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פֶּ֣ה אֶל־פֶּ֞ה אֲדַבֶּר־בּ֗וֹ וּמַרְאֶה֙ וְלֹ֣א בְחִידֹ֔ת וּתְמֻנַ֥ת יְהוָ֖ה יַבִּ֑יט וּמַדּ֙וּעַ֙ לֹ֣א יְרֵאתֶ֔ם לְדַבֵּ֖ר בְּעַבְדִּ֥י בְמֹשֶֽׁה׃ Numbers 12:8

With him I will speak face to face, openly, and not in riddles; and he will see the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?" (Num. 12:8 NET)

References: Deuteronomy 4:12, 15, 23, 25

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No person has ever seen God directly, not in the true sense of "seeing" (John ch1 v18)

In fact it is impossible for a man to see God and live (Exodus ch33 v20).

These two verses confirm what reason suggests; viz. that it would be impossible for our minds (in our present condition, anyway) to take in the sight of the "fullness" of God. It would be like trying to pour a gallon into a pint pot.

Therefore a man can see at most a "form" of God; something which conveys the sense of being in the presence of God, but not a true sighting of the real thing. The most that Moses is promised in Exodus ch33 is the "back" of God, not his face (v23).

My usual way of putting it is that what men see is an image which accommodates itself to their understanding. That would explain why the image has a slightly different appearance each time. That will have been what the elders of Israel saw in Exodus ch24 v10, what Isaiah saw in Isaiah ch6, what Ezekiel saw in Ezekiel ch1, what John saw in Revelation ch4.

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  • What of Ex 33:11, Num 12:8, Deut 5:4, 34:10, which indicates that Moses did see God "face to face"?
    – Dottard
    Commented Mar 3, 2023 at 6:17
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    @Dottard Given the first two verses I quoted, these could not have direct "seeing", They could only have been the sight of a "form" or image. Just as the verse in the question actually says. But even that might be described as "face to face" as a relative term, meaning it was more of a sight of God than his compatriots were going to get (apart from the special privilege of the elders in Exodus ch24). That is the only way to reconcile the different statements.
    – Stephen Disraeli
    Commented Mar 3, 2023 at 7:13
  • Except that people have seen Jesus face to face. What of the many other places such as Gen 18 where Abraham talked directly with YHWH? Another way to resolve this (as per several other such questions) is to say that no one has seen the Father but many have seen the Son. See hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/56036/… and hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/50582/…
    – Dottard
    Commented Mar 3, 2023 at 8:12
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    @Dottard If Abraham talked directly to a form or image, that would be experienced as the same thing. And since the Son had no physical body in the Old Testament period,, even the sight of the Son would still be a form or image. We haven't escaped that necessity.
    – Stephen Disraeli
    Commented Mar 3, 2023 at 8:21
  • The three "men" in Gen 18 ate Abraham's food and Abraham stood before the YHWH. If angels (who are spirits) can take a physical form, so could YHWH as Jesus, as He did in Bethlehem.
    – Dottard
    Commented Mar 3, 2023 at 9:47

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