The Horns of Moses

Imagine yourself gathered around the water cooler after Sunday school class where for several hundred years we would debate and conjecture about Moses and his horns. How long were they? Why would god go such a thing? What color might they have been? Were they transmitters to god? Thanks to Jerome, a heralded father and translator of scripture into the Latin Vulgate bible which was the template to translate the Bible into dozens of other languages, said Moses had horns. This is good evidence to have someone check your work. But Christian will believe anything if it’s in the Bible. That is obvious. But, while they continued to learn about the horns of Moses, no one seemed to mind they may very well be debating about another fictitious character altogether, which is par for the course. If the Bible commenter said Moses was a charcuterie, instead of character, a simple typo would have Moses working in a meat store, and they would believe it for centuries. It’s inherent.

Unicorns, Noah and the ark, creation story and the 6000 year old earth, all unfortunately didn’t exist , except in a time where few could read, and even fewer had even a slight opportunity to question. “All along the mistranslation of the verb karan by Jerome had tragic consequences. For centuries, millions of people around the world have wrongly believed that Moses – and in some cases, all Jews – have horns on their head”.

Even the great Michelangelo was fooled by this, as well as multiple popes, leaders of countries, and other artists depicting the Moses charcuterie with horns. I can however, imagine how this contributed to his temporal lobes…If any of it were true at all. I wonder what else is in the Bible that is purely false?

I stumbled across a fairly new blog from Neil. He provides some very nice, concise context to the contradiction of Christian faith and I think it’s worth a look.

Author: jimoeba

Alternatives to big box religions and dogmas

70 thoughts on “The Horns of Moses”

      1. Take it any way you want to. It’s religion. It’s whatever you want to make it. No one can tell you that you are wrong. If they do, just tell them they are making incoherent statements and you’re good to go.

        Interesting information about Moses though. Horns? I can’t recall ever hearing that about him. It makes as much sense as God having wings.

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        1. Well there was a time if you didn’t believe in the horns you could be labeled a heretic. Wonder if anyone died over this? Horns were very fashionable for a time, now it’s just Mormons who have them, I think. It’s hard to tell with many apologists though as their heads are often so far up their asses.

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    1. You just don’t understand yawntology. Eloquently phrased non-deductive philosophy has proven beyond a doubt that because the underwear are real, so is the symbolism, therefore, god exists and angels prove it!

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        1. Yes. One particular apologist we frequent has mastered that to the point he’s creating a new religion and doesn’t even realize it. It must eventually feel strange that no one gets his argument but a few kooks.

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      1. No magic, mysterious. It was a form of control in the early Mormon church. Funny that the prophet that initiated it and convinced his followers to wear them night and day was killed in a gun battle. He wasn’t wearing his special undies at the time. Typical religious leaders…rules are only for the minions

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  4. I recall the statue of Moses in our church as I was growing up: holding the tablets and sporting what looked like flashes of light (or horns) protruding from his head. I always thought it was kind of strange, but I never asked. Now I know.

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  5. In reading the original article about this, it becomes so clear how problematic it is take any of the bible seriously. Translating into different languages is very challenging for a lot of reasons, but this is certainly one of them. And it is a problem that continues – when to take the bible literally and when to take it figuratively…and even in translation this is a problem. Her is a mistake that might have lead to a lot of anti-semitism if you started to believe that Jews had horns like the devil.

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    1. Great comment. How many were labeled or persecuted because of a accidental word or two? One will never know, but certainly reason enough to check and double check before condemning anyone based on one man’s view, which we all know is often the best we can do, but others may see it completely different. Let’s be on the safe side and just love everyone regardless of our personal quests.

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      1. It would have been cool if they had left it as it was with the horn thing. Imagine a pastor trying to explain why people don’t have horns today? What happened to them? Did only the special prophets have them and if so why none of the “oh so holy in your face” ones now. Let the fun begin. Hugs

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  7. Ahh, Jerome… or rather Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus, born deep inside long established Hellenistic Dalmatia during the failing Roman Empire. He was also extremely close to Roman senatorial families, in particular prominent Greek women. And yet, he never learned intimately any Judaism, especially Second Temple Judaism/Messianism, and as you’ve aptly shown Jim… made many errors because of his ignorance and severe lack of understanding FULLY the “claimed” father-religion of his own Christianity. Hmmmm. 🤔

    Can’t say that any of this is a surprise because almost no modern Christians have a clue about the very contextual roots their own Hellenistic Roman religion sprang from. Makes one shake their head in disbelief and disappointment. 😞

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      1. Hahahaha! Ain’t it though. 😉 But DAYUM we gullible humans sure love a fantastical awe-inspiring, dopamine-adrenaline raising, supernatural STORY don’t we? Sort of like our current fascination with DC-Marvel characters on the silver-screen. 🤭

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        1. I remember reading the Hunchback and Hugo breaks away on this sidetrack. When Gutenberg invented the printing press the priests were in fear that the book would replace the pulpit. Why? Religion isn’t about empowering people to be self governing, it’s about clergy maintaining control for their own aspirations and self importance.

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    1. Out of all the studies I’ve dabbled in, the Vulgate bible, considered by many to an a structural springboard to all the other texts, somehow eluded me as well. Need to brush up on Latin I guess.

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      1. Thanks a bunch for noticing my hiatus and for checking in, man. Still alive… taking a little break to work on some other long-neglected projects… stay tuned for more… and thanks for keeping the iron hot in the meantime. Keep ’em comin’!

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  10. Jim, are you familiar with the police case on D.B. Cooper? He’s the man who skyjacked a jetliner in 1971 with $200,000 ransom money and parachuted out the tail somewhere around the mountains of the Columbia River in Washington state. He has never been captured, seen, or human remains found. However, a large portion of his money was later found in 1980. Does this sound eerily similar to another legend? 😉

    Hey! D.B. Cooper is ALIVE! He disappeared and there’s no evidence that he was actually dead! That absolutely means he is RISEN and ALIVE!!! 🤭

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    1. DB was a local legend here. It pops up now and then. I was a kid at the time and remember it well. They think they found the cash on the banks of the Columbia river, but no DB. He is risen

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          1. But he is RISEN Jim!!! He is ALIVE! I know this deep in my heart and D.B. Cooper has appeared to me in visions, dreams, and epileptic episodes and has had sex with me! So I know he’s REAL!!!! 🤪😄

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    2. That’s a fascinating story. Given the large amount of money found I doubt he survived, since he would’ve kept it for himself. But that’s the thing, we will never truly know. It also reminds me of that Alcatraz prison escape, no one seems to conclusively know if they survived after escaping (I’m going to say very unlikely), but many people claimed they did, just like many people claim Jesus rose again lol.

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  11. Never knew this about horny Moses. And all over a mistaken word. In Shakespeare’s time, it was believed if a man was being cuckolded by his wife without his knowledge, he would begin to grow horns. This idea is used in a few places in Shakespeare’s plays were a man or men were made fun of by others saying they had horns growing on their heads. Back in that day, they thought this was hilarious. Maybe there’s something about Mrs. Moses we all don’t know, eh?

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  12. I never knew about this horny Moses, I’ve been missing out. Speaking of Bible translations, there’s this rare Bible translation with a typo saying ‘Thou shalt commit adultery.’ Most of the books were burnt, but it took them over a year to discover this error. The few surviving books sell upwards of several thousand dollars.

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    1. That’s funny. I know the misprinted coins are valuable, sounds like the editors of that Bible had a Freudian slip, or an admission of participation.

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      1. Well one theory is that they simply made a mistake, but another theory is that someone else deliberately put the mistake in to discredit the publisher. This was back in the 1600’s, and the writers of this translation got into a lot of trouble afterwards.

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    1. Salon is a bit 90’s for a sausage parlor. I’d say, he was a meat freak. First order of business was to always build an alter and burn some flesh.

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    1. Thanks for the follow. Been seeing you in and out of the group here. Poor Catholics and their mistranslations. Instead of celibate, I think it was supposed to be celibrate [sic] with an R.

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