the burning bush – exodus 2:11-25; 3:1-10
TRANSCRIPT
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.
Hermeneutical Assignment on: The Burning Bush – Exodus 2:11-25; 3:1-10
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(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
Hermeneutical Assignment on: The Burning Bush – Exodus 2:11-25; 3:1-10
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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.
Hermeneutical Assignment on: The Burning Bush – Exodus 2:11-25; 3:1-10
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(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
Hermeneutical Assignment on: The Burning Bush – Exodus 2:11-25; 3:1-10
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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)
Hermeneutical Assignment on: The Burning Bush – Exodus 2:11-25; 3:1-10
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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.
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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.
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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
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.
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2) What Did God See?
Comparison/ Progression of
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.