Coming Home

Exodus 3: 1-5 (September 25, 2010)

1) The Text

3Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. 3Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.” 4When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”

2) The Context

Exodus is the second book of the Old Testament, and is part of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible. Jews refer to these books as "The Torah". At times, they are referred to as "The Law", although "Torah" means teaching. Exodus centers on the rescue of God's chosen people from captivity in Egypt and the making of the great covenant, or agreement with God, at Mount Sinai.

This is one of the major passages in the Book of Exodus. Moses has grown up in Pharaoh’s house, but after killing an Egyptian for beating one of the Hebrews he fled the land (Exod 2:11-15). He has settled in the land of Midian (the Sinai Peninsula) and married Zipporah (daughter ot Jethro). A long time has passed, The Pharaoh who sought his life has died, and the conditions of Israel’s slavery have become oppressive. But God ‘looked upon the Israelites, and God took notice of them’ (2:15). That short verse, that look of God, makes all the difference and sets the course for the story to come.

As the story opens we find Moses going about his ordinary, shepherding duties for his father-in-law (v. 1). Moses is shepherding “beyond the wilderness”: a mysterious place like the deep in the forest of fairy tales. Near Mount Sinai (“Horeb”) a messenger from God (or God himself) appears to him in the form of fire – a symbol implying passion, purity, light, mystery and (here) not inextinguishable. Moses is curious (v. 3) and leaves Jethro's sheep. What follows is the archetype for the calling of a prophet. God appears to the person and urges him to return to his people and serve as his spokesman, despite any opposition he may encounter, and his own shortcomings. As we find with other prophets (e.g. Jeremiah, Jonah), Moses is reluctant: in fact, he refuses four times! He has reason for not returning to Egypt, and yet he does return, because he believes that he is sent by God. Moses, like Abraham and Samuel, acknowledges God's call by saying “Here I am” (v. 4). Removing one's footwear (v. 5) was a common form of respect in the ancient Near East.

3) Interpretation

After being chased out of Egypt and away from his Hebrew people, Moses is out shepherding sheep for his Midianite father-in-law. Out in the wilderness, Moses stumbles upon "the mountain of God" known as Mount Horeb (also known as Mount Sinai—Exodus 19:11). In the ancient world, mountaintops were the traditional dwelling places for the divine. There, at the mountain, Moses encounters an unquenchable burning bush. Fire is a common biblical symbol of God's presence (Genesis 15:17; Exodus 14:24; 19:18; Leviticus 10:2; see also Acts 2:3). The fiery bush is an icon of the divine, a material or sacramental window into God's presence that both reveals and hides. In part, the ever-burning shrub out in the wilderness signals God's merciful accommodation. God comes down from the mountain of God to meet Moses in the bush. At the same time, the inextinguishable flame is a sign of God's awesome and powerful holiness, a fiery holiness that is at once dangerous and attractive, frightening and comforting, untamed but reassuring.

God instructs Moses to remove the sandals from his feet. The gesture is an ancient practice when entering a holy place of divine presence. It is a gesture that honors the holiness of this ground, this mountain and this God. Removing shoes as a show of reverence is a practice still in use in Islam and other religions.

However, removing his sandals has a second significance in light of Moses' earlier self-declaration in Exodus 2:22: "I have been an alien (Hebrew ger) residing in a foreign land." The Hebrews had rejected Moses as one of their own (Exodus 2:14). The Egyptian Pharaoh sought to kill him (Exodus 2:15). The Midianites see Moses as a foreigner, "an Egyptian" (Exodus 2:19). Moses is not fully "home" in any human community. Taking off one's sandals is a gesture in many traditional cultures that is associated with entering not only a worship space but also a home. Thus, here at the foot of the mountain of God, Moses the "alien," has at last found a true "home." Moses finds his true home not with humans but with God, the God of his ancestors, "the God of Abraham...of Isaac...of Jacob" (Exodus 3:6).

4) Thought Exercise

How has God provided a home for you?

How have you found a home in God?