Moses is not God

by koot van wyk   Seoul   South Korea  3 January 2008

Moses was a great prophet and lawgiver in the 15th century BCE but some scholars are interpreting two verses in the Old Testament as if Moses was God or that God made Moses God to Aaron.


Nothing can be further from the truth.


Let us look at those two verses and attempt to correct the misunderstanding.


Exodus 4:16

Wrongly translated in the English Bibles as:

"Moreover, he shall speak for you to the people and it shall come about that he shall be as a mouth to you and you shall be as God for him"


A very misleading translation. The word "as" does not appear in the original. It is eisegesis.


Literally translated:

"And he shall spoke for you

unto the people

and it shall come to pass

he will be to you for a mouth

and you shall be to him

for God"


Paraphrased by Van Wyk as follows:

"And he [Aaron] shall spoke for you [Moses]

unto the people

and it shall come to pass

he [Aaron] will be to you [Moses] for a mouth

and you [Moses] shall be to him [Pharaoh]

for God [on behalf of God]


Exodus 7:1

Wrongly translated in the English Bibles as:

"Then the Lord said to Moses 'See, I make you as God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet".


The famous Israeli Judaizer Talk host in his polemic with a Christian this week, Tovia Singer (December 2008) used this verse to claim that Moses was made God. Nothing to it.


Literally translated:

"And the Lord said to Moses:

'Look, I give you God to Pharaoh

and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet [speak before one]'


van wyk notes:

1. There is no make in the Hebrew. The Hebrew reads literally "give".

2. God gave Himself to Moses and it is God who performs through Moses and Aaron not the human instruments themselves.

3. As Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar, there is a God in Heaven who reveals dreams. He understood the passages correctly that he did not become God because of his theophany with God.


End item.