And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.
Moses was keeping his father-in-law's flock in the desert to Horeb when a bush burned with fire yet was not consumed, and not at first knowing God was present he resolved to turn aside to examine why it was not burnt. When he turned aside God called to him from the bush, bade him keep distance and put off his shoes because the ground was holy, and he hid his face in fear and reverence before the divine presence. The unconsumed bush was a token of God present as a consuming fire, for Christ the Light of the world, the I AM, was revealed there as the same who led Israel in cloud and fire and later veiled His glory over the tabernacle. The Infinite veiled His glory in a lowly shrub so Moses could behold it and live, foreshadowing His divinity veiled in human form, and the burning without consuming shows His refining fire that burns away sin and dross in trial and affliction without destroying the one who trusts Him. After forty years of discipline as a faithful shepherd in exile, Moses was there selected and commissioned to leave his flock and deliver Israel from bondage, and though self-distrustful and slow of speech, his willing obedience made him eloquent and competent for the greatest work ever entrusted to man, showing that private communion with God must come before public work for Him.
Moses Turns Aside at Horeb
Moses was living in retirement in Midian, keeping sheep in humble duty as he tended the flock of Jethro his father-in-law. He led the flock into the desert to Horeb, the mountain of God, where angels were sent to instruct him about the future and to teach him self-control and humility. This shepherd work was preparing him to become a spiritual shepherd of God's sheep, even His people Israel, tenderly caring for erring, straying sheep, though he had already been fully qualified as a general to stand at the head of armies. There the angel of the Lord appeared in flame of fire out of the midst of a bush that burned without being consumed.
Moses did not at first recognize that God was present there, and the great and extraordinary sight drew his attention. He resolved to turn aside to examine it, to investigate this strange sight and learn why the bush was not burnt. When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush to commission him to lead Israel out of Egypt. As he drew near God commanded him to keep distance and not come near, and to remove his shoes because the place where he stood was holy ground made holy by His presence. Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look upon God, for God's presence calls for reverence.
What the Unburned Bush Reveals
The bush was a token and sign of the Divine Presence, representing the unseen God present as a consuming fire yet without consuming what He inhabited. Its burning without being consumed showed Moses that the voice speaking to him from it was God Himself. The One thus revealed was Christ, the Light of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ, the I AM, who called Moses to make known Jehovah's superiority over every false deity. He was the same who afterward spoke to Joshua as captain of the host of the Lord and who led the Hebrews through the wilderness in the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, whose presence made the ground holy. The glory that later appeared veiled in the cloud over the tabernacle came from this same Jesus Christ who had spoken at the bush, God veiling the brightness of His presence so the people could endure its sight and be approached.
The shrub itself was lowly, seemingly without attraction, yet it held the presence of the Infinite. God veiled His glory in that humble form so Moses could behold it and live. In this veiling the bush foreshadowed Christ's divinity veiled in visible human form.
The burning without being consumed illustrates God's refining work and comfort toward believers. His power works like a refining fire that consumes sin and dross without consuming the human agent. Trials, persecution and temptation may burn away what is impure in the one who trusts in Christ, but they do not destroy the faithful person, and through the refining the good shines more brightly. So the sign shows that in deprivation and affliction God is with His people to comfort and sustain them.
Prepared and Called to Deliver
The call at the bush came only after forty years of special preparation under God's discipline in exile keeping sheep in the desert, mountains, rocks, wilds, and green pastures of the valleys. Moses had first tried to do his special work by force and might when he slew an Egyptian oppressor and hid him in the sand, thinking Israel should know he was their deliverer, and this proved he was not ready. God sent him away from the king's court as prospective ruler of Egypt, for He could not take him from there to do the appointed work without training amid the humble duties of the most lowly position in life. There patiently seeking stray sheep taught him to be a tender, patient, loving, faithful shepherd, learning faith and meekness, patience, humility and self-forgetfulness, to care for the weak, to nurse the sick, to seek after the straying, to bear with the unruly, to tend the lambs and to nurture the old and the feeble.
In solitude in the school of nature with Christ as teacher he learned the highest wisdom, lessons of humility, meekness, faith and trust that all his thorough education in Egyptian wisdom as the king's grandson could not impart. Meditating on God's character he grasped more fully the sense of His presence, recognized God's presence in his surroundings, knew God as a personal God, became closely united to the Holy One of Israel and was drawn nearer to the chief Shepherd, finding refuge in the everlasting arms. He no longer planned to do a great work but sought to do faithfully as unto God the work committed to his charge, learning simple, unwavering faith and constant trust in the Lord that bound his soul closer to God. With Jethro's help he gained a correct faith working steadily upward toward the light until prepared in singleness of heart to see God. While he understood the perverse disposition of his countrymen and supposed he had forfeited all right to be the instrument, he was still considering ways and means for their deliverance when God appeared after forty years of exile under God's discipline.
At the bush God revealed Himself as the I AM and selected Moses, singled out and accepted as co-worker and agent. He called and commissioned him to exchange his shepherd's crook for the rod of authority, to leave his flock, to go and deliver the children of Israel, the oppressed Hebrew race, out of Egypt from four hundred years of bondage. He was to carry God's message to Pharaoh, take the leadership of Israel, and make known Jehovah's superiority over every false deity, an experience Moses later remembered.
The divine command found Moses self-distrustful, slow of speech and timid, overwhelmed with a sense of incapacity to be a mouthpiece for God. His willingness to obey God and trust Him rather than rely on human wisdom or strength, giving himself to God with the whole soul and listening for commands to obey them, led him to accept putting his whole trust in the Lord. God blessed his ready obedience, and the greatness of the mission called into exercise the best powers of his mind, making him eloquent, hopeful, self-possessed, patient, self-reliant and competent, fitted and educated for the greatest work ever given or entrusted to mortal man. Increase of talents was given him because he used his talents to do the work of God, showing what happens whenever anyone fully surrenders to God, and this proving and testing belongs to God's dealing in ways higher than human ways that surprise by their manner.
Moses' meeting and speaking with the Angel in the bush before his work of delivering Israel and before carrying God's message to Pharaoh shows that communion with God during the forty years in the mountain altitudes prepared him to become God's instrument. His experience caring for a flock taught him thoughtfulness and tender concern, fitting him to shepherd God's people when called. So private communion with God must come before public work for God, as part of the pattern in which preparation for sacred work includes patient care and readiness to follow God.
Moses was keeping his father-in-law's flock in the desert to Horeb when a bush burned with fire yet was not consumed, and not at first knowing God was present he resolved to turn aside to examine why it was not burnt. When he turned aside God called to him from the bush, bade him keep distance and put off his shoes because the ground was holy, and he hid his face in fear and reverence before the divine presence. The unconsumed bush was a token of God present as a consuming fire, for Christ the Light of the world, the I AM, was revealed there as the same who led Israel in cloud and fire and later veiled His glory over the tabernacle. The Infinite veiled His glory in a lowly shrub so Moses could behold it and live, foreshadowing His divinity veiled in human form, and the burning without consuming shows His refining fire that burns away sin and dross in trial and affliction without destroying the one who trusts Him. After forty years of discipline as a faithful shepherd in exile, Moses was there selected and commissioned to leave his flock and deliver Israel from bondage, and though self-distrustful and slow of speech, his willing obedience made him eloquent and competent for the greatest work ever entrusted to man, showing that private communion with God must come before public work for Him.
Moses Turns Aside at Horeb
Moses was living in retirement in Midian, keeping sheep in humble duty as he tended the flock of Jethro his father-in-law. He led the flock into the desert to Horeb, the mountain of God, where angels were sent to instruct him about the future and to teach him self-control and humility. This shepherd work was preparing him to become a spiritual shepherd of God's sheep, even His people Israel, tenderly caring for erring, straying sheep, though he had already been fully qualified as a general to stand at the head of armies. There the angel of the Lord appeared in flame of fire out of the midst of a bush that burned without being consumed.
Moses did not at first recognize that God was present there, and the great and extraordinary sight drew his attention. He resolved to turn aside to examine it, to investigate this strange sight and learn why the bush was not burnt. When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush to commission him to lead Israel out of Egypt. As he drew near God commanded him to keep distance and not come near, and to remove his shoes because the place where he stood was holy ground made holy by His presence. Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look upon God, for God's presence calls for reverence.
What the Unburned Bush Reveals
The bush was a token and sign of the Divine Presence, representing the unseen God present as a consuming fire yet without consuming what He inhabited. Its burning without being consumed showed Moses that the voice speaking to him from it was God Himself. The One thus revealed was Christ, the Light of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ, the I AM, who called Moses to make known Jehovah's superiority over every false deity. He was the same who afterward spoke to Joshua as captain of the host of the Lord and who led the Hebrews through the wilderness in the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, whose presence made the ground holy. The glory that later appeared veiled in the cloud over the tabernacle came from this same Jesus Christ who had spoken at the bush, God veiling the brightness of His presence so the people could endure its sight and be approached.
The shrub itself was lowly, seemingly without attraction, yet it held the presence of the Infinite. God veiled His glory in that humble form so Moses could behold it and live. In this veiling the bush foreshadowed Christ's divinity veiled in visible human form.
The burning without being consumed illustrates God's refining work and comfort toward believers. His power works like a refining fire that consumes sin and dross without consuming the human agent. Trials, persecution and temptation may burn away what is impure in the one who trusts in Christ, but they do not destroy the faithful person, and through the refining the good shines more brightly. So the sign shows that in deprivation and affliction God is with His people to comfort and sustain them.
Prepared and Called to Deliver
The call at the bush came only after forty years of special preparation under God's discipline in exile keeping sheep in the desert, mountains, rocks, wilds, and green pastures of the valleys. Moses had first tried to do his special work by force and might when he slew an Egyptian oppressor and hid him in the sand, thinking Israel should know he was their deliverer, and this proved he was not ready. God sent him away from the king's court as prospective ruler of Egypt, for He could not take him from there to do the appointed work without training amid the humble duties of the most lowly position in life. There patiently seeking stray sheep taught him to be a tender, patient, loving, faithful shepherd, learning faith and meekness, patience, humility and self-forgetfulness, to care for the weak, to nurse the sick, to seek after the straying, to bear with the unruly, to tend the lambs and to nurture the old and the feeble.
In solitude in the school of nature with Christ as teacher he learned the highest wisdom, lessons of humility, meekness, faith and trust that all his thorough education in Egyptian wisdom as the king's grandson could not impart. Meditating on God's character he grasped more fully the sense of His presence, recognized God's presence in his surroundings, knew God as a personal God, became closely united to the Holy One of Israel and was drawn nearer to the chief Shepherd, finding refuge in the everlasting arms. He no longer planned to do a great work but sought to do faithfully as unto God the work committed to his charge, learning simple, unwavering faith and constant trust in the Lord that bound his soul closer to God. With Jethro's help he gained a correct faith working steadily upward toward the light until prepared in singleness of heart to see God. While he understood the perverse disposition of his countrymen and supposed he had forfeited all right to be the instrument, he was still considering ways and means for their deliverance when God appeared after forty years of exile under God's discipline.
At the bush God revealed Himself as the I AM and selected Moses, singled out and accepted as co-worker and agent. He called and commissioned him to exchange his shepherd's crook for the rod of authority, to leave his flock, to go and deliver the children of Israel, the oppressed Hebrew race, out of Egypt from four hundred years of bondage. He was to carry God's message to Pharaoh, take the leadership of Israel, and make known Jehovah's superiority over every false deity, an experience Moses later remembered.
The divine command found Moses self-distrustful, slow of speech and timid, overwhelmed with a sense of incapacity to be a mouthpiece for God. His willingness to obey God and trust Him rather than rely on human wisdom or strength, giving himself to God with the whole soul and listening for commands to obey them, led him to accept putting his whole trust in the Lord. God blessed his ready obedience, and the greatness of the mission called into exercise the best powers of his mind, making him eloquent, hopeful, self-possessed, patient, self-reliant and competent, fitted and educated for the greatest work ever given or entrusted to mortal man. Increase of talents was given him because he used his talents to do the work of God, showing what happens whenever anyone fully surrenders to God, and this proving and testing belongs to God's dealing in ways higher than human ways that surprise by their manner.
Moses' meeting and speaking with the Angel in the bush before his work of delivering Israel and before carrying God's message to Pharaoh shows that communion with God during the forty years in the mountain altitudes prepared him to become God's instrument. His experience caring for a flock taught him thoughtfulness and tender concern, fitting him to shepherd God's people when called. So private communion with God must come before public work for God, as part of the pattern in which preparation for sacred work includes patient care and readiness to follow God.