Saint Moses

However, King Pharaoh, who had pursued Moses, was no more; another had succeeded him, and the Israelites were treated with more violence than ever; they groaned, lifted their eyes to heaven, and implored the Lord from whom they awaited their deliverance. One day, as Moses was tending his flock and had ventured quite far into the desert, he found himself at the foot of a mountain named Horeb, very close to the famous Mount Sinai. Suddenly, in the midst of a burning bush, the Lord appeared to him in the form of a beautiful and vivid flame that shone with a very gentle radiance, and which consumed neither the branches nor the leaves of the bush. Moses, astonished: "I will go," he said to himself, "I will draw closer, and I will examine why this bush, all burning and all aflame as it is, does not consume itself." He advanced with eagerness, and was already quite close to it, when the Lord, wishing to make him regard this apparition with the respect that is fitting to bear toward His formidable Majesty, made him hear His voice in these terms: "Moses! Moses!" — "Here I am, Lord," he replied. "Do not draw any closer: take off your sandals, for this ground where you walk is sanctified by the presence of your God. It is I who am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob." At these words, Moses, seized with a religious fear, covered his face, not daring to lift his eyes toward the place from which the voice came. "I have seen with compassion," the Lord resumed, "the calamities of my people; their cries and their groans have risen up to me. Prepare yourself, Moses, animate yourself with a holy zeal, it is you whom I will send to Pharaoh to oblige him to let my people go." — "But who am I, Lord," replied Moses, "to go and present myself to Pharaoh, and then draw the children of Israel from captivity?" — "I will be with you," said the Lord, "all your steps will be signaled by some wonders." — "I must go toward the children of Israel," replied Moses, "and I will say to them: The God of your fathers has sent me to you. But, if they ask me what is his name, what shall I answer them?" — "I AM WHO I AM," replied the Lord; "go, and say to your brothers: He who is sends me to you; it is under this name of mercy that I wish to make myself known to my people in the centuries to come. I have seen the evils with which it is burdened, and I have resolved to lead it into a land where milk and honey flow." — "But, Lord," replied Moses, "when I tell them that you have sent me, they will not want to believe me; they will treat me as a visionary or a deceiver, and will say: The Lord has not appeared to you." — "I am going to provide you with the means to convince the incredulous: what are you holding in your hand?" — "A staff," replied Moses. "Throw it to the ground," the Lord said to him. Moses threw it, and immediately it changed into a serpent, so that he was afraid and began to flee. But God said to him: "Do not fear anything, take this serpent by the end of its body." Moses extended his hand, seized it, and the serpent, in his hand, became his staff again. God said again: "Put your hand into your bosom." Moses did so, and he withdrew it covered with a leprosy white as snow. "Put it back again," the Lord said to him. Moses obeyed, and withdrew it perfectly healed. "What I have just done before you," added the Lord, "you will do before the Hebrews, and, by this sign, they will recognize that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has appeared to you." — "But I implore you, Lord," replied Moses, "consider that I have difficulty expressing myself." — "Aaron, your brother," replied the Lord, "expresses himself with strength and with grace, you will tell him what you will have learned from me, and he wi Aaron Brother of Moses and the first high priest of Israel. ll speak for you to the people. Behold, I am going to send him to meet you." Moses returned immediately to Midian, took leave of Jethro, his father-in-law, and set out for Egypt. Arrived at the foot of Mount Horeb, he met his brother; he threw himself on his neck and both embraced with all the testimonies of the most tender friendship. Moses told him everything that had happened to him. Aaron believed, submitted to the will of the Lord, and consecrated himself with joy to the deliverance of his nation. The union of these two great men was the salvation of Israel. They left together for the land of Goshen. Upon their arrival, they went to find the elders of the people, to whom Aaron told everything that had happened at Horeb, and Moses confirmed his mission by performing wonders. These first steps succeeded; they knew that God had had pity on his people: they prostrated themselves to adore Him, and they gave themselves without reserve to the guidance of Moses. He was then eighty years old, and his brother was eighty-three." } } ```

Moses and Aaron soon presented themselves to King Pharaoh and said to him: "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Let my people go, that they may sacrifice to me in the desert." But this impious prince replied: "I do not know your God, and Israel shall not leave my kingdom. It is you who have undertaken to stir up the nation, and who prevent them from attending to the works to which I employ them; leave my presence, and let them return to their labors immediately." From that moment, he commanded that they be treated more harshly than ever. Then they complained bitterly to Moses. And, when the servant of God returned to them to console them, they showed themselves insensitive, and they blamed him for the excess of work with which they were burdened. However, the Lord spoke again to Moses and said to him: "Go, present yourself to Pharaoh, and command him, on my behalf, to let the children of Israel go. Behold, I make you as God to this prince, and your brother shall be your prophet and your mouthpiece. Pharaoh will only obey against his will; but I will abandon him if he refuses to know me, and his heart will be hardened."

Moses and Aaron set about executing the orders of God. They went to the palace, presented their request, and performed several miracles before the king to prove to him that they were sent by God; but this prince, seduced by his magicians, remained in his blindness and would not let the children of Israel go. God then began to strike Egypt with terrible plagues. The first of these plagues was that of the waters of the Nile, turned into blood: the Egyptians were horrified by it, and they were forced to dig wells at intervals to quench their thirst. The second was that of the frogs: their multitude was so prodigious that they entered all the houses and inconvenienced Pharaoh and his subjects, introducing themselves even into the kitchens; the third, that of the gnats, whose frightful multitude tormented both men and animals; the fourth, that of the large flies which not only wounded the living, but gnawed, spoiled, and corrupted everything with their dangerous bites; the fifth, a horrible pestilence, which caused most of the animals to die; the sixth, that of ulcers and painful sores, with which men and animals were covered; the seventh, a hail mixed with lightning and thunder, which struck the men and animals that were in the fields and broke the trees; the eighth, a prodigious multitude of locusts, which devoured everything the hail had spared; the ninth, that of the thick darkness which lasted for three days. All these plagues, which reached the Egyptians without touching the Israelites, appeared so marvelous to Pharaoh's magicians that they were forced to say to the king: "It is the finger of God that acts here." And Pharaoh himself was forced to cry out: "The Lord is just, and my people and I are but impious." Frightened by the terrible punishments that his obstinacy brought upon his subjects, each time he begged Moses to make them cease, promising to let the people go; but no sooner had the plague disappeared than Pharaoh returned to his initial hardening, until at last God struck him with the tenth, which was the most terrible of all.

The Lord, before striking Egypt with the tenth plague, sent Moses and Aaron to the children of Israel to tell them that this month would be marked by their departure from Egypt. All were to go to Rameses, at the latest on the ninth day of the current month; and on the fourteenth in the evening, the head of each family was to sacrifice a lamb to the Lord. All the children of Israel were to participate in this ceremony. They were to reserve some of the victim's blood; dip branches of hyssop into it, and mark with this blood the two doorposts and the lintel of the house where the meal would be eaten. The lamb was to be roasted whole, the body, the head, and even the entrails. One was to use, in this meal, only unleavened bread, and it was prescribed to eat, with the flesh of the lamb, wild and bitter lettuces. One was to put on traveler's clothing, gird one's loins, have shoes on one's feet and a staff in one's hand, and eat standing and in haste. The children of Israel had just carried out the precept that Moses had given them on behalf of the Almighty. It was in the middle of the night; everywhere reigned calm and silence, when the sovereign Master of the lives of men sent his exterminating angels, who put to death all the firstborn of the Egyptians, from the son of Pharaoh, associated with the empire, to the eldest son of the lowest of the slaves. All the houses were struck, except those whose doors were marked with the blood of the lamb. Then a universal cry was heard throughout the extent of Egypt. Pharaoh, frightened, in despair at the death of his son, rose in the middle of the night with his courtiers; he sent, despite the darkness of the night, to fetch Moses and Aaron, and said to them: "Withdraw promptly from my States, you and the children of Israel, and sacrifice to the Lord your God as you will." The people, overwhelmed by the terrible blows that a hitherto stubborn monarch had brought upon them, also pressed the Israelites to leave their country as soon as possible, "for," they said, "if the Hebrews do not leave, we shall all die."

Upon leaving the audience, Moses went to Rameses and immediately gave his orders for the departure. The children of Israel took advantage of the extreme impatience of their enemies to see them leave, to ask them for what they had that was most precious: their vases of gold, of silver, their richest furniture, their most magnificent clothes, just as the sovereign Master of all things had manifested his will to them, through the organ of Moses, to pay them for their long and painful labors, and in compensation for the houses and plantations they were abandoning. When they left Egypt, they were nearly six hundred thousand in number, capable of bearing arms. Innumerable herds marched under the guidance of their leaders, as well as chariots and beasts loaded with riches, which Egypt, terrified, had placed in their hands. The children of Israel, having left Rameses, headed toward Succoth. From this first march, the Lord gave them a new proof of his protection. He formed a kind of great column, whose base was very wide and whose tip rose extremely high; it was composed of thick and condensed vapors. During the day, this column had the colors of a beautiful cloud; but during the night, it appeared all of fire and luminous like the sun. One of the celestial Spirits was charged with leading it. When it was necessary to set out on the march, the column rose from the middle of the camp and placed itself at the head of the tribes, above the pavilion of the one that was to leave first. They marched while it was in motion, and they followed its determination exactly. When it was time to stop, it returned to the middle of the camp. This same column unfolded as it rose, and inclined toward the sun, to protect the travelers against the ardor of this star, which, without this preservative, would have been intolerable in the midst of the burning sands of the desert. These two miracles subsisted during the long years that they were wandering in the solitude; not a day, not a night passed that they did not benefit from them.

The third day since the departure from Rameses, they found themselves on the shores of the Red Sea. The Egyptians had just buried their dead; they were still plunged in mourning and sorrow. However, Pharaoh repented of having dismissed the children of Israel. By his orders, his troops were assembled, two hundred thousand men were put on foot, fifty thousand horses were equipped, six hundred chosen chariots were armed; the monarch's chariot was prepared, the generals placed themselves at the head of the troops, and the king intended to command in person. The formidable army set out and marched in the footsteps of the Israelites; the latter, seeing themselves surrounded on all sides, murmured loudly against Moses; but he, after having addressed the throne of mercy to obtain the pardon of the murmurers, gave orders to the children of Israel to be ready to continue their march. At the same time, the column, which was at their head, placed itself at the extremity of their camp, between the two armies; on one side it was brilliant and guided their march, while on the other, dark and obscure, it hid the movements of the Hebrews from the Egyptians. Moses, at this moment, stretched his hand over the sea, and the waters divided, leaving empty a wide and spacious path. The Lord made a burning wind blow with impetuosity, which dried it and made it firm under the feet of his servants, who entered this miraculous route, where no man had ever passed. Day was barely beginning to appear when the Egyptians noticed that their prey was escaping them. They set out with precipitation; and, finding the path all cleared at the bottom of the abyss, they threw themselves into it blindly: the horses, the chariots, and the horsemen entered it under the guidance of Pharaoh. The Lord then said to Moses: "Stretch out your hand over the sea." Moses did so; immediately the piled-up waters fell back of their own accord into the bed they had abandoned: they enveloped the Egyptians, the horses, the chariots, and the entire army of Pharaoh without a single man escaping to bring the news to his country. The waves cast their corpses and all the baggage onto the shore. They seized these rich spoils, which Moses had distributed by tribe and by family. Then, to celebrate this prodigy of divine protection, he sang, with all his people, a magnificent canticle of thanksgiving.

The day after the great victory won by the protection of the God of hosts, Moses, at the movement of the column, gave the signal to depart; they entered the desert that had to be crossed to reach the promised land. But soon, as provisions were exhausted, the Israelites broke into murmurs. "Would to God that we had all died in Egypt," they said; "then we sat by pots full of meat and had bread to our fill. Why have you brought us into this dreadful solitude to die of hunger?" Moses had recourse to the Lord; then, having strongly rebuked the murmurers: "This evening," he told them, "the Lord will give you the meat you desire; and, tomorrow morning, he will manifest his glory in an even more wonderful way by sending you bread." Indeed, when evening arrived, a cloud of quails covered the camp. They seized them immediately, and they provided them with abundant and delicious food. The next day, early in the morning, they saw all the surroundings of the camp covered with a kind of dew similar to those small grains of white frost that cover the surface of the countryside in winter. "This is the bread that the Lord has promised to give you," Moses told them: "let everyone gather what is necessary for his family, an omer for each person (about three liters)." They set to work; and those who, out of greed, made a larger provision, found, upon their return, that they had no more than the others. It was not permitted to keep any for the next day, otherwise it would spoil. But on the sixth day of the week, they could gather double, because the next day, which was the Sabbath, none would fall.

They soon left the desert of Sin and stopped at Rephidim, not far from Mount Horeb. The first care of the travelers was to look for springs, but in vain; then the murmurs began again. Moses had recourse to the Lord: "What shall I do," he cried, "to satisfy this people?" — "Do not fear," the Lord replied, "go to the head of the camp; choose some elders, lead them to Mount Horeb, I will precede you there; you will strike the rock with your staff and water will come out in quantity." Moses executed God's orders; at the first blow of the rod, streams flowed from the hardness of the rock, and clear waters flowed through the dry and arid valleys. During all the time that the Israelites remained in these places, the waters regulated their course according to their march, and provided for their needs without interruption. Scarcely had he emerged from this pass when another arose. The children of Amalek, grandson of Esau, presented themselves to meet the Israelites to block their passage; they led a multitude of combatants, covered in their armor. Moses was not terrified by this display; full of confidence in God, he had them take up arms, and gave the command to Joshua, son of Nun, leader of the tribe of Ephraim. The victory over the Amalekites was complete.

However, the signal for departure was given; the children of Israel left Rephidim on the first day of the third month since the exodus from Egypt, and entered the desert of Sinai. They pitched their tents Josué Disciple and successor of Moses for the entry into the Promised Land. at the foot of the mountain. As it was to be feared that the truths that God had taught men, from the beginning, might be altered and entirely erased from memory, God wished to renew them and give them in writing. Moses having retired to the summit of the mo untain to pray, désert de Sinaï Site of the first monastic life of Simeon. the Lord made him hear his voice and said to him: "Go, Moses, return to your Hebrews, and tell them on my behalf: You have seen with what severity I treated the Egyptians, and how I delivered you from their hands; I have chosen you to be my people. If you listen to my voice, if you keep my covenant, I will make you the chosen portion of my inheritance: you will be my kingdom, you will be the holy nation." Moses descended from the mountain, assembled the children of Israel, faithfully repeated to them what the Lord had told him, and ended by asking them for a positive and precise answer. All cried out with one voice: "We will do what the Lord asks." Moses went to carry the resolution of his people. "Well!" replied the Lord, "you will be my interpreter to them. Return to the camp, purify them today and tomorrow; let them wash their clothes and be ready for the third day; for it is the one the Lord has chosen to descend in the display of his glory, in the presence of the children of Israel. Establish barriers around Sinai, and tell the people to take care not to cross them. Whoever passes beyond will be punished with death." Moses descended and did everything the Lord had commanded him.

The third day arrived; the whole multitude of the children of Israel was in expectation, when at sunrise, great claps of thunder were heard; lightning flashed, inflaming the air and streaking it without interruption; a thick and dark cloud covered the mountain and hid it from view. From the heart of the cloud, the shrill sound of the trumpet was heard, which summoned the children of Israel; but, seized with fear, they stayed in their tents. Moses himself, little reassured, had difficulty getting them to come out; he finally succeeded, and arranged them in the free space that was between the camp and the barriers placed at the foot of the mountain. Then, he advanced beyond, and spoke with the Lord. He received orders to climb higher. However, the air still seemed to be on fire, the thunder did not cease to rumble, the smoke thickened and came out with whirlwinds of flames, like from a burning furnace; the sound of the trumpet became sharper and more piercing; a moment later, from the middle of the cloud, these terrible words were heard distinctly: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage: 1st You shall have no foreign gods in my presence; — 2nd You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain; — 3rd Remember to keep the Sabbath day holy; — 4th Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long on the land that the Lord your God will give you; — 5th You shall not kill; — 6th You shall not commit adultery; — 7th You shall not steal; — 8th You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor; — 9th You shall not covet your neighbor's wife; — 10th You shall not covet his house, his servant, his maidservant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that belongs to him."

When the Lord had ceased speaking, one saw again the lightning, the flames, and the smoke that escaped from the mountain; one heard the noise of the thunder, the sound of the trumpets that resounded with the same brilliance as before. Then the Hebrews, seized and terrified, withdrew into their tents and said to Moses: "Speak to us yourself; but let the Lord not speak to us, lest we die." Moses, having plunged into those fearsome shadows that covered the mountain, represented to the Lord the alarms of his people. "I have heard it," the Lord told him, "I do not hold it against them: may they always keep this salutary fear and keep my precepts forever! Go, tell them to return to their camp. As for you, come back here, so that I may make my will known to you." Moses did what the Lord had commanded him, then went to the holy mountain, accompanied by Joshua. They remained six days in the midst of the cloud; on the seventh, the Lord calling his servant, he left Joshua instantly and climbed, through the cloud, to the summit of Sinai. He remained there alone in the company of his God, for forty days and forty nights, without thinking of taking any food; during this time, the Lord gave him his orders for a great number of observances and ceremonies that had as their object divine worship and the construction of the tabernacle. Finally, on the fortieth day, he handed to Moses two stone tablets on which the ten precepts, which had just been promulgated with such brilliance, were engraved by the finger of God. "Go," said the Lord, "descend from the mountain, the people you brought out of the bondage of Egypt have sinned against me, they have fallen into idolatry; I will exterminate them in my fury, and make you the leader of a great people." — "I implore you," replied Moses, "do not be angry with this people, it is yours; you broke their bonds by the strength of your all-powerful arm." The servant of God descended from the mountain; he walked with a sad air, holdin g the tablets of the deux tables de pierre Fundamental laws given by God to Moses. law in his hands. Joshua joined him; he did not know to what to attribute the dejection of his master. Approaching the foot of the mountain, he heard confused noises: "Are those not," he said, "the clamors of two armies fighting?" — "You are mistaken, Joshua," Moses replied; "what you hear are the senseless clamors of men who are amusing themselves." Moses said no more. And, as he approached the camp, he saw a golden calf raised on a column and the children of Israel singing and dancing around it in a disorderly manner. Indignation seized him; he threw the tablets to the ground, breaking them at the foot of the mountain. Then, advancing into the middle of the astonished troop, he took the idol, overturned it, crushed it, and reduced it to powder which he threw into the water to make the guilty drink it and show them the vanity of their idol. Placing himself then at the entrance of the camp, he ordered those of the tribe of Levi who, for the most part, had not participated in the crime of idolatry, to take their swords, to pass and repass through the camp, putting to death all the guilty, without any distinction: he was obeyed. The transgressors, dismayed, overwhelmed with remorse, accepted the just sentence pronounced against them, and three thousand of the most guilty expiated, by their death, the crime of the nation. The next day, Moses said to the people: "You deserve great punishments; but I am going to intercede for you." Arrived at the place where he was accustomed to pray, the holy legislator prostrated himself, as if he had been the guilty one himself: "Lord," he cried, "I know that this ungrateful people has committed a great crime; but, I pray you, forgive them this fault or erase me from your book of the living." By dint of prayers and supplications, he obtained that the Lord would continue to lead the people. He then solicited the favor of seeing his glory. "Prepare to return tomorrow to the mountain," the Lord told him; "cut two stone tablets similar to those you broke at the sight of the transgressions of Israel: I will write on them with my hand the same ordinances; no one will accompany you." Moses did what he had been ordered; he left at the break of day, holding the two stone tablets in his hands, and arrived at the summit of the mountain. It was then that the Most High, who had called him there, descended toward him under the veil of a dark cloud, and, while Moses stood invoking him, he passed with his glory, making him hear his great name, Jehovah, the powerful, compassionate and merciful God, slow to anger, full of kindness and truth itself, who makes his mercy felt to a thousand generations, who erases sin, iniquity and crime, and before whom no one is innocent by himself. In that moment, Moses, frightened, prostrated himself with his face to the ground, and cried out: "My God, if I have found favor before you, I pray you, walk with us; forget our iniquities, erase them, and remember that you have chosen us for your inheritance." The Lord gave him a great number of ordinances and commanded him to write them; he himself traced with his hand the ten fundamental precepts of the law on the two stone tablets. Moses brought back to the people the renewal of the covenant that he had contracted in their name, and the laws that were imposed on them. This first time, he published the ordinances of the Lord, with his face uncovered. Henceforth, he spoke to them only with his face covered by a veil; he was so when he entered the tabernacle to speak with God.

The holy legislator did not delay in the execution of the Lord's will. He assembled the children of Israel and urged them to offer what they held most precious for the construction of the tabernacle, the vestments of the high priest and the priests; in a word, for everything that was to serve the worship of the Lord and the ceremonies of religion. He had barely finished speaking when everyone ran to their tent to take what they intended for the Lord. Vessels of gold, silver, and copper; the most precious woods; hyacinth, purple, scarlet, fine linen, the most beautiful and best-dyed skins—nothing was spared. Everything was offered with such profusion that Moses was obliged to have a herald proclaim that nothing more should be brought. God himself had chosen two men whom he had filled with the spirit of wisdom, intelligence, and skill to invent and execute all kinds of work in gold, silver, and copper, and for the cutting and carving of stones. These were Bezalel and Oholiab; they presided over everything and directed the work of a great number of craftsmen. Everything was completed by the first day of the second year: the tabernacle was erected, made according to the model that had been shown to Moses on the mountain. Moses, by order of the Lord, chose Aaron as high priest or head of relig ion. Aaron Brother of Moses and the first high priest of Israel. His four sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar, were consecrated priests of the living God. Henceforth, the sovereign pontiff was to be chosen from among them. As soon as the works concerning the Ark of the Covenant and others were finished, Moses had the great quantity of balm that he had prepared by order of the Lord brought to him, and used it to consecrate the Ark, the tabernacle, the golden lampstand, the altars, tables, etc. The ceremony completed, the Lord seemed to take possession of the dwelling that had just been consecrated to him in the midst of his people. The cloud that served as a guide and light to the Hebrews abandoned the tent or old tabernacle, and, approaching the new one, it covered it and filled it with the glory and majesty of God. The darkness it formed there for a few moments seized the Israelites with a religious fear. Moses himself could not enter, so formidable did the cloud make the presence of the Lord; however, it withdrew little by little, leaving the apartments of the sanctuary empty, and rising in its ordinary form of a column above the new tabernacle to continue to guide the people on their journey. Moses, encouraged by these most consoling signs, proceeded to the consecration of the ministers of the Lord. He had the magnificent vestments of the pontiff brought to him, those of the priests, the oil or balm necessary for the anointings, and the victims destined for sacrifice were led to the entrance of the courtyard. After these preparations, Aaron and his four sons presented themselves, and Moses proceeded with the ceremony: he began by purifying them in the basin placed at the entrance of the sanctuary, then clothed them in their vestments; he then took the anointing balm, made seven sprinklings on the altar of holocausts and on all the utensils destined for sacrifices, on the great basin, and on its base. Regarding Aaron and his sons, he poured the balm of sanctification on their heads and anointed their hands with it. To finish, he performed the function of priest. Aaron and his sons placed their hands on the heads of three different victims: they were slaughtered, immolated, and burned on the altar, and Moses dipped his finger in the blood to perform the anointings on the new priests. He also consecrated their garments with the blood of the victims mixed with the balm, with which he sprinkled the priests clothed in their vestments. This ceremony lasted seven days. The eighth day arrived, and Moses put the high priest and his children into the exercise of their functions; they offered the victims with all the rites prescribed by the law: Moses and Aaron entered the sanctuary to offer the vows of the children of Israel to the Lord, then reappeared in the courtyard and blessed the assembly. Then a fire, ignited by the breath of God, rushed upon the altar, consumed the holocaust, and devoured all its fat. The prodigy made an impression, and the multitude prostrated themselves face to the ground to adore the majesty of the Master whom they had the honor to serve and who approved the consecration of his ministers.

The children of Israel had been camping for a year before the mountain of Sinai when the pillar gave the signal for departure. Then the Ark, from the middle of the camp, was transported to the front. The tribe of Judah held the first rank; Issachar and Zebulun were at its sides. Then came the tribe of Reuben, walking in the footsteps of Judah; Simeon and Gad were at its sides. Followed the tribe of Ephraim; Manasseh and Benjamin were at its sides. Finally, the tribes of Dan, Asher, and Naphtali closed the march, forming the most magnificent spectacle that perhaps had ever been seen. It was an army of more than six hundred thousand combatants, without including an entire people of two million, counting women, children, the elderly, proselytes, and servants, led by the Almighty toward the conquest of the Promised Land. After three days of a slow march, interrupted for the time of rest and food, always protected against the heat of the sun and fortified by manna, the fatigue seemed excessive and unbearable to the cowards, who complained loudly. The Lord was indignant, and a sudden fire, ignited by the breath of his anger, rushed from the heights of heaven onto the edge of the camp and devoured the murmurers. Alarm spread everywhere: they ran to Moses, crying out loudly. The holy man prostrated himself before the Lord, presented to him the tears of the entire nation, and the fire was instantly buried in the bowels of the earth. This place was given the name Taberah (Burning). On the second day of the fourth month, they arrived at Kadesh-barnea, in sight of the Promised Land. Moses, by order of the Lord, chose twelve men, one from each tribe, to examine the country, the inhabitants, their valor, and their strength. He also instructed them to see if the land was good and fertile, and if the cities were fortified. These deputies departed and did what they had been commanded. Upon their return, they stopped near a torrent and gathered figs, pomegranates, and above all, a prodigious cluster of grapes. They were obliged to cut its branches to carry it on a long pole, and two men carried it. Finally, after forty days of absence, the deputies arrived at the camp of Kadesh-barnea. As soon as they appeared, the people gathered near Moses and Aaron, to whom the twelve travelers publicly reported on their mission. They first let these beautiful fruits speak for them, and showing them to the people, they said: "Judge for yourselves the fertility of this land that we have just surveyed. You were not deceived when you were told that streams of milk and honey flowed there." Until then, Moses had every reason to be pleased. But what was his surprise when he heard them change their tone! "It is far from easy to conquer," they continued; "the country is full of large and fortified cities, and men of extraordinary strength defend them." Then discouragement was painted on every face, and murmurs were heard in every rank. However, two of the deputies, Caleb and Joshua, strove to disabuse the crowd: "You are being deceived," said Caleb; "let us not be cast down, let us present ourselves before these peoples, and they will disappear in our presence." But their cowardly colleagues contradicted them: "How could we present ourselves before these peoples," they said, "before men whose stature is so great? We saw there monstrous giants, descendants of Anak, whose very appearance inspires terror in the most intrepid. We appeared to them only as grasshoppers." The entire night was spent in groans and tears. In the morning, there was nothing but frightful confusion throughout the camp. They shouted and murmured against Moses and Aaron. "Would to God," said the multitude, "that we had all died in Egypt or in this vast solitude! No, we do not want to enter this land of which we are told, to be slaughtered there by the swords of our enemies." And they said to one another: "Let us choose a leader and return to Egypt." Meanwhile, Moses and Aaron strove to reassure them and bring them back to better sentiments: everything was useless. In this extremity, they prostrated themselves, imploring the help of the Almighty, while Caleb and Joshua, faithful ambassadors, tore their clothes and threw themselves into the middle of the crowd to appease the tumult and revive confidence. Far from being touched, the mutineers redoubled their seditious cries and prepared to stone those who were trying to calm them. But, suddenly, the pillar of cloud, which rested on the tabernacle, changed into a threatening fire and allowed these furious people to glimpse all the indignation of an outraged God, ready to exterminate them. Moses himself, trembling for them, ran to ask for mercy. The Lord replied with kindness: "I forgive them in favor of your prayers. They will not all perish in one day as I had resolved; but tell your people: Here is the decree of Jehovah: You will be treated as you have wished; all of you who, from the age of twenty and above, have murmured against me, you will die in this desert, your corpses will rot there; you will not enter the land that I promised to your fathers with an oath. I exempt only Caleb and Joshua from my sentence. You said that your children would be the prey of your enemies, and I tell you that these children, I will introduce them into the land that you have disdained. You, you will die, and you will be buried in the sands of the deserts, and they, however, will suffer because of your infidelities and will be wanderers with you for the space of forty years, until the corpses of their fathers are consumed." From then on, this terrible sentence began to be executed on the most guilty. The ten unfaithful deputies fell dead, struck by the hand of God, in the presence of the multitude.

It was therefore necessary, after a few days of rest, to resolve to leave the vicinity of the Promised Land and resume the road to the desert to undergo, for nearly forty years, the sentence passed against them by the just Judge. The journey was beginning when the most audacious revolt that had yet broken out occurred. Korah, of the tribe of Levi, was shocked to see Aaron raised to the dignity of Sovereign Pontiff. Dathan and Abiram, of the tribe of Reuben, the eldest of Jacob, could not suffer that a Moses, of the tribe of Levi, should be in possession of all authority. These three ambitious men rose up and dragged into their revolt two hundred and fifty of the most distinguished men among the children of Israel. Everything being prepared, the leaders of the conspiracy, followed by their accomplices, went brazenly to find Moses and Aaron: "It is enough to dominate among us," they said; "lay down this dignity of which you have made an honor until this day. Are we not all equally sanctified? Why seek to dominate others with pride?" Moses, hearing these seditious words, fell face to the ground. Then, suddenly inspired, he rose and spoke in these terms to Korah and his troop: "The Lord himself will decide the justice of your claims." Everyone knows the terrible punishment of these impious men. It was a new occasion for the people to murmur: they were punished by a burning that consumed fourteen thousand seven hundred men.

All the events of which we have just spoken took place during the first two years of the exodus from Egypt. During the thirty-eight that followed, Scripture reports nothing remarkable concerning the Israelites; it mentions fifty-one stations they made in the desert of Arabia, always protected by the hand of the Lord. The pillar led them, the manna fed them, God continued to communicate with Moses; and, by a miracle of his divine goodness, the clothes, as well as the shoes of so many people, did not wear out. Finally, in the course of the first month of the Mosaic year, the fortieth since the exodus from Egypt, they camped at Kadesh-barnea, very close to the Promised Land where they had been thirty-eight years earlier. Water having run out, the people gathered in a tumult around Moses and his brother: "Would to God," they cried, "that we had died with our brothers! Why lead us into this solitude to die of thirst, we and our cattle?" However, Moses and Aaron, prostrating themselves face to the ground, cried out: "Lord, God of Israel, listen to the cries of your people, open the treasures of your mercy, give them an abundant source of living water, so that they may quench their thirst and that we may no longer hear them murmur." God was touched by the entreaties of his servants; he ordered them to assemble the people around the rock located at the top of the mountain, and to order it, in his name, to provide water. Moses took his rod, assembled the people, and, accompanied by his brother, he stood by the rock. The whole multitude was in expectation: However, some little distrust passed into his heart; he did not doubt that God could, but that he would perform the miracle; this uncertainty was communicated to his brother; he struck the stone, and it did not obey; he struck a second blow, but with that living faith and humble repentance that perform miracles, and instantly the water came out in abundance. The servants of the Almighty had committed a fault: "You did not believe me," the Lord said to them, "you hesitated, and you did not honor me in the presence of the children of Israel; you will not introduce them into the Promised Land." This source was named the Water of Contradiction, because murmurs had arisen in that place against the Lord.

Aaron died shortly thereafter. The forty years of penance had elapsed: the number of those whom the Lord had condemned to perish in the desert was found to be very small. They were on the point of taking possession of the promised land. The children of Israel were camped in the plains of Moab, when Moses and the high priest Eleazar, by order of the Lord, took a census of the people: it was six hundred and one thousand seven hundred and thirty men capable of bearing arms. In this number, there was not a single one of all those who had come out of Egypt, aged twenty years and above, except for Caleb and Joshua, according to the decre Josué Disciple and successor of Moses for the entry into the Promised Land. e that had been pronounced. Then the Lord said to Moses: "You shall go up to the high mountains of Abarim, and, from the point of Pisgah, at the summit of Mount Nebo, yo mont Nébo The site of the death of Moses. u shall consider at your leisure all these beautiful regions that I am going to give to my people. I grant you only this last consolation, because you offended me at the Waters of Contradiction, together with your brother." Full of tenderness and solicitude for his people, Moses then said to the Lord: "I conjure you, almighty God, you who know the hearts of all men, and who dispose of their days, deign to make known the one you choose to watch over the children of Israel, to lead them into the Promised Land and to fight at their head, so that they may not be like sheep without a shepherd." — "Take Joshua, son of Nun," the Lord said to him; "it is to him that I have communicated, as to you, the fullness of my spirit; lay your hands upon him, give him your orders, in the presence of the high priest and the multitude." No choice could have been more in accordance with the inclinations of Moses. For forty years Joshua had been his disciple, his confidant, his friend; then ninety-three years old, he had been formed in the school of this great man; and his uprightness, his bravery, and his experience made him recommendable to the people. Moses hastened to carry out these orders. He assembled the people, the high priest, the princes of the tribes, and the elders approached: he showed them Joshua, declared the choice that God had made of him, commanded them to obey this leader henceforth as they had obeyed him, then instructed the new leader of the people of God in what he owed his subjects in terms of care, vigilance, and devotion; he represented to the nation what it owed its leader in terms of submission, respect, and obedience; finally, he laid his hands upon him and associated him with the government that he would soon have to abandon to him entirely.

Before parting from his brothers, Moses assembled them several times in order to share his last wishes with them. He reminded them of the wonders that God had worked in their favor, and recommended that they be faithful to the law of the Lord. However, he received the final order to go to the mountain where he was to end the course of his life. He assembled the people one last time to bid them a solemn farewell and to give them his blessing, as a good father of a family gives it to the children he loves. Then he separated from the dismayed multitude and, accompanied by Eleazar and Joshua, who were to be the witnesses of his death, he climbed Mount Nebo; then, from the highest point, called Pisgah, the Lord ordered him to cast his eyes upon the land of Canaan. He considered it in its entirety: "There," He said to him, "is the magnificent land that I promised, by oath, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to their posterity. I am going to fulfill my promises; you have seen this land, but you will not enter it." As the Lord finished these words, Moses, aged one hundred and twenty years, expired on that mountain, in the land of Moab, but so healthy and vigorous that he still felt no infirmity of old age: his sight was not weakened, and none of his teeth were loose. It was thus that he rendered his soul to God, leaving his body in the hands of his two faithful friends, Eleazar and Joshua.

Here are the main characteristics of Moses. He is depicted: 1° exposed on the Nile in a reed basket and saved by Pharaoh's daughter; 2° kneeling before the burning bush, or untying his sandal to approach it; 3° holding in his hand the rod he used to perform so many wonders in Egypt and in the desert; 4° striking the rock with this miraculous rod to bring forth the water to quench the thirst of the people of Israel; 5° leading the Hebrews across the Red Sea, and burying Pharaoh's army beneath its waters; 6° pointing out the manna to the Israelites; 7° holding in his hand the tablets of the law which he brought from Sinai; 8° breaking these same tablets at the sight of the Hebrews who were engaging in acts of idolatry; 9° his forehead radiant and forming luminous horns, after his stay on Sinai; 10° reading the book of the covenant to the people; 11° sending emissaries to explore the promised land; 12° displaying the bronze serpent to heal those who had been bitten by reptiles; 13° unrolling a cartouche where one reads these words: "You shall see your life hanging before you," words taken from the curses pronounced by the lawgiver against the unfaithful Hebrews; 14° appearing, though rarely, in subjects of the Transfiguration.

## CULT AND RELICS. — WRITINGS.

It was, it seems, for Eleazar and Joshua, despite the excess of their grief, to take charge of the burial of their master; but God, for reasons He has not revealed, took the commission away from men to entrust it to the first of the angels. The spirit of light encountered resistance from the spirit of darkness; the latter opposed with all his power the removal of the body. However, the Archangel Saint Michael commanded him, in the name of the Most High , not to disturb him archange saint Michel Archangel charged with the burial of Moses. in his operation, and buried the body in a valley in the land of Moab; he did so so secretly that no one has ever been able to know anything about the location of the Prophet's burial.

The Jews chose two days of the year to pay religious homage to the memory of Moses; one was the 23rd of the seventh month, called Tishri: they named this feast Rejoicing of the Law and Blessing, and they held it to honor the testament of the death of Moses. The other day was the 7th of the second and last month of their year, called Adar: it was a mournful feast that consisted of a public fast to mourn the death of the Prophet, which they believed to have occurred on this day. Christians have chosen September 4th to pay their homage to Moses. The Greeks, besides this day, which is common to them with other nations, also celebrate the memory of Moses, Aaron, and the other Saints of the fourth age of the world, on the first Sunday of Lent.

Moses is the oldest of all authors whose writings have reached us. Among those that bear his name, there are five that one cannot contest without rashness, namely: the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, which are usually all included under the name of the Pentateuch.

Although we have no certain pr oof of the Pentateuque The first five books of the Bible attributed to Moses. time when Moses wrote the Pentateuch, there is nevertheless reason to believe that he did not put this great work into the state in which it still is today until the fortieth year of the Israelites' journey in the desert.

Hebrews give each of these books a name taken from the first words with which they begin. Thus they name Genesis *Beresith*, that is to say, in the beginning, because it is the first word of this book. They give Exodus the name *Weelle Schemoth*, for the same reason, and so on for the others. The Greeks, on the contrary, give these books titles taken from the subject treated therein. They name the first *Genesis*, because one finds there the creation of the world, where one sees the growth of the human race and the birth of the people of God. They give the second the name *Exodus*, because it recounts the departure from Egypt, and so on for the others.

This book is like a preface in which he prepares the mind and heart of the people to whom he wished to prescribe the laws described in the following books. He gives there the history of the creation of the world, the genealogy of the patriarchs who lived before and after the flood, especially that of Seth and Shem. He marks there with care the growth of the human race, its corruption, the punishment for its crimes in the waters of the flood, the dispersion of men that occurred after the construction of Babel, the vocation of Abraham, and the choice that God had made of the race of this patriarch for his particular people, from whom the liberator of the human race was to be born. One also sees there the history of Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and their descendants, until the death of this last patriarch, which occurred in the year of the world 2369.

This book, in Hebrew, begins with the conjunction *and*: which indicates that the events it contains are linked with what is reported in Genesis, of which Exodus is the continuation. Moses describes there first the occasion and the motives for the persecution stirred up against the Israelites by the king of Egypt; the cry of the Israelites to the Lord to be delivered from the cruel servitude under which they had long groaned; their miraculous deliverance, the promulgation of the law, the covenant that God made with the Israelites, and the manner in which he established their republic. Exodus contains the history of one hundred and forty-five years, from the death of Joseph until the erection of the tabernacle at the foot of Mount Sinai, in the year of the world 2518.

The name Leviticus has been given to the third book of the Pentateuch because it deals thoroughly with all the functions of the Priests and Levites. The Hebrews named it *Vajicra*, that is to say: And he called, because it begins with this term in the original text. Besides the laws that concern the duties of the Priests and Levites, God prescribes there the ceremonies of religion, the different kinds of sacrifices, the parts of the victims that were to be consumed on the altar, and those that were to belong to the priests who offered them; the consecration of Aaron and his sons, the distinction between clean and unclean animals, the principal feasts of the year and the manner of celebrating them, the observation of the seventh year or the sabbatical year, and of the forty-ninth year or year of the jubilee. One reads there, moreover, what happened to the people of God when they were still at the foot of Mount Sinai, for the space of a month and a half.

The fourth book of the Pentateuch is called by the Hebrews *Vajedabber*, that is to say: And he spoke, because it begins with these words in the original text. The Greeks, and after them the Latins, titled it: Numbers, because of the census of the people and the Levites, which is at the head of the book. It includes the history of everything that happened from the first day of the second month of the second year of the departure of the children of Israel from Egypt, until the fortieth year; thus it contains the history of about thirty-nine years. One makes there the census of all the children of Israel, from twenty years old and above; one reports there the manner in which the Israelites camped around the tabernacle, the consecration of the Levites to the service of the Lord in the place of the firstborn of all Israel, etc., etc.

The Greeks call the fifth book of Moses Deuteronomy, that is to say, second law, not that the law reported in this book is different from that which God gave to Moses on the mountain of Sinai, some time after the departure from Egypt, but because it was published and recommended again in favor of those who were not yet born or of age of reason when it was published for the first time. The Jews call it: *Elle haddebarim*, that is to say: These are the words, because it begins with these words in Hebrew. It has also been given the name book of reproofs, because Moses makes there rather harsh reproaches to the Israelites for their ingratitude and infidelity toward the Lord. The rabbis sometimes name it *Mishné*, which signifies the same thing as the double or the repetition of the law. Deuteronomy which, according to the thought of Saint Jerome, was "the figure of the evangelical law, reports in such a way the things that had already been said in the three preceding books, that it does not fail to make a new history." Deuteronomy contains the history of about five or six weeks, that is to say, what happened in the desert from the beginning of the eleventh month of the fortieth year of the departure from Egypt, until the seventh day of the twelfth month of the same year, which was the 2553rd of the world.

One has falsely attributed to Moses: 1st, Psalm LXXXIX and the ten following, for the sole reason that Psalm LXXXIX bore the title: "Prayer of Moses, the man of God"; Origen was of this opinion, which is today abandoned; — 2nd, the Book of Job: Bellarmine, Lambecius, and some other writers of the last centuries were of this opinion; — 3rd, an Apocalypse or Revelation; — 4th, an Ascension, a work often cited among the ancients; — 5th, Mysterious Discourses, containing several prophecies touching David and Solomon; — 6th, a testament composed, according to the Stichometry of Nicephorus, of eleven hundred verses; — 7th, a Little Genesis, from which several ancients transcribed passages that we still have today; — 8th, a book of the Life of Moses, from which the historian Josephus seems to have drawn.

It is not easy to fix the time when these apocryphal books were composed nor to discover their authors: what one can say most certainly is that most were already published in the 2nd century of the Church, as it appears from the fragments that Clement of Alexandria and Origen reported in their writings.

We have used, to compose this biography, the *Women of the Bible*, by Mgr Durbay; the *Saints of the Old Testament*, by Sallée; the *Wonders of the People of God*, an anonymous work; the *History of Sacred and Ecclesiastical Authors*, by Dom Calmet; the *Dictionary of Antiquities*, by the Abbé Martigny; and the *Characteristics of the Saints*, by the Reverend Father Cahier.