Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Oun Kwon" <kwonbbl AT gmail.com>]

On 5/20/06, Peter Kirk <peter AT qaya.org> wrote:

> >
> Oun, I must say I wondered for a moment if there was some contradiction
> between this verse and 2 Corinthians 3:13. Perhaps the KJV rendering is
> an attempt, perhaps unconscious, to harmonise Exodus with the New
> Testament verse, which at first seems to imply that Moses veiled his
> face when speaking to the Israelites, not afterwards. But a closer look
> at 2 Corinthians 3:13 in context makes it clear that the Israelites had
> the chance to see Moses' face unveiled but they could not fix their eyes
> on it (ATENISAI, v.7), also that what the veil hid was not in fact the
> Moses' shining face, but literally "the end of what was being
> destroyed". It is not quite clear to me what this means, but certainly
> one possibility is a reference to the fading away of the glory. Thus 2
> Corinthians agrees with Exodus, that Moses displayed his shining face
> for a while, but then covered it up - perhaps because he knew that the
> glory would fade away and didn't want others to see this happening.
>
> --

Hi Peter,

The text 2Co 3:13 does not contradict to Exodus either in modern
translations or in KJV with its attempted harmonization. As you
rightly mentioned, now it is clear that this attempt is not called for
on the basis of the grammar and not needed when the narrative is
properly understood.

Thanks to all.

Oun.