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Orchard of Delights
God even informed Moses that He had not made His name truly
known to the patriarchs; only now that the time had come to redeem
the children of Israel and fulfill the promises He had made to the
patriarchs could He reveal the name of God to the entire world.
Furthermore, God explicitly states that one of the primary
purposes of the plagues was to let the Egyptians and Jews know that
He was God. As the beginning of the portion of Bo relates,
God said to Moses, “Come to Pharaoh, for I have made his heart
and the heart of his servants stubborn so that I can put these signs
of Mine in his midst; and so that you may relate in the ears of your
son and your son’s son that I made a mockery of Egypt and my signs
that I placed among them – that you may know that I am God.”
(Exodus 10:1-2).
God’s revelation was intended to benefit not only the Jews in Egypt
but also their descendants; both would have knowledge of Him.
Indeed, Moses’ warnings to Pharaoh about the imminent arrival
of another plague are often accompanied by various declarations
proclaiming God’s revelation using the keyword “to know”: “So says
God, through this you will know that I am God” (7:17); “so that you
will know that there is none like God, our God” (8:6); “so that you
will know that I am God in the midst of the earth” (8:18); “for this
time I will send all my plagues against your heart … so that you will
know that there is none like Me in all the world” (9:14).
This goal of educating Pharaoh is of course especially striking after
Pharaoh’s initial response to Moses’ request was to declare that he
did not know God: “Who is God that I should heed His voice to send
out Israel. I do not know God, nor will I send out Israel” (Exodus
5:1-2). As the Midrash relates, Pharaoh could not find God’s name in
his “directory of the gods” (Shemot Rabbah 5:1).
In fact, both the beginning of Israel’s enslavement and the
beginning of Israel’s redemption appear to be marked by the
keyword “to know.” Thus, the entire story of the children of Israel’s
enslavement in Egypt seems to begin with Pharaoh’s claim that he
did “not know Joseph”; his convenient excuse for forgetting all the
good Joseph had done for Pharaoh and Egypt. And God’s knowledge
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Shemot
being and God in the Tanach. It would require an entire book to
plumb the depths of what is revealed in this profound dialogue. In
this section, we will elaborate on this unique name of God and show
how it is especially associated with Moses, the man who the Torah
recounts spoke to God “face to face” (Exodus 33:11).
The connection between this name and Moses is indeed astounding.
Firstly, the numerical value of “I Will Be That I Will Be” is 543,
the exact inverse of the numerical value of Moses’ name, 345. This in
and of itself suggests a “face to face” relationship, a mirrorlike image,
between Moses and God. Bolstering this notion, Moses’ name (השמ)
spelled backward in Hebrew is םשה (Hashem; the Name), the term
used to refer to God when we wish to avoid enunciating one of His
holy names. From this we may infer that during their conversation at
the burning bush, God was trying to bring out and reveal to Moses his
inner potential, while Moses was trying to draw out more information
from God, so that He would finally reveal His essential name.
When Moses initially turned to see the unusual sight of a bush that
was burning yet not consumed, God called to him, “Moses Moses”
(Exodus 3:4). God only repeats four peoples’ names twice when
calling them: Abraham, Jacob, Samuel, and Moses. In the Masoretic
tradition and in most printed Tanachs there is a thick line separating
each instance of the name. Only in Moses’ case does this line not
appear. Symbolically, this alludes to God’s understanding that Moses
had unique potential: his inner and outer selves could be truly one.
By revealing the Divine name “I Will Be That I Will Be” to Moses,
God was attempting to awaken his leadership qualities and prod
him into revealing this unique hidden potential. This is hinted at by
the numerical equivalence between “I Will Be That I Will Be” and
the phrase “the power of song,” which both equal 543. This remez,
a mathematical hint, teaches us that an individual’s cumulative
potential and mission in life is aroused through song. In this sense
every person has an inner song, an inner vibrational field that
attunes itself and guides him or her to fulfill the unique potential
and purpose, the “I Will Be That I Will Be,” of his or her life.
Parenthetically, according to the Zohar, Moses potential included
knowing how to sing all the songs of creation and each individual
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