Passages included in this discussion are: Deuteronomy 33 1 And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. -kjv Deuteronomy 34 5 So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. 6 And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day. -kjv Question from moody radio listener: I am currently discussing in my bible study about the oldest book in the bible, some claim it's Job, I can't find any proof and a question comes up if Adam wrote the first few chapters of Genesis and Moses edited those? My question is do you find any evidence that support that? Answer from Dr Michael Rydelnik: No, what we know from scripture is that Moses wrote the Pentateuch, the Torah, Genesis through Deuteronomy as one book. Moses wrote it. There's no evidence that Adam wrote anything. Too often, we think of the scriptures as sort of developing, sort of with different writers. Even famous biblical theologians and they will write books on biblical theology and they will talk about revelations in the days of Adam, revelations in the days of Abraham, revelations in the days of Joseph and so forth. The truth of this is Moses wrote the whole thing. The Torah is revelation as God wanted it in the days of Moses. For us Moses wrote it, where did he get information about Adam and Eve, I don't know. Maybe God told him. Maybe there were records. I don't know. I know he did use some records. Maybe there were oral traditions that were passed down from his mom and dad but here's the thing, the bible that we have, you know we are reading the Torah, whether it's Genesis or Deuteronomy or anything in between, what we are looking at is the revelation as Moses understood it and wrote it and that's the inspired text of scripture. Then I will even go further, before the Canon was closed, before the scriptures were completed, in the old testament, there seemed to be an editing by someone like Ezra, because he added stuff like there's a verse at the end of Deuteronomy 33. It says this is the blessing that Moses blesses with the children of Israel before he died. Obviously it was added after he died and then you have Deuteronomy 34 where it includes Moses death and no one remembers where he was buried. And so it does appear that there was a further editing with the additions of chapter 33 and 34 of Deuteronomy to the Pentateuch. So a biblical writer like Ezra did that. Torah 2.0, that's what he did. Question from listener: Is Job older than the Pentatech? Answer from Dr Michael Rydelnik: Don't know. It does appear that Job was a character from the patriarch age, don't know when it was written.
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Question from moody radio listener on Nov 18, 2017: Our bible study is on the temptations in chapter 3 in Genesis, what are the underlying categories of the devil's temptations to Eve? She's heard that the first one is in general the temptation of appetite, is that the tree is good for food. The second one is that the tree is a delight to look at, is the temptation of the eye. And the third one is the tree was desirable for obtaining wisdom is the coveting of the knowledge of God. I am not sure if those are accurate categories and want to know what do you think that the categories represent? Passage to be considered: 1 John 2 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. -kjv 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. -niv 16 For everything that belongs to the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s lifestyle—is not from the Father, but is from the world. -hcsb Answer from Dr Michael Rydelnik: I think the best way to look at the categories is in 1 John 2 verse 16, where I think is exactly related to Genesis 3. It says for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, that has to do with desire. When we talk about the lust of the flesh, God has built us with desires and those desires get out of whack. They get distorted. And that's what called the flesh. Desire is normal. For example, appetite would be normal but the desire to eat something we should not eat like gluttony, that would be the flesh. And so the lust of the flesh, it says. The lust of the eyes is when we see something and we want it. The desire of the eyes. And then boastful pride of life. The fruit is desirable to make someone wise. I want to be wise like God. To be really wise was what the temptation was. And so, those are the three categories. Now, what I think is every temptation we face, now I am wondering if Eva wants to add to this, but I think this is true. Every temptation that we face is in one of those categories. Dr Eva Rydelnik: Some times you hear of: the world, the flesh and the devil. Dr Michael Rydelnik: That's the three area of warfare that we face. But this is the flesh, the flesh is pride, it's visual desire and physical desire. And all three of those things, Galatians 5 talks about what comes of the fruit of the flesh versus the fruit of the Spirit.
Ecclesiates 3 9 What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth? 10 I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. 11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. -kjv 9 What do workers gain from their toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. -niv 9 What does the worker gain from his struggles? 10 I have seen the task that God has given people to keep them occupied. 11 He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also put eternity in their hearts, but man cannot discover the work God has done from beginning to end. -hcsb Observation: God has placed a God-shaped vacuum in people's heart but they are not able to understand it. In kjv, it says the heart of man is blinded by the desires of this world, which is opposite to that of God