Exodus 3:13

World English Bible

Contextual Overview

¹¹ Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?" ¹² He said, "Certainly I will be with you. This will be the token to you, that I have sent you: when you have brought forth the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain." ¹³ Moses said to God, "Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and tell them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you;' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' What should I tell them?" ¹⁴ God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM," and he said, "You shall tell the children of Israel this: "I AM has sent me to you." ¹⁵ God said moreover to Moses, "You shall tell the children of Israel this, 'Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

What is his name: Exodus 3:14, Exodus 15:3, Genesis 32:29, Judges 13:6, Judges 13:17, Proverbs 30:4, Isaiah 7:14, Isaiah 9:6, Jeremiah 23:6, Matthew 1:21, Matthew 1:23

Reciprocal: Exodus 6:12 - children Exodus 33:19 - proclaim Exodus 34:6 - The Lord Numbers 6:27 - put my Deuteronomy 32:3 - Because 1 Kings 8:42 - great name Psalms 20:1 - God Psalms 48:10 - According Proverbs 18:10 - name Isaiah 42:8 - that is John 17:6 - have manifested Acts 22:14 - The God

Cross-References

Genesis 3:4
The serpent said to the woman, "You won't surely die,

Genesis 3:6
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit of it, and ate; and she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate.

Genesis 3:9
Yahweh God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?"

Genesis 3:10
The man said, "I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself."

Genesis 3:12
The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate."

Genesis 44:15
Joseph said to them, "What deed is this that you have done? Don't you know that such a man as I can indeed divine?"

1 Samuel 13:11
Samuel said, What have you done? Saul said, Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you didn't come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines assembled themselves together at Michmash;

2 Samuel 3:24
Then Joab came to the king, and said, What have you done? behold, Abner came to you; why is it that you have sent him away, and he is quite gone?

John 18:35
Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered you to me. What have you done?"

1 Timothy 2:14
Adam wasn't deceived, but the woman, being deceived, has fallen into disobedience;

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And Moses said unto God,.... Having received full satisfaction to his objection, taken from his own unfitness for such a service, and willing to have his way quite clear unto him, and his commission appear firm and valid to his people, he proceeds to observe another difficulty that might possibly arise:

when I come unto the children of Israel: out of Midian into Egypt;

and shall say unto them, the God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; with a message to them to receive him as his ambassador and their deliverer:

and they shall say unto me, what is his name? a question it was probable they would ask, not through ignorance, since in their distress they had called upon the name of the Lord, and cried unto him for help and deliverance; but either to try Moses, and what knowledge he had of God: or there being many names by which he had made himself known; and especially was wont to make use of a new name or title when he made a new appearance, or any eminent discovery of himself, they might be desirous of knowing what was the present name he took:

what shall I say unto them? what name shall I make mention of?

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

What is his name - The meaning of this question is evidently: “By which name shall I tell them that the promise is confirmed?” Each name of the Deity represented some aspect or manifestation of His attributes (compare the introduction to Genesis). What Moses needed was not a new name, but direction to use that name which would bear in itself a pledge of accomplishment. Moses was familiar with the Egyptian habit of choosing from the names of the gods that which bore specially upon the wants and circumstances of their worshippers, and this may have suggested the question which would be the first his own people would expect him to answer.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 3:13. They shall say - What is his name? — Does not this suppose that the Israelites had an idolatrous notion even of the Supreme Being? They had probably drank deep into the Egyptian superstitions, and had gods many and lords many; and Moses conjectured that, hearing of a supernatural deliverance, they would inquire who that God was by whom it was to be effected. The reasons given here by the rabbins are too refined for the Israelites at this time. "When God," say they, "judgeth his creatures, he is called אלהים Elohim; when he warreth against the wicked, he is called צבאות Tsebaoth; but when he showeth mercy unto the world, he is called יהוה Yehovah." It is not likely that the Israelites had much knowledge of God or of his ways at the time to which the sacred text refers; it is certain they had no written word. The book of Genesis, if even written, (for some suppose it had been composed by Moses during his residence in Midian,) had not yet been communicated to the people; and being so long without any revelation, and perhaps without even the form of Divine worship, their minds being degraded by the state of bondage in which they had been so long held, and seeing and hearing little in religion but the superstitions of those among whom they sojourned, they could have no distinct notion of the Divine Being. Moses himself might have been in doubt at first on this subject, and he seems to have been greatly on his guard against illusion; hence he asks a variety of questions, and endeavours, by all prudent means, to assure himself of the truth and certainty of the present appearance and commission. He well knew the power of the Egyptian magicians, and he could not tell from these first views whether there might not have been some delusion in this case. God therefore gives him the fullest proof, not only for the satisfaction of the people to whom he was to be sent, but for his own full conviction, that it was the supreme God who now spoke to him.