Dr Paul Allen

QUESTION: Has it been proven that Moses existed? DICK HARFIELD RESPONSE H istorians took the biblical narrative for granted until the Rosetta Stone was deciphered at the beginning of the nineteenth century, enabling linguists to begin translating Egyptian hieroglyphics. There was the expectation that evidence of the Israelites in Egypt would soon be found in the copious ancient Egyptian writings, but this gradually gave way to puzzlement because there was clearly no evidence of any Israelites in Egypt, nor of the ten plagues of Moses or even the biblical Exodus. Historians had to begin thinking the unthinkable: either there was no Exodus, or it was simply a minor event that did not really change history. Either way, there was no catastrophic series of plagues, loss of an entire army in pursuit of the Israelites, or even the dramatic economic downturn that one would expect after the loss of a huge number of productive slaves. The evidence is now in: nothing happened—there was  no bi...

Moses is still not satisfied.  Even with God's promises and recent gifts, he remains unsatisfied. Moses has been on the mountain for 40 days and nights, communing with God.  He has already had that experience; he has already had the experiences that are recorded in this chapter, where God, we are told, ‘spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend’—a most unusual thing. In response to Moses' request for assurance and satisfaction, God says, ‘I will even grant you that,’ and immediately provides him with some degree of it.  And yet Moses goes further. He is not satisfied. He does not stop; he goes on, and he says, ‘Show me your glory.’ This attitude is what we may very well describe as the daring quality that always comes into great faith. You will find other illustrations of this attribute elsewhere in the Scriptures.  But here is perhaps the most remarkable of all: Moses's audacity in asking for more after already receiving such answers.  G...

  “But Michael the archangel, when contending with the Devil, debating concerning the body of Moses, did not dare to pronounce an irreverent judgment, but he said, “May the Lord reprove you” (JUDE 9,  But doesn’t the Old Testament say that only the Lord was with Moses when he died on Mount Nebo, just outside the promised land of Canaan? “And [the Lord] buried [Moses] in the valley, in the land of Moab … but no one knows the place of his burial to this day” (DEUT 34:6 ESV).  There is no mention of Satan, Michael, or an epic battle. Who (or what) is Jude’s source? New Testament source material usually came from the Old Testament, but not always. Sometimes New Testament writers drew upon non-biblical documents.1 For example, Paul cites the Greek poets Aratus and Cleanthes to support his claim that the God of Israel is responsible for the entire created order (Acts 17:28). Accessing the sources of the first century AD can be challenging. G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson’s Comment...

Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent. (Ex. 33:11) Moses is unique in the history of redemption. God spoke directly and intimately with him. He was a prophet and an intercessor, speaking God’s words to the nation and speaking to God on behalf of the nation. Moses was the covenant mediator. He also played a special role in pointing to the coming One, who would be a prophet like himself (Deut. 18:15–19). In Exodus 33, Moses continues to intercede for the wayward Israelites. His intercession had spared them previously, and now Moses intercedes once more. Although stubborn, this people belongs to the Lord. They need more than deliverance from judgment. Moses knows that God himself must accompany the people. God’s covenant presence must be what distinguishes them from all other people on the face of the earth. Moses appeals to the favo...

  Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.  (Deuteronomy 34:7) During his last years, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale wrote: “The longer I live, the more convinced I become that neither age nor circumstances need deprive us of energy or vitality. Although I have retired from my church, I occupy my working hours with Guideposts Magazine, speaking, and writing books. I go to bed as early as possible and rise early. I try to eat sensibly, exercise regularly, and avoid bad habits of all kinds. I mentally repudiate physical, mental or spiritual decline and disability. I trust in the living God, and I recommend the same to anyone who desires a long and healthy life.” The Bible says, “The Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than the beginning” (Job 42:12). Your age is not a problem to God so long as your faith is strong. Noah didn’t start building the ark until he was 500, went into it at 621, came out of it at 622, and he...

Few things can cripple people like fear. Fear makes people shrink from doing what they know they ought to do. Fear can also make us do things we ought not to do. Fear is not simply self-protective or self-preserving; fearful concern for the well-being and protection of those we love can cause us to worry, lie awake at night, and even do things that could be perceived as either very brave or very foolish.  So, what overcomes fear? The Bible offers a clear and potent solution—faith in God's promises. “By faith, he left Egypt, not afraid of the king's anger” (Hebrews 11:27). This verse stands in the middle of Hebrews 11 and in the middle of the author’s commentary on Moses's life. It briefly reflects on Moses's faith in the face of a very real and present danger (humanly speaking)—the king of Egypt. Moses was like any other man; blood flowed in his veins just as in yours and mine. He was truly human and thus capable of knowing the reality of fear in the face of an imminent...

Without question, one of the strangest verses in the Bible is Jude 9: But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!” Questions have long swirled around this verse and the death and burial of Moses in general. The canonical record of the death and burial of Moses is shrouded in mystery in Deuteronomy 34. Verse 1 says, “Now Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, opposite Jericho. And the LORD showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan.”  A few verses later, verses 5-6 add, “So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD. And He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-Peor, but no man knows his burial place to this day.” After seeing the Promised Land from afar, Moses died alone in the presence of the Lord. Then something mysterious happened: Moses did ...

Question: Recently an unbeliever raised an objection against the reliability of the biblical accounts, he said that the account of Moses in which he was placed in a basket on the river by his mother had been a copy of the biography of Sargon of Akkad, a Mesopotamian monarch around 2400 BC. The account of Sargon goes like this:        “My mother was high priestess, I did not know my father. My father’s brothers loved the hills.  My city is Azupiranu, which is located on the banks of the Euphrates. My mother high priestess conceived me, and secretly gave birth to me. She left me In a reed basket, he sealed the lid with bitumen. He threw me into the river, which rose above me. The river carried me and carried me to Akki the water carrier. Akki the water carrier took me as his son and raised me. Akki the water carrier named me his gardener. Although I was a gardener, Ishtar granted me his love, and for four and […] years I have held the monarchy. ”    ...

Recently, while reading a highly regarded commentary on the Book of Numbers, I realized a fairly common preaching “trope” I have heard from the pulpit for years was quite erroneous. That trope, or “commonly repeated conventional view,” is the reason God prevented Moses from entering the promised land.  It is an exegetical point that may not seem all that important. After all, we realize that Moses, like everyone, was a sinner. And, we know that sinners sin. Moreover, we also know that in doing so, sinners often forfeit the right to what would otherwise be an appropriate reward or “blessing.” This is not a terribly controversial idea in Jewish or Christian theology. It also seems to be a basic fact of experience that anyone can understand, regardless of religious persuasion: if you screw up, you may not get what you want. However, thinking a bit more carefully about it, it does seem a fairly big deal that the greatest prophet of his time; the greatest prophet in all of Jewish histor...