Va'era:  control over the future

The parsha opens with an enigma.  Gd says to  Moses

וָאֵרָ֗א אֶל־אַבְרָהָ֛ם אֶל־יִצְחָ֥ק וְאֶֽל־יַעֲקֹ֖ב   I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob....but I did not make Myself known to them by My name

Gd hid some aspect of identity;  Gd hid the currently revealed, the "true" name, from the patriarchs. The statement implies that a deeper epiphany was about to take place.

We are accustomed to the idea that much/ most/ almost all of /what we call Gd is hidden.  Our experience of the world is limited.  Since a person never reaches the limit of her understanding, the capacity for comprehension seems infinite.  This is an illusion, like all of our perceptions. 

The bulk of the parsha describes 7 of the 10 plagues. These plagues are the  display of Gd's might.   To us, they are also explainable natural  disasters: contaminated  water, changes in the fauna, insect infestations, animal migrations, animal disease, rashes, climate change.   To the ancient Egyptians and Israelites, it was magic, mediated through a magic staff that had consumed the magical staves of Egyptian magicians. וַיִּבְלַ֥ע מַטֵּֽה־אַהֲרֹ֖ן אֶת־מַטֹּתָֽם׃  Aaron’s rod swallowed their rods.

The observer has a choice of models...except that some of these events are predicted.  Pharaoh is given a choice before Egypt is stricken: let the people go to serve their Gd, or suffer the consequences.   The prediction shows the power of the negotiator.   Perhaps there is some recall that the Hebrew that brought his family to Egypt, Joseph, had  this power of prediction... but Joseph  could not present a choice.  This is a difference between the early revelation and what was happening now.  The Gd who revealed the future to the Pharaoh  in the days of Joseph, now demonstrates control over the future

When Gd answered Moshe's request for a name, it was accompanied by the statement that the name will be eternal. 

זֶה־שְּׁמִ֣י לְעֹלָ֔ם וְזֶ֥ה זִכְרִ֖י לְדֹ֥ר דֹּֽר׃

And God said further to Moses, “Thus shall you speak to the Israelites: The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you: This shall be My name forever, This My appellation for all eternity.

 The Talmud (Pesachim 50a)  looks at the spelling  and derives

סְבַר רָבָא לְמִדְרְשַׁהּ בְּפִירְקָא, אֲמַר לֵיהּ הָהוּא סָבָא: ״לְעַלֵּם״ כְּתִיב.

Rava thought to expound upon the correct punctuation and enunciation of the name of God during his public lecture before one of the Festivals. A certain old man said to him: The word forever is written in the verse: “This is My name forever [le’olam]” (Exodus 3:15) without the letter vav, such that it can be read le’alem, to conceal, meaning that the name should be concealed.

What is in the (newly revealed) name? It is a name that Moshe does not pronounce.  Moses generally refers to Gd, as we do, as  AD..., not Y... How are these names related?

Gd gives two answers to the question: What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” when Gd  is introduced as the ancestral Gd.  The first answer is :“Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh.” This is an approachable idea: what will be will be.    The second answer, Y, the name we use in writing also has the idea of future yihiyeh within it, it also incorporates the present, hoveh. The secret within this name is that the future devolves from the present.  I speculate that translation of this name as  the Eternal comes from this conflation  of the forms of the verb to be. (To add the past, hayah,  one would need to rearrange the letters.)

The appellation that Moshe, and his followers, apply, AD... can be understood as the  master of the future, the One who decides which alternative future will come to be a present and, eventually,  a past. For the human, it is the recognition of this potency that is important for the almost powerless human.  We appeal to Gd, the force that can impact our fate. 

At the same time, Gd gives Moshe some agency in the negotiations with Pharoah.  Moshe pronounces details to Pharoah, and Gd executes Moshe's plan:

וַיַּ֥עַשׂ יְ    כִּדְבַ֣ר מֹשֶׁ֑ה וַיָּמֻ֙תוּ֙ הַֽצְפַרְדְּעִ֔ים

 And the LORD did as Moses asked;

There is room for human decision ( perhaps, especially when dealing with other humans).  The futures is a cooperative endeavor. 

Our decisions are important.... in context.