The number of Egyptian executions sent by God. Egyptian plagues
So, the second biblical book - Exodus - describes the hardships of the existence of the Jewish people under the yoke of Pharaoh. And so the Lord appeared to Moses in the form of a burning bush (flaming thorn bush) and commanded him to free his people from slavery and lead them to the Promised Land. Moses, together with his brother Aaron, came to Pharaoh and demanded in the name of the Lord to release the Jews from Egypt, but Pharaoh, laughing at them, refused. It was then that the Lord brought down the Ten Plagues on Egypt one after another.
First, the water in the Nile turned to blood, the river became foul, and all the fish in it died out. But this did not impress the pharaoh. Then the Second Plague followed: the invasion of toads began. They "covered the land of Egypt", they climbed into the houses, into the beds of the Egyptians, into their ovens, into their food. Pharaoh was adamant. The Third Plague followed: the Egyptians and their livestock were attacked by countless clouds of midges. Pharaoh stood his ground. The turn of the Fourth Plague came: the houses of the Egyptians were filled with dog flies (according to the traditional interpretation, gadflies). They stung the Egyptians and their livestock, but, like the toads and midges before them, they avoided the Jews. This disaster also did not bring Pharaoh to his senses. The fifth plague was the death of the Egyptians' livestock, then the Sixth Plague - their bodies (including Pharaoh's) were covered with ulcers and boils. Pharaoh was ready to give up, but the Lord wanted him to let the Jews go not out of fear, but out of humility before Him, and Moses and Aaron were again refused. The seventh plague was a deadly hail of fire, the Eighth was an invasion of locusts that destroyed the entire harvest, the Ninth was impenetrable darkness that no fire could dispel (the same Egyptian Darkness). Pharaoh, in his last conversation with Moses after the Ninth Plague, allowed the Jews to leave Egypt, but ordered them to leave their livestock, which had survived all the disasters (the Egyptians had no livestock left). Moses refused, and the time came for the Tenth Plague, the most terrible.
The Lord commanded every Jewish family to slaughter a lamb, mark the entrances to their homes with its blood, and feast in their homes all night. At night, the angel of death descended to earth and walked across Egypt, killing the first child in each family. The pharaoh's heir was also killed. The Angel of Death bypassed the houses of the Jews, which were marked with the blood of sacrificial lambs. After this, the pharaoh surrendered - he allowed the Jews to leave Egypt, taking all their property. The Exodus itself began. And in memory of the feast during the Tenth Plague of Egypt, which preceded liberation from slavery, the holiday of Passover was established (from the word pesakh - to bypass, to pass).
There are many attempts to find a materialistic explanation for all these bloody events. And here is another version put forward by a group of scientists - climatologists and biologists from Germany. At the University of Heidelberg, at the Institute of Ecology of Aquatic Systems and Fisheries, at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, scientists studied traces of radioactive elements in stalagmites in Egyptian caves and, based on this, were able to form an idea of two natural disasters that coincided in time, which could give impetus to the birth of the legend of the Executions.
The capital of Egypt in the 13th century BC, to which the Exodus dates, was the city of Per-Ramses (House of Ramses) in the Nile Delta. This city, according to archaeologists, was abandoned by its inhabitants about three thousand years ago. German scholars believe that the same natural disasters that became the Plagues of Egypt in the Bible were the reason why the Egyptians abandoned Per-Ramses.
There were two main disasters that caused everything else: drought and a volcanic eruption. Researchers found that throughout almost the entire reign of Ramses II, Egypt experienced abundant rainfall, the Nile flowed regularly, providing good harvests, and the country prospered. However, in the last years of Ramses' reign there was a drought. The Nile began to shallow, and its flow slowed down. In the hot climate of Egypt, the consequences were inevitable: the water began to bloom. The algae Oscillatoria rubescens has multiplied in the river. This algae is also called "Burgundy blood" because it gives the water a dark red hue. This phenomenon can be observed in stagnant reservoirs even today. So came the First Plague of Egypt, in which “all the water in the river turned to blood, and the fish in the river died out, and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink water from the river.”
Subsequent disasters in Egypt, according to scientists, were a consequence of the first. Biologists know that in extreme situations that threaten mass extinction (for example, due to a sharp proliferation of toxic algae), tadpoles, due to a hormonal surge, can develop into adult toads at an accelerated pace. Such an event occurred in Egypt more than three thousand years ago. This whole mass of born toads splashed out like an avalanche from the Nile, which had become unsuitable for life, in search of places where they could hide from the heat.
There were no such places, and the toads began to die en masse from lack of food and the scorching sun. Their rotting corpses became food for insects, which, accordingly, multiplied rapidly. Insects, in addition to annoying people with their bites, are the main carriers of infectious diseases. So, after the midges came an epidemic and epizootic, which led to a sharp increase in mortality both among people and the death of livestock.
It appears that the cause of Executions One through Six was an unusual drought. What about the rest - how to explain the fiery hail, the locust invasion and the Egyptian Darkness? It turns out that there was once a volcano in the Aegean Sea, on the Santorini archipelago. Its eruption in the middle of the 2nd millennium BC gave rise to many ancient myths and legends of the peoples of the Mediterranean. In particular, it is believed that the death of the civilization of the Cyclades islands as a result of the destructive eruption of the Santorini volcano and earthquake became the primary source of the legend of Atlantis. Don't you think that the Rain of Fire and the Egyptian Darkness are very similar to the consequences of a major volcanic eruption, when clouds of ash cover the sky and fall to the ground? As a result of the formation of the same clouds, weather anomalies could also occur, such as an increase in rainfall, which led to extreme reproduction and migration of locusts.
So, all the Ten Plagues of Egypt receive a completely scientific explanation.
Egyptian plagues- miraculous actions that amazed Egypt before the exodus of the Jews (Ex. . 7
, 14-11, 10. 12
, 29-32). The Bible names ten such plagues, namely:
1) turning water into blood in the Nile and in all reservoirs of Egypt ( 7
, 14-25);
2) the removal of frogs that covered the entire land of Egypt ( 8
, 1-14);
3) the appearance of “kinnim” (פום LXX σκνιφες) - mosquitoes (according to Philo, Origen and some recent studies) or lice (φθτεϊρες, pediculi according to Josephus and the testimony of the Samaritan, Syrian and Arab Pentateuch, Targum Onkelos);
4) the appearance of many dog flies (צר ב, LXX κυνόμνια), the bite of which causes various diseases ( 8
, 20-32);
5) the message of pestilence on livestock ( 9
, 1-6);
6) diseases - inflammations and abscesses ( 9
, 8-11);
7) lightning and hail, which destroyed everything that was in the field - from people to cattle ( 9
, 12-26);
8) an invasion of locusts that destroyed the vegetation that survived the hail ( 10
, 1-15);
9) three days of darkness that covered the land of Egypt ( 10
, 21-23), and
10) the destruction of the firstborn of Egypt - from the firstborn of Pharaoh to the firstborn of the last of the slaves ( 12
, 29-32).
During these executions one can notice some consistency in terms of increasing strength and effect.
The first plagues - turning water into blood, sending frogs and scnips - did not bring significant harm to the Egyptians and, mainly, warned the pharaoh from further danger. In the next series of executions (3-6), the destructive nature appeared more decisively, and these executions affected only the Egyptians, bypassing the land of Hessem. Further executions dealt a heavy blow to the well-being of Egypt, and terrible phenomena, testifying to the wrath of God, reached stunning proportions. Finally, in the last plague, the power of Jehovah, the God of Israel, was revealed with such force that Pharaoh’s stubbornness was finally broken and the liberation of the Jews from slavery was achieved.
The main feature of the Egyptian plagues that preceded the exodus is that they were mostly associated with natural phenomena characteristic of the Nile Valley, determined by the climate and nature of this country. Thus, the first plague - the transformation of Nile water into blood - is an analogy to the natural, annually repeated phenomenon of coloring Nile water during a flood. The second plague - the message of the toads - also recalls the annual appearance in Egypt of many frogs, breeding due to soil moisture from the river flood. Equally, the third and fourth plagues can be connected with the abundance - in the East in general and in Egypt in particular - of all kinds of insects, the fifth - with epizootics that are often repeated here, etc. But, despite the similarity with the usual phenomena characteristic of Egypt , the executions of the Exodus, as can be seen from the biblical narrative, differed significantly from them. This difference, first of all, consisted in the fact that the executions began and ended at the word of Moses or at the wave of his rod at predetermined moments, and that the region of Egypt where the Jews lived was excluded from their sphere of action. A further difference between executions and ordinary natural phenomena in Egypt was the extraordinary, special force with which natural factors acted in executions. Thus, the first plague - the transformation of the Nile water into blood - represented some analogy to the annual phenomenon of the coloring of the Nile during the flood. But the event described in the Bible, as can be seen from the narrative of the book of Exodus, differed from the annual coloring of the Nile in the following ways: 1) it occurred, it should be thought, not during the flood of the Nile, when natural coloring of the water occurs (cf. Exod. 9 , 31-32; 7, 15); 2) the water of the Nile during the execution not only became colored, but, according to the interpretation of the blj. Theodoret (Question on the book Ex. XIX Russian translation of the Works, part 26, p. 117), Ephraim the Syrian (Russian translation of the Works of the Holy Fathers, vol. 22, 421) and Cyril of Alexandria (Comment, in Joan. VI, 53), turned into blood and therefore began to have a destructive effect, as a result of which all the fish died out; 3) finally, the transformation of water into blood extended not only to the Nile River, but also to all reservoirs of water in the land of Egypt. The biblical narrative notes a similar extreme increase in natural factors in the second plague. The difference between this execution and the usual appearance of toads in the Nile Valley after the end of the river flood was that the toads, at the wave of Aaron’s rod, appeared in huge numbers, rushed, contrary to their natural way of life, into houses, on people, on household utensils and, then, instantly died out, according to the word of Moses. In general, while similar to natural phenomena, Egyptian executions at the same time contained something beyond these phenomena and were supernatural, miraculous actions. True, in view of these analogies, representatives of negative criticism tend to consider the supernatural element in the biblical narrative of executions to be a later decoration and fabrication. But it is much more fair, together with bibliologists and apologists, to see this similarity between the miraculous actions that preceded the exodus from Egypt and the natural phenomena characteristic of the Nile Valley as proof of the antiquity and reliability of the biblical account of the executions. If this story, as representatives of negative criticism believe, had been invented in a later time, then, without a doubt, the writer would have tried to tear his stories away from natural soil, would have invented such actions that have no analogies in the natural phenomena of Egypt, so that all the more vividly expose the miraculous nature of these actions.
The fact that the instrument of divine punishment in the Egyptian executions was the natural phenomena of the Egyptian country can be explained by the purpose of the executions to reveal to Pharaoh the power of Jehovah, the God of Israel, to crush the stubbornness of Pharaoh and induce him to release the Jews. But the power of Jehovah could appear most clearly for the Egyptians precisely in those disasters that were brought about by the hand of Moses. These disasters revealed that Jehovah commands all the forces of nature, that all the sources of life of Egypt and its well-being are in His power. In addition, the executions of the exodus had the meaning of a judgment against all the gods of Egypt (Exod. 12 , 12: “And I will execute judgment on all the gods of Egypt”). By striking Egypt with grave disasters, Jehovah thereby proved his insignificance Egyptian gods, whom the people considered the source of their prosperity. Since the Nile was one of the main deities revered throughout Egypt, and was deified under the name of Osiris (Usiri) or, later, Serapis, then obviously the defeat of the Nile water was not only a punishment for the people, but also a humiliation for the deity. In a similar way, the extermination and destruction of toads by the word of Moses served as proof of the powerlessness of the goddess Heket, revered by the Egyptians, whose symbol and personification was the toad; the sending of a pestilence to livestock was a blow to the cult of animals that dominated in Egypt, and especially the cult of the apis; The three-day darkness meant for the Egyptians the victory of Moses over Ra, the supreme deity of Egypt, the deity of the sun, and over the entire host of Egyptian gods, who represented the personification of various moments in the movement of the sun.
In general, in Egyptian plagues everything major deities Egypt were called to judgment by the Almighty God of Israel and were smitten by His right hand. As a result, the executions could have an impact not only on the Egyptians, but also on the Jews. They could warn the latter against being carried away by pagan cults and strengthen their fathers in the faith, which was especially important for the Jewish people before the start of a new free life.
Literature
a) Russian:
†Prof. A. P. Lopukhin, Biblical History v. 1.
G. Vlastov, Holy Chronicle, II, St. Petersburg. 1878.
M. I. Savvaitsky, Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, St. Petersburg. 1889 (master's thesis, in which see detailed bibliography),
† A. P. Lopukhin, Explanatory Bible vol. I, St. Petersburg. 1904.
b) Foreign:
Köhler, Lehrbuch Bibl. Geschichte, 1875,
I-te Hälf. Vigouroux. La Bible et les découvert, modern., 1882.
See also Encyclopedias Hastings"a Hauck'a, Smith"a, Gheync and etc.
* Vladimir Petrovich Rybinsky,
Master of Divinity, Professor Extraordinary and
inspector of the Kyiv Theological Academy.
Text source: Orthodox theological encyclopedia. Volume 7, column. 831. Petrograd edition. Supplement to the spiritual magazine "Wanderer" for 1906. Modern spelling.
Easter is a word familiar to most! On this day, Christ is always remembered and instead of the usual “Hello,” we hear: “Christ is risen!” And in response, people who greet their acquaintances in a similar way want to hear: “Truly he is risen!”
What do we know about Easter?
This is a “holiday” of Easter cakes, painted and painted, scratched and carved eggs.
Many people also associate Easter with the veneration of deceased loved ones, for whom on Easter or on the dates closest to this day they need to visit the cemetery...
But what exactly is Easter and how should we feel about it?
To understand the importance of Easter and whether it should be celebrated, we need to do a little research in the Bible.
What is the name of the Lord?
In the Synodal Translation of the Bible we read in the Old Testament, in the book of Exodus, in the 6th chapter, 3 text: “I appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob with the name “God Almighty,” but with My name “Lord” * I did not reveal myself to them.” . In the footnote we read what the translators meant by the word Lord. It states that wherever the Lord appears in the Bible, the name *Jehovah should appear!
The Lord is the master. But Our Lord, God, has a name.
Thus, in the Synodal Translation of the Bible, published in 1876 - the first and only Russian translation with recognized status in the Russian Orthodox Church, the name "Jehovah" appears nine times - all in the Old Testament: in the book of Genesis, chapter 22, chapter 14 text; in the book of Exodus, 3rd chapter, 14th text; Chapter 6, text 3 (in the footnote to the word “Lord”); 15th chapter, 3rd text; 17th chapter, 15th text; 33rd chapter, 19th text; 34th chapter, 5th text; in the book of Judges, 6th chapter, 24th text; in the book of the prophet Hosea, chapter 12, text 5.
In the earlier translation by the Orthodox Church of Archimandrite Macarius, the name “Jehovah” is used much more often (more than 3000 times). In turn, Archimandrite Macarius followed the traditions of the professor of Hebrew Gerasim Petrovich Pavsky, who translated almost all 39 books of the Old Testament and also used the name Jehovah.
Also, one of the largest Russian Orthodox theologians of the 19th century, Metropolitan Philaret (Drozdov), using the Jewish Masoretic text, translated the biblical book of Genesis, in which he consistently used the name “Jehovah” (Jehovah) in verses where the Tetragrammaton is found - the name of God in Hebrew.
In the New Testament the name Jehovah should appear where the writers quoted from the Old Testament. For example, the Bible, New Testament, Gospel of Matthew, chapter 22, text 44 quotes words from the Old Testament, from Psalm, chapter 109, text 1: “The Lord said to my Lord, Sit on my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool. Yours."
Two Lords - Jehovah (Lord) said to Jesus Christ (Lord - appointed King): sit on right hand from me until the time when I make your enemies your footstool...
The Israelites of Jesus' time undoubtedly knew the name of God Jehovah and used it both in worship and in daily life.
Why is it so important to use the name of God Jehovah in worship, the Old Testament prophet Micah points out. In Micah, 4th chapter, 5th text says: “For all the nations walk, every one in the name of his god; but we will walk in the name of Jehovah (the Lord) our God forever and ever.”
Who is Jehovah?
“WHO is the Lord Jehovah?” This question was asked 3,500 years ago by the proud Pharaoh, king of Egypt. The apparent disdain prompted him to add: “I do not know the Lord Jehovah.” At that moment, two men stood before Pharaoh who knew who Jehovah was. These were two siblings - Moses and Aaron, originally from the Israeli tribe of Levi. Jehovah sent them to demand that the Egyptian ruler release the Israelites into the desert to hold a religious holiday there.
“After this Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh and said to him, Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Let My people go, that they may celebrate a feast for Me in the wilderness.
2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice and let the children of Israel go?” I do not know the Lord, and I will not let Israel go” - Bible, Old Testament, book of Exodus, chapter 5, texts 1 and 2.
Pharaoh did not want an answer to his question. Under his authority, the priests promoted the worship of hundreds of false gods. Even Pharaoh himself was considered God! According to Egyptian mythology, he was the son of Ra, the sun god, and the incarnation of the god Horus, depicted with the head of a falcon. The pharaoh was addressed by titles such as "mighty god" and "eternal god." Therefore, it is not surprising that he contemptuously asked: “Who is the Lord [Jehovah, NM], that I should obey His voice?”
Moses and Aaron did not have to answer this question. Pharaoh knew that Jehovah was the God worshiped by the Israelites who were then suffering under Egyptian slavery. But Pharaoh and all of Egypt soon learned that Jehovah was the true God. Today also, Jehovah will make his name and Godhead known to everyone on earth.
“And I will sanctify My great name, which is dishonored among the nations, among whom you have dishonored it, and the nations will know that I am Jehovah (the Lord), says Jehovah (the Lord) God, when I will show My holiness to you before their eyes” - Bible, Old Testament , book of the prophet Ezekiel, chapter 36, text 23.
It will therefore be helpful for us to discuss how Jehovah God exalted his name in ancient Egypt.
The “10 Plagues of Egypt,” which are described on the pages of Holy Scripture - the Bible, will help us understand what really happened. Please check the Scriptures in your Bibles, and you will be able to follow and understand this grandiose drama and understand the meaning of what was happening...
Standing above the Egyptian gods
When Pharaoh defiantly asked who Jehovah was, he did not expect the consequences he experienced. The answer came from Jehovah himself, who brought ten plagues on Egypt. These executions were not just misfortunes that befell the state. TEN PLEAGUES - there were blows to the GODS of Egypt.
The executions clearly demonstrated the clear superiority of Jehovah over the Egyptian gods. This is how the Creator Himself expressed what happened next: “I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am Jehovah." Moses described the consequences of this action as follows: “the Lord Jehovah executed judgment on their gods” - the Bible, the Old Testament, the book of Exodus, chapter 12, text 12 and the book of Numbers, chapter 33, text 4.
First execution
Imagine the noise that was made when Jehovah turned the Nile River and all the waters of Egypt into blood! Through this miracle, Pharaoh and his people learned that Jehovah was superior to Hapi, the god of the Nile River. The death of the fish in the Nile was also a blow to the Egyptian religion, since certain types of fish were worshiped in Egypt.
“And the Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron your brother, Take your staff in your hand, and stretch out your hand over the waters of the Egyptians: over their rivers, over their streams, over their lakes, and over every receptacle of their waters; and they will turn into blood, and There will be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in wooden and stone vessels.
And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord commanded them. And Aaron lifted up his rod and struck the water of the river before the eyes of Pharaoh and before the eyes of his servants, and all the water in the river turned to blood, and the fish in the river died out, and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink the water from the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt” - Bible, Old Testament, book of Exodus, chapter 7, text 19 to 21.
Second execution
Then Jehovah smote Egypt with frogs. This discredited Egyptian goddess Heket, embodied in a frog.
“And the Lord said to Moses: Tell Aaron [your brother], stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the streams and over the lakes, and bring out the frogs in the land of Egypt.
Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt [and brought out frogs]; and frogs came out and covered the land of Egypt.
The [Egyptian] wise men did the same with their spells and brought frogs to the land of Egypt.
And Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said: Pray [for me] to the Lord, that He may remove the frogs from me and from my people, and I will let the people of Israel sacrifice to the Lord.
Moses said to Pharaoh: Appoint me yourself when to pray for you, for your servants and for your people, so that the frogs disappear from you [your people] from your houses, and remain only in the river.
He said: tomorrow. Moses answered: It will be done according to your word, so that you may know that there is none like the Lord our God; and the frogs shall be removed from you, from your houses and from your fields, and from your servants and from your people; only in the river will they remain.
Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried out to the Lord about the frogs that He had brought against Pharaoh.
And the Lord did according to the word of Moses: the frogs died out in the houses, in the courtyards and in their fields; and they gathered them into heaps, and the earth stank” - Bible, Old Testament, book of Exodus, chapter 8, texts 5 to 14.
It must be admitted that the powers of the Magi (Egyptian magicians who use the power of evil spiritual personalities - Satan and his demons) were at the same level until the next execution. The Magi could repeat what Moses and Aaron did. But the third plague was beyond the power of the fans of the pagan gods.
Third plague
The third plague confused the Magi, who were unable to repeat Jehovah’s miracle of turning dust into midges. “This is the finger of God!” - they exclaimed. The Egyptian god Thoth, who was credited with inventing the art of magic, could not help these charlatans.
Pharaoh learned more and more about who Jehovah was. Jehovah was the God who not only announced his intentions through Moses, but then carried them out by bringing supernatural plagues upon the Egyptians. Jehovah could also, according to his will, either begin or stop the blows. Knowing this, however, did not motivate Pharaoh to submit to Jehovah. On the contrary, the arrogant ruler of Egypt stubbornly continued to resist Jehovah.
“And the Lord said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Stretch out your staff with your hand and strike the dust of the ground, and there will be gnats on the people and on the cattle and on Pharaoh and in his house and on his servants; all the dust of the ground will become gnats throughout all the land of Egypt.
So they did: Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod and struck the dust of the ground, and midges appeared on people and on cattle. All the dust of the earth became midges throughout the whole land of Egypt.
The Magi also tried to produce midges with their spells, but they could not. And there were midges on people and livestock.
And the wise men said to Pharaoh: This is the finger of God. But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not listen to them, as the Lord had spoken” - Bible, Old Testament, book of Exodus, chapter 8, texts 16 to 19.
Fourth Plague
Dog flies - the fourth plague - had a blighting effect on the earth, infesting houses and probably swarming in the air, which was the object of worship, personified in the god Shu and in Isis, the sky goddess. The Hebrew word for this insect is translated as horsefly, dog fly, and beetle (New World Translation, Young King's Bible). If it was a sacred scarab, then the Egyptians were amazed by the insects, which they considered sacred, and it was impossible for people to walk without crushing them under their feet. At the very least, this execution taught Pharaoh something new about Jehovah. The Egyptian gods could not save their worshipers from horse flies, but Jehovah protected his people. This and all subsequent plagues affected the Egyptians, but did not affect the Israelites.
“And the Lord said to Moses, “Rise early tomorrow and appear before Pharaoh. Behold, he will go to the water, and you say to him: Thus says the Lord: Let My people go, so that they may serve Me in the wilderness; But if you do not let My people go, then behold, I will send swarms of flies on you, and on your servants, and on your people, and on your houses, and the houses of the Egyptians will be filled with swarms of flies, and the very land where they live; And in that day I will separate the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, and there will be no swarms of flies there, so that you may know that I am the Lord God in the midst of all the earth. I will make a division between My people and your people. Tomorrow there will be this sign on earth.
And so the Lord did: a multitude of dog flies flew into the house of Pharaoh, and into the houses of his servants, and into all the land of Egypt: the land perished from the dog flies" - Bible, Old Testament, book of Exodus, 8th chapter, from 20th to 24th texts.
Fifth Plague
The fifth plague was the plague that struck the Egyptian livestock. This blow disgraced Hathor, Apis and Nut, the goddess of the sky with the body of a cow.
“And the Lord said to Moses, Go to Pharaoh and say to him, Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: Let My people go, that they may serve Me; For if you do not want to let My people go and still hold on to them, behold, the hand of the Lord will be on your livestock, which is in the field, on horses, on donkeys, on camels, on oxen and sheep: there will be a very serious pestilence; And the Lord will divide at that time between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt, and of all the cattle of the children of Israel nothing shall die.
And the Lord appointed a time, saying: Tomorrow the Lord will do this in this land.
And the Lord did this the next day, and all the cattle of Egypt died; and none of the livestock of the children of Israel died.
Pharaoh sent to find out, and behold, none of the livestock of the children of Israel died. But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he did not let the people go” - Bible, Old Testament, book of Exodus, chapter 9, text 1 to 7.
Sixth plague
The sixth plague was boils on people and animals, which humiliated the gods Thoth, Isis and Ptah, to whom healing powers were falsely attributed.
“And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: Take a handful of ashes from the furnace, and let Moses throw them towards heaven in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants; and dust will rise throughout all the land of Egypt, and there will be inflammation with boils on people and livestock throughout all the land of Egypt.
They took the ashes from the oven and appeared before the Pharaoh. Moses threw it to heaven, and there was inflammation with boils on people and on livestock.
And the wise men could not stand before Moses because of the inflammation, because the inflammation was on the wise men and on all the Egyptians” - Bible, Old Testament, book of Exodus, chapter 9, texts 8 to 11.
Seventh Plague
The seventh plague was great hail with fire sparkling in the midst of the hailstones. This blow disgraced the god Reshpa, who was considered the master of lightning, and Thoth, who allegedly controlled rain and thunder.
“And the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand to heaven, and hail will fall on all the land of Egypt, on the people, on the cattle, and on all the grass of the field in the land of Egypt.
And Moses stretched out his rod to heaven, and the Lord caused thunder and hail, and fire poured over the earth; and the Lord sent hail upon [all] the land of Egypt; and there was hail and fire between the hail, [the hail] very great, such as had not been seen in all the land of Egypt since the time of its inhabitants.
And the hail destroyed all the land of Egypt, everything that was in the field, from man to cattle, and the hail destroyed all the grass of the field, and broke all the trees in the field; only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel lived, there was no hail” -Bible, Old Testament, book of Exodus, chapter 9, texts 22 to 26.
Eighth Plague
The eighth blow - an invasion of locusts - showed the superiority of Jehovah over the god of fertility Min, who was supposedly considered the guardian of the harvest.
“Then the Lord said to Moses: Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt, and let the locusts attack the land of Egypt and eat all the grass of the earth and all the fruit of the trees, everything that was left from the hail.
And Moses stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind over the land, which continued all that day and all night. Morning came and the east wind brought down the locusts.
And the locusts fell upon all the land of Egypt and lay throughout the whole land of Egypt in great multitudes: there had never been such locusts before, and there will never be such after this; it covered the face of the whole earth, so that the earth was not visible, and it ate up all the grass of the earth and all the fruit of the trees that remained from the hail, and there was no greenness left on the trees or on the grass of the field in all the land of Egypt.” - Bible, Old Testament , book of Exodus, chapter 10, text 12 to 15.
Ninth Plague
The ninth blow - a three-day darkness over Egypt - poured contempt on such Egyptian gods as the sun god Ra and Horus.
“And the Lord said to Moses: Stretch out your hand to heaven, and there will be darkness in the land of Egypt, even tangible darkness.
Moses stretched out his hand to heaven, and there was thick darkness throughout all the land of Egypt for three days; they did not see each other, and no one rose from his place for three days; and all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings” - Bible, Old Testament, book of Exodus, chapter 10, texts 21 to 23.
Tenth Plague
Despite nine devastating plagues, Pharaoh still refused to let the Israelites go. His hardness of heart and arrogance cost Egypt dearly when God brought the tenth and final plague—the death of the firstborn of men and the firstborn of livestock. Even the firstborn of the pharaoh died, although he was considered a god. So Jehovah, the Living God, Creator of Heaven and Earth, “executed judgment on all the (false) gods of Egypt” - Bible, Old Testament, book of Exodus, 12th chapter, 12th and 29th texts.
Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and said to them: “Arise, come out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel, and go and serve the Lord, as you have said; Take both your flocks and your herds, as you said; and go and bless me” - Bible, book of Exodus, 12th chapter, 31st and 32nd texts.
But before the 10th plague, God warned the Israelites that they needed to do something to be saved. Jehovah God Himself protected the Israelites from all 9 previous plagues. Now they needed to do something so that the 10th plague would not befall them along with the Egyptians. Namely, to celebrate the Passover of the Lord! It was necessary to take a one-year-old lamb, bake it over a fire and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. It was necessary to take the blood of this lamb and anoint the doorposts and lintel so that the angel of God, passing by, would see the blood marks in the above places, he would pass by without hitting the firstborn of this house. The Hebrew word "Pesach", transliterated into Russian as "Easter" - means "to pass by". Exactly how this should have been done is described in the Bible, in the Old Testament, in the book of Exodus, chapter 12: “Say to all the congregation of the [sons of] Israel: on the tenth day of this month, let each one take for himself one lamb, according to families, a lamb for the family; and if the family is so small that it will not eat the lamb, then let it take from its neighbor closest to its house, according to the number of souls: according to how much each one eats, pay for the lamb.
Your lamb must be without blemish, male, and one year old; take it from the sheep or from the goats, and let it be kept with you until the fourteenth day of this month: then let all the congregation of the congregation of Israel slaughter it in the evening, and let them take some of its blood and put it on both the doorposts and on the lintel of the doors in the houses where they will eat it; let them eat his meat this very night, baked on the fire; let them eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs; Do not eat it half-baked, or boiled in water, but eat it baked over fire, the head with legs and entrails; Do not leave it until the morning, and do not break its bones, but what remains of it until the morning, burn it in the fire.
So eat it this way: let your loins be girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staffs in your hands, and eat it with haste: this is the Passover of the Lord.”
What happened next?
Savior of his people
Pharaoh, dismayed by what had happened, released the Israelites and they set off, but soon it seemed to Pharaoh that they were wandering aimlessly in the desert. It suddenly seemed to him that everything that happened was a coincidence. And he - " supreme god"Egypt - misses the chance to take revenge on the Israelis, as it seemed to him, skillfully taking advantage of the circumstances. So he and his servants said, “What have we done? Why did they let the Israelites go so they wouldn’t work for us?” - Bible, Old Testament, book of Exodus, chapter 14, texts 3 to 5.
In addition, the loss of the slave people was a heavy economic blow to Egypt.
Pharaoh mobilized his army and pursued Israel all the way to Pi-Hahiroth.
“Pharaoh yoked his chariot and took his people with him; and he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and the captains over them all.
And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh the king of Egypt and his servants, and he pursued the children of Israel; and the children of Israel walked under a high hand.
And the Egyptians pursued them, and all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and the horsemen, and all his army, and overtook them encamped by the sea, near Pi-Hahiroth in front of Baal-zephon" - Bible, Old Testament, book of Exodus, chapter 14 , from 6th to 9th texts.
Militarily, the situation seemed advantageous to the Egyptians because the Israelis were caught between the sea and the mountains. But Jehovah, in order to protect the Israelites, formed a cloud between them and the Egyptians. For the Egyptian side it 'was cloud and darkness', which prevented them from attacking the Israelites. To the other side—to the Israelites—the cloud was a light that ‘illuminated the night’.
“Pharaoh drew near, and the children of Israel looked back, and behold, the Egyptians were coming after them: and they were exceedingly afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord, and said to Moses, Are there no graves in Egypt, because thou hast brought us to die in the wilderness? What did you do to us when you brought us out of Egypt?
Isn’t this what we told you in Egypt, saying: leave us, let us work for the Egyptians? For it is better for us to be slaves to the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.
But Moses said to the people: Do not be afraid, stand still - and you will see the salvation of the Lord, which He will do for you today, for the Egyptians whom you see now, you will see no more forever; The Lord will fight for you, and you rest assured.
And the Lord said to Moses: Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go, and lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it, and the children of Israel will pass through the sea on dry land. But I will harden the heart of Pharaoh and all the Egyptians, and they will follow them; And I will show My glory on Pharaoh and on all his army, on his chariots and on his horsemen; and all the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord Jehovah, when I show my glory on Pharaoh, on his chariots, and on his horsemen. And the angel of God, who walked before the camp of the children of Israel, moved and went behind them; The pillar of cloud also moved from before them and stood behind them; and he entered into the midst between the camp of Egypt and between the camp of the children of Israel, and was a cloud and darkness for some and illuminated the night for others, and the one did not come close to the other all the night" - Bible, Old Testament, book of Exodus, chapter 14, from 10th to 20th texts.
The Egyptians were determined to plunder and destroy, but the cloud prevented them from doing so.
“He said: I will pursue, overtake, and divide the spoils; My soul will be satisfied with them, I will draw my sword, my hand will destroy them” - Bible, Old Testament, book of Exodus 15th chapter, 9th text.
When it dissipated - lo and behold! The waters of the Red Sea parted, and the Israelites crossed it to the other side - dry land! Pharaoh and his army rushed noisily along the seabed, determined to capture and rob their former slaves. But the arrogant ruler of Egypt underestimated the God of the Jews. Jehovah confused the Egyptians by causing their chariot wheels to fall off.
“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.
And the children of Israel went up into the midst of the sea on dry land: and the waters were a wall to them on the right hand and on the left.
The Egyptians pursued, and all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots and his horsemen followed them into the middle of the sea.
And in the morning watch the Lord looked upon the camp of the Egyptians from a pillar of fire and cloud and threw the camp of the Egyptians into confusion; and he took away the wheels of their chariots, so that they could hardly draw them. And the Egyptians said: Let us flee from the Israelites, because the Lord will fight for them against the Egyptians” - Bible, Old Testament, book of Exodus, 14th chapter, 21st to 25th texts.
“Let us flee from the Israelites, because Jehovah will fight for them against the Egyptians!” - they shouted strong men Egyptian. Pharaoh and his warriors realized this too late. Safe on the other side of the sea, Moses stretched out his hand to the sea, and the waters returned to their original place, drowning Pharaoh and his army.
“And the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the Israelites, for the Lord will fight for them against the Egyptians.
And the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the sea, and let the waters turn on the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen.
And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and by morning the water returned to its place; and the Egyptians ran towards [the water]. Thus the Lord drowned the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.
And the water returned and covered the chariots and horsemen of all the army of Pharaoh, who went into the sea after them; not one of them remained” - Bible, Old Testament, book of Exodus, chapter 14, texts 25b to 28.
Lessons learned from the experience
So, who is Jehovah? The proud pharaoh learned the answer to this question. The events that took place in Egypt clearly showed that Jehovah is the only true God, completely different from the “idols” of the nations.—Psalm 95:4, 5. By his awe-inspiring power, Jehovah “created the heavens and the earth.” He is also the Great Deliverer, the One who ‘brought up His people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, and with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror’ (Jeremiah 32:17–21). How convincingly this proved that Jehovah can protect his people!
Pharaoh learned these lessons the hard way. The last lesson actually cost him his life (Psalm 136:1, 15). He would have been much wiser if he had shown humility when he asked, “Who is Jehovah?” That ruler could then act on the answer given. Fortunately, today many humble people I will find out who Jehovah is. Reflection on what kind of personality He has, what His requirements for us will increase your love and respect for the One Whose name is Jehovah!
“And the Lord said to Moses: I will make all My glory known before you, and I will proclaim the name of Jehovah before you, and I will have mercy on whomever I show mercy, and I will have mercy on whomever I have compassion.” - Bible, Old Testament, book of Exodus, chapter 33, text 19.
Let's return to the Lord's Easter
From the Bible we learn when Easter should have been celebrated. It was the 14th day of the first month.
“On the tenth day of this month they shall each take for themselves one lamb according to their families, one lamb per family; and if the family is so small that it will not eat the lamb, then let it take from its neighbor closest to its house, according to the number of souls: according to how much each one eats, pay for the lamb.
Your lamb must be without blemish, male, and one year old; take it from the sheep or from the goats, and let it be kept with you until the fourteenth day of this month” - Bible, Old Testament, Exodus 12th chapter, texts 3b to 6a.
So, it was necessary to take a lamb - one year old, without blemishes, male.
Further, the biblical book of Exodus indicates further actions: “then let the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel slaughter it in the evening, and let them take some of its blood and anoint it on both the doorposts and on the lintel of the doors of the houses where they will eat it; let them eat his meat this very night, baked on the fire; let them eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs; Do not eat it half-baked, or boiled in water, but eat it baked over fire, the head with legs and entrails; do not leave it until the morning [and do not crush its bones], but what remains of it until the morning you burn in the fire.”
So eat it this way: let your loins be girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staffs in your hands, and eat it with haste: this is the Passover of the Lord." Exodus, chapter 12, 6-b to 11 texts.
We see that this lamb had to be slaughtered, baked over a fire and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, and the rest of it burned in the fire. It is not unimportant to smear blood on the crossbar and doorposts.
FAITH in this ritual established by God, in the BLOOD and BODY of the lamb, saved people's lives.
God commanded that the Israelites repeat this ritual every year: “And this day shall be a memorial for you, and you shall celebrate this feast of the Lord throughout [all] your generations; celebrate it as an everlasting institution”; “Fulfill this statute at the appointed time, from year to year” - Bible, Old Testament, book of Exodus, 12th chapter, 14th text and 13th chapter, 10th text.
The Israelites followed precisely this ritual, according to the custom given by God.
However, we will not notice here any rich Easter cake baked from leavened dough, as they do here, no eggs, no visits to the graves of deceased loved ones...
This feast was prophetic and led us to believe that we would be saved through faith in the blood and body of the lamb. Who is this lamb?
This is what John the Baptist said about Jesus Christ: “The next day John saw Jesus coming to him and said: Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” - Bible, New Testament, Gospel of John, 1st chapter, 29 text.
“And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as if slain” - Bible, New Testament, Revelation of John the Theologian, 14th chapter, 1st text.
The Bible compares Jesus Christ to a lamb: “And I looked, and behold, a Lamb stood on Mount Zion” - Bible, New Testament, Revelation of John the Theologian, chapter 14, text 1.
Through faith in His shed precious blood and His slain perfect body we can be saved!
The Apostle Paul pointed directly to the fulfillment in Jesus Christ of that prophetic shadow that Jesus Christ fulfilled: “Purge away therefore the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you are unleavened, for our Passover, Christ, was sacrificed for us” - Bible, New Testament , 1st Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians, 5th chapter, 7th text.
Our Easter is Jesus Christ!
He himself emphasized this fact when, before his death, he instituted for his followers the Lord's Supper, the Supper of remembrance of His death, and when he gave the symbols of his body and blood to be eaten by the disciples, just as the Jews for centuries ate a literal lamb and used the blood to anoint the door in their house: “And while they were eating, Jesus took bread and blessed it, broke it, and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take, eat: this is My body.”
And taking the cup and giving thanks, he gave it to them and said, “Drink from it, all of you, for this is My Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins” - Bible, New Testament, Gospel of Matthew, 26th chapter, p. 26- th to 28th text; Gospel of Mark, chapter 14, from 22 to 24 text; Gospel of Luke, 22nd chapter, 19th to 20th text.
The Apostle Paul repeated the evangelists in his 1st letter to the Corinthians, in the 11th chapter, from the 23rd to the 26th texts:
“For I received from the Lord Himself what I also conveyed to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night on which he was betrayed took bread and, having given thanks, broke it and said: Take, eat, this is My Body, broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.
He also took the cup after supper, and said: This cup is the new covenant in My Blood; Do this whenever you drink, in remembrance of Me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes.”
When did Jesus Christ give his life to atone for our sins?
The date when this happened is Nisan 14, 33 AD. That is, exactly on the day when the Israelis celebrated Passover.
We see again that there is no question of any rich bread or eggs!
Based on the words of Jesus, what and how should His followers celebrate?
A meal, or meal, held in memory of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the only event that the Bible says Christians should celebrate. The Lord's Supper or Supper is also called the Memorial Supper and sometimes the Lord's Supper (1 Corinthians 11:20, NIV).
The Lord's Supper, which Jesus introduced!
When was it introduced? Passover was always celebrated on the 14th of Nisan (Aviv), on the day of the full moon, since according to the Jewish calendar, the first day of each (lunar) month was considered the day when people noticed the new moon. Therefore, the 14th day of the month fell approximately in its middle.
On the evening before his death, Jesus celebrated Easter for the last time and after that introduced the Supper or Supper of the Lord. He released Judas, who had become a traitor, even before the Supper began. According to the Gospel, then “it was already night” (John 13:30). Since according to the Jewish calendar the day began in the evening of one day and ended in the evening of the next day.
The first day of the full moon after the spring solstice, which usually occurs on March 21, falls in 2014 on April 14, in 2015 on April 3, and in 2016 on March 23, after sunset, since the day for Jews began in the evening. And not April 20, 2014, April 12, 2015 and May 1, 2016, as the so-called “ Christian churches"- these dates do not correspond to Nisan 14!
What then do we celebrate?
A large place in the folk Easter holidays is occupied by the motifs of the resurrection of the SUN, renewal and prosperity of nature.
Due to the fact that religions, including Christianity, did not support the true God, but became a political instrument of containment and control by the masses, Christianity was penetrated by many pagan or folk traditions and customs. Today, almost universally accepted Christianity has become a performer of traditions and rituals of the ethnic groups in which it is common!
The custom of baking leavened bread in the form of a phallus arose as a symbol of fertility at the Feast of Fertility. Eggs were added to the fall-like cakes.
In the spring, Great Day was celebrated. Great Day in Rus' is also a holiday of spring resurrection, the renewal of nature, which was celebrated with the advent of the vernal equinox back in pre-Christian times.
In mid-April (according to the modern calendar), the Slavic-Aryans celebrated the completion of the wedding of heaven and earth, the onset of spring, the holiday of the opening of the earth and its readiness for sowing, in other words, the FERTILITY FEAST. This holiday symbolized the beginning of a new life, the beginning of nature and the beginning of crops. On the days of the holiday, round dances were held in the fields, which supposedly energetically helped the earth to recharge with positive energy and produce more harvest. On the day of the fertility festival, the man took the woman to the field where they had sexual intercourse. The man came to the field (ground), thus, as it were, fertilizing it. After this, it was customary to bake KULICHI, as a symbol of male strength and fertility (that is why it has an elongated shape and it is customary to pour white cream from beaten eggs on top) and a curd pie, which is now called EASTER, as a symbol of female fertility. The symbol of male strength and fertility among the Slavs is denoted by the word KOL (direct translation - core), female strength - by the word KOLO (circle), hence the form of the treats.
And again we see that the traditions and customs of our ancestors live firmly in the people’s memory and, despite any religions, these traditions were not eradicated, but passed into so-called Christianity!
Where did the custom of cleaning the graves of the dead and visiting ancestors in cemeteries come from?
Again, according to the Slavic calendar, if translated into a modern way, at the beginning of April there is a holiday called the Day of Remembrance of the Ancestors. On this day, services are held in all cemeteries and graveyards, and cleanliness and order are restored to graves and burial mounds. In addition to gifts and requests to deceased ancestors, sacred fires (candles, lamps, firelights) are lit at their final resting place.
According to another tradition, the Week before Easter or Red Week, and in Belarusian Polesie it retained the ancient name Rusalnaya. Among the people, this week had many names - Russian Red, Red, Great, Holy Week, Ukrainian. White Tyzhden, Clean Tyzhden, Belarusian. Mermaid week.
According to Slavic traditions, on one of the days preceding or immediately following Easter, the ancestors return to earth, where they remain for some time. They prepared for the celebration throughout Red Week - from Monday to Saturday. The main preparations took place from Thursday (now called Maundy Thursday) to Saturday. All week they diligently prepared for the holiday: they washed tables, benches, benches, windows, doors. They whitewashed the stove and even the walls. They scraped, washed the floor, shook out the rugs, washed the dishes. From Thursday to Saturday, cooking took place on the stove and in the yard: housewives baked Easter cakes, painted eggs, baked meat; the men set up swings, prepared firewood for the holiday, etc. The villagers tried to be laconic. As throughout Lent, loud street singing was avoided, and there were no street games or round dances.
And these days, every housewife, exactly a week before Easter, tries to put her house and yard in order: sweep everything, rake it, clean it, bleach it, wash it, wash it...
The churchmen themselves speak negatively about the ancient traditions of our ancestors: “...the consecration of Easter cake on the holiday of the Holy Resurrection of Christ is a historical mistake, this is one of the signs of religious illiteracy. This is an absurd fusion of the Established Church and ancient pagan rites in the 4th century.”
“Kulich, like tall bread with eggs, is a well-known pagan symbol of the god of fruiting, Phalos.”
“There are no church regulations regarding such nonsense, when someone eats Easter cakes and a colored egg, because neither Easter cakes nor eggs have anything to do with the Resurrection of Christ. This is simply our domestic, folk, peasant, time-honored custom,” explained the archpriest.
Published on the website Korrespondent.net on April 21, 2011 under the headline “ Orthodox Church insists that going to the cemetery on Easter is not a Christian tradition.”
Also, the date of Easter celebration varies among different “Christian” movements: Catholic Easter in 45% of cases is a week earlier than Orthodox, in 30% of cases it coincides, 5% is a difference of 4 weeks, and 20% is a difference of 5 weeks (more than the lunar cycle) . There is no difference between 2 and 3 weeks.
Because different formulas for calculating the day of Easter are used - different from the Biblical ones!
Blood that saves lives
Then, in Egypt, the blood of the lamb played a decisive role in salvation. When Jehovah struck down the firstborn, he passed by houses with blood on the doorposts. Moreover, the Jews did not mourn the death of their firstborn and were therefore able to make the crossing of the Red Sea to freedom.
Today's celebration of the Memorial should focus on the death of Jesus and its significance for humanity. This event should be celebrated seriously and serve as a time to reflect on the goodness of God and the gratitude we should have toward Jehovah and his Son. (Romans 5:8; Titus 2:14; 1 John 4:9, 10) Therefore, Paul warned: “Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 11:27).
Worthy - what does that mean?
Obviously, God would not be pleased if we desecrated this event by participating in dubious rituals or adopting pagan customs.
“Pure and undefiled piety before God and the Father is this: to look after the orphans and widows in their afflictions and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.”
“You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, but to use it for your lusts.
Adulterers and adulterers! Don’t you know that friendship with the world is enmity against God? So, whoever wants to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God” - Bible, New Testament, Epistle of James, 1st chapter, 27 text and 4th chapter, 3rd and 4th texts.
Thus, this excludes the popular events inherent in the celebration of Christian Easter. Following Jesus' command to “do this in remembrance of him,” we would like to observe the Supper exactly as Jesus commanded (Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 11:24, 25). This excludes the holding of ceremonies introduced into the celebration by the churches of Christendom. The New Catholic Encyclopedia admits that "the modern Mass is very different from the extremely simple ceremony followed by Christ and His Apostles." By celebrating the Mass frequently, even daily, Christendom has deviated from what Jesus meant and made it commonplace.
Paul wrote to the Christians living in Corinth about their unworthy participation in the celebration because there was a problem with the Lord's Supper in that congregation. Some of the Corinthian Christians did not respect the sacredness of this holiday. They brought dinner with them and ate before or during the meeting. They often ate and drank too much. This made them sleepy and their senses dulled. Not being awake either mentally or spiritually, these Christians could not “discuss about the Body of the Lord” and therefore became “guilty against the Body and Blood of the Lord.” Meanwhile, those who did not have dinner were hungry and also distracted. In fact, none of them were able to accept the symbols with gratitude and with full awareness of the importance of the event - that this celebration was held in memory of the death of the Lord. Therefore, by showing disrespect, even contempt, for the death of Jesus, the Corinthian Christians were condemned.
“Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily will be guilty of the Body and Blood of the Lord.
Let man examine himself, and in this way let him eat of this bread and drink of this cup.
For whoever eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks condemnation for himself, without considering the Body of the Lord. That is why many of you are weak and sick, and many are dying.
For if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged.
Being judged, we are punished by the Lord, so as not to be condemned with the world.
Therefore, my brethren, when you gather for supper, wait for one another.
And if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you will not gather for condemnation. I will arrange the rest when I come” - Bible, New Testament, 1st Epistle to the Corinthians, 11th chapter, from 27th to 34th text.
So-called exodus of Jews from Egypt described in the Second Book of Moses. It says that one day a group of Jewish nomads - about 70 people - in distress due to a prolonged drought, turned to the Egyptian pharaoh with a request to allow their cattle to graze in the Nile Delta in the meadows of the land of Goshen.
The hospitable pharaoh allowed them into his lands, and out of politeness he did not even stipulate the length of stay of the “guests.” They say, live as long as you want. Alien nomads took advantage of this invitation, so to speak, to the fullest. They remained on the land of Egypt for 430 years.
But everything comes to an end someday. Pharaoh's patience has also run out. The next ruler of Egypt, fearing that the “guests” might stab him in the back in the event of an attack by external enemies, began to oppress them.
The Jews realized that it was time for them to leave. However, the pharaoh opposed this too - he was not at all happy that people who were well acquainted with the orders of the Egyptian state, leaving it, then united with the opponents of the pharaoh and returned again as conquerors.
The litigation required a lot of time and effort, until finally Pharaoh, frightened by the ten Egyptian plagues, agreed to release the Jews and their leader Moses to all four directions.
But then “the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel”...
And since, as stated in the same Bible, in this case it was important for the Almighty to prove his superiority over everyone, he immediately went over to the other side and decided that “I... will show My glory on Pharaoh and on all his army; and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.”
As a result, the wonders of irrigation were demonstrated. First, the sea parted and let the people of Israel through, and then it closed again and “covered the chariots and horsemen of the entire army of Pharaoh... and not one of them remained.”
It would seem like a miracle of miracles, but current researchers believe that under certain weather conditions a strong wind could drive the water away from the coast for some time. But as soon as the wind died down, the sea returned to its original boundaries.
Therefore, it is not surprising that historians were able to calculate almost the exact date when the exodus occurred. This happened in 538 BC, when the Persian king Cyrus allowed the Jews, who were driven away in 587 BC. into Babylonian captivity by the Assyrian king Nebuchadnezzar, to return to his homeland - Palestine.
But if this is so, perhaps the mystery of the ten deadly sins must also find a rational explanation... Epidemiologists from the University of Connecticut (USA) are convinced that they have succeeded explain all 10 Egyptian plagues without any mysticism.
The biblical book of Exodus describes events accurately and consistently, scientists say. You just need to interpret them correctly. Moses and Aaron ask for their people to be released. But Pharaoh doesn’t want to hear about it.
Then Aaron raises the rod and strikes the river water with it. And the water in the river turns into blood. “And the fish in the river died, and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink the water from the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.”
This was the first execution. But she did not make an impression on Pharaoh, and he did not heed the requests of the Israelites. And then God sent a second plague on the Egyptians - the whole river was swarmed with toads, which began to enter the houses, and in the bed, and in the oven, and in the kneading bowl.
Both executions are related to each other, researchers believe, the second follows from the first. And both are easily explained by natural causes. The bloody water in the river is the well-known microalgae, which is truly dangerous for all living things. They suck oxygen from the water and secrete poison that kills all living things.
The fish had nowhere to go; they died and stank. Amphibians, including frogs and toads, crawled out of the river and spread around the surrounding area in search of other water, since without it they too would die. So they climbed everywhere, including into the kettle.
Seeing all this, the frightened Pharaoh ordered Aaron to remove the frogs. Then he, they say, will release the people of Israel. Aaron stretched out his rod, the frogs died out. But Pharaoh did not fulfill his promise.
Then the Lord sent myriads of midges on people and livestock. “This is to be expected,” the researchers say. “The midges have multiplied among the decaying toad remains...”
Moreover, there is one detail in the Bible by which one can determine exactly what kind of midges they were. When Aaron struck the earth with his rod, the dust turned into gnats.
“There is no doubt,” says Professor M. Mar, “that we are talking about midges of the culicoid species. These are unusually angry little mosquitoes that lay their eggs in the dust. And their larvae feed on the mineral remains of decaying organisms.
There were other insects of the same origin, which in the Bible are called dog flies. This was the fourth plague, and after it, since Pharaoh still resisted, came the fifth - a pestilence destroyed all the livestock.
Dr. Mar scoured all the reference books in search of a disease that would be spread by culicoid mosquitoes. And I even found two of them - African horse disease and “blue tongue” - a severe viral disease that affects the circulatory system of sheep and cattle.
Egyptian cattle died from these diseases. The Israeli one survived, but not because the Lord wanted it, he simply grazed in another place, and the infection was not transmitted to him. The land of Hessem was 150 km from the lands of the pharaoh, and the mosquitoes on their tiny wings simply could not overcome such a distance.
As the pharaoh continued to be stubborn, his state was attacked by the sixth plague, which was an inflammation with abscesses that affected the remaining livestock, and then spread to the people.
“It was a well-known glanders,” the researchers believe. — This infectious disease can be acquired from flies that carry germs, and from dirty water or food. Glanders was first described by Aristotle in 330 BC. He was known in those days and earlier in the Middle East and Africa.”
The seventh plague is not connected with the previous ones. But there is nothing supernatural about it either. Hail that destroyed crops still falls on the ground from time to time. Moreover, the Bible gives an interesting detail - the hail damaged only the early crops, which had time to drive out the ears of corn. Late crops, just emerging from the ground, were practically unaffected by the hail. So, the laws of nature are not violated here either.
The next, eighth plague is the invasion of locusts, which destroyed the crops that survived the hail. There is nothing so unusual about it either - locusts still swoop down on the southern lands, causing considerable losses to farmers.
The ninth plague was a thick darkness that lasted three days throughout the land of Egypt. Scientists have suggested that the Egyptian darkness could have been caused by a grandiose volcanic explosion somewhere nearby, say, on the island of Santorini in the Aegean Sea.
The explosion actually occurred 3,500 years ago and covered the entire eastern Mediterranean with fine ash. However, Mar suggests a different explanation - sandstorm. It is this kind of darkness that is mentioned in the ancient papyrus dating back to those times.
Thus, it remains to explain only the tenth plague - the death of all the firstborn from the son of Pharaoh to the son of a slave - and all the firstborn of livestock. Researchers are taking on this task as well. They recall the sudden deaths of eight children in Cleveland several years ago. The children died because a black poisonous fungus grew in the damp basement of their house.
A similar incident could have happened in Egypt. The people, hungry for three days, made their way to the barns, and the fungus, which had multiplied in the darkness during this time, was already waiting for them there. He struck first of all the weakest - babies, and, of course, not only the firstborn. This is just a rumor, the legend highlighted this feature.
However, can so many troubles befall one state in a relatively short period of time?
It turns out that there is historical evidence for this too. The old Russian word “povetriye” directly indicates the connection between natural disasters and epidemics. It is the winds that carry germs and other pathogens.
Let's say in the fifth century BC. In Africa, pestilence raged, accompanied by earthquakes and floods, as well as droughts. “All the forces of the world then united against man,” Vogdit wrote about this. The year 427 was especially difficult, when volcanoes came to life on the islands in the Aegean Sea, causing a tsunami in the sea and flooding the entire coast with water. And in Athens, many houses collapsed due to soil vibrations.
In general, if desired, all ten plagues of Egypt and other similar incidents can be explained without the help of the Lord. However, this does not mean at all that he has nothing to do with it. After all, all these disasters could have been sent to them, according to the same Bible.