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b-hebrew - Re: Exodus 3:14 and John 8:58

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  • From: "Eric Weiss" <eweiss AT gte.net>
  • To: b-hebrew
  • Subject: Re: Exodus 3:14 and John 8:58
  • Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1998 14:41:56


In my response to Rolf Furuli's response to me re: I AM THAT I AM, I asked
if those who read a reference to Exodus 3:14 in John 8:58 are in error,
which I guess led to this post by Greg.

Re: the assumption that Jesus spoke Hebrew/Aramaic to the Jewish leaders
(assuming John's gospel transmits to us Jesus' words), I understand that
the ANWQEN "again/above" wordplay in John 3:3 in Jesus' discussion with
Nicodemus does not work in Hebrew or Aramaic (i.e, they don't have a single
word with these two meanings), which suggests that Jesus spoke with
Nicodemus in Greek - and, as my 1st-year Greek teacher mentioned, Nicodemus
is a Greek name (I never verified this, though).

If Jesus spoke Greek, then the LXX translation of Exodus 3:14 as EGW EIMI
hO WN might have been the referent for John 8:58 and the other EGW EIMI
statements in GJohn. Is that possible?

Of course, that raises other problems, i.e., if the LXX of Exodus 3:14 is
perhaps NOT a good rendering (which is what I believe what Rolf Furuli is
suggesting - BTW, what does "fientic" or "semi-fientic" mean?), then the
author of GJohn or Jesus himself operated from a misunderstanding of Exodus
3:14!

I gather from the responses to my original I AM THAT I AM/I WILL BE THAT I
WILL BE question that there are other, better ways to say "I AM THAT I AM"
in Hebrew so that a good case could be made that the future sense of EHYEH
was meant by the author of Exodus 3:14

On 12/24/98, "GregStffrd AT aol.com" wrote:
> Dear List Members:
>
> Some have recently expressed their view regarding a connection between
> Jesus'
> words in John 8:58 and God's words to Moses in Exodus 3:14. It appears that
> this view is primarily based on a perceived relationship between the Greek
> words found in John 8:58 and the Greek LXX of Exodus 3:14.
>
> However, given the fact that Jesus actually, likely, spoke in Hebrew/Aramaic
> to the Jews in John 8:58, what could he have said, in Hebrew/Aramaic, that
> would have made his Jewish audience relate his words to _Hebrew_ of Exodus
> 3:14?
>
> If Jesus had actually used 'ani hu then I can see how his words might have
> some relationship to the Isaianic passages where 'ani hu is used, but it
> seems
> unlikely that Jesus could have said anything, given the context of John
> 8:58,
> that would have inferred a relationship with the Hebrew of Exodus 3:14.
>
> Greg Stafford




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