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he did not know the special personal name of the god. This is hke being acquainted with a man without knowing his name. Accordingly, we read: "And Moses said unto the elohim, Be- hold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The elohim of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say unto me, What is his name? — ivhat shall I say unto them?" (Ex. 3:13). To this question several answers were forthcoming. In the first answer the elohim was obscure — as if, like his Kenite worshipers, he were slow in admitting the alien to the sacred mysteries. For his answer to Moses was : "Eh-yeh asher eh-yeh" (vs. 14). The meaning of this expres- sion is hard to render. It might be translated, "I am what I am." Moses appears to be the sole target of this reply, for the elohim continues: "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, Eh-yeh hath sent me unto you" (vs. 14). This, how- ever, is not sufficient, since the deity goes on as follows to reveal the full divine name: "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, Yahweh, the elohim of your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, hath sent me unto you. This is my name" (vss.
13-15)-
It appears, then, neither Moses nor his brethren had ever known the name of this god. A more positive explanation than the above was given at a later interview, thus: "And elohim spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am Yahweh; and I appeared unto Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as el-shaddai; but by my name Yahweh, I was not known unto them" (Exod. 6:2, 3). This is explicit enough. Not Moses, nor his contempo- raries, nor yet the putative ancestors of Israel, had ever known the object of their worship by his name Yahweh. Let us con- sult the book of Genesis, and see if this is true. Were Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ignorant of this name? That is, do the tra- ditions contemplate them as ignorant of the name? We are not at this point asking. What were the objective, historical facts? but, What do the traditions indicate ? The Abram, or Abraham, narratives in Genesis begin at the twelfth chapter. In this chapter we read : "And Abram passed through the land .... and pitched his tent, having Beth-el on the west, and Ai on the
