Moses and the Burning Bush

Like Joseph before him, Moses ends up living in a position of power in Egypt through circumstances beyond his control. But unlike Joseph, Moses fails to use his power for the good of his people. Between the first and second reading, Moses murders an Egyptian and flees to the desert. God meets Moses in the midst of his failure and fear, and calls Moses to join God in delivering the people.

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REFLECTION

Timeless Tales of Our Rescuing God

By Dan Kidd

In today’s passages we are introduced to Moses; the priest, prophet, judge, and leader who would cooperate with Yahweh as he liberated the Hebrew people, making them his people he their God. A boy is born into peril—his life immediately under the threat of an infanticidal edict declared by a cruel and fearful pharaoh. This descendant of Joseph was sentenced to drowning, but was rescued in an ark, shaped by his mother out of papyrus, coated in tar and pitch. In his ark, he floats into the bath of pharaoh’s daughter. She drew him out of the water, adopted him to be her son, and named him Mosheh (or Moses).

Between our passages, Moses strikes an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew slave, and he flees from Pharaoh’s wrath, into exile in Midian. Moses marries the daughter of a priest and begins a new life here. In Egypt, Pharaoh died and a new Pharaoh takes his place. But all the while the Israelites cry out in agony for help from Yahweh. Their cries are heard, and Yahweh is ready to respond. 

One day, Moses is on a shepherding stroll by God’s mountain (Horeb), and on this mountain the Angel of the Lord makes himself visible in the form of a burning fire, in a small, thorny s’neh tree (or bush). Moses approaches and realizes this is a sacred place—an Eden-like place. And like in Eden, Yahweh communes with Moses. God reports he has seen and heard the miserable, pleading cries of Israel, and he is ready to act, and he will send Moses into Egypt to retrieve God’s people from the clutches of Pharaoh and return them back to this mountain, en route to the land teeming with milk and honey. 

I so love these pictures of God’s salvation at work. First a reminder of the protection of the ark; then adoption; then the Angel of the Lord’s burning presence in a holy place—on a mountain, in a living tree. But perhaps what I love most of all is God’s report: “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them.” God is full of love—of concern—for his creatures in their suffering. He is near. Seeing and hearing. And here we see the Lord driven to action on behalf of the suffering. 

Which of these images speaks most to you today? Do you need the sturdy protection of the ark to keep you afloat? Might you need to be reminded you have been chosen for adoption as child of God? Perhaps you’re longing to be in the sacred presence of our Holy God? Or maybe you are longing for liberation from injustice or the oppression of sin? Each and all of these beautiful pictures are available to us—true depictions of our gracious, saving God.

UALC’S CAMPAIGN OF PRAYER – TUESDAY  UNITY: God of peace, we pray for de-polarized, non-defensive pursuit of truth, unity, and equality. We pray for well engaged minds. Set us free from the competing narratives of our culture wars that funnel us into opposing camps and make of us a house divided. Kindle in us a desire for your truth that is larger than our desire to have been right.