Tag Archives: Moses

Articles

Put that Snake on a Sign?

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Did You Know?

It is interesting how many times the same words are used in Greek and Hebrew, but our English translations don’t bring it out.  Here’s one such example.

The Israelites are whiners.  Plain and simple.  And then finally God has enough of their nonsense, and sends fiery serpents among them, and those serpents start biting the Israelites, and people die.  Then they realize “Oh, we messed up!” and beg for Moses to do something about it.  So, Moses talks to God, and God tells him to make a brass serpent and put it on a pole.  Right?  Well, sort of.

The exact same word translated “pole” in Numbers 21 is translated as “sign” just five chapters later.  You might remember that Korah and company tried to rebel and overthrow Moses’ leadership.  Then Moses called for the ground to open up and swallow Korah and his crew alive.  It happened, and God said that this was done as a sign to the people.

The word in Hebrew almost always refers to something done or raised for others to see.  It is called a standard (a.k.a., battle flag), an ensign (a.k.a. flag of conquest), or a banner (you’re noticing a trend here, right?).

God told Moses not just to put the snake up on a pole, but to put it on a sign, raise it up for people to see the power of God, who through the snakes had declared war on the complaining Israelites.  The brazen serpent served as God’s battle flag.

Did you know?

-Bradley S. Cobb

Books

Was Moses Mistaken?

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The past couple days, we’ve made available booklets defending of the accuracy of the Biblical text.  Today, we continue the same general theme, but this time with a slightly different slant to it.

Instead of dealing with the accuracy of the words (supposed corruptions in the text), or the dating of the biblical writings, today’s freebie is a defense of Moses himself as a reliable author.  You might wonder why such a book would be necessary, but if you were to place yourself back in the late 1800s, you would have heard about a man named Robert Ingersoll.  He was an atheist who made a name for himself going around the country giving a speech called “The Mistakes of Moses.”

Tomorrow’s freebie will be a more direct rebuttal to Ingersoll’s speech, but today we’re offering you a book called “Was Moses Mistaken? or, Creation and Evolution.”

This book, like “The Corruptions of the New Testament” (from Monday) and  “The Pentateuch: Its Origin and Authorship” (Tuesday), was written by H.L. Hastings, editor of “The Christian” newspaper and “The Anti-Infidel Library.”  He was highly respected by people in different churches throughout the world for his clear writing on important topics.  He also edited a songbook called “Songs of Pilgrimage: A Hymnal for the Churches of Christ” in which he argued that it cheapens psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to accompany them with instruments.

Contents

  • Who was Moses?
  • Who Created the World?
  • Can a Corn Stalk Count?
  • The Chicken or the Egg?
  • Who Made Man?
  • The Donkey and the Commandments
  • Why People Neglect the Bible

Also included at the end of this booklet are some excerpts from some of Hasting’s other writings and works.

So, take a few moments, if you will, and see what you think about this, the newest addition to the Jimmie Beller Memorial eLibrary.  Click on the link to read it online or download it for reading on your own time.

Was Moses Mistaken? (H.L. Hastings)

Enjoy!