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The Ancient World Behind the Text: Ideas
The customs, offices and ideas a first reader knew without being told, what each meant then, and the nearest thing you already know.
God's name and I am
God gave his name to Moses at the burning bush as I AM, and in Isaiah he says I am he. To make God's name known was to show who he is, and when Jesus uses those words in certain settings, his hearers can take them as God's own name.
Some words are ordinary until the wrong person says them. I am is about the plainest phrase there is. But Israel's God gave his name to Moses as I AM, and in Isaiah he says I am he. So when Jesus says I am in certain places in John, above all before Abraham was, I am, his hearers can take it as a claim to God's own name, and they pick up stones.
I am was a title for God (Exodus 3:14), and in the Greek Septuagint of Isaiah 43:10 God declares, I am. Bailey notes that Jesus' words to the Samaritan woman in 4:26 are the Greek Old Testament's exact phrase for God at the burning bush. On the lake in 6:20, it is I is literally I am. Keener calls that a legitimate translation but finds the nuance of deity probably present, since in the Old Testament only God walked on the water (Job 9:8). At 8:58 Jesus does not say before Abraham was, I was. The ESV Study Bible hears the Greek of Exodus 3:14, a claim to be the God of the burning bush. Wright calls I Am a central meaning of YHWH, God's holy name. He says Jesus is so one with the Father that he can use the Name of himself. Heiser reads 8:56-58 against Genesis 12 and 15, where the word of Yahweh appeared to Abraham. The hearers reach for stones, the penalty for blasphemy. A mere claim to be the Messiah was not counted blasphemy, Keener notes, so they understood him to claim deity. Revealing God's name meant revealing his character (Exodus 33:19; 34:5). Many Jews prayed for the day God would show his name holy in all the world. Heiser says Jesus' making the name known in John 17 meant "showing them who God was and what he was like." He recalls that Yahweh's name dwelt in his Angel (Exodus 23:20-23). A tradition attributed to Artapanus said Pharaoh fell when Moses spoke God's name.
An analogy: a soldier who answers the sentry's challenge with the general's own password. The words are ordinary, but everyone on the wall knows whose they are.
When Jesus speaks the words I am in a setting that recalls God naming himself, as at John 8:58 or on the water in Mark 6:50, the hearer is meant to catch an echo of the divine name. The same words can also simply mean it is I, so the setting decides.
Not a borrowed password. A soldier who gives the general's password claims only to serve him. In these readings Jesus uses the Name of himself, and his hearers took it as a claim to deity and reached for stones. Most I am sayings are ordinary speech; the setting carries the echo.
How much to hear in the words. On John 6:20 Keener allows that it is I is the right everyday sense and sees a probable nuance of deity, and his notes say the context supports an allusion to deity. On 8:58 the ESV Study Bible hears the formula of Exodus 3:14, Wright hears Jesus using the Name in union with the Father, and Heiser hears the Word of Yahweh who appeared to Abraham. Keener adds that a later tradition of priests reciting Isaiah's I am he at Tabernacles may not be early enough to explain the verse.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/john-8-31-59\/","n":"John 8:31-59, Abraham's children, and before Abraham, I am","s":"Jesus tells Judeans who had believed him that the truth will make them free. They answer that they are Abraham's children and were never slaves, and the argument ends with Jesus saying before Abraham was, I am, and stones in their hands.","r":"John 8:31-59"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/john-14-1-31\/","n":"John 14:1-31, Rooms in the Father's house, and another Advocate","s":"Jesus tells his troubled disciples that he is going to prepare a place for them in his Father's house, that he is the way, and that the Father will send another Advocate, the Spirit of truth. He leaves them his peace.","r":"John 14:1-31"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/john-17-1-26\/","n":"John 17:1-26, The prayer: your name made known","s":"Before his arrest Jesus lifts his eyes to heaven and prays that the Father will glorify him, keep those given him in the Father's name and set them apart by the truth, and make all who believe one.","r":"John 17:1-26"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/john-18-1-27\/","n":"John 18:1-27, Arrest across the Kidron, and Annas","s":"Judas brings soldiers and temple police with torches to a garden across the Kidron. Jesus answers I am he, they fall back, and he is taken bound to Annas while Peter denies him three times by a charcoal fire.","r":"John 18:1-27"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/3john-1-8\/","n":"3 John 1-8, Gaius and the traveling brothers","s":"The elder writes to his dear friend Gaius, praying that he is in good health and glad to hear that he walks in the truth. Gaius has been faithful in what he does for the brothers, strangers though they are; he should supply them for the next stage of their journey in a way that honors God, since they went out for the sake of the Name and took nothing from the pagans.","r":"3 John 1-8"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/gods-of-the-bible\/yahweh\/","n":"Yahweh","s":"The personal name of Israel's God, printed as LORD in most English Bibles.","r":"Genesis 2:4"}
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on John 6:20, 8:57-58 and 8:59
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on John 6:20, 8:58 and 8:59
- ESV Study Bible, study note on John 8:58
- Kenneth E. Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, ch. 15, The Woman at the Well, section 7
- N. T. Wright, John for Everyone, Part One, comment on John 8:48-59
- Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm, ch. 16, Abraham's Word
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on John 14:12-14, 17:6 and 18:4-6
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on John 17:6 and 18:6
- Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm, ch. 31, Who Will Go for Us?
