**BIBLE STUDY** Mandela Effect, Moses' "Horns" and Other Details I Missed

 There are a lot of benefits to studying the Bible regularly. I am fast learning that. Personally, I am getting some relief from my chronic depression and anxiety. Focusing on the Word of God is a reminder of His promises. That is pure medicine. But there are a lot of wider practical benefits. 

Have any of you been hearing about the Mandela Effect (ME) For some, it's thought of as a sort of false memory syndrome. For others (including myself) it will sometimes cause confusion and stress. Without getting into specifics, some examples of what the Mandela Effect affects changes/supposed changes in re:

• Song lyrics changed or parts omitted
• Names of people - spellings or variations, products, TV shows, and movies.
• Lines from popular movies and shows 
• Iconic emblems for vehicles 
• Dates of various events - Nelson Mandela's death being one of the most famous

It goes on and on. People remember Mandela's being much earlier than others remember it. The same goes for Billy Graham. In some cases, people who are alive are remembered as having died long ago.

I myself have gotten caught up in this confusion more than once. I remember very clearly certain things being one way when, obviously they are not - or at least no longer are that way. I don't want to send anyone down the rabbit hole of links to various ME but there are several out there. 

At first, I found the ME to be kind of curious and mildly amusing. Then one day, it touched close to home and I saw examples of where parts of the Bible were supposedly Mandela-effected. This is before I had started to seriously do any regular Bible study and I have to admit that I was shook. To my core.

The first 2 MEs that scared me were that one, Moses suddenly had horns and, two, the "lion and the lamb" lying down together was now "the wolf and the lamb". 

What?

For a couple of days, I walked around feeling very concerned and upset. Confusion, fear, anxiety. That really should have been a red flag to me but I was too busy being freaked out to stop and think clearly.

I called a few people and emailed a few people, telling them about these 2 strange things. They reacted much as I had:  with disbelief, then with confusion.

Eventually, it dawned on me that I was not as fully familiar with the Bible as I should be. Thankfully, I was familiar with warnings about who could be the source of my confusion. Bible Reasons sums it up like this:

Satan is the author of confusion.

Satan seeks to cause chaos, disorder, death, and destruction.

B.R. goes further, pointing out specific:

 1. 1 Corinthians 14:33 “For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.”

2. 1 Peter 5:8 “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

3. 2 Corinthians 2:11 “in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes.”

I always struggled with certain books of the Bible, wondering why I needed to read or study them. Well, what I ran across while studying chapters 33-35 in Exodus reaffirms that every word of the Bible is useful and details matter.

The reason that some artworks portray Moses with horns is because of the translation of certain words. If you check the Strong's Number H7160 you see this given for the word "shone" in Exodus 34:29

And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.

This is what the page looks like in the KJV+ of eSword:

Source: eSword's KJV+ Bible on my computer

 

Source 

I got the above image from the wonderful Study Bible site. Please do check out Study Bible where you can search Strong's from within the text. Truly a wonderful source.

By the way, I never did know before now how to use Strong's but there's a KJV with Strong's numbers included with the incredibly useful eSword I've told you about. I highly recommend learning to check Strong's just as much as you refer to commentaries. 

Once I figured out where the idea of horns came from, I was relieved. I should know better by now than to get so easily caught up in foolishness. Had I not been studying the Bible and if I had not been checking the underlying lexicon, I might still be confused and anxious.

Another way this round of Bible study is blessing me is with greater attention to detail. I have real problems with focus and concentration but I am keeping detailed notes of everything I learn as I read - especially when I start going deeper into commentaries, dictionaries, and word studies. 

One detail that I have picked up on is that many names in the Bible include God in them. The angels Michael and Gabriel, for example, both have "el" included. Micha-el and Gabri-el. I knew that but never knew that, if you get what I mean.

Chuck Missler once pointed out that when God changed Abram's and Sarai's names he added breath to them. Abraham and Sarah. I forgot to take notes on that one but it has something to do with the sound of the letter? I will find out and get back with better information.

My point is that there is so much detail and complexity to the Word of God. It's simple but deep. And I am learning that when I get anxious or confused, there is an answer in the Word. 

Not to beat you over the head with him, but something else Chuck Missler once said comes back to me now. He mentioned that when we find something in the Bible that we don't understand, we should make a note of it. When we get our answer or understanding, we will have something else to be thankful for. I

I am going to get back to my reading and, in the meantime, let's all remember our source of blessings.

Peace

--Free

SUMMARY of sources used here:

eSword Bible from which you can:  "study the Bible in an enjoyable and enriching manner. All Bibles, commentaries, dictionaries, … everything is just a click away!" (And, I would add, FREE)

Study Bible (online). As mentioned on their site, this is what you can use it for:

• Read and Search the Bible in Greek, Hebrew, English, Latin, and other parallel versions.
• Study online Hebrew and Greek interlinear translations and Bibles with Strong's Greek and Hebrew Lexicon numbers attached.
• Easily lookup 340,000 hyperlinked cross references in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
• View scripture in the original languages of Greek and Hebrew as well as ancient translations such as the Greek Septuagint and Latin Vulgate.
• Compare the KJV with Old English, Wycliffe, Tyndale, Coverdale, Bishop's, Geneva, Doughy-Rheims, and American Standard Bibles.
• Find the meanings of Greek and Hebrew words in Strong's Lexicon, Thayer's Lexicon, Brown-Driver-Briggs' Lexicon, Vine's Expository Dictionary, Berry's New Testament Synonyms, and Trench's New Testament Synonyms.

Musings on the Bible & What I am Learning

It is very late for me to be blogging but I'm a little bit wired from coffee so...

I missed my daily Bible reading this morning thanks to grocery deliveries gone wrong. I don't like to start my reading if I know that I will be disturbed. Today was when I had to order groceries for the next 2 weeks and it's usually an hour and a half process. I order, choose a delivery time, get the delivery, put away the groceries, and go about my day. Not today. Aldi's came on time but Hyvee was way behind schedule. But enough whining about that. 

What I wanted to post about is how many little things I am picking up from my daily readings. Things to do with history and culture. I'm telling you, taking your time to read not just the Bible verses but to think about them and then to check various commentaries... It's a whole other level of learning.

I am into Exodus now and I always found it to be one of the drier parts of the Bible. This time around, I am fascinated with learning about the Jewish calendar and the laws. Also, the other random pieces of information that I never gave much thought to before.

One thing I discovered is that although the manna in the Bible was provided divinely, manna today exists as from the sweet juice of the tamarisk.  Wow, right? 

When I read this in Exodus 19:4:

Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. 

I found the language beautiful, of course, but then I read the commentary of David Guzik:

God’s love and care was shown for Israel already, as He bore you on eagle’s wings. It is said that an eagle does not carry her young in her claws like other birds; the young eagles attach themselves to the back of the mother eagle and are protected as they are carried. Any arrow from a hunter must pass through the mother eagle before it could touch the young eagle on her back.

Now that is beautiful, right? I will never read Exodus 19:4 again without extreme appreciation of God's love for us. 

When I was reading Exodus 10:6 which is part of Moses' speech to Pharoah when he is announcing the plague of locusts, I could almost envision the scene:

And they shall fill thy houses, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians; which neither thy fathers, nor thy fathers' fathers have seen, since the day that they were upon the earth unto this day. And he turned himself, and went out from Pharaoh.

Apparently, the custom of the time was not to turn your back to the ruler. And he turned himself, and went out from Pharaoh. Was that a drop-the-mic moment or what?  

I have also begun to pay attention to the calendar because of how important it is. The feasts and other holy days as set by the Lord have taken on more meaning. Years ago, my mother and I used to watch Zola Levitt on his show and we loved hearing about the feasts and customs. Somehow, I forgot that these things started with the Hebrews' relationship with the Lord. I was able to find a very printable copy of the calendar and have it attached to my whiteboard so I can refer to it during my reading.

One of my nieces visited New York once and she became fascinated with the Orthodox Jews she saw. I remember her asking questions about their attire and customs. After I read Exodus 13:9 and Adam Clarke's commentary (also the notes in my KJV Study Bible mention this) I had to text and tell my niece. This is what the verse reads:

And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the LORD'S law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the LORD brought thee out of Egypt. 

And this is just part of a long piece of Clarke's commentary:

...and hence they called them תפלין tephillin, prayer, ornaments, oratories, or incitements to prayer. In process of time the spirit of this law was lost in the letter, and when the word was not in their mouth, nor the law in their heart, they had their phylacteries on their heads and on their hands. And the Pharisees, who in our Lord’s time affected extraordinary piety, made their phylacteries very broad, that they might have many sentences written upon them, or the ordinary portions in very large and observable letters.

My niece is about to start Bible reading and I bet this was an encouragement to her.

I suppose that part of my reason for sharing these tidbits of discovery with you is to show how interesting the Bible is. Aside from being the final authority for me as a Christian, it is a beautiful and detailed set of writings that shine a light on history and customs. 

Found this on Pinterest

So many people read and appreciate Shakespeare and other writers of fiction but won't pick up the Bible and read it for life application. I spent too many years making excuses and only paying attention to the so-called "highlights" of the Bible. I am feeling so blessed that I am learning to read and learn from every word of it.

Of course, I will be posting on some of the other notes I have been jotting down as I read. Tomorrow, I will be reading 2 days' worth of Scripture to make up for what I missed today. 

Once again, I want to point out how useful eSword is. From my post today, you can see that I get a lot of use from the various commentaries! 

Peace & goodnight!

--Free

**UPDATE** The Amazing eSword Bible Resource

UPDATE: I am an idiot. I didn't think of showing the screens using the Gamebar recording feature on Windows. If you scroll to the bottom, I have included some video showing the app in action as I use some of the features.

Remember when I was trying to find a good NKJV study Bible? I still haven't found one but I might not need to. Long ago, I had downloaded the free eSword Bible Study Resource. And forgot about it when my old laptop died. 

The other week, I put eSword on the new laptop and, seriously, I can't even tell you what a great resource it is!

I know that a lot of people use the Blue Letter Bible resource and I use it a lot when I am online. The problem with BLB is that I can't find an easy or safe way to download it to my PC. I could order the disc - which I don't think is free - but I don't have a way to use a disc on this computer. eSword is everything I need. Would I still like to have an NKJV study Bible? Yep. But I'm not having a hard time without one for now. 

For those who aren't going to check the eSword link right now, here are some of my favorite features - and keep in mind that, though I will be donating asap, I haven't paid for anything yet:

• I currently am using 6 versions of the Bible and the Parallel and Compare features.
• There are so many commentaries I won't bother the count the ones I am using but here is a screenshot of what I was using recently:
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• I can adjust the screen colors (within limits), change the font settings (with a LOT of options), and more.
• I can easily set up verse lists and copy things right into the Notes feature.
• There are tools for doing searches by parameters such as just the O.T., N.T, specific book, or range of books.
• It is very easy to print. I print a lot of search results. 

Those are just the features I can name off the top of my head because I use them so much.

What I love, love, love are the commentaries. One of the reasons I am so picky about buying a Bible is because I like a lot of notes and commentary included to expand on or help explain certain passages. Now that I am using eSword, I have just about every kind of commentary right there on my PC. 

Here are some screenshots of 

toolbar offerings

I have really gotten a lot from reading the various commentaries. For instance, I happened to be doing my daily reading (in Exodus) and ran across a comment that was credited to Aben Ezra and something called "Targums of Jonathan, Jarchi, and R. Jeshua". What??? Right. I went online to figure out what that was about and was led to the Talmud and other writings and writers. So now I have on my Reading To-Do List Philo the Jew, Targums, the Talmud, and others. This is how a long time ago, I discovered Flavius Josephus and The Antiquities of the Jews (which, by the way, is free via most podcast players).

So, yes, I highly recommend using eSword. I also would encourage people to donate to the project. I was going to pay upwards of forty dollars for a Bible so I can surely scrape together money for eSword.

Now, are there some issues I have with eSword? Sure. Actually, I've only had one problem to date: I tried saving my Notes and they disappeared. I could find the files on my computer but not a program to read the files. I solved that problem by going back into the Notes feature and doing Control-Z and they reappeared. I now copy all notes to a Notepad doc just in case.

You can click on the screenshots I've scattered through this post to enlarge them and see some of the features I mention. Or you can check this page on the eSword site where there are plenty of visuals. In the meantime, here are some additional links I thought you might be interested in. These include some of the things I mentioned in this post and a couple of things I have run across lately:

• I will be visiting the Jewish Virtual Library when I can savor it. I think some of us tend to forget that our Savior was born a Jew.
• Overview Bible is a neat resource for catching some quick facts. I have not looked at a lot of the site but what I glanced through looks solid. As always, be discerning.
• Wikipedia on Philo
• You can read The Targums at Judea Christian Research (JCR). I had a link for a PDF copy but lost it. Got Questions helped me better understand what it is.
• I found this when trying to understand the Talmud and what exactly it is and what it means for Christians. Got Questions is the Google of Christians queries!

I hope this is all a blessing to you.

Peace

--Free

This is using the Graphics viewer. 

I can look at a variety of maps and timelines & control the size with the + and - buttons

This next one shows using the Bible to view commentaries, verse by verse & 

how to select the Editor (for Notes) and pin it to screen or 

move it off screen.

The same can be done with the dictionaries. 

I will add more screen captures when I have more time and brain function!