Contents
- 1 God introduced Himself and the ELOHIM
- 2 The Meeting of Exodus 3
- 3 The Second Meeting – Exodus 6
God introduced Himself and the ELOHIM
Now the Word of God is His Son, as we have before said. And He is called Angel and Apostle; for He declares whatever we ought to know, and is sent forth to declare whatever is revealed; as our Lord Himself says, ”He that hears Me, hears Him that sent Me” (Luke 10:16). From the writings of Moses also this will be manifest; for thus it is written in them, And the Angel of God spoke to Moses, in a flame of fire out of the bush.
Justin Martyr (A.D. 150), First Apology, Chapter 61
Moses’ meetings with the Messenger of Yihvah are the most famous Old Testament revelations of the relationship between Christ and God.
In their first meeting, in Exodus 3:
- God revealed the Name of the Messenger as Yihvah, “HE WILL BE.”
- God distinguished Christ’s Name from His own by saying, “This is My Name forever.” Christ would become “I AM.”
In their next meeting, in Exodus 6:
- The Messenger of Yihvah said to Moses, “I, Yihvah, appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by My name Yihvah I was not known to them.” Of course, they all knew Yihvah was the name of God, but not the name of the Messenger. Here, the Messenger was saying that He had appeared to them “as God Almighty.”
- God explained the meaning of “ELOHIM,” why this word is plural, but yet singular.
The Meeting of Exodus 3
The Messenger of Yihvah appeared to Moses and was called ELOHIM
In Exodus 3:2–6, we read:
And the Angel of Yihvah appeared to him in a flame of fire from the bush . . . So when Yihvah saw that he turned aside to look, ELOHIM called to him from the midst of the bush . . . And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon ELOHIM.
In Chapter 5, we saw the Angel was called ELOHIM in Genesis 16:13, 31:10, 32:24, and 48:16. Here again, in Exodus 3, the Angel is called ELOHIM.
In Chapter 5, we also noticed that the Angel sometimes spoke as “Himself,” and sometimes as God.
I am the Gods of your father
In verse 6, the Messenger said,
“I am the ELOHIM of your father—
the ELOHIM of Abraham,
the ELOHIM of Isaac, and ELOHIM of Jacob.”
Jesus referred to this famous passage, when He said, “have you not read in the book of Moses, in the burning bush passage, how God spoke to him (Moses), saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’” (Mark 12:26). These were the words of the Greek Septuagint. But the Hebrew text described the appearance of ELOHIM to Moses, and not the appearance of the invisible God to Moses. Of course, Jesus Himself told us that God has never appeared to anyone.
I Certainly WILL BE with you
In verse 12, the Messenger said to Moses, “I Certainly WILL BE with you.” This promise was for Jacob and his descendants, beginning in Genesis 28:15.
In Chapter 5, we saw that the Messenger repeated this phrase to Gideon, in Judges 6:16. So Gideon replied, “show me a sign that it is You who speak to me.” Gideon recognized these words, as the words of the Messenger, to Moses.
What is His Name?
In verse 13, Moses asked for the Messenger’s name:
Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them,
“The ELOHIM of your fathers has sent me to you,”
and they say to me,
“What is His name?” what shall I say to them?
Moses was asking for the Messenger’s name, and not the name of God.
God’s name was already known as Yihvah. Eve used the name of Yihvah in Genesis 4:1. Abraham called the place where God provided the Ram, “Yihvah Provides.”
But no one knew the Name of the Angel, the Messenger. When Jacob asked the Angel for His Name, the Angel just replied, “Why is it that you ask My Name?”
When God answered Moses, He introduced two Gods: Himself and the Messenger, who was the ELOHIM.
God first introduced Himself, saying, “I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE, therefore you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I WILL BE has sent me.’” Then He introduced the Messenger, saying, “Moreover . . . say to them ‘Yihvah, the ELOHIM of your fathers . . . APPEARED to me.’” Here, God was certainly speaking of the Messenger’s name, for no one appeared to Moses, other than the Messenger.
Some might think that God appeared to Moses. But why would God need to send a Messenger, if God Himself went to see Moses? God is the invisible God.
Understanding God’s response in Exodus 3:14–16
This is where things get very difficult in most Bibles, because the text has not been translated correctly. There are two things we need to correct to understand this passage: “I AM” is “I WILL BE,” and “The LORD” is “HE WILL BE.”
| This incorrect translation of I WILL BE אֶֽהְיֶ֣ה as “I AM” has been noted in Encyclopedia Britannica,1 Wikipedia 2 and many Bible commentaries.
Biblical Hebrew has only two tenses, perfect and imperfect – which are completed and incomplete actions. These tenses are roughly equivalent to past and future in English, but not exactly equivalent. For example, אֶרְפָּ֔א in Deuteronomy 32:39 is translated as “I heal,” but in Hosea 14:4 it is translated as “I will heal.” The translation choice is more poetic in Deuteronomy 32:39, “I wounded and I heal.” The translators could have also said, “I wounded, and I will heal.” Without a doubt, the Israelites did eventually become confused about the meaning of ehyeh – I WILL BE, and Yihvah, HE WILL BE, as the Prophet Jeremiah told us (Jeremiah 23:26-27). But there was no confusion in the time of the Judges. All occurrences of eh·yeh, I WILL BE — From Genesis to Judges I WILL BE has everything to do with God’s covenant – I WILL BE with you. For this reason, the expression I WILL BE, and HE WILL BE, Yihvah, are often referred to as the Covenant names of God. The first time the word eh-yeh appears in the Bible is in Exodus 3:12, and has everything to do with the promise that God will be with Moses and the Israelites. Exodus 3:12 Exodus 3:14 Exodus 4:12 Exodus 4:15 Deuteronomy 31:23 Joshua 1:5 Joshua 3:7 Judges 6:16 Judges 11:9 Yihvah – HE WILL BE The word LORD we read in our Bibles is actually Yihvah, יהוה, “HE WILL BE” in the Hebrew text. This is the imperfect form of the ancient verb HAVAH, meaning “to be.” The verb HAVAH used for Yihvah, יהוה,“HE WILL BE” in Exodus 3:15 is the more ancient form of the verb HAYAH, used in Exodus 3:14 for “I WILL BE.” If the verb HAYAH was used in Exodus 3:15, the name of God would be Yihyah, and not Yihvah. It seems likely that the scribes retained the more ancient verb form, HAVAH, for Yihvah in Exodus 3:15, because God said, “This is My name forever.” The scribes saw Yihvah, not only as the imperfect form of “to be,” but as “The Name” of God. Of course, the Jewish people are very aware of the connection between the verbs HAVAH and HAYAH. Yihvah simply means “HE WILL BE” in basic Hebrew grammar. The placing of a “Yod” in front of the verb creates the third person imperfect verb form. |
In the New King James Bible, Exodus 3:14–16 reads:
14And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” 15Moreover, God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’” 16Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, “The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying, ‘I have surely visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt;’”
But the Hebrew text of Exodus 3:14–16 reads:
14And ELOHIM said to Moses, “I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I WILL BE has sent me to you.’” 15Moreover, ELOHIM said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘HE WILL BE, the ELOHIM of your fathers, the ELOHIM of Abraham, the ELOHIM of Isaac, and the ELOHIM of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’ 16Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, ‘HE WILL BE, the ELOHIIM of your fathers, the ELOHIM of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, APPEARED to me, saying, “I have surely visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt;”’”
I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE
This is the truest representation of God’s Name. As Justin Martyr said, “there is no one elder than God to name Him” (Second Apology, Chapter 6).
Through God’s statement, “I WILL BE WHO I WILL BE,” we understand that the time has not yet come for God to reveal a real name. For God will be known by another name in the New Testament, the name of His image, the name of Jesus.
Say to the children of Israel “I WILL BE” has sent me to you
Following His statement, “I certainly WILL BE with you,” God told Moses to tell the children of Israel that “I WILL BE” has sent him.
The invisible God, from the beginning, has always assumed the name of His image. “I WILL BE” does not seem like an appropriate name for God. Therefore, the Jewish people tried to change God’s name to “I AM.”
The Jerusalem Targum identifies the speaker in this verse as the Messenger, the Word: “And the Word of the Lord said unto Moses: ‘I am He who said unto the world, Be! And it was.’”
The Jewish people understood that the Messenger of God, the Word, spoke these words on behalf of the invisible God.
Say to them HE WILL BE, the ELOHIM of your fathers . . . “APPEARED to me”
There are five truths that confirm that God named Christ “HE WILL BE” in verses 15 and 16:
- Everyone already knew that the name of God was Yihvah. But no one knew the name of the Messenger, the God of Jacob.
- God addressed the Messenger in the third Person. After calling Himself “I WILL BE,” in the first person, He called the Messenger, “HE WILL BE.”
- It was the Angel who APPEARED to Moses, as mentioned in verse 2. He was the ELOHIM that Moses was afraid to look at, as mentioned in verse 6.
- God emphasized the answer to Moses’ question about the ELOHIM’s name. He answered first in verse 15, and then repeated the name of Christ in verse 16, saying, “say to them ‘HE WILL BE, the ELOHIM of your Fathers . . . APPEARED to me.’”
- “HE WILL BE” is the suitable name for Christ, who would become “I AM.”
This is My Name Forever
After naming the Messenger, “HE WILL BE ELOHIM,” the invisible God turned the conversation back to Himself, in the first person, saying, “This (Yihvah) is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.”
The invisible God, speaking through Christ, said, “This is My name forever,” to contrast His own name as “HE WILL BE,” with the name of Christ, the Messenger. For Christ’s name would change to “I AM” when Christ became a man, but God’s name will always be “HE WILL BE.”
God also compared Himself as “I WILL BE” to Christ as “HE WILL BE ELOHIM” in Hosea 1:7, and 1:9, saying, “I will save them by HE WILL BE their ELOHIM,” and “I will no longer be your I WILL BE.” Reading from right to left:
This is usually translated as “I will no longer be your God.” |
Yihvah, “HE WILL BE,” is not a real name
The expression “HE WILL BE” is not really a name, it is only a comparative expression that God used to compare Himself to Christ, who would be “I AM.”
Justin Martyr, in A.D. 150, told us the Jewish people regarded God as nameless.
As we read in Chapter 5, Manoah asked the Angel for His real name, saying,
“What is Your name,
that when Your words come to pass we may honor You?”
And the Angel of Yihvah said to him,
“Why do you ask My name, seeing it is wonderful?”
Judges 13:17–18
Wonderful is one of the names of Jesus listed in Isaiah 9:6.
The Second Meeting – Exodus 6
By My Name Yihvah I was not known to them
In Exodus 6:3, Yihvah (the Messenger) met with Moses when he returned from Pharaoh, and He said to Moses,
“I אֲנִ֥י, Yihvah יְהוָ֖ה, I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac,
and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name Yihvah,
I was not known to them” (Exodus 6:2, 3).
We know that Yihvah, the ELOHIM, was speaking of Himself, by the word “appeared.” It is only the Messenger, the ELOHIM, who “appeared” to people.
Here, the ELOHIM clarified that He had only “appeared” to Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob “as God Almighty.” This is one of the most significant revelations in the Old Testament. It tells us that the Messenger, the Pre-Existent Christ, had always been God’s image to mankind. He had previously only appeared as “God Almighty.”
As we mentioned before, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob all knew the name of Yihvah was the name of the invisible God. Abraham called the place where he sacrificed Isaac “Yihvah provides” (Genesis 22:14). Abraham also used the name of Yihvah in Genesis 15:2. The Angel of Yihvah used the name of Yihvah in Genesis 16:11. Eve used the name of Yihvah in Genesis 4:1; and we are told that men began to call on the name of Yihvah, in Genesis 4:26.
Leah used the name of Yihvah three times, in Genesis 29:32,33 and 35; and Rachel used the name of Yihvah in Genesis 30:24, when Joseph was born.
The Messenger was speaking of Himself when He said, “by My name Yihvah I was not known to them.”
The expression “God Almighty” is singular—El Shaddai—and refers only to the Father.
Where does the name God Almighty next appear? In the Book of Revelation. The name God Almighty is used six times in the Old Testament, and six times in the Book of Revelation.
Of course, we might ask why the Messenger was not identified as “the Messenger,” in Exodus 6:3. The simple answer is that Yihvah, the ELOHIM, explained the meaning of an “ELOHIM” in Exodus 4-6, and for this reason, it was no longer necessary to identify the Messenger as a “Messenger.”
The Messenger said, “I have also established My covenant with them”
In Exodus 6:4, the Messenger continued, saying, “I have also established My covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan.” Here, the Messenger clearly continues to speak from His identity as the Messenger, which He revealed in verse 3.
Here, the Angel of Yihvah was made “the God of the covenant.” This is significant for the people of Israel, because it truly established the Angel of Yihvah as their God. The Angel of Yihvah repeats this covenant in Judges 2:1: “‘I brought you up out Egypt and led you into the land which I have sworn to your fathers, and I said ’I will never break My covenant with you.’”
In the remainder of Exodus 6, we see that it is the Angel who delivers Israel out of Egypt. In verse 6, He said, “I am Yihvah: I will bring you out from the burdens of the Egyptians.” Then in Exodus 12:13, He said, “when I see the blood I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you.” This is repeated in Exodus 12:23; “Yihvah will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer (the plague) . . . to strike you.” Here the Palestine Targum reads, “the Word of the Yihvah will spread His protection over the door, and the destroying angel will not be permitted to enter your houses to smite.” The same Targum reads, “the Word of Yihvah slew all the firstborn” in Exodus 12:29.
God explained that an ELOHIM was a “Speaker” for Himself
Without a doubt, Moses and people of Israel must have been very confused about the relationship between the invisible Yihvah, and the Angel of Yihvah, their ELOHIM.
Therefore, God arranged a little play for Moses and Aaron, so they could understand the meaning of an ELOHIM, as one who spoke the words of the invisible God.
God sent Moses to see the Pharaoh, saying, “I will be your mouth . . . and you shall be ELOHIM to him” (Exodus 4:15–16).
Moses protested, saying, “Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh heed me?” (Exodus 6:30).
God, or ELOHIM, continued: “See, I have made you as ELOHIM to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you” (Exodus 7:1–2).
Moses became a kind of Christ, who said, “as the Father taught Me, I speak these things” (John 8:28).
This story showed the great sense of humor of God. Moses played the part of ELOHIM and Aaron was his prophet.
God said to Moses,
Say to Aaron, “Stretch out your hand with your rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up on the land of Egypt” (Exodus 8:5) . . .
Say to Aaron, “Stretch out your rod, and strike the dust of the land, so that it may become lice” (Exodus 8:16).
Moses, in this little play, became the speaker for the invisible God, not speaking his own words. The meaning of the plural ELOHIM became clear. Moses was not speaking alone—but “Gods” were speaking to Pharaoh.