Reading Exodus: Encountering God (1)—What is His name?

“If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘the God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”（Ex 3:13）

Apart from the incarnation recorded in the 4 Gospels, Moses’ encounter with God stands among the most striking accounts of human-divine encounters in the whole Bible.

In Ex. 3, Moses is tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro when he comes upon a strange sight: a bush that burns and yet is not consumed. There, God appears to him, speaks with him, commissions him to bring His people out of Egypt, and reveals His name to him.

Rembrandt, Moses at the Burning Bush, 1655

Well of course, long before Moses’ encounter, God had already revealed Himself to the patriarchs such as Abraham and Jacob. And after Moses, He continues to reveal to Joshua, the judges, the kings and the prophets. However, the God who revealed Himself to the forefathers now discloses His name, and any subsequent encounters with God has their understandings and insights shaped by this self-revealed name of God in this encounter.

This divine encounter of Moses is, hence, a defining moment in the unfolding of who God is in the book of Exodus.

 

In this encounter, two interesting features stand out. One concerns the name of God; the other, the commissioning of Moses. 

 

When Moses hesitates at God’s commissioning and resists the task before him, God’s mind is not changed. Finally, Moses raises what appears to be a practical concern. He mentions the possible scenario that the Israelites might ask for the name of the God of their forefathers, and ask God, “What shall I say to them?” (3:13)

To appreciate the weight of this question, it is good to look at the naming practice in the Ancient Near Eastern world from which Moses came.

The world of the Ancient Near East (ANE) places great importance on a “name,” and the related naming practice. It is more than a mere label, but reflects, indeed, the identity of a person. Consider the patriarch Jacob. His name tells us who he is. Since his birth, he is a “heel-grabber;” he grasps, strives, and schemes. His actions ultimately fill  up the meaning of his name. (s. Gen 25:19-34, Gen 24-32) 

In fact, this understanding of a person’s name and his identity is quite similar to our Asian understanding, even today. Think of our own name, or the careful considerations parents give when deciding a name for their children. Every name carries the hope parents have for their children’s characters and aspirations.

And as every name tells of a person’s identity, it is, inevitably, also tied to the person’s reputation. In Jacob’s case, his actions befit his name, and in turn, his name—the “heel-grabber”—becomes his reputation: someone who repeatedly schemes for things he desires.

Furthermore, when a person discloses his name to another person, he is actually opening himself up to this person, allowing this person to know him, and draw near to him.

Another interesting social structure with regard to “name” in the ANE is that superiors have no obligation to disclose their personal names to their inferiors, especially in the religious context. In ANE religious understanding, knowing a god’s name sometimes implies power over that god. There are ancient folklores on how humans resort to trickery to extract a god’s name so as to secure a divine response.  

Conversely, if a deity reveals his name to a human, it would mean to empower the human to act on the deity’s behalf. In this sense, it is a representational transferring of divine authority.

Coming back to the question of God’s name Moses asks of Him. Given the religious context then, he would have expected God to refuse disclosing His personal name to him, and he might just be able to say no to God’s commission of him. 

Yet our God always surprises us.

Upon Moses’ request, God actually answers him, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he tells Moses to say to the Israelites, “I AMhas sent me to you.” And that “The LORD, the God of your fathers...This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.” (Ex. 3:14-15)

This is a wholly unexpected and unconventional move on God’s part. Most importantly, God freely reveals His name to Moses, without any trickery or coercion. He freely proclaims His name to be I AM WHO I AM, and that this will be His name forever, throughout generations.

This self-disclosure of God’s name carries several implications. The most important is that it implies a relational recognition by God, and a relational access to God. This is a relationship that God has established with the patriarchs—a covenantal relationship. By giving His name freely to Moses, God is acknowledging and affirming His covenantal faithfulness. 

Secondly, by revealing His name, God allows Moses to have a glimpse of who He is—I AM, I AM WHO I AM—He is the eternal Present, and Presence. The Great Unchangeable. This is a name that carries hope; it is also a name that rejects manipulation.

Thirdly, when God made known His name to Moses so that he can carry out his commission, this in turn implies two further things. (1) Moses is God’s authorised representative; he is going forth in God’s name, with God’s authority. (2) (Using a human way of saying) God is staking His reputation on it. When Moses goes to the Israelites and tells them that God has heard their cries for deliverance; when he stands before Pharaoh, asking for his releasing the Israelites to worship God in the wilderness, God’s name is inevitably bound with this whole endeavour. Is He able to accomplish what He has commissioned Moses to do? Will He be loyal to His covenant, and carry the whole thing through, never abandoning them? These are all yet hidden to them, and unknown to their world. And there are still many uncertainties ahead. However, God’s name—I AM—is already invoked. The course of history will bear witness to this name.

Moses asks for God’s name, and he gets it. There is something worth noticing here—Moses does not ask for God’s name the moment he sees the burning bush. He only asks of it after being commissioned by God. Since God has freely disclosed His name to Moses, why doesn’t He disclose it sooner, like right after He asks Moses to take off his sandals? What is the author of Exodus trying to tell us about God as he recounts this whole event?

 

Now this is the second interesting feature which we shall discuss later.