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When Pharaoh, who did not know Joseph, reigned in Egypt, he began to exhaust the Israelites with dirty work and making bricks. He also ordered the midwives to kill Israeli male babies; Since they did not obey, he charged this to the people as a crime. Then Moses was born from the tribe of Levi, and his parents carried him out in a basket. Pharaoh's daughter came out and, taking the baby, gave him to be raised. Having become an adult, Moses went out to the children of Israel, learned about the oppression and saw an Egyptian beating a Jew. Having looked around and not seeing anyone, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. Coming out the next day, he sees two Jews quarreling and says to one of them: “Why do you beat your neighbor? And he said: Who made you a leader and a judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me like you killed the Egyptian [yesterday]?” ( Ex. 2:13–14 ). Moses was afraid; Pharaoh, having learned about what had happened, sought to kill Moses. Moses, being afraid, withdrew to the land of Midian and helped Jethro’s daughters water (the cattle). They told their father what had happened and brought Moses to him. Jethro gives him his daughter as his wife, who bore Moses Gersham and Eliezer. As he tended the flock, God entered into a conversation with him. He approached and saw a miracle with a bush that was burning and did not burn out. God sends him to Egypt, saying: “I am who I am. And he said, Thus shall you say to the children of Israel: Jehovah [Jehovah] has sent me to you” (Ex. 3:14). God commands to convene a council of elders and then go in to Pharaoh, and also tell the people to take gold and silver vessels from their neighbors when leaving; gives him signs for identification: a rod that turned into a serpent, a change in his hand, which became white as snow, and again received its former color, and the water of the river: “Pour out on the dry land,” he says, “and the water taken from the river will become blood on the dry land” (Ex. 4:9). Moses refused; God was angry and added Aaron to him. Moses announced to his father-in-law Jethro that he intended to go to Egypt. After the death of the king, who was looking for his soul, God says to him: “Go, return to Egypt” (Ex. 4:19). He took his children and wife and left. Therefore, an Angel appears to him and threatens him, not because of circumcision - if because of circumcision, then the Angel should have left not before the mother would have circumcised her other son - but so that he would not take a wife to Egypt - because he was sent not to live there, but to lead the Israelites out, which he himself understood, and let his wife go. How can we see that he let her go? From the fact that when he left Egypt, his father-in-law Jethro and his wife met him. Aaron comes to Moses, and they both called the elders of Israel and announced to them what God had said, and they rejoiced. When they came to Pharaoh and demanded that he let the people go, the king not only did not agree, but began to oppress the Israelites even more, commanding them not to give them chaff, so that they could get it for themselves. When the scribes were punished for not getting the job done, they came to Pharaoh, but had no success. Then they began to shout against Moses, and he was again sent to the Israelites to tell them about the outcome. They did not listen to Moses because of their cowardice. Here the genealogy of Moses is set out, and God tells him: “I have made you God to Pharaoh” (Ex. 7:1), and sends him to Pharaoh, commanding him to show a sign, if the king required it, namely: turning the rod into a serpent. When the rod was turned into a serpent, and, however, the king did not agree, the water of the river turns into blood, the earth is filled with toads, then skrips 3 appeared, flies, then a plague of cattle, scabs, hail and fire, locusts and impenetrable darkness. When the killing of the firstborn was about to take place, the Israelites received a command to slaughter a male lamb, without blemish, and to anoint the thresholds with its blood, because it was said: those who are in the house on which the blood of the lamb is shall not perish. Then the law of seven days of unleavened bread is given to them; and God commands them to observe this holiday upon their arrival in the Promised Land. If your sons ask you, He says, say: “This is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord” (Ex. 12:27). When the destruction of the firstborn of the Egyptians began at midnight, they drove the Israelites out of Egypt. The Israelites went out, taking with them silver and gold vessels, many people who joined them, sheep, oxen and other livestock. The stay of the children of Israel, both them and their fathers, in Egypt and in the land of Canaan lasted four hundred and thirty years. And God said: “Sanctify to Me every firstborn who opens every lie among the children of Israel, from man to beast” (Ex. 13:2), because He killed the firstborn of Egypt. God did not lead them through the land of the Philistines, lest they change their minds because of the war and return to Egypt, but led them through the Red Sea. In the fifth generation the children of Israel came out of Egypt; Moses also took Joseph's bones. God showed the way for Israel by night with a pillar of fire and by day with a pillar of cloud. When Pharaoh, having changed his mind, chased after them, Moses struck the sea with his rod, and it parted; When the Israelites passed, it connected over the Egyptians and drowned them. And Moses sang a song, and Miriam and the women sang. They came to Marah, where there was bitter water, and Moses made it sweet through a tree. Then they came to where there were twelve springs and seventy date trees; this place was called Elim. From there they came to the desert between Elim and Sinai. Here in the desert, the Israelites grumbled, demanding meat. Then manna was sent down to them. Then God sent them corncrakes. Here God commanded regarding manna that it should not be stored up for tomorrow, because when it was gathered in abundance there was no surplus, and when it was scarce there was no shortage. But they disobeyed, and what was left behind became filled with worms. God said: do not go out to gather manna on the Sabbath; but they disobeyed in this too, they went out, but did not find her. Moses commands that some of the manna be placed in a golden vessel for subsequent generations. The Israelites ate manna for forty years. Then they began to grumble because of their thirst. Moses struck the stone and water flowed out. The Amalekites went to war with Israel, and Joshua put them to flight; while Moses' hands were raised, the Israelites were victorious; and when he put them down, then they were overcome; it was an image of the cross. Aaron and Hur stood supporting Moses' hands. And the Lord said to Moses: “Write this in a book for remembrance” (Ex. 17:14). Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, comes with his wife, both for the sake of Moses and for the sake of the people. Scripture does not call him a son-in-law in the exact sense. Moses tells his father-in-law about miracles; he is surprised. When he saw that the whole people were standing before Moses, who did not have the opportunity to judge everyone, he said to him: “But you, from among all the people, look for capable people, those who fear God, truthful people who hate greed, and appoint [them] over him as commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds, commanders of fifties, and commanders of tens [and clerks]” (Ex. 18:21). Moses did so and went up the mountain. God commanded him to tell the people that they would be a “kingdom of priests” of God, a “holy nation,” if they obeyed. They answered: “We will do everything that the Lord has spoken [and be obedient]” (Ex. 19:6, 8). Then he commands the people to be clean until the third day and to wash their clothes. What is said here is what is repeated by the Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews: “If even a beast touches the mountain, he will be stoned” (Heb. 12:20). Then the mountain began to smoke, and the sounds of trumpets thundered. Moses receives the commandments of the law, the ten words and other regulations. The expression: “Do not speak evil of judges” is said not about idols, but about rulers, because it is added: “and do not revile the ruler of your people” (Ex. 22:28). The Israelites are promised, if they are obedient, many blessings - namely, that they will take possession of the nations, inherit the land, that their water and bread will be blessed, that they will be delivered from every disease, that there will be no barrenness, no sterility, no premature death among them, that their borders will extend from the Red Sea to the land of the Philistines, from the desert to the Euphrates. Then Moses offered a sacrifice, poured half of the blood on the altar, and taking the blood, sprinkled it on the people. Paul also mentions this in his Epistle to the Hebrews, saying: “The first covenant was not established without blood” (Heb. 9:18). Moses is commanded to go up the mountain and take the tablets. He was there for forty days and forty nights. He heard (commands) about the construction of the tabernacle and all its accessories, about the sacred clothing, about the anointing of the priests and about the ransoms, which consisted of everyone giving half a didrachm, i.e. ten ovols; God gives the commandment regarding the preparation of oil and the observance of the Sabbath. Meanwhile, the Israelites rebel against Aaron and fall into idolatry. Then God says to Moses: “Leave me alone, so that my anger may burn against them, and I will destroy them, and make you a great nation” (Ex. 32:10). When Moses, going down, saw the calf and the merry people, he threw down the tablets and broke them, reproached Aaron and gave a command to the sons of Levi who came, saying: “He who is the Lord’s, [come] to me! And all the sons of Levi gathered to him. And he said to them, Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Put every man his sword on his thigh, go through the camp from gate to gate and back, and kill every man his brother, every man his friend, every man his neighbor. And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and about three thousand men fell that day from among the people” (Ex. 32:26–28), and three thousand men fell. Then Moses, having ascended, says to God: “Forgive them their sin, and if not, then blot me out of Your book, in which You wrote” (Ex. 32:32). Then the people began to cry and were commanded to take off their jewelry. It says here: “And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as one speaks to his friend” (Ex. 33:11). But Joshua did not leave the tabernacle. Then Moses asks God not to leave the people, and, having hewn out two tablets, he receives the ten words, having again spent forty days and forty nights on the mountain. Again he is given the command about Easter, about the Sabbath, about the destruction of the pagan gods, about the dedication of the firstborn to God. It says here that Moses spoke to the people under the veil, which Paul also speaks about in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians (2 Cor. 3:13). Then commandments are given to them about the Sabbath and about the material that must be used for the construction of the tabernacle, i.e. about gold, copper, leather and other substances. They brought it with great diligence, so that there was even a surplus. Everything related to the construction of the tabernacle was carried out by Bezalel from the tribe of Judah and Eliab from the tribe of Dan; and the tabernacle was erected, and a cloud overshadowed it. For this building it was used: gold - twenty-nine talents and seven hundred shekels, silver - one hundred talents and seven hundred and seventy-two shekels, and copper - seventy talents and two thousand five hundred shekels. The paragraphs in the text were arranged by us – Editorial staff of “ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: