Demolishing Triablogue: Moses was not humble

Steve Hays takes on the old atheist canard about how Numbers 12:3, saying Moses was the most humble man on earth, wouldn't have been written by a truly humble man.

But some would argue that when you talk back to God and suggest a plan to him different than His own, this personality trait doesn't leave room for humility:

 9 The LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people.
 10 "Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation."
 11 Then Moses entreated the LORD his God, and said, "O LORD, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
 12 "Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, 'With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth '? Turn from Your burning anger and change Your mind about doing harm to Your people.
 13 "Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, 'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.'"
 14 So the LORD changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people. (Exod. 32:9-14 NAU)

When apologists start hemming and hawwing about how God didn't "really" want Moses to leave Him alone (v. 10), we skeptics start hemming and hawwing about whether giving a false impression of one's intentions constitutes lying.

 lie2 noun     
1An intentionally false statement.     ‘they hint rather than tell outright lies’     ‘the whole thing is a pack of lies’     
1.1 Used with reference to a situation involving deception or founded on a mistaken impression.     ‘all their married life she had been living a lie’

 Steve says

"More humble than anyone else on the face of the earth" is simply hyperbole.

 ...making us wonder whether other statements in the bible, such as those describing God's wrath, are also hyperbole.  Do unbelievers really face the terrible wrath of God in the literal sense, or is this just hyperbole?

Also, doesn't matter if it was hyperbole, this would still have left an impression on the original readers even if they knew it was exaggeration.  When I tell a friend that my neighbor is the "nicest guy in the world", the fact that this is not technically true but exaggeration, does not mean the hearer just dismisses the comment outright.

She still receives the impression that in my view he is one of the nicest persons one can know.  The hyberbolic way of speaking still creates a strong literal impression, and likely would more so with pre-literate societies.

So you cannot get rid of the problem produced by literal interpretation, by classifying the speech as hyperbole.  The literal intent is still there even if the language is exaggerated.