"How many horsemen did David capture?"

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"How many horsemen did David capture?"

2 Samuel 8:4 And David took from him 1,700 horsemen, and 20,000 foot soldiers. And David hamstrung all the chariot horses but left enough for 100 chariots.

1 Chronicles 18:4 And David took from him 1,000 chariots, 7,000 horsemen, and 20,000 foot soldiers. And David hamstrung all the chariot horses, but left enough for 100 chariots.

The story of David is told twice in the Bible, once across 1 Sam 16 to 1 Kings 2 and again in 1 Chronicles. Here we have near identical verses from both sources describing the same event, but with one important distinction: The chariots are not referenced in 2 Samuel and a different number of horsemen are listed, 1,700 versus 7,000. This may seem like an insignificant discrepancy, but what does this difference tell us about the sources themselves? Was this an error? How can we know what the original text said if one of these numbers is incorrect?

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"Why did God take the form of a burning bush to speak with Moses?"

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"Why did God take the form of a burning bush to speak with Moses?"
Exodus 3:1-5 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”

In this well-known passage God communicates directly with Moses, and chooses to do so by taking the form of a burning bush. The question is why? Why a burning bush? Would a burning rock have worked just as well? Why did the bush need to be burning? Is there a natural explanation for this phenomenon? There's also some confusion in the passage as to who is actually speaking to Moses. Initially we are told "an angel of God" is speaking, but then soon after we are told it is God himself. Which is it?

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"Should prayer be public?"

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"Should prayer be public?"

Matthew 6:5-6 And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

Prayer is such a prominent aspect of Christianity. Why do these verses seem to condemn the practice in public? Are all people who pray publicly hypocrites? What "reward" have the hypocrites already received? Why are there so many instances of public prayer elsewhere in the Bible? If public prayer is acceptable then what is the purpose of this passage? Does prayer even work?

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"Why does God allow people to be disabled?"

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"Why does God allow people to be disabled?"

Exodus 4:11 Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?"

In Chapter 4 of Exodus God takes responsibility for making people deaf, dumb, or blind. If God intended them to be disabled, why do we attempt to heal them with our modern treatments. Does this subvert his purpose? Why would God want to make someone disabled in the first place? If disabilities are a result of Original Sin, why are some people disproportionately affected, even from birth, with terrible disabilities? If God is good and can control who is sticken with disabilities, why doesn't he ever heal them? Some claim that God does heal the sick and disabled, not just in the past, but still to this day through the power of prayer. If that is the case, why are there some types of disability that have seemingly never been miraculously healed? For instance, why doesn't God heal amputees?

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"Why does God demand and give specific instructions regarding animal sacrifice?"

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"Why does God demand and give specific instructions regarding animal sacrifice?"

Leviticus 1:1-9 The Lord called Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When any one of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of livestock from the herd or from the flock. “If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish. He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the Lord. He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. Then he shall kill the bull before the Lord, and Aaron's sons the priests shall bring the blood and throw the blood against the sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. Then he shall flay the burnt offering and cut it into pieces, and the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire. And Aaron's sons the priests shall arrange the pieces, the head, and the fat, on the wood that is on the fire on the altar; but its entrails and its legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall burn all of it on the altar, as a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

In this verse we have a very detailed description of how God wants animals to be handled and sacrificed. Why is animal sacrifice necessary and why is God so explicit in his instructions? Why is each of these steps important? For instance, if the blood was not thrown on the sides of the altar, would the Lord still bless the individual offering the sacrifice? When other cultures or religions practice animal sacrifice it is seen as barbaric and cruel. Why are the same animal sacrifices not only endorsed, but demanded by the God of the Old Testament? If animal sacrifice was an important theological lesson for Christians and Jews, then why did the practice originate long before even Judaism arose? Why is the tradition no longer practiced in Christianity? Does God change his mind about the practice of animal sacrifice?

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