The angel of the Lord— In the note on Genesis 16:7 we have delivered our opinion at large, concerning the Angel of the Lord, which, with the generality of Christian interpreters, we conceive to have been the Messiah, the Angel, or Messenger of the Covenant, It is very evident from this chapter, that the Person here appearing to Moses was no created Angel, but Jehovah himself, the second Divine Person in the Trinity; see Exodus 3:4; Exodus 3:6; Exodus 3:14, &c. the same who conducted the Israelites in the wilderness, and that was Christ, according to St. Paul, 1 Corinthians 10:4. Fire was one of the emblems of the Shechinah, or Divine appearance; see Genesis 15:17-18 and of the other appearances which follow in the course of the sacred Scriptures. This flame must have been exceedingly lambent and pure, for Moses to discover the bramble-bush (for so the original word סנה seneh, signifies) unconsumed in the midst of it. The mount and the wilderness of Sinai are thought to be so called, from sene, on account of the brambles which abounded there.
Bush burned with fire, &c.— Many interpreters have thought, that, as fire, in Scripture, is often used as an emblem of calamity, Lamentations 2:3; Lamentations 2:22 therefore, the bush burning with fire, but not consumed, represented, that however the Israelites might be distressed, yet their afflictions should not entirely consume them, nor make an end of them: God signifying by his appearance in the midst of the bush, that he was present with his people in the midst of their tribulations. The heathens, it is certain, had some notice of this history; see Eusebius, praep. Evang. lib. ix. c. 27. Dion Prusaeus too, Orat. 36 has something like this, where he says, "The Persians relate concerning Zoroaster, that the love of wisdom and virtue leading him to a solitary life upon a mountain, he found it one day all in a flame, shining with celestial fire; out of the midst of which he came without any harm, and instituted certain sacrifices to God, who then, he was persuaded, appeared to him." This seems to be only a corruption of the present history.