Examination · Anakalypsis Editorial
The Divine Name
From the burning bush to the Gospel of John — the revelation of YHWH, the "I AM," and its implications for the identity of Christ
An exploration of the divine name revealed at the burning bush — YHWH, "I AM THAT I AM" — tracing its significance through the Psalms and prophets, its jealous guarding in Israelite worship, and its dramatic reappearance in the "I AM" statements of Jesus in the Gospel of John, with their profound implications for his divine identity.
In the ancient world, a name was not a label — it was a revelation of character. To know someone's name was to have a claim on their identity. When Moses stands before the burning bush and asks God for his name, he is asking the most fundamental theological question: who are you? God's answer — "I AM THAT I AM" — is simultaneously the most profound and the most mysterious self-disclosure in the history of religion. It is a name that reveals everything and conceals everything at once.
This name — rendered in Hebrew as the four consonants YHWH (the Tetragrammaton) — became the most sacred word in the vocabulary of Israel. It was spoken aloud only by the high priest, and only once a year, in the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement. The Jewish tradition of substituting "Adonai" (Lord) when reading Scripture reflects the reverence this name commanded. To misuse it was blasphemy; to invoke it was to invoke the presence of the living God.
Moses is tending sheep in the wilderness of Midian when he sees a bush that burns without being consumed. God speaks from the bush and commissions Moses to deliver Israel from Egypt. Moses, anticipating the people's question, asks: "What is his name? what shall I say unto them?" God's response is a statement so compact that theologians have spent three millennia unpacking it.
The Hebrew phrase 'ehyeh 'asher 'ehyeh has been translated variously: "I AM THAT I AM," "I AM WHO I AM," "I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE." The root is the verb hayah — to be. The name is formed from the verb of existence itself, identifying God with being in a way that distinguishes Him from all created things.