Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Trevor & Julie Peterson" <06peterson AT cua.edu>]

Lew wrote:

> So with no authority to place this in capitals and with the more correct
> gramatical meaning "I will be whatsover I will be" why then is so
> much made
> of the "I am that I am" and more importantly "I am hath sent me unto you"
> when it should be "I will be hath sent me unto you"?

I think a lot of Platonists probably like the idea of God revealing himself
as the ever-stative, self-defining one :-) And it's not completely without
basis to read a present force here. The imperfect can and often does have
that sense. (In BH, it seems to be the preferred means of stating a
generally present truth.) I think, though, we should expect to find
something before the verb in such a case--something like anokhi ehye . . .
With the verb first, I'm inclined to read it with a volitive force--"I will
be," not in the sense of predicting what will happen, but declaring one's
intention. But the Hebrew verbal system is not so settled a matter that this
is without debate, and I don't know that we can fault translations too much
for sticking with a reading that now has a very long tradition.

Trevor Peterson
CUA/Semitics