2 And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him,
I am the LORD:
3 And I appeared unto
Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by My
name YHWH was I not known to them. (Exodus 6:2-3)
How can we understand these
lines? Did Abraham, Itzchak and Ya’acov know about this name - YHWH (the LORD)?
Yes, they know. Hashem said to Abraham: "And He said unto him, I am the
LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to
inherit it." (Gen. 15:7)
Hashem said to Ya’acov:
"And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of
Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee
will I give it, and to thy seed;" (Gen. 28:13)
We see this name was famous to Abraham, Isaac and Yacov. But they didn't
know ok about meaning of this name. Rashi wrote: "It is not written here לֹא הוֹדַעְתִּי, “but My Name YHWH I did not make known to them,” but לֹא נוֹדַעְתִּי, “I did not become known.” [I.e.,] I was not recognized by them
with My attribute of keeping faith, by dint of which My name is called YHWH,
[which means that I am] faithful to verify My words, for I made promises to
them, but I did not fulfill [them while they were alive]." (http://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/9867/showrashi/true)
Please read these lines:
"Therefore, behold, I will
this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might;
and they shall know that my name is The LORD." (Jer. 16:21)
"But I wrought for my
name's sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, among whom they
were, in whose sight I made myself known unto them, in bringing them forth out
of the land of Egypt." (Ezek. 20:9)
Ramban (13th century, Spain)
wrote:
“God therefore
indicates to Moshe that "I appeared to the Patriarchs with My strong hand
by which I overpower the stars and assist My chosen ones (El Shaddai), but I
did not make myself known to them by the name YHWH by which all existence was
brought into being. I did not create new realities for them by upsetting
the laws of nature. Therefore, tell the people of Israel that I am God
(YHWH), and indicate to them this great name a further time, for by it I will
perform wonders for them so that they may know that I am God who does
all." (http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:fgLfyTNgtdwJ:vbm-torah.org/archive/intparsha/shemot/14-63vaera.rtf+Shemot+6+YHWH+Ramban&cd=2&hl=ru&ct=clnk)
Yehudah Halevi
wrote in Kuzari: “ ‘And I appeared unto Abraham . . . as El Shaddāi' (Exod. vi. 3), viz.
in the way of power and dominion, as is said: 'He suffered no man to do them
wrong; yea, He reproved kings for their sake' (Ps. cv. 14). He did not,
however, perform any miracle for the patriarchs as He did for Moses, saying:
'but my name J H W H was I not known to them'. This means by My
name J H W H, since the bēth in beēl shaddāi refers to the
former. The wonders done for Moses and the Israelites left no manner of doubt
in their souls that the Creator of the world also created these things which He
brought into existence immediately by His will, as the plagues of Egypt, the
dividing of the Red Sea, the manna, the pillar of a cloud, and the like. The
reason of this was not because they were higher than the Patriarchs, but
because they were a multitude, and had nourished doubt in their souls, whilst
the patriarchs had fostered the utmost faith and purity of mind. If they had
all their lives been pursued by misfortune, their faith in God would not have
suffered. Therefore they required no signs.” (.
Kitab al Khazari (Kuzari), 2:2) http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Kitab_al_Khazari/Part_Two)
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