The Face (and Back) of God

[Sultan_Of_Swing]

I’ve heard that God does not have a body. He is Spirit. When the Bible speaks of God’s ‘eyes’ or ‘right arm’ it is to help us understand better by anthropomorphising Him. I’ve been puzzled by these verses, however:

Exodus 33:18-23
18 And he said, “Please, show me Your glory.” 19 Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” 20 But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” 21 And the Lord said, **“Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. 22 So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. 23 Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.” **

What is this supposed to mean? God could not show Moses His face… but He showed Him His back? I thought He did not have a body? How are we meant to understand this?

 

[DonMack]

Sultan Of Swing… posting in this section, I suppose that you hope for apologists responses. I’m not qualified to be an apologist but I hope you don’t mind if I share my ‘opinion’. When I came across this passage, it made me stop and ponder for quite a while. The phrase “in the cleft of the rock” took on a new meaning after reading St John of the Cross’. ‘Ascent of Mt Carmel’. That cleft is where one goes to attain communion with God. It is the ‘blinding light of darkness’ that places us within that cleft. From that cleft we see Jesus, the form God became on earth. Since Jesus was not to be revealed until the ‘fullness of time’ Moses was only allowed to see Jesus’ back. Others will have a more learned response, but that’s my current understanding of the passage.

 

[fred_conty]

God is speaking to him in an anthropromorphic way, or simply, in human terms which he can understand. You are right strictly speaking in saying that God does not have a body, except for that of Jesus Christ of course.

So what this passage means is that God is too much to look at directly. For if God did do that to any man, the man would die, for it would be too much for him to bear. So when God said that he would show him his back, that simply means, in human terms, that he will not show him his full glory.

However when we die, we are given a special power to see God so that we can bear his beauty and goodness, that is, those who die in sanctifying grace.

Just some thoughts.​

“We are born from the darkness, and clothed in the light. We are bathed in the glory of God.” (hymn)

 

[TylerJordan]

I’ve heard that God does not have a body. He is Spirit. When the Bible speaks of God’s ‘eyes’ or ‘right arm’ it is to help us understand better by anthropomorphising Him. I’ve been puzzled by these verses, however:

Exodus 33:18-23
18 And he said, “Please, show me Your glory.” 19 Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” 20 But He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” 21 And the Lord said, **“Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. 22 So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. 23 Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.” **

What is this supposed to mean? God could not show Moses His face… but He showed Him His back? I thought He did not have a body? How are we meant to understand this?

Well for one thing, Moses can’t see His face because God’s face is to pure for us to even look at. I don’t know about the rest. Interesting question. i hope and will truly pray for that you come home to Catholicism.

 

[TylerJordan]

God is speaking to him in an anthropromorphic way, or simply, in human terms which he can understand. You are right strictly speaking in saying that God does not have a body, except for that of Jesus Christ of course.

So what this passage means is that God is too much to look at directly. For if God did do that to any man, the man would die, for it would be too much for him to bear. So when God said that he would show him his back, that simply means, in human terms, that he will not show him his full glory.

However when we die, we are given a special power to see God so that we can bear his beauty and goodness, that is, those who die in sanctifying grace.

Just some thoughts.​

“We are born from the darkness, and clothed in the light. We are bathed in the glory of God.” (hymn)

That’s very true.

 

[R_C]

God could not show Moses His face… but He showed Him His back?

You make it sound quite amusing, I must say

This is obviously symbolic. God in Himself is purely spiritual and omnipresent - “in Him we live, we move, and we have our being”, reminds us St. Paul.

What Moses saw was a manifestation of God’s glory. The reference to the “back” could mean just that: like a body casts a shadow that identifies him, so God can show Himself through some visible representation of His glory.

As for the “face” of God, we refer to this as the “Beatific Vision”, a great mystery and the essence of heaven. But in general, Christ, the Son, is the one who has made the Father visible to us by taking flesh.

 

[TimothyH]

Sultan Of Swing… posting in this section, I suppose that you hope for apologists responses. I’m not qualified to be an apologist but I hope you don’t mind if I share my ‘opinion’. When I came across this passage, it made me stop and ponder for quite a while. The phrase “in the cleft of the rock” took on a new meaning after reading St John of the Cross’. ‘Ascent of Mt Carmel’. That cleft is where one goes to attain communion with God. It is the ‘blinding light of darkness’ that places us within that cleft. From that cleft we see Jesus, the form God became on earth. Since Jesus was not to be revealed until the ‘fullness of time’ Moses was only allowed to see Jesus’ back. Others will have a more learned response, but that’s my current understanding of the passage.

That’s right. God has a face, and it is the face of Jesus.

The Hebrew words in the Bible for “Bread of the Presence” is literally “Bread of the Face of God” and we see that every day in the Eucharist.

-Tim-