55 Preface وَإِذ قُلتُم يا موسىٰ لَن نُؤمِنَ لَكَ حَتّىٰ نَرَى اللَّهَ جَهرَةً فَأَخَذَتكُمُ الصّاعِقَةُ وَأَنتُم تَنظُرونَYusuf AliAnd remember ye said1: “O Moses! We shall never believe in thee until we see God manifestly,” but ye were dazed with thunder and lighting even as ye looked on.We have hitherto had instances from the Jewish traditional Tawrah (or Pentateuch). Now we have some instances from Jewish tradition in the Talmud, or body of exposition in the Jewish theological schools. They are based on the Jewish scriptures, but add many marvellous details and homilies. As to seeing God, we have in Exod. 33:20: “And He said, 'Thou canst not see My face: for there shall no man see Me and live'.” The punishment for insisting on seeing God was therefore death: but those who rejected faith were forgiven, and yet they were ungrateful. (Cf. nn. 1121-1122, n. 3078).