Exodus 3:2

Here, at Horeb, God appeared to Moses as the Angel of the Lord "in a flame of fire out of the midst of the thorn-bush" (סנה, βάτος, rubus), which burned in the fire and was not consumed. אכּל, in combination with איננּוּ, must be a participle for מאכּל. When Moses turned aside from the road or spot where he was standing, "to look at this great sight" (מראה), i.e., the miraculous vision of the bush that was burning and yet not burned up, Jehovah called to him out of the midst of the thorn-bush, "Moses, Moses (the reduplication as in Gen 22:11), draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground" (אדמה). The symbolical meaning of this miraculous vision, - that is to say, the fact that it was a figurative representation of the nature and contents of the ensuing message from God, - has long been admitted. The thorn-bush in contrast with the more noble and lofty trees (Jdg 9:15) represented the people of Israel in their humiliation, as a people despised by the world. Fire and the flame of fire were not "symbols of the holiness of God;" for, as the Holy One, "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all" (Jo1 1:5), He "dwells in the light which no man can approach unto" (Ti1 6:16); and that not merely according to the New Testament, but according to the Old Testament view as well, as is evident from Isa 10:17, where "the Light of Israel" and "the Holy One of Israel" are synonymous. But "the Light of Israel became fire, and the Holy One a flame, and burned and consumed its thorns and thistles." Nor is "fire, from its very nature, the source of light," according to the scriptural view. On the contrary, light, the condition of all life, is also the source of fire. The sun enlightens, warms, and burns (Job 30:28; Sol.…

As prophecy had ceased for many ages before the coming of Christ, that the revival and perfection of it in that great prophet might be the more remarkable, so vision had ceased (for aught that appears) among the patriarchs for some ages before the coming of Moses, that God's appearances to him for Israel's salvation might be the more welcome; and in this chapter we have God's first appearance to him in the bush and the conference between God and Moses in that vision. Here is, I. The discovery God was pleased to make of his glory to Moses at the bush, to which Moses was forbidden to approach too near (Exo 3:1-5). II. A general declaration of God's grace and good-will to his people, who were beloved for their fathers' sakes (Exo 3:6). III. A particular notification of God's purpose concerning the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt. 1. He assures Moses it should now be done (Exo 3:7-9). 2. He gives him a commission to act in it as his ambassador both to Pharaoh (Exo 3:10) and to Israel (Exo 3:16). 3. He answers the objection Moses made of his own unworthiness (Exo 3:11, Exo 3:12). 4. He gives him full instructions what to say both to Pharaoh and to Israel (Exo 3:13-18). 5. He tells him beforehand what the issue would be (Exo 3:19, etc.).

3:2 Technically, the angel of the Lord is the Lord’s officially authorized envoy, but the expression may be used more broadly of other visible manifestations of the Lord (see Gen 16:9-13; Judg 13:3, 6, 21-22). • In the Bible, blazing fire often represents God’s transcendent holiness (see Exod 19:18; Gen 15:17; 1 Kgs 18:38-39; Isa 33:14). • didn’t burn up: This may show that God does not wish to consume the vehicle that he sets ablaze for his purposes.