Mouth to mouth I speak to him, thus showing him, and not by riddles; and the appearance [similitude, Le; JP] of Jehovah is what he beholds.” (Num. 12:6-8) That was good reproof for Aaron and Miriam, because they had bragged that Jehovah had spoken by means of them and so they were prophets as much as Moses was.

In view of what has already been learned it might be asked, What was the point that Jehovah was making to Aaron and Miriam when he said that he spoke with Moses “mouth to mouth”? How was his communicating with Moses different from his communicating with other prophets also by means of angels?

Although God had in the past spoken through angels to faithful men such as Noah and Abraham, and He had audibly conveyed the Ten Commandments to the entire nation by his angel on a single occasion, Jehovah spoke with Moses “mouth to mouth” or “face to face, just as a man would speak to his fellow.” (Ex. 33:9-11) Not merely on one or two occasions, but repeatedly Jehovah spoke to Moses, and Moses, in turn, talked to God, presenting problems for His direction and expressing his own feelings, and Jehovah answered him by his angel. No others of the prophets enjoyed such a continuous two-way conversational communication with God as Moses did in his capacity of mediator or go-between.​—Deut. 34:10.

Jehovah, by means of his angel on Mount Horeb, said to Moses: “You are not able to see my face, because no man may see me and yet live.” (Ex. 33:20) So, when Deuteronomy 34:10 speaks of “Moses, whom Jehovah knew face to face,” it could never mean that Moses saw Jehovah’s very own face or person. And as the mouth is a part of the face, then when Jehovah said, “Mouth to mouth I speak to him,” it could not mean that Moses saw God’s face or was in direct, immediate contact with God. He merely had personal audience with God, by means of angels, who, as Jesus said in Matthew 18:10, “always [at necessary times] behold the face of my Father who is in heaven.”

The manner in which Jehovah dealt with Moses was so impressive that it was as if Moses actually had beheld God with his own eyes, instead of merely having a mental vision or a dream in which he heard God speak, which was the usual way in which God communicated with his prophets. Jehovah was never actually seen by Moses, and it was through angels that God spoke to him, but Jehovah’s dealings with Moses were so real that Moses reacted as if he had seen “the One who is invisible.” (Heb. 11:27) And the way in which the description was written down sounded and read as if Moses had seen and heard Jehovah God himself.