Following their exodus from Egypt, a committee of Israelite elders had ascended Mount Sinai and seen first God’s feet, then the deity himself. Among them, of course, was Moses, who is said to have enjoyed regular meetings with God, talking to him ‘face to face, as one would speak to a friend’.[8] Moses is not the only one claimed to have experienced God’s physical presence. In Genesis, Abraham walks alongside him, and Jacob has a wrestling match with him.
