The Burning Bush

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MOSES had come all the way to the mountain of Hoʹreb to find grass for his sheep. Here he saw a bush on fire, but it wasn’t burning up!

‘This is strange,’ Moses thought. ‘I will go closer and get a better look.’ When he did, a voice came from the bush, saying: ‘Do not come any closer. Take off your sandals, because you are standing on holy ground.’ It was God speaking by means of an angel, so Moses covered his face.

God then said: ‘I have seen the suffering of my people in Egypt. So I am going to free them, and you are the one I am sending to lead my people out of Egypt.’ Jehovah was going to bring his people to the beautiful land of Caʹnaan.

But Moses said: ‘I am nobody. How can I do this? But suppose I do go. The Israelites will say to me, “Who sent you?” Then what shall I say?’

‘This is what you are to say,’ God answered. ‘“JEHOVAH the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob has sent me to you.”’ And Jehovah added: ‘This is my name forever.’

‘But suppose they don’t believe me when I say that you sent me,’ Moses replied.

‘What is in your hand?’ God asked.

Moses answered: ‘A stick.’

‘Throw it on the ground,’ God said. And when Moses did, the stick became a snake. Jehovah then showed Moses another miracle. He said: ‘Put your hand inside your robe.’ Moses did, and when he took his hand out, it was white like snow! The hand looked as if it had the bad sickness called leprosy. Next Jehovah gave Moses power to do a third miracle. Finally he said: ‘When you do these miracles the Israelites will believe that I sent you.’

After that Moses went home and said to Jethʹro: ‘Please let me go back to my relatives in Egypt to see how they are.’ So Jethʹro said good-bye to Moses, and Moses began his trip back to Egypt.

Exodus 3:1-22; 4:1-20.

Study Questions

What is the name of the mountain in the picture?
Describe the unusual thing that Moses saw when he went to the mountain with his sheep.
What did a voice say from the burning bush, and whose voice was it?
How did Moses answer when God told him that he would lead God’s people out of Egypt?
What did God tell Moses to say if the people asked who sent him?
How would Moses be able to prove that God had sent him?

Additional questions:

Read Exodus 3:1-22.How does Moses’ experience give us confidence that even if we feel unqualified to fulfill a theocratic assignment, Jehovah will back us up? (Ex. 3:11, 13; 2 Cor. 3:5, 6)
ReadExodus 4:1-20.
1. What change in Moses’ attitude occurred during the 40 years he spent in Midian, and what lesson can those reaching out for congregation privileges learn from this? (Ex. 2:11, 12; 4:10, 13; Mic. 6:8; 1 Tim. 3:1, 6, 10)
2. Even if we are disciplined by Jehovah through his organization, what confidence can Moses’ example give us? (Ex. 4:12-14; Ps. 103:14; Heb. 12:4-11)

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