The Burning Bush
Forty years after fleeing Egypt for killing an overseer, Moses is keeping his father-in-law Jethro's flock at Horeb when he turns aside to look at a bush that burns without being consumed. He is told to take off his sandals, and then given the commission: God has seen the affliction of his people and is sending Moses to Pharaoh.
Moses objects five times — who am I, what is your name, they will not believe me, I am slow of speech, send someone else — and each objection is answered rather than overruled. To the question of the name comes the reply rendered I AM WHO I AM, from which the divine name in the Hebrew scriptures is formed.
The last objection draws anger, and a concession: Aaron will speak for him. Moses goes back to Egypt with a staff and a brother.
Where in scripture
[1] 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 God’s mountain, to Horeb. [2] Yahweh’s angel appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the middle of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. [3] Moses said, “I will go now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” [4] When Yahweh saw that he came over to see, God called to him out of the middle of the bush, and said, “Moses! Moses!” He said, “Here I am.” [5] He said, “Don’t come close. Take off your sandals, for the place you are standing on is holy ground.” …
Exodus 3:1–22 — opening verses
[1] Moses answered, “But, behold, they will not believe me, nor listen to my voice; for they will say, ‘Yahweh has not appeared to you.’” [2] Yahweh said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A rod.” [3] He said, “Throw it on the ground.” He threw it on the ground, and it became a snake; and Moses ran away from it. [4] Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand, and take it by the tail.” He stretched out his hand, and took hold of it, and it became a rod in his hand. [5] “That they may believe that Yahweh, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.” …
Exodus 4:1–17 — opening verses
[30] “When forty years were fulfilled, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. [31] When Moses saw it, he wondered at the sight. As he came close to see, a voice of the Lord came to him, [32] ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ Moses trembled, and dared not look. [33] The Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you stand is holy ground. [34] I have surely seen the affliction of my people that is in Egypt, and have heard their groaning. I have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you into Egypt.’
Acts 7:30–34
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, a public-domain translation.
