Good morning everyone! Welcome back to another Biblit! Last week we left off with Moses fleeing from Egypt and hiding for safety. This reminds me of Jacob’s start too. We also saw that God is ready to enact his divine hand and save Israel from this bondage. Today we get to witness the incredible commissioning of Moses by God to enact His plan. I won’t keep you waiting any longer, let’s jump into this commentary on Exodus chapter 3.
Context
We find out in Exodus chapter 7 that Moses is now about 80 years old, which means he’s been living in Midian tending to Jethro’s flocks for about 40 years. One of God’s favorite numbers. Moses’s story is definitely reminiscent of Jacob and I don’t think I ever noticed that until I read it this time around. He even has the same tendencies towards fear that Jacob did when he was called.
Anyways.
Moses is tending the flocks near Mt. Sinai, Horeb, the mountain of God (it has many names). While he’s there he sees this random burning bush and he’s like, hmm, I’ll go see what that’s about.
Fun fact, the Hebrew word for bush is seneh which sounds like Sinai. Perhaps that is why God chose a bush to burn. God loves all those little details and I certainly do too!
Also, get used to fire. God comes in the form of fire a lot throughout Exodus and throughout scripture as a whole. I can’t think of a better representation of God than a formless, powerful, and bright object. It is a great showcase of God’s all-consuming holiness.
So God takes this form and starts speaking to Moses.
I think we take for granted how lucky we have it. I mean, the Holy Spirit of God lives and dwells in us! Because of what Jesus did on the cross we can talk to God every single day! We have His word and can read His words and commands to us every single day too. The people of Israel in this time, though? They haven’t heard God speak in over 400 years! The last time we have recorded was when God spoke to Jacob assuring him it was ok to travel to Egypt.
All that to say, this is a big deal.
Moses hears God and rushes over to see what He has to say. God stops him and tells him to remove his sandals for he is now standing on holy ground. This introduces a new theme we talk a lot about in Exodus: how to approach the holy God. This is answered and fulfilled by the tabernacle and ultimately fulfilled in Christ, but we’ll save that for later.
God tells Moses who he is and that he’s ready to fulfill His promise and deliver the people of Israel to the promised land.
I imagine Moses is getting really hyped up right now. Like, wow, God is going to do all these things, my people will be free, we can all go live happy and fruitful lives! Maybe he’s thinking about how he can finally quit his crummy job to go live it up the land of milk and honey. (He may have really enjoyed his job, that’s just speculation, haha). But then God comes in in the end and tells Moses, alright, let’s go down to Pharaoh so you can talk to him.
Hard stop. Moses’s eyes probably shot wide open. He’s remembering how much the Pharaoh (who he doesn’t know is dead) wanted to kill him. He probably has the same fears Jacob did when he went to encounter Esau.
Moses ends up objecting to the request 4 times! He feels inadequate for the job, scared, and unprepared.
God assures and promises him that all of Israel will worship God free from bondage on the same mountain they are standing on now.
At this point, Moses is at least considering it and asks who he should tell everyone sent him. God answers with his famous line:
“God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you.” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the Israelites: The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name forever; this is how I am to be remembered in every generation.” (Exodus 3:14-15 CSB).
Just another nerdy Hebrew tangent: the Hebrew words for “I am who I am” are ehyeh asher eyeh which can also be translated as “I will be what I will be.” Remember that repetition is important in scripture and shows emphasis. God is essentially assuring Moses that he is eternal, self-existing, sustaining, faithful, and will remain that way forever. That even though they haven’t heard from him in 400 years, He is still the same God of the covenant and He will fulfill it. This Hebrew word ehyeh is also the root for the classic name Yahweh which is translated to “Lord.” So that’s where we get that from and why God calls Himself “The Lord” after.
After this amazing revelation, God reveals the beginning parts of the plan. He tells Moses to go to Pharaoh and just ask that the Israelites be allowed to go worship God for 3 days in the wilderness (a pretty common request for slaves in that time). However, God knows that Pharaoh will not let them go unless His power and judgment are unleashed. He finishes by assuring Moses that when Israel leaves, it will not be empty-handed, and he tells Moses to command Israel to ask their Egyptian neighbors for gold and clothing, for which they will oblige. In this way, they will plunder Egypt.
Interpretation
Ok, so here are the things I gleaned and took away from this passage. I feel like there are some deep theological connections we can make here with the bush and stuff, but that is beyond me, haha! This is what I took away, though.
The theme of interacting with the holy God. I have never really noticed this before, but until this point, God never talked about holy ground with anyone else. He met with Jacob in person when they wrestled, but that might have been the only other time He met with someone in a physical form post-Fall. This is a huge transition. Until now, God only talked to the patriarchs. One person for their family. Now, that family is turning into an entire nation, and God is creating a way for all of His people to be with Him. To be with the Holy God! That’s so so cool!
God uses Moses to enact His powerful plan. I think it’s really important to notice two key verses from this passage; particularly the order they come in.
“I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them from that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:8 CSB).
“I am sending you to Pharaoh so that you may lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” (Exodus 3:10 CSB).
God is using Moses to enact His plan as we see in verse 10, but we can’t overlook verse 8. God says it is He who will rescue the people of Israel. See that? God is using Moses, but it is all in God’s power.God is forever faithful and we shouldn’t fear. This is another recurring theme through scripture, (as I talked a lot about in Genesis) but it’s given in a slightly different way in this passage. God tells Moses, “I am who I am.” In that powerful statement I think part of what he is telling Moses is that He is still the same as he was 400 years ago. He is still faithful; yes they were in bondage for 400 years, but He is good and He is here to rescue them. He is worthy to be trusted. He is assuring Moses that there is no need to fear.
Application
Alright, after reading and digesting this passage, there are a couple of areas I would love to see God work in my life.
First of all, I just want to take more time to praise God I was born when I was. That I was born in a time where the Holy Spirit dwells inside of me. I want to praise God for Jesus and the work He did on the cross. Because of Jesus, I can talk to God every single day, read His words every single day, and build a personal relationship with Him! Not even the Israelites could do that after the tabernacle was built. They still had priests intercede on their behalf. Today, we have the High priest, Jesus, interceding on our behalf every single day! I pray I never lose sight of the power in that statement!
I want to trust God and not fear. I know God’s power is at work at all times, and I have the opportunity to be a part of His glorious plans. I want to always remember that it is His power, not my own that is at work. The second I can rely on Him and not my own power, all my fears wash away. It’s not on me. It’s on the most powerful almighty God. The God who created the universe and will NEVER fail. Will I fail? Yes. But I can’t make God fail and therein lies the beauty.
Furthermore, when I feel like God is distant, I want to remember He is just as close as ever. There will be times of hardship (hopefully not 400 years) but God will be there. It’s all for His glorious plans and I hold firm and trust that.