Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Stoney Breyer" <stoney AT touchwood.net>]

Dear Trevor Peterson:

Permit me to address your points in reverse order ...
> if God could go on to
> identify Himself as )eHyE (a designation which, to my knowledge, is never
> used elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible), it seems like it would have to
> develop some sort of serious assertion in the preceding clause.

But surely the fact that the designation is never used again suggests very 
strongly that we should NOT take seriously the implication that His name is 
'ehyeh?  . . . I say "implication" because in fact the Deity does NOT 
"assert" His name to be 'ehyeh.  He only tells Moses to tell the sons of 
Israel that that's who sent him.  I'm suggesting He doesn't mean it seriously.

> So what's your take on the second half of v. 14?  I could see the first
> half possibly being this outburst you suggest, but it seems to me like
> something more substantive has to be meant, by the time you get to 14b.
> And since 14b seems to build directly off of 14a, that might diminish the
> likelihood of your suggestion.

I have not made myself clear.  Let me put it in script form, transforming 
the wayyo'mers into speech headings and adding interpretive directions to 
the actors in parentheses:

MOSES:  (interrupting again) ... and they say to me "What's his name?" -- 
what do I tell them?

DEITY:          (exploding)  I'll be who I'll be!  (sarcastic) Tell the 
sons of Israel I'll be sent you!  (calming down)  Tell the sons of Israel 
that YHWH, god of their fathers ... sent you; (laboring his point to make 
sure there's no misunderstanding) *this* is my name, *this* my memorial age 
after age.



Tracking #: AF9579B16ECF41499D6E77A9A6E606D1D19D5C81