For instance, in Exodus24:9-11 is says that Moses, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu saw God and they ate and drank. Exodus 33:11 says Moses talked with God as a man speaks face to face with a friend.
Contrast these with Exodus 33:20 where God says to Moses, "You can not see my face; for no man shall see Me and live.
How do we reconcile these seeming contradictions?
First off, God does not contradict Himself. If He did, He would not be God. So there must be some explanation for this.
I have to take the verse that says no man shall see God and live at face value. So when it says Moses talked with God as a man talks face to face with a friend, I have to believe it is not talking about physical proximity, but rather familiarity. Moses was able to talk to God as intimately as friends would talk to one another.
But what about the other verse where it says Moses, Aaron, Abihu and Nadab saw God. I have to believe they saw some form of God's glory, but not God himself or they would have been struck dead. Moses was the writer of Exodus. It was he that also wrote that no man can see God and live as well as this other verse in question. Perhaps he found it difficult to describe with words the glory of God that they saw, so he just said they saw God.
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