Abstract
Abstract Exodus 3:14–15 provide an answer to Moses’ question in v. 13, but with surprising unanimity scholars have concluded that v. 14 is the heart of the section due to the supposed significance of the name Yhwh for the determining Yhwh’s original character. This focus on v. 14 has led most scholars to overlook the fact that v. 15a is a second answer to the question, and that v. 15b presents two complementary, but distinct dimensions of the deity. In v. 15b, the demonstratives וזה … זה, the nouns שמי and זכרי, and the temporal adverbial compounds לעלם and לדר דר, each point toward two distinct referents: Yhwh and Elohim. The first clause highlights the timeless nature of Yhwh’s name, while the second clause underscores the need to memorialize Elohim as the God of the ancestors and future Israelite generations.
Highlights
Exodus 3:14–15 provide an answer to Moses’ question in v. 13, but with surprising unanimity scholars have concluded that v. 14 is the heart of the section due to the supposed significance of the name YHWH for the determining YHWH’s original character
Because the same word combination occurs in Exod 3:15, this verse should be understood in similar vein: (God says to Moses:) “This is my name..., and that is my remembrance.”
While modern scholars have often assumed that שםand זכרboth refer to the same aspect of God, I agree with Rashbam in seeing a difference between God’s name ( )שםand his remembrance ()זכר
Summary
Exodus 3:14–15 provide an answer to Moses’ question in v. 13, but with surprising unanimity scholars have concluded that v. 14 is the heart of the section due to the supposed significance of the name YHWH for the determining YHWH’s original character. With Elohim, it often refers indirectly to YHWH.[20] The noun שםis used in combination with “other gods” five times, twice in contrast to “the name of YHWH.”[21] In addition, שםoften appears alongside the root זכרin descriptions of the deity.[22] In many these texts, the two terms are part of the formula: “ הזכר את־שׁםcause to remember my/your/his name.”[23] Only a few poetic texts use both terms שםand זכרin relation to the deity, namely Isa 26:8; Hos 12:6, and Ps 135:13, but Exod 3:15 is the only narrative text that pairs זכרwith שם.
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