# Divine countenance

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{{Short description|Face of God}}
{{Redirect|Face of God}}
thumb|right|Face detail of God from "Creation of the Sun and Moon" by Michelangelo
The '''divine countenance''' is the [face](/source/face) of [God](/source/God).  The concept has special significance in the [Abrahamic religions](/source/Abrahamic_religions).

==In Islam==
[Islam](/source/Islam) considers [God](/source/God_in_Islam) to be beyond ordinary vision as the [Quran](/source/Quran) states that "Sights cannot attain him; he can attain sights",<ref>{{citation |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J5QKXdAMHvcC&pg=PA127 |title=The Cambridge companion to classical Islamic theology |author=Tim Winter, T. J. Winter |chapter=God:essence and attributes |year=2008|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521780582 }}</ref> but other verses indicate that he would be visible in the hereafter.<ref>{{citation |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yoV5f3U2PPoC&pg=PA395 |title=Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: the classical texts and their interpretation |author=Francis E. Peters |chapter=The Vision of God |year=1990|publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=0691020558 }}</ref> The Quran makes many references to the face of God but its use of the Arabic word for a physical face &mdash; ''wajh'' &mdash; is symbolic and is used to refer to [God's presence](/source/Divine_presence) which, in Islam, is everywhere: "wherever you turn, there is the face of God".<ref>Quran 2:115 as interpreted in {{citation |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SdgaD-7C6TkC&pg=PA120 |title=Literary structures of religious meaning in the Qur'ān |author=Andrew Rippin |chapter="Desiring the Face of God": The Qur'anic Symbolism of Personal Responsibility  |year=2000|publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=9780700712564 }}. The surah is more commonly interpreted </ref>

==In Judaism and Christianity==
[[File:Andrea Mantegna 010.jpg|thumb|150px|right|[Andrea Mantegna](/source/Andrea_Mantegna), ''[Sacrifice of Isaac](/source/Sacrifice_of_Isaac)'' The [Hand of God](/source/Hand_of_God_(art)) was the only part of God shown in art for many centuries.]]

In [Judaism](/source/Judaism) and [Christianity](/source/Christianity), the concept is the manifestation of God rather than a remote [immanence](/source/immanence) or delegation of an [angel](/source/angel), even though a mortal would not be able to gaze directly upon Him.<ref>{{citation |title=Theology of the Old Testament |author=Gustav Friedrich Oehler |author-link=Gustav Friedrich Oehler |chapter=The Divine Countenance and the Divine Glory |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T5OUVTQYPr4C&pg=185 |year=1870|publisher=BiblioBazaar |isbn=9781116209044 }}</ref>  In [Jewish mysticism](/source/Jewish_mysticism), it is traditionally believed that even the angels who attend to Him cannot endure seeing the divine countenance directly.<ref>{{cite book|last=Schäfer|first=Peter|title=The hidden and manifest God: some major themes in early Jewish mysticism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4u-qdHyoPggC|year=1992|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-0-7914-1044-8|page=17}}</ref>  Where there are references to visionary encounters, these are thought to be either products of the human [imagination](/source/imagination), as in [dream](/source/dream)s or, alternatively, a sight of the [divine glory](/source/glory_(religion)) which surrounds God, not the [Godhead](/source/Godhead_in_Judaism) itself.<ref>{{citation |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ojl_wsv0x3QC&pg=91 |title=The encyclopedia of Jewish myth, magic and mysticism |author=Geoffrey W. Dennis |chapter=Face (or Countenance) of God |year=2007|publisher=Llewellyn Worldwide |isbn=9780738709055 }}</ref>

An important early use of the concept in the [Old Testament](/source/Old_Testament) is the [blessing](/source/Priestly_Blessing) passed by [Moses](/source/Moses) to the [children of Israel](/source/Israelites) in the [Book of Numbers](/source/Book_of_Numbers).<ref>{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=96adcPdRZ8IC&pg=PA274 |title=Reforming the doctrine of God |author=F. LeRon Shults |quote=The ontological significance of the face of God is a theme that may be traced through every genre of the Hebrew Bible. |year=2005|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans |isbn=9780802829887 }}</ref>

{{Quote|<poem>
The {{Lord}} bless you and keep you:
The {{Lord}} make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you:
The {{Lord}} lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.<ref>{{bibleverse|Numbers|6:24–26}}</ref></poem>}}

The name of the city of [Peniel](/source/Penuel) literally means "the Face of God" in [Hebrew](/source/Hebrew). The place was named by [Jacob](/source/Jacob) after he [wrestled an angel](/source/Jacob_Wrestling_with_the_Angel) there, as recounted in the [Book of Genesis](/source/Book_of_Genesis). His [opponent](/source/Angel_of_the_Lord) seemed divine and so Jacob claimed to have looked upon the face of God.<ref>{{citation |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JNaeQmqthWsC&pg=PA155 |title=The uttermost part of the earth: a guide to places in the Bible |author=Richard R. Losch |chapter=Peniel|year=2005 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans |isbn=9780802828057 }}</ref>

Saint Paul in {{bibleverse|1 Corinthians|13,11-12}} states that the [beatific vision](/source/beatific_vision) of the face of God will be perfect solely in the [afterlife](/source/afterlife).

==In Mandaeism==
In the [Mandaean scripture](/source/Mandaean_texts) of the [Ginza Rabba](/source/Ginza_Rabba) (in [Right Ginza](/source/Right_Ginza) books 1 and 2.1), the face or countenance of [Hayyi Rabbi](/source/Hayyi_Rabbi) is referred to as the "Great Countenance of Glory" ({{langx|myz|ࡐࡀࡓࡑࡅࡐࡀ ࡓࡁࡀ ࡖࡏࡒࡀࡓࡀ|translit=parṣupa rba ḏ-ʿqara}}; {{IPA|mid|pɑrˈsˤufa ˈrɑbbɑ dˤiˈqɑra}}; also cognate with {{langx|syc|ܦܪܨܘܦܐ|translit=prṣupa|lit=countenance}}, attested in the [Peshitta](/source/Peshitta) including in [Matthew 17](/source/Matthew_17):2<ref>{{cite web | title=Dukhrana Analytical Lexicon of the Syriac New Testament | website=Dukhrana Biblical Research | date=2021-02-13 | url=http://dukhrana.com/lexicon/ | access-date=2023-12-10}}</ref>).<ref name="GR Gelbert">{{cite book |last=Gelbert |first=Carlos |title=Ginza Rba |year=2011 |publisher=Living Water Books |location=Sydney |isbn=9780958034630}}</ref> This [Aramaic](/source/Aramaic) term is a borrowing from the Greek word ''[prosopon](/source/prosopon)''.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Häberl | first=Charles | title=Mandaic and the Palestinian Question | journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society | volume=141 | issue=1 | date=2021-09-19 | issn=2169-2289 | doi=10.7817/jameroriesoci.141.1.0171| doi-access=free }}</ref>

==In Paganism==
In [pagan religion](/source/pagan_religion)s, the [face](/source/face) of [God](/source/God) might be viewed in a literal sense - the face of an [idol](/source/cult_image) in a [temple](/source/temple).<ref name=TotOT>{{citation |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fom-0E7QjMMC&pg=PA35 |title=Theology of the Old Testament |author=Walther Eichrodt |chapter=Spiritualization of the theophany |quote=The panim (the face) of God |volume=2 |year=1967|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |isbn=9780664223090 }}</ref>  In [prayer](/source/prayer)s and [blessing](/source/blessing)s, the concept was more [metaphor](/source/metaphor)ical, indicating the favourable [attention](/source/attention) of the deity.  For example, in the [Babylon](/source/Babylon)ian blessing:<ref>{{citation |title=Das alte Testament im Lichte des Alten Orients |author=Alfred Jeremias |year=1930}}</ref>
{{Quote|<poem>"May [Ea](/source/Enki) rejoice over thee!
 May [Damkina](/source/Damgalnuna), the queen of the deep, lighten thee with her countenance!
 May [Marduk](/source/Marduk), the great overseer of the [Igigi](/source/Igigi), lift up thy head!"</poem>}}

==In the arts==
God was represented by the [Hand of God](/source/Hand_of_God_(art)), in fact including the forearm but no more of the body, at several places in the 3rd-century [Dura-Europos synagogue](/source/Dura-Europos_synagogue), presumably reflecting the usual practice in ancient Jewish art, almost all of which is now lost.  The Hand convention was continued in Christian art, which also used full body depictions of the [God the Son](/source/God_the_Son) with the appearance of [Jesus](/source/Jesus) for Old Testament scenes, in particular the story of [Adam and Eve](/source/Adam_and_Eve), where God needed to be represented.<ref>Adolphe Napoléon Didron, 2003 ''Christian iconography: or The history of Christian art in the middle ages, Volume 1'' {{ISBN|0-7661-4075-X}} pages 167-170</ref>  The biblical statements from Exodus and John quoted above were taken to apply not only to [God the Father](/source/God_the_Father) in person, but to all attempts at the depiction of his face.<ref>James Cornwell, 2009 ''Saints, Signs, and Symbols: The Symbolic Language of Christian Art'' {{ISBN|0-8192-2345-X}} page 2</ref> The development of full images of [God the Father in Western art](/source/God_the_Father_in_Western_art) was much later, and the aged white-haired appearance of the [Ancient of Days](/source/Ancient_of_Days) gradually became the conventional representation, after a period of experimentation, especially in images the [Trinity](/source/Trinity), where all three persons might be shown with the appearance of Jesus.  In [Eastern Orthodoxy](/source/Eastern_Orthodoxy) the depiction of God the Father remains unusual, and has been forbidden at various church councils; many early Protestants did the same, and in the [Counter Reformation](/source/Counter_Reformation) the [Catholic Church](/source/Catholic_Church) discouraged the earlier variety of depictions but explicitly supported the Ancient of Days.

thumb|200px|The preface to Blake's ''Milton'' poem
The description of the Ancient of Days, identified with God by most commentators,<ref>God the Father by Western Christians; after centuries of debate, the [Russian Orthodox Church](/source/Russian_Orthodox_Church) decided in 1667 that the Ancient of Days was God the Son</ref> in the [Book of Daniel](/source/Book_of_Daniel) is the nearest approach to a physical description of God in the Hebrew Bible:<ref>Bigham Chapter 7</ref><blockquote>. ...the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.   ([Daniel](/source/Book_of_Daniel) 7:9) </blockquote>

The "countenance divine" appears in the lines of the famous [poem](/source/poem), ''[And did those feet in ancient time](/source/And_did_those_feet_in_ancient_time)'', by [William Blake](/source/William_Blake) which first appeared in the preface to his epic ''[Milton: A Poem in Two Books](/source/Milton%3A_A_Poem_in_Two_Books)''.  Blake thought highly of [Milton's](/source/John_Milton) work saying, "I have the happiness of seeing the Divine countenance in ... Milton more distinctly than in any prince or hero."<ref>{{citation |title="Divine Countenance": Blake's Portrait and Portrayals of Milton |author=Joseph Anthony Wittreich Jr. |journal=Huntington Library Quarterly |volume=38 |number=2 |date=Feb 1975 |pages=125–160 |doi=10.2307/3816778 |jstor=3816778}}</ref>

==See also==
* [Ancient of days](/source/Ancient_of_days)
* [Anthropomorphism](/source/Anthropomorphism)
* [Beatific vision](/source/Beatific_vision)
* [Hand of God (art)](/source/Hand_of_God_(art))
* [Names of God](/source/Names_of_God)
* [Omnipresence](/source/Omnipresence)
* [Prosopon](/source/Prosopon)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{theology}}
{{Authority control}}

Category:God
Category:Divinity
Category:Face

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Divine countenance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_countenance) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_countenance?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.