Moses at The Burning Bush
September 6, 2019
Commentary
After 40 years of training in the courts of Pharaoh, Moses now is near the end of another 40 years of his life as a shepherd. Leading his father-in-law Jethro’s flock, in search of grasslands, Moses approached Mount Horeb in the desert of Sinai (v. 1).
One day as he was out in the desert he saw a very strange sight. He saw a bush on fire (v. 2). It was just an ordinary thorn bush of the desert. But instead of burning up and turning to ashes it just kept right on burning. Attracted by the sight, Moses went closer to see why it kept on burning and was not burned up (v. 3). As he came near to the bush something very strange happened. He heard a voice calling his name (v. 4). It was God’s voice speaking to him out of the midst of the burning bush.
God was warning him that he was on Holy ground and that he needed to take his shoes off (v. 5).
At that point Moses became afraid and hid his face (v. 6). God then told Moses how He had seen the oppression of His people and heard their cry and now He was about to deliver them and bring them back to the land of their fathers (vv 7-9). He told Moses that he was the one to go to Pharaoh and lead the children from the land (v. 10). God commissioned Moses to deliver His people from Egypt.
Application
God still uses human instruments to do His work. There had been 80 years of preparation for Moses and now it was time to act. It may not have been 80 years but God has a work for me to do. The big question is, Am I willing to do it?
Exodus 3:1– 10 (NET)
1 Now Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb. 2 The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from within a bush. He looked, and the bush was ablaze with fire, but it was not being consumed! 3 So Moses thought, “I will turn aside to see this amazing sight. Why does the bush not burn up?” 4 When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to look, God called to him from within the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” 5 God said, “Do not approach any closer! Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 6 He added, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
7 The Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt. I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. 8 I have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a land that is both good and spacious, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the region of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 9 And now indeed the cry of the Israelites has come to me, and I have also seen how severely the Egyptians oppress them. 10 So now go, and I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”
Illustration: Dr Kersten Snached Many From Concentration Camps
During those blood-filled days between 1940 and 1945 when names like Hitler, Himmel, and Goering struck terror in the hearts of millions, Dr. Kersten rescued thousands from sure death at the hands of the mad-dog Nazis. As personal physician and manual therapist to Heinrich Himmel, he had amazing powers over Germany’s number two man. Dr. Kersten used this influence to keep many from becoming victims of the wanton killers who led Germany. Week by week Kersten snatched Himmel’s victims from concentration camps and gas chambers. The World Jewish Council credits him with saving 60,000 of their people, and the number of Dutch, Poles, Finns, and Norwegians he saved is difficult to estimate. The great influence of this little known and quiet man changed the course of destiny for many, and perhaps for the whole world. (Encyclopedia of Illustrations #1905).