The Conclusion of the Burning Bush (Exodus 3:13-22)

13 Then Moses said to God, “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?” [Moses is protesting. This is also a recognition that over time the people of God had lost the knowledge of the true God and how to pray to and worship him regularly and properly.] 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I am has sent me to you.’” [“The name should thus be understood as referring to Yahweh’s being the creator and sustainer of all that exists and thus the Lord of both creation and history, all that is and all that is happening—a God active and present in historical affairs.” What Moses probably heard God say was “I cause to be because I cause to be.” (Stuart)] 15 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. [Moses is not coming to them in the name of a new God but in the name of the true God of old, the God of their ancestor, the God who will be their national deliverer.] 16 Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt, 17 and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.”’ [God assigns Moses to report on his theophany to the Israelite leaders.] 18 And they will listen to your voice [God is encouraging his success], and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, please let us go a three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’ [The Israelites are to identify themselves as Hebrews, terminology Pharaoh would understand. They request for a three-day journey is not a temporary trip but a permanent exodus. Pharaoh would have heard it as “We want to leave Egypt for however long we choose.” The Israelites expected to worship God (“sacrifice to the Lord”) far from Egypt.] 19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. 20 So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders [miracles] that I will do in it; after that he will let you go. [God foretells of the upcoming plagues and Pharaoh’s hardened heart. These plagues will be as punishment for the oppression, not merely miraculous displays to impress.] 21 And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you go, you shall not go empty, 22 but each woman shall ask of her neighbor, and any woman who lives in her house, for silver and gold jewelry, and for clothing. You shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.” [God will engineer events such that the people who would once willingly kill Israelite children would now willingly give them their valuables and clothing as plunder, referencing that what will happen is a holy war against the enemy of God.]