“I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you,
and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence.” Ex 33:19
Moses had just brought the flock he was tending for his father-in-law around the back side of the desert and came upon the mountain of Horeb, called the mountain of God. He notices a bush, not because it is a great bush, but because the bush was on fire. Nothing new here, Moses has undoubtedly seen bushes burn before. Most likely he has burnt some himself as fuel for the campfire on the edge of the desert where not much grows and it gets cold at night. But then he notices something special about the fire and the bush. The fire continues to burn and the bush is not consumed. Normally the bush would burn up but this one does not. So he turns aside to see this strange sight. How odd…the bush does not burn up—he’s thinking. Right there, God reveals Himself to Moses, calling his name “Moses! Moses!” Moses replies, as we all should when God calls our name, “Here I am.” God tells him to take off his sandals because this is holy ground. Then He proceeds to tell Moses He is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He has seen how His people are being mistreated at the hands of the Egyptians and He has come down to rescue them. He tells Moses He is sending Him to Pharaoh to bring His people the Israelites out of Egypt.
But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" 12 And God said, "I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain." 13 Moses said to God, "Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?" 14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.' " 15 God also said to Moses, "Say 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, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation. Exodus 3:11-15
The Amplified Bible renders verse fourteen as follows, “And God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM and WHAT I AM, and I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE; and He said, You shall say this to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you!”
God chose this name for Himself to be referred to by His people. He could chose any name but He chooses this one. The verb He uses here is “hayah,” meaning “to be.”1 In the first person, this verb is translated “I am” or “I will be.” Verse twelve also uses this verb when God says “I will be with you.” Moses would have heard and understood the similarities. Verse fifteen also uses a derivative of this verb when God says “The LORD, the God of your fathers.” The word “LORD” is the third person singular form of the verb hayah2 and is in its original form “YHVH.”1
This is called the Tetragrammaton meaning “the four letters” (the Hebrew letters are: Yod, He, Waw and He). This four letter Hebrew word has its own name for a good reason. It is the most common name for God in the Old Testament (over 6,500 uses). Most Bibles will translate “YHVH” as “LORD.” Part of the reason for this is that the name “YHVH” was not pronounced by the Jewish people so as not to break the third commandment.
“In modern Hebrew, grammar [in] this matter is so serious and important, that the verb ‘to be’ (‘I am’) is not used in the present tense at all! An Israeli will therefore state in Hebrew: “I teacher ... I clever”, omitting the verb 'to be' (I am) in the present tense. Usage of the Hebrew verb ‘HOVEH’ (I am) would imply referring to oneself as being the Almighty!”3
So the proper pronunciation of the word was lost. Later the vowel points for the word Adonai meaning “My Lord” were added. Altogether then the pronunciation became Yahweh (as the letter Waw [V] is pronounced as “W”).4
NIV Life in the Spirit Study Bible notes, “The Lord gave himself the personal name ‘I AM WHO I AM’ (from this is derived the Heb Yahweh), a Hebrew phrase that indicates action. God was in effect saying to Moses ‘I wish to be known as the God who is present and active.’…Inherent in the name Yahweh is the promise of the living presence of God himself day by day with his people…It expresses his faithful love and care and his desire to redeem his people and live in fellowship with them. This corresponds with the fundamental promise of the covenant, ‘to be your God’ in Gen 17:7 which is the first and fundamental promise on which all other promises rest. It means that God unreservedly binds himself to his faithful people to be their God, their shield and their reward [as he proclaims in] Gen 15:1. It also means that God’s grace, pardon, promises, protection, guidance, goodness, help and blessing are given to them in love (Jer 11:4; 24:7; 30:22; 32:38; Eze11:20; 36:28; Zech 8:8). All Christians inherit this same promise through faith in Christ (Gal 3:16). The Lord states that this will be his name forever (v. 15).5
When God says “hayah – I AM,” He is declaring Himself as self-existent. “The basic thrust of this verb describes the state of existence. As the third person form of haya, Yahweh literally means ‘He is,’ or ‘He exists.’ It is a description of who God is. He is the self-existing one. When God told Moses ‘I am that I am,’ that is the first person singular form of haya, ‘ehyeh.’ It may be said that from God's perspective He is ‘I am,’ but from our perspective ‘He is.’” 6
When the Samaritan woman at the well told Jesus “‘I know that the Messiah’ (called Christ) ‘is coming…’” and Jesus replies “I who am with you am he” she would most likely have understood Him as saying “I AM.” This is the reason why the Jews in John 8:59 picked up stones to stone Jesus because they had understood Him correctly to say “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I am!” It is not by accident the Messiah was called “Immanuel—which means, ‘God with us’” (Mt 1:22). He has chosen the name “I AM” to remind us that He is always with us and has always existed.
Years later when Moses asked God to show him His glory, God hid Moses in the cleft of the rock and let His goodness pass in front of him, proclaiming His name saying “The LORD, the LORD the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness…” God here proclaimed “Yahweh, Yahweh” as the name He chose to grant Moses his request to show him His glory. God has chosen to reveal Himself as Yahweh, the God who is, who has always been, who always will be, the One who is with us day by day expressing His love to us. Yahweh – what a beautiful name!
Footnotes
1 Strong’s and Thayer’s definitions from: Meyers, Rick. Vers. 9.0.3. Franklin, TN, 2010. Computer software. http://www.e-sword.net/.
2 Barker, Kenneth L., and Donald W. Burdick. "Exodus 3:15 Study Notes." The NIV Study Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1985. 91. Print.
3 "Restoration of the Sacred Name." Bible Revelations Studies,Hebrew Hebraic Roots,Restoration Israel,Sacred Names. 16 May 2010. Web. 31 Dec. 2011. http://www.revelations.org.za/NotesS-Name.htm.
4 Wikipedia contributors. "Tetragrammaton." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 21 Dec. 2011. Web. 31 Dec. 2011.’
5 Stamps, Donald C., and J. Wesley. Adams. "Exodus 3:14 Study Notes." Life in the Spirit Study Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003. 97. Print.
6 Dulle, Jason. "Yahweh or Jesus: What Is God's Name?" Institute for Biblical Studies - (OnenessPentecostal.com). Web. 31 Dec. 2011. http://www.onenesspentecostal.com/yahorjesus.htm#foot1.
References
All Scriptures not specified are quoted from Life in the Spirit Study Bible (NIV). Stamps, Donald C., and John Wesley Adams. Life in the Spirit Study Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003. Print.
All Scriptures marked AMP are quoted from "The Amplified Bible." BibleGateway.com: A Searchable Online Bible in over 100 Versions and 50 Languages. Web. 16 Dec. 2011. <http://www.biblegateway.com/>.
