I Am that I Am

Judaism[]

Hebrew Bible[]

The word Ehyeh is used a total of 43 places in the Hebrew Bible, where it is usually translated as "I will be" -- as is the case for its first occurrence, in Genesis 26:3—or "I shall be," as is the case for its final occurrence in Zechariah 8:8. The importance placed on the phrase, as it is used by God to identify himself in the Burning Bush, stems from the Hebrew conception of monotheism that God exists by himself for himself, and is the uncreated Creator who is independent of any concept, force, or entity; therefore "I am who I am" (ongoing).

Some scholars state that the Tetragrammaton itself derives from the same verbal root, following a rabbinical interpretation of Exodus 3:14, but others counter that it may simply sound similar as intended by God, such as Psalm 119 and the Hebrew words "shoqed" (watching) and "shaqed" (almond branch) found in Jeremiah 1:11-12. Whether the Holy Name (written as YHWH) is derived from Eyheh or whether the two are unrelated concepts, is a subject of debate amongst historians and theologians.

In appearance, it is possible to render YHWH (יהוה) as an archaic third person singular imperfect form of the verb hayah (אהיה) "to be" meaning, therefore, "He is". It is notably distinct from the root El, which can be used as a simple noun to refer to the creator deity in general, as in Elohim, meaning simply "God" (or gods). This interpretation agrees with the meaning of the name given in Exodus 3:14, where God is represented as speaking, and hence as using the first person — ehyeh "I am". Other scholars regard the triconsonantal root of hawah (הוה) as a more likely origin for the name Yahweh (יהוה).

Intertestamental Judaism[]

In the Hellenistic Greek literature of the Jewish Diaspora the phrase "Ehyeh asher ehyeh" was rendered in Greek "ego eimi ho on", "I am the BEING".

Septuagint Exodus 3:14 And God said unto Moses, I am HE WHO IS (ho on): and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, HE WHO IS (ho on) hath sent me unto you.^[3]
Philo : And God said, "At first say unto them, 'I am (ego eimi) THE BEING,'(ho on, nominative of ontos) that, when they have learnt that there is a difference between THE BEING (ontos, genitive of ho on) and that-that-is-not (me ontos), they may be further taught that there is no name whatever that can properly be assigned to Me (ep' emou kuriologeitai), to whom (oi) only (monoi) belongs (prosesti) the existence (to einai). (Philo Life Of Moses Vol.1 :75)^[4]^[5]
ho On, "He who is" (Philo, Life of Moses I 75)
to On, "the Being who is" (Philo, Life of Moses II 67),
tou Ontos, "of Him that is" (II 99)
tou Ontos, "of the Self-Existent" (II 132)
to On, "the Self-Existent" (II 161)^[6]

This usage is also found in the New Testament:

Rev 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, the BEING (ho on), and THE WAS (ho en), and THE IS TO COME (ho erchomenos), the Almighty (ho pantokrator).^[7]
Rev 4:8 holy, Lord God Almighty, the WAS (ho en), and the BEING (ho on), and the IS TO COME (ho erchomenos).

Kabbalist interpretation[]

Kabbalists have long deemed that the Torah contains esoteric information. The response given by God is considered significant by many Kabbalists, because it is seen as proof in the divine nature of God's name, a central idea in Kabbalah (and to a lesser degree Judaism in general).

Christianity[]

Roman Catholic Church interpretation[]

The Roman Catholic Church's interpretation has been summarized in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The interpretation is found in numbers 203-213.^[8]

Some of the salient points are the following:

203: God revealed himself to his people Israel by making his name known to them. A name expresses a person's essence and identity and the meaning of this person's life. God has a name; he is not an anonymous force. To disclose one's name is to make oneself known to others; in a way it is to hand oneself over by becoming accessible, capable of being known more intimately and addressed personally.

206: In revealing his mysterious name, YHWH ("I AM HE WHO IS", "I AM WHO AM" or "I AM WHO I AM"), God says who he is and by what name he is to be called. This divine name is mysterious just as God is mystery. It is at once a name revealed and something like the refusal of a name, and hence it better expresses God as what he is - infinitely above everything that we can understand or say: he is the "hidden God", his name is ineffable, and he is the God who makes himself close to men.

207: God, who reveals his name as "I AM", reveals himself as the God who is always there, present to his people in order to save them.

210: After Israel's sin, when the people had turned away from God to worship the golden calf, God hears Moses' prayer of intercession and agrees to walk in the midst of an unfaithful people, thus demonstrating his love. When Moses asks to see his glory, God responds "I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you my name 'the LORD' [YHWH]." Then the LORD passes before Moses and proclaims, "YHWH, YHWH, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness"; Moses then confesses that the LORD is a forgiving God.

211: The divine name, "I Am" or "He Is", expresses God's faithfulness: despite the faithlessness of men's sin and the punishment it deserves, he keeps "steadfast love for thousands"... By giving his life to free us from sin, Jesus reveals that he himself bears the divine name: "When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will realize that 'I AM'."

212: ...In God "there is no variation or shadow due to change."...

213: The revelation of the ineffable name "I AM WHO AM" contains then the truth that God alone IS. The Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, and following it the Church's tradition, understood the divine name in this sense: God is the fullness of Being and of every perfection, without origin and without end. All creatures receive all that they are and have from him; but he alone is his very being, and he is of himself everything that he is.

Other views[]

Some religious groups and theologians believe that this phrase or at least the "I am" part of the phrase is an actual name of God, or to lesser degree the sole name of God. It can be found in many lists where other common names of God are shown.

As discussed above, depending on how it is rendered (a subject of much debate amongst historians), the Hebrew name for God YHWH bears some similarity to an archaic form of "he is". In Biblical Hebrew, ehyeh is the first person singular imperfect "to be".

According to the author Zecharia Sitchin, the proclamation 'Yahweh', in context is more closely translated to mean: "I am who I choose to be".^[9] However, his speculations are discounted by historians and archaeologists, who note many problems with his translations of ancient texts.^[10]

In the Hindu Advaita Vedanta, the South Indian sage Ramana Maharshi mentions that of all the definitions of God, "none is indeed so well put as the biblical statement “I am that I am”". He maintained that although Hindu scripture contains similar statements, the Mahavakyas, these are not as direct as given in Exodus.^[11] Further the "I am" is explained by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj as an abstraction in the mind of the Stateless State, of the Absolute, or the Supreme Reality, called Parabrahman: it is pure awareness, prior to thoughts, free from perceptions, associations, memories. Parabrahman is often considered to be a cognate term for the Supreme Being in Hinduism.

References[]

↑ Verb tenses in Hebrew Hebrew denote action, not time: the perfect tense denotes completed action, and the imperfect denotes incomplete action. Thus, the imperfect tense can be translated as present or future and this can cause problems in translation. The difficulty is that for the Hebrew mind, even something completed can be in the future: "For example I can say 'my father taught me about life' which is written in the past tense. While my father taught me many years ago, we see this as past tense and in the Hebrew mind it is a completed action. But, in the Hebrew mind this completed action exists in the past, present and future. I still learn from my father today by remembering all that he taught me and I will continue to learn from him even after he is dead."[1] For alternate translations of God's name see Rakkav.com.
↑ The Reader's Encyclopedia, Second Edition 1965, publisher Thomas Y. Crowell Co., New York, editions 1948, 1955. Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 65-12510, page 918
↑ Brenton, Septuagint
↑ English translation: Yonge, Philo Complete Works, Grand Rapids 1998
↑ Greek text: per Logos Software, licensed from Philo Concordance Project 2000 Cohn & Wendland, Colson, Petit, and Paramelle
↑ F.H. Colson Philo Works Vol. VI, Loeb Classics, Harvard 1941
↑ Rev 1:4 Ἐγώ εἰμι τὸ Α καὶ τὸ Ω ἀρχὴ καὶ τέλος, λέγει ὁ κύριος ὁ ὢν καὶ ὁ ἦν καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος ὁ παντοκράτωρ
↑ http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p1s2c1p1.htm
↑ “Jordan Maxwell Private Interview With Zecharia Sitchin ½.” 14 May 2008. Online video clip. Dailymotion.com. Accessed on October 22. <http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x52q72_jordan-maxwell-private-interview-wi_news>
↑ Sitchin "Zecharia Sitchin". The Skeptic's Dictionary. http://skepdic.com/sitchin.html Sitchin. Retrieved 2009-09-18.
↑ Talks with Ramana Maharshi, Talk 106, 29th November, 1935

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[1] Verb tenses in Hebrew Hebrew denote action, not time: the perfect tense denotes completed action, and the imperfect denotes incomplete action. Thus, the imperfect tense can be translated as present or future and this can cause problems in translation. The difficulty is that for the Hebrew mind, even something completed can be in the future: "For example I can say 'my father taught me about life' which is written in the past tense. While my father taught me many years ago, we see this as past tense and in the Hebrew mind it is a completed action. But, in the Hebrew mind this completed action exists in the past, present and future. I still learn from my father today by remembering all that he taught me and I will continue to learn from him even after he is dead."[1] For alternate translations of God's name see Rakkav.com.

[2] The Reader's Encyclopedia, Second Edition 1965, publisher Thomas Y. Crowell Co., New York, editions 1948, 1955. Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 65-12510, page 918

[3] Brenton, Septuagint

[4] English translation: Yonge, Philo Complete Works, Grand Rapids 1998

[5] Greek text: per Logos Software, licensed from Philo Concordance Project 2000 Cohn & Wendland, Colson, Petit, and Paramelle

[6] F.H. Colson Philo Works Vol. VI, Loeb Classics, Harvard 1941

[7] Rev 1:4 Ἐγώ εἰμι τὸ Α καὶ τὸ Ω ἀρχὴ καὶ τέλος, λέγει ὁ κύριος ὁ ὢν καὶ ὁ ἦν καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος ὁ παντοκράτωρ

[8] ttp://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p1s2c1p1.htm

[9] “Jordan Maxwell Private Interview With Zecharia Sitchin ½.” 14 May 2008. Online video clip. Dailymotion.com. Accessed on October 22. <http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x52q72_jordan-maxwell-private-interview-wi_news>

[10] Sitchin "Zecharia Sitchin". The Skeptic's Dictionary. http://skepdic.com/sitchin.html Sitchin. Retrieved 2009-09-18.

[11] Talks with Ramana Maharshi, Talk 106, 29th November, 1935

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