directly in front of or opposite: the position of facing something head-on
At its root this word marks the spot straight in front of something. It sets one thing over against another: the table across from the lampstand, an army camped facing its enemy, a boundary line that runs opposite a landmark. Whatever stands there is squarely before you, head-on.
From that plain picture the word stretches a little. It can point straight ahead, describing eyes or a path aimed directly forward. It can also turn figurative: what is "before" a person is what lies open to their view, so a life lived "before the LORD" is one fully exposed to his watching presence, and an idol set "before the face" is one a person keeps constantly in sight and in heart.
Hebrew has more than one word for "in front of." נֶגֶד is the general term for being before or in the presence of someone, and מוּל likewise means "opposite"; this word leans hardest on facing something squarely. One unusual verse (Genesis 25:21) stretches it toward "for" or "on behalf of," where Isaac pleads with God over his wife's childlessness, and the lexicons themselves hesitate over how to read it there.