Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Rob Matlack" <united_by_truth AT myrealbox.com>]

The succinct note from NET Bible may be of some help and challenge or clarify 
your
statement 'the more correct  grammatical meaning "I will be whatsoever I will 
be"'
and answer your question "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"?" --
It forms an excellent paronomasia with the name. So when God used the verb to 
express
his name, he used this form saying, "I AM." When his people refer to him as 
Yahweh,
which is the 3msg form of the same verb, it actually means "he is." Some 
commentators
argue for a future tense translation, "I will be who I will be," because the 
verb has
an active quality about it, and the Israelites lived in the light of the 
promises for
the future. They argue that "I AM" would be of little help to the Israelites 
in
bondage. But a translation of "I will be" does not effectively do much more 
except
restrict it to the future. The idea of the verb would certainly indicate that 
God is
not bound by time, and while he is present ("I AM") he will always be 
present, even in
the future, and so the verb would embrace that as well. Besides, the 
prophetic writers
often give the significance of the names with the use of timeless pronouns—"I 
am he,
there is no one else" (see Isa 44:6 and 45:5-7, et al). The Greek translation 
used a
participle to capture the idea; and several times in the Gospels Jesus used 
the
powerful "I am" with this OT significance. The simplest meaning is the 
English present
tense, which embraces the future promises. The point is that Yahweh is 
sovereignly
independent of all creation and that his presence guarantees the fulfillment 
of the
covenant. Others argue for a causative Hiphil translation of "I will cause to 
be," but
nowhere in the Bible does this verb appear in Hiphil or Piel. For a full 
discussion
there are a number of works available.

Rob Matlack          united_by_truth AT myrealbox.com
Minneapolis, KS
"I can only say that I am nothing but a poor sinner, trusting in Christ alone 
for
salvation"--R. E. Lee
"It is not our task to secure the triumph of truth, but merely to fight on its
behalf."--Blaise Pascal
> -----Original Message-----
> From: b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
> [mailto:b-hebrew-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org]On Behalf Of Lew Osborne
> Sent: Saturday, February 22, 2003 10:22 PM
> To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: [b-hebrew] Exodus 3:14
>
>
> 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"?
>
> Any thoughts?
>
> Thank you..
>
>
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