Where was Moses. Prophet Moses - the story of a biblical legend

Name: Moses

Activity: prophet, founder of Judaism, who led the Jews out of Egyptian slavery

Family status: was married

Moses: biography

The very existence of Moses is rather controversial. For many years, historians and biblical scholars have been discussing this topic. According to biblical scholars, Moses is the author of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Hebrew and Christian Bibles. And historians have found some contradictions in this.

Prophet Moses is one of the central figures in the Old Testament. He saved the Jews from the oppression of the Egyptian rulers. True, historians continue to insist on their own, because there is no evidence of these events. But the personality and life of Moses certainly deserve attention, since for Christians he is a type.

In Judaism

The future prophet was born in Egypt. Moses' parents belonged to the tribe of Levi. From time immemorial, the Levites had the duties of clergy, so they did not have the right to own their own lands.

Estimated period of life: XV-XIII centuries. BC e. At that time, the people of Israel were resettled to the territory of Egypt due to famine. But the fact is that for the Egyptians they were strangers. And soon the pharaohs decided that the Jews could become dangerous for them, because they would take the side of the enemy if someone decided to attack Egypt. The rulers began to oppress the Israelites, they literally made them slaves. Jews worked in quarries, built pyramids. And soon the pharaohs decided to kill all Jewish male babies in order to stop the growth of the Israeli population.

Moses' mother Jochebed tried to hide her son for three months, and when she realized that she could no longer do this, she put the child in a papyrus basket and let it go down the Nile River. The basket with the baby was noticed by the daughter of the pharaoh, who was swimming nearby. She immediately realized that this was a Jewish child, but spared him.

The sister of Moses Mariam watched everything that happened. She told the girl that she knew a woman who could become a nurse for the boy. Thus, Moses was fed by his own mother. Later, the daughter of the pharaoh adopted the child, and he began to live in the palace, was educated. But with his mother's milk, the boy absorbed the faith of his ancestors, and was never able to worship the Egyptian gods.

It was difficult for him to see and endure the cruelty that his people were subjected to. Once he witnessed a terrible beating of an Israeli. He simply could not pass by - he snatched the whip from the warden's hands and beat him to death. And although the man believed that no one saw what happened, soon the pharaoh ordered to find his daughter's son and kill him. And Moses had to flee from Egypt.

Moses settled in the Sinai desert. He married the priest's daughter Zipporah and became a shepherd. Soon they had two sons - Girsam and Eliezer.

Every day a man was tending a flock of sheep, but one day he saw a thorn bush that burned with fire, but did not burn. Approaching the bush, Moses heard a voice that called him by name and ordered him to take off his shoes, as he was standing on holy ground. It was the voice of God. He said that Moses was destined to save the Jewish people from the oppression of the Egyptian rulers. He must go to Pharaoh and demand that the Jews be made free, and in order for the people of Israel to believe him, God gave Moses the ability to work miracles.

At that time, another pharaoh ruled Egypt, not the one from which Moses fled. Moses was not so eloquent, so he went to the palace with his older brother Aaron, who became his voice. He asked the ruler to let the Jews go to the promised lands. But the pharaoh not only did not agree, but also began to demand even more from the Israeli slaves. The Prophet did not accept his answer, he came to him with the same request more than once, but each time he was refused. And then God sent ten plagues to Egypt, the so-called biblical plagues.

First, the waters of the Nile became blood. Only for the Jews did it remain clean and drinkable. The Egyptians only managed to drink the water they bought from the Israelites. But the pharaoh considered this witchcraft, and not the punishment of God.

The second execution was the invasion of frogs. Amphibians were everywhere: on the streets, in houses, in beds, and in food. Pharaoh told Moses that he would believe that God sent this disaster to Egypt if he made the frogs disappear. And he agreed to let the Jews go. But as soon as the toads were gone, he retracted his words.

And then the Lord sent midges to the Egyptians. Insects climbed into the ears, eyes, nose and mouth. Here, the sorcerers began to assure the pharaoh that this was a punishment from God. But he was adamant.

And then God brought down on them the fourth plague - dog flies. Most likely, gadflies were hiding under this name. They stung people and cattle, giving no rest.

Soon the cattle of the Egyptians began to die, while nothing happened to the Jews with animals. Of course, Pharaoh already understood that God was protecting the Israelites, but he again refused to give the people freedom.

And then the bodies of the Egyptians began to become covered with terrible ulcers and abscesses, their bodies itched and festered. The ruler was seriously frightened, but God did not want him to let the Jews go out of fear, so he sent down a fiery hail on Egypt.

The eighth punishment of the Lord was the invasion of locusts, they ate all the greenery on their way, not a single blade of grass remained on the land of Egypt.

And soon a thick darkness descended on the country, not a single source of light dispelled this darkness. Therefore, the Egyptians had to navigate by touch. But the darkness grew denser every day, and it became more and more difficult to move, until it became completely impossible. Pharaoh again called Moses to the palace, he promised to let his people go, but only if the Jews leave their cattle. The Prophet did not agree to this and promised that the tenth plague would be the most terrible.

In one night, all the first-born in Egyptian families died. So that punishment would not befall the Israeli babies, God ordered that each Jewish family slaughter a lamb, and the doorposts in the houses were smeared with its blood. After such a terrible disaster, Pharaoh released Moses and his people.

This event came to be referred to by the Hebrew word Pesach, which means "passing through." After all, the wrath of God "bypassed" all the houses. Pesach, or Passover, is the day the Israelites were delivered from Egyptian captivity. The slaughtered lamb was to be baked and eaten standing in the family circle. It is believed that over time this Easter was transformed into the one that people know now.

On the way from Egypt, another miracle happened - the waters of the Red Sea parted before the Jews. They walked along the bottom, and so they managed to cross to the other side. But Pharaoh did not expect that the Jews would be given this path so easily, so he set off in pursuit. He also followed the bottom of the sea. But as soon as the people of Moses were on the shore, the water closed again, burying both the pharaoh and his army in the abyss.

After a three-month journey, people found themselves at the foot of Mount Sinai. Moses climbed to its top to receive guidance from God. The dialogue with God lasted 40 days, and it was accompanied by terrible lightning, thunder and fire. God gave the prophet two stone tablets, on which the main commandments were written.

At this time, the people sinned - they created the Golden Calf, which people began to worship. Going down and seeing this, Moses broke both the tablets and the Bull. He immediately returned to the top and for 40 days atoned for the sins of the Jewish people.

The Ten Commandments became the law of God for people. Having accepted the commandments, the Jewish people promised to keep them, thus a sacred Covenant was concluded between God and the Jews, in which the Lord promised to be merciful to the Jews, and they, in turn, are obliged to live correctly.

In Christianity

The story of the life of the prophet Moses in all three religions is the same: a Jewish foundling, raised in the family of an Egyptian pharaoh, frees his people and receives the Ten Commandments from God. True, in Judaism, the name of Moses sounds differently - Moshe. Also, sometimes Jews call the prophet Moshe Rabbeinu, which means "our teacher."

In Christianity, the famous prophet is revered as one of the main types of Jesus Christ. By analogy with how in Judaism God gives people Old Testament through Moses, so Christ brings to Earth New Testament.

Also an important episode in all branches of Christianity is the appearance of Moses in a pair with the prophet Elijah before Jesus on Mount Tabor during the Transfiguration. A Orthodox Church included the icon of Moses in the official Russian iconostasis and appointed September 17 as the day of memory of the great prophet.

In Islam

In Islam, the prophet also has a different name - Musa. He was a great prophet who spoke to Allah as to a common man. And in Sinai, Allah sent down to Musa the holy scripture - Taurat. In the Quran, the name of the prophet is mentioned more than once, his story is given as a lesson and example.

Real facts

Moses is believed to be the author of the Pentateuch, the five volumes of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. For many years, until the seventeenth century, no one dared to doubt this. But over time, historians found more and more inconsistencies in the presentation. For example, the last part describes the death of Moses, and this contradicts the fact that he wrote the books himself. There are also many repetitions in the books - the same events are interpreted in different ways. Historians believe that there were several authors of the Pentateuch, since in various parts there are different terminologies.

Unfortunately, no material evidence of the existence of the prophet was found in Egypt. There were no mentions of Moses either in written sources or in archaeological finds.

For hundreds of years, his personality has become overgrown with legends and myths, there are constant disputes around the life of Moses and the Pentateuch, but so far no religion has abandoned the Ten Commandments of God, which the prophet once presented to his people.

Death

For forty years Moses led the people through the wilderness, and his life ended on the threshold of the promised land. God commanded him to climb Mount Nebo. And from the top Moses saw Palestine. He lay down to rest, but it was not sleep that came to him, but death.

The place of his burial was hidden by God so that the people would not start a pilgrimage to the grave of the prophet. As a result, Moses died at the age of 120. For 40 years he lived in the palace of the pharaoh, for another 40 he lived in the desert and worked as a shepherd, and for the last 40 he led the people of Israel out of Egypt.

Moses' brother Aaron did not reach Palestine either; he died at the age of 123 due to a lack of faith in God. As a result, the follower of Moses, Joshua, brought the Jews to the promised land.

Memory

• 1482 - fresco "The Will and Death of Moses", Luca Signorelli and Bartolomeo della Gatta
• 1505 - Painting "The Trial of Moses by Fire", Giorgione
• 1515 - Marble statue of Moses,
• 1610 - Paintings "Moses with the commandments", Reni Guido
• 1614 - Painting "Moses in front of a burning bush", Domenico Fetti
• 1659 - Painting "Moses Breaking the Tablets of the Covenant",
• 1791 - Fountain in Bern "Moses"

• 1842 - Painting "Moses lowered by his mother into the waters of the Nile", Alexei Tyranov
• 1862 - Painting "The Finding of Moses", Frederick Goodall
• 1863 - Painting "Moses pours water from the rock",
• 1891 - Painting "Jews Crossing the Red Sea",
• 1939 - The book "Moses and monotheism",
• 1956 - Film "The Ten Commandments", Cecile DeMille
• 1998 - Cartoon "Prince of Egypt", Brenda Chapman
• 2014 - Film "Exodus: Kings and Gods",

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Moses

Moses
[Jewish Moshe, “bringing out”, “extracting”], the greatest of the prophets, whom the Lord commanded to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and through whom the Sinai covenant was concluded and the commandments of the Torah were granted.

I. Name "M." was named his mother Jochebed (in the Synodal translation - Jochebed, Ex 2:7-10; Ex 6:20), which, according to Jude. According to legend, she was a prophetess and gave her son a name that indicated his future calling. Name "M." explained in St. Scripture based on the meaning of the Hebrew root of the word Masha- “pull out”, “pull out” (Ex 2:10). Apparently, mother M. explained the meaning of this name to the daughter of the pharaoh by the fact that the baby was found in the water. At the same time, in the ancient Egyptian language, the consonant word mose means “son”, “child” (this word is an integral part of the names of the pharaohs Thutmose, Ahmose, Ramesses, etc.), so this name should have liked the daughter of the pharaoh.

II. M. is the son of Amram and Jochebed, a descendant of Kohath, the son of Levi. His older sister was Miriam (in the Synodal translation - Miriam), and his older brother was Aaron (Ex 6:16,18,20). M. was born in Egypt, according to Jude. traditions in 1393-1392 BC; a number of modern researchers attribute this date to approx. by 1350 or, according to a different chronological. technique, approx. by 1525 B.C. (→ Chronology). At the time of M.'s birth, the pharaoh's order was in effect to throw all newborn Jewish boys into the Nile (Ex 1:22). The mother hid the baby M. for three months, but then, trying to save him, she put the child in a basket and left it in the reeds on the banks of the Nile. The pharaoh's daughter found M., and Mariam's own mother became his nurse. When M. grew up, his mother brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, with whom he "was instead of a son" (Ex 2:1-10).

III. M. stood at the origins of the birth of Israel as independent. people. Information about his life is contained primarily in the last four books of the Pentateuch of Moses. The fact that M. is a real historical. personality, in our time already practical. no one doubts. The consonance of his name is Egyptian. mose, as well as the correspondence of the data of his biography to the ancient Egyptian realities underlie the Jewish tradition, which can only be explained historically. facts. There is no reason to consider M. as mythological. personality: without his participation, the beginning of Jewish national history cannot be explained. His individuality, the strength of his character, his role as an intermediary in declaring God's will to the people left an indelible imprint on the history and religion not only of Israel, but of all mankind. If, despite this, some researchers do not dare to present a coherent picture of the life and work of M., then this is due to the fact that they neglect the high value of the Pentateuch of Moses as a historical. source. The study of primary sources by such scholars is accompanied by an idea of ​​the oral transmission of the historical. facts and legends for many centuries after the death of M., in the absence of fixed letters. text. However, today it is known that in the Middle East, long before Moses, there were deep traditions of writing and historiography, which makes it possible to oppose such theories convincingly. arguments testifying in favor of the writing of the Pentateuch precisely in the era of Moses, and even by himself.

Years before exodus

83 Birth of Aaron (Ex 7:7).
80 Birth of Moses (Ex 7:7)
40 Moses' flight to Midian (Acts 7:23,29)

1 Calling Moses by God (Ex 3)

The beginning → of the executions of the Egyptians was probably in the fifth month - the time of the flood of the Nile.

Days, months and years after the exodus

10: I. 1 Department of Easter. lambs from the flock to celebrate the Passover (Ex 12:3)
14:I. Passover 1 (Ex 12:6)
15:I. 1 Defeat of the firstborn (Ex 12:29)
Exodus from Rameses (Numbers 33:3)
21: I. 1 Crossing the sea (Ex 14)
15: II. 1 Israel in the wilderness of Sin (Ex 16:1)
1: III. 1 Israel at Mount Sinai (Ex 19:1,2)
6: III. 1 Epiphany at Sinai. Making the Covenant and Giving the Ten Commandments (Ex 20)
1:I. 2 Setting up the tabernacle of the covenant (Ex 40:2,17)
1:-7: I. 2 Consecration of the priests and the altar (Lev 8:33,35; Ex 29:37)
8:I. 2 Aaron's sacrifice. Glory of the Lord over the tabernacle. The death of Nadab and Abihu (Lev 9:1,23; Lev 10:1,2)
8:-19: I. 2 Sacrifices of rulers (Num 7:1,2,10)
14:I. Passover 2 (Num 9:1-5)
1: II. 2 The first number of the people (Num 1:1)
14:II. 2 "Second Passover" (Num 9:11)
20: II. 2 The children of Israel set out from the wilderness of Sinai (Numbers 10:11,12). The visit of the spies to Canaan "at the time of the ripening of the grapes" (Numbers 13:21), i.e. in the fourth month (→ Calendar)
10: VII. 2 Day of Atonement (Lev 16:29-34) Sojourn in Kadesh, suppose. up to the 3rd year (Deut 1:46; Deut 2:14) 38 years → wandering in the wilderness (II,2)
I. 40 Israel again in Kadesh. The end of Maryami (Numbers 20:1)
1:V.40 Aaron's demise (Num 33:38)
40 Crossing the stream in the valley of Zared (Deut 2:14)
1:XI. 40 Farewell speech of Moses (Deut 1:3-5) Death of Moses in the eleventh month (Deut 34:8; cf. Joshua 4:19)

Chronological data of the Pentateuch and the Jewish tradition about the life of Moses.

IV. How Foster-son Pharaoh's daughter (Heb 11:24), M. was "taught in all the wisdom of Egypt" (Acts 7:22); he was undoubtedly well acquainted with religion. traditions and legal norms ancient east. Perhaps in Egypt, he showed his abilities and diplomatic. field (so Jude. Traditions say). But all his brilliant future is Egypt. nobles (and possibly even the heir to the throne) collapsed instantly when the 40-year-old M., standing up for a fellow slave, killed the Egyptians. overseer. Fleeing from the wrath of the pharaoh, he fled from Egypt to Midian. While living there, M. married → Zipporah, daughter of the Midian priest Raguel, or → Jethro (Ex 2:11-22; Numbers 10:29). Here he lived for 40 years among a people whose genealogy, like that of the Israelites, went back to Abraham (Gen. traditions of the descendants of Abraham, having the idea of ​​a single God (see Ex 18:10-12). M. gave his first-born the name Gershom [Jewish "a stranger (was I) there"; in the Synodal translation - Girsam], thus expressing longing for the country of the forefathers - Canaan; he named his second son Eliezer (Hebrew “God is my helper”; in the Synodal translation - Eliezer), thereby capturing the unshakable faith in the God of Abraham (Ex 18:3,4). The years spent in Midian in communion with Jethro helped M. to reach ext. maturity. And the hour came when God called him to a great mission - the liberation of His people (Ex 2:23 - Ex 4:17). The Lord revealed himself to M. in a flaming thorn bush (“burning bush”) with a name meaning “Eternal One”, or: “I Am” (“I am here”, according to the commentary of M. Buber; this name combines three tense forms of the Hebrew verb gaya - "to be" or gava - "to produce being", and, consequently, means "He who was, is and will be" or "He who produced, produces and will produce being", Ex 3:13-15; in the Synodal translation here - "Jesus". According to the Jewish tradition, when pronounced aloud, this name is replaced by the word Adonai - "My Lord", therefore practically everywhere in the Septuagint it is translated as Curios - "Lord", "Lord", in the Synodal translation - "Lord"). However, God had to overcome in M. unpreparedness for such a high mission, because. he considered himself unworthy to carry out the orders of the Almighty. God gave M. Aaron as a collaborator - as a speaker, because. M. himself did not differ in eloquence.

v. M. and Aaron appeared together before the congregation of Israel. elders (Ex 4:28-31), and then before the pharaoh, in order to achieve the return of the people to the promised land (Ex 5). Through a series of miracles and punishments (→ Plagues of Egypt), the Lord overcame the resistance of Pharaoh, who, constantly hardening his heart, broke his promises to let the Israelites go (→ Exodus). The passage of the Jews across the parted → Red Sea and the death of the Pharaoh’s army in its waters ended the victory of God, captured in the charters of Easter and glorified in the song of Moses and Maryami (Ex 12: 1 - Ex 14: 1; Ex 15: 1-21). This happened, according to Jude. tradition, in 1313-1312. BC, according to the same modern. scientists, ca. 1270 or ca. 1445 BC (→ Chronology, IV,2).

VI. The path of Israel to Canaan lay through the desert (→ Wanderings in the wilderness). Here, M.'s longsuffering, his devotion to God, his unshakable faith in Him and his love for his people were constantly manifested. The people again and again showed discontent, murmured and rebelled - in Merra (Ex 15:23,24), in the wilderness of Sin, in Massa and Meribah (Ex 16:1-15; Ex 17:1-7). In response to the murmuring, God showed miracles: he served food in the form of quails and manna, water from the rock. After the victory over Amalek (see Ex. 17:8-16), Jethro brought the M. family to the camp of the Israelites, whom M. sent to his father-in-law during the turbulent events of the exodus from Egypt. Jethro gave M. wise advice for the administration of justice (see Ex 18).

VII. The Lord descended on Mount Sinai, and M. was present, as an intermediary of the covenant, when God announced → the Ten Commandments, M. handed over to the people part of the future Torah (Pentateuch) - → the Book of the Covenant and, together with the elders of Israel, solemnly concluded a covenant with God on behalf of the people ( see Ex 19:1; Ex 20:1; Ex 24:1). Then he again ascended the mountain and remained there for forty days and nights. At this time, he received many orders regarding dispensation for the priesthood. principles of religious and moral, social, political, economic, family and privacy Israelis (according to Judaic tradition, 613 commandments, developing in detail the content of the ten original), incl. instructions for erection → tabernacle of congregation and ordinances for worship (see Ex 21-31). Descending from the mountain, M. carried to the people two → tablets of the Law with the Decalogue (Decalogue, → Ten Commandments) inscribed on them. However, while M. was on the mountain, the people, embarrassed by his long absence, forced Aaron to make a golden calf. The idol was cast, and the people began to offer sacrifices to it. M. in anger broke the tablets of the covenant, because. the people violated the condition of the covenant - not to worship other gods; after this, M. made a severe trial of the apostates. Soon, however, he appeared before God with selflessness. intercession for the people, begging to forgive the Israelites or, otherwise, to “blot out” Moses himself from the book of the Lord (i.e., obviously, M. was ready to give up eternal life for the sake of his people! Ex 32:31-33; cf. Mal 3:16,17). And God promised not to leave Israel (Ex 32-33). The Lord wrote the Decalogue on new tablets. When, having again spent forty days and nights in Sinai, M. returned to the people, his face “shone with rays,” because God spoke to him. Each time he finished delivering God's commands to the Israelites, he covered his face with a veil until he stood before God again (Ex 34:1; 2 Cor 3:7-18). The tabernacle of the covenant was erected (Ex. 35-40), M. received the prescriptions for sacrifices and ordained Aaron and his sons as priests (Lev. 8).

VIII. In the second year of wandering in the wilderness, Miriam and Aaron, jealous of M., began to reproach him for taking a wife from the Kushite tribe (Cush; in the Synodal translation - “The Ethiopian woman”, Numbers 12: 1). They tried to challenge the exclusivity of the mission and rank of M. However, God testified: “I speak mouth to mouth with him, and clearly, and not in fortune-telling, and he sees the image of the Lord” (Numbers 12:8). As a punishment for sin, Miriam was stricken with leprosy and was healed only thanks to the prayer of M. Under Moses, “the wife of the Ethiopian”, obviously, Zipporah is meant, and not k.-l. another woman (see the names in Genesis 10:6-8, some of which indicate belonging to the Arabian tribes). Later, when the scouts sent to survey Canaan returned to Kadesh and incited the people to revolt with their story, M. again prevented its destruction by intercession with God for the people (Numbers 13-14). He again, as in Sinai, rejected the offer of God to make his descendants numerous. and a mighty people who would take the place of the Israelites who sinned (Numbers 14:12; cf. Ex 32:10). During the uprising → Korea (3), → Dathan and → Aviron M. and Aaron managed to avert the most severe punishment from the people (Number 16). But after that, they themselves sinned, turning to the people in Kadesh with reproaches from their own, and not from God's name(Numbers 20:10). In addition, instead of using a word to draw water out of the rock, as the Lord commanded him, M. struck it twice with a rod (Numbers 20:8, 11-13). For this disobedience, M. and Aaron were deprived of the right to enter the promised land. But M. and further, until his death, remained the leader of the people and the mediator between God and Israel. Bringing the Jews to Transjordan, he transferred the rights of the high priesthood of Aaron to his son Eleazar (Numbers 20:23-29), and then erected a bronze serpent as a type of salvation by faith (Numbers 21:6-9; cf. John 3:14-16). Punishment against the Midianites, who united with the Moabites for joint action against Israel, was also carried out under the leadership of M. (Numbers 31).

IX. The book of Deuteronomy contains M.'s farewell appeal to the people, with whom he spoke in Shittim, beyond the Jordan. He said amaze. accurate prophecy about the future fate of Israel (see Deuteronomy 28-30), proclaimed Joshua as his successor, left the Israelites a memorial Song, and also blessed them (Deut. 31:7,8; 32-33). M. died at the age of 120, and before last day“His eyesight was not dimmed, and the strength in him was not exhausted” (Deuteronomy 34:7). Before his death, the Lord showed him the promised land from the top of Mount Nebo. God Himself took care of the burial of M., and the place of his burial remained unknown. For 30 days, the people mourned their leader, mediator of the covenant, prophet, legislator and author of St. history (Deut. 34). According to some traditions, the echoes of which are preserved in Jude 1:9, the body of M. did not undergo decay and was soon resurrected and transfigured (see Mt 17:1-4, where M., along with Elijah taken alive to heaven, talks with Jesus).

x. A number of places in the Pentateuch testify to Lit. activities of M. himself in connection with his recording of the text of the Torah. He will follow. lists the camps of the Israelites in the wilderness (Numbers 33:1-49); writes down the circumstances of the battle with Amalek (Ex 17:14); having completed the Book of the Covenant, containing the words of the Law of God (Ex 24:4,7), he hands it over to the Levites at the end of his life (Deut. 31:24-26). If you mean directly. influence from above, which constantly accompanied the writing of the Pentateuch (see Ex 17:14; Deut 31:19), as well as the education received by M. in Egypt, it becomes clear how he managed to record such a grandiose set of information about the universe and about the Holy. stories, as are the books that bear his name. At the same time, the question remains to what extent M., when compiling the book of Genesis, used the most ancient historical. sources. The name of M. are also some poetic. works included in the Torah (Song when crossing the Red Sea, Ex 15:1; Song of Moses and the Blessing of Moses, uttered by him before his death, Deut 32:1 - Deut 33:1), as well as Ps 89:1. According to Jude. tradition, he is the author of Ps 90:1 - Ps 99:1 and the Book of Job. There are also attributed to the authorship of M. → apocrypha, for example. The Ascension of Moses, the Apocalypse of Moses, the Book of Jubilees (the Jewish original of which was found in Qumran), etc.

XI. As a legislator (→ Law), M. handed over to the people of Israel on behalf of God the commandments, laws, courts and statutes that prescribe the norms and rules of everyday life and the order of worship. As a prophet, he announced to the people the future consequences of both obeying God and resisting His will. As the people's leader and supreme judge, M. made sure that Israel lived in accordance with the Lord's decrees. At the same time, he constantly acted as an intercessor for his rebellious people, turning away the wrath of God from them. M. refused to become the progenitor of a new people, because. then the sinning Israelites would have perished, and chose to sacrifice himself for this people (Ex. 32:32). His work was concurrent. and priest and prophet. Hot-tempered, prone to anger in his youth, he worked with patience and love for the good of his people in his years of maturity, and in his old age he was rewarded with such a testimony: “Moses was the meekest man of all people on earth” (Numbers 12: 3). He was a man of prayer with whom the Lord spoke "face to face, as a man speaks to his friend" (Ex 33:11). He, being the messenger of the Lord, opposed both the power of the pharaoh and the rebellious people. After 80 years of life, during which God spiritually raised and taught M., his selfless and selfless. the ministry served to ensure that from the many descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, a new united people of God was formed. In the NT, M., as the mediator of the OT, is compared with Jesus Christ; at the same time, both M. himself and his deeds are declared to be typical in relation to the events of the NT (John 3:14,15; Acts 3:22-24). The mission of the Son of God is seen as the completion and culmination of the mission of M., and the teachings of Jesus as a revelation of the spiritual meaning of the teachings of M. (Mt 5:17-20; Jn 1:17; Rom 3:21; 2 Cor 3:12-18). In the same "house of God" where M. was a faithful servant, Christ is the Son (Heb 3:2-6).

To the question of how many years Moses led the Jews in the desert, today, probably, everyone will be able to answer man of culture no matter what place religion occupies in his life. But here are the details of the life of this man, in whose historicity followers believe three main religions of the world - Christianity, Islam and Judaism - are not known to everyone. We will try to fill this gap.

Books about the life of the prophet Moses

The story of Moses covers the period from the 16th to the 12th centuries BC. e. He lived one hundred and twenty years, and one should not be surprised at such amazing longevity - in biblical times this was by no means a rare occurrence. We learn about the amazing events of that time from four books of the Old Testament, called "Exodus", "Leviticus", "Numbers" and "Deuteronomy". Together they make up the epic of the exodus of the Jewish people from Egyptian slavery. Their authorship, according to Hebrew tradition, is attributed to Moses himself.

Slavery of the children of Israel

According to these ancient texts, Moses - the prophet and leader of the Jewish people - was born in Egypt, in difficult times for his brothers. Having settled on the banks of the Nile in the years when, thanks to their compatriot Joseph, the mind managed to win the favor of the former pharaoh, these people fell into cruel disgrace under his successor, and from full-fledged citizens turned into slaves.

In relation to them, the Egyptian ruler pursued a policy that today we would rightfully call genocide. It was pointless to fight, and the only way of salvation was to go to the boundless expanses of the Sinai desert, beyond which the Jews dreamed of the land promised by God, "flowing with milk and honey." At this difficult moment, the Lord sent Moses, a prophet who delivered his long-suffering people from slavery.

adopted son of the pharaoh

The newborn son, who became the first-born in the family of Amram and his wife Yocheved, was doomed to death from the moment of birth, since the pharaoh ordered the destruction of all Jewish male babies. To save the child's life, the mother resorted to a trick - knowing that the pharaoh's daughter had a good heart, she managed to throw her child to her.

Putting it in a basket smeared with pitch, the unfortunate mother let it into the waters of the Nile, where the princess used to bathe. She was not mistaken in her hopes, and since then the boy grew up and was brought up in the palace chambers as the adopted son of the pharaoh.

The story of Moses, rising before us from the pages of the Old Testament, creates the image of a young man who remained faithful to his people, despite all the vicissitudes of his fate. Having once interceded for his fellow tribesman, and, unfortunately, having caused the death of his Egyptian offender, he was forced to flee to the land of Mediam, where he pastured the cattle of a local priest, whose daughter he took as his wife.

Chosen One of God and Savior of the Jewish People

There, in the wild and desert expanses, God's revelation was given to the exile, in which the Almighty informed Moses of his highest destiny - to become the deliverer of the Jewish people from slavery, the only person capable of leading him out of Egyptian captivity.

Returning to the banks of the Nile and embarking on his mission, Moses faced the stubbornness of the pharaoh, who did not want to deprive his country of such a large number of slaves. But, being the executor of the Lord's will, the chosen one of God always remained under His protection. By great and terrible miracles, known today as the Ten Plagues of Egypt, God forced the wicked Pharaoh to allow the Jews to leave the country.

He did not leave his messiah even at the critical moment, when the Pharaoh's army, sent after the Jews, began to overtake them off the coast of the Red Sea. By the will of God, at the wave of the rod of Moses, the waters parted, letting the fugitives through to the opposite side, and then closed, swallowing up their pursuers. When the danger had passed, the grateful people sang a song of praise to God the Redeemer. From this episode began his many years of wandering.

What desert did Moses lead the Jews through?

The path of the Jews to the Promised Land ran through the expanses of the Sinai desert scorched by the sun. It is hard to even imagine what incredible hardships this people faced, who were once nomadic, but over the years of their stay in Egypt, who had lost the habit of living among wildlife. The Holy Scripture, testifying to how many years Moses led the Jews in the desert, fully tells about the suffering they experienced.

But, the pledge of the salvation of the chosen people was the word of God given once to Moses. Throughout the forty years of wandering, the Lord was inseparably among them. During the day He walked in front of the procession in a pillar of cloud, and when night fell on the desert, He was transformed into a fire that illuminated their path. By this visible evidence of His presence, the Lord strengthened the strength and spirit of His people.

Miracles in the Desert

But besides moral support, He gave them practical help, working miracles through His servant Moses. This is exactly what happened when, by the will of God, the prophet delivered his fellow tribesmen from the pangs of thirst, turning the bitter dead water into clean and drinkable. The same thing happened when they ran out of food, and the Lord sent them countless flocks of quails. In addition, for how many years Moses led the Jews in the wilderness, for so many years He cast down sweet manna on them from heaven, which became their daily food. She even acquired the character of a popular expression - "manna from heaven", used in cases where it is about some kind of unexpectedly sent good luck.

Undoubted evidence of God's patronage of the people brought out of Egypt are the miracles of Moses in the wilderness, and, in particular, those performed by him at one of their camps, called Rephidim. At first, according to the Bible, Moses delivered the tribesmen from thirst for the second time, this time, with a blow of a rod, vomiting water from a rock. And soon, raising his hands to God, he fervently asked Him for victory over the treacherous Amalekites who had attacked their camp.

Moses on the sacred mountain

But the culmination of everything was the events associated with the ascent of Moses to Mount Sinai. He brought his people to its foot at the end of the third month of the journey. Rising to the top and standing among the clouds that surrounded him, the prophet spoke with God for forty days, listened to His instructions and received as a gift stone tablets with the Ten Commandments carved on them, the immutable law of the life of His chosen people.

Below, however, he was bitterly disappointed. At the time when Moses was talking with the Lord on Mount Sinai, his compatriots, exhausted by the forty-day wait, demanded from his brother Aaron, who performed the duties of the high priest, to finally show them the true God who brought them out of Egypt. Fearing the unbridled temper of his compatriots, Aaron was forced to cast an idol in the form of a calf from the golden jewelry collected among Jewish women and point to him as the universal savior.

Moses' wrath and God's mercy

Descending from the mountain, Moses witnessed a wild festival of idol worship. Having broken in anger the tablets given to him by God, and crushing the figure of a calf with a hammer, he severely punished the instigators of the madness that was happening in his absence, and fell before the Lord, praying for His forgiveness.

Ascending by His grace to the spiritual weakness of the people, who had barely emerged from slavery, the Lord granted them forgiveness, and Moses, who again ascended to the top, commanded to carve new tablets from stone and inscribe the former commandments on them. In addition, the prophet received from God an extensive code of laws, which forever went down in history as the Old Testament. "The Commandments of Moses" is another frequently used term, it is nothing more than a literal retelling of God's words heard by him at the top of Sinai.

Rays of holiness that caused misunderstanding

Having ascended Mount Sinai for the second time, Moses also stayed on its top for forty days, not eating food, and not closing his eyes. The Bible tells that when he finally appeared before his compatriots, rays of Divine Glory emanated from his brow, the sight of which made even the most notorious skeptics believe.

By the way, with the mention of these rays in the text, there is a misconception that has existed for many centuries. The fact is that the original Bible was written in the Hebrew language - Aramite. In it, the words "rays" and "horns" sound the same - "karnaym" (קרנים), which caused confusion when translating the text into Greek language. As a result, Michelangelo created his famous sculpture of Moses not with rays, but with horns on his head. The same ambiguous decoration is found on many other images of Moses.

The answer to this question, as well as to many others related to the life of Moses, who became the will of God the greatest prophet and leader of Israel, we find on the pages of the Old Testament. The reason for this is the lack of faith of the people, expressed in the apostasy from the true God, and the worship of the Golden Calf. When, after forty years of travel, the Jews finally reached the borders of the Promised Land, not a single participant of those shameful events remained alive among them. They were already a completely different people living in God's Laws received at Mount Sinai, and forever shaken off the bonds of slavery.

The Lord is omnipotent and in the twinkling of an eye could transfer His chosen ones to the land promised by Him to the forefather Abraham, but in this case people would enter into it, remaining slaves until the end of their days, and a slave cannot be betrayed by soul and is only able to obey under fear retribution. When a real or imaginary feeling of impunity arises, he easily betrays the one whom he worshiped yesterday. Having traveled a long path of struggle for survival, and repeatedly convinced of their own impotence to defeat the world around them without the help of its Creator, the Jews no longer thought of themselves without God. This is why Moses led the Jews in the wilderness for 40 years.

The sin of the prophet Moses

Moses himself was not destined to enter the Promised Land. Together with his brother the high priest Aaron, he angered the Lord. This unfortunate incident took place in Kadesh, where the Jews had taken the road of wanderings. Experiencing pangs of thirst, they once again grumbled. To give them drink, the Lord, wishing to repeat the miracle He once performed, commanded Moses to order the rock to flow with life-giving moisture.

But this time, His faithful servant so far doubted the omnipotence of God and, without limiting himself to words, hit the rock twice with his staff. Water, of course, flowed, and quenched the thirst of the afflicted. But the lack of faith shown that day by Moses and his brother Aaron brought the wrath of God on them, as a result of which the Promised Land was closed to them forever, and the Jewish people entered it without their leader.

Moses' walk in the wilderness ended at the very border of the land, to which he had been striving for forty years. The Lord took him to the top mountain range Abarim and from there showed the whole country that He had prepared for his people. Having surveyed it from end to end, Moses died. The Lord hid from posterity the burial place of one of His greatest prophets, making it unknown to this day.

The image of Moses in the main religions of the world

In modern Judaism, Moses is revered as the father of all subsequent prophets, since the level of his prophecies is considered to be the highest. The laws he received on the top of Mount Sinai formed the basis of the Torah - Divine revelation that regulates the life of a religious Jew. Since ancient times, it has become a tradition to add the word "teacher" to the name of Moses. Moses is also considered the greatest prophet and interlocutor of Allah himself among Muslims. In Islam, his name is pronounced Musa.

V Christian culture the biblical Moses acquired the glory of the greatest of the prophets. He is credited with the authorship of the first five books of the Old Testament. They are called so - "The Pentateuch of Moses." In addition, it is generally accepted that he is the main herald of Christ.

This point of view is based on the fact that just as through Moses the Lord revealed the Old Testament to the world, also through His only begotten Son Jesus and His Sermon on the Mount, He sent down the New Testament to people. How high the authority of the prophet Moses in Christianity can be judged by the fact that, according to the Gospel, it was he who was with the prophet Elijah on Mount Tabor at the moment of the famous Transfiguration of the Lord.

The great Christian theologians of the past - Gregory of Nyssa and Philo of Alexandria - paid great attention to this biblical character in their work. They compiled the so-called allegorical interpretation of his life, in which each individual episode was considered in the context of a common higher destiny.

Return to the spiritual roots of the people

In former years, far gone from us, when sacred history was taught in all educational institutions of pre-revolutionary Russia, the “biography” of Moses from the Bible was familiar to every person from childhood. The years of national atheism, which resulted in the trampling of national culture, introduced a significant gap in this area of ​​knowledge.

Only in recent decades, thanks to the extensive work launched by the church on the basis of each particular parish, the picture began to change for the better. Today people are beginning to understand that there can be no equal sign between the religious obscurantism with which they have been frightened for many years and the primordial spiritual roots. Therefore, not knowing how many years Moses led the Jews in the wilderness is an unfortunate gap in their education.

Name: Moses

Date of Birth: 1393 BC

Date of death: 1273 BC

Age: 120 years

Place of Birth: Egypt

A place of death: Nebo, Moab, Jordan

Activity: Jewish prophet, founder of Judaism

Family status: was married

Moses - biography

Moses, Moses, Musa... Three great religions consider him their prophet, and one of them - Judaism - he founded. However, scientists are still arguing whether this person really existed, when he lived and what exactly he did.

Four of the five books of the biblical Pentateuch (Torah) are devoted to the acts of Moses. The first of these is Shmot, or "Names", - in Christian tradition named "Exodus" as a reminder of the main event associated with the name of the prophet. The departure of the Jews from Egypt, their long wandering in the desert and the acquisition of the "promised" land promised by God in Palestine without Moses would have been impossible. However, he himself never set foot on this land - he died on its border, fulfilling his own prophecy: not a single person born in slavery will see a new homeland.

The Jews were slaves in Egypt, where they once came in search of a better life. The sage Joseph, who became an adviser to the pharaoh, brought his father Jacob (aka Israel) and all his relatives to the banks of the Nile, who quickly settled down there, multiplied and became rich. This did not please the next pharaoh, who gathered all the Jews in the border region of Goshen, forcing them to build fortresses and food depots for future wars. The life of the Jews "became bitter from hard work on clay and bricks", but they survived, gave birth to children...

Then the villain-Pharaoh ordered to kill all the sons of the tribe of Israel. One of these doomed was the newborn son of Amram and Jochebed, whom loving parents decided to save. According to legend, they put him in a wicker basket and let him into the Nile, but the crocodile-infested river was of little use to save the child. As well as for bathing the daughter of the pharaoh, who allegedly accidentally found the baby, took pity on him and took him up. It seems that the baby’s relatives deliberately threw him to the princess, having previously found out that she was childless and dreams of a son.

As if by chance, Jocha Veda, who happened to be nearby, immediately asked for it to be the nurse of the boy so as not to part with him. The princess (in the Haggadah, a collection of biblical traditions, her name is Batya) gave the foundling the name Moshe, in Hebrew "saved from the water." But the pharaoh's daughter could not possibly know the language of the Asian barbarians. Rather, she called him Mose, "son." This word was included in the names of the most noble Egyptians; for example, Thutmose means son of Thoth, Ramesses means Ra.

Perhaps Moses also bore such a name, which means that he could be the legitimate son of a nobleman or even the pharaoh himself. For example, Akhenaten, who established the cult of the single god Aten - this could be reflected in the monotheism of the Jews. Sigmund Freud, in The Man Moses, suggested that the Jewish prophet was an associate of Akhenaten, a priest named Osarsif. After the death of the king, he and his supporters briefly seized power in Egypt, but then he was expelled into the desert and founded a new religion there.

It seems that Moses really possessed the wisdom of the Egyptian priests, which his naive fellow tribesmen considered witchcraft, and could well have been a noble courtier who fled the country after another change of power. But not in the time of Akhenaten: then, in the middle of the XIV century BC, the Egyptians owned Palestine and would not have allowed Jewish fugitives there.

Jewish tradition dates the Exodus to the middle of the 16th century BC. e., when the Hyksos Asiatics, who previously owned it, were expelled from Egypt, some of whom could take possession of the Promised Land. But then, according to archaeologists, in Palestine, which still bore the name of Canaan, nothing noticeable happened. Another thing is the middle of the XIII century BC, when the local city-states fell one after another under the blows of newcomers from the south.

Burnt ruins and bones speak of the cruelty of the invaders, who could only be the descendants of Israel. At that time, Egypt was sharply weakened after the death of the great Ramesses II, who oppressed the conquered tribes (and forced them to build fortresses near the borders). Now some of these tribes were revolting, while others, like the Jews, were in a hurry to leave the country, which Moses took advantage of.

Since childhood, he was a troublemaker who did not want to follow the rules. According to legend, sitting somehow on the lap of the pharaoh, he tore off his crown and put it on himself. For such sacrilege, the priests demanded his execution, but Batya's adoptive mother said that madness had come over him. As proof, she told him to give him a choice of a toy and a hot coal, and the boy grabbed the coal, and then put it in his mouth again. Having burned himself, he remained tongue-tied: his slurred, truly prophetic words were understood only by brother Aaron and sister Miriam, who explained them to others.

Moses grew up in a circle of noble Egyptians and only occasionally visited his relatives - outcast slaves. Once, at a construction site, he saw a big overseer beating an exhausted Jew, and in anger he killed the offender, and buried the body in the sand. Someone saw this and reported it to the authorities; the murderer had to flee to Sinai, to the tribe of Midian. There he met girls who were not allowed to go to the well by a crowd of shepherds. Moses again stood up for the weak, and one of the girls, Zipporah, or Tzipporah ("bird"), fell in love with him. Soon she became his wife and gave birth to sons Gershom and Eleazar, who subsequently did not show themselves. Sepporah also disappeared somewhere, and later Moses married an Ethiopian, again breaking the accepted rules.

The Bible says that he lived with the Midianites for 40 years - "and his whole life was 120 years." Like everyone else, the former nobleman grazed cattle and once wandered with sheep to Mount Horeb (Sinai), where he saw an unusual vision. From a burning, but not burning bush - a "burning bush" - God himself spoke to him, for the first time giving a man his true name. “I am Jehovah,” he said, which sounds like Yahweh in Hebrew (later this name was forbidden to be pronounced, replacing it with epithets - Sabaoth, Adonai, Elohim, and so on). After that, he demanded that Moses go to Pharaoh and get him to let the Jews out of the "house of bondage."

The prophet refused three times, saying that he was deprived of the gift of speech (“I am not a speechless person”), that neither the people nor the pharaoh would listen to him, but the Almighty insisted. For persuasiveness, he gave Moses the power to work miracles, and appointed his brother Aaron as his assistants and translators. Together they left the Midianites (it seems that the prophet's relationship with his new relatives did not work out) and went to Egypt. Somehow reaching the king, Moses voiced the demand known to most in the interpretation of Louis Armstrong: "Let my people go!" - "Let my people go!"

When the pharaoh refused, the prophet threatened to inflict ten "plagues of Egypt" on his subjects. Alternately pestered by invasions of toads, midges, "dog flies", a pestilence of cattle, a fiery hail, an invasion of locusts, the king at first persisted, then promised to let the Jews go, but each time out of harm he took back the promise. In the end, the country was covered with darkness so thick that you could touch it with your hands - "but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings."

The frightened pharaoh agreed to release the Jews, but ordered them to leave all their property and livestock in Egypt. Then Moses announced the last, most terrible execution: "Every firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh to the firstborn of a slave." He ordered the Jews to anoint door jambs the blood of the sacrificial lamb, and the angel of death passed by their homes. Since then, the feast of Passover, or Pesach, has been celebrated, which means "passing through", liberation from fear and oppression.

After that, the pharaoh nevertheless released the Jews with all their property - and along with the gold and silver they borrowed from the Egyptians on the advice of Moses. In a hurry, the fugitives did not have time to leaven the bread and baked unleavened cakes, or matzah, has been an indispensable part of the Jewish Passover ever since. It is alleged that 600,000 adult men alone set out on the journey, but in reality there were a hundred times fewer fugitives. While they were moving east, the pharaoh regretted the loss of so many slaves and went after them with his entire army, including 600 chariots.

Seeing from afar the dust raised by them, the Jews raised a murmur: “It is better for us to be in slavery to the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness!” But Moses remained calm: after his prayer, the waves of the sea dispersed and let the Jews pass to the other side, and the Egyptians who rushed in pursuit drowned everyone to one along with the pharaoh. Previously, it was believed that the ill-fated king was the son of Ramses II Merneptah, whose burial could not be found for a long time. Then And it was found, but perhaps the pharaoh did not die at all in the waves. By the way, the Bible does not state that the miracle happened in the Red Sea: perhaps it was in one of the swamps of the Isthmus of Suez, which the Jews crossed along a secret path, and the heavy Egyptian cavalry got stuck.

Be that as it may, Moses and his people found themselves at liberty - in a ruthless desert, threatening them with death from hunger and thirst. The water in the few springs was bitter, but the prophet ordered the bark of some tree to be thrown into it - again priestly wisdom? - and she became drinkable. But there was no food, and the Jews again began to grumble about the times of slavery, "when we sat by the cauldrons of meat, when we ate our fill of bread." Moses prayed again, and in the morning the desert was covered with white balls of "manna from heaven", from which bread could be baked.

One learned German suggested that we are talking about sweet drops of juice, solidifying on the branches of a desert tamarisk, but it is unlikely that such a small amount would be enough for food - and after all, the Jews ate manna all forty years of the journey. But it is even more amazing that they spent these forty years on a journey that takes several months at most. True, they did not go directly to Palestine, since the warlike people of the Philistines settled on the coast, but through the entire Sinai, then beyond the Jordan and from there, from the east, to the Promised Land, but this does not explain the duration of the journey.

Either the biblical figures are greatly exaggerated, or Moses deliberately sought to rally his people in wanderings and remove from the scene a generation for whom a bowl of meat was dearer than freedom. It soon turned out that the desert was not so deserted - the Jews were attacked by robbers-ki-Amalekites. During the battle, Moses prayed to God for victory; when he lost strength, the enemies began to win, and the relatives had to keep the old man. As a result, the Israelites won, and Moses ordered "to blot out the memory of the Amalekites from under heaven."

And so it happened: in every settlement they met, the Jews put to the sword all men older than ten years old, and women were taken as concubines (then, when the Lord forbade this, they were also killed). In the third month after leaving Egypt, they came to Mount Sinai, where Moses saw God again, this time in a cloud of smoke. The Lord ordered the Jews to camp near the mountain, but not to go up there on pain of death. The Prophet alone ascended to the summit and remained there for forty days, receiving during that time detailed instructions about how to make Israel "a kingdom of priests and a nation of saints." The essence of what has been said, the ten biblical commandments, the Almighty wrote with his hand on two stone slabs-tablets, at the same time inventing the alphabet.

Taking the tablets with him, Moses went downstairs. It turned out that in his absence, the "people of the saints" immediately fell into heresy. Deciding that the prophet had perished without a trace, the Jews forced Aaron to cast a golden calf for them and began to worship him as a god - and in fact the second commandment said: "Do not make yourself an idol and no image." In anger, Moses broke both the calf and the tablets brought, and then ordered those who remained faithful to him to indiscriminately kill their friends and relatives.

Having exterminated three thousand people, he calmed down and again went to the mountain to ask for forgiveness from the Lord. After another forty days, he returned, and rays of grace emanated from his face - in order not to blind the oncoming ones, he had to cover his head with a veil. Medieval interpreters of the Bible translated the word "karnaim" (rays) as "horns", so the famous statue of Michelangelo depicts the prophet as horned.

Moses brought with him new tablets to replace the broken ones and placed them in the Ark of the Covenant for safekeeping - wooden box, decorated with golden statues of cherubs. The ark, in turn, was placed in a tabernacle, a large tent, which was guarded day and night by members of the new class of priests (cohens). They had to interpret God's commandments lest the dull-witted Israelites pervert them. Moses took the wands from the elders of all 12 tribes, or clans, put them together and announced that the head of the priests would be the one whose wand was covered with flowers in the morning.

It is not surprising that the rod of his brother Aaron from the tribe of Levi blossomed, but only Aaron himself and his descendants became cohens. Their dissatisfied relatives, led by Korah, revolted, accusing Moses of deceit: “You did not lead us to a land flowing with milk and honey, and you still want to rule over us!” The offended prophet prayed for the punishment of the blasphemers, and they fell into the ground along with their families and all their property. As a result, the Levites resigned themselves to the role of helpers of the cohens in the service of God.

This incident did not strengthen the popularity of Moses - he was revered and feared, but not loved. He was too adamant, harsh (unlike the good Aaron), he demanded too much from his people. Yes, and he was tired of the stubbornness and ingratitude of the Jews, in his hearts calling them "a hard-nosed people." True, when God - who also seems to have lost patience - threatened to exterminate the "chosen people", the prophet repeatedly begged for forgiveness for him. Once again, this happened already on the way to Canaan, when the Jews again began to grumble and ask to return to Egypt.

The Almighty sent them poisonous snakes, but he ordered Moses to erect a copper serpent on a pillar, so that everyone who looks at him with faith would be healed of the poison. The prophet himself was punished for the sins of the people: this happened when he once again extracted water from the rock and not only ordered it to pour, as God commanded, but struck the rock with a rod. For this small offense, he was punished by the prohibition to set foot on the Promised Land: "I will let you see it with your eyes, but you will not enter it."

Approaching the Jordan, the Jews sent scouts to Canaan, who reported disappointing news: the country is rich, but well fortified, and its warlike inhabitants are not at all going to submit to foreigners.

Then Moses, who was already 120 years old, wrote the last book of the Torah, Deuteronomy, or Dvarim, where he gave the people new laws for the future settled life. After that, he climbed Mount Nebo in the country of Moab, present-day Jordan, from where the flourishing Jordan Valley was clearly visible. Looking around the expanses of the country, which was to be conquered by his pupil Joshua, the prophet sank to the ground and died. The Jews mourned him for thirty days, but for some reason they did not save the grave: “No one knows the place of his burial even to this day.”

It seems that after death, Moses-Moshe turned out to be as inconvenient for someone as he was during his lifetime.

Moses(Hebrew מֹשֶׁה‏‎, Moshe, "taken (saved) from the water"; Arab. موسىٰ‎ Musa, other Greek Mωυσής, lat. Moyses) (XIII century BC), in the Pentateuch - a Jewish prophet and legislator, the founder of Judaism, organized the Exodus of the Jews from ancient egypt, rallied the tribes of Israel into a single people. He is the most important prophet in Judaism.

According to the Book of Exodus, Moses was born at a time when his people were growing in numbers and the Egyptian pharaoh was concerned that the Israelites might help Egypt's enemies. When Pharaoh ordered the killing of all newborn boys, Moses' mother, Jochebed, hid him in a basket and let it float on the waters of the Nile. The basket was soon discovered by the pharaoh's daughter, who decided to adopt the child.

When Moses grew up, he saw the oppression of his fellow tribesmen. He killed the Egyptian overseer, who severely punished the Israelite, and fled from Egypt to the land of Midian. Here, from a burning but unburned bush (Burning Bush), God spoke to him, who commanded Moses to return back to Egypt and ask for the release of the Israelites. After ten plagues, Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt across the Red Sea, after which they stopped at Mount Sinai, where Moses received the Ten Commandments. After forty years of wandering in the wilderness and the long-awaited arrival of the people of Israel in the land of Canaan, Moses died on the banks of the Jordan River.

The existence of Moses, as well as the reliability of his life story in the Bible, is the subject of controversy among biblical scholars and historians. Biblical scholars usually date his life to the 16th-12th centuries. BC e., mainly associated with the pharaohs of the New Kingdom.

Name

According to the Bible, the meaning of the name Moses is associated with salvation from the waters of the Nile (“stretched out”). This name was given to Moses by Pharaoh's daughter (Ex. 2:10). Here the play on words may also be an allusion to the role of Moses who led the Israelites out of Egypt. The ancient historian Josephus reiterates the biblical interpretation, arguing that the name Moses consists of two words: "saved" and the Egyptian word "My", meaning water. Semitologists deduce the origin of the name from the Egyptian root msy meaning "son" or "beget".

biography

bible story

The main source of information about Moses is the biblical narrative in Hebrew. Four books of the Pentateuch (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) are devoted to his life and work, which make up the epic of the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt.

The book of Exodus tells that Moses' parents belonged to the tribe of Levi (Ex. 2:1). Moses was born in Egypt (Ex. 2:2) in the reign of Pharaoh, who “ did not know Joseph”(Ex. 1:8), who was the first noble under one of his predecessors. The ruler doubted the loyalty to Egypt of the descendants of Joseph and his brothers and turned the Jews into slaves.

But hard labor did not reduce the number of Jews, and the pharaoh ordered all newborn Jewish male babies to be drowned in the Nile. At that time, a son was born into Amram's family (Ex. 2:2). Moses' mother Jochebed (Yocheved) managed to hide the baby at home for three months(Ex. 2:3). No longer able to hide him, she put the baby in a reed basket, smeared on the outside with asphalt and pitch, and left it in the reed beds on the banks of the Nile, where Pharaoh's daughter found him, who came there to bathe (Ex. 2:5).

Paolo Veronese. Finding Moses. 2nd third of the 16th century Art Gallery. Dresden

Realizing that in front of her was one “of the Jewish children” (Ex. 2:6), she, however, took pity on the crying baby and, on the advice of Moses’ sister Miriam (Ex. 15:20), who was watching what was happening from afar, agreed to call the nurse - Israeli. Miriam called Jochebed, and Moses was given to his mother, who nursed him (Ex. 2:7-9). Pharaoh's daughter named the child Moses ("drawn out of the water") "because, she said, I took him out of the water" (Ex. 2:10). The Bible does not mention how long Moses lived with his own father and mother, presumably, he stayed with them for two or three years (The wife conceived and gave birth to a son, and seeing that he was very handsome, hid him for three months Ex. 2:2). The book of Exodus says that "the baby grew up" in the parents, but it is not known how old he reached. And the child grew up, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and she had him instead of her son.» (Ex. 2:10). The mother, hired by the daughter of Pharaoh, nursed her own son Moses. And when I took it from my chest, I gave it back. And Moses was like the son of Pharaoh's daughter (Ex. 2:10).

According to the New Testament book The Acts of the Apostles, when Moses was given to Pharaoh's daughter, he was taught "all the wisdom of the Egyptians" (Acts 7:22).

Moses grew up as an adopted son in the Pharaoh's family. Once Moses left the royal chambers to the common people. He was deeply upset by the slavish position of his native people. Seeing an Egyptian who was beating a Jew, Moses killed the warrior and buried him in the sand, and the next offended one told all the Jews about this incident the next day. Then Moses tried to reconcile the two Jews quarreling among themselves. But the Jew, who offended another Jew, said to Moses: “Who has made you a ruler and a judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian? Soon the Jews brought the information to the Egyptians. Pharaoh found out about this and sought to kill his adopted son. Moses, fearing for his life, fled from Egypt to the land of Midian. So the author of the Torah left the comfort of the royal house, his homeland, and wandered for some time.

Family

Moses, having fled from Egypt to the land of Midian, stopped at the priest Jethro (Raguel). Lived at Jethro, tended his cattle and married his daughter Zipporah. She bore him sons Girsama(Ex. 2:22; Ex. 18:3) and Eliezer. After the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt, Moses gathered an army of many thousands and exterminated the Midianites (the people of his wife).

The book of Numbers mentions reproaches by his sister Miriam and brother Aaron for the fact that his wife is an Ethiopian (Cushite) by nationality. According to biblical scholars, it could not be Zipporah, but another wife, whom he took after the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt.

Revelation

Grazing cattle near Mount Horeb (Sinai), he received from the burning bush the call of God, who revealed his Name to him (Yahweh (Hebrew יהוה), “I am who am”) to liberate his people. Moses asked what he should do if the Israelites did not believe him. In response, God gave Moses the ability to perform signs: he turned the staff of Moses into a snake, and the snake into a staff again; then Moses put his hand into his bosom, and the hand turned as white as snow from leprosy; according to a new command, he again put his hand in his bosom, took it out, and the hand was healthy.

Returning to the banks of the Nile, together with his brother Aaron (whom God chose as his assistant to serve as “his mouth” (Ex. 4:16), since Moses referred to his tongue-tied tongue), he interceded with the pharaoh for the release of the sons of Israel from Egypt. And at first, Moses and Aaron, on behalf of Yahweh, asked the pharaoh to let the Jews go into the desert for three days to make sacrifices.

The stubbornness of the pharaoh subjected the country to the horrors of the Ten Plagues of Egypt: the turning of the waters of the Nile into blood; toad invasion; the invasion of midges; the invasion of dog flies; sea ​​of ​​cattle; disease in humans and livestock, expressed in inflammations with abscesses; hail and fire between hail; locust invasion; darkness; the death of the firstborn in the families of the Egyptians, and of all the firstborn of the cattle. Finally, Pharaoh allowed them to leave for three days (Ex. 12:31), and the Jews, taking the cattle and the remains of Jacob and Joseph the Handsome, left Egypt for the desert of Sur.

Exodus

Jews crossing the Red Sea. I. K. Aivazovsky. 1891

God showed the fugitives the way: he walked before them in a pillar of cloud during the day, and at night in a pillar of fire, lighting the way (Ex. 13:21-22). The sons of Israel crossed the Red Sea, which parted before them, but sank Pharaoh's army, which pursued the Israelites. On the seashore, Moses and all the people, including his sister Miriam, solemnly sang a song of thanksgiving to God (Ex. 15:1-21).

Moses led his people to the Promised Land through the Sinai desert. At first, for three days they walked through the wilderness of Shur and did not find water but bitter, but God sweetened this water by commanding Moses to throw the tree he indicated into it (Ex. 15:24-25). In the wilderness of Sin, God sent them many quails, and then (and for the next forty years of wandering) daily sent them manna from heaven.

In Rephidim, Moses, at the command of God, brought water out of the rock of Mount Horeb by striking it with his staff. Here the Jews were attacked by the Amalekites, but were defeated at the prayer of Moses, who during the battle was praying on the mountain, raising his hands to God (Ex. 17:11-12).

In the third month after leaving Egypt, the Israelites approached Mount Sinai, where God gave Moses rules on how the Sons of Israel should live, and then Moses received from God the stone Tablets of the Covenant with the Ten Commandments, which became the basis of Moses' legislation (Torah). Thus a covenant was made between God and the chosen people. Here, on the mountain, he received instructions on the construction of the Tabernacle and on the laws of worship.

Moses climbed Mount Sinai twice, staying there for forty days. During his first absence, the people sinned by violating the newly concluded covenant: they made the Golden Calf, which the Jews began to worship as the God who brought them out of Egypt. Moses in anger broke the Tablets and destroyed the calf (Seventeenth Tamuz). After that, again for forty days, he returned to the mountain and prayed to God for the forgiveness of the people. From there he returned with a face illumined by the light of God, and was forced to hide his face under a veil so that the people would not be blinded. Six months later, the Tabernacle was built and consecrated.

Despite great difficulties, Moses remained a servant of God, continued to lead the people chosen by God, to teach and instruct them. He announced the future of the tribes of Israel, but did not enter the promised land, like Aaron, because of the sin they committed at the waters of Meribah in Kadesh - God instructed to say words to the rock, but out of lack of faith they hit the rock twice.

At the end of the wandering, the people again became cowardly and grumbled. As a punishment, God sent poisonous snakes, and when the Jews repented, he ordered Moses to raise up a copper serpent for their healing.

Death

Moses died just before entering the Promised Land. The Lord before his death called him to the ridge of Avarim: “And Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, and the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead even to Dan”(Deut. 34:1). There he died. “He was buried in the valley in the land of Moab against Beth Pegor, and no one knows [the place] of his burial even to this day”(Deut. 34:6).

He appointed Joshua as his successor at the direction of God.

Moses lived 120 years. Of which he spent forty years wandering in the Sinai desert.

ancient tradition

Moses was mentioned by Greek and Latin authors.

According to the testimony of the Roman historian Joseph Flavius, the Egyptian historian Manetho (4th-3rd centuries BC) reported that the pharaoh ordered all lepers and those suffering from other diseases to be relocated to the quarries. The lepers chose as their leader the Heliopolis priest Osarsif (a name in honor of the god Osiris), who after the exile changed his name to Moses. Osarsif (Moses) established laws for the community of the exiled and commanded that they should not enter into communication with anyone except those who were bound by a single oath. He also led the war against the pharaoh. However, in the war, the settlers were defeated, and the army of the pharaoh pursued the defeated enemies to the borders of Syria. However, Josephus Flavius ​​calls Manetho's information "absurd and deceitful." According to Flavius, Moses was made in command of the Egyptian army against the Ethiopians who invaded Egypt as far as Memphis, and successfully defeated them.

According to Chaeremon, Moses' name was Tisiphen, he was a contemporary of Joseph, whose name was Petesef. Tacitus calls him the legislator of the Jews. The source used by Pompey Trogus calls Moses the son of Joseph and the father of Arruas, the king of the Jews.

Egyptian sources

Ancient Egyptian written sources and archaeological finds do not contain any information about Moses.

Moses in Abrahamic religions

In Judaism

Moses (Hebrew מֹשֶׁה‎, “Moshe”) is the main prophet in Judaism, who received the Torah from God on the top of Mount Sinai. He is considered the "father" of all subsequent prophets, since the level of his prophecy is the highest possible. So in the book of Deuteronomy it says: "And there was no more among Israel such a prophet as Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face" (Deut. 34:10). It is also said about him: “If you have a prophet, then I, the Lord, reveal myself to him in a vision, I speak to him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moshe, he is entrusted in all My house. Mouth to mouth I speak with him, and clearly, and not in riddles, and he sees the face of the Lord. (Num. 12:6-8). However, in the Book of Exodus, Moses is forbidden to see the face of God: “And then He said, You cannot see My face, because no man can see Me and live” (Ex. 33:20).

Based on the narrative of the Book of Exodus, the Jews believe that the code of religious laws of Judaism (torah) was given to Moses by God on Mount Sinai. However, when Moses came down from the mountain and saw the Jews worshiping the golden calf, he smashed the tablets in anger. After that, Moses returned to the top of the mountain and wrote the commandments with his hand.

Kabbalah reveals the correspondence between Moses (Moshe) and the Sephirah Netzah. And also the fact that Moses is the circuit (gilgul) of the soul of Abel.

Usually Jews refer to Moses as Moshe Rabbeinu, that is, "our teacher."

In Christianity

Moses is the great prophet of Israel, according to legend, the author of the books of the Bible (the Pentateuch of Moses in the Old Testament). On Mount Sinai, he received the Ten Commandments from God.

In Christianity, Moses is considered one of the most important prototypes of Christ: just as the Old Testament was revealed to the world through Moses, so through Christ in Sermon on the Mount- New Testament.

According to the synoptic gospels, during the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, the prophets Moses and Elijah were with Jesus.

The icon of Moses is included in the prophetic rank of the Russian iconostasis.

Philo of Alexandria and Gregory of Nyssa compiled detailed allegorical interpretations of the life of the prophet.

In Islam

In Muslim tradition, the name Moses sounds like Musa (arab. موسى‎). He is one of the greatest prophets, the interlocutor of Allah, to whom Taurat (Torah) was sent down. Musa (Moses) is mentioned 136 times in the Qur'an. Sura 28 of the Quran tells about the birth and rescue of Musa from the waters of the Nile (Quran, 28: 3 - 45, etc.)

Musa is a prophet in Islam, one of the descendants of the prophet Yakub. He was born and lived for some time in Egypt. At that time, Firaun (Pharaoh), who was an unbeliever, ruled there. Musa fled from the pharaoh to the prophet Shuaib, who at that time owned Madyan.

Historicity of Moses

The existence of Moses and his role in early history Israel is a subject of longstanding controversy. The first doubts about the historicity of Moses and the authenticity of his biography were expressed back in modern times. In the modern era, a number of historians and biblical scholars argue for Moses as a legendary figure. They note that ancient Eastern (including ancient Egyptian) written sources and archaeological sites do not contain any information about Moses or the events of the Exodus. Their opponents point to the lack of historical monuments and argue that the events of the Exodus associated with Moses have minimal chances of being reflected in the monuments of the Bronze and Early Iron Ages. However, both of them admit that the recording of the stories about Moses was preceded by a long oral tradition, which could modify, alter, distort or supplement the original traditions. These points of view are opposed by supporters of the school of "biblical minimalism", who believe that the Old Testament was written by Jewish priests around the 4th-2nd centuries BC. e. and the vast majority of the events and figures in this part of the Bible are fictitious.

Proponents of the documentary hypothesis view the Pentateuch as the result of a compilation of several sources, four of which (Yahwist, Elochist, Priestly Code and Deuteronomist) form the main body of the text. They note that the figure of Moses and his role in each source is different. So in Yahvist Moses is the undisputed leader of the exodus. The Priestly Code seeks to downplay the role of Moses and focuses on the role of Moses' brother Aaron, to whom the Jerusalem priests traced their genealogy. The Elohist, in contrast to Aaron, emphasizes the role of Joshua, who was more faithful to the word of God than Moses. Finally, the Deuteronomist emphasizes the role of Moses as a prophet and legislator. From these observations, it is concluded that the legends about Moses developed gradually and their versions differed in different traditions. These findings have been disputed by critics of the documentary hypothesis.

Biblical scholars also note that Moses is not mentioned in texts about the exodus, which are considered earlier than the main body of the Pentateuch (early prophets, psalms, "song of the sea"). On this basis, it is suggested that in the early oral traditions, Moses was either not a hero of the exodus or had a minor role. And only later the compilers of the written tradition built the whole story around the figure of Moses, from whom they traced their genealogy. Such conclusions are also disputed on the grounds that the alleged references to the Exodus are brief and that Moses may have been left out at the authors' wish.

Moses and Pharaoh: Versions

Many attempts have been made to establish to what period of the history of ancient Egypt the Bible refers the events of the exodus of the Jews, and which pharaoh it speaks of. There are several versions of when the exodus of the Jews supposedly took place, and therefore when Moses lived. Most versions link the exodus to the pharaohs of the New Kingdom. This implies that the activity of Moses falls on the period of the 16th-12th centuries BC. e.

The Bible does not name the pharaoh mentioned, although names are often emphasized in the Bible. So, in Exodus the names of two midwives whom the pharaoh called to himself are mentioned, but not the name of the pharaoh (Ex. 1:15). According to Exodus, after the flight of Moses from Egypt to Midian, Pharaoh died (“after a long time, the king of Egypt died”) (Ex. 2:23). Thus, at least two pharaohs appear in Exodus.

Various biblical scholars have attempted to identify the pharaoh of the Book of Exodus with the following pharaohs:

Ahmose I (1550-1525 BC)
Thutmose III (1479-1425 BC)
Ramesses II (1279-1213 BC)
Merneptah (1212-1202 BC)
Setnakht (1189-1186 BC)

Ahmose I was pointed out by those who believed that the Israelites left Egypt after the expulsion of the Hyksos. Ahmose I successfully fought against the Hyksos and captured their capital - Avaris. Those who tried to establish the date of the exodus on the basis of the biblical chronology came to the conclusion that the exodus falls on the reign of Thutmose III. In Ramses II, who led extensive construction works with the involvement of a large number of people, they saw the pharaoh oppressor. Under Merneptah, the son of Ramesses II, Egypt began to weaken, so the reign of Merneptah was considered a more likely time for an exodus. The absence of this pharaoh's mummy was also a source of speculation until the time when the mummy was discovered.

Moses and Akhenaten

In 1939, in his work Moses and Monotheism, Sigmund Freud connected the teachings of Moses with the religion that Pharaoh Akhenaten (reigned approximately 1351-1334 BC) planted in Egypt during his reign. This religion assumed the worship of only one deity - the disk of the sun Aton. In the monotheism (or henotheism) of Akhenaten, Freud saw the origins of the monotheism of Judaism. Based on the information of Manetho, Freud conjectures that after the failure of this religion in Egypt, one of the disciples of Akhenaten (Osarsif) made an attempt to unite another people under its auspices, having escaped from Egypt with him. This places the date of the Exodus just after the date of Akhenaten's death, i.e. after 1358 BC. e.

To date, Freud's conjecture is of interest only to historians of psychoanalysis.

In art

art:

• Moses (Michelangelo)
• Moses (fountain in Bern)
• Death and Testament of Moses

literature:

• Poem by I. Ya. Franko "Moses"
• Sigmund Freud wrote the book "Moses and Monotheism" (S. Freud: This Man Moses), dedicated to the psychoanalytic study of the life path of Moses and his relationship with the people.

music:

• opera by Gioacchino Rossini;
• opera by Arnold Schoenberg;
• opera by Miroslav Skorik;
• American Negro spiritual "Go Down Moses".

cinema:

• Character on imdb.com
• Cartoon "Prince of Egypt" (1998)
• The film The Ten Commandments (1923) and its remake of the same name (1956)
• Film "Moses" (1974)
• The film "The Prophet Moses: The Leader-Liberator" (1995)
• Film "Exodus: Gods and Kings" (2014)

icon painting

The icon-painting originals give the following description of the appearance of the prophet Moses:

Great old man 120 years old, Jewish type, well-behaved, meek. Bald, with medium size beard strands, very handsome, body courageous and strong. Wore the bottom tunic of blue color, with a slit in front and belted (cf.: Ex. 39:12 et seq.); on top - an ephod, that is, a long canvas with a slit in the middle for the head; on the head - a veil, on the legs - boots. In his hands is a rod and two tablets with 10 commandments.

In addition to the tablets, they also depicted a scroll with the inscription:

• “Who am I, that I may go to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and that I may bring the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt.”(Ex. 3:11).
• Sometimes other text is given: “Help and patron be to my salvation; This is my God, and I will glorify him, the God of my Father, and I will exalt him.”(Ex. 15:1).

There is also a tradition to portray the prophet as still quite young (“medieval”): these are icons depicting the prophet under the Burning Bush, digging his boots from his feet (Ex. 3:5), or receiving tablets from the Lord.