(1) Now Moses, tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, drove the flock into the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. (2) A messenger of יהוה 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 יהוה saw that he had turned aside to look, God called to him out of the bush: “Moses! Moses!” He answered, “Here I am.”
1) Reflecting on Moses' first encounter with God: Why do you think God chooses to appear to him as fire? What message do you think this is meant to give to Moses?
2) What are your associations with fire? Are they mostly positive or negative? Why?
3) Where else does fire exist in our tradition? What emotions and images do you associate with fire in Judaism?
(1) Hear, O Israel! You are about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and more populous than you: great cities with walls sky-high; (2) a people great and tall, the Anakites, of whom you have knowledge; for you have heard it said, “Who can stand up to the children of Anak?” (3) Know then this day that none other than your God is crossing at your head, a devouring fire; it is [God] who will wipe them out—subduing them before you, that you may quickly dispossess and destroy them, as יהוה promised you.
1) Moving into Deuteronomy, where Moses is speaking to the Israelites before his death -- Why might he describe God as a devouring fire?
2) What emotions do you associate with the phrase "devouring fire"? Where do they come from?
3) What do you think the entire phrase means, "a crossing at your head, a devouring fire"? What images come to mind when you hear this phrase?
4) Everett Fox translates 9:3 as "[God] is the one crossing over you, a consuming fire" - How does this translation resonate with you? What imagines come to mind with this translation?
5) How do you imagine the Israelites feel hearing this description of God? How does this depiction of God make you feel?
(29) Is not my word like fire—declares GOD —and like a hammer that shatters rock!
1) In this text, God describes (through the prophet Jeremiah) God's words as "like fire." What do you think it means for God's words to be "like fire"?
2) What emotions does this text evoke? How do you perceive this depiction of God (comforting, powerful, etc.)?
3) We've now looked at three texts in which God is some how described in connection with fire -- this is a common imagery throughout Jewish texts. Why may our tradition portray God in relationship with fire?
4) Thinking back to the beginning of the text study -- when does this imagery invoke positive emotions? Negative ones?
1) Is the image of fire positive or negative? What emotions does it evoke for you?
2) How is God depicted in relation to fire? What do you make of this depiction of God? Is it comforting? Does it resonate with your own spirituality?
3) Why do you think so many of our texts connect God with fire?
בְּראֹשׁ הַשָּׁנָה יִכָּתֵבוּן וּבְיוֹם צוֹם כִּפּוּר יֵחָתֵמוּן כַּמָּה יַעַבְרוּן וְכַמָּה יִבָּרֵאוּן מִי יִחְיֶה וּמִי יָמוּת. מִי בְקִצּוֹ וּמִי לא בְקִצּוֹ. מִי בַמַּיִם וּמִי בָאֵשׁ.
On Rosh Hashanah will be inscribed and on Yom Kippur will be sealed – how many will pass from the earth and how many will be created; who will live and who will die; who will die after a long life and who before his time; who by water and who by fire...