The sheep had strayed again, searching for fresh greenery amid the desert dust. They had wandered to the foot of Mount Sinai, and some had begun to climb it’s slopes. Moses, tired and feeling his age creeping up on him, began to climb after them.
The sky above was blue and empty, cloudless. There had been no storms for weeks, so when Moses saw the flicker of a fire a little higher up the slope he was surprised. Other than a lightning strike, how could a fire just start out here? Was there somebody else nearby?
He climbed up for a closer look, pulling himself up the steep rocky slope. It did not have the look of a fire started by a traveller. A bush, clinging to the side of the mountain, was burning furiously. Moses blinked and looked more closely. The flames were licking the leaves and branches, but they were not burning. Flames danced but the bush was not consumed. Moses shook his head. How could a bush be on fire and yet not burn? There was something at work here that was not human, and Moses did not like it.
He was about to turn away when he heard the voice.
“Moses!”
He looked all round for the speaker, because he would not believe what his senses told him. There must be someone else nearby. It couldn’t be that the voice was coming from the bush.
“Moses!”
There was no one else there. Moses cleared his throat. “Er...yes? I’m here?”
“Do not come any closer,” the voice said. “Take off your sandals; the place you are standing on is holy ground. I am the God of your fathers, of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob.”
Moses crouched down, both to remove his shoes and to hide his face. His heart raced and his breathing was short, not just from the climb. He was face to face with God- an experience that would destroy anyone who was less than perfect. And Moses knew that he was much less than perfect. He remembered so many things he had done wrong- and one in particular that was worse than all the rest. The Egyptian he had killed.
The Egyptian had been beating one of Moses’ own people, the descendents of Jacob, the Israelites , now slaves in Egypt. Moses, although an Israelite , had been adopted and brought up in the Egyptian royal family. Yet when he saw one of his people being mistreated he had been filled with anger, and had killed the Egyptian and hidden the body.
He thought he had got away without being seen, but the very next day another Israelites had made it clear that his crime was known- and had also let Moses see, very clearly, that he was an outsider, a traitor to his class and people. Afraid of both Egyptians and Israelites, Moses had fled Egypt.
It had not just been the fear of being caught. He didn’t know who he was any more. Brought up by Pharoah’s daughter, he had identified with his Egyptian peers. But as he had grown up watching them enslave and ill-treat his birth family and those around them, he had felt that he did not belong. But he did not belong with the Israelites either- his Egyptian education and upbringing had set him apart from them. They did not know where his loyalties lay, did not trust him. Killing the Egyptian overseer had only brought that to a head. Rejected by both sides, alone, ashamed, he had sought sanctuary in the desert.
That had been years ago, and now the adopted son of Pharoah’s daughter was a shepherd in the desert. He had tried to forget his past. But it seemed his God had not forgotten him.
As if reading his thoughts, the voice spoke again. “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a land of their own. Go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
Moses could scarcely believe what he was hearing. Him? He was no leader- a murderer, hated by his own people. Why on earth would anyone want him to do anything, let alone this!
“Me, Lord? Why should Pharoah listen to me- or the Israelites for that matter?”
“I will be with you.” The voice spoke again. “And when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you and they will worship God on this mountain.”
There was more, more instructions on what he was to do. Moses listened, but did not dare even to stand up. Go back to Egypt? Persuade Pharoah to set his industrious Israelite slaves free? Persuade the Israelites to follow him, of all people, out of Egypt? The idea filled him with terror. His life in the desert, hard as it was, suddenly seemed comfortable and safe compared to what his God was asking. He tried to find a way out.
“But Lord, I’m not a leader. I can’t speak well- no one will believe me, let alone do what I say.”
“I am the Lord, I will give you words to say and signs so that Pharoah and the Israelites will believe you. I will be with you. Now go.”
Moses was almost weeping in fear.
“Lord, please..there must be someone better than me. Forgive me, Lord- please send someone else.”
The fire leapt up the branches of the burning bush. To Moses it almost seemed to be reaching out towards him.
“I will be with you! I have chosen you! Others will help to speak and you will perform miracles and signs in my name. Now, go!”
Moses stumbled away, sheep forgotten. At the bottom of the mountain he sat down on a rock to rest, still shaking in fear. He looked behind him, but the burning bush wasn’t visible. He guessed that if he went back to plead again to be released from this quest he would find no sign of the fire, no one to answer if he spoke. Not that he dared go back. It seemed there was no escape. Back to Egypt he would have to go.
Based on https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%203&version=NIV
