Fire in the Wilderness
“And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush, and he looked, and behold, the bush was burnt with fire, and the bush was not consumed.”
In the story of the burning bush (Exodus 3 and 4), Moses encounters God while tending a flock as shepherd out in the wilderness of Horeb. Moses, whose very name name is associated with being drawn out of waters of the Nile, is now in the driest of dry places. Far from the riches of Egypt where he was born, and raised in the household of Pharaoh, Moses has fled that land after discovering his identity as a Hebrew and murdering an Egyptian taskmaster and settled into a pastoral life far away.
This is where we find him in this story—in his life as a shepherd of his father-in-law’s flock. And he comes upon a bush in the wilderness that is on fire but is not consumed. And out of the fire, God calls to Moses and his life and the life of the Israelite people are forever changed. Robert Alter in his commentary on the Five Books of Moses notes the association of the Canaanite gods with mighty trees—and here it is a just a lowly shrub that is the site of this wondrous revelation. The lowliness of the shrub is perhaps connected with the lowliness of the situation of the enslaved Israelites.
I want to reflect here for a bit about the nature of vocation—the call to service that comes from a place of both wonder and lowliness. When I am discussing ‘vocation’ I am using the term in the sense that it is sometimes narrowly used—a call or commission to ordained ministry—but broadly—the call that comes from God to be of service in general and specific ways to all the baptized. (While the notion of vocation of call is not unique to Christian reflection, I am reflecting here as a Christian and am writing (in my mind) to a Christian readership.)
God speaks to Moses out of the bush and out of the fire, revealing himself, and revealing his awareness of the suffering and the needs of his people—and sends Moses, “to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” (Ex. 3:10). And Moses responds, “Who am I…?” And instead of telling Moses who Moses is, God begins to tell Moses who God is. One of the most famous and mysterious passages of scripture—the revelation of the divine name—comes in response to Moses protesting question of humility. The identity of God is the important thing. Moses learns and grows as he listens, follows, and acts towards carrying out God’s purposes.
When we understand ourselves to be called into the service of the living God—either through a dramatic experience of revelation like the burning bush, or through quieter, subtler, more inner experiences—it often involves questions of identity. Who am I? Not just worthiness to serve, but basic identity—who is God calling, and who is this God who is calling?
Moses found the power of his vocation and the power of his God in the exercise of his vocation. The man of the Nile was transformed into, (as the title of Zora Neale Hurston’s novelization of his life has it), Moses, Man of the Mountain. The mountain of Horeb and Sinai—the bush and the tablets of the law.
We Christians, also, I believe, come to know ourselves in Christ. It is in the living relationship that we have with God and our service to him that we come to know him, and him in us. In coming to know God, we come to know ourselves. And that comes through service to our call, whatever shape that may take in the life of each particular Christian.