Exodus 3:1-10 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is Exodus 3:1-10. Let’s go!
A. God’s call to Moses from the burning bush.
1. (1-3) Moses and the burning bush on Mount Horeb.
Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.”
a. Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law: For 40 years Moses lived as an obscure shepherd in the desert of Midian. At this point his life was so humble that he didn’t even have a flock of sheep to call his own – the sheep belonged to his father-in-law.
i. Tending the flock: “The Hebrew suggests that this was his habitual occupation.” (Cole)
b. The back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God: Moses brought the sheep to this mountain, also later called Mount Sinai. Horeb probably means “desert” or “desolation,” and the name gives an idea of the terrain.
c. The bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed: It wasn’t just that Moses saw a bush burning; apparently, it is not uncommon for a plant like this to spontaneously ignite out in that desert. Nevertheless, two things were distinctive about that bush:
· The Angel of the LORD appeared… from the midst of the bush.
· Though the bush burned, the bush was not consumed.
i. “Though the bush burned with fire, it did not crackle or diminish, no leaf curled and no branch charred. It burned, but was not consumed.” (Meyer)
ii. The bush burning but not being consumed was a magnetic sight to Moses – it drew him in for a closer examination. Some think the burning bush to be a symbol of Israel, or the people of God more generally – afflicted but not destroyed, because God is in the midst of them.
iii. Yet we can also say that the burning bush was a picture of the cross. The Hebrew word used to describe this bush is comes from the word “to stick or to prick,” this meaning a thorn-bush or bramble. We can think of the cross – where Jesus, crowned with thorns, endured the fires of judgment and yet was not consumed by them – and be reminded of the cross when we consider the burning bush.
iv. I will now turn aside to see this great sight: Whatever exactly Moses saw, it was nothing normal. “To explain what happened here as a temporary mirage of reflected sunlight on some red leaves or a campfire of some Bedouin or even the phenomenon of Saint Elmo’s fire is to substitute our experience for Moses’ forty years in that area and his estimate that it was indeed unusual.” (Kaiser)
v. Clarke on the Angel of the LORD: “Not a created angel certainly, for he is called Jehovah, Exodus 3:4 and has the most expressive attributes of the Godhead applied to him… Yet he is an angel, malach, a messenger, in whom was the name of God… And who is this but JESUS, the Leader, Redeemer, and Saviour of all mankind?”
2. (4-6) From the burning bush, God calls to Moses.
So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” 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.
a. When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look: God didn’t speak to Moses until He had Moses’ attention. Often God’s Word doesn’t touch our heart the way that it might because we don’t give it our attention.
i. The burning bush was a spectacular phenomenon that captured Moses’ attention; but it changed nothing until Moses received the Word of God that came to him there.
b. God called to him from the midst of the bush: Moses didn’t see anyone in the burning bush; yet God, in the presence of the Angel of the LORD (Exodus 3:2) was there, calling out to Moses from the midst of the burning bush.
i. Undoubtedly, this is another occasion where Jesus appeared before His incarnation in the Old Testament as the Angel of the LORD, as He did many times (Genesis 16:7-13, Judges 2:1-5, Judges 6:11-24, Judges 13:3-22).
ii. We say this is God, in the Person of Jesus Christ, because of God the Father, it is said No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him (John 1:18), and that no man has ever seen God in the Person of the Father (1 Timothy 6:16).
c. Moses, Moses: God’s first words to Moses called him by name. This shows that even though Moses was now an obscure, forgotten shepherd on the backside of the desert, God knew who he was, and Moses was important to God.
i. The double call (Moses, Moses!) implied importance and urgency, as when God called Abraham, Abraham! (Genesis 22:11), Samuel, Samuel! (1 Samuel 3:10), Simon, Simon (Luke 22:31), Martha, Martha (Luke 10:41), and Saul, Saul (Acts 9:4).
d. Then He said: God told Moses to do two things to show special honor to this place because of the immediate presence of God.
He told Moses to keep a distance (Do not draw near this place).
· He commanded Moses to show reverence for God’s presence (Take your sandals off your feet).
i. Do not draw near literally has the sense of “stop coming closer.” Moses was on his way for an up-close examination of the burning bush when God stopped him short.
ii. This was a holy place; and because God is holy, there will always be a distance between God and man. Even in perfection man will never be equal to God, though we will be able to have closer fellowship with Him than ever.
iii. Take your sandals off your feet: Removing the sandals showed an appropriate humility, because the poorest and most needy have no shoes, and servants usually went barefoot. It also recognized the immediate presence of God. In many cultures, you take off your shoes when you come into someone’s house, and now Moses was in God’s “house,” a place of His immediate presence.
iv. “As this sole must like in dust, gravel, and sand about the foot when travelling, and render it very uneasy, hence the custom of frequently washing the feet in those countries where these sandals were worn. Pulling off the shoes was, therefore, an emblem of laying aside the pollutions contracted by walking in the way of sin.” (Clarke)
e. The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob: God revealed Himself to Moses by declaring His relationship to the patriarchs. This reminded Moses that God is the God of the covenant, and His covenant with Israel was still valid and important. This wasn’t a “new God” meeting Moses, but the same God that dealt with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
i. God would reveal Himself to Moses more intimately than He had to any of the patriarchs; yet it all began with God reminding Moses of the bridge of covenant they met on.
ii. Some in the days of Moses might have thought that God neglected or forgot His covenant in the 400 years of Israel’s slavery in Egypt, since the time of the patriarchs. Nevertheless, God was at work during that time, preserving and multiplying the nation.
f. Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God: God told Moses to do what was appropriate for a creature before their Creator – to revere and recognize His holiness. Moses responded as a man who knew he was not only a creature, but also a sinful creature – he hid his face.
i. In his years in the wilderness of Midan, Moses must have often remembered how he murdered an Egyptian and how proud he was to think he could deliver Israel himself. Moses might have remembered a thousand sins, both real and imagined – now, when God appeared, he responded in a way completely different than he might have 40 years before.
B. God’s commission to Moses.
1. (7-10) God explains His general plan to Moses, and Moses’ place in the plan.
And the LORD said: “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. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from 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. 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. Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
a. I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land: God did not just then decide to give Israel the land of Canaan. It was the same land that He promised to the patriarchs some 400 years previous to this.
b. I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry: God wanted Moses and Israel to know His compassionate care for them.
i. To this point, Moses’ experience emphasized the separation between himself and God. Moses could never burn without being consumed. Moses could not speak from the midst of a fire. Moses couldn’t keep his sandals on in the divine presence. Moses was not the eternal God of the patriarchs. The separation between God and Moses was real; yet God would soon show His care and compassion to Moses and the people of Israel. God is separate, but not necessarily distant. God is separate; yet God cares and connects Himself to our needs.
c. I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people: In Exodus 3:8 God said, I have come down to deliver them. Then at Exodus 3:10 God said, come now, therefore, and I will send you. If God said He would deliver them, whey did He use or need Moses at all? This shows that God often uses and chooses to rely on human instruments.
i. God could do it all by Himself, but it is most often God’s plan to work with and through people, as we are workers together with Him (2 Corinthians 6:1).
2. (11-12) Moses’ answer, and God’s reply to that answer.
But 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?” So He said, “I will certainly 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.”
a. Who am I: 40 years before, Moses thought he knew who he was: he was a prince of Egypt and a Hebrew, God’s chosen instrument to deliver Israel. After forty years of chasing sheep around the desert, Moses didn’t have the same self-sure confidence that he once had.
b. I will certainly be with you: God’s reply is intended to take Moses’ focus off of himself and on where it should be – on God. Therefore, God never answered the question “Who am I?” Instead, He reminded Moses “I will certainly be with you.”
i. This was a great opportunity to deal with Moses’ “self-esteem” problem, but God ignored the solutions we usually use regarding this “problem.” Moses only had a self-esteem problem when he was too confident in his own ability to deliver Israel.
ii. Who am I: This really wasn’t the right question; “Who is God?” was the proper question. God’s identity was more important than who Moses was. When we know the God who is with us, we can step forth confidently to do His will.
iii. I will certainly be with you: After this, Moses had no right to protest further. From here his objections move from a godly lack of self-reliance to an ungodly lack of faith.
c. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain: As Moses tended his flock in the wilderness, it probably seemed totally unlikely that he would lead all three million of his people to this same mountain – but God promised that this would be so.
i. The sign that God had truly sent Moses may not have been the coming to Mount Sinai (which did not happen for many, many months). The sign probably refers backwards, to the sign of the burning bush and the encounter with God there.
by Rev. David Guzik
