I Am that I Am

I am that I am is a common
English translation of the
Hebrew phrase ‫אֶ ְהיֶה אֲשֶׁ ר‬
‫אֶ ְהיֶה‬, ’ehyeh ’ăšer ’ehyeh The Hebrew text with niqqud
([ʔɛhˈjɛh ʔaˈʃɛr ʔɛhˈjɛh]) -
also “I am who am”, "I am
what I am" or "I will be what I will be" or even "I create what(ever) I create".[1] The traditional English translation within Judaism
favors "I will be what I will be" because there is no present tense of the verb "to be" in the Hebrew language. So for example to say "I
am a book" in Hebrew would be Ani Sefer (literally in English is "I book"). This translation of phrase from the Hebrew Bible is often
guided by the theology or ideology of the people doing the translation or their sponsors.

Contents
Context and interpretation
Scholarly explanation
See also
References
Bibliography

Context and interpretation

Its context is the encounter of the burning bush (Exodus 3:14): Moses asks what he is to say to the Israelites when they ask what God
has sent him to them, and Yahweh replies, "I am who I am," adding, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'I am has sent me to you.'"[2]
’Ehyeh is the first person form of hayah, "to be", and owing to the peculiarities of Hebrew grammar means both "I am", "I was", and
"I will be".[3] The meaning of the longer phrase ’ehyeh ’ăšer ’ehyeh is debated, and might be seen as a promise ("I will be with you")
or as statement of incomparability ("I am without equal")[4]
.

The passage raises a number of issues beyond to its linguistic and theological meaning. It is, for example, somewhat remarkable that
despite this exchange the Israelites never ask Moses for the name of God.[5] Then there are a number of probably unanswerable
questions, including who it is that does not know God's name, Moses or the Israelites (most commentators take it that it is Moses who
does not know, meaning that the Israelites will ask him the name in order to prove his credentials), and just what the statement
means.[5] The last can be approached in three ways:

"I am who I am" - an evasion of Moses's question;

“I am who am” or "I am he who is" - a statement of the nature of Israel's God;
"'I Am' is who I am", or "I am because I am" - this version has not played a major part in scholarly discussion of the
phrase, but the first variant has been incorporated into theNew English Bible.[6]

Scholarly explanation
In her Open Yale Course, Lecture 7, Chapter 5 ("Descriptions of God in the Bible"), professor Christine Hayes considers the
possibilities and is tempted to read "Ehyeh asher ehyeh" as God's reluctance to tell Moses his name:
 Moses says: May I say who sent me? He asks for God’s name. The Israelites will want to know who has sent me, and
God replies with a sentence, “Ehyeh asher ehyeh.” This is a first person sentence that can be translated, “I am who I
am,” or perhaps, “I will be who I will be,” or perhaps, “I cause to be what I cause to be.” We really don’t know, but it
has something to do with “being.” So he asks who God is, God says, “I am who am I am” or “I will cause to be what I
will cause to be.” So Moses, wisely enough, converts that into a third-person formula: okay, he will be who he will
be, he is who he is, “Yahweh asher Yahweh.” God’s answer to the question of his name is this sentence, and Moses
converts it from a first-person to a third-person sentence: he will be who he will be; he is who he is; he will cause to
be, I think most people think now, what he will cause to be, and that sentence gets shortened to “Yahweh.” This is the
Bible’s explanation for the name Yahweh, and as the personal name of God, some have argued that the name Yahweh
expresses the quality of being, an active, dynamic being. This God is one who brings things into being, whether it’s a
cosmos from chaos, or now a new nation from a band of runaway slaves. But it could well be that this is simply God’
s
way of not answering Moses’ question. We’ve seen how the Bible feels about revealing names, and the divine being
who struggled and wrestled with Jacobsure didn’t want to give him his name. So I’ve often wondered if we’re to read
this differently: Who am I? I am who I am, and never you mind.

See also
Aham Brahmasmi
Be, and it is
"I AM" Activity
I Yam What I Yam
I and I (disambiguation)
Jehovah
Names of God in Judaism
Om
Soham
Tat Tvam Asi
Thou Art God
Unmoved mover
You Are What You Is

References
1. Stone 2000, p. 624.
2. Van der Torn 1999, p. 913.
3. Parke-Taylor 2006, p. 51.
4. Van der Toorn 1999, p. 913.
5. Hamilton 2011, p. 63.
6. Mettinger, p. 33-34.

Bibliography
Hamilton, Victor P. (2011). Exodus: An Exegetical Commentary. Baker Books. ISBN 9781441240095.
Mettinger, Tryggve (2005). In Search of God: The Meaning and Message of the Everlasting Names . Fortress Press.
ISBN 9781451419351.
Parke-Taylor, G.H. (1975), Yahweh: The Divine Name in the Bible, Wilfrid Laurier University Press,ISBN 0-88920-
013-0
Stone, Robert E, II (2000). "I Am Who I Am".In Freedman, David Noel; Myers, Allen C.Eerdmans Dictionary of the
Bible. Eerdmans. ISBN 9789053565032.
Van der Toorn, Karel (1999). "Yahweh". In Van der Toorn, Karel; Becking, Bob; Van der Horst, Pieter Willem.
Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible. Eerdmans. ISBN 9780802824912.
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