Trees of the Bible - The Burning Bush: Exodus 3:1-7

THE BURNING BUSH - EXODUS 3:1-7


Exodus 3:1-6
1 Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
 2 The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed.
 3 So Moses said, "I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up."
 4 When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am."
 5 Then He said, "Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground."
 6 He said also, "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, for he was afraid to look at God.
 

Our interest today is not in the rest of the details of the Lord’s calling Moses to go back to Egypt, but in the appearance of the Lord in a bush that burned but was not burned up.  Whether the bush was large enough or genetically appropriate to be called a tree is a question we cannot answer, so I’ll assume that it was large enough and qualified to be studied as a small “tree.”  The “bush” (Hebrew “sene;” possibly a blueberry bush) is only mentioned in one other passage in the Old Testament, and that is when Moses blessed Joseph and his lineage in Deut. 3:16 (speaking of “the favor of Him who dwelt in the bush”).  It is mentioned three times in the New Testament (Mk. 12:26, Lk. 20:37, Acts 7:30), all in reference to this event.  The word used there is the Greek word “batas,” meaning a thorn or bramble bush.

The remarkable thing about the bush is not its kind.  The remarkable thing, and the thing that attracted the attention of Moses in that wilderness near Sinai was that the bush was on fire yet it was not burning up.  It stayed intact.  Fire usually destroys any wooden object, but this fire was not ordinary fire.  Moses “turned aside” (went out of his way) to see this marvelous (great) sight.  We have lilac bushes in our front yard, and if they caught fire, they would be burned, and so would our garage!  People would be attracted to the fire.  But suppose the fire burned for a long time and neither the bushes nor the garage were damaged!  Imagine the attraction that would be!

The reason the fire did not destroy the bush is that it was the glory of the Lord being manifested in the bush.  The Angel of the Lord was in the bush.  This is one of the places where the Angel is not just a messenger, He is the Son of God:  “the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”  The presence of the Lord was holy, so the ground around it was made holy.  Because of this, the Lord God told Moses to take off his sandals. Not only did Moses remove his shoes, he covered his face, feeling totally inadequate and unworthy to look at God.  

That the Lord could have appeared to Moses apart from the bush is obvious.  The Angel of the Lord (not the Lord’s angel) appeared in various ways to people, so this appearance was especially chosen to display God’s glory through a lowly bush.  If we were to read the rest of the chapter, we would see Moses arguing with the Lord about his unfitness to go back to Egypt and to do what the Lord was commanding him to do.  Because of this, the choice of the bush makes more sense.  It’s place in the story would seem to be like that of the lowly donkey in Balaam’s meeting with the Angel of the Lord.  Balaam needed to be awakened to what the Lord was doing, so the lowly donkey spoke to him.  The Lord who can cause a donkey to speak, can also speak from a lowly bush to awaken self-deprecating and fear-filled Moses to his ability to do God’s will, and to reveal the presence and Name of the Lord God who would use him to speak to Pharaoh and to the Israelites.

The lesson of this tree (bush) is an important one for each of us who wrestles with the certainty that I can be what the Lord wants me to be, or that I can do what God wants me to do.  If the Lord can use a lowly bush, causing it to burn without being extinguished, and making it and the ground around it holy, He can use each one of us however lowly and inadequate we may feel.  He has sanctified us in Christ Jesus, and He has commanded us to be holy as He is holy (As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, "YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY." 1 Pet. 1:14-16).  Stop telling yourself you cannot be THAT kind of Christian, “for we walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7).

















 
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