Moses And Four Legged Grasshoppers
Posted: Sunday, November 23, 2008
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
Of all the points disbelievers find in the Bible, which they claim proves the unworthiness of the sacred book, our title subject has been presented to me as many as any other one, I believe. In fact, a close friend of mine who was once a Christian and turned atheist, used this as his primary proof text. But when properly analyzed, the text is more accurate than those who challenge it. I have to acknowledge that the first time my friend pulled it on me, I was unable to refute it. It did not challenge my faith, since I had long decided that there is adequate proof in the Bible to convince any open minded person of it's inspiration. So when I see something like this scripture, my first, and lasting, impression is that there is something about the verse that I cannot understand or it has lost something in it's translation somewhere. My friend passed away before I finally discovered that I wasn't paying proper attention to the reading.
Let's read the passage and consider it. It is found in Leviticus 11:20-22 and concerns the various things which the Israelites were lawfully allowed to eat. Moses is the human author via inspiration from God."All winged creeping things that go upon all fours are an abomination unto you. Yet these may ye eat of all winged creeping things that go upon all fours, which have legs above their feet, wherewith to leap upon the earth. Even these of them ye may eat: the locust after its kind, and the bald locust after its kind, and the cricket after its kind, and the grasshopper after its kind."
Now, all who know anything of the anatomy of a grasshopper, or locust or cricket, knows that they have six legs...right? Of course. But notice the illustration. They have 4 legs with feet which they walk with. They have 2 legs that are not used for walking, even though they may appear to use them so, but they have barbed appendages at the bottom which are used for leaping. The terminology used in the scripture is only slightly confusing and that because the writer uses the term "above" where it would have been clearer, had he used "in addition to". All would understand it then. Above is used often to mean "more than" or "additionally". An example could be, say you needed desperately $10.00 for some immediate purpose and some good Samaritan gave you $15.00. You could readily and understandably say that he gave you over or above your need. Read the scripture again and use "more" or "in addition to" in the place of "above".
A simple scripture to show what I mean is 1 Corinthians 10:13 which says: "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." The words "more than" here would have expressed the same thought.
The principal lesson here is that, not only was the inspired writer knowledgeable of his subject matter but even more so than his critics. He not only made his statement correctly, but explained it very accurately.
Many such scriptures are easily misunderstood at first glance and are used by those who are unbelievers as evidence that the Bible is not inerrant when, under closer scrutiny, it proves its inerrancy.
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Top-level comments on this article: (4 total)Joel, thanks for sharing this seemingly harmless passage of Scripture. I never once gave it a thought, but you point out something very important. Satan will draw attention to little things in Scripture and magnify them for his purposes. How sad it was for your friend and many others who are drawn away from the goodness of God, by something so minute. I also love that you point out, our first thought should not be that the bible is inaccurate or contradictory, but it should be the thought of what am I not getting. I had never heard of this one being used to refute the Bible. I think pulling bits of Scripture out of context or in relation to the whole of Scripture is the # one way to misinterpret or twist its meaning and create doubt.We are told to rightly divide the word of truth. Again, thanks for sharing. I do hope any doubter will seriously consider the truth you share here.In regards to this, I can just imagine what was said about John the Baptist. Also, if we continue through the New Testament, we will see that we are no longer under the law but under grace and Paul told us on numerous occassions that to the clean nothing is unclean and we can eat anything as long as it is received with thanksgiving. Unless of course, one cannot eat in complete faith. that is another matter all together. BlessingsThanks much Teresa, I agree with all you said.Joel
Joel, it was perfect to use 1 Cor 10:13 as your example. I have substituted "more than" or "beyond" for 'above' in that verse which helps to clarify the meaning of the text without changing it. Another great lesson with pictorial illustration. Thank you.Hi Avis,Thanks very much for the kind comment.
Thanks Joel. I had never thought about that. In the same chapter in Leviticus I always seemed to fix my attention on the bat (verse 19). At least some translations list the bat as a bird, which skeptics like to point out. The simple answer is that the ancient Hebrews did not have a word for “bird”. They classified animals as land animals, flying animals etc. But I always missed the locusts. Thanks for bringing this up.
Joel
Thanks Joel, for your comments. It amazes me sometimes at the lengths that atheists will go to find an apparent error. And when they do, they don't realize that some else has found the same thing maybe 200 years ago only to have it shown to be fact.
There are many 'problem verses' in scripture, but they can all be explained with some research and study. Other translations also help. I use close to six different translations when studying scripture. I find it very worthwhile.Thanks for commenting David, I also refer to other translations frequently. I like to pull verses up on the Studylight website because you can change it from one translation to another with a click. They have numerous ones to choose from also.
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