The Call of Moses (Exodus 3:1 to Exodus 4:17).
What has gone before was preparatory to what follows. It is now that the main story of the book begins, which will take us from God's call to Moses, to the establishment of the covenant at Sinai and the erecting of God's earthly Dwellingplace, over a period of about two years.
But note the care that has been taken over the training of this man we see before us. He does not know it but he has been fully prepared by God. In Egypt he has been trained in statecraft and law, he has been involved with those who ran a great and powerful nation, and has no doubt had his share in the running of it. He has learned the discipline of power. But what is equally important in Midian he has been trained in desert lore. He now knew where water was to be found in the desert, he knew the secrets of the wilderness of Sinai, he knew the ways that led through that mountainous wilderness and which ways could take a multitude of people and which could not, and apart from his brother-in-law Hobab who was clearly famous for his desertcraft, whom he was able to call on for help (Numbers 10:29, Hobab would have done it for no one else), none was better aware of how to survive in that sometimes dreadful place. No one had been better trained and equipped to be a trek leader than he.
God Appears To Moses In A Flaming Bush (Exodus 3:1-5).
a Moses is feeding the flock and comes to the mountain of God (Exodus 3:1).
b The Angel of Yahweh appears to him in a flaming fire in the midst of a bush (Exodus 3:2 a).
c Moses sees the bush burning and that it is not being consumed (Exodus 3:2 b).
c Moses says that he will turn aside and see why this wonder of a burning bush not being consumed (Exodus 3:3).
b Yahweh sees that he has turned aside and calls to him from the midst of the bush (Exodus 3:4)
a He is not to approach but to take of his shoes because he is on holy ground (Exodus 3:5).
Note the parallels. In ‘a' Moses comes to the holy ‘mountain of God', in the parallel he is not to approach but take of his shoes because he is on holy ground. In ‘b' the Angel of Yahweh appears in flaming fire in a bush, in the parallel Yahweh speaks to Moses from the bush. In ‘c' Moses sees that the bush is not consumed, in the parallel he turns aside to see why the bush is not consumed.
‘Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb.'
Moses was now well settled into the family tribe of Reuel and here is seen fulfilling responsibilities for the flocks. There may well have been others with him keeping the flock, possibly even some of the daughters We have to recognise that we can only speculate as to the make up of the group to which he belonged for we are told nothing. No mention is made of what had happened to the seven daughters, or why Moses should be the shepherd here rather than be involved in other activities of the group. It may be that he was filling in between these other activities, and was accompanied by some of the daughters.
“Led the flock to the back of the wilderness.” He seems to have wandered some distance from the normal pasturage, possibly because of shortage of good pasture. This need to travel some distance may explain why he had been put in charge of them at this time. He had to drive the sheep from the Midianite encampment as far as Horeb, so that after first passing through a wilderness he reached the pasture land there. In this, the most elevated ground of the peninsula, fertile valleys could be found in which fruit-trees grew, and water abounded even in the bad times. It is still the resort of the Bedouin when the lower areas dry up. And he had been involved in this and similar wilderness activity for forty years.
“To the mountain of God.” This is probably the writer's description in the light of what he knew was to come, both in this chapter and later. In the analysis above the parallel is that it is holy ground. It may suggest that it was already looked on as a sacred mountain, but this is not evidenced elsewhere. That God would choose it for a revelation of Himself is sufficient to justify the description. The mountain of God was Mount Sinai (Exodus 24:13) which is in the wilderness of Sinai.
“To Horeb.” It may be that Horeb was the area around the mount but including the mount, for ‘Sinai' is always qualified by either ‘the wilderness of' or ‘Mount' to distinguish the two (except for Exodus 16:1 where it is used loosely, and in poetry in Deuteronomy 33:2; Judges 5:5; Psalms 68:8; Psalms 68:17), whereas Horeb was usually geographically referred to as a place. There is only once a mention of ‘Mount Horeb', and that may even be a different local peak (Exodus 33:6 but see also 1 Kings 19:8, although the latter may arise from the same problem as we have, interpretation). This suggests that Mount Sinai and Horeb, while closely identified, are not to be seen as synonymous expressions, with Horeb having a wider meaning and including the plain beneath the Mount. Indeed the area of Horeb clearly stretched even further afield (Exodus 17:6). There may also be some truth in the idea that Sinai was the Canaanite name for the mountain and Horeb the Midianite name, but that would not fully account for the differing usage. But it may be that the Canaanites tended to think only of the particular impressive mountain while the Midianites thought in terms of the whole place where they wandered.
‘And the angel of Yahweh appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the middle of a bush, and he looked, and behold the bush burned with fire and the bush was not consumed.'
God appears as ‘the angel of Yahweh'. This is another connection of the book with Genesis. It parallels the use of the term in Genesis 16:7-13; Genesis 22:11-18; Numbers 22:22-35 compare Genesis 21:17). Ishmael would go on from such an appearance to found a nation. In the Pentateuch the phrase always refers to God directly as openly revealing Himself at a time of crisis in covenant matters. So now in this time of crisis Yahweh is revealing Himself in a direct way to Moses. He too is going forward to found a nation. This mention of the Angel of Yahweh stresses the direct relationship of His action with the covenant, and relates back to 2:24. The Angel of Yahweh was the manifestation of the God of the covenant of their fathers.
Here we have the first use of Yahweh in Exodus. This is because as their covenant God He is now stepping into their situation to act in accordance with His covenant.
“Appeared in a flame of fire.” Many attempts have been made to explain this naturally. Bushes do sometimes burst into flame in hot countries, and Moses may well at first have thought that that was what was happening here. But the point that is made, and presumably impressed Moses, was that it went on burning without consuming the bush and did not die out. It was not the natural phenomenon that he was used to. The undying flame was a fit picture of the ‘I am What I am', the ever existing and present One, by which Yahweh revealed Himself and His nature..
God appearing in fire is common in both Old and New Testaments (see Genesis 15:17; Exodus 13:21; Exodus 19:16; Exodus 19:18; Exodus 20:18; Exodus 24:17; Exodus 40:38; Deuteronomy 4:11; Ezekiel 1:27; Ezekiel 8:2: Act 2:3; 1 Timothy 6:16; Revelation 21:23; Revelation 22:5). To the ancients such a manifestation was a combination of the inexplicable and beneficial, dangerous and yet vital. It had no form and yet could be seen even in the darkness. It benefited man and yet could consume him. It was glorious and awe-inspiring and then in a moment it could be gone. In manifestation it brought home something of the significance of the divine.
“Out of the middle of a bush.” It may well have been God's intention that Moses was to see in the sparse desert bush a picture of afflicted Israel. The idea would then be that God was among His people in an undying flame, just as the lampstand in the Tabernacle would later represent the same. It may be of some significance in regard to this that the lampstand later represented a tree, with the burning flames at the tips. By then the thorn bush had potentially become a fruit tree (Exodus 25:31-40).
‘And Moses said, “I will turn aside now and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.”
Moses had seen many bushes burn briefly but not one that went on and on burning incessantly. So he decided that he must take a closer look. The words may simply have been passing through his thoughts, or they may have been spoken to those who were with him. But either way he somehow knew that he must approach the bush alone.
‘And when Yahweh saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said, “Moses, Moses.” And he said, “I'm here.” And he said, “Do not draw near here. Take your sandals off from your feet for the place on which you stand is sanctified ground.'
Note that it was ‘Yahweh' Who saw that he turned aside to see, but ‘God' Who called to him from the bush. It was important to link this visit of the Angel of Yahweh (Exodus 3:2) with the God Who was so concerned about Israel. This use of ‘God' very much emphasises His oneness. The introduction of the name Yahweh signalled the commencement of new covenant activity. We can compare how in Genesis, when Ishmael was to be restored to the covenant community it was ‘the Angel of Yahweh' Who met him (Genesis 16), but when he was leaving the covenant community for ever he was helped by ‘the Angel of God' (Genesis 21:17). This is a reversal of that situation. Now it was Moses, who had been so long away from the covenant community and covenant matters, and had lived among strangers under the hand of ‘God', who was being reintroduced into the covenant community. Thus the reintroduction of the name of ‘Yahweh' Who was thus making His name known once again.
God called Moses twice by name. Thus did Moses know that this was personal, something for him and for him alone. Compare Genesis 22:11; 1 Samuel 3:10. The repetition of the name always stresses urgency.
It is difficult for us to appreciate the trauma of this moment. Moses had often wandered in the wilderness. He had possibly often approached this mountain. He had fairly regularly seen bushes burning spontaneously, although never one that continued to do so like this without apparently being affected by it. But a voice was something different, especially a voice that revealed its divine source in what it commanded. We can only imagine the stunned shock. The incredulity. The fear. Moses was but a man like we are, although later he would become more familiar with the voice (compare Numbers 7:89).
“Do not draw near.” God was there, and it would have been dangerous to come too close, for God was revealed as a consuming fire.
“Take off your sandals.” Compare Joshua 5:15; 2 Samuel 15:30. Later the priests performed their duties barefoot (note that there is no mention of shoes or sandals in Leviticus 8 and the toe at least is accessible (Leviticus 8:23)). Indeed in many religions men took of their shoes when entering the Sanctuary. The point was that the dirt on men's sandals must not defile the place where God is. It is a symbol of the otherness of God. The washing with water at the laver would have a similar purpose. It did not ‘cleanse' (‘shall not be clean' is a constant refrain after washing with water) but prepared the way for cleansing by removing earthiness as man approached God in solitariness.
“Sanctified ground.” That is, ground that was set apart at that time as uniquely untouchable and holy except by God's grace, because God was there. His presence made all He came in contact with holy and exclusive (compare Exodus 19:12-13). No man could be allowed to approach such things lightly.
In his youth he had possibly known what it was to come into the presence of Pharaoh, the necessary preparation, the washing, the grooming, and then the solemn approach into the inner throne room. That preparation had been awesome. But he recognised that this was something even more traumatic. For this was unearthly, terrifying, in a way that Pharaoh had never been. Here was an unearthly presence. And he would divest himself of his sandals, and sink to his knees and wonder what was to happen to him.