Moses And the Burning Bush: Bible Story Summary and Commentary

Moses And the Burning Bush: Bible Story Summary and Commentary November 6, 2014

Why was the story of Moses and the burning bush included in the Bible?  What can we learn from this account?

The Demotion of Moses

After Moses had killed the Egyptian who was beating the Israelite slave he had to run for his life as a fugitive. There he was on the precipice of greatness, the heir to the Pharaoh of Egypt and next in line to rule the greatest nation on the earth yet he had to run into the desert and escape because Pharaoh sought his life after he discovered Moses’ killing of the Egyptian. So there was Moses, demoted now to a shepherd and shepherds were the most despised of jobs in the ancient world and to an extent, they still are today in the Middle East. That is where we will take up the story of Moses and the burning bush.

The Bush that Burned

In Exodus 3:1-2 it says that Moses “was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.  And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.”  As anyone would be, Moses was curious and so he said “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”  Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place onwhich you are standing is holy ground.”  And 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 at God” (Ex 3:3-6).  It wasn’t unusual to see fires in the wilderness but what was different about this was the fact that it was a burning bush but the bush didn’t burn up.  When he approached the bush God spoke to him saying “Do not come near’ take your sandals off your feet.”  Why?  God answers “for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”  We see the image of God’s being a burning, consuming fire and this might be why He appeared to Moses as a bush on fire (Deut 4:24; Heb 12:29).

God Reveals Himself

God choose to reveal Himself to Moses.  When God identified Himself as the God of your fathers and “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” Moses did what we would do…he “hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.”  That’s a natural response because no one can look at God and live (Ex 33:20) and so we’d expect Moses to hide his face and tremble in fear before God.  When God identified Himself to Moses He wanted Moses to know that He was the God of his forefathers…the father of the nation of which Abraham’s descendants came from.  This must have been familiar to him as he must have heard of Israel going into Egypt during a time of famine, only to grow into a great nation.  God was going to use Moses, perhaps the least likely in human eyes, to deliver Israel from the mightiest nation on the face of the earth, Egypt.

God Hears Israel’s Cries

Why was God calling Moses?  God said “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, 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 broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey” (Ex 3:7-8a).  God told Moses that “the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them” (Ex 3:9).  Today, God is still calling men, women, and children out of sin (which Egypt symbolizes) and wrests them out of the hand of the Enemy (of which Pharaoh is symbolic) and brings them into the Promised Land (the kingdom of heaven).

Moses, the Reluctant Deliverer

God tells Moses “Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”  But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”  He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain” (Ex 3:10-12). Moses is reluctant and we should not be surprised. Remember that Moses had a death sentence placed on him when he fled Egypt and also he is supposed to confront the Pharaoh (the same one?) and tell him to let the entire nation go free!?  That’s a tall order for any man.  That’s why God tells Moses “I will be with you.”

God Reveals His Name: I AM

Moses is also reluctant to go because the people might not believe him and they will ask “What is His name?”  This is why Moses asks “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them (Ex 3:13).  God says “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I am has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘The Lord, the 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 thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations” (Ex 3:14-15). This is the covenantal name of God.  I AM means the self-existent one or literally “I AM that I AM.”  God is revealing Himself to Moses as the Uncaused One.  We are a human being…are were not yet came into being…we have a finite existence and there was a time when we didn’t exist. Not so with God for He has always existed and has no need of anyone outside of Himself to exist.  That is hard to wrap my mind around but that’s why I am finite and He is infinite.

Conclusion

God still speaks to us today but it is through His written Word the Bible. We have no further need for new revelation because what we have in the Scriptures is sufficient and efficient to save those who would repent and trust in Him.  What more do we need to know because “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law” (Duet 29:29).

Another Reading on Patheos to Check Out: What Did Jesus Really Look Like: A Look at the Bible Facts

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book  Blind Chance or Intelligent Design available on Amazon


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