Shownotes
Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy
Welcome to Day 1041 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.
I am Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
Charlton Heston Had Company – Wisdom Wednesday
Wisdom – the final frontier to true knowledge. Welcome to Wisdom-Trek where our mission is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, and to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before.
Hello, my friend, I am Guthrie Chamberlain, your captain on our journey to increase wisdom and create a living legacy. Thank you for joining us today as we explore wisdom on our 2nd millennium of podcasts. This is Day 1041 of our trek, and it is Wisdom Wednesday.
Creating a Biblical worldview is important to have a proper perspective on today’s current events. To establish a Biblical worldview, you must also have a proper understanding of God’s Word. Especially in our western cultures, we do not fully understand the Scriptures from the mindset and culture of the authors. In order to help us all have a better understanding of some of the more obscure passages in God’s Word, we are investing Wisdom Wednesday reviewing a series of essays from one of today’s most prominent Hebrew Scholars Dr. Micheal S. Heiser. He has compiled these essays into a book titled I Dare You Not to Bore Me with the Bible.
The Ten Commandments have had a huge impact on our world, and our culture. Do we really know all the details of how they came to be? In today’s essay, we will explore a passage that shows…
Charlton Heston Had Company
When we hear “Moses Law,” we think of the story we heard in Sunday school or the scene from The Ten Commandments where Charlton Heston (a.k.a., Moses) gets the two tablets from God. But what if I told you Moses and God weren’t alone?
It may come as a surprise, but the New Testament tells us in three places that the Law was delivered by angels, members of God’s divine council. Here are two of those passages:
Acts 7:52-53 – Name one prophet your ancestors didn’t persecute! They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous One—the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered. You deliberately disobeyed God’s law, even though you received it from the hands of angels.
Hebrews 2:1-2 – So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it. For the message God delivered through angels has always stood firm, and every violation of the law and every act of disobedience was punished.
I was pretty shocked the first time I saw these verses. And I certainly hadn’t heard about them in church. So what passage in the Old Testament were they quoting? That’s the second jolt. There isn’t a clear reference to it, at least not in the Old Testament we use.
The New Testament writers didn’t invent the idea, though. They got it from Deuteronomy 33:2-4 in their Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament. The Septuagint more clearly connects angels to the Law than the traditional Hebrew text upon which our English translations are based.
So they were using a translation. We can understand that. But we’re not done. It gets a bit stranger. The third New Testament passage that talks about the Law and angels is found in Galatians 3:19- 20. And this time, it isn’t just a crowd of angels with Moses and God, Why, then, was the law given? It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins. But the law was designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised. God gave his law through angels to Moses, who was the mediator between God and the people. Now a mediator is helpful if more than one party must reach an agreement. But God, who is one, did not use a mediator when he gave his promise to Abraham.
Galatians [3:19] informs us that there was a mediator between God and the angels when the Law was given. Most scholars assume this is a reference to Moses. But why didn’t Paul just say that? And why repeat part of the creed of Israel, the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-6) in the next verse (“God is one”)?
The mediator was likely the Angel of the Lord, the Old Testament version of God in human form. Paul emphasized that “God is one” to keep the Galatians from being confused about his viewpoint. So the God of Israel met Moses in human form, but where is the embodied God in the story of the giving of the Law? Moses answers that question in Deuteronomy 9:10,“The Lord gave me the two tablets on which God had written with his own finger all the words he had spoken to you from the heart of the fire when you were assembled at the mountain.”
Human physicality (“a finger”) is applied to God, who is a disembodied spirit (John [4:24]; Isaiah 31:3). The God of Israel came to Moses in human form, just as He had before, when the Angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in the burning bush (Exodus 3:1-3: Acts [7:35]). We find support for this proposal in the words of Stephen, who, in the same speech where he said the Law was given by angels, tells us that “the angel” spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai (Acts [7:38]). Some Bible scholars would purport that this angel mentioned by Stephen is the pre-incarnate Christ who is also our mediator.
As much as I love The Ten Commandments movie, the book is more fascinating than the movie. That will conclude our essay for this week. Next Wisdom Wednesday we will continue in the New Testament as we look at Dr. Heiser’s next essay titled “When Abraham Met Jesus.” I believe you will find this another interesting topic to consider as we build our Biblical worldview.
Tomorrow we will continue with our 3-minute humor nugget that will provide you with a bit of cheer and help you to lighten up and live a rich and satisfying life. So encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along with us tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.
If you would like to listen to any of our past 1040 treks or read the Wisdom Journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. I encourage you to subscribe to Wisdom-Trek on your favorite podcast player so that each day’s trek will be downloaded automatically.
Thank you so much for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.
As we take this trek together, let us always:
- Live Abundantly (Fully)
- Love Unconditionally
- Listen Intentionally
- Learn Continuously
- Lend to others Generously
- Lead with Integrity
- Leave a Living Legacy Each Day
I am Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Everyday! See you tomorrow!