Did Old Testament writers think God could be seen? It seems hard to get a straight answer. Moses was told that he couldn’t see God’s face, “for no one may see me and live” (Exod. 33:20), but just a few verses earlier we’re told that Moses used to speak with God “face to face” (33:11). Not long before that, Moses and the leaders “saw the God of Israel” (Exod. 24:8–9). The jury seems out. Some New Testament texts seem to offer a stronger “no” to the divine visibility question. God “lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see” (1 Tim. 6:16). Jesus is the “image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15). The author of John says, “No one has ever seen God” (John 1:18).
"My main proposal is that biblical writers foreground the category-defying qualities of visual encounters with God."
What are we to make of these seemingly conflicting claims? Does Scripture offer any guidance here? As a preliminary probe into this question,1 I’ll mention three ways that the Old Testament grapples with the complexities of divine presence. My main proposal is that biblical writers foreground the category-defying qualities of visual encounters with God. Even seemingly straightforward God-sightings end up shrouding or obscuring a direct visual experience. These encounters teach us to remember that God is transcendent (he’s other) in his presence (he’s near).
Here are three ways the Old Testament teaches us.
1. Switches in Character
In Genesis 18, the text says rather bluntly that God “appeared” to Abraham (v. 1). But things aren’t so straightforward. As he looks up he sees three men. When one of them speaks, he’s identified by the narrator as Yahweh (v. 13), but without any change in appearance—he looks like a man. Abraham then goes with the three men toward Sodom (v. 16), after which we’re told that Yahweh must “go down” (from heaven) to investigate Sodom, despite being on earth with Abraham. "YHWH is with Abraham in human form, up in heaven, and associated with the two angels. Our attention must shift, rapidly, as it does elsewhere in different ways."Yet not Yahweh, but two men—or “angels” as they’re identified in 19:1—go down, leaving Abraham standing “before the LORD” (18:22). The two angels, or men, tell the people of Sodom that Yahweh sent them to destroy the city (19:13), even though the story then says that Yahweh sent the calamitous sulfur and fire “out of heaven” (19:24, cf. 29). In these two chapters, YHWH is with Abraham in human form, up in heaven, and associated with the two angels. Our attention must shift, rapidly, as it does elsewhere in different ways.
Similarly, in Genesis 32, Jacob wrestles the . . . well . . . he wrestles someone through the night. When at Penial, we’re told that “a man wrestled him until daybreak” (32:24). But something more is clearly happening, because the man refuses to declare his name to Jacob, supernaturally dislocates his hip, and gives Jacob a new name, telling him that he’s “striven with God and humans” (v. 28). Jacob then declares that he has “seen God face to face” yet survived (v. 30). Before we ask whether it was God, a human, or God-as-human, we must factor in Hosea 12:3-4, which reflects on this scene by stating that Jacob wrestled an “angel.” Switches in character deny us the ability to get a fix on who Jacob wrestles.
2. Avoiding Direct Description
Biblical texts often affirm God-sightings, but then suggest that the fullness of God was not apprehended—not in the least! Yahweh appears to Moses at Horeb, but the story-teller focuses on the flames of fire in which Yahweh appears (Exod. 3:2). Moses and the elders see the God of Israel on the mountain, but the writer fixes our attention on the lapis lazuli flooring beneath his feet (24:10). Actually, it wasn’t even lapis lazuli. It was “something that looked like lapis lazuli” (Exod. 24:10). God tells Moses he could glimpse his back (Exod. 33:23), but when the event actually occurs, it’s not clear that Moses actually looks, for as God passes we read that he quickly bowed low (Exod. 34:8). In his visionary encounter with God’s exalted presence, Ezekiel spends most of the time describing Yahweh’s throne, and only describes God’s actual body with indirect comparisons. He saw “a figure like that of a man” around whom was “the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD” (Ezek. 1:26, 28). Isaiah sees YHWH, but only describes the very fringe of YHWH’s garment and the seraphim that surrounds him. God is present, but beyond description. Words fail to capture his appearance.
3. Shrouding When Revealing
At the heart of the Tabernacle and Temple systems is the conviction that God would come near and dwell with his people. He was present. But where, exactly? Texts about God’s presence in/at the sanctuary weren’t typically forthcoming. Yahweh’s presence was associated with his kavod, or glory, but we’re not sure that the kavod is Yahweh or is the light surrounding him. Moreover, Yahweh’s kavod is shrouded from view by a cloud. So Yahweh “appeared” “in the cloud” (Exod. 16:10; 24:16; 40:34-35). Appearing in a cloud is an oxymoron. God reveals and conceals in the same moment. As if still too intense, the High Priest was instructed to light the incense when going into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement. This created a secondary cloud around the cloud that surrounded the glory, which may or may not be the physical form of God in the sanctuary (Lev. 16:12–13). God was near but hidden from view, seen but shrouded.
These brief observations about God’s physical presence highlight a delicate balance that Old Testament writers maintain between affirming God’s presence (He’s near!) and his transcendence (He’s other in his nearness). The Old Testament doesn’t yield a simple answer to the question, Can a human see God? Instead, the Old Testament offers us (a) an experience of the confusion accompanying God’s physical manifestations, (b) a reminder of God’s category-defying “otherness,” and yet, (c) confidence that God is present.
