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NASB | Exodus 33:11 Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Exodus 33:11 And so the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the camp, his attendant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent. |
Bible Question: How could Moses speak to God face to face and still live? Exodus33:20-23 I believe it expains that (knowone can see Gods face) Is this a contradiction? Or was it a mediphor for God's thoughts to Moses's mind? |
Bible Answer: Dear BarryB, Number of things going on here... The Bible says, no man may see His face and live right? The Bible also says God is a spirit right? Question for you; did or did not Moses see God in the burning bush and speak with Him face to face? In what way did Moses see God in the burning bush? This is called anthrompomorphism - this means God deals with humans using modes of revelation that man can understand in human terms. Moses saw what appeared to be God in the burning bush, the Jews call this the Angel of God, a likeness of God where God is there for real speaking, but showing himself to men in a likeness of Himself. So when we say that Moses spoke to God face to face, God was really there, and most times as an invisible spirit, and someitmes the presence of the cloud would come and engulf the place where Moses was standing there talking to God. It was not a metaphor for God's thoughts in Moses mind, they met for real often and spoke as if face to face, Moses according to the Bible was hearing God's voice out loud in the air. This is what is meant by speaking face to face. An interesting study is Exodus 34 where Moses goes up the mountain to speak to God. Moses goes up and is engulfed in a cloud with the presence of God in it. Moses asks God if he can be allowed to see His glory in Exodus 33:18 and God says in verse 20-23 that He will put Moses in the rock and cover him with His hand and that Moses will see God's glory and that Moses will see His back. Moses asked to see God's glory, God speaks back in anthrompomorphic language saying He has a hand and a front and a back. But see God is a spirit, He may not have a hand or a back or a front, but that is up for debate because angels are spirits and they have spiritual bodies with fronts, backs, sides, hands, wings, and some have four fronts and no backs. So it is possible for God to have a spiritual body with hands, front and back, but we have no proof that this is so. We do know that what Moses asked to see was God's glory and that God was saying no man can see His face and live and that God said, I will let you see my backside. God meant the backside of His glory, which is what Moses asks about, His glory. So in Exodus 34 Moses is covered somehow by God, whether it was a real hand or a figurative hand as God's power to cover Moses and then Moses saw the tail end, the back side of God's glory. Some like to say it was the length of time that He was up there with God, or the quality of the relationship, but that doesn't add up. Moses had a quality relationship with God for a long time and Moses spoke to God face to face all the time, the only real difference between those times and this time was that Moses saw God's glory, the back end of it. This surely means that at least we can say God actually has a back and a front to His glory as a spirit. After Moses sees God's glory, he is suffused with God's glory and he goes back down the mountain with hi face shinning. Hope this answers it. God's Day To You, Tamara |
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jlpangilinan | ||
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case_00 | ||
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craftienanna | ||
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aapril1124 | ||
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PRegion | ||
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GRANDPAA1 | ||
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godwin | ||
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BarryB2300 | ||
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BarryB2300 | ||
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Tamara Brewington | ||
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BarryB2300 |