2:23–25 “During those many days,” in which Moses was living in Midian, “the king of Egypt died” (v. 23). But the new king continued the Israelites’ affliction, as the language here graphically portrays (vv. 23–24). The verb “groaned” (Hb. ʾanakh) can communicate the pain of a broken heart (Ezek. 21:6) or of a woman in labor (Jer. 22:23), while the noun “groaning” (neʾaqah) can communicate a wounded man’s suffering (Ezek. 30:24). “Crying out” (zaʿaq) is done elsewhere by those needing deliverance from oppression (Judg. 3:9, 15), a “cry for rescue” (shawʿah) by those thinking they will die (2 Sam. 22:7; Ps. 40:1–2), while the Israelites’ “slavery” (ʿabodah) is mentioned twice to identify their agony’s source (Ex. 2:23). They are suffering profoundly and profoundly, in need of help.

But help is coming! Their cry “came up to God” (v. 23), entering his courts and becoming his attention’s focus, implying that he will act. His activity is in fact highlighted. “By repeating ‘God’ as the subject of all four verbs in verses 24–25”—instead of replacing “God” with “he”—“the narrator emphasizes God’s importance.”81 He hears, remembers, sees, and knows—and that means he loves the Israelites and will deliver them (cf. Response section).

3:1–3 The story shifts back to Moses (v. 1). The Lord will use him as the deliverer. Moses has become a shepherd for his father-in-law, Reuel, known also as Jethro. (Many biblical characters have two or more names, e.g., Jacob/Israel, Esau/Edom, Hoshea/Joshua. Reuel means “friend of God,” and Jethro means “his excellency.”) Searching for good pasture, Moses eventually leads the flock “to the mountain of God, to Horeb” (NET), that is, to the mountain of God within the Horeb region,82 most commonly named Mount Sinai. The name “mountain of God” (v. 1; 4:27; 18:5; 24:13) presumably derives from the Lord’s appearances there to Moses and later to all Israel. Use of that name here prepares the audience for what is next: “The angel of the Lord appeared to him” (3:2). Earlier stories recount this angel’s speaking on the Lord’s behalf (Gen. 16:7–12; 22:11–12). The word for “angel” may in fact be translated “messenger,” which is his function here, speaking and acting on the Lord’s behalf, like a king’s messenger (cf. 2 Kings 18:19–25). This also explains why the text can switch back to the Lord as subject (Ex. 3:4): though the angel is in the bush, he represents the Lord.83

The angel appears as a “flame of fire” (v. 1). This is a common way for the Lord to appear (13:21; 19:18; 24:17), perhaps because fire expresses his glory’s brilliance (cf. 24:17) and his impurity-destroying character (cf. Lev. 10:1–2; Num. 11:1–3). This also foreshadows the Lord’s later appearance in a fiery cloud on Mount Sinai before all the people (Ex. 19:17–18).84 The fire is clearly miraculous, since it does not burn up the bush, drawing an amazed Moses to investigate (3:3).

3:4–6 The Lord now calls to him from the bush’s midst. Moses responds with a simple (but perhaps startled) “Here I am” (v. 4; cf. Gen. 22:11).

The Lord commands Moses to come no closer, for this is “holy ground” (Ex. 3:5). The Lord’s strong holiness spreads like a beam of sunshine to whatever it touches, sanctifying the area around the bush as long as he is there (cf. Josh. 5:15). Moses must therefore remove his sandals, as priests will do in the holy tabernacle (Ex. 30:18–21), presumably because sandals regularly contact non-holy ground and are inappropriate to place on holy property. In modern language, to walk across someone’s white carpet with muddy boots is severe disrespect.

The Lord identifies himself as the God of Israel’s forefathers (and thus the God of the covenant with them; 3:6; cf. 2:24). Moses immediately hides his face, fearing to gaze upon God.85 Israelites assumed one could not look at God’s glory directly (cf. Gen. 32:30; Judg. 6:22; 13:22; Isa. 6:5), perhaps because the proper response before a king was not to look but to bow to the ground, awaiting his favorable response (cf. 1 Sam. 24:8; 2 Sam. 14:33; for the connection to the Lord’s kingship cf. Isa. 6:5). At the least this would have made gazing upon the Lord a sign of severe disrespect. Whatever the reason for the Israelites’ understanding, the Lord later confirms their instincts (cf. comment on 19:20–25), making Moses’ reaction entirely appropriate.

3:7–10 The Lord’s next words expand on his concern expressed in 2:24–25 and ring with hope: “I have surely seen86 the affliction of my people . . . and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings”87 (3:7). He will therefore remember and act on his covenant promises to “deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and . . . bring them . . . to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey,” a poetic way of describing a land that will abundantly meet all their physical needs (cf. Deut. 8:7–10). It is a land inhabited by many peoples, but one he has promised on oath to them (Ex. 3:7–8). (For lists of peoples living in Canaan cf. Gen. 15:19–21; Ex. 3:17; 13:5; Num. 13:29; Deut. 7:1; etc. Those listed here are some of the most commonly mentioned.) In short, “I know your suffering and will act in keeping with my promises.” The Lord emphasizes this by repeating the same idea in the verses to follow (cf. table 2.3). He also makes clear he will use Moses to deliver Israel.

TABLE 2.3: The Lord’s Awareness and Action in Exodus 3

3:11–12 But for the first of five times Moses resists the Lord (v. 11; cf. v. 13; 4:1, 10, 13). Some understand him to be expressing humility (“Who am I? This honor is too great!”). But the unfolding story makes clear that his words flow from fear and insecurity. Knowing this, the Lord focuses not on Moses’ ability but on his presence with Moses (3:12a). In effect, “What matters is not who you are but the presence of the great ‘I am’ with you.”88

Along with his presence the Lord promises a sign (3:12b). Its identification is debated. As translated by most versions the sign will be the Israelites’ serving God in worship89 on this mountain when they leave Egypt. That is the most natural reading of the Hebrew but is so far in the future that it does not address Moses’ current need for encouragement (cf. Judg. 6:14–24). Another possible translation is, “And this [the burning bush] is90 the sign for you, that I have sent you,” a miracle to assure him of his call (cf. Ex. 4:1–9), giving Moses confidence that “when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.” In either case the Lord promises clearly his presence and that Moses will deliver the people.

3:13–15 But Moses resists a second time. “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” (v. 13). The answer will be important for establishing Moses’ credibility. If he claims to speak on behalf of the God of the Israelites’ forefathers, he needs to be able to identify him by name.91

The name itself is given in verse 15, though its pronunciation is debated. Its four consonants are yhwh, and the majority position understands the pronunciation to be “yahweh.”92 But the Hebrew text was originally written without vowels. For reasons lost to history, Jews at some point stopped pronouncing the name and instead said the Hebrew word for “my Lord” (ʾadonay) whenever they came across the divine name (leaving us unsure as to how it was really pronounced). The Greek translation followed suit, using the Greek word for “Lord” (kyrios) in place of the divine name. Most English translations follow this tradition, putting the word “Lord” in small capital letters to let the reader know that the divine name is being translated.

But what meaning, if any, should be given to this name? The debate is extensive.93 There is agreement that the statement “I am who I am” (v. 14), which uses the verb “to be” (root hyh), is related to the divine name Yahweh (yhwh) (v. 15). A majority in fact holds that the name Yahweh is built on an older form of the verb “to be” (root hwh),94 though the minority position may be correct that Yahweh simply sounds like the verb “to be.”95 In either case the “I am/I will be” statement is in some way related to the meaning of the divine name. But how?

We may consider this question by looking at three different approaches to the words “I am who I am.” The first adjusts the vowels of “I am/I will be,” leading to “I will cause to be what I will cause to be,” that is, Yahweh is the Creator, who brings things into existence.96 This description of Yahweh is theologically sound, but there is no textual evidence to support changing the vowels in verse 14, nor are there any instances in the OT of the verb “to be” being used causatively.

A second approach is well represented by Austin Surls in his Making Sense of the Divine Name in Exodus.97 He notes that “I will be what I will be” is an idem per idem (“the same thing”) statement, in which the same verb form appears twice, usually on either side of a relative particle. One use of idem statements is to describe the widest range of activity. For instance 1 Samuel 23:13 could be woodenly rendered, “They went wherever they went,” but is well translated, “They went wherever they could go.” If we apply this to Exodus 3:14, the translation would be, “I will be whoever I will be,” which Surls understands to be a way for the Lord to say that he “would make sense of his name in the future,”98 that is, the Lord will reveal his character in what is to come in the rest of Exodus.

If we momentarily grant this translation of the name, we may still ask, “Is the Lord’s intent to communicate by this phrase that he will make sense of his name in the future?” While this is not impossible, it may be noted that in describing a wide range of activity idem constructions can communicate a person’s free will to do activity X without limits. “Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil” (Ex. 16:23) is a way to say the person may bake or boil as much as he pleases, and the Lord’s statement “I will speak the word that I will speak” (Ezek. 12:25) is his way of saying he will say whatever, and as much as, he wants to say. Taken in this way, “I will be whoever I will be” would be Yahweh’s claim that no one can limit him in any way whatsoever; he is completely sovereign.99 As noted further below, this claim of sovereignty fits very well with the upcoming narrative, since Yahweh’s sovereignty over the so-called gods of Egypt is exactly what the text goes on to emphasize.

But it may also be questioned whether this translation of the phrase is correct. While the Lord certainly will show his character in what is to come, and this translation captures one possible understanding of the idem usage, such constructions can have another function as well (cf. below). Moreover, this translation leads to a possible tension in the verse’s second half, where the name’s explanation is shortened: “Tell the Israelites, ‘I will be has sent me to you.’” The shortened “I will be” reads more as an affirmation of future existence, which is different in feel from “I will be whoever I will be” as an affirmation that the Lord will reveal his character.

This leads to the third approach, which translates either “I am who I am” or “I will be who I will be.”100 Either way, the focus is on the fact of the Lord’s existence. Indeed, while an idem statement may describe a wide range of activity (cf. above), in some instances it expresses emphasis: “So I fell down before the Lord forty days and nights, which I fell down” (Deut. 9:25 AT), that is, “I fell flat on the ground for forty days and nights” (NET; cf. Deut. 1:46). As applied to Exodus 3:14, the idea would be, “I am—I really am!”101

This third approach explains why the Lord can shorten the name simply to “I am” in 3:14b, since both clauses now focus on the same point: the Lord’s existence. But still, what does such a focus on existence communicate? In a word, the Lord is sovereignly unique, in terms both of his divinity (there is no god like him) and of his existence (there is no god but him). He is in a way that other gods are not, and he is while other gods are not. This understanding may be seen by paying close attention to the immediately following chapters (Exodus 5–12), which provide a narrative description of the significance of Yahweh’s name, and by a later text that looks back on these narratives (Deut. 4:34–35). In Exodus 5 Pharaoh defiantly asks, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go?” Yahweh then proceeds to forcefully answer that question! Primarily, he gives powerful signs that show his sovereignty over Pharaoh (Ex. 9:16), the gods of Egypt (12:12), and the entire earth (9:29; cf. 8:22). In the midst of these displays he draws specific attention to his name, proclaiming, “I am Yahweh” (7:17; 8:22; 10:2; 12:12; etc.), and also highlights that he is utterly unique: “This time I will send all my plagues on you yourself . . . so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth” (9:14; cf. 8:10). He stresses the incomparable uniqueness of his divinity; no other god is like him (cf. 1 Kings 8:23; Ps. 86:8). He is in a way that other gods are not.

But to this must immediately be added that his divinity is so unique that it cancels out the thought that anything else exists that can even be called a god. When Deuteronomy looks back on all the signs the Lord performed in Exodus, it concludes with these words: “To you it was shown, that you might know that Yahweh is God; there is no other besides him” (Deut. 4:35 AT). In other words, he is, and other gods are not.

Indeed, the Bible holds together the ideas that the Lord is unique in terms of his divinity (no god is like him) and his existence (no god exists but him). The same verse can alternate between the two: “How great you are, Sovereign Yahweh! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you” (2 Sam. 7:22 AT; cf. 1 Sam. 2:2). This also explains why the plague narratives can focus on the fact that there is no god like him (Ex. 8:10; 9:14) even while Deuteronomy can look back on these narratives and focus on the fact that there is no god but him (Deut. 4:35). Biblically speaking, these are two sides of the same coin, and both sides of that coin are on display in Exodus.

In short, whether the second or the third translation above is correct, either may be understood to emphasize Yahweh’s sovereign uniqueness: there is no god like him and no god but him—and the Israelites are to take deep comfort in such truth.

In the midst of the debate what must not be missed is that God has a name. If he had autographed the tablets with the Ten Commandments, he would have signed “Yahweh.” He is not some nameless power. He is a divine person who acts sovereignly on his people’s behalf, in this case by sending his appointed deliverer (the text emphasizes three times the Lord sent Moses; Ex. 3:13–15). Furthermore, he is the same God as that of the Israelites’ forefathers, known to them by this name (v. 15a) and to be remembered by this name for the coming generations (v. 15b). And because he is this same God he will fulfill the promises he made to Israel’s forefathers—as he now goes on to make clear.

3:16–22 Moses is to gather the people’s representatives (the elders) and let them know that their forefathers’ God has appeared to him and taken favorable note of them and their suffering, and he will deliver them and lead them to a good land (vv. 16–17; cf. vv. 7–8).102 The Lord then summarizes how the deliverance will occur, providing an overview of the coming chapters:

• The elders will believe him (v. 18; cf. 4:31).
• They will all ask Pharaoh’s permission to go and worship the Lord; Pharaoh will refuse (3:18–19; cf. 5:1–4).103
• The Lord will strike Egypt with his wonders; Pharaoh will eventually agree to the people’s leaving (3:20; cf. 7:1–12:32).
• When the people leave, the Lord will give them such favor before the Egyptians that they will be able to plunder their jewelry and clothing—appropriate compensation for years of bitterly hard service!104—simply by asking for material goods, placing these things on the very children whom the Egyptians had tried to destroy (3:21–22; cf. 12:33–36 and Gen. 15:14).

In short, the Lord will deliver and richly supply them; their salvation and gifts come completely from him.

4:1–9 But Moses continues to resist (v. 1), and his claim that “they will not . . . listen to my voice” (v. 1) goes directly against the Lord’s promise only a few verses earlier that “they will listen to your voice” (3:18). This paints Moses negatively. But the Lord, who is “slow to anger” (34:6), responds patiently, providing Moses with three signs to confirm Moses’ status as the Lord’s spokesman (4:2–9; cf. 1 Kings 17:22–24).105

The first sign involves Moses’ staff, an item commonly carried by shepherds106 but also by leaders (Num. 17:2), perhaps foreshadowing Moses’ coming role. The Lord’s question (“What is that in your hand?”) draws his attention to the staff and its ordinary nature. When Moses throws it down and it turns into a snake, he is as surprised as anyone and runs away in fear (Ex. 4:3)!

The Lord’s next command is to grasp it by the tail. Debate exists whether this approach is more dangerous (since the head is free to bite), therefore requiring more faith, or the safer approach (taken by some today working with larger snakes)107 and therefore a more logical command. Either way, Moses is not a snake handler! Reaching out to grasp a snake is presumably an unnatural act requiring faith. When Moses obeys, the snake turns back into a staff (v. 4), and the Lord affirms that this sign will lead the Israelites to believe he has appeared to Moses (v. 5).

But, if not, there is a second sign. The Lord commands Moses to put his hand inside his cloak or, more woodenly, on his “chest/bosom” (v. 6 ESV mg.). When he pulls it out, it is ravaged by disease, leaving it covered in dead or blistered skin that flakes off like snow.108 The Lord then commands him to put his diseased hand back inside his cloak onto his healthy body—another unnatural act requiring faith! When he does, the hand is perfectly restored (v. 7), and the Lord affirms that the second sign will serve as further proof if the Israelites do not believe the first (v. 8).

In case they do not believe the first two signs, the Lord gives Moses a third.109 In this case he is to take Nile water and pour it on the ground, and it will turn into blood (v. 9). Unlike the first two signs, he cannot perform this one now (he is nowhere near the Nile), but in light of the first two he has every reason to believe that the third is possible and that the Lord is with him.

4:10–12 And yet Moses resists a fourth time, appealing to his inability to speak well (v. 10). To be “slow of speech and of tongue” may refer to a speech impediment or may refer simply to a lack of persuasive eloquence. The context supports the latter, since the Lord promises to teach Moses “what you shall speak” (not “how to speak,” v. 12; cf. comment on 6:10–12). Either way, the Lord is asking him to do something he feels unqualified to do.

The Lord meets Moses’ weakness with his own strength and presence. In terms of strength he is the sovereign King; he has made people’s mouths so they can speak, and he can make people deaf or mute, seeing or blind (v. 11). How much more can he do something as simple as enabling Moses to speak well! In terms of presence he promises, “I will be with your mouth”—the word “I” is emphasized in Hebrew—“and teach you what you shall speak” (v. 12). What he requires of his servants he equips them to do. Indeed, Moses’ two uses of “I” in verse 10 are met with the Lord’s two uses of “I” in verses 11–12. “Moses feels his ‘I’ is inadequate for the task; Yahweh responds by saying that it is his ‘I’ that is to be reckoned with.”110

4:13–17 Yet Moses does not embrace his call but resists a fifth and final time. Unlike with the first four instances, he now provides no excuse. He simply asks the Lord to send someone else—anyone but him. His refusal of the Lord’s call is now clear (v. 13).

Whereas the Lord previously responded patiently, this time his anger is aroused (v. 14). The Lord is abundantly merciful with our weaknesses and lack of faith, but there comes a point when he says, “Enough! You must take me at my word!”

Even here, however, he accommodates Moses’ fear by providing a support in the person of his brother, Aaron, three years his elder (7:7) and able to speak well (4:14). The mention of Aaron’s being a Levite perhaps prepares us for his priestly role,111 or it may be a play on words anticipating Aaron’s joining with Moses.112 The mention of Aaron’s being glad when he comes assures Moses that Aaron still loves him after all these years and will be happy to work with him (v. 14).113 But even here the Lord reemphasizes his own empowering and guiding presence: “I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you both what to do” (v. 15b; cf. v. 12). The Lord’s help remains his people’s ultimate need.

The Lord also clarifies Moses and Aaron’s respective roles, telling Moses, “You shall . . . put the words in his mouth” (v. 15a), that is, the words the Lord will speak to Moses. The Lord reiterates this when he says, “He [Aaron] shall speak for you [Moses] to the people, and he shall be your mouth, and you shall be as God to him” (v. 16)—that is, he will receive the divine message from you (which you will receive from me) and will pass it along to the people on your behalf (cf. 7:1–2).

The Lord gives a final command: “Take in your hand this staff, with which you shall do the signs” (4:17). But would Moses not naturally take his staff with him? And why mention “signs,” since the staff is involved with only one of the three just given? As will become clear, this staff will be central to many of the signs the Lord will perform through Moses (9:23; 10:13; 14:16), and the Lord’s focus on it here foreshadows the significant role it will play.