20121029 Moses led people out of Egypt 離開埃及
Jacob and his sons moved to Egypt, and their descendents became a great people there. A new king in Egypt feared the Israelites, and he instituted two policies: first, he appointed Egyptians as overseers to force the Israelites to perform hard labor; second, he decreed that every newborn male Hebrew child should be cast into the river.
Saved from waters
A Hebrew woman had a son and hid him for three month. When she could no longer hide him, she put him in a basket and cast it into the river.
Pharaoh’s daughter saw the basket and found the child in it. The sister of the child offered to find the child a Hebrew nurse, and she got her own mother. Pharaoh’s daughter named the child “Moses”, which means “saved from the waters”.
The rescue of Moses reminds us of the flight of Jesus into Egypt during the slaughter of the Holy Innocents.
The burning bush
Moses was first brought up in the home of his parents, and then he was educated at the court of Pharaoh. When Moses took the part of the Israelites, he aroused the anger and hatred of Pharaoh. Moses, therefore, fled from Pharaoh and went to Madian.
One day, an angel of God appeared to Moses in a burning bush. Moses was surprised that the bush was not consumed.
God revealed Himself to Moses and commanded Moses to be the leader and liberator of the Israelites.
During the dialogue with Moses, God said: “I Am Who Am” (Exodus 3:14). St. Hilary wrote, “I was frankly amazed at such a clear definition of God, which expressed the incomprehensible knowledge of the divine nature in words most suited to human intelligence.”
Paschal lamb
Moses demanded Pharaoh to let the Israelites go and sacrifice to God in the desert. Pharaoh, however, would not allow the people to go and oppressed them more than ever.
God sent ten plagues in Egypt. And finally Moses announced to Pharaoh the death of all first-born of the Egyptians.
A Bible commentator states: “The people of Israel (the chosen people) occupied among the nations of the world the same position the first-born held in family. Pharaoh oppressed the chosen people among the nations, so God, to punish him, commanded the killing of the chosen ones of the Egyptians families.”
God commanded the Israelites to kill a lamb for each family, to sprinkle its blood at the door-posts, and to eat the flesh of the lamb with unleavened bread and lettuce.
The paschal lamb is a type of Christ. The paschal lamb was without blemish and Christ was free from all sins; the paschal lamb was sacrificed and Christ sacrificed Himself on the cross; the bones of the paschal lamb were not to be broken and not a bone of Christ was broken on the cross; the blood of the paschal lamb saved the first-born of the Israelites from death and the blood of Christ saved mankind from eternal death; the paschal lamb was eaten by the Israelites and Christ became the food of Catholics in Holy Communion.
Crossing Red Sea
After the killing of the first-born, Pharaoh allowed the Israelites to depart. The Lord led the Israelites by a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night.
Pharaoh pursued the Israelites with his army. God commanded Moses to stretch his rod over the Red Sea. The water then divided and stood like a wall on either side to let the Israelites passed over. While Pharaoh and his army were passing over the waters came back together and destroyed them.
The passage through the Red Sea is a figure of Baptism. The former delivered the Israelites from the bondage of Pharaoh, whereas the later frees us from the bondage of Satan and sin.
雅各伯和他的兒子們，與家眷一起移居埃及，在當地生育繁衍，子孫甚眾。法郎和若瑟相繼去世，新登基的法郎，對希伯來民族起了猜忌，遂下了兩道懿旨：希伯來人要為埃及人作奴隸，並要所有把所有希伯來新生男嬰，拋到河中淹死。
從河中獲救
一名希伯來女子把自己新生男嬰，收藏了三個月，眼看嬰孩漸漸長大，不能繼讀收藏，便把他包裹在籃子裡，放在河中任意漂浮。
法郎女兒從河中救起嬰兒，視為己出，取名「梅瑟」，意解「從水中救起」。梅瑟生母巧妙安排，得法郎女兒信任，負責哺育梅瑟，而梅瑟則在埃及宮廷中長大。
梅瑟從濫殺中獲救，使我們記起耶穌在黑落德濫殺嬰孩時，逃出生天。
燃燒的荊棘
梅瑟長大成人世後，決定認祖歸宗，惹怒法郎，因此他逃離埃及，流落到達米德揚。
一天，天主天使從燃燒的荊棘，向梅瑟顯現，梅瑟對燃燒的荊棘卻並未真實燃燒，感到極其驚訝。
天主曉諭梅瑟，要作以色列（希伯來人）的首領，從埃及奴役中解放他們。
天主對梅瑟說：「我是自有者（出谷紀3:14）」。聖依拉略寫道：「我實在驚訝天主這樣清楚的稱號，這稱號將天主性深邃的奧理以最適合人類理智的字句來表達。」
巴斯卦羔羊
梅瑟向法郎，要求准許以色列人到曠野，向天主奉獻祭祀不果，卻惹來壓迫加劇。
天主降災埃及人，法郎屢屢不肯就範。最後，梅瑟給法郎預言，埃及人所有首生子都會被天主置死。
對此，一解說如下：「以色列作為選民，在普世民族中佔長子的地位。法郎迫害天主選民，因此天主為處罰法郎，下令埃及家庭中的特選者(長子) 要被殺。」
天主旨令以色列人過逾越節，要他們每家每戶，宰殺一頭無殘疾雄性的羔羊，烤熟，伴以無酵餅和苦菜，整隻吃掉，把羔羊血塗在房屋的兩門框和門楣上。
巴斯卦（逾越節）羔羊是象徵基督。無殘疾雄性的羔羊，儼如無罪的基督；羔羊的犧牲，切合了基督在十字架上的犧牲；基督在苦架上，如被殺的羔羊一樣，一根骨頭未被折斷；羔羊的血拯救了以色列的首生子，基督的血拯救了整個人類，免陷永死；巴斯卦羔羊被整整吃掉，基督聖體全然奉獻，成了信眾的神糧。
步過紅海
埃及人首生子猝亡，法郎被迫允許以色列離開。天主白晝以雲柱帶領以色列，黑夜以火柱領路。
法郎反悔，以精騎追趕以色列。天主叫梅瑟伸手，把紅海海水兩邊分開，好讓以色列人步過逃生。當法郎精騎緊隨步入紅海，天主使海水回灌，盡溺埃及追兵。
步過紅海活命，是聖洗聖事預象。前者把以色列人從奴役中解放，聖洗把我們從撒旦的罪惡枷鎖中釋放出來。