Exodus 3:6

For the name of Divinity is given for the highest honor in the world, and with whomsoever God is well pleased, he applies it to him. But however, the names of God are many and are venerable, as he delivered his names to Moses, saying to him, "I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. This is my name forever, and this is my memorial unto generations." And he called his name "Ahiyah ashar Ahiyah," "El Shaddai" and "Adonai Sabaoth." By these names God is called. The great and honorable name of Godhead he withheld not from his righteous ones; even as, though he is the great king, without grudging he applied the great and honorable name of kingship to men who are his creatures.

And when the holy One called Moses from the bush he said thus to him: "I am the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob." When Death heard this utterance, he trembled and feared and was terrified and perturbed and knew that he had not become king forever over the children of Adam. From the hour that he heard God saying to Moses, "I am the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob," Death [struck] his hands together, for he learned that God is king of the dead and of the living and that it is appointed to the children of Adam to come forth from his darkness and arise with their bodies. And observe that our Redeemer Jesus also, when he repeated this utterance to the Sadducees, when they were disputing with him about the resurrection of the dead, thus said, "God is not [God] of the dead, for all are alive unto him."

If the God of the universe, having been made familiar to the saints, becomes their God, the being named the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, by how much more will it be possible for the Holy Spirit, having been made familiar to the prophets, to be called their spirit, that the Spirit might thus be said to be the spirit of Elijah and the spirit of Isaiah?

The first object of speculation is the fact that God is. The first name of God is "To Be" which is most manifest and most perfect — and therefore, first. Hence nothing is more manifest, for anything said of God is retraced to being: this …

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, are particularly named, because with Abraham the covenant was first made, and with Isaac and Jacob often expressly renewed; and these three were distinguished from their brethren, and chosen to be the trustees of the covenant, when their brethren were rejected.

Moreover he said, I am the God of thy fathers,.... Of every one of his fathers next mentioned: the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; with whom the covenant respecting the land of Canaan, and the promise of the blessed seed the Messiah, was made: this again shows that the Angel of the Lord that now appeared was God himself, Jehovah the Son of God.

Yea, though God called himself the God of his father, and a God in covenant with him, yet he was afraid. The more we see of God the more cause we shall see to worship him with reverence and godly fear. Even the manifestations of God's grace and covenant-love should increase our humble reverence of him.

Moreover, the time, as well as all the circumstances of this miraculous appearance, were such as to give him an illustrious display of God's faithfulness to His promises. The period of Israel's journey and affliction in Egypt had been predicted (Ge 15:13), and it was during the last year of the term which had still to run that the Lord appeared in the burning bush.

YOU remember, dear Friends, that Paul is writing to the Hebrews concerning Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and he says, "God is not ashamed to be called their God." Then, when you turn back to our text in Exodus, you find that God was called their God at the burning bush and, oftentimes, on other occasions, He is called the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. We must not forget that at the time when God appeared to Moses, in the desert, in the bush that burned, but was not consumed, the condition of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was very terrible. They were slaves to the Egyptians. They were an oppressed and downtrodden race. Their male children were taken from them and cast into the river. They were entirely in Pharaoh's hands. They were a degraded people, as all slaves gradually become, and they were unable, of themselves, to rise out of that degradation. Yet, at that very time, God was not ashamed to be called their God! There, with Israel in bondage, Jehovah, whose name is the great I AM—a name which makes all Heaven bright with ineffable Glory—did not disdain to say to Moses, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." I do not wonder that the Apostle should note it as a remarkable thing, that He was not ashamed to be called their God! I have been looking into this text very earnestly and trying to find out exactly what was the meaning of the Holy Spirit in it, and I think I have discovered a clue in two words which it contains. First, "Therefore." "Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God"—and next, "for." "For He has prepared for them a city." As a door hangs upon two hinges, so my golden text turns upon these two pivots—"therefore" and, "for." I.

YOU remember, dear Friends, that Paul is writing to the Hebrews concerning Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and he says, "God is not ashamed to be called their God." Then, when you turn back to our text in Exodus, you find that God was called their God at the burning bush and, oftentimes, on other occasions, He is called the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.

Our Saviour adduces this passage as a proof that the doctrine of the Resurrection was taught in the Old Testament Mat 22:32, and He calls this book “the Book of Moses” Mar 12:26, two points to be borne in mind by readers of the Pentateuch.