Prophets Moses and Aaron, 13th century

After the death of Joseph, the offspring of Jacob his father for several hundred years 1 so multiplied in the land of Egypt that all of it was overflowing with Israelites, and during the war they alone could put up to six hundred thousand troops.

Then the king of Egypt began to fear that the people of Israel would unite with the enemies of Egypt and, desiring freedom, would not arm themselves against it. He assigned special overseers to the Israelites, who were charged with the duty of exhausting them with hard work.

They tortured the Israelites with particular cruelty, forcing them to cultivate the land, make bricks and build cities, both for the sake of vanity and, in particular, in order to quickly exterminate the Jewish people. But the more they became embittered against the Israelites and exhausted them, the more they multiplied: for they could not reduce the number of people whom it was pleasing to God Himself to multiply and exalt.

And although the king gave a secret command to the midwives, so that they, at the very birth, would kill Jewish male babies; but those, fearing God, spared them. Then the king issued an inhuman command throughout the Egyptian land, according to which anyone who noticed a male Jewish baby was to throw him into the river (Ex., ch. 1).

At that time there lived a certain man named Amram, from the tribe of Levi, who had a wife from the same tribe, whose name was Jochebed; to this day they have had a son, Aaron, and a daughter, Miriam. At that very cruel time, when newborn Jewish babies were exterminated, their second son was born; the child was so beautiful that the mother, knowing the brutal law on the killing of all newborn Jewish babies, grieved for the baby and decided to hide him at home, which she did for three months.

But then, since she could no longer hide the baby, she took a basket, pitched it, put the child in it and placed it in the reeds near the river bank. The baby's sister began to watch from a distance what would happen to him (Ex. 2:2).

And the daughter of Pharaoh 3 went out to the river 4 to bathe, and her servants walked along the river bank. She saw a basket among the reeds, and sent her handmaid to take it. Opening the basket and seeing a crying baby in it, she took pity on him and said: "This is from Jewish children." The princess wanted to adopt the baby and find him a Jewish nurse.

According to the legends of Joseph Flavius ​​5, many Jewish nurses were brought to the found baby, but he did not accept milk from them. Then Miriam, the sister of Moses, dared to approach Pharaoh's daughter and said to her:

“Wouldn’t it be right for me to call a Jewish nurse to you to nurse your baby?”

Pharaoh's daughter answered her, "Go," and she brought her mother to her. And Pharaoh's daughter said to her:

“Take the baby and nurse it: I will pay you for it.

Jochebed took the baby, and he clung to her, feeling his mother in her. she fed him in her house; when the baby grew up, she brought him to the daughter of Pharaoh, who adopted him and called his name: Moses, " because, she said, I took it from the water”(this name in Egyptian means water) (Ex. 2: 7-10).

In some ancient legends 6 it is told that one day the daughter of Pharaoh brought Moses to her father, and he, playing with him, placed on his head a royal crown, on which there was a small statue of an idol; Moses, having torn off the crown from his head, threw it on the ground and trampled it under his feet. The pagan priest, who received a prediction from the Magi 7 that when a leader was born to the Israelites, Egypt would suffer many plagues, advised the Pharaoh to kill the baby so that he, having grown up, would not cause any disaster to their country.

But, according to the good will and dispensation of God, others rebelled against this, saying that the baby did it not intentionally, out of ignorance. To test his infantile ignorance, hot coals were brought, and he took them and put them into his mouth, which caused his tongue to be seared and, as a result, became tongue-tied.

When Moses came of age, the daughter of the king assigned to him the most chosen wise men of Egypt to teach him all the wisdom of Egypt, and he was strong in words and deeds, surpassing his teachers in a short time and becoming the favorite of the king and all his closest dignitaries (Acts 7: 21-22).

When he learned about his origin, that he was an Israelite, and knew the One God, who exists in heaven, the Creator of the universe, in whom his people believed, he began to abhor Egyptian pagan wickedness (Heb.22:24-26).

Some historians write 8 that when the Ethiopians fought against Egypt, then Moses, who had already reached adulthood, was chosen by the Egyptians as commanders and, thanks to his courage, defeated the enemies. However, the king of Egypt, instead of gratitude, hated him even more, because some of the Egyptian priests in their sorcery prophesied that Moses would bring disaster on Egypt in the future, and advised the king to kill him. Under the influence of their suggestions, the king really planned to kill Moses, but he did not proceed to this immediately, not wanting to offend his daughter, and hoping to find some fault behind him or to wait for a more convenient time.

It happened that Moses went to his compatriots, the sons of Israel, and examining their hard work, he saw that an Egyptian was beating a Jew. Noticing that there was no stranger near that place, he killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand. The next day, he went out again and, seeing two quarreling Jews, he said to the one who started the quarrel:

Why are you hitting your neighbor?

And he said:

“Who made you the chief and judge over us?” Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?

Moses, hearing this, was afraid and said to himself:

“Probably everyone knew about this case.

Pharaoh, hearing about this, wanted to kill Moses; but Moses fled from Pharaoh and stopped in the land of Midian (Ex. 2:11-15).

Tired of the long journey, Moses sat down by the well. And behold, the seven daughters of Jethro, the priest of Midian, 9 came to the well, tending their father's flocks. They began to fill the troughs with water to water the sheep. But the shepherds of the other flocks came and drove them away. Then Moses got up and protected the maidens, drew water for them and gave water to their sheep.

The maidens, having returned home, told their father that some Egyptian had protected them from the shepherds and had even drawn water for them and watered their sheep. Jethro hurried to invite Moses to him, took him into the house and then gave him his daughter Zipporah in marriage, from whom Moses had two sons. He called the first Risam, “because,” he said, “I became a stranger in a strange land,” and the second, Eliezer, saying: “The God of my father was my helper and delivered me from the hand of Pharaoh” (Ex. 2: 16- 22).

After a long time, the king of Egypt died. And the children of Israel groaned from their work, and their cry for the heavy yoke went up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And God looked upon the sons of men, and desired to set them free (Ex. 2:23-25).

Moses was tending sheep at Jethro, his father-in-law. One day he led the flock far into the wilderness and came to the mountain of God Horeb 10 . And then the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a fiery flame from the midst of a thorn bush 11 , and Moses saw that the thorn bush was burning with fire, but was not consumed.

Moses said:

“I’ll go and look at this great phenomenon, why doesn’t the bush burn down?”

The Lord called to him from the midst of the bush:

- Moses, Moses!

He replied:

“Here I am, Lord!”

And God said to him:

– Do not come here; put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

And he added to this:

“I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

Moses covered his face because he was afraid to look at God.

“I,” the Lord said to Moses, “I saw the suffering of my people in Egypt, the cry from their ministers, and I know their sorrows. And I go to deliver him from the hand of the Egyptians and bring him out of this land and bring him into a fruitful and spacious land, into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Gergesites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, into a land flowing with milk and honey 12 . And behold, the cry of the children of Israel has already come to Me, and I see the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. And so go: I will send you to Pharaoh, and you will bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.

Prophet Moses receives the tablet

Moses said to God:

Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?

“I will be with you,” God answered him, “and here is a sign for you that I have sent you: when you bring My people out of Egypt, you will serve God on this mountain.

Moses said to God:

“Behold, I will come to the children of Israel and say to them: The God of your fathers has sent me to you. And they will say to me: What is His name? What should I tell them?

“I am Jehovah 13,” God answered Moses, “so say to the children of Israel: The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob 14 sent me to you. This is my name forever and the remembrance of me from generation to generation. Go, gather the elders of Israel, and tell them: The Lord God of your fathers appeared to me and said: I visited you ... And I will bring you out of the oppression of Egypt, and they will listen to you, and you will go to the king of Egypt, and you will say to him: Jehovah, the God of the Jews , called us. So let us go into the wilderness, for a three-day journey, to offer sacrifice to the Lord our God. “But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go. Then I will strike Egypt with wonders, and Pharaoh will be forced to let you go.

“And if they do not believe me,” Moses objected, “and do not listen to my voice and say: The Lord has not appeared to you?

The Lord said, "What is that in your hand?"

He replied: "Staff."

The Lord said, "Throw him on the ground."

Moses threw, and the staff turned into a snake. Moses ran away from him, but God commanded him to take the serpent by the tail, and the serpent again became a rod in his hands.

The Lord said:

“Here is a sign for you so that they will believe you that the Lord, the God of their fathers, has appeared to you. And if they don’t believe this, then do one more thing: put your hand in your bosom.

Moses put his hand in his bosom, then took it out, and saw that it turned white from leprosy 15 like snow. The Lord ordered to put his hand in his bosom again, and she again became healthy.

“If they don’t believe even this miracle,” said the Lord, “then take water from the river and pour it out on dry land, and the water will become blood on dry land.”

Moses again began to ask God not to send him, for he was not speechless and tongue-tied.

The Lord said:

- And who gave the mouth to man? Who makes dumb or deaf, or sighted, or blind? Am I not the Lord God? So go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what to say.

Moses continued to refuse and asked to be sent to replace him with someone more capable. Then the Lord became angry with Moses and said:

"Don't you have a brother Aaron?" I know that he can speak for you. And now he will come out to meet you, and a meeting with you will make him happy. You will speak to him and put My words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and I will teach you what to do. And he will speak instead of you to the people and will be your mouth, and you will be to him instead of God. And this rod (which was turned into a serpent) take in your hand: with it you will do signs 16 .

After this, Moses returned to Jethro and said to him: "I will go to Egypt to my brothers, to see if they are still alive."

“Go in peace,” answered Jethro.

And Moses went to Egypt without fear, for the king who wanted to kill him, and all those who sought his destruction, had already died. To meet Moses, at the command of God, Aaron came out, who kissed him with joy. Moses gave Aaron all the words of the Lord. When they came to Egypt, they gathered all the elders of Israel and told them all the words that the Lord spoke to Moses, and Moses did signs and wonders before their eyes. The Israelites believed them and rejoiced that God had visited the children of Israel and looked upon their suffering.

After this, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him:

“Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Let my people go, that they may celebrate a feast for me in the wilderness.”

But Pharaoh said:

Who is the God of Israel that I should listen to His voice? I do not know the Lord, and I will not let the Israelites go. And you, Moses and Aaron, why are you diverting the people from their work? Go, everyone, to your work.

And he immediately gave the command to the guards over the Jews to oppress them even more with hard work and not to give them henceforth straw for making bricks, which from that time on they must collect themselves, but at the same time they did not reduce the required number of bricks from them.

“Jews,” said the king, “are idle; therefore they cry: we will go, we will offer sacrifice to our God.

After this, the Jews began to be oppressed even more. Looking for material for themselves, they did not have time to prepare the number of bricks set for them every day; for this they beat the Jewish guards and did not accept any explanation from them, and they cried out against Moses and Aaron, saying: “Judge you, Lord, because you made us hated before Pharaoh and his servants and gave weapons into their hands to kill us .

Moses turned to the Lord and said:

- God! Why did you subject this people to such disaster, why did you send me? For from the time I came to Pharaoh and began to speak in Your name, he began to do worse to the people.

The Lord answered Moses:

“Now you will see what I will do with Pharaoh: with a strong hand, he will let the children of Israel go, even drive them out of his land. Say to them: I, the Lord, will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians, and I will save you; heritage.

Moses told these words to the children of Israel, but they, due to their cowardice and the severity of their work, did not believe Moses. Then the Lord commanded Moses to go to Pharaoh and tell him to let the children of Israel out of his land. Moses answered that if the children of Israel did not already listen to him, then how could Pharaoh listen to him when even his speech, Moses, was inaudible.

To this the Lord answered him:

“I appointed you as a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet.” You will tell him whatever I command you, and your brother will tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. But I will allow Pharaoh to show his stubbornness in all his strength and not listen to you. For this I will stretch out My hand on Egypt and execute a terrible judgment on her by means of miraculous plagues; then all the Egyptians will know that I am God! And I will bring the children of Israel out of their midst. And if Pharaoh demands proof from you, then you tell Aaron to throw down the rod, and the rod will become a serpent.

Encouraged by God Himself, Moses and Aaron again stood before Pharaoh and his servants and did as the Lord commanded them. Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh, and the staff became a serpent. Pharaoh called the wise men of Egypt and sorcerers, and they did the same with their charms; but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods. And the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had foretold, and did not want to let the Jews go. Then, at the command of God, Moses and Aaron began to inflict executions on the land of Egypt 17 .

On the next day, Aaron, at the command of Moses, took his rod, struck it on the water of the river in the presence of Pharaoh and his servants, and all the water in the river turned into blood; the fish in the river died, and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink the water from the river. The second plague was the frogs 18: Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and brought out frogs from them, which penetrated into the houses, into the bedrooms, on the bed, into the oven and the kneader, and on the king, and on the servants, and on his people, and nowhere nobody was given rest. And the whole land of Egypt was covered with frogs, and when they died out at the command of Moses, the Egyptians gathered them in heaps, and the whole earth stank from the dead and rotten frogs. The third plague was on people and on cattle, on Pharaoh and his house and on his servants, and the soil of the land of Egypt became full of snipes 19 . The fourth plague was dog flies 20 . The fifth plague was a very severe plague on the cattle throughout the land of Egypt. The sixth execution was purulent inflammatory abscesses on people and cattle. The seventh plague was hail and fire between hail 21, and that hail killed everything that was in the open air: grass, and trees, and livestock, and people. The eighth plague was locusts and caterpillars 22 which devoured all the Egyptian vegetation. The ninth plague was a three-day darkness over all the land of Egypt, so thick that even with the fire there was no light, so that no one could see each other for three days, and no one got up from his bed during this time. The tenth and last plague was the death of the firstborn of the Egyptians.

And all these plagues, none of which did any harm to the Israelites, but only to the Egyptians, were inflicted by God through Moses and Aaron because Pharaoh did not want to let the people of God into the wilderness to serve God; for, although he promised several times to release them for fear of execution, but when the punishment weakened, he became hardened again and thus did not release them until the tenth execution. Before the tenth plague, the sons of Israel, in accordance with how Moses commanded them, begged from the Egyptians silver and gold vessels and expensive clothes, as much as they could carry with them.

Then Moses established for the children of Israel, in memory of their exodus from Egypt, the feast of Passover, according to the command of the Lord. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron:

- Let this month 23 be your first of the year. Tell the whole congregation of the sons of Israel that on the ninth day of this month, each family separates one lamb from their flock. The lamb must be without blemish, male, one year old. And let them keep it with you until the fourteenth day of this month. Then in the evening let them slaughter a lamb in every family. Then let him anoint both the doorpost and the crossbar with his blood in those houses in which they gather to eat the lamb. It is necessary to eat its meat not boiled in water, but baked on fire, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Until morning, do not leave anything from him and do not crush the bones, and what remains, burn with fire. Eat with haste, girded and shod, and with staffs in your hands. This is the Passover of the Lord 24 . I will go through this night in the land of Egypt, and I will strike every firstborn among the Egyptians, from man to livestock, and when I see blood on your houses, I will pass over you and will not let the destroyer enter your houses to strike. And let this day be memorable, and celebrate on this feast to the Lord in all your generations, as an eternal institution 25 .

According to the command of God, in every family of Israel, a lamb was separated and prepared for the appointed time. All the children of Israel had their doors anointed with blood and locked; no one left them until the morning. At midnight, the destroying angel passed through Egypt and struck down all the firstborn of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh to the firstborn of the prisoner in prison, and all the firstborn to the cattle. The Jews had everything.

In the night Pharaoh arose, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians, 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. Immediately Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron to him and said:

“Get up, get out of the midst of my people, you and all the children of Israel, and go and serve the Lord your God, as you said; take small and large cattle. Go ahead and bless me.

The Egyptians began to urge the Israelites to get out of their land as soon as possible, because, they said, otherwise we would all die because of them.

And the people of Israel carried their dough before it was left sour; their kneaders, tied in garments, were on their shoulders, for they, compelled by the Egyptians, could not have time to prepare the brashna for the journey. They went out with silver and gold and jewels; many strangers, small and large cattle also went out with them. The number of all foot husbands, except for households and other strangers, reached 600,000 people. Moses took with him the bones of Joseph, who died in Egypt, and before his death, foreseeing the future with a prophetic spirit, he cursed the children of Israel, saying: God will visit you, and you will carry my bones out of here with you.» (Gen. 50:24-25).

The Lord God went before the Israelites, shining on them by day in a pillar of cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire, that they might go day and night. The pillar by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from the presence of the whole people (Ex. 13:16-32).

When it was announced to the king of Egypt that the people of Israel had fled, the heart of him and his servants turned against this people, and they said: “What have we done? Why did they let the Israelis go so they wouldn’t work for us?” Pharaoh harnessed his chariot, and took his people with him, Six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt, and leaders over all of them. They pursued the Israelites and overtook them when they were encamped by the sea, 26 but they could not attack them: the angel of God, who went before the camp of the children of Israel, went behind them, entered into the middle between the camp of the Egyptians and between the camp of the children of Israel, and was cloud and darkness to some, and lighted up the night to others, and they did not come near one another. Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea with a strong east wind that lasted all night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters parted. The Israelites went across the sea on dry land; the waters were a wall to them on their right and on their left. The Egyptians pursued them, and all the horses of Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen went into the midst of the sea. After the Israelites were led through the sea, Moses, at the command of God, stretched out his hand over the sea, and by morning the water returned to its place, and the Egyptians fled to meet the water. And the Lord drowned the Egyptians in the midst of the sea: the returning water covered the chariots and the horsemen of all the army of Pharaoh who went into the sea after them, so that not one of them remained. And the Lord on that day delivered the Israelites out of the hands of the Egyptians, whom they saw dead on the seashore, so that not one of them was left. And the Lord on that day delivered the Israelites out of the hands of the Egyptians, whom they saw dead on the shore of the sea, which had thrown their bodies on dry land. Then the Israelites saw in what happened the great hand that the Lord showed over the Egyptians, and the people of the Lord feared and believed Him and His servant Moses (Ex., ch. 14). Moses and the children of Israel, rejoicing and triumphant, sang a song of thanksgiving to the Lord:

– « I sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; he threw his horse and rider into the sea...» 27 (Ex. 15:1-18).

And Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, having gathered the wives of Israel, led the choirs with them, taking her timbrel in her hand; they all struck the tambourines and sang the same song under her direction.

After this Moses led the Israelites from the Red Sea 29 , and they entered the wilderness of Shur 30 ; and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. When they came to Marah and found a spring there, they could not drink from it, for the water was bitter. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree; he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet 31. And Moses led the Israelites during their travels in various deserts for forty years, asking them from God everything that was necessary. When they murmured against Moses and Aaron because of food, remembering the meat that they ate in Egypt, Moses pleaded with God, and the Lord rained on them with manna and sent them full quails 32 . The Israelites ate this manna for forty years in the Arabian desert, until they entered the borders of the promised land of Canaan. When they murmured because of thirst, Moses brought water out of the stone for them: he struck the stone with his rod, and a fountain of water flowed out 33 . When the Israelites were attacked by the Amalekites, Moses lifted up his hands to God in prayer, and the Israelites began to overcome and defeat the enemies, whose troops they completely destroyed with the sword 34 . And no matter how many times they angered God in the wilderness, every time Moses implored the Lord for them, who wanted to destroy them, if Moses, His chosen one, did not stand before Him to turn away His wrath, let him not destroy them!

Meanwhile, Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, hearing what God had done for Moses and the people of Israel when they went out of Egypt, took Zipporah, the wife of Moses, and his two sons, and went with them to Mount Horeb, where the Israelites camped with their tents. Moses went out to meet him and, after a mutual greeting, told him about everything that the Lord had done with Pharaoh and with all the Egyptians for Israel, and about all the difficulties that met them on the way. Jethro rejoiced when he heard about the benefits that God had shown to Israel, glorified God, who delivered his people from the power of the Egyptians, confessed before everyone that the Lord is great, more than all gods, and offered sacrifices to Him.

The next day Moses sat down to judge the people; the people stood before him from morning until evening.

Prophet Moses, 16th century

Seeing this, Jethro noticed Moses that he was in vain bothering himself and the people in this way, for this work was too hard for him alone.

“Listen to my words,” said Jethro, “be a mediator for the people before God and present their deeds to God; teach the children of Israel the ordinances of God and His laws, show them His way in which they must walk, and the works that they must do; and choose for yourselves able people, fearing God, truthful people, hating self-interest, and put them over the people as chiefs of thousands, chiefs of hundreds, chiefs of fifty, and chiefs of tens, and clerks; let them judge the people at all times and report to you about every important matter, and judge all the small things themselves: and it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you.

Moses obeyed his father-in-law, after which Jethro soon took leave of him and returned to his land (Ex., ch. 18).

On the very new moon of the third month, after the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, they came to the wilderness of Sinai and encamped against the mountain. Moses went up to Sinai 35, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, commanding him to proclaim to the Israelites in His name: “You saw what I did to the Egyptians, and how I carried you as if on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Me. If you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you will be my chosen people before all others, and you will be my holy kingdom and holy nation.”

The people expressed their readiness to fulfill whatever God commands. Then the Lord commanded Moses to sanctify the people and prepare them for the third day with a two-day cleansing. On the third day, in the morning thunders were heard, lightning began to flash, and thick darkness surrounded the mountain; a trumpet sound was heard, which became stronger and stronger. All the people trembled. And Moses led him out of the camp to meet the Lord; everyone stopped at the foot of the mountain, the mountain was surrounded on all sides by a line, which was forbidden to cross under pain of death. The people saw that Mount Sinai was tossing from its very foundations, and smoke ascended from it, as if from a furnace; because the Lord descended on him in a thick cloud and in fire. Moses and Aaron, by the command of God, stood on the mountain in the sight of the people (Ex. 19:3-25).

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol or any image of what is in heaven above, and what is on the earth below, and what is in the water below the earth; do not worship them and do not serve them, for I am the Lord your God, a jealous God, punishing children for the guilt of their fathers up to the third and fourth generations that hate Me, and showing mercy to thousands of generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments. Do not pronounce the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not leave without punishment the one who pronounces His name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy; six days work and do [in them] all your works, and the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God: do not do any work in it, neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your servant, nor your handmaid, your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your livestock, nor the stranger that is in your dwellings; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Honor your father and your mother, [that you may be well and] that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. Dont kill. Don't commit adultery. Don't steal. Do not bear false witness against your neighbor. Do not covet your neighbor's house; Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, [neither his field,] nor his male servant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, [nor any of his cattle,] anything that is your neighbor's" (Ex. 20:2-17 ; Deut. 5:5).

After this, the elders of Israel stood up before Moses and said:

“Behold, God has shown us His glory, we have heard his voice from the midst of the fire… We feel that it is impossible for any mortal being to hear God who is ever-awake, as we hear, and remain alive. It is better for you to approach, and listen to everything that our God will tell you, and retell to us: we will listen and fulfill.

“Do not be afraid,” said Moses, “God is testing you, so that by placing His fear on you, He will keep you from transgressing His commandments.

Then Moses entered the darkness, marked by the near presence of Jehovah, and there he received from Him various laws relating to the ecclesiastical and civil welfare of the people of God and, descending from the mountain, conveyed everything that the Lord had said to the people and wrote it all down in a book. The next day, in the morning, Moses built an altar of earth under the mountain and placed twelve stones around it, according to the number of the twelve tribes of Israel, and offered burnt offerings and thanksgiving offerings from slain bulls and goats to God, on behalf of all the people, who promised at this time to do everything that he commanded Lord (Deut. 5:23-31; Ex. 20:18-21; 24:1-11). Then the Lord said to Moses:

“Come up to Me on the mountain and be there, and I will give you the tablets of stone 36 and the law and the commandments that I wrote for the teaching of the people.

Moses, with his helper in the work of ministry, Joshua, the son of Nun 37, went up to Sinai, and a cloud covered the mountain, and the glory of the Lord overshadowed it, and a cloud covered Sinai for six days, and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses, and he went up to the very top, where he dwelt forty days and forty nights. At this time, he received instructions on how to arrange a tabernacle or camp temple, in which the people should offer sacrifices and offer prayers to God.

At the end of forty days, the Lord gave him two tablets, on which were inscribed with the finger of God all the ten commandments that the Lord spoke aloud to all the people (Ex. 24:12-18, 31; Deut. 9:9-11).

Meanwhile, the people, seeing that Moses did not leave the mountain for a long time, gathered to Aaron and demanded that he make them a god who would go before them, “because,” they said, “something happened to Moses.” They brought him the golden earrings of their wives and daughters, and Aaron made for them the image of a calf of gold. The people said, "This is the god who brought us out of the land of Egypt." And the next day they offered sacrifices on the altar before the calf, they began to drink, eat and play 38 .

And God was angry with them, and He told Moses that this hard-nosed people whom He had brought out of Egypt had gone astray, transgressed the commandments of God, and worshiped a false god. Moses began to pray for the people, and God heeded his intercession. Going down to the foot of the mountain, Moses and Joshua saw a calf and dancing. Moses was inflamed with anger, and throwing down the tablets, he broke them under the mountain in the sight of all the people.

Then he took the calf that they had made, broke it and ground it into dust, which he poured into the stream flowing from the bark, and, to the shame of the man-made deity, forced the Israelites to drink that water. Aaron, in response to the reproaches of Moses, excused himself for the unbridled and stubbornness of the violent people, and Moses saw that the people had nothing to justify themselves with. He stood at the gate of the camp and exclaimed:

- Who remained faithful to the Lord - come to me!

And all the sons of Levi gathered to him. Moses ordered each of them to go with a sword through the camp and back, and kill anyone who met. And up to three thousand of the guilty fell (Ex. 32:1-29; Deut. 9:12-17, 21).

The next day, Moses again ascended the mountain, prostrated himself before God, and fasting for forty days and nights, pleaded for the sin of the people, saying:

- If You do not forgive their sin, then blot me out of Your book, in which you have inscribed those destined for eternal bliss.

The Lord answered that He would blot out those who sinned against Him from His book, and, commanding Moses to lead the people to the promised land, he made it clear that he would no longer accompany him with special favor. The people, having heard this threat, wept, and all put on themselves penitential garments. Moses deepened the prayers, and God returned His favor to the Israelites.

After this, Moses was honored at Sinai to see the glory of the Lord.

“My face,” the Lord said to him, “you cannot see, because a person cannot see Me and remain alive. But I will pass all My glory before you and I will proclaim the name: Jehovah ... When My glory passes away, I will set you in a cleft of the rock and I will cover you with My hand until I have passed through. And when I remove My hand, you will see Me from behind, but My Face will not be visible to you.

At the same time, Moses received the command to write the words of the covenant in a book and again received the tablets, on which God again inscribed the same ten commandments that were written on the previous ones.

The contemplation of the glory of God left a mark on the face of Moses. When he came down from the mountain, Aaron and all the Israelites were afraid to approach him, seeing how his face was shining. Moses called them and told them everything that God commanded him. After this, he put a veil over his face, which he removed only when he stood before God (Ex. 32:30-33; 33:1-6, 12-23; 34:1-8, 10-18, 22-24 26-35; Deut. 9:18-19, 10:1-4; 2 Cor. 3:13).

Moses announced to the sons of Israel the will of God about the tabernacle and proceeded to build it, entrusting it to the artists indicated by God, according to the model he saw at Sinai during his forty-day stay on it. The Israelites, on the other hand, made generous donations of gold, silver, copper, wool, linen, leather, trees, fragrances, precious stones, and everything they could. When the tabernacle was ready and sanctified with all its accessories with anointing oil, a cloud covered it and filled the whole tabernacle, so that Moses himself could not enter it.

And Moses placed inside the tabernacle the cauldron of the covenant, bound with gold 39 , in which he put the golden stave with manna 40 , the prosperous rod of Aaron 41 and the tablets of the covenant, and above the casket he placed the image of two golden cherubs 42 and arranged everything necessary for sacrifices and burnt offerings.

Then Moses established holidays and new moons for the Israelites 43 and appointed priests and Levites for them, choosing the entire tribe of Levi to serve God, at His command, and placing it at the disposal of Aaron and his sons 44 .

The servant of God Moses did many other signs and wonders, he gave many cares for the Israelites, he gave them many laws and reasonable orders; all this is reported in the sacred books written by him: in the book of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy; these books describe in detail his life and the labors that he took upon himself during his reign over the children of Israel.

When the Israelites came to Mount Amorite at Cadiz-Barnea, 45 Moses told them that the land that the Lord had given them as an inheritance was now before them; but the Israelites wished to send spies first to inspect the land, and by the command of God, Moses chose from the leaders of Israel one person from each tribe, including Joshua, to survey the land of Canaan.

Returning, the messengers told that the land was rich in fruits, pastures, cattle and bees, but some of them were afraid of the inhabitants of that country, who were distinguished by extraordinary growth and strength, and advised the Israelites to return to Egypt, so as not to perish from the Amorites; But Joshua and others who urged them to go to that beautiful land, the Israelites wanted to stone them to death. But God, through the prayer of Moses, forgave the Israelites their sin, and those guilty of rebellion were stricken with sudden death (Numbers 13 and 14; Deut. 1:19-46).

On the way, the children of Israel again showed their cowardice, and began to complain and grumble against God. Then the Lord sent poisonous snakes, the stings of which were deadly, and many of the children of Israel died from them. The people humbled themselves and repented that they had sinned against God and grumbled against Moses.

Then Moses prayed that the Lord would drive away the snakes from them, and the Lord said to him: “Make a snake and hang it on a pole: then, whoever is wounded, just look at him and remain alive.” Moses hung a brass image of a serpent on a pole, after which all the wounded who looked at this image with faith remained unharmed 46 .

So Moses led the people of Israel on their way to the land of Canaan, saving them with his prayers and miracles from various disasters and punishments of God.

Moses himself was determined to die outside the promised land. When the time of his death approached, the Lord foretold him of his imminent repose and said:

“Go up Mount Avarim 47, which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho, and look at the land of Canaan, which I am giving for the possession of the sons of Israel, and die on that mountain, and be added to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor 48, and was added to his people, because you have sinned against Me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah in Cadiz, in the wilderness of Sin, because you did not show My holiness among the children of Israel; before you you will see the land that I give to the children of Israel, but you yourself will not enter there (Deut. 31:14-30; ch. 32 and 33).

Before his death, Moses blessed the children of Israel, each tribe separately, prophesying about their future destinies (Deut. 3:23-28; Numbers 27:12-23). After this, by the command of God, he went up to the mountain, and the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead to Dan, and all the land of Naphtali, and all the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, even to the West Sea and the midday country and the plain of the valley of Jericho, city ​​of palms, to Sigor 49 . And Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord.

His body was buried in the valley of the land of Moab opposite Beth Pegor, 50 and no one ever knew the place of his burial. Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died; but his vision was not dimmed, and the strength in him was not exhausted. The Israelites honored the death of Moses with thirty days of lamentation. And there was no longer among the Israelites a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, according to all the signs and wonders that he performed before the eyes of all Israel (Deut. 34: 1-12).

Through the prayers of the holy prophet Moses, may the Lord deliver us from all sorrow, and may it settle us in eternal villages, leading us out of Egypt - this troubled world! Amen.

Troparion, tone 2:

Thou prophet Moses ascended to the height of the virtues, and for this reason thou wast worthy to see the glory of God: the tablets of the grace-filled law were received, and the inscriptions of grace were carried in oneself, and the prophets were honest praise, and piety was a great sacrament.

Kontakion, tone 2:

The face of the prophet, with Moses and Aaron, rejoices today, as if the end of their prophecy has been fulfilled on us: today the cross shines, by whom you saved us. With those prayers, Christ God, have mercy on us.

____________________________________________________________

1 The death of Patriarch Joseph should be attributed to approximately 1923 BC. The stay of the Israelites in Egypt lasted about 398 years, starting with the resettlement of Jacob and his family there.

2 Amram, descended from the tribe of Levi (the son of the patriarch Jacob) and was the son of Kohath, the son of Levi (Ex. 6:20; Numbers 3:29; 26:58-59). Jochebed was the daughter of Levi (Ex. 6:20; Numbers 26:59).

3 i.e. daughter of the king of Egypt. The kings of Egypt were called pharaohs.

4 Here, of course, the Nile is the greatest river in the world. The length of the Nile is believed to be 6000 versts; it flows in northeast Africa, starting from Ethiopia and flows into the Mediterranean Sea.

5 Josephus, Jewish historian (born 37 A.D.), author of Antiquities of the Jews, where he relates some stories about Moses that are not found in the sacred biblical books.

6 The legend about this is transmitted by Georgy Kedrin, a Byzantine writer of the late 11th or early 12th century, the author of the so-called. "Historical synopsis", or a collection of annalistic tales from the creation of the world to 1059 according to R. Chr.

7 In ancient times, the name Magi meant wise people who had high and extensive knowledge, especially knowledge about the secret forces of nature, heavenly bodies, sacred writings, etc. They observed natural phenomena, interpreted dreams, predicted the future; for the most part they were also priests, and enjoyed great respect at the royal courts and among the people. Such were especially the magi of Egypt.

8 Flavius ​​Josephus in "Antiquities of the Jews", book. 2, ch. 10.

9 The Midianites, or Midianites, were the descendants of Midian, the fourth son of Abraham by Keturah; it was a numerous people of different Arabian tribes, who led a nomadic lifestyle. The Midian land, where they had their main residence, was a desert area near the Elanite Gulf of the Red (Red) Sea, on its eastern side, in Arabia. As a descendant of Midian, son of Abraham, Jethro and his family were worshipers of the true God.

10 Horeb is a mountain in the Arabian desert, the western upland of the same mountain range, the eastern part of which is Sinai.

11 In Slavic: Kupina is a thorny acacia of the Arabian Peninsula, which grows especially abundantly near the mountains of Horeb and Sinai, which is a small shrub with sharp thorns. The burning, but not burning bush that appeared to Moses, foreshadowed by itself, according to the teachings of St. Church, the Mother of God - the Virgin, who remained incorruptible after the incarnation and the birth of the Son of God from Her.

12 By the land of Canaan, in some places, are meant the vast lands that lie in the west of Asia along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea - in particular, the land on this side of the Jordan, Phenicia and the land of the Philistines, and the country beyond the Jordan differs from the land of Canaan. In modern times, under the land of Canaan, it usually means the entire Promised Land, all the lands occupied by the Israelites on both sides of the Jordan. The land of Canaan was notable for its extraordinary fertility, an abundance of pastures suitable for cattle breeding, and in this sense it is called in Scripture the land flowing with milk and honey. The Canaanites are the original inhabitants of the land of Canaan, the descendants of Canaan, the son of Hamov, divided into 11 tribes, of which five: the Jews, the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Gergeses and the Hittites lived in the country that the Israelites later occupied, or in the proper sense the Promised Land. The Jews, a large tribe of Canaan, dwelt in the middle of the land of Canaan and partly in the south; the Amorites, the most powerful Canaanite tribe under Moses, spread widely in the very land of Canaan, on this side of the Jordan, occupied the middle of this land and the mountain of the Amorites and spread far, both to the north and to the south; the Hittites lived in the mountainous countries near the Amorites and were also a strong and numerous tribe; the Jebusites in the time of Moses occupied the southern part of the Promised Land; The Gergesites lived in the west of the Jordan. The Perizzites were a people who belonged to the ancient, natural inhabitants of Palestine, and did not come from a Canaanite tribe; lived mainly in the middle of Palestine, or the land of Canaan.

13 Jehovah, or Jehovah in Hebrew, is one of the names of God, which expresses the originality, eternity and immutability of the Being of God.

14 Having chosen Abraham to keep the faith on earth, and having made His covenant with him, God repeated His promises to Isaac and Jacob afterwards. Hence, these patriarchs are often placed together in the Holy Scriptures, not only as the ancestors of the Jewish people, but also as the successors and keepers of the Divine covenants and promises, as great ascetics of faith and piety, and as intercessors and intercessors before God, who acquired their special faith and virtues. grace from God. Therefore, their names are repeated and mentioned in Holy Scripture and during manifestations and revelations to the people of God, and God in this sense is called the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

15 Leprosy is the most terrible and disgusting, contagious disease; it dominates predominantly in countries with a hot climate, especially in Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Arabia, India and in general in the east. With the development of this disease, the skin becomes a disaster, then it swells, dries, becomes covered with scabs and ulcers with a disgusting smell, then the members of the body fall off, and for the most part, those affected by this disease eventually die in terrible agony.

16 For the appearance of God to Moses and the calling of the latter, see Ex., ch. 3, ch. 4, Art. 1-17.

17 For the plagues of Egypt, see Ex., ch. 7-12.

18 A genus of large tailless frogs. Toads themselves are harmless and not dangerous, but very vile and disgusting; often covering the land of Egypt in myriads and filling swamps, Nile channels, fields and courtyards, and creeping into houses, bedrooms, on beds, in ovens and sourdough, they became a real ulcer for the inhabitants.

20 Dog flies are a genus of stinging flies or insects, supposedly especially harmful to dogs. But here the Hebrew word that replaces this expression means actually a mixture, a multitude, and therefore here one must understand the multitude of harmful insects in general.

21 Some understand the seventh plague as khamsin, a scorching south wind that brings whole heaps of sand to Egypt from the desert, often combined with devastating thunderstorms and at the same time strong hail. Khamsin is accompanied by terrible disasters for the inhabitants of Egypt.

22 Locust is an insect belonging to the category of jumping and herbivores. It is distinguished by its gluttony, and therefore is considered one of the most terrible scourges of God in the East. It always arrives in clouds with an east wind, devours all vegetation on its way, and nothing can resist it until the same wind drives it into the sea, where it dies. Scripture often points to locusts as a special instrument of God's wrath. - A caterpillar is one of the locust species in its larvae, before the development of its wings.

23 In Hebrew, the month of Aviv, or Nisan, corresponding to the second half of our March and the first half of April.

24 Passover - translated from Hebrew - means passing, passing something, deliverance, and hence the sacrifice of passing, deliverance. Easter is the greatest of the Old Testament Jewish holidays, established in memory of the miraculous deliverance of the Jews from Egyptian slavery. The Old Testament Easter served as a type of the redemption of the human race from sin through the suffering and death of the Divine Lamb - Christ, and was a great sacrament of faith for the Jews (Heb. 11:28).

25 For the establishment of the feast of Passover, see Ex. ch. 12 and 13, Art. 1-16.

26 At that time the Israelites were encamped at Pi-Gahiroth before Baal-zephon (Ex. 14:9). Baal-Zephon is an Egyptian city near the Red or Red Sea, on the western side of its northern edge. Pi-Gahiroth - the area at the end of the northern (Hieropolitan) Gulf of the Red Sea, east of Baal-Zephon, the so-called Agirud or Agrud; now - a fortress with a source of such bitter water that even very unpretentious camels can hardly drink it.

27 Ex. 15:1-18. The words of this whole thankful, laudatory song are filled with reverent delight and bear the seal of sacred majesty. This solemn song of the Israelites to the Lord in our Orthodox Church occupies the first place among the nine sacred songs that serve as the basis of the well-known song canons, daily sung by the Church to the glory of God and His saints.

28 The tympanum is one of the oldest musical instruments, which is still in great use throughout the East, and partly in the West. This is a wooden or metal circle the width of a palm, covered with leather, along the edges of which various metal circles, rings, and tambourines are usually hung. And now, as in ancient times, this instrument is predominantly an instrument of women, who, while singing and dancing, holding it in their left hand, shake it, and strike it in time with their right hand.

29 The Red, or so-called Red, Sea is a long narrow strait of the Indian Ocean, separating the Arabian Peninsula from Egypt and Asia from Africa. The Red Sea is very deep, even at the smallest distance from the coast.

30 Sur - the desert between Palestine and Egypt, between the Gulf of the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, to the southwestern border of Palestine. Now the so-called El-Jifar desert.

31 Exodus 15:22-25. Merra (translated means bitterness) is a place in the Sur Desert, on the eastern shore of the Red Sea. Now this area is believed to be on the way from Ayun-Muz to Sinai in the mineral spring Govar or Gavor, where the water is so unpleasant, bitter and salty that it is considered by the nomadic Arabs to be the worst spring.

32 Ex., ch. 16. It was in the wilderness of Sin in Arabia near Sinai. - Manna - translated from Hebrew means: "What is this?", For the first time the Jews saw her descending from heaven in the form of something small, snowy, they asked each other in bewilderment: "What is this?" By manna here one cannot understand any of all natural manna known by the genus, made from small grains of a special cereal plant. It was a special wonderful food that God sent from heaven to the Israelites. Moses likens the taste of manna to the taste of flour mixed with honey or oil; she was at the same time convenient for the preparation of various victuals.

33 Ex. 17:1-7. It was in Rephidim, in the desert of Arabia, by Mount Horeb. After the miraculous drawing of water from the rock, Moses called the name of the place: Massa and Meribah (i.e. “temptation and reproach”), because of the reproach of the sons of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying: “Is the Lord among us, or not?"

34 Ex. 17:8-16. The Amalekites are a nomadic people who lived in the south of Palestine in rocky Arabia, between Idumea and Egypt, in the deserts of Sin and Paran, in the north of the Sinai Peninsula.

35 Mount Sinai is actually a group of mountains, consisting of granite rocks, cut through and surrounded by steep and rough valleys; the Arabs now call it Mount Tur or Jebel-Tur-Sina; lies almost in the middle of the known branches of the Red Sea, which form the Sinai Peninsula. It consists of three mountain ranges. Mount Sin itself, at which the Israelites entered into a covenant with God and received the commandments of the law from Him, represents the highest southeastern peak of the middle ridge, while the lower, northwestern peak is Mount Horeb.

36 i.e. stone boards.

37 Joshua is the successor of Moses, the leader of Israel, who led the Jews into the promised land. His memory is September 1st.

38 It cannot, of course, be assumed that the Israelites thought of making a god out of metal and ascribed their deliverance from Egypt to him, while recently God spoke his law to them; no, they wanted to serve Jehovah (Ex. 32:5), but, contrary to the clear prohibition of God (20:4), they were carried away by the example of the pagans who worshiped deities in sensual images, the closest example of which was presented to them by the Egyptians, who worshiped the black bull Apis, depicting the deities of Osiris, and cast from metal his image. For all that, their crime was idolatry and deserved severe punishment.

39 The kivot or, from Greek, the Ark of the Covenant, the greatest shrine of the Tabernacle, was a box made of shittim wood (the best kind of cedar).

40 Stamna, translated from Greek, is a jug or a vessel in general. In this golden stave was kept part of the manna, which the Israelites ate miraculously during their forty years of wandering in the desert of Arabia.

41 The origin of this rod of Aaron is told in the book of Num. One day, a dangerous uprising broke out against Moses and Aaron, led by the Levite Korah and two Reubenites Dathan and Aviron, who were joined by 250 other leaders of the society. Korah, jealous of Aaron, himself sought the high priesthood and, together with his accomplices, began to say that the whole society is holy, and in vain did Moses and Aaron put themselves above everyone else. The guilty were punished by the judgment of God: they were swallowed up by the scattered earth; but the indignation continued, and the wrath of God struck another 14,700 people. To prevent disputes about who should have the right to the priesthood, God commanded that a rod be taken from each of the twelve leaders of the tribes of Israel and placed in the tabernacle, promising that the rod would blossom in the one chosen by Him. The next day Moses found that Aaron's rod gave flowers and brought almonds. Then Moses laid the rod of Aaron before the ark of the covenant for preservation, as a testimony to future generations about the Divine election of Aaron and his descendants to the priesthood.

42 The image of the cherubim in human form, but with wings, and the placement of these images over the ark of the covenant expressed that they, as the highest spiritual beings, were awarded special closeness to God, stand before His throne and reverently serve Him, delving into the mysteries of our salvation.

43 These holidays were the following: Saturdays, Passover and the feast of unleavened bread, Pentecost (established in memory of the Sinai legislation and to give thanks to God for the new fruits of the earth), the feast of trumpets, the day of cleansing, the feast of tabernacles, the new moon - the beginning of each new month, sanctified by sacrifices. In addition, special feasts for the Israelites were: the Sabbath year, or the seventh, and the jubilee, or 50th year.

44 Num. 3:5-13; 8:5-22; 1:5-53. First, Aaron and his sons received a special consecration to minister before God in the Tabernacle; after that, the whole tribe of Leviino was attached to them. The priesthood proper belonged to Aaron and his sons and their offspring; the high priesthood belonged to the eldest in his family; his other descendants were priests, and others from the tribe of Levi were generally called Levites, who served at the tabernacle, performing the lowest duties: they carried the tabernacle and its accessories, guarded them, helped the priests during worship, some of them were singers and musicians, book readers and judges according to civil cases, etc.

45 Cadiz, or Cadiz-Barnea - the area on the border of the promised land, near Mount Seir, in the south of Palestine.

46 Numbers 21:4-9. The serpent ascended in the desert, according to St. Gregory of Nyssa, is the sign of the sacrament of the Cross, which the Word of God clearly teaches when it says: as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up"(John 3:14).

47 Abarim is actually a chain of mountains going against Jericho on the other side of the Jordan, in the land of Moab. Moses saw the promised land from the top of Mount Nebo; This peak was called Pisgah.

48 Mount Hor was on the border of Idumea and Palestine, near Cadiz, south of the Dead Sea. Aaron died a year before the death of Moses.

49 The country of Gilead is called the country of the Jordan, from Mount Hermon to the river Arnona. The city of Dan is in the north of Palestine and was the northern limit of the Promised Land. The land of Naphtali occupied the northernmost part of the land of Canaan. The tribe of Ephraim, during the division of the Promised Land, occupied the very middle of it. Manassiino - its northern part next to Gilead, which was later occupied by him. The tribe of Judah occupied the vastest and most important part of the land of Canaan from the Mediterranean to the Dead Sea, and from the stream of Egypt to the limits of Ephraim. “By the Western Sea we mean here the Mediterranean. - Midday suffering, i.e. southern. Sigor is a city in the valley of Siddim, in the south of the Judean Desert, on the eastern side of the Dead Sea. Thus, Moses was shown the whole country, which, by the will of God, the Jews were to occupy.

50 Beth Pegor is one of the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites on the east side opposite Jericho.

THE CALL OF MOSES.

Exodus 3, 1 - 12

Monotonous desert. For 40 years, Moses wandered along it with the flocks of his father-in-law Jethro. Passing God's school - the school of humility and patience!

Humility: a man of the highest Egyptian culture works as a shepherd.

Patience: 40 years is the same thing... But the Lord knew how Moses would need these two qualities when He called him to the post of leader of recalcitrant Israel. He will need these qualities of character more than all the knowledge that he received while living in the palace of the pharaoh.

Let us remember that knowledge is a great power that can be given to the service of the Lord. We see this in the life of the learned apostle Paul, and also in the life of the learned leader of Israel, Moses! But character is even more important to God's glory than knowledge. That is why our daily life is of such great importance: it is a school for the development of character, which is so important to our Christianity.

But back to Moses... He began one of his ordinary, monotonous days - the days of the shepherd. He's in the wilderness... among his sheep. Around the common blackthorn - a common plant of the desert. And suddenly - what is it? One of the thorn bushes caught fire with a bright flame. And in the silence of the desert, from the flame of a burning thorn bush, a voice was heard: “Moses! Moses!" It was the voice of God.

Let's listen to further words from the burning bush: Exodus 3, 5 - 10. This is how Moses was called to the greatest service to the Lord and his people.

When the history of vocations passes before us - vocations to the path of Christ or to the service of God - we will be convinced that the voice of God has always been heard from "burning thorn bushes."

In the wilderness of human life, there are many "thorn bushes" that the Lord can use to speak to our hearts. A simple, nondescript preacher, a simple, nondescript interlocutor, a book, an article in a magazine, a letter, a simple childish mouth.

On any given day, a bush of thorns may burn before us and the voice of God will be heard: “Moses! Moses!” calling you by your name. The thorn bushes burned before us in the past year, and the Lord spoke to us, to each of us, but we often turned out to be both blind and deaf. And in the new year (be sure) there will be burning bushes on our life path, and the Lord from them will speak to us. Oh, let's pay attention to His voice. Let each of us say, like Moses: “Here I am, Lord! What will you tell me to do?!"

What did the Lord command Moses from the thorn bush? “Go to Egypt, to Pharaoh, and bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt!” What an assignment! Similar to the command: “Go to the sea! Go to the river”, “Go to the Jericho wall!”

Moses trembled at the magnitude of the task: to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt! Because he's not the presumptuous Moses we saw last Thursday when he killed the Egyptian. He is deeply humble - in the 40-year-old desert school, he learned humility.

"Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?" he says. The Lord gives him a great promise: "I will be with you." But Moses continues to tremble.

MOSES GOES TO EGYPT.

Exodus 4, 1 - 31

We saw the trembling of unbelief in Moses. Let this not surprise us, for Moses was a man like us. Consider the greatest of the prophets, Elijah. How he trembled under a juniper bush in the desert, afraid that Jezebel would kill him. Consider the greatest of those born of women: John the Baptist. Didn't he also show doubts?

A man remains a man even when the grace of God turns him into the greatest righteous man. This is why the Bible does not hide the sins of the righteous. She did not hide the sins of Moses. And we will see them.

Miracles of God increase faith! To increase the faith of Moses, the Lord shows him His miracles:

a) A rod thrown on the ground turns into a snake and again into a rod.

b) The hand placed in the bosom becomes covered with leprosy and recovers again.

c) And the promise of another miracle: water taken from the river Nile will become blood on dry land.

These miracles were to increase not only the faith of Moses, but the faith of all of God's people.

And how did Christ remove the doubt of John the Baptist? Showing him His deeds, His miracles. Read: Matt. 11, 4 - 5.

Brothers and sisters! The works of God increase our faith in the Lord. Can each of us tell about the deeds, about the miracles of God in his life? Yes, they were - these miracles of God - in the life of each of us.

Strengthened by these miracles, Moses leaves the house of his father-in-law Jethro and goes to Egypt. He takes his wife Zipporah and two sons with him. He puts them on a donkey and sets off on a long journey. So another family will also move to Egypt on the same road: Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus. And in the hand of Moses and in the hand of Joseph is a staff (rod). Symbol of the power of God! How good it is to travel with this blessed staff in hand, that is, with the Lord Himself! With His help and strength! After all, we are all wanderers, travelers to a distant country, to heavenly abodes, pilgrims. We sing a beautiful song: “Where are you going, tell me, a wanderer with a staff in his hand? By the wondrous mercy of the Lord, I am going to a better country!”

But on the way, Moses suffers a great test: he falls seriously ill. This is the only way to understand the words: Exodus 4, 24. And when on a sleepless night, lying on the bed of his serious illness, he raised his eyes to heaven and said to the Lord: “Lord, what is the matter? Why did you put me on this bed? Perhaps You decided to choose another instrument for the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, and appointed me to die? - then the Lord showed him one of his omissions: he did not circumcise his sons, as the Lord commanded even Abraham! Or: circumcised the firstborn, but not the second son.

To Moses this omission may have seemed a matter of trifling and unimportant. What is the circumcision of a son compared to the great work of redeeming Israel?! But both are the commandments of the Lord. This means that they are mandatory.

Oh, how we love to divide the commandments of the Lord into large and small, into important and unimportant. And how much disobedience we have in relation to the commandments, which seem to us secondary.

Let us take such commandments of the Lord as: "Let not the sun go down on your wrath." “Before you offer your sacrifice, go and be reconciled to your brother, to your sister!”

Or: "Don't be indebted to anyone, no way."

Or the commandment: "Carry one another's burdens!"

I could cite many such commandments from the word of God, to which believers hardly pay attention. How many here in the congregation dream of fulfilling the commandment of the Lord about baptism and the communion of bread. This is very good. Do you burn with the desire to reconcile with your enemy? Pay off your debts? Fulfill your promises? Carry someone else's burden? Take care not only about yourself, but also about others? Or fulfill this commandment: "Let your meekness be known to all men." Or maybe there is a person to whom your meekness is still unknown, because you do not show it to him?

Let us strive to fulfill the will of God in everything: great and small. In preaching to Pharaoh and circumcising his son. Moses corrected the mistake. He himself, due to illness, could not circumcise his son, Zipporah, his wife, circumcised him. At the same time she showed her character: Exodus 4, 25. Rebuke! Moses saw that she had not yet passed the school of patience... and parted with her for a while... In the work he was about to accomplish, she could only be a hindrance to him.

And so he continues on his way alone. And he remembers the promise of God: Exodus 4:14. And the Lord is faithful in His promise: Exodus 4:27. Yes, the Lord is faithful in all His promises. Let's not doubt any of them. And there are about 30,000 of them in the Bible. And here is a joyful meeting of brothers. They haven't seen each other for 40 years. How many stories to each other while they were going to Egypt!

The Lord knows our "Aarons" and how to give them to us so that they can be our comfort, reinforcement and encouragement.

He sent Jonathan to David, Philip to the eunuch, Silas to Paul, Luke, Timothy!

“It is not good for a man to be alone; Let us make him a helper fit for him!” And the Lord creates these helpers, these "Aarons". Not only in the person of his wife… Zipporah could not be an assistant to Moses… it took Aaron.

Lonely souls! The Lord has "aerons" for you, and in due time He will create them. He will send them to you!

MOSES AND AARON IN THE PHARAOH'S PALACE.

Exodus 4; 23 - 31; 5, 1 - 23

Assembly of the Elders of the Children of Israel. Who were these elders? Heads of tribes and clans of Israel. It was a big meeting. Aaron, the brother of Moses, spoke at this meeting. What did he say? What the Lord commanded Moses! What did he say to say? Let's read: Exodus 3, 15-17. This was the gospel message for Israel. That is, the joyful news of his deliverance from Egyptian slavery. Many centuries after the proclamation of this joyful news, another, even more joyful news was heard in Egypt. I'm talking about good news for the shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem. Another Aaron, an angel from heaven, proclaimed it. Let's read it again: Luke. 2:10-11. There, in Egypt, joy was proclaimed only for Israel. Here in Bethlehem joy is proclaimed for all mankind. There, in Egypt, the news was heard about deliverance from physical slavery, from the slavery of the body. In Bethlehem, the news was heard about the Savior who would save people from their sins.

How was this message received by Israel in Egypt? Perhaps, as Moses feared: Exodus 4, 1. And probably even so, otherwise the Lord would not have promised Moses to perform three miracles before the elders of Israel.

And in this assembly of elders, the Lord reinforces the joyful news of deliverance from Egyptian captivity with these three miracles.

a) Moses throws his rod on the ground and it turns into a snake. What a commotion in the congregation!

b) Moses puts his hand in his bosom, and she becomes a leper... She is white as snow from leprosy... The elders are full of surprise, but still doubt: maybe Moses was a leper?

c) Then Moses takes water from the river Nile and pours it out on dry land: and behold, it became blood.

d) “And Moses did signs before the eyes of the people,” the faces of his representatives, that is, the elders, and they believed. The meeting is over. The heads of the tribes and the ancestors dispersed to carry the glad tidings that had just been heard to all the people of Israel. And the people believed. And all Israel bowed down and worshiped the Lord.

After the meeting of the elders, Moses and Aaron go to the pharaoh's palace. And here Moses utters the words commanded by the Lord: Exodus 3, 18. This was not a command from the Lord to let the people go completely ... It was a request for a vacation for a short time, to make a sacrifice in the wilderness. A request for a rest, and a very short one, after many years of exorbitant hard work. But this request was transmitted as a command from the Lord: Exodus 5, 1. Pharaoh's pride flashed at these words: Exodus 5, 2. This was the beginning of that hardening of Pharaoh's heart, which we will see later. And this hardening was from the Lord: Exodus 4, 21. And the purpose of this hardening: to show Pharaoh, all Egypt and the whole world the strong hand of the Lord. Let's read: Exodus 3, 19 - 20; 6, 1.

Pharaoh's heart, hardened by the Lord, issues a command: Exodus 5, 6 - 9. And Israel groaned even more after this command of Pharaoh: Exodus 5, 12 - 21. The situation was not only desperate, but downright hopeless. Oh, how often the Lord allows these "hopeless situations" in the lives of His children, and all in order to show them His strong hand. So that we can often exclaim: “The Lord is God! The Lord is God!”

In addition, perhaps the eyes of Israel began to turn on Moses ... Those miracles that he performed before the elders of Israel and about which all Israel spoke, perhaps began to be attributed not to the Lord, but to Moses himself ... and Moses, perhaps, began to stand between the Lord and Israel… Moses did not want this at all, but it worked out, and the Lord showed his people that Moses is nothing! That he is not the liberator of Israel, but the Lord. And the people moved from praise to humiliation of Moses: Exodus 5, 20-21. And this humiliation was also from the Lord.

But the heart of Moses was greatly depressed by everything that happened after visiting the palace of the pharaoh. Read: Exodus 5, 22-23.

Everything in Moses' life suggests that he was a man just like us. But the main thing: he was not yet rich in spiritual experience. Great wealth is spiritual experience. Whoever has it, he is a little discouraged in life.

Moses had not yet experienced the Red Sea, where He saw what "the mighty hand of the Lord" means. After the Red Sea, when the Israelites miraculously crossed it, and the Egyptians drowned, Moses would not have prayed with the words: “Lord, why did You send me” ... “To deliver - You did not deliver Your people!”

Oh, how much the spiritual experience of the children of God means. If among us there are those who are despondent, of little faith, it is not because they are not children of God or bad children of God, but because they still have little spiritual experience.

So that we can see more of the strong hand of the Lord in our lives and, seeing it in the most difficult situations, gain more and more blessed spiritual experience - the Lord made our life a race ground (running) with obstacles.

THE STRONG ARM OF THE LORD SHOWN IN EGYPT.

Exodus 7, 1 - 5

To show His mighty hand, Lord:

a) hardened Pharaoh's heart,

b) threw His servant Moses off the pedestal.

Questions asked of me regarding bitterness: If the pharaoh died, is it the fault of the Lord?! If Judas betrayed Christ, does it mean that the Lord hardened him too?! Not! The Lord hardened Pharaoh only about allowing Israel to go into the wilderness. On the rejection in the heart of the Lord, He never hardened him. And Judas was hardened not by the Lord, but by the love of money.

Moses was not supposed to outshine the Lord with his figure. Therefore He allowed Moses to be humiliated. Ref. 5, 21; 6, 12. So that Moses could repeat the words more often: "He must increase, but I must decrease."

Pharaoh's great question: "Who is the Lord?" And his confession: "I don't know the Lord." There were countless gods in Egypt. There, almost everything was deified. But Jehovah, the only true God, was the unknown God in Egypt. And just as in the days of the Apostle Paul, among the many altars in Athens, there was an altar with the inscription: "To the Unknown God" - so in Egypt: among the countless altars to countless deities, Moses and Aaron met the altar "To the Unknown God."

“Who is the Lord? I do not know him!" But Egypt had to know Him: Exodus 7, 5. Knowing and receiving are not the same thing: Matt. 24, 14.

How will Egypt recognize Him? In 10 miracles that the Lord - one by one - will perform in Egypt. Today we will see the power and majesty of God, as it was revealed before the eyes of Pharaoh and all the Egyptians, but also the power of darkness competing with the power of light.

The Lord did His miracles in Egypt for a reason. He called them "great courts". In what sense? These were "trials" of Egyptian deities, idols, idols. Each sign was a blow to some deity of Egypt. And if we remember that the majority of the Israelite people began to worship the deities of Egypt, as it is written (read again): Jos. Nav. 24, 14. Ezek. 20:6-8, then we will understand the meaning of every sign, every miracle, performed by the hand of the Lord in Egypt.

The idols of the Egyptians were the idols of the Israelite people. By breaking the idols of the Egyptians, the Lord also smashed the idols of Israel. So, let us be witnesses of these great blows of God on the idols of the Egyptians.

First strike: blood instead of water in the river Nile. Let's read: Exodus 7, 14-23. We have already said that the Egyptians called the Nile River "the blessed river." No, more: they believed in the "goddess of the Nile" and worshiped her. The waters of the Nile were considered sacred, and the fish that swam in it were the object of worship for the Egyptians. And suddenly the sacred water of the Nile turns into blood. You can't drink its water, you can't wash your face. The river “smelled”, that is, it began to emit a stench ... and the “sacred fish” died out. It was a terrible blow to one of the most sacred idols of Egypt. But Pharaoh's heart continued to be hardened. “His heart was not moved” by this miracle. Moreover, the sorcerers of Egypt performed the same miracle before his eyes. This may surprise us, but we will cease to be surprised when we read the words of Christ Himself about the miracles of the forces of darkness: Matt. 24, 24.

Second strike: toads. Let's read: Exodus 8, 1-15. Frogs everywhere. There is no place to step foot ... neither on the streets, nor in the houses. The toad among the Egyptians was the personification of the goddess of fertility. She couldn't be killed. And suddenly the Egyptians trampled them down by the thousands. What a blow to a sacred subject. The pharaoh trembled. He called Moses and Aaron. And he said: "Pray to the Lord for me": Exodus 8, 8. This miracle was repeated by the sorcerers of Egypt. But to show that the Lord is God, Moses asks Pharaoh to appoint a day for prayer for him and for the whole people, so that the frogs disappear and remain only in the river. Pharaoh said: "Tomorrow." On the appointed day, Moses called to the Lord. And, oh, the power of prayer! - on the same day the toads died out: Exodus 8, 12 - 13. But the pharaoh became hardened again and did not let the people go. But he learned a great lesson about the power of God.

Today we will confine ourselves to these two signs of the strong hand of the Lord in Egypt. We have something to think about. About the strength and power of our glorious Lord, about His strong and strong hand.

But again today we see how the Lord does His great deeds not alone, but with co-workers. Moses and Aaron are His rods. Through them He speaks to Pharaoh. They stretch out their wands. They strike the water with the rod. Could not the Lord do without them, without their rods, without their mouths, without their hands? Of course it could! But He often works through people. We, says the Apostle Paul, are laborers together with God! So the Lord acted in the Old Testament, so He acts in the New (Acts 14:3).

What is required of God's co-workers? Mainly three qualities: obedience, faith, prayer. Going to Pharaoh is a very unpleasant thing, but Moses goes and Aaron goes. Why? Because the Lord told them to go! And they are obedient. And how did they believe in the power of their Lord? Heb. I, 27. How did they pray? Each of us should strive for these qualities that shone so brightly in Moses and Aaron! To complete obedience to our Lord! To deep faith in His power! And to constant, fiery prayer.

BREAKING ON THE FALSE DEITIES OF EGYPT

Third strike: midges! Let's read: Exodus 8, 16-19. I will now read an excerpt from a scientific book about Egypt, and then all the miracles shown by the Lord in Egypt will be especially clear to us. Here is this excerpt: “Wherever the Egyptian turned his eyes, everywhere he saw divine beings around him. All the surrounding nature was inhabited by the gods, and all life seemed to him a divine mystery. The heavenly bodies with their regular movement, the fertile mother earth, the blessed Nile seemed to him powerful deities, without whose help he could not do. His fantasy pictured him a desert inhabited by terrible fabulous animals, and it seemed to him that in the rustle of leaves he heard the sounds of a divine voice.

To the ancient Egyptian, animals seemed endowed with supernatural gifts, and he attributed to them the gift of speech, and the gift of prophecy, and superhuman subtle feelings.

He imagined that animals were animated by gods, and therefore he paid divine honors to many animals.

The Egyptians did good to everything: trees, animals, people, and even buildings. Gods and demons could live everywhere. But the most widespread cult in Egypt was the cult of animals, that is, the worship of animals.

In Egypt, they worshiped a hawk, a cat, a crocodile, a dog, toads, snakes, a goose, bulls, cows, goats, rams, horses, camels, etc. All animals were considered the incarnation of a deity and had their own temples, priests, their own special holidays.

All of Egypt was covered with temples dedicated to various sacred animals, where they were worshiped and served. The pharaoh himself was also deified and was considered the son of the sun god Ra (hence the word “fa-ra-on”, that is, the son of Ra).

So, consider the third blow: midges. The Word of God says: "And there were midges on people and on cattle." And the pharaoh. That is, they covered all the deities of Egypt.

The Magi could not perform this miracle and came to the palace to the pharaoh with a sermon about the living God and said to the pharaoh: “King! This is the finger of God!” Here are the results of the third strike.

Fourth strike: dog flies. Let's read: 8, 20 - 23. A special blow to the dogs of Egypt. Because of the killing of a dog, also a sacred animal, even wars arose between the tribe in which the dog was killed and the tribe to which the killer belonged.

But in order for the Egyptians to see even more clearly the strong hand of the Lord, the Lord this time singled out the land of Goshen, where the people of Israel lived, and there were no dog flies.

The result of this miracle: Exodus 8, 25; Moses' argument: 8, 26; Pharaoh's request: 8, 28.

Fifth strike: pestilence. Let's read: Exodus 9, 1 - 7. "And all the livestock of Egypt died out." What a blow to the sacred bulls and cows, rams and goats.

Sixth stroke: inflammation with abscesses, that is, purulent inflammation. Let's read: Exodus 9, 8 - 12. And again: the defeat of the sacred cattle, but also. Magi themselves: "the inflammation was on the Magi." The defeat of both sacred animals and their attendants, the priests (magi).

Seventh blow: the hail is very strong. And lightning. Let's read: Exodus 9, 13 - 19; 9, 25 - 28.

This is a blow not only to animals, but also to plants, but also to crops, and crops were also deified: all of Egypt revered the goddess of fertility and harvest. And the hand of the Living God fell upon her.

Exodus 9:31: "The flax and barley were beaten." The result of this miracle: Exodus 9, 27-28.

Eighth strike: locust. Let's read: Exodus 10, 1 - 17. An even stronger blow to the goddess of fertility, to the sacred trees and plants: "There is no greenery left."

Ninth Impact: Thick darkness for three days. Let's read: Exodus 10, 21 - 29. This was a blow to the main deity of Egypt: the god of the sun and light, whom the Egyptians called "Osiris".

There was no light in sunny Egypt for three days. "We didn't see each other." And at the same time, in the land of Goshen, near Israel, the sun shone with all its might. What a defeat for Osiris! What a blow to the main deity of Egypt!

What was the fruit of all these miracles of God in Egypt? In an eternity where there will be no secrets, we will know the results of the strong hand of the Lord in Egypt. But for now, here on earth, we can only say one thing: Israel, seeing the power of the Lord manifested in Egypt, no doubt turned to the living God. We will see this next time. And which of the Egyptians turned to the Lord - this will show eternity. So it was in the days of Christ. His glorious deeds and miracles in Palestine subdued some to the Lord, and hardened others so that they shouted: “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" Read: Matt. 11, 20 - 24.

But let's look at Moses himself. How he grew spiritually in these storms of Egypt. How strong he was when he saw the power of the Lord in Egypt! What a huge difference: Moses at the thorn bush in the Midian desert and Moses leaving Pharaoh after the ninth blow. His words in the wilderness: Exodus. 3, 11 and 4, 13. His words in the palace of the pharaoh: Exodus 10, 29.

From a cane, he turned into a pillar. Let's read: Exodus 11, 3. And the blessed promise is given to us: Rev. 8, 12. Here, among us, there are many reeds, swayed by the wind. But the school of God with its wise upbringing will increase us, temper us and make us granite, a rock, a pillar.

GOLGOTHA CROSS IN EGYPT.

Exodus 11, 1 - 10; 12, 1 - 14

The tenth and last blow: this is the death of all the firstborn in Egypt. Getting acquainted with the life and ministry of Moses, we got acquainted with the life of Egypt, and especially with the religion of Egypt. We learned that in Egypt almost everything was deified. And animals were especially revered. But people were also respected. In ancient Egypt, there was also a cult of birthright, that is, the veneration of the firstborn in the family. Speaking about the veneration of people in Egypt, we note that the corpses of dead people were also venerated there. If there was worship of the firstborn, then how will we understand the tenth blow of the strong hand of the Lord in Egypt: the death of the firstborn or the firstborn. But even with this blow, we see the difference that the Lord made between the Egyptians and the Israelites: not a single firstborn died among the Israelites.

Brothers and sisters! The Lord made, as we have seen repeatedly, a distinction between the Israelites and the Egyptians by striking at the deities of Egypt. He makes a distinction between his church and the world. His great desire is for His church, His children to be a “special people” in purity and holiness of life. But, alas, how often there is no such distinction. The Church of Christ, its members, allow in their lives the same shortcomings, sins and vices as the people of this world. And the difference, established by the Lord, is obscured, erased. The spirit of this world breaks into the church of Christ with great force, and the church becomes a worldly church. This is a sad but fact of life for many of God's children.

Great proclamation of God in Egypt. Let's read what kind of proclamation this is: Exodus 12, 1-2. "Let this month be your beginning of months." “Let it be your first between the months of the year.” The great permutation of the months. Which month should come first? The month of redemption, salvation by the blood of the Lamb, and not only a month, but also a day. (Ex. 12, 14). What a lesson for us!

The day of the knowledge of Christ as our Savior, the day of the knowledge of His precious Blood must become for us, believers, the beginning of all the days of our life. The first between all the days of our lives! Only from that day on did we begin to live, and until that day we were dead in our sins and transgressions. Read: Ephesus. 2, 5 - 6. Our real, true life, a life full of joys and happiness, begins at the foot of the Calvary Cross, that is, from the day of the knowledge of the Lamb slain for us. From the day our hearts were cleansed, our sins by the blood of the Lamb - Jesus.

The Lamb of God in Egypt: Exodus 12, 3-6. This is one of the millions of lambs slain in Israel. It has a special name: "Passover lamb". This is the Passover of the Lord (Ex. 12:11). And now read: 1 Cor. 5, 7 - 8. Let us pay attention to the words of God in Egypt regarding the Paschal lamb: “On the tenth day of the month let them take a lamb for themselves” ... “And let it be kept until the fourteenth day of the month” ... “And then let the whole congregation of Israel slaughter it” . Now read: 1 Pet. 1:18-20. On the tenth day, the choice of the lamb; on the fourteenth, the slaughter of the lamb. Before the foundation of the world - the predestination of Christ as the Lamb for the redemption of the world. In the last times - the slaughter of the Lamb of God on Golgotha.

Today we will celebrate a great truth: the Passover lamb in Egypt is one of the best types of Golgotha. The Passover lamb was a sacrifice without blemish (Ex. 12:5). And the Lamb of Calvary was without blemish. The Passover lamb was slain in the evening (Ex. 12:6-8). And the Lamb of Calvary was slain in the evening. The bones of the Passover lamb were not broken. (Ex. 12:10). But the slaughter of the lamb was not enough. It would not have saved the firstborn of Israel. What else was needed? Let's read: Exodus 12:7. This is God's condition for salvation.

The Lamb of God - Jesus Christ - was slain at Golgotha. He was slain for the sins of all mankind. Blood was shed to atone for the sin of all sinners. You can know about it and still die. Satan himself knows this. What is needed for salvation? Take cover behind this blood. Israel may not have understood the meaning of the blood of the Passover lamb. God's command to anoint the doors of the house with the blood of the Paschal lamb could be incomprehensible to him and seem strange, but God knew the price of the blood of the Lamb of Calvary and gave this blood for the salvation of all sinners. And besides, as the only means. But we must all understand that the Blood of Christ on Calvary is one thing, and the blood of Christ in the heart of a sinner is another thing.

The human mind may not appreciate and even despise the Blood of Christ shed on Calvary, but the mind of God puts it in the first place in the work of our eternal salvation.

And we must accept it by faith in our hearts if we want to avoid God's judgment on us.

The blood of the Passover lamb saved the firstborn of Israel. The blood of the Lamb of Calvary will save us believers from eternal judgment. Let's read: 1 Peter, 2:24.

Christ bore our sins with His body on the tree, that is, on the Cross, not in the manger of Bethlehem, not in Nazareth, not in Capernaum, not even in the Garden of Gethsemane, but on Golgotha, on the Cross! Here, and only here, is the blood of our Redeemer shed, about which the Lord solemnly proclaimed in Egypt: “And the blood will be a sign on your houses (and now on hearts), and I will see the Blood and pass over you, and there will be no destructive ulcer between you ".

What a lesson about the preciousness of the blood of the Paschal lamb was taught by the Lord to Israel in Egypt, and today we are again taught a lesson about the preciousness of the blood of the Lamb of Calvary - Jesus Christ!

EASTER IN EGYPT.

Exodus 12, 7 - 11

We ended up seeing the doors of every house in Israel anointed with the blood of the Passover lamb. And then they looked into their hearts and saw the Blood of the Lamb of Calvary in them. Now we will look inside the houses of Israel on that memorable night. In all houses there is a slain lamb on the table. He is at the center of every family. Every Israeli is focused on it. What a great lesson this is for all of us.

Every church, every community is a family, God's family. At the center of every community, every church must be Christ. But which Christ? Slain at Calvary! In the homes of Israel in Egypt, the centerpiece of the Passover night was the lamb, slain and baked in a fire. This is Christ, slain and subjected to the great fire of God's judgment for our sins. This is the Christ that should be at the center of all our communities and at the center of our hearts.

Next, we see how the Passover lamb is eaten in all the houses of Israel. The Israelites not only anointed the doors of their houses with the blood of the lamb. They eat it. Here is another great lesson for all of us. We have accepted the blood of Christ into our hearts as the only means for our salvation, but our next task is to feed on Christ! How? Through constant fellowship with Him. The constant food for our minds and hearts must be Christ, who was slain for us at Calvary.

“Let them eat it with unleavened bread” (Ex. 12:8). Without leaven. Leaven in the Bible is a type of evil, sin, vice. The fellowship with Christ that follows salvation through His blood must be without leaven, without sin or blemish. Our great slogan after receiving the blood of Christ by faith should be the slogan: Away with all leaven. Away with every sin, not only the greatest, but also the least. Away from sin even in thoughts. For we are saved to holiness.

“And with bitter herbs”… Bitterness! This is our participation in the sufferings of Christ. This means: to weep with Christ for perishing sinners, to offer oneself as a sacrifice for the good of others, as He offered Himself! Serve Him with tears, as the apostle Paul served Him with tears. All this is blessed bitterness, blessed tears, blessed participation in the sufferings of Christ. Happy are those of us who have not only received the Blood of Christ into our hearts. They not only feed on Him, that is, they communicate with Him, and not only struggle with leaven, but also participate in the bitterness of Christ, in His sufferings. Philip. 3, 10.

Let us now look at the Israelites themselves eating the Passover lamb. Let's read it again: Exodus 12, 11. Loins girded, shoes on feet, staff in hand. This is the look of every Israelite, that is, the look of a wanderer, the look of a pilgrim. What a lesson for us in this!

Every child of God should strive for the simplest way of life - no frills, as little ballast as possible, as few attachments as possible. Readiness to move into eternity any day, any hour. This is what our Christianity should be like, this is what girded loins, shod feet and a staff in hand means. And Christ, our Savior, wants to see us that way. Let's read His words: Luk. 12, 35 - 37.

EXIT FROM EGYPT.

Exodus 12, 29, 51; 13, 17, 22.

Pharaoh's command. While the Israelites were eating the Passover in their homes protected by the blood of the Passover lamb, the angel of death struck down the firstborn in Egypt. Death broke into the pharaoh's palace and carried away his first-born son. This terrible grief led to the release of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery. Let's read it again: Ex. 12, 30 - 33.

Exit from Egypt. 600 thousand men, except women and children. About 3 million people with women and children.

Great procession! With a great multitude of herds and flocks, and with a great quantity of things of gold and silver, and also of garments received from the Egyptians.

And they brought something else out of Egypt. Read: Exodus 13, 19.

First stop in Sokhoff. Here they first made tabernacles for themselves, that is, tents of branches and leaves, in memory of which the Feast of Tabernacles was subsequently established.

Second stop in Ephraim. This is where the desert started. Detour to Canaan through the wilderness. A long way - as much as 40 years, a very difficult way. While from Egypt to Canaan there was a very short way: through the land of the Philistines. Why has the Lord planned such a detour, such a long and difficult path for His people? Answer to this question: Deut. 8:2-4. This path was a wonderful school for Israel, a school of faith.

The path of life for each of us is a wonderful school of faith. The Lord, after our resurrection, could quickly lead us to the heavenly Canaan, but He leads us through the wilderness for years, so that we can see His wonderful leading and, having come to the end of our journey, we can exclaim: Rev. 15, 3.

Christ has two schools: earthly and heavenly. Earthly is a school in a boat, on the sea of ​​life. Read: Luke. 5, 1 - 3. The heavenly school - its prototype can be Bethany, where peace and quiet reigned and where Mary sat at the feet of Christ with a happy smile, learning from Him.

The New Testament is very clear about the future life. Read: Open. 21:4. Such is the heavenly school, but the earthly path is rich in sickness, and sighs, and tears, and fresh graves.

The Apostle Paul denoted this path in two words, when he repeated in all the churches the words that “through many tribulations we must enter into the Kingdom of God” (Acts Ap. 14:22). The path of "many tribulations"! And these tribulations are nothing but His blessed lessons. The 40-year wandering of the Israelite people in the wilderness will be an excellent proof for us that sorrows are blessed lessons in the earthly school of Christ.

An amazing guide to the journey of the Israelites: The Lord Himself. But in what form? As a pillar of cloud during the day and as a pillar of fire at night. Let's read: Exodus 13, 21-22. So the Lord led them all the way, for 40 years.

The cloud showed them the way, protected them from the burning rays of the southern sun, giving them a fertile shade, and at night the pillar of fire was a great chandelier that illuminated their entire camp. And it seems to me that someone here says: “Oh, if only we had such a guide!”

We have the best guide - Christ. Listen to His words: "I am the way", "I am the light". For everyone who believes in Him and loves Him! He leads us: a) by the example of his life, b) by the teaching of his gospel, c) by the leading of his Holy Spirit, d) by arranging the circumstances of our lives as he pleases.

He guards us on the way, encouraging us with the words: Is. 43, 2. He illuminates with a bright light all our way, being the Sun of our life. He turns our darkest nights into bright days! We know all this from experience.

So, we got acquainted with the way of the Israelite people. From Egypt to Canaan! We got acquainted with the guide on this long and difficult journey. But we got acquainted with our way and with our Guide. Shall we now go more cheerfully on our way? As we sing in one song: “We will go more cheerfully on the path of life if we trust Jesus. Let not "many afflictions" confuse us. Let us look not at them, but at our guide, Christ.”

ON THE SHORE OF THE RED SEA.

Exodus 14, 1 - 16; 21 - 22

We begin the study of the 40-year wandering in the wilderness of the Old Testament church. We will witness events of the deepest interest for us. Despite the fact that we are separated from them by several thousand years, the experience of the Old Testament church is infinitely valuable for the New Testament church. And we will try, wandering along with the people of Israel in the wilderness, to extract everything that can be useful for us, believers of the New Testament time.

From the very beginning of this wandering of the Old Testament church in the wilderness, we emphasize to ourselves the precious words of the Lord himself. “Therefore, remember the way the Lord led you” (Deuteronomy 8:2). “The Lord led!”… These two words transform the entire path of the Old Testament church. They transform the path of each of us.

We have already spoken about how the Lord led His children. In a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. And then the cloud rose and headed towards the Red Sea. Obediently, the Old Testament church follows him, and here are the children of God on the seashore. And on the sides? Mountains, steep and high! It was a real dead end. And there was only one way out of this impasse: to go back!

The children of God of the Old Testament church had a question in their hearts: “Why are we here?” "What to do next?" The path is closed. Dead end! To go back - did the Lord bring them here for this? But soon the way back was closed. The Egyptians pursued the children of God and overtook them at the Red Sea. The puffin turned into a bag. And the children of God began to murmur. Let us listen to their murmuring: Exodus 14, 11-12. Cowardice and despair took possession of them. The spiritual experience of the Old Testament church on the shores of the Red Sea must become our experience. We have already noted that our pillar of the cloud is Christ. And repeatedly He led us to dead ends from which we saw no way out. Each of us remembers these dead ends in our Christian lives.

What's the point of these dead ends? Why did the Old Testament children of God get to know them?

Why does Christ lead His New Testament children into these blind alleys? Moses explained well the significance of these blind alleys in the lives of God's children. How did he explain them? Let's read His words: Exodus 14, 13. "Do not be afraid, stand still - and you will see the salvation of the Lord, which He will work out for you today."

The salvation of the Lord, that is, the manifestation of the might of God, the power of God—this is the meaning of all our dead ends!

We see cowardice and grumbling among the children of God, on the shores of the Red Sea. But cowardice and grumbling are not uncommon among the members of Christ's church. But let's look at Moses today. He is completely calm. He is like a rock among the waves. He tells the people: "Be calm!" Where did he get this calm? Doesn't he have the same dead end? We learn the secret of his peace from Hebrews 11:27; "For he, as if seeing the Invisible, was firm."

The people looked at the sea in front of them, at the impregnable steep mountains on the sides, at the Egyptians behind. Moses looked only at the invisible Lord. Here is a great and precious lesson that we must learn: always look only at the Lord, neither to the right nor to the left, neither forward nor backward, but only upwards, at Christ, who sits at the right hand of God.

This is what will give us firmness and steadfastness and complete peace. Under any circumstances of life, in the most hopeless dead ends!

How did the children of God, who grumbled on the shores of the Red Sea, see the salvation of the Lord? How did they get out of the deadlock? And here's how: the Lord paved the way right across the sea, forcing the waters of the sea to part so that they were a wall on the right and on the left side. And the children of God made a journey along the bottom of the sea, memorable for their whole life, seeing the “salvation of the Lord.”

We will not explain how such a great miracle could happen - all miracles are clear to us when we believe in the Lord Almighty, that is, in God of all might.

Yesterday dead end, today passage. Recently I was looking for a dead end in Moscow and saw the word "passage". The boy who was playing right there told me that before it was a dead end, but now it was a “passage”. Oh, how many “dead ends” in our lives Christ has turned into “roadways” with His mighty hand. So it will be in the future. The waters will be parted by His power, and a smooth road will be before us. Let us read in conclusion His great promise: Is. 45, 2.

MERRA AND ELIM IN THE LIFE OF GOD'S CHILDREN.

Exodus 15, 22 - 27

The Lord chose the wild and desolate Sinai Peninsula to be the 40-year school for His Old Testament church. The same Sinai peninsula was a 40-year school for Moses. And here, on the Sinai Peninsula, the apostle Paul also had his desert. The Sinai Peninsula is a solid desert, but stretches or parts of this great desert have had different names: the Sur Desert, the Sin Desert, the Paran Desert, but in the end it was one continuous desert. That is why the Lord says that He led His people in the wilderness for 40 years (Deuteronomy 8:2).

It was a very difficult school. A burning, scorching sun overhead, rarely obscured by clouds. Hot sand underfoot, many sharp stones that injure the legs. Sandy dust floating in the air, very rare sources of water; miserable, sparse vegetation; gray, dull, monotonous desert with very rare oases; poisonous snakes at every turn ... and all this day after day, for 40 years. That's the kind of school, but it was God's school. After all, the Lord Himself in a pillar of fire led His people through the classrooms of this amazing school.

You and I will be eyewitnesses of the most wonderful pictures in the middle of this monotonous, monotonous desert. It will be a divine art gallery that will turn the wild desert of the Sinai Peninsula into the most charming corner of the earth, full of the brightest, radiant colors. And at the very entrance to this divine picture gallery, we must put the words of Scripture: 1 Cor. 10, 11. "Described for our instruction."

The greatest blessing of the desert is its stillness, deep silence. How necessary this deep silence was for the children of God of the Old Testament after the noisy Egypt. Travelers say that such silence reigns in this desert that the Arabs wandering in it at a very long distance are talking to each other. How we need the blessed silence of the desert after the noise that often reigns in our hearts. How should we thank the Lord for our "deserts", where we hear not human voices, but the quiet voice of God, a voice coming to us from heaven.

In the deserts our communion with the Lord becomes closer and more fervent. Christ with renewed vigor captures our whole being.

Great Lesson in the Sur Desert. The people of God go through the wilderness for three days and find no water. Ordeal: three days without water under the scorching sun. On the fourth day, the waters of a spring shone in the distance ... They came to Merra, where there was water, but bitter. Murmuring went throughout the Old Testament church. “What should we drink,” the children of God say to Moses with reproach and displeasure!

Marah, that is, "bitterness", showed the heart of every Israeli, both to themselves and to you and me. And what do we see in their hearts? Murmur and discontent. Although they knew that Merah was from the Lord, for the Lord had led them there in a pillar of cloud. Christ brings us to Merra, to the bitterness of life, so that we can see ourselves and what our Christianity is like! Will we sing songs of glory or songs of murmuring?

This is the great meaning of our Merr, our bitter lives. But among the millions of hearts that grumbled against the Lord, there was a heart that did not grumble, the heart of Moses. He looked not at the bitter water, but at his Lord! Just like on the shores of the Red Sea. And looking at Him, he cried out to Him (Ex. 15:25).

The Great Miracle in the Sur Desert. The Lord showed Moses a tree which, when thrown into the bitter water of Marah, made it sweet. Oh blessed tree! Turning "Merra" - bitterness into sweetness.

Where can we get such a tree for our Merr, for the bitterness of our lives? We have this tree. Read: Rev. 22, 1 - 2. A wonderful tree - the tree of life: Jesus Christ! He turns all the bitterness of our life into great sweetness, into great good for us. To those who love Him, all "Merras", all bitterness contribute only to the good.

"And they came to Elim." Let's read: Exodus 15, 27. After bitter "Merah" - sweet "Elim". In Elim there are 12 springs of water and 70 date palms Camp of the people of God "by the waters". We are familiar with "Merras", but we are also familiar with "Elims".

In our "Elimah" we sing the words of David: "He makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me to still waters." How good it is for our souls to rest in Elim after the burning desert and the bitterness of Marah! Yes, our path to heaven is rich in Merrs, but it is also rich in Elims. Both are from the Lord. And in Merrah, the blessed Tree of Life, Christ, who turns their bitterness into sweetness. And in Elimah is the blessed palm tree, Christ, bearing twelve fruits.

In Merrah He tries our heart! And we see ourselves there. In Elimah He miraculously strengthens us for our further journey to the heavenly Canaan. May glory be to Him both for our Merras and for our Elimas!

LESSONS FOR BELIEVERS FROM THE LIFE OF THE PROPHET MOSES

"BELIEVE!"

Heb. 11, 23 - 28

The Word of God in one word reveals to us the mystery of power. It's one word: "by faith!" The pages of the Bible tell of many great things done by men of God, but they are all works of God done by God through men.

We are going to the pages of the Bible that tell about Moses. The great life of this blessed servant of God will pass before us. We will see very great and glorious deeds done by him. But in the book of Hebrews it is repeated four times about Moses, that he did these great works by faith.

Our precious Teacher Christ also speaks of the great significance of faith:

Let's read two places. Onion. 17, 6; Mark. 9, 23.

But what does faith mean? Perhaps this is the power by which great things are done? If this is so, then it is possible to give glory to believing people, because they have power in faith. No, faith is not power. It is only a chain that binds us to God - the eternal and almighty God.

Faith is the wire that connects us to the source of eternal power in God, through which this power rushes into us and does great and glorious things through us.

We will see the action of the great power of God in the life of Moses in a very vivid form, because Moses was connected with God by faith. True, like the apostle Paul, he was a very gifted person... Like the apostle Paul, he received the higher education of his time, but both giftedness and education are only tools that the Lord used. The famous Stradivarius violin is a beautiful and very expensive instrument, but it will remain silent unless it is in the hands of a violinist like Paganini ... or it will sound very unpleasant if it is in the hands of a bad musician.

So it is with all the beautiful human qualities - if the Lord does not take them into His hands, they are only tools. This is how the Lord used the Apostle Paul to build the Kingdom of God with his hands, this is how He used Moses, and this is how He uses each of us.

Moses tried to play his instrument himself, and it turned out very badly. I'm talking about his attempt by his own power to free Israel from captivity. And at the burning thorn bush, the great Lord took the tool into His hands to use Moses for the fulfillment of His divine plans. And we will see how the Lord used this instrument. The famous rod of Moses was an excellent example of the fact that the Lord took him (Moses) into His hands and made Moses an obedient instrument of His, just like the rod was in the hands of Moses. Therefore, Moses bore, like the apostle Paul, the title of "God's servant."

In the Bible story about Moses, the words are often found: "As the Lord commanded him!", Which implies the complete obedience of Moses, the complete surrender of oneself to the Lord for the fulfillment of His divine plans.

What obedience was required, what trust in the Lord was required to go with 3 million Israelites into the wild, barren and waterless wilderness. And Moses showed both obedience and trust in the Lord and led this multitude of people into the wilderness without any supplies, trusting only in the help and power of God.

And we only need one thing: faith. Communication through faith with the great God, with the almighty Christ. And the works of Moses will be our works: and the way out of Egypt; and parting of the waters of the Red Sea; and food in complete drought; and defeated enemies; and songs of victory. "Everything is possible to him who believes!", that is, everything is possible to a man who has become through faith a channel for the power of God. That's why the apostle Paul could say the wonderful words: "I can do everything ... in Jesus Christ!"

Let the lessons from the life of Moses help us to become obedient instruments in the hands of our Lord, a kind of "rods" in the hands of the Most High. The Lord had a great plan for his people, Israel. As we become acquainted with the life of Moses, we will become acquainted with this plan. We will also see how the Lord will fulfill it, using Moses.

The Lord has His plans now. For each of us! For our households! About the church! For the world, for all mankind!

There are plans, but are there obedient Moses?

CHILD MOSES.

Exodus 2, 1 - 4; Heb. 11, 23

Moses was born in Egypt. What country is it? In history it is called "the cradle of civilization", "the cradle of culture"... because culture was born in Egypt. But we, the believers, know this country because Joseph, the son of Jacob, lived and held a high position at the pharaoh's palace for many years. And then, already in New Testament times, Egypt was a refuge for the baby Jesus. Read: Matt. 2, 13 - 15.

Egypt was the granary of the world thanks to the most fertile valley of the great river - the Nile. The Egyptians called the Nile the "blessed river".

It was a very religious country, but pagan, that is, it believed in a great many gods. The Egyptians worshiped both trees and animals, especially crocodiles, and people, and the sun, and the moon, and stars. The whole country was covered with pagan temples and altars. If the Apostle Paul in Athens was struck down by the multitude of altars, how he would have been struck down in Egypt! In Egypt there were even temples of sacred bulls and rams (calf of Israel). There were sacred birds.

The Egyptian pantheon was larger and more varied than the pantheons of Babylon, Greece, or even Rome. The Egyptians believed in an afterlife. Hence their worship of the dead and the keeping of their corpses. Each dead person turned into a family deity. This is the country in which Moses was born.

How did the Jewish people end up in Egypt? 400 years before the birth of Moses, Joseph moved his father and brothers here. The pharaoh of that time, favoring Joseph, gave Israel the best site in the land of Goshen, on the banks of the Nile River. Here they quickly multiplied and for 400 years turned into a strong and numerous people.

Moses was born at a very difficult time for the Jews. The pharaohs who favored the Jews were gone. They were replaced by the pharaohs, who began to fear the growth of the Jewish people in Egypt. And these pharaohs began to fight against the Jewish people. Hard times have begun for Israel. Let's read about it: Exodus 1, 7 - 14. But the people multiplied and multiplied. Then a terrible path to the destruction of Israel was invented: Exodus 1, 15 - 21. And this path did not help! Then another terrible remedy was chosen: Ex. 1, 22. It was at such a difficult time, on such a dark night, that Moses was born.

Let's go now to his "manger", to his cradle. The hut where his parents lived stood on the banks of the great river Nile, not far from the capital of Egypt - the city of Memphis and from the pharaoh's palace. Every day, the Pharaoh's daughter descended the marble steps to the Nile River to wash herself with its water. And all this happened not far from the house of Moses! Let's enter the hut and get acquainted with the family where the boy Moses was just born. We will see his father, mother, sister - a girl of 15 years old, the famous Mariam, a wonderful singer ... and a little brother, 3 years old, also the famous Aaron: 1 Par. 6, 13.

There is excitement in the house ... In the old days, the birth of a boy in a Jewish family was a real holiday ... and now it is a great concern ... how to save him from the hand of the Egyptians?

Moses' father and mother kept their faith in the living God. Were not all Israelites believers in the living God? No, many of them have turned into idolatry. Read: Jos. Nav. 24, 14; Ezek. 20:6-8. But Moses' parents remained faithful to the Lord.

How the infancy of Moses reminds us of the infancy of Jesus Christ! Here Amram and Jochebed, like Joseph and Mary, bent over a wonderful baby son. His cradle is similar to the cradle of Jesus. He is in a basket of reeds, and Jesus is on straw. Here Pharaoh sought the death of the infant Moses, there King Herod sought the death of the infant Jesus. But the hand of the Lord was here and there a guarding hand. She kept both of them and, surprisingly, in Egypt! "By faith (father and mother) Moses was hidden for three months"...

But here we are again becoming witnesses of the wonderful ways of the Lord. We saw these amazing ways in Joseph's life. How amazingly the hand of the Lord led him to the palace of the pharaoh ... through the deepest sorrow. And in a completely different, but also amazing way, the same almighty hand of the Lord leads Moses to the palace of the pharaoh.

The Lord arranged it in such a way that it became impossible to hide the baby Moses in the parents' house... The Lord put an amazing plan into the heart of the mother: to make a basket of reeds, pitch it, and, putting the baby Moses in it, put it in the reeds by the river bank.

The Lord opened the eyes of Pharaoh's daughter - to see a basket with a baby in a reed... and the Lord disposed the heart of Pharaoh's daughter - to adopt the boy Moses and make him a member of the Pharaoh's family.

With regard to Moses, we can repeat the words of the Apostle Paul: Galat. 1:15. And in the life of Moses we see the blessed hand of the Lord "from the womb" to death on Mount Nebo, that is, from the cradle to the grave. Song of Moses: Rev. 15, 4.

MOSES IN THE PHARAOH'S PALACE.

Heb. 11, 24 - 26; Exodus 2, 5 - 10.

On the banks of the Nile. Pharaoh's daughter. She notices the basket with baby Moses. A strange "boat" is pulled ashore. The basket is opened, and in it is a lovely child... Moses!

The resourcefulness of 15-year-old Mariam: she offers to find a nurse and brings her mother to the pharaoh's daughter. With what tremulous joy did the mother receive her precious treasure from the hands of Pharaoh's daughter.

Baby Moses is back at home, in his parents' little hut. How old was he at home? Maybe up to 5 - 6 years. Over the years, a solid foundation of faith, hope and love was laid in the heart of the boy Moses: faith in the Lord, hope in the Lord, love for the Lord. This is the wonderful foundation of every human life!

The time has come for the boy Moses to go to the palace, that is, from a beggar to turn into a prince. It was a dangerous transition for the soul of Moses, but with the foundation of faith, hope and love in the heart, such a transition is not terrible. The moment came for a heavy farewell: the last kisses, the last prayer, the last instructions - always and passionately love the Lord ... and the mother took her son to the palace. She led with faith that the one who kept him in the waters of the Nile River would save him in the Pharaoh's palace from the temptations and temptations of this world.

And here is Moses in Pharaoh's palace. He is the betrothed grandson of the pharaoh. He rides in gilded chariots... he is surrounded by unprecedented splendor and luxury... he is the heir to all the treasures of Egypt... he receives the higher education of his time. He is the most cultured man of his time. Read: Acts. Ap. 7, 22.

But in the dazzling splendor of the Pharaoh's palace, he constantly saw before him a bright guiding star - his Lord. He did not take his eyes off Him.

For him, He was the greatest Treasure, before which all the treasures of Egypt dimmed ... Moses could at that time repeat the words of the Apostle Paul: Philip. 3, 7 - 8.

Moses spent thirty-five years in Pharaoh's palace. And he kept the Lord first in his heart. This is a great spiritual achievement! To have the Lord first in all conditions: Philip. 4, 12. Here we have 40-year-old Moses. And - about a miracle! - he refuses to be called the son of the pharaoh's daughter. He decided: from a prince to turn back into a beggar. From the palace, go back to the poor, miserable hut. He made this decision consciously: he is not an ardent young man - he is already 40 years old. He made this decision irrevocably. What a commotion in the palace of Pharaoh was caused by this decision of Moses! What bewilderment for the pharaoh, his daughter and all the courtiers! But we understand this decision of Moses: he loved the Lord and loved his people. He had only one purpose in life: to serve the Lord and his people. For this purpose, he gave up everything. Considered everything as rubbish.

It was a big sacrifice. From the sunny peak to descend into the gloomy valley, and - voluntarily! Many descended, but because there was no other way out ... And most importantly - he gave himself to the people. He laid himself on the altar. He could help his people with money - he had enough at his disposal ... but he gave himself away. Here he stands in the wretched hut of his parents and offers the Lord the greatest and most precious sacrifice: himself. "Here I am," he says to the Lord, "send me!"

Have we made such a sacrifice? The apostle Paul implored believers to make such sacrifices: Rom. 12:1. There was a day in our lives when we, like Moses, left everything and followed Jesus. For many, this was a great sacrifice: many had to part with close and dear friends. Husbands have turned away from many... but looking, like Moses, at this "bright and morning star" and listening to His sweet voice, saying to each of us: "Follow Me!" - we follow Him, leaving everything, as Moses went, leaving everything, and following Christ often leads to Gethsemane and Golgotha ​​... As it was in the life of Moses!

But "it is sweet to walk with Him even in darkness." Moses experienced this. We also know this from experience.

Above the heads of all the children of God - both Moses and us - the words from the book of Revelation 14, 4 shine brightly: "These are they who follow the Lamb wherever He goes." Wonderful words! May the Lord grant that they come true in our lives as in the life of Moses.

MOSES IN THE DESERT.

Exodus 2, 11 - 21; 3, 1 - 4.

"Moses went out to his brethren (sons of Israel)." Where did he come from - from the palace or from the hut? Many people think that from the palace... But the words of the Epistle to the Hebrews (Jo 24-26) say that he left the hut. If, out of fear, he left the palace of the pharaoh, his betrothed mother and all the treasures of Egypt, then this is no longer by faith, not voluntarily, and there would be no sacrifice in this.

Moses, leaving the palace of Pharaoh by faith, did not dream of being the leader of the people of Israel. He wanted to be a simple servant of it, he wanted to suffer with the people of God. But God's plan - to make him the leader of Israel - was still unknown to him.

And so he began his ministry. Day after day, he comes out of his hut (from the palace it would be difficult to do) to see the suffering of his people ... and bring them comfort and encouragement. And one day he saw a stunning picture: an Egyptian was beating a Jew. Moses' heart trembled with pity for his brother. He stood up for the offended, killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand.

Consider this act of Moses. It was jealousy not on reasoning. Acting under the influence of feelings, he lost sight of the consequences that could result from this: the death of not only him, but the massacre of all Israel.

He hurried, ran ahead with the cause of the liberation of Israel. In God's plan, there were 40 more years of suffering for Israel. The red-hot furnace was supposed to cleanse them from their impurity - idolatry. And cleansed: Ex. 2, 23.

He relied on his strength. On your right hand. And he lost sight of another right hand - the all-powerful hand of God. This was his great mistake.

We often repeat the same mistakes. And we have a lot of jealousy not on reasoning. And we, under the influx of feelings, are capable of making mistakes ("alien fire"). And we often get ahead of ourselves.

We do not follow the Lord, but go ahead of Him. And then the divergence of plans turns out: His and ours. This divergence is the frequent tragedy of our Christian life, the cause of many tears. We often rely on ourselves, we forget the right hand of God. We forget that our task is to be a rod in the hand of the Lord. Tool! Tool! Only! This was not yet learned by the young Moses. We have not learned either.

God's great plan for Moses, which was still unknown to him, was to make Moses the leader of Israel, the leader of the Old Testament church. This is on the one hand. And on the other - to give him a revelation of what was from the creation of the world to him, Moses! That is, all that is written by Moses in the book of Genesis. But for this, a desert was needed, as for the apostle Paul.

How did the Lord lead him into the wilderness? So, in a fit of unreasonable jealousy, Moses killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand ... He thought that no one except the Jew, for whose help he did this deed, knew about this. And the Jew divulged this secret. The next day, Moses again went out to his suffering brothers - the Jews. And I saw again a sad sight: a quarrel between two Jews. He decided to reconcile them, but heard from them the words: Exodus 2, 14.

The news of his deed reached the pharaoh. Pharaoh was filled with anger and decided to kill Moses. For Moses, there was only one way: to run. And he's running! Where? into the wilderness of Midian.

So the Lord used the fear of Moses to bring him into the wilderness to His great school.

And here is Moses in the wilderness. Last time we saw him in the palace, on the shining top of the mountain. Now he is in a deep valley. He was a prince, now he is a beggar. A shepherd with his father-in-law Jethro. And how did he get to Jethro? Jethro is a priest of Midian. He has 7 daughters. They are all shepherds. Water in the desert is difficult. These girls will draw water, fill the troughs to water their sheep, and the shepherds - the men of the other flocks - will drive them away and, using their labor, water their flocks, and this happened often. And one day it happened in front of Moses. He stood up for the poor shepherdesses. He himself drew water, filled the troughs and watered their sheep. The girls told their father about this noble deed of the newcomer - the Egyptian. Their father Jethro (aka Raguel) invited Moses to his house. Moses settled with him and married one of his daughters, Zipporah.

In the desert he had two sons: Gersam and Eliezer.

For forty years the life of Moses flowed in the desert of Midian, like the quietest river. About this life, the word of God says this: "Moses was tending the sheep at Jethro, his father-in-law!"

From the outside, life is very monotonous, colorless: day after day, the same thing. But with God there is no monotony and colorlessness. With Christ, life is always the most colorful. Moses received one revelation after another from his Lord. Wonderful pictures passed before his inner eye: the creation of the world, the creation of Adam and Eve, their fall and expulsion from paradise... The story of Cain and Abel... Pictures from the life of Noah... Pictures full of colors from the life of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph! Among the gray sand of the desert, these marvelous colors of past events shone brightly. And Moses described them in the book of Genesis. These 40 years of monotonous work developed in him an amazing patience, which was so necessary for him in the future, when he became the leader of the obstinate and capricious people of Israel. He became the meekest of men. In a word, the desert was a great school where the Lord from Moses made his earthen vessel. Your future wand. Your future obedient weapon.

Brothers and sisters! Don't complain about your monotonous life. I repeat: with Christ there is not and cannot be monotony and colorlessness. With Christ - a bright, colorful life. All the colors of the Bible are our colors. In eternity we will know that our daily life has been given to us by the Lord as the most blessed school.

THE CALL OF MOSES.

Exodus 3, 1 - 12

Monotonous desert. For 40 years, Moses wandered along it with the flocks of his father-in-law Jethro. Passing God's school - the school of humility and patience!

Humility: a man of the highest Egyptian culture works as a shepherd.

Patience: 40 years is one and the same thing... But the Lord knew how Moses would need these two qualities when He called him to the post of leader of the recalcitrant Israel. He will need these qualities of character more than all the knowledge that he received while living in the palace of the pharaoh.

Let us remember that knowledge is a great power that can be given to the service of the Lord. We see this in the life of the learned apostle Paul, as well as in the life of the learned leader of Israel, Moses! But character is even more important to God's glory than knowledge. That is why our daily life is of such great importance: it is a school for the development of character, which is so important to our Christianity.

But back to Moses... He began one of his ordinary, monotonous days - the days of the shepherd. He's in the desert... among his sheep. Around the usual blackthorn - a common plant of the desert. And suddenly - what is it? One of the thorn bushes caught fire with a bright flame. And in the silence of the desert, from the flame of a burning thorn bush, a voice was heard: "Moses! Moses!" It was the voice of God.

Let's listen to further words from the burning bush: Exodus 3, 5 - 10. This is how Moses was called to the greatest service to the Lord and his people.

When the history of vocations passes before us - vocations to the path of Christ or to the service of God - we will be convinced that the voice of God has always been heard from "burning thorn bushes."

In the wilderness of human life, there are many "thorn bushes" that the Lord can use to speak to our hearts. A simple, nondescript preacher, a simple, nondescript interlocutor, a book, an article in a magazine, a letter, a simple childish mouth.

On any given day, a bush of thorns may burn before us and the voice of God will be heard: "Moses! Moses!", calling you by your name. The thorn bushes burned before us in the past year, and the Lord spoke to us, to each of us, but we often turned out to be both blind and deaf. And in the new year (be sure) there will be burning bushes on our life path, and the Lord from them will speak to us. Oh, let's pay attention to His voice. Let each of us say, like Moses: "Here I am, Lord! What will you command me to do?"

What did the Lord command Moses from the thorn bush? "Go to Egypt, to Pharaoh, and bring out of Egypt my people, the sons of Israel!" What an assignment! Similar to the command: "Go to the sea! Go to the river", "Go to the Jericho wall!"

Moses trembled at the magnitude of the task: to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt! Because he's not the presumptuous Moses we saw last Thursday when he killed the Egyptian. He is deeply humble - in the 40-year-old desert school, he learned humility.

"Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?" he says. The Lord gives him a great promise: "I will be with you." But Moses continues to tremble.

MOSES GOES TO EGYPT.

Exodus 4, 1 - 31

We saw the trembling of unbelief in Moses. Let this not surprise us, for Moses was a man like us. Consider the greatest of the prophets, Elijah. How he trembled under a juniper bush in the desert, afraid that Jezebel would kill him. Consider the greatest of those born of women: John the Baptist. Didn't he also show doubts?

A man remains a man even when the grace of God turns him into the greatest righteous man. This is why the Bible does not hide the sins of the righteous. She did not hide the sins of Moses. And we will see them.

Miracles of God increase faith! To increase the faith of Moses, the Lord shows him His miracles:

a) A rod thrown on the ground turns into a snake and again into a rod.

b) The hand placed in the bosom becomes covered with leprosy and recovers again.

c) And the promise of another miracle: water taken from the river Nile will become blood on dry land.

These miracles were to increase not only the faith of Moses, but the faith of all of God's people.

And how did Christ remove the doubt of John the Baptist? Showing him His deeds, His miracles. Read: Matt. 11, 4 - 5.

Brothers and sisters! The works of God increase our faith in the Lord. Can each of us tell about the deeds, about the miracles of God in his life? Yes, they were - these miracles of God - in the life of each of us.

Strengthened by these miracles, Moses leaves the house of his father-in-law Jethro and goes to Egypt. He takes his wife Zipporah and two sons with him. He puts them on a donkey and sets off on a long journey. So another family will also move to Egypt on the same road: Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus. And in the hand of Moses and in the hand of Joseph is a staff (rod). Symbol of the power of God! How good it is to travel with this blessed staff in hand, that is, with the Lord Himself! With His help and strength! After all, we are all wanderers, travelers to a distant country, to heavenly abodes, pilgrims. We sing a beautiful song: "Where are you going, tell me, a wanderer with a staff in his hand? By the wondrous mercy of the Lord, I am going to a better country!"

But on the way, Moses suffers a great test: he falls seriously ill. Only in this way can one understand the words: Exodus 4, 24. And when, on a sleepless night, lying on the bed of his serious illness, he raised his eyes to heaven and said to the Lord: "Lord, what is the matter? Why did you put me on this bed? Maybe Perhaps You decided to choose another instrument for the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, and appointed me to die? - then the Lord showed him one of his omissions: he did not circumcise his sons, as the Lord commanded even Abraham! Or: circumcised the firstborn, but not the second son.

To Moses this omission may have seemed a matter of trifling and unimportant. What is the circumcision of a son compared to the great work of redeeming Israel?! But both are the commandments of the Lord. This means that they are mandatory.

Oh, how we love to divide the commandments of the Lord into large and small, into important and unimportant. And how much disobedience we have in relation to the commandments, which seem to us secondary.

Let us take such commandments of the Lord as: "Let not the sun go down on your wrath." "Before you offer your sacrifice, go and be reconciled to your brother, to your sister!"

Or: "Don't be indebted to anyone, no way."

Or the commandment: "Carry one another's burdens!"

I could cite many such commandments from the word of God, to which believers hardly pay attention. How many here in the congregation dream of fulfilling the commandment of the Lord about baptism and the communion of bread. This is very good. Do you burn with the desire to reconcile with your enemy? Pay off your debts? Fulfill your promises? Carry someone else's burden? Take care not only about yourself, but also about others? Or fulfill this commandment: "Let your meekness be known to all men." Or maybe there is a person to whom your meekness is still unknown, because you do not show it to him?

Let us strive to fulfill the will of God in everything: great and small. In preaching to Pharaoh and circumcising his son. Moses corrected the mistake. He himself, due to illness, could not circumcise his son, Zipporah, his wife, circumcised him. At the same time she showed her character: Exodus 4, 25. Rebuke! Moses saw that she had not yet passed the school of patience... and parted with her for a while... In the work he was about to accomplish, she could only be a hindrance to him.

And so he continues on his way alone. And he remembers the promise of God: Exodus 4:14. And the Lord is faithful in His promise: Exodus 4:27. Yes, the Lord is faithful in all His promises. Let's not doubt any of them. And there are about 30,000 of them in the Bible. And now - a joyful meeting of brothers. They haven't seen each other for 40 years. How many stories to each other while they were going to Egypt!

The Lord knows our "Aarons" and how to give them to us so that they can be our comfort, reinforcement and encouragement.

He sent Jonathan to David, Philip to the eunuch, Silas to Paul, Luke, Timothy!

"It is not good for the man to be alone; let us make him a helper fit for him!" And the Lord creates these helpers, these "Aarons". Not only in the person of his wife... Zipporah could not be Moses' helper... Aaron was required.

Lonely souls! The Lord has "aerons" for you, and in due time He will create them. He will send them to you!

MOSES AND AARON IN THE PHARAOH'S PALACE.

Exodus 4; 23 - 31; 5, 1 - 23

Assembly of the Elders of the Children of Israel. Who were these elders? Heads of tribes and clans of Israel. It was a big meeting. Aaron, the brother of Moses, spoke at this meeting. What did he say? What the Lord commanded Moses! What did he say to say? Let's read: Exodus 3, 15 - 17. This was the gospel message for Israel. That is, the joyful news of his deliverance from Egyptian slavery. Many centuries after the proclamation of this joyful news, another, even more joyful news was heard in Egypt. I'm talking about good news for the shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem. Another Aaron - an angel from heaven - proclaimed it. Let's read it again: Luke. 2, 10 - 11. There - in Egypt - joy was proclaimed only for Israel. Here - in Bethlehem - joy is proclaimed for all mankind. There - in Egypt - the message was heard about deliverance from physical slavery, from the slavery of the body. In Bethlehem, the news was heard about the Savior who would save people from their sins.

How was this message received by Israel in Egypt? Perhaps, as Moses feared: Exodus 4, 1. And probably even so, otherwise the Lord would not have promised Moses to perform three miracles before the elders of Israel.

And in this assembly of elders, the Lord reinforces the joyful news of deliverance from Egyptian captivity with these three miracles.

a) Moses throws his rod on the ground and it turns into a snake. What a commotion in the congregation!

b) Moses puts his hand in his bosom, and she becomes a leper... She is white as snow from leprosy... The elders are full of surprise, but still doubt: maybe Moses was a leper?

c) Then Moses takes water from the river Nile and pours it out on dry land: and behold, it became blood.

d) "And Moses did signs before the eyes of the people," the faces of his representatives, that is, the elders, and they believed. The meeting is over. The heads of the tribes and the ancestors dispersed to carry the glad tidings that had just been heard to all the people of Israel. And the people believed. And all Israel bowed down and worshiped the Lord.

After the meeting of the elders, Moses and Aaron go to the pharaoh's palace. And here Moses utters the words commanded by the Lord: Exodus 3, 18. This was not a command from the Lord to completely let the people go ... It was a request for a vacation for a short time, to make a sacrifice in the wilderness. A request for a rest, and a very short one, after many years of exorbitant hard work. But this request was transmitted as a command from the Lord: Exodus 5, 1. Pharaoh's pride flared up at these words: Exodus 5, 2. This was the beginning of that hardening of Pharaoh's heart, which we will see later. And this hardening was from the Lord: Exodus 4, 21. And the purpose of this hardening: to show Pharaoh, all Egypt and the whole world the strong hand of the Lord. Let's read: Exodus 3, 19 - 20; 6, 1.

Pharaoh's heart hardened by the Lord issues a command: Exodus 5, 6 - 9. And Israel groaned even more after this command of the pharaoh: Exodus 5, 12 - 21. The situation was not only desperate, but downright hopeless. Oh, how often the Lord allows these "hopeless situations" in the lives of His children, and all in order to show them His strong hand. So that we can often exclaim: "The Lord is God! The Lord is God!"

In addition, perhaps the eyes of Israel began to turn on Moses ... Those miracles that he performed before the elders of Israel and about which all Israel spoke, perhaps began to be attributed not to the Lord, but to Moses himself ... and Moses, perhaps, began to stand between the Lord and Israel ... Moses did not want this at all, but it worked out, and the Lord showed his people that Moses is nothing! That he is not the liberator of Israel, but the Lord. And the people moved from praise to humiliation of Moses: Exodus 5, 20-21. And this humiliation was also from the Lord.

But the heart of Moses was greatly depressed by everything that happened after visiting the palace of the pharaoh. Let's read: Exodus 5, 22-23.

Everything in Moses' life suggests that he was a man just like us. But the main thing: he was not yet rich in spiritual experience. Great wealth is spiritual experience. Whoever has it, he is a little discouraged in life.

Moses had not yet experienced the Red Sea, where He saw what "the mighty hand of the Lord" means. After the Red Sea, when the Israelites miraculously crossed it, and the Egyptians drowned, Moses would not have prayed with the words: "Lord, why did You send me" ... "To deliver - You did not deliver Your people!"

Oh, how much the spiritual experience of the children of God means. If among us there are those who are despondent, of little faith, it is not because they are not children of God or bad children of God, but because they still have little spiritual experience.

So that we can see more of the strong hand of the Lord in our lives and, seeing it in the most difficult situations, gain more and more blessed spiritual experience - the Lord made our life a race ground (running) with obstacles.

THE STRONG ARM OF THE LORD SHOWN IN EGYPT.

Exodus 7, 1 - 5

To show His mighty hand, Lord:

a) hardened Pharaoh's heart,

b) threw His servant Moses off the pedestal.

Questions asked of me regarding bitterness: If the pharaoh died, is this the fault of the Lord?! If Judas betrayed Christ, then the Lord hardened him too?! Not! The Lord hardened Pharaoh only about allowing Israel to go into the wilderness. On the rejection in the heart of the Lord, He never hardened him. And Judas was hardened not by the Lord, but by the love of money.

Moses was not supposed to outshine the Lord with his figure. Therefore He allowed Moses to be humiliated. Ref. 5, 21; 6, 12. So that Moses could repeat the words more often: "He must increase, but I must decrease."

Pharaoh's great question: "Who is the Lord?" And his confession: "I don't know the Lord." There were countless gods in Egypt. There, almost everything was deified. But Jehovah - the only true God - was the unknown God in Egypt. And as in the days of the Apostle Paul, among the many altars in Athens, there was an altar with the inscription: "To the Unknown God" - so in Egypt: among the countless altars to the countless deities, Moses and Aaron met the altar "To the Unknown God."

"Who is the Lord? I don't know Him!" But Egypt had to know Him: Exodus 7, 5. Knowing and receiving are not the same thing: Matt. 24, 14.

How will Egypt recognize Him? In 10 miracles that the Lord - one by one - will perform in Egypt. Today we will see the power and majesty of God, as it was revealed before the eyes of Pharaoh and all the Egyptians, but also the power of darkness competing with the power of light.

The Lord did His miracles in Egypt for a reason. He called them "great courts". In what sense? These were "trials" of Egyptian deities, idols, idols. Each sign was a blow to some deity of Egypt. And if we remember that the majority of the Israelite people began to worship the deities of Egypt, as it is written (read again): Jos. Nav. 24, 14. Ezek. 20:6-8, then we will understand the meaning of every sign, every miracle, performed by the hand of the Lord in Egypt.

The idols of the Egyptians were the idols of the Israelite people. By breaking the idols of the Egyptians, the Lord also smashed the idols of Israel. So, let us be witnesses of these great blows of God on the idols of the Egyptians.

First strike: blood instead of water in the river Nile. Let's read: Exodus 7, 14 - 23. We have already said that the Egyptians called the Nile River "blessed river". No, more: they believed in the "goddess of the Nile" and worshiped her. The waters of the Nile were considered sacred, and the fish that swam in it were the object of worship for the Egyptians. And suddenly the sacred water of the Nile turns into blood. You can't drink its water, you can't wash your face. The river "smelled", that is, it began to emit a stench ... and the "sacred fish" died out. It was a terrible blow to one of the most sacred idols of Egypt. But Pharaoh's heart continued to be hardened. "His heart was not moved" by this miracle. Moreover, the sorcerers of Egypt performed the same miracle before his eyes. This may surprise us, but we will cease to be surprised when we read the words of Christ Himself about the miracles of the forces of darkness: Matt. 24, 24.

Second strike: toads. Let's read: Exodus 8, 1 - 15. Frogs everywhere. No place to step foot ... neither on the streets, nor in the houses. The toad among the Egyptians was the personification of the goddess of fertility. She couldn't be killed. And suddenly the Egyptians trampled them down by the thousands. What a blow to a sacred subject. The pharaoh trembled. He called Moses and Aaron. And he said: "Pray to the Lord for me": Exodus 8, 8. This miracle was repeated by the sorcerers of Egypt. But to show that the Lord is God, Moses asks Pharaoh to appoint a day for prayer for him and for the whole people, so that the frogs disappear and remain only in the river. Pharaoh said: "Tomorrow." On the appointed day, Moses called to the Lord. And oh, the power of prayer! - on the same day the toads died out: Exodus 8, 12 - 13. But the pharaoh became hardened again and did not let the people go. But he learned a great lesson about the power of God.

Today we will confine ourselves to these two signs of the strong hand of the Lord in Egypt. We have something to think about. About the strength and power of our glorious Lord, about His strong and strong hand.

But again today we see how the Lord does His great deeds not alone, but with co-workers. Moses and Aaron are His rods. Through them He speaks to Pharaoh. They stretch out their wands. They strike the water with the rod. Could not the Lord do without them, without their rods, without their mouths, without their hands? Of course it could! But He often works through people. We, says the Apostle Paul, are laborers together with God! So the Lord acted in the Old Testament, so He acts in the New (Acts 14:3).

What is required of God's co-workers? Mainly three qualities: obedience, faith, prayer. Going to Pharaoh is a very unpleasant business, but Moses goes and Aaron goes. Why? Because the Lord told them to go! And they are obedient. And how did they believe in the power of their Lord? Heb. I, 27. How did they pray? Each of us should strive for these qualities that shone so brightly in Moses and Aaron! To complete obedience to our Lord! To deep faith in His power! And to constant, fiery prayer.

BREAKING ON THE FALSE DEITIES OF EGYPT

Third strike: midges! Let's read: Exodus 8, 16 - 19. I will now read an excerpt from a scientific book about Egypt, and then all the miracles revealed by the Lord in Egypt will be especially clear to us. Here is this excerpt: “Wherever the Egyptian turned his eyes, everywhere he saw divine beings around him. All the surrounding nature was inhabited by gods, and all life seemed to him a divine mystery. Heavenly bodies with their regular movement, fertile mother earth, blessed Nile seemed to him mighty deities, without whose help he could not do.His fantasy pictured to him a desert inhabited by terrible fabulous animals, and it seemed to him that in the rustle of leaves he heard the sounds of a divine voice.

To the ancient Egyptian, animals seemed endowed with supernatural gifts, and he attributed to them the gift of speech, and the gift of prophecy, and superhuman subtle feelings.

He imagined that animals were animated by gods, and therefore he paid divine honors to many animals.

The Egyptians did good to everything: trees, animals, people, and even buildings. Gods and demons could live everywhere. But the most widespread cult in Egypt was the cult of animals, that is, the worship of animals.

In Egypt, they worshiped a hawk, a cat, a crocodile, a dog, toads, snakes, a goose, bulls, cows, goats, rams, horses, camels, etc. All animals were considered the incarnation of a deity and had their own temples, priests, their own special holidays.

All of Egypt was covered with temples dedicated to various sacred animals, where they were worshiped and served. The pharaoh himself was also deified and was considered the son of the sun god Ra (hence the word "fa-ra-on", that is, the son of Ra)".

So, consider the third blow: midges. The Word of God says, "And there were midges on the people and on the cattle." And the pharaoh. That is, they covered all the deities of Egypt.

The Magi could not perform this miracle and came to the pharaoh's palace with a sermon about the living God and said to the pharaoh: "King! This is the finger of God!" Here are the results of the third strike.

Fourth strike: dog flies. Let's read: 8, 20 - 23. A special blow to the dogs of Egypt. Because of the killing of a dog, also a sacred animal, even wars arose between the tribe in which the dog was killed and the tribe to which the killer belonged.

But in order for the Egyptians to see even more clearly the strong hand of the Lord, the Lord this time singled out the land of Goshen, where the people of Israel lived, and there were no dog flies.

The result of this miracle: Exodus 8, 25; Moses' argument: 8, 26; Pharaoh's request: 8, 28.

Fifth strike: pestilence. Let's read: Exodus 9, 1 - 7. "And all the livestock of Egypt died out." What a blow to the sacred bulls and cows, rams and goats.

Sixth stroke: inflammation with abscesses, that is, purulent inflammation. Let's read: Exodus 9, 8 - 12. And again: the defeat of the sacred cattle, but also. Magi themselves: "the inflammation was on the Magi." The defeat of both sacred animals and their attendants, the priests (magi).

Seventh blow: the hail is very strong. And lightning. Let's read: Exodus 9, 13 - 19; 9, 25 - 28.

This is a blow not only to animals, but also to plants, but also to crops, and crops were also deified: all of Egypt revered the goddess of fertility and harvest. And the hand of the Living God fell upon her.

Exodus 9:31: "The flax and barley were beaten." The result of this miracle: Exodus 9, 27 - 28.

Eighth strike: locust. Let's read: Exodus 10, 1 - 17. An even stronger blow to the goddess of fertility, to the sacred trees and plants: "There is no greenery left."

Ninth Impact: Thick darkness for three days. Let's read: Exodus 10, 21 - 29. It was a blow to the main deity of Egypt: the god of the sun and light, whom the Egyptians called "Osiris".

There was no light in sunny Egypt for three days. "We didn't see each other." And at the same time - in the land of Goshen near Israel, the sun shone in all its strength. What a defeat for Osiris! What a blow to the main deity of Egypt!

What was the fruit of all these miracles of God in Egypt? In an eternity where there will be no secrets, we will know the results of the strong hand of the Lord in Egypt. But for now, here on earth, we can only say one thing: Israel, seeing the power of the Lord manifested in Egypt, no doubt turned to the living God. We will see this next time. And which of the Egyptians turned to the Lord - this will show eternity. So it was in the days of Christ. His glorious deeds and miracles in Palestine subdued some to the Lord, and hardened others so that they shouted: "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" Read: Matt. 11, 20 - 24.

But let's look at Moses himself. How he grew spiritually in these storms of Egypt. How strong he was when he saw the power of the Lord in Egypt! What a huge difference: Moses at the thorn bush in the Midian desert and Moses leaving Pharaoh after the ninth blow. His words in the wilderness: Exodus. 3, 11 and 4, 13. His words in the palace of the pharaoh: Exodus 10, 29.

From a cane, he turned into a pillar. Let's read: Exodus 11, 3. And the blessed promise is given to us: Rev. 8, 12. Here, among us, there are many reeds, swayed by the wind. But the school of God with its wise upbringing will increase us, temper us and make us granite, a rock, a pillar.

GOLGOTHA CROSS IN EGYPT.

Exodus 11, 1 - 10; 12, 1 - 14

The tenth and last blow: this is the death of all the firstborn in Egypt. Getting acquainted with the life and ministry of Moses, we also got acquainted with the life of Egypt, and especially with the religion of Egypt. We learned that in Egypt almost everything was deified. And animals were especially revered. But people were also respected. In ancient Egypt, there was also a cult of birthright, that is, the veneration of the firstborn in the family. Speaking about the veneration of people in Egypt, we note that the corpses of dead people were also venerated there. If there was worship of the firstborn, then how will we understand the tenth blow of the strong hand of the Lord in Egypt: the death of the firstborn or the firstborn. But even with this blow, we see the difference that the Lord made between the Egyptians and the Israelites: not a single firstborn died among the Israelites.

Brothers and sisters! The Lord made, as we have seen repeatedly, a distinction between the Israelites and the Egyptians by striking at the deities of Egypt. He makes a distinction between his church and the world. His great desire: that His church, His children should be "special people" according to the purity and holiness of life. But, alas, how often there is no such distinction. The Church of Christ, its members, allow in their lives the same shortcomings, sins and vices as the people of this world. And the difference, established by the Lord, is obscured, erased. The spirit of this world breaks into the church of Christ with great force, and the church becomes a worldly church. This is a sad but fact of life for many of God's children.

Great proclamation of God in Egypt. Let's read what kind of proclamation this is: Exodus 12, 1 - 2. "Let this month be your beginning of months." "Let it be your first between the months of the year." The great permutation of the months. Which month should come first? The month of redemption, salvation by the blood of the Lamb, and not only a month, but also a day. (Ex. 12, 14). What a lesson for us!

The day of the knowledge of Christ as our Savior, the day of the knowledge of His precious Blood must become for us, believers, the beginning of all the days of our life. The first between all the days of our lives! Only from that day on did we begin to live, and until that day we were dead in our sins and transgressions. Read: Ephesus. 2, 5 - 6. Our real, true life, a life full of joys and happiness, begins at the foot of the Calvary Cross, that is, from the day of the knowledge of the Lamb slain for us. From the day of the cleansing of our hearts, our sins by the blood of the Lamb - Jesus.

The Lamb of God in Egypt: Exodus 12, 3 - 6. This is one of the millions of lambs slain in Israel. It has a special name: "Passover lamb". This is the Passover of the Lord (Ex. 12:11). And now read: 1 Cor. 5, 7 - 8. Let us pay attention to the words of God in Egypt regarding the Paschal lamb: "On the tenth day of the month let them take a lamb for themselves" ... "And let it be kept until the fourteenth day of the month" ... "And then let them all kill it assembly of the Israelite Society. Now read: 1 Pet. 1, 18 - 20. On the tenth day - the choice of the lamb, on the fourteenth - the slaughter of the lamb. Before the foundation of the world - the predestination of Christ as the Lamb for the redemption of the world. In the last times - the slaughter of the Lamb of God on Golgotha.

Today we will celebrate a great truth: the Passover lamb in Egypt is one of the best types of Golgotha. The Passover lamb was a sacrifice without blemish (Ex. 12:5). And the Lamb of Calvary was without blemish. The Passover lamb was slain in the evening (Ex. 12:6-8). And the Lamb of Calvary was slain in the evening. The bones of the Passover lamb were not broken. (Ex. 12:10). But the slaughter of the lamb was not enough. It would not have saved the firstborn of Israel. What else was needed? Let's read: Exodus 12, 7. God commanded to anoint the blood of the slain Paschal lamb on both jambs and on the crossbar of the doors. This is God's condition for salvation.

The Lamb of God - Jesus Christ - was slain at Golgotha. He was slain for the sins of all mankind. Blood was shed to atone for the sin of all sinners. You can know about it and still die. Satan himself knows this. What is needed for salvation? Take cover behind this blood. Israel may not have understood the meaning of the blood of the Passover lamb. God's command to anoint the doors of the house with the blood of the Paschal lamb might be incomprehensible to him and seem strange, but God knew the price of the blood of the Lamb of Golgotha ​​and gave this blood for the salvation of all sinners. And besides, as the only means. But we must all understand that the Blood of Christ on Calvary is one thing, and the blood of Christ in the heart of a sinner is another thing.

The human mind may not appreciate and even despise the Blood of Christ shed on Calvary, but the mind of God puts it in the first place in the work of our eternal salvation.

And we must accept it by faith in our hearts if we want to avoid God's judgment on us.

The blood of the Passover lamb saved the firstborn of Israel. The blood of the Lamb of Calvary will save us believers from eternal judgment. Let's read: 1 Peter, 2:24.

Christ bore our sins with His body on the tree, that is, on the Cross, not in the manger of Bethlehem, not in Nazareth, not in Capernaum, not even in the Garden of Gethsemane, but on Golgotha, on the Cross! Here, and only here, is the blood of our Redeemer shed, about which the Lord solemnly proclaimed in Egypt: “And the blood will be a sign on your houses (and now on hearts), and I will see the Blood and pass over you, and there will be no destructive ulcer between you ".

What a lesson about the preciousness of the blood of the Paschal lamb was taught by the Lord to Israel in Egypt, and today we are again taught a lesson about the preciousness of the blood of the Calvary Lamb - Jesus Christ!

EASTER IN EGYPT.

Exodus 12, 7 - 11

We ended up seeing the doors of every house in Israel anointed with the blood of the Passover lamb. And then they looked into their hearts and saw the Blood of the Lamb of Calvary in them. Now we will look inside the houses of Israel on that memorable night. In all houses there is a slain lamb on the table. He is at the center of every family. Every Israeli is focused on it. What a great lesson this is for all of us.

Every church, every community is a family, God's family. At the center of every community, every church must be Christ. But which Christ? Slain at Calvary! In the homes of Israel in Egypt, the centerpiece of the Passover night was the lamb, slain and baked in a fire. This is Christ, slain and subjected to the great fire of God's judgment for our sins. This is the Christ that should be at the center of all our communities and at the center of our hearts.

Next, we see how the Passover lamb is eaten in all the houses of Israel. The Israelites not only anointed the doors of their houses with the blood of the lamb. They eat it. Here is another great lesson for all of us. We have accepted the blood of Christ into our hearts as the only means for our salvation, but our further task is to feed on Christ! How? Through constant fellowship with Him. The constant food for our minds and hearts must be Christ, who was slain for us at Calvary.

"Let them eat it with unleavened bread" (Ex. 12:8). Without leaven. Leaven in the Bible is a type of evil, sin, vice. The fellowship with Christ that follows salvation through His blood must be without leaven, without sin or blemish. Our great slogan after receiving the blood of Christ by faith should be the slogan: Away with all leaven. Away with every sin - not only the greatest, but also the smallest. Away from sin even in thoughts. For we are saved to holiness.

"And with bitter herbs"... Bitterness! This is our participation in the sufferings of Christ. This means: to weep with Christ for perishing sinners, to offer oneself as a sacrifice for the good of others, as He offered Himself! Serve Him with tears, as the apostle Paul served Him with tears. All this is blessed bitterness, blessed tears, blessed participation in the sufferings of Christ. Happy are those of us who have not only received the Blood of Christ into our hearts. They not only feed on Him, that is, they communicate with Him, and not only struggle with leaven, but also participate in the bitterness of Christ, in His sufferings. Philip. 3, 10.

Let us now look at the Israelites themselves eating the Passover lamb. Let's read it again: Exodus 12, 11. Loins girded, shoes on feet, staff in hand. This is the look of every Israelite, that is, the look of a wanderer, the look of a pilgrim. What a lesson for us in this!

Every child of God should strive for the simplest way of life - no excesses, as little ballast as possible, as few attachments as possible. Readiness to move into eternity any day, any hour. This is what our Christianity should be like, this is what girded loins, shod feet and a staff in hand means. And Christ, our Savior, wants to see us that way. Let's read His words: Luk. 12, 35 - 37.

EXIT FROM EGYPT.

Exodus 12, 29, 51; 13, 17, 22.

Pharaoh's command. While the Israelites were eating the Passover in their homes protected by the blood of the Passover lamb, the angel of death struck down the firstborn in Egypt. Death broke into the pharaoh's palace and carried away his first-born son. This terrible grief led to the release of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery. Let's read it again: Ex. 12, 30 - 33.

Exit from Egypt. 600 thousand men, except women and children. About 3 million people with women and children.

Great procession! With a great multitude of herds and flocks, and with a great quantity of things of gold and silver, and also of garments received from the Egyptians.

And they brought something else out of Egypt. Read: Exodus 13, 19.

First stop in Sokhoff. Here they first made tabernacles for themselves, that is, tents of branches and leaves, in memory of which the Feast of Tabernacles was subsequently established.

Second stop in Ephraim. This is where the desert started. Detour to Canaan through the wilderness. A long way - as much as 40 years, a very difficult way. While from Egypt to Canaan there was a very short way: through the land of the Philistines. Why has the Lord planned such a detour, such a long and difficult path for His people? Answer to this question: Deut. 8:2-4. This path was a wonderful school for Israel, a school of faith.

The path of life for each of us is a wonderful school of faith. The Lord, after our resurrection, could quickly lead us to the heavenly Canaan, but He leads us through the wilderness for years, so that we can see His wonderful leading and, having come to the end of our journey, we can exclaim: Rev. 15, 3.

Christ has two schools: earthly and heavenly. Earthly is a school in a boat, on the sea of ​​life. Read: Luke. 5, 1 - 3. The heavenly school - its prototype can be Bethany, where peace and quiet reigned and where Mary sat at the feet of Christ with a happy smile, learning from Him.

The New Testament is very clear about the future life. Read: Open. 21:4. Such is the heavenly school, but the earthly path is rich in sickness, and sighs, and tears, and fresh graves.

The Apostle Paul denoted this path in two words, when he repeated in all the churches the words that "through many tribulations we must enter into the Kingdom of God" (Acts Ap. 14:22). The path of "many tribulations"! And these tribulations are nothing but His blessed lessons. The 40-year wandering of the Israelite people in the wilderness will be an excellent proof for us that sorrows are blessed lessons in the earthly school of Christ.

An amazing guide to the journey of the Israelites: The Lord Himself. But in what form? As a pillar of cloud during the day and as a pillar of fire at night. Let's read: Exodus 13, 21 - 22. So the Lord led them all the way, for 40 years.

The cloud showed them the way, protected them from the burning rays of the southern sun, giving them a fertile shade, and at night the pillar of fire was a great chandelier that illuminated their entire camp. And it seems to me that someone here says: "Oh, if only we had such a guide!"

We have the best guide - Christ. Listen to His words: "I am the way", "I am the light". For everyone who believes in Him and loves Him! He leads us: a) by the example of his life, b) by the teaching of his gospel, c) by the leading of his Holy Spirit, d) by arranging the circumstances of our lives as he pleases.

He guards us on the way, encouraging us with the words: Is. 43, 2. He illuminates with a bright light all our way, being the Sun of our life. He turns our darkest nights into bright days! We know all this from experience.

So, we got acquainted with the way of the Israelite people. From Egypt to Canaan! We got acquainted with the guide on this long and difficult journey. But we got acquainted with our way and with our Guide. Shall we now go more cheerfully on our way? As we sing in one song: "We will go more cheerfully on the path of life if we trust Jesus. Let not "many sorrows" confuse us. Let us look not at them, but at our guide - Christ."

ON THE SHORE OF THE RED SEA.

Exodus 14, 1 - 16; 21 - 22

We begin the study of the 40-year wandering in the wilderness of the Old Testament church. We will witness events of the deepest interest for us. Despite the fact that we are separated from them by several thousand years, the experience of the Old Testament church is infinitely valuable for the New Testament church. And we will try, wandering along with the people of Israel in the wilderness, to extract everything that can be useful for us, believers of the New Testament time.

From the very beginning of this wandering of the Old Testament church in the wilderness, we emphasize to ourselves the precious words of the Lord himself. "Therefore remember the way the Lord led you" (Deuteronomy 8:2). "The Lord led!"... These two words transform the entire path of the Old Testament church. They transform the path of each of us.

We have already spoken about how the Lord led His children. In a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. And then the cloud rose and headed towards the Red Sea. Obediently, the Old Testament church follows him, and here are the children of God on the seashore. And on the sides? Mountains, steep and high! It was a real dead end. And there was only one way out of this impasse: to go back!

The children of God of the Old Testament church had the question in their hearts, "Why are we here?" "What to do next?" The path is closed. Dead end! To go back - did the Lord bring them here for this? But soon the way back was closed. The Egyptians pursued the children of God and overtook them at the Red Sea. The puffin turned into a bag. And the children of God began to murmur. Let's listen to their murmuring: Exodus 14, 11 - 12. Cowardice and despair took possession of them. The spiritual experience of the Old Testament church on the shores of the Red Sea must become our experience. We have already noted that our pillar of the cloud is Christ. And repeatedly He led us to dead ends from which we saw no way out. Each of us remembers these dead ends in our Christian lives.

What's the point of these dead ends? Why did the Old Testament children of God get to know them?

Why does Christ lead His New Testament children into these blind alleys? Moses explained well the significance of these blind alleys in the lives of God's children. How did he explain them? Let's read His words: Exodus 14, 13. "Do not be afraid, stand still - and you will see the salvation of the Lord, which He will work out for you today."

The salvation of the Lord, that is, the manifestation of the might of God, the power of God - this is the meaning of all our dead ends!

We see cowardice and grumbling among the children of God, on the shores of the Red Sea. But cowardice and grumbling are not uncommon among the members of Christ's church. But let's look at Moses today. He is completely calm. He is like a rock among the waves. He tells the people: "Be calm!" Where did he get this calm? Doesn't he have the same dead end? We learn the secret of his peace from Hebrews 11:27; "For he, as if seeing the Invisible, was steadfast."

The people looked at the sea in front of them, at the impregnable steep mountains on the sides, at the Egyptians behind. Moses looked only at the invisible Lord. Here is a great and precious lesson that we must learn: always look only at the Lord, neither to the right nor to the left, neither forward nor backward, but only upwards, at Christ, who sits at the right hand of God.

This is what will give us firmness and steadfastness and complete peace. Under any circumstances of life, in the most hopeless dead ends!

How did the children of God, who grumbled on the shores of the Red Sea, see the salvation of the Lord? How did they get out of the deadlock? And here's how: the Lord paved the way right across the sea, forcing the waters of the sea to part so that they were a wall on the right and on the left. And the children of God made a journey along the bottom of the sea, memorable for their whole life, having seen the "salvation of the Lord."

We will not explain how such a great miracle could happen - all miracles are clear to us when we believe in the Lord Almighty, that is, in God of all might.

Yesterday dead end, today passage. Recently I was looking for a dead end in Moscow and saw the word "passage". The boy who was playing right there told me that before it was a dead end, but now it was a "passage". Oh, how many "dead ends" in our lives Christ has turned into "passages" with His mighty hand. So it will be in the future. The waters will be parted by His power, and a smooth road will be before us. Let us read in conclusion His great promise: Is. 45, 2.

MERRA AND ELIM IN THE LIFE OF GOD'S CHILDREN.

Exodus 15, 22 - 27

The Lord chose the wild and desolate Sinai Peninsula to be the 40-year school for His Old Testament church. The same Sinai peninsula was a 40-year school for Moses. And here, on the Sinai Peninsula, the apostle Paul also had his desert. The Sinai Peninsula is a continuous desert, but segments or parts of this great desert had different names: the Sur Desert, the Sin Desert, the Paran Desert, but in the end it was one continuous desert. That is why the Lord says that He led His people in the wilderness for 40 years (Deuteronomy 8:2).

It was a very difficult school. A burning, scorching sun overhead, rarely obscured by clouds. Hot sand underfoot, many sharp stones that injure the legs. Sandy dust floating in the air, very rare sources of water; miserable, sparse vegetation; gray, dull, monotonous desert with very rare oases; poisonous snakes everywhere... and all this day after day, for 40 years. That's the kind of school, but it was God's school. After all, the Lord Himself in a pillar of fire led His people through the classrooms of this amazing school.

You and I will be eyewitnesses of the most wonderful pictures in the middle of this monotonous, monotonous desert. It will be a divine picture gallery that will turn the wild desert of the Sinai Peninsula into the most charming corner of the earth, full of the brightest, radiant colors. And at the very entrance to this divine picture gallery, we must put the words of Scripture: 1 Cor. 10, 11. "Described for our instruction."

The greatest blessing of the desert is its stillness, deep silence. How necessary this deep silence was for the children of God of the Old Testament after the noisy Egypt. Travelers say that such silence reigns in this desert that the Arabs wandering in it at a very long distance are talking to each other. How we need the blessed silence of the desert after the noise that often reigns in our hearts. How should we thank the Lord for our "deserts", where we hear not human voices, but the quiet voice of God, a voice coming to us from heaven.

In the deserts our communion with the Lord becomes closer and more fervent. Christ with renewed vigor captures our whole being.

Great Lesson in the Sur Desert. The people of God go through the wilderness for three days and find no water. Ordeal: three days without water under the scorching sun. On the fourth day, the waters of a spring shone in the distance ... They came to Merra, where there was water, but bitter. Murmuring went throughout the Old Testament church. “What should we drink,” the children of God say to Moses with reproach and displeasure!

Marah, that is, "bitterness," showed the heart of every Israeli, both to themselves and to you and me. And what do we see in their hearts? Murmur and discontent. Even though they knew that Merah was from the Lord, for the Lord had led them there in a pillar of cloud. Christ brings us to "Merra" to the bitterness of life, so that we can see ourselves and what our Christianity is like! Will we sing songs of glory or songs of murmuring?

That is the great meaning of our Merr, our bitter lives. But among the millions of hearts that grumbled against the Lord, there was a heart that did not grumble, the heart of Moses. He looked not at the bitter water, but at his Lord! Just like on the shores of the Red Sea. And looking at Him, he cried out to Him (Ex. 15:25).

The Great Miracle in the Sur Desert. The Lord showed Moses a tree which, when thrown into the bitter water of Marah, made it sweet. Oh blessed tree! Turning "Merra" - bitterness into sweetness.

Where can we get such a tree for our "Merrs", for the bitterness of our lives? We have this tree. Read: Rev. 22, 1 - 2. A wonderful tree - the tree of life: Jesus Christ! He turns all the bitterness of our life into great sweetness, into great good for us. To those who love Him, all "Merras", all bitterness contribute only to the good.

"And they came to Elim." Let's read: Exodus 15, 27. After bitter "Merah" - sweet "Elim". In Elim there are 12 springs of water and 70 date palms Camp of God's people "by the waters". We are familiar with "Merra", but we are also familiar with "Elim".

In our "Elimah" we sing the words of David: "He makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me to still waters." How good it is for our souls to rest in Elim after the burning desert and the bitterness of Marah! Yes, our path to heaven is rich in "Merrs", but it is also rich in "Elims". Both are from the Lord. And in Merrah, the blessed Tree of Life, Christ, who turns their bitterness into sweetness. And in Elimah is the blessed palm tree, Christ, bearing fruit twelve times.

In Merrah He tries our heart! And we see ourselves there. In Elimah He miraculously strengthens us for our further journey to the heavenly Canaan. May glory be to Him both for our Merras and for our Elimas!

BREAD FROM THE SKY - MANNA.

Exodus 16:1 - 21; 31 - 35.

Our life path consists of Merr and Elim, of sorrows and sweets, of sorrows and joys. Merras and Elimas succeed each other, and Merras are more common than Elimas in our life.

How we would like us to know not only New Testament places with wonderful teachings for us, such as: Bethlehem, Nazareth, Bethany, Gethsemane, Calvary, Olivet and others, but also Old Testament ones, such as: the oak forest of Mamre, Mount Moriah, Penuel, The Red Sea, Marah, Elim... Each of these places has precious lessons for the believers.

Let's take the place where you and I have already been with the Old Testament Church - Elim. Elim is a beautiful place, with luxurious palm trees and life-giving water sources. Elim is a place of rest and refreshment for the weary children of the Lord in Marah. But from Elim the path goes again into the sultry desert. And why?

We grow spiritually, we grow stronger, we take root in Christ not in Elim, but in Merrah, not near date palms, but in the sultry desert. Despite the abundance of Elimov's blessings, we often wither spiritually in them, we wither away. The Apostle Paul says: "I know how to live in poverty, I know how to live in abundance", "I learned to be satisfied and endure hunger." And in our Elimas, that is, in the days of abundance, prosperity, in the days of joy and cloudless happiness, we lost the fire of the heart and the spirit of prayer. We were covered with spiritual mold, rust. Isn't that right, dear ones?

And in the sultry deserts, in Merrah, on the contrary: we raised our eyes to heaven, to the Father in heaven. We have awakened spiritually. Our prayers grew fervent, and we returned to our first love. That is why the Elymas are replaced by the Merras, but the Merras weary our hearts. They are full of blessings, but also difficulties.

After Marah rest is required for the weary soul. And the Lord leads us to Elim for rest and refreshment, but not forever and not for long.

Let us remember the words of Christ to His weary disciples: "Go alone to a deserted place and rest a little" (Mark 6:31). Get some rest! And then? Back to Merra! Again in the heat of the desert! This is God's law of the spiritual cycle.

So, let's go with the Old Testament Church, with the people of God from Elim to the wilderness - to the wilderness of Sin. Goodbye, date palms, farewell, twelve springs of water! We are again under the scorching rays of the burning sun. We are back on hot sand. No dates, no water. Lack of food makes you feel stronger. But let us note one precious truth. What? The Lord went with His people to the wilderness of Sin. He did not leave His children alone. What if there are no date palms, no springs of water in the Sin Desert? But the Lord is there. And we can sing along with the prophet Habakkuk his wonderful song (Habakkuk 3:17-18).

But we don't hear this song in the wilderness of Sin. A completely different song is heard there, which is unpleasant to listen to. I will read to you the words of this unpleasant song (Exodus 16:3). And the melody of this song is like the creak of unlubricated wheels. This is the murmuring song we all know. The choir of murmurers is a very large choir. There are also murmuring soloists. Here is a brother grumbling at his wife that she cooked breakfast for him ten minutes late or cooked it on time, but not to his taste. Here is a sister who is unhappy with a rainy day because it prevents her from drying her laundry. And the songs of murmuring in our families? There are families where these unpleasant songs can be heard every day either from the lips of the husband, or from the lips of both, or from the lips of the children. If it is unpleasant for us to listen to them, then what is it like for our Lord to listen to them ?! For our grumbling is against the Lord. Moses said to the grumbling people: "Your grumbling is not against us, but against the Lord" (Exodus 16:8-6).

Oh, when will we learn the wonderful song of Habakkuk?! Once again I want to read her wonderful words (Habak. 3, 17-18).

Despite the murmurings of His children of little faith, Heavenly Father comes to their aid. He works the greatest miracle, and he has been doing it for forty years and every day. We read today how the Lord sent them bread from heaven - manna. Every day, until they came to the borders of the land of Canaan.

Manna is a type of Christ. Let's read the words of Christ about the manna (John 6:32-35, 48-51). Christ is our manna, Christ is the bread of life!

How can we eat the bread of life - Christ? Let's see how the Old Testament church ate bread from heaven - manna: firstly, she collected it every day, secondly, she collected it in the morning, thirdly, she did not leave it the next day. Here are three blessed rules for feeding our souls with Christ as the Bread of Life.

First, we must feed our souls every day. Is that how it is with us? If not, let us put in order the matter of nourishing our souls. Let's start reading the Bible again every day.

Secondly, the best time to feed our souls is in the morning, before we plunge into our daily cares and bustle.

First of all, let us have a passage from the Bible and prayerful fellowship with Christ. Let it be at least a few verses from the Bible, if time does not allow you to read more.

Thirdly, let our spiritual food be fresh every day. There are children of God who read the same passages in the Bible. That's not bad either, but we should eat the whole Bible and something fresh every day. Therefore, the best way to read the Bible is to read it in succession from beginning to end, and again from beginning to end.

REPHIDIM: WATER FROM THE ROCK. FIGHT AGAINST AMALIK.

Exodus 17.

New difficulty in the desert: no water. We have already passed through various difficulties on the way of Israel to Canaan. A dead end at the Red Sea, bitter water in Merra, no food in the wilderness of Sin. Today we see the absence of water in Rephidim. And in the future we will witness various difficulties in the life and ministry of Moses, as well as the entire Old Testament church. And we have one difficulty after another, but the trouble is not in the difficulties. And in what? New difficulty - new doubt, new grumbling. Let's hear what the Israelites said in the wilderness of Sin. Let's read Exodus 16:3. And what did they say in Rephidim? Let's read Exodus 17, 3; 17:7. And what did they say at the Red Sea? Let's read Exodus 14:11.

There are diseases that are ill once in a lifetime, and there are diseases that are ill constantly.

So it is in the spiritual life: two diseases are repeated very often - this is doubt and grumbling. How many times have we had these two diseases? I even had to compose a song for our singing: "Heal my doubt!" How sad that we are all predisposed to these two diseases: doubt and grumbling.

But new difficulties are not only new doubt, but also new help from above, from the Lord. We have already seen how the Lord helped His people at the Red Sea, in Merra, in the wilderness of Sin. And today we will see how He will help in Rephidim.

Oh, the long chain of the mercies of the Lord, not only in the life of the people of Israel, but also in the life of the New Testament Church. And in your life and mine?! Each link in this chain is a wonderful help from the Lord.

Complete impotence of Moses. Three million people are dying of thirst. To this must be added herds of animals, and not a drop of water around. What a dead end. This is where faith is needed, that is, the gaze fixed on God. And Moses with this impasse goes to the Lord (Exodus 17, 4). And how did the Lord help?

Oh, the omnipotence of God! He tells Moses to strike the rock with the rod, and water will come out of the rock. And Moses did so - and water flowed from the rock, and the people and cattle drank as much as they wanted. Once the Lord said - it was in the days of the great famine: "And I commanded the ravens to feed you there!" Today we hear His divine voice in Rephidim: "I command the rock to water my people!" And what do the apostles say on the Sea of ​​Galilee? "Who is this that even the winds and the sea obey Him" ​​(Matt. 8:27).

Yes, and the crows, and the rocks, and the winds, and the seas obey Him.

The rock in Rephidim is a wonderful type of Christ (1 Corinth. 10:4). This "rock of ages" gives water to millions of thirsty souls with living water, about which He so clearly spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well of Sychar (John 4:13-14), and especially after the blow at Golgotha. Let's read John. 19, 34.

It is this Blood and Water that quenches the thirst of the hearts of millions of sinners. "The stream from Golgotha ​​flows, the Holy Stream flows." Oh, this New Testament Rephidim!

Amalek in Rephidim (Exodus 17:8). The Amalekites descended from Esau, the brother of Jacob. So they are related to the people of Israel. And here is a new difficulty in Rephidim: a powerful enemy attacked the people of God, and not only attacked, but will often attack. Amalek will be a constant enemy of the Old Testament Church.

What is Moses doing? He is eighty-one years old. He's too old to go to war. But he has a beautiful young man: Joshua. Today we get to know him for the first time, but in the future we will get acquainted with his most blessed life and ministry. He is sent by Moses to fight the Amalekites, and he himself, with Aaron and Hor, goes to the top of the hill and raises his hands to pray. What a picture: three elders in prayer for victory over Amalek. The words of Christ are remembered (Matt. 18:19). Here in Rephidim we are shown the power of prayer. In verse 11.

The Apostle Paul in all his epistles speaks of his prayers for the Church of Christ, for individual children of God. His hands were always raised in prayer. Ear. 1:9 he writes: "We do not cease to pray for you." Who are we? Paul, Timothy and Epaphras. Also a blessed trinity of prayer, as in Rephidim.

A word to the elders and the elders. You want to serve the Lord too! But your strength is so weak... Learn from the three elders in Rephidim to pray for the cause of the Lord. And as you raise your hands in prayer, there will be blessed victories in the Lord's field. Here is a wonderful service available for your old age.

Amalek is alive today. This is our flesh. And he is waging a great and unceasing struggle with our spirit. Spirit and flesh are irreconcilable enemies. And with our Lord - battle against Amalek from generation to generation. And Amalek, that is, our flesh, will make itself felt by our spirit until we enter Heavenly Canaan, the abode of our Heavenly Father. Only there will be no Amalek. And on earth we have skirmishes with him at every step, but one of the most powerful weapons against him is the raised hands in prayer.

Let us use the power of prayer to defeat our Amalek!

SINAI.

Exodus 19, 2 - 6.

The path from Rephidim to Mount Sinai was a path of ascent. The path is difficult because it was a path of ascent. Higher and higher and higher. On both sides of the path - a chain of mountains. The Old Testament church moved along a wide gorge. Manna fell daily from the sky, the rocks gave water, the Lord in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire at night was a leader for His people.

On the way to Mount Sinai, an event occurred that we will now read about (Exodus 18 chapter). Here we meet again Moses' father-in-law, Jethro, Moses' wife, Zipporah, and his two sons, Girsam and Eliezer. He parted ways with his wife and two sons on the way to Egypt. Now he reconnects with them.

Here, on the way to Mount Sinai, we see one wonderful ministry of Moses: he received the people with their sorrows and needs all day long. He was a true father to his people (Exodus 18:13-16). It was a glorious service, but also beyond the strength of the aged Moses. And Jethro gives him good advice: to divide the whole people into thousands, thousands into hundreds, hundreds into tens, and appoint chiefs, that is, fathers, over every thousand, over every hundred, over every ten. What wise advice. And with what humility Moses accepts this advice (Exodus 18, 24). And the Old Testament Church received a blessed arrangement: every ten people had their own pastor, father, friend, adviser. One could say about Old Testament Israel in the desert with the words of our song: "No one there ever felt orphaned, never forgotten." Of course, the Lord could have given Moses wisdom and strength alone to cope with the great task of shepherding a flock of three million. But why is this necessary? All the burden on one when it can be distributed on many shoulders (Deut. 1, 12 - 17). And what do we see in the New Testament Church of Christ? Christ initially chose the apostles, the apostles elect deacons, then the Lord appoints teachers, presbyters. Let's read Titus 1, 5. But all these shoulders are still not enough. The Apostle Paul calls on all believers to carry one another's burdens. Let's read Galat. 6, 2. Each of us is to be a father and friend and counselor to others. Neither shoulder should be without the burden of the other. It turns out, as it were, a universal pastor, a universal priesthood.

After meeting with Jethro and carrying out his good advice - dividing the people into thousands, hundreds and tens - Israel set off on a further journey and came to Mount Sinai. She is Mount Horeb. Here Israel will linger for a long time. We will be delayed and we are with them.

What does Mount Sinai mean in the life of the Israeli people? It means law. Just like Mount Golgotha ​​means: grace. Let's get acquainted briefly with the history of the people of Israel. In the days of Abraham's election, all mankind fell into idolatry. People worshiped the sun, moon, stars, deified people and animals, made their images and worshiped them. That is, almost all people on earth became pagans, that is, idolaters. And what does the Lord do to bring humanity back to Himself - the true and living God? Out of millions of Gentiles, He chooses one to reveal Himself to him. Who is this one? This is Abraham. Having chosen Abraham, the Lord works on him, like a gardener on a rare plant, to make this plant a breeding ground for millions of similar noble plants. And the Lord produces from Abraham a great nation - the people of Israel, in order to make this people a bearer of faith in the one, true and living God. He shows him His strong divine hand in great miracles in Egypt and after Egypt. Israel was to be a bright lamp on earth, the light of the world and the salt of the earth, a model for all nations. His task was to return all pagan mankind to the living God. What a great mission, what a great task, but Israel had no law. That is, he did not know what to do and what not to do. And how can one be a model, not having the rules of life, not knowing the will of God? And on Mount Sinai, God gave the law to His people. The law of which the apostle Paul speaks: Rom. 7, 12.

But the law of Sinai was not given for salvation. It was given for the knowledge of sin and for bringing sinners to Christ, to Golgotha. As it says: Rom. 7:7 and Galat. 3, 24.

With this the law of Sinai completed its task, and Christ put an end to it. As the apostle Paul clearly states: Rom. 10, 4.

We, the New Testament children of God, are led to another mountain - Mount Golgotha. Golgotha ​​is grace, it is salvation for free. On Sinai - thunders and lightnings, on Golgotha ​​- the gaze of the Savior, full of love and forgiveness. For Israel, Golgotha ​​was far away, in the mists of time, for us it is near, we stand in front of it and see Christ on it, already slain for our sins.

MOSES ON SINAI.

Exodus 19, 16 - 25.

How did God reveal Himself at Sinai? "And the Lord descended to the top of the mountain" (Exodus 19:20), and revealed Himself to His people and through them to all mankind. How did the Lord show Himself? Great God. What was being done in the wilderness in those days? (Verse 18.) What did the people, gathered by Moses at the foot of Mount Sinai, contemplate? The whole mountain was smoking (verse 18). The whole mountain shook violently, a trumpet sound was heard, becoming stronger and stronger. All the people saw thunder and flames (Exodus 20, 18), and in fear retreated from the mountain, and soared away. What greatness of God was revealed at Sinai. God revealed himself at Sinai as the God Spirit. He didn't take any picture.

His voice was heard like the sound of many waters, but He was not seen. Moses went up to Him to the very top of the mountain, but did not see His face. God is Spirit, said Christ, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth. How difficult it was for Israel to grasp this truth. And we see how he again and again falls into idolatry, that is, he makes the gods visible to himself. But Christianity is not averse to worshiping visible objects - temples, icons, crosses (Exodus 20, 4). God revealed Himself at Sinai as a Holy God. What did it mean? Let's read Exodus 19, 12, then Exodus 19, 23. This line around the mountain, or rather around God Himself, was erased. How? The blood of Christ shed on Golgotha. What a blessing that this feature no longer exists and access to the Holy God is open to every sinner, to every Zacchaeus and to every thief, to every Mary Magdalene or the Samaritan woman.

God revealed himself at Sinai as the Lord of His people. The commandments given at Sinai came from Him. Moses was only a transmitter of them.

All rules for domestic and social life came from Him. All the details of the structure of the Tabernacle (that is, the Temple) came from God. The whole order of the priesthood was established by Him. All sacrifices were indicated by Him. And isn't the structure of the New Testament Church indicated by the Lord Himself? So, on Sinai before Israel and before us - God is majestic in His power, God the Spirit, God is holy, God is the King and Ruler of His people and His church.

Now look at Moses climbing Mount Sinai. Let's read Exodus 19, 20. But Moses went up the mountain seven times. Moreover, twice he remained on the top of the mountain for forty days and forty nights (Exodus 24, 18 and Exodus, 34, 28) What did Moses do on Mount Sinai? We find the answer to this question: Exodus 33, 11. And in these conversations between God and Moses, God's commandments, and the two tablets, and the rules, and the structure of the tabernacle, and the order of the priesthood, and the law on sacrifices were given.

We should all have a mountain of fellowship with our Lord in our lives. Christ, during His sojourn on our earth, had a "Mountain of fellowship with the Heavenly Father." How often do we read in the Gospel: "And Jesus went up into the mountain to pray." And we must have a "mountain of fellowship" with Christ.

We live in the valleys, where there is a lot of fuss, dust and various bacteria of sin. We must rise from these valleys to the bright peaks of the mountains, where the air is so pure and where we can talk face to face with our best Friend, Teacher, Christ! And the more often we rise, the better for our inner man. We must develop a thirst for communion with the Lord. Without this thirst, we will not have ups and downs. The Lord called Moses alone. He wants to have a personal meeting with each of us, a personal audience, a personal conversation face to face. That is why Christ says: Matt. 6, 6.

On top of the mountain of fellowship with our Lord, Christ will remind us of His blessed commandments, He will write them over and over again on the tablets of our hearts. He will call us to different kinds of ministry. He will call us to various kinds of sacrifices, He will tell us how to act in different situations of life: in matters of personal, family, church. Sometimes our conversations with the Lord will be longer, as was the case with Moses. Newer this watch will be the most blessed watch in our lives. If we meet Moses in eternity and ask him what days and hours in his life were the most blessed, He will tell us: those days and hours that I spent on Mount Sinai, in conversation with my Lord.

The result of Moses' communion with the Lord on Mount Sinai was a radiance on his face. Let's read Exodus 34, 29 - 30, 35.

Brothers and sisters! It is impossible to live close to Christ and not shine with His light. The apostle Paul speaks very clearly about this radiance (2 Corinthians 3:18). Fellowship with Christ will necessarily result in what we read in Acts. Ap. 4, 13.

It is impossible for a needle to lie with a magnet and not become magnetized. It is impossible for a person to come into contact with perfumes and not smell them. Thus, it is impossible to live with Christ, to commune closely with Him in the little room of prayer or on the mountain of communion with Him, and not shine with His light, His beauty. But it is good when we ourselves do not know about this radiance, just as Moses did not know that his face was shining.

There are two kinds of Christians in Christianity: some talk a lot about humility, and love, and holiness, and if you look closely at their lives, then they have solid pride, selfishness, self-love and a lot of impurity of all kinds.

And there are other kinds of Christians: they talk very little about their Christianity, but when you look closely at their lives, you will see how rich they are in humility, and love, and purity of heart.

Oh, those fragrant lilies of the valley and lovely violets in the garden of Christ, they hide their radiant faces, they throw veils over them so that people do not glorify them, but the more they hide, the brighter they shine for the glory of their Teacher and Savior.

This is where we end today. The lessons we have learned are blessed and very precious. Their essence is that the more often we stay on our mountain of fellowship with the Lord, the brighter the life of each of us will shine with the light of Christ.

GOLDEN TAURUS.

Exodus, chapter 32.

First of all, we must remember something.

a) The idolatry of the Israelites in Egypt. Among the Egyptian gods were golden calves. You should read again Jesus. Nav. 24, 14.

(b) What drew their hearts to the living and true God? Miracles performed by God in Egypt.

(c) What strengthened their faith B in the true and living God? Miracles of God revealed to them in the wilderness. And especially bread from the sky and water from the rock.

d) We must remember that they were often drawn to Egypt. As soon as there is any difficulty, then immediately the thought: "Oh, why didn't we stay in Egypt", "Why did Moses bring us out of Egypt!" The frequent conversion of the Israelites back to Egypt. Not a complete break with Egypt! Not giving yourself completely to the Lord.

Not giving yourself completely to the Lord is the reason for the golden calf at the foot of Mount Sinai. They knew the will of God well: Exodus 20, 23. They made a promise to do the will of God. Let's read Exodus 32:1. Moses lingered on the top of Sinai for forty whole days, and the people thought: maybe he died, maybe he fell into a cleft of rocks and crashed. The people felt themselves so orphaned - they do not see the living God, Moses is not with them and, probably, will not be. And they remembered Egypt again: the great multitude of its gods. Lush services to them, songs and dances around them, sacrifices to them. How touching everything was. The physical eyes saw the deity, the hands felt it, and they wanted to have such a God again. They were drawn again to the visible, tangible, material. Where there is a half-heartedness, there it is not surprising, it is even natural. If part of the heart is occupied by Egypt, and part by Canaan, then there will be fluctuations either towards Egypt, then towards Canaan, then towards the Egyptian deities, then towards the true God. Are these vibrations unknown to us? How many hearts of believers are attracted by both: both Christ and the world, or now Christ, now the world; or they are attracted to one thing in the world, then another, then one idol they worship, then another idol. That is why we should not be surprised by the words to the New Testament believers: 1 Jn. 5:21. Idols and idols can also be found among the New Testament children of God, and precisely among half hearts, among the children of God, who are not completely devoted to the Lord.

How amazing that even Aaron cleaved his heart to the golden calf. He himself made it from gold earrings, trimmed it with a chisel, that is, gave it beauty. He set up an altar before him and appointed a sacrifice for the next day. What does it say? That not only "children" should keep themselves from idols, but also "husbands" and "old men". We know what happened to Elder Solomon, about his idolatry in the very last days of his life. Let us be on guard: idols and idols of every kind are waiting for us at every step.

God's conversation with Moses about the punishment of the people who fell into idolatry: Exodus 32, 7 - 13. Here we are talking about the punishment of God's children, the punishment of children by the Father. We read about this punishment in Hebrews 12:5-11. At the request of Moses, the Lord changed the intended punishment: Exodus 32:10; Exodus 32, 35.

Egypt could marvel at the punishments of the Lord sent to the people of God. But these punishments were sent by the Lord only for the benefit of His people. And now the world does not understand the punishments sent by the Lord to His children, but their result is blessed (Heb. 12:11). Oh, let us kiss the hand of God that punishes us with great love.

Moses' wrath. Moses came down from the mountain. In his hands he has two stone tablets with God's written Ten Commandments. Seeing the calf and dancing, he flared up with anger. And in a fit he threw the tablets and broke them. Here the old Moses woke up in him. Moses, whom we read about in Exodus 2, 11 - 12. Oh, how we know these outbursts of anger, during which we do often wrong things, which we later regret. How many words are said during such outbursts that should not be spoken and which we would never have said in a calm state of heart. How many insults and sorrows have been caused by us during our outbursts. Moses was the meekest of people, but he had these outbursts. The meekest of us have these outbreaks, and some of us suffer from them like a great affliction.

What did Moses do with the golden calf? He threw the calf into the fire and burned it, ground it to powder, scattered the powder on the water and gave it to the sons of Israel to drink. All this in order to convince them of the insignificance of the deity made by Aaron, to whom they dared to speak (Exodus 32, 4-6).

Moses' love for his people, his amazing intercession before God for his people (Exodus 32, 31 - 32). He wants to be blotted out along with the sinning people from the book of God. We do not know what book Moses was talking about: the book of life, the removal of which means the loss of eternal life, or the book of the census of the people of Israel, the erasure of which would mean the loss of belonging to Israel. How Moses' love for his people reminds us of the love of the Apostle Paul, his love for his people. Let's read Romans. 9, 1 - 4. What love is here too!

But the love of both Moses and the Apostle Paul is insignificant in comparison with the love of Christ for sinful mankind. He not only was willing to suffer for humanity, but He also suffered for Him. He not only desired to become a propitiatory offering, but He became one on Mount Golgotha.

Neither Moses nor the Apostle Paul could atone for the guilt of those who sinned, even if they sacrificed themselves. Only Christ, the Son of God, could atone for the guilt of mankind and redeemed it by sacrificing Himself at Calvary.

THE PROMISE OF REST.

Exodus 33 (especially verse 14).

The need of every human heart is peace. That is why the greatest promise of Christ is: "Come to me ... and I will give you rest!" That is, I will give you rest. But this is inner peace, dwelling in the depths of the soul. It is completely independent of external circumstances. There is peace in times of peace, and there is peace in times of storm.

Moses needed just that kind of rest. Let us look at him in the days after the idolatry of Israel at the foot of Sinai.

a) He is completely alone. Is it possible to speak of loneliness among three million people? Yes, you can, if these three million do not understand you. Moses had a friend - this is his brother Aaron. Remember the joyful meeting of these two brothers when Moses went to Egypt. It was a friend and helper. Together they walked before the face of Pharaoh, together they experienced the ten judgments of God in Egypt, together they carried the heavy burden of ruling the people, and suddenly Aaron was at the head of Israel's idolatry. What sorrow for Moses! What a heavy blow. Betrayal of the only friend and brother. Loneliness is something very difficult in our earthly life. There are many people around, but not a single friend - such was the experience of Moses, and suddenly the promise of God, which read: Exodus 33, 14.

b) A path unknown to Moses began from Mount Sinai. The path to Mount Sinai (Horeb) was a very familiar path for him. He pastured the flocks of his father-in-law Jethro in this desert for forty years. Here, at Sinai, he saw a burning thorn bush, here he received a command from the Lord to go to Egypt to free Israel, but not only an unfamiliar path began from Mount Sinai, but also a particularly dangerous path. Moses knew that in addition to the difficulties common in the desert, there would be more formidable enemies with whom Israel would have to fight. It is one thing to follow a familiar path in life, and another thing to wander along a completely unfamiliar road. It is one thing to be a tram conductor, knowing and announcing every stop, and another thing to be a traveler in a completely unfamiliar area, taking every step for the first time. But verse 14. My friends! Not always our life goes on rails, like a tram. More often than not, we tread our life path for the first time.

c) The Lord revealed to Moses the punishment that He would punish His people for their great sin - worship of the golden calf. I didn't tell you last time what the punishment was. And today I'll tell you. Let's read Exodus 33, 3-6 - 4. The Lord intends to punish His people by moving away from Him, hiding His face from them. It was a very heavy punishment. Anyone who has ever experienced it for himself will understand the severity of it. Loss of God's closeness and concealment of God's face - is there a more severe punishment for our sins? It was this punishment that Israel was punished for sinning.

We are all familiar with this punishment. Every sin we commit takes us away from the nearness of the Lord and hides from us the face of our Lord. This is the horror of all sin. As an example, I will give you King Saul. He was a child of God and remained so to the end. But the sin that he deliberately committed deprived him of the closeness of the Lord and hid the face of the Lord from him. He didn't die, no. But he was a rejected instrument of the Lord. Oh, how many Sauls in the church of Christ, who have lost the closeness of the Lord and His bright face because of their impurity.

Christ says, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." This means that the unclean in heart will not see God. This is the reward for purity and this is the punishment for sin.

For loyalty to the Lord, Moses received the promise of nearness to the face of God (verse 14). Where did the Lord show him His face? This took place in his tent. Let's read Exodus 33, 7 - 11. And He called his tent "The Tabernacle of Meeting", that is, the place of meetings with the Lord (verse 7). What wonderful meetings they were (Exodus 33, 11). Moses wanted nothing more than to always see the face of his Lord. This desire of the believing heart is beautifully expressed in Psalm 72:23, 25.

The peace of the heart depends on the feeling of the Lord's closeness to us and on the vision of His bright Face. This is not the rest of Canaan, not the rest of our heavenly Fatherland, where the sea no longer exists. He's still ahead. No, it is peace in the depths of our heart. Peace of faith, hope and hope in the Lord. This is the rest of a child in the arms of a father or mother. This peace is beautifully expressed in our song: "I am in the hands of Jesus, I am at His chest, He gave me peace forever in His love for me." Feeling the mighty hand of the Lord, feeling the breast of the all-powerful Father - this is the source of our peace.

TABERNACLE.

Exodus 25, 1 - 9 and 40.

One of the commands of God. given to Moses on Mount Sinai, there was a command to build a tabernacle. When we have finished talking about Moses, and before moving on to Joshua, we will turn our attention to this amazing Old Testament event.

And today we will see why the Lord commanded to build a tabernacle and such was its purpose in the life of the Old Testament church.

So what was the significance of the tabernacle? It became the center of all life in Israel. She became the pulse of the entire spiritual life of the Old Testament Church. And why? Because the Lord chose the tabernacle as a place for His dwelling. Let us read Exodus 25:8 and it will become clear to us why the tabernacle was the center of Israel and the pulse of all their spiritual life.

In the habitation of the Lord Himself in the tabernacle is its greatest significance. She was the greatest type of Christ in the Old Testament. Everything in it spoke of Christ. We shall see this when we take a closer look at the tabernacle.

Many precious truths the Lord had placed in the tabernacle, and they shone brightly in it. They spoke loudly not only to the heart of Israel, but also to our hearts, although the tabernacle is long gone. Let's take a few of these precious truths that are in the tabernacle tonight.

God's desire to be closer to people. The people of Israel saw the greatness of God in the smoking mountain, in the strongly shaking Sinai, in the sound of trumpets, in thunder and lightning.

Israel saw a line around the mountain, which told him: "Do not go beyond this line, otherwise you will die." The Great God was so inaccessible, so far away. And suddenly the words of God are heard at Sinai (Exodus 25:8; Exodus 29:45).

The tabernacle - the dwelling place of the Lord - will be on earth, in the midst of Israel. On the same desert sand as the tents of the Israelites. This means that the Lord will be close to His people, will be close to all their sorrows and joys.

What happened in Bethlehem? Embodiment. The tabernacle is a great prototype of the incarnation of the Son of God, that is, the manifestation of God in the flesh.

In the person of Jesus Christ, God settled among mankind and became even closer to people than in the days of the tabernacle. God became Immanuel, that is, God is with us. But the tabernacle also contains a precious truth: it is not only a type of Bethlehem, it is also a type of the Day of Pentecost, that is, the Descent of the Holy Spirit, when the Lord, in the person of the Holy Spirit, dwells in the midst of mankind, and especially in the midst of His church, and when every child of God himself will become the "Tabernacle," that is, the Temple of the Holy Spirit.

The Lord, in the person of the Holy Spirit, is in us; there can no longer be a greater closeness of the Lord to us.

A sample of the tabernacle on the mountain. Let us read Exodus 25:9. The pattern of the tabernacle, of all its arrangements, even of its vessels, was given on the mountain. And according to this pattern, Moses, with great precision, built the tabernacle that we are talking about today.

This is a very big and blessed lesson for all of us. Namely, in the person of Jesus Christ, we are all given the greatest pattern. Every child of God must build his whole life according to this pattern. Every person who is born into the world is given by God the opportunity to attain the image of Christ. This is a very important truth.

Every baby that lies before us contains all the data to achieve the beauty of Christ. And every newborn child of God, that is, every spiritual baby, has every opportunity to achieve the image of Christ, His perfection.

If only the children of God grew from age to age, passed from strength to strength. But this is not the case for all believers. And the root of all evil is in disobedience, that is, in non-imitation of the great example - Jesus Christ.

During each day, our task is to look at this Wonderful Pattern, to see Christ before us. And, ending the day, we must ask ourselves: how did I imitate Christ today, in what way was I not like Christ today?

God gave Moses the pattern of the tabernacle in great detail. We will see this in the future. And our imitation of Christ should cover not only the great, but also the smallest in our life, the most ordinary daily activities of each of us.

Moses' constancy in following to the end the pattern given to him by God on Mount Sinai. Let's read Exodus 40, 16. Day by day - according to the model. And we must be constant in imitation of Christ - not in impulses, under the influence of this or that sermon, but constantly and day after day.

And our life will be filled with the glory of the Lord, just as the tabernacle, made according to the pattern of God, was filled with the glory of the Lord. Let's read Exodus 40, 34.

Life according to the example and image of Christ, life in the spirit of Christ, life of imitation of Christ in everything - big and small.

Such a life has always been and will always be full of the glory of God.

FROM SINAI TO THE DESERT PARAN

A whole year at the foot of Mount Sinai. Israel before Sinai and Israel after Sinai. What is the difference? Israel before Sinai is a people without any organization, after Sinai Israel is a perfectly organized church of the Old Testament time. This church received a high priest, a priest, and Levites. Like everything in the tabernacle, they were types of Christ. She received the moral and household law. It was an exemplary law. No other people had such a law. There was a tabernacle in the center of Israel. Around her were the twelve tribes of the people of Israel. Three tribes on the east side, three tribes on the west side, three tribes on the north side, and three tribes on the south side. A cloud hung over the tabernacle - a symbol of the presence of the Lord Himself in it. As soon as the cloud rose, the priests began to blow silver trumpets. This was a signal for the entire Israeli people - get ready for the campaign. The tribes of Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun went ahead, followed by the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, and Gad. Behind these six tribes moved six carts with heavy parts of the tabernacle, behind the carts - people with sacred vessels on their shoulders. Let's read the numbers 7, 1 - 9.

The other six tribes followed the parts of the tabernacle. This is where you can clearly see the truth of the words of Scripture: "God is not a God of disorder, but of order." But this same God of order is at work in the New Testament church of Christ.

He appoints apostles, presbyters, deacons, evangelists and teachers to serve in the church (Eph. 4:11-12). He gave the Church the eternal gospel, that is, the law of Christ. At the center of all those who love the Lord is Christ Himself, this true tabernacle of God with men. The Church of Christ marches through this world in the same orderly manner as it marched to be built according to the order given to it by God Himself. Israelite church on its way. Every true church of Christ must

Hovav is the son of Raguel. Let's remember that Moses' father-in-law Jethro (aka Raguel) came to the desert of Sinai. And with him came Zipporah, the wife of Moses, with two sons, and Hovab, the son of Jethro, which means the brother of Zipporah, the wife of Moses. And so, when the time came to leave Sinai and move on, Moses turned to Hovav with a request to be an "eye" for Israel. Hovav knew well the whole area for a long distance around Sinai. He knew well which peoples and where they live on the way from Sinai to Canaan... And Moses wanted to use his knowledge and experience, to make Hovav an eye for Israel. This was, of course, one of the mistakes of Moses.

Ah, these mistakes of the children of God! How many! Even the best, even the Moses. Here, in the conversation between Moses and Hovav, we see one of the most common weaknesses of the children of God, even Moses - this is the search for support in people.

Didn't Moses know there was a better eye than the eye of Hovab? How could he lose sight of the eye of his Lord, which is spoken of in Psalm 32:18: "Behold the eye of the Lord upon those who fear Him and hope in His mercy." And we do not lose sight of the eye of the Lord? We miss, and even very often. The eye of the Hovavs may be a very keen eye, but it is not all-seeing, it may not see many of the dangers that threaten us. And the eye of the Lord sees everything, It sees from the height of heaven all the zigzags of our path, up to the last breath of each of us. It sees all the dangers that await each of us on the path of life. It also sees our weaknesses. The bitter eye of Hovav may be good, but the all-seeing eye of our dear Lord is better. Let us leave our congregation today with the words of Psalm 32:18 in our hearts.

"The Ark of the Covenant went before them" to provide them with a place to stay! This is how Israel traveled after Sinai. The Ark of the Covenant went before him to learn a precious lesson from this for all of us. Let's read Heb. 6:20. "Where Jesus entered as a forerunner for us." Where did he enter as our forerunner? In the interior, beyond the veil (Heb. 6:19), that is, into heaven. How He entered there, we saw it on the day of the Feast of the Ascension last Thursday. And just as the Ark of the Covenant saw a place for Israel to stop, so Christ already saw a place for His churches to stop. Forever, forever!

Is this place where He is now, where is it in the vast universe? Let's not philosophize on this issue. Yes, it does not matter where it is, but what is it like? What is the place where we finally, having completed our earthly wandering, will stop? Read Isaiah 35:10.

We will come there with a joyful exclamation! Eternal joy will be over our heads. We will find joy and gladness there, and we will not find sorrow and sighing there. This is the place Christ has provided for us.

OLD TESTAMENT PENTECOST.

Numbers, 11th chapter.

An unbearable burden for Moses (Numbers 11, 14). In the life of every person there are "overwhelming" burdens. Like Moses, we come with them to the Lord, and the Lord gives help. But how? He has two ways to lighten our burdens: one way is to give strength to bear the burden, the other way is to remove the burden from us, in whole or in part. How did the Lord help Moses? The second way: He removed some of the burden from him. How? The election of seventy elders (Numbers 11, 16 - 17). As a relief for Moses, the Lord distributed His burden among seventy people. An unbearable burden for the apostles. Let's read Acts. Apostles 6, 1 - 6. So the Lord often lightens our burdens for us, sending us the help of his servants. But it happens that we are completely alone and with a heavy burden on our shoulders, and then the Lord comes to us and says, as he once did to the Apostle Paul: “My grace is sufficient for you,” and strengthens us to bear our burden.

I had times in my life when I was all alone and with a heavy burden on my shoulders, and Christ gave me the strength to bear this burden and, moreover, with great joy.

The descent of the Holy Spirit on seventy elders - assistants of Moses. Let's read Numbers 11, 25 - 26. This is truly the Old Testament Pentecost. Each of the seventy helpers of Moses received from the same Spirit that was on Moses, that is, the same fullness of the Holy Spirit.

But what does the fullness of the Holy Spirit mean? Some people think that it is possible to have a little of the Holy Spirit and a lot of the Holy Spirit, but this is a misconception about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Holy Trinity! It cannot be divided into parts. He comes into the heart of man as a divine Person, one and indivisible. But why then does Scripture speak of being filled with the Holy Spirit, of the fullness of the Holy Spirit? This is because we can give the Holy Spirit our whole Being, and only a corner of our heart. The filling with the Spirit is the filling of our whole being with it.

The desire of Moses, which should be the desire of each of us. On the day when the Holy Spirit descended on the elders - the helpers of Moses, gathered near the tabernacle, two of them were not there. Eldad and Modad remained in the camp. But the Holy Spirit descended on them. This surprised the people around them, and this was reported to Moses: "Eldad and Modad prophesy in the camp." Then Joshua said to Moses, "Rebuke them." But Moses said, "Oh, that all of the Lord's people were prophets, when the Lord would send the Holy Spirit upon them." What a wonderful desire Moses had for the entire Old Testament church.

What is this desire? May all children of God reach the highest stage of spiritual life! This desire is for all believers to be filled with the Holy Spirit, for all children of God to reach the full stature of Christ. Not only Moses, not only the elders, not only the apostles, but all the children of God! The whole church of Christ!

BACK TO THE RED SEA.

Numbers 12, 1 - 13; 14, 25.

Blow in the house of those who love Moses. We know that Moses had a sister, Miriam. She was fifteen years older than Moses. She was a wonderful singer. Twice we saw her as a blessed child of God: our first meeting with her took place on the banks of the Nile River, where she watched the basket with the baby Moses, the second time we see her as the leader of women singing on the shores of the Red Sea (Exodus 15, 20 - 21).

Today we will see her for the third time, but in an unsightly form. She reproaches and reproaches Moses along with Aaron for his Ethiopian wife. Miriam knew little of Zipporah. Zipporah came to Moses only recently and became unsympathetic to Miriam.

How did Moses respond to the reproaches of Miriam and Aaron? He was silent because he had learned meekness. "Moses was the meekest of all people on earth" (Numbers 12, 3). He is meek with the people, he is meek in his house. The hardest thing is to be meek at home, with your husband, with your wife, with your children. How necessary it is for all of us to learn meekness. The school of meekness is at the feet of Christ! Christ says, "Learn from me." Here He is in the Sanhedrin, where He is reviled and spit even in the face. And he? Silent! (Matt. 26:62-63).

What a model of meekness! Let us learn this blessed silence. Let's read Jas. 1, 19.

Moses prays for Miriam, who insults him. Let's read Numbers 12. 13. What an example for us! Praying for those who offend us is the best way to love them, to forgive them everything. How does Christ teach us? Let's read His words: Matt. 5, 44.

They came to the desert of Paran (Numbers 13, 1 - 4), that is, to the border of Canaan. From the wilderness of Paran, Moses sent twelve spies into the land of Canaan, one from each tribe. The spies spent forty days in the land of Canaan. When they returned, they told Moses and Aaron and all Israel about what they had seen in the promised land. Let's read their story (Numbers 13, 27 - 34).

Let us draw a precious lesson for ourselves from the story of the spies. Which lesson? They saw the abundance of Canaan, but also its great difficulties: strong people, fortified, very large cities, giants, that is, giants - the sons of Anak. But the spies looked at these difficulties differently. Ten of them looked first at the difficulties, then at God. Two of them - Caleb and Joshua - looked first at God, then at the difficulties. And what were the results of these different views: ten spies lost heart. Let us read their words full of despair (Numbers 13, 32). And here are the words of Caleb and Joshua (Numbers 14, 7 - 9), what peace of mind, what cheerfulness. And the people - how did they look at the difficulties? Just like ten spies. Let's read Numbers 14, 1 - 4; Numbers 14, 10. This is what it means to look at difficulties and not at the Lord.

How do we look? Some of us are like ten spies, others are like Caleb and Joshua. Some of us look at the fortified cities and the sons of Anak, others look at the Lord. That is why some of us are always cheerful and joyful, while others weep and sigh, full of cowardice.

Lord's decision. Let's read Numbers 14, 22 - 35. What a heavy blow for Moses. Lead the people to the very border of Canaan, to be almost at the goal. A little more - and the end of the difficult path would come, about which Moses later said: Deutozak. 1, 19. The great old man longed for rest, and he was already so close. And suddenly: "Tomorrow turn and go to the desert, to the Red Sea!" (Numbers 14.25.) That is, by the same terrible and difficult way back - to the Chermiom Sea, almost to Egypt itself. And wandering in the wilderness for forty years (Numbers 14, 33-a).

What was Moses to experience at this command from the Lord? What do parents experience, who expected peace when their children grow up, but instead of peace, they received new cares? What is experienced by a patient who has already begun to recover, and suddenly worsening - and bedridden for many years?!

How did Moses respond to this decision of the Lord? He did not yet know his fate. The Lord mentioned only two names of those who will enter from the old generation (from people over 20 years old) into the land of Canaan: that is, Caleb and Joshua.

And Moses? The Lord did not say anything about him. One thing was clear to Moses: that he remained the leader of the people and for further wandering in the deserts. And for forty years.

His answer is the same, even through tears: "Lord! Thy will be done!" Only this should be our response to all the decisions of the Lord concerning us.

What eased the bitterness of new difficult experiences in the wilderness for Moses?

a) Consciousness that this is the way of God intended for him, that this is the will of God!

b) New mercies of God, daily shown to him.

c) Blessed lessons in the new forty-year school of God.

d) The knowledge of wonderful peace is not in Canaan, but in the Lord Himself. Christ's desire that we have peace in Him. Not in the beautiful, blessed circumstances of life—not in Canaan—but in Christ Himself. Our Canaan is Christ.

KOREA, DAPHAN AND AVIRON.

Numbers, 16 chapter.

We have wonderful words about Moses. Let's read Heb. 11:27: "He, as if seeing the Invisible, was firm." This feature of his character, generated by looking at the Invisible, runs like a red line through the whole life of Moses. Speaking of the firmness of Moses, I remember how I stood in Yalta on the Black Sea coast. There is a pier, that is, a stone wall.

And then the furious waves of the sea hit this wall and, breaking against it, turned into fine water dust. The waves were furious, but the wall stood firm.

This is what made Moses so firm and unshakable that he constantly looked to the Lord. We have seen many times how these furious waves rushed at Moses and, breaking against him, turned into water dust.

Today we will see the most powerful wave in the life of Moses. It's like the "ninth wave" on the sea of ​​his life. Let's look at this terrible picture of the raging elements. Two hundred and fifty leaders of the Israelite people, eminent people, rebelled against him under the leadership of Korah, Dathan and Abiron and decided to overthrow him from the post of leader of the people of God. And the next day the whole congregation of the children of Israel rose up against him. These two days were the most formidable in the long life of Moses. This blessed man of God survived many strong storms, but there was never such a terrible storm in his life as the uprising of Korah, Dathan and Aviron, and with them two hundred and fifty leaders and all the people. They seemed to tear Moses apart.

What is Moses doing during this storm? He fell on his face before the Lord (Numbers 16, 4), he turned to the Invisible for help and quite calmly said to Korah: "Tomorrow the Lord will show who is His and who is holy" (Numbers 16, 5).

"The Lord will show." Moses handed over this terrible storm to the Lord. What a lesson for all of us!

And the Lord showed:

a) Numbers 16, 32 - 33. Such is the end of Korah, Dathan and Aviron.

b) Numbers 16, 35. This is the end of the two hundred and fifty rulers of Israel.

c) Numbers 16, 47 - 49. Such is the punishment of the people.

Thus did the formidable waves break against the rock of God in which Moses was hidden, and so our formidable waves will also break against the same rock.

THE SIN OF MOSES.

Numbers 20, 1 - 12.

The event that we will consider today took place towards the end of Israel's forty years of wandering through the deserts of the Sinai Peninsula.

Many things have happened in this long time. The Old Testament Church went through many hardships. It was a very harsh school for Moses himself and for all the Israelites, but it was also a blessed school in which many precious lessons were taught, which have become our heritage.

And now Israel is again in Kadesh, that is, at the very borders of the land of Canaan. But this is the second generation of Israel. The first laid bones in the deserts. Of the old generation, only five remained: Moses, Aaron, Miriam, Caleb, and Joshua. But even of these five, only two will go to Canaan: Caleb and Joshua.

Today we will be at the funeral of Miriama, the sister of Moses and Aaron. Let's read Numbers 20, 1 again. For Moses, this was a heavy blow. His sorrow was very great. Mariam went with him all the long and thorny path from Egypt to Kadesh, she shared with him all the joys and sorrows - and now death parted them.

The forty-year school was an excellent school (after all, it was God's school). But the students were bad students. How? After all, these were new students... after all, the old ones were bad students... they all died. Now the new composition of students, but, alas, the new ones are no better than the old ones. Here they are taking the exam today; Let's read about this Numbers 20, 2 - 5.

Complete failure in this exam, even at the very border of Canaan! Oh, what a lesson this is for all of us: we are all in the school of Christ, just like the older generations of Christians, but their mistakes and our mistakes! You read the denunciations of the Apostle Paul addressed to the Christians of that time, and you see yourself in them. It is as if the apostle Paul lives among us today and observes our Christian life.

Brothers and sisters! We have nothing to boast about. The school of Christ is beautiful, its lessons are precious, but we learn badly, very badly, and even at the border of Canaan we fall into sins and mistakes.

The gray-haired old Christians, who are already finishing their earthly career, violate the Word of the Lord and do not show the holiness that they should have shown in their long stay in the school of Christ.

And even Moses was not an excellent student in this school. Today we will see his sin. How did he sin? Let's read Numbers 20, 7 - 11. God's command was: let's say to a rock - and it will give water from itself. And what does Moses do? "And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice." Think about what sin, instead of telling the rock, hit it - so we could reason. After all, water still flowed from the rock, and the people were saved. But the Lord judged otherwise. Here is His judgment on the act of Moses and Aaron (Numbers 20, 12): they did not show the holiness of the Lord before the eyes of the sons of Israel, an angry flash of Moses was revealed, an angry double blow on the rock! How I would like to recall today the very valuable words of Scripture for all of us: "The wrath of man does not create the righteousness of God" (James 1:20). And we see an example of this today in the life of Moses.

God's judgment was, "You shall not bring this people into the land which I am giving them" (verse 12). Why such a heavy punishment? And the Lord did not take him away from his servant even after his request for it. Let's read Deuteronomy. 3, 25 - 27. Of course, the Lord forgave Moses. After all, we see him in the days of Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration. He and the prophet Elijah are talking with Jesus there. But why did the Lord not fulfill his desire and bring him into the long-awaited Canaan land?

In this punishment of Moses was the great wisdom of God. Which? Moses should not have brought Israel into the land of Canaan, because he is the personification of the law, and the law cannot be the way to the heavenly Canaan, to the heavenly kingdom. Joshua is to bring Israel into Canaan, and he is a type of the New Testament Jesus, who brings his redeemed ones into the rest of heaven. What wisdom of God!

COPPER SNAKE.

Numbers 21, 4 - 9.

"And the people on the way began to faint of heart." We've all heard of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress to the Heavenly Country. The book of Numbers can also be called: "The Pilgrim's Progress into the Canaan Country."

Take the cowardice of Israel. Is it not found among today's pilgrims to the heavenly country? And just as in Bunyan the pilgrim finds himself in the most diverse situations, so in the book of Numbers the pilgrim Israel encounters the most varied experiences on his way to Canaan. And all these experiences are blessed lessons for him and for us. All pilgrims are familiar with cowardice.

Why was Israel cowardly? Cowardice is a loss of spirit. What caused it in Israel? First of all, the coldness of Edom. Let's read Numbers 20, 14 - 21.

The Edomites were the descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob. A people related to the Israelites. And suddenly such unfriendly. Let us recall an incident from the life of our Lord. Let's read Ev. Onion. 9, 51 - 56. Coldness is a very common sin among people. Isn't he in the church of Christ? Irresponsibility causes great pain to the heart. Coldness means "without greetings", without love. It is hard to meet it with outsiders, with strangers, even harder with your own. How the Apostle Paul wanted to see all the servants of Christ friendly. Let's read 2 Tim. 2, 24.

The long journey tired Israel. He wanted to cut it down, go through the land of Edom, and it failed. Bypass again, that is, lengthening the path. I didn't have the patience to move on! Today I want to say to the oldest of us: "You have come a long, long way, and you feel very tired. You want to go home to Jesus, but His chariot does not come and does not come for you, as it once did for the aged prophet Elijah. And in in your hearts, grumbling and murmuring. Elderly! Look around while you wait for the chariot. Before the sun of your life goes down, there is something else you can do."

The Apostle Paul, while waiting for the chariot, writes his 2nd epistle to Timothy and does everything he can for the glory of his Savior. Follow his example.

Israel fainted because they were blind to the mercies of their Lord. Oh, that terrible blindness! Worse than physical! Do not see the mercies and blessings of the Lord or forget His good deeds.

But let's look at Israel first. Let's read Numbers 21, 5. What do we hear from his mouth? "Why did you bring us out of Egypt?" This is what it means to forget the blessings of the Lord. Forget the tears of Egypt, which the Lord Himself wiped away. Listen further: "There is neither bread nor water here." How is it that there is no bread, but the manna given to them daily from heaven? They did not want to consider it for bread. There is no water - and the water from the rock, so clean and cool? They didn't want to call it water. This is what it means not to see the mercies of the Lord. The finest food - and not to see it, and even to call it "unfit". The most beautiful water, and even from the rock, what could be cleaner - and not to see it!

The punishment from the Lord to Israel is poisonous snakes. If the Israelites were really in need, would the Lord have punished them. He is always responsive to our needs.

The Word of God gave Him a wonderful name: "A quick help in trouble." But the Israelites had everything they needed from the Lord, they only stopped seeing the hand of the Lord giving them everything they needed. And then the Lord decided to "shake" them with poisonous snakes.

Oh, how useful these shake-ups are in the lives of God's children. How useful is the sting of grief in the days of our spiritual indifference or cooling. Suddenly, unexpectedly, such a snake of sorrow creeps up and painfully stings our hearts that have grown cold towards the Lord. And then we return to the Lord and our heart begins to beat again with the most ardent love for Him.

Praise Him for these poisonous snakes.

Copper snake. Let's read Numbers 21:8-9 again and read the words of Christ spoken to Nicodemus (John 3:14-15). What does Christ say? The bronze serpent of Moses is a type of Christ. Looking to Christ healed us, heals us, and will heal us until the day when we enter the heavenly Canaan, where there will be no more sickness.

FINAL ACCORD IN THE LIFE OF MOSES.

Deuteronomy. 31, 1 - 9.

Moses' life is coming to an end. He is on the threshold of heavenly Canaan, but he is still at the work of the Lord. He is not a retired general, he is a retired general. He is a pastor and leader of the multi-million Old Testament church. The end of the life of God's children is twofold: some, before passing into eternity, go to rest, to solitude. This solitude is usually a bed of sickness. Sometimes the disease lasts for a long time, for years. Others, almost until the very last days of their lives, remain in the vineyard of God, in the field of the Lord. They pass into eternity with a sickle in their hands. So Moses left the earth. What happiness to go to the Lord directly from the field of God.

Today we will witness the last days of Moses' life. He is one hundred and twenty years old. They stand before us, three periods of the life of Moses, each of them in forty years. Forty years in the palace of the Pharaoh, forty years as a shepherd in the wilderness of Midian, forty years as a presbyter (shepherd) of the Old Testament Church. What a panorama of life!

Moses could have spoken about his life in the words of the Apostle Paul (2 Cor. 11:26-29).

Let's look at the work of Moses in the very last days of his life.

a) He strongly instructs the people. We have these last instructions of his. The instructions of the 120-year-old presbyter, they occupy the entire book of Deuteronomy. Everything that is said in this book was said in the last year of Moses' life. Let's read Deuteronomy. 1, 13.

Deuteronomy from beginning to end is the dying words of a father's instruction to his children, a shepherd to his sheep, a commander to his soldiers. This is what the last days of Moses' life were filled with.

How we would like to recall at the same time the upper room in Jerusalem, where Christ, finishing His earthly journey, also gives His last instructions to the disciples. Or the apostle Paul in Rome, who writes his last letter - the second epistle to Timothy. These are also the dying words of the New Testament Moses.

b) Moses accomplishes another very big and important work: this is the appointment of Joshua as a leader for Israel, as a presbyter for the Old Testament church. But the appointment of Joshua to this post was not made by the choice of Moses or Israel, but by the direction of the Lord Himself. Before choosing his successor, Moses turned to the Lord.

What an example for all churches. Pray for the setting of workers by the Lord, and in response to such prayers the Lord sets. Let's read Ephesus. 4. 11 - 12. So it was with the election of Joshua. Let's read Numbers 27, 15 - 23, and also Deuteronomy. 31, 7 - 8.

c) Moses wrote the law and gave the sacred work he wrote to the priests and elders for safekeeping. Let's read Deuteronomy. 31, 9.

Oral instruction is a great thing. And what is written is even greater, because it serves many generations of God's children.

The oral instructions of Moses brought blessings to those who listened to them, but what he wrote brings blessings to us and will bring blessings to those who will live after us. How many sermons are delivered in our congregations. They bring blessings to those who listen to them. But if the preachers not only preached, but also wrote, like Moses, the blessing would spread to distant times and would be repeated with every reading of what was written.

Some of our listeners record sermons. They have the opportunity to read them again and again and thus receive more and more blessings. And when this or that preacher closes his eyes forever, his sermons, recorded by someone, will continue to speak to human hearts even after his death.

d) Moses composed a song and taught it to the children of Israel. Let's read Deuteronomy. 32, 44; 31, 22. This song is the 32nd chapter of Deuteronomy. She is the last chord of his life symphony.

We have two songs of Moses: one is in the 15th chapter of the book of Exodus, the other is in the 32nd chapter of the book of Deuteronomy.

One song began his presbyter and apostolic ministry in the Old Testament church, another song ended his ministry.

On the same day, when he read his song to the people and taught the people to sing it, the Lord spoke to him (Deuteronomy 32:48-50). The very last day of Moses' life was a day of great song, but his whole life and ministry were a great song to the Lord, a song of praise to the Lord.

Oh, let's pay attention to the music of our life. Hearing today a joyful song of praise from the lips of 120-year-old Moses, and on the very last day of his life, let us strive to create from our entire earthly life a wonderful laudatory oratorio, a wonderful song of praise to our Lord. Let us often repeat the words from the song of Moses: "He is a stronghold! His works are perfect! And all His ways are righteous! God is faithful, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. He is righteous and true" (Deut. 32, 4). And let our laudatory song to the Lord sound until the last day, until the last minute of our life.

TO HEAVENLY CANAAN.

Deut., 34 chapter.

How much time we have spent contemplating the life and ministry of Moses. In whole chapters the Bible describes the life of Moses, and only in two verses - his death (Deut. 34, 5 - 6). The death of other men of God is also briefly described in the Bible, and only one death is described in detail on the pages of the Bible: this is the death of our Savior Jesus Christ. And this is because the death of Christ atoned for the guilt of mankind. If we have learned many precious lessons from the life of Moses, let us try to learn precious lessons from his death. What are these lessons?

Moses died without entering the promised land. His death before Canaan was the consequence of his transgression. This is a great lesson for all of us. Sin can be forgiven by the Lord, but the consequences of sin can be borne all one's life, right up to the grave. We know that the Lord forgave Moses, but he still did not enter the promised land. David was forgiven by the Lord, but the beloved child still died, and the sword did not depart from his house.

The former drunkard is forgiven by the Lord, but his heart is destroyed by wine, and he dies of a broken heart. Here is a young man forgiven by the Lord, but his vicious life before Christ made him an old man in his youth, and as a "young old man" he drags out a miserable existence.

Many such examples could be cited, but these will suffice. Why doesn't forgiveness get rid of the consequences of sin? The answer to this question is that we should be afraid of sin because of its terrible consequences, because of the traces that it leaves for life. This is the undeniable truth.

Here's another lesson: dying makes us lonely. Lonely, lonely soul. Our deathbed may be surrounded by our relatives, friends or acquaintances, but none of them can be our companion in the "valley of the shadow of death." But near the dying Moses there was not a single human being, not his wife Zipporah, not one of his sons, not Joshua! One! Absolutely alone. But not alone. The Invisible Friend extended His hands to him to receive his spirit and move him to His eternal abodes. You know what invisible Friend I am talking about.

Wonderful Vision: The Vision of Canaan Beyond the Jordan. Canaan is the pearl of the earth. This is a corner of paradise on our planet. But our heavenly Fatherland is even more beautiful. We know how the Apostle Paul draws it: "Eyes have not seen that" (1 Cor. 2:9). I am sure that every child of God, dying, sees heavenly halls in the distance and hears the singing of the saved, singing a new song.

Moses died at the age of one hundred and twenty years, but without sickness and without old age. His gaze did not dim. His gait is that of a young man. The storms of a hundred and twenty years have not bent him. He is strong and strong as an oak tree. White hair did not age him, but adorned him (verse 7). Thus he went to his Lord.

Moses died according to "the word of the Lord" (Deuteronomy 34, vv. 5-6; 32, 48-50).

What does it mean? This means - on the day appointed by the Lord. But this is how all the children of God die, "according to the word of the Lord," according to the will of His Lord.

On a day - determined by Himself. Oh, how calmly we would regard the day of our death, if we believed that our death would also take place according to the word of the Lord.

There is a doctrine about the dead that their souls sleep until the day of the resurrection of the dead. What we know about the dead Moses testifies that such a teaching is wrong. The appearance of Moses on Mount Tabor during the transfiguration of Christ proves that his soul was not in a dream. The other souls of the dead do not sleep either.

The fate of the body of Moses. None of the children of Israel participated in his burial, not even Joshua.

From Jude we know about the controversy over the body of Moses that took place between Michael the Archangel and the devil (verse 9). The devil wanted the body of Moses to be buried by people and that the place of his burial be known to all Israel, since he knew that millions of people from all over the earth would pilgrimage to the body of Moses, as the greatest prophet, to worship his ashes and thus the grave Moses will turn into a great shrine, as it later happened with the tomb of Jesus Christ, and now it is a place of pilgrimage for millions of Christians around the world.

The Lord did not want to allow the mortal ashes of His great servant to become an object of worship for people, and sent the Archangel Michael to bury the body of Moses so that none of the people knew where his grave was.

Israel's mourning for Moses for thirty days (verse 8). He mourned Israel and Aaron for the same number of days. But in the weeping of Israel for Moses, one can feel the great contrition of the people for all the insults and insults that they inflicted on the deceased.

There are two kinds of sadness for the deceased: pure sadness and sadness with an admixture of guilt towards the deceased. Such was the sorrow of Israel over the death of Moses.

In the repertoire of songs that are sung in the heavenly homeland, there is also the song of Moses. Let's read Revelation. 15:1-3. This is a song written by Moses on the last day of his life on earth. And it turned out to be a song fit for eternity. So our works, done for the Lord and for His glory, will follow us into eternity. Let's read Revelation. 14, 13; Dan. 12, 3. Forever and ever! The fragrance of Mary's world!

Nobody cancels the beauty of the Red Sea! Corals, fish, flying on water, playing with waves and wind, diving with your own breath - all this is unique, comfortable and beautiful here. But there is also the land Sinai - this is also the elements, the infinity of time, life and our humanity, beauty, depth and aspiration. The combination of heaven and earth, mountains and caves, depressions and elevations, searches and love.

Time on a planetary scale will seem like a moment to you.

7 ground or otherworldly places to visit in Sinai:

1. City of St. Catherine. Monastery of Saint Catherine.

If you like to immediately grasp the main thing, the essence of things and places, then the St. Catherine area is the first place you should go to in Sinai. This place is a witness of different eras, stages of development of human civilization. A place of power, meetings, mystical insights and discoveries.

St. Catherine is not only a deep historical past, but also a living, open to the world present. You will touch the masterpieces of human creativity and spirituality. Breathe in the blissful air of the most ancient Orthodox monastery. See the highest mountains in Sinai. You will learn the whole history and spiritual meaning of these places, you will feel the proximity of Heaven. You will visit an authentic Bedouin city (large village) with squares, cafes, a mosque.

For a complete understanding, it is worth visiting with a professional guide.

2. Mount Moses. Saint Catherine area.

For those who love history, exoticism, mountains, outdoor activities and sunsets. To climb Mount Moses, you can come specially. And it is better to do it privately, and not with the usual excursions, where you will be offered only a quick night ascent and descent along the standard route.

It is important to stay here, to go deep into silence, to listen to the silence of the mountains, to let in the wind, the singing of prayer. Namaz here is not at all the same as in the cities. This is a long meditative expression, reflected from the mountain slopes and carried away into the sky with supplication and mystical aspiration.

Beyond the bends of the wadi there are other monasteries - the Forty Martyrs of Sebastia, Cosmas and Damian, there is the cave of John of the Ladder, there are hermitages and paths of Ras-Safsafa, there is Mount St. Catherine. It is worth slowly, slowly walking along the ancient caravan trails, seeing the inscriptions of the Nabataeans, feeling the life of the Jebelei tribe, seeing how the sun sets and rises in the mountains.

On Mount Moses, you can spend the night in a thousand-star hotel. Everything for this is here, and you can do it at any time of the year. You can climb the mountain of Moses for sunset by a non-standard route, then you will definitely be the only interlocutor with the Almighty.

Many other routes start from Sant Catherine, connected with historical and natural unique realities - the unfinished palace of Abbas Pasha, the mountain lake Galt Azraq, Nabatean trails, canyons, ancient cemeteries, St. Catherine's mountain, all routes pass through the most beautiful mountain places. And in the center of the Sinai desert there are remains of other monasteries - Antush and Rimkhan.

It is worth coming to St. Catherine for a few days.

3. Serabit al-Kadim. Wadi Magara, Wadi Muqatab.

If you are a seeker of antiquities, discoveries and just an inquisitive person, then you will like the idea of ​​an expedition in the footsteps of the ancient Egyptian civilization. There is a high probability of finding new artifacts here. The southeastern region of Sinai, which was already conquered by the first Egyptian pharaohs. The Egyptians left many traces here - inscriptions, bas-reliefs, caves, buildings. Temple of the goddess Hathor on the Serabit plateau.

Together with the Egyptian slaves, people from the Canaanite lands worked here - Semitic tribes. They left unique graffiti on the walls of the caves - the forerunners of the Phoenician alphabet and the modern writing system. Following the Canaanites, the Nabataeans, pilgrims, and pilgrims wrote on the stones. Sinai is a stone chronicle of civilizations, a book of prayers, the tablets are written somewhere here, on these stones.

A trip to this area requires a minimum of two days, and it is better to allocate three. We organize everything.

4. Navamis. Inscription stones. Canyons.

For lovers of drive and depth at the same time.

Canyons - channels of winds and water, drawings of warriors and riders on the rocks, planetary, surreal landscapes. A spectacle of light and shadow, from soft pink at dawn, through all the smoky overflows of gold, to deep purple. Multi-colored sands and bizarre lace of limestone rocks.

On the way there are ancient inscriptions and drawings of wanderers of all nationalities. These languages ​​no longer exist today, they are only on stones. On the way, we will remember that souls leave this earth following the setting sun. So they thought 6500 years ago, the exits of the dolmens were turned after the departing luminary. The mystery and connection of two worlds hovers over the Navamis plateau.

Islands of limestone rocks protrude from the sea of ​​sands. The dragon, like an enchanted giant, sleeps in the middle of the desert. And dunes! Flying even without a snowboard on the softest sand will not leave anyone without an emotional explosion.

We are on planet earth. You will remember this and experience the cosmic experience of being on Earth.

5. Ras Abu Galum, Bir Ogda - for lovers of meditation, simplicity, silence.

Sinai is the land of Bedouins, nomads, wanderers. Here, nomadism becomes an existence, a way of life, meaning and purpose. Where, if not in the desert, you can live the reality of wandering, timelessness. There is no better meditation and entry into trance states than the road, the dimension of walking, its inevitability and effort. And it's a natural entry and the best reboot.

All thoughts, tasks, plans, questions are shaken and fall into place under the even rhythm of the step of a camel or your own, under the contemplation of sands and stones. This is how our ancestors lived and walked, we once were them.

The bottomless starry sky in a forgotten village filled with shadows from the plots of a simple peasant life, the movement of a heavenly dome over your head, delicious sweet water will return you to your true self faster than city trainings.

Feel like an ancient nomad, a traveler, experience the state of a primeval journey - and you will definitely calm down and be able to accept all the collisions and difficulties of your own difficult life.

6. At the bottom of the ocean Tethys- for those who love the lost worlds and parks of the most ancient history of the Earth.

Unforgettable impressions of experiencing the meeting with the great tectonic events of the earth, the origin of life, upheavals of the earth's layers, shifts and divergence of the earth's platforms. The sedimentary rocks of the relic Ocean have preserved many stories about the life of our shell ancestors. This was all long before us.

Here you will see all this not in museum collections, but in a living puzzle of the landscape. The ocean here raged only yesterday and dried up a couple of hours ago. Ammonites, shells have just settled on the dried bottom, no human feet have set foot here.

Sinai is endless.

There are, of course, more than six places. You can't tell everyone. But having visited at least these, you will get an idea not only about the Sinai Peninsula, but also about the world, replenish your ideas about the development of the Earth and life in general, better understand yourself and your place on our wonderful planet.

We can discuss other trips, look for ourselves, discover new things, select individual routes. There is always something to see and experience.

The Orthodox Church on September 17 celebrates the memory of the greatest Old Testament prophet - the God-seer Moses, who lived 1500 years before the birth of Christ. The holy prophet was also the first inspired writer. He is the author of the first five books of Holy Scripture. Let us recall the life of the holy prophet, and also find out why these books are important to us.

"Taken from the Water"

The name Moses means "taken out of the water." It was given by an Egyptian princess who found the future prophet on the banks of the river. The book of Exodus tells the following. A very beautiful child was born to Amram and Jochebed from the tribe of Levi. His mother, wanting to save him from death, which threatened him in view of the Pharaoh's order to kill all Jewish male babies, placed him in a basket smeared with pitch in the reeds on the banks of the Nile. There, an Egyptian princess who came to bathe found him. Being childless, she adopted him. Moses, as the son of a princess, received an excellent education at the court of the pharaoh. This was the heyday of Egyptian culture.

One day Moses, defending a Jew, accidentally killed an Egyptian overseer who was cruel to Jewish slaves. After this incident, he was forced to flee from Egypt. Settling in the Sinai peninsula, he lived there for forty years tending the flocks of the priest Jethro, whose daughter he married. Once, at Mount Horeb (Sinai) from the Burning Bush, the shepherd Moses received God's call for the liberation of his people. At first, he did not believe what had happened and his future high mission, but the Lord turned the staff, which was in the hands of Moses, into a snake, and then turned the snake into a staff again. Moses put his hand in his bosom, and his hand turned white with leprosy. According to a new command, he again put it down and took it out, and the hand was healthy.

In obedience to God, Moses, along with his brother Aaron, went to Pharaoh with a request to free the Jewish people. The stubbornness of the pharaoh subjected the country to the horrors of the “Ten Plagues of Egypt”: turning the waters of the Nile into blood, the invasion of toads, locusts, pestilence of cattle, human diseases, hail and fire, the death of the firstborn in Egyptian families. After all these disasters, the Jews left Egypt, crossing the Red Sea, which, by the power of God, parted to the sides. And the Egyptian army chasing the Jews was sunk in the sea. On the shore, Moses and all the people solemnly sang a song of thanksgiving to God: “I sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; he threw his horse and rider into the sea... This solemn song of the Israelites to the Lord underlies the irmos of the first of the nine songs of the canons sung daily by the Church at divine services.

In the third month after leaving Egypt, the Israelites approached Mount Sinai, where Moses received from God the stone Tablets of the Covenant with the Ten Commandments. So the children of Israel became a real people - the Jews. Here, on the mountain, he received instructions about the construction of the Tabernacle of revelation (a tent that served as a portable temple) and the laws of worship. With the prophet Moses, according to the Bible, the Lord spoke face to face, as if someone were talking to his friend (Ex. 33, 11). Due to such closeness to God, his face was constantly shining, but Moses modestly covered his face with a veil.

The holy prophet led the Jewish people for all forty years of wandering in the wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula. During this time, God fed the Jews with manna - white groats, which they collected every morning directly from the ground. Moses' brother, Aaron, was ordained high priest, and other members of the tribe of Levi were ordained priests and "Levites" (deacons). Since that time, the Jews began to perform regular worship and animal sacrifices.

Despite great difficulties, the prophet Moses remained a faithful servant of the Lord God until the end of his life. By nature, Moses was impatient and prone to anger, but through divine training he became so humble that he became "the meekest of all people on earth." The holy prophet died at the age of 120 on one of the mountains on the east bank of the Jordan.

After Moses, the spiritually renewed Jewish people were led by his disciple Joshua, who led the Jews to the Promised Land. For forty years of wandering, not a single person left alive who left Egypt with Moses, who doubted God. Thus, a truly new people was created, living according to the law given by God at Sinai.

The Book of Genesis

The prophet Moses wrote down the first five books of the Bible during a forty-year wandering in the Sinai desert. Each book of Moses was named after its content: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The collection of these books became known as the Pentateuch.

The book of Genesis was written after the traditions of the beginning of human history began to be forgotten, in order to preserve the purity of the original predictions about the Divine Redeemer of the human race, the Messiah. The book is called by its initial word "Bereshit", which means "in the beginning". The Greek title of this book - "Being" - indicates its content: the story of the origin of the world, the first people and the first human societies of the patriarchal time. The author shows that God is the root cause of all things, and man is not just an animal, he carries the breath of God in himself - an immortal soul.

All the narratives of this book, consisting of 50 chapters, can be divided into three parts. The first tells about the origin of the world and the fall of man (ch. 1-3). The second sets out the primitive history of mankind before and after the Flood, as well as the life of Noah
(4-11 ch.). The third contains the history of patriarchal times, the life of Abraham and his closest descendants, up to and including Joseph (ch. 12-50).

Book of Exodus

The second book of Moses in the Holy Scriptures is called by the initial words "Elle Shemot" - "these are the names", that is, the names of the sons of Israel, who migrated to Egypt under Joseph. The Greek title of this book is "Exodus", because it tells mainly about the subsequent exodus of the Israelites from Egypt under the prophet Moses.

The book has two parts - historical and legislative. The historical part describes the suffering of the people of God in Egyptian slavery (ch. 1). Then it tells about the ways of the Providence of God in the life of Moses, called by the Lord for the salvation of the Jewish people (ch. 2-4). Further, it tells how the Lord prepared the Jews for liberation from slavery (ch. 5-11), about the exodus of the Jews from Egypt and their wandering through the desert to Mount Sinai (12-18).

In the legislative part, the general setting of the Sinai legislation is given (ch. 19), as well as a set of religious and civil laws, sealed by the entry of the Jews into union with God (ch. 20-25). Next comes a set of church liturgical laws - about the structure of the Tabernacle and the priesthood (ch. 25-31).

Despite the millennia that have passed since then, the religious and moral laws of the book of Exodus have not lost their force to this day. On the contrary, the Lord Jesus Christ in His Sermon on the Mount taught us to understand them deeper and more fully. The ceremonial and civil laws of the book of Exodus and other books of Moses lost their obligatory significance in the New Testament and were canceled by the apostles at the council in Jerusalem. As the apostle Paul explains in Hebrews, the Old Testament sacrifices were a type of the atoning sacrifice at Calvary of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Books Leviticus and Numbers

The third book of Moses was titled in Old Testament times with the initial word "Vaiykra", which means "and called", that is, God called Moses from the tabernacle to accept the Levitical laws. The Greek name of this book is "The Book of Leviticus", because it contains a set of laws on the ministry of the descendants of Levi (one of the sons of Jacob) in the Old Testament temple.

In the book of Leviticus, the order of the Old Testament worship is set forth,
consisting of various sacrifices, the establishment of the priestly rank itself through the dedication of Aaron and his sons is described, the laws and rules of service in the temple are given.

The fourth book of Moses in the Old Testament times was titled with the initial word - "Wai-edavver" - "and said", that is, the Lord told Moses about the number of the people of Israel. The Greeks called this book "Numbers" because it begins with the enumeration of the Jewish people.

Deuteronomy

The fifth book of Moses (“Elle-gaddebarim” - “these are the words”) in the Greek Bible is called “Deuteronomy”, because it briefly repeats the set of Old Testament laws. In addition, this book adds new details to the events described in previous books.

Since by the end of the life of the prophet Moses, almost no one was left alive from the people who heard the law of God at Sinai, and a new generation born in the wilderness was to enter the Promised Land, then Moses, taking care of preserving true worship of God among the Israeli people, before his death decided to collect the law of God in a separate book.

The main, central idea of ​​both the five books of the prophet Moses and all biblical writings, outside of which the unity and beauty of the Bible would be unthinkable, is the doctrine of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Saint Ambrose of Milan wrote: “The cup of wisdom is in your hands. This bowl is double - Old and New Testament. Drink them, because in both you drink Christ. Drink Christ, for He is the fountain of life."

The memory of the great prophet

In the west of the Jordan, east of the northern end of the Dead Sea, is Mount Nebo. Its height is 817 m above sea level. At the top of the mountain is the so-called "Memorial of Moses". The complex includes a 4th-century church built to commemorate the site from which Prophet Moses viewed the Promised Land. Here you can also visit monastic cells, see an ancient mosaic, a monument in the form of a cross, called the “Staff of Moses” or “Snake Cross”. The ruins of Byzantine temples, a stone-door, which once served as the door to a Byzantine monastery, have also been preserved.

The God-seer Moses at all times lived in the memory of the people. The prophet is highly revered by Jews, Christians and Arabs. "Memorial of Moses" on top of the famous biblical Mount Nebo is the most visited place in Jordan by pilgrims.

Prepared by Natalia Komissarova