Bible Vs BOM: Moses Spake Unto the Water

[Ray Callis Hatton III]

Every now and then, as rare as it is nowadays, I run into a criticism that I never heard before.

"be faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord; for behold he is mightier than all the earth, then why not mightier than Laban and his fifty, yea, or even than his tens of thousands?

Therefore let us go up; let us be strong like unto Moses; for he truly spake unto the waters of the Red Sea and they divided hither and thither, and our fathers came through, out of captivity, on dry ground, and the armies of Pharaoh did follow and were drowned in the waters of the Red Sea. Now behold ye know that this is true." (1 Nephi 4:1

[semlogo]

The Torah is probably the least reliable of all sections of the Bible. I don't see the problem.

[LeSellers]

Further criticism comes from that Moses was concerned with being God's representative because of his inability to speak well. Moses speaking to the sea calls into question this part of Moses and his need for Aaron to speak for him.

Yet I find very few places where Aaron speaks to Pharaoh or the Israelites

[LeSellers]

Genesis is probably the least reliable of all books in the Bible. I don't see the problem.

Which has what, exactly, to do with Moses and Aaron?

Lehi

[semlogo]

Which has what, exactly, to do with Moses and Aaron?

Lehi

Sorry, I should have said the Torah.

[volgadon]

Yet a Jewish tradition was that Moses spoke to the sea.

[Magyar]

No doubt Moses used both his staff and his voice to carry out these miracles, in the name of JHVH. One uses both one's voice, a pen, a piece of paper and a secretary to have a letter dictated. One need not mention that all four were involved in order for one's account to be valid. It is indeed a very feeble criticism.

On a related note, every anti-Mormon website in the world, it seems, trumpets the quote by Joseph Smith about how "God made Aaron to be the mouthpiece for the children of Israel and He will make me be god to you in his stead ... and if you don't like it, you must lump it."

Which is nothing more than the language of Exodus 4, all except the frontier colloquialism at the end, which is considerably less threatening than those pronounced in the Bible against those who would question the authority of Moses or any other prophet of God, to lead.

That same chapter four of Exodus clearly indicates Moses' worry about his weakness of speech, so if some critic is holding this against the LDS Church, he or she needs to read their Bible a little more often.

[David Bokovoy]

Every now and then, as rare as it is nowadays, I run into a criticism that I never heard before.

"be faithful in keeping the commandments of the Lord; for behold he is mightier than all the earth, then why not mightier than Laban and his fifty, yea, or even than his tens of thousands?

Therefore let us go up; let us be strong like unto Moses; for he truly spake unto the waters of the Red Sea and they divided hither and thither, and our fathers came through, out of captivity, on dry ground, and the armies of Pharaoh did follow and were drowned in the waters of the Red Sea. Now behold ye know that this is true." (1 Nephi 4:1

[Zakuska]

Thanks David... very interesting.

It's also intresting the "Magic world view" presented in the Bible.

In the Bible Moses uses a "Magic staff" to do Gods wonders. Where as in the BOM he uses the "voice of God" to command the elements.

[Ray Callis Hatton III]

Yet a Jewish tradition was that Moses spoke to the sea.

Really? Would that be Moses' Semiphoras, or something else?

[volgadon]

Really? Know where you read that from?

Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews, vol. 2, I believe. An echo of the tradition David mentioned.

[David Bokovoy]

Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews, vol. 2, I believe. An echo of the tradition David mentioned.

Good call, Bro! ('cept it was vol. 3)

Nephi's statement clearly reflects rabbinic legend that Moses carried on a lengthy verbal argument with the Sea. In the legend, God commands Moses, "Take the rod that I gave thee, and go to the sea upon mine errand, and speak thus: 'I am the messenger sent by the Creator of the world! Uncover thy paths, O sea, for my children that they may go through the midst on dry ground.' Moses spoke to the sea as God had bidden him..." vol. 3, pg. 18.