Moses was the first fully qualified servant of God in the Bible, and God’s calling of Moses is the standard of His calling of all His servants. As one who was called and sent by God to His people, Moses typifies Christ as the Apostle sent to us from God and with God (John 6:46; 8:16, 29; Heb. 3:1-6).

The title the Angel of Jehovah refers mainly to Christ, the Son of God, as the One sent by God (cf. John 8:42) to save His people from their situation of suffering (cf. Judg. 6:12-22; 13:3-22). According to v. 2 and v. 6, the Angel of Jehovah, the sent One, was Jehovah Himself, the sending One (cf. Zech. 2:6-11), and Jehovah is the Triune God (vv. 6, 15). For the purpose of calling and sending Moses, God, the sending One, appeared to him as the sent One (cf. John 20:21). See Acts 7:30-31 and notes.

The flame of fire denotes the glory of God’s holiness, which excluded fallen man from direct contact with God as the tree of life (Gen. 3:24 and note Gen. 3:24^1a). According to Gen. 3:17-19 thorns were part of the curse that came because of man’s sin. Hence, thorns are a symbol of fallen man under the curse. The thornbush here represents Moses himself as a redeemed sinner. The flame of fire burning within the thornbush signifies that the glory of God’s holiness would burn within and upon Moses, God’s called one, even though he was a sinner under God’s curse. This was possible because of Christ’s redemption (Gen. 3:21; 4:4), which satisfied the requirements of God’s holiness and removed the curse, allowing the divine fire (the Spirit) to visit and to indwell the thornbush (the redeemed sinner), making the fire one with the thornbush (Gal. 3:13-14). The fact that the fire burned in the thornbush without consuming it indicates that God Himself, not Moses, would be the “fuel” for the burning (cf. Rom. 12:11; 2 Tim. 1:7; Phil. 4:13; Col. 1:29). Moses would be only a vessel, a channel, through which the glory of God’s holiness would be manifested (cf. 2 Cor. 4:7). See note Exo. 3:11^1a.

According to Deut. 33:16, the thornbush was God’s dwelling place. Since God’s corporate people are His actual dwelling place (Heb. 3:6 and note), this implies that the thornbush refers also to God’s redeemed people as a corporate entity. After the tabernacle, a symbol of the children of Israel as God’s dwelling place, was built up, at night the cloud of God’s glory upon it had the appearance of fire (Num. 9:15-16). The fire burning upon the tabernacle signified that the people of Israel were a corporate burning thornbush. The church as God’s dwelling place is also a burning thornbush — the Triune God burning within and upon a redeemed humanity (Luke 12:49; Acts 2:3-4). Through the burning of the holy divine fire, the once cursed and redeemed thornbush is transformed to be God’s dwelling place. This is God’s economy.

See note Exo. 3:2².

The revelation of God’s name in this chapter (vv. 6, 14-16, 18) was actually the revelation of God Himself. By such a revelation Moses came to know the One who was calling and sending him to carry out His commission. The divine title in this verse indicates that God is the covenanting God (Exo. 2:24) and also implies that He is the God of resurrection (Matt. 22:31-32 and note; Acts 3:13). Furthermore, that God is the God of three persons (cf. v. 15) implies that He is the Triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit (Matt. 28:19). See note Gen. 12:1¹, par. 2.

The purpose of God’s calling of Moses was, negatively, to deliver the children of Israel out of the usurpation and tyranny of Pharaoh and Egypt, and, positively, to bring them into Canaan, the land flowing with milk and honey (Deut. 8:7-9), where they could establish God’s kingdom (Exo. 19:6; 2 Sam. 5:12; 7:12, 16) and build up His dwelling place on earth (2 Sam. 7:13). In typology, this signifies delivering people out of the usurpation and tyranny of Satan and the world, and bringing people into Christ, the all-inclusive One typified by the land of Canaan (see note Deut. 8:7¹), for the building up of the church as God’s kingdom and God’s dwelling place on earth (Rom. 14:17; Eph. 2:20-22; 4:12).

As revealed in this chapter, in fulfilling God’s purpose the children of Israel passed through three stations: the wilderness (v. 18), the mountain (v. 12), and the good land (vv. 8, 17). By the passover (Exo. 12:11, 31-41) and the crossing of the Red Sea (Exo. 14:21-30) the children of Israel came out of Egypt and into the wilderness. Then, they were brought to the mountain by means of the tree which made the bitter waters sweet (Exo. 15:23-25), by means of the twelve springs at Elim (Exo. 15:27), by means of the manna from heaven (Exo. 16:14-15, 31-32, 35), by means of the living water from the cleft rock (Exo. 17:6), and by means of the victory over Amalek (Exo. 17:8-16). At the mountain they received a revelation of what God is, of the life they should live according to God’s attributes, and of the desire of God’s heart to have a dwelling place on earth among His people (chs. 19—34). They also built the tabernacle as God’s temporary dwelling place on earth (chs. 35—40). Finally, by the Ark with the tabernacle the children of Israel entered into the good land (Josh. 3:3, 6, 8, 13-17; 4:10-19). There, through the enjoyment of the rich produce of the land, they defeated the Canaanites, who occupied the land, and built the temple as God’s permanent dwelling on earth (1 Kings 6). Such a history of the children of Israel is a portrait of a believer’s full salvation.

See note Exo. 3:8^1b.

Both milk and honey are products of the combination of two kinds of lives — the animal life and the vegetable life. Milk is produced by cattle that feed on grass, and honey is made by bees from the nectar of flowers. Milk and honey signify the riches of Christ, which come from the two aspects of His life — His redeeming life, typified by the animal life (John 1:29), and His generating life, typified by the vegetable life (John 12:24).

When he was forty years old, Moses received the burden to deliver Israel from Egyptian bondage (Exo. 2:11-12). However, God disciplined Moses for forty years (Acts 7:30) and did not call him until he had lost all confidence in himself (cf. Exo. 4:10 and note Exo. 4:10^1a). Moses had to learn to cooperate with God without using his natural ability and strength.

God’s intention was not merely to rescue His people from persecution in Egypt; it was to bring them to Himself at the mountain of God that He might infuse them with Himself to make them His personal treasure, a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation (Exo. 19:4-6).

Or, I will be who I will be; or, I will become who I will become. The divine title I AM denotes that God is the One who is self-existing and ever-existing and who depends on nothing apart from Himself (cf. John 8:24, 28, 58 and note John 8:24^1b). As the I Am, He is the all-inclusive One, the reality of every positive thing and of whatever His called and sent ones need.

See note Gen. 2:4⁴. This was the first time God made Himself known to His people by the name Jehovah (Exo. 6:3). See note Exo. 3:6^1a.

See note Heb. 1:1², par. 2. God is the God of the river crossers, the people who are separated from the world unto the fulfillment of His purpose.

See note Exo. 15:22¹.

See note Exo. 12:36^1b.