Friday, February 24, 2006

היה


"...and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT IAM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." (Exo. 3:13b-14)

The Hebrew word is pronounced hâyâh (haw-yaw). I am not an 'Orginal-language' type of a guy, but I wish I knew alot more Greek, Hebrew, Latin and yes, even English. When I first came across Exodus 3:13-14, immediately I thought what does "I AM" mean? Here Moses asked God what name should he tell the Israelites if they were to ask him who sent for them? And God told Moses to basically say "I AM hath sent me unto you." So "I AM" is a name for God. It basically tells us about the fact that God is God. He is 'self-existing' (Gill). He is eternal (always was, and is, and will be) and immutable (unchanging). Some religious people think that we can become gods, but that is only an imagination and false teaching at best, because even if we were to be transformed into something 'divine' we can never be 'eternal' because man has a beginning. Man is not 'self-existing' or eternal or immutable. In essence only God is truly the great "I AM."

2 comments:

Kent Brandenburg said...

I have ESword on my computer with Gill and Keil and Delitzch. The latter are great on the Hebrew, maybe the best. Gill is relatively unknown to many in our circles, but he is consistently good.

Unknown said...

I like e-sword. I don't use K&D much, only because I am somewhat ignorant about Bible Languages. I am working on it - beginning with English - currently my pastor is teaching his pastoral staff "Pulpit English." I am a tad bit dangerous now coz I know my linking verbs and 40 prepositions. As for Greek, I am waiting for our Bible institute to start up again, Pastor Chris will be able to teach Greek. For now I purchased Ted Hilderbrandt's Mastering New Testament Greek, it is a self-study DVD (about $40) and so far I know that Pi and rho are two letters that have an obsession with fire (as in phyro, get it, LOL!) - but that is where I am at thus far.

Anyway, thanks for commenting.