Moses is standing there in front of a burning bush that has claimed to be the God of his ancestors. Strange as that seems he believes the bush and takes off his shoes and covers his face. This is probably one of those "you had to be there to understand" moments. Obviously God wasn't the burning bush; indeed the Bible says that it was a voice from within the bush that was God but still this had to be a rather peculiar experience.
This whole episode begs the question why is God in a burning bush in the middle of a desert talking to disgraced-prince-turned-shepherd?
The answer is simple: God has seen the suffering of his people and now he's about to do something about it. He is going to deliver the Israelites from the Egyptians and bring them "into a land flowing with milk and honey." And he has chosen Moses as his instrument to do this.
Moses's response to this epic calling? "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"
Translation: "Say what now?"
Moses hesitation is understandable. Last time he was in Egypt, he failed miserably as the "savior" of Israel. He was forced to flee his home and his family as a humiliated murderer who had lost the respect of his people and his peers. Now he was an 80 year old shepherd. Who would feel up to that task under those or really any other circumstances?
But not to worry; God gives Moses a promise. "I will be with you. And this will be a sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain."
At this point, I imagine Moses crossing his arms and looking very serious. At least that's the image that comes to mind when I read his reply to God's promise to be by his side.
"Suppose I go to the Israelites," Moses begins (note the "suppose") and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?"
To us this seems like a fairly routine question. After all, what is the first thing you ask someone when you meet them? What is your name, right? Simple and basic.
But we have to understand the cultural context of this question. In our culture, a name is little more than a group of sounds that identify a particular thing or person. I am designated "Jonathan." That is how people differentiate me from others around me, although with a name as common as Jonathan that can be a little difficult at times.
However in the Ancient Near East, a name was far more than an identifying mark: it was your identity. Great significance was attached to the meaning of your name; your name defined you.
There are tons of examples of this in the Bible. In the book of Hosea, which is a fascinating story in and of itself, God tells Hosea to name his kids (although some, it would seem, are not actually his kids) specific things for a certain message. In the book of Genesis, God changes a man's name from Abram (exalted father) to Abraham (father of many). Later on, he changes another person's name from Jacob (grasper/deceiver) to Israel (he struggles with God).
We could go on and on with examples of names and their meaning, but the point is that in that culture, to ask someone their name was to ask far more than simply what to call them; you were asking who they were. Moses's question isn't just "What is your name?" It is "Who are you?"
In God's introduction admittedly had been a bit vague in Hebrew. Literally translated, God introduced himself as the "spirit" or "god (generic)" of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. That doesn't tell Moses much. This could just be some local spirit or deity sending Moses against the powerful gods of the Egyptians.
But God's answer is unlike any Moses could've expected. He says, "I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'"
Initially this answer makes even less sense but think about it. A name is more than just a word to identify someone: a name captures the essence of who that person is and no other name could've so perfectly described God. After all, how does one describe the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God of the universe? I AM fits perfectly.
God is in effect saying to Moses, "You want to know who I am? I just am. You cannot define me; you cannot put me into a box like you do with other gods. I am beyond your comprehension and understanding. The best you can understand is that I just am."
But there is even more to it than that. In Hebrew, the phrase is more accurately translated, "I will be who I will be." What does this mean? This means that God is self-determinant.
This is something that sets this God apart from all the others. The gods that Moses knew of could be bought or bribed or controlled. You offer a certain sacrifice to a certain god who then is bound to perform a certain act. You say a certain prayer to a certain other god and that god will then do thus. Egyptian religion was very rigid and ritualistic. They even buried people with "How-to" manuals on getting into the afterlife.
God is saying something very different to Moses here. He is saying that he cannot be bought or bribed or controlled. It is he, not you, that gives the commands around here, something that I think our society has forgotten. God is who he is and he alone determines that.
This leads into another characteristic of God that his name brings out: his eternalness. Part of God being self-determinant is being self-existent. For us, a big part of who we are is determined by genetics from our hair color down to our personality. We don't have a say, or much of one, in any of these things.
But God has no creator. He just is and always has been. God chose his personality and characteristics; they weren't determined by anything other than himself and they never will be. He will be who he will be.
This leads us to God giving Moses the name that he will be remembered by for generations, the name I have usually used on this blog, a name that you may have noticed as being absent the last couple of posts: Yahveh.
In our English Bibles, this name is translated LORD because Jews from roughly the time of Jesus decided that the name of God was too holy to be spoken aloud, something I find ironic since Yahveh said that it is by that name he will be remembered forever.
The name itself, which no one is entirely sure how it is pronounced, comes from these four letters: YHVH (V is also written W), which is a derivative of the Hebrew "to be" very, HYH. Literally, the name Yahveh means "he is."
He is. A perfect name for God. Yahveh is far too great to be summed up in a name so just declaring that "he is" is enough.
It is a name that leaves you hanging. He is…what? Something is supposed to go there, right? Perhaps something is and that is the challenge for us. Fill in the blank. Find out who he is.
That is the beautiful thing about Yahveh: there is always something more to discover with him. There is a richness and depth that surpasses everything else in the universe. Getting to know him isn't the work of a lifetime; it is the work of eternity and even that is not enough.
His name is also the answer to the questions the Israelites were asking. "Where is God?" "Does he care?" "Does he exist?"
This name is Yahveh's way of saying, "Yes, I do exist, and yes, I do care, and yes, I am here to save you."
Today people are asking the same questions and the answers have not changed in the last 3500 years. Yes, Yahveh does exist. Yes, he does care. And yes, he is going to fix the world.
People ask me how I can have faith and hope in such a messed up world. They ask me how I can believe in a God of love and kindness when there is so much cruelty. They ask me how I know that God is who he says he is. My answer is simply to say his name.
He just is.
No comments:
Post a Comment