The Prophet Moses.

Moses is the most majestic figures in the Old Testament. His role is so central that the Penta-

teuch is called the Five Books of Moses, and the code of religious laws, the Law of Moses. No

one else  in  the  Old Testament had such close relationship with God as he, because “The Lord

used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend” (Exod. 33:11). This special

place of Moses among the Forefathers is also prominent in the New Testament, for example in

the account of Transfiguration of Christ.

  The story of Moses.s life opens in Egypt. Patriarch Jacob and his family had settled as a pas-

toral clan in the land of Goshen in the northeast corner of the Nile delta. Here their descendants

lived and prospered for four centuries, till “there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know

Joseph” (Exod. 1:8. This was possibly the Pharaoh Thutmose I who ruled in the middle of the 15

century BC (some say that he was Pharaoh Rameses II, in the 13th century BC . the greatest

builder  in  Egyptian  history).  The  Pharaoh  decided that the Children of Israel had become too

numerous and strong. He turned them into slave laborers, and put them to work under Egyptian

taskmasters  on  the  construction  of  two  treasure  cities,  Pithom  and Rameses,  “And made their

lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field” (Exod.

1:14).  When  this  did  not  reduce  their  numbers,  Pharaoh  ordered  the Hebrew  midwives  to  kill

every male infant at birth. The midwives evaded this decree on the  pretext  that  “the Hebrew

women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and are delivered before the midwife

comes to them” (Exod. 1:19). The frustrated ruler then charged his people to throw the male

babies into the river, and drown them.

  Amram and Jochebed, the parents of Moses, were of the priestly house of Levi. When the

child was born, his mother kept him hidden for three months. She then enclosed him in a basket

woven of rushes and sealed with pitch, and concealed him among the reeds at the river's edge.

  Pharaoh's daughter came to bathe at this spot and when she saw the basket she sent a maid

to fetch it. On opening it, the baby started crying and the princess felt pity for it, realizing that it

was one of the Hebrew children her father had ordered killed. Moses's elder sister Miriam had

been  posted  a  little  distance  away to watch.  She  approached  the  princess  and  offered  to  find a

Hebrew  nurse  to  suckle  the  child.  This was agreed, and she ran off to fetch Moses's mother.

When he was older, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and gave him the name of Moses, “Because

I drew him out of the water” (Exod. 2:10. The Hebrew form, Moshe, means .to draw out.).

  The boy grew up at the royal court but remained  aware  of  his  Hebrew  origin.  One  day

Moses, now a grown man, went off alone to find out what was happening to his kinsmen. He saw

an Egyptian overseer flogging an Israelite slave. Thinking himself unobserved, Moses slew the

Egyptian and buried his body in the sand. Next day he intervened in a fight between two Israel-

ites and was alarmed when one of them said pointedly: “Who made you a prince and a judge

over us? Do you mean to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian?” (Exod. 2:14). Report of his deed

reached Pharaoh, and he had to flee for his life eastward into the Sinai desert.

  Pausing to rest at a well, Moses assisted some young women to water their flocks. When

they told their father Jethro (or Reuel, Iothoros) about the helpful stranger at the well, he invited

Moses to eat with them. Jethro was the priest of a tribe of desert nomads from Midia. Moses re-

mained with him and married one of his seven daughters, Zipporah. She bore him a son whom he

called Gershom, since Moses was a stranger (Heb. ger) in a strange land.

  Moving deep into the desert in search of pasture for his father-in-law's flocks, Moses came

to the mountain of Horeb (or Sinai). He turned aside to examine a strange sight: a bush that was

burning without being consumed. God's voice came out of the bush commanding him to halt and

remove his shoes, as he was on holy ground. Moses was told that he had been chosen to lead his

brethren out of their oppression and bring them to the Promised Land. Moses shrank from this

task, saying: “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?”

(Exod. 3:11) To reassure him, the name of the Lord (.Jehovah.) was revealed to Moses, and he

was given certain miraculous signs to impress Pharaoh and the Israelites: turning his staff into a

snake, making his hand white with leprosy and turning water into blood. Still reluctant, Moses

pointed out that “I am slow of speech and of tongue” (Exod. 4:10). The Lord became impatient

with him, and replied that his brother Aaron could be his spokesman.

  Moses took leave of Jethro and set out with his wife,  his  eldest  son  Gershom  and  his

newly-born second son Eliezer.

Let My People Go.

  Aaron came to meet Moses and was told what the Lord required of them. They called to-

gether the Israelite elders, and in Moses's presence Aaron conveyed the Lord's message and per-

formed  the magic  signs.  The people were convinced that God was about to liberate them and

sank down in worship.

  Moses and Aaron then gained an audience with the reigning Pharaoh (probably the succes-

sor of the ruler from whom Moses had fled). In the name of the God of Israel they requested him

to “Let my people go” (Exod. 5:1). They did not dare suggest that the Israelites would leave the

country for good. Instead, they claimed that sacrifices had to be made to their God at a place

three days' journey into the wilderness.

  Pharaoh bluntly rejected the request. He charged the Israelites with laziness, and issued in-

structions that they should no longer be supplied with straw for making bricks. They would have

to seek their own straw, without lowering their daily output. The people reproached Moses for

having  added  to  their  hardships,  and  Moses  complained to the Lord that his mission had only

done harm. “For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he has done evil to this people,

and Thou hast not delivered thy people at all” (Exod. 5:23). The Lord declared that he had hard-

ened Pharaoh's heart in order that “the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch

forth my hand upon Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them” (Exod. 7:5).

  The whole of Egypt has experienced a series of plagues, except for the land of  Goshen

where the Israelites lived. As each plague became intolerable Pharaoh agreed to let Moses's peo-

ple go, but changed his mind when the affliction stopped.

  First, Aaron and Moses smote the water of the Nile with the rod and it turned to blood be-

fore the eyes of Pharaoh and his court. “And the fish in the Nile died and the Nile became foul, so

that the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile; and there was blood throughout all the

land of Egypt” (Exod. 7:21).

  When Pharaoh refused to give way, frogs came swarming out of the river and spread every-

where, as Moses had warned Pharaoh they would, crawling “into your house, and into your bedchamber

and on your bed, and into the house of your servants and of your people, and into your

ovens and your kneading bowls” (Exod. 8:3).

  The third plague was one of lice which sprang from the dust and infected man and beast

alike. There followed swarms of flies; cattle disease; an epidemic of boils; a fierce hailstorm that

smashed the trees and flattened the crops; vast clouds of locusts that devoured all growing things;

and three days of pitch darkness.

  The tenth calamity was the most dreadful of all . the slaying of the first-born. The Lord

commanded Moses and Aaron that on the fourteenth day  of  the  month,  at  dusk,  each  Israelite

family should slaughter a lamb or kid and roast its flesh for a sacrificial meal. “In this manner

you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and

you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover” (Exod. 12:11) Blood from the slaughtered

animal was to be daubed on the lintel and door posts so that the Lord would recognize and pass

over family, and even among the domestic animals.  There was grief  and  panic  throughout  the

country. That same night Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and begged them to leave at once

with their people, together with all their herds, flocks  and  possessions.  The Egyptians  handed

over to them jewels and other valuables to speed their departure.

  They set out at once from the city of Rameses that their forced labor had helped to build. In

fulfillment of an ancient promise, the remains of Joseph were carried with them for burial in Ca-

naan. “Four hundred and thirty years,” says the Bible (Exod. 12:40), had passed since their an-

cestor Jacob had first come to live in Egypt. Forty years of wandering lay ahead of them before

they would reach their journey's end. Moses was at  this  time  eighty  years  old  and  his  brother

Aaron eighty-three.

  Each year  Jews commemorate the Exodus in the seven-day spring festival of Passover, as

enjoined in Exod. 12. They eat .matzoth. (flat cakes of unleavened bread) to recall the haste with

which their ancestors departed. At the .Seder. or ceremonial meal, bitter herbs are the symbol of

the  bondage  in Egypt,  and  a roasted shank-bone represents the paschal lamb eaten that fateful

night.

  The great highway from Egypt to Canaan and beyond lay along the Mediterranean coast of

the Sinai desert. From the edge of the Nile delta to Gaza it was but a week's march for armies or

trading caravans. But that direct and well-traveled route was the most dangerous for the Israel-

ites; and the coastal plain of Canaan to which it led was held by hostile inhabitants. A mob of

runaway slaves would not have been able to fight its way through  to  the  Promised Land.  So

Moses turned away from the coastal road “lest the people repent when they see war, and return

to Egypt” (Exod. 13:17). Instead, they headed southeast, towards the open desert.

  The  first  halt was  at  Succoth,  thirty-two  miles  from  the  city  of  Rameses,  and  the  next  at

Etham on the edge of the desert. They were trying to move as  fast  as  they  could,  fearing  that

Pharaoh would pursue them. “And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud to

lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel

by day and night” (Exod. 13:21).

  Their haste was warranted. Pharaoh's courtiers said to him, “What is this we have done, that

we have let Israel go from serving us?” (Exod. 14:5) He set out in pursuit with a mobile force

that included six hundred chariots. When the Israelites saw them coming, they trembled with fear

and cried out to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away

to die in the wilderness?” (Exod. 14:11) They were at this time at the edge of the Reed Sea (in-

correctly translated into English as the .Red Sea'). Nothing but a miracle could save them. At the

Lord's behest, Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and a strong east wind pushed the water

aside, so that the Children of Israel were able to cross dry-shod to the other side. Dashing after

them, Pharaoh's chariots were engulfed for “the waters returned” (Exod. 14:28), and men and

horses were drowned. (This may have happened in the area of the Bitter Lakes, through which

the Suez Canal now passes.). When the Israelites “saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore”

(Exod. 14:31), they sang a song of thankfulness to the Lord, while Moses's sister Miriam played

on a timbre (tambourine) and led the women in dance.

  The elation of their new-found freedom was short-lived. They now entered the wilderness of

Shur in the Sinai peninsula . a wasteland of sand and gravel, intersected with limestone ridges

and dry watercourses, in the beds of which a little sparse scrub could be found for the flocks. The

sun scorched them by day and the cold was sharp at night.

  The chief problem was water. After trekking for three days, they reached a spring of brack-

ish  water  at Marah  (which  means  .bitter.).  Moses  threw  a  certain  bush  into  the  water  which

made it drinkable. A day's march further on they were able to camp in the oasis of Elim, “where

there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees” (Exod. 15:27). Soon they ran out of

food and railed at Moses and Aaron for taking them away from the .flesh pots. (Exod. 16:3) of

Egypt. The Lord would come to the rescue, Moses promised, and would provide “in the evening

flesh to eat and in the morning bread to the full” (Exod. 16:8). Flocks of migrating quails sank

down to rest among the scrub at night and could easily be snared (as the desert Arabs do today).

  In the early morning, when the dew vanished, the ground was strewn with manna, and “it

was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey” (Exod.

16:31). Moses told them the manna was bread from the Lord. They were to gather and prepare

just enough to satisfy their hunger, for what was not eaten would go bad in the heat of the day.

On the sixth day a double portion could be gathered, and would remain fresh over the Sabbath.

(It has been suggested that the manna may have been the resin-like substance that is exuded by

the tamarisk trees in the desert, and drops on the ground when dry.).

  The Israelites moved deeper into the southern part of the Sinai desert and came to Rephidim.

Once more they were without water, and complained loudly.  Moses  was  told  by  the  Lord  to

gather the elders together and in their presence smite a rock. He did so and fresh water gushed

out.  Moses  called  the  place .Massah and Meribah. (meaning .testing and contention,. Exod.

17:7).

  They now faced a human threat, being attacked by a party of Amalekites, fierce desert raid-

ers.  The  Israelites were  not  yet  organized  or  trained  to  fight. Moses  sent  for Joshua the son of

Nun, a young Ephraimite, and told him to select and lead a group of Israelite defenders. Moses

himself  climbed  to  the  top  of  a  hill  together  with  Aaron  and  Hur  (traditionally  Moses's

brother-in-law); and from here they witnessed the battle. While Moses held up his hands with the

sacred rod, the Israelites gained, but they were pushed back when his arms dropped from weari-

ness. His two companions seated him on a stone and, standing on either  side  of  him,  held  his

arms raised in the air until nightfall, when the battle was won and the Amalekites routed. Moses

built an altar to the Lord.

  In the third month after leaving Egypt, the Israelites reached the wild and rugged terrain of

the wilderness of Sinai. In its center a cluster of gaunt granite peaks of a dark-red color rose to a

height of eight thousand feet, with deep canyons around them. The Israelites camped on the open

ground before a peak called Mount Sinai or Mount Horeb. It was here that Moses had heard the

voice of the Lord from the burning bush many years before.  Jethro  now  came  to  see  Moses,

bringing Zipporah and their two sons, who had been on a visit to her family. Moses welcomed

the old man warmly, and they sat for a long time in the tent talking about all the wondrous things

that had happened since Moses had gone back to Egypt. The Midianite priest exclaimed: “Now I

know that the Lord is greater than all gods” (Exod. 18:11). Jethro offered a sacrifice on the He-

brew altar and Moses invited the elders to a feast in his honor.

  Jethro was present next day while Moses gave judgment in the disputes and claims brought

before him. In the evening Jethro offered his son-in-law some sage  advice.  It was too burden-

some for Moses to deal personally with every trivial matter, while scores of people stood around

awaiting their turn. Why should Moses not delegate authority to able men, and put each in charge

of a fixed number of persons? Moses agreed, and appointed “rulers of thousands, of hundreds, of

fifties, and of tens. And they judged the people at all times; hard cases they brought to Moses”

(Exod. 18:25-26). Moses charged them to “judge righteously between a man and his brother or

the alien that is with him. You shall not be partial in judgment; you shall hear the small and the

great alike; you shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is God's” (Deut.

1:16-17). Having instigated this system of administration, Jethro took his leave and returned to

his own land.

The Ten Commandments.

  It was timely for Moses to be relieved of routine duties, for the Lord was about to call on

him to fulfill a loftier purpose. The stage was set for one of the most awesome moments in hu-

man history: the handing down of the Law on Mount Sinai.

  God called Moses up to the mountain and instructed him to tell the Children of Israel that if

they would keep his covenant  “you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and an holy nation”

(Exod. 19:6). They were ordered to wash and purify themselves for two days, and on the third

day they gathered before the mountain that was covered with a thick cloud. Out of it came thun-

der, lightning and the loud blasts of a trumpet.  “And Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because

the Lord descended upon it in fire; and the smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln,

and the whole mountain quaked greatly” (Exod. 19:18). Then the voice of God rolled forth, sol-

emnly pronouncing the Ten Commandments:

1. I am the Lord your God . thou shall have no other gods before Me.

2. Thou shall not make for thee any graven image or any likeness of anything that is

in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the

earth; thou shall not bow down to them, nor serve them.

3. Thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days thou shall labor and do all

thy work, but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God.

5. Honor thy father and thy mother, that it may be well with thee, and that thy days

may be long upon the earth.

6. Thou shall not kill.

7. Thou shall not commit adultery.

8. Thou shall not steal.

9. Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

10. Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's wife; thou shall not covet thy neighbor's

house, nor his field . nor anything that is thy neighbor's. (Exod. 20:2-17).

See in the appendix a commentary on the Second  Commandment.  Other  Commandments  are

covered in our booklet .The Ten Commandments..

  A number of other laws were then made known to Moses. He built a stone altar with twelve

pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel, and instructed young men to sacrifice oxen on it.

Moses read out “the book of the covenant” (Exod. 24:7) and sprinkled the blood of the sacrifices

on the people as “the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you in accordance

with all these words” (Exod. 24:8).

  He then left Aaron and Hur in charge of the encampment and disappeared into the cloud that

still covered the mountain. There he remained for forty days and forty nights, communing with

the Lord.  At  the  end  of  that  time God gave  him  “two tables of the testimony, tables of stone,

written with the finger of God” (Exod. 31:18).

  Down in the camp, the Israelites had lost faith when Moses failed to reappear. They came in

a body to Aaron and said, “Up, make us gods, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man

who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him” (Exod.

32:1). Aaron felt obliged to appease them. He asked for all the gold earrings worn by the men

and women, melted them down, and molded a golden calf. The people made burnt-offerings to it,

and they sang, feasted and danced naked around it.

  On the mountain the Lord told Moses what his “stiff-necked people” (Exod. 32:9) were do-

ing, and threatened to destroy them. Moses pleaded for them, and the Lord relented. But when

Moses came down and saw the spectacle with his own eyes, he was seized with rage and dashed

the two stone tablets to the ground, breaking them. Moses threw the golden calf into  the  fire,

ground it up, mixed it with water and made the Israelites swallow it. He upbraided Aaron, who

tried to defend himself, saying, “you know the people, that they are set on evil” (Exod. 32:22).

Moses felt a drastic purge was needed. He rallied round him the men from the priestly tribe of

Levi (to which he and Aaron belonged) and ordered them to put to the sword a large number of

the idol-worshippers.

  This painful experience left Moses with a sense of failure, and he asked the Lord to relieve

him of the leadership. The reply was that the journey to the Promised Land should continue as

before. Moses again ascended the sacred mountain, carrying two stone tablets he had hewed to

replace those smashed. Once more he stayed there forty days and nights without food or water.

When he returned with “the words of the covenant, the ten commandments” (Exod. 34:28) en-

graved on the tablets for the second time, Aaron and the Israelites observed that his face shone

with such light that “they were afraid to come near him” (Exod. 34:30).

  The Lord had given Moses precise instructions for the construction of an Ark  of  acacia

wood covered with gold, and a tabernacle with an open-air altar. They were to form a portable

temple for the Israelites' wandering life.

  The Ark containing the tablets of the Law was placed in the Tabernacle, which was conse-

crated by Moses in the presence of all the people. As long as the pillar of cloud or of fire stood

still over the Tabernacle, it was a sign that the Israelites should remain at that spot until the pillar

moved forward again.

From Sinai to Kadesh.

  In the second month of the second year the Children of Israel moved northward from Mount

Sinai towards the wilderness of Paran, in the central plateau of the Sinai peninsula. Soon trouble

broke out again, this time over the monotonous diet of manna. As refugees are apt to do, they be-

came nostalgic for the land they had fled. Tearfully they asked, “O that we had meat to eat! We

remember the fish we ate in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions,

and the garlic” (Num. 11:4-5).

  Moses felt weary of leading the discontented community he had brought out of slavery. He

said to the Lord: “I am not able to carry all this people along, the burden is too heavy for me. If

thou will deal thus with me, kill me at once” (Num. 11:14-15) At this cry of distress, the Lord

saw that Moses needed help in carrying the burden. He had Moses summon seventy elders to the

Tabernacle, and inspired them, so that they would serve as a council to share responsibility with

him. As for the people's demand for flesh, the Lord taught them a lesson. Huge flocks of quail

were blown inland from the sea and piled up all round the camp. For two  days  the  Israelites

gorged themselves on the meat of the birds until they fell violently ill and a number of them died.

  At their next camping place Aaron and Miriam started speaking against Moses, of whom

they had become jealous. The Lord was angry at this attack, and Miriam was stricken with lep-

rosy. Moses prayed that she be forgiven, and she recovered after seven days of isolation in the

desert outside the camp. Oddly enough Aaron was not punished  .  perhaps  because  of  his

priestly role.

  The Israelites resumed their journey northward, and came to rest at Kadesh-barnea, a green

and well-watered oasis some fifty miles south of Beersheba. They were now nearing the southern

rim of Canaan, but it was for them unknown country. Moses decided to send into it a scouting

party of twelve picked men, one from each tribe to “see what the land is, and whether the people

who dwell in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many” (Num. 13:18) . also,

whether the inhabitants lived in fortified towns or in tents, and whether the soil was fertile.

  The spies crossed the Negev, passed Arad on the plateau above the Dead Sea, and traveled

through the central hill country of Canaan. The party reached Cadet safely after a forty-day trip

and reported that Canaan was truly a land flowing with milk and honey. Nevertheless “the people

who dwell in the land are strong and the cities are fortified and very large; and besides, we saw

the descendants of Anak there” (Num. 13:28. Anak is Hebrew for .giant.). They also reported on

the Amalekites who dwelt in the arid south of Canaan, and the Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites and

other  peoples  in  the  settled  areas  further  north.  As  Moses  had  requested,  they  brought  back

specimens of the fruit they had seen: figs, pomegranates and a bunch of grapes so large that it had

to be carried on a pole slung between two men. They had picked it near Hebron at the brook of

Eshcol, a name which means .grape cluster..

  One of the scouts, Caleb of the tribe of Judah, proposed that in spite of the dangers  they

should advance into the country without delay and trust the Lord to help them overcome resis-

tance. He was supported only by Joshua from the tribe of Ephraim. The other ten were much

more discouraging. They submitted “an evil report of the land that devours its inhabitants; all

the people that we saw in it are men of great stature... and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers”

(Num. 13:32-33). The gathering that listened to the report was cast into gloom. What

was the good of bringing them to the Promised Land, they said, in order to be slain in it? It would

be better to find a new leader who would take them back to Egypt. A wrathful Lord decreed that

for their lack of belief in Him, they would stay wandering in the desert for forty years, till that

generation had died out, except for Joshua and Caleb.

  The Children of Israel now settled down for some decades to the life of nomad shepherds

and cattle-herders roaming the wilderness of Zin, with their base at the oasis. “So you remained

at Kadesh many days” (Deut. 1:46). During this period Moses developed the religious code and

the rituals of worship. The stern discipline with which observance was enforced was illustrated

by the case of the man who gathered sticks for firewood on the Sabbath and was ordered to be

stoned to death.

  The leadership of Moses and Aaron was challenged by a revolt . all the more serious be-

cause it started with their own tribe of Levi, which was dedicated to priestly duties. It was led by

the Levite Korah the son of Izhar, together with two Reubenite brothers, Dathan and Abiram, and

they were supported by two hundred and fifty respected men. Punishment was swift. The earth

split open and swallowed up the three rebel leaders with their households. The two hundred and

fifty supporters were consumed by fire from the Lord. Moses felt the need of some act to bolster

the status of Aaron and the priests. He collected and placed in the Tabernacle a stave from each

of  the tribes, with the Levites represented by Aaron's own rod. When they were taken out and

shown to the people next morning, it was seen that Aaron's stave had sprouted with blossom and

borne almonds. Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, died at Kadesh and was buried there.

Onward to Canaan.

  After nearly forty years had gone by, most of them spent at Kadesh, the time had come to

resume the march towards the Promised Land. Unable to penetrate Canaan from the south, the

Israelites now set out on a lengthy detour in order to enter from the east, across the Jordan river.

The route northward into Transjordan lay along the ancient caravan route known as the King's

Highway. Moses sent messengers to the king of Edom, to say, “Now let us pass through your

land. We will not pass through field or vineyard, neither will we drink water from a well; we will

go along the King's Highway, we will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left, until we have

passed through your territory” (Num. 20:17). The king refused, and Moses thought it prudent to

bypass Edom from the west, traveling up the great rift of Wadi Araba towards the Dead Sea. On

the way, Aaron died on top of Mount Hor where he had been taken by Moses and by Aaron's son

Eleazar, who succeeded him as high priest.

  The Israelites now had a taste of the warfare that lay ahead. They were attacked and a num-

ber  of  them  killed  and  captured  by Canaanites  from Arad,  that  lies  on  the  plateau west  of  the

Dead Sea. Further on, they passed through a region infested with venomous snakes and some of

them were bitten. Moses stuck a brass serpent on a pole, and looking at it served as a magic cure

for snake bite.

  From the southern end of the Dead Sea, they turned eastward into the mountains, through

the precipitous valley of Zered that divided Edom from Moab. They emerged on the plateau and

skirted round Moab to the deep gorge of the river Arnon that entered the Dead Sea from the east.

  The country  north  of the Arnon had recently been conquered by the Amorites under King

Sihon. He also refused the Israelites passage and attacked them. He was defeated and his capital

Heshbon occupied. The advance continued northward into the fertile land of  Gilead, up to  the

Yarmuk  river. Og,  the giant  king  of Bashan  (the Golan Heights)  gave  them  battle  and was  re-

pulsed. Thus ended the first phase of the Israelite invasion.

  The Israelites started to cohabit with Moabite women, and were drawn into the cult of the

local deity, the Baal of Peor. The Lord smote them with a plague but was mollified by the act of

an outraged priest called Phinehas, son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron. He seized a javelin,

rushed into a tent where an Israelite was lying with a Midianite woman and with one blow trans-

fixed them both.

  The camel-riding Midianites in the region seem to have been involved in this Israelite im-

morality. An Israelite expedition was sent against them, with a thousand men from each tribe.

They wiped out the Midianite encampments with religious zeal, sparing  only  the  young  girls.

Moses ruled on the division of the captured livestock: half to the fighting men and half to the rest

of the community, with special shares for the priesthood.

  A census was taken and showed that none of the men of the Exodus was left alive, except

for Joshua, Caleb and Moses himself. A new breed of Israelites had grown up as free men, hard-

ened by the rigors of desert life and disciplined by the laws Moses had taught them. Out of the

craven and unruly bondsmen that had emerged from Egypt, Moses had in forty years molded a

small but stalwart nation, ready to meet its destiny in the Promised Land. He was not to share that

destiny; his own task was nearly done.

The Death of Moses.

  In  three  farewell  addresses, recorded in the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses recalled for the

Israelites  the  story  of  their  wandering;  expanded  their  religious  and  legal  code;  and  instructed

them about their coming settlement in Canaan.

  To a desert-weary people Moses painted a pleasant picture of the country they were about to

enter: “For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of

fountains and springs flowing forth in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and

fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land in which you will eat bread

without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose

hills you can dig copper” (Deut. 8:7-9).

  Moses composed a song  of  praise to God, whom he had served so humbly and faithfully,

and gave his blessing to each of the tribes in turn.

  Before he died, Moses was given a distant view of the Promised Land from “Mount Nebo,

to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho” (Deut. 34:1). On a height jutting out from the

great escarpment, Moses stood with his back to the Moab plateau, stretching away to the empty

desert beyond the eastern horizon. Before him a tremendous panorama unfolded. Thousands of

feet below glittered the Dead Sea, the lowest body of water on the earth's surface. Beyond it rose

the  dun-colored  rampart  of  the Judean desert, with Jerusalem and Hebron and other Canaanite

cities hidden behind its rim. To the right, the Jordan River looped snake-like through lush green

banks. And the Lord said: “I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there”

(Deut. 34:4).

  After this single view Moses died and was buried by the Lord “in the valley in the land of

Moab, opposite Beth-Peor; but no man knows the place of his burial to this day” (Deut. 34:6).

At his death he was a hundred and twenty years old, but “his eye was not dim, nor his natural

force abated” (Deut. 34:7). For thirty days the Children of Israel wept and mourned for the great

leader and teacher they had lost, “And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses,

whom the Lord knew face to face” (Deut. 34:10).

***       ***       ***

Addendum 1: The Days of Creation.

  .I  believe  in the One God, our Father, All-Encompassing, the Creator of the heavens and

earth and all that is visible and invisible. . we confess in our everyday prayer at home and in

church. Therefore, the universe to us is not only a subject of scientific knowledge but of faith as

well.  Regardless  of  the  particular  mysteries  that  the  science  uncovers  in  the  realm  of  physics,

chemistry, geology, cosmology, etc., the fundamental questions of regarding the universe remain

unanswered: where did the laws of nature and the elements that form our universe come from?

And what  is  the  purpose  of  everything  that surrounds us and of our own lives? Science is not

only incapable of answering these worrisome questions; indeed, they lie beyond the grasp of sci-

ence. The answer to these questions is found only in the God-given Bible.

  In  the  first  chapters  of  the Book of Genesis, the Prophet Moses reveals to us the story of

God.s creation of Earth and man. Until recently, science was unable to offer any convincing ex-

planation of the origins of the world. Only in the 20th century, thanks to advances in astronomy,

geology and paleontology, the history of the origins of the world has lent itself to scientific study.

And what has science found? That the world originated in the precise order that Moses had re-

counted!

  Though the purpose of Moses was not to give a detailed scientific explanation of the origins

of the universe, his account preceded current scientific discoveries by several thousand years. His

description was the first to evidence that the world is not eternal, but was created in time and de-

veloped in an evolutionary manner. The same conclusion . that the universe has not always ex-

isted . has been reached by contemporary astronomers, who have discovered that the universe is

expanding like a balloon. Fifteen to twenty billion years ago, the entire universe was condensed

into a microscopic dot, which, having exploded, began to expand in all directions, creating in the

process our world.

  Moses divided God.s creation of the world into seven periods, which  he symbolically  re-

ferred to as .days.. During six days God created the world, and on the seventh, .rested from His

labors.. Moses doesn.t say how long the days lasted: the seventh day, which has seen the entire

development of the human race, has been continuing over a period of millennia. The figure

.seven. is often used in the Bible with a symbolic, not literal meaning. It indicates fullness, com-

pletion.

  “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” . with these words the Bible

encompasses all that God created: our visible physical world as well as the invisible angelic

world that lies beyond our powers of physical perception. The word .created. indicates that God

made  the  world from nothing. This conclusion is also being reached by many scientists: the

deeper nuclear physics probes into the basis of matter, the more obviously it sees its emptiness

and immateriality. Apparently,  even  the  .quarks.  that  comprise  protons  are  not  basic  and hard

particles. It seems that matter is some inexplicable form of energy.

  Returning to the biblical description of the world, we see that in its general form it confirms

what current scientific theory has to say on this issue. Skipping the particulars of the appearance

of galaxies following the original .In the beginning,. Moses. account focuses on the creation of

our Earth and everything that inhabits it. On the first .day,. .God said: let there be light.. These

words probably relate to the moment when the interstellar dust and gases that formed our solar

system became so condensed under gravitational influences that a thermonuclear reaction  (hy-

drogen becoming helium) took place, causing a great emission of light. In this way, the sun was

formed. Light is the key factor in the appearance of life on earth.

  The same gases and dust from which the sun formed also formed comets, meteorites, aster-

oids, protoplanets, etc. This whole circulating and rushing  mass  of  gases,  dust  and  rocks  was

called .water. by Moses. Mutual gravitational pulls caused it to form into planets. This is .the

separation of the water that is below the earth from the water that is above it,. which took place

on the second day of creation. In this manner, the solar system, or Biblical .heavens,. took its fi-

nal form.

  In the beginning, the Earth, along with the other planets, was  red-hot.  Evaporating  water

from the depths of the Earth enveloped it in a  thick  atmosphere.  As  the  surface  of  the  Earth

cooled, water began to fall in the form of rain, creating oceans and continents. Then, thanks to

water and light, plant life began to appear . this was the third .day. of creation.

  The first green plants, water-borne microorganisms, and later huge land plants  began  to

clear the atmosphere of carbon monoxide gases and produce oxygen. Up to this moment, if one

were to  look up from the  Earth  at  the sky, he would see no more than the outlines of the sun,

moon and stars, because the Earth was covered by a thick and opaque atmosphere, of approxi-

mately the same type as the planet Venus now has. This is why Moses places the appearance of

the sun, moon and stars on the fourth .day,. following the appearance of plant life. Ignorant of

this fact, atheists and materialists of the beginning of our century often made light of the Bible.s

ordering of the appearance of the sun following plant life. According to the Bible, dispersed sun-

light reached the Earth.s surface from the first day of its existence, even though the contours of

the sun were indiscernible.

  The increase of oxygen in the atmosphere made possible the appearance of more complex

life forms . fish and birds (on the fifth .day.), and later . mammals, and finally . human be-

ings (on the sixth .day.). Scientific knowledge is in complete agreement with this order of evolu-

tion.

  The Biblical account does not dwell on the details of the development of life on Earth that

interest contemporary  science. But it must be kept in mind that the purpose of the Biblical ac-

count is not to list details, but to expose the Original Cause of the Creation and the wisdom of its

Author. Moses closes his story with the following words: .and God saw what He had made and it

WAS GOOD!. In other words, the Creator had a specific goal in mind: that all should serve good

and lead to good. Nature has retained the seal of goodness and continues to remind us not only of

the wisdom, but of the blessedness of the Creator.

  According to the Book of Genesis, last to be created was man. Current scientific thought

also agrees that man appeared relatively recently, following the appearance of other living organ-

isms. In the question of the appearance of man, the main difference between religion and science

is in the area of methods and goals. Science attempts to detail the physical appearance of man .

of the body, whereas the Bible speaks of man in his complete form, having, besides a body, a ju-

dicious soul in God.s image. The Bible also confirms that man was made from .earth,. i.e. out of

the same elements as other creatures. This fact is important because it alludes to the close rela-

tionship between man and the animal kingdom. Yet at the same time, the Bible underlines man.s

special position among the animals as blessed with .God.s breath. . an eternal soul. Thanks to

his soul, created in God.s image, man is capable of discerning good from evil. This spiritual feel-

ing causes him to seek God.s company, to follow the path of moral perfection. In the end, earthly

pleasures alone cannot satisfy man.s spiritual thirst. These facts  confirm  the Bible.s  statement

that man is not merely the highest form of animal evolution, but a representative of two worlds:

the physical and spiritual. Understanding this mystery helps man to find his place in the world,

heed his calling to do good and become closer to God.

  In concluding this brief sketch of God.s creation of the universe, it should be noted that both

in this account as well as in the later story of the life of our ancestors in Eden there are symbols

and allusions, the full meanings of which are beyond our powers of understanding. The purpose

of the symbols is that they give the reader the opportunity to understand the main points that God

wishes to open to us, without getting bogged down in complicated details: in this case the rea-

sons for evil, sickness, death, etc.

  Science continues to study the world around us. It uncovers new and interesting facts that

help us to better understand the Bible. Yet often .we cannot see the forest for the trees.; for this

reason the general principles are far more necessary to us than the details. The purpose of the Bi-

ble  is  to open  to  us  the  principles  of existence, and for this reason its significance will remain

eternal.

****          ****          ****

Addendum 2: The Second Commandment and the use of icons.

(Adopted from an article of Fr. Victor Potapov)

  The Second Commandment defines his worship, warning against the worship of false, pagan

gods: Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in

heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: thou shalt

not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.

  Does the Second Commandment prohibit making the sacred images called icons? We have a

distinguished answer by Protopresbyter Michael Pomazansky: One of the outward forms of wor-

ship of God and the veneration of the saints is the use of sacred images and the respect shown to

them. Among the various gifts of man that distinguish him from other creatures is the gift of art

or of depictions in line and color. This is a noble and high gift, and it is worthy to be used to glo-

rify God. With all the pure and high means available to us, we must glorify God according to the

call of the Psalmist: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name”

(Psalm 102:1). All that is within me refers to all the capabilities of the soul. And truly, the capa-

bility of art is a gift from God.

  In the Bible we read:

.Of old under Moses, the Lord hath called by name Bezaleel, the son of Uri, the son of

Hur, of the tribe of Judah; and He hath filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, in

understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship; and  to  devise

skilled works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in the cutting of stones, to

set them, and in carving of wood, to make any manner of cunning work. And He hath put

in his heart that he may teach [others] . . . Them hath He filled with wisdom of heart, to

work all manner of work, of the engraver, and of the cunning workman, and of the em-

broiderer. (Exodus 35:30-35).

Skilled  artists made  sacred  material  objects  first  for  the  tabernacle  of  Moses  and  later  for  the

Temple of Solomon. Although some were merely sacred adornments, others sacred material ob-

jects were revered as exceptional places of God's glory. For example, so great was the Ark of the

Covenant that its very touch without special reverence could cause death (II Samuel): at the time

of the transfer of the Ark under David, Uzzah was struck dead because he touched the Ark with

his  hand.  Just  as holy was the Cherubim of Glory over the Ark, in the midst of which God

deigned to reveal Himself and to give His commands to Moses. .There I will meet with thee, and

I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two Cherubim which are

upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children

of Israel” (Exodus 25:18-22). These were the visible image of the Invisible God, in the ex-

pression of Metropolitan Macarius.

  The Old Testament Temple had images on the walls and curtains, but no depictions of the

departed righteous ones, such we see in Christian Church. They did not appear because the right-

eous  ones  themselves  were  awaiting  their  deliverance,  waiting  to  be  brought  up  out  of  hell.

Christ's  descent  into  hell  and  His  Resurrection  made  their  delivery  possible.  According  to  the

Apostle, they without us should not be made perfect (Hebrews 11:40). These righteous ones were

glorified as saints only in the New Testament.

  So  Sacred  Scripture  strictly  prohibits  worship  of  idols,  but  it  does  not  prohibit  Christian

icons. Idols are images of false gods, demons, or imaginary thing by worship of lifeless objects of

wood, gold, or stone. The Sacred Scriptures strictly insist that we separate holy and unholy, unclean

and clean (Leviticus 10:10). Whoever cannot see the difference between sacred images and

idols blasphemes and defiles the icons. He commits a sacrilege condemned in Sacred Scripture;

Thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege? (Romans 2:22).

  Ecclesiastical archaeology has shown that the ancient Christians used sacred images in the

catacombs and their other places of assembly for prayer, and then later in their churches. Certain

Christian writers (such as those at the Council of Elvira, Spain, in 305) set themselves against

statues and similar images, but they probably had contemporary pagan idol worship in  mind.

Their  cautions  and prohibitions also fit their historic conditions, when, for example, Christians

needed to hide holy things from their often hostile pagan persecutors and non-Christian masses.

From  the  start,  the Christian missionary ideal had also been to draw people away from pagan

idol-worship. Only later could the fullness of the forms for glorifying God and His saints in col-

ors emerge in sacred images.

  Records of the Seventh Ecumenical Council define expressed the Orthodox dogma of sacred

icon veneration in the following words: .We therefore . . . define with all certitude and accuracy

that just as the figure of the precious and life-giving Cross, so also the venerable and holy images

. . . should be set forth in the holy churches of God for veneration . . . For by so much more fre-

quently as they are seen in artistic representation (that is, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Theotokos,

the angels and saints who are depicted in the icons), by so much more readily are men lifted up to

the memory of their prototypes, and to a longing after them. And to these should be given due

salutation and honorable reverence [Greek: timitiki proskynisis], not indeed that true worship of

faith  [Greek:  latreia] which pertains alone to the Divine nature; but to these  .  .  .  incense  and

lights may be offered . . . For the honor which is paid to the image passes on to that which the

image represents.. (Seven Ecumenical Councils, Erdmans, p. 550).

  Orthodox canons say nothing about veneration of the statues in the religious art of the West

in the middle ages and later. However, the virtually universal tradition of the Orthodox Church of

both East and West and of the Eastern Church in  later  centuries  has  been  to  create  two-

dimensional depictions and bas-reliefs, but not to allow statues  in  the  round.  The  reluctance

seems to lie in the inevitably greater realism of three-dimensional images, which make them suit-

able for representing the things of this world (for example, statues of emperors), but not those of

heaven, which neither our worldly thoughts nor our realism can capture. Two-dimensional icons,

on the other hand, are windows to heaven.