The Skeptics Annotated Bible (74 page)

29 See, for that
the LORD hath given you the sabbath
, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place,
let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.

(16.29)
“The LORD hath given you the sabbath … let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.”
101 Is it necessary to keep the Sabbath?

30 So the people rested on the seventh day.

31 And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.

32 And Moses said, This is the thing which the LORD commandeth, Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations; that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt.

33 And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept for your generations.

34 As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept.

35 And
the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited
; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.

(16.35)
“The children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited.”
It took the Israelites 40 years to travel from Egypt to Canaan, yet such a journey, even at that time, would have taken no more than a few weeks.

36 Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah.

17
And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from
the wilderness of Sin
, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched
in Rephidim
: and there was no water for the people to drink.

(17.1)
“The wilderness of Sin … in Rephidim.”
102 Where did Moses get water from a rock?

(17.2-7) The Israelites had nothing to drink, so they complained to Moses, who complained to God, saying, “Hey, they’re about ready to stone me to death.” So God stood on a rock and told Moses to strike it with his magic rod. Moses did as he was told, but I’m not sure if if worked or not, because the story is interrupted with the arrival of the Amalekites.

2 Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said,
Give us water that we may drink
. And
Moses said unto them
, Why chide ye with me?
wherefore do ye tempt the LORD?

(17.2a)
“Give us water that we may drink.”

(17.2b)
“Moses said unto them … wherefore do ye tempt the LORD?”
103 Can God be tempted?

3 And
the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses
, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?

(17.3)
“The people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses.”

4 And
Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me.

(17.4)
“Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me.”

5 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go.

6 Behold,
I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

(17.6)
“I will stand before thee there upon the rock; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.”
104 How did God tell Moses to get water from a rock?

7 And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because
they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?

(17.7)
“They tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?”
103 Can God be tempted?

8 Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.

9 And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.

10 So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

(17.11-12) As long as Moses the magician keeps his hand up, the Israelites are successful in battle, but the second his hand falls, they start getting beat.

11 And it came to pass
, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.

(17.11)
“When Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.”

12
But Moses hands were heavy
; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon;
and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands
, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

(17.12)
“But Moses hands were heavy … and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands.”

(17.13-16) God’s perpetual war with Amalek. God’s 11th Killing