Moses and the Burning Bush

Continuing from the last blog post a chronological study of the Bible:

(Exodus 3:1) Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

In the last chapter, it appeared that Moses's father-in-law was Reuel.  Probably Reuel was the patriarch of the family, and as we read about the sons and daughters of Jacob, or the sons and daughters of Abraham, who were actually descendants further down the line than first sons and daughters, so was probably the case with the daughters of Reuel.  We read elsewhere (Acts 7:30) that forty years had passed since Moses first came to Midian, so perhaps Reuel had died, and now Jethro was the patriarch of the family.  Some of the early commentaries wrote that Jethro was actually Moses's father-in-law, the father of Zipporah, and Reuel was her grandfather, where others believed Jethro was Moses's brother-in-law, Reuel being his father-in-law.  The original word "chathan" which was translated as "father-in-law" was generally understood to mean that, but its actual literal meaning is "to contract affinity through marriage (especially through the bride)", so father-in-law or brother-in-law, either one, would seem reasonable.  I tend to believe Jethro was Moses's father-in-law as he would later become someone from whom Moses would take "fatherly advice".

Moses tended the flock of his father-in-law, and at this time led the flock to the back part of the desert, where there were probably good pastures for feeding the flock.  He came to Horeb, the "mountain of God", a name that was probably given it after the incident which happened next, or perhaps after God gave His people the law from this mountain.  Horeb and Sinai were two peaks of the same mountain.

(2) And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, but the bush was not consumed.

In Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible, Mr. Clarke wrote that this was no ordinary angel, "not a created angel certainly... but Jesus, the Leader, Redeemer, and Savior of mankind."  Some other Biblical scholars agree, but it was from studying Clarke's writings that I was referred to other passages in the Bible that convinced me it was true.  The original word translated as "angel" was "malak", a "messenger", and the word used for "LORD" was Jehovah.  This messenger of Jehovah would a few verses later give His name.  He could be speaking for Jehovah God, but Who is the Word of God?  John 1 tells us clearly that the Word of God is Jesus.  Additionally, Clarke pointed out that in Exodus 23:20-21, God spoke of an Angel He would send.  He said to beware of that angel and obey His voice because God's name was in Him, and God's name was Jehovah, so that appeared to be the same messenger of Jehovah as is referenced in verse 2 above.  I'm not sure that I understood that phrase to mean Jesus before.  These same words were used for the angel of the LORD who spoke to Hagar.  Maybe the identity of this messenger of God is not what is most important, but we can be certain any messenger would be given the full authority needed to fulfill the will of God at any given time.  Maybe Jesus, the actual Word of God, is who God chose to use from time to time, whereas He may have used a created messenger at other times.  Either way, we can be sure what Moses was about to experience was from God Himself.

(3) And Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.”

Moses wrote about this incident after it happened, so he came to know that it was the Angel of the LORD appearing to him in that bush, but I don't believe he knew it at the time, or at least not at first.  However, he was very interested in trying to figure out how that bush was burning, but was not being burned up.

(4) And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”

The first thing that caught my attention was that the LORD saw, and God called.  The LORD is "Jehovah", the name for God Himself.  The word translated as "God" is "Elohiym", and it's plural!  That is something I'm not sure I ever before realized.  I've known that Elohim was a name for God, but more specifically, it appears to be the name for the entire Godhead--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Jehovah God saw, and then Jehovah God, with the Word Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit of God, called to Moses.  Note that "Eloahh" is the singular form of Elohiym.

Note that the scripture says, "when the LORD saw...".  That would seem to imply that if Moses had not taken notice of the burning bush, God would not have spoken to him at this time.  40 years before this time, Moses seemed to have received a calling that he would rescue his people, but it didn't seem the time was right then.  Maybe even now at this time, God was testing Moses to see if he was ready.  In Paul's writings in the New Testament he wrote about the spirit in man (Romans 8 and 1 Corinthians 2), and the natural man with the spirit of the world cannot see the things of God.  I think back to Esau, who did not appear to see the things of God, but valued more the base things of the world.  Jacob, on the other hand, constantly strove for the blessings of God.  You might think a burning bush that was not consumed would interest anyone, but I am willing to bet there was a spiritual element to this burning bush (obviously, right?) that perhaps only one ready to receive the spiritual things of God would perceive.   Maybe it's like that when God calls us to salvation.  Of course, God would already know if we were going to accept Him or not, just like He already knew that Moses would turn aside to see the burning bush, so are these tests really necessary?  I believe they are for us ourselves.  How many times can we look upon in our past where we can see the leading of God's Holy Spirit that we may not have recognized at the time?  It's important for us to begin to recognize and discern the things of God and I believe God may give us practice for our benefit.  Oh, maybe it's not really designed as "practice"; He's always there and always working, refining us as gold.  But it is important for us to learn to recognize the Holy Spirit because there are many false spirits in the world and many masquerading as angels of light.  Once we start to recognize the Holy Spirit, we are more apt to look for His leading in the future.  God saw that Moses was ready to hear Him and called audibly out to him.  Moses answered right away.  It surely must have taken him by surprise, but in his spirit he must have known this was God calling him, and he answered immediately, ready not just to listen, but to do whatever He asked of him.  

(5) And He said, “Do not draw near this place; take your shoes off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.”

Moses turned aside toward the burning bush, but God commanded that he not come near, that he keep his distance.  He furthermore told him to remove his shoes because he was standing on holy ground.  I don't believe it was previously known as holy, as some have suggested, but was holy because of the presence of God at this moment.  If it had always been considered holy ground, Moses would surely have known about it.  He was instructed to remove his shoes as was the custom of respect and submission, but more than that, this ground was made holy because of the presence of the Lord, and Moses was being cautioned not to enter it lightly or rashly or with irreverence.  Moses was to approach God with a solemn pause, observing proper distance because of the awesome majesty and power of the Lord God, and he was not to tread near with soiled shoes.

(6) Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.

God told Moses that He was the God of his father Amram, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.  The significance of this statement is more apparent when you consider Jesus's words in Mark 12:26-27a (and other places):

“And concerning the dead, that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living..."

By this statement, God declared to Moses that He was God, the God of his fathers gone before him, teaching him that there was a future state for those who looked to God and had faith in His promises.  Abraham was dead, yet God said, "I am the God of Abraham", not "I was (when he was living)..."  Abraham's soul lived, as did the souls of Moses's fathers before him who had faith in God's promises, and that should give Moses confidence in the fulfillment of the promises made to his forefathers.  Moses realized he was in the presence of God and hid his face, probably ashamed as well as afraid to look upon God.

(7) And the LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows."

The Lord told Moses that He had seen the affliction of His people in Egypt.  Albert Barnes, in his Notes on the Bible, pointed out that the word translated as "taskmasters" above was a different word than the one used previously, and indicated more like "oppressors, harassers, or tyrants".  God saw, God heard, and God knew...  I believe that was expressed in three distinct ways because God knew the hearts and inward secret sorrows that were not openly expressed. 

(8) "And I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. (9) Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them."

Furthermore, God told Moses He had come down to deliver His people from the Egyptians.  Because God is omnipresent and is everywhere, He didn't actually physically move from heaven above down to Egypt to deliver His people, but He did make Himself manifest to Moses to declare His plan of deliverance.  However, in the form of Jesus Christ, God did indeed come down from heaven to deliver us!  Not only was God going to deliver His people out of the hand of the Egyptians, but He was going to bring them to a good and large land, in contrast to the small tract of Goshen.  It would be a vast land of richness and abundance, a place then occupied by the Canaanites, etc.  God repeated that He had indeed seen the oppression of His people.

(10) “Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring forth My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

God concluded with His commission to Moses that he go to Pharaoh as an ambassador for his people, to negotiate their release from the burdens and oppression, and to bring them out of Egypt.

(11) And Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

Moses saw himself as weak, insufficient, and incapable of performing the task at hand.  As Moses thought of himself, he couldn't see that it was even possible that he could accomplish such a thing.

(12) And He said, “Certainly I will be with you; and this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

Moses was right, he himself could not do such a thing, but God told him that He would surely be with him to accomplish the task.  The words "shall be" were added by the KJV translators for what they thought was clarity, but I don't believe God was telling Moses that the sign would be that he would serve God on that mountain.  Rather, I believe He was saying that this, the burning bush, was the sign that God was surely with him and was the One sending him on such a seemingly impossible mission.  Then when he had brought the people out of Egypt, they would return to this mountain and serve God there.

(13) And Moses said to God, “Behold, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”

Not only did Moses feel inadequate to challenge Pharaoh, but he felt inadequate to convince the people.  Although that question that Moses expected the people to ask always seemed a strange one to me, it is true that at this time in their existence the children of Israel had been deeply entrenched in Egyptian customs and probably in their superstitions and idolatrous ways.  They probably spoke of many gods who did this and that, and when Moses told them about a supernatural deliverance, he was probably right to assume they would want to know to which god they could attribute such a feat.  Adam Clarke, in his Commentary on the Bible, pointed out that the Israelites at this time probably didn't have much knowledge of the true God.  They lived in oppression under idolatrous pagan tyrants and were surely surrounded by false gods and superstitions.  They certainly had no written Biblical word at this time.  I guess I never thought of it like that before.  For that reason, maybe I can understand a little more the people's lack of faith during the exodus, a little...  God certainly showed Himself to be the Almighty true God, but to a people who were surrounded by so many gods who constantly failed them, maybe that is the reason they seemed to lose faith so easily.  At any rate, Moses expected the people to ask him the name of the god who would deliver them, sort of like, "by whose authority, do you propose these things?"  Moses suspected they would probably test him to decide whether or not they would cooperate with him.

(14) And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

God answered Moses without hesitation.  It wasn't a stupid question proposed by a fearful would-be hero.  The original words given by God were, "Hayah Asher Hayah", and they denoted self-existence, a God eternal and unchangeable, and always the same, yesterday, today, and forever.  He was the God who was faithful and true to all His promises, unchangeable in His word and in His nature.

(15) And moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘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, and this is My memorial to all generations.’”

God, Elohim (the plural Godhead), told Moses to tell the people that Jehovah Elohim, "yehovah" itself meaning "self-existent or eternal", the true eternal God of their fathers, of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that God, had sent Moses to them.  No matter how long they had lived in oppression and idolatrous surroundings, they surely remembered the true eternal God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob!  If the name "I AM" was new or confusing to them, they surely knew Jehovah Elohim of their fathers, a name more familiar and one that surely stood as a memorial to them through the generations since Abraham.  With the new name given personally by God, and with the reference to the Lord God of their fathers, specifically, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God made Himself known to His people that He might revive among them the religion of their fathers, and remind them of His covenant and raise their expectations that now was the time.

(16) “Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, ‘The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt;" (17) And I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.'"

God then told Moses to gather the elders of Israel and tell them exactly what God had told Moses.  The "elders" were probably not men of any authority in church or government, as the people surely were not able to govern themselves.  In this case, the word probably just meant the older men, probably the elder heads of their tribes of families.  Once again God instructed Moses to call Him the Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.  Additionally, by telling the people that God had said He had "surely visited" the people and that He would bring them out of Egypt to the land flowing with milk and honey, it was an exact fulfillment of the prophetic prediction of Joseph in Genesis 50:24, when he said that God would surely visit them and bring them out of that land to the land which He had sworn to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

(18) “And they will heed your voice; and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt; and you shall say to him, ‘The LORD God of the Hebrews has met with us; and now let us go, we beseech you, three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’”

God assured Moses that the elders would listen to him and would go with him to the king of Egypt.  This first petition to Pharaoh was a humble one and one that would have caused no inconvenience or damage to the Egyptians.  It was a reasonable request that they be allowed to go three days' journey, which was undoubtedly to that "mountain of God", which was said to have been a three days' journey, to worship their God in a place He would have appointed to worship and serve Him purely away from the idolatry of Egypt.  Indeed it was God's plan to remove His people completely from Egypt, but if this simple reasonable request had been granted, then the people would have been free, but of course, they weren't, and God knew that.  In being so modest and reasonable in this first request, the denial of it would prove just how unreasonable and inexcusable Pharaoh's actions were.

(19) “And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not even by a mighty hand.”

Indeed, God did know that Pharaoh would refuse this request, but it was important for Moses to proceed in this humble way and let Pharaoh prove who he was.  The words translated as "no, not even" above have various other negative meanings and perhaps should probably have been translated as "not without", as we know that even though Pharaoh refused after many demonstrations of God's mighty hand, he eventually did let them go.

(20) “And I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go.”

Even if the proper translation and sense in verse 19 was that Pharaoh would not let them go even by a mighty hand, God said that once He struck Egypt with all His wonders, he would let them go.  That little word translated as "all" was "kol", and it literally meant "the whole".  After Egypt was struck with the totality of God's wonders, then Pharaoh would let them go.  God let Moses know that eventually Pharaoh would relent.  I'm sure that bit of prophecy would give Moses faith to persevere even though it would seem to him that Pharaoh would never let them go.

(21) “And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall come to pass, that when you go, you shall not go empty-handed. (22) But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, and of her who dwells near her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and clothing; and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters; and you shall plunder the Egyptians.”

God told Moses that when His people left, they would not go empty-handed.  He would give His people favor with the Egyptians so that they would gladly give them all kinds of jewels and clothing.  I'm sure it wouldn't be for some great love for the Hebrews that the Egyptians would do this, but rather recognizing the power of their great God, they would be glad to be at peace with them and be rid of them with anything they asked.  God said in that way they would plunder the Egyptians.  Actually, the original word, "natsal", which was translated as "plunder" also meant "rescue" or "recover".  That is actually the better sense of the word.  In this way, God's people would justly be repaid for all their hard service to the Egyptians.  This would be the fulfillment of a prophecy given to Abraham in Genesis 15:14, “And also that nation whom they serve I will judge; and afterward they shall come out with great substance.”