Welcome to Day 2581 of Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom – Theology Thursday – Charlton Heston Had Company – I Dare You Not To Bore Me With The Bible.

Wisdom-Trek Podcast Script – Day 2581

Welcome to Wisdom-Trek with Gramps! I am Guthrie Chamberlain, and we are on Day 2581 of our Trek. The Purpose of Wisdom-Trek is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, and to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before.

Today is the 46^th lesson in our segment, Theology Thursday. Utilizing excerpts from a book titled: I Dare You Not To Bore Me With The Bible written by Hebrew Bible scholar and professor the late Dr. Michael S Heiser, we will invest a couple of years going through the entire Bible, exploring short Biblical lessons that you may not have received in Bible classes or Church.

The Bible is a wonderful book. Its pages reveal the epic story of God’s redemption of humankind and the long, bitter conflict against evil. Yet it’s also a book that seems strange to us. While God’s Word was written for us, it wasn’t written to us. Today’s lesson is: “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: “Which of the prophets did not your fathers persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”
• Hebrews 2:1-2: “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?”

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:

What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator. A mediator, however, does not represent just one party; but God is one.

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 (Deut 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:

And the LORD gave me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them were all the words that the LORD had spoken with you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly.

Human physicality (“a finger”) is applied to God, who is a disembodied spirit (John 4:24; Isa 3 1:3). 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 (Exod 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).

As much as I love The Ten Commandments, the book is more fascinating than the movie.

The lessons that make up Theology Thursday on the Wisdom-Trek Podcast for the next couple of years will satisfy the statement, “I Dare You Not to Bore Me with the Bible.” I trust you’ll enjoy them—and, of course, not be bored.

Reflect…

If you found this podcast insightful, subscribe and leave us a review, then encourage your friends and family to join us and come along tomorrow for another day of ‘Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.’.

Thank you so much for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and, most importantly, I am your friend as I serve you through this Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.

As we take this Trek together, let us always:

1. Live Abundantly (Fully)
2. Love Unconditionally
3. Listen Intentionally
4. Learn Continuously
5. Lend to others Generously
6. Lead with Integrity
7. 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 next time for more daily wisdom!