1. A visible (but not necessarily material) manifestation or appearance of a deity in a form that can be seen by a human: " A visible manifestation of God to humans; such as, the story of Moses at the burning bush, is called a theophany." 2. The temporal and spatial revelations of God or the divine in some tangible or physical form: "In Psalms (in the Old Testament of the Bible) and in prophetic texts the theophany is often so drastic as to overwhelm the human observer; because when God comes, since humans are sinful, often His purpose in coming is to punish."