Exodus 3:4, commentary and pictures

At Horeb, after forty years keeping Jethro's flock in Midian, Moses turned aside to examine why the bush burned without being consumed without at first recognizing God's presence in it, and God then called him by name from its midst and he answered that he was present and ready to attend. The burning unconsumed bush was the token of the divine presence, and the voice from it was Jesus Christ the living God and Lawgiver, not a common angel, the same who guided Israel in fire and cloud. The Infinite veiled the brightness of His glory in the humble bush and in darkness as His pavilion so fallen man could endure to look upon Him, foreshadowing the hiding of divine glory in human form at the incarnation. Jehovah revealed Himself only when Moses had been emptied of self and trained through humble shepherding to humility, meekness, faith and tender care for straying sheep, fitting him to shepherd Israel. He was commissioned to bring Israel out of Egypt not by warfare but by God's mighty power in signs and wonders, and his ready obedience in self-distrust and reverence transformed him from timid and slow of speech to eloquent, patient and competent for the work.

Call at Horeb

The call took place in the desert at Horeb, the mountain of God, where Moses had led the flock of Jethro. It came after forty years in Midian in retirement keeping sheep in humble duty. It marked that the time had fully come for Moses to exchange his shepherd's staff, or crook, for the rod of God, the rod of authority.

When Moses turned aside to examine the sight, he went to see why the bush burned without being consumed. At first he did not recognize God's presence in what he beheld. When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him by name out of the midst of the bush, saying Moses, Moses. And he answered, Here am I, declaring himself present and ready to attend.

God Revealed in Bush

The burning bush was a token of the divine presence, with God as a consuming fire dwelling in a humble, insignificant bush so that Moses could look upon the unseen God in representation and hear His voice speaking from its midst. Moses knew the voice to be God because the bush burned yet was not consumed. The voice calling to Moses out of the midst of the bush was the Lord Jesus Christ, the Light of the world and living God and Lawgiver, not a common angel. He was the same one who spoke to Joshua as Captain of the host of the Lord, who conducted the Hebrews through the wilderness enshrouded in the pillar of fire by night and the pillar of cloud by day, and who later talked with Moses from the midst of the glory in the cloud that guided Israel and stood over the tabernacle as the dwelling place where God met with men after the fall. His presence is what made the place holy.

The Infinite was present in the bush, but His glory was veiled so Moses could look upon it and live. In both the bush and the guiding cloud the brightness of God's presence was enshrouded in darkness He made His pavilion, so that Moses and the people could endure to look upon the cloud as seeing Him who is invisible. This veiling was God's plan whereby He might approach fallen man. The humble symbol in which Christ appeared thus foreshadowed the incarnation, when divine glory would be hidden in visible human form.

The bush was given as a symbol for terrible conflict, showing what is true of all who believe in Him: His power works as a refining fire to consume the dross while the human agent is not consumed, and keeping His commandments shows knowing Him. The bush burning without being consumed also pictures people in reverses, deprivation, affliction, illness and adversity, with God calling from its midst to show that the brightness of the presence of the Unseen is with sufferers to comfort and sustain them. The verse shows that the Lord God of heaven is in communication with the fallen inhabitants of this world and is not regardless of earth and its concerns. He bends toward earth and its inhabitants who are deceived and annoyed and deluded by satanic agencies, and He listens to every word that is uttered. Through Moses, Jehovah was to be made known as superior to every false deity.

Commission and Preparation

Moses had been taken into the royal family of Egypt, given a thorough education, and fully qualified as a general to stand at the head of armies, yet he was not prepared to be entrusted with God's work. He prematurely attempted to deliver Israel by force and warfare, slaying an Egyptian who was fighting with an Israelite and hiding him in the sand, thinking Israel would recognize him as their deliverer and hurrying to begin. Seeing he was not ready, God sent him away for forty years among the rocks and mountains and desert as a keeper of sheep. There the Lord sent angels to instruct him about the future, while he patiently sought and hunted for stray sheep and learned self-control and humility.

In that wilderness school of adversity and poverty he was placed under mental and moral discipline and learned faith and meekness, patience, humility, trust and self-forgetfulness. While shepherding literal sheep God was training him to become a tender, patient, loving and faithful spiritual shepherd, to care tenderly for His erring, straying sheep, even Israel. Only when he had been for forty years a faithful shepherd was he sent, proving that useful and honored workers in God's cause receive their training amid the humble duties of the most lowly positions in life. Before the call he was directed by God to obtain experience in care-taking, in thoughtfulness, in tender solicitude for his flock, so that as a faithful shepherd he would be ready.

Jehovah revealed Himself only when Moses was prepared in singleness of heart, having worked steadily upward toward the light with Jethro's help to gain a correct faith. As he was emptied of self and learned to do God's will through years of shepherding and discipline, God was revealed to him. Though Moses believed he might have forfeited the right to serve as God's instrument, God selected him after forty years of exile and discipline had prepared him for the work. The Lord thus proves and tests and tries His servants in a manner surprising to human reasoning, because His thoughts and ways are higher than human thoughts and ways, to refine and purify them for service.

The call commissioned him to bring Israel out of Egypt, to deliver them from oppression and preserve them from their enemies, not by warfare as Moses had supposed, but by God's own mighty power, that the glory might be ascribed to God alone. He was to exchange the shepherd's staff and crook for the rod of God and of authority, to be made powerful in signs and wonders and to leave his flock of sheep to take the leadership of Israel. This appointing to deliver Israel began the mission he later recognized as appointed by God. Moses met with God in communion at the bush, speaking with the Angel before hearing God's message to Pharaoh, and that communion belonged to forty years of communing with God in the mountain altitudes that prepared him to be God's instrument. That meeting with God and receiving of spiritual refreshing prepared him to carry God's message to Pharaoh, and proves that meeting with God must come before doing God's work.

The call found him self-distrustful, slow of speech and timid, overwhelmed with a sense of his incapacity to be a mouthpiece for God. His answer, Here am I, expressed his presence and readiness to attend to God. He accepted the work putting his whole trust in the Lord, and his ready, willing obedience with the whole soul, listening for God's commands that he might obey them, called into exercise the best powers of his mind and gave vital energy and power to his soul. God's presence demanded reverence and humility, and God blessed his obedience so that he was transformed in character and daily life and became eloquent, hopeful, self-possessed, patient, self-reliant and competent for the greatest work ever given to man or entrusted to mortal man. His later usefulness depended not on human learning or self-confidence but on faith, humility and obedience to the Lord who called him, for Moses became great because he used his talents to do the work of God and increase of talents was then given him.

Those who preach the truth need the same caretaking experience, for in order to lead souls to the life-giving fountain the preacher must first drink at the fountain himself, seeing the infinite sacrifice made by the Son of God to save fallen men and being imbued with undying love. Hard labor appointed by God must be done without murmuring, and a difficult and dangerous path must be followed in meekness with crying to God for strength, accepting with thankfulness the way of God's choosing. Even limited capacity in humble service is acceptable to God and does a work enduring as the sun for the worker and for those for whom he labors. In the valley of humiliation need is felt and God is depended on to guide the steps, so affliction with its disappointment and sorrow gives comparative safety, while prosperity and influence are most dangerous to spiritual life and most need prayer.