Moses and the Burning Bush (Exodus 3:1-6)

1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian [located mainly east of the east fork of the Red Sea], and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb [Sinai], the mountain of God. [This verse acts to tell us how Moses, now an Israelite (un-Egyptian) shepherd, came to a place far from Midianite territory, weeks away from home.] 2 And the angel of the Lord [this phrase appears 67 times in the OT, but only here in Exodus and is perhaps better translated as “the angel that is Yahweh”] appeared to him in a flame of fire [a fiery theophany (an appearance of God in some way to humans)] out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush [a relatively small, thorny shrub—why a bush?] was burning, yet it was not consumed. [God appears to an aging exile working as a shepherd.] 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” [Moses is attracted to this unusual phenomenon.] 4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush [giving more credence to the understanding that the angel is indeed God], “Moses, Moses! [saying another’s name twice is a way of expressing affections and friendship]” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Do not come near [“do not intrude on my holiness”]; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” [God designates exactly to whom Moses is speaking and that he stands in the Israelite tradition of his father, Amram.] And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. [Why did God simply not show up in person? Two of his attributes, his omnipresence and holiness, first make him unlimited in space and second make him unable to tolerate evil. “The Angel Yahweh was not all there was to God but was a true and real representation of him, much as a videoconferencing call brings a valuable sense of the presence of an individual into a room . . . even though the individual is not actually fully present.” (Stuart)]