Exodus 3:14 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…’”
This is the first time we see God give His name in the Scriptures. He reveals Himself to Moses simply as “I am” – which is something I find very hard to truly understand. Every time I read this verse, I find myself wondering what does He mean by simply naming Himself “I am.” And I do not make promises about what we learn today about this name, but do hope we discover something new to help make the mud a bit clearer.
Word study first… The Hebrew of this statement is ehyeh asher ehyeh. The word ehyeh is the first person common singular of the verb to be. It would be like us saying, “I am sitting in my living room.” But when used by itself, it becomes a description of self-sufficiency or self-existence. He is unchanged and unchangeable in His existence.
His statement of “I am who I am” is another repetition (though not tripled like yesterday’s trihagion) that is declaring that He IS. Period. The End. He is eternal. He is all powerful. He is everything and more and then some. He simply IS. He is omnipotent, omnipresent, the past, the present, the future. He exceeds our expectations, leaves us unable to truly understand, and is more than we could ever expect.
And then we have Jesus saying, “… before Abraham was, I AM.” He was making an I AM statement, too! The same I AM statement that Moses heard from God in today’s verse. Before Abraham even existed, Jesus did. He was there from before time began and will be there at the final days of earth and beyond. And as we already learned a few days back, He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.
It is also interesting to note that often the name Yahweh (YHWH) is often translated as “I am who I am.” And here is a bit of Bible Trivial Pursuit knowledge for you to file away. This name, YHWH, is known as the Tetragrammaton. The Tetragrammaton is considered holy and it is not to be spoken out loud. Otherwise it is akin to taking His name in vain.
That said, clear as mud, right?
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