Numbers 14:14

14:14 then they will tell it to the inhabitants 1  of this land. They have heard that you, Lord, are among this people, that you, Lord, are seen face to face, 2  that your cloud stands over them, and that you go before them by day in a pillar of cloud and in a pillar of fire by night.

Exodus 33:11

33:11 The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, 3  the way a person speaks 4  to a friend. Then Moses 5  would return to the camp, but his servant, Joshua son of Nun, a young man, did not leave the tent. 6 

Deuteronomy 34:10

34:10 No prophet ever again arose in Israel like Moses, who knew the Lord face to face. 7 

Deuteronomy 34:1

The Death of Moses

34:1 Then Moses ascended from the deserts of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the summit of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. 8  The Lord showed him the whole land – Gilead to Dan,

Deuteronomy 6:16

Exhortation to Obey the Lord Exclusively

6:16 You must not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah. 9 

1 tn The singular participle is to be taken here as a collective, representing all the inhabitants of the land.

2 tn “Face to face” is literally “eye to eye.” It only occurs elsewhere in Isa 52:8. This expresses the closest communication possible.

3 tn “Face to face” is circumstantial to the action of the verb, explaining how they spoke (see GKC 489-90 §156.c). The point of this note of friendly relationship with Moses is that Moses was “at home” in this tent speaking with God. Moses would derive courage from this when he interceded for the people (B. Jacob, Exodus, 966).

4 tn The verb in this clause is a progressive imperfect.

5 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

6 sn Moses did not live in the tent. But Joshua remained there most of the time to guard the tent, it seems, lest any of the people approach it out of curiosity.

7 sn See Num 12:8; Deut 18:15-18.

8 sn For the geography involved, see note on the term “Pisgah” in Deut 3:17.

9 sn The place name Massah (מַסָּה, massah) derives from a root (נָסָה, nasah) meaning “to test; to try.” The reference here is to the experience in the Sinai desert when Moses struck the rock to obtain water (Exod 17:1-2). The complaining Israelites had, thus, “tested” the Lord, a wickedness that gave rise to the naming of the place (Exod 17:7; cf. Deut 9:22; 33:8).