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Moses said to God, “If I go to the Israelites and tell them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ – what should I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I am that I am.” And he said, “You must say this to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “You must say this to the Israelites, ‘The Lord – the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob – has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and this is my memorial from generation to generation.’“
Exodus 3:13 – 15
Picking up where we left off last week, I wanted to back-track to this particular quote in order to examine the content herein, especially since this passage marks the first record of God mentioning himself by name. Note that this is not the first mention in scripture of the name, but the first occurrence of God speaking it.
Interestingly, while the name is recorded as ‘Yud Hey Vav Hey’, or יהוה (YHVH), here the Lord begins by stating something very specific; “eyeh asher eyeh” – often translated as “I am that I am” or “I will be what I will be.” This phrase derives from a form of the verb “will be”, or היה “hayah.” It’s an important detail to note because it points to a very specific linguistic relationship in Hebrew – notably, to the phrase “Hayah (היה) Hoveh (הוה) Yihyeh (יהיה)“.
For those not fluent in Hebrew (present company included) this can be fairly technical, so rather than flounder about trying to explain this in my own words, I would refer you to an actual expert in Biblical Hebrew and allow him to explain. If you listen to the linked discussion, you’ll understand how “Hayah (היה) Hoveh (הוה) Yihyeh (יהיה)“ constitutes the basis of the name YHVH (יהוה) and literally translates; “He Who Was, He Who Is, He Who Will Be”...
Grace and peace to you from “He who is,” and who was, and who is still to come…
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“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God – the one who is, and who was, and who is still to come – the All-Powerful!
Revelation 1:4, 8
Given this, it should be fairly clear how this all interrelates and, why it is that God says to Moses to tell the children of Israel, “I am has sent me to you.” I Am serves (in this context at least) as a summary statement… inasmuch as the name can be summarized; “I Am” the uncreated creator, “I Am” the God of your fathers, “I Am” the ancient of days, “I Am” …
The name, “Yah” (יה), which appears not infrequently throughout scripture, is a shortened form of the name YHVH (יהוה). Although it is used individually, it most commonly appears as a construct within another word or name and is used to draw reference back to the name, YHVH (יהוה) .
Consider “Hallelujah”. If you’ve spent any time in any church – ever – you’ve heard this. Did you ever wonder what it really means or where it comes from?
First and foremost, understand that “Hallelujah” (pronounced hah-lel-oo-Yah) is a transliteration – meaning that the word has not been translated, but that the sounds of the word have been carried over and preserved.
“Hallel” means “praise”, “Yah” references the name of God and the “u” ties them together and denotes “Yah” as the recipient of said praise; therefore “Hallelujah” means “praise (be) to Yah (YHVH)”, or more succinctly “praise YHVH!”
Some other prominent examples of this short form appearing as a construct include:
- Eliyahu (אליהו: Elijah) – “Yah (YHVH) is my God”
- Yehoshua (יהושע: Joshua) – “Yah (YHVH) is salvation”
- Yeshayahu (ישעיהו: Isaiah ) – “Salvation of Yah (YHVH)”
- Yirmiyahu (ירמיהו: Jeremiah) – “Yah (YHVH) will exalt”
- Zcharya (זכריה: Zachariah) – “ Yah (YHVH) remembers”
I could go on, but I don’t want to belabor the point. If you do a study on “Yah” you’ll find that it appears throughout the scriptures in the psalms, in the names of prophets, kings and, eventually, the Mashiach (Messiah – “Anointed One”) Himself – we’ll discuss the details of that in another article.
As an aside; it’s been postulated, even by teachers I greatly respect and highly regard, that you cannot give God a name – that in so doing, you make him small and / or put him in a “box”. I get it, but there are two immediate problems with these assertions…
The first is simply the fact that no man gave God a name. He named Himself and identified the name by which He was to be known. In fact, this name will be known and called upon throughout the whole word, and this is a thematic point made repeatedly throughout scripture; ושמו אחד – “ushemo echad” (and His name, one)…
The Lord will then be king over all the earth. In that day the Lord will be seen as one with a single name.
Zechariah 14:9
The second issue is that it overlooks the obvious, yet far reaching implications of this name. “Eyeh asher eyeh”, or “I am that I am” tells us that this is the uncreated creator speaking. He is that He is – no being or thing made Him to be. He is the uncaused cause and, in fact, all things are by Him, for Him and through Him.
“He Who Was, He Who Is, He Who Will Be” tells us that He is the ancient of days – that He existed before time immemorial and that He will continue to exist throughout all eternity… and that, as stated, as the uncreated creator and uncaused cause… and we’re only scratching the surface.
I certainly understand the desire not to belittle God or make Him to seem small, but honestly, contemplate the depth of meaning present within this name! Is God yet bigger than any meaning we could derive? Absolutely! Does that invalidate the name or make one’s use of it belittling of God? Stop being silly. Would a lack of agreement over this cause me to break fellowship or disregard a brother or sister in faith? Nope, not for one second.
On the other hand, I don’t serve a nameless God, but one who has literally moved heaven and earth in order to make himself accessible. He identified Himself by name and further proclaimed that all who called on that name would be saved!
And the Lord said, “I will make all my goodness pass before your face, and I will proclaim the Lord by name before you; I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy.”
Exodus 33:19
It will so happen that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered.
Joel 2:32
“The Lord” is not a name…
We’re still not done, but in the meantime, I do hope and pray you are at least beginning to grasp the gravity and importance of this issue. Hopefully, something in all of this has been helpful, encouraging, enlightening or has otherwise strengthened your walk – even if you don’t agree.
יהוה bless you.
As for foreigners who become followers of the Lord and serve him, who love the name of the Lord and want to be his servants – all who observe the Sabbath and do not defile it, and who are faithful to my covenant – I will bring them to my holy mountain; I will make them happy in the temple where people pray to me.
Isaiah 56:6 – 7
To be continued…
שלום עליכם – Shalom Aleichem – Peace Be Upon You