'But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” God answered: I will be with you; and this will be your sign that I have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will serve God at this mountain. “But,” said Moses to God, “if I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what do I tell them?” God replied to Moses: I am who I am. Then he added: This is what you will tell the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you. God spoke further to Moses: This is what you will say to the Israelites: The Lord , the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name forever; this is my title for all generations (Ex. 3:11-15).”’
At this point Moses does not receive a sign of God’s power before he is sent to the Israelites and to Pharaoh and he begins to question God. He is just told to go and bring the people out of Egypt to serve God on Mount Horeb, the mountain of God. Moses knows that Pharaoh will kill him if he returns to Egypt because he killed an Egyptian (Ex. 2:11-15), so how can he bring the Israelites out of Egypt. The Israelites will not believe that God sent him. God then revealed himself to Moses as Yahweh . One of the translations of Yahweh can mean 'the creator god' and the name was too holy to be spoken. Moses must tell the Israelites that he was sent to them by the creator.
Lord God of all creation, we grope around in darkness seeking your guidance and struggle to see you with eyes of faith. We seldom take the path you create for us as we cannot see where it leads. Grant, we pray, that our faith be strengthened by your grace and our paths be made clear by the light of your Gospel. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
Reference:
Raymond E. Brown, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, & Roland E. Murphy, (Eds.). (1990, 1968). The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentis Hall, Inc.
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