“And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.”
God follows the self-declaration with instruction: say to the Israelites: the Lord, the God of your fathers — the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — has sent me to you. This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation. The personal name YHWH (rendered Lord in most English translations) is declared to be eternal and generational — not a name for this moment only but the name by which God will be known throughout all of human history. It connects past covenant (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) to present crisis (Israel in Egypt) to future worship (generation to generation). Psalm 135:13 echoes this: your name, Lord, endures forever, your renown through all generations. The Israelites in Egypt need to know that the God sending Moses is not a new god but the same God who promised their ancestors everything that is now being initiated. The name anchors the promise to the promise-maker.
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
Publish a note on this verse
0/2000
No notes on this verse yet. Be the first to write one!