Moses and the burning bush

Unerstand the scene

WHAT YOU CAN SEE IN THIS PICTURE 

Moses is in Egypt; he is grazing the sheep of his father-in-law when he sees a bush burning without being consumed.

Moses wears a shepherd’s clothing; his flock is near. He has taken off his sandals as a mark of respect as God has asked him to do. The sandals or shoes are quite visible.

The bush burns without being consumed, that is to say without smoke and without its branches disappearing, but flames can be seen.

God being invisible should not be represented; here it is the Lord’s angel.

... AND IN OTHER PICTURES 

Moses is normally a young man but he is sometimes confused with the one he will become later (See Moses and the Law)

The bush can be of a very great size and sometimes it is the whole mountain that is ablaze.

God is sometimes present under the form of a hand but one can also find the figure of Christ, and even that of the Father, depending on the date of the painting. Some classic painters have represented this scene in a vast landscape in which it is lost; others have put the stress on Moses.

The biblical narrative

The Book of Exodus, chapter 3

Moses, a young “son of Israel” is brought up at the court of Pharaoh but he must soon flee from Egypt and settle among the nomads of Madian.

One day he grazes the cattle of his father-in-law; he comes “to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.

And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here I am .

And he said, Do not draw near hither: put off your shoes from off your feet, for the place whereon you stand is holy ground.

Moreover he said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.

Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial to all generations. (Exodus 3:2-6 + 15)

Comment

It is a capital moment in the revelation of God’s name in the Bible. Until then, God was only the God of the ancestors; he reveals himself now as the Being “I am”

See similar pictures

Further developpements