Point of the Transfiguration & the Saints

"Adam Clarke makes an interesting point about this story, to wit, that Moses and Elijah demonstrated two ways of receiving a glorified body; 

(1) by being translated without seeing death, as in the case of Elijah, or 

(2) by dying but then later being resurrected and given a glorified body, as in the case of Moses. 

Perhaps one of the purposes of the story is to show us that both routes lead to the same end result:

"Elijah came from heaven in the same body which he had upon earth, for he was translated, and did not see death, 2 Kings 2:11. And the

body of Moses was raised again (Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. Jude 9), as a pledge of the resurrection; and as Christ is to come to judge the quick and the dead, for we shall not all die, but all shall be changed, Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 1 Cor. 15:51-2. 

He probably gave the full representation of this in the person of Moses, who died, and was thus raised to life (or appeared now as he shall appear when raised from the dead in the last day), and in the person of Elijah, who never lasted death. Both their bodies exhibit the same appearance, to show that the bodies of glorified saints are the same, whether the person had been translated, or whether he had died."

--Properly understood, the story of the transfiguration provides support not for the doctrine of immortal souls freed from a body, but rather for the teaching that the redeemed dead will be resurrected with glorified but very real bodies." 

F.D. Nichol

Moses the author

"The Bible’s first five books—Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy—are known as the Torah, Law, or Pentateuch. 

The Torah has long been ascribed to Moses. Indeed, the books’

internal evidence points to Moses, claiming his authorship, e.g., Exodus 17:14; 24:4–7; 34:27; Numbers 33:2; Deuteronomy 31:9, 22, 24.

Other Old Testament books affirm Moses’ authorship, e.g., Joshua 1:7–8; 8:32–34; Judges 3:4; 1 Kings 2:3; 2 Kings 14:6; 21:8; 2 Chronicles 25:4; Ezra 6:18; Nehemiah 8:1; 13:1; Daniel 9:11–13. New Testament writers likewise with John 1:17; Acts 6:14; 13:39; 15:5; 1 Corinthians 9:9; 2 Corinthians 3:15; Hebrews 10:28.

Finally, Jesus cited Moses as the author, frequently speaking of Moses’ writings or the Law of Moses without any disclaimer, e.g., Matthew 8:4; 19:7–8; Mark 7:10; 12:26; Luke 24:27, 44; John 7:19. 

Indeed, Jesus stressed the seriousness of denying Moses several times, including:

If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say? (John 5:46, 47).

Similarly, today’s liberal theologians who doubt Moses often doubt what Jesus said (aside from selective and twisted use to support their agreements with politically correct causes).

Genesis’ real sources are eleven family documents headed by toledots. 

The phrase ‘ēllĕh tôləḏôṯ (אֵ֚לֶּה תּוֹלְדֹ֣ת) is usually translated as “these are the generations of …”. This takes the preceding section’s results and propels it forward in the narrative. Genesis’ toledots tell us what followed from the named person. 

There is also a repeated historical pattern moving from blessings to curses. For example: Toledot of the heavens and earth, Genesis 2:4–4:26. ‘What followed from creation’, particularly what became of creation’s crowning point (man and woman), their fall from perfection into sin, and the curse on the cosmos.

Toledot of Adam, Genesis 5:1–6:8. ‘What followed from Adam’ continues the further degeneration of man into utter wickedness. We see the two main lines of descendants: Cain’s and Seth’s. This toledot starts in 5:1–2 with blessing but ends in God’s intention to blot out mankind in 6:7.

Toledot of Noah, Genesis 6:9–9:29. ‘What followed from Noah’. God’s curse on the wicked earth in the Flood, but the blessing of saving Noah’s family on the Ark. But then the righteous Noah becomes drunk, leading to Canaan’s curse.
Toledot of Noah’s three sons, Genesis 10:1–11:9. ‘What followed from Shem, Japheth, and Ham’, the descendants of these patriarchs founding nations. This account starts with the blessing of the population expansion and ends with the curse of the confusion of languages at Babel “in the days of Peleg” (10:25). This confusion led to the dispersion into nations.

Why the toledots are not endings or colophons

A popular view among creationists, consistent with a high view of Scripture, is that toledots were author signatures at the documents’

end. Thus the toledot would state the author of the section which preceded rather than followed the toledot. The toledot is thus alleged to be analogous to the colophon at the end of Babylonian tablets.

Air Commodore P.J. Wiseman first proposed this theory. His son, Professor of Assyriology D.J. Wiseman, has updated and revised his father’s work. However, there are a number of things wrong with this idea.

Old Testament scholar Dr Jason DeRouchie explained that the toledot’s grammar shows the toledot pointing to the subsequent text, not a closing statement of prior text:

"[A]s Gordon J. Wenham has observed, in the clause “these are the toledot of X,” the very meaning of תּוֹלְדֹ֖ת (tôlēḏôṯ) requires that the statement point to that which X produces and not to X’s origins. תּוֹלְדֹ֖ת derives from the Hiphil verb הוֹלִיד [hôlîḏ], of the root ילד [yld], meaning “to beget, bear.”  For this reason, a text such as Gen 2:4, “These are the toledot of the heavens and the earth,” cannot refer backwards to the description of the heaven and earth’s beginnings."

Rather, it must point ahead to that which immediately derived from the heavens and the earth––that is, humanity, shaped out of the ground and by the breath of God (Gen 2:7); a crafty serpent as a personification of all that is evil and created by God (3:1); toil, growing out of a world cursed by its Creator due to sin (3:17–19; cf. Romans 8:20, 21); and a human offspring of hope, considered a gift of God and a sure sign that the promised deliverer would come (Gen 4:25; cf. 3:15; 4:1). 

Similarly, the toledot of Adam (5:1) describes through genealogy that which came forth from the first man, and the toledot of Jacob (37:1) recounts through narrative what came of Jacob’s immediate descendants.

Q: Why is there no toledot at Genesis’ beginning? 

A: Because the toledot is designed to explain what became of the results of the preceding section, and nothing precedes Genesis 1:1." 

CMI

Spiritual Symbolism of the Wife of Moses

He had married an Ethiopian woman. Numbers 12:1

"Strange choice of Moses, but how much more strange the choice of

Him who is a prophet like unto Moses, and greater than he! Our Lord, who is fair as the lily, has entered into marriage union with one who confesses herself to be black, because the sun has looked upon her. It is the wonder of angels that the love of Jesus should be set upon poor, lost, guilty men.

Each believer must, when filled with a sense of Jesus' love, be also overwhelmed with astonishment that such love should be lavished on an object so utterly unworthy of it. 

Knowing as we do 

--our secret guiltiness, 

--unfaithfulness, 

--and black-heartedness, 

we are dissolved in grateful admiration of the matchless grace.

Can we wonder if this vain world opposes Jesus and His spouse, and especially when great sinners are converted? for this is ever the Pharisee's ground of objection, "This man receiveth sinners." 

Still is the old cause of quarrel revived, "Because he had married an Ethiopian woman." 

Charles Spurgeon

Parallel's of the Slaughter of the Innocents

"In Matthew’s Gospel there is a clear parallel between the Pharaoh’s effort to slaughter the Hebrew boys (Exodus 1:22) and King Herod’s effort to kill all the male children in Bethlehem who were two years old or under (Matthew 2:16). 

 

Pharaoh and Herod both killed the baby boys, but God divinely
protected both Moses and Jesus, and just as the Hebrew midwives rebelled against Pharaoh (Exodus 1:17), so the magi rebelled against Herod’s order to tell him where the promised King was to be born (Matthew 2:7–12). 

 

Both Moses and Jesus fled to foreign lands to escape, and both waited in exile until God spoke to them to return to their lands (Exodus 2:15, 4:19; Matthew 2:13–15, 19–21). 

 

Moses and Jesus were both born at times of great peril to God’s people, but God used them to become deliverers of his people. 

---But there is an important difference. Moses was a human child whom God used to rescue the nation of Israel from slavery (Exodus 13:3); whereas Jesus, the Prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:1811), is the eternal Son of God (Galatians 4:4), who came from heaven to earth to rescue people from every tribe, language, people, and nation from their slavery to sin (Revelation 5:9)." AIG

Dispelling the Sargon Comparison

And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink. Exodus 2:3

"Some try to find a parallel between Moses’ deliverance in his ark

and Sargon of Akkad, in which Sargon survived at birth in a chest floating on the Euphrates. 

 

However, there are several problems with this: Saying Israel used this to invent the account in Exodus would undermine its reliability. 

 

But there are other difficulties with the Sargon comparison, not the least of which is the fact that the meaning and function of the Sargon story are unclear. 

Second, there is no outside threat to the child Sargon. The account simply shows how a child was exposed, rescued, nurtured, and became king. 

Third, other details do not fit: Moses’ father is known, Sargon’s is not; Moses is never abandoned, since he is never out of the care of his parents, and the finder is a princess and not a goddess. 

 

Moreover, without knowing the precise function and meaning of the Sargon story, it is almost impossible to explain its use as a pattern for the Biblical account. 

 

--By itself, the idea of a mother putting a child by the river if she wants him to be found would have been fairly sensible, for that is where the women of the town would be washing their clothes or bathing. If someone wanted to be sure the infant was discovered by a sympathetic woman, there would be no better setting” (See note 10 in “Exodus 2,” NET Bible, https://netbible.org/bible/Exodus+2). 

 

The parallel of Moses’ ark is clearly the account of the ark in Genesis 6–8." AIG

Creation Moment 2/27/2023 - Moses....the far better Teacher

 But even unto this day, when Moses is read.... 2 Corinthians 3:15

 

"From Moses however we know that 6000 years ago the world did not exist. 

 

--But of this no philosopher can in any way be persuaded…

--Equally useless is it to consider Moses in the beginning of his [Genesis] history as speaking mystically or allegorically.…Moses spoke literally and plainly and neither allegorically nor figuratively; that is, he means that the world with all [original] creatures was created in six days as he himself expresses it.…

 

Let us come at once to Moses as a far better teacher, whom we may more safely follow than we may philosophers, who dispute without the Word about things they do not understand." 

Luther

Moses & the Gospel

"Old Testament contains the Gospel. 

In the verse following the one last quoted we read, "Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the Gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven." 1 Peter 1:12.

That is, the prophets, Moses among them, ministered the very same things that were preached by the apostles, namely, the Gospel. 

Since the Gospel of God is "concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord," and the Jews would necessarily have believed in Jesus if they had believed Moses, 

  because Moses wrote of Christ, 

it follows that what Moses

 wrote was the Gospel."  

E.J. Waggoner

...Whether God's Word will Come to Pass...

Thou shalt see now whether My word shall come to pass unto thee or not.

Numbers 11:23

 

"GOD had made a positive promise to Moses that for the space of a

whole month He would feed the vast host in the wilderness with flesh. Moses, being overtaken by a fit of unbelief, looks to the outward means, and is at a loss to know how the promise can be fulfilled. 

 

He looked to the creature instead of the Creator. 

Q: But doth the Creator expect the creature to fulfil His promise for Him? 

A: No; He who makes the promise ever fulfils it by His own unaided omnipotence. If He speaks, it is done—done by Himself. 

---His promises do not depend for their fulfillment upon the co-operation of the puny strength of man. 

 

We can at once perceive the mistake which Moses made. And yet how commonly we do the same! God has promised to supply our needs, and we look to the creature to do what God has promised to do; and then, because we perceive the creature to be weak and feeble, we indulge in unbelief. Why look we to that quarter at all?

 Q: Will you look to the north pole to gather fruits ripened in the sun?"

Charles Spurgeon

Calvin Gets To The Root Of Ex. 7:11,12

Then Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods. Exodus 7:11,12

"Then Pharaoh also called.... The impiety of the tyrant, which had before lain hid in the recesses of his heart, now breaks forth; when he does not hesitate to enter into the lists with God.

Thus the wickedness of Pharaoh blinded his eyes, that, seeing the light, he saw it not; but, though convinced, still he sought for darkness to hide the sight of the light from him. 

--Q--Are we surprised at Pharaoh calling for the magicians, in order to repel from himself his sense of God’s power? 

 

For they cast down every man... The number of the magicians is not expressed; and although Paul names two, Jannes and Jambres, it is probable that they were not the only ones, but the chief, and, as it were, the ringleaders....The admonition of Paul is more to the purpose, that “as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses,” so also there should always be false teachers... It is an awful fact that the reins were so given to these magicians, that they contended with Moses in almost an equal contest. 

Nor must the mark of distinction be overlooked, that the rod of Moses swallowed up the rods of the magicians. 

--Q--How then was it that Pharaoh did not perceive Moses to be victorious? --Q-- how was it that he rather turned aside to his own impostors?"

Calvin

The Smitten Rock & Flowing Water

"God is no respecter of persons, and although He had highly honored Moses, yet He punished him for his sin. When Moses smote the rock the second time, he ignored the great event of which the smitten rock was a type.

Christ died once for the sins of the world, (Heb. 9:28) and all who speak to Him,

--confessing their sins

--and claiming pardon,

will receive the healing waters of salvation.
Thus not only did Moses disobey God, but he marred the beautiful symbol which had been placed before the Israelites during all their desert wanderings.

The Bible writers often refer to the experiences connected with the smitten rock, to teach God's tender care for His people.  Isaiah says, "A man shall be as a hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land."(Is. 32:2)

 Paul tells us that this Man who was as "a hiding-place," "a covert," and as "rivers of water," was Christ, the Rock. (1 Cor. 10:4) He is the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. What He was to the Israelites, He will be to every one who puts his trust in Him. He says to-day, "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink." (John 7:37) The one who heeds the call will "drink of the brook in the way:therefore shall he lift up the head." (Ps. 110:7) The refreshing water flows by every encampment.

Song Of The Redeemed performed by SANDI PATTY

click on Link

https://www.youtube.com/embed/GniNM_yH41g?list=PLT70zxsi10M8YfDBug8aA4VgzTDCNmvMf

All can freely drink of the life-giving stream, flowing from the Rock smitten once upon Calvary's cross. "Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely." (Rev. 22:17)
Q: Do you long to drink?
A: Remember the Rock has been smitten for you.
---Do not make the mistake of Moses, and think you must smite it again. "Speak ye unto the Rock, . and it shall give forth His water." (Num. 20:8)."
StephenHaskell

PSALM 90: Tale of our Years (a Psalm of Moses)

Psalm 90:

For all our days are passed away in thy wrath:

we spend our years as a tale that is told.

The days of our years are threescore years and ten;

and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years,

yet is their strength labor and sorrow;

for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

So teach us to number our days,

that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

Psalm 90:9,10,12

Listen to PSALM 90

[click on Link below]

 https://www.youtube.com/embed/AFMyBVZiweQ

"This psalm is the only one written by Moses and thus the oldest in the Psalter. Four key comparisons are used:

(1) A thousand years are like one day to God.

(2) A thousand years are like a watch in the night (three hours). The implication of these comparisons is simple: if a thousand years to God are like a day or a night watch, man’s life is like a vapor.

(3) Your life is like a particle swept away by a flood.

(4) Your life is like a blade of grass that sprouts, fades, withers, and dies in a day.

Moses was most qualified to speak of death, since he witnessed an entire generation perish in the wilderness.

 

The psalm seems to have been composed as the older generation of Israelites who had left Egypt were dying off in the wilderness (Num. chapter 14).

I.            The Praise of God’s Eternality (90:1-2).

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. vs.2

II.          The Perception of Man’s Frailty (90:3-12).

For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. vs.9

III.       The Plea for God’s Mercy (90:13-17).

O satisfy us early with thy mercy; vs.14

Title: “Moses, the man of God”: Moses the prophet (Deut. 18:15-22), was unique in that the Lord knew him “face to face” (Deut. 34:10-12). “Man of God” (Deut. 33:1), is a technical term used over 70 times in the Old Testament, always referring to one who spoke for God. It is used of Timothy in the New Testament (1 Tim. 6:11; 2 Tim. 3:17).

 
The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
vs.10
A long life or a short life, what a little difference it makes when the last hour comes! 

Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, even our secret sins. (vs.8) It was not without cause that God was angry with them.

Thou carriest them away as with a flood (vs.5) Life is compared to a stream, ever gliding away; but sometimes it is as a mighty torrent, when by reason of plague, famine, or war, thousands are swept away daily.

Our secret sins (vs.8) Those committed in darkness and privacy are easily discovered by thee,...Darkness is no darkness to him; wherever he comes there is a profusion of light - for God is light!

Though God turns all men to destruction, yet he will again say, Return, you children of men, (vs.3) at the general resurrection, when, though a man dies, yet he shall live again;"

And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: vs.17

BooksOfTheBible/CharlesSpurgeon/MatthewHenry/AdamClarke