According to Taberî, the statement mentioned in the verse is indeed something that the people of Musa actually said, and Allah transmitted it to them as a reproach, reminding them of their ancestors' inconsistency and their evil treatment towards their prophets. The expression 'openly' (cehreten) means removing the veil between them and demanding to see Allah with their own eyes; this situation is likened to removing the earth over a well so that the water becomes visible. Regarding the lightning bolt (saika), different reports have been mentioned, some saying it was a sound, some fire, and some a trembling; Taberî noted that none of these reports was based on definitive proof, and therefore some of them could be correct.

وتأويل ذلك: واذكروا أيضا إذ قلتم: يا موسى لن نصدقك ولن نقر بما جئتنا به حتى نرى الله جهرة عيانا، برفع الساتر بيننا وبينه، وكشف الغطاء دوننا ودونه حتى ننظر إليه بأبصارنا، كما تجهر الركية

Râzî performs a linguistic analysis of the word 'openly' (cehreten) in the expression 'Let us see Allah openly' in this section; he points out that it means seeing with the eyes clearly, and does not mean seeing through knowledge or imagination. Then he transmits the Mu'tazilites' using this verse as evidence for the impossibility of seeing Allah, and after listing various interpretive approaches to this view, he argues that from the perspective of his own school (Ahl al-Sunnah), these interpretations are weak and can be refuted both rationally and by consensus.

فمعناه لا نصدقك ولا نعترف بنبوتك حتى نرى الله جهرة ( أي ) عيانا . قال صاحب الكشاف : وهي مصدر من قولك : جهرت بالقراءة وبالدعاء كأن الذي يرى بالعين جاهر بالرؤية والذي يرى بالقب مخافت بها

Ibn Kathir transmits that the request 'Show us Allah openly' in the verse means that the seventy people chosen by Musa wanted to see Allah openly. Upon this request, a lightning bolt (saika) struck them and they died, then Allah revived them. Ibn Kathir rejects the claim that these seventy people actually saw Allah; because when even Musa requested this, he was denied, therefore it was impossible for this people to see Him. He also notes that he finds Râzî's report that they wanted to be made prophets in this story 'very strange' and considers it weak or odd.

وقد غلط أهل الكتاب أيضا في دعواهم أن هؤلاء رأو الله عز وجل فإن موسى الكليم عليه السلام قد سأل ذلك فمنع منه كيف يناله هؤلاء السبعون

According to Kurtubî, those called by 'O Musa' are the seventy people chosen by Musa; after hearing Allah's speech, they said they would not believe, whereupon fire was sent upon them and they were revived again through Musa's prayer. Furthermore, it is noted that the word 'openly' (cehreten) means 'clearly, openly' and this can be either a characteristic of their calling to Musa or a characteristic of their demand to see Allah. In this context, it is transmitted that Ahl al-Sunnah holds the view that seeing Allah is permissible in the afterlife, while the people of innovation deny this.

وأصل الجهر الظهور ومنه الجهر بالقراءة إنما هو إظهارها

According to Beydâvî, the Children of Israel said to Musa that they would not believe unless they saw Allah openly with their eyes; this request is a demand to see Allah by confining Him to bodies as confined to directions and places, which is impossible. Because of this excessive obstinacy and demanding the impossible, lightning struck them. What is possible is a form of seeing stripped of manner (kayf), and this is granted in the afterlife to believers and in the world to some prophets in certain states.

فإنهم ظنوا أنه تعالى يشبه الأجسام فطلبوا رؤيته رؤية الأجسام في الجهات والأحياز المقابلة للرائي، وهي محال