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Moses and the four legged grasshoppers
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anatomy of grasshopper
Of all the points disbelievers find in the Bible, which they claim proves the unworthiness of the sacred book, our title subject has been presented to me as many as any other one, I believe. In fact, a close friend of mine who was once a Christian and turned atheist, used this as his primary proof text. But when properly analyzed, the text is more accurate than those who challenge it. I have to acknowledge that the first time my friend pulled it on me, I was unable to refute it. It did not challenge my faith, since I had long decided that there is adequate proof in the Bible to convince any open minded person of it's inspiration. So when I see something like this scripture, my first, and lasting, impression is that there is something about the verse that I cannot understand or it has lost something in it's translation somewhere. My friend passed away before I finally discovered that I wasn't paying proper attention to the reading.
Let's read the passage and consider it. It is found in Leviticus 11:20-22 and concerns the various things which the Israelites were lawfully allowed to eat. Moses is the human author via inspiration from God.
"All winged creeping things that go upon all fours are an abomination unto you. Yet these may ye eat of all winged creeping things that go upon all fours, which have legs above their feet, wherewith to leap upon the earth. Even these of them ye may eat: the locust after its kind, and the bald locust after its kind, and the cricket after its kind, and the grasshopper after its kind."
Now, all who know anything of the anatomy of a grasshopper, or locust or cricket, knows that they have six legs...right? Of course. But notice the illustration. They have 4 legs with feet which they walk with. They have 2 legs that are not used for walking, even though they may appear to use them so, but they have barbed appendages at the bottom which are used for leaping. The terminology used in the scripture is only slightly confusing and that because the writer uses the term "above" where it would have been clearer, had he used "in addition to". All would understand it then. Above is used often to mean "more than" or "additionally". An example could be, say you needed desperately $10.00 for some immediate purpose and some good Samaritan gave you $15.00. You could readily and understandably say that he gave you over or above your need. Read the scripture again and use "more" or "in addition to" in the place of "above".
A simple scripture to show what I mean is 1 Corinthians 10:13 which says: "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." The words "more than" here would have expressed the same thought.
The principal lesson here is that, not only was the inspired writer knowledgeable of his subject matter but even more so than his critics. He not only made his statement correctly, but explained it very accurately.
Many such scriptures are easily misunderstood at first glance and are used by those who are unbelievers as evidence that the Bible is not inerrant when, under closer scrutiny, it proves it‘s inerrancy.
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