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b-hebrew - Re: _)aSHER_ in Ex. 3:14 (was "I AM")

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  • From: GregStffrd AT aol.com
  • To: b-hebrew AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Cc: dan.wagner AT netzero.net
  • Subject: Re: _)aSHER_ in Ex. 3:14 (was "I AM")
  • Date: Sat, 12 May 2001 12:08:00 EDT


In a message dated 05/11/2001 1:39:34 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
dan.wagner AT netzero.net writes:

<< > I agree with you that there are several ways this could have been
> communicated, but I am not suggesting that God said, "I will be with you,"
> but by defining *Himself* in this way the meaning conveyed was one that
would
> give assurance to His people that as the one who would "prove to be what
he
> purposes to be,"

How does this conclusion, "prove to be what he purposes to be," relate to
the grammar of the Hebrew text as it stands? It's a true statement, i'll
grant, and fits with the context, but what relationship does it have with the
grammar?

Dan Wagner >>


Moses' question was essentially, "Who should I say sent me?" YHWH's reply
was, literally, "I will be who I will be. . . . Tell them 'I will be' sent
you." Now, it seems to me that this response means that the Israelites will
know who He is by what He *will do*. By what he 'proves to be' in action on
their behalf they will know that He is God. "I will be who I will be" leaves
unanswered the question of who sent Moses, but makes clear the fact that the
answer will become manifest by what He purposes to do. They will know by what
they will see, and what they will see is what God purposes to become. The
grammar says that God's identity is predicated on who he "will be." My
understanding relates to the revelatory/future sense of 'EHYEH in a context
where identity and action are bound together.

Greg Stafford





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