Exodus 3:15-16 - Homilies By J. Orr

The Name.

The request of Moses to know the name of the Being who had filled him with such unutterable awe ( Exodus 3:6 ), rested on ideas deeply rooted in ancient modes of thought. The "name" with us tends to become an arbitrary symbol—a mere vocable. But this is not the true idea of a name. A real name expresses the nature of that to which it is given. It is significant. This idea of the name is the ruling one in scientific nomenclature, where names are not imposed arbitrarily, but are designed to express exactly the essential characteristics of the object or fact of Nature for which a name is sought. The man of science interrogates Nature—allows it to reveal itself . He stands before his fact, asking—"Tell me, I pray thee, thy name?" ( Genesis 32:29 ), and the name but expresses the properties which come to light as the result of the interrogation. Hence, as science progresses, old names are superseded by new ones-the former no longer proving adequate to the stage at which knowledge has arrived. This illustrates in some degree the ancient idea of a name, and the desire that was felt at each new stage of revelation for a new name of God. God's Name is the revelation of his attributes or essence—the disclosure of some part or aspect of the fulness of his Deity. The vocable is valueless in itself—its significance is derived from the fact of revelation of which it is the memorial. To know God's absolute Name—the Name, if one might so speak, wherewith he names himself, would be to wrest from him the secret of his absolute existence. And Jacob was rebuked when, in this sense, he sought to wrest from God his Name ( Genesis 32:29 ). God's revealed Name expresses that of his Nature which is communicable and comprehensible—his attributes in their relations to the intelligence and needs of the creature. Each of his names is but part of the whole—a ray. The whole Name is given in the completed revelation. (An illustration of the extent to which in ancient times name and reality were held to interpenetrate each other is furnished by the practice of conjuration—the name being viewed as so truly a living part of the Being, so bound up with his essence and qualities, that to know it was to obtain a certain power over him.)

I. THE NAME ASKED ( Exodus 3:13 ). Moses expected that this would be the first question the people would ask him—"What is his Name?"

1 . It was natural to expect that a Being announcing himself, would do so by some name, either a name by which he was already known, or a new one given in the revelation.

2 . It was probable , in analogy with past history, that the name would be a new one, and would serve—

And

3 . It was certain that the people would ask this question, familiarised as they were in Egypt with the practice of invoking the gods by the one or other of their many names which bore particularly on the wants and circumstances of the worshippers. To Moses, however, this request for the Name had a much deeper significance. It originated, we may believe, in the felt inadequacy of all existing names of God to syllable the deep and powerful impression made on him by this actual contact with the Divine. Cf. Jacob at Peniel ( Genesis 32:24 30). God in that hour was nameless to the spirit of Moses—his experience of God went beyond any name he knew for him. A multitude of ideas crowded on him, and he could not fix or express them. Language thus fails us in moments of extraordinary experience, not always because none of the words we know would suit our purpose, but because language tends to become conventional, and the profounder meaning which lies in words gets rubbed off them. The name which God gave was after all not a new one, but an old name with new life put into it.

II. THE NAME GIVEN ( Exodus 3:14 , Exodus 3:15 ). God grants his servant's request. The name is given first explicatively , — " I am that I am" ( Exodus 3:14 ), then as a denominative— "Jehovah" ( Exodus 3:15 ); while he who gives it expressly claims for himself, as formerly ( Exodus 3:6 ), that he is the God of the old covenants—the "Jehovah God" of the fathers ( Exodus 3:15 , Exodus 3:16 ).

1 . The name, as above remarked, while new in this relation, is itself an old one. This is already implied in the expression—"Jehovah God of your fathers" ( Exodus 3:16 ); and is proved by its occurrence in the earlier history, and by the name of Moses' own mother—Jochebed ( Exodus 6:20 ), "she whose glory is Jehovah." This old and half-obsolete name God revives, and makes it the key-word of a new era of revelation.

2 . He who assumes the name is the " Angel of Jehovah " of Exodus 3:1 . The Angel—"a self-presentation of Jehovah entering into the sphere of the creature, which is one in essence with Jehovah; and is yet again different from him" (Oehler). The soundest view is that which regards the "Angel" as the Pre-incarnate Logos—the Divine Son.

3 . The name was eminently suitable and significant. The ideas awakened in Moses by the revelation he had received would be such as these—God's living Personality; his enduring Existence (the same God that spoke to the fathers of old, speaking to him at Horeb); his covenant-keeping Faithfulness; his Self-identity in will and purpose; his unfailing Power (the bush burning unconsumed); his Mercy and Compassion. All these ideas are expressed in the name Jehovah, which represents the highest reach of Old Testament revelation. That name denotes God as—

1 . Personal.

2 . Self-existent.

3 . Eternal.

4 . Independent of his creatures.

5 . Self-identical.

6 . Self-revealing and gracious.

Hence—

1 . Changeless in his purpose.

2 . Faithful to his promises.

3 . Able to fulfil them.

4 . Certain to do so.— J . O .