The View from Behind

BySkip Moen, Ph.D.

Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock.  When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by.  Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”  Exodus 33:21-23  NIV

See my back – Long-time readers of Today’s Word will recall when we first examined the Hebrew idea of “behind.”  In case you missed this critically important idea, here’s the link.

With the imagery provided by H. H. Wolfe (CLICK HERE), we looked at this verse.  We argued that the real event in this story is God’s revelation of His intentions regarding the birthing of the nation of Israel.  Moses is allowed to see God’s future, not His back.  It all makes so much more sense of this very strange passage.

Years passed since I wrote about this verse.  Then I read something in Heschel’s book, Man Is Not Alone, and suddenly another layer came to mind.  Here’s what Heschel wrote: “To the religious man it is as if things stood with their back to him, their faces turned to God, as if the ineffable quality of things consisted in their being an object of divine thought.”[1]

Now look at this:

We don’t see the sunset from the front.  We see it from behind—and it is still overwhelming to us.  Imagine what an amazing sight it would be from the front!  Our world is what is left behind when God passes by.  All the mystery, beauty, magnificence, splendor, intricacy, interdependence—all of it, and all of us bound all together in it, is ʾaḥărît, the “afterward” that reveals the future.  Imagine how wonderful it will be to see this from the front:

The known universe is estimated to be 93 billion light years in diameter, but whole universe is 250 times that size, at least.[2]  We see a sunset from behind and we are amazed.  Imagine seeing the entire universe from behind, the afterward of God’s creative decision.  How miniscule is our perception of His marvels!  Let that sink in.  No wonder Paul wrote, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).

Then remember Heschel’s insight:  “Endless wonder is endless tension, . .”[3]

Topical Index:  ʾaḥărît, behind, Exodus 33:21-23

[1] Abraham Heschel, Man Is Not Alone, p. 64.

[2] http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160610-it-took-centuries-but-we-now-know-the-size-of-the-universe

[3] Abraham Heschel, Man Is Not Alone, p. 69.

A COOKING NOTE:  Rosanne and our Italian friend Fabianna Primiceri just made “grandma’s” meatballs.  The recipe video is up on Rosanne’ Kitchen on the web site home page.  Umm, Umm, good.