The Torah is full of moments like that, and they teach us so much about ourselves and our relationship with the Divine.
We find a fascinating exploration of this idea in Shemot Rabbah 45. It all starts with Moses, bold Moses, asking God, "Show me, please, Your glory" (Exodus 33:18). But the Rabbis don't just take this request at face value. They unpack it, layer by layer, revealing deeper truths about humility, timing, and the very nature of reward and punishment.
Rabbi Tanhuma bar Abba kicks things off with a quote from Proverbs: "As it is better that it be said to you: Come up here, than that you should be debased" (Proverbs 25:7). It's a lesson in humility, echoed by Hillel, who famously said, "My debasing is my exalting, and my exalting is my debasing." It's better to be lifted up by others than to try and elevate yourself – a sentiment David expresses in Psalms, understanding that self-exaltation can lead to a fall.
But what does this have to do with Moses and his request to see God's glory? Well, the Midrash connects it to an earlier encounter, the burning bush. Remember that scene? "An angel of the Lord appeared..." (Exodus 3:2). Rabbi Yehuda bar Neḥemya points out that Moses was new to prophecy. God, being the ultimate teacher, met Moses where he was. Instead of a booming voice that might scare him, or a whisper he might dismiss, God spoke in a familiar voice – the voice of Moses' father.
Moses, initially, even thought it was his father! Imagine that moment of confusion and then the realization: "I am not your father, but rather, 'the God of your father'" (Exodus 3:6). And then, crucially, "Moses concealed his face, for he was afraid to look upon God" (Exodus 3:6).
Now, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korḥa has a pretty strong opinion about this. He says Moses didn't act well by hiding his face. Why? Because if he hadn't, God would have revealed secrets of the universe: what's above, what's below, and what's destined to be. Big stuff! But Moses recoiled, and perhaps, according to this view, he missed a monumental opportunity.
So, later, when Moses asks to see God's glory, it's almost like he's trying to make up for that missed chance. But, as Rabbi Yehoshua of Sikhnin says in the name of Rabbi Levi, God's response is nuanced. He does show Moses three things, as a reward for three actions: Because Moses "concealed" his face, God later speaks to him "face to face" (Exodus 33:12). Because he was "afraid," the people later become "afraid to approach him" (Exodus 34:30). And because he hesitated "to look upon God," he later "beholds [yabit] the image of God" (Numbers 12:8). (The word yabit here is important, meaning "he beholds.")
It's not a direct one-to-one, but a delayed and transformed reward. Moses' initial reluctance, his humility (or perhaps his fear), ultimately led to deeper, albeit different, encounters with the Divine.
But the Rabbis aren't done yet. They delve into what Moses really wanted to see when he asked about God's glory. According to the Midrash, he wanted to understand the reward of the righteous and the tranquility of the wicked. Why do good people suffer, and bad people prosper? It's a question that plagues us still.
The Midrash connects "glory" to both the reward of the righteous ("The wise will inherit glory," Proverbs 3:35) and, surprisingly, the tranquility of the wicked ("After glory You will take me," Psalms 73:24). The idea here is that the wicked may experience fleeting "glory" in this world, but it's a temporary illusion before their ultimate reckoning.
God's response, "You will not be able see My face [panai]" (Exodus 33:20), isn't a simple denial. The Midrash interprets panai, "face," as referring to the tranquility of the wicked. As Deuteronomy 7:10 says, God "repays His enemies to their face [el panav] to eradicate them." In other words, understanding the seeming unfairness of the world is beyond human comprehension. We can't fully grasp the divine accounting.
So, what do we take away from all this? Perhaps it's a reminder that humility and reverence are not weaknesses, but pathways to deeper understanding. That missed opportunities can sometimes lead to unexpected blessings. And that some questions, like the distribution of reward and punishment, may simply be beyond our grasp. We might not always get to see God's "glory" in the way we expect, but that doesn't mean it isn't there, working in ways we can't fully comprehend. And sometimes, maybe, that's enough.