Exodus 6:3 - Exposition

I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty . See Genesis 17:1 for the revelation of this name to Abraham, and Genesis 35:11 for its repetition to Jacob. We do not find the full name used by God in any appearance to Isaac; but IsaActs himself uses it in Genesis 28:3 . By my name Jehovah was I not known unto them . The explanation of this passage is by no means easy. God himself, according to Genesis 15:7 , revealed himself to Abraham as Jehovah before declaring his name to be El-Shaddai (God Almighty); and again revealed himself to Jacob as Jehovah-Elohim ( Genesis 38:13 ). Abraham named the place where he had been about to sacrifice Isaac, "Jehovah-jireh" ( Genesis 22:14 ). That Moses regarded the name as known even earlier, appears from Genesis 4:1 . It was probably as old as language. The apparent meaning of the present passage cannot therefore be its true meaning. No writer would so contradict himself. Perhaps the true sense is, " I was known to them as a Being of might and power, not as mere absolute (and so eternal and immutable) existence." This meaning of the word, though its etymological and original meaning, may have been unknown to the patriarchs, who were not etymologists. It was first distinctly declared to Moses at Sinai ( Exodus 3:14 , Exodus 3:15 ).