Exodus 33:23 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

I will take away my hand Speaking after the manner of men: As soon as the dazzling splendours of my majesty, termed, my face, which it is impossible for man to behold and live, are passed by, I will, by degrees, withdraw the cloud that limited and concealed those splendours, and thou shalt see my back parts, or those rays of my glory which are not too bright and piercing for mortal eyes to sustain. To explain this further, the face in man is the seat of majesty, and men are known by their faces; in them we take a full view of men: that sight of God Moses might not have, but such a sight as we have of a man who is gone past us, so that we only see his back. Now Moses was allowed to see this only; but when he was a witness to Christ's transfiguration, he saw his face shine as the sun.