Today’s first reading continues the story of Moses’ encounter with God on Mt. Horeb. God has commanded Moses to return to the “scene of the crime,” – his own taking of a life and Pharaoh’s attempted infanticide. Moses asks a reasonable question, “When I go to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ if they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what am I to tell them?” (Ex 3:13). At this point God gave Moses His own personal name: “I AM WHO AM.” Then he added, “This is what you shall tell the children of Israel: I AM sent me to you.” (v.14).
The Egyptians had many gods by many different names. Moses wanted to know God’s name so the Hebrew people would know exactly who had sent him to them. God called Himself I AM, a name which describes His eternal power and unchangeable character. “I AM THAT I AM,” declares God to be self-existent, without beginning, without end. This is also expressed in the term “Yahweh,” meaning “I Am the One Who Is.” While the etymology of the name Yahweh is uncertain. It is thought to be derived from the Hebrew word “hawah,” which means “to be.”
Over the centuries there has been much ink spent on the meaning of “I AM.” Perhaps the most focus is on the philosophical in that when identifying Himself as “I AM,” God is declaring that He always exists in the immediate and everlasting now. He isn’t bound by time like we are. There was never a time when God wasn’t. He has no fixed point when He was born or brought into being. He has no beginning or end. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last (Revelation 22:13).
Now, for a moment of speculation. Since these events take place in Midian and if one assumes that linguistic origin is better revealed in Arabic than Hebrew, then the name Yahweh derives from the proto-Arabic term for “love, desire, or passion.” Then the personal name of God is “I AM LOVE.” (cf. 1 John 4:8). That also works!
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