Exodus 3:1 - Meaning and Application

The life of Moses is strikingly divided into three periods of forty years. The first forty years he lived as a prince in Pharaoh’s court, the second as a shepherd in Midian, and the third as a king in Jeshurun, that is, Israel. Human life changes quickly, and the lives of good people often change the most.

Moses had finished his second forty years when God gave him his call to bring Israel out of Egypt. Sometimes God takes a long time before He calls His servants into the work He planned for them from the beginning, and for which He had already been preparing them. Moses was born to be Israel’s deliverer, yet nothing was said to him about that until he was eighty years old.

Notice first how God found Moses when He appeared to him. He was keeping the flock, tending sheep near Mount Horeb, Exodus 3:1. This was a humble job for a man with his background and training, yet he was content with it. In that lowly work, he learned meekness and contentment to a rare degree, and Scripture honors him more for that than for all his learning.

We should stay in the calling where God has placed us and not keep changing for no good reason. Even those fit for great work should not be surprised if they are kept in quiet places. That was Moses’s lot before he was called, and he had no reason to expect anything different. If some feel buried alive in hidden service, they should be content to shine like lamps in a grave until God’s time comes to set them on a lampstand.

God found Moses busy, and then honored him with this vision. God encourages honest work. The shepherds were tending their flocks when they received the news of our Savior’s birth, Luke 2:8. Satan likes to catch us idle, but God is pleased when He finds us at work.

Solitude also helps our fellowship with God. When we are alone, the Father is with us. Moses saw more of God in the wilderness than he ever had in Pharaoh’s court.

Second, notice what the appearance was. To Moses’s great surprise, he saw a bush burning, though he could see no fire from earth or heaven that had lit it, and it was not consumed, Exodus 3:2. It was the angel of the Lord who appeared to him. Some think this was a created angel speaking for the One who sent him. Others think it was the second person of the Trinity, the angel of the covenant, who is himself the Lord. In either case, this was a special display of God’s presence and glory. What Moses saw came through an angel’s ministry, but in it he heard God speaking to him.

He saw a flame of fire, for our God is a consuming fire. When God promised Abraham Israel’s rescue from Egypt, Abraham saw a smoking fire pot, which pointed to the light of joy that deliverance would bring, Genesis 15:17. But here the fire appears brighter, like a flame, because in this rescue God would bring terror and destruction to Israel’s enemies, light and warmth to His people, and reveal His glory before all. See Isaiah 10:17.

The fire was not in a tall cedar or a stately tree, but in a bush, a thorny bush. That fits the way God often works. He chooses weak and despised things, like Moses now, a poor shepherd, to shame the wise. He delights to honor what is humble.

The bush burned, yet was not consumed. This was a picture of the church, then suffering bondage in Egypt. It was burning in the brick kilns, yet not destroyed. It was troubled, but not crushed. It was knocked down, but not ruined.

Third, notice Moses’s curiosity about this strange sight. He said, “I will turn aside and see,” Exodus 3:3. He speaks as one who is eager and bold to inquire. Whatever it was, he wanted to know its meaning if he could. Things God has revealed belong to us, and we should seek to understand them carefully.

Fourth, notice the invitation to draw near, but with caution. God gave Moses a gracious call, and Moses answered at once, Exodus 3:4. When God saw that Moses noticed the burning bush, turned aside to look, and left his work to attend to it, then God called to him. If Moses had ignored it as a mere strange light and not worth attention, God likely would have said nothing. But when Moses turned aside, God called to him.

Those who want fellowship with God must attend to Him and come near in the ways where He has chosen to reveal Himself, even if it seems like a bush. They must come to the treasure even if it is in an earthen vessel. Those who seek God diligently will find Him, and they will find Him a generous rewarder. Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.

God called him by name, “Moses, Moses.” That voice must have startled him even more than the sight had. The word of the Lord always went with the glory of the Lord, because every divine vision was meant to bring divine truth, Job 4:16, Job 32:14-15.

God’s calls become effective in two ways. First, the Spirit of God makes them personal, calling us by name. The word says, “Ho, everyone,” but the Spirit applies it and says, “Ho, such a one.” God says, “I know you by name,” Exodus 33:12. Second, we must answer with obedience, as Moses did, “Here I am.” That means, “What does my Lord say to his servant? I am here not only to hear, but to do what I am commanded.”

God also gave Moses a needed warning against carelessness and irreverence. Moses had to keep his distance. He was to draw near, but not too near, close enough to hear, but not so close as to pry. His conscience needed to be satisfied, but not his curiosity. And he must guard against treating God too casually.

In all our approaches to God, we should feel deeply the great distance between us and Him, Ecclesiastes 5:2. This command also fits the Old Testament time, when God’s saving rule was marked by darkness, bondage, and fear. The gospel now gives believers boldness to enter the holiest place and invites them to draw near.

Moses was also told to show reverence and readiness to obey: “Put off your shoes from off your feet,” as a servant would do. Taking off the shoe then showed respect, much like taking off a hat does now. The ground was holy for the moment because of this special display of God’s presence, and it must be treated as such. Do not walk on that ground with dirty shoes. Keep your foot, Ecclesiastes 5:1.

We should come before God with a serious pause and preparation. Bodily exercise alone profits little, yet we should glorify God with our bodies too. We should show inward reverence by grave and respectful behavior in worship, avoiding anything careless, light, rude, or unfit for the awfulness of God’s service.

Fifth, God makes a solemn declaration of His name, by which He would be known to Moses: “I am the God of your father,” Exodus 3:6.

He lets Moses know that it is God who is speaking to him, so that he will show reverence, pay attention, believe, and obey. That is enough to demand all of these, because God says, “I am the Lord.” We should always receive the word as the word of God (1 Thessalonians 2:13).

God also identifies himself as the God of Moses’ father, Amram, a godly man, and as the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the ancestors of Israel. God was about to appear for their sake. In this, God meant to teach Moses about the life to come and strengthen his belief in a future state, that is, life after death. Jesus himself uses this passage as the clearest explanation of Scripture and proves from it that the dead rise again, arguing against the Sadducees. Christ says Moses “showed” it at the bush (Luke 20:37), meaning that God showed it to Moses there, and through him to us as well (Matthew 22:31). Abraham was dead, yet God still called himself the God of Abraham. So Abraham’s soul must still live, since God remains in relation to him, and for Abraham’s happiness to be complete, his body must also live again in due time. The promise made to the fathers, that God would be their God, must include future blessedness. God never did anything for them in this life that fully matched the wide meaning of that great promise. But since he has prepared a city for them, he is not ashamed to be called their God (Hebrews 11:16). See also (Acts 26:6-7) and (Acts 24:15).

This also assured Moses that all the specific promises made to the fathers would come true. He could trust that, because these words show that God remembered his covenant (Exodus 2:24). God’s covenant relationship with us, that he is our God, is the best support in hard times, and a strong reason to trust his promises. And when we know our own unworthiness, we can still find comfort in God’s relationship to our fathers (2 Chronicles 20:6).

Moses was deeply affected by this. He hid his face, because he was both ashamed and afraid to look at God. Now that he knew the light was divine, it blinded him with its brightness. He had not been afraid of the burning bush until he realized that God was in it. Even though God called himself the God of Moses’ father, and a God in covenant with him, Moses was still afraid.

The more we see of God, the more reason we have to worship him with reverence and holy fear. Even when God shows us his grace and covenant love, it should make us more humble before him.