The announcement in v. 3 is also to be explained on the
basis of usages current in the ancient ear. The text states: And I appeared
unto Abraham, unto Isaac and unto Jacob as אֵ֣ל
שַׁדָּ֑י ‘El šadday
[‘God
Shaddai’], but by My name YHWH I was not known [לֹ֥א נוֹדַ֖עְתִּי lō
nōdha’tī] to them. Although many scholars have
inferred from the wording that the verse derives from a document according to
the Patriarchs did not use the name YHWH, and consequently the passage
has become one of the fundamental pillars of the documentary hypothesis, yet in
this case, too, we can say that if this had been the intention of the text it
would have been phrased differently. The verse would have read, ‘but My name YHWH
I did not make known’, or ‘but My name YHWH was not known to them’,
and not as in the present text, ‘I was not known to them.’ The ancient versions,
which render as though it were written, ‘I did not make known’, do not point to
a different reading from that of the Masoretic text; they are merely giving
their interpretation of the verse, since its form appeared to them obscure. It
is precisely the more difficult text that is to be preferred in accordance with
the rule of lectio difficilior. This aside, the antiquity of the
Masoretic reading is attested by Ezek. xx 9-10, which forms part of a paragraph
that is undoubtedly dependent on our paragraph ‘But I wrought for My name’s
sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations among whom
they were, in whose sight I made Myself known [נוֹדַ֖עְתִּי nōdh’tī],
so as to bring them fourth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the
wilderness.’ The correct meaning, again, of our passage becomes clear, as I have
stated, when we examine the traditionary usages of the ancient east. The people
of the Orient used to attribute to each of their gods a variety of names and
qualities, and they associated with each designation specific concepts and
characteristics. In the Egyptian texts, for example, it is stated that a
certain deity is accustomed to do one kind of work under such a name, another
kind of work under a different appellation, and a third task under yet another
title, and so forth. Compare also Psa. lxviii 5: ‘Extol Him that rides upon the
skies, whose name is יָהּ Yāh [‘Lord’].’ With the name שַׁדָּ֑י šadday
[‘Shaddai’] (be its etymology what it may; see in this connection my article
in the Encyclopaedia Biblica [Hebrew], Vol I, pp. 290-292) the Israelites were
wont to associate the idea of the Divinity who rules over nature and bestows
upon mankind fertility, as we can see from each verse in the Pentateuch, in
which this name occurs; for example, Gen. xvii 1-2: ‘I am El Shaddai . . . and
I will multiply you exceedingly’; ibid, xxviii 3; ‘And El Shaddai bless
you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you;’ Ibid. xxxv 11: ‘I am El
Shaddai. Be fruitful and multiply: a nation and a company of nations shall be
of you’; see further ibid, xlviii 3-4; xlix 25 (in Gen. xliii 14 there
is also a reference to bereavement, as though the Power that bestows
fruitfulness acts at times to annul it; so, too, in Ruth I 20-21). This enables
us to understand the text before us clearly: I revealed Myself (God declares)
to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in My aspect that finds expression in the name Shaddai,
and I made them fruitful and multiplied them and gave them children and children’s
children, but by the name YHWH (the word שְׁמִ֣י šemī
[‘My name’] is to be construed here as an accusative of nearer definition, and
signifies ‘by My name’), in My character as expressed by this designation, I was
not known to them, that is, it was not given to them to recognize Me as One
that fulfils His promises, because the assurance with regard to the possession of
the Land, which I had given them, I had not yet fulfilled. Although one of the
attributes connected with the Tetragrammaton—the attribute of being with His
creatures—was fulfilled also in the Patriarchs, yet in the implementation of
the meaning of this name—namely, that He is One who carries out His promises—God
was not known to the fathers of the nation. If we interpret v. 3 in this
way, we shall also clearly understand the connection between it and what is narrated
subsequently in the rest of the paragraph. (Umberto Moshe David Cassuto, A
Commentary on the Book of Exodus [trans. Israel Abrahams; Varda Books,
2005], 77-79)
