If we had only the first sentence of this verse, it would be easily read as a metaphor for Yahweh’s action. Both “finger of God” and the more common “hand of God,” use anthropomorphic language metaphorically. That is, they describe a human aspect, but the intent is to describe Yahweh’s interaction with the world rather than his physicality. This use of the term is found in our biblical text. In Exodus 8:19 (the plague of lice), Pharaoh ignores his “magicians” when they warn him, “This is the finger of God.” In this Exodus story, there is no indication that Yahweh “touched” anything, although he certainly effected the miracle. In the New Testament when some accused Jesus of casting out a devil “through Beelzebub the chief of the devils,” Jesus deflected his accusers: “And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your sons cast them out? therefore shall they be your judges. But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you” (Luke 11:19–20). Jesus is not making a physical reference but a metaphoric one. It is not Yahweh’s physical finger but his power that effects the miracle.
Nevertheless, the older layers of the Old Testament conceived of Yahweh in physical terms. Although “finger of God” could be, and was, used metaphorically, the metaphor was founded on the accepted ability to describe, if not understand, Yahweh as an anthropomorphic being. (See Excursus: “Seeing the Finger of God: The Anthropomorphic Expectation,” following Ether 2.) For the brother of Jared, it was not the idea of the finger of God that was surprising, but something related to the seeing of that finger.
In Isaiah 6 and Ezekiel 1, the prophets “see” Yahweh. In both cases the vision is anthropomorphic, but distinctly unhuman. Isaiah describes Yahweh thus: “In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly” (Isa. 6:1–2). While Yahweh is presented as a monarch on a throne, an understandable human image, he is still nonhuman. For instance, just his “train filled the temple.” Yahweh is anthropomorphic, but more than human (as is appropriate). Further enhancing this image is the fact that he is accompanied by nonhuman attendants.
Ezekiel’s vision also focuses on those attendants before the vision of Yahweh on his throne:
Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.…
And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.
Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures. And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.
And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.
And their feet were straight feet; and the sole of their feet was like the sole of a calf’s foot: and they sparkled like the colour of burnished brass.
And they had the hands of a man under their wings on their four sides; and they four had their faces and their wings.
Their wings were joined one to another; they turned not when they went; they went every one straight forward.
As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.
Thus were their faces: and their wings were stretched upward; two wings of every one were joined one to another, and two covered their bodies.…
And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their heads, when they stood, and had let down their wings.
And above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone: and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it.
And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. (Ezek. 1:1, 4–11, 25–27)
Both Isaiah and Ezekiel lived and prophesied after the brother of Jared’s time. Ezekiel was contemporary with Lehi, and Isaiah was around 100 years earlier. Nevertheless, their anthropomorphic visions tell us that while the vision of Yahweh on his throne might fit an anthropomorphic deity, both this deity’s size and context are decidedly nonhuman. Even the attendants, while described with some anthropomorphism, are nonhuman, characterized with the aspects of different animals. These passages should not be seen as suggesting that this is what a heavenly being looks like but rather as an indication of what those heavenly beings are not—i.e., human.
It is a similar vision of deity that confronts us in the brother of Jared’s account. It is certainly unusual and unexpected, but why? It would not contradict the brother of Jared’s expectation if what he had expected was an anthropomorphic deity. (See Excursus: “Seeing the Finger of God: The Anthropomorphic Expectation,” following Ether 2.) I suggest that the surprise was in the seeing, both for the fact of the seeing and for what was not seen.
Mark S. Smith, Skirball Professor of Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at New York University, discusses the issue of seeing God:
Like Isaiah 6 and Ezekiel 1, the Pentateuch reflects on “seeing God.” Exodus 24:9–11 straightforwardly informs readers that Moses and others saw God on Mount Sinai. Later transmitters of this tradition evidently thought this simple statement needed some delineation or clarification that would preclude potential simple-minded readings. Such an answer is provided in Exodus 33:18–23. As the culmination of a dialogue between Yahweh and Moses, this passage shows marked theological reflection on Yahweh’s size and its implicit anthropomorphism. The leader of Israel asks his deity to let him see the divine face, as a mark of divine presence, protection, and approval. Although Moses has the stamp of divine approval, human experience of the divine is limited. Yahweh offers Moses the experience of seeing the divine “back,” which at once serves to express Yahweh’s support of Moses and to delimit human experience of the divine.
As Smith reads the text, seeing Yahweh requires protection for human beings against the unhuman, extra-human, glory of God. The vision of Yahweh is anthropomorphic in imagery and direct description, yet more than human in the context in which the prophet experiences deity. The referenced passage in Exodus provides more information:
And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.
And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.
And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.
And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:
And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:
And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen. (Ex. 33:18–23)
Moses is allowed an experience with Yahweh, but that experience is far from personal and markedly different from the experience the brother of Jared reported. Moses asks to see Yahweh: “I beseech thee, shew me thy glory” (Ex. 33:18). The brother of Jared makes no such request. The response to Moses’s request is a limited vision. The brother of Jared requests Yahweh’s intervention, but not his presence/ appearance. When “the veil was taken from off the eyes of the brother of Jared,” it was not at his asking.
However, like Moses, the brother of Jared has a vision of Yahweh—in his case, “the finger of the Lord; and it was as the finger of a man, like unto flesh and blood.” Like Moses’s experience, the brother of Jared’s vision is anthropomorphic. Also like Moses’s experience, the brother of Jared’s vision is limited to a single feature: here a finger and for Moses, the back. There is, however, a major difference. Moses’s vision is overwhelming with God’s magisterium, a powerful expression of his glory and presence. But the brother of Jared sees Yahweh’s finger “as the finger of a man, like unto flesh and blood.” It is perhaps important that the translation does not specifically say that it was a finger of flesh and blood, although our modern theology encourages that expectation. Nothing in this experience suggests how the brother of Jared could have determined whether the finger was physical. It is, rather, the very appearance that is important.
The “brother of Jared fell down before the Lord, for he was struck with fear.” He had not asked to see any part of Yahweh nor expected to see it. He probably expected that he would not survive seeing it. Yahweh tells Moses: “Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live” (Ex. 33:20). God’s power and glory were (and are) dangerous to unprotected mortals. Joseph Smith, in translating the book of Moses, stresses the potential danger: “And he saw God face to face, and he talked with him, and the glory of God was upon Moses; therefore Moses could endure his presence” (Moses 1:2). Man cannot endure God’s presence unless he is somehow protected from the power of that presence. The brother of Jared likely understood the danger but may not have understood that Yahweh could deflect the danger.