In 1 Corinthians 10:8, in warning the church in Corinth about sin, Paul said Israel’s sin of “sexual immorality” resulted in “twenty-three thousand” falling “in one day.” Skeptics of the Bible say this passage contradicts what Moses wrote in Numbers 25:9, where he wrote “those who died by the plague were 24,000.”

Did Paul simply misremember? Some have defended Paul by saying he was probably going off memory and just made a simple mistake. If it was you or me depending on our memory of something we studied in school decades earlier, I’d understand a mistake like this. But that’s what this and the past two articles have been about. The writers of the Bible did not make mistakes. If Paul or any of the other 39 men who wrote the Bible made mistakes, then they were not inspired by God.

The claim is made over 3,800 times in the Old Testament alone that Scriptures are the words of God. In Exodus 17:14, Moses wrote, “Then Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Write this in a book as a memorial.’” David is recorded in 2 Samuel 23:2 as saying “The Spirit of Yahweh spoke by me and His word was on my tongue.” God told Jeremiah, “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.” (Jeremiah 1:9). Jesus affirmed the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures when he said in Matthew 5:18 “not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” That is a pretty strong statement about a document.

Neither Paul nor any other apostle had to rely on his own memory. Unlike you and me and every person born since the end of the first century, they were directly inspired by the Holy Spirit. Jesus said he would send the Holy Spirit to the apostles to “teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” (John 14:26). He told them the Holy Spirit “will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13). Christ had already assured them they need not worry about what to say, “But when they deliver you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given to you in that hour what you are to say. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.” (Matthew 10:19-20)

The apostles echoed this resource of truth over and over in their letters. In his first letter to the church in Corinth, Paul wrote, “For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him?” (2:11). In other words, I cannot know what’s on your mind unless you reveal it to me. Then Paul goes on to say that the Corinthians could know the mind of God because the Holy Spirit had revealed it to the apostles, and they in turn had shared it with the Corinthians: “So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit...” (1 Corinthians 2:11-13). Later in the same epistle, Paul said, “For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you,…” (1 Corinthians 11:23). In 1 Thessalonians 2:13, Paul wrote, “we also thank God without ceasing that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God...”

In his second letter to Timothy, Paul wrote that, “all Scripture is God-breathed” or “inspired of God” (2 Timothy 3:16). This ‘inspiration’ is not the same as we often hear today. E.g., a person said their father inspired them to become a doctor; or one was inspired by nature to write a poem or song. The Bible was written by men directly inspired by God the Father, Christ, or the Holy Spirit. They were told what to write. In Acts 1:16, Peter said “Scripture had been fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David…” Likewise, Peter wrote that, “no prophecy was ever made by the will of man, but men being moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” (2 Peter 1:21). In Ephesians 3:5, Paul said that what he wrote had “been revealed by the Spiri to his holy apostles and prophets...” In his letter to the churches in Galatia, Paul wrote, “that the gospel which I am proclaiming as good news is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:11-12). He told the Thessalonians that what he taught them was “by the word of the Lord” (1 Thess 4:15). Finally, Peter recognized the inspiration behind Paul’s epistles when he said they were often twisted and distorted like “the rest of the Scriptures.” (2 Peter 3:16).

So, how do we reconcile Paul’s 23,000 and Moses’ 24,000? Some say Paul was just approximating. I.e., am I wrong if I said I paid $3/gallon of gas if the price was actually $2.95/gallon? If Paul was not inspired, I could buy this explanation. Some say it was a scribe’s error. I hate to think that I must rely on uninspired, fallible scribes to ensure the accuracy of God’s word. If they erred here, might they have erred somewhere else?

I believe the simple answer is in one piece of information Paul provided which Moses did not. Paul said 23,000 died in one day. Moses said nothing about time, he simply said 24,000 died.

By careful study, sound logic, and an open heart, we can easily see that the Bible is completely reliable and accurate. Feel free to contact me about anything in this article or about the Blanco Hills Church of Christ.

Buz Turk

830-554-0701