Fear – Deuteronomy, Part 8

I was standing between the Lord and you at that time, Moses said to Israel, to reveal to you the message of the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה), because you were afraid (yârêʼ, יראתם) of the fire and would not go up the mountain.[1]  Then he recounted the ten commandments.  Within them was a fearful description of yehôvâh: I punish the sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons for the sin of the fathers who reject me[2]  And in a footnote (11) the translators made it perfectly clear what form of punishment they had in mind: “God sometimes punishes children for the sins of a father (cf. Num 16:27, 32; Josh 7:24-25; 2 Sam 21:1-9).”  In other words yehôvâh executes the sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons for the sin of the fathers who reject Him.

That’s what I thought.  And that’s why I love the NET.  Apart from its written record I would look back and think I had been completely insane.  It’s not that I had the NET to read when I was young, but that its translators came of age in the same religious milieu as I did.  So in the spirit of fearing the Lord I want to slow way down to consider how they arrived at I punish as a translation of the Hebrew word pâqad (פקד; Septuagint: ἀποδιδοὺς, a form of ἀποδίδωμι).  And this fear is not reverence, but the fear that keeps one from direct intercourse with yehôvâh.  Only Moses risked that, because you were afraid of the fire and would not go up the mountain.

In Exodus 20:5 (NET) pâqad was translated responding.

Form of pâqad Reference KJV NET
פקד Exodus 20:5 visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children… responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children…
Deuteronomy 5:9 visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children… I punish the sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons…

I intend to track pâqad, ʽâvôn (עון; translated to the transgression and for the sin) and śânêʼ (לשׁנאי; translated of those who reject me and who reject me) from the beginning to the giving of the law, and then from there to its restatement in Deuteronomy.  I first encountered ʽâvôn from the mouth of Cain after he attacked his brother Abel and killed him.[3]

So now, you are banished from the ground, yehôvâh said to him, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.[4]  Up to that time Cain had cultivated the groundWhen you try to cultivate the ground, yehôvâh continued, it will no longer yield its best for you.  You will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.[5]  Cain lamented (Genesis 4:13b, 14 NET):

My punishment (ʽâvôn, עוני) is too great to endure! [Table]  Look!  You are driving me off the land today, and I must hide from your presence.  I will be a homeless wanderer on the earth; whoever finds me will kill me.

Here the translators assumed that Cain lamented his punishment rather than his sin; ʽâvôn can mean both.  When yehôvâh prophesied to Abram the translators assumed the Amorites were not punished in the promised land they inhabited but that the land itself would not be given to Abram’s descendants until the Amorites’ sin reached some predetermined limit (Genesis 15:13b-16 NET):

Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign country.  They will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years [Table].  But I will execute judgment on the nation that they will serve.  Afterward they will come out with many possessions [Table].  But as for you, you will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age [Table].  In the fourth generation your descendants will return here, for the sin (ʽâvôn, עון) of the Amorites has not yet reached its limit [Table].

But Abram/Abraham had no son yet by his wife Sarah (Genesis 17:15-21).

Then God said to Abraham, “As for your wife, you must no longer call her Sarai; Sarah will be her name [Table].  I will bless her and will give you a son through her.  I will bless her and she will become a mother of nations.  Kings of countries will come from her [Table]!”

Then Abraham bowed down with his face to the ground and laughed as he said to himself, “Can a son be born to a man who is a hundred years old?  Can Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety [Table]?”  Abraham said to God, “O that Ishmael might live before you [Table]!”

God said, “No, Sarah your wife is going to bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac.  I will confirm my covenant with him as a perpetual covenant for his descendants after him [Table].  As for Ishmael, I have heard you.  I will indeed bless him, make him fruitful, and give him a multitude of descendants.  He will become the father of twelve princes; I will make him into a great nation [Table].  But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year [Table].”

The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent during the hottest time of the day.  Abraham looked up and saw three men standing across from him.[6]  One of them said, “I will surely return to you when the season comes round again, and your wife Sarah will have a son!”[7]

So Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, “After I am worn out will I have pleasure, especially when my husband is old too?”

The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child when I am old?’  Is anything impossible for the Lord?  I will return to you when the season comes round again and Sarah will have a son.”  Then Sarah lied, saying, “I did not laugh,” because she was afraid (yârêʼ, יראה).  But the Lord said, “No!  You did laugh.”[8]

The next occurrence of ʽâvôn involved the judgment and condemnation of Sodom.  At dawn the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get going!  Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be destroyed when the city is judged (ʽâvôn)!”[9]  Competing values had met at Lot’s front door (Genesis 19:4-9a NET):

Before they could lie down to sleep, all the men – both young and old, from every part of the city of Sodom – surrounded the house.  They shouted to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight?  Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!”

Lot went outside to them, shutting the door behind him.  He said, “No, my brothers!  Don’t act so wickedly (râʽaʽ, תרעו)!  Look, I have two daughters who have never had sexual relations with a man.  Let me bring them out to you, and you can do to them whatever you please.  Only don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”

“Out of our way!” they cried, and “This man came to live here as a foreigner, and now he dares to judge us!  We’ll do more harm (râʽaʽ, נרע) to you than to them!”

The two angels, yehôvâh’s messengers, didn’t allow the men of Sodom to fulfill their desire, nor did they allow Lot to defile his daughters to fulfill his family’s ideal of hospitality.  They struck the men who were at the door of the house, from the youngest to the oldest, with blindness.[10]   And that brings me to the first occurrence of pâqad.

The Lord visited (pâqad, פקד) Sarah just as he had said he would and did for Sarah what he had promised.[11]  The rabbis who translated the Septuagint chose ἐπεσκέψατο (a form of ἐπισκέπτομαι) here.  I find ἐπεσκέψατο at the beginning of the fulfillment of another promise as well.  The Jerusalem Council listened to Barnabas and Paul while they explained all the miraculous signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them.[12] James replied (Acts 15:13b-18 NET Table1 Table2):

“Brothers, listen to me.  Simeon has explained (Acts 15:7-11) how God first concerned himself (ἐπεσκέψατο, a form of ἐπισκέπτομαι) to select from among the Gentiles a people for his name.  The words of the prophets agree with this, as it is written, ‘After this I will return, and I will rebuild the fallen tent of David; I will rebuild its ruins and restore it, so that the rest of humanity may seek the Lord, namely, all the Gentiles I have called to be my own, says the Lord, who makes these things known from long ago.”

James didn’t quote the Septuagint.

Acts 15:16, 17 (NET) Acts 15:16, 17 Parallel Greek Amos 9:11, 12 Septuagint Amos 9:11, 12 NETS
‘After this… μετὰ ταῦτα… ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ… On that day…
…I will return… …ἀναστρέψω…
…and I will rebuild the fallen tent of David… καὶ ἀνοικοδομήσω τὴν σκηνὴν Δαυὶδ τὴν πεπτωκυῖαν ἀναστήσω τὴν σκηνὴν Δαυιδ τὴν πεπτωκυῖαν… …I will raise up the tent of David that is fallen…
…καὶ ἀνοικοδομήσω τὰ πεπτωκότα αὐτῆς… …and rebuild its ruins…
…I will rebuild its ruins… …καὶ τὰ |κατεσκαμμένα| αὐτῆς ἀνοικοδομήσω… …καὶ τὰ κατεσκαμμένα αὐτῆς ἀναστήσω… …and raise up its destruction…
…and restore it… …καὶ ἀνορθώσω αὐτήν… …καὶ ἀνοικοδομήσω αὐτὴν καθὼς αἱ ἡμέραι τοῦ αἰῶνος… …and rebuild it as the days of old…
…so that the rest of humanity may seek the Lord, namely, all the Gentiles I have called to be my own,’ says the Lord, who makes these things… …ὅπως ἂν ἐκζητήσωσιν οἱ κατάλοιποι τῶν ἀνθρώπων τὸν κύριον καὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ἐφ᾿ οὓς ἐπικέκληται τὸ ὄνομα μου ἐπ᾿ αὐτούς, λέγει κύριος ποιῶν ταῦτα… …ὅπως ἐκζητήσωσιν οἱ κατάλοιποι τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ἐφ᾽ οὓς ἐπικέκληται τὸ ὄνομά μου ἐπ᾽ αὐτούς λέγει κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ ποιῶν ταῦτα… …in order that those remaining of humans and all the nations upon whom my name has been called might seek out me, says the Lord who does these things.

But the Septuagint version of Amos 9:12 is much closer to James’ quotation than the Hebrew from which our Bibles have been translated.

Amos 9:12 (NET) Amos 9:12 (KJV)

Amos 9:12 (Tanakh)

“As a result they will conquer those left in Edom and all the nations subject to my rule.”  The Lord, who is about to do this, is speaking! That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this. That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this.

The first occurrence of śânêʼ is found in the words with which Rebekah’s family blessed her when she left them to marry Abraham’s and Sarah’s son Isaac: Our sister, may you become the mother of thousands of ten thousands!  May your descendants possess the strongholds of their enemies (śânêʼ).[13]  But enemies as a translation of śânêʼ did not mean open warfare exclusively.  It could include the fear of a potential enemy.  Abimelech said to Isaac, “Leave us and go elsewhere, for you have become much more powerful than we are.”[14]  When Abimelech saw how yehôvâh had blessed Isaac and sought a treaty with him, Isaac asked, Why have you come to me?  You hate (śânêʼ, שׁנאתם) me and sent me away from you. [15]

The Hebrew word śânêʼ was also used to describe personal preference.  Isaac and Rebekah had twin sons, Esau and Jacob.  Jacob married two women, Leah and Rachel.  Rachel was beautiful.  Leah was not.  When evening came Jacob preferred to bed Rachel over Leah.  When the Lord saw that Leah was unloved (śânêʼ, שׁנואה), he enabled her to become pregnant while Rachel remained childless.[16]  She became pregnant again and had another son.  She said, “Because the Lord heard that I was unloved (śânêʼ, שׁנואה), he gave me this one too.”[17]

From the perspective of the word usage of śânêʼ it matters very little whether Leah was a superstitious woman who mistook happenstance for interaction with yehôvâh.  As a matter of faith in yehôvâh it is important to remember that Moses was not afraid of the fire, went up the mountain and spoke directly with Him.  He said of Moses (Numbers 12:6-8a NET):

Hear now my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) will make myself known to him in a vision; I will speak with him in a dream.  My servant Moses is not like this; he is faithful in all my house.  With him I will speak face to face, openly, and not in riddles; and he will see the form of the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה).

It was Moses who wrote that yehôvâh saw (râʼâh, וירא) that Leah was unloved and enabled her to become pregnant.  If I believe, the details pulse with life.  Leah concurred with yehôvâh at first: The Lord has looked (râʼâh, ראה) with pity on my oppressed condition,[18] she said when she was not having regular sex with Jacob.  But after she was and had given birth to two sons, Reuben and Simeon, the idea that yehôvâh saw her became less comforting: the Lord heard (shâmaʽ, ושמע) that I was unloved, she amended her statement of faith.

So then faith comes by hearing,[19] Paul wrote the Romans.  The best way to avoid faith in yehôvâh is to avoid the Bible.  Don’t read it for yourself or listen to preaching or teaching from it.  The second best way to avoid faith in yehôvâh is to read the Bible, study it even, listen to plenty of sermons from it, but keep your mind focused on rules for you to obey.  I know.  I did it for years.

With my mind focused on my own compliance, or lack of compliance, to rules derived from the law I missed the grace of God, his gift of righteousness, the fruit of his Spirit.  Although they see they do not see, and although they hear they do not hear nor do they understand,[20] Jesus promised those who trusted their religion, rites and rituals rather than yehôvâhWoe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, He critiqued their labors, hypocrites!  You cross land and sea to make one convert, and when you get one, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves![21]

Elsewhere I called my attempt “to keep yehôvâh’s law in my own strength…an occupational hazard of reading the Old Testament with a willing heart…If yehôvâh said do this or don’t do that, I said okay, and woke up somewhere in the story of David to the fact that I was striving again to keep the law in my own strength, without malice or forethought.”  Jesus read the Old Testament and concluded, You must all be born from above[22] because what is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.[23]  Keeping that in view and remaining open to understanding how He got that out of the Old Testament helps to minimize the “occupational hazard” of studying it.  Another more manual technique has been to deny my suspicions of yehôvâh, to take Him at his word, and to become more suspicious of the motives (1 Timothy 1:5-7) and agendas (Galatians 4:17-31) of those who would dissuade me from trusting his salvation.

Eventually, Rachel had a son, Joseph.  When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated (śânêʼ, וישׁנאו) Joseph and were not able to speak to him kindlyJoseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers about it, they hated (śânêʼ, שׁנא) him even more.[24]  He said to them (Genesis 37:6-8 NET):

“Listen to this dream I had: There we were, binding sheaves of grain in the middle of the field.  Suddenly my sheaf rose up and stood upright and your sheaves surrounded my sheaf and bowed down to it!”  Then his brothers asked him, “Do you really think you will rule over us or have dominion over us?”  They hated (śânêʼ, שׁנא) him even more because of his dream and because of what he said.

Joseph had another dream, and told it to his brothers (Genesis 37:9, 10 NET).

“Look,” he said.  “I had another dream.  The sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”  When he told his father and his brothers, his father rebuked him, saying, “What is this dream that you had?  Will I, your mother, and your brothers really come and bow down to you?”

Joeseph’s brothers’ śânêʼ was no mere emotion.  They plotted to kill him.  But Reuben, the eldest, talked them down from killing Joseph.  Then Judah said to his brothers (Genesis 37:26-28 NET):

“What profit is there if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?  Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites, but let’s not lay a hand on him, for after all, he is our brother, our own flesh.”  His brothers agreed.  So when the Midianite merchants passed by, Joseph’s brothers pulled him out of the cistern and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver.  The Ishmaelites then took Joseph to Egypt.

An Egyptian named Potiphar, an official of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard, purchased [Joseph] from the Ishmaelites who had brought him there (Genesis 39:1b-6a NET).

The Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) was with Joseph.  He was successful and lived in the household of his Egyptian master.  His master observed that the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) was with him and that the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) made everything he was doing successful.  So Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal attendant.  Potiphar appointed (pâqad, ויפקדהו) Joseph overseer of his household and put him in charge of everything he owned.  From the time Potiphar appointed (pâqad, הפקיד) him over his household and over all that he owned, the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) blessed the Egyptian’s household for Joseph’s sake.  The blessing of the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) was on everything that he had, both in his house and in his fields.  So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care; he gave no thought to anything except the food he ate.

In the Septuagint these two occurrences of pâqad were translated κατέστησεν and κατασταθῆναι (forms of καθίστημι).  Who then is the faithful and wise slave, Jesus asked, whom the master has put in charge (κατέστησεν, a form of καθίστημι) of his household, to give the other slaves their food at the proper time?  Blessed is that slave whom the master finds at work when he comes.  I tell you the truth, the master will put him in charge (καταστήσει, another form of καθίστημι) of all his possessions.[25]

I’ll pick this up in another essay.  The tables I’ve used here follow.

Form of pâqad Reference KJV NET
פקד Genesis 21:1 And the LORD visited Sarah as he had… The Lord visited Sarah just as he had said…
Genesis 50:24 …and God will surely visit you… …But God will surely come to you…
Genesis 50:25 …God will surely visit you… ..God will surely come to you…
Exodus 3:16 …I have surely visited you… …I have attended carefully to you…
Exodus 4:31 …they heard that the LORD had visited …heard that the Lord had attended to…
Exodus 13:19 …God will surely visit you… …God will surely attend to you…
Exodus 20:5 visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children… responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children…
ויפקדהו Genesis 39:4 …and he made him overseer over his… Potiphar appointed Joseph overseer of…
הפקיד Genesis 39:5 …he had made him overseer in his house… Potiphar appointed him over his…
ויפקד Genesis 40:4 charged Joseph with them… appointed Joseph to be their attendant…
Genesis 41:34 …and let him appoint officers over the… he should appoint officials throughout…
יפקד Genesis 50:24 …and God will surely visit you …But God will surely come to you
Genesis 50:25 …God will surely visit you ..God will surely come to you
Exodus 13:19 …God will surely visit you… …God will surely attend to you…
פקדתי Exodus 3:16 I have surely visited you… I have attended carefully to you…
Form of ʽâvôn Reference KJV NET
עוני Genesis 4:13 My punishment is greater than I can bear. My punishment is too great to endure!
עון Genesis 15:16 …for the iniquity of the Amorites is not… …for the sin of the Amorites has not yet…
Genesis 44:16 …found out the iniquity of thy servants… …God has exposed the sin of your servants!
Exodus 20:5 …visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children… …responding to the transgression of fathers…
בעון Genesis 19:15 …be consumed in the iniquity of the city. …will be destroyed when the city is judged!
Form of śânêʼ Reference KJV NET
שׁנאיו Genesis 24:60 …possess the gate of those which hate …possess the strongholds of their enemies.
שׁנאתם Genesis 26:27 …ye hate me, and have sent me away… You hate me and sent me away from you.
שׁנואה Genesis 29:31 …the LORD saw that Leah was hated …the Lord saw that Leah was unloved
Genesis 29:33 …the LORD hath heard that I was hated …the Lord heard that I was unloved
וישׁנאו Genesis 37:4 they hated him, and could not speak… they hated Joseph and were not able to…
שׁנא Genesis 37:5 …and they hated him yet the more. they hated him even more.
Genesis 37:8 And they hated him yet the more for his… They hated him even more because of his…
שׁנאינו Exodus 1:10 …they join also unto our enemies …will ally themselves with our enemies
שׁנאי Exodus 18:21 …men of truth, hating covetousness… …men of truth, those who hate bribes…
לשׁנאי Exodus 20:5 …generation of them that hate me …generations of those who reject me

[1] Deuteronomy 5:5 (NET)

[2] Deuteronomy 5:9b (NET)

[3] Genesis 4:8b (NET)

[4] Genesis 4:11 (NET) Table

[5] Genesis 4:12 (NET) Table

[6] Genesis 18:1, 2a (NET)

[7] Genesis 18:10a (NET)

[8] Genesis 18:12-15 (NET)

[9] Genesis 19:15 (NET) בעון

[10] Genesis 19:11a (NET)

[11] Genesis 21:1 (NET)

[12] Acts 15:12 (NET)

[13] Genesis 24:60 (NET) שׁנאיו

[14] Genesis 26:16 (NET)

[15] Genesis 26:27 (NET)

[16] Genesis 29:31 (NET)

[17] Genesis 29:33a (NET)

[18] Genesis 29:32a (NET)

[19] Romans 10:17a (NKJV)

[20] Matthew 13:13b (NET)

[21] Matthew 23:15 (NET)

[22] John 3:7b (NET)

[23] John 3:6 (NET)

[24] Genesis 37:4, 5 (NET)

[25] Matthew 24:45-47 (NET)

Fear – Numbers, Part 1

Why then were you not afraid (yârêʼ)[1] to speak against my servant Moses?[2] Jehovah asked Miriam and Aaron.  The rabbis who translated the Septuagint chose ἐφοβήθητε[3] here.  Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman he had married (for he had married an Ethiopian woman).[4]  It’s not clear to me whether they meant Zipporah[5] and were dredging up ancient history, or if Moses took a second wife who was not descended from Israel [See: The Law of the High Priest Leviticus 21:10-15 (NET)].  “Has the Lord only spoken through Moses?  Has he not also spoken through us?”[6] Miriam and Aaron said.

The Lord said (Numbers 12:6-8 NET):

“Hear now my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known to him in a vision; I will speak with him in a dream.  My servant Moses is not like this; he is faithful in all my house.  With him I will speak face to face, openly, and not in riddles; and he will see the form of the Lord.  Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”

I want to quote Philo of Alexandria, “a Hellenized Jew,”[7] on Moses, because 1) he lived in the first century (c. 20 BCE – 40 CE), a contemporary of Jesus; 2) he compiled some of the extra-biblical things the rabbis were telling themselves about Moses; and, 3) his writings were apparently influential to some of the church fathers.  Here is some of what the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy has to say about Philo: [8]

When Hebrew mythical thought met Greek philosophical thought in the first century B.C.E. it was only natural that someone would try to develop speculative and philosophical justification for Judaism in terms of Greek philosophy.  Thus Philo produced a synthesis of both traditions developing concepts for future Hellenistic interpretation of messianic Hebrew thought, especially by Clement of Alexandria, Christian Apologists like Athenagoras, Theophilus, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and by Origen.…In the process, he laid the foundations for the development of Christianity in the West and in the East, as we know it today.  Philo’s primary importance is in the development of the philosophical and theological foundations of Christianity.  The church preserved the Philonic writings because Eusebius of Caesarea labeled the monastic ascetic group of Therapeutae and Therapeutrides, described in Philo’s The Contemplative Life, as Christians, which is highly unlikely.

“I have conceived the idea of writing the life of Moses,” Philo wrote, “the greatest and most perfect man that ever lived…”[9]  “I…shall proceed to narrate the events which befell him, having learnt them both from those sacred scriptures which he has left as marvellous memorials of his wisdom, and having also heard many things from the elders of my nation, for I have continually connected together what I have heard with what I have read, and in this way I look upon it that I am acquainted with the history of his life more accurately than other people.”[10]

“[H]is father and mother were among the most excellent persons of their time…”[11]  “[T]he child Moses, as soon as he was born, displayed a more beautiful and noble form than usual…”[12]  He “was not, like a mere child, long delighted with toys and objects of laughter and amusement…but he himself exhibited a modest and dignified deportment in all his words and gestures, attending diligently to every lesson of every kind which could tend to the improvement of his mind.”[13]

“And immediately he had all kinds of masters, one after another, some coming of their own accord from the neighbouring countries and the different districts of Egypt, and some being even procured from Greece by the temptation of large presents.  But in a short time he surpassed all their knowledge, anticipating all their lessons by the excellent natural endowments of his own genius; so that everything in his case appeared to be a [r]ecollecting rather than a learning, while he himself also, without any teacher, comprehended by his instinctive genius many difficult subjects; for great abilities cut out for themselves many new roads to knowledge.”[14]

And when he had passed the boundaries of the age of infancy he began to exercise his intellect; not, as some people do, letting his youthful passions roam at large without restraint, although in him they had ten thousand incentives by reason of the abundant means for the gratification of them which royal places supply; but he behaved with temperance and fortitude, as though he had bound them with reins, and thus he restrained their onward impetuosity by force.  And he tamed, and appeased, and brought under due command every one of the other passions which are naturally and as far as they are themselves concerned frantic, and violent, and unmanageable.  And if any one of them at all excited itself and endeavoured to get free from restraint he administered severe punishment to it, reproving it with severity of language; and, in short, he repressed all the principal impulses and most violent affections of the soul, and kept guard over them as over a restive horse, fearing lest they might break all bounds and get beyond the power of reason which ought to be their guide to restrain them, and so throw everything everywhere into confusion.[15]

So Moses was most beautiful, most intelligent and most self-righteous, according to the stories Philo heard “from the elders of my nation.”  And in the Bible I read, Now the man Moses was very humble, more so than any man on the face of the earth.[16]  I can imagine how difficult it was for the most humble man on the face of the earth to write that sentence.  One of the translators of the NET mused on this in a note:[17]

Humility is a quality missing today in many leaders.  Far too many are self-promoting, or competitive, or even pompous.  The statement in this passage would have been difficult for Moses to write – and indeed, it is not impossible that an editor might have added it.  One might think that for someone to claim to be humble is an arrogant act.  But the statement is one of fact – he was not self-assertive (until Num 20 when he strikes the rock).

But it is impossible for me to imagine that the most humble man on the face of the earth refused to write that sentence if the Lord told him to write it, face to face.  Though first century religious thinkers may have found it impossible to imagine that Jehovah could have such a profound relationship with anyone who was anything other than most beautiful, most intelligent and most self-righteous, I’m betting on the Bible and most humble.  I think the facts bear me out.

When the Israelites tired of eating manna and cried out for meat, Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, everyone at the door of his tent; and when the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly, Moses was also displeased.[18]  And Moses said to the Lord (Numbers 11:11-15 NET):

“Why have you afflicted your servant?  Why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of this entire people on me?  Did I conceive this entire people?  Did I give birth to them, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your arms, as a foster father bears a nursing child,’ to the land which you swore to their fathers?  From where shall I get meat to give to this entire people, for they cry to me, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat!’  I am not able to bear this entire people alone, because it is too heavy for me!  But if you are going to deal with me like this, then kill me immediately.  If I have found favor in your sight then do not let me see my trouble.”

The Lord told Moses to select seventy elders of the people, and said, I will take part of the spirit that is on you, and will put it on them, and they will bear some of the burden of the people with you, so that you do not bear it all by yourself.[19]  This is the first I’ve heard that God’s Spirit was on Moses.  It was stated explicitly of Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan (Exodus 31:1-11 NET):

The Lord spoke to Moses: “See, I have chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God in skill, in understanding, in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship, to make artistic designs for work with gold, with silver, and with bronze, and with cutting and setting stone, and with cutting wood, to work in all kinds of craftsmanship.  Moreover, I have also given him Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, and I have given ability to all the specially skilled, that they may make everything I have commanded you: the tent of meeting, the ark of the testimony, the atonement lid that is on it, all the furnishings of the tent, the table with its utensils, the pure lampstand with all its utensils, the altar of incense, the altar for the burnt offering with all its utensils, the large basin with its base, the woven garments, the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments for his sons, to minister as priests, the anointing oil, and sweet incense for the Holy Place. They will make all these things just as I have commanded you.”

Only sixty-eight of the seventy elders Moses chose appeared before the Lord at the Tabernacle.  When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but did not do so again.[20]  Eldad and Medad, two who were among those in the registration, but had remained behind prophesied in the camp.[21]  When Joshua heard about it, he said, “My lord Moses, stop them!”[22]

The most humble man on the face of the earth replied, “Are you jealous for me?  I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!”[23]

Why then were you not afraid (yârêʼ) to speak against my servant Moses? Jehovah asked Miriam and Aaron.  As He departed He helped them acquire the fear they lacked.  Miriam became leprous as snow.[24]

Immediately Aaron begged Moses, “O my lord, please do not hold this sin against us, in which we have acted foolishly and have sinned!  Do not let her be like a baby born dead, whose flesh is half-consumed when it comes out of its mother’s womb!”[25]

The most humble man on the face of the earth cried to the Lord, “Heal her now, O God.”[26]

But the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had only spit in her face, would she not have been disgraced for seven days?  Shut her out from the camp seven days, and afterward she can be brought back in again.”  So Miriam was shut outside of the camp for seven days, and the people did not journey on until Miriam was brought back in.[27]

Fear – Numbers, Part 2

Back to Fear – Deuteronomy, Part 1


[2] Numbers 12:8b (NET)

[3] Φοβέω, aorist, middle, indicative, plural, second  http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CF%86%CE%BF%CE%B2%CE%AD%CF%89

[4] Numbers 12:1 (NET)

[6] Numbers 12:2 (NET)

[9] Philo, On The Life of Moses, I, I. (1) http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/yonge/book24.html

[10] Philo, On The Life of Moses, I, I. (4)

[11] Philo, On The Life of Moses, I, II. (7)

[12] Philo, On The Life of Moses, I, III. (9)

[13] Philo, On The Life of Moses, I, V. (20)

[14] Philo, On The Life of Moses, I, V. (21, 22)

[15] Philo, On The Life of Moses, I, VI. (25, 26)

[16] Numbers 12:3 (NET)

[17] Note 9, sn

[18] Numbers 11:10 (NET)

[19] Numbers 11:17 (NET)

[20] Numbers 11:25b (NET)

[21] Numbers 11:26 (NET)

[22] Numbers 11:28 (NET)

[23] Numbers 11:29 (NET)

[24] Numbers 12:10 (NET)

[25] Numbers 12:11, 12 (NET)

[26] Numbers 12:13 (NET)

[27] Numbers 12:14, 15 (NET)