Exodus 3:2
And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
At Horeb, the mountain of God, Moses was leading the flocks of Jethro through the desert in his retirement from Egypt when he saw a lowly bush aflame with fire yet not destroyed, and as he drew near God called to him from the flame. The angel in the flame was Christ Himself, the I AM and Jehovah, speaking in His own name and voice and making the ground holy by His presence. The brightness was the glory of God's presence veiled in the insignificant shrub so fallen man could behold Him and live, foreshadowing divinity veiled in humanity to make God accessible. The bush burned yet no fiber was destroyed because the Lord dwelt within it, representing all who receive Christ by faith in terrible conflict and affliction, whose trials burn like a furnace yet consume only the dross while faith shines brighter because He in their midst sustains them. Forty years of faithful shepherding had humbled and disciplined Moses in meekness, patience and trust to fit him for his work, and the sight marked God's chosen time for him to exchange the shepherd's staff for the rod of God and deliver Israel from bondage by God's mighty power, that the glory would belong to God.
Moses Prepared at Horeb
Moses was in retirement as keeper of Jethro's flocks, leading them through the desert to Horeb, the mountain of God in the mountains of Midian. He had turned from courtly honors and a prospective kingdom as prospective ruler of Egypt to this humble shepherd life. There he saw a bush with branches, foliage and trunk aflame, burning with fire yet not consumed. As he approached to examine the extraordinary sight, God called to him from the flame.
Forty years of faithful shepherding was God's discipline to prepare Moses for his life's work. In the humble duties of a faithful shepherd God was teaching him self-control and humility and training him to become a spiritual shepherd of Israel after his qualification as a general to lead armies. The work taught him humility, meekness, faith and trust in the Lord, with a simple unwavering bond with God that palace education could not give. It gave him experience in caretaking, thoughtfulness and tender solicitude, hunting with patience for erring and straying sheep until he became a tender, patient, loving, faithful shepherd. Those years removed false ideas gained in Egypt and made him a strong thinker and doer of God's word.
Moses had first tried to deliver by force and human wisdom and strength when he slew an Egyptian fighting an Israelite and hid him in the sand, showing he was not ready. His earlier confidence in human wisdom and strength had to be put aside, and God sent him into forty years of desert exile among deserts and mountains and rocks to learn his helplessness and need to trust and obey. Jethro helped him toward correct faith as far as he understood, and Moses worked steadily upward toward the light until he was prepared to see God in singleness of heart as a learner. While he supposed he had forfeited all right to be the instrument and was considering how deliverance could be accomplished, this proving, testing, humbling and refining made him ready.
Angel in Unconsumed Flame
The Angel who appeared in the flame is Christ Himself, the Light of the world, the I AM, Jehovah, the Lord and Captain of the Lord's host who later appeared to Joshua and to Gideon. He was no common angel and no prophet merely telling what the Lord would do, but spoke in His own name with His own voice. From the flame He revealed the holy presence of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and that presence made the ground holy.
The fire was the brightness of God's presence veiled in a lowly, insignificant shrub that enshrined the Infinite, so that fallen Moses could behold the unseen God in representation and live. The bush thus foreshadowed Christ's divinity veiled in visible human form to make God accessible. No mortal can endure the unveiled revelation, which has always been shrouded by a guard of angels, in contrast to the privilege later given to John of seeing Christ amid the indescribable glory of the holy sanctuary on Patmos.
The bush burned with fire yet was not consumed, and not a fiber of its branches was destroyed, because the Lord dwelt within it. Moses knew the voice speaking from it was God because it was not consumed. The sight demands humility and reverence, so Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look upon God.
The unconsumed bush represents people enduring adversity, deprivation, reverses and affliction, and all who believe in terrible conflict and receive Christ by faith. The brightness of the Unseen is in their midst to comfort and sustain them. Trials, persecution and temptation may burn as a furnace, but His refining power consumes only the dross and what is impure while the human agent is not consumed and faith and gold shine brighter. He in the faithful heart is greater than he who controls unbelieving hearts, and knowing Him is proved by keeping His commandments.
In the deliverance from four hundred years of bondage the appearance made God's holiness, grace and love known to idolatrous Egypt, appointing Moses to make known that Jehovah is superior to every false deity.
Commission to Deliver Israel
The burning bush marked that God's chosen time had fully come for Moses to exchange the shepherd's staff for the rod of God. He was sanctified, selected and accepted as co-worker with God, summoned to leave his flock, go to Pharaoh, deliver Israel from oppression and preserve them when pursued by enemies. Though he felt incapable of the task, the deliverance would come through God's mighty power in signs and wonders, not through the warfare Moses had expected, so that the glory would belong to God. Near death he still remembered this call as the beginning of his God-appointed mission.
Speaking with the Angel before carrying God's message to Pharaoh shows that God bids workers to come up to Him into the mount in solitary communion before He sends them out. That communion, after forty years of meeting God in the mountain altitudes, fitted Moses to be God's instrument in delivering Israel. Beholding His glory and receiving fresh revelation in this way gives moral power for duty, trial and mission.
The verse shows that God trains useful and honored workers amid the humble duties of the most lowly positions before entrusting them with His cause. Moses, though prospective ruler of Egypt, could not be taken from the king's court to do his appointed work as deliverer, but was sent only after forty years as a faithful shepherd. Only after patiently hunting for stray sheep in desert and mountains and rocks until he learned to be a tender, patient, loving, faithful shepherd did God appear in the bush as the I AM and bid him go and deliver the children of Israel. His earlier confidence in human wisdom and strength had to be put aside through discipline that taught helplessness and need to trust and obey, until through faith and submission he became a sanctified channel through whom God could work. Those who preach the truth need the same preparatory experience, first drinking at the life-giving fountain themselves in order to lead souls to it, seeing the infinite sacrifice made by the Son of God to save fallen men and being imbued with undying love. Schools must fit workers for service in the same way, as the wilderness journey itself taught Israel to endure hardship and rely on God alone for relief and deliverance.
Because Moses gave himself to God with the whole soul, listened for His commands that he might obey them, and used his talents to do the work of God, increase of talents was then given him. He became eloquent, patient, self-reliant and competent to do the greatest work ever entrusted to mortal man. This is the effect upon character whenever men so give themselves to God with the whole soul and obey.