Collection: Moses and the Burning Bush

In the third chapter of the Book of Exodus, while Moses is tending sheep on Mount Horeb, he sees a bush covered with flame, but which the flame does not consume. As he approaches the bush, he hears a voice warn him, “Moses, Moses, do not come near; take off your shoes for the ground on which you are standing is sacred.” God then speaks to him from the flames and promises salvation for the Israelites who are enslaved in Egypt. God also reveals to Moses His name: “I AM WHO AM.”

In every divine epiphany in the Old Testament, it is Christ who appears, the pre-eternal Word of the Father. As Christ tells us in the Gospels, no on has ever seen the Father.

St. Gregory of Nyssa, in his commentary on the life of Moses, tells us that if we would only take off our shoes, we would discover that all ground is sacred. Shoes are made from the skins of dead animals. By separating ourselves from all the lifeless things with which we surround ourselves, we can begin to perceive the mystery of the cosmos, God’s presence all around us.