DID MOSES TEACH IN PARABLES?

 "In the beginning, I asked a question…." 

Did Moses use parables to teach?

My question was based on two scriptures: 

Deuteronomy 18:18 I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto you; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. 

Matthew 13:34-35 All these things spoke Yehoshua in parables unto the multitudes; and without a parable spoke he nothing unto them: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world. 

Yehovah said that He would raise up another prophet who would be like Moses. Yehoshua was that prophet and Yehoshua taught in parables. If Yehoshua taught in parables, and Yehoshua was like Moses, then perhaps Moses taught in parables! 

What if the story of creation found in the first 34 verses of Scripture is a parable? If you don’t understand this parable, then how then will you understand any parable? The first 34 verses of Scripture is the key of knowledge to understand ALL Scripture.

What Is Scripture? 

I am persuaded that “Scripture Is The History Of The Salvation Of Man”. 

Scripture is not a textbook on astronomy or geology. 

Scripture is not a scientific manual for how molecules and planets formed. 

Scripture is the unfolding story of redemption—the history of the salvation that Yehovah is offering to man. This salvation came through a bloodline found in the genealogy of the first Adam. This genealogy ends with Yehoshua, the Last Adam—whose very name means "Yehovah is Salvation". The genealogies are not filler—they are the backbone of the salvation narrative. 

Hebrew and Greek words can carry a variety of definitions. When we approach the study of Scripture as The History Of The Salvation Of Man, we do not restrict, but clarify the meaning of words. When we understand that Scripture is the history of salvation through a bloodline, the meanings of Hebrew and Greek words actually narrow and from this point of view come into focus. We are not asking "what could a word mean in any ancient text?", but rather "what meaning does a word carry in this history of salvation narrative, at this point in the story?" The History of Salvation framework provides a built-in boundary for translation and interpretation. I am often asked if I believe that the bible is infallible. My answer is “Scripture, when translated correctly and interpreted properly, is the most reliable source of truth I have found.” My benchmark for truth is freedom: Does an interpretation set free or bind? Does it allow men to flourish or prohibit growth? Does it create space for change? Scripture itself validates this benchmark—'you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.'" 

Scripture employs multiple literary tools and figures of speech to communicate this salvation history: parable, allegory, typology, pattern, prophetic narrative, symbolic history, mnemonic devices, and structured accounts, to name a few. The reader's task is to determine which tool the author is using in each portion of Scripture. Is Moses using allegory here? Typology? A mnemonic pattern? What tool did the author employ to communicate 

the truth he witnessed? 

To me it seems futile to view the first 34 verses of Genesis as a scientific explanation. Can physical creation be repeated? How can the evidence be tested scientifically? Turning the first 34 verses of Scripture into a "scientific debate" is fundamentally flawed—it is not testable, not repeatable, and is therefore neither scientific fact nor science. 

The 35th verse of Genesis begins a genealogical narrative: These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Yehovah Elohim made earth and heaven. And Genesis 5:1 declares, "This is the book of the generations of Adam." The genealogy—the documented bloodline—begins in chapter 5. So what are chapters 1 through 4? What precedes "the book of the generations"?

If Scripture is the history of salvation through a bloodline, then what is Genesis 1 actually describing? 

Seekers have been reading Genesis 1:1–2:3 the same way for centuries. Generation after generation has approached these thirty-four verses as a scientific account of how Yehovah created the physical universe—the cosmos, the planets, the stars, the earth beneath our feet. 

But what if we've been reading it incorrectly? 

So I asked myself: What did Moses actually observe? 

Verse 35: Another Creation? 

The 35th verse of Genesis signals a shift in literary form but uses the information and language revealed in the parable of the first 34 verses. The Genesis creation parable establishes both the vocabulary and the method that will be used throughout Scripture. Since the word of Yehovah is a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path, does it not make sense to rightly define the words He chose to employ? 

The first 34 verses give us the beginning of a glossary of terms: elohim, heaven and earth, light and darkness, waters and land, the firmament—and these are just from the opening verses. The glossary continues building throughout all 34 verses. Verse 35 introduces the creator: Yehovah. What if these terms recur throughout Scripture with consistent meaning? Moses shows from the beginning that Scripture employs parables, figures of speech, metaphor, and symbolic language to reveal truth. This is not an exception. This is how truth is revealed to those seeking. Yet this same method blinds those who refuse to seek. Parable reveals to the willing and conceals from the resistant. 

The 35th verse declares: "These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Yehovah Elohim made earth and heaven." 

This verse, while not part of the parable, employs the understanding found in it. Yehovah and Adam were in a relationship. This is how it began. "Heaven and earth" continues to mean a relationship throughout scripture. The word "generations" marks a transition to genealogical history—the history of the salvation of man through the bloodline flowing from that relationship. 

The first 34 verses stand as Moses' eyewitness parable—establishing the vocabulary and method that will be used throughout the rest of scripture. Then the 35th verse shifts: "These are the generations..." 

From this point forward, Moses compiles oral traditions, genealogies, and received narratives. These accounts—Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah, the Tower of Babel—are historical events. Moses did not witness them personally, but he faithfully recorded what was passed down through the generations. 

And even within these historical accounts, Scripture continues to employ figures of speech, metaphor, and symbolic language. History and parable are not opposites. Moses can record true events while using literary devices to reveal deeper meaning. The question is not whether something happened, but how Moses chose to communicate what happened—and why. 

Does parable diminish the truth of Scripture? No! Parable is the genius of Scripture! 

Why Would Moses Teach in Parables? 

How could Moses teach millions of people to remember what Yehovah did for them? 

Exodus 12:37 records that 600,000 men left Egypt—not counting women and children. The total population was over 2 million people. Moses commanded this multitude in Deuteronomy 4:9: "Only take heed to yourself, and keep your soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons."

Israel was an uneducated people which emerged from 400 years of slavery. They were laborers, not scholars. They had no written texts, no formal education system. But they were deeply familiar with oral tradition—they had preserved stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph for generations through the spoken word alone. 

Moses himself likely received these oral traditions from his mother Jochebed before she handed him over to Pharaoh's daughter. 

So how could an illiterate, oral culture of millions remember complex historical events and teach them to future generations? With a method they were already familiar with: oral teaching through memorable structure. 

The seven day pattern in the first 34 verses of Genesis—with its rhythm, repetition, and predictable phrases ("and Elohim said... and it was so... and it was evening and morning")—functions as a mnemonic device. The structure helps Israel remember the sequence of their deliverance: liberation from slavery, separation from Egypt, the giving of the law at Sinai, the establishment of relationship with Yehovah. 

Moses gave them a mnemonic device, a parable they could hear, remember, repeat, and teach their children and grandchildren. Not because the events were not real, but because millions of people needed a way to retain what had actually happened to them. 

How then can Moses teach millions? Through his parable of creation! 

I want to make a crucial distinction that's often missed in debates about Genesis 1.

I am not saying the creation account is fiction, myth, or 'just symbolic' with no basis in reality.

Rather, I am saying Genesis 1:1–2:3 is literally a parable — that is, Moses intentionally crafted it as a highly structured, metaphorical narrative to communicate profound historical and theological truth.

The 'literal' meaning of the text is therefore parabolic, not scientific or chronological.

It is not a modern-style report on how the physical universe was materially formed.

It is a divinely inspired parable revealing who Yehovah is, what He did in redeeming and forming Israel as a nation, and the salvation vocabulary He uses throughout Scripture.

In short: the text means exactly what it says — as a parable witnessed by Moses and designed to be remembered and taught.

This approach respects the authority of the text while recognizing its literary form. I am not trying to diminish Scripture by calling it a parable - as I explicitly stated: "Does parable diminish the truth of Scripture? No! Parable is the genius of Scripture!" 

My goal is to discover what Moses actually witnessed and intended to communicate through this carefully structured account. I am suggesting that when Genesis 1 is approached as a scientific explanation of cosmic origins, its literal purpose, which was to teach an oral culture about their formation as a people, might be missed. 

This perspective allows me to honor both the text itself and its purpose without forcing it to answer questions it was not designed to address. The literal meaning, in this view, is found by understanding the parable as it was intended to function - as a teaching tool about the formation of Israel rather than as a scientific treatise about cosmic formation. 

I am often asked if I believe that Scripture is infallible? My answer is this: 

Scripture, when translated properly and interpreted correctly, is the most reliable source of truth I have discovered. "The words of Yehovah are pure words. As silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times!" 

If I am going to build my life on the truth of Scripture, then it must be capable of surviving the crucible of my mind. You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.

The first thirty-four verses of Scripture define the salvation language by which all Scripture must be read. 

Genesis 1:1–2:3 functions as a compressed, eyewitness narrative that establishes the meaning of heaven, earth, light, darkness, rest, and image. 

From Exodus through Revelation, Scripture does not redefine these terms, it assumes them. 

The interpretive framework used in the first 34 verses of Scripture governs the reading of all Scripture.

Was Moses giving a science lesson? Audience Relevance begs the question - are we to believe that Moses taught the freed slaves about planets and stars? 

If you don’t understand this parable, then how then will you understand any parable? The first 34 verses of Scripture is the key of knowledge to understand ALL Scripture.