When faced with the challenge of God’s commission to return to Egypt, Moses confronted the two fundamental questions we all face in life:
- Who am I?
- Who is God?
John Calvin begins his “Institutes” telling us that the whole of wisdom hangs on these two questions:
“Our wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed true and solid wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.” [1]
And Philip Ryken observes:
“They are the most fundamental questions a person can ask. Once we know how to answer them – once we know who we are and who God is – we can begin to live for God’s glory.” [2]
These two questions are intimately bound up with each other – again, Calvin:
“But as these [two parts] are connected together by many ties, it is not easy to determine which of the two precedes, and gives birth to the other.”
In Moses’s case, he found each question so intimately bound up in the other that he ended up getting the same answer to both.
“Who am I?”
Moses’s first objection to God’s commission is a question:
“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” (Exod 3:11)
In this case his question was not so much about identity as ability. Moses has already responded, “Here am I.” (v 4, cf 1 Sam 3:4ff) But now he questions whether God has got the right person: “Who am I?” After all, 40 years before Moses had tried to do what God now asked and had failed miserably. “For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand.” (Acts 7:25)
God’s answer is just two words in the Hebrew: “I-AM WITH-YOU”.
“God could have tried to prove that Moses was the right man for the job. He could have reminded him of the way he had been trained in Pharaoh’s court. He could have pointed to the lessons he had learned as a shepherd out in the wilderness. No one in the whole world was better prepared to lead Israel out of Egypt than Moses, who was Egyptian enough to confront the Egyptians and Hebrew enough to love the Hebrews.
“All of that was true, but it was not the answer God gave. If he had shown Moses that he was fully qualified for his calling, that would have led Moses to trust in his gifts rather than in his God. The real question was not who Moses was, but who God was, for God said, ‘I will be with you’ (Exod. 3:12a). The exodus did not depend on the competence of Moses but on the presence of God.”[3]
“Who are You?”
Moses’s second objection is another question: “Who are You?”
“Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” (v 13)
Again, God’s answer comes succinctly, just three words with a familiar ring in Hebrew: “I-AM WHAT I-AM.” (v 14).
God then continues:
“Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
Further:
“Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The Lord 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 to all generations.’” (v 15)
God explains His Name
God here explains the meaning of His personal name, usually translated “the Lord” (in small caps) in our English versions, but transliterated more accurately as something like “Yahweh”.
This is not the first time the name “Yahweh” appears here in Exodus (cf ch 3, vv 2,4,7), or even previously in the Bible. God calls Himself by this name extensively throughout Genesis from ch 2, v 4 onwards.
But here in the Burning Bush, for the first and only time, God explains the depth of meaning behind that name, i.e. that it expresses: I-AM WHAT I-AM. The Hebrew YHWH (“Yahweh”) evidently derives from the verb “to be”: HYH = “I-AM”.
But what does that mean? For 2,000 years, and more, theologians have debated what this means. “It is one of the most controversial questions in the study of the Old Testament.”[4]
- Some suggest it refers to God’s Self-Existence: God is uncreated, self originating. “You and I have to say, ‘I am that which I have become,’ or ‘I am that which I was born,’ or ‘I am that which circumstances have made me.’ He said, ‘I am that I am.’”[5]
- Some, His Self-Sufficiency: God needs no one and nothing apart from Himself. We need God, but He does not need us.
- Still others, His Eternity. This would seem to be behind Jesus’ own claim to the name when He said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” (John 8:58)
- Or it could be a reminder that He is the Covenant God. God had already identified Himself this way: “I am the God of your father – the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” (Exod 3:6, cf v 15.)
Me? I think “all of the above”.
I think that, like God Himself who is “infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth” (S.C. Q.4), His Name is infinitely rich and infinitely deep, full of meaning.
But in the richness and depth of that name is much more than God’s transcendence that comes out in the attributes listed above; more even than the more personal idea of covenant.
For Moses at the time, front and centre in this Name must have been the message of God’s immanence, His Presence.
“It is not merely the existence of God that is to encourage Moses, but the fact of His active and committed presence to help His people.”[6]
God has just told Moses: “I-AM WITH-YOU.” In that context, for the first and only time, God explains the depth of meaning behind His Name: “I-AM WHAT I-AM.”
The significance of this cannot have escaped Moses.
Moses has just asked, “Who am I that I should shirt front Pharaoh?”
God has said, “Don’t worry about it; I am with you.”
“But who are You?” asks Moses.
Again, God treats the question as, not about identity, but about ability and repeats what He said before: “All you need to know is that I am the God who said I am with you.”
“I am with you, that is what I am. That is enough.”
“God with you”
Isn’t that always enough? Hasn’t it always been enough for any of God’s saints to know that God is with him or her?
It was enough for Isaac (Gen 26:24), it was enough for Jacob (Gen 28:15).
Indeed for all God’s people (Isa 41:10, 43:5); as well as for God’s prophets (Jer 1:8,19 etc) and those who returned from the Exile (Hag 1:13, 2:4).
Later it was enough for Christ’s apostles when they received their own commission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matt 28:19-20).
As well as the apostle Paul when the Lord spoke to him in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; for I am with you.” (Acts 18:9f)
Immanuel
In Christ, we are assured we have God with us.
“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” (Matt 1:23)
In Jesus we know God as I-AM (John 8:58), the One who is Present with us.
It is not enough that you know God as transcendent, that He is “infinite, eternal and unchangeable”. You can know that much without faith in Christ and be forever lost. Even the demons know that much – “and tremble” (Jas 2:19).
But do you know the God who is present with you through faith in Jesus Christ?
Do you know His presence?
Is He “Immanuel”: the One whose very name means “I-AM WITH-YOU”?
What we need above all is not just knowledge of who God is (as important as that is), but the Presence of God Himself.
This was all Moses wanted, a year or so after the Burning Bush, following the disaster of the Golden Calf. God has assured him: “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” Moses responds, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.” (Exod 33:14-15)
Without the presence of God I am nothing.
Ralph Davis, in his preaching and commentaries, insists on using God’s name “Yahweh”, rather than the traditional “the Lord”. He points out that “the Lord” is a title; it is not a personal name that richly resonates with His character.[7]
He compares it to referring to my wife by a title, as “the wife”, instead of by her personal name (in my case) as “Eileen”. Though the original meaning behind that name is lost in obscurity, yet just saying her name brings with it a sense of who she is to me.
I realise that, for us non-Hebrew speakers, the name “Yahweh” might not be any more meaningful than saying “the Lord”. I have no strong opinion one way or the other which is better. But I hope that when we say “Yahweh”, or “Immanuel”, or “the Lord” it is with a wonderful sense that God is with me.
“I-AM WITH-YOU”: That is the Ultimate Answer to Life and All Your Other Questions!
As Ralph Davis says: “‘I will be with you. Yahweh.’ You can go into life with that God.”
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,
Nor shall the flame scorch you.
For I am the LORD your God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Saviour
– Isaiah 43:2-3
[1] Calvin, J., & Beveridge, H. (1845). “Institutes of the Christian religion” Vol. 1, p. 47
[2] Philip Ryken “Exodus: saved for God’s glory” p. 91
[3] Ryken pp. 92–93
[4] John L. Mackay “Exodus” p.76
[5] Quoted by Ryken p. 98
[6] Mackay p.77
[7] “The God of the Bush” Dr. D. Ralph Davis | Exodus 3:1-15 https://www.monergism.com/sermons-exodus-mp3-series