The Literal Meaning of Genesis (continued)
BOOK TWELVE QF,
avoiding of evil by prudence. The one virtue and the whole of virtue there is to love what you see, and the supreme happiness is to possess what you love. For there beatitude is imbibed at its source, whence some few drops are sprinkled upon this life of ours,'?? that amid the trials of this world we may spend our days with temperance, fortitude, justice, and prudence.
It is surely in pursuit of this end, where there will be secure peace and the unutterable vision of truth, that man undertakes the labor of restraining his desires, of bearing adversities, of relieving the poor, of opposing deceivers. There the brightness of the Lord is seen,!?5 not through a symbolic or corporeal vision, as it was seen on Mount Sinai,!** nor through a spiritual vision such as Isaiah saw!?5 and John in the Apocalypse, but through a direct vision!?° and not through a dark image, as far as the human mind elevated by the grace of God can receive it. In such a vision God speaks face to face to him whom He has made worthy of this communion. And here we are speaking not of the face of the body but of that of the mind.
CHAPTER 27
The vision granted to Moses.
Now I think we must understand in this sense what has been written of the vision granted to Moses.!27
55. Moses, as we read in Exodus, had yearned to see God, not as he had seen Him on the mountain, nor as he saw Him in the tabernacle,!28 but in His divine essence without the medium of any bodily creature that might be presented to the senses of mortal flesh. It was his desire to see God, not by imaginary likenesses of bodies in the spirit but by a vision of the divine essence as far as this can be attained by a rational and intellectual creature when withdrawn from all bodily senses and from all obscure symbols of the spirit.
For, according to Holy Scripture, Moses said, If, therefore, I have found favor in Thy sight, show me Thyself, that I may see Thee clearly.129 Now just before this we read, And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend.'*° He realized, therefore, what he saw, and he longed for what he did not see. For shortly after this, God said to him, For you have found grace in My sight, and I have known you before all.'>' And he replied, Show me
Thy brightness.132 And then, indeed, an answer clothed in a figure, which it would be tedious now to explain, was given him by the Lord, who said to him, You cannot see My face and live; for man shall not see My face and live.133 And then God continued, Behold there is a place with Me and you shall stand upon the rock. As soon as My Majesty will pass, I will place you upon an eminence of the rock and cover you with My hand till I pass; and I will take away My hand, and then you shall see My back parts; for My face shall not be revealed to you.'3*
However, the account that follows in the sacred text does not state that this took place in a corporeal way, and this shows clearly enough that the words are to be taken figuratively as referring to the Church. For the Church is "the place with the Lord," because it is His temple and is built upon a rock; and the rest of this narrative agrees with this interpretation.!*> But if Moses had not merited to see the brightness of God, which he ardently desired, God would not say, as He does in the Book of
Numbers, to Aaron and Mary, the brother and sister of Moses, Hear My words: If there be a prophet among you, in a vision, I, the Lord, will become known to him, and I will speak to him in his sleep.
Not thus with My servant Moses: in all My house, be is the faithful one. Mouth to mouth I will speak to him in My essence and not through obscure signs, and he has seen the brightness of the Lord.'3° This, indeed, is not to be understood as referring to a bodily substance made present to the senses of the flesh. For certainly God spoke thus to Moses face to face, the one in the presence of the other; but on that occasion Moses said to God, Show me Thyself. And now also, addressing those whom He reprimanded, and above whom He thus exalted the merits of Moses, God spoke in this way through a corporeal creature, present to the senses of the body.
In that other manner, then, in His own divine essence, He speaks in an incomparably more intimate and inward manper, in an unutterable converse where no man beholds Him while