The Not So Burning Bush

Recap Chapter 2.

We looked at a few points of connection between Moses’ birth story and the book of Genesis.

We also observed how Moses’ is drawn from the water and reeds, just like Israel would pass through the sea of reeds.

This introduced us to the idea that Israel’s experience would follow Moses’ pattern.

And we’re going to explore more of that today.

Setting the stage.

In Ex 3:1 we read that Moses was living as a shepherd.

As he leads his flock westward we read that me comes to the mountain of God, this is of-course Mount Sinai.

But here it says he came to Horeb, Horeb means “dryness” and it probably refers to a broader wilderness area in which Mt. Sinai found itself. That could be why you’ll read different names for this mountain.

Big Picture: Moses shepherd’s a flock toward Mt. Sinai

Later he’d become the shepherd of Israel, leading them to Mt. Sinai. (cf. Num 27:17-18)

Moses -> Israel Parallelism

Next Up: The Not-So-Burning Bush

This is the first place the word “holy” occurs in scripture

This passage introduces us to this concept.

Holiness is not moral perfection (c.f. the ground!)

Holiness is the chief characteristic of this god.

Sense: The Transcendence of god.

(Uniqueness, Otherness, Separateness)

This divine transcendence manifests in Glory

(Visible Awesomeness)

However: Intense and Pure= Dangerous

That’s why Moses is warned, and rightly afraid.

Commonly Fire (Heb 12:29) -> Sun Metaphor

SIDE NOTE: Holiness does take on the aspects of character and moral virtue, but this derives from this core idea. Because god transcends the creaturely realm, he is beyond concerns of sin, unfaithfulness, and weakness. So the holy god becomes to Israel the god who can save, who can be trusted.

Israel has the same encounter when they arrive at Mt. Sinai

God introduces himself to them, appearing in a blazing firestorm over the mountain.

He warns them not to come close to his presence, they took precautions, and they were afraid.

Moses delivered from the water of reeds, escapes pharoah, spends some time wandering in the desert, encounters god’s fiery presence, is taught god’s holiness, and get’s called for a purpose.

That’s exactly Israel’s story as well!

So there’s a strong literary link being crafted not only between Moses and Israel, but the bush encounter and the Sinai encounter.

As a cherry on top of all this, it seems that the mountain was named after the bush, or maybe the other way around.

סְנֶה vs. סִינָי

This is all very cool, but why am I pointing it out?

It helps answer the following question.

Why does god’s presence appear in a bush, and why is such a fragile thing not annihilated by god’s glory?

God could’ve gotten attention in hundreds of ways. Are we really to believe that there’s no reason for doing it this way?

No. When we think of the bush and Sinai together we uncover a powerful message.

When god’s presence descends on the mountain in chapter 19, the whole mountain trembled greatly (Ex 19:18), but the bush calmly sat in the midst of the fire.

This increases our curiosity: How come the mountain shaked but the bush was not consumed

It highlights the wonder of what Moses saw.

So what did it mean, surely it wasn’t just God breaking the rules to grab his attention?

Do we have something at the Sinai encounter that is similar to the bush not being burnt up?

Something to shed light on what Moses saw?

Yes. After the terms of covenant was given to Israel, they agree and go to confirm the covenant with god.

In Ex 24:4-11 we read...

They saw God and were not consumed.

The mountain quaked yes, but the fragile souls ate before God and did not die.

The bush was not burned up.

Back at the Bush God promised Moses that he’d bring up the Israelites to worship at the same mountain.

Moses marvelled at the sight of twigs and branches not being consumed,

no doubt when he beheld God on the mountain peacefully, he remembered the bush.

Israel was the bush!

Very frequently in the OT plants of all sorts represent or symbolize people or nations, especially Israel.

The bush foreshadowed the intimacy Israel would have with their god, and how his holy presence would dwell among them safely.

It was possible for mere creatures to be close with the holy one, even though he was a consuming fire.

But how?

Because of the sacrificial blood of the covenant.

Praise be to Jesus for his blood in the new covenant which prepares to live unhindered with god forever in a new creation.

When we look once again at the bush encounter as a whole we see another remarkable thing.

The bush episode is sandwiched between 2 statements about God’s compassionate attention and sympathetic care for his people.

This alone teaches us about the wonderful character of Yhwh, but that’s not all the passage reveals.

By placing burning bush episode between the statements about god’s compassion, we are also invited to compare the ideas of God’s love and holiness.

The same god who is unapproachable in his glory, and totally transcendent from the creaturely realm

Is the same god who cares for people, even identifying with their pain, and calling to Moses, Moses, as though he was friend.

What a miracle; the consuming fire himself has the heart of a compassionate and caring friend.