The God Who Reveals His Name: An Exegetical Study of Exodus 3

INTRODUCTION

I want to take you to one of the most significant moments in all of Scripture—a moment that happens not in a palace or a temple, but in the wilderness, on the back side of a mountain, before a shepherd who's spent the last forty years herding sheep and running from his past.

The burning bush. You know the story. But my focus this morning is going to be on what happens in Exodus 3—specifically, what we see in verses 13 through 15. This is not just a dramatic encounter or some sort of prophetic commission. This is the theological hinge that the whole Old Testament pivots on.

My thesis is this: The revelation of the divine name YHWH in Exodus 3:14-15 serves as the founding self-revelation of God's character and covenant identity in the Old Testament, and this revelation finds its ultimate and complete fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ, particularly in His "I AM" declarations in John's Gospel.

In other words: when Jesus says in John 8:58, "Before Abraham was, I AM," He's not making a grammatical mistake. He's making a divine claim. He's taking the covenant name of the nation of Israel's God—revealed here at this burning bush with Moses—and applying it to Himself. And the Jewish leaders understood exactly what He was doing; this is why they picked up stones to kill Him.

But we're getting ahead of the ball.

I want to walk us through four movements:

First, we'll examine the literary structure and context of Exodus 3—how does this chapter function within the book, and what leads up to the name revelation?

Second, we'll do careful exegetical work on verses 13-15, particularly the Hebrew phrase 'ehyeh 'asher 'ehyeh—"I AM WHO I AM"—and start to see what this name actually reveals about God.

Third, we'll trace how this name develops throughout the Old Testament and grows to become central to Israel's covenant identity.

And finally, we'll see how Jesus, in John's Gospel and elsewhere, claims this name for Himself and thereby asserts His full deity as the second person of the Trinity.

Let's begin.

PART ONE: THE BURNING BUSH — CONTEXT AND LITERARY STRUCTURE

To understand the significance of the name being revealed, we need to put it into the flow of Exodus 3. The chapter divides into four clear movements:

First, verses 1-6: The theophany at the burning bush; Second, verses 7-10: God's declaration of intent to deliver Israel. Third, verses 11-12: Moses' first objection and God's promise of presence; then Fourth, verses 13-22: The name is revealed and detailed instructions are given.

Notice the progression: we move from visual wonder—the bush burning, but not consumed—to auditory revelation; God speaking His covenant purposes. From there, we come to the climactic moment: God revealing His name.

Let's set the scene. Exodus 2 ends with Israel groaning under Egyptian bondage, and we're told in verse 24 that "God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob." That word "remembered"—Hebrew zakar—doesn't mean God had forgotten, or was just thinking about other things. It refers to God’s movement from a position of expectant waiting, to action on His covenant commitment.

Chapter 3 opens with Moses doing what he's been doing for the past forty years: shepherding Jethro's flock. He's an 80-year-old exile. He’s the former prince of Egypt, and is now a nobody in the wilderness. Then, verse 2: "The Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush."

Now let’s stop here for a minute. The text says "the Angel of the LORD" appears in verse 2, but then verse 4 says "the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, so God called to him from the midst of the bush." Is this an angel, or is this God Himself?

The answer is: both. This is described by most theologians as something referred to as a theophany, or a visible manifestation of God. The "Angel of the LORD" in the Old Testament is not a created being but a pre-incarnate appearance of the second person of the Trinity. We see the same pattern in Genesis 16, Genesis 22, Judges 6, and Judges 13. The Angel is at the same time distinct from and yet also identified with YHWH Himself.

The burning bush is theologically loaded. Fire represents God's holiness—His consuming, purifying, dangerous glory. Deuteronomy 4:24 says "the LORD your God is a consuming fire." But here's the miracle: the bush burns, but it's not consumed. We can take this as a beautiful precursor to what we will find to be true: God's presence dwelling with His people without destroying them. It's a preview of the tabernacle, where God's glory will dwell among sinful Israel. It's a preview of the incarnation, where the Word becomes flesh and dwells among us. It’s a prime description of our relationship as believers with an indwelling Holy Spirit.

Verse 5: "Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground."

Why remove his sandals? Holiness creates distance, but at the same time requires ritual cleanliness; this is later demonstrated in other ways in ritual ceremonies of cleansing. Not that the ceremonies make a person worthy of entering; but they provide a physical reminder of the intentionality needed and humble position when approaching God. People cannot casually approach the Holy One. Later, at Sinai, God will set boundaries around the mountain. Touch it, and you die. Even Moses, the mediator, cannot see God's face and live (Exodus 33:20). Holiness attracts—Moses turns aside to see—but holiness also excludes. You cannot approach on your own terms.

Then verse 6: "I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."

Notice the repetition: "the God of... the God of... the God of..." Three times. This is not merely dynastic continuity—"I'm the God your ancestors worshiped." This is personal covenant relationship with each patriarch individually. Jesus Himself uses this text in Matthew 22:32 to prove the resurrection: God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are alive to God.

So verses 1-6 establish: This is the covenant God, appearing in holy fire, to commission a mediator. He has now set the stage.

Verses 7-10 reveal God's intention. He has seen, heard, and knows Israel's suffering. He's coming down to deliver them. Three verbs of divine perception pile up in verse 7: "I have surely seen... I have heard their cry... I know their sorrows." The Hebrew intensifies the first verb: ra'oh ra'iti—"seeing I have seen"—an infinitive absolute construction emphasizing completeness. God is not distant or ignorant. He is personally, intimately aware.

And then the commission: "Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt" (v. 10).

Moses' response in verse 11? "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?"

This is Moses' first objection. He'll raise five total in chapters 3 and 4. "Who am I?" is the objection of personal inadequacy. And it's entirely reasonable. Moses is 80 years old, an exile with a speech impediment, wanted for murder in Egypt. By worldly standards, he's disqualified.

God's answer in verse 12 is crucial: "I will certainly be with you."

In Hebrew: ki-'ehyeh 'immak. "I will be with you." Notice that verb: 'ehyeh. "I will be." Keep that in mind—because that's the same verb God is about to use to reveal His name.

God doesn't answer Moses' objection by listing Moses' qualifications. He answers by promising His presence. And that's enough. Because the question is never "Who am I?" The question is always "Who is God, and is He with me?"

This sets up the name He reveals in verses 13-15. And that's where we turn now.

PART TWO: THE NAME REVELATION — EXEGETICAL ANALYSIS

Verse 13: "Then Moses said to God, 'Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, "The God of your fathers has sent me to you," and they say to me, "What is His name?" what shall I say to them?'"

Moses raises a critical question. In the ancient Near East, to know someone's name was to know their character, their power, their identity. Egypt had countless named gods—Ra, Osiris, Horus, Anubis. If Moses goes back to Israel and says "The God of your fathers sent me," the elders will ask: "Which god? What's His name? How do we know this is the God of Abraham and not some other deity?"

Moses needs more than a generic title. He needs a name.

Verse 14: "And God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.' And He said, 'Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, "I AM has sent me to you."'"

Let's slow down and do the exegetical work here, because this is the most debated phrase in Old Testament theology.

The Hebrew is: אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה — 'ehyeh 'asher 'ehyeh.

'Ehyeh is the first-person imperfect form of the verb הָיָה—hayah—which means "to be" or "to exist." The imperfect tense in Hebrew can denote ongoing action, future action, or habitual action. It's not a simple past tense. It's dynamic.

'Asher is a relative pronoun: "who" or "which" or "that."

So literally, word-for-word: "I am (or I will be) who/that I am (or I will be)."

Now, how do we translate this? Scholars have proposed several options:

Option 1: "I AM WHO I AM" — This emphasizes God's eternal self-existence. His being is underived, necessary, absolute. He doesn't become; He simply is. This is the ontological reading, focusing on God's aseity—His self-sufficiency.

Option 2: "I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE" — This emphasizes God's sovereign freedom. He defines Himself. He cannot be manipulated or controlled. He will be what He chooses to be. This is the voluntarist reading.

Option 3: "I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE" — This emphasizes God's covenantal presence. He will be for His people whatever they need Him to be—deliverer, provider, sustainer. This is the dynamic, relational reading.

Option 4: "I AM THE ONE WHO IS" — This is more metaphysical, rooted in Greek philosophy. God is pure being, existence itself. The Latin Vulgate renders it ego sum qui sum. The Greek Septuagint says ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν—ego eimi ho on—"I am the Being."

So which is it?

Here's my argument: The phrase is deliberately ambiguous. God refuses to reduce Himself to a single formula. He is all of these things simultaneously. He is self-existent—He needs nothing outside Himself. He is sovereign—He owes explanation to no one. He is covenantally present—He commits Himself to be with His people. And He is the ground of all being—everything that exists, exists because He is.

The repetition of the verb—'ehyeh 'asher 'ehyeh—creates a tautology. It's a circular definition. God is who He is. Period. You cannot get behind it. You cannot dissect it. You cannot master it. It's the ultimate refusal to be domesticated.

Now notice verse 14 again: God says to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ''Ehyeh has sent me to you.'" The shortened form. Just "I AM." This connects directly back to verse 12: "I will be ('ehyeh) with you." God's name is His presence.

But then verse 15 gives us the full form: "Moreover God said to Moses, 'Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: "The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations."'"

Here it is: יהוה—YHWH—the Tetragrammaton. The four-letter name. The covenant name of Israel's God.

YHWH is the third-person form of the verb hayah. If 'ehyeh is "I am," then YHWH is "He is" or more likely, "He causes to be." It's probably a causative form: Yahweh—"He who brings into being," "He who causes to exist."

This is the name that will define Israel's relationship with God for the rest of biblical history. It appears over 6,800 times in the Old Testament. It's the name revealed at Sinai. It's the name inscribed on the high priest's turban. It's the name that distinguishes Israel's God from all the gods of the nations.

And God says in verse 15: "This is My name forever" (Hebrew: le'olam)—"and this is My memorial to all generations" (ledor dor).

Forever. Permanent. Unchanging. Not temporary. Not situational. This is who God is, was, and always will be.

Now, why does this matter? Why is this name revelation so significant?

Because it reveals four essential truths about God:

First: God's self-existence. He is not contingent. He doesn't depend on anything outside Himself. He is the uncaused cause, the unmoved mover, the ground of all being. Philosophers call this aseity—from the Latin a se, "from Himself." God exists from Himself, by Himself, in Himself.

Second: God's immutability. "My name forever" means His character doesn't change. Malachi 3:6: "I am the LORD, I do not change." Hebrews 13:8: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." If God's name is "I AM," then He cannot become something He was not. He is eternally, unchangeably Himself.

Third: God's covenant faithfulness. The name is revealed in the context of redemption. God is coming down to deliver His people. He's keeping promises made to Abraham four centuries earlier. His name isn't just metaphysical speculation—it's personal, relational commitment. "I will be with you" (v. 12) becomes "I AM" (v. 14) becomes "YHWH" (v. 15). God's being is bound up with His covenant. He stakes His name on His faithfulness.

Fourth: God's incomprehensibility. Even as God reveals Himself, He remains mysterious. "I AM WHO I AM" is both disclosure and concealment. God makes Himself known, but He doesn't make Himself controllable. You can know Him, but you cannot master Him. You can call on His name, but you cannot manipulate Him. This is the God who dwells in unapproachable light (1 Timothy 6:16), whom no one has seen or can see.

So Exodus 3:14-15 is the Old Testament's primary act of divine self-disclosure. Everything that follows—the plagues, the Passover, Sinai, the tabernacle, the priesthood, the sacrifices, the conquest, the kingdom, the temple, the prophets—all of it rests on this revelation: YHWH, the God who IS, has bound Himself to His people by covenant.

But the story doesn't end in the Old Testament.

PART THREE: YHWH ACROSS THE CANON — THEOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT

Let's trace how this name develops through Scripture. I want to hit four key moments.

First: Exodus 6:2-8 — God reiterates the name revelation to Moses and explicitly contrasts it with earlier revelation. Verse 3: "I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty (El Shaddai), but by My name LORD (YHWH) I was not known to them."

This doesn't mean the patriarchs never heard the name YHWH—Abraham uses it in Genesis 15:7. It means they didn't experience its full significance. They knew God as Almighty, as Sovereign, as Promise-Maker. But they didn't see Him as Redeemer, Deliverer, Covenant-Keeper in action. The exodus reveals what the name means.

God goes on in verses 6-8 to say "I will..." seven times. Seven divine commitments:

"I will bring you out"

"I will rescue you"

"I will redeem you"

"I will take you as My people"

"I will be your God"

"I will bring you into the land"

"I will give it to you"

This is covenant language. God is not promising to try. He's promising to accomplish. And He stakes His name on it.

Second: Exodus 33-34 — The golden calf incident has just happened. Moses intercedes, and in chapter 33, he makes a bold request: "Please, show me Your glory" (v. 18).

God's response? "I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you" (v. 19).

Wait—Moses asks to see God's glory, and God responds by proclaiming His name? Yes. Because God's name is His glory. To know the name is to know the character.

Then in Exodus 34:5-7, God descends in the cloud and proclaims:

"The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty..."

This is the full revelation of YHWH's character. The name isn't just "I AM"—it's "I AM merciful, gracious, patient, faithful, forgiving, and just." The name carries moral content. And this formula gets quoted and echoed throughout the Old Testament—in Numbers 14, Nehemiah 9, Psalms 86, 103, 145, Joel 2, Jonah 4, Nahum 1.

The name YHWH becomes shorthand for "the God who is all of these things."

Third: The Prophets — The name YHWH dominates prophetic literature. Let me give you just one example: Isaiah 43.

Verse 10: "You are My witnesses, says the LORD (YHWH), and My servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after Me."

"I am He"—Hebrew: ani hu. This is ego-language, first-person self-assertion. YHWH is claiming absolute uniqueness. There is no God but Him.

Verse 11: "I, even I, am the LORD (YHWH), and besides Me there is no savior."

Verse 13: "Indeed before the day was, I am He (ani hu)."

Verse 25: "I, even I, am He (anoki anoki hu) who blots out your transgressions for My own sake."

Isaiah is saturating his prophecy with the covenant name. He's declaring: YHWH alone is God. YHWH alone saves. YHWH has no rivals, no equals, no successors.

And here's what's fascinating: Isaiah's "I am He" (ani hu) language anticipates the New Testament. Keep that in your back pocket—we're coming back to it.

Fourth: The Psalms — The name YHWH is worshiped, praised, called upon, and feared throughout the Psalter. Let me give you rapid-fire examples:

Psalm 8:1, 9: "O LORD (), our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth!"YHWH

Psalm 20:7: "Some trust in chariots... but we will remember the name of the LORD () our God."YHWH

Psalm 54:1: "Save me, O God, by Your name."

Psalm 91:14: "Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name."

Psalm 135:13: "Your name, O LORD (), endures forever, Your fame, O LORD, throughout all generations."YHWH

The name is invoked. The name is trusted. The name is a refuge. To call on the name of the LORD is to appeal to His covenant faithfulness.

And here's the key: by the time we get to the New Testament, "calling on the name of the LORD" becomes the defining mark of a believer. Joel 2:32 says, "Whoever calls on the name of the LORD (YHWH) shall be saved." Paul quotes this in Romans 10:13—but he applies it to Jesus. "Whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved." And he's talking about Jesus.

How can that be? Because Jesus is YHWH.

And that brings us to our final movement.

PART FOUR: "BEFORE ABRAHAM WAS, I AM" — CHRISTOLOGICAL FULFILLMENT

The New Testament makes an audacious claim: the God who revealed Himself to Moses at the burning bush has now revealed Himself fully in the person of Jesus Christ.

Let's look at the evidence.

First: John 8:58 — This is the most explicit claim. Jesus is debating the Jewish leaders about His identity and authority. They invoke Abraham. Jesus responds in verse 56: "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad."

The Jews are incredulous: "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" (v. 57).

And then Jesus says it: "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM" (v. 58).

Greek: πρὶν Ἀβραὰμ γενέσθαι ἐγώ εἰμι—prin Abraam genesthai, ego eimi. "Before Abraham came into being, I AM."

Notice the tense shift. "Before Abraham was" (past, aorist tense—Abraham came into existence at a point in time). "I AM" (present tense—timeless, eternal existence).

Jesus isn't saying "I was." He's saying "I AM." He's taking the divine name from Exodus 3:14 and applying it to Himself. He's claiming eternal pre-existence. He's claiming to be YHWH.

The Jewish leaders understood exactly what He was doing. Verse 59: "Then they took up stones to throw at Him." Why? Because by Jewish law, blasphemy—claiming to be God—is punishable by stoning (Leviticus 24:16). They're not confused. They're enraged. Jesus has just equated Himself with the covenant God of Israel.

But John 8:58 isn't isolated. Jesus uses "I AM" (ego eimi) repeatedly in John's Gospel:

John 6:35: "I am the bread of life."

John 8:12: "I am the light of the world."

John 10:7: "I am the door of the sheep."

John 10:11: "I am the good shepherd."

John 11:25: "I am the resurrection and the life."

John 14:6: "I am the way, the truth, and the life."

John 15:1: "I am the true vine."

Now, some of these have predicates—"I am the bread," "I am the door." So you could argue they're not direct claims to deity. But then there are passages like John 8:24: "Unless you believe that I AM (ego eimi), you will die in your sins." No predicate. Just "I AM."

Or John 8:28: "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I AM (ego eimi)."

Or John 13:19: "I tell you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe that I AM (ego eimi)."

These are absolute uses of ego eimi—no predicate, just the raw claim: "I AM." And they echo Isaiah's "I am He" (ani hu) passages we looked at earlier. Jesus is claiming the divine identity revealed in both Exodus and Isaiah.

Second: Philippians 2:9-11 — Paul writes that God highly exalted Jesus "and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow... and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (kyrios)."

What name has God given Jesus? The name above every name? It's kyrios—Lord—the Greek translation of YHWH. When the Old Testament was translated into Greek (the Septuagint), the translators rendered YHWH as kyrios. So when Paul says every tongue will confess "Jesus Christ is kyrios," he's saying every tongue will confess "Jesus Christ is YHWH."

And Paul is quoting Isaiah 45:23, where YHWH says, "To Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath." Paul takes a YHWH text and applies it to Jesus. The implication is clear: Jesus shares the divine identity.

Third: Hebrews 1:10-12 — The author of Hebrews quotes Psalm 102:25-27, a passage addressed to YHWH, and applies it to Jesus:

"You, LORD (kyrios), in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You remain; and they will all grow old like a garment... But You are the same, and Your years will not fail."

"You are the same"—that's immutability language. That's YHWH language. And Hebrews says it's true of Jesus.

Fourth: Revelation 1:8, 17-18 — Jesus speaks: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End... the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore."

"The First and the Last"—that's YHWH language from Isaiah 44:6; 48:12. "I am alive forevermore"—that's eternal self-existence. Jesus is claiming the divine attributes and the divine name.

So here's what the New Testament is doing: it's taking the revelation of YHWH from Exodus 3—the God who IS, the self-existent, covenant-keeping, eternally present One—and it's saying: This God has become flesh. This God has a human name: Jesus. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The burning bush that didn't consume has become the incarnate Son who doesn't destroy but saves.

Jesus is YHWH incarnate. Not a second God. Not a lesser deity. The same God who spoke to Moses at the bush is the God who speaks to us in His Son (Hebrews 1:1-2).

And this doesn't violate monotheism—it reveals the Trinity. There is one God, one divine essence, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Son is eternally God. He shares the divine name. He possesses all divine attributes. He does all divine works. And at the burning bush, the Angel of the LORD who appeared to Moses—distinct from yet identified with YHWH—was a pre-incarnate theophany of the second person of the Trinity.

The God who revealed His name to Moses has now revealed His face in Jesus.

CONCLUSION: IMPLICATIONS

Let me bring this home.

First: The name YHWH is not a relic of ancient Hebrew religion. It is the living name of the living God, and Jesus Christ bears that name. When you call on the name of Jesus, you are calling on YHWH. When you worship Jesus, you are worshiping the covenant God of Israel. This is not two religions—it's one unfolding revelation.

Second: The "I AM" of Exodus 3:14 guarantees God's covenant faithfulness. He is the unchanging One. He will be what He will be. And because Jesus is "the same yesterday, today, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8), we can trust Him absolutely. He will never fail. He will never change. He will never abandon His people.

Third: The name YHWH demands exclusive worship. "Before Me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after Me" (Isaiah 43:10). Jesus said, "No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6). This isn't narrow-mindedness—it's the logic of monotheism. If there is only one God, and Jesus is that God incarnate, then there is no other way to the Father. YHWH alone saves. And YHWH has acted in Jesus.

Fourth: The God who appeared in the burning bush still appears to His people. Not in fire and smoke, but through His Word and Spirit. He is Emmanuel—God with us. He promised Moses, "I will be with you." He promises us, "I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). The same presence. The same faithfulness. The same God.

When Moses stood before that burning bush, he didn't just witness a miracle. He witnessed the self-disclosure of the eternal God. He heard the name that would define Israel's identity, shape their worship, and ground their hope.

And when we read John's Gospel and hear Jesus say, "Before Abraham was, I AM," we're standing on that same holy ground.

Take off your shoes. You're in the presence of YHWH.