“God Appears to Moses in Burning Bush,” painting from St. Isaac’s Cathedral, St. Petersburg. Artist: Eugène Pluchart, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Part V in The Theology of the Pentateuch
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Picturing God
We tend to have an abstract view of God that is structured around his incommunicable attributes, things like omniscience, omnipresence, and aseity. But this is not primarily how God reveals himself to us in Scripture. John Calvin writes, “Moses then reminds us of God’s attributes, which show him not as he is in himself but as he is toward us. This kind of knowledge is more a matter of living experience than of empty speculation.”
In the book of Exodus, more clearly than any other part of the Old Testament, we see the interplay of redemption and revelation that we find throughout Scripture because it is here that God reveals his name. The LORD reveals his character in redemption: he is the God who redeems us through relationship and for relationship.
‘The One who Dwells in the Bush’
Exodus 3:1–6
Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
Despite the fact that it has become iconic and familiar, the flame of fire from within the bush is a bizarre image. Fire is essential for human culture—it brings light and heat, it purifies and it refines—but it is a devourer, capable of a total merciless destruction. Fire serves as a potent metaphor throughout Scripture for God’s holy presence (Exod 24:17; Deut 4:24; Isa 10:16–17).
Elsewhere in the Old Testament thorn bushes and shrubs describe vegetation that is a hassle or semi-useless (Judg 9:14–15; 2 Sam 23:6; Ps 58:9; Prov 15:19). Shrubs burn too quickly to be good for fuel (Eccl 7:6) and prick those who dwell nearby (Ezek 2:6; 28:24; Prov 26:9). If fire is a symbol for God, then this bush is Israel. Prickly, unmanageable, not fit to purpose.
This theophany is prophetic in its symbolism for what will transpire between God and his people. The entire rest of the Pentateuch (and the whole Bible) can be understood as the struggle for a flame to burn within a bramble bush and not destroy it. By all accounts the flame should consume the bush in moments, but for some reason God ordains that it shouldn’t and provides that it doesn’t. This is a picture of grace.
When God tells Moses to remove his sandals because the ground is holy, it is the first time in Scripture a place is ever called holy. It is holy because God’s presence is there, and God’s presence is there because he has seen and he knows the affliction of his people (Exod 2:23–25; 3:7–10). This God is not primarily an abstract God defined by incommunicable attributes, dispassionate, seated beyond time and outside of space. This is the God who called Abraham and forged a costly relationship with him (Genesis 22). This God, sees, knows, remembers his people. He will dwell with us as a flame in a thornbush.
God Reveals His Name In Redemption
In Exodus 3:7–10, God announces to Moses that he has heard the cries of the Israelites and that he is moving to save them by sending Moses to Pharaoh. Moses stumbles over this:
Exodus 3:11–17
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.” Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the 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 thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt, and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.”’
It is hard to separate out requisite humility, genuine self-doubt, and simple fear in Moses’s objections. God responds with a declaration of his pure presence. But Moses pushes deeper. If he is going to confront Pharaoh on the strength of this god’s presence, he needs to plumb the depths.
Moses is essentially asking God to demonstrate his nature and his character—to reveal his true self to Moses (cf. Exod 33:18–19). In the Old Testament, names are not just handles to refer to people but are actually descriptors. A name defines someone and tells people about their character, their fortunes, and their defining features (Gen 25:25–26; Ruth 1:20; 1 Sam 25:25). More than that, the one who does the naming does the defining and exercises authority and power over a person (Gen 2:20; 3:20; 17:5, 15–16; 32:28).
The dialogue that follows in verses 13–15 is fathomless. God’s responses are deceptively simple, disorientingly circular, and wondrously profound. These words have generated libraries of theological reflection and yet remain elusive, unexplainable, and definitional of who God is to us. We’ll never fathom God’s name, but we can still say true things about what he has revealed to us.
1. God is self-naming, he defines himself. If the one who names someone or something exercises authority and control over it, God’s self-definition as “I am who I am” is an exercise in total freedom. The emphasis on being and causality that is captured through the idea of naming shows that this god is not merely the god of a particular people or place, no one named or created him—HE IS. He defines himself.
2. God defines himself relationally as presence with his people. Within the context of the story the first and most fundamental thing that God says is “I will be with you” (v. 12). This affirmation has already been visualized in the symbolism of the burning bush. God’s name echoes back to the idea of God’s presence. If you read it in the Hebrew, identical forms of the verb are being used again and again in all these statements. This creates a bond between the actual personal name (I AM) and the expressions of presence and reassurance to Moses (I AM with you). When Moses is sent to the Israelites, he himself becomes a tangible expression of God’s presence. Finally, the emphasis on connecting the divine name to the names of the Patriarchs creates a deep sense of presence in perpetuity and in continuity with his people. God is saying, you might not know who I am, but I have never lost sight of you, I’ve been here all along. This is my name forever. I am here and I will be here.
3. God’s presence with his people accomplishes redemption. Verses 16–17 put God’s name into action. God’s move to redeem his people is tied to the exposition of his name:
1) I AM is the God of their fathers and he sees them.
2) I AM is now acting on a covenant relationship made with their fathers in order to bless them.
3) I AM will confront Pharaoh (representative of earthly and divine powers of oppression) and perform wonders in order to deliver his people.
4) His people will reap great blessings through his action on their behalf.
When all this happens then you will know that I AM YAHWEH and you will know what that means, namely, that I AM with my people to redeem them (Exod 20:2).
YHWH reveals his character in redemption: he is the God who redeems us through relationship and for relationship. As Bruce Waltke puts it, “I am who I am for you.” God’s name is his presence to save.
LORD, we need to feel your presence. As the world seems to conspire and rage around us, we are trusting that you ARE behind and before all things, that you know us, remember us, and are acting to save us. Surround us, O LORD, with the peace of your presence that we might know you are with us.
Alex Kirk is the Visiting Professor of Old Testament at William Tennent School of Theology. He has been married to Meghan for over ten years, and currently lives in Durham, England, where he is nearing the completion of his Ph.D.. Alex is most passionate about leading people deeper into the literature of the Old Testament as the living and active word of the LORD to his people.