The Burning Bush.
"Behold the bush," etc. Exodus 3:2. A very astonishing event; yet amply evidenced to us by those voluminous arguments which now more than ever establish the authenticity of Exodus; but in addition to this, we have here the special endorsement of the Truth Incarnate. See Mark 12:26. [Examine this passage critically, and consider how full and valid the endorsement is! No mere acceptance of received legend.]
I. THE TIME. A solemn undertone in Mark 12:1. A great soul wandering under the starlight of a partial revelation.
1. In the life of the Church. A time of trial; Israel like leaves in autumn, like the foam of the sea, and that for long. Of deepening trial, see Exodus 1:1-22. Deliverance apparently impossible. The government of the new Pharaoh now firm and strong. For evidence of depression see Exodus 6:9.
2. In the life of Moses. Eighty years of age. Acts 7:23, Acts 7:30. Yet hardly any history of the man. In fact we have no continuous history. Died at 120. First forty years? Blank. So with second and third. A history of four crises! Birth; decision; entrance on service; death.
Learn:
II. THE SCENE. The following should be carefully observed, with the view of vivifying and realising this story of Divine manifestation. The scene was laid—
1. In the desert. See Stanley's 'Sinai and Palestine,' pp. 12-14, for the general characteristics of the desert.
2. In the Midian section of the desert. For exact definition of this, see "Midian," in Smith's 'Bibl. Dict.' 356a.
3. In the Horeb range. Horeb designates the range of mountains about Sinai; Sinai the solitary grandeur of Jebel Mdsa. 'Desert of the Exodus,' p. 118.
4. At Sinai. Probably in Er Rahah, the wide wady north of Sinai, with the mighty pile of Ras Sufsafeh towering on the south.
5. Generally—amid mountains: where oft, as on the sea at night, God seems so near. His face towards the sun, Sinai in grand altitude of shade before him, Moses saw the brightness and heard the word of the Loges, the manifested God.
III. THE VISION. Observe here two elements:—
1. The subjective. Moses' state of mind. This would be determined by the known circumstances of Israel, and by his own: he was away from his people, seemingly out of the covenant, the Divine promise forgotten.
2. The objective. A lowly plant; not a tree. Fire. No consuming; no smoke, no ashes, no waste. In the Fire (Acts 7:4) the Angel-God of the Old Testament. Symbol of the Church of all time. Isaiah 43:2, Isaiah 43:3.
IV. THE FIRST EFFECT. Intellectual curiosity. "I will now … why the bush," etc. This attention was better than indifference, but was probably nothing more than an intelligent curiosity. Still, this was not enough.
V. THE CHECK: Isaiah 43:4, Isaiah 43:5. The attitude of the mind should be that of reverent attention, face to face with Divine manifestations. "The word of the Lord always went along with the glory of the Lord, for every Divine vision was designed for Divine revelation." This the more necessary because over every revelation there is a veil. Habakkuk 3:4. Distance becomes us. "Draw not nigh hither]" So in Science, Psychology, History, the revelation of the Christ. The aim not to satisfy the curiosity, but to enlighten and empower the conscience, and direct the life.
VI. THE DRAWING into covenantal relations, notwithstanding the momentary check. This by making known—
1. The Divine Name: Habakkuk 3:6. The God of thy father; of the immortal dead too; therefore thy God. The effect of this tender revelation: "Moses hid his face," etc.
2. The Divine sympathy. "I know." Sense of the Divine Omniscience alone is an awful pressure from above on the soul; but there is a restoration to equilibrium, by a pressure from beneath supporting, i.e. by a sense of Divine sympathy—"their sorrows." See Maurice, 'Patriarchs and Lawgivers,' p. 162.
3. A Divine salvation. "I am come down to deliver."
4. Possibility of Divine service. "Come now, therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh:" Habakkuk 3:10.—R.