If the Israelites were to put their pre-Exodus experience into a song title, “Help!” by the Beatles is a good summary (at least the chorus). We can hear them in Egypt singing, “Help! I need somebody. Help! Not just anybody. Help! You know I need someone. Help!”

And so God already knowing their need and His eternal plans, reveals Himself to Moses in the burning bush. He calls Moses to His service and then sends him to the Israelites to bring them out of Egypt. God has seen their misery and has come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians. What a call! What an opportunity! But Moses has some questions; two in fact. Moses responds with: (1) who am I? and (2) what if they ask me, “What is His name?”¹ God responds to the first and informs Moses that He will be with him. And to the second question God states, “I AM who I AM.”

What did God mean when he revealed His name as “I AM?” This statement has been understood in at least three different ways.² First, as a statement regarding God’s being. I AM would then mean I AM the eternal existing God. As good as this interpretation sounds, the way the verb hyh is used in other passages challenges this. Second, as a statement that avoids an answer. I AM would then be considered ambiguous and demand further watching of God’s actions. And third, as a statement of God’s activity/actions. I AM would then mean “the ever-new activity of God in history.”³ The activeness and dynamism of the verb is captured well in this understanding.

The first meaning (ontological) was my initial understanding, but my studies have led me to view number three as the better understanding where I AM indicates that God is “being expressed in…actions or deeds, fate, and behavior toward others.”⁴ The context of chapter three supports such an understanding.

God has already revealed Himself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The Israelites know who He is and are aware of Him though His actions in Genesis. But now Israel is in a whole new situation in Egypt. Before they dealt with small clans, tribes, neighboring peoples, and their local “gods.” But now they are under the power of the strongest nation of earth (Egypt) and in their territory, presumably under their local “gods” and their authority; not to mention Pharaoh who claimed divinity.⁵ Moses’ question, “What is your Name” is best interpreted in understanding this context as well the word “Name” in Hebrew. Name or shem describes “reputation, fame…especially as embodying the (revealed) character of Yahweh.’”⁶

So when Moses’ asks, what is your name, He is asking about God’s ability, reputation, fame, and character. This question seeks to know if God can deliver them from Egypt. Durham says, “The answer Moses receives is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a name. It is an assertion of authority, a confession of an essential reality, and thus an entirely appropriate response to the question Moses poses.”⁷

When God says, I AM, the verb connotes “continuing, unfinished action: ‘I am being that I am being,’ or ‘I am the Is-ing One,’ that is, ‘the One Who Always Is.’ Not conceptual being, being in the abstract, but active being, is the intent of this reply.”⁸ God’s answer to Moses seems best understood not as eternal existence, but as “active existence.”⁹ I AM seems to imply that God is always ready to act and help. Thus God reveals Himself as I AM/Yahweh meaning active Presence.¹⁰ Moses’ wants to know what you can do about it; God essentially says He has authority in His active Presence, which they are about to see.¹¹

Daniel Block affirms this understanding when he says, “The name YHWH identifies the God who declares by action, ‘I will be there—to deliver you,’ ‘I will be there—to reveal myself to you,’ ‘I will be there—to care for you,’ ‘I will be there—to fulfill my promises to the Fathers,’ and ‘I will be there—to take you as my covenant people’ (Exod. 6:3; 19:4–6).”¹²

Therefore, when you read LORD in the Old Testament, think of the God who is actively present. Not just there, but there actively and able to do all His holy will.

The Israelites cry out help I need somebody, not just anybody. And in a sense, God responds with His name, expressing,

“There ain’t no mountain high enough,
Ain’t no valley low enough,
Ain’t no river wide enough
To keep me from getting to you.”

Praise the great “I AM” for His powerful and merciful active presence! If you were to capture Israel’s situation in a song, what song would you choose? What about God’s response; what song would you choose for God? And last, as you walk with God in life, what song will you sing to remind yourself of His active presence?