Reading for Thursday, 15th Week in Ordinary Time

Optional Memorial: Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Old Calendar: Commemoration of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel

From: Exodus 3:13-20

The Divine Name is Revealed
[3] Then Moses said to God, "If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" [4] God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And he said, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" [5] God said to Moses, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has sent me to you': this is my name forever and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.

The Mission of Moses
[16] Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, 'The Lord the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, "I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt; [17] and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt, to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey." [18] And they will hearken to your voice; and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, 'The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, we pray you, let us go a three days' joumey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.' [19] I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. [20] So I will stretch my hand and smite Egypt with all the wonders which I will do it; after that he will let you go."
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Commentary:
3:13-15. Moses now raises another difficulty: he does not know the name of the God who is commissioning him. This gives rise to the revelation of the name "Yahweh" and the explanation of what it means--"I am who I am".

According to the tradition recorded in Gn 4:26, a grandson of Adam, Enosh, was the first to call upon the name of the Lord (Yahweh). Thus, the biblical text is stating that a part of mankind knew the true God, whose name was revealed to Moses in this solemn way (Ex 35:15 and 6:2). The patriarchs invoked God under other names, to do with the divine attributes, such as the Almighty ("El-Shaddai": Gen 17:1; Ex 6:2-3). Other proper names of God which appear in very ancient documents lead one to think that the name Yahweh had been known from along time back. The revelation of the divine name is important in salvation history because by that name God will be invoked over the course of the centuries.

All kinds of suggestions have been put forward as to the meaning of Yahweh; not all are mutually exclusive. Here are some of the main ones: a) God is giving an evasive answer here because he does not want those in ancient times, contaminated as they were by magic rites, to think that because they knew name they would have power over the god. According to this theory, "I am who I am" would be equivalent to "I am whom you cannot know". "I am unnameable". This solution stresses the transcendence of God. b) What God is revealing is his nature--that he is subsistent being; in which case "I am who I am means I am he who exists "per sibi", absolute being. The divine name refers to what he is by essence; it refers to him whose essence it is to be. God is saying that he "is", and he is giving the name by which he is to be called. This explanation is often to be found in Christian interpretation. c) On the basis of the fact Yahweh is a causative form of the ancient Hebrew verb "hwh" (to be), God revealing himself as "he who causes to be", the creator, not so much in the fullest sense of the word (as creator of the universe) but above all the creator of the present situation--the one who gives the people its being and who always stays with it. Thus, calling upon Yahweh will always remind the good Israelite of his reason-for-being, as an individual and as a member of a chosen people.

None of these explanations is entirely satisfactory. "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' (Is 45: 15), his name is ineffable, and he is the God who makes himself close to men (cf. Judg 1.3:18)" ("Catechism of the Catholic Church", 206).

At a later time, around the 4th century BC, out of reverence for the name of Yahweh the use of the word was avoided; when it occurred in the sacred text it was read as "Adonai", my Lord. In the Greek version it is translated as "Kyrios" and in the Latin as "Dominus". "It is under this title that the divinity of Jesus will be acclaimed: 'Jesus is Lord'" (ibid., 209). The RSV always renders "Yahweh" as "the Lord". The medieval form Jehovah was the result of a misreading of the Hebrew text into which vowels were inserted by the Massoretes; it is simply a mistake and there is no justification for the use of "Jehovah" nowadays (cf. ibid., 446).

3:16-22. The Lord comes back again to the subject of Moses' mission; despite all the obstacles, it will be a success. "The elders of Israel" (v. 16), that is, the chiefs of clans, representing the whole community, will be happy to hear what Moses has to say. The words "I have observed you" (v. 16: literally, "I. have car ried out an inspection among you") are significant because they indicate the key thing--God's is a friendly presence; but it is also a demanding presence which expects an account of the use we made of gifts received (cf. 32:34; Jer 9:24; Hos 4:14). The three days' journey (v. 18) would not take them to Sinai but it was enough to get them away from Egypt. Later, three days will become a number symbolizing divine action. See the note on 6:10-13.

The pharaoh, unlike the elders, will refuse to let the people go-making it clearer that the Israelites will attain their freedom only if God comes to their rescue.

The "despoiling" of the Egyptians (v. 22) is by way of compensation for the years they have spent with nothing to show for it (cf. Gen 15:14; Wis 10:17) and also as a sort of booty of war (cf. Ex 11:2-3; 12:35-36): God comes out the victor in the struggle against the pharaoh, and he gives the sons of Israel a share in the booty. It may also be meant to signal festive joy: the Israelites are to dress up to celebrate the victory God has given them.
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Reprinted with permission from Four Courts Press and Scepter Publishers, the U.S. publisher.