Commentary - Exodus 3:13-22

Bird's-eye view

In this foundational passage, Moses, having just been commissioned by God from the burning bush, asks a crucial question that every emissary must be able to answer: "By what authority do you come?" He needs to know the name of the God who is sending him. The answer God provides is the bedrock of Israel's faith and, indeed, all Christian theology. God reveals His nature as the eternally self-existent one, "I AM WHO I AM," and then provides His personal, covenant name, Yahweh. This is not the introduction of a new deity, but the full revelation of the God who had already made covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Armed with this name, Moses is given the divine script for the confrontation with Pharaoh. The plan is laid out in full: Israel's elders will believe, Pharaoh will refuse, God will execute judgment through mighty wonders, and Israel will depart not as fleeing paupers but as a victorious army, laden with the wealth of Egypt as just compensation for their years of bondage. This is a declaration of divine sovereignty over history, tyrants, and economics.

The entire encounter is a legal and military briefing. God is the King and Commander, Moses is the ambassador, Israel is the captive nation to be liberated, and Pharaoh is the enemy tyrant whose doom is sealed before the first word is ever spoken to him. God reveals His character, His name, His plan, His foreknowledge, and His ultimate purpose, which is to bring glory to Himself through the redemption of His people and the just overthrow of His enemies.

Outline

Context In Exodus

This passage is the heart of the commissioning of Moses in chapter 3. It follows directly after God has identified Himself as the God of the patriarchs and called Moses to be His instrument of deliverance (3:1-12). Moses has already raised his first objection ("Who am I?"), which God answered with a promise of His presence ("I will be with you"). Now Moses raises a second, more theological objection: "Who are You?" The answer God gives here in verses 13-22 provides the theological authority and strategic blueprint for everything that follows. The name Yahweh, revealed and explained here, will be the name invoked throughout the plagues, the Passover, the crossing of the Red Sea, and the giving of the Law at Sinai. This moment is the formal presentation of credentials before the great war of liberation begins. It establishes that the conflict is not between Moses and Pharaoh, but between Yahweh and the false gods of Egypt.

Key Issues

The God Who Is

When Moses asks for God's name, he is not asking for a label. In the ancient world, a name was not a mere identifier like "Bob" or "Steve." A name expressed the essential character and nature of a person. To know someone's name was to have insight into their power and authority. So when Moses asks, "What is His name?" he is asking, "Who is this God, really? What is His nature? What is the ground of His authority to command me, and to challenge the might of Egypt?" The Israelites in bondage, surrounded by the pantheon of Egypt with their myriad names and functions, would need to know what kind of God was claiming their allegiance. God's answer is therefore not just a name, but a profound self-revelation that defines reality itself.

Verse by Verse Commentary

13 Then Moses said to God, “Behold, I am about to come to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ And they will say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?”

This is an entirely reasonable question. Moses anticipates the skepticism of the enslaved Israelites. For generations, they have been steeped in the polytheistic culture of Egypt, where every force of nature had a name and a function. Simply saying "the God of your fathers" might be too vague. They would want to know which God this is, and what makes Him powerful enough to take on the entire Egyptian empire, which was believed to be ruled by gods incarnate. Moses needs credentials. He needs to know the character and basis of the authority of the one sending him.

14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”

This is one of the most significant statements in all of Scripture. The Hebrew is Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh. God's answer to "Who are you?" is, in effect, to define Himself in terms of Himself alone. He is the one being who is not defined by anything else. He is self-existent, self-sufficient, and eternal. Everything else in the universe is contingent; it exists because something else caused it. God simply IS. His existence is not derived; it is absolute. When He tells Moses to say "I AM has sent me," He is grounding Moses' entire mission in the absolute reality of His own being. The power of Pharaoh is a derived, created, and temporary power. The power of God is original, uncreated, and eternal. This is the ultimate presupposition.

15 And God furthermore said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘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-name from generation to generation.

Here God connects the philosophical reality of "I AM" with His personal, covenant name. The name Yahweh (often rendered LORD in English Bibles) is the third-person form of the same Hebrew verb "to be." So, "I AM" (Ehyeh) is what God calls Himself, and "Yahweh" (He Is, or He Causes to Be) is the name by which His people are to call Him. This is not a new God. He explicitly states that Yahweh is the God of the patriarchs. They knew Him as God Almighty (El Shaddai), but now He is revealing the deep meaning of His covenant name in anticipation of His greatest act of redemption to date. This name, Yahweh, is to be His "memorial-name" forever. It is the name by which He is to be remembered, the name that encapsulates His saving character.

16-17 Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I indeed care about you and what has been done to you in Egypt. So I said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’

Armed with the Name, Moses is now given the message. The first audience is not Pharaoh, but the elders of Israel. The message is one of comfort and promise. The phrase "I indeed care about you" can be translated "I have surely visited you." After generations of apparent silence, God announces that He has seen, He has remembered His covenant, and He is now acting. He repeats the promise made to Abraham: deliverance from their current bondage and inheritance of the promised land, a land of abundance. The listing of the seven "ite" nations emphasizes the scale of the promised victory. God is not just giving them an empty piece of desert; He is giving them a developed land that will have to be taken by conquest.

18 And they will listen to your voice; and you with the elders of Israel will come to the king of Egypt, and you all will say to him, ‘Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. So now, please, let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to Yahweh our God.’

God gives Moses two crucial assurances. First, the elders of Israel will listen. The mission to his own people will be a success. Second, He provides the exact script for the first encounter with Pharaoh. The request is, on the surface, a reasonable one. It is a request for religious freedom. They are not demanding immediate and total emancipation. They are presenting a test case. By asking for a three-day religious leave, they are putting Pharaoh in a position where a refusal would be manifestly unreasonable and tyrannical. This is God establishing the legal basis for the war to come. Pharaoh's refusal will not be a refusal of a wild-eyed revolutionary, but a refusal of a perfectly modest religious petition, exposing the hardness of his heart.

19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not give you permission to go, except by a strong hand.

God is never taken by surprise. He tells Moses in advance that the plan will not work. Pharaoh will say no. This is crucial for Moses' own faith. When Pharaoh refuses, Moses is not to think the plan has failed. Rather, the plan is proceeding exactly as God ordained. God's sovereignty is such that it encompasses and uses the sinful rebellion of men to accomplish His own purposes. Pharaoh's refusal is not an obstacle to God's plan; it is an integral part of it. The deliverance will not come through negotiation, but by a strong hand, which is to say, by the overwhelming power of God in judgment.

20 So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wondrous deeds which I shall do in the midst of it; and after that he will let you go.

Here is the consequence of Pharaoh's foreknown refusal. God will "stretch out His hand." This is the language of holy war. The "wondrous deeds" are the ten plagues, which were systematic attacks on the gods of Egypt, demonstrating Yahweh's supremacy over every aspect of Egyptian life, religion, and power. The goal is not just to get Israel out. The goal is to do it in such a way that Egypt is crushed and Yahweh's name is glorified. After this overwhelming display of divine power, Pharaoh will let them go.

21-22 And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be that when you go, you will not go empty. But every woman shall ask of her neighbor and of the woman who lives in her house, for articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; and you will put them on your sons and daughters. Thus you will plunder the Egyptians.”

This is a staggering conclusion to the plan. Not only will Israel be liberated, they will be enriched. God will sovereignly grant them "favor" in the eyes of their former masters. The Israelite women are instructed to ask for valuables, not to steal them. The Egyptians, terrified by the power of Yahweh, will willingly hand over their wealth to speed Israel's departure. God calls this "plundering the Egyptians." This is divine justice. It is the payment of back wages for centuries of brutal, unpaid slave labor. It is also a picture of the triumph of God's kingdom. The wealth of the wicked is laid up for the just (Prov 13:22), and here we see that principle enacted on a national scale. They went into Egypt as a family; they will come out as a nation, and a well-funded one at that.

Application

This passage is a deep well of truth for the Christian. First, our God is the great I AM. He is the self-existent creator of all things, and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, boldly took this name for Himself, saying "before Abraham was, I am" (John 8:58). Our faith is not in a contingent, limited deity, but in the absolute and sovereign Lord of heaven and earth.

Second, our salvation is a new Exodus. We were slaves in the Egypt of sin, under the tyranny of a ruler, Satan, who would not let us go. But God, by His own "strong hand" and "outstretched arm," the mighty work of the cross, has crushed the power of the enemy and set us free. He did this not because we negotiated our way out, but because He intervened with wondrous deeds of power and grace.

Finally, we do not leave our old life empty-handed. The plundering of the Egyptians is a principle of the gospel's advance. When God saves a man, He does not just save his soul for a future heaven. He redeems the whole man, with his gifts, talents, and resources, and consecrates them to His service. As the gospel triumphs in the world, the wealth of the nations, the art, the science, the culture, will all be brought into the service of King Jesus. We are called out of the kingdom of darkness, not as impoverished refugees, but as the enriched children of the King, equipped by Him to build His kingdom in the world.