Images at work versus words at play: Michelangelo's art and the artistry of the Hebrew Bible

Judaism, Spring, 2002 by Richard S. Ellis

Many commentators have pointed out that Michelangelo's conception of the two-homed Moses was based on a mistranslation of Exodus 34:29 in Jerome's Vulgate, the authorized text used by the Church. (7) Fox translates this verse and the next one as follows: (8) "29. Now it was when Moshe came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of Testimony in Moshe's hand, when he came down from the mountain--(now) Moshe did not know that the skin of his face was radiating because of his having spoken with him,--30. Aharon and all the Children of Israel saw Moshe: and here, the skin of his face was radiating! So they were afraid to approach him."

While the phrase "the skin of his face was radiating" appears twice, each time it is from a different perspective. Verse 29 seems to be told from the perspective of God. Because Moses had spoken with God, the skin of Moses's face was radiating as Moses descended alone from Mount Sinai. By contrast, verse 30 is told from the perspective of the Israelites, who feared Moses because the skin of his face was radiating. Interestingly, both senses are contained in the virtual space of the Hebrew original. In fact, a silent letter can be interchanged and a word can be revocalized to yield multiple meanings corresponding to the dual perspectives of verses 29 and 30.

In the traditional, Masoretic vocalization, the Hebrew for the phrase "the skin of his face was radiating" is karan 'or panav; karan means "was radiating," or means "skin" or "skin of," and panav means "his face." The reverse apostrophe 'that precedes the letters or represents the Hebrew letter ayin. We now revocalize and interchange letters in order to obtain other meanings. By altering vowels, karan becomes keren, meaning "horn" or "beam," and by interchanging the first letter of 'or (ayin) with the Hebrew letter aleph, one obtains the word 'or, meaning "light" (the apostrophe that precedes or represents an aleph). Thus the Masoretic Hebrew karan 'or panav can also be read as keren 'or panav, meaning "the light from his face [was] a horn," or as keren 'or panav, meaning "the skin of his face [was] a horn" or less literally as "the skin of his face [sent forth] beams of light." (9)

Verse 29, which is told from the perspective of God, relates that the skin of Moses's face was radiating because of his having spoken with God. Karan 'or panav. Verse 30, which is told from the perspective of the Israelites, articulates the fear that this metamorphosis of Moses's face evoked in them. Keren or panav. The Israelites saw the radiating light as threatening, as hornlike, kerenlike, a perception that objectifies the fear that they experienced in Moses's presence. This dual perspective, which expresses the multifaced/multifaceted nature of Moses, is also artfully conveyed by the Hebrew word panim, which is an ambiguous singular-plural form meaning either "face" or "faces."

The evocative and multilayered ambiguity of the Torah, based in part on its ability to generate multiple meanings, is inevitably lost in translation, whether into the English of Fox or into the Latin of Jerome. However, the latter translation differs markedly from the former in its emphasis upon a different aspect of Moses's face. Jerome translates karan 'or panav in Exodus 34:29 as cornuta esset facies sua, meaning literally "horned was his face." (10) In verse 30 the Hebrew phrase is translated into the analogous, grammatically appropriate Latin phrase.