The Burning Bush

An ordinary day. Moses “was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law” (3:1). He had been a shepherd in Midian for many years. Then, on an ordinary day at “Horeb, the mountain of God,” everything changed. A fire that did not burn out. “The bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed” (3:2). A desert bush should burn up in seconds. This one kept burning. In the Bible, fire often shows that God is present. Later God will lead Israel with a pillar of fire and come down on Mount Sinai in fire. Holy ground. “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground” (3:5). The dirt was ordinary. God's presence made it holy. To be holy is to be set apart, completely pure and good. Afraid to look. When God said, “I am the God of your father,” Moses “hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God” (3:6). Moses knew he was a sinner standing before a holy God. Being near God is a wonderful thing, and it should also make us humble.

The setting (3:1). Horeb is another name for Sinai, where God will later give the law (the ICB simply says “Sinai”). Moses led the flock “to the back of the desert,” far from anywhere. God met him where he was, in the middle of his ordinary work. The Angel in the flame (3:2-4). “The Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire,” and then “God called to him from the midst of the bush.” This Angel speaks as God Himself. Many Christians believe that He was the Son of God appearing long before He was born in Bethlehem. Either way, Moses was standing in the presence of the Lord. Not consumed. The bush “was not consumed.” The fire needed no fuel from the bush. God's presence is not fed by anything in creation. Moses called it “this great sight” and turned aside to see (3:3), and only “when the Lord saw that he turned aside” did God call his name. God invites curiosity and then speaks. Holiness (3:5-6). The Hebrew qodesh (say: KOH-desh), holiness, appears here for the first time in Exodus. It will fill the book: a holy nation, a holy Sabbath, a holy tabernacle. Removing sandals honored the place. Moses' covered face shows the right response of a sinner before the holy God, and Isaiah's cry centuries later is the same: “Woe is me, for I am undone!” (Isaiah 6:5).

Moses saw a bush on fire. But the fire did not burn it up. That was a sign that God was there. God told Moses to take off his sandals. Why? The ground was holy because God was there. Holy means set apart and perfect. God is not like us. He has never done anything wrong. Moses hid his face from God. He knew he was not holy like God. We should be amazed by God too. We can be quiet and still when we pray. We can sing to Him with all our hearts. God is holy, and He is also kind.

The bush was on fire, but it did not burn up. God is holy. That means He is perfect and good.

God sees, hears and knows. “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows” (3:7). God used three words: seen, heard, know. Nothing about their suffering was hidden from God. God comes down. “So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians” (3:8). God does not only feel sorry. He acts. He promises to bring them “to a land flowing with milk and honey,” a land rich with food. God sends. Then comes the surprise: “Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt” (3:10). God would rescue His people, and He would use Moses to do it. The difference from before. Forty years earlier, Moses tried to rescue his people by his own strength and failed. Now God Himself says, “I have come down,” and He sends Moses. The rescue would be God's, from start to finish.

Three verbs of care (3:7). “I have surely seen… have heard… I know.” The Hebrew of “surely seen” doubles the verb (ra'oh ra'iti, say: rah-OH rah-EE-tee), a way of saying “I have truly, certainly seen.” This answers the end of chapter 2, where “God heard their groaning… And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them” (2:24-25). “I have come down” (3:8). The same language appears at Babel (Genesis 11:5) and Sodom (Genesis 18:21), where God comes down to judge. Here He comes down to rescue. The verb for “deliver” is natsal (say: nah-TSAHL), to snatch away, as one snatches a lamb from a lion. The land. “A land flowing with milk and honey” is the Bible's picture of plenty: pasture for animals and wild honey from the hills. The peoples named in 3:8 show that God's promise to Abraham (Genesis 15:18-21) was about to move forward. God's work, Moses' calling (3:9-10). God said both “I have come down to deliver them” and “I will send you.” God's rule over all things does not cancel Moses' calling; it is the reason for it. The man who once acted without being sent now received the one thing he lacked in 2:14: a commission from God. Stephen quotes these words and calls Moses “a ruler and a deliverer by the hand of the Angel who appeared to him in the bush” (Acts 7:35).

God told Moses what He had seen. His people were slaves in Egypt. They were treated badly every day. God saw it all. God heard every cry. God knew how much they hurt. God did not just feel sorry for them. He said, “I have come down to save them.” God was going to act! He was going to set them free. Then God told Moses his part. Moses would go to the king of Egypt. God sees when we are hurting too. He hears us when we pray. And He cares about us. God does not just watch. He helps!

God saw His people hurting. God heard them cry. God came to save them, and He sent Moses.

“Who am I?” Moses asked, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?” (3:11). Once he had been sure of himself. Now he felt small. God did not answer, “You are great.” He answered, “I will certainly be with you” (3:12). What matters most is not who we are but who goes with us. “What is His name?” Moses expected the people to ask who sent him (3:13). God answered, “I AM WHO I AM” (3:14). God's name tells us that He simply is. Nobody made Him. He depends on nothing. He was never born, and He never changes. The Lord. In the next verse God says, “The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever” (3:15). In many English Bibles, the word LORD is printed in small capital letters when it stands for this special name of God. Jesus said “I AM.” Many years later Jesus told the crowds, “before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58). He was saying He is the eternal God who spoke to Moses. That is why the crowd was so upset.

“Who am I?” (3:11). Moses' first objection was about himself. God's answer turned from Moses' identity to His own presence: “I will certainly be with you” (3:12). The Hebrew is ehyeh 'immak (say: eh-YEH ee-MAHK), “I will be with you.” The same verb, ehyeh, appears two verses later in God's name. The name (3:14). Ehyeh asher ehyeh (say: eh-YEH ah-SHER eh-YEH), “I AM WHO I AM,” or “I will be who I will be.” It comes from the verb “to be.” It speaks of God's self-existence (He depends on nothing), His faithfulness (He will be what He has promised), and His freedom (He is not named or controlled by anyone). The Lord (3:15). The next verse gives the name usually written in English as LORD. In Hebrew it is four letters, often written YHWH, and is related to the same verb “to be.” Out of reverence, many Jewish people do not say it aloud but say “Adonai” (say: ah-doh-NIGH), “Lord.” God calls it “My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.” Exodus 6:3 adds that the patriarchs knew God as “God Almighty,” but “by My name Lord I was not known to them,” meaning they had not yet experienced all that this name would reveal. “I AM” in John. Jesus' words “before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58) were His own claim to be God, and the crowd understood it: they picked up stones. Jesus also used “I am” to show what He is for us: “I am the bread of life” (6:35) and “I am the resurrection and the life” (11:25). The eternal I AM gives His people everything they need.

Moses felt small. “Who am I to go?” he asked. God did not tell Moses he was great. God said, “I will be with you.” That was enough! Then Moses asked for God's name. God said, “I AM WHO I AM.” This name tells us something big. God has always been alive. Nobody made God. God never changes. God cared for Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He cared for Moses. And He is here with us today. That is good news for every child.

Moses asked God for His name. God said, “I AM WHO I AM.” God has always been here, and He will always be here.

“They will not believe me.” Moses worried that nobody would listen (4:1). God asked, “What is that in your hand?” (4:2). An ordinary shepherd's rod became a serpent and then a rod again. God also turned Moses' hand white with disease and healed it, and promised that Nile water would become blood (4:6-9). God can use whatever we have in our hands. “I am slow of speech.” Moses said, “I am not eloquent… but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue” (4:10). God answered, “Who has made man's mouth?… Have not I, the Lord? Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say” (4:11-12). “Send someone else.” Moses' last answer was not a question but a refusal: “O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send” (4:13). “So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses” (4:14). Saying no to God is serious. Mercy anyway. Even so, God gave Moses his brother Aaron as a helper and spokesman (4:14-16). God's plan did not depend on Moses being bold. It depended on God being faithful.

Five objections. Moses raises five: who am I (3:11), what is Your name (3:13), they will not believe (4:1), I am not eloquent (4:10), and send someone else (4:13). The first four are questions God answers patiently. The fifth is a refusal, and only then does God's anger burn. The signs (4:1-9). The rod becomes a nachash (say: NAH-khahsh), a serpent, the word used in Genesis 3. Later, before Pharaoh, Aaron's rod becomes a different word, tannin (say: tah-NEEN), a larger creature (7:9-10). The leprous hand and the water turned to blood point ahead to God's power over sickness and over the Nile itself. The signs are given “that they may believe” (4:5). The Creator's answer (4:11). “Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord?” God does not deny Moses' weakness. He claims it as part of His creation and His purpose. Paul heard something similar: “My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Anger and mercy (4:14-17). God's anger is real, yet His answer is a gift: Aaron, who “can speak well” and is already on his way. Moses will be “as God” to Aaron, meaning Moses receives the word and Aaron speaks it. Jeremiah would later protest, “I cannot speak, for I am a youth,” and hear, “I am with you to deliver you” (Jeremiah 1:6-8).

Moses kept giving excuses. “The people will not believe me.” So God gave him three signs. His stick turned into a snake. His hand got sick and then got well. Water would turn to blood. Then Moses said, “I am not good at talking.” God said, “I made your mouth!” God promised to help him speak. But Moses said, “Please send someone else.” That made God angry. Saying no to God is a sin. But God was kind. He sent Aaron to help Moses. God helps us when we feel weak. We can say yes to God.

Moses said, “I am not good at talking.” God said, “I made your mouth. I will help you.” God helps us do what He asks.

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