At the Burning Bush

Moses showed himself great in every sense of the word. As an infant, Moses was placed by faithful parents where an Egyptian princess found him, amidst the bulrushes of the Nile, and adopted him. Safe in the midst of his enemies, he received an ample education in "all the learning of the Egyptians." The honors of the Egyptian Court were his, but he was too patriotic to enjoy them while his kinsmen suffered severe persecutions. Intent upon helping his brethren, he slew an Egyptian taskmaster. He was disappointed that his brethren did not appreciate his endeavors to aid them, but reported him as a traitor to Egypt.

He fled to Midian, and was gone forty years. Then God's time having come, he was sent to deliver his people Israel; but by now he was timid and feared his inability. By Divine command, Aaron became his mouthpiece, and the message was carried to Pharaoh that Israel must be let go. This commission to Moses was given at the burning bush--a bush which apparently was all aflame, yet not consumed. The Lord's messenger used this means for communicating the Divine message in an impressive manner, and to give him courage and confidence in his mission.

The truthfulness of the narrative is confirmed by Jesus. Certain Sadducees, denying the resurrection, sought to entrap Him, inquiring whose wife a woman would be if during her lifetime she had had seven husbands. Jesus in reply defended the doctrine of the resurrection. He declared that when God said to Moses, "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob," this surely meant that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were to be resurrected. The Sadducees denied the resurrection and all future life. On the contrary, God's word at the mouth of the angel proved that there is to be a resurrection of the dead. God thus spoke of things that were not as though they already were. "All live unto God" in the sense that in Christ He has provided for the reawakening of all, "in due time."