Inerrant Lie #64

Another lie from "God's ineffable, inerrant word":

It's been mentioned, in a previous 'Lie,' that Moses' LORD God lied to him (and Moses, subsequently, to the people) concerning the Edomites' presumed cooperation with the Israelites' passage through Edom on their way to Canaan, the land of promise. The fact that Moses also lied to Sihon, the Amorite king of Heshbon, concerning Edom's reaction to his request for permission to pass through Edom is likewise recorded in 'Lie #50.'

However, according to Jephthah of Gilead (one of Israel's judges): Moses also lied to Sihon concerning the Moabites' reaction to Moses' request for permission to pass through Moab. In Deuteronomy 2, Moses records having written to Sihon: "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]."

Jephthah, when contending (three hundred years later) with the Ammonites of his day over the land taken by Moses from the Amorite Sihon (who would not allow Moses and Israel to pass through his land, and was therefore vanquished and his land taken) writes to the king of the Ammonites: "Then Israel sent messengers unto the king of Edom, saying, Let me, I pray thee, pass through thy land: but the king of Edom would not hearken thereto. And in like manner they sent unto the king of Moab: but he would not consent: and Israel abode in Kadesh [Judges 11:17]."

Clearly, Moses' account of Israel's passage through Edom and Moab is diametrically opposed to Jephthah's unequivocal denial that either occurred. One of them is lying about something, if both aren't lying about everything. My guess is: Jephthah told the king of the Ammonites the truth; while Moses lied about everything. The LORD God knew Moses face- to- face [Exodus 33:11], after all.