Exodus 33:20

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

Ver. 20. Thou canst not see my face.] Otherwise than in his words and works. {Rom 1:20} As we cannot see the sun in rota, in the circle, but in the beams. Some have seen Mercabah velo harocheb, as the Hebrews speak, {a} the chariot in which God rode, but not the rider in it: they saw some created image, or glory, whereby he testified his more immediate presence, but not himself.

No man shall see me, and live.] But be oppressed and swallowed up with majesty: as the sight of the eye is dazzled with the sun; or a crystal glass broken with the fire.

{a} Rab. Maimon.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Exo_33:20-23

My face shall not be seen.

Gods glory must be veiled from human sight

If God had revealed all His glory--if He had not put the shadow of His hand upon Moses, if He had not revealed merely His skirts, as it were, as He passed by--Moses would have been overwhelmed. And this explains to you what is often said in Scripture, No man can see God and live,--not because God would destroy the man, but because the glory would be so intense that it would overwhelm him. Moral grandeur may be overpowering, and we learn in history that there have been cases where mental emotion has struck dead the physical economy. A celebrated American astronomer was watching the transit of Venus over the suns disk; he believed that that transit would take place at a specified moment; and when he saw the shadow of the planet appear on the disk of the sun, such was his excitement or gratification, that he fainted away from excess of joy. Sir Isaac Newton was so overcome by the sense of the magnitude of his discoveries, or of the extent of what he saw in consequence of the great principle he had laid down, that from excess of feeling he was unable to carry out his own grand calculations, and others had to do it for him. Now, if excess of knowledge, of joy, or prosperity, have these powerful effects upon the human frame, we can conceive that too grand an apocalypse of God would be unbearable now; just as the eyeball would be blinded by excess of light. But you can conceive what a splendour and majesty we shall behold when we see God, not through a glass darkly--the smoked glass or lens through which we look at great brightness--but we shall see Him face to face. And what a change will have passed upon us when we can bear to look upon Deity and not shrink! (J. Cumming, D. D.)

There is a place by Me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock.

The believers standing place

To those who like typical texts, there is a peculiar charm in such as this: a place by Me, and a rock for a standing place. What suggestions--

1. Of the believers firm foundation--the Rock.

2. Of the believers fellowship with God--a place by Me.

3. Of the believers favour with God--a vision of His glory. (A. T. Pierson, D. D.)

The place by God, or the right standpoint

The guide-books name the time when rainbows may be seen on some of the many waterfalls which abound in Switzerland. One day, when I was at Lauterbrunnen, I went to the famous Staulbach Fall (980 feet), and sat down by the flagstaff, and waited and watched. Others did the same, and we all went away disappointed. Next day one of my friends said he would show us how to find the rainbow. So I went again, and saw a most lovely one, and stood almost in the centre of it. Then I found that not only were sunshine and spray necessary to produce a rainbow, but also that those who would see it must stand between it and the sun, i.e., it could be seen only at a given point. Then I perceived that those who would see the glory of God could see it only in the face of Jesus Christ, and that the reason why so many fail in this respect is because they do not take the right standpoint. (Gavin Kirkham.)

The standpoint of the Cross

I was talking about Christ to an impenitent neighbour the other day. He said: Why cant I feel about Him as you do? I have read the Bible a good deal. I have heard a good deal of preaching. Yet I cant get up any enthusiasm in regard to this Saviour that you talk so much about. I said to him: You make me think of my visit to the White Mountains some years ago. We were told that there was a wonderful piece of natural statuary there--a mans face, chiselled, as it were, out of a granite cliff. We went to see it. We found what we supposed was the cliff, but there was no appearance of human features--no form or comeliness such as we had been told of. We were about to turn away disappointed, when a guide came along, and said, You are not looking from the right point. He led us up the road a few rods, and then said, Now turn, and look. We did so, and there was the face as distinct as any of ours, though of gigantic size. Until we reached the right spot we could see only a jagged rock, and not a symmetrical face. The vision of the form and comeliness depended upon the angle of observation. And it is so with you, my friend. Come with me under the shadow of the Cross. Come there as a penitent sinner. Look there upon that visage so marred more than any man. Realize that the mangled, thorn-crowned Sufferer is dying for you, and you will see in Him a beauty that will ravish your soul. (T. L. Cuyler.)

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The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Exo 33:20. Thou canst not see my face — The full display of my glory, that light inaccessible, before which the angels stand, but which would be insufferable to mortal eyes; this no man can see and live.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

33:20-23 God longs to show us his character, but to see his face (his essence) and his glorious presence (33:22) would be to die. Moses was permitted a glimpse of that, but nothing more.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

For Moses saw not his face in full majesty, but as man’s weakness could bear.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 20. No man see me, and live.] The splendour would be insufferable to man; he only, whose mortality is swallowed up of life, can see God as he is. See 1Jo 3:2. From some disguised relation of the circumstances mentioned here, the fable of Jupiter and Semele was formed; she is reported to have entreated Jupiter to show her his glory, who was at first very reluctant, knowing that it would be fatal to her; but at last, yielding to her importunity, he discovered his divine majesty, and she was consumed by his presence. This story is told by Ovid in his Metamorphoses, book iii., table iii., 5.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

20. The thought that no one could ‘see God,’ at least in His full glory, ‘and live,’ is often expressed in the OT.: cf. Gen_32:30, Deu_4:33; Deu_5:24; Deu_5:26, Jdg_6:22 f., Exo_13:22, Isa_6:5.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he said, thou canst not see my face,.... Meaning not his form, his essence, his very nature, and the glory of it, that Moses must know he could never see; but the brightest displays of his grace and goodness in Christ, the fullest discoveries of it, which are too much for man, in the present state of things, to have, who sees in part, and but through a glass darkly, not face to face, or in the most complete and perfect manner; it is but a small part and portion of God, and of his ways and works, as of creation and providence, so more especially of grace, salvation, and redemption by Jesus Christ, that is known of him; the things of the Gospel in their full perfection are what eye has not seen; and particularly were more hidden and unseen under the legal dispensation; this face was covered with types and shadows, and dark representations of things; though, in comparison of that state, we now, with open face, behold the glory of the Lord, yet still it is through a glass darkly, and we have not the clear and full view of things as will be hereafter:

for there shall no man see me and live: if there was to be such a revelation made of the grace and goodness, and glory of God in Christ, as it really is in itself, it would be too much for mortals in the present state to bear; it would break their earthen vessels in pieces; the full discovery therefore is reserved to a future state, when these things will be seen as they are, and men will be in a condition to receive them; otherwise we find that men have, in a sense, seen the face of God in this life, and have lived; though many, and even good men, have been possessed with such a notion, that if a man saw God he must die, see Gen 32:30.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

My face, even in my assumed form. (Menochius) --- The effulgence would cause death, as was commonly believed, Genesis xiii. 16. To behold the divine essence, we must be divested of our mortal body, 1 Corinthians ii. 9. (St. Gregory of Nazianzus, or. 49.) (Haydock) --- Moses, therefore, did not see it on earth, though he had greater favours shewn to him than the other prophets, Numbers xii. 6. (Theodoret, q. 68; St. Chrysostom; &c.) (Worthington)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

My face; either,

1. My essence. But that no man can see, neither in this life, nor in the next. Or rather,

2. My glorious presence. This may note either,

1. God’s purpose that that blissful vision of God in glory shall be given to no man here, but is reserved for the future life. Or rather,

2. The impossibility of the thing from man’s weakness, which is such, that if God should display all the beams of his glory to him, it would certainly astonish, overwhelm, and destroy him.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

No man can see me and live. The inability proclaimed in these words is not an absolute inability to see God, but an inability to see and survive the sight. Jacob, when he wrestled with the angel, marvelled that he could see God, even in that intermediate way, and live. (Gen_32:30) It may well be that actually to see God, while we are in the flesh, would kill us.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thou canst not see my face - A full discovery of the glory of God would quite overpower the faculties of any mortal man. I will make all my goodness pass before thee - He had given him wonderful instances of his goodness in being reconciled to Israel; but that was only goodness in the stream, he would shew him goodness in the spring. This was a sufficient answer to his request: Shew me thy glory, saith Moses; I will shew thee my goodness, saith God. God's goodness is his glory; and he will have us to know him by the glory of his mercy, more than by the glory of his majesty. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious - In bestowing his gifts, and is not debtor to any, nor accountable to any; all his reasons of mercy are fetched from within himself, not from any merit in his creatures, and I will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy - For his grace is always free. He never damns by prerogative, but by prerogative he saves.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

my face

Cf. (See Scofield "Joh 1:18").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ויאמר לא תוכל וגו׳ AND HE SAID, THOU CANST NOT [SEE MY FACE] — and even when I make all My goodness pass before you I shall not allow you to see My face.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

FOR MAN SHALL NOT SEE ME AND LIVE. This does not mean that man could see Him, but must immediately die; it means that before he could grasp the sight, his soul would depart from him, for even of the vision of the angels it is said, by reason of the vision my pains are come upon me, [and I retained no strength].

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.