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Face-to-Face with God: The Progressive Democratization of Divine Access in the Hebrew Bible

In the ancient Near East, kings were viewed as having a level of access to the gods not available to ordinary people. In ancient Egypt, for example, this royal privilege is asserted both visually and textually. In countless reliefs, pharaohs are pictured standing beside one or another of the gods – sometimes holding hands with the god – and at other times as face-to-face with the god. In the Qadesh Poem, which recounts the battle of Qadesh, Ramesses is described as hearing the word of Amun, receiving the counsel of Amun’s mouth and, finally, speaking with Amun “face to face.” This special proximity to the god(s) demonstrates the pharaoh’s superiority over ordinary men and women.
In the Torah, however, Moses is repeatedly said to have spoken with God “face to face”: (1) in the book of Exodus, where it describes Moses’ habitual encounters with YHWH as having been “face to face, as one speaks to a friend” (Exod 33:11); (2) in the case of Aaron and Miriam’s jealousy over Moses’ status, in which YHWH insists that Moses’ authority was superior to that of other prophets, because he spoke to him “face to face” (Num 12:8), and; (3) at the conclusion of Deuteronomy, where the author states that there has never been another prophet like Moses in Israel, “whom YHWH knew face to face” (Deut 34:10).
Furthermore, through Moses’ ministrations, the people were elevated to the same status. Moses said that the Egyptians and the Canaanites would have both heard “that you, O LORD, are in the midst of this people, for you, O LORD, are seen face to face” (Num 14:14). In recounting the establishment of the covenant at Mt. Horeb, Moses said that “The LORD spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the fire” (Deut 5:4). Many years later, when Israel languished in exile, YHWH promised that he would bring them out of the countries where they had been scattered, that he would bring them into the wilderness, and there he would enter into judgment with them “face to face” (Ezek 20:35).
In this paper, we will see how tropes that had been strictly limited to monarchs came to be applied to the people of Israel. Whereas in the broader ancient Near East, it was only kings who were thought to have special personal access to the gods, divine access is democratized in the Hebrew Bible, first with Moses speaking to God “face to face, as one speaks to a friend,” and then, through his ministrations, with the entire people being elevated to that same status.

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