The Name of the Lord and the Promise of Deliverance
God sends his servant in the authority of his own name, assuring him that covenant remembrance, divine sovereignty, and mighty judgment will accomplish Israel's liberation despite Pharaoh's hardness.
Exodus 3:13-22 (BSB)
13 Then Moses asked God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ What should I tell them?”
14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
15 God also told Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, 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 how I am to be remembered in every generation.
16 Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—has appeared to me and said: I have surely attended to you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt.
17 And I have promised to bring you up out of your affliction in Egypt, into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’
18 The elders of Israel will listen to what you say, and you must go with them to the king of Egypt and tell him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’
19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go unless a mighty hand compels him.
20 So I will stretch out My hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders I will perform among them. And after that, he will release you.
21 And I will grant this people such favor in the sight of the Egyptians that when you leave, you will not go away empty-handed.
22 Every woman shall ask her neighbor and any woman staying in her house for silver and gold jewelry and clothing, and you will put them on your sons and daughters. So you will plunder the Egyptians.”
What is the big idea of Exodus 3:13-22?
God sends his servant in the authority of his own name, assuring him that covenant remembrance, divine sovereignty, and mighty judgment will accomplish Israel's liberation despite Pharaoh's hardness.
How does Exodus 3:13-22 point to Christ?
Exodus 3:13-22 prepares the reader to see salvation as God's own initiative, grounded in who he is and accomplished by his power rather than human adequacy. Israel's deliverance from Egypt anticipates the greater redemption accomplished by Christ, in whom God reveals his saving name and acts decisively to free his people from bondage to sin and death. The believer's hope rests not in persuasive technique, human readiness, or favorable rulers, but in the God who keeps covenant, overcomes resistance, and brings his people out with a mighty hand.
How does Exodus 3:13-22 relate to the life and ministry of Jesus?
This is not a life-of-Jesus narrative and should not be read as though Moses' immediate horizon disappears. Within the whole canon, however, the LORD's self-revelation, covenant faithfulness, and saving action form the biblical backdrop for later revelation of God's identity and redemption in Christ. Any connection to Jesus' divine identity should be made as canonical culmination, not as a replacement of the Exodus context.
Authorial Intent
To reveal that Israel's deliverance rests on the self-existent, covenant-faithful LORD who sends Moses with his name, his promise, his foreknowledge of opposition, and his assurance of mighty intervention.
Questions for Reflection
- Where do I seek assurance more from outcomes than from the revealed character of God?
- How does the LORD's covenant name challenge my fear of human resistance?
- What does this passage teach me about obeying God when obedience does not immediately remove hardship?
- How should God's foreknowledge of Pharaoh's resistance shape my understanding of opposition in ministry?
- In what ways does God's promise that Israel will not leave empty-handed reveal his justice over exploitative power?
- How does this passage prepare me to understand redemption as God's work before it is Israel's experience?
Literary Context
Exodus 2:23-25 showed that God heard Israel's groaning, remembered His covenant, saw the Israelites, and knew. Exodus 3:1-12 then brought Moses to Horeb, where the LORD appeared in the burning bush and commissioned him to go to Pharaoh. Exodus 3:13-22 answers Moses' concern about credibility: What name should he give Israel? The passage supplies the theological center of the call narrative, joining divine self-revelation, covenant memory, Israel's leadership, Pharaoh's resistance, the coming wonders, and the promised plundering of Egypt.
Historical Context
Moses anticipates returning to enslaved Israelites and hostile Egyptian power with a message that requires divine authorization. In the ancient world, a commissioned envoy needed the authority of the sender. Here the LORD supplies Moses with more than a title; he gives the covenant identity by which Israel will know that the God of the fathers has truly visited them.
Chapter: Exodus 3
The LORD Calls Moses from the Burning Bush
The holy, covenant-keeping LORD reveals Himself to Moses, promises His presence, and declares that He will redeem His suffering people by His mighty hand.