Exodus 33

Exodus 33:7

Ambrose of Milan: Therefore did Jesus go forth out of the city, that you going out of this world may be above the world. Moses alone, who saw God, had his tabernacle without the camp when he talked with God; and the blood indeed of the victims which were offered for sin, was brought to the altar, but the bodies were burnt without the camp; for no one placed amidst the evil of this world can lay aside sin, nor is his blood accepted of God, except he go forth from the defilement of this body. — Epistle 63.104

Exodus 33:11

Basil of Caesarea: The whole life of the saints and of the blessed, the example of the Lord himself while he was with us in the flesh, are aids to us in this matter. Moses, through long perseverance in fasting and prayer, received the law and heard the words of God, “as a man is inclined to speak to his friend.” — THE LONG RULES 16

Jerome: [Daniel 2:22] “It is He who reveals deep and hidden things, and He knows what is placed in the darkness, and with Him is the light.” A man to whom God makes profound revelations and who can say, “O the depth of the riches of the knowledge and wisdom of God!” (Romans 11:33), he it is who by the indwelling Spirit probes even into the deep things of God, and digs the deepest of wells in the depths of his soul. He is a man who has stirred up the whole earth, which is wont to conceal the deep waters, and he observes the command of God, saying: “Drink water from thy vessels and from the spring of thy wells” (Proverbs 5:15). As for the words which follow, “He knows what is placed in the darkness, and with Him is the light,” the darkness signifies ignorance, and the light signifies knowledge and learning. Therefore as wrong cannot hide God away, so right encompasses and surrounds Him. Or else we should interpret the words to mean all the dark mysteries and deep things (concerning God), according to what we read in Proverbs: “He understands also the parable and the dark saying.” (Proverbs 1:6, LXX) This in turn is equivalent to what we read in the Psalms: “Dark waters in the clouds of the sky” (Psalms 18:11). For one who ascends to the heights and forsakes the things of earth, and like the birds themselves seeks after the most rarified atmosphere and everything ethereal, he becomes like a cloud to which the truth of God penetrates and which habitually showers rain upon the saints. Replete with a plenitude of knowledge, he contains in his breast many dark waters enveloped with deep darkness, a darkness which only Moses can penetrate and speak with God face to face (Exodus 33:11), of Whom the Scripture says: “He hath made darkness His hiding-place” (Psalms 18:11). — St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER TWO

Maximus of Turin: Fasting these forty days and nights holy Moses too merited to speak with God, to stand and stay with him and to receive the precepts of the law from his hand. For although this human condition prevented him from seeing God, yet the grace of his fasting drew him into close contact with the Divinity. For to fast frequently is a portion of God’s virtues in ourselves, since God himself always fasts. He is more familiar, intimate and friendly with the person in whom he sees more of his works, as Scripture says: “And Moses spoke with God face to face like one speaking with his friend.” — SERMON 35.3

Philoxenus of Mabbug: “But the young man Joshua departed not from the tent, but was there continually in the service of Moses;” and he that was free from going out and coming in among the multitude was especially nigh unto simplicity. If cunning and wickedness are gathered together from conversation with the multitude, it is evident that simplicity and integrity can be acquired from being brought up to lead a life of silent contemplation, and the more a man increaseth his life of contemplation, the more his possession of simplicity groweth. — 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 4 – On Faith: First Discourse on Simplicity

Exodus 33:12

Gregory the Dialogist: Jesus says to her: “Mary.” After he called her by the common word for her sex, and was not recognized, he calls her by name. As if he openly said to her: Recognize him by whom you are recognized. To the perfect man also it is said: “I know you by name,” because “man” is the common word for all of us, but “Moses” is proper, to whom it is rightly said that he is known by name, as if the Lord openly said to him: I do not know you generally as the rest, but specially. — Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 25

Augustine of Hippo: And Moses said to the Lord: “Look, you say to me: Get this people out; but you have not indicated to me who you will send along with me; even though you told me: I know you more than all of you, and you have found grace before me. If, then, I have found grace before you, show yourself to me, that I see you clearly, so that I may find grace before you and so that I may know that this nation is your people. " The word gnostos, that appears in the Greek, some Latin translators have expressed it by manifesté (clearly), in spite of the fact that the Scripture has not said pigeons. Perhaps it could have been translated better: If I have found grace before you, show yourself to me, that I see you knowing it (scienter). With these words Moses clearly shows that in the midst of that great familiarity of contemplation he did not see him as he wished to see him, because all those visions of God that were granted to the human gaze and from which a sound was derived that reached the mortal ears , they took place assuming a form as God wanted, in the form that they wanted, so that in those visions, one does not feel with any corporal sense one’s divine nature, which is invisible and is everywhere and does not include any. And because of the two commandments, of the love of God and of neighbor, depends the whole law (Cf Matthew 22,46), that is why Moses showed his desire in one and the other: in the love of God, when he says: If I have found grace before you, show yourself to me , that sees you clearly, so that it finds grace before you. And in the love of neighbor, when he says: And so that he knows that this nation is your people. — QUESTIONS ON EXODUS, Q. 151 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Augustine of Hippo: What does what God says to Moses mean: Because I know you more than all? Does God know some other things and other things less? Or is it something similar to what is said of some in the Gospel: I do not know you? (Matthew 25,12) Ultimately, God knew Moses more than all, because Moses liked God above all, that is, he knew him with that kind of knowledge according to which it is said that God knows the things that he likes and that he does not know the things that displease him; not because he ignores them, but because he does not approve of them; as it is said with all property that the art does not know the vices, nevertheless that it experiences vices. — QUESTIONS ON EXODUS, Q. 152 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Augustine of Hippo: It is necessary to notice that Moses said to God: You said to me: I know you more than to all. But nowhere before we read that God told Moses before Moses remembered him. By this we understand that not all the things that God spoke with Moses have been written. In any case, it is necessary to investigate more carefully in the previous parts of the Scripture to see if it really is that way. — QUESTIONS ON EXODUS, Q. 153 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Exodus 33:13

Augustine of Hippo: Again, in ancient times, in the case of the faithful servant of God, Moses, who was destined to labor on this earth and to rule the chosen people, it would not be surprising that what he asked was granted: that he might see the glory of the Lord, to whom he said, “If I have found favor before you, show me yourself openly.” He received an answer adapted to present conditions: that he could not see the face of God, because no man could see him and live. Thus God made clear that the vision belongs to another and better life. In addition to that, the mystery of the future church of Christ was foreshadowed by the words of God. — LETTER 147.32

Clement of Alexandria: As a result Moses, convinced that God will never be known to human wisdom, says, “Reveal yourself to me,” and finds himself forced to enter “into the darkness” where the voice of God was present; in other words, into the unapproachable, imageless, intellectual concepts relating to ultimate reality. For God does not exist in darkness. He is not in space at all. He is beyond space and time and anything belonging to created beings. Similarly he is not found in any section. He contains nothing. He is contained by nothing. He is not subject to limit or division. — The Stromata Book 2

Cyril of Jerusalem: Moses says to him, “Show me yourself.” You see that then also the prophets saw Christ, that is, in the measure each was able. “Show me yourself, that I may see you clearly.” But he said, “No one sees me and still lives.” Therefore, because no one could see the face of the Godhead and live, he assumed the face of human nature, that seeing this we might live. Yet when he wished to show even this with a little majesty, at the time when “his face shone as the sun,” the disciples fell to the earth terrified. His bodily countenance shined, not according to the full power of him who wrought it but in the measure the disciples could bear. Now if this terrified them and even thus they could not bear it, how could anyone gaze upon the majesty of the Godhead? It is a great thing which you desire, O Moses, the Lord says; and I approve your insatiable longing and “this word will I do” for you, but according to your capacity. “Behold, I will set you in the hollow of the rock”;10 for as you are small, you will lodge in a small place. — Catechetical Lecture 10.7

Exodus 33:17

Gregory the Dialogist: But we must note especially how great is the order of narration in the mouth of Truth concerning the proud rich man and the humble poor man. For behold it is said: “There was a certain rich man”; and immediately it is added: “And there was a certain beggar, named Lazarus.” Certainly among the people the names of the rich are usually known more than those of the poor. What is it, therefore, that the Lord, speaking of a poor man and a rich man, tells the name of the poor man and does not tell the name of the rich man, except that God knows and approves the humble, and does not know the proud? Hence also to some who are proud of the power of their miracles He will say at the end: “I know you not whence you are: depart from me, all you workers of iniquity.” But on the contrary, to Moses it is said: “I know you by name.” Therefore He says of the rich man: “A certain man.” He says of the poor man: “A beggar, named Lazarus.” As if He openly said: I know the humble poor man, I do not know the proud rich man. The one I hold as known through approval, the other I do not know through the judgment of reprobation. — Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 40

Exodus 33:18

Augustine of Hippo: The saintly Moses, his faithful servant, showed the flame of this desire of his when he said to God, with whom he spoke face to face as to a friend: “If I have found favor before you, show me yourself.” What, then? Was it not himself? If it were not himself, he would not have said “Show me yourself” but “Show me God”; yet, if he really beheld his very nature and substance, he would have been far from saying “Show me yourself.” It was himself, therefore, under that aspect in which he willed to appear (but he did not appear in his own very nature) which Moses longed to see, inasmuch as that is promised to the saints in another life. Hence the answer made to Moses is true that no one can see the face of God and live; that is, no one living in this life can see him as fully as he is. Many have seen, but they saw what his will chose, not what his nature formed … when he willed … not in his nature under which he lies hidden within himself even when he is seen.

Peter Chrysologus: This is why love which longs to see God, even if it lacks judgment, does have the spirit of devotion. This is why Moses dares to say, “If I have found favor in your sight, show me your face.” This is why another man says, “Show us your face.” Finally, this is why the Gentiles fashioned idols. In their errors they wanted to see with their eyes what they were worshiping. — SERMON 147

Augustine of Hippo: When Moses asked the Lord: Show me your glory, the Lord answered him: I will come before you with my glory and I will call with the name of the Lord in your presence: and I will have mercy on whom I will have pity, and I will have mercy on whom I have had mercy (Exodus 33,19) , even though the Lord had told you shortly before: I myself will pass before you and give you rest (Exodus 33,14). The expression: I will pass in front of you seems to be that Moses understood it in the sense that God would not be present with him and with the people during the trip, and that is why he says: If you do not come with us, do not make me leave from here (Exodus 33,15), etc. However, God did not deny him this, but said to him: I will do to you also what you have asked me (Exodus 33,17). Therefore, when Moses said to him: Show me your glory, how does it seem to say to you again: I myself will pass before you, implying that I was going to precede you and I was not going to accompany you, unless it is something else? Because it is understood that he speaks to him and says: I will pass before you, the same one who says the gospel: The time has come to pass Jesus from this world to the Father (John 13,1). This step or transit is often interpreted as Easter. It is, therefore, a very great prophecy. For he, Jesus, before all the saints passed from this world to the Father to prepare the mansions of the kingdom of heaven, which he will give them in the resurrection of the dead, because he, who was to pass before all, became in the firstborn among the dead (Cf Colossians 1,18). At the same time he highlights his grace, saying: And I will call with the name of the Lord in your presence. As if it were done in the presence of the people of Israel, whose image represented Moses when he heard these words. Christ the Lord is called in all nations in the presence of his own nation scattered everywhere. And it is said: I will call (vocabo) and I will not be called (vocabor). The verb becomes active and not passive, using a genre of unusual expression, in which there is undoubtedly a great hidden sense. With this expression perhaps he wanted to indicate that he himself does this, that is to say, he does with his grace that the Lord be called (invoked) in all nations. And I will take pity on whom I will have pity and I will have mercy on whom I will have had mercy. By adding these words, he manifests in a much clearer way the vocation with which he called us to his kingdom and his glory, not by our merits, but by his mercy. And since God promised that he would bring the Gentiles into his kingdom, saying: “I will call with the name of the Lord in your presence, he came to tell us that this was done mercifully, as the Apostle says: For I say that Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises of the fathers, so that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy (Rm 15,8.9). For he had predicted this: I will take pity on whom I will have pity and I will have mercy on whom I have had mercy. With these words he forbade man to glory, as if it were the merits of his own virtues, affirming that whoever boasts will boast in the Lord (2 Corinthians 10,17). He does not say: I will take pity on such and such, but on whom I will have pity, so that no one believes that he merited the mercy of such a great vocation for his previous good works. For Christ died for the ungodly (Rm 5,6). But I do not know if he wanted to repeat this when he said: And I will have mercy on whom I have had mercy - or as others translate: with whom I have been merciful - or if there is any difference between the two phrases. For what the Greek language expresses with two eleeso and oikteiréso verbs-words that seem to mean the same thing-the Latin translator could not express it with different words and repeated the same idea in two different ways. But if it had been said: “I will take pity on who gave me mercy” and “I will take pity on who gave me mercy” or “I will take pity on whom I will have pity,” it would not seem that he had expressed himself well enough. And yet, that sense is stronger there, because God, with that repetition, or shows the firmness of his mercy-like “amen, amen,” (Cf John 5,19.24.25; Sal 88,53; 71,19; Genesis 41,1-7) or “fiat, fiat,” or like the repetition of Pharaoh’s dream and many other similar examples, or God foretold in that way that he would have mercy on both peoples, the Gentiles and the Hebrews, which the Apostle expresses thus: For as you once did not believe in God, but now you have obtained mercy for cause of their unbelief, so they did not believe now on the occasion of your mercy, so that they too may obtain mercy. For God imprisoned all in unbelief, to have compassion on everyone (Rm 11,30-32). Then, after this affirmation of his mercy, God responds to what was asked of him: Show me your glory (Exodus 33,18). Or what Moses had asked before with these words: Show yourself to me, that I see you clearly (Exodus 33,13). And God responds: You will not be able to see my face; No one can see my face and live (Exodus 33,20). With these words the author shows that God can not appear as he is in this life, which is lived under the mortal senses of the corruptible flesh. That is to say, as it is, God can only be seen in that life in which, to be able to live it, one must die to it. Interposing a sentence, the Scripture says next: And the Lord said; and then he adds: Here is a place next to me (Exodus 33,21). But what place is not next to God, who is not absent from anywhere? With these words: Here is a place next to me, the Church is symbolized, as if referring to a temple, and continues saying: You will stand on the rock - because, as the Lord says: On this stone I will build my Church (Matthew 16,18) as soon as my glory passes, that is, as soon as my glory passes, he will stand on the rock, because after the passage of Christ, that is, after the passion and resurrection of Christ, the faithful people will be of foot on the rock. And it continues: And I will put you in the cave of the rock. This means a very strong defense. Others, on the other hand, translate: On the watchtower of the rock. But the Greek has open door, and this we translate more exactly by hole or cavern. And I will cover you with my hand until I pass, Then I will remove my hand and then you will see my back; but my face will not see it (Exodus 33,22.23). Since before he said: You will be standing on the rock as soon as my glory passes -text which means that after its passage God promises stability on the rock-, how is it necessary to interpret the words: I will put you in the cave of the rock and I will cover you with my hand until I pass. Then I will take my hand away and then you will see my back? Does it mean that once Moses is placed on the rock, God will cover him with his hand and then pass by, not being able to stand on the rock but after the passage of the Lord? In fact, it is necessary to see here a recapitulation of an omitted thing, as Scripture often does. In effect, he says later what in the order of time is earlier. The order would be as follows: I will cover you with my hand until I pass, and then you will see my backs; but my face you will not see it. And you will be standing on the rock as soon as my glory passes and I will put you in the rock cavern. This, indeed, happened with those whom the person of Moses meant, that is, with the Israelites, who later believed in the Lord Jesus, as the Acts of the Apostles say, that is, as soon as his glory passed (Cf Acts 2). For after rising from the dead and rising to heaven, as the apostles spoke the tongues of all nations by the coming of the Holy Spirit from heaven, many of those who had crucified Christ repented. As they did not recognize him and crucified the Lord of glory, partial blindness came to Israel (Rm 11,25), according to what had been said: I will cover you with my hand until I pass. And that’s why the psalm says: Because day and night your hand has weighed on me. It calls day at the time when Christ worked miracles; and night, at the time when he died as a man, when those who had believed during the day hesitated. When it has passed, then you will see my back: this means that when I have passed from this world to the Father, then those whom you represent will believe in me. Because then, with deep hearts, they said: What shall we do? And the apostles commanded them to do penance and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, so that their sins would be forgiven (Cf Acts 2,37.38). In the quoted psalm, after the words: Day and night your hand has weighed on me - that is, so that I did not know; for if they had known him, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Corinthians 2,8) the author continues saying: “The grief has fallen on me, while the spine was stuck,” (Ps. 31,4) that is, when I was pricked in my heart. Then he continues: I recognized my sin and I did not hide my evil (Ps.31,5). Then they understood with what great sin they crucified Christ. And since they accepted the advice to do penance and to receive in the baptism the forgiveness of sins, he says: I said: «I will confess the crime against the Lord against me», and you forgave the impiety of my heart. Reality itself sufficiently indicates that this prophecy was rather what the Lord said to Moses, since nothing is read that has happened after a visible way about his rock or his cave, or the placement of his hand or the vision of their backs. The Scripture, in effect, adds immediately, inserting a phrase: And the Lord said to Moses, when in fact the Lord also said those things that are before. And then interspersed what the Lord said: Wash two stone tablets like the first, etc. (Exodus 34,1) — QUESTIONS ON EXODUS, Q. 154 (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Exodus 33:19

Augustine of Hippo: So if the whole world was being detained in captivity, it was quite in order to say, “I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful and show mercy to whom I will show mercy.” If the whole world is in captivity, the whole world in sin, the whole world very justly sentenced to punishment, but part of it set free through mercy, who can say to God, “Why do you condemn the world?” How can God, the just judge, be indicted when the guilty world is convicted? You’re guilty. If you consider what you owe, it is called punishment, and you cannot in fairness blame the one who inflicts it for exacting from you what you owe. You may blame the debt collector if he seizes what you don’t owe, but who can blame a creditor for demanding payment of a debt, even though you are hoping he will let you off? — SERMON 27.3

Augustine of Hippo: What did he here teach us but that as death is the just due of the clay of the first man, it belongs to the mercy of God and not to the merits of man that anyone is saved. And … therein there is no injustice with God, because he is not unjust either in forgiving or in exacting the penalty. Mercy is free where just vengeance could be taken. From this it is more clearly shown what a great benefit is conferred on the one who is delivered from a just penalty and freely justified, while another, equally guilty, is punished without injustice on the part of the avenger. — LETTER 186

Cyril of Jerusalem: Now here please note carefully what I am to say, because of the Jews. For it is our purpose to demonstrate that the Lord, Jesus Christ, was with the Father. The Lord then said to Moses, “I will make all my beauty pass before you, and in your presence I will pronounce my name, ‘Lord.’ " Being himself the Lord, what Lord does he proclaim? You see how in a veiled manner he was teaching the holy doctrine of Father and Son. Again, in what follows, it is written in express terms: “Having come down in a cloud, the Lord stood with him there and proclaimed his name, ‘Lord.’ Thus the Lord passed before him and cried out, ‘The Lord, the Lord, merciful and gracious, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity, and guarding justice and continuing his kindness for a thousand generations, and forgiving wickedness and crime and sin.’ " And thereafter: “Moses at once bowed down to the ground in worship” before the Lord proclaiming the Father, and said, “O Lord, do come along in our company.” — Catechetical Lecture 10.8

Exodus 33:20

Ambrose of Milan: “Who shall see my face and live?” Scripture said, and rightly so. For our eyes cannot bear the sun’s rays, and whoever turns too long in its direction is generally blinded, so they say. Now if one creature cannot look upon another creature without loss and harm to himself, how can he see the dazzling face of his eternal Creator while covered with the clothing that is this body? For who is justified in the sight of God, when the infant of but one day cannot be clean from sin and no one can glory in his uprightness and purity of heart? — DEATH AS A GOOD 11.49

Augustine of Hippo: Hence the answer made to Moses is true that no one can see the face of God and live, that is, no one living in this life can see him as he is. Many have seen, but they saw what his will chose, not what his nature formed, and this is what John said, if he is rightly understood: “Dearly beloved, we are the sons of God, and it has not yet appeared what we shall be. We know that when he shall appear, we shall be like to him, because we shall see him as he is”; not as men saw him when he willed under the appearance that he willed; not in his nature under which he lies hidden within himself even when he is seen, but as he is. This is what was asked of him by the one who spoke to him face to face, when he said to him, “Show me yourself,” but no one can at any time experience the fullness of God through the eyes of the body any more than by the mind itself. — LETTER 147.8-9

Augustine of Hippo: And as a matter of fact the words which the Lord later says to Moses … are commonly and not without reason understood to prefigure the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus the back parts are taken to be his flesh, in which he was born of the Virgin and rose again, whether they are called the back parts [posteriora] because of the posteriority of his mortal nature or because he deigned to take it near the end of the world, that is, at a later period [posterius]. But his face is that form of God in which he thought it not robbery to be equal to God the Father, which no one surely can see and live.… After this life, in which we are absent from the Lord, where the corruptible body is a load upon the soul, we shall see “face to face,” as the apostle says. (For it is said of this life in the Psalms, “Indeed all things are vanity: every man living,” and again, “For in your sight no man living shall be justified.” In [this] life too, according to John, “it has not yet appeared what we shall be. For we know,” he said, “that when he shall appear we shall be like to him, because we shall see him as he is.” And he certainly meant this to be understood as after this life, when we shall have paid the debt of death and shall have received the promise of the resurrection.) Or [is it] that even now, to whatever extent we spiritually grasp the Wisdom of God, through which all things were made, to that same extent we die to carnal affections.… Since we regard this world as dead to us, we also die to this world, and may say as did the apostle: “The world is crucified to me and I to the world.” — THE TRINITY 2.17.28

Augustine of Hippo: As regards this life, Moses is told, “Nobody has seen the face of God and lived.” You see, we are not meant to live in this life in order to see that face; we are meant to die to the world in order to live forever in God. Then we won’t sin, not only by deed but not even by desire, when we see that face which beats and surpasses all desires. Because it is so lovely, my brothers and sisters, so beautiful, that once you have seen it, nothing else can give you pleasure. It will give insatiable satisfaction of which we will never tire. We shall always be hungry and always have our fill. — SERMON 170.9

Augustine of Hippo: Another point that can trouble us is how it was possible for the very substance of God to be seen by some while still in this life, in view of what was said to Moses: “No man can see my face and live,” unless it is possible for the human mind to be divinely rapt from this life to the angelic life, before it is freed from the flesh by our common death. — LETTER 147.31

Gaius Marius Victorinus: No one sees the power itself alone, for “no one has ever seen God.” And since power is life in repose and knowledge in repose but life and knowledge are actions, if someone were to see God he must die, because the life and knowledge of God remain in themselves and are not in act. But every act is exterior. Indeed, for us to live is to live externally [in a body]; to see God is therefore a death. “No one,” says the Scripture, “has ever seen God and lived.” Indeed, like is seen by like. External life therefore must be forgotten, knowledge must be forgotten, if we wish to see God, and this for us is death. — AGAINST ARIUS 3.3.1

Gregory of Nyssa: He would not have shown himself to his servant if the sight were such as to bring the desire of the beholder to an end, since the true sight of God consists in this, that the one who looks up to God never ceases in that desire. For he says, “You cannot see my face, for man cannot see me and live.“Scripture does not indicate that this causes the death of those who look, for how would the face of life ever be the cause of death to those who approach it? On the contrary, the divine is by its nature life-giving. Yet it is the characteristic of the divine nature to transcend all characteristics. Therefore he who thinks God is something to be known does not have life, because he has turned from true being to what he considers by sense perception to have being. — LIFE OF MOSES 2.233-34

Exodus 33:21

Pacian of Barcelona: The place is the church, the rock is the Lord, Moses is the multitude of the people of Israel, who did not believe in the Lord when he preached on the earth. So that multitude stood on the rock and beheld the back parts of the Lord as he passed by. After the Lord’s passion and ascension they were led into the church and merited to receive faith in Christ. They did not recognize him face to face on earth but later acknowledged him “from behind.” Exposition of the Old and New Testament, Exodus

Paterius: The place is the church, the rock is the Lord, Moses is the multitude of the people of Israel, who did not believe in the Lord when he preached on the earth. So that multitude stood on the rock and beheld the back parts of the Lord as he passed by. After the Lord’s passion and ascension they were led into the church and merited to receive faith in Christ. They did not recognize him face to face on earth but later acknowledged him “from behind.” — EXPOSITION OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT, Exodus 58

Exodus 33:22

Gregory of Nazianzus: What is this that has happened to me, O friends and initiates and fellow lovers of the truth? I was running to lay hold on God, and thus I went up into the mount and drew aside the curtain of the cloud and entered away from matter and material things. And as far as I could I withdrew within myself. And then when I looked up, I scarce saw the back parts of God, although I was sheltered by the rock, the Word that was made flesh for us. And when I looked a little closer, I saw not the first and unmingled nature known to itself—to the Trinity, I mean; not that which abides within the first veil and is hidden by the cherubim; but only that nature which at last even reaches to us. And that is, as far as I can learn, the majesty or, as holy David calls it, the glory which is manifested among the creatures, which it produced and governs. For these are the back parts of God, which he leaves behind him as tokens of himself, like the shadows and reflection of the sun in the water, which show the sun to our weak eyes, because he is too strong for our power of perception. — THEOLOGICAL ORATION 2:3

Exodus 33:23

Origen of Alexandria: Like to this also is that which is said by God through Moses: “Behold, I have set you in a hole of the rock, and you shall see My back parts.” Therefore this rock, which is Christ, is not closed on every side, but has a hole. And the hole of the rock is that which reveals God and makes Him known to men. No one, then, sees the Father except the Son; no one, then, sees the last things of God — that is, the things which come to pass in the last times — except one placed in the hole of the rock, namely when he has learned those things by the revelation of Christ. — COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS, BOOK 4

Origen of Alexandria: For it is well known that he, that is, the one who gave the oracles to Moses, says, “You shall not see my face but my back.” Certainly these statements must be understood by the aid of that symbolism which is appropriate to the understanding of divine sayings, and those old wives’ fables, which ignorant people invent on the subject of the front and back parts of God, must be utterly rejected and despised. Nor indeed must anyone suppose that we have entertained some impious thought in saying that the Father is not visible even to the Savior, but he must consider the exact meaning of the terms we use in controverting the heretics. For we have said that it is one thing to see and be seen, another to perceive and be perceived or to know and be known. To see and be seen is a property of bodies, which it would certainly not be right to apply either to the Father or to the Son or to the Holy Spirit in their relations one with another. For the Trinity by its nature transcends the limits of vision, although it grants to those who are in bodies, that is, to all other creatures, the property of being seen one by another. But incorporeal and above all intellectual nature is capable of nothing else but to know and be known, as the Savior himself declares when he says, “No one knows the Son save the Father, neither does any know the Father save the Son, and he to whom the Son wills to reveal him.” It is clear then that he did not say, “No one sees the Father save the Son” but “No one knows the Father save the Son.” — ON FIRST PRINCIPLES 2.3