Christmas and Moses

By Archimandrite Vassilios Bakoyiannis

Jesus is called the “son of Abraham” (Matt. 1:2) because He was born from Abraham’s lineage. He was born a Jew thanks to Abraham.

Abraham’s descendants left Canaan, Abraham’s homeland, and migrated to Egypt, where they remained for four hundred years (Acts 7:6). When the right time came, the Lord led them back to Canaan, today’s Israel, for one single purpose: to prepare the “ground” for Christ’s birth.

It was a journey undertaken and carried out by God through Moses. God Himself provided for the Israelites’ food; every morning they found their meal at the door of their tent (Exod. 16:35). Their clothes and shoes never wore out, and their feet never developed calluses (Deut. 8:4; Num. 12:3). And there were many other wondrous and unprecedented things like these.

Was God Harsh in the Old Testament?

By Archimandrite Vassilios Bakoyiannis

Some non-Christians resort to the Old Testament to prove that the Christian God is harsh. This view, however, is only half the truth. The whole truth is that God was equally merciful in the Old Testament as well. Here is an overview.

God in the Old Testament had to deal with a fallen world unlike any before, a world with its own psychology and nature. Accordingly, it required a special approach, one that aligned with this reality.

Its defining trait was hardness of heart. Parents burned their children alive, offering them as sacrifices to their gods (2 Kings 23:10).

In such a world, murder was an easy matter. With what ease Cain killed Abel; with what ease the meek Moses slew an Egyptian who was mistreating a fellow Israelite (Exodus 2:12).