Draft:The Name of God

According to the Bible, God reveals His name to Moses in Exodus 3.

Moses asks God what his name is:

Then Moses said to God, "Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you.' Now they may say to me, 'What is His name?' What shall I say to them?" (Exodus 3:13, NASB 1995)

God answers the question and reveals his name:

God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you'" (Exodus 3:14, NASB 1995)

From this conversation, we can see that God's name in English is "I AM" (stylized per the NASB).

From an interlinear Bible.[1], we see the Hebrew verb used to reveal God's name is Strong's #1961[2].

Strong's #1961 ('to be') is not reserved for the name of God. We see an example of the verb's general use in the Biblical account of creation for example:

The earth was formless and void... Genesis 1:2, NASB 1995

God repeats himself to Moses:

"Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, has sent me to to you.' This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations." Exodus 3:15, NASB 1995

From an interlinear Bible [3], we see the Hebrew verb used to render God's name is Strong's #3068[4]

Strong's #1961 is used to reveal God's name; Strong's #3068 is used to render God's name.

Strong's #1961 is not reserved for God's name; Strong's #3068 is reserved for God's name.

His name is the same in either case.

Exodus 3:15 can therefore be rendered thus:

"Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, has sent me to to you.' This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations."

God's name does not change between Exodus 3:14 and 3:15; the form used to render his name does change: from a general verb, to a reserved verb.

References

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