest from everyday hard work, with which a person was forced to earn his daily bread, a day of joyful rest in communion with God, who Himself “on the seventh day rested and was refreshed” (Ex. 31:17). This commandment does not encourage idle laziness, but only prohibits work for selfish purposes, serving mammon. Instead of this labor, the Sabbath should be dedicated to the service of God. On this day, the people gathered in the tabernacle for worship, which consisted of a double offering of sacrifices, and the showbread was renewed. The celebration of the Sabbath served as the basis for other solemn holidays established at specific, larger periods of time. These include: a) the New Moon Festival, which was celebrated at the first appearance of each moon, which was announced to all the people with two silver trumpets; the holiday consisted of intensive sacrifices, b) the Feast of Trumpets, celebrated on the first day of the month Tisri, which began the civil year, but which was the seventh, so to speak, Sabbath month of the sacred year. Since this day always fell on Saturday, its very observance had the character of Sabbath. Its offensive was heralded by trumpets, which is how it got its name. Then, with the expansion of the circle of Sabbath, great periodic holidays were established, celebrated several times a year. This includes c) the Sabbath year. Just as every seventh day and seventh month was sanctified, so every seventh year should have been sanctified. The peculiarity of the Sabbath year was that during it the earth itself, as entirely belonging to the Lord, had to observe the Sabbath, i.e. rest from processing. All the fruits that produced themselves were given to the poor and animals for use. The Sabbath year was also called the “year of forgiveness” because creditors were required to forgive debts to their debtors during this year (Deut. 15:1–2). In the same year, every Israeli who fell into slavery was granted freedom. The end of the seven Sabbath years was d) the year of jubilee, which took place every fiftieth year. It began on the 10th day of the seventh month of Tisri, on the great day of purification. After the solemn sacrifices, the sound of the jubilee trumpet was heard, “declaring freedom on earth to all its inhabitants.” The land was not cultivated, as in the Sabbath year. All the lands that the poor had lost over the past half-century were again returned to them as full property free of charge. All slaves were freed. Everything was restored to the same form as it was during the initial division of the Promised Land. The Jubilee year completed the great circle of Sabbath years, after which, in a certain sense, everything was renewed, and the people entered, as it were, into a new life. 2. In addition to the circle of Sabbath holidays, there were three special great historical holidays, on which all male people had to appear before the face of Jehovah (in the tabernacle or subsequently in the church) with the established offering to God. These holidays not only served to commemorate great events in the history of the Israeli people, but each of them had its own special meaning. The first of them - Easter - marked the beginning of the harvest, the second - Pentecost - its end, and the third - the Feast of Tabernacles - the time of gathering grapes and all the fruits of the year. They connected with each other so that they formed one great circle. Easter was in the first month of the holy year; After seven weeks Pentecost came, and in the seventh month came the Feast of Tabernacles. Passover served as a commemoration for the Israelites of the beginning of their deliverance from slavery and entry into the state of a free people; Pentecost is the giving of the law, and the Feast of Tabernacles represented for them a joyful comparison between settled life in a fertile land and wandering in the wilderness. a) Passover, which was the most solemn of the three annual festivals, was celebrated for seven days, beginning with the evening which ended the fourteenth day of Nissan or Aviv, the first month of the holy year. It was established on the night before the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, and although some changes occurred in its execution over time, in general it was performed in the same way as the first time it was established. Easter had the deepest educational significance. In its original sense, it was at the same time a sacrifice, in which the most innocent of the animal kingdom was offered in atonement for those guilty of sin, and a joyful celebration on the occasion of deliverance - a celebration at the same time historical, and therefore Easter was eaten with bitter herbs and unleavened bread (in remembrance of the bitterness of Egyptian slavery and hasty preparations for deliverance from it) and in the position of those hurrying on their way wanderers. In its highest meaning, it was a clear type of the redemptive work of Christ, who, like “our Passover, was sacrificed for us” (1 Cor. 5:7), and, moreover, slain at the very time of the ritual Passover, as “a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:19). b) Pentecost, the festival of the harvest, was, as it were, a complement to Easter. It lasted only one day, 50 days after Nissan, at the end of May. The interval between them was the difficult time of the harvest, and on the day of Pentecost the first loaves of the newly harvested fruit were sacrificed. This holiday was also associated with the remembrance of the giving of the Sinai Law, which took place 50 days after the deliverance from Egypt (after crossing the Red Sea). c) The Feast of Tabernacles completed the circle of annual holidays and was distinguished by great rejoicing. It was at the same time a thanksgiving for the harvest and a remembrance of the time when the Israelites lived in booths or tents during their wanderings in the wilderness. It was celebrated in the fall, when all the fruits of the earth had already been collected, and lasted seven days, ending with the eighth day of the “sacred meeting.” During these seven days (from the 15th to the 22nd of the month of Tisri), the people lived in huts made of tree branches, which is why the Feast of Tabernacles got its name. 3. Quite apart from these solemn holidays was the day of purification, the only day of repentance and fasting according to the law of Moses. It was observed five days before the Feast of Tabernacles and had the character of a solemn Sabbath, when everyone had to stop their work and “humble their souls”, under pain of extermination from the people. The rituals established for this day marked the contrition of the people for the sins committed in the previous year, and the absolution performed by the high priest in the Holy of Holies, which he entered on that very day. All the sacrifices of this day were made by the high priest himself and ended with the expulsion of the “scapegoat” into the desert, as if taking away with him the entire burden of the sins of the people. The educational significance of this symbolic rite was that the final redemption of the human race would be accomplished “not by the blood of goats and bulls,” but by “the mediator of a new covenant” by Christ. Sacred rites were inextricably linked with sacred times. They consisted almost exclusively of sacrifices borrowed from the animal or plant kingdom. Between them there is a clear distinction between sacrifices in the proper sense, when the thing offered was completely or partially destroyed in the sacrificial fire, and offerings, when the offering was only, as it were, consecrated before the face of Jehovah and then consumed by the sacrificer. The sacrifices were divided into five kinds. 1) The burnt offering, so called because everything offered was completely burned on the altar, meant that the person who offered it completely belonged to God and that he surrendered himself soul and body to the will of God. This sacrifice could be made either for the entire people, or for individuals who had to offer a sacrificial animal out of their goodwill and, moreover, in compliance with all the rules established by the law when choosing sacrificial animals, which could be a calf, a ram, a goat, and even a dove or a dove. Those who offered sacrifice laid their hands on the sacrificial animal in front of the altar as a sign of transferring their sins into it. Then the sacrificial animal was tempered, the priest sprinkled its blood on the altar and then burned the victim except for the skin, which was given to the priest. 2) The sin sacrifice was offered to atone for sins committed out of ignorance or weakness by both the priest and any of the people, as well as to cleanse them from any possible sin or defilement. 3) The guilt offering was offered for conscious sins or crimes, as well as for all actions associated with defilement. These two sacrifices differed from the burnt offering in that the meat of the sacrificed animals (except blood and fat) went to the priests, who consumed it in the courtyard of the tabernacle. 4) The sacrifice of peace was offered either as an expression of special gratitude to God, or as a vow, or as a special offering of joy and love. Of what was offered, part of it was burned, the chest and shoulder were provided to the priests, and the rest could be consumed by the offerer. 5) The bloodless sacrifice consisted of the offering of flour, oil, wine and incense. These items, in part, were added to the first four types of victims. Just as the first four kinds of sacrifices signified the offering of life to God, so this kind signified the bringing to Him of the fruits of the earth. The offerings of various fruits, the firstfruits of which were always consecrated in the tabernacle or church, come close to this last type of sacrifice, and then their general consumption as food began. All these sacred rites were performed by priests and were accompanied by prayers and established rituals, described in detail in the book of Leviticus. All the sacred rites described had as their goal the maintenance of holiness in the people, who, as the chosen ones, were supposed to be a “holy people.” For the same purpose, special laws and rituals were established, the implementation of which could help maintain holiness among the people. These are moral laws. Their essence is expressed in the commandments of the second table, and it consists in demanding from each person both personal moral and bodily purity, as well as truth and philanthropy in relation to others. In particular, these include: 1) the ancient law of circumcision, confirmed by the legislation of Sinai; 2) laws on the initiation of firstborn males; 3) about protecting personal purity through the prohibition of coming into contact with unclean objects, and 4) about separating animals into clean and unclean, with permission to eat only the former as food or sacrifice. XXII. Decrees of the Mosaic legislation regarding civil life. Education. Divinely inspired books. Chronology “Divine rule”, as the basis of the life of the Israeli people, was not limited only to the religious and moral area, but penetrated into the entire structure of civil life, both state, social and economic. In this regard, “divine rule” is reflected in the fact that Jehovah, as the King and Judge of the chosen people, established in His kingdom through a series of divinely wise laws such justice as the surrounding nations did not know and which made the Israeli state a model even in this regard. This will be quite clear from a brief review of the basic principles of state-social life, as they are set out in the Mosaic legislation, in comparison with the principles of statehood of other ancient peoples of the East 112. The essence of the statehood of ancient peoples consisted in a sharp division between rulers and subordinates, expressed in the division of peoples into castes, of which some occupied a dominant position and enjoyed all the rights and conveniences of this position in civil and economic terms, while others, on the contrary, were powerless tools of the former, serving only as a means to ensure their best position. Such injustice should not have existed in a theocratic state, where, by its very essence, there could be no division of the people into full-fledged rulers and powerless subordinates, because all its members are equally subordinate to the Supreme King - Jehovah, therefore, everyone is equal before Him, which is why everyone equally participated in the “sworn agreement with Him”: the leaders of the tribes, elders, overseers, wives, children and strangers, from the one cutting wood to the one drawing water ( Deut. 29:10–13). If in this way all members of the people participated equally in the agreement with Jehovah, which formed the basis of the state, then naturally they should all have the same rights in the state newly established for them, they should all be equal. From this follows the main consequence of the rule of God for state life - the equality of everyone in the state. And this equality is the basis of the entire life of the people - in economic, family, social and state terms, equality in land ownership, in rights and responsibilities. The legislator placed agriculture as the basis for the material well-being of the Israeli state. The choice of such a foundation or state belongs rather to the legislator himself than to the people, who in their previous history knew little about agriculture. Although the first people - Adam, Cain and Noah - were already engaged in cultivating the land, in the subsequent patriarchal period the predominant occupation was cattle breeding, which is evident, among other things, from the history of Abraham. There is news that Isaac and Jacob were also engaged in agriculture (Gen. 26:1, 2; 37:7), but, apparently, their main occupation was still cattle breeding, so that after moving to Egypt, despite the Egyptians’ aversion to cattle breeding, Joseph’s brothers answered Pharaoh’s question: what is their occupation? - They answered: “Your servants are shepherds of the sheep, both we and our fathers” (Gen. 47:3). Cattle breeding remained the main free occupation of the Israelites in Egypt, as can be seen from the fact that the brothers asked Pharaoh for permission to settle in the land of Goshen precisely because of its convenience for cattle breeding, and were famous as the best cattle breeders, so that Pharaoh himself chose from among them caretakers of his own herds (Gen. 47:4–6). The people, of necessity, also engaged in cattle breeding during their 40-year wandering through the desert. Thus, the idea of ​​​​forming a state mainly on agriculture belongs to the legislator. The motivation for this was both the geographical conditions of the country and higher state and economic considerations. Palestine in ancient times was distinguished by its extraordinary fertility, and therefore, by this, already called upon its inhabitants to use its products through the cultivation of the land. Fertile soil, of course, provides convenience for cattle breeding; but cattle breeding also requires large expanses of land, while Palestine, designated for the habitation of the Israeli people, with its two million population, did not provide such conveniences for cattle breeding. Judging by the number of people, the land plots could not be large, and therefore, in order to obtain enough fruits for food, it was necessary to engage in cultivation of the land, agriculture. But higher state considerations were of even greater importance when establishing a state based on agriculture. Until that time, the Israeli people were a nomadic tribe that did not have strong principles of citizenship - they were in a situation in which correct state life was impossible. But then he received a higher calling, became the “kingdom” of Jehovah, the chosen people, who were to serve as the guardian and disseminator of true religion and morality in the world. Therefore, nomadic life, which was neglected by the then civilized world (Gen. 46:34), could not correspond to the height of the position of the people: they had to begin a new, cultural life, and therefore, in place of the nomadic, necessarily associated with cattle breeding, they had to choose an agricultural way of life, as having more inclinations for social development. For state purposes, agriculture provides incomparably more benefits than cattle breeding: it develops a love of work - this main lever of social development - ties a person to the inhabited land, and thus, on the one hand, makes it possible to establish the correct order of civil life, and on the other, develops love for the country or patriotism, which constitutes the soul of the state - in a word, it represents all the conditions for the development and strength of the state. The legislator apparently had these conditions in mind when he founded his state on agriculture. But agriculture itself can only serve the true benefit of the state when it is based on justice, by virtue of which each member of the state should be given ownership of the land and full use of all the products of his hands. Ancient states did not know such justice: as a rule, only privileged castes owned land, and the rest of the population, not having land, necessarily became slaves of the former, cultivated their lands, and themselves received only meager earnings. Hence the amazing extremes of wealth and poverty, luxury and misery, which we encounter in ancient Eastern states even during periods of their greatest prosperity. Jehovah's Kingdom knows no such injustice. Having founded the state on agriculture, the legislator at the same time furnished it with such regulations, thanks to which it could become a source of equal well-being for all. Since all members of the people participated in the agreement with Jehovah, and since one of the conditions of the agreement on the part of Jehovah was the granting of the promised land, then, naturally, all members of the state had to use the land equally - there should have been no arbitrary seizures, no legalized advantages of some over others. Based on this theocratic principle, the legislator divided the land equally among all Israelites (with the exception of the tribe of Levi). Only large units of the people - tribes, tribes and families - were taken as the unit for dividing the land, but the division was carried out in such a way that whichever tribe was more numerous received more land, and vice versa (Num. 26:54, 55), so that, in the end, with the private division of the plots that fell to the share of one or another tribe or generation, equal plots could be obtained or each Israeli (male) as the head of a private household. Under this order of land ownership, each Israelite was the owner of a plot of land known to him, from which he could receive the entire amount of products produced by his free labor. And since land was supposed to serve as the main source of wealth, in view of the even distribution of land among the Israelites, equality in status or economic equality was necessarily assumed. In the event of a violation of equality, as was naturally expected due to the disparity in the diligence and frugality of different people, as well as many other accidents, such as the illness and death of the main workers of the family, the legislator provided for special measures to restore this equality. For this purpose, the law of inalienability of land was established, precisely on the basis that all land is the exclusive property of Jehovah, and the Israelites are only simple settlers on it. “The land is mine, says the Lord; you are strangers and sojourners with Me, therefore the land must not be sold forever” (Lev. 25:23) 113. By virtue of this law, an Israeli could sell his plot only until a certain period, until the year of jubilee, in which the sold plot was again returned to the first owner, and thus equality in land ownership was restored. With this order of things, equality in wealth could not be significantly disturbed at all, and, in any case, extremes of wealth and poverty, an agricultural aristocracy and a landless proletariat could not arise, as was the case in other states of the East and especially in Egypt. Many other decrees and institutions in the Mosaic state were aimed at maintaining this order, for example. the establishment of a Sabbath year, in which the enjoyment of the fruits of this year was granted exclusively to the poor classes of the people, permission for the poor to gather ears of corn from the fields of the rich, laws for the forgiveness of debts in the seventh year, and so on. If, therefore, the state consisted of equal landowners who had an equal source of well-being, then, of course, different classes of people could not be formed, sharply differing in the degree of well-being and social status. And in this respect, the Israeli state was to represent a striking contrast to other ancient states. In these last times, the resulting inequality was consolidated by a law that recognized as normal that system of social life, according to which some classes, having seized all power and all the land into their hands, were recognized as if born for power and wealth, while others were born either of slavery and poverty. Hence the formation of castes, which constitute a flagrant violation of individual rights. In the kingdom of Jehovah, on the contrary, everyone participated in an agreement with God. When the king founded the state, everyone should have enjoyed equal rights in this kingdom. Here all members of the state were equally free and full citizens. Civil equality was conditioned by equality before the law. Since the legislator is Jehovah, before whom everyone is equal, then, of course, His laws are the same for everyone, and this equality before the law was carried out with such consistency that it was recognized for the settlers who lived among the Israeli people. “There is one law and one rights,” says the lawgiver, “shall be for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you” (Num. 15:16, 29; Lev. 24:22; Exod. 12:49). As a result, in the Israeli state there were no people without rights, such as, for example. are assumed according to the Roman laws on slaves, for whom these laws completely deny personality and make them a thing, and which would be completely dependent on the arbitrariness of others, such as for example. The Romans had wives and children who were completely dependent on their husbands and fathers. Here, on the contrary, the law recognized the full personality of all members of the state and, accordingly, equally ensured and protected the rights of all. A master who mistreated his slave lost all right to him and had to set him free. Here, parents did not have the right to the lives of their children, and the power of the father, in contrast to Roman laws, was limited to the point that he could not even dispose of the inheritance at will, but had to obey certain laws on inheritance. In general, the rights of the sexes were equal, and, in any case, the woman was not in such an oppressed and humiliated state as among other ancient peoples, but enjoyed all the rights that were possible for her as her husband’s assistant. Social equality is carried out with such consistency that in the Israeli state there are not only no castes in the Eastern sense, but there is not even any division into classes in the sense of privileged and unprivileged classes. Neither the hereditary aristocracy and democracy that existed in ancient Greece, nor the division of the people into full-fledged patricians and politically unequal plebeians, allowed by Roman legislation, nor feudalism in the medieval sense - the Sinai legislation knows nothing of the kind: they are granted social equality to all citizens. A special class is only the class of priests and Levites, who came exclusively from one tribe of Levi. But it did not have any dominant position in the country, and in material terms it was even made directly dependent on the people, and therefore did not at all have the character of a privileged caste in the Eastern sense of the word 114. Equality of rights in the state is necessarily associated with equality of responsibilities towards it. The Kingdom of Jehovah here also represents a bright contrast to the abnormally developed pagan states. In them there was usually no correspondence between rights and duties, as required by state justice, but on the contrary, full-fledged classes or castes enjoyed complete freedom from responsibilities and heavy state duties, and powerless classes bore all the burdens of state. This order of things is incompatible with simple state justice, and even more so, with the beginning of the rule of God that animated the Israeli state. In this state, it was precisely in this state that a fair correspondence of rights and duties was realized - and since the rights of all members of the state were equal, then the duties in relation to the state were also equal. The first and most important duty in relation to the state even now, and even more so in the ancient world, is the duty to preserve and defend the state - hence military service is the most important and at the same time the most difficult of state duties, and its fair distribution, thanks to the simplicity of the social structure, was simple: since all members of the state equally enjoyed the rights given by the state, then, of course, everyone had to defend and protect it. Hence the universal conscription: every Israeli from 20 years of age and above was subject to it. The universality of military service, in addition to state justice, was also caused by the political conditions of the state of the people, since the country that was assigned to them to inhabit, they had to acquire with weapons; but even after the conquest and settlement in the country, the people, surrounded on all sides by enemies, constantly had to be ready to defend themselves from attacks, often unexpected. The universality of this duty, however, did not exclude some exceptions from it. Thus, the Levites were exempted from it, as well as all those persons for whom, due to the special circumstances of their family life, this duty could be heavier than for others. Those who had just acquired an independent home and household, newlyweds, and even the “fearful and cowardly,” i.e., were also released. all those for whom unconditional equality with others would be an injustice. The same equality is observed in relation to other duties to the state. Along with military service, imposed on citizens by the duty of external protection of the state, there is another duty imposed by the duty of maintaining and preserving internal institutions in the state - tax service. In the Israeli state, this duty was not imposed exclusively on one class of people, but was also of a universal nature, equally extending to all members of the state. Taxation, however, due to the simplicity of the state structure, which did not develop such institutions that would need outside support, did not have a definitely state character under Moses and even under the judges. The only institution that at that time needed maintenance and for which taxation was actually established by law was a religious institution, the tabernacle with the clergy attached to it: therefore, taxation was exclusively religious in nature. This type of duty included, first of all, the so-called redemption tax, which was paid by everyone “entering the reckoning,” i.e. on the list of those fit for war (Numbers 1, Numbers 2 and Numbers 3). It consisted of half a shekel of silver and went “for the service of the tabernacle of meeting” (Ex. 30:12–16). Then comes the tithe of all the fruits, which went to the Levites “for their service, because they officiate in the tabernacle of meeting” (Num. 18:21), another tithe “from the entire production of seeds,” wine and oil, herds and flocks for the national festival (Deut. 14:22, 23); the first fruits from all the products, which were also brought for the organization of a public festival, in which, by the way, the poor members of the state took part (Deut. 26:1-15). All these religious duties were equally obligatory or all; the law does not divide the people into taxable and non-taxable. Another remarkable thing about the laws on taxation is that the tax, determined by tithes, was income, i.e. was not determined once and for all, but was constantly adjusted to the amount of income, and only a small ransom tax of half a shekel was paid equally to both rich and poor (Ex. 30:15). Some exceptions were also made from both military and tax service, where they were caused by justice (for newlyweds). The administration of the Israeli state itself was based on the same high principles. The Supreme Ruler and King of the people was Jehovah, ruling through laws and special elected representatives of the people, as Moses was at the time of the giving of legislation; but in their internal life the people were governed in accordance with the historically established forms of their life. In the patriarchal period, when the Israeli people were still an insignificant tribe, they were naturally governed on the basis of tribal life, when all power - both religious and civil - was concentrated in their hands by the head of the tribe, the father of the family. Such management existed under the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But already in Egypt, when twelve different tribes were formed from one family, recognizing themselves as independent parts of the people, the patriarchal order turned out to be outdated, inappropriate for the degree of development of the people, and the people were no longer ruled by one head, but by representatives of the tribes - the so-called “elders (sekenim) of the children of Israel” (Ex. 3:16; 4:29). These “elders,” consisting of people wise in life and experience, were already the heads of individual tribes, not in the patriarchal sense, i.e. not as sovereign rulers of the tribes, having the power assigned to them only by virtue of their natural supremacy in the clan, but as representatives of the people in the social sense, as chosen ones and exponents of their will. The representation in full force declared itself already in Egypt. Thus, we see that Moses, with the news of the liberation of the people from slavery, addresses the “elders of the children of Israel” in the full conviction that their consent or decision will be the consent and decision of the entire people. This actually turned out to be the case, because in the person of the elders “the people believed” (Ex. 4:31). In the desert, a special council of “seventy men” was formed from these elders, as representatives of tribes and tribes (12 + 58 = 70), they were entrusted with bearing the “burden of the government of the people” (Num. 11:16, 17). This council was in charge of the highest affairs of state importance, and to manage ordinary affairs - judicial and civil affairs - small bosses or “judges” of the people were appointed, the so-called commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds, commanders of fifties and commanders of tens. This institution was made on the advice of Jethro, the wise father-in-law of Moses (Ex. 18:14–26). In the case of particularly important matters, all these elders and leaders were convened for a national assembly (“the whole society”), which decided issues about war, peace and other important matters, even about the form of government itself, as was later the case with the establishment of royal power. Thus, in its internal structure, the Israeli state was supposed to represent a form of popular self-government, under the supreme leadership of Jehovah. “Divine government” in this case is not any special form of government - unlike monarchy, oligarchy or democracy (as Josephus mistakenly thought), but there is only the general leadership of God, under which the state life of the people could develop freely and take all sorts of forms that turned out to be useful or necessary due to historical circumstances in the life of the people. Therefore, during the wandering in the desert and the conquest of the Promised Land, it is headed by military dictators (Moses and Joshua), then random leaders and judges appear (during the time of the judges) and then a monarchy is established. All these forms of government could equally be reconciled with “government by God,” if only the rulers acted according to the instructions of the law and frequent manifestations of the will of the Supreme King of the people, Jehovah. In its basic principles, the Sinai legislation, especially in the abbreviated presentation of its moral principles in the decalogue, has universal significance and was intended for the guidance of all mankind. It based the relationship between people on the truth, which was finally confirmed by the Lawgiver of the New Testament, namely the truth: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18). Many private decrees are aimed at introducing this truth into the consciousness of the people. But on the other hand, since this legislation was primarily intended for a separate people who already had their own ingrained customs and habits, standing at a low level of moral and cultural development, unable to immediately rise to the heights of the divine and universal truths offered to them, then in many of the provisions of the law one cannot help but see concessions to the deep-rooted views of the Israeli people, the low level of their moral development, in a word, their “cruelty.” This explains the establishment of the well-known law of equal retribution: “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” (Ex. 21:24). And in general, the influence of this condition on legislation is so significant that in many cases it adapts to ancient customs rather than introduces new laws, so that without regard to this circumstance the true meaning and significance of this or that law would often remain unclear. Thus, the punishment for filial disobedience to parents (stoning - Deut. 21:18–21) seems cruel; but if we take into account in general the strength of parental power during the period of the patriarchal state of the people, or in general in the early periods of national existence (as, for example, in Rome), then the law of Moses is already a significant step forward in the field of humanity and personal law, since it limits the arbitrariness of parental power by transferring the case to a public court. The law of adultery (consisting of the duty of a brother or closest relative to “restore the seed” of his deceased childless brother or relative) was also allowed in the form of a concession to an ingrained custom. In former times, this custom apparently existed on a wider scale among the Asian peoples, and in the Sinai legislation it was more likely to be restricted than sanctified. The law of bloody vengeance is also an example of a reasonable limitation and weakening of an ancient barbaric custom, which was so rooted in the customs and morals of the people that it could not be completely destroyed. This everyday aspect of legislation generally appears strongly in laws on punishment for crimes. When dealing with a stiff-necked and self-willed people, the legislator does not spare the rod in teaching this people to strictly comply with these laws, and many crimes, especially against religion and moral purity, are punishable by death. It was precisely this aspect of the Sinai legislation that showed that it had only a temporary purpose to prepare the people for the acceptance of another higher law, the law of grace, given by the Savior of the world for all times. And His very coming was marked by all the decrees of the ritual law, which was a shadow of what was to come and therefore had to end with the appearance of the thing itself, i.e. redemption in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The Sinai legislation marks the time when the Israelis entered a period of independent national existence. But at the same time it serves as an exponent of a new stage of his spiritual development and civilization. Hitherto it was completely under the influence of Egyptian civilization and did not have its own written language. Now, for the first time, he has literature, and sacred historical literature at that, which describes his historical fate from the very creation of the world. This literature had its origin in Moses, who wrote five books known generally as the Law or Pentateuch, and more specifically as Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The book of Genesis describes the fate of the world and humanity from the creation of the world to the death of Jacob and Joseph in Egypt. It covers a period of 3,800 years and was written by Moses, according to Jewish tradition, while he was still in the land of Midian, precisely for the purpose of awakening in the people of Israel the memory of the great promises to their fathers. The book of Exodus tells the story of the Israelites' stay in Egypt, the exodus from Egypt, the giving of the Sinai legislation, and the building of the tabernacle. The book of Leviticus sets out in detail the ritual side of the Sinai legislation, and it is so named because the performance of all these rites was left to the tribe of Levi, as chosen for sacred service. The Book of Numbers gets its name from the numbers of people described in it and contains the story of a forty-year wandering through the desert before approaching the Jordan. Deuteronomy describes the events of the last two months in the wilderness, and it gets its name from the fact that it repeats all the previously issued laws and compiles them into a more accessible book of law. It ends with a description of the death of Moses with a final praise of him (chapter 34). All of these books in their entirety (except for the last chapter of Deuteronomy) were written by Moses himself, and their scrolls were kept as precious relics in the Ark of the Covenant. But Moses was not only a legislator and historian of his people, but also a divinely inspired poet or psalmist. After him, several divinely inspired songs and prayers remained, some of which were placed in his historical books, and one prayer was included in the book of songs or Psalms, and constitutes the 89th psalm, as its inscription shows: “The Prayer of Moses, the man of God.” It starts with words. "God! You are our refuge forever and ever. Before the mountains were born, You formed the earth and the universe, and from everlasting to everlasting You are God.” Moses died 120 years, of which 80 passed before the Israelites left Egypt and 40 after the exodus. These figures, together with the general indication that 430 years passed from the giving of the promise to Abraham to the law (Gal. 3:17), serve as the basis for calculating this period. If half of the last figure is put into the time spent in Egypt before the giving of the law (which is quite consistent with the testimony regarding the years of Moses, as well as with the fact that he was a representative of the third generation after Levi, i.e. his great-grandson) and add 40 years of wandering in the desert, then the sum of these figures (215 + 40 = 255) will approximately determine the duration of the fourth period of Biblical history. This period, which, based on the data of world history, should be attributed to the 17th-15th centuries BC, was marked by some important events in the life of the rest of humanity. From Egypt (perhaps at the same time as Moses) came the famous Kekrops, who was the first to transfer the fruits of the high civilization of ancient Egypt to the virgin soil of Greece and founded the subsequently famous city of Athens. Around the same time, Hellenus, the son of the mythical Deucalion, entered Thessaly and, after expelling the Pelasgians from there, settled in it and became the ancestor of the Hellenic people. On the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, in the vicinity of the Promised Land, the later famous city of Tire was founded, which at one time concentrated worldwide maritime trade in its hands and, subsequently, was in a friendly alliance with the kings of the people of Israel. Thus, with the appearance of the chosen people in the field of world history, new peoples also entered the field, who were supposed to serve as representatives of paganism in its highest development and power. The chosen people were to defeat him by the power of true religion and the law of God. Ref. Chapter 1 etc.; see our Bible. history in the light of the latest research and discoveries,” vol. I, ch. XXXII, pp. 507 et seq.; Ebers, Egypten u Bicher Moses. Amram was the grandson of Levi through Kohath, Jochebed was his aunt (Ex. 6:18–20). Calling of Moses, Exod. Chapter 3 First Plague, Ex. 7:17–25. Second Plague, Ex. 8:2–14. Third Plague, Ex. 8:16–19. Fourth Plague, Exod. 8:20–32. Fifth Plague, Ex. 9:1–7. Sixth Plague, Ex. 9:8–11. The Seventh Plague, Ex. 9:18–34. Eighth Plague, Ex. 10:3–19. Ninth Plague, Ex. 10:21–29. Establishment of the Passover, Exod. 12:1–28. Tenth Plague, Ex. 12:29–33. Passage through the Red Sea, Ex. 13:17–15:21. For camps in the desert, see appendix. VI. A wadi is a hollow through which a stream flows during the rainy season and dries up in the summer. Wonderful sustenance, Ex. 16:4–35. For manna, see the end of the book, appendix. VII. Battle with the Amalekites, Ex. 17:8–16. Meeting with Jethro, Exod. 18:1–27. Ref. 19–32–40; Number Ch. 1–4 Decalogue, Ex. 20:1–17. Worship of the Golden Calf, Ex. Chapter 32 Building the Tabernacle, Exod. 35–40. Spies, Num. Chapters 13 and 14 Counting the two years that the Israelites had already wandered in the desert. Outrage Korea, Num. Chapter 16 Blooming rod, Num. Chapter 17 Death of Aaron, Num. 20:22–29. History of Balaam, Num. 22–24. See at the end of the book, appendix. VIII. The general name of the kings of the Amalekites, just as Pharaoh is the name of the kings of Egypt. Farewell and death of Moses, Deut. 31–34. For more details, see our essay: “The Legislation of Moses. A study of the family, social and state laws of Moses, with the application of a treatise: The Judgment of Jesus Christ from a Legal Point of View." St.-Petersburg, 1882 The financial situation of the tribe of Levi in ​​general was as follows: when dividing the promised land, they were not given a special land allotment so that they could more freely devote themselves to serving God (Num. 35:2–6; Deut. 18:1–2, 5). It received only forty-eight cities for habitation, chosen from among the various tribes with a surrounding field of two thousand cubits. Of these, the priests, sons and descendants of Aaron had thirteen cities, located in the tribes of Judah, Simeon and Benjamin. Six of the 48 Levitical cities were at the same time cities of refuge, namely the cities of Hebron, Shechem and Kedesh to the west of the Jordan and Golan, Ramoth-gilead and Bezer to the east of it (Joshua 20: 7–8). As for the actual means of subsistence, they were delivered to the tribe of Levi in the form of tithes, which consisted in the fact that all Israelites were obliged to pay the Levites every year a tenth of their income - from land and livestock (Num. 18:11-13; Deut. 14ff; 15:19; 18:4; 26:2-12; Lev. 7:7-15, 32–34 ). The Levites, in turn, paid tithes for the maintenance of the priests. These latter had, in addition, a share in the majority of the sacrifices made by the people (Num. 5:9-15; Deut. 18:3); all heaped gifts and all accursed things, i.e. consecrated by vow, became their property (Num. 18:10–14). The priests also received the money that was returned to the victims in court if they did not leave heirs (Num. 5:6–8). You might be interested in: