וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהֹוָ֜ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֗ה דַּבֵּר֮ אֶל־אַהֲרֹ֣ן אָחִ֒יךָ֒ וְאַל־יָבֹ֤א בְכׇל־עֵת֙ אֶל־הַקֹּ֔דֶשׁ מִבֵּ֖ית לַפָּרֹ֑כֶת אֶל־פְּנֵ֨י הַכַּפֹּ֜רֶת אֲשֶׁ֤ר עַל־הָאָרֹן֙ וְלֹ֣א יָמ֔וּת כִּ֚י בֶּֽעָנָ֔ן אֵרָאֶ֖ה עַל־הַכַּפֹּֽרֶת׃
GOD said to Moses:
Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come at will into the Shrine behind the curtain, in front of the cover that is upon the ark, lest he die; for I appear in* the cloud over the cover.
*appear in Or “communicate from.”
(The above rendering comes from the RJPS translation, an adaptation of the NJPS translation, with a footnote as added in May 2024. Before accounting for the alternative rendering in the footnote, I will analyze the plain sense of the Hebrew text.)
The root of the highlighted verb is ראה with a Niphal stem. On this verb, see my comment at Gen 12:7. There I show that when the Bible applies this verb to a persona, its conventional meaning is an abstract one: it refers to the advent of a (verbal) communication event. Its use is reserved for communications whose advent is unusual, as here (since it involves the Deity’s speech to Moses).
This is one such instance in which a visual epiphany cannot possibly be part of what the verb is denoting:
- According to the next verse (and cf. v. 17), no one but Aaron as high priest ever goes behind the curtain (פָּרֹכֶת) that separates the Shrine (or Holy of Holies, here called קֹדֶשׁ) from the rest of the Tent of Meeting (אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד), upon pain of death.
- When Aaron as high priest goes behind the curtain, he first generates a cloud of smoke, for the express purpose of obscuring his view of what is above the ark (v. 13). Thus the rite ensures that he sees nothing in particular.
- Given that the beneficiary of the verb’s action is not specified here, it may allude to instances when GOD communicates verbally with Moses from this location (Exod. 25.22; 30:6, 36; Num. 7.89; 17:19). Yet this passage presupposes that Moses does not go behind the curtain, as noted above.
- Hence neither Aaron nor Moses see anything in particular as a part of this verb’s action.
In short, the biblical text becomes more coherent when this instance of the verb is construed as describing communication, which is its conventional meaning.
As for rendering into English, the NJPS ‘appear’ is literal yet quite misleading. However, it was beyond the scope of this project to alter the translation itself. Therefore I have presented the extended (less literal) meaning as an alternative, in the footnote.