Another silly Bible story...brought to you by the ''old and tired Moses''

by RULES & REGULATIONS 11 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  RULES & REGULATIONS

  

  Exodus 17:8-16 New International Version (NIV)
  The Amalekites Defeated
  8 The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. 9 Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.”
  10 So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. 11 As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. 12 When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. 13 So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.
  14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven.”
  15 Moses built an altar and called it The Lord is my Banner. 16 He said, “Because hands were lifted up against[a] the throne of the Lord,[b] the Lord will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation.”

  
  

  So, if I read this right.....God with all his power and knowledge uses a tired and old man, Moses. All he needs to do is hold a staff high enough and long enough, the Israelites will defeat the Amalekites.

  Moses is so tired his hands lower. The Amalekites now are killing and defeating the Israelites. It goes back and forth until Aaron and Hur devise a plan to prop him up so they don't lose the battle.

  Why didn't God just give Moses more power in his hands and they wouldn't have lost some men in the battle? What was God thinking? Didn't God have a better plan?

  WHAT A SILLY STORY!
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  FedUpJW

  The way I have heard this explained is that it shows how God uses imperfect men to do his will, and how important the "older men" are and how we MUST obey and support them [even if the directions they give do not seem practical].
  
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  steve2

  Yes, when you read Scripture with critical thinking skills, you realise what a superstitious “book” it is. This is a classic example of Jahweh being on one side and, provided certain actions are followed, He will ensure certain victory. But make even one mistake and he will reverse your “success” - your side will now suffer violent losses that you inflicted on the other side.
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  zeb

  I often felt that if God wished a certain tribe/group/nation to be destroyed for all their horrible ways why didnt he do it with any of the forces he had at his disposal.

  Using a human force to do the killing brutalizes them not to mention the casualties they suffered.
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  john.prestor

  The story smacks of magic, earlier in Exodus Moses performs magic tricks in pharaoh's {which pharaoh's?) court, his magicians throw down their staffs and they turn into snakes and then Moses throws down his staff and it turns into a snake which eats the other snakes. So this isn't the first time Moses' magic wand ("the staff of God") appears or commands magic powers. The whole thing is very... old, very archaic religious thinking that doesn't make much sense to us now.
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  Pete Zahut

  I wonder why God didn't send in an angel or two to kill off the Amalekites the way he did in Egypt when all of the first born Egyptian children and livestock were killed in one night.

  Then again, I'm probably using foolish human reasoning.
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  smiddy3

  And didn`t the Angels kill 188,000 in one night on another occasion ? a lot of inconsistency`s here in this thread with these conflicting ways Jehovah does away with oppose`rs .

  On the one hand he gets humans his people to kill by the sword male female and children by the sword and not to feel sorry for them and then on the other hand he has his Angels to commit mass slaughter ?

  Do Christians even contemplate what it would be like to thrust a sword into an adult human being would be like ,now then think about thrusting a sword into a female ,could you do it ?

  And worst of all thrusting your sword into an infant , how callous is that , and then be told not to feel sorry for them

  However "Jehovah loved the world so much that he gave his only begotten son so that whoever believed in him would be saved " This after he had killed millions in the flood plus thousands, if not millions more during these first four centuries of biblical history.
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  JustHuman14

  Read only the first 5 books of the Old Testament and is more than enough to conclude that its all Myths. Hebrew god its full of anger, jealousy, egoistic attitude, misogynist, with the mentality of an 8 year old boy, that someone has taken his toy!
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  eyeuse2badub

  Isn't Hebrew Mythology wonderful?

  just saying!
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  nowwhat?

  Elder: brother it came to our attention that you watch violent movies, don't you know Jehovah hates violence?!

  Brother to elder: have you ever read the old Testament?