                           20020112.00

Klemens Meyer writes:
You asked about other translations of Exodus 3:13-14.

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The Torah, A Modern Commentary, Union of American Hebrew
Congregations:

     "Ehyeh is quite evidently the first person singular of the
word 'to be'. One problem is that the tense is not clear; it
could mean 'I am' or 'I will be' (or 'I shall be'). This
uncertainty is multiplied in the name Ehyey-Asher-Ehyey, for the
first Ehyeh might be one tense (for instance, 'I am') and the
second another (for instance, 'I will be'), or they might both be
the same tense ('I am who I am' or 'I will be who I will be'). To
add to the difficulty, Asher could mean either 'who' or 'what'.

     The majority of the commentators have understood both
occurrences of Ehyeh to convey the future tense and to mean: 'I
will be what tomorrow demands,' that is, God emphasizes that He
is capable of responding to human need. This was the message,
they say, Moses was to take back to the enslaved people, and
thereby assure them that the God whom they called YHVH was also
'Ehyeh,' who would be ready in the near future to redeem them
[reference omitted]. A variant interpretation was offered by S.R.
Hirsch who saw a philosophical meaning in Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh: 'I
will be what I want to be,' that is , God stresses His own
freedom to act as He wills, in contrast to earthly creatures who
are never totally free. But is it likely that Moses could take
such an opaque message to the people and satisfy their thirst for
the knowledge that God was still their God? [Footnote: Some have
considered Ehyeh as a variant of YHVH, which is linguistically
possible, though not likely...]"
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The New Jerusalem Bible, 2000.

     And God said to Moshe, EHEYE ASHER EHEYE (I will ever be
what I now am).  Note:  the Hebrew transliteration is included in
the English text (EHEYE ASHER EHEYE). "Asher" I is "who" or
"which".)
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     J.P. Fokkelman of the University of Leiden, "Exodus" in
Robert Alter and Frank Kermode, eds: The Literary Guide to the
Bible, Belknap Press 1987, page 63

     "God answers Moses' question about his identity in two ways
in 3:14: "I am that I am" ('ehyeh 'asher 'ehyeh) and " Thus shalt
thou say unto the children of Israel, 'ehyeh hath sent me unto
you" [Author's revision]. Only afterward, in verse 15, does God
utter his name YHWH for the first time. The entire creation has
originated from God's being, which wants to stand-in-relation-to,
and now God further develops this desire by designating a
specific partner, the chosen people. God is the only one who can
entirely develop the fullness of his being. But he cannot be
happy if his creation and his creatures (among whom is the
attentive listener to the story) do not get the chance to do so
as well, within their appointed limits. Therefore, his freedom is
also his self-chosen confinement. The Name signifies a paradox of
absolute being and involvement. The "I am" poses a spiritual
question to every reader taking his own growth seriously,
pondering whether he can fully accept what is within and around
him.

     In the context of Exodus, "I am" is applied in a practical
sense, in that Egypt must free Israel so that it can be/become
itself, and the text plays with two sides of the key word
"serving." Israel asks whether it may leave "to serve the God of
the Hebrews" (key words recurring in 7:16, 9:1, 13; and 10:3),
and this service is incompatible with service (slavery, the same
word in Hebrew) under earthly powers because it entails active
spiritual freedom.  In 3:14-15 the three 'ehyeh-lines surrounding
the revelation of the name touch on the theme of liberation. In
3:12 God says: "Certainly I will be with thee," and in 4:12, 15
he tells Moses: "I will be with thy mouth."  Together, these
lines reveal the aspect of involvement and covenant in God's
being, which is also implied in the probably correct translation
of the name yahweh, "he lets be" ( which includes "he creates").
Later, God as speaker uses the same construction as "I am who I
am" in 33:18-19, an enheartening section on God's involvement at
a moment when Moses again presses a question: "And he [Moses]
said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. And he said, I will make
all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of
the Lord before thee; and I will be gracious to whom I will be
gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy."
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     Moses Maimonides's The Guide for the Perplexed devotes the
end of chapter 63 and all of chapter 64 to this passage. It is on
pages 93-95 of the Dover edition, which I will return to you.
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Buber/Rosenzweig:

     "Mosche sprach zu Gott: Da komme ich denn zu den Soehen
Jisraels, ich spreche zu ihnen: Der Gott eurer Vaeter schickt
mich zu euch, sie werden zu mir sprechen: Was ists um seinen
Namen?- was spreche ich dann zu ihnen?  Gott sprach zu Mosche:
Ich werde dasein, als der ich dasein werde."
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     The Jewish Publication Society edition says: "Meaning of
Heb. uncertain; variously translated 'I Am That I Am'; 'I Am Who
I am'; 'I Will Be What I will Be'; etc." (sic)

     Perhaps the ambiguity not only philologic. The phrase may
have been deliberately ambiguous when it was written or said. The
ambiguity is the meaning. Keep them guessing, so that God (and
man) can keep becoming.  Subjectivity is not just the truth, but
the Truth.
                                   Klemens Meyer

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