# The burning bush Exodus & Wilderness · Draft · BSB Content revision: 85daea4fd65fd02b · No editorial review date recorded [Citation / readable page](https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/reference/events/burning-bush/) [Open interactive map](https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/?event=burning-bush) [Markdown](https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/reference/events/burning-bush/index.md) [JSON](https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/reference/events/burning-bush/index.json) Date: c. 1446 BC · Moses about 80 (Acts 7:30) At Horeb, the mountain of God, the angel of the LORD appears to Moses in a bush that burns without being consumed. God sends him to bring Israel out of Egypt and reveals his name, “I AM WHO I AM.” Moses objects; God gives him signs and Aaron as his spokesman. Back in Egypt, the elders believe and worship. ## Primary Scripture [Exodus 3:1–4:31 (BSB)](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%203%3A1%E2%80%934%3A31&version=BSB) 3:1 Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 3:2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from within a bush. Moses saw the bush ablaze with fire, but it was not consumed. 3:3 So Moses thought, “I must go over and see this marvelous sight. Why is the bush not burning up?” 3:4 When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called out to him from within the bush, “Moses, Moses!” “Here I am,” he answered. 3:5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” 3:6 Then He said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. 3:7 The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the affliction of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I am aware of their sufferings. 3:8 I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 3:9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached Me, and I have seen how severely the Egyptians are oppressing them. 3:10 Therefore, go! I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring My people the Israelites out of Egypt.” 3:11 But Moses asked God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” 3:12 “I will surely be with you,” God said, “and this will be the sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, all of you will worship God on this mountain.” 3:13 Then Moses asked God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is His name?’ What should I tell them?” 3:14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” 3:15 God also told Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered in every generation. 3:16 Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—has appeared to me and said: I have surely attended to you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. 3:17 And I have promised to bring you up out of your affliction in Egypt, into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’ 3:18 The elders of Israel will listen to what you say, and you must go with them to the king of Egypt and tell him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’ 3:19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go unless a mighty hand compels him. 3:20 So I will stretch out My hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders I will perform among them. And after that, he will release you. 3:21 And I will grant this people such favor in the sight of the Egyptians that when you leave, you will not go away empty-handed. 3:22 Every woman shall ask her neighbor and any woman staying in her house for silver and gold jewelry and clothing, and you will put them on your sons and daughters. So you will plunder the Egyptians.” 4:1 Then Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to my voice? For they may say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’” 4:2 And the LORD asked him, “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. 4:3 “Throw it on the ground,” said the LORD. So Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a snake, and he ran from it. 4:4 “Stretch out your hand and grab it by the tail,” the LORD said to Moses, who reached out his hand and caught the snake, and it turned back into a staff in his hand. 4:5 “This is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.” 4:6 Furthermore, the LORD said to Moses, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, his hand was leprous, white as snow. 4:7 “Put your hand back inside your cloak,” said the LORD. So Moses put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his skin. 4:8 And the LORD said, “If they refuse to believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe that of the second. 4:9 But if they do not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. Then the water you take from the Nile will become blood on the ground.” 4:10 “Please, Lord,” Moses replied, “I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since You have spoken to Your servant, for I am slow of speech and tongue.” 4:11 And the LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Or who makes the mute or the deaf, the sighted or the blind? Is it not I, the LORD? 4:12 Now go! I will help you as you speak, and I will teach you what to say.” 4:13 But Moses replied, “Please, Lord, send someone else.” 4:14 Then the anger of the LORD burned against Moses, and He said, “Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well, and he is now on his way to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. 4:15 You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth. I will help both of you to speak, and I will teach you what to do. 4:16 He will speak to the people for you. He will be your spokesman, and it will be as if you were God to him. 4:17 But take this staff in your hand so you can perform signs with it.” 4:18 Then Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Please let me return to my brothers in Egypt to see if they are still alive.” “Go in peace,” Jethro replied. 4:19 Now the LORD had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who sought to kill you are dead.” 4:20 So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey, and headed back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand. 4:21 The LORD instructed Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put within your power. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. 4:22 Then tell Pharaoh that this is what the LORD says: ‘Israel is My firstborn son, 4:23 and I told you to let My son go so that he may worship Me. But since you have refused to let him go, behold, I will kill your firstborn son!’” 4:24 Now at a lodging place along the way, the LORD met Moses and was about to kill him. 4:25 But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched it to Moses’ feet. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said. 4:26 So the LORD let him alone. (When she said, “bridegroom of blood,” she was referring to the circumcision.) 4:27 Meanwhile, the LORD had said to Aaron, “Go and meet Moses in the wilderness.” So he went and met Moses at the mountain of God and kissed him. 4:28 And Moses told Aaron everything the LORD had sent him to say, and all the signs He had commanded him to perform. 4:29 Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites, 4:30 and Aaron relayed everything the LORD had said to Moses. And Moses performed the signs before the people, 4:31 and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD had attended to the Israelites and had seen their affliction, they bowed down and worshiped. ## Related Scripture [Acts 7:30–34 · recollection](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%207%3A30%E2%80%9334&version=BSB) Stephen retells the call at the bush. [Mark 12:26–27 · teaching](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark%2012%3A26%E2%80%9327&version=BSB) Jesus cites the bush on the resurrection. ## Location evidence Horeb is another name for Sinai; the marker uses the traditional Jebel Musa, as at the Sinai stop. Event map marker: Proposed site; \[longitude, latitude\] = \[33.973333, 28.539722\]. This is a teaching marker, not an exact event venue. Mount Sinai / Horeb: Proposed site. Coordinates \[longitude, latitude\]: \[33.973333, 28.539722\]. Classification source: editorial. [OpenBible · site identifications](https://www.openbible.info/geo/ancient/abfba2a/mount-sinai) [OpenBible · site identifications](https://www.openbible.info/geo/ancient/abfba2a/mount-sinai) ## For the class What does God’s name tell Moses about the one who is sending him? ## Interpretation and reuse Narrative order is a reading arrangement, not a proven chronology. Dates retain their stated uncertainty. An identified locality does not establish the exact venue or prove an event. Region extents and routes are illustrative, not surveyed boundaries or ancient roads. Draft material has not completed editorial review. Record source: editorial (content/authored/exodus-wilderness.json) Place coordinates from OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding Data, CC BY 4.0. Teaching stops, summaries and regional extents are original editorial content of this atlas. Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. https://berean.bible/licensing.htm [Use this atlas with AI / data documentation](https://wilderness-scripture-atlas.pages.dev/reference/ai/)