Opus 2024-179: Contradictions

I am reflecting on some scriptures I read several days ago.

Exodus 33:11 (KJV) 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.

Exodus 33:20 (KJV) And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.

The conflict struck me then and it has been in my mind since.  My first train of thought had to do with Moses, speaking to God, face-to-face as a friend.  I liked that.  It goes along with my questioning about the character of God, and the personhood of God.  It is a wonderful concept.  It is what we can strive for.  I believe this is a good way of expressing what prayer is all about.

All was in harmony in my world.

And then I come to this other verse that says, Moses cannot see God’s face.  How can you talk face-to-face and not see someone’s face?  I went back-and-forth on this a while, and finally in reading the verse before I noticed that God was speaking from the cloud.  Yes, I understand that you saw that immediately.  He was standing at the door of the tabernacle.  Moses is inside.  God is speaking to him as a friend.  Moses was not actually need to see God’s face.  Think of it more as an old fashioned telephone connection rather than Facetime.  

If you go back a few verses, you find that Moses did not actually ask to see God’s face, he wanted to see His glory.  

Exodus 33:18 (KJV) And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.

That’s a step above just seeing his face.  I don’t know if it’s possible that we can see God’s glory, but I know we can live in the glory of his presence.

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