Yahweh: I am Who I Am!

This title occurs more than 6,800 times in the Old Testament. This is the most common name of God, and it refers to the personal name for the God of Israel. “Yahweh comes from the verb ‘to be’ in the Hebrew and is tied to the idea of life itself.” [1]

Yahweh is personal. [vv. 1-6]

Moses is near Mt. Sinai (hence, the mountain of God in v. 1)

The angel of the LORD appearing to Him- is the Lord God Himself. Some suggest this to be a messenger, but it is understood that this is God himself as revealing Himself to Moses.

Additionally, fire was a significant symbol among the people during their time as representative of God. [2]

Yahweh is personal in the sense that He called upon Moses by name, personally.

It was not that this place in and of itself was holy; rather, it was the presence of Yahweh that made it holy. [v. 5]

Noteworthy, the act of removing sandals from one’s feet could be significant in two ways:

This was an act to show reverence. [3]

This was an act of humility to express one’s own impurity and unworthiness. [4]

God introduced Himself in a manner to build rapport with His faithfulness to His promises. [5]

APPLICATION: God revealed Himself as a personal God, Yahweh, faithful to His promises and holy in character and presence. He is personal to us today, knowing us also by name, and still remaining faithful to all He has ever promised.

Yahweh is attentive. [vv. 7-9]

The statement actually appears emphatic- literally, “seeing I have seen” communicating a great sense of care and concern. [6]

Notice the words: I have observed (seen); I have heard; I know. The words “I know” also communicate “personal feeling, tenderness, and compassion.” [7]

In response to God’s deep concern for Israel, notice what He communicated in action: “I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them from that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey...”

Though once limited in Egypt, they were being delivered to a land of vast richness and of spacious living. [8]

Notice verse 9 even details, “because the Israelites cry for help has come to me...”- God was moved to action.

APPLICATION: God is attentive to the needs and cries of His people. He has rescued us once for all through Jesus. Even still, He is able to rescue you today when you place your faith in Him- out of a dry, desolate, desperate, limited land into a land of plenty, abundance, joy, etc.

Yahweh is demanding. [v. 10]

This is not to be taken negatively as the word sometimes communicates. Rather, it is that when we encounter God in a real, personal way, God demands something of us: faith. He demanded Moses to trust Him and to be used by God to deliver the Israelites.

APPLICATION: God demands faith of us, too, that we might trust Him to deliver not only our own lives, but also the lives of those around us through Jesus Christ.

Yahweh is sufficient. [vv. 11-13]

Moses’ fear and perhaps misunderstanding was warranted. “He knew the power of Egypt and its pharoh, and he not yet know God’s power.” [9]

Yet, God began to promise His presence and help to Moses.

“The word [a token/sign] means a declaration or promise of God, which rests absolutely on His word, and demands faith. The promise that God would have the people serve Him in that place was an assurance, if fully believed, that all intervening obstacles would be removed by His power.” [10]

Additionally, “the relevancy of the term [אֹות] sign, in application to some future event, the simply pre-intimation of which was designed to induce to present action, appears from the fact that the word is thus applied in several passages of Scripture (cf. 1 Sam. 2:34; Jer. 44:29, 30).” [11]

Moses wondered by which name he should declare these things- a practice in their culture and time. Would it be that he would use the same name by which God revealed Himself during this encounter to bear the authority and weight of the message?

APPLICATION: God’s presence and promise to us is relevant and sufficient for us to accomplish that which He has called us to do. He has promised to be present, faithful, and to see us through that we might worship Him.

Yahweh is eternal. [vv. 14-15]

“Thus, the name implies that God is absolutely self-existent. He is the One who in Himself possesses life and permanent existence. As such, only He can give life to another.” [12]

“The words express absolute, and therefore unchanging and eternal Being. The name, which Moses was thus commissioned to use, was at once new and old; old in its connection with previous revelations; new in its full interpretation, and in its bearing upon the covenant which Moses was destined mediator.” [13]

“The name signifies that by which God makes himself known, the memorial by which His people worship Him.” [14]

“The wordplay with the verb makes it especially prominent and recalls the promise, as if to remind Moses, ‘the one who promises to be with you is the one who sends you.” [15]

APPLICATION: Yahweh is eternal, the only one able to give life. He is the one who promises His presence and who also sends us forth to accomplish His will for our lives.

REFLECTIVE TIME:

Exodus 3:7-10.

“God is still good, even when you don’t understand. God is still faithful, even when it doesn’t make sense. God still has a plan, even when you can’t see it. God is still in control, even when it looks like chaos. God is still near, even when you can’t feel Him. God is still God.” (Shane Pruitt)

[1] Do you trust that God is personal, attentive to your needs, and sufficient to meet those needs?

[2] Do you trust God enough to be obedient when He demands faith, trusting that He who promises is faithful to fulfill His promises?

[3] Do you trust that God is eternal, present forever, even in these moments?

Bibliography:

[1] Ken Hemphill. The Names of God: Revealing the Character of God (Tigerville, South Carolina: Auxano Press, 2014), 34.

[2] Adam Clarke, The Holy Bible with a Commentary and Critical Notes, New Edition., vol. 1 (Bellingham, WA: Faithlife Corporation, 2014), 301.

[3] Dorian G. Coover-Cox, “Exodus,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 92.

[4] Clarke, 302.

[5] David Brown, A. R. Fausset, and Robert Jamieson, A Commentary, Critical, Experimental, and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments: Genesis–Deuteronomy, vol. I (London; Glasgow: William Collins, Sons, & Company, Limited, n.d.), 285.

[6]Brown et al., 285.

[7] Albert Barnes, 12.

[8] David Brown et al., 285.

[9] Dorian G. Coover-Cox, 93.

[10]Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament: Exodus to Ruth, ed. F. C. Cook and J. M. Fuller (London: John Murray, 1879), 13.

[11]David Brown et al., 286.

[12] Hemphill, 34.

[13] Albert Barnes, 13.

[14] Ibid.

[15] Dorian G. Coover-Cox, 93.

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