(1) Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the farthest end of the wilderness, and came to the mountain of God, unto Horeb. (2) And the angel of the LORD appeared unto 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. (3) And Moses said: ‘I will turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.’ (4) And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said: ‘Moses, Moses.’ And he said: ‘Here am I.’ (5) And He said: ‘Draw not nigh hither; put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.’ (6) Moreover He said: ‘I am the God of thy 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. (7) And the LORD said: ‘I have surely seen the affliction of My people that are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their pains; (8) and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite. (9) And now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto Me; moreover I have seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. (10) Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth My people the children of Israel out of Egypt.’
The major question in this text is
why does G-d appear as a burning bush and what is the symbolism of the it?
The reason we chose these commentators is because they give great insight on the burning bush and what it represents.
“There are several reasons why God revealed Himself to Moses out of the burning bush. First, God reveals Himself as a fire in that it is an image of His holiness. All through the Bible, fire is used as a picture of the purifying and refining quality of God’s holiness. This is further evidenced when God commands Moses to remove his sandals “for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Here God was emphasizing to Moses the gap between the divine and the human. God is transcendent in His holiness, so Moses was not allowed to come close to Him. (Why did God Speak to Moses out of the burning bush? 1)
What this commentary is saying is that G-d is very holy. G-d wants to make a fine line between humans and things that are holy. That is why is burning a bush and making a huge fire.
“The idea behind this consuming fire is that it is the fire of God's judgment. Just before that verse in Deuteronomy, it says not to make idols (starting in verse 24) because the God is a consuming fire. We can see pretty clearly that this fire is a picture of God's judgment and wrath. By comparison, one thing that is striking about the image of the burning bush is that there is fire that does not consume. This is showing us that the imagery of the burning bush is one of mercy. The consuming fire engulfs the bush, but the bush is not consumed. The judgment is brought, but mercy is shown.” (What is the significance of the burning bush? 1)
This commentary is saying that the fire is G-d’s judgement. Fire also represents G-d’s wrath and destruction. The burning bush is not consumed and the burning bush is merciful.
“The thorny bush represents the Jewish people’s sojourns in Exile, beginning with the exile –and slavery- in Egypt. God was telling Moses, by appearing in a burning bush, that even though the exile will often be difficult and that it will often hurt – it will never consume us. Even when the unfriendly non-Jews “burn” us (literally!) –from Pharaoh right through to Hamas and Ahmadinijad – they will never completely destroy us.” (Living Torah: Learning From the Burning Bush 1)
The thorns represent the Jewish people’s pain throughout history. Although, the pain will never “consume us”. It will never stop us from succeeding as the Jewish people.
(1) “St. Elmo’s fire.” This is a discharge of electricity which causes a kind of glow.60
(2) “… firebrands or reflexes of light, which must often have occurred in dry lands with an abundance of storms.”61
(3) A volcanic phenomenon.62
(4) A myth, based on ancient accounts of burning objects which were not consumed.63
(5) “… a flake of gypsum blown against a twig may have set a bush alight.”64
(6) A beam of sunlight, piercing through a crack in the mountain.65
(7) A purely psychological experience.66
(8) A gas plant, which burst into flames.67
(9) The brilliant blossoms of mistletoe twigs.68
(Exodus: The Birth of the Nation 1)
Here are nine different examples of what the burning bush could symbolize. These are very interesting and I believe they represent what G-d had in mind when using the idea of a burning bush.
The commentary goes into further detail about the text and defines what everything means. It is interesting how God makes his "appearance" in such a random way. The commentators believe because God is everything. (The Burning Bush 1)
I personally like this article because it makes everything in the text clear defining everything. It gives the reader a better understanding of what is going on and helps clear up the question of why the G-d appears as a burning bush.
The burning bush was where G-d appeared to Moshe. Not much information was given on the burning bush. People have interpreted the burning bush in many different ways.
These sources are in a specific order. This would be the order in which we would list the different symbolism and representations of the burning bush. We will connect all these sources because they all relate as a symbol of the burning bush.
Used Sources
http://www.gotquestions.org/burning-bush.html
http://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/2651/what-is-the-significance-of-the-burning-bush
http://unitedwithisrael.org/learning-from-the-burning-bush/