A Review of the First Five Books of the Bible

The name Moses (Moses in Hebrew) supposedly means "taken out of the water." By this name he was called by an Egyptian princess who found him on the bank of the river. The book of Exodus tells the following about this. Abram and Jochebed, from the tribe of Levi, had a very beautiful child. His mother, wishing to save him from death, which threatened him because of Pharaoh's order to kill all Hebrew male infants, laid him in a tarred basket in reeds on the banks of the Nile. There he was found by an Egyptian princess who came to bathe. Being childless, she adopted him. Moses, as the son of a princess, received a brilliant education at the court of Pharaoh for that time. It was the heyday of Egyptian culture. As an adult, Moses once inadvertently killed an Egyptian overseer who was abusing Jewish slaves while protecting a Jew. Therefore, Moses was forced to flee from Egypt. Settling on the Sinai Peninsula, Moses lived there for 40 years, tending the flocks of the priest Jethro, whose daughter he married. At the foot of Mount Horeb, the Lord appeared to Moses in the form of an unburning bush and commanded him to go to the Egyptian Pharaoh and free the Jewish people from heavy slavery. In obedience to God, Moses went with his brother Aaron to Pharaoh with a request to free the Jewish people. Pharaoh persisted, and this brought 10 plagues (disasters) on the Egyptian country. In the last "plague" the Angel of the Lord smote all the firstborn of Egypt. The Jewish firstborns did not suffer, since the doorposts of the Jewish houses were anointed with the blood of the Passover lamb. Since then, the Jews have celebrated the Passover every year on the 14th day of the month of Nisan (the day that falls on the full moon of the vernal equinox). The word Passover means "to pass by" because the Angel who smote the firstborn passed by the Jewish homes. After this, the Jews left Egypt, crossing the Red Sea, which by the power of God parted apart. But the Egyptian army, which was chasing the Jews, was drowned in the sea. On Mount Sinai, Moses received from God the Ten Commandments written on stone tablets. These commandments, as well as other religious and civil laws written down by Moses, formed the basis of the life of the Jewish people. Moses led the Jewish people during the forty-year wandering in the desert of the Sinai Peninsula. During this time, God fed the Jews with white semolina, which they picked every morning directly from the ground. Moses' brother, Aaron, was ordained high priest, and other members of the tribe of Levi were ordained priests and "Levites" (deacons in our language). From that time on, the Jews began to perform regular worship services and animal sacrifices. Moses did not enter the promised land, he died at the age of 120 on one of the mountains on the east bank of the Jordan. After Moses, the Jewish people, spiritually renewed in the wilderness, were led by his disciple Joshua, who led the Jews into the promised land.

Moses was the greatest prophet of all time, with whom God, according to the Bible, spoke to Moses face to face, as a man would speak to his friend (Exodus 33:11). Because of Moses' closeness to God, his face constantly shone. But Moses, out of modesty, covered his face with a veil. Moses was of a very meek disposition. Since childhood, he suffered from tongue-tie. His life and miracles are described in the books of Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

Genesis

In the Holy Scriptures, the first book of Moses is called by its initial word Bereshit, which means "in the beginning." The Greek title of this book "Genesis" indicates its content: a narrative about the origin of the world, the first people and the first human societies of the patriarchal time. The description of the creation of the world pursues not a scientific, but a religious goal, namely, to show that God is the first cause of all that exists. The world and everything that fills it did not arise by chance, but by the will of the Creator. Man is not just an animal, but carries within himself the breath of God, an immortal soul, in the image and likeness of God. Man was created for the supreme purpose of perfecting himself in love and virtue. The devil is the culprit of the fall of man and the source of evil in the world. God constantly cares for man and directs his life towards the good. This, in a nutshell, is the religious perspective in which the Book of Genesis describes the origin of the world, man, and subsequent events. The Book of Genesis was written in order to give man an idea of the origin of the world and the beginning of human history after the traditions about it began to be forgotten, in order to preserve in purity the original predictions about the Divine Deliverer of the human race, the Messiah.

All the narratives of the Book of Genesis, which consist of 50 chapters, can be divided into three parts:

The first tells about the origin of the world and the fall of man (Gen. 13).

The second sets forth the primitive history of mankind before and after the Flood, as well as the life of Noah (Gen. 411).

The third contains a history of patriarchal times, the life of Abraham and his immediate descendants up to and including Joseph (Gen. 2:10). 1250).

Книга Исход

Вторая книга Моисея в Священном Писании называется начальными словами Елле-Шемот "сии суть имена", т.е. имена сынов Израилевых, которые при Иосифе переселились в Египет. Греческое же название этой книги "Исход", так как она повествует, главным образом, о последующем исходе израильтян из Египта при пророке Моисее. Достоверность этого события подтверждается древними свидетельствами и новейшими изысканиями и открытиями в Египте. Период времени, о котором повествует Книга Исход, исчисляется несколькими сотнями лет от смерти Иосифа до рождения Моисея. Моисей вывел народ израильский из Египта на 80 году своей жизни. Затем в следующем году им устроена Скиния откровения (палатка, служившая в качестве переносного храма), чем и оканчивается Книга Исход. Здесь уместно сообщить некоторые исторические данные, относящиеся к книге Исход. Иосиф был продан своими братьями в Египет, когда там царствовала династия Гиксов, или пастухов (около 2000 лет до Р.Х.). Египет был на высокой ступени процветания и могущества. Фараоном тогда был, вероятно, Апофис. Он возвысил Иосифа, спасшего египтян от голода, и оказал высокое благоволение ему и его семье. Но исконные египетские князья объединились в Фивах и постепенно изгнали Гиксов. Потом на царство вступила XVIII династия фараонов Амозиса I. Новые правители переменили отношение к евреям. Начались притеснения, перешедшие потом в тяжкую неволю. Новые фараоны, поработив евреев и принуждая их, как рабов, строить города, в то же время опасались, что евреи объединятся с пограничными кочевыми племенами и захватят власть в Египте. Исход евреев из Египта приходится на период 1500 1600 лет до Р.Х. Вероятно, тогда царствовал фараон Тотмес IV. Книга Исход написана Моисеем в Аравийской пустыне (Синайский полуостров) по принятии от Бога религиозных и гражданских законов. Писалась она по мере получения Моисеем Божественных откровений.

Книга Исход имеет две части историческую и законодательную.

В исторической части описывается страдание народа Божия в египетском рабстве (Исх. 1 гл.).

Затем рассказывается о путях Промысла Божия в жизни Моисея, призванного Господом для спасения еврейского народа (Исх. 24 гл.).