[13] And Moses said unto
God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto
them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say
to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?
When they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall
I say unto them? - What name shall I use, whereby thou mayest be distinguished
from false gods, and thy people may be encouraged to expect deliverance
from thee?
[14] And God said unto Moses,
I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel,
I AM hath sent me unto you.
And God said - Two names God would now be known by.
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A name that speaks what he is in himself, I am that I am
- This explains his name Jehovah, and signifies, 1st, That he is self -
existent; he has his being of himself, and has no dependence upon any other.
And being self - existent he cannot but be self - sufficient, and therefore
all - sufficient, and the inexhaustible fountain of being and bliss. 2dly,
That he is eternal and unchangeable, always the same, yesterday to - day,
and for ever: he will be what he will be, and what he is. 3dly. That he
is faithful and true to all his promises, unchangeable in his word as well
as in his nature, and not a man that he should lie. Let Israel know this,
I am hath sent me unto you.
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A name that speaks what he is to his people. Lest that name
I am should puzzle them, he is farther directed to make use of another
name of God, more familiar.
[15] And God said moreover unto
Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of
your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,
hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial
unto all generations. [16] Go, and
gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The LORD God of
your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto
me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you
in Egypt: [17] And I have said, I will
bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites,
and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites,
and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.
The Lord God of our fathers hath sent me unto you - Thus
God made himself known, that he might revive among them the religion of
their fathers, which was much decayed, and almost lost. And that he might
raise their expectations of the speedy performance of the promises made
unto their fathers: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are particularly named, because
with Abraham the covenant was first made, and with Isaac and Jacob oft
expressly renewed, and these three were distinguished from their brethren,
and chosen to be the trustees of the covenant. This God will have to be
his name for ever, and it has been, is, and will be his name, by which
his worshippers know him, and distinguish him from all false gods.
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