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Yosef Gikatilla
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- When HaShem commanded him to go down to Egypt and liberate the Jewish people from bondage, he asked HaShem, "When I come to the children of Israel and I say to them, 'The God of your forefathers sent me to you,' they will ask me, 'What is His name,' What [לי מה־שמו מה] should I say to them?" … Now examine the final letters and discover the singular name HaShem-יהו״ה as follows:
… It therefore is evident from the simple meaning of the verse itself, as well as from its letters and its numerical value, that Moshe, peace be upon him, was asking the Holy One, blessed is He, about the secret of His singular and preexistent name, Hashem-יהו״ה.
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Jewish Encyclopedia
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- After the destruction of the Second Temple there remained no trace of knowledge as to the pronunciation of the Name (see Jehovah). The commentators, however, agree as to its interpretation, that it denotes the eternal and everlasting existence of God, and that it is a composition of היה הוה יהיה (meaning "a Being of the Past, the Present, and the Future"). The name Ehyeh (אהיה) denotes His potency in the immediate future, and is part of Yhwh. The phrase "ehyeh-asher-ehyeh" (Ex. iii. 14) is interpreted by some authorities as "I will be because I will be," using the second part as a gloss and referring to God's promise, "Certainly I will be [ehyeh] with thee" (Ex. iii. 12).
- J. F. McLaughlin, Judah David Eisenstein et al.: "Names of God". Jewish Encyclopedia.
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Eliphas Lévi
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- Moses has the Being of beings say, "I am he who is." … "I am, therefore something exists," seems to us a more primal and simple basis for experimental philosophy. Ego sum qui sum: that is God's first revelation in man and of man in the world, and it is also the first axiom of occult philosophy. אהיה אשר אהיה. Being is being. Thus the principle behind this philosophy is what is, and there is nothing hypothetical or uncertain about it.
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William Walker Atkinson
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- "The Law Is." In this Aphorism the word "is" denotes "present, actual existence." It is as strong a term denoting actual existence as the English language supplies. … The word "Is" has the significance of the word "Am" in the following quotation from Exodus, iii. 14, in the Hebrew Sacred Books: "And God said unto Moses, 'I am That I am'; and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel: I am hath sent me unto you." This then is the sense in which the Arcane Aphorism employs the term "is"—in the sense of Absolute Existence.
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Neville Goddard
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- I AM is the self-definition of the absolute, the foundation on which everything rests. I AM is the first cause-substance. I AM is the self-definition of God.
I AM hath sent me unto you.
I AM THAT I AM.
Be still and know that I AM God. I AM is a feeling of permanent awareness. The very center of consciousness is the feeling of I AM. I may forget who I am, where I am, what I am, but I cannot forget that I AM. The awareness of being remains, regardless of the degree of forgetfulness of who, where, and what I am.
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Eckhart Tolle
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The Power of Now
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- And what is God's self-definition in the Bible? Did God say, "I have always been, and I always will be?" Of course not. That would have given reality to past and future. God said: "I am that I am." No time here, just presence.
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- Many misunderstandings and false beliefs about Christ will clear if you realize that there is no past or future in Christ. To say that Christ was or will be is a contradiction in terms. Jesus was. He was a man who lived two thousand years ago and realized divine presence, his true nature. And so he said: "Before Abraham was, I am." He did not say: "I already existed before Abraham was born." That would have meant that he was still within the dimension of time and form identity. The words I am used in a sentence that starts in the past tense indicate a radical shift, a discontinuity in the temporal dimension. … And what is God's self-definition in the Bible? Did God say, "I have always been, and I always will be?" Of course not. That would have given reality to past and future. God said: "I am that I am." No time here, just presence.
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Miscellaneous
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Eckhart's Teachings
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- I am is the word. All you can say is I am, but you don't need to add anything, not this or that. I am. In the Old Testament, God is asked, "Who are you?" And that's perhaps the most profound sentence in the Old Testament, "I am that I am", where God defines Him-, Her- or Itself as the I am, as the essence identity of all forms. … Another beautiful statement that points to all this is: "Be still and know that I am God."
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Karen Armstrong
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- When Moses asks his name and credentials, Yahweh replies with a pun which, as we shall see, would exercise monotheists for centuries. Instead of revealing his name directly, he answers: "I Am Who I Am (Ehyeh asher ehyeh)." … When the Bible uses a phrase like: "they went where they went", it means: "I haven't the faintest idea where they went". So when Moses asks who he is, God replies in effect: "Never you mind who I am!" or "Mind your own business!"
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- When Moses asks his name and credentials, Yahweh replies with a pun which, as we shall see, would exercise monotheists for centuries. Instead of revealing his name directly, he answers: "I Am Who I Am (Ehyeh asher ehyeh)." What did he mean? He certainly did not mean, as later philosophers would assert, that he was self-subsistent Being. Hebrew did not have such a metaphysical dimension at this stage and it would be nearly 2000 years before it acquired one. God seems to have meant something rather more direct. Ehyeh asher ehyeh is a Hebrew idiom to express a deliberate vagueness. When the Bible uses a phrase like: "they went where they went", it means: "I haven't the faintest idea where they went". So when Moses asks who he is, God replies in effect: "Never you mind who I am!" or "Mind your own business!" There was to be no discussion of God's nature and certainly no attempt to manipulate him as pagans sometimes did when they recited the names of their gods. Yahweh is the Unconditioned One: I shall be that which I shall be. He will be exactly as he chooses and will make no guarantees. He simply promised that he would participate in the history of his people.
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