From: The Real Christian By Simon Peter Jacobs 1899
When God commissioned Moses to deliver the Israelites from bondage to Pharaoh, He assumed an additional name significant of His advancing self-revelation. “I am Jehovah, and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob as God Almighty [El-Shaddai], but by the name Jehovah I was not known unto them” (Ex. 6: 2, 3).
Four hundred years of bondage under Egyptian idolatry had so degraded the Israelites that among the pagan gods of Egypt they seemed in doubt as to the true God; as would appear from the following: “Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM; and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Jehovah God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob hath sent me unto you: this is my name forever, and this is my memorial unto all generations” (Ex. 3: 13-15).
This name, “I am that I am,” is, as Adam Clarke says: “I will be what I will be.” Likewise the German of Luther: “Ich werde sein der Ich sein werde,” -I shall be who I shall be. The tense is future. The title indicates God's eternity, and that He will reveal Himself furthermore as it shall please Him. The title Jehovah has a covenant significance for all future revelations of God, a fitting “memorial unto all generations.”
See also Exodus 3:14 in the New World Translation
The Exodus 3:14/John 8:58 Nothing-Burger
No comments:
Post a Comment