Year: 2021
Type: article
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.
Source: Vetus Testamentum
Author: Ellen J. van Wolde
Institution: Radboud University Nijmegen
Language: English
Subfield: Religious studies
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W3162975536