Moses & YHVH Together
YHWH or YHVH is not just a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew Tetragrammaton (“four letters”), it is the sacred, personal name and energy essence of the God in the Hebrew Bible: יהוה. Because ancient Hebrew, like Arabic, was written without vowels, the exact original pronunciation was preserved differently over time. The Hebrew language is one of complexity and intricate beauty. Each of its letters has its own numerical value.
The name is very linked to the Hebrew verb meaning “to be,” “to become,” or “to cause to become”, famously referenced in Exodus when God speaks to Moses at the burning bush. Scholars commonly translate “Yahweh” (meaning “He brings into existence all that exists” or “The Self-Existent One”).
Prof. Rabbi Jonathan Magonet states: Moses, at the burning bush, requests that God reveal to him the divine name, but God is reluctant. God first responds אֶהְיֶה אֲשֶׁר אֶהְיֶה “ehyeh asher ehyeh” (Exodus 3:14), best translated as “I will be what I need to be”, which is not a name at all, or at least, not the one Moses needs to establish his credentials with the Israelites. Moses does not respond to this answer, so God speaks again (“and he said”). When this second response is met by Moses’ further silence, God speak a third time “and he said further”), when God complies and reveals the name is YHVH.
This pattern of initial divine reluctance to fulfill Moses’ request, followed by a subsequent acceptance, is repeated in the aftermath of the Golden Calf episode, when Moses conducts a delicate negotiation in an attempt to restore God’s relationship with the people. Moses asks to understand God’s “ways,” presumably to learn how to ensure that God will continue to remain with the people: Exodus 33:13 “And now, if indeed I have found favor in Your eyes, please teach me Your ways, that I may know You, so that I may continue to find favor in Your eyes, and look, this nation is Your people!”
Moses repeats the phrase “I have found favor in Your eyes,” emphasizing the unique relationship he has experienced with YHWH, who, instead of complying with Moses’ request, responds by addressing Moses in the singular, that YHWH will be with him, personally: Exodus 33:14 And He said, “My face will go with you and I will give you rest.”
As Moses’s special relationship with God, Moses insists that he cannot really know that YHWH is with him if YHWH is not at the same time, among the people he leads: Exodus 33:15 But (Moses) said to Him: “If Your presence does not go with us, do not take us up from this place.” 33:16 “How will it be known that I have found favor in Your eyes, I and Your people, surely it is by Your going with us that I, and Your people, are distinguished from all the people on the face of the earth.”
Moses here emphasizes that the favor must extend to the people, and YHWH agrees to Moses’ request, even making use of Moses’ favored expression, and referring back to how YHWH taught Moses the divine name (at the burning bush): Exodus 33:17 And YHWH said to Moses: “Also this word that you have just said I will do, because you have found favor in My eyes and I have known you by name.”
Emboldened by a positive response, Moses further asks to be shown YHWH’s kavod— “Glory” or “Presence”—implying that YHWH will continue to govern in person His difficult people:Exodus 33:18 “Then (Moses) said: “Show me your Glory (kavod).” Moses’ request that God “show me” the divine kavod suggests that Moses wants a dramatic and powerful as at Sinai, in order to convince the people of God’s continuing presence amongst them.YHYH’s response.
However, God is first to switch kavod (glory) for tov “goodness” and offers to pronounce the divine name: Exodus 33:19 And He (God) said: “I will pass all my goodness before your face and call out in the name of YHVH before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and compassionate to whom I will be compassionate.”
“I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious”—only afterwards reveals the divine attributes (Exodus 34:6–7), compassion and grace, faithfulness for a thousand community generations, but personal punishment for sin to the fourth. The list is not a catalogue of divine qualities but an explanation of how YHWH is willing to limit the divine power to engage directly and intimately with the (Jewish) people out of love. Also “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious”—only afterwards reveals the divine attributes (Exodus 34:6–7), compassion and grace,faithfulness for a thousand generations, but punishment for sin is only to the fourth. An explanation of how YHWH is willing to limit the divine power to engage directly and intimately with monotheistic people out of love.
Prof. John H. Walton points out that after Eden, YHVH no longer dwells among humans. The flood reverses creation, but YHVH still does not restore His presence. The builders of the Tower of Babel—a ziggurat with “its top in the heavens”—seek to bring YHVH down its stairway to inhabit the temple, but YHVH rejects their attempt to establish His presence on their own terms. Instead, YHYH chooses to come down to Prophet Jacob via the stairway of Bethel, and later to all of Israel (including the non-Jews who joined the Hebrews at Mount Sinai) establishing His presence through His covenant with Israel and bringing order through the Torah.
