We shall begin with an introductory remark. We shall say regarding the saying of [Moses], peace be on him—And they shall say to me, What is His name? What shall I say unto them?1—why was this question necessarily attached to the matter under discussion so that [Moses] demanded to know how he should answer it? As for his saying, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice; for they will say: the Lord hath not appeared unto thee,2 it is very clear that everyone who lays claim to prophecy should be spoken to in this way until he brings proof. Furthermore if the matter concerned, as it may appear, merely a name to be pronounced, there are only two possibilities: namely, that [the Children of] Israel already knew this name or that they had never heard it. If it was known to them, [Moses’] telling it would be no argument in his favor,3 for his knowledge of it would be like their knowledge. If, on the other hand, this name had not been heard among them, what would be the proof of this being the name [81b] of God, supposing that the knowledge of His name were a proof? Besides, after He, may He be exalted, had made known this name to him, He told him: Go, and gather the elders of Israel together. And they shall hearken to your voice.4 There came the answer of [Moses], peace be on him: But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice.5 Yet this answer was preceded by His dictum, may He be exalted: And they shall hearken to your voice; and it is followed by Him, may He be exalted, saying to [Moses]: What is that in thy hand? And he said: A rod.6 What you should know so that this whole difficulty should be made clear to you is that which I shall tell you.
You know that in those times the teachings of the Sabians were generally accepted and that all except a few men were idolaters. I mean by this that they believed in spirits, that they believed that those spirits can be made to descend among men, and that they made talismans. At those times everyone who claimed to be listened to either claimed, like Abraham, that speculation and reasoning had come to him indicating to him that the world as a whole has a deity, or else he claimed that the spirit of a star or an angel or something similar had descended upon him. Yet that an individual should make a claim to prophecy on the ground that God had spoken to him and had sent him on a mission was a thing never heard of prior to Moses our Master. You should not be led into error on this point by what is said in Scripture with regard to the Patriarchs, with reference to whom it is mentioned that God spoke and manifested Himself to them. For you do not find in their cases the kind of prophecy that would have made them call upon people or guide correctly others than themselves, that is, the kind of prophecy that would have made Abraham or Isaac or Jacob or those who preceded them say to people: “God told me: You should act or not act in a certain way”; or: “He has sent me to you.” This had never happened before. The Patriarchs were addressed in regard to their private affairs only; I mean only in regard to their perfection, their right guidance concerning their actions, and the good tidings for them concerning the position their descendants would attain. They had addressed a call to people by means of speculation and instruction, as is made clear, in our opinion, in the passage: And the soul[s] that they had gotten in Harran.7
Accordingly when God, may He be held sublime and magnified, revealed Himself to Moses our Master and ordered him to address a call to people and to convey to them his prophetic mission, [Moses] said: the first thing that they will ask of me is that I should make them acquire true knowledge that there exists a god with reference to the world; after that I shall make the claim that He has sent me. For at that time all the people except a few were not aware of the existence of the deity, and the utmost limits of their speculation did not transcend the sphere, its faculties, and its actions, for they did not separate themselves from things perceived by the senses and had not attained intellectual perfection. Accordingly God made known to [Moses] the knowledge that he was to convey to them and through which they would acquire a true notion of the existence of God, this knowledge being: I am that I am.8 This is a name deriving from the verb to be [hayah], which signifies existence, for hayah indicates the notion: he was. And in Hebrew, there is no difference between your saying: he was, and he existed. The whole secret consists in the repetition in a predicative position of the very word indicative of existence. For the word that [in the phrase “I am that I am”] requires the mention of an attribute immediately connected with it. For it is a deficient word requiring a connection with something else; it has the same meaning as alladhī and allati, the male and female relative pronouns in Arabic. Accordingly the first word is I am considered as a term to which a predicate is attached; the second word that is predicated of the first is also I am, that is, identical with the first. Accordingly Scripture makes, as it were, a clear statement that the subject is identical with the predicate. This makes it clear that He is existent not through existence. This notion may be summarized and interpreted in the following way: the existent that is the existent, or the necessarily existent. This is what demonstration necessarily leads to: namely, to the view that there is a necessarily existent thing that has never been, or ever will be, nonexistent. I shall make clear the demonstration of this thesis.
Accordingly when He, may He be exalted, had made known to [Moses] the proofs9 that would establish His existence among their10 men of knowledge—this may be inferred from the words that follow: Go, and gather the elders [82b] of Israel together11—and had promised him that they would understand what I have transmitted and would accept it—this is signified by His words: And they shall hearken to your voice12—[Moses], peace be on him, posed another question saying: once they have accepted by means of these intellectual demonstrations the view that there is an existent deity, what shall be my proof that this existent deity has sent me? Thereupon he was granted the miracle. Thus it has been made clear that the meaning of his saying, What is His name? means only: who is He who you think has sent you? He said, What is His name? only with a view to magnifying and exalting [God] in address. He says as it were: no one is ignorant of Your essence and true reality; if, however, I am asked about Your name, what is the meaning indicated by that name? He only thought that it would be a reprehensible thing to say in speaking that there are those who are ignorant of that existent and consequently made out that they were ignorant of His name only and not of that which is signified by that name.
The name Yah refers similarly to the notion of the eternity of existence, whereas Shaddai derives from the word day, meaning a sufficiency. Thus: For the stuff they had was sufficient [dayam].13 The letter shin [occurring at the beginning of Shaddai] has the meaning who, as in shekbar.14 Accordingly the meaning [of Shaddai] is He who is sufficient; the intention here being to signify that He does not need other than Himself with reference to the existence of that which He has brought into existence or with reference to prolonging the latter’s existence, but that His existence, may He be exalted, suffices for that. Similarly the name Ḥassin derives from the notion of power; thus: And he was strong [ḥason] as the oaks.15 Similarly the name Rock [ṣur] applied to Him is equivocal, as we have made clear.16 Accordingly it has become clear to you that all names are derived or are used equivocally, as Rock and others similar to it. He, may He be exalted, has no name that is not derivative except the name having four letters, which is the articulated name. This name is not indicative of an attribute but of simple existence and nothing else. Now absolute existence implies17 that He shall always be, I mean He who is necessarily existent. Understand the point at which this discourse has finally arrived. [83a]