The Bush That Burned

One day Moses led his sheep far out past the wilderness, all the way to a mountain called Horeb, the mountain of God. And there he saw something he had never seen before. A little bush was on fire. The flames went up bright and hot — but the bush did not burn away. The leaves stayed green in the middle of the fire. Moses said to himself, “I will go over and look at this great thing. Why doesn’t the bush burn up?” And when God saw him turning to look, God called to him out of the middle of the bush: “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “What is it?” And God said, “Do not come any closer. Take your sandals off your feet — the place where you are standing is holy ground. I am the God of your father: the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

Then the Lord said, “I have seen it — I have truly seen how my people are suffering in Egypt. I have heard them crying out under the men with the whips. I know what they are going through. And I have come down to save them, and to bring them up out of that land into a good, wide land — a land flowing with milk and honey. So come now: I am sending you to the king of Egypt, and you will bring my people out.” Moses could hardly believe it. He said, “Who am I, that I should go to the king of Egypt? Who am I, to bring the children of Israel out?” And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign for you that I have sent you: when you have brought my people out of Egypt, you will all worship God on this very mountain.”

Then Moses said, “But when I go to the children of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your fathers sent me,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What shall I say to them?” And God said to Moses, “I am the one who is. Tell them: the one who is has sent me to you. Tell them: 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. That is my name forever, and that is how I will be remembered, always.” And God told Moses what would happen: the elders of Israel would listen to him, but the king of Egypt would not — not until a strong hand made him. And God said, “So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders. And after that, he will send you out.”

But Moses was still afraid. He said, “What if they do not believe me? What if they say, ‘God never appeared to you’?” And the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” And Moses said, “A staff.” God said, “Throw it on the ground.” So Moses threw his shepherd’s staff on the ground — and it turned into a snake! And Moses ran away from it. Then God said, “Reach out your hand and take hold of its tail.” Moses reached out and took hold of the tail — and it was a wooden staff again, right there in his hand. Then God showed him another sign: he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he drew it out it was white as snow; and he put it back inside his cloak, and when he drew it out it was well again.

Still Moses did not want to go. He said, “Please, Lord — I have never been able to speak well. My voice is thin and my tongue is slow.” And the Lord said to him, “Who gave a mouth to man? Who makes a person able to hear or not hear, to see or not see? Is it not I, God? Go now, and I myself will open your mouth and teach you what to say.” And Moses said, “Please, Lord — send somebody else.” Then the Lord said, “What about Aaron your brother? I know that he can speak. Look — he is already on his way to meet you, and when he sees you he will be glad in his heart. You will tell him what to say, and he will speak for you. And take this staff in your hand — with it you will do the signs.”

So Moses went back to Jethro and said goodbye, and Jethro said to him, “Go in good health.” And Moses set his wife and his children on the donkeys and turned back toward Egypt, with the staff of God in his hand. Out in the wilderness his brother Aaron came to meet him at the mountain of God, and they kissed each other, and Moses told him everything the Lord had said. Then the two brothers gathered all the elders of the children of Israel, and Aaron told them every word, and did the signs in front of the people. And the people believed, and they were glad — because God had watched over them, and had seen how much they were suffering. And they bowed down low and worshiped.