Face

Face (panim in Hebrew) carries in Scripture a weight far beyond its literal meaning. In biblical idiom, a person's face represents their very presence, attention, and favor — or the withdrawal thereof. To seek someone's face is to seek their presence; to hide one's face signifies rejection or grief. When God's face shines upon someone it denotes blessing and acceptance, as in the Aaronic benediction (Numbers 6:25); when he hides his face it signals divine displeasure or the experience of abandonment (Psalm 44:3; Daniel 9:17).

The expression "face of God" (pene yhwh) appears throughout the Old Testament as a reverential way of speaking of the divine presence. Adam and Eve hid themselves from the "face of the Lord God" after the fall (Genesis 3:8), and Moses was told that no man could see God's face and live (Exodus 33:14-15), yet was granted to see his glory from behind. The New Testament escalates this theme: the disciples saw God's glory in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6), and the final beatitude of the redeemed is to see God's face directly (Revelation 22:4).