2nd page of 10 pages
Chapter 1
Exodus 3,1-5: Translation
Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law,
Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the far side of the
desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the messenger of the
Yahweh appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He
looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses
said, "I will turn aside to see this great phenomen, why the bush is not
burned." When the Yahweh saw that he turned aside to see, Elohim called to
him out of the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am." Then he said,
"Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet,
for the place on which you are standing is holy ground."
* Sheep and goats
1. Interpretation of Exodus 3,1-5
Moses is a sheperd and he's walking with the flock of his father-in-law to the far side of the desert. The Hebrew word achr means "backside", "beyond", "far side" (1), so that it has a transcendent, not earthy sense. Moses enters into a different sphere of being and makes the experience of a miracle. He see an angel in the middle of a burning bush that is not scorched. The bush in Hebrew is sena and linked secondarily with the Mount of Sinai/Horeb, where lather Yahweh will appear to the people of Israel and to Moses (2)
There are three different names of God in the first five verses. First, it is the angel or messenger of Yahweh, who appears out of the burning bush to Moses. The reader has the impression, that Moses is standing already in front of the burning bush. Then Yahweh sees Moses turning aside to look the great event. And thirdly, Elohim calls to him to take off his shoes on the holy earth, before coming closer. The one scientists distinguish between two sources, the Yahwist and Elohist (3). Other commentators don't see a reason to seperate this story into different sources (4). Words such as "messanger of Yahweh" (v. 2) or "a huge phenomen" (marah) indicate the vocabulary of the Yahwist, furthermore, these two expressions belongs to a late vocabulary of the Old Testament, especially "the messenger of Yahweh". He replaces the presence of Yahweh, after this God ideologically faded into the background (5).
Although Moses pretends to meet the tree accidentally, the bush is
the real aim of his quest.The place reminds to the Paradise (Gen. 2f.). The
Paradise also is located outside of our world. And even in the Paradies a
tree plays a big role, the tree of life, the tree of wisdom
is secondarely added. In both narratives a serpent appears, in Exodus Chapter
4 only the serpent appears as manifestation of Yahweh. The serpent in the story of burning
bush, however, is watered-down, because the author makes Moses' staff change
into a snake. In the story of Paradise the serpent is Satan, who misleads
Eve (Genesis 3). Satan is an opponent to Yahweh in a late period. Originally,
Satan is a part of Yahweh, as is clearly shown to us in the story of the census
in 2
Samuel 24. In this story Yahweh tries in his wrath to mislead his people Israel. I
Chronicles 21,1 the story is repeated, but here Satan wants to ruin
Israel. So, in the late scriptures Yahweh was not only receding into the
distance but was identified more and more with the positive ideas of men,
while the evil was projected to Satan.
The idea of God, who lives in the bush, exists formulaic also in Deuteronomium 33,16. Scolars suppose that this text belonged to a long-forgotten shrine legend and was taken up as an epithet of Yahweh in the work of the Deuteronomist. The Yahwist himself took this formula from Deuteronomium 33,16 and created his both stories, the story of Eve, who initiates the loose of Paradiese and the story of Mose, who was qualified to a big leader (6). Both of these stories have also another gender-related difference: While Eve has to bear her childen in pain as a punishment for her disobedience against God, Mose was declared, despite his stubborn objections, not only to a chosen leader, but to a God (Exodus 7,1).
The command "take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground" is found still in Josua 5,13-15. In Josua 5 there is a messenger of Yahweh with a sword in his hand, who speaks in the same manner to Josua. In Exodus 3,1-5 and Josua 5,15 there are 12 words similair, therefore, the same author must be expected for these both stories.
Text and Design: Esther Keller-Stocker, Horgen, Zürich
(Switzerland)
Last correction on 04.02.2010.
I'm looking forward to your comments and your suggestion!
Contact me at esther@estherkeller.ch
