Moses asks God: “When I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”
The answer is famous: “I will be what I will be” – or, in a common mistranslation, “I am what I am.” Entire tomes are written on what this enigmatic answer actually means. I’d like to offer a much simpler explanation based solely on what the text itself says, based solely on where the word Ehyeh, “I will be” is used elsewhere in the Torah.
Here are all of those verses:
G-d had appeared to [Isaac] and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; stay in the land which I point out to you. Reside in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; I will assign all these lands to you and to your heirs, fulfilling the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.
Then G-d said to Jacob, “Return to your ancestors’ land—where you were born—and I will be with you.”
And [God] said, “I will be with you; that shall be your sign that it was I who sent you. And when you have freed the people from Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.”
And God said to Moses, “I will be what I will be,” continuing, “Thus shall you say to the Israelites, ‘I will be sent me to you.’” … Now go, and I will be with you as you speak and will instruct you what to say.” … You shall speak to [Aharon] and put the words in his mouth—I will be with you and with him as you speak, and tell both of you what to do—
And [God] charged Joshua son of Nun: “Be strong and resolute: for you shall bring the Israelites into the land that I promised them on oath, and I will be with you.”
And here the text comes full circle: “I will be”, Ehye, does not need to be read as a grand philosophical treatise on the immutability of G-d, or a self-referential existence that has no required connection with mankind. Instead, it can be read precisely as it is used in the context of the Torah: “I will be” is an echo and reminder of the promises of the past, to Isaac and Jacob, that G-d will be with his people, in the promised land?!
Which is very important, indeed, even if it is not obscure. In the exchange at the burning bush, Moses asks, “Who am I?” Which is not a crazy question: Moshe was just an old shepherd working for this father-in-law when the burning bush takes place. Who is Moshe, at this point, to think he could achieve such a mission?
Note that G-d does not directly answer the question! Here is the verse:
But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and free the Israelites from Egypt?”
And [God] said, “I will be with you.”
In other words, G-d is rejecting the question! “Who you are does not matter! What matters is that I will be with you!” Our success is not about us! It is about the fact that when G-d is with us, anything is possible!