FRAMEWORKS:
Exodus 3: Moses with God at the Burning Bush
v.1-3
Moses sees a burning bush
v.4-10
God tells Moses who He is, and that He is sending Moses
v.11-12
Moses FIRST question about this call & God's answer [about
himself]
v.13-16
Moses SECOND question about this call & God's answer [about
God]
v.17-22
God explains to Moses what will happen (1)
v.1-3
Moses sees a burning bush
v.1
Now
Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest
of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness
and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
v.2
There
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within
a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not
burn up.
v.3
So
Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why
the bush does not burn up.”
[Notes:
Moving his sheep around the wilderness searching for
grass, Moses comes to Horeb (Mount Sinai) where one day he sees
a bush apparently on fire but not burning up. He goes for a closer
look.]
v.4-10
God tells Moses who He is, and that He is sending Moses
v.4
When
the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him
from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I
am.”
v.5
“Do
not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the
place where you are standing is holy ground.”
v.6
Then
he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the
God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face,
because he was afraid to look at God.
v.7
The
Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt.
I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and
I am concerned about their suffering.
v.8
So
I have come down to [i] rescue
them from the hand of the Egyptians and [ii] to
bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land,
a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites,
Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.
v.9
And
now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen
the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.
v.10
So
now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites
out of Egypt.”
[Notes:
No doubt to his surprise, he hears his name being called
and when he responds he's told to beware for this is holy ground.
The voice explains He is the God of Abraham and the other Patriarchs
[who Moses would have heard about in the stories passed down through
the generations]. God explains He has seen what is going on with
Israel in Egypt and He has come to [i]
deliver them and [ii]
take them to Canaan, and He's
going to use Moses to do it. Note this is the FIRST time the Lord
declares His intentions.]
v.11-12
Moses FIRST question about this call & God's answer [about
himself]
v.11
But
Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring
the Israelites out of Egypt?”
v.12
And
God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you
that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people
out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”
[Notes:
Moses, once a shamed Prince of Egypt, now an anonymous
shepherd, questions that he could do that. The Lord's answer is
simply that He will go with him. When he gets back here with the
people he will (then, at least) know this was God's mission.]
v.13-16
Moses SECOND question about this call & God's answer [about
God]
v.13
Moses
said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them,
‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me,
‘What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?”
v.14
God
said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what
you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.'”
v.15
God
also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, [The
Hebrew for Lord sounds like and may be related to the Hebrew for
‘I am' in verse 14.] the
God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the
God of Jacob—has sent me to you.' “This is my name forever, the
name you shall call me from generation to generation.
v.16
“Go,
assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The LORD, the
God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared
to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has
been done to you in Egypt.
[Notes:
Moses queries who he shall tell his people has sent
him. He shall refer to Him as ‘the God who is', [i.e. perhaps
the Eternal One] the God who revealed Himself to Abraham etc.
From now on in the Old Testament when this name, “I AM WHO I AM”
is used it is simply written as capitalized LORD.]
v.17-22
God explains to Moses what will happen (1)
v.17
And
I have promised to [i] bring
you up out of your misery in Egypt [ii] into
the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites
and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.'
v.18
“The
elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the
elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The LORD,
the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day
journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the LORD our
God.'
v.19
But
I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty
hand compels him.
v.20
So
[iii] I
will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the
wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let
you go.
v.21
“And
[iv] I
will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people,
so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed.
v.22
Every
woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house
for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will
put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians.”
[Notes:
God's strategy involves i) delivering Israel out of
Egypt, ii) taking them into Canaan, iii) striking the Egyptians
with judgments and iv) making the Egyptians give them wealth as
they leave. Note this is the SECOND time the Lord declares His
intentions.]
Continue to Chapter 4