Have you ever read the stories by Moses? We see movies and read the church's presentation of Moses and his ancestors, but what does the Bible say?
Keep in mind, I read the Bible with the intent of becoming a shining example of goodness in the world. It was my sincere belief that I could learn and perfect the art of being truly innocent and truly helpful by reading the Bible.
The first five books of the Bible are written by Moses. They are known as the Torah or Pentateuch. There are no other records kept by other nations, authors, or religions concerning Moses, yet he is unquestionably revered as God's prophet by nearly all Muslims, Jews and Christians.
In effect, Moses was the father of Judaism, Islam and Christianity. The source of 51%1 of the world population's religious beliefs start with Moses. And when we read the story of Moses, we see he is alive and influential in our minds and hearts, today.
Holy Bible in 9 languages and 7 versions, click here.
For your online reference, the link at the left will give you the Bible in 9 languages and 7 different versions. You can read the words yourself and double check against other Bible versions just to make sure you are getting to the truth, just as it really is. For simplicity, this commentary will only use the King James Version of the stories.
The book of Genesis is well known, and is the creationist story Judaism, Islam and Christianity view as the beginning of life on Earth. There is no point in questioning this story as there are so many interpretations and so much evidence in favor of and against the story that it just goes on and on without a conclusion. I would like to think that something intelligent created the world, but I also see how well the Big Bang Theory works. And to some extent, both theories of creation seem to support each other.
So Moses gave us the history of the beginning of the world. I don't know how he figured woman was made from the rib of man, but what do I know? I wasn't there and I'm not privy to the technology of a creative God.
As the story unfolds and we pass the Great Flood, we meet Abram.
Gen 12, 6. And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Sichem, unto the plain of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land. 7. And the LORD appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the LORD, who appeared unto him.
Here is where my suspicions begin. I'm looking to the Bible as a source of wisdom and a path to peace and tranquility. Here, the God of the Bible, is promising Abram and all his children the land the Canaanites lived in. I don't yet see the connection between being a good person and acquiring land that belongs to someone else. Who is this Abram that God would favor him with such wealth at the expense of others? What did he do to deserve this?
In the rest of this chapter Abram lies to the Pharaoh of Egypt, telling him that his beautiful wife is merely his sister. The alleged reason for lying is that Abram is afraid he will be killed so the Pharaoh could take his wife. But as soon as the Pharaoh discovers Abram is married to this beautiful woman, he simply tells them to go on their way, along with...
Gen 12 16. And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels.
The Pharaoh gave them the wealth of animals and servants while thinking he was going to marry Abram's "sister". It doesn't take much to see this was a scam. Abram purposely duped the Pharaoh with a plan to steal some wealth for himself. The Pharaoh didn't kill Abram when he found out he was married to her. He actually seemed hurt. How can we believe the Pharaoh would have killed Abram for having a beautiful wife when he didn't kill him after pulling his scam?
Gen 13 1.And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south. 2. And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.
As I'm reading Genesis, I'm in a state of disbelief. But I read on, ever hopeful the story will change to the path leading to inner peace.
In Genesis 13 Abram and Lot have more cattle than the land can handle, so Lot goes to Jordan and Abram went to Canaan. And supposedly God speaks to Abram at that place and tells him he can own all the land he sees in all directions and that his progeny will increase vastly.
It's becoming clear that this story is about a man, made wealthy through a scam, becoming even greedier and taking the land of others, all in the name of God. This is the whole plot of all the books written by Moses. There is no story of becoming a good person, this is a story of how to destroy a nation so that one's personal fortunes can grow. It is the story repeated throughout history even to Pilgrims invasion of North America and Hitler's attempt at taking Europe. It is the story continually played and replayed ad nauseum in the Middle East even today.
The story continues in Genesis 17 and God declares that all males should be circumcised. This practice started when Abram, whose name is now Abraham, is 100 years old. At 100 Abraham would be suffering from infections of the fore skin so circumcision would make sense. But he declares that it was God's will that all men be circumcised.
So far we haven't heard one word concerning inner peace, spiritual growth, or goodness of behavior. It is becoming clearer that this God of Abraham's is just an alter ego. 300 years after the Roman destruction of the New Jerusalem Church (which Jesus was a member,) Constantine realized the same thing... That "God" is a means for controlling the masses. God is an unseen overseer much like Big Brother in George Orwell's 1984. In repeating the story of the Pentateuch, the Catholic Church was invented by Constantine for the very same purpose, and history once again repeated this cycle of mass control through fear of an unseen God.
In Genesis 19 we are given the story of justified incest. Whereas God would help Abraham have a son at age 100, he leaves it to Lot's daughters to get him drunk and have sex with them. My spiritual path is on hold now as I force myself to read the rest of the Bible. I have to see where this is leading. I suspect that I may have found the source of today's worldly troubles.
In Genesis 20 Abraham tells another bold lie to Abimelech king of Gerar. He tells the king Sarah is his sister, pulling the same scam he pulled on the Pharaoh with his previous wife. And God, He doesn't think anything wrong with this. In fact, He has it out with Abimelech king of Gerar, the man Abraham and Sarah lied to. Does this sound familiar...
Gen 20 14. And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife.
In the story between Genesis 20 and 21 we are told the king didn't have sex with Sarah, but because he did have sex with her he had committed sin. So to appease God, the king gave Abraham sheep, oxen, menservants, maidservants, and gave back his wife, Sarah. Of course this is contradictory and we are to believe that Sarah came back, not having sex, but pregnant nonetheless. So Isaac was born, but was he really Abraham's son or was he King Abimelech's son?
God tells Abraham to offer his son, Isaac, up as a burnt offering in Genesis 22. This is supposedly to test Abraham's faith. Where were social services then? Is this the means a loving God uses to test the faith of his chosen ones? Aside from the fact that such a practice would be illegal today (along with incest and taking other people's lands and property through scams,) could any true Christian, Jew or Muslim honestly believe God would ask the same of them? Is this the level of human character we should aspire to? To be willing to offer our only child, which God helped us bear by having our wife impregnated by a deceived king, who didn't really have sex with her?
The Bible records a financial transaction between Abraham and Ephron for a cemetery plot for the deceased Sarah in Genesis 23. This land God was going to give to Abraham, Abraham had to purchase instead from the children of Heth.
Abraham then sends a servant to find Isaac a wife under auspicious pretenses. The servant meets Rebekah at a well and all goes according to plan. While reciting the story of these auspicious occurrences to Rebekah's father the servant states...
Gen 24 34.And he said, I am Abraham's servant. 35.And the LORD hath blessed my master greatly; and he is become great: and he hath given him flocks, and herds, and silver, and gold, and menservants, and maidservants, and camels, and asses.
If her father had only known the truth as to how Abraham gained his wealth...
As Rebekah's family is saying goodbye to her they are reported to have said...
Gen 24 60.And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.
This sounds suspicious. Someone already knew how her children would take the lands of those who hated them. Either that, or the author of the story embellished the tale a bit to justify the carnage yet to come.
Abraham then married one last time and had six more boys before dying at the age of 175, 75 years after the birth of Isaac.
1. World Almanac 1992