Did Moses see God face to face?
It is often stated that there are many mistakes and contradictions in the Bible. A common argument used to prove this is, nobody has seen God and yet Moses talked to him face to face.
Exodus 33-11 And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.
If we look at this verse on its own with no understanding or context it would appear that Moses did in fact see Gods face and lived.
And this would apparently contradict some very clear passages that state that nobody has ever seen God
1 Timothy 6-16 Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.
John 1-18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
1 John 4-12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
John 5-37 And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.
Exodus 33-11 would also seem to contradict God himself who states just 9 verses later that no man can see his face and live.
Exodus 33-20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.
So how do we answer this supposed contradiction?
The problem with this supposed contradiction as with many supposed contradictions is that these verses are taken as stand alone verses. Verses in the Bible are hardly ever stand alone, especially when we consider the Bible was not originally written in chapter and verse. In order to answer questions like this we must include context and Biblical understanding along with the verses.
John 5-37 by the way is a direct statement to the Pharisees only
John 5-31 If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. 32There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true.
33Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth. 34But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved. 35He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.
36But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.
37And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. 38And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.
God had not spoken in over 400 years at this point, Jesus was simply pointing out that none of the pharisees present who claimed to believe in and know God had ever had any actual communication with him or had been spoken to through a prophet. He was also stating that they didn’t really believe in the word of God for if they had they would believe in Jesus.
Lets continue
Notice in Exodus 33-11 that it says that God talked to Moses face to face it does not say Moses saw God face to face.
Talked face to face does not mean that Moses saw Gods face. And I shall show this to be the case. So what does it mean?
Talking face to face is a metaphor for to speak in clear language and not through dreams and visions like how God spoke to the prophets
Hosea 12-10 I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets.
Isaiah, Daniel and Ezekiel as examples
Isaiah 1-1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Ezekiel 1-1 Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God
Daniel 7-2 Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea
Abraham also saw visions
Genesis 15-1 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
But this was not how God spoke to Moses. God states he will speak to a prophet by way of visions and dreams
Numbers 12-6 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.
BUT his servant Moses he will not.
Numbers 12- 7My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house.
8With 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?
God spoke to Moses without visions and dreams or riddles.
Dark speeches is בְחִידֹ֔ת ḇə-ḥî-ḏōṯ, and means riddles,
Similitude is וּתְמֻנַ֥ת ū-ṯə-mu-naṯ is likeness
Moses would behold a likeness of God but not God himself.
God stated he would speak mouth to mouth another metaphor for In direct speech.
This interpretation that speaking face to face does not mean literally Gods face but direct speech is also supported by the fact that God spoke face to face with the congregation of the Israelites at mount Sinai
Deuteronomy 5- 4The LORD talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire,
So in the same way that Moses spoke to God face to face, so did the Israelites.
In an earlier verse where Moses addresses the same event we see that God spoke to the people but they did not see him.
Deuteronomy 4-11 11And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. 12And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.
So God spoke to the people face to face, but this did not mean that the people saw Gods face. Speaking face to face meant that God had spoken to the people without a vision or a dream and not that they had seen him.
The Bible even tells us that the Israelites saw God, but what we also are told is that what they saw was a pillar of a cloud and a pillar of fire.
Numbers 14-14 And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou LORD art among this people, that thou LORD art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night
The Israelites took these pillars that guided them in the desert as being as if it was God himself.
There are also other times when people claimed to have seen God.
If we look at the story of Samson. His parents claimed to have seen God and they feared for their life.
Judges 13- 22And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God.
However we are told in the preceding verse that they actually saw an angel of God and not God.
Judges 13- 21 But the angel of the LORD did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the LORD
Throughout the whole chapter the angel of the Lord is the representation of the LORD.
Judges 13- 3And the angel of the LORD appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.
Judges 13- 8Then Manoah intreated the LORD, and said, O my Lord, let the man of God which thou didst send come again unto us, and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born. 9And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again unto the woman as she sat in the field: but Manoah her husband was not with her.
Judges 13- 15And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, I pray thee, let us detain thee, until we shall have made ready a kid for thee. 16And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread: and if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it unto the LORD. For Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the LORD
We also have a very famous passage where Jacob wrestled with God.
Genesis 32: 24And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. 25And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. 26And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. 27And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. 28And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. 29And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. 30And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.
Now many people say that Jacob clearly is depicted as seeing God.
However we are also told that Jacob actually wrestled with an Angel.
Hosea 12:2 The LORD hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him.3 He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with God: 4Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made supplication unto him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spake with us;
When Jacob blesses Ephraim and Manasseh, he himself refers to the angel as the one who redemed him from evil and asks that he bless the lads
Genesis 48:16 The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.
This leads some people to incorrectly belieev that Jacob was confalting the angel with YHWH. However, this is not conflation but recognition.
Jacob understood that the angel was the one that came to him and it was through the angel that God had come to him and it would be through the angel that God could bless the boys.
Seeing an angel who represented God was considered seeing God.
The same way in how someone hears God.
If we go back to the verse in Deuteronomy we will see that the Israelites heard the voice of the words and a voice.
Deuteronomy 4-. 12And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.
So it was Gods words so it was technically God speaking but it wasn’t him directly. There was a voice that spoke his words. To hear a representative of God was to hear God.
We see this throughout the Bible.
When God speaks to Moses in the burning bush we are told straight away that it was actually an angel that was speaking.
Exodus 3-2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
But that angel who spoke spoke as if he was indeed God.
Exodus 3- 3And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. 4And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.
We see that it was the angel speaking but we are told God called to Moses.
The angel then said I am the God of thy father
Exodus 3- 5And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. 6Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.
This is further confirmed in
acts 7 -30 And when forty years were expired, there appeared to him in the wilderness of mount Sina an angel of the Lord in a flame of fire in a bush.
and
acts 7-35 This Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge? the same did God send to be a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the angel which appeared to him in the bush.
We find out in verse 39 that it was the angel that spoke to Moses and the fathers in mount Sinai
Acts 7: 39 This is he, that was in the church in the wilderness with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina, and with our fathers: who received the lively oracles to give unto us:
Going back to this event we see that God descended upon the mount in FIRE.
Exodus 19: 18 And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
This just as he did in the bush which was also through the angel.
The LORD spoke to Moses by a voice.
Exodus 19:19 And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.
When describing this event Moses states that the people did not see God they heard only his voice
Deuteronomy 4:12 And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.
So all this was all through the angel not YHWH literally.
Moses HIMSELF spoke as God in the first person in Deuteronomy.
We have God commanding Moses to speak to the children of Israel.
Deuteronomy 29 – 1These are the words of the covenant, which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb.
And we see that Moses is speaking the words of the LORD as commanded. Moses talks about the miracles and signs that the LORD did that they saw.
Deuteronomy 29 -2And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land; 3The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles: 4Yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day. 5And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot.
But then Moses changes and although it is Moses talking he speaks as God in the FIRST person.
Deuteronomy 29 -6Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am the LORD your God.
Before returning back to speaking as himself.
Deuteronomy 29- 7And when ye came unto this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us unto battle, and we smote them: 8And we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance unto the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half tribe of Manasseh. 9Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do.
Clearly showing that a person can speak as God in the first person and yet not be referring to themselves as God.
Moses was given the law by God yet we are told in Acts that the law was given by the disposition of Angels.
Acts 7- 53 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.
When Abraham was going to sacrifice his son, an angel spoke to him but referred to himself as the lord
Genesis 22-15And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, 16And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: 17That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; 18And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
We know that God gave the laws yet we are told numerous times that the law was given through angels. The angels were acting as God when they represented him.
Galatians 3-19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
Acts 7-53 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.
So Speaking face to face with God simply means to have direct speech. The direct speech however is through an intermediate, an angel, a representative of God who acts as God and speaks as God. Something the Israelites were well aware of.
You can read was Jesus really the Angel of the LORD Here