The NIV 365 Day Devotional

“I AM WHO I AM”

When Moses asks God’s name (Ex. 3:14) so he can tell it to the Israelites, God replies, “I am who I am.”

What kind of name is this? The Septuagint (the pre-Christian Greek translation of the Hebrew OT) translates it as “I am the Existing One.” But the Hebrew may also be translated “I will be what/who I will be”. It is possible that God is rebuffing Moses by telling him in essence not to try to pin him down to one specific identity; he is so much greater than any name that he could give.

More likely, God is asserting any or all of the following truths: He is the eternal, the Creator, who is unchangeable and therefore always trustworthy. In v. 15, God shortens the Hebrew expression to the tetragrammaton, the four consonants of the word YHWH (vocalized in contemporary English as Yahweh but translated as “the Lord” out of respect for the orthodox Jewish tradition that always substitutes the Hebrew Adonai [Lord] for the sacred name).

Why did Moses ask God’s name in the first place? Verse 13 says that he was anticipating that the Israelites may ask him what God’s name is. Names stood for individuals’ and deities’ identity, power and authority. Genesis and the opening chapters of Exodus used several names for God, including Yahweh, though this name has never been defined. Would one of these names encourage the Israelites that God could indeed lead them out of Egypt?

Here was God’s answer. As Yahweh, he most certainly had the intention and the power to do so, and he would be faithful to his word to fulfill his promise.

Have you been trying to “pin God down” with an identity specific to your life? How can studying the phrase “I Am Who I Am” help you understand more about the many truths of who God is?

Taken from the NIV Study Bible, Fully Revised Edition.