Moses, a friend of God, was a man chosen by Yahveh when he was a toddler. He became a man with a good education. Having lived in Egypt for a long time as the son of Pharaoh, he had a rich experience in negotiation techniques, even at the highest level. He could therefore have asked anything of God. Reading this article, you will understand relevant facts about the person who saw God face to face-in the Bible. Enjoy it!
According to the Bible, Moses dared to negotiate with Yahweh and saw God face to face. But by his request, he reveals a chosen character in which God comes first in life’s priorities. Moses was God’s best friend, God being the one to affirm this. Because of his relationship with God, he is the only man God Himself buried. As for a face-to-face relationship with God, the inspired report tells us that no prophet like Moses, a friend of God, has arisen in Israel; this is why God spoke to him directly.
Over his body, there was a dispute even between the Devil and the archangel Michael, and Moses appeared once more on earth on the mountain where the Lord changed His face before His disciples. There is a principle that says that the better a man knows God, the more he wants to know Him, and, on the other hand, the further he stays from God, the more righteous he seems to be. His tomb was somewhere in the Valley of Moab, but no one knew his place.
Who spoke with God face to face in the Bible?
Throughout the Bible, the presence of Moses, the friend of God, is felt. Although he is not mentioned until Exodus 2:2, he had written the book of Genesis. The foundational story, bearing God’s authority, of who we are, how we got here, why things are so bad, and yet how we have hope. All are rooted in Genesis, and its author was the prophet Moses. It is hard to understand the influence that this one man, not precisely without flaws, was nevertheless able to exert on God’s side because he loved Him and wanted to serve Him. Creation, the fall, the promise of redemption, the flood, Abraham, the Gospel.
The Bible tells us how Moses spoke to God directly, face to face. The episode of God’s appearance to Moses, a friend of God, is well known when he was shepherding his father-in-law Jethro’s sheep:
And he went out with the flock into the wilderness, and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a fiery flameout of a burning bush, and he saw that the bush was burning but was not moved. And Moses covered his face because he was afraid to look at God. God shows Himself in the fire that does not burn and speaks to Moses, who is commanded to take off his shoes for the holiness of the place brought by His presence.
Read also: Who is Moses in the Bible? Moses in the Bible story
Biography of Moses
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Biblical places from the times of Moses
- the Red Sea– The place where Moses split the water
- Egypt– Where is the exact location of Egypt?
Read also: Why did God give the law? What was the purpose of the law of Moses?
Did Moses see God’s face?
And when the Lord saw him approaching to look, the Lord called him from the bush and said, Moses! Moses. And he said, Behold, Lord! And the Lord said: Come not near here! But take off thy shoes from off thy feet: for the place, whereon thou treadest is holy ground. Then he said to him again: I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses covered his face because he was afraid to look at God. The scenario repeats itself in much the same way when God calls all the people of Israel to witness His speaking to Moses precisely so that the people will believe Moses.
In the episode of the erection of a holy altar, we are shown that Moses saw the face of God.
And the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I will come to thee in a pillar of thick cloud, that the people may hear that I speak with thee, and may believe therefor ever. The Lord said to Moses: Pray thou that thou mayest speak unto the people, that they may be clean today and morrow. And they may wash their clothes, that they may be ready for the morrow: the Lord will come down before the eyes of all the people upon mount Sinai.
What is God’s appearance?
Eastern theology prefers mystery and doxological terms when speaking about God. He is the One who is always with us when we are at the edge of our powers. The One is with us in the wilderness of the ice or the fiery furnaces. And to each of us, at the moment of our most incredible loneliness or trial. We are told: You have Me as your brother.
Christians perceive God as looking like an older man with a beard in icons and paintings, believing that man has the image and likeness of God. He is old because he suggests infinity and wisdom. But the Jews saw him as the Greek monad, a light, a bright flame, or an infinite and universal light of which they said no living thing could look at him. Otherwise, it would die. Only Moses could look at him and get his hair whitened and his face shining when he saw Him as a burning bush or on Mount Sinai.
The name God describes the absolute Reality related to His appearance. The name is given to the supreme, spiritual, and personal. Eternal Being who created the unseen world. Spiritual, and the seen world, those in heaven and those on earth.
Read also: Blood on the doorpost. Why did God save the Israelites from Egypt?
Key Verse related to God’s friendship with Moses
The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend.
Was Moses God’s best friend?
The pages of the Holy Scripture show that Moses was called by God His best friend, so Moses was Yahweh’s best friend. Holy Scripture tells us of several people who were expressly called friends of God. And one of these is the Prophet, Moses. Moses, a friend of God, is the perennial paradigm of the intercessor for his boundless devotion to the Word of God. And his undying love for the destiny of the people he was born to.
Yahweh calls Moses a friend in the Holy Scriptures’ secret pages, making it clear that Moses is God’s best friend.
A friend of God is a person who hears and listens to His voice. In his relationship with God, Moses did not talk all the time. On the contrary, he spent much time listening to God’s voice. Being a friend of God is far beyond our understanding. Beyond awe, fear, or obedience, friendship implies a certain familiarity, a warm closeness, and reciprocity. To consider God a friend seems, for many of us, a boldness, perhaps rightly so. But the Saviour called all those who, like the disciples, follow his commandments his friends.
What is the relationship between Moses and God?
God named two men from Scripture as His friends. This does not mean that others did not have this status, only that He designated these two as His friends, knowingly recording their friendship. I believe He did this so that we could learn what God seeks from a friend. True friendship, however, is fraught with conditions that hold both parties accountable. Jesus conditioned his company with the disciples by saying to them: if you do what I command you. The second logical condition that also emerges from these two verses quoted above is knowledge: you cannot be a friend if you do not know someone.
According to the pages of the Holy Scriptures, there is a friendship between Moses and God. In various biblical accounts, Moses spoke to God because they were friends.
For example, after many days had passed, the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed in Egypt with hardship, cried out, and went up to God with their cry of affliction. And God heard their groaning and remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and God sought the children of Israel and was pleased to deliver them. And Moses, a friend of God, was feeding Jethro’s sheep, his father-in-law, and he led the sheep to pasture and went to Mount Horeb. Here the angel of the Lord appeared to him in the burning bush fire and spoke directly to God.
Read also: What is Biblical sin? Two types of evil in the Bible
Primary Takeaways
- Moses, a friend of God, has become a perfect man. All the Egyptians chose him to be the leader of the armies. They also defeated the Ethiopians with their bravery. And for this bravery, the king of Egypt. Instead of showing him love, he hated him because some of the Egyptian sacrificers prophesied. According to their magic, he would bring danger to Egypt and advise the king to kill him.
- He became, in time, God’s Best Friend. And he was even buried by God Himself.
- God commanded him to bring the Jews out of Egypt. Because Pharaoh wouldn’t, God beat Egypt with ten punishments, and the sea swallowed up Pharaoh and his army after it was parted by Moses’ rod for the Jews to reach the other shore.
Conclusion
Moses became so accomplished that he was called God’s friend. Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there, in the land of Moab, at the Lord’s command. And the Lord buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, facing Beth-Peor. No one has known his tomb to this day.
So, with these verses, Moses, a friend of God, played a central role in the life of the people of Israel. A man whose writings continue to exist not only in Israel but in the church and synagogue to this day has died. Moses died, he was buried, the people mourned him, and that was that. Indeed, the principle in the words of the book of Revelation applies here: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. For they shall rest from their labors, for their works follow them.
