34. Bereshit — Abarbanel on the Torah, Section 34

The Fourfold Meaning of Panim

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Thus, in its primary usage, the term panim refers to the human face. Now, careful observation of language reveals that the human face is associated with four distinct aspects.

First, the face is the place of the senses, and through it a person directs his attention and perceives what he observes.

Second, the face is the part of a person that is seen first, for when one encounters another, one looks first at his face before examining the rest of his body.

Third, the face is the most distinguished part of the person, since it contains the senses, which are the starting point of all perception.

Fourth, the face is the most revealed part of the body, for all other limbs can be concealed by clothing, whereas the face must necessarily be revealed when a person speaks or interacts with others, since it is through it that he is recognized and known.

Based on these four aspects, language extended the term panim by analogy. Thus, in accordance with the first extension, the word is used to denote direction or inclination toward something, or attention given to it, as in: “he turned to other gods,” “whose heart turns this day,” and similarly “toward morning” and “toward evening,” when the morning inclines toward light and the evening toward darkness.

From this same idea comes its use in reference to divine providence: “May the Lord lift up His face toward you,” “Turn toward me and be gracious to me,” “From before You my judgment shall go forth,” and “other gods before Me.”¹

“Turn toward me and be gracious to me”; “From before You my judgment shall go forth”; “other gods before Me”; “he is fleeing from before the Lord”; “the face of the Lord is against them”—all these expressions denote providence or attentive regard. Likewise, when applied to a human being in the sense of attending to his affairs, as in: “I have cleared out the house,” and “prepare the way of the Lord,”² all these are expressions of attention or directed concern, which is designated by the term panim, since a person directs his face and attention toward what he wishes to consider.

According to the second extension, the term panim is used to denote priority or precedence, just as the face is foremost in the body. Thus: “of old You laid the foundations of the earth”; “for the day of the Lord has come”—that is, prior to it. Likewise: “because the Lord descended upon it in fire,”³ meaning: on account of what had occurred previously, namely that the Lord had descended upon it in fire.

According to the third extension, the term panim is used to designate the most distinguished or noble part, just as the face is the most distinguished of a person’s limbs. In this sense it is said: “the inner house and its inner chambers,” “the king’s daughter is all glorious within.” In my view, this is also the meaning of “the Temple before the Lord,” “you cannot see My face,” and “My face shall not be seen.”⁴

We need not say, as the author of the Kuzari did, that the term panim is a designation of the Divine Name itself. He was led to this by the verse “My face shall not be seen,” but this is not correct. For the Divine Name is not applied metaphorically to anything else. Rather, “My face shall not be seen” should be understood according to this third extension: it refers to the most exalted aspects of the Divine, which a human being cannot apprehend—whether this be the Divine essence, as held by the author of the Guide, or His essential attributes, as held by Rabbi Chasdai.

According to the fourth extension, the term panim denotes the most exposed or visible part of a thing. Thus: “upon the face of the earth,” “upon the face of the firmament of the heavens,” “toward the face of the menorah,” “before the sun his name shall endure”—that is, before what is openly visible of the sun. Similarly: “they are crushed before the worms,” which refers to the visible constellation (‘Ash, as in ‘Oseh ‘Ash, Kesil ve-Kimah)⁵.

From this same usage it is said in the Scroll: “it was written on the front and on the back,” and “it is better to sit on the corner of a roof,”⁶ for the “face” of the scroll or of the roof refers to its exposed surface.

In this sense also Scripture says: “upon the face of the deep,” “upon the face of the waters,” meaning the most visible and upper surface of them.

This, then, is the true meaning of the term panim, in its primary sense and in its extended usages.

(Parashat Bereshit — Genesis 1:2, The Fourfold Meaning of Panim in the Commentary of Don Isaac Abarbanel)

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