Rabbinic Reconstruction (1)

But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”  Exodus 33:20 NIV

One – Let’s begin this investigation by noticing an important change in the English translation.  The NIV (as above) uses the phrase “no one,” rather than the direct Hebrew “no man.”  The actual Hebrew word is ʾādām, but the NIV translators have offered a gender-neutral rendition.  Of course, the prohibition could apply to both men and women, and that’s how ʾādām should be treated here, but by giving us a modern political version, something quite interesting gets left behind.  Here’s the text in Hebrew with ʾādām highlighted.

וַיֹּ֕אמֶר לֹ֥א תוּכַ֖ל לִרְאֹ֣ת אֶת־פָּנָ֑י כִּ֛י לֹֽא־יִרְאַ֥נִי הָֽאָדָ֖ם וָחָֽי

The rabbis had some significant debate about the meaning of this verse because according to their tradition several worthy men had, indeed, seen the face of the Lord and lived.  Heschel comments:

According to Rabbi Abahu, when Simeon the Righteous entered the Holy of Holies, he saw the Holy and Blessed One.  It is also related of Ishmael be Elisha, the High Priest, that he beheld the Lord of Hosts seated on His exalted throne.  Similar tales were told of other Sages.  They went even beyond this and claimed that Potiphar, Pharaoh’s officer who purchased Joseph, and Pharaoh’s daughter who drew Moses from the water, beheld the Shekhinah.  

            Both Rabbi Ismael and Rabbi Akiva based their views on the verse, “No man can see my face and live.”  Rabbi Ishmael took this literally: the word “man” means “mortal man” and the Hebrew va-hai “and live” means precisely that.  Rabbi Akiva . . . read this verse quite differently.  “Man” in this context refers not to mortal man but to “heavenly beings,” as in Ezekiel’s vision where he says, “as for the likeness of their faces, they had the face of a man (Ezekiel 1:10).  As for the word va-hai, it is the shortened form of v’hayyyot ha-kodesh, the celestial creatures, or the angels.  The verse means, “No heavenly being, no angel can gaze upon My face.”  However, those mortals who are deemed worthy may do so.[1]

Notice that the NIV translation “one” removes the possibility of following the rabbinic commentary.  The translators have decided the issue for us.  They have sided with Rabbi Ishmael without allowing us to recognize the substantial difference in the interpretation of Rabbi Akiva.  But such is the way of English Bibles.  Far too often the considerable commentary and alternative interpretations of the text simply disappear.  If you weren’t trained in the Talmud, you would never know that great rabbis had differing opinions about what this seminal text means.  Now you might have to read this encounter between God and Moses differently, and perhaps rethink what Moses’ shining face implies.

Topical Index: one, man, ʾādām, Rabbi Akiva, Rabbi Ishmael, face, Exodus 33:20