Moses in the Wilderness
Shepherding in the far wilderness, Moses turns aside to a bush that burns without being consumed. Our Father says he has seen the suffering, heard the cry, and come down to rescue — and is sending Moses. Asked for a name, he answers I AM WHO I AM.
3 1Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of our Father. 2There the messenger of our Father appeared to him in a fire flaming from within a bush. Moses looked: the bush was blazing but not consumed. 3Moses said, "Let me go over and see this extraordinary sight—why the bush isn't burning up."
4When our Father saw he had turned aside to look, he called to him from within the bush, "Moses, Moses!" Moses said, "Here I am."
5He said, "Don't come closer. Take your sandals off your feet, for the ground you're standing on is holy." 6He said, "I am your Father, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob." Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at our Father.
7Then our Father said, "I have truly seen my people's suffering in Egypt, heard their cry under their slave drivers, for I know their hardships. 8So I've come down to rescue them from Egypt's grip and bring them up from that land to a good, spacious land—a land flowing with milk and honey—to the place of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 9Now the cry of Israel's people has reached me, and I've seen the oppression the Egyptians oppress them with. 10Now go—I'm sending you to Pharaoh, to bring my people, Israel's sons, out of Egypt."
11Moses said to our Father, "Who am I to go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"
12He said, "I will surely be with you. This is your sign that I have sent you: when you bring the people out of Egypt, you will worship your Father on this mountain."
13Then Moses said to our Father, "If I go to Israel's people and tell them, 'The God of your fathers sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?'—what do I tell them?"
14Our Father told Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." Then he said, "Tell the Israelites: 'I AM has sent me to you.'" a a v14 When Jesus said "before Abraham was, I AM" (John 8:58), he was speaking the very name our Father gave Moses here. 15Our Father also told Moses, "Tell the Israelites: 'Your Father—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, and how I am remembered in every generation. 16Go, gather Israel's elders and tell them: your Father—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have surely watched over you, and seen what is done to you in Egypt, 17I have promised to bring you up out of Egypt's misery to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey. 18They will listen to you. You and Israel's elders must go to Egypt's king and tell him, 'the Father of the Hebrews has met us. Now please let us travel three days into the wilderness to sacrifice to our Father.' 19But I know Egypt's king won't let you go unless by a mighty hand. 20I will reach out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders I do there; then he will release you. 21I will make the Egyptians favor this people, so when you leave, you won't go empty-handed. 22Each woman must ask her neighbor and the woman living in her house for silver and gold items and clothing, and dress your sons and daughters with them. So you will plunder the Egyptians." b b v22 Israel leaving Egypt with wealth fulfills the Father's promise to Abraham in Genesis 15:14.
