Exodus 3

      Verse 1: Moses is a shepherd, tending to his father-in-law’s flock on the backside of the desert. He spends forty years here (Acts 7:30), living in peace and quiet, rearing a family, until one day when he brings his sheep to the mountain of God at Horeb. (Exodus 17:6, 18:5, 1 Kings 19:8).
 
       Verse 2-3: Moses sees a nearby bush on fire, yet the bush is not consumed. (Deuteronomy 33:16, Mark 12:26, Luke 20:37) This is another Christophany, an appearance by the Angel of the Lord. (Genesis 16:7, 21:17, 22:11, 24:7, 31:11, 32:24, 48:15-16) Moses marvels at this sight, moving closer to investigate.
 
    Verses 3-6: When God sees that Moses is drawing closer to the bush, He calls to Moses. Moses answers, “Here am I”. (v.4) God tells him to not come any closer, but to take off his shoes instead, “…for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” (v.5) God then identifies Himself to Moses as the God of his fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. As soon as Moses understands whom he’s speaking with he hides his face out of fear and reverence.
 
       Verses 7-12: God has heard the cry of His people (v.7) (Nehemiah 9:9, Psalm 106:44), and He’s prepared to deliver them from the Egyptian bondage “…unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey…” (v.8) (Genesis 15:13-14, Numbers 13:27, Deuteronomy 1:25, 8:7, Joshua 3:17). He then lists for Moses the names of the people groups currently inhabiting the land of Canaan, the land which God had already promised to Abraham and his seed. God then tells Moses that he is the one whom God is sending to “…bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.” (v.10)
      Moses responds with the question, “Who am I?” (v.11) His objection is that he’s a nobody. He’s not a leader, and he’s not a hero. He’s an eighty year old shepherd who’s been living in quiet seclusion for forty years and has no experience whatsoever for this monumental task to which God is calling him. In essence, he’s asking, “Lord, are you sure you’ve got the right man? You want me to do what???” But God’s response is calm and firm and reassuring: “Certainly, I will be with thee.” (v.12) (Genesis 31:3, Exodus 33:14, Deuteronomy 31:23, Joshua 1:5, Isaiah 43:1-3, Romans 8:31) Is there any words of God at once sweeter and more savory than that phrase “I will be with thee”? From Noah to Abraham, to Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and now Moses, God has never – not even for a moment – abandoned those whom He called. As it was with Abraham, so now it is with Moses: God has chosen the man through whom He wants to accomplish His will, and He will give him the strength and means to do just that. God then tells Moses that after he’s brought the Israelites out of Egypt he will return to this very mountain to serve God. (v.12) This is another sign, another promise that God would do as he said.
       God does the same for you and me today. God never calls us to a mission or a task without also promising to always be with us and to give us the wisdom, courage and strength that we need to fulfill that calling. God also doesn’t fail to supply all the physical necessities that we need to serve Him. (Philippians 4:19)
 
       Verses 13-15: Moses’ response to God’s promise is a bit unusual. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph had never once asked God for His name. (Or if they did, it was never recorded in scripture.) Moses is the first to wonder about the name of God. (v.13) This is an odd question to me because the Israelites are already familiar with God. They know who he is. Jacob passed down the knowledge of the God of his fathers to his twelve sons, and they, in turn, passed it on to their sons, and so on. We can logically infer from scripture that no specific name has been attributed to God up to this point, but that seems incidental. God is God, the creator of all things, and the sustainer and provider of His chosen people. Why does it matter – especially to Moses – what His name is?
       The only logical answer, to me at least, is that Moses is stalling. He’s full of doubt and, perhaps, unbelief. It’s very possible that Moses, up to this point in his life, has had very little to do with God. Being reared in the Egyptian court, it is certain that he was not taught anything about the one, true God. But since Jethro is a high priest of God, we can safely assume that he taught Moses about God. But it’s clear from this passage that Moses has never attained the close, personal relationship with God that his forefather Abraham cultivated and enjoyed.
         God’s response to Moses is simple and direct: “I AM THAT I AM.” (v.14) According to the commentary in my study Bible, this name “…constitutes the idea that the “I AM” in this passage reveals God as the Being who is absolutely self-existent, and who, in Himself, possesses essential life and permanent existence. To the Hebrew, ‘to be’ does not just mean ‘to exist’, but to be active, to express oneself in active being. God is the One who acts. The imperfect tense of the verb becomes clear. God’s manifestation to Israel is yet future at the time of the burning bush incident. The ‘I AM’ or ‘I will be’ is God’s promise that He will redeem the children of Israel.”
     Another doctrinal note from my study Bible regarding this verse: “There are three primary names of God: Elohim (God), Jehovah or Yahweh (usually printed as ‘Lord’ in the KJV), and Adonai (Lord). Each of these names emphasizes a different aspect of the nature of God. The name Elohim appears 31 times in Genesis 1, where it emphasizes His strength and creative power. The name Yahweh is most often used to express God’s self-existence, particularly in relation to humanity. Adonai means ‘master’ and underscores the authority of God.”
      Another significance of God revealing His name to Moses is to separate Himself from all the other false gods and idols that the children of Israel had already encountered in Egypt and would soon meet with in the promised land from the heathen culture of the indigenous peoples. All the other gods had been born out of the corrupt and sinful imagination of man, and thus man named them. God, however, named Himself, demonstrating the very nature of what all the other false gods lacked: true sentience. God had revealed Himself to Abraham, had guided and cared for him and his seed, and is now giving Himself a name by which His chosen people will call upon Him and know Him. None of the false gods of Egypt or the Canaanites could do that!
    “This is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.” (v.15) God is. He has always been, and he always shall be. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, and there is none other like Him. To God, there is no such thing as “past” or “future”. He exists outside time and space, where there is only the “now”, with no beginning and no end. (Psalm 30:4, 97:12, 102:12, 135:13, Hosea 12:5)
 
      Verses 16-22: God tells Moses to go and gather the elders of Israel and tell them that “…I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt.” (Genesis 50:24-25, Exodus 4:31, Psalm 33:18, Luke 1:68) He then lays out for Moses the game plan. Moses and the elders of Israel will go before Pharaoh and ask him to allow them to take the children of Israel into the desert on a three day’s journey so that they might  “…sacrifice to the Lord our God.” (v.18) But Pharaoh will refuse their request, and so God will stretch out His hand and smite all of Egypt with signs and wonders, after which Pharaoh will allow the Israelites to go. (v.19-20) Not only will the Egyptians let the Israelites go, but they will also give them clothes, jewelry, and other such wealth so that the Israelites will not leave empty handed. (v.21-22) (Exodus 11:2)
       God basically explains to Moses exactly how He will accomplish the deliverance of His chosen people. He knows already that Pharaoh will refuse Moses’ request, and He also has the foreknowledge of Pharaoh’s rebellion against Him. As in the case of Esau (Malachi 1:2-3), it appears that God has already rejected Pharaoh long before Pharaoh actually makes the foolish choice to defy God and Moses. This is interesting, considering that the phrase “…hardened Pharaoh’s heart…”, or some variation thereof, appears ten times in Exodus, and every time the action is attributed directly to God. (Exodus 4:21, 7:3, 13, 9:12, 10:20, 27, 11:10, 14:4, 8, 17) Exactly how that form of predestination and election fits with God’s plan of salvation for all of mankind, specifically His desire “…that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9), is a theological mystery. Even more so when one considers Jesus’ words in Mark 4:12 where He explains the meaning of the parable of the sower and the seed. As I’ve noted before in my commentary on Genesis, there is neither the time nor the pages available to do a deep dive on this topic, although I will discuss this a bit more in my commentary in the next chapter. For now, we must simply accept that God will harden Pharaoh’s heart, partly in response to Pharaoh's willful disobedience and rejection of God, but also in order that God might show forth and maximize His glory and honor in the deliverance of His chosen people, the Israelites.
       But Moses isn’t quite ready to say ‘Yes’ to God’s calling.