Exodus 3 (NRSV)
1 Moses 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. 2 There 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. 3 Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.” 4 When 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.” 5 Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 He said further, “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 at God.
7 Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. 10 So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”
Salvation is God’s compassionate response to human oppression.
Here are some questions for discussion:
1. What does it mean that Moses encounters God in the wilderness, not in a temple or palace? How does this disrupt assumptions about where God resides?
2. How does this mission to liberate the Israelites in Egypt reflect the (greatest) command to love one another? Who are some of the oppressed people today that we can liberate?
3. Moses was sent to deliver a people he hadn’t lived among for decades. How does that relate to our responsibility to others we may not be in active relationship with? What excuses do we make for not getting involved in the suffering of those outside our “flock” (church, ethnicity, neighborhood)? How does God’s tapping Moses break down the barriers between “us” and “them”?
If you’d like to dig a little deeper, consider the following:
1. Why is Moses so resistant when God calls him? How does God respond to Moses’ hesitation?
2. Why does God choose Moses, a man who killed someone and ran away, to lead the people into freedom? What does this choice suggest about how God evaluates human worth or readiness? How might this narrative shape our understanding of grace, mercy, and restoration?
3. Long after Moses, Jesus expands the picture of the flock to include not only neighbor and outsiders but even our enemies (Luke 10:25-37)! In light of that, is there a group of people we should resist calling “our people”? What stops us from including them? Self-Reflection: Do you align your compassion for “others” with God’s declaration or your own comfort?
4. Horeb comes from the Hebrew for “desolate, ruined, or desert” and Sinai comes from the Hebrew for “thorn.” Both names are used interchangeably in reference to this mountain. Think about the impact on your life during those challenging moments, how does God appear to you in these times or places?
5. God does not operate on political borders, what does this mean for the idea of a foreigner? How are you and I both foreigners even in our home country?
For further contemplation, consider these quotes & prompts:
1. Compare Exodus 3:1-10 and Jeremiah 1:4-10. How does Jeremiah’s response mirror Moses’ and how does God answer both? How does God affirm them? What does this suggest about how we should confront self-doubt when called to difficult tasks?
2. God’s introduction was brief and to the point. God’s explanation was equally direct, as was His mission for Moses. In subsequent verses God follows an equally direct approach stating, “I am who I am.” (Exodus 3:14) What does this tell us about how we complicate matters when our God is so direct and simple in His statements?