The Call of Moses (Exodus 3)

We noted in our previous study that God called Abraham to go and live in Canaan because it would be there that his descendants would live and become a blessing to the world. When we come to the event described in Exodus 3 about 500 years have passed since the time Abraham received his promise. Obviously 500 years is a long time and many events can occur. Since we are considering the purpose of God to bring blessing to the world we can ask whether or not any progress is visible. We can mention a few answers to our question.

One descendant of Abraham has been a source of blessing to the world, and that descendant was his great grandson Joseph who was the deliverer of the world from a famine that threatened the entire region. Obviously we can say that he was a partial fulfilment of the promise to bless the world.

The descendants of Abraham had greatly increased in number, and from that small beginning they now numbered about 2,000,000 (we can give a figure by considering the number who left Egypt shortly after this incident involving Moses took place). God had certainly kept his promise with regard to multiplying the descendants of Abraham.

The descendants of Abraham were all slaves to a hostile authority in Egypt who were trying to reduce their number, but failing to do so with each policy. So although the greatest power on earth was against them, there was a hidden power preserving them through the ordeal. That hidden power was God, still working for the progress of his kingdom.

The surprised deliverer – Moses

Moses, as we can see, was working as a shepherd. He had been doing so for almost forty years and was now a man of eighty. Moses had not always been a shepherd. Several decades ago, although an Israelite, he had been a prince of Egypt and had come into that position because as an infant he had been adopted by the then Pharaoh’s daughter, who had found him floating in a basket on the Nile. By now, his grandfather king and probably his adopted mother were dead, but it likely that a relative of his was now the Pharaoh of Egypt. Moses had tried to release his people from their slavery in Egypt, but had failed and instead of being the deliverer he had become the discarded, except for God who had great plans for him.

Perhaps Moses had no idea that God would ever use him in any way. Time was against him as he was now eighty. His past failure was against him and how could he expect others to follow him when he had no leadership credentials? Even his new relationships were against a change – he was now a husband and father, living contentedly and peaceably in the house of Jethro. Here he participated in the worship of God, so I suppose he felt more at home in Jethro’s tent than he would have done in Pharaoh’s palace. But all such notions were irrelevant because the Lord had other plans for Moses.

There are obviously important lessons here for people who are older and for people who have failed in the past. We cannot use our age or our circumstances or our history as arguments to prevent God using us in the work of his kingdom. But in order for Moses to be persuaded he had to receive a fresh vision of God.

The God who descended

A common sight for Moses every day in the desert would have been burning bushes. They happened so frequently that he would pay them little attention because they all looked the same. Yet on this day, he observed one burning bush that was different. Although it was on fire, it was not consumed, so he decided to take a closer look. What he discovered would change his life because he met God in a new way. The way the story is recorded, and it was Moses himself who described it gives several insights into the way God works as he brings about his kingdom.

The first detail is that God can use curiosity to bring sinners into his kingdom and saints into his service. Moses was attracted by what was an unusual sight when the bush burned and was not consumed. Have not many people found their way into the salvation of God by what seemed to be at first only curiosity concerning an aspect of it? They wanted to know something about it and eventually were brought in. We can easily understand how the greatness of God’s promises could stimulate curiosity in a person.

The second detail we can observe is that God adapts himself to the circumstances of the person to whom he wishes to speak. God could have appeared to Moses in a range of different ways. Instead he appeared here in the form of fire in a bush. The Lord knew that appearing in this way would draw the attention of Moses. God used an everyday situation but turned it into a theophany. Perhaps it was the brightness of the flame that first caught Moses’ eye. Whatever it was, God came down and appeared in a way that was suitable to the circumstances in which Moses was.

It is worth noting the different ways in which God is described in this incident. In verse 4 we are told that he is God, that he is the Lord, and in verse 2 that he is the Angel of the Lord.  Is it too much to see a reference to the Trinity here? The plurality of names certainly suggests the level of divine interest in what was taking place.

Moreover, we should note the name, the Angel of the Lord. He appears several times in the Old Testament and is not an ordinary angel because he speaks as a divine person and receives homage that is offered to God. Many scholars regard the Angel of the Lord as the second person of the Trinity, and if that is the case then what we have here is a visit of the Son of God with Moses. Here the Son of God appeared to speak with Moses about the exodus he would lead from Egypt and millennia later Moses would speak to the Son of God about the exodus he would lead from the realm of death.

The third detail we can observe is that God can be present in his power and yet not destroy his surroundings. Here we have the almighty God and a fragile bush and one would expect the bush to disintegrate. Yet it does not. If a human had set fire to it, it would have been consumed. But the fact that the bush was not destroyed tells us that it is possible to be in the presence of God and continue to live. Compared to the greatness of God, we are like insignificant bushes. Yet through his grace millions of saved sinners can live in his presence and not be overwhelmed by his splendour.

Yet, fourthly, the God who came down to where Moses was maintained a distance between himself and Moses. He commanded Moses not to draw too close and also to remove his shoes because the space around the bush was sacred space for as long as God was there. What does this signify? I think that a throne room is being depicted here and the removal of his shoes would be a sign of respect. Even if that is not the reason, we know that we should show reverence when in the presence of God.

Fifth, God introduces himself to Moses by using the names of people: ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’ (v. 6). There are two details that we can note about this way of speaking. First, God speaks as if those four individuals are still alive, which of course they were, except that they were with God in heaven. Although they had died, they had remained part of his kingdom. Second, God speaks here as the God of the covenant, who has made a binding commitment with those people. On several occasions in the Book of Genesis we are told that God was in covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the fathers of the faithful, as it were. But here the name of a less significant person (Amram) is also included, which is saying that he has the same privileges as did the more notable trio of names. And we can extend the list to include others, even anyone who believes in the God of the Bible.

Sixth, God feels the distress and pain of his suffering people: ‘I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings’ (v. 7). Perhaps the children of Israel imagined that his silence suggested that he was indifferent to their great troubles. Yet that was not the case. Their troubles were connected to the development of God’s kingdom, a detail which God had told Abraham about in Genesis 15:12-16. Though they knew it not, I suppose, their sufferings were working for them a great deliverance. And Paul says something similar about the kingdom of God today when he writes in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18: ‘For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.’ In both the Old Testament and the New it is through much tribulation that we enter the kingdom.

Seventh, we can see from this incident that God guides his providences according to his promises: ‘I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites’ (vv. 8-9). The descendants of Abraham had been promised the land centuries before, and we can see from this repetition of it that the Lord was determined to keep it. He knew the barriers to the fulfilment, but even the combined strength of those opponents would not prevent God from fulfilling his promises to his people. What was true back then for his kingdom is still true today. Our enemies, whether in isolation or together, cannot prevent it coming.

Eighth, God promises his presence to his obedient servant: ‘“Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.’” It now dawned on Moses that he had a part to play in the outworking of God’s kingdom and the task daunted him. God was asking him to go into the presence of his enemies.

In response, God gave Moses the assurance that he would be successful and that he would lead the Israelites out of Egypt to this very mountain where they would worship God. Yet Moses did not seem able to grasp the confidence this promise should have given him. So he persisted and asked God for further confirmation, this time with regard to how the Israelites would respond to his arrival and what he should say to them. The Lord graciously assures him that they will listen, but that there would be some difficulties before Pharaoh would let the people go (vv. 13-22). We have the same combination of great promises and the presence of some difficulties. In such situations we cannot regard the latter as barriers to the former; instead they together are the road to the former.

Ninth, God had his eye on the coming of the Saviour. Although the exodus from Egypt was such a big event, as far as the coming of God’s great kingdom was concerned it was only an event of preparation. It was a stage in the divine preparation for the coming of Jesus. After all, the ancestors of Mary would have been led out of Egypt by Moses and even if they perished in the desert for participating in the disobedience of the Israelites their descendants would live in Canaan and continue the line of descent.