Who am I?

מי אנכי WHO AM I? — Of what importance am I that I should speak with monarchs?

מי אנכי כי אלך?, how will my warning be effective?

?מי אנכי, “what distinguishes me?” Moses answered G-d point by point in the order of what G-d had said to him. The question of what qualified hm to be chosen for this task was the answer to G-d having said to him: !לכה, “go!” the words: כי אלך אל פרעה, “that I should go,” was the answer to G-d having said to him: ואשלחך אל פרעה, “I am sending you to Pharaoh.” The words: וכי אוציא, “and that I should lead out,” were Moses’ reply to G-d having said to him: והוצא את עמי, “and lead out My people.” G-d in turn, proceeded to answer Moses point by point in order: כי אהיה עמך, “For I will be at your side,” was the answer to Moses’ question: “Why am I qualified etc.” The words: כי אנכי שלחתיך, “for it is I Who have sent you,” is the answer to Moses having said: כי אלך אל פרעה, “that I should go to Pharaoh;” the words: בהוציאך את העם הזה, were the answer to Moses having asked וכי אוציא.

מי אנכי כי אלך, "who am I that I should be qualified to go?" Moses meant that even if he were anxious to accept such a mission he did not consider himself qualified to speak up in front of a king. Seeing that he lacked that self-confidence his mission was unlikely to succeed. We have other examples of prophets who lacked confidence that their mission would succeed because they were personally not confident; compare Samuel I 16,2 or Amos who is reported in Kohelet Rabbah 1 as having suffered from a lack of self-confidence because his peers belittled him. Moses added וכי אוציא את בני ישראל, "and that I should lead the Israelites out of Egypt," in order to emphasize the enormity of the task G'd was about to place on his shoulders, i.e. to orchestrate the Exodus. He implied that in order for such an undertaking to succeed the messenger G'd chose would have to be an outstanding personality. He was afraid that if Israel would suffer some setback on the road to freedom he might be held responsible since he was not qualified to be that leader.

מי אנכי כי אלך אל פרעה? “who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?” Nachmanides writes on this verse that G’d instructed Moses to perform two tasks: The first instruction to Moses was to free the Jewish people, something that could be accomplished by bringing them back to the province of Goshen to remain free there. The second instruction was to take the Jewish people out of Egypt and lead them to the land occupied by the Canaanites. Moses had concerns about carrying out both tasks. Concerning the first task Moses said to G’d: “who am I the lowly shepherd to demand such a thing from the powerful King? He will simply have me killed.” We have a parallel for this in Samuel I 16,2 where G’d had commanded the prophet to appoint one of Yishai’s sons as king instead of King Saul, and the prophet says to G’d: “as soon as Saul will hear about this he will kill me!”
Concerning the command to take the Jewish people out of Egypt, Moses said: “this is a great and intelligent nation. They will not allow me, an ignorant shepherd, to lead them into a confrontation with powerful nations such as the Emorites, the Canaanites, etc.” Moses agreed that the people would definitely be anxious to be free of the burden of hard labor and slavery. After all, which nation does not yearn to be free? However, they would not obey the call to ascend to the land of the Canaanite. In the event, Moses proved right as every time the Israelites faced war against the Canaanites the people were scared and even preferred to go back to Egypt.
G’d responded to both of Moses’ fears. Concerning Moses’ fear of confronting Pharaoh, G’d said “I will be with you, i.e. you need not be afraid of being killed.” He pointed to the vision Moses had now experienced which would be the sign that at this very spot the Jewish people would serve the Lord prior to being given the Torah. Once they would accept this they would become true servants of the Lord. The whole purpose of the phenomenon of the bush which refused to burn to cinders was to reinforce Moses’ belief in the success of the mission assigned to him. What was intended as a sign for Moses not to be afraid of confronting Pharaoh, would also be a sign for the Jewish people never to be afraid to confront the Gentile nations once they arrive at Mount Sinai. For the time being the people would be prepared to obey Moses’ instructions to follow him to a place only three days’ march away from their homes in Egypt. Thus far Nachmanides.

ויאמר משה מי אנכי?, anyone who wants to truly understand the plain meaning of this sequence will heed my exegesis carefully. My predecessors were quite wrong. Moses replied to two things G’d had requested from him. He had been asked to go to Pharaoh, and he had been asked to take the Jewish people out of Egypt at Pharaoh’s command. In respect of G’d’s first instruction he answered: