In the Old Testament, in the Second Book of Moses called "Exodus", it is told how this great prophet organized the exodus of the Jews from Egypt, which took place in the second half of the 2nd century BC. e. The first five books of the Bible also belong to Moses and describe amazing stories and divine miracles for the salvation of the Jewish people.

The founder of the Jewish religion, legalist and the first Jewish prophet on earth was Moses. It is not for nothing that many are interested in how many years Moses led the Jews in the desert. In order to understand the whole essence of what is happening, first you need to familiarize yourself with the very plot of this story. Moses (biblical character) rallied all the tribes of the people of Israel and led him to the land of Canaan, promised by God to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It was on him that God laid this unbearable burden.

The birth of Moses

The question of how many years Moses led the Jews across the desert is worth understanding in great detail. The story of Moses begins with the fact that the new king of Egypt, who did not know the prophet Joseph and his merits before Egypt, worried that the people of Israel were multiplying and becoming strong, began to treat him with special cruelty and forced him to excessive physical labor. But the people grew stronger and larger all the same. And then Pharaoh ordered to throw all newborn Jewish boys into the river.

At this time, in a family from the Levin tribe, a woman gave birth to a baby, she put him in a basket with a bottom treated with resin and let him down the river. And his sister began to observe what would happen to him next.

At this time, the daughter of the pharaoh was swimming in the river and suddenly, hearing a child crying in a reed, she found a child in a basket. She took pity on him and took him to her. His sister immediately ran up to her and offered to find a wet nurse. Since then, his own mother has become his breadwinner. Soon the boy grew stronger and became Pharaoh's daughter, like his own son. She gave him the name Moses - because she pulled him out of the water.

Moses grew up and saw the hard work of his brothers Israel. One day he saw an Egyptian beating a poor Jew. Moses, looking around so that no one could see him, killed the Egyptian and buried his body in the sand. But soon Pharaoh found out about everything, and then Moses decided to flee from Egypt.

Escape from Egypt

So Moses ended up in the land of Midian, where he met a priest and his seven daughters, one of whom, Zipporah, became his wife. Soon they had a son, Gersam.

After a while, the king of Egypt dies. The people of Israel are crying out in misfortune, and God heard the cry.

Once, when Moses was tending sheep, he saw a burning thorn bush, which for some reason did not burn. And suddenly he heard the voice of God, which ordered Moses to go back to Egypt, to save the sons of Israel from slavery and to bring them out of Egypt. Moses got very scared and began to pray to God that He would choose someone else.

He was afraid that they would not believe him, and then the Lord gave him signs. He asked to throw his rod on the ground, which immediately turned into a snake, and then forced Moses to take her by the tail, so that it would again become a rod. Then God forced Moses to stick his hand in his bosom, and then she turned white and covered with leprosy. And when he put her in his bosom again, she became healthy.

Return to Egypt

God appoints brother Aaron to help Moses. They came to their people and showed signs so that they would believe that God wants them to serve him, and the people would believe. Then Moses and his brother came to Pharaoh and asked him to let the people of Israel go, because God told them so. But Pharaoh was adamant and considered all the signs of God a cheap trick. His heart hardened even more.

Then God sends to Pharaoh, one after another, ten terrible plagues: now the water of lakes and rivers turned into blood, where the fish became dead and stinking, then the whole earth was covered with toads, then gnats flew in, then flies, then there was a pestilence, then abscesses, then ice hail, locusts, darkness. Each time one of these executions occurred, Pharaoh relented and promised to release the people of Israel. But when he received forgiveness from God, he did not keep his promises.

The exodus of the Jews from Egypt becomes almost impossible, but not for God, who subjects his people to the most terrible execution. At midnight, the Lord struck with death all the Egyptian firstborn. And only then did Pharaoh let the Israelites go. And now Moses leads the Jews out of Egypt. The Lord showed the way to the promised land to Moses and Aaron day and night in the form of a pillar of fire.

Moses leads the Jews out of Egypt

Recovering from horror, Pharaoh sets off after them, taking with him six hundred selected chariots. Seeing the approach of the Egyptian army, the children of Israel, who were stationed by the sea, were greatly frightened and screamed. They began to reproach Moses that it is better to be slaves of the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness. Then Moses, at the command of the Lord, lifted up the rod, and the sea parted, and dry land was formed. And the people of Israel went out of six hundred thousand, but the Egyptian chariots also did not stop, then the water closed again and drowned the entire enemy army.

The Israelites made their way through the waterless desert. Gradually, the water supplies ran out, and people began to suffer from thirst. And suddenly they found a source, but the water in it turned out to be bitter. Then Moses threw a tree at him, and it became sweet and drinkable.

The anger of the people

After a while, the people of Israel attacked Moses with anger that they lacked bread and meat. Moses reassured them, assured them that they would eat meat in the evening and bread in the morning. By the evening, quails flew in, which could be caught by hand. And in the morning the manna from heaven fell like frost, it lay on the surface of the earth. It tasted like a cake with honey. Manna became their constant food sent by the Lord, which they ate until the very end of their long journey.

At the next test stage, they did not have water, and again they attacked Moses with angry speeches. And Moses, according to the will of God, struck the rock with his rod, and water came out of it.

A few days later the Amalekites attacked the Israelites. Moses told his loyal servant Jesus to choose strong men and fight, and he himself began to pray on a high hill, raising his hands to the sky, as soon as his hands dropped, the enemies began to win. Then two Israelites began to support the hands of Moses, and the Amalekites were defeated.

Mount Sinai. Commandments

The people of Israel continued on their way and stopped near Mount Sinai. It was the third month of his wanderings. God sent Moses to the top of the mountain and told His people to prepare to meet Him, to be clean and wash their clothes. On the third day there were lightnings and thunders, and a strong trumpet sound was heard. Moses and the people received the Ten Commandments from the mouth of God, and now they had to live according to them.

The first says: Serve the one True God who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

Second: do not create an idol for yourself.

Third: do not take the Lord's name in vain.

Fourth, do not work on Saturdays, but glorify the name of the Lord.

Fifth: honor your parents, so that it may be good for you and that your days on earth may be prolonged.

Sixth: don't kill.

The seventh commandment: do not commit adultery.

Eighth: do not steal.

Ninth: Do not bear false testimony against your neighbor.

Tenth: Do not desire anything for your neighbor, neither his house, nor his wife, nor his field, nor his servant or maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey.

The Lord called Moses to Mount Sinai and had a long talk with him, at the end of the conversation he handed him two stone tablets with the commandments. Moses stayed on the mountain for forty days, and God taught him how to correctly carry out His commands, how to build a camp tent and serve his God in it.

Golden calf

Moses was gone for a long time, and the Israelites could not stand it, and doubted that God was kind to Moses. And then they began to ask Aaron to return to the pagan gods. Then he ordered all the women to take off the gold jewelry and bring it to him. He poured a calf out of this gold, and, like a god, offered sacrifices to him, and then made a feast and sacred dances.

When Moses saw with his own eyes all this unholy feast, he became very angry and threw down the tablets with revelations. And they crashed on a rock. Then he rubbed the golden calf into powder and poured it into the river. Many repented on that day, and those who did not were killed, and there were three thousand of them.

Then Moses returned to Mount Sinai again to appear before God and ask Him to forgive the people of Israel. The magnanimous God had mercy and again gave Moses the tablets of revelation and the ten commandments. Moses spent a whole year with the Israelites at Mount Sinai. Having built the tabernacle, they began to serve their God. But now God commands them to set off on their way to the land of Canaan, but without Him, and puts an Angel before them.

Curse of god

After a long journey, they finally saw the promised land. And then Moses ordered to collect twelve people to send them to reconnaissance. Forty days later, they returned and told that the land of Canaan is fertile and densely populated, but also has a strong army and powerful fortifications, so it is simply impossible to conquer it, and for the people of Israel it will be a certain death. Hearing this, the people almost stoned Moses and decided to look for a new leader instead of him, and then they completely wished to return to Egypt.

And the Lord was angry more than ever against the people of Israel, who do not believe him in front of all his signs. Of those twelve scouts, he left only Joshua, Navin and Caleb, who were ready to do the will of the Lord at any moment, and the rest died.

At first, the Lord wanted to destroy the people of Israel with an ulcer, but then, through the intercession of Moses, made him wander for forty years in the deserts, until those who murmured, from twenty years and above, died out, and only allowed their children to see the land promised to their fathers.

Canaan land

Moses led the Jewish people through the desert for 40 years. Over the years of hardship and hardship, the Israelites repeatedly rebuked and scolded Moses and murmured against the Lord himself. Forty years later, a new generation has grown up, more adapted to wandering and harsh life.

And then the day came when Moses led them to the land of Canaan to conquer it. Having reached its borders, they settled down near the Jordan River. Moses was at that time one hundred and twenty years old, he felt that his end was near. Climbing to the very top of the mountain, he saw the promised land, and in complete solitude he reposed before God. Now the responsibility to lead the people to the promised land God has entrusted to Jesus, the son of Nun.

Israel no longer had a prophet like Moses. And it was no longer important for everyone how many years Moses led the Jews in the desert. Now they mourned the death of the prophet for thirty days, and then, having crossed the Jordan, they began to fight for the land of Canaan and, in the end, after a few years they conquered it. Their dreams of a promised land have come true.

The Creator Himself led the Jews through the desert. During the day He showed them the way with a pillar of cloud, that is, the Cloud of Glory, and at night with a fiery one.

There were stops along the way, but it was never known how long they would last, one night or a whole year.

If the pillar of cloud stopped moving, it was a sign that it was time to stop.

During the stay, after the words of Moshe: “Turn, O Lord, to tens of thousands of families of Israel,” the cloud pillar changed shape and hovered over the Mishkan during the day, and the fiery one at night. When the time came to leave the place, the pillar changed again, stretched out, as if inviting on the way - and then the sons of Aaron, the koens, blew special two silver trumpets with intermittent, sharp, short sounds. After the words of Moshe: "Arise, Lord, and Thy enemies will be scattered, and Thy haters will flee from Thy presence" (Bemidbar, 10: 35-36), - the pillar began to move forward.

After the first trumpet, the camp of Yehuda set off (see below), after the second - the camp of Reuven, etc.

While parked

During the stay, the camp was located with its front part to the east - the entrance to the Mishkan was from this side.

Mishkan was always in the middle of the camp. and the Levites, as his guardians of honor, were stationed around him. Moshe, Aaron, and the sons of Aaron stood in the east, at the entrance. They made sure that no random person entered the Mishkan and took any improper action.

The Levites were divided into three groups: the sons of Gershon, the sons of Mrari, and the sons of Keat. The sons of Gershon were located behind the Mishkan, and during the campaign they carried on carts its coverings and the curtain that closed the entrance to the Holy of Holies, and everything that was needed for this. The sons of Keath carried on their shoulders the Ark of the Covenant, a table for, two altars and the items necessary for them. In the camp, they were located to the right of the Mishkan. The sons of Mrari stood to his left, and on the way carried the beams of the Mishkan and from the fence of his yard on carts, as well as all the details necessary for this.

All other Jews were divided into four camps and were also located relative to the four sides of the Mishkan. Each camp consisted of one main tribe, which had its own banner, and two tribes accompanying it.

On the east side was the camp of Yehuda. Isakhar and Zvulun also marched under his banner. From the west - the camp of Ephraim. Menashe and Binyamin also performed under his banner. In the south was Reuven's camp. Shimon and Gad walked under the banner of Reuven. In the north was the camp of Dan. Asher and Naftali walked under his banner.

When the Jews had to hit the road

The pillar of fire destroyed snakes and wild animals

When the Jews had to go, the camp of Yehuda was the first to go. Aaron and his sons removed the veil, covered the Ark of the Covenant with it, then packed the altars, etc. After that, the Mishkan was dismantled and loaded onto carts. The sons of Gershon and Mrari set off. Reuven's camp is behind them. Then the children of Keath, carrying on their shoulders the Ark of the Covenant, the table for the offering loaves and Menorah.

How they were built during a campaign in the desert

In the Jerusalem Talmud, there is a dispute about how the Jews walked in the desert. It is believed that the knees moved in a column, one after another. But according to another opinion, the order of the arrangement in the camp was preserved: in the middle of the Mishkan, and around it on four sides the Levites and the tribes of Israel.

Wandering through the wilderness following the Spirit of God, incarnate in a pillar of fire (column), the Israelites, seven weeks after the Exodus, approached Mount Sinai. At the foot of this mountain (identified by most researchers with Mount Sas-Safsafeh, and by others with Serbal), during the terrible phenomena of nature, a final Covenant (agreement) was concluded between God and the Jews as a chosen people, destined henceforth to be the bearer of true religion and morality. The basis of the Covenant was the famous Ten Commandments (Decalogue or Decalogue), carved by Moses on two Tablets of the Covenant after forty days of retirement on Mount Sinai. These commandments contain the basic principles of God-given religion and morality. There also took place the religious and social organization of the people: the Tabernacle (the marching Temple) was built, by the will of the Most High the tribe of Levi (the Levites) was allocated to serve it, and from the tribe itself, the cohens were allocated - the descendants of Aaron, brother of Moses, called to carry out the priesthood itself.

After a year's stay at the sacred mountain, the people, numbering more than 600,000 people capable of bearing arms (which for the entire people will amount to more than 2,000,000 people), set off on a further journey to the Promised Land, that is, to Canaan.

Despite the fact that the goal of wandering - the land of Canaan, was established even when leaving Egypt, the people spend 40 years on the way as punishment for the fact that the Jews doubted their ability (and therefore the power of their guardian God) to seize the promised ( promised) land. The path of the Israelites through the wilderness was accompanied by both difficulties and calamities and divine miracles: the gift of manna from heaven, the appearance of water from the rock, and many others. The movement was slow, only after 40 years of wandering a new generation approached the borders of Canaan north of the Dead Sea, where they made their last stop on the banks of the Jordan. There, from the top of Mount Nebo, Moses looks over the future residence of the Jewish people and, having made the necessary orders and appointing an experienced warrior Joshua as his successor, dies without ever entering Canaan.

The biblical plot is not limited, however, only to the description of the event history. It is replete with both divine instructions and often meticulous descriptions of their fulfillment. Methods of offering sacrifices, forms of divine service are given in the books of Deuteronomy and Leviticus in close connection with moral norms and aesthetic views that form the main body of the commandments.

Chronology of Exodus

The traditional religious point of view is based on "430 years", which the Jews, according to Exodus 12:40, spent in Egypt since the arrival of the patriarch Jacob, and on the other hand, according to 1 Kings 6: 1, this event happened 480 years before the bookmarks of the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. It is generally accepted to attribute the beginning of the construction of this Temple to 960-970. BC e., which gives about 1445 BC. e. as the date of the historical Exodus. This date, however, is contradictory within the religious chronology itself, since the accession of Solomon was preceded by both the era of the Judges and the reign of his father, King David. Even only these two periods in the aggregate of years exceed the mentioned 480, even without taking into account either the years of the Jews' wanderings in the desert (40 years), or the reign of King Solomon himself.

On the other hand, using both late and early dating of Ancient Egyptian chronology, 1445 BC. e. falls on the reign of Thutmose III, who, according to archaeological data, was known for his campaigns of conquest in Canaan, which could not bring him such a quick dominion over a huge number of Jewish slaves.

And finally, the indicated date does not satisfy the results of archaeological excavations relating to the period of the conquest of Canaan by the Jews: excavations in Hazor showed a change in the material culture of its inhabitants from the Canaanite culture to the culture of ancient Jews dating back to 1250-1150. BC e .; in Lakhish, a similar transition dates back to 1150 BC. e .; in Megiddo - approx. 1145 BC e .;

In addition to religious historiography, a theory has been expressed that attributed the date of the Exodus to the time of the expulsion of the Hyksos from Egypt. Such conclusions were reached by both ancient historians (Manetho, Josephus Flavius), and some modern researchers-Egyptologists. Following this theory, the time of arrival of the patriarch Jacob in Egypt falls on the period of the Hyksos rule, approximately 1730 BC. e. and, subtracting from this date 400 years of Egyptian captivity, we get approx. 1350 BC e. the approximate year of the Exodus from Egypt. It is difficult, however, to admit that the Hyksos expelled from Egypt served as a prototype for the Jews mentioned in the Bible, if only because the former ruled Egypt for at least two centuries, while the Jews left Egypt in the status of just released slaves.

Those researchers who nevertheless present the Exodus as a real historical fact, attribute it to the time of the reign of Ramses II, that is, to the period between 1279 and 1212. BC e. (or between 1290 and 1224 BC according to another version of the ancient Egyptian chronology). Despite the fact that this dating is not very consistent with religious, many [source not specified 36 days] researchers argue that for such a significant event there is simply no other acceptable period in the known historiography.

Alternative versions

There are a significant number of alternative theories of the chronology of the Exodus, in varying degrees of agreement with both religious and modern archaeological points of view.

Volcanic theory

One of the possible explanations for the events described in the Bible, some consider the eruption of a volcano on the island of Santorini and the subsequent tsunami that reached the Nile Delta around 1600 BC. e. The tsunami is associated with unusual natural phenomena during the ten Egyptian executions and the cutting of the waters of the Red Sea during the passage of the sons of Israel through it.

The giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai is also considered by some authors as a manifestation of a volcanic eruption, the alleged place of such an eruption is often called Mount Alal Badr in the territory of modern Saudi Arabia. In that area there lived a tribe professing the faith in Yev (Yahweh).

According to the experiments of scientists, the "burning bush" may be a bush of acacia arabian growing on the slopes of volcanic craters. Experiments have shown that in the flame of a gas burner at temperatures above a thousand degrees, the burning of the branches of the bush is invisible. The bush is slowly charring, “burns but does not burn,” as described in the Bible. The bush could grow near an invisible source of flammable volcanic gases, and suddenly burst into flames, impressing the prophet Moses. Neither Egypt nor the Sinai Peninsula are volcanic zones, the nearest volcanoes are only in Saudi Arabia, specifically the Alal Badr volcano.

The Bible (Deut. 1: 2) speaks of 11 days' journey from Kadesh-Barnea (a place in the east of the Sinai Peninsula) to Horeb (Mount Sinai), which is approximately equal to 660 km - the distance to Alal Badr, the most powerful volcano, an eruption which could be seen from afar.

The Bible actually speaks directly (if we admit that Mount Sinai is a volcano) about a volcanic eruption, visible as a column of smoke during the day, and at night as a glow of fire; and about the journey of Moses and the Jews to the mountain of the Lord (whence the "hail of fire" fell from heaven to Egypt), which trembled under their feet, flamed and was in the clouds of clouds:

“And the Lord thundered and hail, and fire spread over the earth; and the Lord sent hail to the land of Egypt; and there was hail and fire between the hail, [hail] very strong, such as was not in all the land of Egypt since the time of its inhabitants. And the hail struck throughout all the land of Egypt everything that was in the field, from man to cattle, and the hail killed all the grass of the field, and smashed all the trees in the field ”(Ex. 9: 23-25)

“But the Lord walked before them by day in a pillar of cloud, showing them the way, and by night in a pillar of fire, shining on them, so that they could walk day and night. The cloudy pillar did not go away by day and the pillar of fire by night from the presence of the people "(Ex. 13: 21-22, Deut. 1:33)

“Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord descended on it in fire; and its smoke ascended like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently "(Ex.19: 18)

“And Moses went up the mountain, and a cloud covered the mountain, and the glory of the Lord overshadowed Mount Sinai; and a cloud covered her for six days "(Ex. 24: 15-16)

Drews and Khan's hypothesis

University of Colorado researchers Carl Drews and Weiking Khan suggested that strong winds could temporarily split Lake Manzala (likely the "Red Sea" of the Bible, often mistaken for the Red Sea in later Bible translations). Analysis of archaeological data, satellite imagery, and geographical maps allowed Drews and his colleagues to calculate with great accuracy what the depth of this reservoir was 3,000 years ago. The east wind, blowing at a speed of 100 km / h for 12 hours, could probably drive one part of the lake to the western shore, pushing the other part of the waters to the south, to the Nile. Such separation of waters would allow crossing the lake along a wide "passage" (3-4 km long and 5 km wide) with muddy shores formed at its bottom. The "passage" could hold out for about four hours, then the waters closed again. According to the researchers, in the Book of Exodus, which contains a description of this event (“And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea with a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters parted”), it is not about the Red Sea, but about the "sea of \u200b\u200breeds". Scientists believe that the Nile Delta was the scene of action.

Other scientists have come to similar conclusions in studies earlier.

Another group of scientists in research modeled and showed in an experiment on the ground that the "separation of waters" could happen due to strong winds at the site of the modern beach in the north of the Red Sea, where in the era of Moses the water level was 180 meters higher. At the same time, scientists scientifically substantiated and linked in a logical sequence "10 Egyptian Executions".

Connection with atonism

In 1939, in his work "Moses and Monotheism" Sigmund Freud linked the teachings of Moses with the religion adopted in Egypt during the reign of Pharaoh Akhenaten. This religion had features of monotheism. It was based on the worship of only one deity from the ancient Egyptian pantheon - the god Aton. Further, Freud suggests that after the failure of this religion in Egypt, one of Akhenaten's disciples made an attempt to unite another people under its auspices, having escaped with him from Egypt. This places the date of the Exodus immediately after the date of Akhenaten's death, that is, after 1358 BC. e. Freud's idea was supported by Joseph Campbell, and the modern Egyptologist Ahmet Osman even suggested that Moses and Akhenaten are one and the same person.

Yet most modern Egyptologists do not agree to attribute the period of Moses to the period following the abolition of Akhenaten's religious reforms.

Tablets of the Testament

Tablets of the Testament or Tablets of Testimony (from Hebrew לוּחוֹת הַבְּרִית, lukhot ha-brit) - two stone slabs on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed. Contents [remove]

Concluding the Covenant

According to the Pentateuch, the Tablets of the Covenant were given to Moses by God on Mount Sinai. The Ten Commandments (“... the instruction and the commandment that I wrote”) were carved on the slabs “on both sides, one and the other was written on them. And these tablets were the work of God, and the writings were the writings of God ”(Ex. 32: 15-16). Moses broke these tablets when he saw the people worshiping the golden calf (Ex. 32:19). Subsequently, Moses, at God's command, carved new tablets from the stone and ascended the mountain with them a second time (Exodus 34: 1-4). On these tablets, God wrote the same Ten Commandments for the second time (Deut. 10: 1-5). The Tablets of the Covenant are also called “tables of testimony” (Exodus 34:29), as they testify to the Covenant made by God with the people of Israel.

The conclusion of the Covenant with the Jewish people took place in three stages.

Moses climbed Mount Sinai, and God announced the first Ten Commandments to him. All the people saw thunders and flames, and the sound of a trumpet, and a steaming mountain; and when they saw it, the people retreated and stood afar off. And they said to Moses: Speak with us, and we will listen, but lest God speak to us, so that we do not die. And Moses said to the people: Do not be afraid; God came to test you and to have His fear in your face, so that you do not sin. And the people stood at a distance, and Moses entered the darkness where God is. (Ex. 20: 18-21)

Then Moses ascends the mountain a second time, where he receives many more instructions, in particular, a detailed description of how and from what the Ark of the Covenant should be made, in which the tablets should then be kept. And the Lord said to Moses: Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments that I have written for their teaching. And Moses got up with Jesus, his servant, and Moses went to the mountain of God, and said to the elders: stay here until we return to you; here is Aaron and Hor with you; whoever has business, let him come to them. And Moses went up the mountain, and a cloud covered the mountain, and the glory of the Lord overshadowed Mount Sinai; and the cloud covered her for six days, and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from the midst of the cloud. The sight of the glory of the Lord on the top of the mountain was before the eyes of the people of Israel, like a consuming fire. Moses stepped into the middle of the cloud and climbed the mountain; and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights (Ex. 24: 12-18)

Descending from the mountain, he found the people worshiping the golden calf, and broke the tablets. The Levites sided with Moses and killed everyone who promoted the calf idea.

After these incidents the Lord again turned to Moses: At that time the Lord said to me: Dry yourself two tablets of stone, similar to the first, and ascend to Me on the mountain, and make yourself a wooden ark; and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets, which you broke; and put them in the ark. And I made an ark of acacia wood, and hewed two stone tablets like the first, and went up the mountain. and these two tablets [were] in my hands. And He wrote on the tablets, as it was written before, the ten words which the Lord spoke to you in the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly, and the Lord gave them to me. And I turned, and went down from the mountain, and put the tablets in the ark, which I made, so that they should be there, as the Lord commanded me. (Deut 10: 1-5)

The transmission of the tablets is a landmark moment in the history of the people. It is believed that from this moment an alliance was concluded between God and the Jewish people. This event took place on 10 Tishrei according to the Jewish calendar. Since then, this day has been called the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) - the most sacred Jewish holiday.

History of the Tablets

The Tablets of the Covenant were kept in the Ark of the Covenant, which was in the Tabernacle. Subsequently, the Ark of the Covenant was installed by Solomon in the Jerusalem temple he built. According to the Talmudic tradition, the broken tablets were also kept in the Ark, and the children of Israel carried them with them, going to war. King Josiah (Yoshiyahu), foreseeing the destruction of the Temple, hid the Ark with the tablets to prevent their desecration by the hands of enemies.

Following Joseph, when he became the de facto ruler of Egypt, leaving only the highest symbols of power to Pharaoh. At the invitation of Joseph, his father Jacob went to Egypt with his entire family of 67 people.

After the Jews settled on rich soil, thanks to the influence of a highly developed culture and the favorable position of the tribe, akin to the country's first minister and benefactor, their numbers began to grow rapidly.

However, after the death of Joseph, with the change of Pharaoh, the attitude of the Egyptians towards the people who settled among them changed, the Israelites fell into slavery.

Jews were forced to carve huge chunks of granite and drag them to the construction site; dig and lay new canals, make bricks and knead clay and lime for buildings being erected, raise water from the Nile into ditches for irrigating fields, under the blows of sticks from cruel overseers, as the Pentateuch depicts:

"The Egyptians with cruelty forced the children of Israel to work and made their life bitter from hard work on clay and bricks and from all the work of the field" (Ex. 1: 13,14).

According to the traditional view, Egyptian slavery lasted 210 years.

The living conditions of the Israelites in the years leading up to the Exodus become extremely difficult. When Pharaoh saw that the measures he had taken were not able to slow down the growth of the young people, he was ordered, first in secret, and then openly, to kill the born boys from the tribe of the Israelites.

At this time, the future leader and liberator of the Jewish people, Moses, is born.

Preparation for the Exodus and the Exodus itself

Moses was miraculously saved from death, thanks to the fact that as a baby he was placed in a basket tarred by his mother Jochebed (Yocheved), which, through the waters of the Nile, falls into the hands of Pharaoh's daughter Batya.

Moses was raised in the royal court and received the best education possible at that time as the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter. Richly gifted by nature, he has not forgotten his origin from the oppressed people. He did not break off ties with him, but on the contrary, from the luxurious chambers of the Pharaoh's palace, he clearly saw the humiliation and slavery in which his people were.

One day, in a fit of resentment, Moses kills an Egyptian overseer who was cruelly punishing an Israelite slave. Moses buried the Egyptian in the sand, trying to hide the traces of his involuntary crime, but rumors about this spread, and he faced the death penalty. As a result, he was forced to flee Egypt to the mountainous, inaccessible Sinai Peninsula, to Midian, where he led a quiet shepherd's life for 40 years.

When the time comes, Moses receives a command from God to return to Egypt in order to bring his people out of captivity from slavery and put them in the service of God, who called Himself the name “Jehovah”, which means “I AM”.

Returning to Egypt already as a messenger and prophet of God, Moses in the name of God demands from Pharaoh to let his people go, demonstrating miracles designed to convince Pharaoh and his entourage of the divinity of his demand.

These miracles were called the ten executions of the Egyptians because each miracle demonstrated by Moses was accompanied by terrible calamities for the Egyptians. In honor of the last of these miracles, the Jewish holiday of Passover got its name (from פסח - passed).

According to the Pentateuch, the angel of death executed all the Egyptian firstborn and “passed” the houses of the Jews, which were marked with the blood of the sacrificial lamb.

The salvation of the Jewish firstborns marked the beginning of the Exodus from Egypt. Just a week after the Exodus, the Pharaoh's army overtook the Jews at, or the Red, Sea, where another miracle takes place: the waters of the sea parted before the Israelites and closed over the Pharaoh's army.

The wanderings of the Jews in the desert

Wandering in the wilderness following the Spirit of God, incarnate in a pillar of fire (column), the Israelites, seven weeks after the Exodus, approached Mount Sinai. At the foot of this mountain (identified by most researchers with the Sas-Safsafeh mountain, and by others with Serbal), during the terrible phenomena of nature, the final Covenant (agreement) was concluded between God and the Jews as the chosen people, destined henceforth to be the bearer of true religion and morality.

The basis of the Covenant was the famous (Decalogue or Decalogue), carved by Moses on two Tablets of the Covenant after forty days of retirement on Mount Sinai. These commandments contain the basic principles of God-given religion and morality.

There also took place the religious and social organization of the people: the Tabernacle (the marching Temple) was built, by the will of the Almighty (the Levites) it was allocated to serve it, and from the tribe itself, the Cohens were allocated - the descendants of Aaron, the brother of Moses, called to carry out the priesthood itself.

After a year's stay at the sacred mountain, the people, numbering more than 600 thousand people capable of carrying weapons (which for the whole people will be more than 2 million people), set off on a further journey to, that is, to Canaan.

Despite the fact that the goal of wandering - the land of Canaan, was established even when leaving Egypt, the people spend 40 years on the way as punishment for the fact that the Jews doubted their ability (and therefore the power of their guardian God) to seize the promised ( promised) land.

The path of the Israelites through the desert was accompanied by both difficulties and disasters, and divine miracles: the gift of manna from heaven, the appearance of water from the rock, and many others. The movement was slow, only after 40 years of wandering, a new generation approached the borders of Canaan to the north, where they made their last stop on the shore.

There, from the top of Mount Nebo, Moses looks at the future residence of the Jewish people and, having made the necessary orders and appointing an experienced warrior Joshua as his successor, dies without entering Canaan.

The biblical plot is not limited, however, only to the description of the event history. It is replete with both divine instructions and often meticulous descriptions of their fulfillment. Methods of offering sacrifices, forms of divine service are given in the books of Deuteronomy and Leviticus in close connection with moral norms and aesthetic views that form the main body of the commandments.

Chronology of Exodus

The traditional religious point of view is based on "430 years", which the Jews, according to Exodus 12:40, spent in Egypt since the arrival of the patriarch Jacob, and on the other hand, according to 1 Kings 6: 1, this event happened 480 years before the bookmarks of the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem.

It is generally accepted to attribute the beginning of the construction of this Temple to 960-970. BC e., which gives about 1445 BC. e. as the date of the historical Exodus.

This date, however, is contradictory within the religious chronology itself, since the accession of Solomon was preceded by both the reign of his father -. Even only these two periods in the aggregate of years exceed the mentioned 480, even without taking into account either the years of the Jews' wanderings in the desert (40 years), or the reign of King Solomon himself.

On the other hand, using both late and early dating of Ancient Egyptian chronology, 1445 BC. e. falls on the reign of Thutmose III, who, according to archaeological data, was known for his campaigns of conquest in Canaan, which could not bring him such a quick dominion over a huge number of Jewish slaves.

And finally, the specified date does not satisfy the results of archaeological excavations relating to the period of the conquest of Canaan by the Jews: excavations have shown a change in the material culture of its inhabitants from the Canaanite culture to the culture of the ancient Jews dating back to 1250-1150. BC e .; in Lakhish, a similar transition dates back to 1150 BC. e .; in Megiddo - approx. 1145 BC e .;

In addition to religious historiography, a theory has been expressed that attributed the date of the Exodus to the time of the expulsion of the Hyksos from Egypt. Such conclusions were reached by both ancient historians (Manetho,), and some modern researchers-Egyptologists.

Following this theory, the time of arrival of the patriarch Jacob in Egypt falls on the period of the Hyksos reign, approximately 1730 BC. e. and, subtracting from this date 400 years of Egyptian captivity, we get approx. 1350 BC e. the approximate year of the Exodus from Egypt. It is difficult, however, to admit that the Hyksos expelled from Egypt served as a prototype of the Jews mentioned in the Bible, if only because the former ruled Egypt for at least two centuries, while the Jews left Egypt in the status of just released slaves.

Those researchers who nevertheless present the Exodus as a real historical fact, attribute it to the time of the reign of Ramses II, that is, to the period between 1279 and 1212. BC e. (or between 1290 and 1224 BC according to another version of the ancient Egyptian chronology).

Despite the fact that this dating is not very consistent with the religious one, many researchers argue that for such a significant event there is simply no other acceptable time in the course of modern history.

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