Yahweh and Moses: Face to Face

In my previous post, “The God Who Reveals Himself,” I said that the manifestation of God to human beings is called a “theophany.” However, the actual understanding of theophany is somewhat complicated. There are many different ways to understand what a theophany is. Depending on the way a theophany is defined, theophany can be something very rare or something quite common. There is a tendency to limit theophany to the times when God physically appeared in a visual form. The appearance of the Angel of the Lord who speaks on behalf of Yahweh is considered to be a theophany, a manifestation of God in human form.

A theophany can also be understood as any time that God speaks or appears in any manner to humankind, either through dreams or visions. In the discussion of the manifestation of God through dreams, some scholars see dreams as a way to mitigate the anthropomorphic manifestation of God. As James Barr writes, “anthropomorphism was felt as a difficulty or an embarrassment.”

However, Barr believes that dreams emphasize the directness of the anthropomorphic manifestation of God. Barr writes, “it is by no means clear that communication by a dream is intended to have the effect of mitigating the directness of an anthropomorphic appearance. It could be argued that on the contrary the dream increases the directness and gives a stronger vision. Certainly the dream vision of Jacob at Bethel is not lacking in directness.”[1]

A theophany literally refers to God’s appearance. Since God is always present in the world, a theophany can be understood as an intensification of God’s presence at a particular place during a particular time. Theophany is a way for God to become involved personally in his world. These intensifications of God’s presence at times appear in the form of a cloud and fire, “in the Hebrew Bible smoke or clouds and fire are fraught with divine imagery.”[2]

Theophany can also refer to the times when God speaks from heaven or speaks “face to face” with someone. Throughout the biblical narrative Yahweh is frequently described as having appeared personally to people to whom he talks face to face. Although the fear of seeing God is expressed often by people in Israel, a number of these texts describe Yahweh speaking “face to face” with individuals.

When Jacob met Yahweh at Peniel, Jacob said, “I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved” (Genesis 32:30). Because Moses had a personal relationship with Yahweh, “Yahweh would talk to Moses face to face, as a man talks to his friend” (Exodus 33:11 NJB). In explaining this intimate encounter between God and Moses, Carol Meyer writes, “Remarkably, in this passage, unlike others that relate Moses’ direct encounters with God, a human can see God directly rather than as a presence manifest in divine glory or cloud.”[3] Even Yahweh himself said that he spoke to Moses face to face, “to him I speak face to face, plainly and not in riddles, and he sees Yahwehs form” (Numbers 12:8 NJB).

The actual meaning of the expression “face to face” is problematic because of the idea that God can actually be that intimate with someone and thus appear in human form and speak face to face with a human being. Some scholars believe that the expression “face to face” is metaphorical language. As such, the expression does not imply a human manifestation of God. When Moses asked God to show him his glory (Exodus 33:18), Yahweh told Moses, “I shall make all my goodness pass before you, and before you I shall pronounce the name Yahweh; and I am gracious to those to whom I am gracious and I take pity on those on whom I take pity. But my face, he said, you cannot see, for no human being can see me and survive” (Exodus 33:19–20 NJB).

God told Moses that when he passed before him, he would cover him with his hand. Then God said to Moses, “I shall take my hand away and you will see my back; but my face will not be seen.” (Exodus 33:23 NJB).

Ian Wilson contends that, “On the basis of what is implied by the expression itself, the OT usage elsewhere, and the other references to divine Presence in its immediate context, it would seem reasonable to presume that when YHWH is described as having spoken with the people ‘face to face,’ he did so in their immediate vicinity.”[4]

In his article, “Did YHWH Speak to Moses Face to Face?” Kenneth Seeskin quotes the Jewish medieval philosopher Maimonides who “strove to remove any trace of anthropomorphism from biblical depictions of the divine.”[5] Seeskin writes that the expression “face to face” “cannot mean literally that Moses and YHWH are facing and seeing each other as they converse” since Yahweh categorically told Moses “you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live” (Exodus 33:20).

Seeskin believes that the expression “face to face” is similar to the expression “mouth to mouth.”[6] When Miriam and Aaron challenged Moses’ leadership, Yahweh said to them, “Hear these My words: When a prophet of the LORD arises among you, I make Myself known to him in a vision, I speak with him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses; he is trusted throughout My household. With him I speak mouth to mouth, plainly and not in riddles, and he beholds the likeness of the LORD. How then did you not shrink from speaking against My servant Moses!” (Numbers 12:6–8 TNK).

The KJV, the RSV, the ESV follow the TNK in translating Numbers 12:8 as “mouth to mouth.” However, the NRSV, the NIV, the NJB and several other translations believe that “mouth to mouth” is identical to “face to face” and they translate Numbers 12:8 as “face to face.”

Seeskin believes that the anthropomorphic language of the Hebrew Bible is designed to help humans understand the mysterious and unknowable nature of God. He writes that the interaction between Yahweh and Moses in Exodus 33 “is framed anthropomorphically to reinforce a key theme in the Book of Exodus, that YHWH’s identity will always be unknowable.”[7]

Although many people believe that God is invisible, that he is pure spirit, that God has no body, that God possesses no physical attributes, that God is beyond human comprehension, and although God said to Moses that “you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live” (Exodus 33:20), the Old Testament mentions several people who saw God and lived.

To me the greatest manifestation of Yahweh in human form, was his revelation to Abraham: “Yahweh appeared to [Abraham] at the Oak of Mamre while he was sitting by the entrance of the tent during the hottest part of the day. [Abraham] looked up, and there he saw three men standing near him” (Genesis 18:1–2 NJB).

In this encounter with Yahweh, Abraham washed his feet (Genesis 18:4), gave him water to drink, prepared food for him (Genesis 18:5–7), and Abraham stood by Yahweh while he and his two companions ate (Genesis 18:8). Esther Hamori calls this type of anthropomorphic revelation of God “’îš theophany.”[8] The Hebrew word ’îš means “man.”

Another anthropomorphic manifestation of God was to Jacob at Bethel. When Jacob came to Bethel, “a man wrestled with him until daybreak” (Genesis 32:24). After the struggle was over, Jacob said, “ I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved” (Genesis 32:30).

When the Angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, Gideon called him Yahweh: “Alas, my Lord Yahweh! Now I have seen the Angel of Yahweh face to face” (Judges 6:22 NJB).

Isaiah says, “my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh Sabaoth” (Isaiah 6:5 NJB). Amos said, “I saw the LORD standing beside the altar” (Amos 9:1). When Hagar saw God “she named the LORD who spoke to her, ‘You are El-roi’; for she said, ‘Have I really seen God and remained alive after seeing him?’” (Genesis 16:13). When the Angel of Yahweh appeared to Manoah, he said to his wife, “We are certain to die, because we have seen God” (Judges 13:22).

The case of Moses and the elders of Israel is also unique: Yahweh said to Moses: “Come up to Yahweh, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel . . . Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and 70 of Israel’s elders, and they saw the God of Israel. Beneath His feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire stone, as clear as the sky itself. God did not harm the Israelite nobles; they saw Him, and they ate and drank” (Exodus 24:1, 9–11 HCSB).

The translators of the Septuagint had a problem with the statement that the people saw God. Thus, instead of saying that “they saw the God of Israel,” the Septuagint says: “they saw the place where the God of Israel stood” (Exodus 24:10 LXX). Instead of saying that “they saw him,” the Septuagint says, “they appeared in the place of God” (Exodus 24:11 LXX).

In his discussion of this passage, Samuel Terrien says that the experience of Moses and the elders of Israel “is without parallel in the Hebrew tradition.” He writes, “In this narrative . . . the setting is topographically concrete, the human witnesses are many, and the visual perception of the Godhead, twice affirmed (vss. 10 and 11), is made even more explicit sensorial by its sequential climax: “they ate and drank” (Exod. 24:11b).”[9]

If Moses did not see God’s face but only his back, then what did Moses see? The Hebrew word for back is ’āhôr, the same word used to describe the back of men (Ezekiel 8:16). Thus, the Hebrew word used to describe God’s back is the same word used to describe the human body.

Another aspect of Yahweh speaking face to face with Moses is that Moses saw the “form” of Yahweh: “With him I speak face to face – clearly, not in riddles; and he beholds the form of the LORD” (Numbers 12:8). To avoid the anthropomorphic implications of what Moses saw, the Septuagint says that Moses saw God’s glory, “he has seen the glory of the Lord” (Numbers 12:8 LXX).

The Hebrew word for “form” or “likeness” is temûnā, the same word used in the creation story to describe how humans were created, “Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness’” (Genesis 1:26). Thus, it is clear that when Moses spoke to Yahweh face to face, he saw some physical manifestation of God.

The greatest honor Moses received at his death was the epitaph celebrating his committed work for God, “Since then, there has never been such a prophet in Israel as Moses, the man whom Yahweh knew face to face” (Deuteronomy 34:10 NJB). The writer does not say that Yahweh spoke to Moses “face to face.” Rather, he says that Yahweh knew Moses face to face.

My next post will deal with the issue of anthropomorphism, that is, the revelation of God in human form.

Claude Mariottini
Emeritus Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

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NOTES

[1] James Barr, “Theophany and Anthropomorphism in the Old Testament,” Supplements to Vetus Testamentum 7 (1959): 33.

[2] Carol Meyers, Exodus. The New Cambridge Bible Commentary (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 112.

[3] Meyers, 263.

[4] Ian Wilson, Out of the Midst of the Fire: Divine Presence in Deuteronomy (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1995), 78.

[5] Kenneth Seeskin, “Did YHWH Speak to Moses Face to Face?” The Torah, 1 (https://www.thetorah.com/article/did-yhwh-speak-to-moses-face-to-face).

[6] Seeskin, 3.

[7] Seeskin, 5.

[8] Esther J. Hamori, When Gods Were Men: The Embodiment of God in Biblical and Eastern Literature (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2008), 1.

[9] Samuel Terrien, The Elusive Presence (San Francisco: Harper and Row 1978), 135.