God calls Moses at the burning bush and sends him to Egypt
3
📚Now Moses was pasturing 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.3:1 Egypt was one of the most advanced civilizations of ancient times, and Moses was a man educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, powerful in words and deeds (Acts 7:22). He was in the prime of life, strong and manly, with a love for his people and a zeal for God. We might think he was fully equipped to lead Israel out of Egypt immediately. Evidently God thought otherwise. Moses spent 40 years in the desert (Ex 7:7 with Acts 7:23, 30), and became a shepherd of his father-in-law’s sheep. It seems that what he needed to know to become the deliverer, lawgiver, and leader of Israel could be learned only in loneliness, lowliness, and difficulties. While he was faithfully performing the lowly task of shepherding sheep God appeared to him to call him to a higher ministry.
Here are some other examples of this same truth: Gideon (Jud 6:11); David (1 Sam 16:11-13); Elisha (1 Kings 19:19); Amos (Amos 7:14-15); Peter (Matt 4:18-19). At last God’s time came to deliver His people from bondage and He leads Moses to Mount Horeb (another name for Sinai). It is called “the mountain of God” because God would later reveal Himself there to His people in a wonderful way and give them His law. Exodus chapters 19–40; the whole of Leviticus, and chapters 1–10 of Numbers were given there.⚜
2 📚And the angel 📖 of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the middle of a bush. And he looked and saw that the bush was burning with fire 📖, but the bush 📖 was not consumed. 3 📚And Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight. Why isn’t the bush being burnt up?”
4 📚And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, and said, “Moses, Moses”. And he said, “Here I am”.
5 📚And he said, “Do not come near here. Take your shoes off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground”. 6 📚He also 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, because he was afraid to look at God.
7 📚And the Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their slave drivers. For I know their sorrows, 8 📚and have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious 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 📚And now, look, the cry of the children of Israel has reached me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are crushing them. 10 📚So now, come and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you can bring my people the children of Israel out of Egypt”.
Moses objects
11 📚And 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 📚And he said, “Certainly I will be with you, and this will be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will serve God on this mountain”.
13 📚And Moses said to God, “Look, when I go to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you’, and they say to me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?”
God reveals His name
14 📚And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM”. And he said, “You shall say this to the children of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”
15 📚And God also said to Moses, “You shall say this to the children of Israel: ‘The LORD 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, and this is the name for remembrance to all generations.
3:14-15 Here is one of God’s important names: “I AM”. Compare the phrase found in Rev 1:8 – “who is, and was, and is to come”. The word LORD in v 15 (all capital letters) indicates the name “Jehovah” or (as some prefer to write it because it is closer to the Hebrew) “Yahveh”, or “Yahweh”. This name comes from the Hebrew word “to be”, and means “I am” or “I will be”. And “I am who I am” could also be translated “I will be what I will be”. Jehovah is the eternally self-existing one. In the Hebrew Old Testament the name Jehovah is used more than 6,000 times. It is God’s “memorial” name to be remembered by the Jews throughout all generations (Ps 135:13). The nature of Jehovah is revealed in Ex 34:6-7.
Some learned Jews translated the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek some two or three centuries before Christ. They translated Jehovah by the Greek word Kurios, which means Lord. “Lord” is used more than 700 times in the New Testament. In many places it is a translation of the name Jehovah (Matt 3:3 and Isa 40:3; Matt 4:7, 10 and Deut 6:13, 16; Acts 2:20-21 and Joel 2:31-32; Rom 4:8 and Ps 32:2). Lord (Kurios) is the title given to Jesus Christ hundreds of times in the New Testament, and Christ used the words “I am” about Himself (John 8:24, 28, 58). The Jesus who appears in the New Testament is the incarnation of Jehovah of the Old Testament.
There are several compound names of Jehovah in the Old Testament.
Jehovah Jireh – “Jehovah will provide” (Gen 22:13-14)
Jehovah Rapha – “Jehovah who heals” (Ex 15:26)
Jehovah Nissi – “Jehovah my banner” (Ex 17:8-15)
Jehovah Shalom – “Jehovah is peace” (Jud 6:24)
Jehovah Tsidkenu – “Jehovah our righteousness” (Jer 23:6)
Jehovah Shammah – “Jehovah is present” (Ezek 48:35)
For notes on these names see the references given. In the New Testament Jesus is revealed completely fulfilling the meanings of all these names: Jireh (John 10:11, 17, 18); Rapha (Matt 9:35); Nissi (Rom 8:37; 1 Cor 15:57); Shalom (Eph 2:14; Col 1:20); Tsidkenu (1 Cor 1:30; 2 Cor 5:21); Shammah (Matt 1:23; 28:20). Jesus showed Himself to be the great “I am” – the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb 13:8). Comparison of other verses also reveals the identification of Jesus with Jehovah (for example, Ps 23:1 with John 10:11). For other references see note at Luke 2:11.⚜
16 📚Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, ‘The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying, I have certainly visited you and seen what is being done to you in Egypt, 17 📚and I have said, I will bring you up out of the misery of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.’
18 📚“And they will obey your voice, and you shall come to the king of Egypt, you and the elders of Israel, and you shall say to him, ‘The LORD God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now please let us go a three days’ journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God.’ 19 📚And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, except by a mighty hand. 20 📚And I will stretch out my hand 📖 and strike Egypt with all my wonders 📖 which I will do in its midst. And after that he will let you go.
21 📚“And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, and it will come about that, when you go, you will not go empty-handed. 22 📚But every woman shall borrow from her neighbour, and from her who is staying a while in her house, ornaments of silver and ornaments of gold, and clothing. And you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters, and so you will plunder the Egyptians”.
3:21-22 This would be in payment for the slavery and afflictions they had undergone at the hands of the Egyptians. It was divine justice at work as in Ezek 39:10; Hab 2:8.⚜