Introduction
Exodus 33 seems to present contradictory notions about the ability of man to see the face of God. On the one hand, you can quote verse 11 to prove that God exists in form like a man and that man may communicate with God, “The Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.” Or alternatively, you can quote verse 20 to prove that man can not see the face of God, “Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.” Well, which is it? Did Moses see the face of Jehovah or not? When a man speaketh with his friend, face to face, doesn’t he keep his eyes open? Or is seeing the face of God beyond the reach of the human experience?
That’s the fun of the Old Testament—figuring it out!
Exodus 33:2-3 I will send an angel before thee . . . for I will not go up
In the last chapter, the children of Israel defiled themselves before their golden calf. Their second in command, Aaron, assisted them in breaking the first commandment. In response, Jehovah decides not to travel with the camp and personally lead them in their battles against the Canaanites. Instead, he will send an angel. When Moses was first called, he was promised, “I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites.” (Ex. 3:17) Because of the Israelites’ sin, the Lord changed his mind. They are too wicked to deserve the blessing of his constant Presence.
Those who have imagined a God incapable of changing plans based on changing conditions have placed restrictions on Deity that he has not placed on Himself. The promises of God change when we disobey his commandments.
Orson Pratt
We find that they had so corrupted themselves in the sight of God that he, who would have delighted to converse with all the people, as one man talks with another, was obliged to hide his presence from them, and to send Moses to teach them. Moreover their corruptions had become so great that the Lord, in his wrath, swore that they should not enter into his rest. . . said he, “I will not go up in the midst of this people, because they have corrupted themselves in my sight, lest I break forth and consume them in a moment.” (Journal of Discourses 15:106)
Exodus 33:5 ye are a stiffnecked people
Alternate translations are often rendered, “If I were to go in your midst for one moment, I would destroy you.” (The Torah: A Modern Commentary, ed. by W. Gunther Plaut [New York, The Union of American Hebrew Congregations, 1981], 649) Apparently, the sin was severe enough for the Lord to consider destroying the whole house of Israel (Ex. 32:10).
Exodus 33:7 Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp
Why did Moses move the tabernacle? He moved it to emphasize the idea that Jehovah would not dwell in the midst of such a wicked people. The Tabernacle represented the very Presence of God. Through wickedness, the Israelites had lost the privilege of having Jehovah in their midst; therefore, they had lost the privilege of having the tabernacle in the midst of the camp. Moses moving the tabernacle was an obvious, daily, visible reminder of the blessing lost by disobedience.
Tom Perry
When the children of Israel were disobedient, the privilege of enjoying the blessings of having the tabernacle in their midst was removed from them. We read: (quotes Ex. 33:7). When the children of Israel again found favor in the sight of the Lord, the tabernacle was moved with them from place to place as they went about their quest for the promised land. It led them by day and was their security by night. (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1990/04/family-traditions?lang=eng)
Exodus 33:11 the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend
Exodus 33:11 is a missionary scripture; a passage used to show the corporeal nature of Jehovah, that the Jehovah of the Old Testament existed in spirit form as he would appear in bodily form as Jesus of Nazareth. Over centuries, Christianity has developed creeds specifically denying that God is a being of body, parts, and passions. He has instead been described as a spiritual essence that fills the immensity of space. Even the Jews have stopped believing in the spirit form of God. Maimonides, an orthodox Rabbi from the 13th century, taught 13 articles of faith that are still accepted today. The third one teaches that god is incorporeal, meaning that any literal belief that God has a body is heretical. Any references to the body parts of God should be understood metaphorically. We are to believe that Moses didn’t really speak to Jehovah “face to face” because Jehovah doesn’t have a face.
Ironically, the beliefs of teachers who have never seen God are usually preferred over the testimonies of the prophets who have seen Him. Moses, Stephen, the apostle Paul, John the Revelator, and Joseph Smith would all describe God quite differently than the Judeo-Christian creeds. Orson Pratt taught that Moses was taught the nature of God “in one moment more than all our schools and academies, and universities could give us in ten thousand years?”(Journal of Discourses, 21:153-154)
Marion G. Romney
The truth I desire to emphasize today is that we mortals are in very deed the literal offspring of God. If men understood, believed, and accepted this truth and lived by it, our sick and dying society would be reformed and redeemed, and men would have peace here and now and eternal joy in the hereafter.
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints accept this concept as a basic doctrine of their theology. The lives of those who have given it thought enough to realize its implications are controlled by it; it gives meaning and direction to all their thoughts and deeds. This is so because they know that it is the universal law of nature in the plant, animal, and human worlds for reproducing offspring to reach in final maturity the likeness of their parents.
They reason that the same law is in force with respect to the offspring of God. Their objective is, therefore, to someday be like their heavenly parents. . .
God is the father of man’s spirit, even as his earthly father is the father of his mortal body.
The nature of a spirit is plainly revealed in the scriptures. A clear word picture of a spirit is recorded in the third chapter of Ether in the Book of Mormon, which gives an account of the appearance of Jesus Christ, as a spirit, some 2200 years before he was born to Mary in the flesh. The record says that Jesus stood before the brother of Jared in the form and likeness of a man and said:
“… Behold, I am Jesus Christ. …
“… Seest thou that ye are created after mine own image? Yea, even all men were created in the beginning after mine own image.
“Behold, this body, which ye now behold, is the body of my spirit; and man have I created after the body of my spirit; and even as I appear unto thee to be in the spirit will I appear unto my people in the flesh.” (Ether 3:14–16.) . . .
The theory that man is other than the offspring of God has been, and, so long as it is accepted and acted upon, will continue to be, a major factor in blocking man’s spiritual growth and in corrupting his morals. (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1973/04/man-a-child-of-god?lang=eng)
Exodus 33:13-18 Shew me now thy way . . . I beseech thee, shew my thy glory
What is Moses asking God? He is saying, “show yourself to me.” At this point, he has spoken to the Lord many times. The first time, God appeared inside a burning bush of flame. Was God then shaped like a bush? Was God a burning flame? The prior time they talked (v. 11), apparently Moses learned that Jehovah had a face like a man. He must have known that Adam had been created in the similitude of God but he wanted to see the similitude.
More than a millennium before Moses was another prophet. He wanted the same thing. The brother of Jared said, “Lord, shew thyself to me.”(Ether 3:10) Like Moses, he had seen in part but wanted to see more than a finger. He was shown the pre-mortal Spirit of Jehovah, and was told a very plain and precious truth, “Behold, this body, which ye now behold, is the body of my spirit; and man have I created after the body of my spirit; and even as I appear unto thee to be in the spirit will I appear unto my people in the flesh.” (Ether 3:16) This simple truth was lost rather quickly after the death of the Apostles. Christianity has struggled ever since the creed of Nicea, 325 AD, to understand the nature of the pre-mortal Jesus. Moses knew. The brother of Jared knew.
Exodus 33:20 there shall not man see me and live
The Joseph Smith Translation changes this verse to read, “Thou canst not see my face at this time, lest mine anger be kindled against thee also, and I destroy thee, and thy people; for there shall no man among them see me at this time and live, for they are exceeding sinful. And no sinful man hath at any time, neither shall there be any sinful man at any time that shall see my face and live.” (JST Ex. 33:20)
There are several statements in the KJV (King James Version of the Bible) in which there are direct statements and inferences that mortal man cannot see God and live. The most prominent of these are in KJV Exodus 33:20, John 1:18, 1 John 4:12, and 1 Timothy 6:15–16. These passages stand in contradiction to other KJV passages wherein it is declared that Moses and seventy elders saw God (Ex. 24:9–10) or that Moses saw God “face to face” (Ex. 33:11) or that God was seen by Isaiah (Isa. 6:1) or Abraham (Gen. 18:1) or Jacob (Gen. 32:30) and a host of others. The JST brings order out of these contradictions by inserting certain concepts that are missing in the KJV.
For example, in KJV Exodus 33:20 the declaration is made to Moses that he cannot see the face of God, “for there shall no man see me, and live.” The JST explains it more fully: “Thou canst not see my face at this time … And no sinful man hath at any time, neither shall there be any sinful man at any time, that shall see my face and live. (JST Ex. 33:20.) The clarification is that it is sinful men who cannot see God, but this does not preclude righteous men from such an experience, when the time is right.
To John 1:18, which says, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him,” the JST adds the clarifying information that “No man hath seen God at any time, except he hath borne record of the Son; for except it is through him no man can be saved” (JST John 1:19). This means that whenever anyone has had contact with the Father, the Father has borne record to him of the Son. This is consistent with the experiences recorded in Matthew 3:17 after the baptism of Jesus; in Matthew 17:5 on the Mount of Transfiguration; in 3 Nephi 11:7 at the appearance of the resurrected Lord to the Nephites; and in Joseph Smith’s first vision. In each instance, the Father testified of the Son.
To 1 John 4:12, which reads, “No man hath seen God at any time,” the JST adds “except them who believe.”
To 1 Timothy 6:15–16, which asserts that God is “dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see,” the JST explains: “Whom no man hath seen, nor can see, unto whom no man can approach, only he who hath the light and the hope of immortality dwelling in him.”
In each of these scriptures there is a clarification which removes the contradiction that exists in all other Bibles. To these clarifications we can also add Moses’ explanation as to why he was able to survive the presence of God:
“But now mine own eyes have beheld God; but not my natural, but my spiritual eyes, for my natural eyes could not have beheld; for I should have withered and died in his presence; but his glory was upon me; and I beheld his face, for I was transfigured before him.” (Moses 1:11.)
Without these explanations and restorations to the text that are available only from the JST, biblical statements about whether or not man has ever seen God would remain hopelessly in contradiction. (Robert J. Matthews, “Plain and Precious Things Restored,” Ensign, July 1982, 19-20)