Biblical Hebrew Forum

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

Rob quoted:

> 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.

Does anyone else suspect this idea? How does using an imperfect or (as I
tend to prefer) cohortative verb form indicate this abstract, theological
notion?

> 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).

What are timeless pronouns? Are we talking about nominal (verbless) clauses?
They're only timeless in the sense that their time is conditioned by
context. They don't explicitly denote timelessness.

> 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.

But do we know that the Greek translators understood correctly what was
going on here? Or did they want to find a particular meaning in the passage
as much as those who wrote this note?

> The simplest meaning
> is the English present
> tense, which embraces the future promises.

Perhaps, if we're unconcerned with the grammar involved. But what's simplest
has a lot to do with what problems we're willing to acknowledge.

Trevor Peterson
CUA/Semitics