Commenting
on the JST, Christina Darlington wrote the following about one of Joseph Smith’s changes to the KJV:
Other changes Joseph Smith made to his
version of the Bible include Exodus 33:20 where Moses could not see God’s face
and live. Joseph Smith changed this to say that Moses could not see God’s face
if he remained in his sinful state. (Christina R. Darlington, Misguided by Mormonism But Redeemed by God’s
Grace: Leaving the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for Biblical
Christianity [2d ed.; 2019], 122)
With this
comment, Darlington is implying that Joseph had to alter the text to provide
support for God being corporeal in his “essential” nature.
Let us first quote the JST (the following comes from the 1967 Inspired Version, published by the then-RLDS Church):
Let us first quote the JST (the following comes from the 1967 Inspired Version, published by the then-RLDS Church):
And he said unto Moses, Thou canst not see my face at this time, lest mine anger be kindled against thee also, and I destroy thee, and thy people; for there shall no man among them see me at this time, and live, for they are exceeding sinful. And no sinful man hath at any time, neither shall there be any sinful man at any time, that shall see my face and live.However, one need not even appeal to the JST itself to support divine embodiment; the narrative itself supports such. As the notes in the Jewish Study Bible read about this narrative:
20; See 3.6 n.; cf. 24.10 n.
According to Num. 12.8, Moses sees God’s “likeness” (Heb “temunah,” which
appears in poetic parallelism with “face” in Ps. 17.15) . . . 22-23: My hand . . . My back . . .My face: As noted in the comment to 3.6,
the Bible assumes that God has a human form; but that seeing Him would be too
awesome for humans to survive. (Jeffrey H. Tigay, “Exodus,” in The Jewish Study Bible, eds. Adele
Berlin and Marc Zvi Brettler [2d ed.; New York: Oxford University Press, 2014],
179).
Tigay makes
reference to Exo 3:6, which the 1985 JPS Tanakh renders as:
“I am,” He said, “the God of your father, the
God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his
face, for he was afraid to look at God.
The note for
this verse further supports divine embodiment:
. . . He
was afraid to look at God: Although the Bible assumes that God has a
physical (usually humanlike) form, many passages suggest that seeing Him would
be too awesome for humans to survive (Gen. 32.31; Exod. 19.21; 33.20-23; Judg.
13.22; Isa. 6.5; exceptions include Exod. 24.10-11; Num. 12.8; Deut. 34.10;
Ezek. 1.26-28). (Ibid., 102)
As we can
see, (1) Joseph Smith’s change is a good clarification, as, in most instances,
to see the face of God would result in death and (2) scholarship supports the
Latter-day Saint understanding of the theological import of this narrative,
that is, God has bodily form. Again, Darlington’s criticisms of “Mormonism” and
her (false) theology forces her to grasp at straws when interacting with
Latter-day Saint theology and Scriptures.
For more on
divine embodiment, see:
Lynn Wilder vs. Latter-day Saint (and Biblical) Theology on Divine Embodiment
On 1 Tim 6:16, a common "proof-text" used against God having a physical, corporeal form, see:
James Stutz, Can a Man See God? 1 Timothy 6:16 in Light of Ancient and Modern Revelation
(cf. my post, Some Comments on Matt Slick's Attempt to Refute James Stutz on 1 Timothy 6:16 and Insights from D. Charles Pyle, "I Have Said Ye are Gods")
For a listing of previous refutations of Christina Darlington and her book, Misguided by Mormonism, see:
Listing of Responses to Christina R. Darlington's "Misguided by Mormonism"