Contradiction or translation problem with Moses in Exodus?
Upvote:0
Seeing God 'face-to-face' in an anthropomorphism; God doesn't actually have a face. Hence when reading that Moses met 'face-to-face', I read that as Moses being in God's Presence with completely open, transparent and honest conversation.
Similarly, in not being able to see God's face, I read that as we cannot behold God in his holiness in our sinful nature. They are antithetical to each other - Isaiah 6:1-5.
Upvote:1
In the New Testament, we learn that Moses and Jacob did not see God in some abstract, intangible way. As John opens his gospel, he informs us that “no one has ever seen God,” but that Jesus, “the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known” (John 1:18). This echoes Jesus’ statement in John 6:46: “Not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God [that is, Jesus]; he has seen the Father.” Since Jesus is God (the second person of the Trinity), He alone has seen the Father, meaning that Jacob and Moses saw the pre-incarnate Jesus, whose glory was still too great for sinful humans to see.
Upvote:4
What Moses saw is described and defined in Numbers 12:8.
- And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.
- My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house.
- With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?
What Moses saw was a 'similitude' (temunah Strong 8544). Such was the importance of all that was to be communicated to Moses, and thence to Israel, and thus to the whole earth, that God spoke through a mechanism, as if face to face.
God spoke to prophets by vision and by dream, previously and thereafter. But to Moses he spoke through a visible means, which gave, to Moses, the likeness of speaking to a man face to face.
But it was only a 'similitude'.
Nor was that similitude ever described. No doubt because, had it been described, people would immediately have fashioned a likeness to it and worshiped it.
Jesus told us that :
God is (a) Spirit.
He has no physical form, as Deity.
But God is 'manifest in flesh' (1 Timothy 3:16 TR) when 'the Word was made flesh' John 1:14 when 'Jesus Christ is come in the flesh' 1 John 4:2.
To draw near to God in prayer, with a sincere heart and with faith, in order to seek his real presence, his true person, is, once successful, once the Lord hears and answers and draws near : this is to see his face, as he truly is.
But it is not the physical eyes which see him who is Spirit, but the 'eye of faith'.
Those who repent and believe the gospel and continue in the faith shall see God, as he is, when he comes, 1 John 3:2 :
- Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him;
- for we shall see him as he is.
All quotations are from the KJV.
More post
- 📝 What were the editions to the KJV since 1611 and who did them and when?
- 📝 "Those excluded from the Congregation"
- 📝 Jesus withdrawing from his disciples to pray
- 📝 Can seeking arguments against Christianity strengthen Christianity?
- 📝 Wall numbers in German church / during German burial ceremony
- 📝 Using the Hebrew calendar is there a way to determine when the seventy seven's starts and ends?
- 📝 What did CS Lewis think didn't reflect God?
- 📝 Do Arminian Protestants agree with Chapter 3 Article 1 of the Westminster Confession of Faith?
- 📝 Are tongues a sign for believers or unbelievers?
- 📝 How is the Christian Jesus different from the Muslim Jesus?
- 📝 Do any denominations rank the apostles?
- 📝 Imaginary or legendary saints associated with Catholicism?
- 📝 What is the significance of the 5 "faithful sayings" of Paul?
- 📝 How does Oneness Pentecostalism interpret Matthew 3:17?
- 📝 Who rejects prosperity theology?
- 📝 When a person is described as a Davidide, what is being said about that person?
- 📝 Did Crimen sollicitationis threaten excommunication for victims reporting crimes to the civil authorities?
- 📝 Did Jesus definitely say he was a man?
- 📝 Did Jesus forbid the disciples from worshiping him before the Resurrection?
- 📝 Why did Solomon go astray?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for preachers to be paid from members' tithing?
- 📝 What prophecy was about Timothy?
- 📝 How do Orthodox Bishops and theologians view the Church Fathers' definition of the word "catholic?"
- 📝 If Christ has all power to perform miracles, how is that that "he could there do no mighty work" save that He healed a few?
- 📝 Is God indirectly responsible for moral evil, according to Catholicism?
- 📝 Did God establish Israel's boundaries from eternity?
- 📝 What is the New Testament "process" for doing a church plant?
- 📝 Do any independent sources exist mentioning Jesus' miracles performed and the people He performed them on?
- 📝 Why did Mary Magdalene and the other women disciples wait until the dawn of Sunday before arriving at the tomb?
- 📝 How to Choose a Doctoral Program in Theology?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Contradiction or translation problem with Moses in Exodus?
- 📝 Why was God so upset with Moses for striking the rock the second time in the desert?
- 📝 A problem with Purgatory: How could Jesus say what he did to the repentant criminal on a cross next to him if Purgatory existed?
- 📝 What's the problem with groves?
- 📝 Who represented "the Lord" in Exodus 4:24-26, and what's the deal with the foreskin?
- 📝 Why did Moses have the sons of Levi run about with swords slaying family and friends?
- 📝 Do any denominations teach that Moses was talking with three distinct beings in the burning bush?
- 📝 Why do Jehovah's Witnesses have a problem with my relationship with one of their members?
- 📝 How does one reconcile the idea that physical disability is the result of sin with Exodus 4:11?
- 📝 Is a Catholic dogma that Moses (as the Exodus prophet) actually existed?
- 📝 From Genesis to Exodus - is God dealing with Israelites or Jews?
- 📝 How do Unitarian see the Problem of sharing YHWHs Honor with the Son? Isaiah 48:11 and John 5:23
- 📝 How do Trinitarians deal with this contradiction regarding the Creator?
- 📝 How do Catholic theologians reconcile h*m*ousion with the vulgate translation of Hebrews 1:3?
- 📝 Why is it that so many Churches have a problem with Halloween but not with the other pagan holidays?
- 📝 Who talked to Moses in Exodus 33:9?
- 📝 How do young earth creationists reconcile the age of the universe with the speed of light, and visible distant objects?
- 📝 What do Christians mean by a "personal relationship" with Jesus?
- 📝 To what extent does the Law of Moses still apply?
- 📝 Who was Pharaoh when Moses lived in Egypt?
- 📝 How could Jacob wrestle with God if no one can see God and live?
- 📝 What is the history of the concept of a "personal relationship with Jesus"?
- 📝 How does current Church of England polity compare with Richard Hooker's teaching?
- 📝 Which translation of Augustine's Confessions is the easiest to read in English?
- 📝 Why did God wrestle with Jacob?
- 📝 How do Young Earth Creationists account for civilisations with histories going back five thousand years or more?
- 📝 Do any Church Fathers directly connect "speaking in tongues" with anything other than existing human languages?
- 📝 What's up with churches and guitars in this joke from The Big Bang Theory?
- 📝 What were Martin Luther's main disagreements with the Catholic Church?
- 📝 How does Matthew 25:31-46 ("The Sheep and the Goats") reconcile with salvation by faith?