THE CALL OF MOSES Part II

IF THE burning bush is to be understood as a genuine miracle, it is well to ask what its significance is. The miracles of the Bible were designed to be signs and attestations of God's plan of redemption. In what sense, then, did the burning bush point to God's redemptive activity? According to Acts 7:30 the events described in Exodus 3 took place forty years after Moses' flight into the land of Midian. Emphasis falls immediately upon Moses and the fact that he was shepherding (the participle expresses continual occupation) the flock of Jethro. In the desert itself there was apparently not enough vegetation for the flock, so Moses led the flock beyond the desert. This would imply that when he had come to Horeb, he was no longer in the desert. Indeed, if we are to identify the mountain with Jebel el-Musa or Jebel es-Sufsafeh we can well understand why the plain Er-rahah would have been sought after by a shepherd. Even today there is considerable water in this location. To assume that the mountain was regarded as a sanctuary even before the revelation to Moses is unwarranted. The designation, "mountain of God", is merely used by anticipa-