Posted ByNeal Walters on December 13, 1998 at 19:16:33:
In Reply to: language posted byDianne Myers on December 11, 1998 at 14:31:45:
Please make the messages more descriptive so future people can decide if they want to read or not. Thanks.
Do you have a Hebrew Bible?
Here is the transliterated version Exodus 3:14
V'yomer Eloyim el-Mosheh eh'yeh asher eh'yeh v'yomer ko tomar livneh Yisrael eh'yeh sh'lachni
alechem.
Eh'yeh is spelled "Aleph He Yud He".
The Stone Chumash translates this: "HaShem answered Moses, 'I shall be as I be'".
Eh'yeh comes from the root "haya" spelled "He Yud He" which means to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen.
The commentary in the Stone Chumash says "Ehyeh asher Ehyeh" is in itself a divine name, and that some scholars did not translate it. Rashi explains that the import of the word "ehyeh" is "I shall be with them in this sorrow as I shall be with them in other sorrows".
Notice that "v'yomer" (he spoke) appears twice in this verse. Rashi says Moses talked to HaShem in between and said that Israel doesn't need to know about future sufferings, so HaShem just shortened it to one "eh'yeh".
This answer doesn't really satisfy me, but that's the only commentaries I have. Yet it points out how important every word of scripture is. Why did HaShem "Speak" to Moses twice in the same verse?
In "At Home With Hebrew", I discuss the tetragramaton (HaShem's name of YHVH (Yud He Vav He)). Look the following forms of the "to be" verb:
HYH - haya - was
HVH - hoveh - is (exists)
YHYH - yihyeh - will be
Notice how they all share at least two letters of the YHVH name.
I'm sure that a person could spend years exploring the depths of just this one verse.
Neal