Inerrant Lie #50

The prevalent apprehension of prophecy contemporarily is that of foretelling or prognostication. Though this is, perhaps, short- sighted or wrong altogether: it is, nonetheless, a view propogated by the canon itself. Even Moses spake so: "When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him [Deuteronomy 18:22]." Does this make Moses a false prophet?

After forty years of wandering in the wilderness, as the people were preparing to enter the promised land, by way of several other countries betwixt, Moses says his 'LORD' told him: "3 Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward. 4 And command thou the people, saying, Ye are to pass through the coast of your brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you: take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore: 5 Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot breadth; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession. 6 Ye shall buy meat of them for money, that ye may eat; and ye shall also buy water of them for money, that ye may drink [Deuteronomy 2:3 - 6]."

The narrative of Deuteronomy doesn't contend this prognostication of Edom's presumed hospitality ventured by Moses' 'LORD', but the narrative of Numbers does so in no uncertain terms. In Numbers, Moses writes of the same encounter: "20 And [Edom] said, Thou shalt not go through. And Edom came out against him with much people, and with a strong hand. 21 Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border: wherefore Israel turned away from him [Numbers 20:20 & 21]."

In Deuteronomy 2, however, Moses doubles- down on that which he dismisses as a lie in Numbers. In Deuteronomy, Moses writes that, when he requested passage through Sihon's land, he wrote to them of Edom's compliance, thus: "28 Thou shalt sell me meat for money, that I may eat; and give me water for money, that I may drink: only I will pass through on my feet; 29 (As the children of Esau which dwell in Seir, and the Moabites which dwell in Ar, did unto me;) until I shall pass over Jordan into the land which the LORD our God giveth us [Deuteronomy 2:28 & 29]."

Obviously, Moses lied-- either in Numbers or in Deuteronomy-- concerning this part of the journey into the promised land. The unequivocal language of the passage from Numbers allows no other option. The question, I suppose, given the fact that Moses (in Deuteronomy 2) says the prognostication in doubt was the LORD's making, is: Is the LORD God a false God? If he weren't, why would he utilize a false prophet like Moses? Perhaps Moses' LORD is a false God and a false prophet, too.