The Great I Am

Read Exodus 3:13-22

This section of Exodus is one of the most beautiful and puzzling in scripture. The name God gives to Moses is one that has puzzled scholars forever and probably will continue to do so. It is one of the great mysteries of God--one of those times that the more one understands God, the more mysterious God becomes.

The most common translation of the "name" God gives is "I am who I am." It could also be translated "I will be what/who I will be", "I will cause to be what I will cause to be", I will be who I am/who I will be". Probably the very best way to think about what God is saying to Moses is this: "I will be God to you". This applies to all of Israel as well. God will be God to Israel. Wherever God is being God, God will be the kind of God God is. Israel does not need to be concerned about divine arbitrariness or capriciousness. God can be counted on to be who God is. God will be faithful to God's promises. Israel's own experience with God in its history before and after Moses will confirm the meaning of this name.

By giving Moses any sort of name, God allowed Moses, and thereby Israel, some intimacy with God. Naming allows for a true encounter and makes possible real communication. By giving the name, God becomes available to people, to us. God and humans can now meet one another and both parties can address one another. Yet because the name is not a person, there remains a separateness, an otherness. God remains mysterious.

In Judaism, throughout the Hebrew Bible still today, God's name is considered very holy, so holy in fact that it was not to be spoken. Wherever Yahweh appears, Adonai (Lord) is spoken instead in reverence to God.

One more thing about the name of God. As you can tell from the "I am who I am", Yahweh is made up of a combination of the "to be" verb in Hebrew. That makes a very interesting play when you start thinking about the relationship of God to humans. Our being comes out of God's being. In Hebrew you cannot even talk about "being" without talking about God. Unless you know a little about Hebrew you cannot know or see that at all. But it is a rich visual image Hebrew that reminds us again that we ARE all children of God, ones who belong to the Great I AM.

Grace and peace,
Rev Linda