In my last post, I introduced you to the Septuagint, an ancient translation of the Hebrew scriptures into the Greek language. It’s the “bible” that Jesus and the apostles most likely used, and it’s quoted heavily in the New Testament. It gives a great Greek-to-Greek comparison of texts, and when we looked at Exodus 3:14 and John 8:58, we discovered God was saying one thing about himself with one set of words, and Jesus was saying another thing about himself with a different set of words. There was also a grammar lesson in there that helped to strengthen the point a little.
So what was God really saying in Exodus 3:14?
Interestingly, the Hebrew text does not identify God the same way the Greek does. It seems the Septuagint’s version of Exodus 3:14 is not so much a translation of the Hebrew ‘Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh,’ as a philosophical interpretation of it. The 70 Jewish scholars treated the phrase as if it were an ontological statement, a statement about the nature of God’s existence, and so they used ‘The Being’ as the memorial name.
Continue reading Why did Jesus say “I Am”? Examining lies and truths about John 8:58 (Part 3) →
