Numbers 14:14
And they will tell the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this people. For you, O Lord, are seen face to face.....
Deuteronomy 5:4
The Lord spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire,
Deuteronomy 34:10
And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face,
Exodus 33:11
Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.
Genesis 32:30
So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, (Peniel acctualy means "FACE OF GOD") saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.”
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Now we see the reverse.
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Exodus 33:20
But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”(that's god speaking)
2006-09-20 08:21:11 · 18 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
It is true that no man may see God and live. Whenever those words were spoken, an angel of God was used, as in the case of Moses and the burning bush. It was an angel of God who spoke to Moses for God at Exodus 3:2--"And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed." Moses was able to look upon angels who appeared to humans usually in human form.
Why would God use a burning bush to speak to Moses if he were able to literally see him? That is why an angel represented God and always did when he wanted to talk to humans directly.
2006-09-20 08:46:37 · answer #1 · answered by Micah 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It's good that you bring that up. The phrase "eye to eye" or "face to face" refers not to a direct encounter with God visibly necessarily. The context that must be taken into account is important, because if ignored it can quickly confuse people. Lingual context of the phrase can mean either direct visible contact, or it can mean a direct encounter with a person. If I say I see eye to eye with you on a subject, that doesn't mean I need to physically see you. So Numbers 14:14 (which actually reads eye to eye in hebrew) does not need to imply physical sight. However, I will say that in this context of Numbers 14, it does. It doesn't mean seeing God though, it is referring to the evidence of God. If we go on in that passage we see that it is speaking of the cloud that guided Israel by day and the pillar of fire at night. So here it doesn't refer to seeing God, but to seeing a manifestation of God.
In Genesis 32, we see again that God is manifested in an angel of the Lord. So Jacob, while he directly dealt with God, wasn't seeing God the Father. There are two theories on this entity. One is that it was a messenger, either human or angelic, that God sent to encounter Jacob. The other is that the person he was wrestling with was Jesus. There is good backing for both theories.
Now we have the passages in Deut 5:4, 34:10, and Exodus 33:11. Fortunately they all have the same explanation, which will save some space on the page. When these refer to "face to face", they show a different context. 5:4 actually refers to the burning bush. Your previous question about an angel claiming to be God is where we dealt with that. He dealt directly with God, he spoke with God as if he would a man, but he didn't see God. He thought he was seeing God, but he was seeing a manifestation through the angel, whether that be referring to an angelic person or just a miraculous sign. 34:10 shows the same thing, it is referring to the fact that God directly dealt with Moses, rather than through a prophet or through the Scriptures. Exodus 33 is actually referring again in it's own verse, it is as a man speaks to his friend. It's referring to the direct conversation between God and Moses. This is also shown in Judges 6:22 when after Gideon has spoken with God in a similar manner as Moses.
I think it's good to note here that in Deut 34 it does say that no prophet had arisen like Moses, and then we see that Gideon did. Deuteronomy occurred before Judges, so Gideon hadn't been born yet. Also, Gideon didn't perform miraculous signs and powers as Moses did, which is what Deuteronomy refers to.
There's another 2 verses also that comes to mind about not seeing God's face and living, which is Judges 13:22, where Manoah sees the angel of the Lord, and as many have, mistakes the angel for God. He thinks he's going to die because he thinks he just saw God, even though he saw a messenger of God. The other is a trip to the New Testament, John 1:18. Here it tells us that no one has seen God the father at any time, only God the Son. It is of course possible to look on Jesus and live.
There are possibly many more examples of these statements, but I don't know them off hand.
2006-09-20 08:51:07 · answer #2 · answered by GodsKnite 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The universe is meant to be the place of the search for God. The Prophet Muhammad said in the hadith (saying of the Prophet), God says,"I was a hidden treasure.I longed to be known, and so I created Creation." At one level this means that the universe is a mirror of the divine. God is fully present in everyone and everything.But to find God, we have to look beneath the surface, to see the inside as well as the outside things.At another level, it means that humanity was created in order to seek the hidden treasure which is God.Our purpose, the reason we were created, is to seek God, and the greatest human beings are those who have found Him.
The Turkish sufi poet,Yunus Emre, Writes,
"Men of God's truth are an ocean
Lovers must plunge into that sea
the sages,too,should take a dive
To bring out the best jewelry"
2006-09-20 08:24:28 · answer #3 · answered by dimas_tandayu 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Hey, you got that right and exact.
A bit contradictory isn't it.
Now you see him, now you can't.
The Bible Genesis 32:30
So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying,
"It is because I saw God face to face, and
yet my life was spared."
Hell, Jacob says he wrestled with Jehovah and saw him face to face. This incident was the creation of Israel. I just go into hysterics when folks manhandle an apparently clear verse into a different shape, i love it, it's very entertaining, thanks. Ahahahaha, that is unbelievable for sure.
Thanks.
2006-09-20 09:14:42 · answer #4 · answered by zurioluchi 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Psalms 19:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
2 Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
3 There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.
4 Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,
5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.
6 His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof.
He's there for those who can see Him. Glory to His name.
2006-09-20 08:31:20 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I think what we have here is only a righteous man may look upn the face of god and live . Didnt moses see his feet? maybe Im wrong
2006-09-20 08:26:26 · answer #6 · answered by matt z 1 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Jesus said the father and I are one.Read the four gospels.God was seen by the presence of a cloud when he was leading them out of Egypt.God told moses that he could only catch a glimpse of him as he walked by.
2006-09-20 08:27:54 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I believe Exodus 33:20 is the right one.
God cannot be "seen" not even with our mind, or our brain would explode!
2006-09-20 08:28:09 · answer #8 · answered by NaughtyBoy 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
God does not change. But man does, as does our relationship with God. The entire story of the Bible is about this. Learn from it.
2006-09-20 08:51:14 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
this, like all your other posts, are called "straw man arguements." Who says that no one has seen Him? God came down to earth as Jesus as well. I think you forgot that one.
Keep reading the Bible though. It will eventually get through to you!
Bless you
2006-09-20 08:24:41 · answer #10 · answered by Love Shepherd 6 · 4⤊ 0⤋