When Moses had been thus emboldened by the assurance of divine assistance to undertake the mission, he inquired what he was to say, in case the people asked him for the name of the God of their fathers. The supposition that the people might ask the name of their fathers' God is not to be attributed to the fact, that as the Egyptians had separate names for their numerous deities, the Israelites also would want to know the name of their own God. For, apart from the circumstance that the name by which God had revealed Himself to the fathers cannot have vanished entirely from the memory of the people, and more especially of Moses, the mere knowledge of the name would not have been of much use to them. The question, "What is His name?" presupposed that the name expressed the nature and operations of God, and that God would manifest in deeds the nature expressed in His name. God therefore told him His name, or, to speak more correctly, He explained the name יהוה, by which He had made Himself known to Abraham at the making of the covenant (Genesis 15:7), in this way, אהיה אשׁר אהיה, "I am that I am," and designated Himself by this name as the absolute God of the fathers, acting with unfettered liberty and self-dependence. This name precluded any comparison between the God of the Israelites and the deities of the Egyptians and other nations, and furnished Moses and his people with strong consolation in their affliction, and a powerful support to their confidence in the realization of His purposes of salvation as made known to the fathers. To establish them in this confidence, God added still further: "This is My name for ever, and My memorial unto all generations;" that is to say, God would even manifest Himself in the nature expressed by the name Jehovah, and by this He would have all generations both know and revere Him. שׁם, the name, expresses the objective manifestation of the divine nature; זבר, memorial, the subjective recognition of that nature on the part of men. דּר דּר, as in Exodus 17:16 and Proverbs 27:24. The repetition of the same word suggests the idea of uninterrupted continuance and boundless duration (Ewald, 313a). The more usual expression is ודר ידר, Deuteronomy 32:7; Psalm 10:6; Psalm 33:11; or דּרים דּר, Psalm 72:5; Psalm 102:25; Isaiah 51:8.

Exodus 3:21 Parallel Commentaries

Exodus 11:3 And the LORD gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt...

Exodus 12:36 And the LORD gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent to them such things as they required...

Genesis 39:21 But the LORD was with Joseph, and showed him mercy, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.

Nehemiah 1:11 O LORD, I beseech you, let now your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants...

Psalm 106:46 He made them also to be pitied of all those that carried them captives.

Proverbs 16:7 When a man's ways please the LORD, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

Acts 7:10 And delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt...