Interlocutor of Moses. The mountain that did not go to Moses (G. Grechko in search of UFOs)

Oooh, this is my favorite desert! :-) How clearly the presence of God is here!!! If you break away from the group and hide on a mountain path to stay in solitude, silence and contemplation of everything around, the impressions are fantastic! This is living SILENCE. in which GOD And joy of the soul. It happens that you turn behind a ledge, take a look at the opening views - and it seems that these are lines from the story of the prophet Elijah, who was hiding here, come to life. As if just a moment ago there was a storm, an earthquake and fire melting stones. But that wasn't God. And now you feel the breath of a quiet wind - and God's presence in it. Here everything silently testifies to the glory of God, and even the stones cry out about it. But this is not required, the heart itself sees and knows. It's amazing: you sit on a stone, immerse yourself in yourself, and there seems to be no time around, it is not felt here at all. Only the movement of the sun shows that time still flows. And it seems to have stopped. Incredible...
True, on this visit, my ascent to the mountain was in question. On the way from Israel to Egypt, I caught a terrible cold under the air conditioner on the bus. In the morning in Jerusalem she was healthy, and in the evening in Sinai she was already deeply ill with all the consequences of a cold (throat, cough, runny nose, wild weakness, etc.). There were almost no medicines left (I used it up in two weeks, because I also tried to get sick). It only took a couple of days to get home. But how can one be in Sinai and not climb the mountain of Moses?! The priest and the guide consoled me that it’s okay, everything will pass on the holy mountain during the day :) In general, I also had such hopes, answering: “May it be for me according to your faith!” :) That is, of course, I went to the mountain, in a state of non-standing. Although the disease did not let go, I really felt much lighter and better all day on the mountain. And in the evening, after the descent, another interesting event happened to us, completely unexpected - a visit to the skete on the slope of the mountain (opposite the monastery), where a hermit monk labors.

Monastery of St. Catherine

Climbing Mount Moses along the monastic path

On the slope of the mountain opposite the monastery of St. Catherine is the monastery of St. Galaction and Epistimia. It is very ancient, hermits labored there since the first centuries. And in the 20th century for some time the elder Paisios the Holy Mountaineer lived in this skete.

The skete is turning green on the slope :) For all the times that I was in Sinai, I only saw it like this, from afar, but it was not possible to get there due to time constraints. And this time it so happened that we got to visit the hermit living there, Fr. Moses.

Having descended to the monastery, we began to climb the opposite slope.

The beginning of the ascent to the monastery. View of the monastery of St. Catherine.

Skit of St. Galaction and Epistimia. Everything here is supported by Fr. Moses, already an aged hermit.

Fr. I did not photograph Moses, it would be inconvenient, in my opinion. I just took a few shots of the skit.

The territory is small. But as far as I understand, several people can stay here for a while. In any case, when we arrived, we met here several Greek women helping with the housework.

"Reception" for pilgrims :-)

We spent several hours with Father Moses. They arrived before dark and left in pitch darkness. When on the way back we made our way along the mountain path among the stones, Father Moses stood at the entrance for a long time and blessed us, who dived into the Egyptian darkness, so that everything would be safe with us.
And then we wandered for a long time and slowly through the desert under the bottomless starry sky, absorbing every moment of a wonderful evening in this wonderful place ... We were silent, listening to the desert, then we spoke quietly, being impressed by the meeting and conversation.
Batiushka also told a little about himself, how he came to faith, how he ended up in Sinai, how he became a hermit. Also, many of the group asked their exciting spiritual questions. Who worried about loved ones, how to do it so that everything is always in order with them. Who asked how to lead a spiritual life in everyday life. Etc. and so on. The main idea that was in the answers to any question: look for Christ. The most important thing is your personal relationship with Christ. Let your love not be consumeristic and selfish (give this, do this, send me this and that). All that needs to be sought is CHRIST HIMSELF, so that He will dwell in the heart. To love Him not because He can give something or punish for something, but to love Him as the dearest and closest Beloved. He loves all of us without limit, and we can respond to this love with all the strength of our being: with our soul, heart, dedicate our thoughts, feelings and aspirations to Him. And then this mutual love of the soul and God, the indwelling of Christ in the heart - this is the Kingdom of God on earth, available even in this life. “Everything else will be added” (c) He who has thus acquired Christ, already entrusts himself to Him without a trace and with full confidence says to God: “Here I am. Do with me what you want, because I know that all this will be good ".
That is, to all the various questions asked about. Moses said essentially one thing - look for Christ, be a temple for His dwelling. This is the highest happiness. And each of you can experience it for yourself.
When asked if there are now ascetics like the ancients in the Sinai desert. He said that yes, they do exist and asceticize, but they live in the depths of the desert and do not see anyone. And then, answering someone's question about prayer, he said that we should all pray for each other. Then one granny pulled out a notebook with a pen to write down the names of the Sinai hermits, whom to remember :-)
But oh. Moses replied that it was not necessary to write down, it was possible without names. Because when we stand up for prayer, even if thousands of kilometers away, not in the desert, but in our "city cells", by our prayer we all unite together, with those who also pray in other places of the earth. We all become one, one in God. Me and you are one. As the Son and the Father are one. Similarly, we are all one in God, we are all members of His Body.
In general, I was very pleased to hear about. Moses as a balm for the soul. In his words, one could guess what Silouan the Athos, Sophrony Sakharov, and other Athonites also wrote about. But these were not only book words, as a retelling of what was read. Father Moses spoke from his own experience, he lived it himself and personally experienced that this is how it is. And, to be honest, I was just blissful, sitting next to me :-) Hearing confirmation of what I read in my favorite books from a living ascetic is so great! And it inspires them to follow the path they have experienced (to the best of their ability).

Finally, before we leave, Fr. Moses brought out of his tiny church part of the relics of St. rights. John the Russian, to whom the church is dedicated. And then we sang the Paschal troparion and set off on the return journey.

Our task was to move forward step by step and see how the Masonic ceremony could reach from New Kingdom Egypt to the time of Jesus. The task was difficult, because we could rely only on the Old Testament. True, it was somewhat facilitated by the fact that we could interpret this meager information by comparing it with modern Masonic ritual.

Fortunately, the Bible unambiguously states that the founder of the Jewish nation was a man whose reality of existence does not inspire doubt. This man was called Moses, and it was he who led the so-called exodus of enslaved Asians from Egypt. Needless to say, after the overthrow of the Hyksos yoke, Semites of all stripes, including the Khabirs, became not very welcome guests in Egypt. That is why the usually friendly Egyptians in 1560-1550. BC. suddenly enslaved, if not all, then many of those Semites who remained in their country. Inscriptions from the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries BC discovered by archaeologists. describe in detail the slave labor of these Khabirs. One inscription tells that huge crowds of people were forced to work in the turquoise mines. This work was not only difficult, but also dangerous, since there was no ventilation in the mines, and the flames of the torches burned out oxygen. We learned with interest that these mines were located not far from Mount Sinai, located in the south of the Sinai Peninsula, on which Yahweh allegedly talked with Moses. It occurred to us that it was no accident that the Khabirs made their escape from here, and not from Egypt itself.

We have found documents that say that although these proto-Jews spoke Canaanite, they worshiped Egyptian gods and erected monuments to Osiris, Ptah and Hathor. This does not fit well with the popular notion of noble Yahweh-worshipping slaves striving for Jerusalem in the wake of “the god of their fathers” (Peake’s commentary on the Bible).

The legend of Moses has been told a thousand times to every little Jew and Christian; naturally, adults consider it a historical fact, although the majority rejects such fabulous elements as the “spread out” Red (that is, Red) Sea. When this epochal event occurred is difficult to determine, but it was previously widely believed that Moses led "his people" out of Egypt during the reign of Ramesses II, which lasted from 1290 to 1224 BC. However, there is now much strong evidence that this happened much earlier - shortly after the expulsion of the Hyksos. But before embarking on the laborious determination of the exact date, it was necessary to reflect on what the Bible says about a man named Moses, about the Israelites and their new god.

We have found that the name Moses (Moses) is eloquent enough on its own. Oddly enough, the Roman Catholic Bible of Douai informs readers that in Egyptian the name means "saved from the water" when in fact it simply means "begotten." This name was usually preceded by another name, such as Thotmose ("born of Thoth"), Ramesses ("born of Ra") or Amenmos ("born of Amun"). Despite the fact that the endings in the translation sound a little different, they all mean the same thing. It is very likely that the first part of his name, which meant one of the Egyptian gods, was deliberately discarded either by Moses himself, or by one of the later scribes. So does one who truncates the Scottish surname Macdonald (“son of Donald”) to a simple Mac.

Perhaps the Roman Catholic Church is wrong, but if there is any historical truth in their statement, then the full name of Moses literally meant "Born of the Nile." In this case, in Egyptian it was pronounced as Hapimos and, using hieroglyphs, was depicted something like this:

(Figure on page 153 of the original).

The unusualness of the name Moses is that it is one of the very few ancient Egyptian names that are widely used today. In Hebrew it sounds like Moshe, and in Arabic it sounds like Musa. The Egyptians to this day call Mount Sinai “Jubal Musa” - the mountain of Moses.

Now it is already impossible to say what exactly in the Old Testament legend about Moses is true and what is romantic fiction. According to the book of Exodus, Pharaoh ordered all newborn Israelite boys to be thrown into the Nile. However, it is impossible to believe in the historical veracity of such a statement, since such a barbaric order was absolutely not compatible with the concept of Ma'at, dear to the heart of every Egyptian. Any pharaoh who gave it away would have burdened his soul and automatically forfeited immortality. Moreover, he could not do it from a practical point of view, since if thousands of swollen corpses floated down the Nile, this would poison the only source of water in the country.

According to the Old Testament, Moses' mother decided not to let her son die and left him on the banks of the Nile overgrown with reeds in a basket smeared with pitch, where he was found by the Pharaoh's daughter. It has long been noted that this episode has much in common with the birth of Sargon I, who reigned in Babylon and Sumer many hundreds of years before Moses. A cursory comparison is enough to confirm this similarity:

Sargon Moses

My traitorous mother A Levi's wife conceived and

conceived me; in secret she gave birth to a son, and ... hid him for three

gave birth to me. month. But you couldn't hide it any longer

his,

She put me in and took a cane basket and

a reed basket, pitched it with asphalt and pitch;

sealed it with asphalt, and putting a baby in it,

cover. She left me in the reeds by the shore

into a river that is not a river.(Exodus 2:1-3).

swallowed me up.

We have come to the conclusion that this story is made up in the sixth century BC. in order to give the origin of the Jewish nation the features of a myth widespread in the ancient world about the appearance of a living being from water. In addition, this legend was an excellent way to explain how an Egyptian military leader and member of the royal family could become the adoptive father of the Jewish people. This will be discussed below.

We have no doubt that some parts of this story are inventions of a later time. One such point is that Moses' mother is called "a wife of the tribe of Levi." This was an attempt to link historical facts with the ideas of later authors. The Levites became a tribe of priests and scribes. Using the logic of modern times, it was reasonable to assume that Moses himself was a priest and, therefore, a Levite. The book of Exodus contains unequivocal evidence that it was compiled from three oral versions of the well-known legend of the flight from Egypt. So, it is not clear who played the main role in this play - Moses or Aaron; two names of the mountain on which Moses communicated with Yahweh are given (Sinai and Horeb), etc.

We had to remind ourselves at every turn that the authors of the books of the Old Testament wrote down the legends of their tribe long after their origin, that the oldest of these legends were literally thousands of years old, and that even the relatively recent tales of David and Solomon arose in a few years. centuries up to this point. The general outlines of events were clear, but the details were completely confused. Each author filled this gap in his own way, depending on his own worldview and opinion about how this or that event could happen. Historians have been able to isolate fragments written by different authors, and very prosaically labeled them with the letters J, E, D, and P. Today we have a much more extensive body of evidence than before, and can quickly identify the places with the maximum amount of fiction. For example, the authors mention the existence of pack camels and money in the era of Isaac and Joseph, while they appeared in Egypt much later. Another gross mistake is to point out that Abraham avoided southern Israel because that land belonged to the Philistines; it is now known that the Philistines arrived there much later than the time of the flight of the Israelites from Egypt.

If the book of Exodus indicated which pharaoh's daughter found the baby Moses, everything would be much simpler, but it can be seen with the naked eye that the authors themselves had no idea about this.

We have concluded that there are three main explanations for how Moses came to be a member of the royal family:

a) He was an Asiatic or Khabir by birth and was adopted in infancy or early childhood, as the Old Testament indicates. It is known that the Egyptians often adopted children from neighboring countries so that when they grow up, they would influence their peoples, urging them not to attack the Egyptians. However, it seemed incredible that this could happen at a time close to the time of the expulsion of the Hyksos and the conversion of the Khabirs into slavery;

b) he was a noble Egyptian who committed murder, was forced to flee and joined the Khabirs, since they were also outlawed;

c) he was a young Semitic commander in the army of the last Hyksos king, and after the restoration of the united kingdom with its capital in Thebes, he left with the remnants of the Asian hordes into the desert. He later returned and led the Khabir slaves to freedom. Such an explanation would force this story to be attributed to a much earlier period than hitherto thought, but on the whole it is also quite plausible: it is known that Moses was indeed a military leader of some unnamed pharaoh.

The third option had its own attraction, but, firstly, we did not have convincing evidence to attribute this important historical event to earlier times; secondly, in order to gain access to the secrets of the Egyptians, Moses was required to be related to a real pharaoh, and not to a Hyksos usurper. Therefore, we came to the conclusion that the truth lies somewhere between the first and second options. In both cases, the biblical version was generally accepted as correct. However, for our purposes it was not so important how Moses ended up at the head of the proto-Israelites, and we decided not to delve into this story; it was enough that a high-ranking Egyptian courtier led certain tribes, which later became the core of the Jewish nation.

Verse 7:22 says:

“Moses learned all the wisdom of the Egyptians” .

The Israelites who subsequently described the life of Moses had no reason to invent his closeness to the enemies of their ancestors; they were sincerely convinced that their prophet had access to great secrets - more precisely, to everyone secrets. By the time Moses became a member of the Pharaoh's family, the New Kingdom had begun and the "original" mysteries of Osiris had been replaced by "substitute mysteries." As one of the senior courtiers, Moses must have known the resurrection ritual described in the legend of the sacrificial death of Sekenen-ra Tao and replacing the lost “true” ritual. To the young Moses, the coronation ceremony must have seemed like the greatest secret, the possession of which gave the pharaoh the right to occupy the throne. This ritual must have made a strong impression on Moses, because the prophet not only memorized it in every detail, but also transferred it to Israel.

Precisely because this rite was a secret, to which only the leadership of the Jews had access, the story of the “king who perished” was passed on unchanged from generation to generation of the house of David, while the myth of the exodus, known to everyone, was modified to this to the extent that no one could distinguish truth from fiction. Be that as it may, the biblical story of the Exodus makes it clear that the group led by Moses was heavily "Egyptized" and that the worship of the Egyptian gods was normal in them. Moses, who received the ten commandments on stone tablets, was desperately needed to somehow mark the foundation of a new state. Each ruler received his “royal charter” from the hands of the gods as proof that he was capable of being a leader and maintaining law and order in society.

The inscriptions on these tablets could only have been made using hieroglyphs, otherwise Moses simply would not have understood them. We, accustomed to dealing with the written word every day, find it difficult to imagine the trepidation with which the ability to write was treated in the second millennium BC. The idea that messages could be transmitted with the help of some marks on a stone amazed ordinary people, and scribes who knew how to conduct a “stone conversation” were considered the owners of the greatest magical secrets. In this light, it becomes clear why the Egyptians called the hieroglyphs the "Words of God." This expression occurs several times in the Bible.

God of War from Mount Sinai

An impartial and careful study of the contents of the book of Exodus horrified us. The point of view on these events, instilled in us by Christian upbringing, quickly changed. Instead of depicting a noble great people fighting for their freedom and striving for the "promised land", we were presented with a picture of primitive demonology, betrayal, massacres, violence, vandalism and the most unbridled robbery. A more disgusting way to found a new nation could not be imagined.

The myth of Moses begins with a murder. He sees an Egyptian beating a Khabir, makes sure no one is following him, and kills the Egyptian. It was the first of tens of thousands of murders that the former warrior was to commit. Unfortunately, another Khabir witnessed the crime and reported the incident to the Egyptians, and Moses began to be searched for. He was forced to flee east to Sinai, where he joined the tribe of the Midianites (otherwise the Kenites, Kenites, or Kenezites) and married the daughter of the king there, Zipporah.

It was then that Moses met the god of the local tribe, the god of storms and war, the symbol of which was a cruciform sign on the forehead of his worshipers (later called the “marks of Yahweh”). This god, who lived in the mountains, served as a prototype of the god of the Israelites, who allegedly talked with Moses on Mount Horeb.

If the gods appear from scratch, then this is extremely rare; more often they undergo a long metamorphosis, during which they take on the qualities of other deities. Ironically, Moses' first recorded encounter with the God of the Jews and Christians was tepid, if not threatening. When Moses asked the interlocutor to introduce himself and give his name, he was very respectful, but it did not help. Egyptian upbringing taught Moses to think that the gods did not always rule over people; if a person learned the name of a god, he gained power over him. The Egyptian gods had many names - from ordinary, known to everyone, to the most secret ones - but both mortals and other gods did not know their real name. If Moses had received a direct answer to his question, he could have turned God into his slave.

Until relatively recently, the concepts of "theology" and "magic" were extremely close. We realized this when we tried to find a connection between the two sides of primitive mysticism. The idea of ​​an Israelite god living in an ark is no different from the idea of ​​a genie sitting in a bottle and fulfilling the wishes of its owner. Both could, at the request of the owner, fly through the air, “separate” the seas, throw lightning and completely ignore the laws of nature. Now we seem to have learned to mentally separate the tales of the Thousand and One Nights from biblical myths, but, no doubt, they have the same origin. It will be difficult for many to agree with this, but if you call a spade a spade, the prototype of the personality of the creator, who is called the word “God” in the West, was a modest, obscure genie who lived in the mountains on the border of northeast Africa and southwest Asia.

Fearing to lose his independence, the Midian god refused to tell Moses his name, arrogantly ordered the interlocutor to take off his shoes and not come close, because he was on holy ground. The Book of Exodus reports that when asked about His name, God answered Moses as follows:

"Eheh Asher Eheh."

This is usually translated as “I am who I am”, but we strongly suspect that the expression was actually much stronger and meant something along the lines of “none of your damn business”. The names Yahweh and Jehovah are the currently accepted pronunciation of the Hebrew word, which is written as YHVH (recall that there are no vowels in Hebrew). So this word did not mean the name of God, but his title, meaning "Existing".

According to the biblical version, Moses eventually returned to Egypt to deliver from slavery a crowd of Asians who had gathered from the pine forest, whom the Egyptians called Khabirs. At the same time, he allegedly used the spell of his new genie-spirit-god of the storm, which brought suffering and death to the unfortunate Egyptians. It is reported that 600,000 Israelites wandered in the wilderness for forty-five years, but any reasonable person can see that this is a gross exaggeration. There is not a word about this in the Egyptian chronicles; if this event had such a scale, as indicated in the Bible, it would certainly have been reflected in the documents. If there were so many Israelis, they would have made up a quarter of the population of Egypt at that time. The displacement of this amount of labor would have a strong impact on food production and would have great social consequences.

However, Moses took everyone, no matter how many there were, and returned with them to Sinai, to the Midianites. His father-in-law, Jethro, congratulated the Israelites and gave Moses wise advice to go again to the sacred mountain to meet the god who still lived there. The god of the storm, who lived inside the thundercloud, threatened to thunder or stone any Israelite or his cattle who dared to step on the mountain or even touch it. Then the new god informed his followers that they were obliged to worship him, otherwise it would be bad not only for them, but also for their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and so on. In addition, he demanded that the Israelites bring him gifts of gold, silver and copper, beautiful clothes, badger skins, shittim wood (acacia) and build an ark covered inside and out with pure gold so that God could live in it. This ark had a classical Egyptian form; on its lid were depicted two cherubs, which were nothing more than winged sphinxes, that is, lions with a human face (see Fig. 6).

Obviously, the new god did not make too strong an impression on the Israelites, for as soon as Moses climbed the mountain to talk with Yahweh, they built themselves a golden calf and began to worship him. It is very likely that this calf was an image of the Egyptian god Apis. The new god went berserk and told Moses to order the priests to kill as many "sinners" as possible. It is reported that 3,000 Israelites were killed by the sword of the sons of Levi that day.

And the walls were crumbling

When the Israelites moved to their "promised land", they faced only one obstacle - the local population. But Yahweh promised to grant them victory over the Canaanite peasants.

Chapters 2 and 3 of Deuteronomy (in the Douay version) describe how God's chosen people entered the land of Canaan:

“And Sihon with all his people went out against us to fight against Jahaz.

And the Lord our God gave him into our hands, and we struck him and his sons and all his people,

And at that time they took all his cities and killed men and women and children, left no one alive.

We only took their livestock and what was captured in the cities we took as booty.

From Aroir, which is on the banks of the stream of Arnon, and from the city that is in the valley, to Gilead, there was not a city that was inaccessible to us; the Lord our God has given everything into our hands...(2:32-36).

And we turned from there, and went to Bashan; and Og, the king of Bashan, went out against us to war with all his people, at Edrei.

And the Lord said to me: Do not be afraid of him; for I will give him into your hand, and all his people, and all his land, and you shall do to him as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon.

And the Lord our God delivered into our hands both Og the king of Bashan and all his people; and we smitten him so that he has no one left alive,

And we took at that time all his cities; there was not a city that we would not take from them: sixty cities, the whole region of Argi, the kingdom of Og of Bashan.

All these cities were fortified with high walls, gates and locks, except for the unfortified cities, very many.

And we completely destroyed them as they did to Sihon, king of Heshbon, destroying every city with men, women and children.

But they took all the cattle and captured in the cities as booty.(3:1-7).

These passages describe not so much battle as the slaughter of men, women, and children, put to the sword like sheep, cows, and donkeys.

The Old Testament contains many such passages. Yahweh continually reminds his people how powerful he is and how ready to punish anyone who will not worship him and will not obey His Word. Deuteronomy 8:19-20 contains the following threat:

“But if you forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and serve and worship them, I testify to you today that you will perish.

As the nations that the Lord destroys before you, so will you also perish because you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God.”

Whoever Moses really was, he committed murder in Egypt and spent the rest of his life killing crowds of people, both strangers and those who believed in him. We considered that a person of such views and beliefs bears little resemblance to a modern Christian or Jew. This confirmed our point of view that the idea of ​​God is not static, that it reflects the interests of society, and that as the features of a given God are intertwined with those of other deities, He slowly turns into an idealized person who meets the moral requirements of his time. It seems that it was not God who created man in His image and likeness, but, on the contrary, man constantly remakes God according to his likeness.

Exodus Time

Some scholars still believe that the grand victories described in the Old Testament are in fact a gross exaggeration and that the Israelites' entry into Canaan was not a bloody takeover but a slow incorporation into society. However, recent archaeological excavations have revealed a large number of ruined cities and towns dating back to the second half of the Bronze Age, that is, just in time for the Exodus. This dating suggests that the Exodus took place in the century between the expulsion of the Hyksos and the middle of the fifteenth century BC, and greatly increases the likelihood that Moses was adopted by the pharaoh's family shortly after the Thebans regained control of the country.

We believe that it was Moses' upbringing in Egypt that enabled him to create a new religion and establish a new nation under conditions of extreme hardship. Only ruthless measures could ensure his success. There is ample evidence of a strong Egyptian influence on the events described in the book of Exodus, from the appearance of the Ark of the Covenant to the hieroglyphic tablets handed to Moses by Yahweh. Therefore, it is logical to assume that the secret ceremony of the resurrection of Sekenen-ra was also borrowed from the Egyptians. Moses treated his people like sheep; these people must indeed have been very simple-hearted compared to their leader, who, as we know, was versed in all the mysteries of the Egyptians.

David and Solomon

The Israelite tribes were independent for several centuries - the so-called era of the Judges. These judges had nothing to do with the judiciary. They were local heroes or, more precisely, “saviors”.

The widely held notion that all the twelve tribes of Israel took part in the Exodus seems to be erroneous; in fact, only two or three of them took this path. During the time of the Judges, the tribes of Simeon and Levi practically disappeared, and all Israelites began to be represented by the all-powerful tribe of Judah.

Nomadic Khabirs slowly but surely became ancient Jews, or Israelites. Wandering shepherds turned into farmers and artisans. The more culturally advanced Canaanites, who had not died during the invasion, mingled with the newcomers and taught them the art of agriculture that had been developed here for thousands of years.

The oldest fragment in the Old Testament is Deborah's thanksgiving song, which is considered an exemplary work of Jewish eloquence and forms the content of the fifth chapter of the book of Judges. From it we can conclude that some tribes united in the face of a common enemy - for example, the Philistines. Tribes that did not want to give warriors for battle were condemned. The role of judges was different from that of kings. The former had limited power over one or more tribes and tried to exert all possible political and economic influence on voluntary tribal associations. In other words, kings were God's anointed, but judges were not.

However, the judge judge strife. One of the early heroes of the period following the invasion was the warrior Jerobaal, who later changed his name to Gideon. (His original name is no doubt of Canaanite origin, in honor of the god Baal, showing that in the time of the Judges the worship of Yahweh was nowhere near as strong as later Old Testament writers would have us believe.) Kingship was offered to Gideon, but he rejected it, saying that Yahweh was king over them all; nevertheless, it is clear that he occupied a special position in society, since he was considered the heir of Moses.

Although Gideon renounced the title of king, his authority was based on direct lineage from Moses and surpassed that of the other judges. He founded a religious center in Ophrah and made an object of worship called an "ephod" and was a kind of ark. This suggests that Gideon got himself another god. A strong and influential man, Gideon had an extensive harem (perhaps from captive Midianite virgins) and left behind seventy sons, chief among whom was Abimelech. So significant is the figure of Abimelech that many biblical scholars regard him as evidence of a rising public desire for a monarchy. Some of them express the opinion that in fact Gideon accepted kingship. True or not, it is not known, but Abimelech really inherited the title of judge from his father and became king. During the excavations of his temple (“temple”) dedicated to Baalverif; it was discovered that this temple was a so-called “migdal”, that is, a fortified tower with walls five meters thick. On either side of the entrance, the bases of two sacred columns were found. (Peake's commentary on the Bible).

This is a fact of extreme importance. This generation grew up after the death of Moses. Before the construction of the temple of Solomon, there were still several centuries, but on both sides of the entrance to the temple of the first Jewish king there were already two sacred columns. Knowledge of the meaning of the pillars and the ceremony associated with them could only come from Moses and was given to Abimelech through Gideon. Since this “royal family” did not know any other ritual of anointing to the kingdom, except for the one brought by Moses from Egypt, it is quite reasonable to assume that Abimelech used the resurrection ceremony for this, based on the legend of Sekenen-ra. The columns themselves personified the strength of the new state and the inviolability of its connection with God.

Unfortunately for Abimelech, the strength of his kingdom proved insufficient. His precocious monarchy collapsed shortly after its creation when Abimelech died during the siege of the city of Tevez. After this, the era of the Judges continued, but in the family of Gideon, knowledge of the secret ritual of anointing to the kingdom was still preserved.

During this period, Jerusalem continued to belong to its ancient founders, the Jebusites. The religious and political center of the Israelites was the city of Shiloh, twelve miles north of Jerusalem. Excavations have shown that Shiloh was destroyed around 1050 BC. during the war between the Israelites and the Philistines. This event was witnessed by Samuel, the last judge, prophet and high priest, who first anointed Saul and then David as king.

The war with the Philistines is told in the legend of Judge Samson, who was a Nazirite (holy man) and possessed incredible power. He destroyed three thousand Philistines, breaking the right and left columns of the building, which, as we know, personified the strength of the kingdom of enemies.

It was Samuel who secretly anointed Saul from the tribe of Benjamin as king. There is no hint in the Bible how Samuel knew how to do it; Naturally, there is no description of the ceremony itself. This means that the connection between Samuel and Saul was the connection between the power of the king and the high priest - two pillars (more precisely, columns) on which the state and society are based. However, this connection was quickly broken when Saul personally offered sacrifices to the Lord at Gilgal without Samuel's permission. And when Saul refused to comply with the high priest's instructions and disband the harem of captive Amalekites, Samuel began to regret his choice.

Soon a new candidate emerged, this time from the main Israelite tribe of Judah, and not from the smaller tribe of Benjamin. The name of the candidate was David, and he was from the town of Bethlehem.

Judging by everything, David was a very gifted person, possessing the talents of a courtier, warrior and statesman. The story of how he slew Goliath is widely known, but in fact it was not David at all who killed the Giant Giant, but another native of Bethlehem named Elhanan, the son of Yagare-Orgim (2 Kings 21:19).

This feat was attributed to David later in order to portray in a more favorable light a simple shepherd youth, allegedly unaccustomed to war; in fact, this man was a great warrior and politician all his life.

Saul saw David as a threat and pursued him, but eventually died, and Samuel anointed his second king. Few people think about the fact that during the flight from Saul, David served in the army of the Philistines and fought against his kindred: this does not characterize the founder of the greatest family in the history of Israel too well.

David became king of Israel around 1000 BC. and for some time he really united the scattered tribes into one people, demonstrating a stunning resemblance to the kings of Egypt. Israel also consisted of two lands, northern and southern, headed by one ruler. For the first seven years, David's capital was the city of Hebron in the southern land of Judah, or Judea, but then the king accomplished his most important act, taking Jerusalem and making it the new capital, located between the two parts of the united kingdom. Here he built a palace for himself and set up a tent, in which the Ark of the Covenant and the altar were kept, in the place where the temple of Yahweh conceived by him was to grow.

David created a well-trained army, mostly composed of foreign mercenaries. With her help, he defeated the Philistines, who still held some Israelite cities, and eventually established his rule over the lands stretching from the Euphrates to the Gulf of Aqaba (located between the Sinai and Arabian peninsulas). When David signed an agreement with Hiram, king of Tyre, the long-awaited peace reigned in the country, but soon the immoral behavior of David and his family led to collapse.

Further events developed as in a Hollywood series. David became involved with Bathsheba and killed her husband Uriah. The son of David, Tsarevich Amnon, raped his half-sister Tamar, for which he was killed by her brother Absalom. Then Absalom rebelled against his father. After what looked like a civil war, David regained his throne, and Absalom died, his long hair tangled in the boughs of a large oak tree.

All these misfortunes distracted David from the construction of the temple, which was to become the home of Yahweh. Soon David fell ill, and his son Adonijah became king. However, even before the feast on the occasion of the coronation ended, David, with the help of the high priest Zadok, anointed his son Solomon from Bathsheba to the kingdom. The ceremony was true, and soon the newly-made king dealt with his half-brother and his supporters in case they did not dare to challenge him again.

Solomon was a great king; under him, Israel achieved such a flourishing, which it did not know either before or after. The king married the pharaoh's daughter and took as dowry the strategically important city of Gezer on the border with Egypt; he began extensive construction; but his most important act was the construction of the house of Yahweh, the sacred temple, for which Solomon is still remembered with a kind word. As described above, the temple was relatively small; however, it was richly decorated and beautifully situated. He stood on top of a hill, his portal looking east towards the rising sun. Since the temple was located approximately on the border of two lands - one in the north, the other in the south - the columns of this portal were supposed to provide balance and harmony to the united kingdom. This idea was a mirror image of the Egyptian concept of achieving stability through unity.

The left column, Boaz, stood in the south, representing Judah, and meant “strength”, the column of Jachin stood in the north, depicted Israel and meant “foundation”, and united by a bridge in the form of Yahweh, both of them provided the state with “strength”. As in ancient Egypt, political stability in the country had to continue as long as the two lands, which were the personification of the columns, are one. This concept, borrowed entirely from the Egyptians, proved that the Israelite monarchy and religion had not yet lost their ancient roots.

However, the construction of the temple cost a lot of money, because both skilled builders and most of the building materials were supplied by Hiram, the king of Tyre. For a fledgling kingdom, this was a big expense. Solomon began to look for money. He imposed tribute from the city to pay off the debts that grew by leaps and bounds. The population had to tighten their belts and work day and night. Brigades totaling up to ten thousand people were sent to Lebanon for seasonal work to King Hiram. The kingdom was divided into twelve regions, and each region was responsible for collecting taxes in a specific month of the year. Taxes increased incredibly, and even the most ardent admirers of Solomon began to slowly condemn the king for his desire for luxury.

No matter how hard the later writers of the Bible tried to embellish the picture, it must be admitted that at that time the attitude towards Yahweh was rather cool; For most of Israelite history, other gods were valued here just as much, if not more so. For many, Yahweh remained just an Israelite god of war, useful in battle, but not the most important place in the local pantheon. The names given to the nobles of Israel for many centuries show a greater respect for Baal. Even the most devout Jew would not argue that the Jews of that period believed in only one god.

So it was with Solomon. Towards the end of his reign, he began to honor other gods, which caused displeasure in some circles, in particular the priests of the Jerusalem temple. Later, they came up with an explanation that Yahweh did not turn his anger on Solomon only out of respect for his father David. In short, from the time of Moses to the time of Solomon, Yahweh was not at all enthusiastic about his “chosen people.” When King Solomon, famous for his wisdom, died, the country not only went bankrupt - it was left without God.

Solomon's son Rehoboam was accustomed from childhood to believe in the power of royal power. Although he was advised to find common ground with the angry northerners who did not want to recognize him as king, Rehoboam continued to demand unquestioning obedience from them. The unity of the two kingdoms quickly waned; the northern kingdom of Israel did not want to have anything to do with Judah, considering her the culprit of all troubles.

Let us summarize what we know about the Israelites of this period. The aspiration of the new nation to become a great civilization was based on mosaic religious beliefs, hard work and borrowed money. Like any adventure, this aspiration failed, but left a deep imprint on the minds and hearts of the following generations, who tried to create a single religion and restore the opinion of the Israelites as God's chosen people of great destiny. This dream remained unfulfilled, but allowed the ancient Jews to achieve true greatness.

Meanwhile, members of the royal family and high courtiers learned the secret ceremonies of initiation through the resurrection and the requirements of high morality, based on the principles of temple construction. These mysteries were no longer an abstract concept borrowed from the Egyptians and brought to the Israelite kings by Moses; they were as real as the temple in Jerusalem, which contained the ark with their God.

During this stage of our research, we did not find any mention of the murdered architect of the temple of King Solomon. At the same time, a number of convincing evidence was found in favor of our hypothesis regarding the two columns and the related ceremony of the resurrection of Sekenen-ra Tao, brought to Israel by Moses and which became the secret of the royal house of Israel.

Our next task was to establish the time when the main character changed his name from Sekenen-ra Tao to Hiram Abif. In order to understand how these carefully guarded secrets could survive and eventually come to the surface through the deeds of the man called Jesus Christ, and how the New Testament should be interpreted in the light of our discoveries, it was necessary to study the next period of the history of the Jewish people more carefully.

Conclusion

When it was discovered that the story of the birth of Moses can be traced back to Sumerian legend, we knew we needed to find out how a high-ranking military leader and member of the Egyptian royal family could become the father of the Jewish people. We were quite sure that Moses had access to the "replaced mysteries" of Sekenen-ra Tao and was familiar with the concept of two pillars; he used these secrets to create a new anointing ritual for his followers. This allowed the Jews, who had neither their own state nor their own culture, to acquire a national identity and a secret ritual that was preserved in the family of David.

It was Moses who began to worship the violent Kenyan god of storms, Yahweh, whose worshipers were distinguished by the letter “tau” on their foreheads, known as the “mark of Yahweh”. Having made contact with his new God, Moses returned to Egypt (where he was wanted for murder) to deliver the Khabirs from slavery. The campaign of the Jews in the land of Canaan is depicted in the Bible as an endless beating of local residents.

After the establishment of the cult of Yahweh, the Israelites were led by judges, the first of whom was Joshua, who became famous for the battle of Jericho. He was followed by a number of other judges, but both the Bible and archaeological excavations indicate that the image of the two columns is associated with both Abimelech, the son of Gideon (Peake's commentary on the Bible), and with the Nazirite Samson. In our opinion, this indicates that the leaders of the Israelites continued to use the Egyptian mysteries of Moses.

The prophet Samuel anointed Saul as king, and David eventually became his heir. David, who was crowned around 1000 BC, ruled very successfully. He united Judea and Israel into a single state with Jerusalem as its capital, located just between them. His son Solomon built the first temple in Jerusalem with two columns, reflecting the unity of the two kingdoms and creating a portal that looked east. The northern column represented Israel and the southern column represented Judah. Double columns stood either on both sides of the porch, or at the entrance to the temple, testifying that the Israeli monarchy had Egyptian roots and used Egyptian rituals. Solomon died, leaving the country bankrupt, but passed on to his descendants the knowledge of the secret ceremony of initiation through a lifetime resurrection and a call to high morality based on the principles of building a temple; this knowledge subsequently spread among persons close to the royal family.

“having betrayed to the curse” - E.K.

In the "Bible Encyclopedia" (M., 1891), sacred clothing made of gold is called an ephod - E.K.

one of the Canaanite tribes. Whether this tribe got its name from the original name of Jerusalem - Jebus - or whether the city was named after the tribe is not known. - E.K.

King Saul's squire - E.K.

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. 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? 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 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 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?! No! 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 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, 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 regeneration, 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 to fulfill 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! But 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 could see the strong hand of the Lord in our lives more 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?! No! 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 the 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 manage, his fantasy pictured to him a desert inhabited by terrible fabulous animals, and it seemed to him that in the rustling of the 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 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. 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 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 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 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 regeneration, 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 side. 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 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. 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 "Merah," 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 lives.

How we would like us to know not only New Testament places with wonderful teachings for us, such as: Bethlehem, Nazareth, Bethany, Gethsemane, Golgotha, 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 fed on 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 implementing 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 trait no longer exists and access to the Holy God is open to every sinner, to every Zacchaeus and 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 communion with our Lord, Christ will remind us of His blessed commandments, He will write them again and 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 be 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 about love, and about 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.

Ah, 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 CALF.

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 who knows and announces 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 devote our attention to this amazing event of the Old Testament.

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 appearance 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 ministers. 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 varied 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! I want to say today 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!

"Technique-youth" 2006 No. 8, pp. 44-47

THE MOUNTAIN THAT DID NOT GO TO MOSES

Vadim CHERNOBROV

“Did you see anything unusual in the sky here?” - Astronaut Grechko asked the Bedouins. The translator explained the essence of the question for a long time, at the same time introducing the questioner. Catching the meaning of the words, "a man who flew from outer space," the tribe began to fuss. Children who had been hiding ran out, some gap-toothed nomad began to delight our ears by playing a two-stringed instrument made from an empty canister. They brought tea. The prolonged pause ended when the most ancient old woman was respectfully led out by the hands. The music stopped. The elder said: - Even before our grandfathers were children, their grandfathers said that there, in the desert, a star fell from the sky from above. It's something that punched a hole. It is still inside the mountain! - And where is it? The old woman was not surprised at the cosmonaut's persistence: he needs it, this news concerns only him, and, probably, it was intended only for him! She mumbles something and the Bedouins who support it explain in terms they know. They don’t understand maps, they point with a finger and explain how much you need to travel not in kilometers, but in time. We're just there... The Egyptian escorts cringe. They either know or guess that it is better not to meddle in these places unless absolutely necessary...

PLACES OF EMERGENCY
In ancient Egyptian myths, the fields of paradise Iaru (Nalu) are mentioned. They are allegedly located in the afterlife, in the eastern sky, in the place from which the sun god Ra rises. Some interpreters believe that we are talking about the "land" of heaven, others - about a point on our planet, located relatively close to Egypt, since the pharaohs went there at the end of their life journey and reached Iara in a short period of time. The exact location, of course, is highly controversial: "somewhere east of the Egyptian residence of the pharaohs", i.e. around the Sinai.

Why did the pharaohs go to Sinai at the end of their lives? Well, of course, to obtain "eternal life", the greatest value in their civilization. Who could give the pharaohs eternity? They almost stopped believing in Egyptian gods.

But the ancient Egyptians were surrounded not only by half-forgotten gods, but also by something else, quite relevant even now. In 800 B.C. near the Egyptian Barsakhid, a “something” appeared in the sky, from which “someone” emerged. The French Egyptologist Jal-Luc Boma deciphered the hieroglyphs on clay tablets that were found in late 1999 in Barsahida, near Cairo. Monsieur Boma studied 73 tablets and found the following inscription on one of them: “They came out of a flying bird that circled over the city for a long time. Two air travelers performed a magical ritual in the Holy Land, entered the fiery bird-ball and quickly retired into the sky ... ". This observation dates back to the reign of Pharaoh Nihihor. J.-L. Boma opposes quick speculations about the visit of UFOs to Ancient Egypt, but at the same time he notes that the Egyptian scribes of that time were deprived of their vivid imagination: they saw - wrote down, did not see - did not write down.

Similar records (sometimes - "classic" descriptions of UFOs, sometimes - "just" strange visions in the sky) are full of Egyptian chronicles. More often than heavenly signs in the annals, only the pharaohs themselves are mentioned, and, of course, God.

However, some researchers (unlike Bohm) have not made a big difference between these concepts for a long time. And not only when studying ancient Egyptian chronicles...

BIBLICAL COSMODROMES, messengers of the sky in their sparkling divine chariots rose in a roar and flame, leaving the astonished aborigines below, who were in a hurry to capture what they saw in the annals and legends ... More often, the celestials themselves chose the next interlocutor among the aborigines, the time and place of the meeting. Sometimes our distant ancestors themselves came to communicate with God in special places (modern ufologists would say - to "landing sites").

For example, the biblical Moses visited Mount Sinai, where, as you know, in the process of communication he received the famous tablets of the Covenant. The celestial left the place of communication with Moses in a roar and flame, so the prophet had to hide in the nearest cave - about the same as during the takeoff of powerful launch vehicles, all the mourners hide in underground bunkers ...

Almost all ancient peoples have references to strange visitors. One gets the impression that God (or the one who is called god) in former times much less often left the descendants of Adam and Eve without the attention of his messengers and messengers, who scurried between Earth and Heaven on frequent charter flights.

Most likely, such grandiose spectacular events took place (maybe) once in a century, but other “uninteresting events” have long been forgotten, and history in a concentrated form looks like an almost continuous series of “divine” events, messages, signals and commands. If we write down the history of the 20th century according to the same principle, then it will look something like this:

1908 - "a great sign, the fall of the Tunguska body in Russia."

1913 - "a great sign in the Portuguese Fatima".

1947 - "a great sign in American Roswell".

1986 - "a great sign in Russian Dalnegorsk" ...

Everything else can be deleted because of the routine... Does this version of the story seem insufficient and incorrect to you? But one has to judge the past by even more abrupt information.

Nevertheless, paleoufologists trust the ancient canonical records of "celestial messengers" much more than modern reports of "almost the same visits." Today, a person is drowning in the sea of ​​information, not wanting it, choking on information about aliens, contacts, abductions... And sometimes only special methods of questioning make it possible to distinguish an eyewitness account from the fantasy of a X-Files fan... And the ancient scribes recorded - albeit in moderation their understanding - what they saw.

It cannot be said that the alleged "ancient spaceports" were not searched. There are enough applicants on all continents, but unequivocal and unconditional evidence has not been found on any of them. Too much time has passed, too unclear what to look for. Usual giant concrete launch pads, pits, service farms, exclusion zones, skyscrapers of assembly shops? Yes, something is doubtful - other civilizations, other technologies.

The most important doubt is whether we correctly understood the chronicle primary sources? In the case of the centuries-old search for the famous place of contact of Moses with divine messengers, the primary source - the Bible - is well known, and the descriptions of the events are quite detailed, but so far the exact location has not been clear.

SEARCH FOR MOUNT SINAI, according to millions of believers, the legendary place of receiving moral commandments has long been found. For several centuries, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims have been going to the Sinai Peninsula to Mount Moses (Jebel Musa, height 2285 m), which is located near the monastery of St. Catherine in the south of the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula. Multilingual crowds of pilgrims climb this peak in search of divine grace and are sure to find it. Only scientists-historians do not find comfort, who found too many discrepancies between this mountain of Moses and its canonical description.

From the Bible, an approximate description of the route of the movement of people whom the prophet "led for 40 years in the wilderness" is known. A crowded crowd with old people and children, with household belongings and huge herds of cattle could only go along the drying up rivers (wady). But in the area of ​​the current monastery of St. Catherine (and this is the highest mountain point of the peninsula), the passes are difficult for unprepared people - remember the painting “Suvorov Crossing the Alps”, and in this case it was not warriors who were supposed to storm the heights, but old women and nursing women with babies in their arms. Water in the valley for the "fat herds" is clearly not enough. The people of Israel simply could not camp around the mountain - they could only camp from the side of a small gorge, where the monastery was built. The Bible also mentions that Moses climbed the highest peak in the area, but there are several higher peaks on the peninsula (G.Umm Shomar, 2586 m: G.el Thabt, 2438 m). And literally next to Mount Moses, the peak of St. Catherine (G.Katherina, 2637 m) rises almost half a kilometer higher, and it is simply impossible not to notice this difference visually. And finally: the “mountain of Moses”, most likely, is named after the monk Musa, who found the relics of Catherine on the neighboring peak. In a word, it is unlikely that this is the “same” mountain named after the “same” Moses.

There are other points of view on the location of the sacred mountain. American researcher Howard Blum at the end of the 20th century. suggested that the historians "wrong address", and should have gone not to Egypt, but to Saudi Arabia. It was there, north of the city of Tobuk, on the Almond Mountain, that the biblical prophet communicated with the Lord. And it is there that one should look for the remains of the biblical “golden calf”, broken by Moses as a warning to the negligent people of Israel.

Bloom relies on the research of his compatriots. Larry Williams and Robert Carnock, who devoted their lives to searching for the "golden calf", came to the conclusion that the sons of Israel, led by Moses, moved along the eastern shore of the Gulf of Suez until they reached the place where the current Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh (Arabian the coast of the island of Tiran is clearly visible from here). Having crossed the Strait of Tiran, they found themselves on the Arabian Peninsula, after which they moved north and eventually reached the Almond Mountain.

As proof of his hypothesis, Blum cites the texts of the Torah and the Koran, which tell how Moses, after the first flight from Egypt, settled in the land of Midam and even married a local girl. As follows from these sacred books, the future prophet ascended to the Almighty in the same place. It is authentically known that the zone of settlement of the Midamites was the northern part of the Arabian Peninsula. Therefore, it is quite logical to assume that after 40 years of wandering in the desert, Moses led the Israelites to places well known to him.

The next version is that historians "frightened" Sinai with the Vesuvius volcano, as Russian researchers S. Valyansky and D. Kalyuzhny say. The main arguments: in the description of “Sinai”, signs of an active volcano are clearly visible (“Mount Sinai was all smoking ... and its smoke rose like the smoke of a melting furnace, and the whole mountain shook greatly. And the sound of the trumpet becomes stronger and stronger ... ”), and there are no volcanoes in the Middle East; in the names of allegedly "biblical" places, according to the authors, quite European names are visible.

According to the most daring hypothesis, Moses actually climbed the Tibetan peaks in the Himalayas, in those places where he received training in oriental wisdom (this is where the term "highest mountain" is applied). An indirect confirmation is the very name of the mountain - Sinai. The name is very consonant with the name of China - "sina" or "rank".

And yet, if we discard the most fantastic hypotheses, starting from the 19th century. the search for German, British and (already in the 1970s) Israeli researchers was reduced to working out the route of Moses through Sinai. It is simply impossible to pass it on the way from Egypt to the Middle East. It is believed that the fugitives could not use two routes: along the northern coast of the Mediterranean Sea at that time there were many protected settlements, and along the southern coast of the peninsula it was too far to go along the waterless coast. Since Mount Musa was “found” in the south of the peninsula, it was agreed that Moses nevertheless went a long route, but for some reason he slightly shortened the path, “cutting” it through the most mountainous region. Shortened, but complicated.

The last and shortest option remains - to move along the wady through the deserted center of the peninsula. All hills (heights - less than a kilometer) and passes are easily passable, water can be obtained, there are practically no local residents (which is important for fugitives who fear persecution by the Egyptians). The annals mention that in front of the hungry travelers a flock of tired quails descended to the ground, with which the Israelites quenched their hunger. And it is reliably known that the migration routes of migratory quails lie north of Mount Moses-Musa, just on the route of “our” shortest option.

Along the "quail path" and you should look for traces of the transition of Moses. On this path there are a large number of lonely peaks 500 - 800 m high, around which you can camp. Considering that the two-kilometer peaks of southern Sinai are not visible from here, the fugitives could easily take any hill dominating the desert for the “highest mountain”. Especially if light phenomena shocking the imagination began to occur on its top.

And how now to make out in a series of deserted hills "that very" mountain? Read the Bible again take into account the experience and mistakes of those who searched for the Mount of Moses before us; ask those who have wandered past for centuries and may have seen something unusual; and, finally, to search for yourself - first, using images from space, and then already - on the spot. It was in this sequence that the inspirer of the search from the Russian side, Georgy Mikhailovich Grechko, went. After independent research, he turned to the most famous of those who sought the path of Moses - the American Zecharia Sitchin. As Grechko admitted, he "naively thought that the American would be delighted that we unselfishly decided to help him in his research."

FLIGHT OVER MOUNT SINAI . The nationality of Zecharia Sitchin is difficult to describe in one word; born in Russia, grew up in Palestine, studied in England, worked in Israel, lives in the USA. He specializes in the study of ancient languages, the Old Testament, history and archeology, has written several scandalous books, including The Chronicles of Humanity and The Cradle of Civilization, dedicated to the history of the origin of our civilization and translated into many languages ​​of the world, including Russian. As for the Russian translation (Sitchin 3. "Cradles of Civilization" M., Eksmo, 2005), it will still play its own role in our history, far from being the best ...

In the old days, Sitchin actively traveled and did research in the East, where he traveled, probably, to all countries. But the main goal of his life - the mountain of Moses - for a long time remained inaccessible, primarily because of the tense situation in this region. Finally, in 1977, when Israel owned Sinai after the 1967 war, he managed to charter a plane for the first time and fly around the search area from above.

3. Sitchin was looking not only for the path of Moses, but also for the flight route of the atgunaks - aliens who - in his opinion - visited the Earth in the distant past and taught earthlings to reason. According to his calculations, when landing on our planet, the aliens were guided primarily by a clearly visible landmark - the two-headed peaks of Big and Small Ararat (on this mountain, which the Kosmopoisk expedition recently also visited, there is a place whose ancient name can be translated as "the slope of the descent ”), flew over Jerusalem and then landed strictly in a straight line in the deserted region of Sinai. Just at the point where the "Ararat straight landing glide path" intersects with the "view of the Sphinx" (the famous Great Sphinx looks due east along the 30th parallel). Here, in this point, according to Sitchin, the pharaohs sought to obtain immortality. And - let's add from ourselves - the "quail path" passes here.

Sitchin found some support among Israeli officials: “...We began the conversation by discussing my ideas about the route of the Exodus, as well as my conclusion that the Israelis entered the central plain of the peninsula through a passage that is now called the Mitla Pass ... There is only one mountain that meets all the criteria ... In the process of further coordination with the military, it turned out that the location of the mountain caused certain difficulties. Since it was located southeast of the city of El Arish, the approved route involved flying over the Mediterranean Sea and turning inland only in the El Arish area. But it didn't fit with my original plans to check the Anunnaki landing corridor... Eventually I got permission for this route, but I was instructed to turn south of Jerusalem...

In November 1977, we took off from a small civilian airport north of Tel Aviv ... South of Jerusalem, we turned south, gradually descending. The Judean mountains were replaced by a rolling plain. Then, right in front of us, the hills turned into menacing mountains ... Suddenly, as if by magic, the mountains parted, and a wide opening in the rocky ridge opened before us. We flew into this passage - as if a giant hand moved the mountains to the right and left, removing them from our path; the central plain of Sinai appeared ahead. We were flying at about 2,000 feet...

We circled the mountain several times, but I did not find anything interesting on it. Then I asked the pilot to climb higher and fly over the summit several times... I pointed out to him a strangely shaped ledge that looked like an artificial formation. Approaching, we noticed a round hole on one side. My heart began to beat faster: did I really find a cave? .. I saw a bright round spot of white, standing out against the background of the surrounding brown-gray landscape ... Returning to New York, I immediately printed and enlarged the pictures. The white object looked exactly the same as I saw it from the air: absolutely round with a raised center, like the flying saucers in the descriptions of people who claim to have seen them ... ".

Describing in enthusiastic tones the strange "UFO", "cave", amazing "ledge", Sitchin, not yet fully believing in luck, nevertheless at first wrote down these words in quotation marks. Of course, he was eager to go down and himself enter the cave of Moses, where "you can get immortality." Even more intriguing was the huge "white UFO" on top of the supposed Mount Moses. Perhaps this is the same "Annunaki ship"? Then we must hurry, until he flew away from our sinful planet!

Repeated attempts to get on the mountain failed one after another:

in March 1979, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Sinai was prevented;

in November 1984, the new Egyptian authorities did not allow him to visit the central part of the peninsula, because the area "is not included in the list of archaeological sites";

in 1992 he was refused, because at that moment only the military could fly over Sinai ...

Finally, in the spring of 1994, Sitchin semi-legally chartered a helicopter in the village of Nakhl, flew up to the mountain and again saw the “white UFO” at the top. The goal was close, but still out of reach - despite the loud indignation of the American, the cautious Egyptian pilot did not dare to land.

G.M. Buckwheat before leaving for the desert

Only a decade later, Sitchin published pictures and a description. Of course, dozens of researchers were ready to immediately rush in his footsteps. However, the Egyptian authorities did not burn and do not burn with the desire to let either American or Israeli citizens into the border area "for unknown purposes".

COSMONAUT PAYS ATTENTION TO SINAI . After numerous and motley Western theorists and practitioners of historical research, after Indiana Jones and Zecharia Sitchin, who searched for the presence of ancient astronauts in Sinai in books and films, this area was first noticed by a real astronaut. Not ancient, but the most modern.

Pilot-cosmonaut, twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Georgy Mikhailovich Grechko is far from being a novice in historical and paleo-ufological research. In 1955, he graduated from the Leningrad Voenmekh, worked in the Royal Design Bureau-1, in 1960 he participated in an expedition to Podkamennaya Tunguska, where he searched for traces of an alien spacecraft explosion, and was preparing to scuba dive into Lake Cheko. Since 1966 - in the cosmonaut corps, made three flights: on Salyut-4 in 1975, on Salyut-6 in 1977 - 78 and on Salyut-7 in 1985. Since 1994, he has been participating in the work of the Kosmopoisk center...

The 75-year-old researcher of the Tunguska phenomenon couldn't get past Sitchin's photographs. Although he is against discussing the topic of UFOs, but after the appearance of outwardly convincing photographs of the “white disk” in the Sinai, he reasoned sensibly: “here is a real case to test the theory in practice!” Taking on this complicated story, he emphasized in every possible way that the task is not just to find a UFO in the Sinai, the main thing is to prove that this fact is really genuine ... or not genuine. From a scientific point of view, both options are good.

How to get to Sitchinovskaya mountain? Best of all - like Sitchin himself, by helicopter. Only, unlike the American, sit next to the mountain. A huge white UFO and a large cave near the summit are visible from afar, it's hard not to notice them. And impossible not to find! You can even use them as a landing guide and sit in the shadow of a huge ship on its landing pad. Before the helicopter blades stop, we will already know the truth! What is easier?

The official request from the Russian cosmonaut baffled the Egyptian authorities. According to the laws of Eastern hospitality, they could not refuse him, but very evasive answers immediately began regarding the helicopter (looking ahead: despite six months of negotiations, they were not allowed to fly over this area of ​​​​Sinai). However, if "dear Russian guests" want to, then you can get there by jeeps, while "military checkpoints will be given a command to skip the expedition."

In a word, permission in principle for the expedition was obtained. But the real problems lay ahead...

"Technique-youth" 2006 No. 9, p.35-39

DOG IN THE MANGER. Having secured the permission of the authorities, Grechko turned to Sitchin with a proposal to lead a future expedition - after all, for an American writer, this story was a matter of a lifetime. But... All subsequent correspondence boiled down to Zacharias bombarding the cosmonaut with questions about “why does he need all this, and what, in fact, is his selfish interest?”

In vain, Georgy Mikhailovich recalled how Russian researchers, exclusively at their own expense, traveled and still travel for years to explore the epicenter of the Tunguska explosion; Grechko himself also contributed to these studies in his youth, and now he was ready to make his contribution to the study of the intricate riddle of Sinai ... Sitchin did not believe in purely scientific interest. Perhaps he was confused by the astronaut's phrase that he "does not believe in UFOs, does not chase after a sensation, is internally ready for any result, the main thing is scientific facts." Apparently, from the point of view of an American, spending money without a chance to return it is extremely suspicious, the worst thoughts about Russian spies come to mind! (Of course, Sitchin began to make inquiries, and probably found out that both Grechko and Kosmopoisk organized various expeditions in various regions of the Earth more than once; which, perhaps, only increased his suspicions.)

After that, the American remembered his selfish interest, and began to put forward his own conditions: to provide all the rights to the received photographic materials (“Yes, please!”), To take two representatives of the American side with him (“No problem!”), A few more requirements (with which the Russian side also obviously agreed) and, finally, to pay Sitchin personally $ 15,000, after which he "will tell you which peak you need to fly to."

A DANGEROUS MISTAKE OF THE TRANSLATOR. The last condition outraged and puzzled us at the same time. How does it “tell you which peak to fly to”? Doesn't the book describe this path in great detail? Then Grechko once again read Sitchin's book with a pencil, began to doubt some of the fragments, ordered an English version of the same edition from the West, and... clutched his head.

The riddle turned out to be much more difficult! Not only did Sitchin deliberately encrypt his route, the translator Y. Goldberg also made his contribution; he translated the words “relief protruding peak” as “high mountain” (p. 187), “located southwest of the city of El Arish” - as “located to the southeast ...” (p. 183), etc. .d.

Judging by the translation, it all boiled down to the fact that the mountain, not named directly, but very well described, is Herim (Gebel Kharim, 704 m). On a satellite image of the Google Earth Internet service, on the top of this mountain, at a point with coordinates 30 ° 15 "41.76" north latitude and 33 ° 59 "4.70" east longitude, the researcher of Kosmopoisk, Sergey Alexandrov, clearly saw - white circle! But after the discovery of the error, the initial joy was replaced by doubts. G. Grechko ordered better (and taken at a different time) satellite images, in which for some reason there was no white spot on the top ...

A few days before the planned departure for Egypt in mid-April 2006, it suddenly became clear that we, in fact, did not know where to go! In the English version of the text, several peaks already fell under the desired description, so Georgy Mikhailovich had to order their pictures as well. And then, in order to play it safe and avoid future doubts that we de explored the wrong mountain, I ordered pictures of all the other peaks. There was no bright white object (which would be the easiest to spot) on any of the vertices! Nowhere!

Only then it began to dawn on me - or maybe the “bright white object” was not so boiling white? No, we have no suspicion that Sitchin deliberately painted on UFOs in his photos. I just remembered the photo printing technology of those years - all the photos without fail passed through the retoucher's pen. This was done not at all out of a desire to hide something or, on the contrary, to paint on any details - the then printing industry required a sharp increase in image contrast. And the “bright white object” in the retouched 1977 image could actually be barely bright. This means that it was worthwhile to carefully look for not “white” (which is simpler), but simply “a disk-shaped object” in satellite images.

And such a round, but barely light object was found on the top of Gebel el-Bruk (407 m), also lying on the "Ararat line", and on the "Sphinx line", and on the "quail path". Although the mountain is not the largest on the peninsula, it is quite dominant over this part of the desert. The peak fell under the description in the bible, and most importantly, all the large details in the old Sitchin photographs were “in place” in the space image as well.

Now we knew where to go! A day later, a plane with members of our expedition (ten people led by Grechko) flew over Cairo at night, the Giza pyramids illuminated by searchlights and began to descend to land at the Sinai airport ...

PREPARATION was originally held without too much publicity, and it was impossible to write about it openly, but on March 19, 2006, Grechko was interviewed in Alexei Pushkov's weekly TV review on TVC.

Georgy Mikhailovich spoke about a strange place on the Sinai Peninsula. Apparently, the fact that the cosmonaut openly spoke about such a fantastic fact attracted attention - according to the management of the TVC, the rating of this program was a record one.

The sensational report helped the upcoming expedition in many ways. However, the exact dates, estimated coordinates, movement routes and other details were still not disclosed, since any accident could interfere in a foreign country, up to an anonymous phone call.

While waiting for the coveted permission for a helicopter, we managed to explore the surroundings, visit the Mount of Moses-Musa and the monastery of St. Catherine. Of course, it was difficult to expect to hear something new - after all, one had to ask about the events of a thousand years ago. But in one tribe, an elder woman, especially for the astronaut, recalled a story that was passed from mouth to mouth from ancestors, about how, forty minutes from the tribe’s campsite, “a star once descended from the sky.” She, this “star”, is now inside the mountain ...

It was not possible to get "go-ahead" for the flight. We were asked to wait another day to "resolve this issue with the minister." Then another day, then another ... "A tit in the hands", i.e. two jeeps for the land trip, we took advantage of the very timely. A little later it would be too late - after the explosions that thundered in the Egyptian resort, the roads on the peninsula were blocked, and even a ground expedition to the mountain we needed would become impossible ...

AMBUSH IN THE DESERT To save day time, we left for the desert at two in the morning. On the way, I had to take an interpreter, security guards, two policemen (in civilian clothes, but with Uzi machine guns) and a representative of the Ministry of Information (all of them are a mandatory condition of the authorities). The slowness of the police, checkpoints at every intersection, uncomfortable jeeps with miserable benches without backs and handles, not the best roads - all this together led to the fact that they arrived in the mountain area in the late afternoon.

Finally, the road ended, now it was necessary to move only on the sand. Using GPS, I take the azimuth of “our” place and show the driver the head ma7iy direction. Landmark - that's the top! We flew 3500 km, drove 400 km, there was only a kilometer and a half left!

Visibility, as aviators say, is "a million to a million", the surface is flat, obstacles are not visible for kilometers around (and there were none on the satellite image). The distance to the target was rapidly decreasing. Our driver sang an Arabic song and pressed the gas to the floor, the jeeps rushed forward ...

Squeal of brakes, screams, things and people rest against the windshield... Both cars stuck their hoods into barbed wire! No, this is not an ambush. Nobody expected us to be here. For some reason, the wire is blocking ... the very hill where we are heading. For what? Neither we, nor the Egyptian bodyguards, nor the representative of the Ministry of Information knows this. Everyone is confused...

And suddenly...

A Bedouin in a black robe appears from behind the hill, running towards us, shouting and waving his arms. Armed guards from the approach of an unarmed man became wildly excited: “We are leaving, we are leaving immediately!”. We do not understand the reason for such fear, but we must obey. We retreat so quickly, as if not one savage, but a whole army appeared from the sands. Our guards are shot sparrows...

When the jeeps got far enough away from the "chase" and drove around the almost endless thorny fence, the driver again turned to the coveted peak. Didn't even have time to speed up. The thorn ended, but we ran into a cliff. Another squeal of brakes. Egyptian escorts jumped out of the cars and wailed, brandishing their machine guns. From separate phrases, gestures and nervous screams, it was clear that the heated discussion was devoted to only one topic - "these Russians have dragged us into a terrible story, we will not get out of here alive." Well, or something like that. It seemed like another minute - and shooting or stabbing would begin ... However, the guards calmed down as quickly as they grabbed their weapons.

Everyone was silent, and the interpreter summed up the summary: “Everyone is unhappy and wants to turn back, but I managed to persuade everyone to endure another 15 minutes!”

Like 15 minutes! ? How much have we traveled for this?

A quarter of an hour and not a second more! - by the frightened and serious look of the guards, it was clear that the discussion was over and the bargaining was inappropriate.

The engines roared. Time has gone.

FIFTEEN MINUTES

2 minutes. For some reason, we veer a little to the right again. I show the driver a new azimuth.

4 minutes. Getting closer to the top, the terrain becomes more rugged. The ace driver drives along the edge of the abyss, no one protests.

6 minutes. We roll up to the hill. The device shows the coordinates: we are a little east of the desired point. A dashing driver, may Allah prolong his days, makes a U-turn on a narrow patch, moves out, almost flies down and looks for a new way up. How the wheels began to slip near the edge of the abyss, no one seemed to notice - everyone was only watching the clock.

8 minutes. New top. The desired peak with a cave on a neighboring hill just a hundred meters, separated from us by a drop. There is no time to drive around! We jump out of the car.

9 minutes. Here they are, the right coordinates! We are at the top, and the entrance to the cave must be somewhere lower on the slope.

10 minutes. We run to the side. Everything is clean on the northern slope, there is no entrance.

11 minutes. There is no sign of a cave on the eastern slope. It begins to seem that there cannot be a cave here - the soil is too unsuitable: loamy and sandy with inclusions of pebbles, there is practically no rock. The cave, if it was, could well crumble from time to time.

12 minutes. On the western slope, Valery Ignatov noticed something that looked like an entrance! He went down closer and shouted from there: “The entrance has collapsed!” A cursory examination suggests that it is impossible to excavate the entrance even in a day. But maybe there is another way?

13 minutes. At the top, right above the ruined entrance, a vertical hole 30 x 40 cm is found. This is a scour, through which water from rare rains fell into some kind of large void, located directly below us. There is indirect confirmation of the existence of the cave!

14 minutes. Or is it not a natural ravine, but an artificial ventilation shaft? There is no time to figure it out. There are three things that must be done by all means in the remaining minute.

15 minutes. First, I photograph the panorama of the area. Secondly, I draw a sketch of the scheme, so that later I can restore the full picture from the photograph. Thirdly, I take soil samples. All right, time is up.

The last action did not escape the eyes of the vigilant representative of the Ministry of Information:

Are these diamonds?!

No, it's just a normal stone.

Stone?!

Ordinary stone.

And you came here because of these stones?! Is this stone worth even one dollar?

One dollar? No, one million dollars!

The representative laughed at the joke, but somehow walked sideways to the car, took out a plastic bag and ... began to collect stones nearby. Just in case. The guards also forgot about the danger threatening us, which they talked about for so long, and also became interested in local geology. They forgot about the urgent departure.

So we had another hour and a half.

IDENTIFIED LYING OBJECT I don’t know if Moses was here, but the cave definitely was, and maybe it still is. As suggested by Sitchin's photographs and satellite imagery, there must be a huge "white disc-shaped object" at the top a few hundred meters from the "cave of Moses". Its dimensions are several tens of meters, and at such a distance it should be visible at a glance. Flew away?

We come closer. No trace of the "huge UFO". Again, you have to rely on the global positioning device. According to the coordinates flashed, an invisible Anunnaki starship is on the ground literally ten paces away from me. And in order to see it, you need to... turn to the right. Holding my breath, I slowly turn around and lower my eyes to the ground...

He didn't fly away! Whitish concentric circles on the ground. After a few minutes, it becomes clear that these circles are the result of the weathering of layered rock. Game of nature? In the old days, white alabaster gave white color to rounded pancakes. It is still present, but a recent dust storm has greatly muted the whiteness. Perhaps, after some rare rain, these concentric circles will again shine with whiteness. In any case, from above from an airplane or from space, the alabaster object certainly resembles something majestic. It’s not that “from below” the Arab submachine gunner stands right on the “Annunaki starship”, turns his head and does not understand where we are all looking.

We take out a tape measure, measure it: the diameter of the “disk” is 26 m. We make instrumental measurements - no deviations were recorded. We need to play it safe so that later they don’t say that we investigated the “wrong object”. If the place is the same, suddenly, after all, the “disk-shaped object” flew away? We take a close-up photo and video of the soil inside the track: no damage to the soil. Here for decades there were no external influences, nothing heavy stood. There was neither radiation nor high temperature: lichens and dried shells were found, which would certainly burn out from the slightest fire. In other words, we have a truly natural formation.

Its correct forms are striking. I would even say - mockingly correct forms! Only a small tower-cabin in the middle of the “disk” is missing (either it is still painted on, or, most likely, time has done its job and this part of the “structure” simply disappeared under the influence of wind and sand).

But there is no disappointment, the whole group is in high spirits. Firstly, we still got to the place where no researcher could reach before us; and secondly, in science, a negative result is also a result. Grechko solemnly places a large stone in the middle of the found stone-sand disk, so that "it would be like in Sitchin's photograph." This is a stone on the grave of such a beautiful, but myth!

Scheme of the discovered "White Object" and "Cave of Moses"

Fig: V. Chernobrov, April 2006.

CURSE OF THE PHAROOH. Still not fully believing in the unexpected gift of extra time, we decided to return to the cave and try to dig at least a vertical entrance. He took out a shovel and an ice-bail from his backpack, but - a fatal mistake - left the respirators intact. At that moment, no one remembered them. Luck seemed almost in hand.

They dug a hole in order to lower the video camera down (unfortunately, due to the bend in the well, this did not work out). You can't see anything but darkness and dust rising from the hole...

Apparently, this dust raised something from the dark depths that we should not have inhaled at all. Four (including the author of these lines), who were at that moment near the hole, paid dearly for their curiosity, and the closer the person was to the entrance, the more terrible the diagnosis was later. In a week, already in Moscow, doctors will reveal signs of toxic poisoning, the result of which was, among other things, partial paralysis ...

But there is no evil without good!

First, this toxic poisoning may have saved our lives on our return. When we drove up to the hotel, some were already starting to feel a little shivering, and therefore the insistent proposals of the translator (who did not approach the cave) to go for souvenirs to the merchants he knew were unanimously refused. Already falling asleep, from the release of breaking CNN news we learn what we have avoided - that day, as a result of three explosions in the malls of Dahab, 24 people were killed ...

Secondly, the danger emanating from rooms hermetically sealed for thousands of years, or rather, from microorganisms from these rooms, has long been called the "curse of the pharaohs." And how such a “curse” ends (as is commonly believed - biopoisoning, which, as a catalyst, exacerbates the most harmless diseases, turning them into deadly ones) is well known from the history of archaeological excavations in Egypt. Perhaps if we dig that cave a little deeper, and ... there would be no one to tell it to. So is it worth complaining about the fate of those who survived the "curse of the pharaohs" (which is probably a great success in itself)?!

And thirdly, the same history of excavations in Egypt convinced that the “curse of the pharaohs” does not “protect” completely uninteresting places. For such a terrible effect to occur, at least several conditions are needed: a hermetically sealed room that no one has opened for thousands of years; biological sample inside; and something else that scientists have not fully understood. Moreover, the biological sample (mummy, corpse) must be very ancient - so much so that immunity to the forgotten diseases lurking here has already disappeared in human generations.

In other words, toxic poisoning is indirect evidence that “there really is something in the cave” ... What exactly? One version has already been expressed: "according to the legends, the cave gave people immortality, and your suffering is a side effect ..."

CONCLUSIONS. So, the analysis of the brought samples has already been completed, we can sum up. Since we are talking about the affairs of millennia and the mysteries of the eternal, it is better to carefully call the results preliminary.

How accurately the story of the exodus under the leadership of Moses is described in the Bible is not for us to judge. But the "generally accepted" mountain of Moses-Musa is certainly not suitable for a candidate for the role of the place of the events of that time. Did the described events take place on el-Bruk, as (without naming the mountains) Sitchin assured? Already warmer. But almost all of the strange artifacts photographed by Sitchin on this mountain either do not exist or do not match the description. On this basis, cosmonaut Grechko considered that el-Bruk did not fit the definition of the biblical "Mount Sinai". Although - who knows?

There are indisputable conclusions: on this and all neighboring mountains there is neither a “huge white UFO”, nor rectangular windows, nor a statue at the entrance. Cave? There is a cave. But does it have anything to do with aliens? And was Moses in it?

Old questions received only partial answers. But there are new ones. What is inside the cave with the "curse of the pharaoh"? Why was this mountain relatively recently surrounded by barbed wire? What is the "fallen star" that the Bedouin talked about? Where is it stored, "inside" this or some other neighboring mountain?

I hope that someday, someone, perhaps ourselves, will find answers to new questions. There is time. The Great Sphinx will look for a long time along the 30th parallel towards the dusty peak of el-Bruk, where we were the first to have the honor of trying to figure out the many thousands of years of mysteries of Eternity in 15 minutes ...