The Burning Bush

God’s dramatic self-revelation to Moses through a bush that burned without being consumed, occurring at Mount Horeb (also called Sinai) when Moses was tending his father-in-law Jethro’s flock in the wilderness. When Moses approached the strange sight, God called from within the bush—“Moses! Moses!”—and commanded him to remove his sandals because he stood on holy ground. God identified Himself as “the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” declaring that He had seen the misery of His people in Egypt and would deliver them to a land flowing with milk and honey.

When Moses asked what name to give the Israelites when they asked who sent him, God revealed His holy name: “I AM WHO I AM” (YHWH/Yahweh), saying “I AM has sent me to you.” Despite Moses’s repeated objections—“Who am I to go to Pharaoh?”, “What if they don’t believe me?”, “I am slow of speech”—God provided signs (Moses’s staff turning into a snake, his hand becoming lep rous then healed), promised His presence, and appointed Aaron as Moses’s spokesman. This theophany at the burning bush commissioned the reluctant 80-year-old shepherd to return to Egypt and confront Pharaoh, marking the decisive beginning of God’s plan to deliver Israel from slavery and fulfill His promises to the patriarchs. The Quran similarly recounts how Allah spoke to Musa (Moses) from the fire, revealing His divine glory and commissioning him to go to Pharaoh (Quran 20:9-48, 27:7-12, 28:29-35).