Now in our daily reading (Exodus01-03) we see the call of Moses & a new name of God. It’s another long one but be patient….pleaase!
Background information…
Exodus 1:5-13 The children of Israel became great in number, estimates give us the figure of about 2.5 million people now! The new Pharaoh knew that the children of Israel were so great in number, but knew that they controlled them so they made them slaves.
Exodus 1:14-22 The Pharaoh came to the Hebrew midwives & commanded them to kill any sons that were born to the Hebrew women & throw them into the Nile! But the midwives feared God more than Pharaoh & did not kill the baby boys.
01. The Spiritual Heritage of Moses (Exodus 2:1-10)
Moses’ parents had faith to hide him for the 1st 03 months of his life. He had a spiritual heritage, see that also in Hebrews11.23.
Another man who had a great spiritual heritage was Timothy, the spiritual son of Paul (2Timothy01.05).
Now, you might say, but Geoff, “I don’t have parents that are saved” or “My dad says he is a CHRISTian, but he’s a CHRISTian only at church, not at home” or something like that. Then YOU begin the spiritual heritage.
My dad began a spiritual heritage for my brother & I. My grandpa was not saved, died of a heart attack before my parents were married. My grandpa was not a loving man at all, & in fact, he & my dad constantly clashed. But later, after my dad became a CHRISTian, he got rid of all of his secular records, ones that are considered classics today; he stopped drinking & said I want my sons to grow up w/a godly father. That heritage is now being passed on to my kids, as well as to my brother’s kids.
02. The Impatience of Moses (Exodus 2:11-25)
Moses forgot to look up when he looked around. He knew that God called him to deliver the children of Israel, but he was impatient w/God’s timing & wanted it to happen NOW!
He then fled to Midian, where he became a shepherd of a flock that wasn’t even his. He got married & became content where he was.
03. The Perfect Timing of God (Exodus 3:1-22)
Exodus 3:14 “14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; & He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’””
So Moses sees a burning bush, approaches it & God speaks.
YHWH (yah·vay) hwhy The Self-Existent God, Always was & is, most sacred name of God to the Jews · Exodus03.14 (Only when LORD is in all caps) Occurs over 6500 times in the Old Testament! Does not occur in Esther, Ecclesiastes, & Song of Solomon.
This name is mentioned over 6500 times in the OT!
It is often referred to as the Tetragrammaton, which is a fancy Greek word that means “word of four letters”.
The 04 letters in English are “YHWH”. Biblical Hebrew does not have vowel sounds in its writings.
Orthodox Jews do not pronounce this name of God because it is considered too sacred to be used for common activities, including prayer!
This name of God, YHWH, are best attempt is Yahweh,, & pronounce “Yah-vey”, but we are not sure the accurate pronounication of it.
This name YHWH was pronounced by the High Priest on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), but since the Temple was destroyed in 70AD, it is no longer pronounced & no longer remembered!
Instead, the common Jewish use has been to substitute YHWH by using the name “Adonai” which means Lord where the Tetragrammaton appears. In cases where the Tetragrammaton follows the name Adonai in biblical texts, the name Elohim (“God”) is substituted instead.
In fact, many Jews will not even use “Adonai” except when praying, & instead substitute other terms, like for example HaShem (“The Name”) out of fear of the potential misuse of the divine name. In written English, "G-d” is a substitute used by many.
For example…
They don’t say this name because of they don’t want to break the 3rd Commandment…
Exodus 20:7 “7 “You shall not take the name of the LORD (YHWH) your God (Elohim) in vain, for the LORD (YHWH) will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.”
& they also don’t say it because of what happened later…
Leviticus 24:11 “11 The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name (HaShem) & cursed. So they brought him to Moses. (Now his mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.)”
Why was Jehovah used?
When Christians, unaware of the Jewish tradition, started to read the Hebrew Bible, they read יְהֹוָה as written w/YHWH's consonants but w/Adonai's vowels, & thus said or transcribed Jehovah. Today this transcription is generally recognized as mistaken; however many religious groups continue to use the form Jehovah because it is familiar.
Not only would they never pronounce YHWH, but when the scribes came across this name as they copied the Old Testament, they would stop, take off their clothes, take a complete bath, put on clean clothes, & then, taking a pen that had never been used before, would then write the name!
Here is a loose translation I can up with,
Ex03.14 “I Am that I Am. I Am the self∙existent one. I Am everything & anything you will ever need. Moses, it doesn’t matter who you are. It doesn’t matter what you have or don’t have. It doesn’t matter where you’ve been, where you find yourself now, or where I send you in the future. Nothing else matters, Moses. If I Am w/you, you have everything & anything you will ever need.”
Now read it again, but now put your name in the place of Moses, & now all of a sudden this becomes all the more personal to you.
This was the name that Jesus often used…
John 8:58 “58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.””
That our Lord by this expression asserted His divinity & eternal existence, as the great I AM, appears evident from the use of the present tense, instead of the past tense, from its being in answer to the Jews, who enquired whether He had seen Abraham, & from its being thus understood by the multitude, who were exasperated at it to such a degree that they took up stones to stone Him. The ancient Jews not only believed that the Messiah was superior to & Lord of all the patriarchs, & even of angels, but that His celestial nature existed w/God from whom it emanated, before the creation, & that the creation was effected by His ministry.
Hebrews 11:24-26 “24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to endure ill-treatment w/the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, 26 considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.”
Moses did not think of himself now as anything. Now he was ready to be used by the LORD to deliver His people. Now he just needed to be used by the LORD according to how the LORD wants him to be used.
Why do we go looking elsewhere? Why don’t we rest in His unchangeableness? He has never failed…for He cannot! He is Yahweh, the self-existent, covenant-keeping God.
Now you might be filled w/questions of fear. What happens if my parents get divorced? What happens if my dad loses his job? What about CHRISTmas? What happens if my boy/girlfriend breaks up w/me? What if I don’t make the team? What if I fail?
The eternal I AM says…
Hebrews 13:5, 6 “5 Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content w/what you have; for He Himself has said, “I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,” 6 so that we confidently say, “THE LORD (YHWH) IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?””
We also see in…
Exodus 6:2-4 “2 God (Elohim) spoke further to Moses & said to him, “I am the LORD (YHWH); 3 & I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob, as God Almighty (El Shaddai), but by My name, LORD (YHWH), I did not make Myself known to them. 4 “I also established My covenant w/them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they sojourned.”
What God was saying here to Moses is that He is the One who appeared to Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob & made a covenant w/them. Now He is revealing Himself to Moses as the One who keeps covenants! He says that He will deliver His children from Egypt.
He will be who He is, & He will do what He has said He will do!
This is name that we can run to…
Proverbs 18:10 “10 The name of the LORD (YHWH) is a strong tower; The righteous runs into it & is safe.”
…& We can place complete trust in Him. It’s a name that cannot change, because He cannot change.
Numbers 23:19 “19 “God (El) is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, & will He not do it? Or has He spoken, & will He not make it good?”
Malachi 3:6 “6 “For I, the LORD (YHWH), do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.”
Hebrews 13:8 “8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday & today & forever.”
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