The problem with it that I see being that in John 8:58, when Jesus broke normal grammatical usage to make a claim that He had previously made in John 8:24, the Jews understood what the implications were of what He was saying; they picked up stones to stone Him for claiming to be the great I AM. This is shown clearly when, after they picked up stones to stone Him a second time, and He asked them what good work they were stoning Him for, they said, "for a good work we stone thee not: but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a Man, makest thyself God."
The Jews understood therefore that in both cases in which they picked up stones to stone Him (the second time because He proclaimed, "I and my Father are One," just like it is written in Isaiah 9:6), they were stoning Him for His claim to Deity.
Exodus 3:14-15 reads, "And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel,
YHWH,
God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations."
Therefore, the "I AM" is identified as "YHWH."
And what does Yeshua say in
Psalm 2:7? "I will declare the decree: YHWH hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee." YHWH is the Father of Yeshua. Yeshua is the Son of YHWH. Yeshua is not YHWH and the Son is not the Father. Therefore, Yeshua (the Son of YHWH) cannot be the I AM (YHWH). That alone should be sufficient to discredit the belief that Yeshua was claiming to be the "I AM." But let's look into the matter a little farther.
In the Greek Septuagint (LXX),
Exodus 3:14 reads,
καὶ εἶπεν ὁ θεὸς πρὸς Μωυσῆν Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν· καὶ εἶπεν Οὕτως ἐρεῖς τοῖς υἱοῖς Ισραηλ Ὁ ὢν ἀπέσταλκέν με πρὸς ὑμᾶς.
In Septuagint English it reads, "And God spoke to Moses, saying, I am THE BEING; and he said, Thus shall ye say to the children of Israel, THE BEING has sent me to you."
In KJV English it reads, "And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you."
In
John 8:58, "I am" is "
ἐγώ εἰμι" in Greek. As you can see, "
Ἐγώ εἰμι" in
Exodus 3:14 is just the prelude to what the Almighty really wanted the Israelites to know, that is, that He was the "
ὁ ὤν" or "the Being" or "the Existing One".
If Yeshua truly wanted to tell the Jews he was the great "I am" of
Exodus 3:14, he would have said, "Before Abraham was I am the Being" or "I am the Existing One".
It is believed that
John 8:59 further supports the position that Yeshua is the "I AM." Why else would the Jews try to stone him? He obviously blasphemed in the eyes of the Jews, a stoneable offense. Or did he? Is the mere utterance of "ego eimi" a blasphemy? Does the use of "ego eimi" automatically identify the speaker as YHWH, the I AM?
Several individuals aside from Yeshua used "ego eimi" as well. In Luke 1:19, the angel Gabriel said, "Ego eimi Gabriel." In
John 9:9, the blind man whose sight was restored by Yeshua said, "Ego eimi." In
Acts 10:21, Peter said, "Behold, ego eimi (I am) he whom ye seek." Obviously, the mere use of "ego eimi" does not equate one to the "I AM" of
Exodus 3:14. But perhaps the Savior's use of it was somehow different. After all, he came down from heaven.
If, in fact, Yeshua spoke Greek to the Jews (which I doubt), he used the phrase "ego eimi" at least twenty times and yet, in only one instance did the Jews seek to stone him (
John 8:58). Yeshua said, "I am the bread of life" to a large crowd in John 6:35 &
48, yet no one opposed him. In verse 41, the Jews murmured because he said, "I am (ego eimi) the bread which came down from heaven." But in verse 42, the Jews questioned only the phrase, "I came down from heaven" and ignored "ego eimi." The same is true of verses 51 & 52.
In
John 8:12,
18,
24, &
28, Yeshua used "ego eimi" with Pharisees present (vs.13) and yet, no stoning. He, again, used it four times in
John 10:7,
9,
11, &
14 with no stoning. Yeshua said to his disciples, "...that...ye may believe that I am (ego eimi)" in
John 13:19 without them batting an eye.
An interesting account occurs in John 18 when the Jews came to arrest Yeshua in the Garden of Gethsemane. When the chief priests and Pharisees said they were seeking Yeshua of Nazareth, Yeshua said to them, "Ego eimi." At that they fell backward to the ground. It is not made clear why they fell to the ground, but what followed will make it clear that Yeshua was not claiming to be the "I AM."
After Yeshua's arrest, the Jews took him to Annas first (vs.13). Then they took him to Caiaphas (vs.24) and eventually to Pilate (vss.28,29). A parallel account is found in
Matthew 26:57-68. Notice, in particular, verse 59. The same men that had fallen backward to the ground were in attendance when the council sought false witnesses against Yeshua to put him to death. Verse 60 says they couldn't find any. Eventually two came forward. Interestingly, they didn't bear false witness about what Yeshua said in
John 8:58, but about his reference to destroying the temple and building it again in three days. Where were all those witnesses from
John 8:58?
The point about Matthew 26 is, why would false witnesses be sought if they had true witnesses in attendance? The arresting officers heard Yeshua say "Ego eimi." They could have stoned him right there in the garden for blasphemy, but they didn't. They could have reported the supposed blasphemy to the council, but they didn't. Why not? Because it wasn't blasphemy, nor was it a stoneable offense. He was merely identifying himself as Yeshua of Nazareth.
This brings us back to
John 8:58. Why did the Jews seek to stone him on that occasion? The context of John 8 shows that Yeshua;
1) accused the Pharisees of "judging after the flesh" (vs.15).
2) said they would die in their sins (vss.21,24).
3) implied they were in bondage (vss.32,33).
4) said they were servants of sin (vs.34).
5) said they were out to kill him (vss. 37,40).
6) implied they were spiritually deaf (vs.43,47).
7) said their father was the devil (vs.44).
8) said they were not of God (vs.47).
9) accused them of dishonoring him (vs.49).
10) accused them of not knowing Yahweh (vs.55).
11) accused them of lying (vs.55).
Aside from that, the Jews misunderstood Yeshua's words leading
them to believe;
1) that he accused them of being born of fornication (vs.41).
2) Yeshua had a devil (vs.52).
3) that he was exalting himself above Abraham (vs.53).
4) that he saw Abraham (vs.56).
Yeshua's words in verse 58 were the culmination of an encounter that was so offensive to the Jews that they couldn't restrain themselves anymore. They simply couldn't take it anymore so they sought to stone him, not because of two simple words, "ego eimi," but because he was making himself out to be greater than their beloved father Abraham. They sought to stone him illegally.
