Background
In chapter 1 we found God having turned his chosen family of seventy people into a numerous nation. Through events he shows himself to be the one who should be feared above every other authority, as he belittles and frustrates the plans of Pharaoh.
In chapter 2 the focus narrows and we see how God works in the life of individuals among his people, working through their successes and failures. Specifically we see the calling of Moses, the one who has been ‘drawn out’ or ‘rescued’, chosen to become the leader of the God’s people. He spends 40 years learning to be a king. He develops a keen sense of justice and identity with his true people rather than his adopted people, but makes a hash of it when he applies a political solution to the plight of the Israelites. God calls him into the desert where he settles down in the family of a priest, becoming a shepherd, and learning those roles for a further 40 years. Something of a balanced education!
At eighty years of age, Moses is now a fully trained Priest-King reminding us of the future Jesus, Priest-King 'in the order of Melchizedek' who will lead all God's people in the greatest Exodus of all.
Chapter 1 – the people : chapter 2 – the leader : chapter 3 – the God.
God has been largely absent from the narrative but now he steals the lime light - or should that be bush fire light? We have observed the picture, have marvelled at the detailed brush work, and now we meet the painter to explain it all for us.
A Changed Man
Looking through the chapter we see that Moses’ character has changed since the last time we saw him. He has learned humility and is going about his business, having become a very reluctant hero rather than the eager hero of chapter 2 that he used to be.
God so often takes away the rough edges on people, curtailing their worldly ambition and making them content where they are.
Before I came to know Jesus as my Lord and Saviour, I only ever wanted to be a rock'n'roll star. My music was everything to me and my only true goal in life. My career was beginning to lift off as many well known people in the London music scene were taking great interest in our songs. Two of us had formed a songwriting partnership and were receiving calls daily. We had come to the point of negotiating contracts through London lawyers.
In the middle of this process the Lord called me and I gave my life to the Lord. The music career stopped dead in its tracks - no more phone calls, no more interest, no nothing. But the odd thing is that the Lord released me from the bondage of wanting stardom. Soon he had me involved in Christian music and now I am playing, recording and writing more music than ever before. Thank God! And more than that, I can enjoy music into eternity! Which would I rather have: two years worldly stardom, or an eternity of music-making? A 'no brainer' as they say.
Credentials
So Moses had undergone a change of ambition. There is also the matter of credentials. Moses thought he had all the necessary qualifications to be Israel’s leader 40 years before, but he learnt his lesson and now he is unwilling to return to the task without clear credentials.
In 2 Corinthians we see Paul defending his credentials, which boil down to his plain gospel message, and as the Corinthians look back on their recent history, themselves. Ponder this and we will return to it in a little while. Suffice to say that Paul faced the same daunting task that Moses faces here, and that we face when the Lord sends us out to evangelise. This is not irrelevant ancient history or theology.
But what about God’s credentials?
The God of the Bush
The Israelites, and Moses in particular, are about to have an intense relationship with God. Before any of us becomes involved to the point of friendship with someone else we find it important to know what they are like. What is their character? Are they trustworthy and friendly?
This is no less true of God. Before conversion, people are assessing that very thing. 'Is this God someone I can trust?' they ask. 'Is pledging my life to him too risky and stupid, or is he someone I want to know intimately, to call my Lord?'
Knowledge about someone is not the same thing as knowledge of someone. Knowing someone in the fullest sense, knowing God even, is a matter of fact and experience working together. Remember we explored this a little in the opening chapter. The American Bible teacher Dale Ralph Davis says, “There are no cold facts about God, only warm truths about God.” As we go forward I should admit that a good proportion of the rest of this exposition is inspired by Dr. Davis' excellent exposition before the 2002 Senior Minister's Conference. I also owe much to Jim Spense of St Helens Bishopsgate and his excellent tape series on Exodus.
The Burning Bush (Verses 1-6)
Moses spots the famous burning bush and goes to investigate. I find this interesting because it looks like a test from God. God presents an experience beyond the normal but Moses is allowed to pass by if he wishes. When God calls, he never imposes himself on a person. He waits for them to become curious by his prompting, to respond and to engage with him and start asking questions. If they do so it an lead to a level of desire for God that he in turn blesses with the miracle of election. It is a proper relationship from the word go. A good proportion of Christians such as myself are initially called by means of a supernatural experience, but always we who have continued are those who have responded and sought after answers. I wonder how many people do not respond and so never come to know Jesus?
God tells Moses that he is to come no closer and is standing on 'holy ground'. This raises the question as to what makes this ground holy. Surely it is God's presence that makes it holy for God alone is holy and in some way everything close to God's person is made holy so that he can be there. Likewise the bush and the ground around the bush is purified by his presence. Incidentally, modern tourists to the Holy Land are shown this particular bush that God used. How the locals claim to know which bush it is and how the bush has persisted these many years I cannot even begin to imagine!
Moses cannot come too near to the bush for he is not yet holy, not yet in full, voluntary relationship with his God. he must keep his distance, although later in life he will come into God's very presence. Those who oppose infanct baptism use this argument to say that it is wrong to present to God an infant who is as yet unholy and unclean to God. He cannot accept what is unholy into his holy presence.
That God tells Moses to remove his sandals is intriguing, but I suggest that this setablishes a proper respect for God. We do not come to him as equals, but as his servants, showing our subservience. This sign of subservience (removing footware) is still observed to this day in Asia.
The Covenant God
God introduces himself in verse 6 by saying, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob". Davis suggests that he wants Moses to grasp the fact that he is talking to the Covenant God, the God who makes and keeps his promises. This statement is a declaration of character common among ancient kings. The poet PB Shelley picks up the point in his sonnet Ozymandias.
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
There are two aspects to being the covenant God:
1: God has a history with his people of proving himself faithful and always delivering on his word.
2: He gives hope to his people for the future.
Gen 17:7 “I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.” Matt 22:31: “About the resurrection of the dead — have you not read what God said to you, 32‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’ ? He is not the God of the dead but of the living.”
This God's covenant is 'everlasting' (Genesis)and it promises that thiose who benefit from his covenant will be resurrected (Matthew) and become living. God becomes Abraham’s God by promising to be so. Having made such a promise he cannot break that pledge. Likewise, Abraham cannot stop belonging to God. There is no severance in this relationship, no redundancy, do end. Davis says how struck he is by 1 Thess 4:16 where Paul talks about, “the dead in Christ”. It is the same idea. they are physically dead but destined to be alive forever because of who they belong to.
The Grieving God of Solidarity - (Verses 7-10)
Beyond having a commitment of belonging, God relates to his people in another way. He shares in their suffering humanity. What the NIV translates as 'Misery' is literally ‘pains’, and 'seen' is in the sense of ‘experiencing with’.
In verse 8 God responds to the suffering he sees his people enduring by 'coming down'. God doesn’t remain aloof, and doesn’t simply pull us out of a bad situation by executive miraculous spatial relocation, but comes to us to demonstrate solidarity and work things through the long way. This life is still the courting stage of our relationship with God. There is time yet for the wedding and consumation of all that he has promised us.
Instead of instant physical answer, God gives a vision of hope for the future. He gives people a destination (Canaan in this case) and pledges his support and assurance - "I will be with you".
We are beginning to see God's plan of redemption at work. Redemption means being "taken out of" one thing and "taken into" something else. We are taken out of the world's family and taken into God's family. We are separated and thereby made holy.
The God who enters into our human condition is most npticeable in the New Testament and the New Covenant. Jesus shares in our humanity, being afflicted just as we are by false accustion, tiredness, death and sickness of friends, political salnder and in his case capital execution. So the writer tiothe Hebrews can say of him,
"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin.Heb (4:15)"
God is not aloof or capricious and disinterested in our sufferings and frailty. He sees and grieves with and over us
The Reluctant Hero (Verse 11)
"I will send you," says God, but the previously eager hero proves rather bashful now.
Verse 11 reminds us of ourselves. "But Lord, I’m nothing special; no evangelist, no teacher, no missionary, no..." we protest. It’s rather feeble, when God does so much for us, that we turn round and back off as fast as we can from the challenges he sets before us. The realism of this encounter in Exodus is remarkable. The worrying note fopr all of us is at what stage in the process does a lack of self-belief become sinful disobedience to God?
Billy Graham, Rico Tice, Dick Lucas and all the great heroes of God, struggle just as much as we do with insecurity in the face of the task. Buit we need not be alarmed. We need to learn to trust and walk forward willingly. God prefers willing hands, good servants who invest what he has invested in them and produce a return.
Credentials (Verse 12)
Having said, "I will send you," now God says, "I will be with you," but Moses wants a guarantee. And so begins a process of Moses badgering God for some plausible credentials. God is not about to write a letter of commendation, a character reference to help him secure the job. He will authenticate his involvement in this project but from a human perspective
there is catch. The authentication is to be given after the event! I imagine that this will ring true with your own experience of working for the Lord. It is only looking back that you can see his hand on circumstances. God has every right to see evidence of our faith first before giving his approval. Perhaps the story of Abraham being told to take Isaac up for sacrifice should act as our guide in such matters. Only at the end, after Abraham had shown great faith, did God provide the sheep as sacrifice.
God declares his Name (Verses 13-15)
Moses continues to try and gain some confidence in his new occupation. But what does Moses mean by the question, ‘What is his name?’ Why doesn’t he just say 'Elohiym', the supreme God, or El Shaddai (God Almighty) for surely everyone would understand? But there would be no proof that this is the true God of the Hebrews for other races have their own supreme god. Therefore, the truth that this really is Elohiym will be evident in his character, his nature. Moses is quick-witted enough to know that he must provide some evidence to show that he has been sent by the same creator God that spoke with the patriarchs, so he says, "What are you like?"
Some have made the suggestion that Moses is expecting a new revelation of God's character which would require a new name in his ancient culture. God revelaed himself to the patriarchs in other ways that prompted different names. Now God is unfolding his character and purpose more fully, so a new name is required that describes what is to be taught to his people
God answers in the famous phrase, ‘I am who I am,’ which can be equally well translated as, ‘I will be who I will be’. The Hebraic shorthand name for God therefore, has become Yahweh or Jehovah, that means ‘to be’.
There are two major ways in which ‘to be’ can be understood.
1. to exist
2. to be present
Dale Ralph Davis suggests that the second idea is the dominant one and I agree that his argument is persuasive. Placing the verse back into context and thinking of the overall thrust of the passage, God’s nature is being declared as the God who is present with his people. He comes down, he shares their pains, he promises to be their God eternally and 'from generation to generation'. In verse 12 he tells Moses ‘I will be with you...’
This well describes the God of the whole Scriptures - the God who is imminent, close, present. And he is the God who is coming, as Revelation describes it. In saying ‘I will be what I will be’, God is declaring that we will experience God and his presence as we live our lives and he guides us through. He will share our path, every triumph and every stumble. This is how we will know him.
In Exodus we are to see God performing miracles and being evident in a pillar of fire and a column of cloud, and a noisy mountain.
The God of the New Covenant is also present with us, although not in such a graphic way. It just as miraculous a way but it is not obvious. He has sent his Holy Spirit to live in us, that we might live in Christ. He too says "I will send you," (John 20:21) and, "I am (will be) with you always.." (Matt 28:20)
The God of the Old Testament is the same as the God of the New Testament. he is a personal, involved, loving and caring God, yoked with us, but bearing the brunt of the strain as Jesus says in Matthew 11:30.
Let us believe it!