The Burning Bush – Exodus 2:11-25; 3:1-10

Hermeneutical Assignment on:

The Burning Bush – Exodus 2:11-25; 3:1-10

By

Timothy Ching Lung LAM

The first Assignment Submitted to Dr. Yiu Wing FUNG of

Alliance Bible Seminary

in Partial Fulfillment of the

Requirements for the Course of

BS515-E: Hermeneutics

Summer 2003

Timothy Ching Lung LAM

Student ID Number: D023111

August 2, 2003

Hermeneutical Assignment on: The Burning Bush – Exodus 2:11-25; 3:1-10

Hermeneutics Page 1 By Timothy Ching Lung LAM

I. Introduction

The verb, “see” plays an important role in Exodus 2:11-25; 3:1-10 whereby God’s plan of

delivering the Israelites are revealed through the seeing acts of both Moses and God.

II. What Did Moses See?

1. Contents of the Passages

Throughout the following three passages, the verb, “see” and its synonyms (i.e. NIV,

“watch”, “glance”, and “look”) appears nine times when it relates to Moses, which

indeed are only found in the first and third passages.1 On the other hand, the second

passage only describes the same act implicitly.

(1) 2:11-15

One day, Moses went out to his own people to watch their burdens and then, he

saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew (2:11). Then, Moses looked this way and

that and saw no one around before he killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the

sand (2:12). However, Moses’ murder was actually seen by a Hebrew (or even

more).

When Moses went out to his people again on the next day pretending nothing

happened, he saw two Hebrews fighting each other (2:13). Thereupon, he

rebuked the wrongdoer who he judged to be mistreating the other Hebrew.

This Hebrew, who was coincidentally a witness of Moses’ murder, challenged

his authority as the ruler and judge over him and asked if he intended to kill him

as he did to the Egyptian (2:14). As a result, Moses was afraid that his

murder was uncovered causing him to flee from Egypt to Midian (2:15).

1 There are five times appeared in 2:11-15, with the other four appeared in 3:1-6.



(2) 2:16-25

As mentioned before, there is no explicit verb, “see” found in the second

passage. However, one could tell, within the context, that Moses saw the seven

daughters of the Midian priest at the well by where he sat down after fleeing

from Pharaoh (2:15-16). At the well, Moses saw these girls being bullied by

the shepherds when they were drawing water from the well to water their

father’s flock (2:16-17). Accordingly, Moses rescued them and helped water

their flock. As a result, Moses was invited by their father, Reuel, to stay with

him who also gave his daughter Zipporah to him in marriage (2:20-21).

Thereafter, Moses begot a son named Gershom, for which the name reminded

him of being “a sojourner in a strange land” (2:22, YLT).

(3) 3:1-6

In this passage, what Moses saw was God Himself appearing in the burning

bush. When Moses was 80 years old tending his father-in-law's sheep near the

Horeb, he saw a burning bush (3:1-2). While Moses was trying to go over and

see this supernatural sight, God, in the midst of the burning bush, saw him

having gone over to look (3:3-4). Accordingly, God warned him not to come

closer and asked him to take off his shoes, proclaiming the land as holy and

confessing himself as God whereupon Moses hid his face out of fear to look at

God (3:5-6).2 After taking off his shoes and hiding his face, Moses was asked

by God to deliver his people, the Israelites.

2. Similarities

(1) Causal Pattern: Saw and Judged

Obviously, the three passages coherently follow the same pattern, i.e. Moses saw

and judged under his verdict:”

(a) Moses accused the Egyptian as the wrongdoer after he saw him beating the

2 It should be noted that the fourth time that the verb, “look” appeared was indeed not a seeing act as Moses hid



Hebrew.

(b) Moses killed the Egyptian at the time he judged appropriate since he saw no

one there.

(c) When Moses saw two Hebrews fighting, he judged one of them in wrong.

(d) Moses judged the shepherds as the wrongdoer because he saw the girls

mistreated by them.

(e) Moses went up to see the burning bush as he judged it as a supernatural

sight.

(2) Turning Points Pattern: Observation-Proactive Actions-Passive Responses

Each passage demonstrated a turning point in Moses’ life, which began with his

seeing act followed by his proactive action resulting in someone’s reaction and

his subsequent passive responses with frustration.

(a) The first turning point – An end of the 1st

40 years in Egypt.

Moses saw his oppressed brethren → killed the Egyptian → a Hebrew

accused him → Moses fled from Pharaoh.

(b) The second turning point – The next 40 years in Midian.

Moses saw the oppressed Midian girls → rescued them → the father of

the girls asked Moses to stay with them → Moses agreed and married his

daughter.

(c) The third turning point – The remaining 40 years to deliver Israel

Moses saw the burning bush → turned aside to see → God asked him to

deliver Israel → Moses finally accepted.

3. Progression of Thoughts

Despite the similarities between the three passages in terms of Moses’ seeing acts,

there are indeed some differences and progressions of thoughts within the passages:

his face in order not to see God after he knew God’s presence in the burning bush.



(1) Identity Changed

Throughout the three passages, the identity of Moses has changed from the

prince of Egypt, to the fugitive fleeing from Pharaoh, to the sojourner in Midian,

and finally to the deliverer of Israel sent by God following his respective seeing

acts.

(2) Confidence Changed

Following what he saw and encountered, Moses was losing his confidence. At

first, Moses was very confident in himself as he had grown up with all the

wisdom he acquired in Egypt in the past 40 years.3 However, Moses was

losing his confidence as he was rejected by his people. As the fugitive and the

sojourner in Midian, Moses’ confidence appeared to be further lessened. At

the age of 80, Moses had no confidence at all as evidenced in his excuses made

against God’s commandments (3:11-4:13).

(3) Dominant Act Changed

At the beginning of each passage, all of Moses’ actions were dominated by his

seeing acts, which, however, turned out to be abandoned at the end. For Moses,

it appeared that he was taking a proactive role to see if there was anything

wrong or injustice among his people at the beginning. However, Moses’ seeing

action was rather passive in the second passage as he sat down there and did

nothing until the Midian girls came along. At the end, Moses hid his eyes

denoting his submission to God whereupon he no longer relied on what he saw.

(4) Role of Deliverance Changed

At first, Moses intended to be the deliverer of Israel, which, nonetheless, was

rejected by his people as a result. Later on, although Moses became the

deliverer of the oppressed Midian girls, his desire for delivering his brethrens

3 See Acts 7:22-23, “Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and



became even far-reaching. After all, when Moses had given up to be the

deliverer after shepherding the flocks for forty years, he was ironically chosen

by God to deliver Israel.

III. What Did God See?

In the verses 2:25, 3:7 and 3:9, the verb, “see,” appears three times when it relates to

God, of which the first time appears in the transition verse between Moses’ settlement

in Midian and God’s appearance in the burning bush (2:25) while the remaining two

both appears in the burning bush incident (3:7;9):

1. Similarities

What these three verses in common are what God sees, namely, the Israelites in

afflictions. After Moses had fled from Egypt and the Israelites still groaned

under bondage even though the king of Egypt died, it appeared that everything

was working against Israel (2:23). However, this passage reminds us that God is

very much informed, and involved in fulfilling His promises for Israel. In this

regard, when Israelites cried out for help, God heard and remembered his

covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (2:24). Most importantly, not only

He looked upon them, God was concerned about the Israel and that His

redemptive plan had been carried out.

2. Progression of Thoughts

Notwithstanding that the verb, “see” repeatedly appears in the three verses, it is

not a redundant addition but rather clarifies what God saw in a progressive manner.

The first verse says that God “looked on” the Israelites; but it does not describe

what exactly He looked upon His people. Nevertheless, the following two verses

provide more details that God have seen the misery of His people in Egypt as

indicated in the second verse while the third verse gives further hint that God have

seen the way how Egyptians were oppressing His people.

action. When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his fellow Israelites.” (NIV)



Furthermore, God’s reaction after He saw the Israelites was in a progressive

manner. It appears in the first verse that God was only concerned about His

people without indicating His concrete redemptive plan. In addition to His

concerns on Israel’s suffering, God appeared to Moses in the burning bush

revealing His plan (as stated in the second verse) that He has come down to rescue

the Israelites and to deliver them out of Egypt to the promised land. And how

God was going to deliver His people is described in more details in the third verse

that He was going to send Moses to Pharaoh to bring His people out of Egypt.

It should be noted that God was not concerned about His people without taking

any action in the first verse. God had indeed prepared Moses to deliver His

people by first delivering him from Pharaoh when he was a child (2:1-10). In

addition, God had prepared Moses’ heart for delivering His people (2:11-22).

Hebrews 11:24-26 explains why Moses visited his brethren because of his

decision to identify with them and even to suffer with them. It is why the

scripture says God did look on the Israelites at the very beginning. (2:25)

IV. Conclusion

In short, the verb “see” plays an important part throughout the above passages.

Although it appears in the first few scriptures that only Moses saw all these afflictions

among his people, it is God who indeed saw them all. Thus, God looked upon the

children of Israel just as Moses looked upon them and that Moses’ heart was a reflection

of the heart of God demonstrating that both of them looked on the afflicted with

compassion. At last, the seeing acts of these passages culminate in the burning bush

incident bringing together the two apparently separated seeing acts of God and Moses

whereby God prefaced His commission of Moses by revealing His covenanted plan for

delivering the Israelites.

i

Appendix

1) What Did Moses See?

Comparison/ Progression of

Thought

Exodus 2:11-15 Exodus 2:16-25 Exodus 3:1-6

Exodus 2:11-12

Exodus 2:13-15

Who/What did Moses See?

1. Moses’ own people at their hard labor.

2. An Egyptian beating a Hebrew.

3. No other people

Two Hebrews fighting

1. Seven daughters of a Midian Priest drew water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock.

2. Some shepherds came along and drove the girls away.

Bush on fire but without being burnt up (Moses indeed saw the angel of the Lord, who turned out to be the Lord himself, in the middle of a burning bush).

What Did Moses Do After He Saw?

1. Killed the Egyptian.

2. Hid him in the sand.

Asked the one in the wrong

Got up and came to rescue the girls and water their flocks afterwards

Go over and see the burning bush (Straight sight).

What Happened to Moses After His Action(s)?

Moses’ murder was seen by a Hebrew or even more.

Moses was afraid of his murder being seen and fled from Pharaoh to Midian as Pharaoh heard of this and tried to kill him

1. The girls first left Moses.

2. However, Reuel, the father of the girls and the priest of Midian, invited Moses to have something to eat and asked him to stay

3. Reuel also gave his daughter, Zipporah to Moses in marriage.

4. Moses agreed to stay and beget a son from Zipporah.

1. God asked Moses not to come closer to the burning bush while asked him to take off his shoes.

2. Moses hid his face as he was afraid to look at God.

Similarities

Causal Pattern: Saw and Judged

1. Moses saw the Egyptian beating the Hebrew and judged him as the wrongdoer.

2. Moses killed the Egyptian at the time he judged appropriate when he saw no one there.

3. Moses saw one of the two fighting Hebrews in wrong.

Moses judged the shepherds in wrong when he saw them bullying the girls.

Moses judged the burning bush as supernatural scene because he saw it not burnt up.

ii

1) What Did Moses See?


Thought

Exodus 2:11-15 Exodus 2:16-25 Exodus 3:1-6

Exodus 2:11-12

Exodus 2:13-15

Turning Points Pattern: Observation- Proactive Actions-Passive Responses

An End of the 1st

40 Years in Egypt Moses saw his oppressed brethren → killed the Egyptian → a

Hebrew accused him → Moses

fled from Pharaoh.

The Next 40 Years in Midian Moses saw the oppressed Midian

girls → rescued

them → the father

of the girls asked Moses to stay with

them → Moses

agreed and married his daughter.

The Remaining 40 Years to Deliver Israel Moses saw the burning bush → turned aside to

see → God asked him

to deliver Israel →

Moses finally accepted.

Differences

Identity Changed

Moses the Prince of Egypt became Moses the Fugitive

Moses the Fugitive became Moses the Sojourner

Moses the Sojourner became Moses the Deliverer (of Israel sent by God)

Confidence Changed

Moses was very confident in himself as he had grown up at the age of 40 and that he had acquired the education in Egypt (Acts 7:22-23)

Moses was losing his confidence as he was rejected by his people.

Moses had no confidence at all especially at the age of 80. He made excuses to reject God’s commandment.

Dominant Act Changed

Moses’ actions were dominated by his eyes.

Moses’ seeing act became rather passive.

Moses’ actions were no longer dominated as he hid his eyes.

The Role of Deliverance Changed

Although Moses intended to deliver Israel, he failed to do so.

When Moses delivered 7 daughters of the Midian Priest, his desire for delivering Israel became far-reaching.

When Moses had given up being the deliverer of Israel, he was asked by God to deliver them.

iii

2) What Did God See?


Thought

Exodus 2:25 Exodus 3:7 Exodus 3:9

Who/What did God See?

He looked on the Israelites.

He has indeed seen the misery of his people in Egypt.

He has seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.

What did God do after He saw?

He was concerned about them

He is concerned about their suffering and that He has come down to rescue them from Egyptians and to bring them up to the promised land.

He is sending Moses to Pharaoh to bring His people out of Egypt.

Similarities The object of what God looked on: the Israelites in afflictions.

Progression of Thoughts: What God Saw?

The Israelites The misery of the Israelites in Egypt.

The way the Egyptians are oppressing the Israelites.

Progression of Thoughts: How God Acted?

Only concerned about the Israelites

Concerned about the Israelites’ suffering with the action plan to rescue them.

God’s action plan became more concrete that He was sending Moses to deliver His people.

Documents

The Burning Bush – Exodus 2:11-25; 3:1-10