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Messianic Prophecies

Exodus 3:13-15

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Exodus 3:13-15

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?” 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.’ ” 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.

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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?”

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.’ ” 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. Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and tell them, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt. I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’ They will listen to your voice. You shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you shall tell him, ‘Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to Yahweh, our God.’ I know that the king of Egypt won’t give you permission to go, no, not by a mighty hand. I will reach out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders which I will do among them, and after that he will let you go. I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and it will happen that when you go, you shall not go empty-handed. But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, and of her who visits her house, jewels of silver, jewels of gold, and clothing. You shall put them on your sons, and on your daughters. You shall plunder the Egyptians.”

The fulfillment reading

How this passage is read as pointing to the Messiah.

The fulfillment reading understands Jesus' absolute 'I am' (ego eimi) sayings in John, especially 8:58, as a deliberate self-identification with the divine name revealed to Moses at the burning bush. Supporters point to the crowd's attempt to stone Jesus in 8:59 as evidence the words were heard as a claim to divine identity. They hold that only the discourse form is Johannine while the underlying self-understanding is authentic, and that the Synoptics' silence reflects selection rather than contradiction. On this view Exodus 3 supplies the divine self-designation that Jesus applies to himself.

The counter-reading

How this passage is read within its own context.

The critical reading treats Exodus 3:13-15 as a theophany about God's self-disclosure to Moses, containing no predictive content about a future figure. It regards John's 'I am' sayings as compositions of the Johannine author and community, expressing a late first-century high Christology absent from the Synoptic tradition. On this view the verbal correspondence exists because the evangelist echoes the Greek Old Testament's ego eimi to make a theological identification, not because Exodus anticipates it. For these interpreters, reading a divine self-revelation as a prediction confuses two distinct genres, theophany and oracle.

How the New Testament uses this passage

Each entry names how the New Testament author draws on the passage — a direct quotation, an allusion, an echo, or a typological reading. An echo or an allusion is not the same as a prediction; the label says which is which.

  • John 4:26 Allusion

    John's absolute ego eimi (8:58) verbally echoes the LXX divine self-designation of Exodus 3:14 without a formal quotation formula.

  • 8:58 Allusion

    John's absolute ego eimi (8:58) verbally echoes the LXX divine self-designation of Exodus 3:14 without a formal quotation formula.