Figures And Knowledge

Nam et facies Dei in Scripturis sanctis non caro, sed divino cognitio intelligitur eadem ratione qua per faciem conspectam quisuqe cognoscitur. Hoc enim in oratione dicitur Deo: Ostende nobis faciem tuam, ac si dicitur: Da nobis cognitionem tuam. Sic et vestigia Dei dicuntur, quia nunc Deus per speculum agnoscitur; ad perfectum vero Omnipotens reperitetur, dum in futurum facie ad faciem quibusque electis praesentabitur, ut ipsam speciem contemplentur, cujus nunc vestigia comprehendere conantur, hoc est, quem videre per speculum dicuntur. Nam, et situs, et habitus, et locus, et tempus in Deum non proprie, sed per similitudinem translate dicuntur, quippe sedere super cherubim, dicitur, quod est ad situm; et abyssus, tanquam vestimentum, amictus ejus, quod est ad habitum; et, Anni tui non deficient, quod ad tempus pertinet; et , Si ascendero in coelum, tu ibi es, quod as locum. Nam et in propheta, plaustri portantis fenum species ad Deum dicitur. Et haec omnia figuram Deus, quia nihil est horim ad proprietatem substantiae ejus. Sanctus Isidorus Hispalensis, Etymologiae, Liber VII, Caput I Source: Migne PL 82.263d-264a

Likewise the face of God in Holy Scripture is not understood as flesh, but as Divine knowledge, in the same way in which someone is known when his face is revealed. For this is said in a prayer to God, 'Show us your face,' 1 as if to say, 'Grant us knowledge of you.' Thus the traces of God are spoken of, because now God is known through a mirror, 2 but He shall be recognized as the Almighty at the culmination, when in the future He is present face to face to each one of the elect, so that they may contemplate His appearance, whose traces they now try to understand, that is, Him whom it is said they see through a mirror. For in relation to God, position and garb and place and time are not spoken of properly, but as a likeness, so, 'To sit on the Cherubim' 3 refers to position, and 'The deep, like a garment, is His cloak,' 4 refers to clothing; and 'Your years shall not fail,' 5 refers to time; and 'If I ascend to heaven, you are there,' 6 refers to place. And then in the Prophet, 'As a wain laden with hay,' 7 is spoken as an image of God. All these refer to God figuratively, because nothing of these things refers properly to His true being. Saint Isidore of Seville, The Etymologies Book 7, Chap 1 1 Ps 79.4 2 1 Cor 13.12 3 Ps 98.1 4 Ps 103.6 5 Ps 101.28 6 Ps 138.8 7 Amos 2.13