The Pulpit Commentary — Exodus — Volume 1 — Section 91

Vers. 1-5.-The burning bush. I. OBSERVE THE cmouMBTANCES tN wiuon Goo FJ1''IIS MosEs. He is still with Jethro, e.lthough forty years have passed since their first acquaintance. Though a fugitive, he had not become a mere wanderer. 1. He omtinues, however, in a comparatively hwmhle position, His marriage to Jethro's daughter and his long stay in the country do not seem to have brought him much external prosperity. He has not reached even the modest point of success in the eyes of a Midianite shepherd. viz. to have a flock of his own. But this.. very humility of position doubtless had its advantages and its place in the providence of God with respect to him. With all the lowliness of his state, it wa.s better to be a livino-1 man in Midian than to have been slain as the son of Phara.oh's daughter. God had°brouo-ht him oui of a king's house, so that he might be freed from all the temptations of :oft raiment, and also to make manifest that, although among courtiers, he wasi,not of them. But if during his stay in Midian he had increased in pastoral wealth, and become a second Job (Job i. 3), then, like Job, he might have had to go into humiliation because of his wealth. It wa.s well for him that while he had the care of property, he had not the cares of it (Jam. i. 10, 11). 2. God finds him engaged in faithful service, leading his flock far into the desert that they might find suitable pasture. God comes to those who a.re diligently occupied in some useful work, even if it be as humble and obscure as that of Moses. He does not come with his revelations to day-dreamers; they are left to build their castles in the air. They who despise common and daily work., on the pretext that they are fitted for something much better, will at last be thrown into the comer among the refuse. "Let those that think themselves buried a.live be content to shine like lamps in sepulchres, and wait till God's time comes for setting them in a candlestick" (Matt. iv. 18-22, ix. 9 ; Luke ii. 8). II. Gon APPROACHES MosEs WITH A SUDDEN TEST. "The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire, out of the midst of a bush" i.e. the flame of fire became a messenger of God to Moses. We are told in Psalm civ. that God is he whu makes the clouds his chariot, walks upon the wings of the wind, makes the winds his messengers, and flaming fire into his ministers (Heb. i. 7). And so here God sends this flame of fire, encompassing and att.a.cking the bush, in order to discover what sort o; man Moses is. Certain features of hie character, viz. his patriotism, his hatred of oppression, his prompt action to serve the weak, have hitherto been exhibited rather than tested. He had shown what sort of man he was in the ordinary experiences of life, such experiences as might come to any of us. But now he is face to face with an extra.ordinary experience, a sudden and unexpected test. The burning bush was to Moses what both miracles and parables were to those who came into contact with Jesus. To some the miracles were mere wonders; to others they revealed an open door of co=unication with God. To some the parables were only aimless narratives, mere story-telling. 'l'o others the Divine Teacher was 11.ble to say, "It is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. xiii. 11). And, in a similar way, when Moses came suddenly upon the burning bush, there wa.s also a sudden revelation of the state -0f his heart. He did not treat the phenomenon as a delusion ; did not begin to suspect his· own sanity; did not seek his kindred, that they might come and gape at this new wonder. It was impressed upon his mind exactly as it was meant to be impressed. He asked the very question that above all others needed to be asked-why this bush was not consumed. For observe that it was something which in ordinary circumstances would be easily and quickly consumed ( eh. xxii. 6; EccL vii. 6 ;_ Matt. vi. 30). It was not some metal well used to the fire, but a bush actunlly burning yet not burning away. And as this burning bush was thus a test to Moses, so the record of it is also a test to ua. Let us suppose the question put all round, "What would you have done if you had been there?" We know well the answer that would come from one class of minds: "'!'here was no such thing; it was all Moses' own imagination." 'l'hus the test comes in. As God tested Moses in exhibiting the burning bush as his messenger, so he tests us by the record of this and all other unusual occurrences with which the Scriptures are crowded. If we say at once ,.oncerning the burning bush and all that is supernatural that it is but delusion, err. m. 1-6.] THE BOOK OF EXODUS. 73