When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD. – Exodus 34:29

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 13, 2018): Exodus 34

With just a glance at Michelangelo’s sculpture of Moses reveals that something is not quite right. Like, what are those two things sticking out of his head? “The Horns of Moses” are the subject of many debates among historians and art scholars. And yes, they are most definitely horns. Moses in paintings and sculptures sometimes appears with his horns, and sometimes he is without them. But there is no argument that the horns, at least to contemporary eyes, make Moses seem less of a prophet and more of a demon.

So, where did this idea of horns on the Lawgiver originate? Again, even this is up to debate, but the simplest explanation is that the horns of Moses are a hilarious mistranslation of Exodus 34:29 (Or even verses 30 and 35) from the Latin Vulgate. According to the mistranslation, Moses had horns. In the New International Version, the translation says that Moses’s “face was radiant.” According to the King James Version, this verse is translated into “the skin of his face shone,” but according to the Latin Vulgate, Moses’s face had horns, which has resulted in horns on top of Moses’s head as presented by Michelangelo, and horns on the head of Moses on many other Medieval imaginations of the Lawgiver's appearance.

Sometimes, we get it wrong. Maybe the most important lesson that Michelangelo teaches us with the horn-headed Moses is to remember that any translation is vulnerable. There are no perfect translations of the Bible. And part of the translation process is an artful shaping of the words and an attempt to imagine what it was that the original writer was trying to tell us. So, whenever in doubt, check another translation and see how they translated the passage. Another perspective on how other translators have viewed the Bible gives us depth into the passage and hopefully steers us away from imagining Moses with horns.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Exodus 35