Exodus 3:13-22

Moses’ fear that the Israelite elders would not accept him is understandable (Exodus 3:13). God had not revealed Himself to His people for over 400 years. When Moses asked how he should answer the Israelites’ question, "What is His name?" he was asking how he could demonstrate to them that their God had sent him.

"According to the conception prevailing in the ancient East, the designation of an entity was to be equated, as it were, with its existence: whatever is without an appellation does not exist, but whatever has a denomination has existence." [Note: Cassuto, pp. 36-37.]

"The question contains both a request for information and an explanation of its significance. There are two aspects of the one question. Clearly the people want to know more about God’s intention. By requesting his name, they seek to learn his new relationship to them. Formerly he related to them as the God of the Fathers. What will he be to Israel now?" [Note: Childs, p. 75.]

"What Moses asks, then, has to do with whether God can accomplish what he is promising. What is there in his reputation (see Numbers 6:27; Deuteronomy 12:5; Deuteronomy 12:11; Deuteronomy 16:2-6; Psalms 8:1; Psalms 74:7; Amos 5:8; Amos 9:5-6; Jeremiah 33:2) that lends credibility to the claim in his call? How, suddenly, can he be expected to deal with a host of powerful Egyptian deities against whom, across so many years, he has apparently won no victory for his people?" [Note: Durham, p. 38.]

God’s name expressed His nature and actions (Exodus 3:14-15). The Israelites would ask for proof that the God of their fathers was with Moses. God explained the name by which He made Himself known to Abraham (Genesis 15:7).

"The repetition of the same word [I am] suggests the idea of uninterrupted continuance and boundless duration." [Note: Keil and Delitzsch, 1:442-43.]

Yet it means more than this.

"To the Hebrew ’to be’ does not just mean to exist as all other beings and things do as well-but to be active, to express oneself in active being, ’The God who acts.’ ’I am what in creative activity and everywhere I turn out to be,’ or ’I am (the God) that really acts.’" [Note: Sigmund Mowinckel, "The Name of the God of Moses," Hebrew Union College Annual 32 (1961):127.]

"I am that I am" means "God will reveal Himself in His actions through history." [Note: Charles Gianotti, "The Meaning of the Divine Name YHWH," Bibliotheca Sacra 142:565 (January-March 1985):45.]

Other translations are, "I will be what I will be," "I am the existing One," and "I cause to be what comes to pass." [Note: Johnson, pp. 54-55.] One writer paraphrased God’s answer, "It is I who am with you." [Note: Cassuto, p. 38.] In other words, the one who had promised to be with the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had sent Moses to them.

"The answer Moses receives is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a name. It is an assertion of authority, a confession of an essential reality, and thus an entirely appropriate response to the question Moses poses." [Note: Durham, p. 38.]

Moses had asked, "Who am I?" implying his complete inadequacy for his calling. God replied, "I am who I am!" implying His complete adequacy. The issue was not who Moses was but who God is. I believe God meant, I am the God of your forefathers who proved myself long ago as completely adequate for all their needs, so it really doesn’t matter who you are, Moses. Moses would learn the complete adequacy of God Himself in the events that followed. Later, Pharaoh would say, "Who is the LORD?" (Exodus 5:2), and God’s response was, "I am the LORD!" (Exodus 6:2; Exodus 6:6; Exodus 6:8). Pharaoh, too, then learned God’s complete adequacy. The real issue, then, was, and is, who God is.

This is the first reference to the elders of Israel (Exodus 3:16). [Note: See Leslie Hoppe, "Elders and Deuteronomy," Eglise et Theologie 14 (1983):259-72.] The elders were the leaders of the various groups of Israelites.

God told Moses to request Pharaoh’s permission for the Israelites to leave Egypt (Exodus 3:18).

"The sequel shows that there was no element of deceit in the request for ’a three days’ journey into the wilderness,’ i.e., right out of contact with the Egyptian frontier guards. Pharaoh knew perfectly well that this implied no return; indeed, since Israel was a tolerated alien people, he would have no claim on their return, once they had left his territory." [Note: H. L. Ellison, Exodus, p. 22.]

"Moses’ demand for complete freedom, though couched in polite words, is there from the start." [Note: R. Alan Cole, Exodus: An Introduction and Commentery, p. 72.]

The signs God proceeded to give Moses would demonstrate to the Israelites that their God was again actively working for them (Exodus 3:20; cf. Exodus 4:2-9). God told Moses that the Israelites would believe him (Exodus 3:18).

Probably there were several reasons the Israelites were to ask their Egyptian neighbors for jewelry and clothing (Exodus 3:22). By doing so, they would humiliate the Egyptians further. They would also obtain articles needed for the wilderness march and the construction of the tabernacle. Moreover they would receive partial payment for the labor the Egyptians had stolen from them during their years of slavery (cf. Deuteronomy 15:12-15).

The writer stated God’s sovereignty over Pharaoh in Exodus 3:14-22. God demonstrated it in the plagues that followed (chs. 5-11). [Note: See ibid., pp. 19-40, for an exposition of the character of God as revealed in Exodus.]

"With the name ’Yahweh’ revealed and explained and with the proof of this explanation illustrated, at least in prospect, Moses can have no further question about God’s authority. The narrative deals next with Moses’ own authority, and how that is to be made clear." [Note: Durham, p. 41.]