One cannot solely rely on what others present as Truth without checking and
comparing to a final authority or resource. It is perilous to accept
presentations of supposed Truth simply on the basis that "everybody else has
believed it and done so for years and years...." For proof:
On the evening of Resurrection Sunday, April 3rd, 1994, otherwise known to most
people as the holiday, Easter, I watched the old-time movie that stars Charlton
Heston as Moses, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. I observed many things regarding it.
First, on the day that most Americans are allegedly revering the Resurrection
of Jesus Christ, the "oldtime-favorite" movie that was presented has only a
distant connection to the story of the Resurrection. That connection is in the
celebration of the Passover Week that the Jews were celebrating on the weekend
of the Crucifixion and Resurrection. If you ask most alleged Christians, few
are apt to accurately explain what or why "Passover" is celebrated. Hence we
come to the connection. "Passover" celebrates the event when the LORD "Passed
Over" the Israelite households that had blood of an unblemished lamb smeared
over their doorways. (Exodus 12) If a household did not have the blood- smeared
doorway, the firstborn son of that household would die. This event very briefly
takes place in the movie, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. Obviously, however, Passover is
not what the movie is about. Yet, with even that tiny a connection, this is the
movie presented on Resurrection Sunday.
Second, most people will arrive at their understanding of the Biblical account
of the stories in this movie simply on the basis of this movie. Such is folly,
though, because the story is not based on Scripture. In fact, as the movie
opens the story, it blatantly says that it was based on three other books and
THEN on "the Holy Scriptures". (I wonder how many people caught this note.)
Third, Moses did not marry a woman named "Zephra" as the movie indicated. He
married two women: a Midianite named Zipporah (Exodus 2:21, 18:2) and an
Ethiopian (or "Cushite") woman (Numbers 12:1). The Ethiopian woman is not
Zipporah because of the translation of the word, "Ethiopian". Everywhere that
word is used in the Bible, it is as follows in the original old language:
"Kuwshiy" (koo-shee') which means, A Cushi or Cushite or descendant of Cush and
of his territory. Cush, brother of Canaan, was a son of Ham who, himself, was a
son of Noah (Abraham was a tenth generation of Shem who was Ham's brother).
See Genesis 10. As well, the Bible also shows that Ethiopians are of a
different color, which must be what we now call, "black" (Check this out with
Jeremiah 13:23.) Lastly, Midianites are also of Abraham's own seed. Therefore,
Zipporah, being an (Shemitic-Abrahamic) Midianite, cannot possibly also be a
(Hamitic, non-Abrahamic) Ethiopian/Cushite. Thus, these two wives of Moses were
clearly not the same woman.
Fourth, the movie also spent some time having Moses telling his son how
"Zephra's" (Zipporah's) tribe of Midian were of the tribe of Ishmael. The movie
shows Moses saying that Ishmael had many nations and tribes, and that Midian was
one of them. This is not true. While most people think that Abraham had two
wives, namely Sarah and Hagar the Egyptian handmaid of Sarah, he actually had a
third one named, Keturah. (Genesis 25:1) The fourth son that Keturah bared for
Abraham was Midian. (Genesis 25:2) Ishmael, on the other hand, was born of
Abraham by Hagar, Sarah's handmaid. (Genesis 16:1-4,15,16) Therefore, the
Midianites, although they were of Abraham, they were NOT descendant of Ishmael.
Of course, I could go on citing more examples (such as how Joshua is not part
of the story until MUCH, MUCH later), but it is not necessary. Clearly, the
point has been made. One cannot believe what others present as Scriptural fact
without checking it FIRST by the Scripture itself. Then, once it is checked by
the Authorized (King James) Version of the Bible, one still has to go further
and check THAT to the original languages. This is why I don't care what any
person, religion, or doctrine has to say unless it passes these checks. ...And
that works well for me, my friends. I recommend it to you. After all, unless
this is the method for inspecting Truth, how else can we be absolutely sure it
IS Truth?
© July 4, 1994, The Standard Bearer
P.O. Box 765, O.O.B., ME 04064
