Volume 4 Issue 1
Page 2

April 1999

MY SERVANT MOSES

by T.E. Robert J. Cameron

Then He said, Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, make Myself known to him in a vision, And I speak to him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My house. I speak with him face to face, Even plainly, and not in dark sayings; and he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?

In the Presbyterian Church in America, and in other denominations, there is a controversy over the right interpretation of the first chapter of the Bible. There are some who see it as a literal historical account of the way this cosmos actually began. However, because of the subtle influence of evolutionary presuppositions, and the teachings and writings of several highly respected Christian scholars such as Charles and A. A. Hodge, B. B. Warfield, W. G. T. Shedd, and Meredith Kline, who re-interpreted Genesis One in an attempt to adjust the revelation to secular science, there are teaching elders and ruling elders who hold to the Day-Age theory of creation, or the Framework Hypothesis theory. And some hold to other less well-known views. The Westminster Standards teach the literal interpretation of the creation days, i.e., that it happened "In the space of six days." Both the Day-Age view and the Hypothesis view require an understanding that the beginning was not actually the way it is described in the Scriptures, but rather that the days of creation were actually long periods of time. In this article, the purpose is not to explain the details of these theories. Rather, your attention is being drawn to a phrase that is of vital importance in coming to a right understanding of that which is written in the Pentateuch by, "My servant Moses."

This writer's presupposition is that the Holy Bible interprets itself, and that it is its own dictionary. Much study is required to come to a right understanding of what are often considered simple phrases. This one, "My servant Moses," may seem to be clear enough on the surface but some study is necessary fully to understand it.

Dr. Edward J. Young in an excellent book entitled, "My Servants The Prophets," delineates the importance of both the offices and the messages delivered by these men as representatives of God. In his explanation of the office Young says, referring to Deuteronomy 18:9-22, "The Prophets, so Deuteronomy teaches, were men raised up of God, in whose mouth God's word has been placed, and who uttered that word. They were to stand as a counterpart to the soothsaying and divination of Canaan, and to them Israel was to hearken." In this book Young devotes a chapter to what we have taken as the title of this article, "My servant Moses," in which he says:

To Moses therefore, God will reveal Himself in a unique manner. Four phrases are used, and they all go to emphasize the fact that God's speaking to Moses will be plain and clear in distinction from the more obscure methods used in communicating with the true prophets. In the first place it is said that God will speak to Moses "mouth unto mouth." The phrase appears only in this present passage, and signifies that God will speak directly and immediately, without reserve. As friends converse together. So we read in Exodus 33:11a: "And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaks unto his friend." In free personal intercourse, without any mediation, and with the same clarity and certainty that the spoken word carries, God would make known to Moses His will and ways. And in this connection it is of interest to observe the characterization that was made of Moses after his death: "And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face"(Deuteronomy 34:10).

Moses wrote the Pentateuch. His authority as the God-appointed leader of Israel in their deliverance from bondage in Egypt and through the wilderness wandering is beyond question. However, in Numbers 12:1-10, it is recorded that Miriam and Aaron, his sister and brother, complained about that authority. That which they voiced, "... the Ethiopian woman whom he had married; for he had married an Ethiopian woman," was an attempt to cover up the real complaint. The Lord heard their criticism and said to them, "Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses? So the anger of the Lord was aroused against them, and He departed"(Num. 12:8c, 9). There are several passages in the New Testament wherein Jesus affirmed the truth of Moses' writing. And here we discover the attitude of God toward two people of special significance in the history of redemptive revelation who provoked Him to anger by speaking against Moses. "And when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow. Then Aaron turned toward Miriam, and there she was, a leper"(Num. 12:10). This revelation should put us on guard when we are inclined to explain away or say things about the writings of Moses that defy the plain and ordinary sense of what is written or are contrary to other passages of Scripture. When men devise theories that are in opposition to the Scriptures, we should understand that the theories are in error, (Jn. 17:17).

In his book, "The Long War Against God," Henry M. Morris says:

Perhaps the most distressing evidence of the dominance of modern life and thought by evolutionism, however, is the fact that modern institutional Christianity itself has largely accepted evolution and reinterpreted the Bible and theology to fit it. Departments of philosophy and religion in secular universities have largely become completely humanistic, either atheistic or pantheistic. In Christian colleges and seminaries, especially in the main-line denominations, theistic evolution is all but universally accepted, with the early chapters of Genesis dismissed as spiritual allegories. This undermining of Christianity's foundation in Genesis has inevitably led to "liberalization" of the rest of the Bible in many of these institutions, explaining away the miracles of the Bible and the traditional authorship of its sixty-six books.

Moses got the creation account directly from God. God spoke to him as a man speaks to his friend, not in dreams or visions. Thus, had creation taken place some way other than that which is conveyed in the plain and ordinary sense of the text, it seems that God would have revealed it to Moses, and he would have recorded it. If the days of Genesis One were long periods of time, just how long were they? Those holding to the Day-Age view or the Hypothesis view cannot answer this question because there is no evidence in Scripture, nor has human discoveries produced any evidence, to prove such theories. They are theories and not facts based on truth or the scientific method of investigation. Since God dealt with Moses "face to face," it seems quite unreasonable to assume that the creation days were something other than the days as Israel knew them at the giving of the Ten Commandments if, in fact, they were different.

Moses records in Exodus 19 that God instructed him, in preparation to receive the Decalogue: "Go to the people and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes. And let them be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people"(19:10). And in this chapter, we discover that a part of their sanctification for the hearing of the Ten Commandments was that the men were to forego sexual activity with their wives for a three-day period. The holiness of God is portrayed in this revelation.

The Ten Commandments are the basic Stipulation of the Covenant of Grace. They are read and taught in most fundamental churches as the very word of God. However, often when they are read or recited, Exodus 20:1 is either not included or not given much weight. That verse reveals that God spoke the words of the Decalogue to Moses in the hearing of the people. "And God spoke all these words saying." Thus, Moses records in Exodus 20:2-17 words that were spoken by God. The Fourth Commandment is the law of the Sabbath, Exodus 20:8-11. And verse 11 is the stated reason for the Sabbath observance, which is also a direct commentary on the creation account: "For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."

My theology professor at Reformed Episcopal Seminary, Dr. Robert K. Rudolph, who is now with his Lord, used to love to say, "God says what He means, and He means what He says." This truth has served many of his students well in ministry and theological studies. Thus, we conclude, with respect to the commentary on creation: God said that He did it in six days, and to question or deny this is, in reality, to speak against the word of God and against Moses.

It has been well said, "If the days of creation were something other than twenty-four hour days, the interpretation of the Bible is impossible." With this, there should be agreement. How can one begin to affirm, for example, the inerrancy of Genesis Five, if the days of creation were thousands or millions of years long? Adam was created on the sixth day, and his creation could not possibly have been, according to the record, at the end of that day. He named all the animals and God performed an operation on him to create Eve.

God's Servant Moses wrote, "And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth. And after he begot Seth, the days of Adam were eight hundred years; and he begot sons and daughters. So all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years; and he died"(Gen. 5:3-5). This is obviously a reference to time after the creation epic. If the days of creation were long periods of time, how can this information be relied upon and taught as truth? Has Moses recorded something that is not true? Or, are those who deny the literal interpretation of the creation account speaking against Moses' authority, as did Miriam and Aaron, in assuming, contrary to the plain and ordinary sense of the words, that the days of creation were different from the days upon which God's worship is based?

In the Garden of Eden, Satan employed a rather simple yet profound tactic in tempting Eve, and Adam, to disobey God. He cast doubt on the truth of God's word. In the one stipulation to the Edenic Covenant, or, "The Covenant of Works," God said, "... for in the day you eat thereof you shall surely die"(Gen. 2:17b). Satan said to Eve, "Has God indeed said?"(Gen. 3:1c). No doubt, this was the underlying thought that impelled Miriam, the instigator, and Aaron, to question the rank and authority that God had bestowed upon Moses as deliverer of Israel. "And they said, 'Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?'"(Num. 12:2). The last phrase of this verse is not altogether untrue, but the Lord had not given them the rule over Pharaoh or the congregation. That was given by God to "My servant Moses." Aaron was used of God to speak for Moses, (Ex. 4:15), and Miriam is described as a prophetess, (Ex. 15:20). Nevertheless, God was so displeased with their complaint against "My servant Moses," that He struck Miriam with leprosy. This should serve as a strong warning to those who would twist the Word to make it fit human developments in science. This is precisely what the noted theologians did when they were confronted with the discoveries in geology, which is a relatively new science. No doubt, if they had taken the time to hold those discoveries up against the revealed word of God, and had questioned them in light of the truth, they would not have attempted to adjust the Bible to science. They would have demanded that the human discoveries be brought into conformity with God's revelation.

"Has God indeed said," that He created in six days? Not only did Moses record that God said He did it in six, literal days, God wrote it twice. The first tablets of stone were broken by Moses because of the idolatry of the people. God commanded Moses to hew out a second set of tablets. On both sets the Ten Commandments were "... written with the finger of God"(See Ex. 31:18; 34:1-4; Deut. 9:9-11; 10:1-3). Therefore, we see that God not only spoke the words of the Decalogue, He wrote them twice. And yet there are those among us who say that He did not mean what He said in the Scriptures they hold to be inerrant. "For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them." This Moses, the Bible tells us, spoke with God "mouth to mouth" as a man speaks with his friend.

The phrase, "My servant Moses," carries significant weight in interpreting the Pentateuch. If one's view of a single passage is in opposition to another, the error is on the part of the interpreter rather than that which Moses recorded. "For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope"(Rom. 15:4). The worship of our God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, our merciful Savior, through God the Holy Spirit dwelling in His people, throughout the Scriptures, is based on the days of creation.

"And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face."

Hence Moses was not a prophet of Jehovah, like many others, not even merely the first and highest prophet, primus inter pares, but stood above all the prophets, as the founder of the theocracy, and mediator of the Old Covenant. Upon this unparalleled relation of Moses to God and the theocracy, so clearly expressed in the verses before us, the Rabbins have justly founded their view as to the higher grade of inspiration in the Torah. This view is fully confirmed through the history of the Old Testament kingdom of God, and the relation in which the writings of the prophets stand to those of Moses. The prophets subsequent to Moses simply continued to build upon the foundation which Moses laid. And if Moses stood in this unparalleled relation to the Lord, Miriam and Aaron sinned grievously against him, when speaking as they did.

Is it unreasonable to assume that those who question and/or disregard that which Moses wrote concerning the days of creation are doing as Miriam and Aaron did when they spoke against him? God said that He created in six days, and He wrote it twice. And in His interrogation of Job, He asked him, "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding"(Job 38:4).

"Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?"

About the Author:

The Reverend Dr. Robert J. Cameron is Pastor of the Mt. Carmel Church in Somerset, New Jersey.