parsha bit: Shemot

[cellio]

When God speaks to Moshe from the burning bush, he first says "I am Ehyeh asher ehyeh" and later says to tell the Israelites "Ehyeh sent me". Chazal ask why the change in name. Rabbi Yaakov ben Abina said that when God made the first statement, he said to Moshe "I am with your people in their current troubles and I will be with them in their future troubles", and Moshe objected. It's bad enough that they're slaves now, he said; you can't also tell them that there will be times as bad ahead! God agreed, and thus just "Ehyeh" in the second statement -- I will be with them now. (Midrash Rabbah, Sh'mot 3:1)

Comments

Nothing so complicated!

[(Anonymous)]

There's no name change!

God's simply saying He's on a first-name basis with the Israelites!

The interpretation I always accepted was that the name might be translated into English "Was, Is, Will Be." Given the science bent my theology takes, I love that explanation of the great "I am."

Re: Nothing so complicated!

[cellio]

(New York? Is this Inkhorn?)

"Was, Is, Will Be."

I've heard that interpretation before too, but I'm having trouble reconciling it with the pshat (plain meaning) of the text. "Ehyeh" is an imperfect verb, which means not past tense as best I understand it. That said, there are verbs in English that look like past tense but would be called imperfect if we did imperfect -- I'm thinking of, say, "I was going" as opposed to "I went". "I was going" sounds like an incomplete action that occurred in the past; I don't know how that would be rendered in biblical Hebrew, or even if biblical Hebrew has such a notion. If it does, though, perhaps there is a sense of "was" that means "was and is all rolled up into one"? Dunno; we are now safely past my comfortable understanding of the grammar. :-)