God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the
Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to
you.’ ” God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the 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, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to
generation." (Exodus 3:14-15)
Remember watching a group of people on TV standing around with Ty
Pennington, and on cue shouting "Move The Bus!"? I only watched the
show a couple times, but that was the moment of truth, the climax of the
episode, the Big Reveal. I love Big
Reveals. Today's verses are part of a well known Big Reveal. God has lured
Moses in to see what this strange thing is: a bush on fire that isn't burning
up. They've had a short chat and in answer to Moses' question about what he
should say if the Jews ask who sent him, God gives us this Big Reveal. He figuratively steps out from behind the bush
and says, "I AM WHO I AM." I suspect Moses wanted to say, "Stop!
Wait a minute... Huh?" I suspect he spent
a lot of time thinking about "I AM WHO I AM" on his way back
to Egypt.
The Jewish culture is one of many for which a name was supposed to be
more than a logo, it was the sort of label we put on the inside of the shirt.
It told who designed and manufactured the person, what the person was made of,
and perhaps something about the care. In other words, it was supposed to reveal
something.
So what does "I AM WHO I AM" reveal? Here are a few
possibilities:
"I am truly he who exists and who
will be dynamically present..." (Zondervan NIV Bible study note for the
passage.)
Independent: Who I am is not dependent
on anyone else
EternalUnchanging
Independent
Uncaused
Omnipresent
Self-existent & self-sustaining
Person ("I am who I am" not
"I am what I am.")
Very much not created in the image of
man or limited by man
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Birthday of Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow
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