Out of Egypt · c. 1446 BC
Chapter 2
The Burning Bush
God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM,” and he said, “You shall tell the children of Israel this: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
For parents
God warns that he will kill Pharaoh’s firstborn son (Exodus 4:23). On the way back to Egypt, the Lord meets Moses and wants to kill him, and Zipporah circumcises their son with a sharp stone (4:24–26). That short passage is hard to understand; it is told as the World English Bible gives it, without explanation.
was taking care of a flock that belonged to his father-in-law, , who was also called Reuel. Jethro was the priest of . Moses took the flock to the far edge of the wilderness and came to God’s mountain, .
appeared to him there, in a flame of fire coming out of the middle of a bush. Moses looked, and the bush was on fire, but it wasn’t burning up.
“I’ll go over now and see this amazing sight,” Moses said, “and find out why the bush isn’t burning up.”
When the saw that Moses had come over to see, God called to him out of the middle of the bush: “Moses! Moses!”
“Here I am,” said Moses.
“Don’t come close,” God said. “Take off your sandals, because the place you are standing on is ground.” He also said, “I am the God of your father, the God of , the God of , and the God of .”
Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
The Lord said, “I have truly seen how my people in are suffering. I have heard their cry because of the slave drivers, and I know their pain. I have come down to free them from the power of the Egyptians. I will take them up out of that land to a good, wide land, a land so rich it flows with milk and honey. It is the land where the live, and the , , , and .
“Now the people of have cried out, and their cry has reached me. I have seen how cruel the Egyptians are to them. So come. I will send you to , and you will bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”
But Moses said to God, “Who am I to go to Pharaoh? Who am I to bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
“I will surely be with you,” God said. “And here is how you will know that I sent you: after you have led the people out of Egypt, you will serve God on this mountain.”
Moses asked God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and tell them, ‘Your ancestors’ God has sent me to you.’ And suppose they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What should I tell them?”
God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Tell the Israelites this: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
God also said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites this: ‘Yahweh has sent me to you. He is your ancestors’ God, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.’ This is my name forever, the name people are to remember me by in every generation.”
Yahweh is God’s own name. This Story, like many Bibles, writes it as “the Lord.”
“Go and gather the of Israel,” God said. “Tell them, ‘The Lord has appeared to me. He is your ancestors’ God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He told me that he has come to help you, and that he has seen what is being done to you in Egypt. He has said he will bring you up out of your suffering in Egypt, into a land flowing with milk and honey, where the Canaanites live, and the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.’
“They will listen to you. Then you and the elders of Israel are to go to the king of Egypt. Tell him, ‘The Lord, the God of the , has met with us. Now please let us make a three-day journey into the wilderness, so that we can offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.’
“But I know that the king of Egypt won’t let you go, not even when a strong hand is against him. So I will reach out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders, which I will do there. After that, he will let you go.
“I will make the Egyptians think well of these people, so that when you leave, you won’t leave with nothing. Every woman will ask for silver jewelry, gold jewelry and clothes from her neighbor and from the woman who visits her house. You will put them on your sons and your daughters. You will carry off the Egyptians’ riches.”
Moses answered, “But they won’t believe me or listen to me. They’ll say, ‘The Lord didn’t appear to you.’”
The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”
“A staff,” said Moses.
“Throw it on the ground,” the Lord said. So Moses threw it down, and it turned into a snake. Moses ran away from it.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand and take it by the tail.” Moses reached out and took hold of it, and it became a staff in his hand again. The Lord said, “This is so that they will believe that the Lord has appeared to you. He is their ancestors’ God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”
The Lord also said to him, “Now put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses did, and when he pulled it out, his hand had . It was as white as snow.
“Put your hand inside your cloak again,” God said. Moses put it back, and when he took it out, it was back to normal, like the rest of him.
“If they won’t believe you or listen to what the first sign tells them,” God said, “they will believe what the second sign tells them. And if they won’t believe even these two signs, and won’t listen to you, then take some water out of the river, the Nile, and pour it out on the dry land. That water from the river will turn into blood there on the dry land.”
But Moses said to the Lord, “Lord, words have never come easily to me, not before and not since you started speaking to me. My mouth is slow, and so is my tongue.”
The Lord said to him, “Who made the human mouth? Who makes a person unable to speak or unable to hear, able to see or blind? Isn’t it me, the Lord? Now go. When you speak, I will help you, and I will teach you what to say.”
But Moses said, “Please, Lord, send someone else.”
Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses. “What about your brother , from the family of ?” he said. “I know he can speak well. And look, he is coming out to meet you. He will be truly glad to see you. You will speak to him and give him the words to say. I will help you both speak, and I will teach you what to do.
“Aaron will speak to the people for you. He will be your mouth, and you will be like God to him. And take this staff with you. You will use it to do the signs.”
Moses returned to Jethro, his father-in-law. “Please let me go back to Egypt, to my relatives there,” he said, “and see whether they are still alive.”
“Go in peace,” Jethro said.
The Lord spoke to Moses in Midian. “Go back to Egypt,” he said. “All the men who were trying to kill you are dead.”
Moses put his wife and his sons on a donkey and headed back to Egypt. He held God’s staff in his hand.
The Lord told Moses, “When you get back to Egypt, do all the wonders I have made you able to do. Be sure to do them in front of Pharaoh. But I will harden his heart, so he will be stubborn and won’t let the people go. Tell Pharaoh, ‘The Lord says: Israel is my son, my firstborn. I told you to let my son go so he could serve me. But you have refused to let him go, and so I will kill your firstborn son.’”
On the way, at the place where they stopped for the night, the Lord met Moses and wanted to kill him.
Then took a sharp stone and her son. She threw the piece of skin at his feet, and she said, “You are a of blood to me.”
So he left him alone. Then she said, “You are a bridegroom of blood,” because of the circumcision.
The Lord said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” Aaron went, and he met Moses at God’s mountain and kissed him.
Moses told Aaron every word the Lord had sent him to say, and all the signs the Lord had told him to do.
Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered all the elders of the Israelites. Aaron told them all the words the Lord had spoken to Moses, and did the signs where the people could see them.
The people believed. When they heard that the Lord had come to help the Israelites and had seen how they were suffering, they bowed their heads and worshiped.