The Burning Bush

Context

The Israelites were the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the family to whom God had promised a land of their own. They were now suffering under oppression in Egypt, and their cries had risen from beneath the power of Pharaoh, Egypt’s king.

Moses was living in Midian and tending the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro. He was nowhere near Pharaoh’s court or Israel’s oppressed communities. He was working as a shepherd in the wilderness when God called him into what God was about to do.

Story

Moses led Jethro’s flock beyond the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames rising from within a bush. The bush was on fire, but it did not burn up.

Moses turned aside to examine the strange sight. When God saw him approach, he called from the bush, “Moses, Moses!”

Moses answered, “Here I am.”

God told him not to come any closer and to remove his sandals, because he was standing on holy ground. Then God identified himself as the God of Moses’s father—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Moses hid his face, afraid to look at God.

God told Moses that he had seen the suffering of his people in Egypt. He had heard their cries under their taskmasters and knew their pain. He had come down to rescue them and bring them into a good and spacious land, rich and fruitful, where the Canaanites and other peoples were then living.

Then God gave Moses his assignment: he would send Moses to Pharaoh to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.

Moses immediately asked, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh?”

God’s answer centered not on Moses’s ability, but on his own presence: “I will be with you.” God also gave Moses a sign to look forward to. After Moses brought the people out of Egypt, they would worship God at that very mountain.

Moses had another question. When he told the Israelites that the God of their ancestors had sent him, they might ask for God’s name. What should he say?

God answered, “I AM WHO I AM.” Moses was to tell Israel that I AM had sent him. He was also to say that the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, had sent him. This was God’s name to be remembered through every generation.

God instructed Moses to gather Israel’s elders and tell them that the Lord had seen what was being done to them. He promised to bring them out of their suffering and into the promised land. The elders would listen, and together they would go to Pharaoh and ask to travel three days into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord.

God also warned Moses that Pharaoh would not release them unless compelled by a mighty hand. God would stretch out his hand and perform wonders in Egypt. After that, Pharaoh would let the people go. God would give the Israelites favor with the Egyptians, so they would not leave empty-handed. Israelite women would ask their neighbors for silver, gold, and clothing for their sons and daughters.

Still, Moses hesitated. He said the Israelites might not believe that the Lord had appeared to him.

God asked what he was holding. It was a shepherd’s staff. At God’s command, Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a snake. Moses fled from it. God told him to reach out and take it by the tail. When Moses did, it became a staff again. This sign would help the people believe that the God of their ancestors had appeared to him.

For a second sign, God told Moses to put his hand inside his cloak. When Moses pulled it out, the skin was diseased and white as snow. He put it inside his cloak again, and when he drew it out, it was restored. If the people rejected the first sign, they might believe the second. If they rejected both, Moses was to pour water from the Nile onto dry ground, where it would become blood.

Moses then pointed to another weakness. He had never spoken easily, he said. He was slow of speech and tongue.

God reminded him that the human mouth was his creation. God was sovereign over speech and hearing, sight and blindness. He commanded Moses to go and promised to help him speak and teach him what to say.

At last, Moses asked God to send someone else.

The Lord became angry with Moses, but he also provided help. Aaron, Moses’s brother, could speak well and was already coming to meet him. Aaron would be glad to see Moses. Moses was to give Aaron the words to say, and God promised to help them both speak and teach them what to do. Aaron would speak to the people for Moses, while Moses would give him the message received from God.

God’s command remained. Moses was to take the staff in his hand—the staff through which the signs would be done.

What We Learned

• God sees, hears, and knows the suffering of his people. His plan to rescue Israel began with his compassion and faithfulness to his promises.
• God came near to Moses, yet his presence made the ground holy. Moses was called to approach with reverence.
• Moses’s calling rested on God’s identity and presence, not on Moses’s confidence: the great assurance was, “I will be with you.”
• God answered Moses’s questions with promises, instructions, and signs, but his anger at Moses’s final plea showed that the call was not optional.
• God equipped his hesitant messenger through signs, promised words, an ordinary staff, and the help of Aaron.