Does Ellen White have anything to say about Exodus 24:9-11?

Answered on

BibleAsk Team answered on October 3, 2026

Yes, upon looking it up it appears that Ellen White comments quite directly on Exodus 24:9-11:

She says that Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders did not see God Himself in His unveiled divine essence, but rather the glory of His presence. In Beginning of the End, she writes that they “did not see God Himself, but they saw the glory of His presence.” Ellen G. White Writings

She says the same even more explicitly in a 1904 letter. After quoting Exodus 24:10, she explains:

“They did not behold the Deity… but they saw the glory of His presence.”

She connects this with 1 Timothy 6:16, where God is described as dwelling “in the light which no man can approach unto.”

So Ellen White’s understanding appears to be:

- They really did experience a visible manifestation of God.

- They saw His glory, power, and greatness.

- They did not behold the fullness of God’s divine being or face.

- God mercifully revealed Himself in a form they could survive.

That fits well with Exodus 33:20, where God later tells Moses, “Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.”

So when Exodus 24 says they “saw the God of Israel,” Ellen White understands that as seeing a manifestation of His presence and glory, not seeing God in the absolute fullness of His unveiled deity.

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