BIBLE CHAPTER STUDY
Exodus 3 — The Burning Bush and the Name of God
At Horeb, God appears to Moses in a burning bush, reveals His name as 'I AM,' and commissions Moses to deliver Israel from Egypt.
Scripture
1Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to the mountain of God, unto Horeb.
2And the angel of Jehovah appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
3And Moses said, I will turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.
4And when Jehovah saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.
5And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
6Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.
7And Jehovah said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people that are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;
8and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
9And now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: moreover I have seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.
10Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.
11And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?
12And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be the token unto thee, that I have sent thee: when thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.
13And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them?
14And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
15And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.
16Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, hath appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt:
17and I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.
18And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, hath met with us: and now let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to Jehovah our God.
19And I know that the king of Egypt will not give you leave to go, no, not by a mighty hand.
20And I will put forth my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.
21And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty:
22but every woman shall ask of her neighbor, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall despoil the Egyptians.
What this passage means
The chapter opens with Moses shepherding Jethro's flock at Horeb, where the angel of Jehovah appears in a fire within a bush that does not burn. The unconsumed fire signals a presence that destroys what is defiled but cannot itself be consumed, and God commands Moses to remove his sandals because the ground is holy. The self-identification 'the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob' ties the call to the patriarchal promises given in Genesis.
Moses' mission is then defined: he is to tell Pharaoh to release Israel so that they may worship God in the wilderness. Moses objects on the grounds of personal inadequacy, and God answers with the pledge 'Certainly I will be with thee,' offering future worship at the same mountain as the confirming sign. When Moses presses for God's name to deliver to the elders, God responds 'I AM THAT I AM,' declaring His self-existent, unchanging identity, and instructs that this memorial name 'Jehovah, the God of your fathers' is to be used for all generations.
The final scene prepares Moses for the political reality ahead: the elders will listen, but Pharaoh will not let Israel go without a mighty hand. God foretells wonders against Egypt, favor with the Egyptians, and the Israelites departing with silver, gold, and clothing. The whole chapter establishes the theological foundation of the exodus—God's covenant name, His saving purpose, and His chosen mediator.
Context
Within the book of Exodus, chapter 3 marks the decisive shift from Moses' time in Midian to God's formal commissioning of him. The mountain is called both Horeb and 'the mountain of God,' connecting this event to the Sinai traditions that dominate later chapters. The patriarchal formula (God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) is the same one Israelites would invoke when identifying themselves to a foreign king (verse 18: 'Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews').
Key words in the original
- H4872 The name Moses (מֹשֶׁה), drawn from the same root as the verb מָשָׁה 'to draw out,' is given in Exodus 2:10 because he was 'drawn out of the water' (cf. 2 Chronicles 22:11). In chapter 3 he is first introduced again by this name, which Pharaoh will hear spoken in the chapters ahead.
- H3068 The covenant name Jehovah (יהוה, transliterated yəhōwāh) is here tied to the phrase 'I AM THAT I AM' in verse 14. In the Masoretic tradition, this four-letter name is pointed with the vowels of אֲדֹנָי 'Lord,' giving the form 'Jehovah' known in English Bible translations.
- H5572 The bush is səneh (סְנֶה), rendered 'bramble' in the lexical entry. It is an ordinary desert shrub, not a special species. The miracle lies in the unconsumed fire, not in the plant itself, which is why later tradition identifies it simply as a thorn-bush.
Related verses
- John 8:58 Jesus applies the same self-identifying formula 'Before Abraham was born, I am' (πρὶν Ἀβραὰμ γενέσθαι ἐγὼ εἰμί) as in Exodus 3:14, placing His identity within the covenant name revealed to Moses.
- Hebrews 13:8 The unchanging 'I AM' of Exodus 3:14 is the basis for the confession that Jesus Christ is 'the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever,' linking the name's self-existence to Christ's eternal continuity.
- Exodus 6:3 In a later Mosaic speech, God says He appeared to the patriarchs 'as God Almighty' but that 'by my name Jehovah I was not known to them.' This places the revelation of the covenant name in Exodus 3 as the distinctive moment within redemptive history.
Common questions
What is the meaning of 'I AM THAT I AM'?
In the passage, the phrase declares God's self-existent and self-sufficient being. Unlike creatures who receive their existence from another, God simply is, and this is the basis for the covenant name Jehovah given to Moses for Israel's remembrance across generations.
Why did Moses have to take off his sandals?
God told him 'the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.' Removing sandals is a sign of reverent humility before divine presence, not a ritual requirement of permanent moral weight; the issue is recognizing the sanctity of where God has chosen to manifest Himself.
Was Moses' objection in verses 11-13 a sign of unbelief?
Moses raised a series of objections: 'Who am I?' (11), 'What is his name?' (13), and later (in chapter 4) 'I am not eloquent.' The text records these objections honestly but immediately follows each with God's answer—'I will be with thee' and 'I AM hath sent me unto you.' The pattern shows God responding to weakness with promise rather than condemning the questions.