The Moses Riddle Quotes

“Despite America’s first world economy, despite all the technical progress and productivity increases, there were still large numbers of people living well below the poverty line. The government had forced it. Low income citizens were addicted to minimum wage, welfare and Medicare, and it was impossible to wean them off. The secret effect was the creation of a slave class. Low level healthcare, food and shelter were provided, but what Thomas saw as he drove were people living lives worse than that of the average institutionalized prisoner.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, The Moses Riddle

“The Orion constellation was very significant to the ancient Egyptians. Years earlier, a construction engineer, Robert Bauval, had noticed that the three pyramids at Giza, including the great pyramid, were aligned in a fashion that looked similar to the way that the three stars of Orion’s belt were aligned.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, The Moses Riddle

“The fact that the four strictest Commandments were not included would create public uproar. The potential moral shift that resulted would fall squarely on Thomas’s shoulders. As would any economic deterioration or escalation of tension in the Middle East. Yet he would become rich and famous. And any shadow that hung over his career as a result of the firing would be gone. The dilemma was simple. Should he place personal comfort and professional success first and risk unknown economic and religious stability? Or let the world rest, and sacrifice his financial and professional future?”
― Hunt Kingsbury, The Moses Riddle

“Next would come any archeologist’s worst nightmare: a dispute over ownership. It wouldn’t just be the Pope, the Jews, and the Christians. Oh no. The entire Middle East, the Arab epicenter, would demand the Commandments be given to them. Each religion, each culture, was in its own way iconolatristic. Each was willing to change laws, impose sanctions, reverse promises, and shed blood for possession of certain artifacts. They had proven it many times. Government involvement in any archeological find always signaled trouble. Having a treasure impounded for two years while bureaucrats lazily debated provenance took all the fun out of the job.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, The Moses Riddle

“The real Ten Commandments, as written by God on the second set of tablets, mentioned nothing about killing, committing adultery, stealing or spreading lies about others.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, The Moses Riddle

“The second astonishing fact he found was that after Moses returned from Mt. Sinai the second time, with the new set of tablets God had given him, he had summoned all of Israel and read them the Commandments as written by God. This was the first time he had read the text as written. In the two earlier references to the Commandments they had either been recited from memory, Exodus 20, or broken and not recited at all, Exodus 32. So that passage—Exodus 34—recounted the first time his people had heard God’s real and intended Commandments. And . . they were not the same as before. They were very different!”
― Hunt Kingsbury, The Moses Riddle

“In Chapter 34, verse 1, God had told Moses, “Cut two tablets of stone, like the first two, and I will write upon the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.” God went on to tell Moses to make a second Ark, but not like the first golden one. This one was to be a simple wooden box, made from acacia wood.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, The Moses Riddle

“Up to this point, Moses had only verbally communicated the Ten Commandments to his people. No one had actually seen them, because the tablets had been smashed.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, The Moses Riddle

“Chapter 32, verse 19. Moses had come down from Mt. Sinai with the tablets, to find his people worshipping a golden calf and involved in licentious behavior. In his anger, he had thrown the two stone tablets to the ground, destroying them. Immediately after the tablets were broken, Moses and Aaron, and those faithful to God, had slaughtered thousands of their former followers.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, The Moses Riddle

“in Chapter 32, Moses returned to Mount Sinai. This time God wrote the Commandments on two stone tablets and gave Moses specific instructions on how to build a special chest, called an ark, in which to carry them. He also gave Moses instructions on how to make other sacred objects, such as a bejeweled gold breastplate, two onyx balls inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes, and a golden crown.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, The Moses Riddle

“Exodus, Chapter 20, several times. After returning from Mount Sinai and a conversation with God, Moses had proclaimed, from memory, the Ten Commandments to his followers, who had assembled before him. The ten he recited were those that are well known to every Jew and Christian today. 1. You shall have no other Gods before me. 2. You shall worship no idols or graven images. 3. You shall not take the Lord’s name in vain. 4. You shall keep the Sabbath Day holy. 5. You shall honor your father and mother. 6. You shall not murder. 7. You shall not commit adultery. 8. You shall not steal. 9. You shall not bear false witness. 10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, or spouse.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, The Moses Riddle

“Contrary to the way modern cultures developed, older Egyptian civilizations were better at building, better at mathematics, and better at astronomy than later Egyptian cultures. It was as if someone who was very intelligent had come to Egypt, taught the Egyptians, and then abruptly left. Certainly the Egyptians evolved and developed over time but, in most areas, their knowledge and skills actually decreased. As time passed, some of their former learning and skills were forgotten. The sphinx, for example, was so old, no one knew when it was built. But no later culture ever bested it.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, The Moses Riddle

“Over the years there had been many different interpretations but, to this day, no one was sure of their meaning. All that was known was that the early Egyptians carved them, in the most permanent place they knew, in an attempt to communicate with future generations about their world. If Moses had wanted to get a message to future generations, there would be no better place to do it than inside Unas.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, The Moses Riddle

“There were stars on the ceiling and it was believed that the walls represented the earth and the ceiling the heavens. Therefore, many scholars thought the writings were an attempt by this earlier civilization to pass along the secret worldly knowledge that they possessed. The hieroglyphics were thought to be written by extremely early priests from Heliopolis but, truthfully, no one really knew who carved them. They seemed to have been written at different times rather than all at once and, amazingly, because they were so old, they were still undeciphered.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, The Moses Riddle

“The Saqqara necropolis was the most ancient of all Egyptian sites and was one of, if not the, earliest massive stone structures man ever attempted to build. Recorded man, that is. The writings on the walls, or pyramid texts as they were called, were the oldest in all of Egypt, dating to before 2700 BC. Saqqara was built by the great Egyptian architect Imhotep, and was located about thirty minutes outside of Cairo. Inside the temple of Unas was an amazing room, with ancient hieroglyphic writing covering every inch of the walls.”
― Hunt Kingsbury, The Moses Riddle