Rabbinic Reconstruction (2)

He further said, “You cannot see My face, for mankind shall not see Me and live!” Exodus 33:20  NASB

Mankind – Now that we’re cleared up the mistake in the NIV (“you” instead of “man”), we see that the NASB translates the Hebrew ʾādām as “mankind.”  This corrects the vocabulary, but it doesn’t solve the problem of the meaning.  As we noted, the rabbis had various opinions about this verse believing that certain worthy men had in fact seen God’s face.  Abraham Heschel adds another element to this dilemma:

“‘There has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses’ (Deuteronomy 34:10).  And yet the Torah itself hints at Moses’ limitations.  The text does not read, ‘Who knew the Lord face to face,’ but rather ‘Whom the Lord knew face to face.’  Similarly, the verse does not say, ‘Moses spoke to the Lord face to face,’ but rather, ‘The Lord spoke to Moses face to face’ (Exodus 33:11).  The Lord knew and saw Moses face to face; Moses did not know or see God face to face.”[1]

Sure enough, when we examine Exodus 33:11, the verse says that God spoke to Moses face to face, not that Moses spoke to God in like manner.  We’re so used to the idea that “face to face” is reciprocal that we didn’t pay attention to this anomaly.  But we should have.  Deuteronomy 34:10 makes the same point.  In full it reads:

“Since that time no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, . .” (NASB).

If Exodus 33:20 is true (and Exodus 33:11 and Deuteronomy 34:10 tend to support this), then Moses did not see God’s face, and if Moses didn’t see God’s face and he was the greatest prophet to ever arise in Israel, why would we think anyone else could see the face of God—and live.  Oh, wait!  Doesn’t this imply that it would be possible to see the face of God, but to do so would result in death?  This is how other rabbis interpreted the text.  The discussion of the strange death of Nadab and Abihu is seen as an example:

“Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on ^[a]the fire and offered ^[b]strange fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them.  And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died before the Lord”  Leviticus 10:1-2  NASB.

“The view that seeing the Shekhinah was not impossible but was dangerous was among those conveyed in a whisper . . . But other Sages did not approve of the actions of the elders and of Nadab and Abihu.  Feasting their eyes on the Shekhinah was called the sin of Sinai, for which they were punished by death.  Nadab and Abihu were later burned for this.  The Sages said that Moses did not look at the Shekhinah in the same spirit when he ascended to heaven.  ‘The elders became light-headed when they ascended Mount Sinai and saw the Shekhinah.  As of that day, the elders, Nadab and Abihu deserved to be burned to death.  But because the giving of the Torah was so dear to the Holy and Blessed One, He did not want to inflict punishment on that day, but deferred it to a later time.  Nadab and Abihu were burned when they entered the Tent of Meeting after their ordination, and the elders were burned at Taberah when the people lusted for meat.’”[2]

Have we resolved the apparent contradiction?  Well, in the oral tradition we have (maybe) but there is still a desire to make it possible to see God’s face and live.  Jewish tradition describes certain holy men capable of this experience.  But the issue is even more difficult for Christian Trinitarians.  Who did the disciples see after the resurrection?  Did they see the risen Messiah who was God?  Doesn’t the Trinitarian doctrine teach that the Son and the Father are one being (different persons)?  So how can Exodus 33:20 be understood in this context?  If you reply, “Well, they didn’t see the Father.  They saw the Son, and Exodus 33:20 only applies to the Father,” then I will ask you how you interpret Yeshua’s statement, “If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father,” and “The Father and I are one,” both favorite Trinitarian proof-texts.

Topical Index: see, live, Exodus 33:20, Exodus 33:11, Deuteronomy 34:10, Leviticus 10:2, Nadab, Abihu, Trinity

[1] Abraham Heschel, Heavenly Torah as Refracted through the Generations ((ed. and trans. by Gordon Tucker, Continuum International Publishing Group, New York, 2007), p. 320.

[2] Abraham Heschel, Heavenly Torah as Refracted through the Generations ((ed. and trans. by Gordon Tucker, Continuum International Publishing Group, New York, 2007), pp. 312-313.