Reading Exodus: Encountering God (2)—I will Send You…

 “Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my   people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”（Ex 3:10）

The LORD appears to Moses in the bush that burns and yet is not consumed. There He speaks to him, entrusts to him the mission of bringing Israel out of Egypt. And at precisely this decisive moment, He freely discloses His own name.

Now this raises a question—if God is willing to reveal His name of His own accord, why does He not do so from the very beginning? Why does the revelation come only after this extended exchange with Moses? One could, of course, answer simply: because Moses asks. But the disclosure of the divine name is not merely a response to a question. It is deeply bound up with the commission God places upon him. 

At the close of Ex 1-2, after recounting the bitter oppression of the Israelites under the Egyptian king “who did not know Joseph,” the narrator adds a brief but weighty statement:

“…the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. ²⁴ And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.²⁵ God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.” (Ex. 2:23-25)

Yet, what does this divine remembrance look like in reality and practice? How will God see, and have concern (NIV) for His people? At this point, the narrator leaves the reader with a quiet tension. The text invites us to continue reading. Yet, even when the narrative continues, God still does not seem to act immediately. It is not until well into chapter 3 that He finally commissions Moses. Before that, the narrative’s attention seems to rest chiefly on the strange and compelling vision of the bush that burns without being consumed. The question, then, is unavoidable: what does this vision have to do with God’s commission?

Moses at the Burning Bush (St. Catherine Monastery's Mosaic)

A close reading of the text reveals an intriguing progression. From Moses’ encounter with God, to the moment when God entrusts him with the mission and reveals His name, the narrative unfolds in a deliberate sequence—

the place on which you are standing is holy ground --> I have seen…have heard…I know… --> I will send you… --> I AM WHO I AM

God first reveals His holiness. Then He declares His intimate knowledge of His people’s suffering. Only after that does He commission Moses. And finally, reveals His name.

God’s commission begins with the revelation of His holiness. When God calls to Moses from the extraordinary sight of the burning bush, it is only natural for Moses to draw nearer for a closer look. Yet God stops him and says, “take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” In that moment, Moses comes to realise that he is not merely witnessing a strange phenomenon, but standing in the presence of the holy God Himself. It is therefore no surprise that Moses immediate response is to hide his face. Who could remain unshaken when confronted with the holiness of God?

Then God repeats, in His own voice, what the narrator has already told us at the end of chapter 2: “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings…” the misery under Pharaoh is not hidden from God. He sees it, He hears it, and He knows it. These words reveal not only God’s awareness, but His deep concern for His people. Yet God does not stop at the level of sympathy alone. His compassion does not stop at seeing, hearing, and knowing. Immediately He continues, “and I have come down to deliver them…” In response to His people’s suffering, God does not offer a distant or powerless pity; rather, He demonstrates a compassion that moves toward action.

And that action takes shape in the commissioning of Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt.

Even though God fully knows the difficult circumstances of His people, He does not immediately send Moses into action. Before Moses can receive this commission, he must first understand its source. The mission originates from God Himself—from the holy God who does not allow evil to run unchecked, and who remains faithful to His covenantal promise to the patriarchs. Only when Moses recognises the source of this commission will he later be able to stand before the hard-hearted Pharaoh without losing heart, trusting that evil cannot ultimately prevail before the holy God and that the God who commissions will also faithfully bring it to completion.

At the same time, Moses must also recognise the motive that drives it: God’s mercy. The task entrusted to Moses is the living expression of this mercy. It is the concrete outworking of God’s seeing, hearing and knowing. This mission is therefore not the result of Moses own heroic impulse, like the earlier moment when he rashly attempted to “rescue” his fellow Hebrew by striking down the Egyptian (Ex. 2:11-14). Moses knows all too well that actions driven by his own sense of justice cannot withstand the pressure of circumstances. Only when he sees that this mission flows from God’s mercy, will he be able to persevere even when Pharaoh’s opposition becomes increasingly hardened.

Once Moses understands that the deliverance of Israel comes from the holy God, and that the driving force behind this redemptive act is God’s compassion for His people, God entrusts him with the task of leading Israel out of Egypt. After that,  God performs another crucial act, which sets the entire work of redemption in motion: He freely reveals His own name.

When the LORD instructs Moses to make His name known to the Israelites, it signals that He remembers the covenant He made with their forefathers, and will remain faithful to it. At the same time, by revealing His name to Moses, God entrusts Moses with His authority to carry out this work of deliverance on His behalf. In doing so, God binds His name to the unfolding story of Israel’s redemption. This explains why, when Israel later provoke God’s wrath through repeated rebellion, Moses is able to intercede by appealing not only to God’s mercy but also to His name: “Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? ” (Ex. 32:12) In that instance, Moses pleads not only for God’s compassion—but also for the honour of God’s own name.

The place on which you are standing is holy ground --> I have seen…have heard…I know… --> I will send you… --> I AM WHO I AM

Through this carefully ordered progression, the author of Exodus frames God’s call and commission to Moses within 3 essential realities:  God’s being, God’s character, and God’s commitment. It begins with who God is—He is holy. It is driven by what God is like—He is merciful. And it is sustained by God’s own faithfulness—He binds the mission to His own name.

Through this unfolding order, the author helps the listeners/readers see that a mission/task from God always begins with God Himself, be propelled by His character, and be carried out in the confidence that His own name stands behand it. 

For us today, this same order should also shape our understanding of the ministry God entrusts to us—be it in our families, our workplaces, or within the church. Only when our ministry begins with God Himself are we less likely to fall into the trap of personality-centred leadership. We will learn to discern God’s intention and direction for His work, and remain steadfast in obedience to His leading until the task is completed.