that I have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain. Then Moses said to God, Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they say to me, Why? And God said to Moses, I am who I am.
And he said, thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I am as sent over, you shall say 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 my memorial to all generations. 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 surely visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt.
And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Nebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey. Then they will heed your voice, and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt. And you shall say to him, The Lord God of the Hebrews has met with us, and now, please, let us go three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God. But I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go.
No, not even by a mighty hand. So 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. And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians.
And it shall be when you go, that you shall not go empty handed. But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, namely of her who dwells near her house, articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. And you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters, so you shall plunder the Egyptians. Amen.
Introduction and Outline
Well, essentially we have three things going on in this particular passage. The
The Commission Given to Moses
commission given to Moses in verses 1 to 12. Secondly, the revelation of God's name to Moses in verses 13 to 15. And then thirdly, the instructions given to Moses in verses 16 to 22. Now in terms of the time, time frame, or at least the age of Moses, remember that he was likely weaned at about the age of four.
He was 40 when he killed the Egyptian, and then he spends 40 years in Midian. So he's 80 years now. he has this burning bush vision. And so we'll look first at this commission given to Moses in verses 1 to 12. The first thing we ought to observe is that
The Theophany at the Burning Bush
this is what's called a theophany. And a theophany is simply a manifest revelation of God in this aspect, in this burning bush. This does not mean that God is a burning bush, but rather God chooses to manifest himself this way to Moses at this particular time. When the dove descends upon the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 3 at the baptism of Jesus, that doesn't mean that the Holy Spirit is a dove.
This is a theophany, a manifestation of God. There are several throughout Scripture, and this is one that I think is very important in Scripture. But if we look at this theophany, the occasion is interesting. Verse 1 tells us,
The Occasion of the Vision
Moses was tending the flock of Jethro. Jethro is also called Ruel. I made the observation last week, probably just a man with two names, so either Ruel or Jethro, but he is the father-in-law of Moses. So, Moses was tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian.
It's interesting that he himself didn't have a flock by this time, unless he did, but he's just doing this for his father-in-law. As well, it's a pretty menial job.