Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 3:15
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 forever, and this [is] my memorial unto all generations.
15. Yahweh, the Israelites are to be told, is the name of the God of their fathers, who has sent Moses to them.
this is my name, &c.] The sentence, with its two parallel clauses, has a poetical tinge: the Heb. for ‘to all generations,’ also, occurs elsewhere only Pro 27:24 Kt. Cf. Psa 135:13.
memorial ] The Heb. zker means usually ‘remembrance’ (e.g. Exo 17:14): here it is a poet. synonym of ‘name’; so Hos 12:5; Psa 30:4 = Psa 97:12 (see RVm.); Isa 26:8.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The Lord God … – Better, Jehovah yehovah, God of your fathers, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob. It corresponds exactly to the preceding verse, the words I am and Jehovah (Yahweh) being equivalent. This name met all the requirements of Moses, involving a two-fold pledge of accomplishment; the pledges of ancient benefits and of a new manifestation.
Name … memorial – The name signifies that by which God makes Himself known, the memorial that by which His people worship Him.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Exo 3:15
The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac.
The God of the generations
Men are always influenced more or less by the power of great names. This appears in every sphere of life, social, scientific, political, literary, religious. The name of a wise, heroic, or philanthropic, or notably godly man, is a perpetual fountain of inspiration–a well-spring of living water from which we gather stimulus, courage, power to be and to do. The sound of it stirs the pulses of our better life. But no names in any country, or among any people, have wielded a mightier power than these three mentioned in the text exerted over the minds and history of the Jews. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob stood forth in every succeeding age in increasing lustre, unshadowed even by the memories of other noble names, such as Moses, Daniel, Solomon, Elijah, Isaiah. Appeal to them was always effective when all other means of rousing the national heart failed.
I. It announces Gods relation to individual life. I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Here there is a sublime fact upon which our minds can lay hold. The statement is not vague or unsubstantial, but tells us that the great God has to do with men, and holds a distinct personal relation towards each of them. Perhaps we have been too apt to attempt to satisfy ourselves with impalpable generalities, and to talk of God as the God of Creation, from whose fulness of life and omnipotence of energy the universe has derived its existence. In like manner we employ what may be termed His official titles to represent Him to our thought. He is the King of kings, the Ruler, the Governor of the nations. But the hearts of men crave a more intimate knowledge of God than these ideas can possibly convey. We cannot satisfy ourselves with abstractions. Official titles never command our affection. What we want is not a revelation that only declares Gods universal dealings with humanity, but His personal interest in individual men. And we see that thus early in the history of the race this revelation is clearly made. Nay, from the first and earliest declaration of Gods relation to the world, this is unhesitatingly announced. All the beautiful stories of Divine intercourse with men contained in the Book of Genesis are recorded to teach us that God has not been satisfied with a merely general and official relationship to men, but that He has ever had regard to the personal wants, the personal struggles, the personal sins, the personal joys and sorrows, the personal lives and deaths of each man, woman, and child born into this world. I am the Lord thy God; and our response is, This God is our God. He will be our guide even unto death. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. More clearly still is this revelation made in the New Testament–that carries the truth further, and by Jesus Christ we are shown that God has the most intimate relation with human souls. Indeed, the very use of the word Father implies this personal relationship. It is impossible for a true father to regard and treat the members of his family in a general indiscriminate manner–looking upon them in the mass, and not as individuals–that were to destroy the very meaning and beauty of family life. But the father knows that he has a distinct love for each member. Thus our Lord teaches us the particular and special and personal nature of the relationship of God to us. We are not lost in the mass, as one in a crowd for whom no one cares, and whom no one would miss. I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Connected with this is another thought worthy of notice. It is that God here expresses His relation to persons of distinct and differing characters. Perhaps no three men were more unlike than this father, son, and grandson. Look at Abraham, the bold, brave, generous, trusting chief, a dweller in tents, at home in the desert. Compare him with the quiet, meditative, ease-loving, simple-minded Isaac, somewhat fond of savoury living, who succeeded him. There is as much unlikeness as could possibly exist between father and son. Take, again, Jacob, the cunning, adroit, ingenious, selfish, money-loving, physically timid–a man who probably had more brains than either of his predecessors, but who was made to be a politician, a statesman, to whose active, contriving spirit, sitting at home, or roving in the desert, would be alike uncongenial. There we have three men totally distinct in character, yet the declaration is made–I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Surely there is meaning in this, and it is that God cares equally for, and is as truly related to, one kind of disposition and character as another. Ah! there is exquisite beauty and comfort in the tenderly-expressed words of John concerning Christ–Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. Three varieties of character, but all beloved. If all this be true, what need of our nature is left unsatisfied? If this be true, who is there will not feel that his life, so specially the subject of Gods thought, is therefore a grander, nobler, and, withal, a more responsible thing? Who will depreciate his.own proud worth? Who will bemoan his lot, thinking with envy of others better circumstanced?
II. It announces Gods relation to successive generations. These three men represented an unbroken succession of three generations, running into one another, yet in a measure distinct. May we not learn from these facts that God is not a God of seasons and partialities, but that He belongs to all the successive generations as they move across the world to the silence of the grave? There is no break in His thoughtful care or in the manifestations of His love. He does not appear at one age and disappear at another, at one time show Himself peculiarly concerned with human welfare, at another time altogether indifferent about the joys and sorrows, the sins and the cravings of men. In such a Being as that we could neither trust nor believe. There is no intermission. Gods intercourse with men is never broken off. This intercourse may assume different forms. What is suited to one age may be altogether unsuited to the next. At one time His revelations may be such as the senses can testify to; He may instruct men in His mind and will through the medium of miracles, flashing symbols of omnipotence before their eyes; at other times He may reveal Himself in a person, in a human life, as we believe He did in Christ Jesus our Lord. At others, all visions may disappear; no miracle shall startle the world into wondering awe. God is not tied to methods. He may and does employ all at one time or another in order to convince men of His nearness to them and interest in their life. The God of the Hebrews is not our God. That is the sum of much of the unbelief of the day. The cry is for palpable evidence. Palpable evidence! Why, we have abundance of it on all sides. Miracles! There is no need of them. Why, the very researches of our scientific men are doing away with the necessity for miracles, for they are demonstrating by their discoveries that the world is full of order, of beauty, of marvellous contrivances that must be the work of mind. Here are the proofs of Divine existence, Divine working, Divine wisdom and bounty and power. To believe He is not as much the God of this generation as of any in all the long past, is to cut to the very root of all true faith and trust in Him, is to regard Him as partial, as doing more for one people than for another equally in need of His revelation of power and love; it is to throw us back for our faith in God upon dead history, which can never create or nourish into a living hope the trust of human souls. We may say that the age of supernatural displays of mere power is passed, but we are called upon to rise from the merely materialistic and tangible, and to realise God in the hallowed and invisible communion of the Spirit. The God of the father is to be the God of the son and the grandson by legitimate, unhindered succession, and those who come after can speak of the God of our fathers. That there is no reason against it in the will and purposes of the Divine Being Himself we have seen. He is willing to bless and enrich each and all, without choice or favouritism. But in how few cases in the family life is He recognized from one generation to another. Here I bring the matter direct home to your hearts. I know I must be speaking to some who are thinking of pious parents. You have a godly father or mother, or perhaps both. What of yourself? Are you continuing the succession? The name you bear has been associated with godliness in one or two generations past. Is it to be separated in your time? What will your children say of you? Will they be able to pray to the God of their parents? (W. Braden.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 15. This is my name for ever] The name here referred to is that which immediately precedes, Yehovah Elohim, which we translate the LORD GOD, the name by which God had been known from the creation of the world, (see Ge 2:4.) and the name by which he is known among the same people to the present day. Even the heathens knew this name of the true God; and hence out of our Yehovah they formed their Jao, Jeve, and Jove; so that the word has been literally fulfilled, This is my memorial unto all generations. See Clarke on Ge 1:1. As to be self-existent and eternal must be attributes of God for ever, does it not follow that the leolam, for ever, in the text signifies eternity? “This is my name to eternity-and my memorial,” ledor dor, “to all succeeding generations.” While human generations continue he shall be called the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; but when time shall be no more, he shall be Jehovah Elohim. Hence the first expression refers to his eternal existence, the latter to the discovery he should make of himself as long as time should last. See Ge 21:33. Diodorus Siculus says, that “among the Jews, Moses is reported to have received his laws from the God named Jao,” , i.e., Jeue, Jove, or Jeve; for in all these ways the word Yehovah may be pronounced; and in this way I have seen it on Egyptian monuments. See Diod., lib. l., c. xciv.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The Lord, Heb. Jehovah; a word of the same root and signification with I am. See Exo 6:3. This he adds, because God was best known to the Israelites by that name; and to show, that though he had given himself a new name, yet he was the same God. This is my memorial, by which I will be remembered, owned, and served by my people, and distinguished from all others. See Psa 102:12; 135:13.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And God said moreover unto Moses,…. As a further explanation of the above name, and of the design and use of it:
thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel: for their further instruction in the said name, and for the confirmation of the mission of Moses, and the success of it:
the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you; he who is Jehovah, and the covenant God of the ancestors of the people of Israel, and of them, so he is called, Ec 3:6
this [is] my name for ever: meaning either “Ehjeh, I am”, in the preceding verse, or, which is the same, Jehovah in this, and so both of them, and including also the name of the God of Abraham, c. which he was always to be known by:
and this is my memorial unto all generations the name by which he should be made mention of both by himself and others, and by which he would be called to remembrance by his people, and what he had promised unto them, and done for them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Verses 15-18:
“The Lord God” is literally “Jehovah Eloche.” This Name is the same as “I AM” in verse 14. God here identifies this as the Name by which He is to be known forever, the “Existent One,” the One “Who Is, and Was, and Is to Be,” Re 1:4, 8; 4:8; 11:17; 16:5. He is the God of the Patriarchs, the Covenant God upon whose Name the validity of the Covenant depends.
God instructed Moses to go first to Israel’s “elders,” those men who by reason of age and experience and wisdom were leaders. They were to accompany him before Pharaoh when Moses made known the command of God to let His people go that they might worship Him.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
15. And God said moreover. God again assumes his name taken from the covenant which he had made with Abraham and his posterity, that the Israelites may know that they do not deceive themselves in an uncertain God, provided they depart not from the religion of their fathers; for as soldiers assemble round their standard to maintain the order of their ranks, so does he command them to look back upon the special grace of their adoption, and to know that they are a people elected of God, because they are Abraham’s sons. He confines them within these limits, that they may not wander about in search of God. For we know that whatever opinions were held by the Gentiles as to the Deity, were not only entangled with many errors, but were also ambiguous, so that they were always wavering with respect to them. God demands another kind of religion from his people, on the certainty of which their hearts may depend. Besides, their long sojourn in the land of Egypt, although it had not destroyed the knowledge of the true God, had yet much obscured that light of revelation which their fathers possessed. And again, the promise might seem to be obsolete, when they had received no assistance, whilst overwhelmed in such an abyss of misery; and on this ground the faith received from their fathers had undoubtedly grown cold. Wherefore, that they may learn to repose upon it, he calls himself the God of their fathers, and declares, that by this title he will be celebrated for ever; for I cannot consent to refer this to the previous expression, “I am that I am,” since the context does not admit of it. Hence might be inferred the incomparable love of God towards his chosen people, because he had passed over all the nations of the earth, and had attached himself to them alone. But we must remember, that although it was honorable to Abraham and the patriarchs for God to take his name from them, yet that the main object of this was to confirm the truth of his promise. There may be an apparent incongruity in saying, “this is my memorial unto all generations,” because a much more excellent memorial succeeded in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ; but my reply is, that since, in the coming of Christ, the truth of the covenant made with Abraham was shewn forth, and was thus demonstrated to be firm and infallible, its memory was rather renewed than destroyed; and that thus it still survives and flourishes in the Gospel, since Abraham even now ceases not to be the father of the faithful, under the one Head. We conclude that God would not be spoken of on earth, without the effects of his gratuitous adoption appearing, by which he may be proved to be faithful and true.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(15) The Lord God of your fathers.Heb., Jehovah, God of your fathers. The I AM of the preceding verse (ehyeh) is modified here into Jahveh, or Jehovah, by a substitution of the third person for the first. The meaning of the name remains the same.
This is my name for ever.Jehovah is the pre. dominant name of God throughout the rest of the Old Testament. (On the meaning of the name see Note on Gen. 2:4.) Rendered by the LXX. , [Lord] the name appears under that form everywhere throughout the Authorised Version printed in capitals. It does not occur in the New Testament, since Lord takes its place. An equivalent of the name occurs, however, frequently in the Revelation of St. John, where God appears as He which is, and which was, and which is to come (Rev. 1:4; Rev. 1:8; Rev. 4:8; Rev. 11:17; Rev. 16:5). Necessary, self-sustained, independent, eternal existence, must always be of his essence.
My memoriali.e., the designation by which I shall be remembered.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 3:15. This is my name, &c. JEHOVAH, in consequence of this, was always held among the Jews, as the peculiar and distinguishing name of their God. And as God was peculiarly the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and of the Jewish nation; as he separated them solely to himself, for the great end of bringing the future SAVIOUR into the world; as the whole Mosaic history, nay, and all the books of the Old Testament, lead only to this great point, and prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah: there is all the reason in the world to believe, that this incommunicable name of JEHOVAH refers absolutely to that deliverance and salvation which the SON of GOD could and did perfect; and not to the general nature and essence of GOD. And it is very observable in the next verse, Exo 3:16 that, after God has given Moses so striking a designation of himself, he immediately sends him to Israel, to remind them, peculiarly, of the covenant which he had entered into with their fathers: which covenant, not God’s immediate essence, was their hope and surety, and which, as we have often observed, was twofold; consisting in the promise of the land of Canaan, and of the Messiah, the seed of Abraham.
REFLECTIONS.Moses starts at God’s proposal.
1. He pleads his insufficiency for the task, perhaps out of humility. Highly qualified as a man may be to minister before the Lord, lowly thoughts become him. Who is sufficient for these things? Perhaps out of fear. The essay was dangerous, and he must put his life in his hand. Fear of man is a great hinderance to the work of God.
2. God silences his objection, and promises him success. If God be with us, our weakness shall become strength, our folly wisdom, and every mountain of difficulty be level as a plain; nor can we fail of succeeding under such a Leader.
3. Moses begs farther instructions for his proceedings. He expected that they would call upon him to prove his mission, and who sent him. Note; We must not run without our message. They who are to speak for God, need earnestly inquire at his word, that they may be able to give an answer to every one that asketh a reason of the hope which is in them.
4. The satisfaction he receives. God is the great I am, self-existent, faithful to his promises, and all-sufficient to accomplish them. He is their fathers’ God; and they should remember the covenant, in which for their fathers’ sake they were interested: Considerations admirably suited to engage their dependence on him, and to make them ready to welcome their Great Deliverer. Note; The remembrance of what God is to his covenant-people, is the great motive to hear him, trust him, love him, and follow him.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
The last verse was glorious. And the moreover with the contents of this is not less so. There we read what God is in himself. Here we read what he is to his people. Reader! do you pray for grace as I do desire to pray for it also, that we may never lose sight of our gracious covenant God in Christ Jesus, in this sweet memorial forever. Mal 3:6 ; Hos 12:5 ; Psa 135:13 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 3:15 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.
Ver. 15. Unto all generations. ] The Jews, to countenance their conceit of the ineffability of the name of Jehovah, did corrupt this text: and for This is my name, Legnolam, for ever, they read, This is my name, Legnalam, to be concealed. a
a Galatinus.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The LORD. Hebrew. Jehovah.= He will be, spoken of by others. See App-4and compare Rev 1:4, “which is ” = continuance in time present; “which was” = continuance in time past; “which is to come” = continuance for ever. The French, “The Eternal”, is a much better rendering than Lord, which = Master and Owner. What He will be is left to be filled up according to the needs of those with whom He is in covenant-He Who becometh Saviour, Redeemer, Deliverer, Strengthener, Comforter, &c.
for ever. He changeth not. Mal 3:6. He is therefore Israel’s God to-day, as then.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
The Lord: Exo 3:6, Exo 4:5, Gen 17:7, Gen 17:8, Deu 1:11, Deu 1:35, Deu 4:1, 2Ch 28:9, Mat 22:32, Act 7:32
this is my name for ever: The name here referred to is that which immediately precedes, , [Strong’s H3068], Yehowah, which we translate “Lord”, the name by which God had been known from the creation of the world (Gen 2:2), and by which he is known to the present day. , Yehowah, from , hawah, to be, subsist, signifies “He who is”, or “subsists”, i.e., eminently and in a manner superior to all other beings; and is essentially the same with , eheyeh, “I AM”, in the preceding verse. Psa 72:17, Psa 72:19, Psa 135:13, Psa 145:1, Psa 145:2, Isa 9:6, Isa 63:12
my memorial: Psa 102:12, Hos 12:5, Mic 4:5, Mal 3:6, Heb 13:8
Reciprocal: Gen 24:12 – O Lord Gen 28:13 – I am Exo 15:2 – my father’s God Exo 15:3 – name Exo 34:31 – called Deu 5:9 – the Lord Deu 28:58 – fear this glorious 2Sa 23:3 – God 1Ki 8:23 – Lord God 1Ki 18:36 – Lord God 1Ch 16:16 – which he made 1Ch 29:18 – Lord God 2Ch 6:14 – O Lord God 2Ch 20:6 – O Lord Psa 47:9 – the God Psa 59:5 – the God Psa 67:6 – our own Pro 17:6 – and the Jer 33:2 – the Lord Dan 2:23 – O thou Amo 9:6 – The Lord Act 24:14 – the God Heb 11:16 – to be
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Exo 3:15. God will be known, 2d, By a name that speaks what he is to his people. Lest they should not understand the name I AM, Moses is directed to make use of another name of God more familiar to them. The Lord God of your fathers hath sent me unto you Thus God made himself known, that he might revive among them the religion of their fathers, which was much decayed, and almost lost. And, that he might raise their expectations of the speedy performance of the promises made unto their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are particularly named, because with Abraham the covenant was first made, and with Isaac and Jacob often expressly renewed, and these three were distinguished from their brethren, and chosen to be the trustees of the covenant. This God will have to be his name for ever, and it has been, is, and will be his name, by which his worshippers know him, and distinguish him from all false gods.