Exodus 3:1-22

3:1-9 | This appearance of the Angel of the Lord is the first instance of direct revelation to Moses. After 80 years, Moses was now ready to fulfill the Lord’s calling. No other leader in biblical times had such a lengthy training period. Times of preparation are never waste; God knows that, properly prepared, His servants can do more in 40 years than they could do in 120 unprepared.

3:1-6 | Mount Horeb (Sinai) is not only where Moses received his divine commission at the burning bush, but it is also the place where Yahweh would give Israel His gracious gift of the Law (19-20).

3:5-10 | For these divine moments, the area near the bush was the Lord’s house because of the Lord’s presence (holy ground). The resulting command to take your sandals off your feet reflects this. In Afro-Asian culture, people do not wear shoes inside a home. I have come down to deliver them were words for Israel, but they also point to the future incarnation of Jesus (John 1:14).

3:11-12 | Moses typified human response when God calls someone to do what seems beyond them (Who am I?), yet the success of any divine mission is never dependent on human abilities. The Lord’s words – I will certainly be with you – were intended to focus Moses on the true Source of his future success.

3:13-15 | When God said, I AM WHO I AM, He declared His eternal, unchanging, uncreated self-existence. The identification of the Lord as God of your fathers is enormously important. Moses and the Hebrew people needed to know that this was no “new god” – the Deliverer of Israel ever is and ever will be (Gen. 12:1; John 8:58).

3:15-22 | The Lord’s plan was to deliver His children from bondage so they could worship Him and be established as His chosen people. Because the Hebrews were slaves with no resources, the articles of silver and gold were necessary to finance the building of a tabernacle. God also equipped Moses with the words for the elders of Israel as well as Pharaoh (the king of Egypt). God provides all that is needed to serve Him (2 Pet. 1:3).