Exodus 3:1-12 - Seeing is Believing!

Exodus 3:1-12

Moses at the Burning Bush (Exodus 6:2—7:7; 11:1–4; 12:35, 36)

1 Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. 3 Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.”

4 So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

5 Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” 6 Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.

7 And the LORD said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. 8 So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. 9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

12 So He said, “I will certainly be with you. And this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”

Moses had fled Pharaoh’s vengeance on him for being adopted and raised with privileges by his daughter in the royal household and then killing an Egyptian for whipping a fellow Hebrew who was a slave serving under hard bondage.  He tried to correct an injustice with violence and had to flee justice in return; this is a lesson in peaceful protest against injustice (Romans 13:1-2, Titus 3:1) and not taking responsibility for punishment into our own hands.  Moses found himself away from the plentiful life he grew up in and now stood among the flock of Jethro in Midian near Mount Sinai near the mountain of God called Horeb.  He looked to the side as he walked along and saw a bush on fire that was not being consumed by the flames, an unusual and perplexing sight.  He could not figure out why it was not burning but there was a flame, not knowing it was the Angel of the LORD there before him in the flame!  Only when he turned to approach the sight did the LORD God call out to Moses by name.  He answered with, “Here I am.”  For God had gotten his attention and then called him; he responded with his attention to listen and hear what God had to say to him just as we do when the Lord calls us with the word of the gospel and opens our eyes to see the wonder of Himself come to us.  Moses was told to stop where he was and remove his shoes in honor of God’s holiness as true worship does when facing the Almighty.  Moses put his head down to hide as he heard God speaking and identifying Himself as the God of his forefathers of promise.  He listened in fear and awe as God told him that He had been watching the suffering of His people in bondage in Egypt.  He spoke of the oppressive regime that put such burdens on them to serve as slaves to build their cities and suffer the attempts to keep them up under control and not rise up (Exodus 1:9-10, 11-12, 14) in revolt due to their ever-increasing population.  God knew their sorrows and suffering as He had foretold (Genesis 15:13, Acts 7:6) from the beginning of the promises to the forefathers.  Now it was time to bring them out of the suffering and sorrows of their enslavement.  He would deliver His people from bondage into a promised land of plenty described as a land of milk and honey, sweet and nourishing, just as promised to Abraham and repeated to Isaac and Jacob (Israel) before Joseph was taken to Egypt to set the stage for God’s people to be fruitful and multiply in that foreign land.  We who are in Christ are akin to them in this world of woe as exiles and sojourners (1 Peter 1:1-2, 3-4, 2:11), yet no longer in bondage to sin because we have been set free from its bondage of the will and soul through faith in God’s Son in the same manner as Abraham had faith (Galatians 3:8-9) to believe God’s work and word of promise.  This all sounded wonderful to Moses, knowing what he could not do to avenge his people from oppression would be accomplished by God Himself!  Now came the kicker: God was calling him to be the deliverer as he himself had tried unsuccessfully to be that led him to flee.  Moses immediately asked how someone like him could do such a thing.  The answer was that God would be with him there the entire time to accomplish the work he would be sent to do.  God would give him a sign to reassure him of these things.  The sign was that they would be brought back there to that place on the mountain of God to worship and serve Him!  We will see that Moses kept asking to have other signs to convince Pharaoh, however, since Moses had not enough faith to believe God’s word and enabling him to face Pharaoh and deliver God’s message.  Do we also doubt God is able to use our feeble words to convey the gospel and set men and women free?  Seeing God is believing.  When we have seen Him in person, how can we not believe that He is able to open the eyes of others as He did ours?