Chapter Three

1–3. The appearance of God to Moses at Horeb in the thornbush. 4–10. The sending of Moses to Egypt to deliver the Hebrews. 11–22. Moses’ refusal.

Exodus 3:1. Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. The word used in the Hebrew text to denote the relationship of Jethro to Moses, “hoten,” means not only “father-in-law” but also “son-in-law” (Judg 19:5) and even “brother-in-law,” brother of the wife (Judg 1:16, Num 10:29 according to the Russian text). Accordingly, in itself it does not present a certain indication that Jethro is the same person as Reuel, the father of Zipporah, the wife of Moses. Such significance it acquires in the light of other biblical passages, giving understanding that in relation to Moses, Jethro appears as a relative. Thus, Moses, intending to go to Egypt, asks permission from Jethro for this (Exod 4:18), and equally, upon receiving news of his approach, went out to meet him and bowed down (Exod 18:6-7). The honorable reception of Jethro corresponds to his position as the father of Moses’ wife, and on the contrary, would appear strange if we were to imagine him as the brother of Zipporah, the brother-in-law of Moses. The name Horeb is applied also to the entire mountain chain (Exod 17:6), in which Sinai lies, owing to which these two names appear to be identical (compare Exod 3:1 with Acts 7:30, Exod 19:11 with Deut 1:6; Exod 32:1 with Ps 105:19), and to a separate mountain found north of Sinai. Since Horeb is part of the mountains of the Sinai Peninsula, it is clear that by the wilderness into which Moses led his flock – “far into the wilderness,” “to the end of the wilderness,” according to the Samaritan text – we understand the wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula (see Acts 7:30). The pastures near Horeb in antiquity, as now, abounded in feed and water sources, sufficient for small livestock (Hebrew “tzoan”).

Exodus 3:2. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. The external aspect of the vision – the burning yet unconsumed thornbush depicts the distressed condition of the Hebrews in Egypt. The thornbush, distinguished neither by growth nor fruitfulness, serves as a symbol of something low, despised (Judg 9:8-15), in the present case the Hebrew people, and the flame of fire, as a destructive force (Deut 4:24), points to the weight of sufferings (Deut 4:20, Jer 11:4, 1 Sam 8:51). But as the bush burned, yet was not consumed, so too the Hebrew people were not destroyed, but only purified in the furnace of afflictions (Exod 2:23). The Angel of the Lord who appeared to Moses in the thornbush is considered by the Church Fathers to be the Second Person of the Holy Trinity; it is distinguished from God himself by the protomartyr Stephen (Acts 7:35), and all the vision is, according to the patristic interpretation, a prefiguring of the mystery of the incarnation (Gregory of Nyssa, blessed Theodoret). Other Church Fathers, for instance Cyril of Alexandria, understand, in accordance with the context (Exod 3:6-7), by the Angel God himself. He is called an Angel because of his activity among the chosen people and because of his visible appearance to people.

Exodus 3:3. Moses said: “I will turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned. Because of the greatness of what appeared, the vision itself is called great.

Exodus 3:4. When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush: “Moses, Moses!” And he said: “Here I am. Exodus 3:5. Then he said: “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. Because of the absolute holiness of him who appeared, he is inaccessible to a mortal man: “Do not come near.” The latter must experience in his presence a feeling of the deepest humility and reverence: “take your sandals off your feet” (compare Josh 5:15).

Exodus 3:6. And he said: “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. Exodus 3:7. Then the Lord said: “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; for I know their sufferings, Exodus 3:8. and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Exodus 3:9. Behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. The inner aspect of the vision consists of God’s determination about the coming time of the liberation of the Hebrews and their introduction into the promised land. Its basis is, on the one hand, the immutability of the promises given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (“I am the God of your father,” Exod 3:6) – note the singular “father” instead of the plural “fathers” (Exod 15:2)) of the inheritance of their descendants of the land of Canaan: they, as the living (Matt 22:32, Luke 20:37, Mark 12:26), await their fulfillment, and on the other hand, the prayers for help of the Hebrews themselves. “God saw their affliction, heard their cry, knows their sufferings,” – all this is appropriated by his feeling and thought. They deserve divine compassion, and their cruel oppressors must be subject to judgment (Gen 15:14). Therefore, God comes to deliver his people – takes direct participation in their liberation.

Exodus 3:10. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring forth my people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt. Exodus 3:11. But Moses said to God: “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt? “I am a simple shepherd,” as if Moses were saying, “and suddenly I am to demand of the king of a powerful nation that he release the Hebrews!”

Exodus 3:12. He said: “But I will be with you; and this shall be a sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God upon this mountain. The service of God at Horeb, as an event following the liberation of the Hebrews from Egypt, should serve Moses as a pledge of the certain success of his mission. He need not fear his own insignificance: God himself will be with him.

Exodus 3:13. Then Moses said to God: “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them? A new obstacle to the fulfillment of the commission is perceived by Moses in the people themselves. The latter may ask Moses: what is the name of the God of the fathers who appeared to him? What then shall he answer them? The Hebrews will wish to see in the very divine name an indication of such properties that with certainty would vouch that the promise to lead them out of Egypt will be fulfilled.

Exodus 3:14. God said to Moses: “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said: “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM’ has sent me to you. Exodus 3:15. God also said to Moses: “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘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.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. In accordance with such a lawful desire, Moses is revealed the all-encompassing designation of the essence of God – I AM, in Hebrew – “Yahweh.” The word Yahweh, Hebrew Yaweh, from the verb “hayah” – to be, taken in the 1st form, means a self-existent personality, absolutely and independently from anything existing (I AM WHO I AM). The concept of such a personality is expressed by the twice-used personal verb “ehyeh” = I am. They are united by a pronominal connection to indicate that the only self-sufficient cause of the being of this personality is contained in itself. Because of absolute self-existence, the One Who Is is always in his actions equal to himself and unchangeable, and on his word one can and must rely. And if now the Almighty who appeared to Moses is at the same time the God of the fathers of the Hebrew people, with whom an oath-confirmed covenant was made, then there is already no basis or reason to doubt that he will fulfill his promise to lead their descendants out of Egypt. In accordance with this, the words of Moses, the messenger of such a God, deserve complete confidence: “I AM has sent me to you... The God of your fathers has sent me to you.”

Exodus 3:16. Go and gather the elders of the people of Israel, and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying: I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt; Exodus 3:17. and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt, to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.’ Proofs of the success of Moses’ mission are needed for the people (Exod 3:13). They consist in the indication that the promises given to the patriarchs are transferred to the Hebrew people suffering in Egypt: “I have observed you,” whereby he, as a direct descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, will also be led out of Egypt: “I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt...”

Exodus 3:18. They will listen to your voice; and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, we ask you, let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’ The demand presented to Pharaoh bears the character of a general national desire: it is declared not only by Moses, but by the representatives of the people – the elders. Worthy of respect by this feature, it acquires obligatory force for the king insofar as it comes from the national God of the Hebrews: “The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us.” Executing the will of his gods, Pharaoh should give the race of Israel the opportunity to fulfill the requirement of their God.

Exodus 3:19. But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand. Exodus 3:20. So I will stretch out my hand, and strike Egypt with all the wonders which I will do in it; after that he will let you go. Exodus 3:21. And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you go, you shall not go empty-handed: Exodus 3:22. but every woman shall ask of her neighbor and of her who sojourns in her house such things as are of silver and of gold, and raiment: and you shall put them upon your sons and upon your daughters; and you shall despoil the Egyptians. Despite the stubbornness of Pharaoh (Exod 3:19), Moses and the elders should not doubt the fulfillment of the divine determination about leading the Hebrews out of Egypt. The certainty of its fulfillment is vouched for by the coincidence of the circumstances of the coming exodus with what was predicted about it to Abraham. If he was told that “upon the nation, in whose servitude your descendants will be, the Lord will execute judgment, after which they will depart with great possessions” (Gen 15:14), then so it will happen. Before leaving Egypt, God will “stretch out his hand” (Exod 6:6), strike it with wonders, signs, “plagues,” “great judgments” (Exod 7:3-4; Deut 6:22; Nehem 9:10; Ps 104:27; Jer 32:20; Acts 7:36), after which Pharaoh will release you, and you will depart not empty-handed (Exod 3:20-21), – “you shall despoil the Egyptians” (Exod 3:22). The expression “you shall despoil the Egyptians” represents a translation of the third form of the Hebrew verb “natzal” (nazal), literally meaning “to take something by force, by authority, as plunder.” The Hebrews will take from the Egyptians things, as victors from the vanquished. The thought of the possibility of violence on the part of Israel in this case is eliminated by the fact that in the description of this same event in the 36th verse of the 12th chapter of the book of Exodus (Exod 12:36), there stands the expression: “the Egyptians gave” in the literal translation from Hebrew “bestowed as a gift” (5th form of “shaal”). The verb “shaal,” used once more in 1 Sam 1:28, – in the account of Anna, mother of Samuel, who gave him to serve God, – contains the indication of a voluntary gift, but not a forced one. The same conclusion is confirmed by the expression: “and I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you go, you shall not go empty-handed” (Exod 3:21), as well as by the 36th verse of the 12th chapter: “But the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked” (Exod 12:36). God himself by his power inclined the Egyptians toward generosity. The remark: “and you shall put them upon your sons and upon your daughters” (Exod 3:22) indicates that the things pertain to items of adornment (see Gen 24:53, Exod 35:22, Num 31:50).