The Meaning of the Burning Bush

[JamalChristophr]

I would like to talk about what it means where Moses saw the bush. Does the bush that burns and yet is not consumed have deeper Christian meanings than simply something to get the attention of Moses?

 

[Jim_Baur]

Mount Sinai, in some interpretations, could me thorn mountain.

Also, God is a consuming fire.

Fire is used to symbolize His love.

Also, the ground for Adam is said to yield thorns and thistles.

A true Israelite is of the inner person.

Put some of that together, God love purified Moses. His love will always burn in our hearts.

 

[Della]

Among other spiritual and/or allegorical interpretations, it is a foreshadowing of the Incarnation. For Mary, like the bush, of the earth, was filled with the glory of the Lord and conceived Christ in her womb while remaining a Virgin. The “fire” of the Holy Spirit came upon her to conceive the Child Jesus while not robbing her of her virginity. The bush thus burned but was not consumed by the Presence of God. This is one reason the ground upon which Moses stood before the bush was called holy and he was commanded to remove his shoes as a sign of humility before God.

 

[edarlitrix]

“Now I will arise,” says the LORD,
“now I will lift myself up;
now I will be exalted.
You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble;
your breath is a fire that will consume you.
And the peoples will be as if burned to lime,
like thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire.”

Hear, you who are far off, what I have done;
and you who are near, acknowledge my might.
The sinners in Zion are afraid;
trembling has seized the godless:
** “Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire?
Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?”
He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly,**
who despises the gain of oppressions,
who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe,
who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed
and shuts his eyes from looking on evil,
he will dwell on the heights;
his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks;
his bread will be given him; his water will be sure.

(Isaiah 33:10-16 ESV)

 

[JamalChristophr]

Thanks Everyone.

I never new it was typology for the virgin birth. That is interesting.

**Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Mid’ian; and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God…

And the** angel of the LORD** appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and lo, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.
**

Angel of the Lord referred to God, I think. I wonder why that phrase was used for God. It’s a little confusing.

 

[Della]

Thanks Everyone.

I never new it was typology for the virgin birth. That is interesting.

**Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Mid’ian; and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God…

And the** angel of the LORD**** appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and lo, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.

Angel of the Lord referred to God, I think. I wonder why that phrase was used for God. It’s a little confusing.

According to Haydock’s Catholic Bible Commentary, the Angel of the Lord did appear in the flame of fire. Many of the Church Fathers taught that it was Christ himself, who, being God’s messenger to men is sometimes called by that name. If so, it would be more indication that the burning bush prefigured the Incarnation. If it was an angel it would be an archangel, possibly Gabriel, who was the archangel of the Annunciation, so either way, it can been seen as referring to the Incarnation of Christ.

 

[mikeeh]

Maybe:

Coming from the river = Baptism
Burning bush = Confirmation
Passover = Eucharist