The Most Confusing Name on Earth
And God said to Moses, “I AM THAT I AM;” and he said, “Thus shall you say to Israel, I AM has sent me to you.” Exodus 3:14 Hebrew World translation
I AM THAT I AM – It is fairly well understood that “God” is not the name of the Hebrew deity. “God” is more or less the category of the divine; most like a title or office than a name. In fact, the Hebrew divine being calls Himself El Shaddai when He is asked, although most translations change this to “God Almighty” (something it does not really mean, unfortunately). When pressed, Christians sometimes refer to this divine being as Jehovah, but that is a terrible bastardization derived from partly German and mostly Latin influences. What’s worse is that this conversation with Moses really doesn’t give us a name either. The Hebrew word is ‘eheyeh (spelled aleph-hey-yod-hey), a yiqtol imperfect form of the verb haya (to be, to exist, to come to be, to become, to come to pass). We typically see this expressed in Scripture as Y-H-V-H, but even a cursory glance shows you that when the divine being speaks this “name,” it isn’t spelled as it is in nearly all of the references to the divine being. Furthermore, our English translations are truly off base, attempting to capture some noun-like name in what is really a verb (click here for some discussion). So we can’t actually refer to “God” as if “God” were a name, we don’t really know what in the world the verb form ‘eheyeh is all about and we don’t know anymore what vowels were actually associated with the usual letters YHVH (occurring more than 5000 times). What a mess! What are we supposed to do?
Maybe we can get some hint of clarity about this conundrum by examining the pictographic image of the word. Here is the text in English, Hebrew and Ancient Paleo-Hebrew
The fifth word from the right following the number 14 at the bottom is the “name.” In Paleo-Hebrew, it is the sign of the bull (power, leader) + the sign of behold (to reveal) + the sign of the hand (to work, make) + the sign of behold again. What’s missing in this spelling is the usual opening yod, the sign of the hand (work, deed, to make) and the change from the middle Vav to Yod. But let’s just stick with the name that the Hebrew divine being gives Moses. It seems pretty clear that this “name” (remember it’s a verb) is something like “power, behold, to make, revealed.” Now isn’t that precisely what Moses asks for? Moses wants a “name” that will convince the Israelites to trust and follow him. The divine being gives him a “name,” in fact, a verb—an action—that speaks right to Moses’ need and the trust issue of the Israelites. Who is this divine being? He is the power to do, revealed to Moses. His name is the action guaranteed.
If He had given Moses the name YHVH, something essential would have been missing, namely, the aleph of power. YHVH replaces the sign of power (the bull) with a second “behold.” When we see the divine name-verb YHVH, it is as if Hebrew places an exclamation point at the beginning and the end of the thought, much like Spanish punctuation. It is “¡ hand that makes secure !.” But Moses requires a display of power to defeat Pharaoh and YHWH provides it—a name fit for the occasion. We might summarize this name as “Behold !! the power to do.”
We stumble around trying to translate this “name” without realizing, perhaps, that it can’t be translated. It isn’t a name. It’s an action—an act of promise keeping. Remember how Moses will know that YHWH’s promise is true? When he brings the people to the mountain. In other words, after the act is over, then he will know that the promise was real. But until then, trust the “name.”
The “God” of Israel gives a “name” of who He is. He is the trustworthy one, the maker of covenants, the “maker” of the universe. The “name” fits the need. Perhaps it is the same for us. What is His name? What is your need?
Topical Index: YHVH, name, Exodus 3:14, Paleo-Hebrew
i couldn’t agree more Mr. Moen .
Skip, I have really enjoyed the TW’s where you have incorporated the pictographic image of the word. It really adds to the meaning. I thought this particular one was awesome. It helped me understand why many Jewish people will not pronounce the Name and gave me a greater appreciation of HaShem. I never knew (but should have expected) that His name was not like any other name and is an action verb instead. Thanks for your insights.
It is “¡ hand that makes secure !.” But Moses requires a display of power to defeat Pharaoh and YHWH provides it—a name fit for the occasion.
There is an assumed covenantial reference that Moses understood implicitly as did the Israelis – Hashem’s covenant with Abraham their father. The name interprets more closely to the being or person of this covenant as in the person who gives absolute Commitment and the person who receives absolute Obligation in the context where the fruit of this union is the Covenant Hashem has spoken just as man implies this by the creative act which brought him into being – cf Gen 1:26 ibid 5:2,3. Skip et al point out the explicit usage of Hebrew numbers for each of the seven days of creation implying a counting of each covenant generation as a dative construct for reish in Gen 1:1 and – Gen 5:1. Toledot explicitly establishes a thematic covenant theme of counting the seven generations of the creation whose presentation closely follows a chaistic chant repeated by a large migrant body of people who are led in song – see Miriam leads Israel narrative. The number seven in Hebrew also means covenant creating a parallel duality. (See also my prior discussions on this site for the trinitarian definition of godhead being dynamically equivalent to the Hebrew sheva – i.e. seven). Trinity is Covenant.