Some Mistakes of Moses

For many years I have regarded the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy (written by Moses), simply as a record of a barbarous people, in which are found a great number of the ceremonies of savagery, many absurd and unjust laws, and thousands of ideas inconsistent with known and demonstrated facts. To me it seemed almost a crime to teach that this record was written by inspired men ; that slavery, polygamy, wars of conquest and extermination were right, and that there was a time when men could win the approbation of infinite Intelligence, Justice, and Mercy, by violating maidens and by butchering babes. To me it seemed more reasonable that savage men had made these laws. This book seeks to inform readers about the mistakes, the improbabilities and the contradictions, of Moses and his writings.

Take, for example, the story of the golden calf, which concerns an idol crafted by the Israelites while Moses is receiving the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. When Moses returns from the Mount, he becomes angry that his people are engaging in idol worship, and orders the Levites to slaughter the sinners, who number 3,000. Considering that the commandment forbidding idolatry had not yet been passed on by Moses to his people, to inflict punishment for breaking unknown and unpublished laws is, in the last degree, cruel and unjust. This example is one of many "mistakes" found in this 300 page book.