I Will Be What I Will Be: The Mystery of God’s Name in Parashat Shemot

The exchange between Moses and God offers insights into the nature of divine identity and human understanding of the sacred.

Moses dares to ask for God’s name and the answer forever changes how we think about the sacred

When Moses asks, "What is [God’s] name? What shall I say to them?" God answers with the enigmatic phrase: "Eh-yeh-Asher-Eh-yeh" (Exodus 3:13-14), commonly translated as "I will be what I will be." This response can be interpreted in two ways. The first is as a form of gentle rebuke: "Why do you ask my name? I am who I am, beyond human comprehension." The second interpretation delves deeper, suggesting that Eh-yeh signifies an ongoing process of becoming, a dynamic presence rather than a fixed entity.

The German theologian Meister Eckhart argued that God has no name because naming limits the infinite. His view is echoed by Erich Fromm, who emphasized that God’s essence is not a finite being but a living process. Fromm posited that the biblical revolution was not merely the replacement of many gods with one, but a fundamental rejection of idolatry — a call to encounter a nameless, infinite presence. 

He wrote: "...only a thing, that is, that which has reached its final form, can have a name. A free translation of God’s answer to Moses would be: ‘My name is Nameless; tell them that ‘Nameless has sent you.’” (Erich Fromm, You Shall Be as Gods).

In the Bible, the infinite is not simply one among many gods, but a rejection of idolatry itself

According to Fromm, the command to recognize a nameless God represents a break from idolatrous practices that seek to contain and define the divine. The next stage in this theological evolution is found in the writings of Maimonides, who asserted that nothing can be said about God. This idea is encapsulated in the verse "Lecha Dumia Tehila" (Psalms 65:2), meaning "For You, silence is praise." The implication is that God’s essence transcends language and description.

In this narrative, Moses finds himself bewildered by God’s response. He hesitates, uncertain how to convey this abstract concept to the Israelites. Sensing Moses’s confusion, God offers a more familiar formulation: "Thus shall you speak to the Israelites: י-ה-ו-ה, the God of your fathers — the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob — has sent me to you: This shall be My name forever, this My appellation for all eternity" (Exodus 3:15). Here, God introduces the Tetragrammaton (י-ה-ו-ה), a name intrinsically linked to being and existence but still eschewing conventional naming conventions.

Anyone who repudiates idolatry is called Yehudi—Talmud, Megillah 13a

The notion that God cannot be named reflects a broader philosophical stance against the objectification of the divine. Every person, object, and entity in the world bears a name. However, God, who represents the ultimate transcendence, remains nameless. Fromm contended that the essence of faith in the biblical God is the negation of idolatry. The Talmud states: "Anyone who repudiates idolatry is called Yehudi" (Megillah 13a). This raises the question: What are the modern idols we encounter, and how do we relate to the One who made it clear to Moses that He has no name?

Interestingly, in contemporary usage, God is often referred to as "HaShem," literally meaning "the Name." This paradox underscores humanity’s struggle to balance reverence for the ineffable with the need to express and relate to the divine in everyday language. The tension between naming and the nameless remains central to Jewish thought and practice.

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Lior Tal Sadeh, is an educator, writer, and author of What Is Above, What Is Below (Carmel, 2022). He is the host of the daily Source of Inspiration podcast, produced by Beit Avi Chai.

For more insights into Parashat Shemot, listen to Beit Avi Chai’s Source of Inspiration podcast (in Hebrew) 

* Translation of Hebrew text sourced from Sefaria.org
Main Photo: Burning bush\ Wikipedia