Our Torah portion called ‘Shemot’ is, in fact, the Hebrew name for the book of Exodus and means ‘names’. Exodus begins with these words: ‘These are the names of the sons of Jacob Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob.’ I was recently reminded that in Hebrew Egypt is called ‘Mitrayim’ which means ‘boundaries’ and that when the children of Israel were in Egypt they couldn’t serve God because they were trapped within the boundaries of Egypt.

Reading someone else’s Torah portion they drew the analogy that a name is in itself a limitation; however, it may be the kind of limitation that allows for or even gives the capacity to fulfil one’s potential. For example: “When you know what a pen is, it helps you use it to its fullest capacity.” Until the children of Israel left the limitations of Egypt – limitations of being slaves and met with God at Sinai where they received a new description, a new name and became the people of God, only then could they fulfil their potential. I think there is a parallel here for us; we, too, can only fulfil our true potential when we know who we are in God and what we are called to.

In our portion Moses has an encounter with God at the burning bush, perhaps one of the most famous and baffling encounters that anyone had with God. A whole conversation is recorded for us and there are many insights to encourage us. This may be the beginning of his ministry but his preparation began long before.

The most striking thing is where and when Moses meets with God. Moses life was saved by Pharaoh’s daughter and he is raised in the splendour of Pharaoh’s palace, educated and, no doubt, well versed in politics – in other words, everything a great leader should be. But not the kind of leader that God had in mind – before he could become the leader that God was calling for he had to learn how to be a shepherd. He is not the only great leader who was a shepherd first ... think of David. The quality of a shepherd’s heart is certainly dear to God’s heart.

"And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.” (Jeremiah 3:15)

After losing it and killing an Egyptian he flees Egypt and ends up in Midian where he meets and helps the priest of Midian’s daughters, eventually marrying Zipporah, one of them. It is forty years later while tending Jethro’s sheep that he encounters God at the burning bush.

Why a burning bush? Much argued over, there are many suggestions: one is that a bush is devoid of any spiritual connotations and could not be confused with any pagan deities. Another is that this bush is a symbol of humility, a simple thing to remind Moses that God dwells with the humble.

Rashi, the medieval Torah scholar, wrote that the Burning Bush was a symbol of God’s sheltering Presence, the bush was not destroyed because God sustained it just as He would sustain the children of Israel as they face “burning difficulties”, in other words, God will sustain His people in and though all times of need and trial. It is also said that as Moses watched the bush burn but not be consumed by the fire that God was reassuring him that He would sustain the world. It also declared His Lordship over His creation. He is the Creator and He is not bound by the laws of nature that He put within it as are you or I. Yeshua, when He walked on water, made this same declaration. The laws of nature are subject to Him.

Some Midrash explanations are quite fascinating. The Hebrew for bush here is ‘seneh’, a root which many rabbis say is very similar to the root of the word Sinai and, therefore, prophetic of the encounter that the children of Israel would have with God at Mount Sinai when at the giving of the Torah (Law) fire burned on the mountain.

Most interesting of all is that the location of the burning Bush was, in fact, Mount Sinai, as we are told: "Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.” (Acts 7:30) Moses encounters God in the very place where he will lead the children of Israel, the place where he heard for the first time the voice of God and where, as a nation, the children of Israel will collectively hear the voice of God speaking to them on that very mountain.

So what does God have to say to Moses? Or, rather, what is God going to reveal to Moses? God introduces Himself to Moses saying to him: “I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob” and He reveals His heart, how He sees the pain of His people and hears their cries of anguish and declares that the time has come for deliverance and Moses is to be His instrument. Yet Moses is afraid and he says to God, “What will I tell them when they ask me for your name?”

"If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" (Exodus 3:13)

God answers him saying: “I am who I am”, and He tells Moses to answer them, and say: “I am has sent me to you.” In the Hebrew, this is represented by the Hebrew (YHVH) or (YHWH) Yod-Hei-Vav-Hei and is related to the Hebrew root of the verb ‘to be’. It is said that this name is the one that speaks of His eternal nature and in the scripture it is the name that points us to the fact that we have a relationship with Him. For example, Joshua, which in Hebrew is Yehoshua and means, “The Lord is my salvation”, and Elijah, which in Hebrew is Eliyahu and means, "my God is the Lord", and hallelujah, which means, “praise the Lord.”

It has been said that we approach this question from the wrong end because God has many names and that Moses was actually asking which name should he use? One of the things that we learn about the names of God is that they reveal to us the character of God. The Talmud explains: Moses asked to be taught the Great Name. God said to him, "You want to know my name? I am called after my actions. When I judge my creatures I am called ELOHIM. When I wage war against evil doers I am called Tzevakot. When I suspend judgment on a person's sins I am called SHADDAI. When I sit on the throne of mercy I am called YHVH." (Shmos Rabba 6:3) The rabbis teach that each of God’s Names is a manifestation of His Divinity.

There is another question perhaps being asked by Moses; a question that he anticipated the people asking him: “Where was God during their slavery?” Why had He been aloof and nameless?

So what was God saying to Moses when He called Himself, “I Am who I Am”? The rabbis teach that the Names of God describe the way in which God relates to His creation. For example, Elohim speaks to His work in creation but also of His Justice and the name that God reveals here to Moses is about His Being and existence. Rashi, the great Jewish commentator says, “Ehyeh asher ehyeh (I will be what I will be)”. “I will be” with them in this predicament “what I will be” with them in their subjugation by other kingdoms. In other words, I will be to my people what I deem they need me to be in any given situation.

I think the challenge here is one of faith – we cannot tell God what to be to us. He decides that. Nor can we decide or determine how He should act for He alone is God, but we are called to embrace what He reveals to us about Himself. His revelation of Himself didn’t end at Sinai and we need to embrace His revelation of Himself through Yeshua.

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” (Hebrews 1:1)