The God who appeared to Abraham and made a covenant with him is the same God who appeared to Moses in the bush. Curiously, this parashah opens by questioning whether Abraham had known Him by His Name:
I appeared to Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov as El Shaddai, although I did not make myself known to them by my name, Yehovah (Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh).
Exodus 6:2
It is a fact that the Almighty had indeed appeared to our patriarchs, not only Abraham, but also Isaac and Jacob, revealing His Name. There are examples of all of them calling on His Name, or erecting altars or calling places with the Name.
And there are two explanations to the verse quoted. One of them can be related to the Hebrew syntax, where the last portion could be understood as a kind of rhetorical question (at least according to the medieval biblical commentator Rashi): –[Had I] not made myself known to them by the name Yehovah?
On the other hand, we could deduce that despite having made Himself known to the patriarchs by that Name, they would not know the full magnitude of Yehovah’s power until the generation that experienced the exodus. This event, which would forever change the history of the family of Israel, would manifest the power of the Creator over His creation in a massive way, and would become a testimony for all future generations.
After making His existence manifest before the eyes of all Egypt, the Creator will manifest Himself by opening the Red Sea and at Mount Sinai, in order to create an impression on His people that would last for millennia to come.
This is the testimony that millions of people around the world fervently believe: that Yehovah, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, has power over all His Creation; then, now, and until the end of time.
