Learn! You are invited to learn in chevruta (learning partner/s). Read both passages and answer:
a. What similarities or shared themes can be identified in the two passages?
b. Identify differences in imagery or any similarities.
c. What are the messages of the texts?
d. How does fire play a role in each of the selections?
(2) An angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire out of a bush. He gazed, and there was a bush all aflame, yet the bush was not consumed. (3) Moses said, “I must turn aside to look at this marvelous sight; why doesn’t the bush burn up?” (4) When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to look, God called to him out of the bush: “Moses! Moses!” He answered, “Here I am.” (5) And He said, “Do not come closer. Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground.
(14) For his use he cuts down cedars; He chooses plane trees and oaks. He sets aside trees of the forest; Or plants firs, and the rain makes them grow. (15) All this serves man for fuel: He takes some to warm himself, And he builds a fire and bakes bread. He also makes a god of it and worships it, Fashions an idol and bows down to it! (16) Part of it he burns in a fire: On that part he roasts meat, He eats the roast and is sated; He also warms himself and cries, “Ah, I am warm! I can feel the heat!” (17) Of the rest he makes a god—his own carving! He bows down to it, worships it; He prays to it and cries, “Save me, for you are my god!” (18) They have no wit or judgment: Their eyes are besmeared, and they see not; Their minds, and they cannot think. (19) They do not give thought, They lack the wit and judgment to say: “Part of it I burned in a fire; I also baked bread on the coals, I roasted meat and ate it— Should I make the rest an abhorrence? Should I bow to a block of wood?” (20) He pursues ashes! A deluded mind has led him astray, And he cannot save himself; He never says to himself, “The thing in my hand is a fraud!” (21) Remember these things, O Jacob For you, O Israel, are My servant: I fashioned you, you are My servant— O Israel, never forget Me. (22) I wipe away your sins like a cloud, Your transgressions like mist— Come back to Me, for I redeem you. (23) Shout, O heavens, for the LORD has acted; Shout aloud, O depths of the earth! Shout for joy, O mountains, O forests with all your trees! For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, Has glorified Himself through Israel. (24) Thus said the LORD, your Redeemer, Who formed you in the womb: It is I, the LORD, who made everything, Who alone stretched out the heavens And unaided spread out the earth