The connection between God’s name and God’s nature

God and Moses at the burning bush

In Parshat Shemot, God meets Moses at a burning bush and sends him on a mission to free the Israelites from slavery. Moses has a bunch of questions for God, though, and one of them is about God’s name. “When the Israelites ask who sent me, what name should I give them?” 

God’s answer is “Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh.” That’s an answer that doesn’t sound like much of an answer. It translates to something like “I am who I am” or “I will be who I will be.” But what does that even mean?  And what is God showing Moses by using that name?

If that’s not confusing enough already, God then goes on to say something a little bit different. “Tell the Israelites that Ehyeh (I am) sent you.” That’s interesting – this time God says only “Ehyeh.” We might wonder: What happened to the rest of the name? Is there a reason God doesn’t say “Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh” the second time? 

“I am who I am” or just “I am”?

So that leaves us with two questions.

1. How should we understand the name Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh? What message does God want to send by giving Moses that name?
2. Why does God seem to give a shorter version of the name the second time – first Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh and then just Ehyeh by itself?

We’ll be able to suggest answers to both of these questions eventually. And not only that, but as it turns out, the answer to each question will shed light on the other. Let’s begin with question number one, about the meaning of the name, and look at two possible ways to interpret “Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh.”

Interpretation #1: God cannot be defined except by knowing God exists

One way to understand the name “Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh” is that God is essentially saying: “You want to know who I am? I can’t be defined, and nothing can explain Me. The only thing you really know about me is that I exist.” Something like that may be the peshat, the “plain” meaning of the name. 

Another way of reading this passage

But there’s a midrash that offers another way of understanding this name. It’s a midrash that suggests a “between the lines” dialogue between Moses and God, a dialogue that gives a second way to interpret the name Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh. Not only that: This imagined dialogue also points to something special about the relationship between God and humanity.

Interpretation #2: God is the One who will be…with us

The interpretation given by the midrash is that God’s name “Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh” is a way of saying “I am the God who will always be with you.” We might ask, where is this interpretation coming from? Is it just something that sounds nice, or does it have some kind of basis in the text? Well, remember how we asked why God seemingly gives two versions of the same name, the long version and the short one? The midrash, as quoted by Rashi, picks up on that discrepancy and imagines that it came about because of a conversation between God and Moses, a conversation went something like the following.

God to Moses, take 1:

“My name is Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh. I will be with the Israelites in their troubles in Egypt…and I will be with them in their future sufferings.”

Moses responds to God:

“Ribono Shel Olam, Master of the Universe, why do you want me to tell them about future troubles? They have enough on their minds right now with their troubles in Egypt!”

God to Moses, take 2:

“You’re absolutely right, Moses. Leave out the future troubles. Just tell them My name is Ehyeh: I will be with them right now.”

So that conversation imagines a reason why God would give two versions of the same name. And it suggests that the name Ehyeh is a way of saying “You want to know who God is? God is the one who stands by us. God is the one who will always be with us in our troubles.” 

Now, that’s a lovely explanation of the names, but we still don’t have an answer to our question about where the midrash got this idea from in the first place! This notion about a dialogue between God and Moses…did it just come out of thin air?

The hidden clue to understanding God’s name “I am”

A name that holds secrets of God’s nature

There’s a textual clue found elsewhere in this burning bush story, a clue that shows why the midrash is reading the text in this particular way. It turns out that when God says “Tell them that Ehyeh sent you,” it’s really a way of saying to Moses: “Hey, Moses, you know how you’re so worried about the people asking for My name? Well, you can be sure that I’ll be with them…because I’ve already showed you that’s Who I am.”

You can find all the details in the following video, where Rabbi Fohrman points that clue out to us. He shows how it answers our questions about God’s name, how it answers our questions about the midrash…and how it teaches us a stunning truth about the nature of God’s love.