John Gill Commentary Exodus 3

Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the
priest of Midian
Who was either the same with Reuel or Raguel, spoken of in the preceding chapter; or, as others think, a son of his, the father being now dead; seeing it was now forty years since Moses came into Midian, (Acts 7:30) . Demetrius ^F3 , an Heathen writer, expressly says that Jothor a son of Raguel, and Zipporah or Sepphora, as he calls her, was his daughter, whom Moses married: now this was the business Moses was chiefly concerned in during his stay in Midian; keeping the sheep of his father-in-law, in which great personages have been employed, and who have afterwards been called to the kingly office, as David; and this was an emblem of his feeding and ruling the people of Israel, and in it he was an eminent type of Christ, the great shepherd and bishop of souls:

No doubt there were other things besides this in which Moses exercised himself in this course of time, and improved himself in the knowledge of things, natural, civil, and religious, and which the more qualified him for the important work he was designed for: it is thought that in this interval he wrote the book of Genesis, and also the book of Job:

and he led the flock to the backside of the desert ;
of Sinai or Arabia, on the back part of which, it seems, were goodly pastures; and hither he led his flock to feed, which was about three days' journey from Egypt, (Exodus 5:3) or rather into the desert ^F4 , for Horeb or Sinai was not behind the desert, but in it:

and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb ;
so called either because of the appearance of God at this time, after related, or because of his giving the law and making the covenant with the people of Israel there; and it should be observed that that transaction was past when Moses wrote this book. Hither he led the sheep, they delighting in mountains, from which sometimes mountainous places are called (oiopola) , ^F5 , because sheep delight to feed upon them ^F6 .

FOOTNOTES:

• F3: Apud Euseb. Praepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 29. p. 439.
• F4: (rbdmh rxa) (upo thn eremon) , Sept. "in desertum", Syr. Samar, so Noldius, p. 11. No. 76.
• F5: Homer. Odyss. 11. prope finem.
• F6: (En ouresi mala nomeuwn) , Theocrit. Idyll. 3.

And the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him
Not a created angel, but the Angel of God's presence and covenant, the eternal Word and Son of God; since he is afterwards expressly called Jehovah, and calls himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which a created angel would never do: the appearance was,

in a flame of fire, out of the midst of a bush ;
not in a tall, lofty, spreading oak or cedar, but in a low thorny bramble bush, which it might have been thought would have been consumed in an instant of time:

and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush
[was] not consumed ;
this was not imaginary, but a real thing; there was

such a bush, and Jehovah appeared in it in this manner, and though it was all on fire yet was not consumed, but remained entire after it: reference is frequently had to it as a matter of fact, (Deuteronomy 33:16) (Mark 12:26) (Acts 7:30Acts 7:35) .

Artapanus ^F7 , an Heathen writer, had got some hint of it; his account is this, that while Moses was praying to God, and entreating the afflictions of his people might cease, he was propitious to him, and on a sudden fire broke out of the earth and burned, when there was no matter nor anything of a woody sort in the place: nor need this account Moses gives be thought incredible, when so many things similar to it are affirmed by Heathen writers, who speak of a whole forest in flames without fire, and of a spear that burned for two hours, and yet nothing of it consumed; and of a servant's coat all on fire, and yet after it was extinguished no trace or mark of the flames were to be seen on it; and several other things of the like kind are related by Huetius ^F8 out of various authors:

as to the mystical signification of this bush, some make it to be a type of Christ, and of his manifestation in the flesh; of the union of the two natures in him, and of their distinction of the glory of the one, and of the meanness of the other; of his sustaining the wrath of God, and remaining fearless and unhurt by it; and of his delivering and preserving his people from it: the Jews commonly interpret it of the people of Israel, in the furnace of affliction in Egypt, and yet not consumed; nay, the more they were afflicted the more they grew; and it may be a symbol of the church and people of God, in all ages, under affliction and distress: they are like to a thorn bush both for their small quantity, being few, and for their quality, in themselves weak and strengthless, mean and low; have about them the thorns of corruptions and temptations, and who are often in the fire of afflictions and persecutions, yet are not consumed; which is owing to the person, presence, power, and grace of Christ being among them; (See Gill on Acts 7:30).

FOOTNOTES:

• F7: Apud Euseb. ib. c. 27. p. 434.
• F8: Alnetan. Quaest. l. 2. c. 12. sect. 10. p. 193, 194.

And Moses said, I will now turn aside From the place where he was, and the flock he was feeding, and get nearer to the bush, which seems to have been on one side of him and not directly before him: and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt ; inquire into, and find out, if he could, the reason of this strange and amazing sight; how it could be that a bush should be on fire and yet not burnt up, which might have been expected would have been destroyed at once; for what is a thorn or bramble bush to devouring flames of fire, as these appeared to be?

And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see
Who is before called the Angel of the Lord, here Jehovah, the omniscient and omnipresent Being, who observing Moses turning aside and going onward to gratify his curiosity, by examining more narrowly this strange phenomenon: God called unto him out of the midst of the bush ;
with an articulate voice, being the eternal Word: and said, Moses, Moses ;
for the Lord knows his people distinctly, and can call them by name; and the repetition of his name not only shows familiarity and a strong vehement affection for him, but haste to stop him, that he might proceed no further; and this was done in order to stir him up to hearken to what would be said to him: and he said, here am I ;
ready to hear what shall be said, and to obey whatever is commanded.

And he said, draw not near here; Keep a proper distance: put off your shoes from off your feet; dust and dirt cleaving to shoes, and these being ordered to be put off from the feet, the instrument of walking, show that those who draw near to God, and are worshippers of him, ought to be of pure and holy lives and conversations: for the place whereon you stand is holy ground.

Not that there was any inherent holiness in this spot of ground more than in any other, which ground is not capable of; but a relative holiness on account of the presence of God here at this time, and was not permanent, only while a pure and holy God was there.

Hence, in after times, the temple being the place of the divine residence, the priests there performed their services barefooted, nor might a common person enter into the temple with his shoes on^F11; and to this day the Jews go to their synagogues barefooted on the day of atonement^F12, to which Juvenal^F13 seems to have respect.

And from hence came the Nudipedalia among the Heathens, and that known symbol of Pythagoras^F14, "sacrifice and worship with naked feet": in this manner the priests of Diana sacrificed to her among the Cretians and other people^F15; and so the priests of Hercules did the same^F16.

The Brahmans among the Indians never go into their temples without plucking off their shoes^F17; so the Ethiopian Christians, imitating Jews and Gentiles, never go into their places of public worship but with naked feet^F18, and the same superstition the Turks and Mahometans observe^F19.

FOOTNOTES:

• F11: Misn. Beracot, c. 9. sect. 5.
• F12: Buxtorf. Jud Synagog. c. 30. p. 571.
• F13: "Observant ub. festa mero pede Sabbata reges." Satyr. 6.
• F14: Jamblichus de Vita Pythagor. Symbol. 3.
• F15: Solin. Polyhistor. c. 16. Strabo, l. 12. p. 370.
• F16: Silius de Bello Punic, l. 3.
• F17: Rogerius de Relig. Brachman. l. 2. c. 10. apud Braunium de vest. sacerdot. l. 1. c. 3. p. 66.
• F18: Damianus a Goes apud Rivet. in loc.
• F19: Pitts's Account of the Relig. and Manners of the Mahometans, c. 6. p. 38. 81. Georgieviz. de Turc. Moribus, c. 1. p. 11. Sionita de Urb. Oriental. & Relig. c. 7. p. 18. c. 10. p. 34.