What Does Exodus 3:13 Mean in the King James?
And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The question “What is his name?” reaches past a label to the nature of the one who sends Moses.
THE MEANING
A claim of being sent raises a living question: what is the nature of the one behind the sending? Here, knowing the name means recognizing the character of the one whose word reaches you.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that God’s name is only a label detached from his nature.
THE ROOT
שְׁמוֹ
shemō
GROWS FROM
שֵׁם
Name, reputation, the recognizable identity of the one named.
“name” in this verse is shemō. The question asks for the sender’s recognizable nature, not merely a label to repeat. The verse’s focus is the identity made known through the one who sends.
ALSO GROWS
shemō: His name.
שְׁמוֹ
This is the form in the question: the people want to know the identity of the one who sent Moses.
shem tov: A good name or reputation.
שֵׁם טוֹב
A name can carry the character by which someone is known, giving the question its depth beyond a spoken title.
שְׁלָחַנִי
shelachani
GROWS FROM
שָׁלַח
shalach
Send forth, release, let go.
The root holds sending and release together, so the commission carries a movement toward release within it. Moses is not merely sent with information; he is sent into the people’s constriction as part of their deliverance.
ALSO GROWS
shaliach: An emissary or one sent on another’s behalf.
שָׁלִיחַ
Moses’ identity here is that of a sent representative, which makes the nature of the sender central to the people’s question.
shilleach: Send away, dismiss, release.
שִׁלֵּחַ
This branch lets the sending carry the sense of release that runs through the Exodus story.
מֹשֶׁה
Moshe
GROWS FROM
מָשָׁה
mashah
Draw out, pull from water.
Moses’ name carries the image of being drawn out. Beside his question about the sender’s name, his own name holds the pattern of a life drawn out and then sent to draw others out.
ALSO GROWS
mashah: To draw out.
מָשָׁה
This is the action associated with Moses’ name and gives his presence in the verse an echo of deliverance.
meshitihu: I drew him out.
מְשִׁיתִיהוּ
This form appears in the naming explanation in Exodus 2:10, connecting Moses’ name with being drawn out of the water.
THE PATTERN
A name carries the recognizable nature of the one who bears it.
Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send.And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.THE THREAD
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.The word translated “sent” comes from the same root, shalach, in both verses. The next verse answers the question about the sender’s name, tying that revealed identity directly to the act of sending.
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