And Moses stretched out his hand upon the sea, and by morning the waters returned to their place; and the Egyptians fled towards the water. Thus the Lord drowned the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. 28. And the waters returned, and covered the chariots and horsemen of all Pharaoh's army that had followed them into the sea; none of them remained. As can be seen from the above text, nothing is said about the pharaoh himself that he died.

But at the same time it is quite clearly stated that the entire army of Pharaoh perished; at the same time, Moses specifies that the water "covered the chariots and horsemen of all Pharaoh's army, who entered the sea after them." Also, in other places of the Bible where this event is mentioned, there is no mention of the death of Pharaoh himself. Only in the 135th Psalm of Praise, in which the omnipotence of God is sung, is it said: "And He cast Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea, for His mercy endures forever" (verse 15).

But there is no historical description of the event. This is a psalm-hymn, which speaks of the casting of Pharaoh himself into the sea figuratively, symbolically, as the final overthrow of his power and authority over the people of Israel. For the Israelites themselves, Pharaoh died, "drowned." The power of God is expressed in the same figurative and symbolic way in the previous verses of this psalm, when it is said that the Lord brought Israel out "with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, for His mercy endures forever" (Psalm 135:12).

In the same way, symbolically and figuratively, the Church sings about the death of Pharaoh at sea. Just as on Sundays she sings the victorious power of Christ: "For thou hast broken the gates of brass, and hast erased the cords of iron"... (Tone 2, stichera on the Lord I have cried). No one will understand these words in the literal sense, for everyone knows that in the spiritual, heavenly world, there is neither copper nor iron, but it is clear and understandable to everyone that these words are a symbol, an image.

In the historical description, in the book of Exodus, the pharaoh himself did not drown. Thus, we , Christians , believe and know that "All Scripture is inspired by God" and is the immutable truth. Often the atheists, taking advantage of the faithful's ignorance of the Word of God, boldly begin to ridicule what is said in the Holy Scriptures. The Scriptures say nothing. For example, they like to assert that the Bible says that the earth stands on four whales, that God made man out of clay, and so on.

The writer Mintslov did the same, perhaps without knowing it. Therefore, if the atheists try to refute the truth of God in the name of supposedly science, then let each of us first carefully check whether this atheist knows what he says and what he refutes. It is quite clear whether the tomb of Pharaoh, in which the Jews came out of Egypt, was found or not, this does not in the least refute the truth of the Word of God.

Unfortunately, there are many inaccuracies in the retellings of the Holy Scriptures. These inaccuracies, for the most part, are the "stumbling blocks" that play a fatal role for the unapproved. In compiling our textbook, we tried, with God's help, to remove all these "stumbling blocks" and to convey as accurately as possible the words of Divine Revelation.

Our time requires special attention and careful exposition of the Word of God. In modern conditions, it is necessary to prove the existence of God, to prove the truth of the Law of God, to prove the spiritual and moral foundations of human life. It is necessary to teach believers to give answers to those who ask, according to the instructions of Ap. "Be always ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give an account of your hope with meekness and reverence" (1 Peter 3:15).

It is especially necessary in our time to give answers to the evil questions of the godless world, which is attacking the truth of God, supposedly in the name of science. But it is precisely in this that the atheists suffer constant defeat. Because true science not only does not contradict, but, on the contrary, confirms with certainty the truth of God. In our days, it is necessary that elements of apologetics (defense of faith) take place in the teaching of the law of God

, which was not required before, with the constant and firm foundations of life. Stories from the Law of God should be confirmed by examples from the lives of saints and other examples from everyday life, so that the child understands and assimilates that the Law of God is not a theory, not a science, but life itself. In conclusion, it is necessary to point out a very strange, incomprehensible and completely unacceptable distortion in all the textbooks that we have seen.

This distortion concerns the sign of the cross. In these textbooks it is said that the sign of the cross is made on oneself with the right hand as follows: on the forehead, then on the chest and on the right and left shoulders. When we compiled the textbook of the first edition, it seemed strange to us that the lower end of the cross turns out to be shorter than the upper one, i.e . the cross turns out to be inverted.

But, having looked through all the available textbooks approved by the Holy Synod, we have retained these instructions with some hesitation. Later, having received a thorough reprimand from a believer, we realized what a terrible mistake we had made. Therefore, in the second edition, we are happy to correct it. After all, just think, for many decades, by making the sign of the cross on oneself, a person overturned the Cross of Christ on himself – this is the victorious sign of Christ over the devil. Only the demons rejoiced at this.

The figure shown here gives a complete visual explanation. In the holy book "Psalter", according to which Orthodox people have been taught and educated since ancient times, it is said in a "brief statement" – "about how an Orthodox Christian, according to the ancient tradition of the Holy Apostles and Sts. Father... it is proper to depict the sign of the cross on oneself." «… I believe: the first is on the forehead (on the forehead)

The upper horn of the cross touches it, the second on our belly (belly), the lower horn of the cross reaches it, the third on our right frame (shoulder), the fourth on the left, they also mark the transverse outstretched ends of the cross, on which our Lord Jesus Christ, crucified for us, stretched out his hand, all the tongues scattered at the ends are gathered into one."