2:11-17 From the first mention of Moses' adult life, we see that he had a concern for the plight of his people. This got me thinking about how God often calls us to the things that already touch our hearts. Moses didn't get anywhere by trying to act on his own, however. His killing of the abusive Egyptian only leads to trouble with both Pharaoh and the Hebrews. Later on, when he acts in obedience to God's call, the results will be vastly different. This reminds me of something I once heard a long-time missionary say: "You can't do what the Holy Spirit isn't doing." As we grow in faith, we realize that we can't make anything happen on our own. Only when we offer ourselves to God in obedience to His will can we accomplish great things for His kingdom.
3:1-12 The burning bush is a prime example of theophany. A theophany is an appearance of God in visual form. Another example would be the three men who visited Abraham. There is a strong tradition in the Old Testament that no human can see God and live. Therefore, what is seen is interpreted not to be actually God Himself but a representative form (Note that 3:2 says "an angel of the Lord," rather than the Lord Himself appeared to Him).
Christ was the ultimate appearance of God to humans in visible form. He was more than a theophany, because He actually was God become human. Christians have usually interpreted the Old Testament theophanies as foreshadowings of Christ, sometimes even Christ Himself. Gregory of Nyssa, an early interpreter of this passage, compares the burning bush to the incarnation: "the flame by which the soul of the prophet was illuminated was kindled from a thorny bush", and we likewise see God through Christ's humble appearance (The Life of Moses).
3:13-15 In this brief section, God reveals His name to Moses. In the Old Testament, the name of God is four Hebrew letters, represented in English as YHWH or Yahweh. However, there is a Jewish tradition that the name of God is so holy that it should never be pronounced. Most Old Testament translations follow this translation by substituting "The LORD" any time the Hebrew text has YHWH. This can make things confusing at times.
God tells Moses, "I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'" This is considered to be the meaning of YHWH. God is the one who is, the one who truly exists. I would like to close with quote from Gregory of Nyssa on this point. It is a little bit heavy-duty, but I think it is worthwhile:
In my view the definition of truth is this: not to have a mistaken apprehension of Being. Falsehood is a kind of impression which arises in the understanding about nonbeing: as though what does not exist does, in fact, exist. But truth is the sure apprehension of real Being...
It seems to me that at the time the great Moses was instructed in the theophany he came to know that none of those things which are apprehended by sense perception and contemplated by the understanding really subsists, but that the transcendent essence and cause of the universe, on which everything depends, alone subsists (The Life of Moses).In other words, only God truly exists. Everything else that we see and understand only exists because God wills it to be so. Further, all truth flows out of proper recognition of God, the one who truly is. All falsehood flows out of failure to recognize God.
I would love to hear your own thoughts, responses, or questions. Feel free to leave a comment below.
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