Biblical Hebrew Forum

[cornelis den hertog <cok17 AT hotmail.com>]

Thanks, George and Karl, for your reply. I myself considered that the length of my post might be the cause that I did not get any reply to my post of 16 December but forgot to mention it. Now I have at least a confirmation of that supposition. Therefore I apparently had a false start as a newcomer on the list! By the way, yesterday, together with my new post I gave a shortened version of the post of 16 December, limiting it to its central thesis. Therefore, if the length was the only objection, that does not stand any longer... For the convenience I reproduce the shortened version below.
 
Cornelis den Hertog

>  …

>   … why is this name Ehyeh used here? … in the text it is put in the mouth of Moses: it is

> Moses who has to say to the Israelites “Ehyeh has sent me to you”! …

>    In my view the reason of the use of Ehyeh as a name is that Moses is introduced here

> as a prophet. It has already often been observed that some words and motifs used in the

> context have prophetic connotations, such as the word following Ehyeh, sh-l-kh (“send”,

> in connection with saying something), and the variation of the messenger formula, “Thus

> shall you say to the Children of Israel”, just preceding the name Ehyeh. A prophet

> usually speaks in the name of God by using the first person, therefore as if God himself is

> speaking. If Moses uses the name form Ehyeh in front of the people, he is representing

> God in the most eminent way that is possible and presents himself, in combination with

> “has sent me to you”, as speaking with ultimate authorization.

>  …