The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 1 — Section 97

I. How IT WAS THAT THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH A QUESTION WAS SUGOESTED TO ms IIIIND. All the deities of the other nations had names, and doubtless the gods of Egypt were well known by name to the Israelites. Part of the glory of each nation came from the fact that it was under the protection and favour of so renowned a bein" as its God. The feeling of Moses in asking this question may be illustrated from th~ clamour of the Ephesian mob against Paul. The Ephesians felt that it was a great deal t-0 be able to say that Diana had a special interest in them. And so it seemed to Moses a reversal of the proper order of things to go to his brethren with no more indication of the Being who had sent him, than that he had been historically connected with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Moses could not believe that his own people would rest contented with such a re~resentation as ~his; indeed, we may very reasonably go fw-ther, and assume that he bnnself was aUXlous to know the name of this unnamed God. He was not yet filled with the light and power of the pure monotheistic concep- tion. Certainly he had just felt what real might there was with the God of his fathers, and probably there was no shadow of doubt in his mind that this God was powerful far beyond any of the rest; but he had yet to learn that he was God alone, and that all other deities, however imposing, were nothing more than the fictions of deo-raded 0 and way~ard imagination .. When w~ bear in mind that Moses was only at the beginning of his personal acquam.tance with God, then we shall see that there was nothing wonderful or unreasonable, from the point of his attainments at the time, in askincr such a question. Observe also that the very question is a revelation of how ignorant the Israelites were of God. How clear the proof is that the thouo-ht of God, as Jehovah, came down from above, and did not rise out of the corrupted hearts of men. When we have much to do with persons, it is a matter of necessity to have names for them, and if they give us none, we must make them for ourselves. But the Israelites had no transactions with God. save as he came down and pressed his presence upon them ; and even then all that they could see was such power as beca.me manifest to the senses. It is very certain that if God had not revealed this name, there was no faculty among the Israelites to invent it. II. Tm: GIVING OF THE NilIB. We must bear in mind tl1e pnrpose for which the name was given. The question at once suggests itself-Would God have given this name, if he had not been asked? To this perhaps the best answer is that the difficulty out of which the question rose was sure to be felt, even if the question itself was not asked. Some name of the kind assuredly became needed for distinguishing purposes. It was a name as helpful to the people of idolatrous nations as to Israel itself. An Egyptian or a. Philistine could say," The Hebrews call their God Jehovah." What the Israelite understood by the name in itself, is, we may fairly say, a point impossible to settle. The wisdom of God is certainly evident in giving a name which, while it so well served a temporary purpose, remains still to suggest matters which no lapse of time can ever render indifferent. It is vain to discuss the form of the expression, with the aim of tying it down to mean some particular aspect of the Divine nature, to the exclusion of others. Far better is it for Christians to take it-and thus, surely, devout Israelites would take it-as suggesting all that it is fitted to suggest. There is the name; some will put into it more, and some less, but no one can pretend that he has filled it with the fulness of its import. It would be very helpful for the Israelites always to bear in mind the occurrence of the first person in this great distinguishing name. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, is one who can say "I." He is not represented by some dumb idol, voiceless save through the traditions of those who worship it. He who says "I am" thus registers in Holy Writ an expression which will have meaning and suggestiveness in every language under heaven. What an intimation is given to us of the permanent value of the expression when we come upon it so suddenly in the discussion between Jesus and the Jews I They had spoken hau,.htily concerning great names in the past-the dead Abraham and the dead prophets; when straightway, ~ by the ~reath of ~s mouth, Jesus shrivels up the glories of all mere mundane history by his declarat10n, "Before Abraham was, I am." (John viii 58.) Abraham and all the rest of us have come into existence. But Jesus is one who, even here below, with the knowledge cf what happened at Bethlehem, baa that in him whereby he can say, "I am." 111 'fHE (IIVlNG OJI' ~HIS NAl!E MADE IT NEEDFUL TO llEJTJ!;llA'rE AND Ellll'.li4Bl8JII CB, Ill, 18-22.] 'fHE BOOK OF EXODUS.