The Lord! God! Jehovah!
Even through the blur, all the names people had for Him sprang to mind.
Some reacted quickly, closing their eyes or looking away.
Because... no one could look directly upon God!
Many gods in myth cared little about mortal eyes. Zeus of Olympus had even pursued mortal women and fallen in love with princes and princesses. But God, the Omniscience and all-powerful one, was said to forbid anyone from looking at Him.
Hence the rules: "Do not look directly upon God, do not speak His name, and do not blaspheme against Him."
Others reacted too slowly. They saw God, saw His figure that seemed both real and unreal, then hurriedly shut their eyes. Nothing happened.
Only then did they realize they might have been fooled.
"Not looking directly upon God was made up?"
"Who said that last time? Nothing happened at all."
"Of course it was made up. According to Christian scripture, God appeared before people several times throughout history. There's no rule against looking directly at Him. And if I remember right, the rule against speaking His name is made up too. The original Christian wording says not to take the name of your Lord in vain. It means you can't use God's name to pursue your own interests, not that you can't say His name."
"What a scam."
"I just looked it up. The rule against looking directly upon a god comes from the Egyptian Gods. Karnak Temple records that Khonsu, Amun's Child of God, asked Amun to reveal his true form so he could see what his father really looked like. But because a god's true form couldn't be looked upon directly, Amun wrapped himself in a ram's skin and head before appearing to his son. Khonsu thought he'd seen his father's true