Moses's Encounter with G-d and G-d's Encounter with Moses: A Reading of the Moses Narratives in Conversation with Emmanuel Levinas

This paper presents a reading of the Moses narratives in the Pentateuch in dialog with Emmanuel Levinas. It examines the encounter with the Other on the part of the two major characters, namely, Moses and G-d, insofar as each is revealed to the Other during the course of the narrative and each is transformed as a result of their interaction. It both affirms and tests Levinas's understanding of love or beneficence on the part of the Other by pointing to both the constructive aspects of Moses's and G-d's interrelationship as well as the tensions that emerge between them and the consequences that result. The paper argues that Levinas's understanding of encounter with the Other provides an appropriate hermeneutical standpoint from which to read biblical literature, but that his understanding of the beneficence of such encounter must be modified to account for the tensions and conflicts that emerge. The paper begins with a discussion of Levinas's hermeneutical perspectives, including his rejection of the concept of totality in favor of infinity, his concept of the Self formed in relation to the Other, his understanding of Face in relation to moral summons, and his understanding of ethics applied to both Moses/ Israel and to G-d. Issues treated include Moses's encounter with G-d in the burning bush and plague narratives (Exodus 3–15); conflict between Moses and G-d in the golden calf episode (Exodus 32–34); the spy narratives (Numbers 13–14); and the call for water from the rock at Meribah (Numbers 20; Deuteronomy 34).