# Judges 13:11 "I am" or "I AM"



## 3John2 (Mar 12, 2010)

On this verse when the Angel of the LORD responds & says "I am" to the question, is this considered an " I AM" statement as in the "I AM"s in Exodus? In other words, claims to be GOD? I am assuming it is but in my wife's translation (Bahasa Indonesia) the answer to the question is "yes", not "I am". I haven't taken Hebrew yet, so I can't look that up in the Hebrew.


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## Skyler (Mar 12, 2010)

Since the question is in present tense ("are you the man...") saying "I am" is a natural response. There's no reason I can see to assume that it is a claim to deity.


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## Wayne (Mar 12, 2010)

Judges 13:11 Hebrew OT: WLC (Consonants & Vowels)
וַיָּקָם וַיֵּלֶךְ מָנֹוחַ אַחֲרֵי אִשְׁתֹּו וַיָּבֹא אֶל־הָאִישׁ וַיֹּאמֶר לֹו הַאַתָּה הָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר־דִּבַּרְתָּ אֶל־הָאִשָּׁה וַיֹּאמֶר אָנִי׃

Those last two words, va'yomer (and he said), "Anee" ("I am").
So that translation you mentioned would be incorrect. The Hebrew word for "Yes" (כֵּן) is not used there.

When this account is compared with all the other OT appearances of "the Angel of the LORD" [about 50?], the text falls quite in line with the others, and so I would argue that it is a pre-incarnate Christophany that is in view here. First of all, don't get tripped up by the word מַלְאַךְ which first and foremost means "messenger" or "sent one".


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## VictorBravo (Mar 12, 2010)

Just to add, it is not an "I AM that I AM" statement because the Hebrew is completely different from what is found in Ex. 3:14.

In Ex. 3:14 you have a literal statement with the verb "to be" repeated. In the passage you described, as Wayne pointed out, there is just the "ani" which means basically "I" with the "am" implied. For example, in Genesis 45:3 Joseph uses the same word when he says "I _am_ Joseph." Literally, it would read: "I, Joseph."

One nice thing about the KJV or AV Bible is that such implied words are italicized so you realize that they weren't in the original text.


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