Exodus 33 · a question people ask
"Face to face" (33:11), but "You cannot see my face" (33:20)?
The same chapter says both. "The LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend" (33:11). Then the LORD tells Moses, "You cannot see my face, for man may not see me and live" (33:20), and "my face shall not be seen" (33:23). Elsewhere the Bible uses "face to face" more than once. Moses tells all Israel, "The LORD spoke with you face to face on the mountain out of the middle of the fire" (Deuteronomy 5:4), and also, "you saw no form; you only heard a voice" (Deuteronomy 4:12). Jacob said, "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved" (Genesis 32:30). At the end of Deuteronomy, Moses is the one "whom the LORD knew face to face" (Deuteronomy 34:10). Christians who hold each of the views below take every one of these verses as true; they differ on how they fit together. The same question comes up in Exodus 24, where the elders "saw God" (24:11).
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
Moses met God closely, not his face
Those who hold this view read "face to face" (33:11) as describing how the LORD spoke with Moses: directly, "as a man speaks to his friend" (33:11). Of Moses the LORD says, "With him, I will speak mouth to mouth, even plainly, and not in riddles" (Numbers 12:8). Deuteronomy says "face to face" of all Israel at the mountain (Deuteronomy 5:4), where they "saw no form" (Deuteronomy 4:12). At the Tent, the pillar of cloud stood at the door as the LORD spoke (33:9). On this view Moses saw something of God, "you will see my back" (33:23), and "he shall see the LORD’s form" (Numbers 12:8), but never his face.
Exodus 33:9-11 · Exodus 33:23 · Numbers 12:8 · Deuteronomy 4:12 · Deuteronomy 5:4
Moses met God the Son
Those who hold this view start from John 1:18: "No one has seen God at any time. The only born Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared him." Jesus says, "Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God. He has seen the Father" (John 6:46). After quoting Isaiah, John writes, "Isaiah said these things when he saw his glory, and spoke of him" (John 12:41), and Isaiah had said, "my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Armies!" (Isaiah 6:5). On this view, the God Moses met and spoke with was the Son before he became man, and the Father no one has seen.
John 1:18 · John 6:46 · John 12:40-41 · Isaiah 6:1-5
The verses
“The LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. He turned again into the camp, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, didn’t depart from the Tent.”
“He said, “You cannot see my face, for man may not see me and live.””
“then I will take away my hand, and you will see my back; but my face shall not be seen.””
“The LORD spoke with you face to face on the mountain out of the middle of the fire,”