I am who am: apparently this utterance is the source of the word Yahweh, the proper personal name of the God of Israel. It is commonly explained in reference to God as the absolute and necessary Being.
God is not simply saying here, tautologically, "I am that I am." He is not just expressing that He exists. He is saying that He is existence itself. It's deep, revelatory and definitely not somethign that is, as dictionary.com puts it:
Needless repetition of the same sense in different words; redundancy.
or:
Logic. An empty or vacuous statement composed of simpler statements in a fashion that makes it logically true whether the simpler statements are factually true or false; for example, the statement
I don't think God here is either needlessly repetitious or is He making a vacuous statement.
SD
Agreed. The tautology (A=A) is the fundamental statement of logic. In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God.
...as dictionary.com puts it:...
I don't think God here is either needlessly repetitious or is He making a vacuous statement.
Take it up with dictionary.com, if that is an accurate and complete quote of their definition of tautology. God's revealed name, I AM THAT I AM, is a tautology.
Nevermind the fact that the simple act of God revealing His name set him apart from all the pagan divinities who hid their names from their worshippers, for it was by their name that a relationship was obtained.