Interpretation of the verse ‘I am who I am’

Interpretation of the verse ‘I am who I am’

Preface:

• What does the verse Exodus 3:14 mean?
• Why did the Lord says, “I AM THAT I AM”?
• Why is it translated so in English? 
• Read through this document to understand everything.

Exodus 3:14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

Languages that Moses knew: 

• Moses knew the Egyptian language because he had been raised in an Egyptian palace for the first 40 years. 
• Moses lived in Midian for the next 40 years, so he knew the Midianite language.
• But since he was only with his mother for the first 3 months, he did not know Hebrew.

Lord Meets Moses:

• When Moses was 80 years old, the Lord meets Moses. 
• The Lord spoke to Moses in the Midianite language at that time.
• Because Moses has been speaking Midian language for the last 40 years.

Name of God: 

• Moses asked the Lord, "What is your name?" 
• The Lord has no name. 
• Because he is the only God. 
• So the name is not required. 
• At that time the Lord could not explain Moses the theology (name is not needed if there is one).

I am that I am:

• Lord said, “I AM THAT I AM - English” and 
• “Hebrew - Haya-aser-Haya” to Moses. 
• So Moses thought that his name was “Haya”.

Name is different - Description is different:

• Jehovah-Jireh  (Meaning: In the Mount of the Lord, it shall be provided) Genesis 22:14.
• Jehovah-Shalom (Meaning: The Lord is our peace) Judges 6:24. 
• Everyone thinks Lord has a lot of names like this.
• But, these are not names, just describing the person. 
• E.g., tall man, short man. 

Moses understands the true meaning of Haya: 

• Here Moses thought ‘Haya’ was the name of the Lord. 
• Then Moses speaks to the Jews people  and learns the Hebrew language. 
• That’s when he got to know ‘Haya’ was not his name.
• ‘Haya’ is the word the Lord said to refer to Himself.
• But now Moses sees that everyone (Jews) is using that word common. 
• It made Moses very sad.
• These stories are all written in the Talmud, a book of Jewish history.

Alternative word-Ani: 

• Moses tells the Israelites, We should no longer use the word ‘Haya’ that our Lord used to refer to Himself. 
• So Moses introduced the word ‘Ani’ in Hebrew to refer the word ‘I am’
• From the time of Moses till the present day the Hebrews use the word ‘Ani’ to indicate the word ‘I am’. 

Why People stoned Jesus:

John 8:56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.

John 8:57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?

John 8:58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. (Haya)

John 8:59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.

• It was because Jesus used a word that the Jews had never used before.
• So that people began to stone at him.

In 7 places - Jesus says Haya: 

• Jesus used the word ‘Haya’ instead of ‘Ani’ even in 7 more places in the Gospel of John. 

1. I am the bread of life (John 6:35).
2. I am the light of the world (John 8:12).
3. I am the door of the sheep (John 10:7).
4. I am the good shepherd  (John 10:11).
5. I am the resurrection and life (John 11:25).
6. I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).
7. I am the vine, ye are the branches (John 15:5).

• A total of 7 times God refers to Himself as ‘Haya’,
• From this Jesus proved that he is the one, who met Moses in the Burning Bush. 
• So it is confirmed by the mouth of Jesus that Jesus was born as a man. 

History:

• In BC 334, Alexander the Great conquered the whole world. 
• The following year, in BC 333, Greek became the international language. 
• For the first time in world history a language is becoming an international language. 
• Now everyone has to speak, write and read Greek. 
• They can speak their own language in their homes. 
• But when they comes out, they have to use Greek as the official language. 
• Thus he laid down a law that required that all ancient writings, Scrolls, scriptures, legal texts, historical texts, and epics be translated into Greek. 

Tanakh- Translation: 

• Accordingly the Old Testament 
• Jewish books such as Torah, Nevi'im, Ketuvim was translated into Greek.
• It happened in BC 250.
• Tanakh - Old Testament (39) 
• Torah - The Book of Deuteronomy (5) 
• Nevi’im - Book of the Prophets. 
• Ketuvim - Jewish History Book.

Septuagint: 

• The translation was completed in 70 days with the help of 70 Jews who knew the Greek language.
• Hence the name Septuagint 70 was given to that translation. (Old Testament) 
• If you write 70 in Latin characters you should write LXX (L-50, X-10, X-10).

Translation in Greek: 

• When the translators were translating in Greek, they looked for the Greek words to refer to the word ‘Haya’. 
• But it’s not available.
• So they wrote two Greek words. ‘Ego and Eimi’ in Greek

Translation in English:

• After the New Testament, King James the Great ruled England in AD 1611 and legislated for the translation of the Scriptures into English.
• Translators faced a similar problem when translating.
• since there is no exact English word to replace ‘Haya’,  they referred Septuagint. 
• They took the words ‘Ego and Eimi’ and 
• wrote ‘I am that I am’ in English. 

Conclusion: 

• This is how the verse 'I am that I am' verse appeared in English.