Moses in the Wilderness
3 1 Now Moses was shepherding the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of our Father. 2 There the messenger of our Father appeared to him in a flame of fire from within a bush. Moses looked, and the bush was burning with fire, yet it was not consumed. 3 So Moses said, "Let me go over and see this remarkable sight — why the bush is not burning up."
4 When our Father saw that he had turned aside to look, he called to him from within the bush, "Moses, Moses!" And Moses said, "Here I am."
5 Then he said, "Do not come closer. Take the sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." 6 And he said, "I am your Father — the Father of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob." At this Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at our Father.
7 Then our Father said, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people in Egypt, and I have heard their cry under their slave drivers, for I know their sufferings." 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey — the home of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the people of Israel has reached me, and I have also seen the oppression the Egyptians are crushing them with. 10 Come now, I am sending you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring my people, the people of Israel, out of Egypt.
11 But Moses said to our Father, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the people of Israel out of Egypt?"
12 He said, "I will surely be with you, and this will be the sign for you that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship our Father on this mountain."
13 Then Moses said to our Father, "Suppose I go to the people of Israel and tell them, 'The Father of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' What should I tell them?"
14 Our Father said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And he said, "This is what you are to say to the people of Israel: 'I AM has sent me to you.'" a a v14 When Jesus said "before Abraham was, I AM" (John 8:58), he was speaking the very name our Father gave Moses here. 15 Our Father also said to Moses, "Say this to the people of Israel: 'your Father — the Father of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob — has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered through all generations. 16 Go, gather the elders of Israel together and tell them, 'your Father — the Father of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — has appeared to me and said: I have surely watched over you and seen what they are doing to you in Egypt, 17 and I have promised to bring you up out of the misery of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites — a land flowing with milk and honey.' 18 They will listen to you. Then you and the elders of Israel must go to the king of Egypt and say to him, 'the Father of the Hebrews has met with us. Now please let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to our Father.' 19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. 20 So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders I will perform among them; after that, he will let you go. 21 And I will make the Egyptians look favorably on this people, so that when you leave, you will not go empty-handed. 22 Every woman should ask her neighbor and any woman staying in her house for items of silver and gold and for clothing, and you will dress your sons and daughters with them. So you will plunder the Egyptians. b b v22 Israel leaving Egypt with wealth fulfills the Father's promise to Abraham in Genesis 15:14.