Moses had horns?
Despite the many English translations that refer to radiance or brightness emanating from the face of Moses, it is unclear what the Hebrew text means to say. Ex 34:29 says, “The skin of his face qaran.” The main reason why many English translations refer to brilliance is that several ancient translations do so: the Septuagint, the pre-Christian Greek translation of the OT (done two centuries before Christ), the Peshitta (the Syriac translation probably completed by the fourth or fifth century AD), and the Targums (the Aramaic translations of OT books that originated during the first few centuries BC and continued to develop throughout the first millennium AD). The most basic meaning of the Hebrew word qaran is “to have horns.” Iconography, notably the representation of Moses by Michelangelo, portrays Moses with horns protruding from his head. This interpretation is not as far-fetched as one might think. Besides the surface meaning of the Hebrew, horns are a prevalent symbol ...